By Michael Jones:
With the wet weather now hopefully over, or at least momentarily absent on Sunday, the latest edition of the British Baseball Pavilion will be held at Finsbury Park, near to the home of the London Mets and Meteors baseball and softball clubs, on Thursday 19 July. Continue reading
With new rules in place for the 2012 MLB amateur player draft, limiting teams to how much they can spend on signing players, just one first-round pick failed to sign a deal: Mark Appel, who was negotiating with the Pirates. The recommended draft slot was $2.9m and the Pirates apparently offered $3.8m but Appel said no.
I can’t help but think Appel may live to regret not coming to an agreement here.
It is not that unusual to see draft selections fail to reach a deal. Players are not duty bound to sign. Sometimes high school players may opt to get a college education before pursuing a professional sports career, which is understandable. They may see value in not only getting a degree but also they may feel their stock will rise with a few years of college baseball under their belts, meaning they are selected earlier in the draft and therefore pocket a larger signing bonus.
This scenario may be more common towards the end of the draft, where late-round picks may pass on a signing bonus in the thousands in a bid to do much better in a few years’ time. Others may choose to pursue a career in another sport, such as the NFL or NBA.
But seeing first round selections fail to sign saddens me, especially when it is clear it is all about the money.
Two examples in fairly recent years which spring to mind are J.D. Drew and Luke Hochevar, who turned down multi-million dollar offers from Philadelphia in 1997 and the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2005 respectively. Both players wanted big bucks, made clear in Drew’s case by hiring Scott Boras as his agent, while Hochevar’s negotiations with the Dodgers were a mess on his part, with last-ditch changes of heart and agent changes adding to the chaos.
Drew was drafted by St. Louis the next year and went on to have a decent, if injury-prone career, but one which could have been one year longer had he signed with the Phillies. After spurning the Dodgers, Hochevar was picked by Kansas City the following year, and has been in the Royals’ rotation for the past few years with fairly mediocre results.
So why is Appel not signing such a big deal, you may wonder. Drew and Hochevar still made it to the Major Leagues, so why can’t Appel? Well, if anyone wants to read about the nightmare of holding out for more money and watching your career go from bad to worse, head over to Matt Harrington’s Wikipedia page, read it and wince.
Appel should expect to be drafted next year. If he has another great year at Stanford he could go higher than the 8th overall pick he was this year. But the fact he fell to 8th was due to “signability issues” – a polite way of saying he wants big bucks.
With the new financial rules in place for MLB teams this year, players can no longer expect teams to buckle to their requests as easily as before. Pittsburgh could have given Appel the huge bonus he wanted, but if they had exceeded their draft budget they would have forfeited their first-round pick in 2013, a risk which they cannot afford to take. Appel may be good, but he’s not as good as two first-round picks combined.
The only way Appel can improve on this year’s offer is to hope he gets drafted in the first few picks next year, wait for that team to sign other players for less than the recommended draft pick value and get extra money from these savings so the team avoids any penalties. Is this really going to happen?
There’s also the possibility Appel could be overtaken by other pitching prospects next year.
In my opinion, Appel’s quest for the big bucks has actually cost him, as a player recognised as a top two or three pick scared away teams early in the draft. If he had shown more of a willingness to sign before the draft, he could and would have been picked earlier and potentially been offered a much higher signing bonus.
It’s a week of feast and famine for MLB games starting before midnight U.K. time.
There are no early games on Monday, Tuesday and Friday; however there are fourteen such games combined on Wednesday and Thursday and, subject to any scheduling changes, they include some excellent pitching match-ups.
On Wednesday, there’s a good match-up in New York with Ricky Romero and Hiroki Kuroda, while James McDonald should be pitching for the Pirates against the Rockies. The two big match-ups though will be at Miller Park and Dodger Stadium. (Update: with all due respect to Tyler Thornburg, that’s changed in the latter case by the Brewers’ decision to skip Zack Greinke from his scheduled start).
Thursday’s early games include four first pitches before six o’clock. The day’s play starts off with a pitching match-up at Turner Field between Madison Bumgarner and Tim Hudson. The Mets’ R.A. Dickey was hit around a bit by the Braves last time out and he’ll look to re-find his excellent first-half form against the Washington Nationals, who should counter with Gio Gonzalez.
A little later in the evening, King Felix Hernandez is the probable pitcher for the Mariners. He absolutely dominated the hard-hitting Rangers last time out. Good luck to the Royals hitters not getting a day off on Thursday.
All times are in BST.
Monday 16 July
No early games
Tuesday 17 July
No early games
Wednesday 18 July
18.05. Toronto at NY Yankees (Romero – Kuroda)
19.10. St. Louis at Milwaukee (Wainwright – Thornburg)
20.10. Philadelphia at LA Dodgers (Lee – Kershaw)
20.10. Pittsburgh at Colorado (McDonald – Guthrie)
20.35. Texas at Oakland (Lewis – Blackley) *ESPN America
20.35. Houston at San Diego (Rodriguez – Richard) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
Thursday 19 July
17.10. San Francisco at Atlanta (Bumgarner – Hudson)
17.10. Cleveland at Tampa Bay (Jimenez – Price)
17.35. Arizona at Cincinnati (Saunders – Leake)
17.35. NY Mets at Washington (Dickey – Gonzalez)
18.05. LA Angels at Detroit (Williams – Scherzer) *ESPN America
18.10. Baltimore at Minnesota (Chen – De Vries)
19.10. Seattle at Kansas City (Hernandez – Hochevar) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
19.20. Miami at Chicago Cubs (Buehrle – Maholm)
Friday 20 July
No early games.
All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com. The early games being shown on ESPN America are highlighted above, while the full ESPN/ESPN America schedule can be found on their website. BBC 5 Live Sports Extra can be found on digital radio, digital TV and on the BBC.co.uk website (coverage on the website is only available to UK residents). The complete schedule for this week’s MLB games can be found on MLB.com.
There was plenty of excitement in MLB on Saturday.
The San Diego Padres stole victory from the L.A. Dodgers when Everth Cabrera caught them napping and stole home to tie the game 6-6 and Will Venable followed him across the plate to take a 7-6 lead as the rattled Kenley Jansen threw the ball to the back-stop.
Ryan Ludwick and Taylor Teagarden both won games in the more conventional way by launching walk-off home runs for the Reds and Orioles respectively.
Meanwhile King Felix Hernandez delighted the King’s Court section at Safeco Field by dominating the Texas Rangers as the normally pedestrian Mariners offence walked over Yu Darvish in a comprehensive 7-0 victory.
What does MLB have in store for us today? All times are in BST.
18.05. LA Angels at NY Yankees (Weaver – Nova) *ESPN America
18.07. Cleveland at Toronto (Lowe – Villanueva)
18.10. Washington at Miami (Strasburg – Nolasco)
18.35. Detroit at Baltimore (Verlander – Gonzalez)
18.35. NY Mets at Atlanta (Santana – Sheets) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
18.40. Boston at Tampa Bay (Beckett – Shields)
19.10. Chicago White Sox at Kansas City (Sale – Mendoza)
19.10. Pittsburgh at Milwaukee (Burnett – Gallardo)
19.10. Oakland at Minnesota (Parker – Duensing)
19.20. Arizona at Chicago Cubs (Cahill – Garza)
20.10. Philadelphia at Colorado (Hamels – Pomeranz) *BBC 5 Live Sports Extra
21.05. Houston at San Francisco (Norris – Cain)
21.10. Texas at Seattle (Harrison – Iwakuma)
21.10. San Diego at LA Dodgers (Marquis – Billingsley) *ESPN America
01.00. St. Louis at Cincinnati (Westbrook – Bailey) *ESPN America
Sunday always produces lots of good games to enjoy during the evening, but today’s schedule is particularly enticing due to the way in which the All-Star break has shuffled together a number of aces.
From Jered Weaver trying to avert a sweep by the Yankees, to Stephen Strasburg taking on the Marlins, Justin Verlander facing the Orioles, Josh Beckett and James Shields duelling at the Trop, Chris Sale taking to the mound against the Royals, A.J. Burnett and Yovani Gallardo meeting in Milwaukee, and Cole Hamels (on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra from 20.00) and Matt Cain starting for the Phillies and Giants respectively, it’s going to be an evening of switching between games and trying to keep up with it all.
Arguably the most intriguing pitching match-up will be in Atlanta where Ben Sheets will make his first Major League appearance in almost exactly two years (his last start was on 19 July 2010).
The Braves signed Sheets to a Minor League deal on 1 July seemingly out of nowhere. The oft-injured right-hander appeared to have pitched his final inning when his short stint with the A’s in 2010 was ended by elbow surgery. He had missed all of the 2009 season due to surgery on the same elbow so it looked like his body had simply cried ‘enough’, but here he is again and while it would be sensible not to have great expectations for his return, the simple fact that he has made it back is a tremendous story.
All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com. ESPN America will be showing the three MLB games stated above.
The second half of the 2012 MLB season got underway yesterday, although not quite as quickly as we had all hoped for.
The one pre-midnight game on Friday between the D-Backs and Cubs was delayed by 3 hours 40 minutes due to rain, with the first pitch not being thrown until 23.00 BST rather than 19.20.
Hopefully the weather will be kinder to us all today as there is a good selection of MLB games for us to follow live at a convenient time .
All times are in BST.
18.05. LA Angels at NY Yankees (Williams – Garcia)
18.05. Arizona at Chicago Cubs (Saunders – Dempster)
18.07. Cleveland at Toronto (Jimenez – Laffey) *ESPN America, MLB.com Free Game of the Day
21.05. Detroit at Baltimore (Scherzer – Chen)
21.05. NY Mets at Atlanta (Dickey – Hanson) *ESPN America
21.05. St. Louis at Cincinnati (Lohse – Leake)
D-Backs and Cubs fans have another chance to watch their teams battle it out today at just after 6 o’clock. The Yankees won their series opener against the Angels 6-5 last night and will send Freddy Garcia to the mound today in a day-game, while the Indians turn to Ubaldo Jimenez to follow up Justin Masterson’s seven score-less innings that helped them to a narrow 1-0 win over the Blue Jays yesterday.
ESPN America will move on to the Mets v Braves game once the Indians v Blue Jays game is complete. R.A. Dickey and Tommy Hanson are the probable starters in a good match-up in prospect. The Braves took the series opener 7-5, but the victory was not without a cost as Jack Wilson left the game in the seventh inning after dislocating a finger. Wilson was starting at shortstop in place of the injured Andrelton Simmons and the Braves are hoping that Wilson will be able to return to action in a few days. If he faces a longer lay-off then they may need to look to the trade market for a short-term fix.
The Baltimore Orioles suffered a potentially more damaging injury on Friday as Jason Hammel, who had pitched so impressively during the first half, left his start against the Tigers yesterday after just three innings with a knee injury. He will be reevaluated today to find out how serious the injury is.
As for the Tigers, they received a welcome return to form by Doug Fister in yesterday’s 7-2 win and send Max Scherzer to the mound today. It was a good all-around effort by Detroit in the series opener, with Brennan Boesch and Ryan Raburn both bringing runners home and Quintin Berry making an outstanding catch to rob Wilson Betemit. With those complementary players starting to contribute alongside the established core (Miguel Cabrera hit a 451 ft bomb off Luis Ayala for his 19th on the season), the Tigers have won six consecutive games either side of the All-Star Break and look primed for a strong second half.
All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com. ESPN America has a baseball triple-header tonight as the two games listed above are followed by the Nationals v Marlins game from midnight. The full schedule for today’s games can be found on MLB.com.
The second half of the MLB regular season begins today and we have one early game to get things started.
19.20. Arizona at Chicago Cubs (Kennedy vs Maholm) *ESPN America
A day game from Wrigley Field, with WGN’s Len Kasper and Bob Brenly providing the commentary, is always worth watching regardless of where the Cubs sit in the standings. They are currently 15 games out in the NL Central as Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer continue their major rebuilding project.
As for Arizona, things are much more optimistic. They are only four games behind the Dodgers in the NL West and the same margin behind the Reds and Braves in the Wild Card race. The D-Backs will be looking for Ian Kennedy to lead from the front with Daniel Hudson out for the rest of the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Later on, there are several excellent series in prospect due to get underway in the early hours of Saturday morning.
In the American League, the Los Angeles Angels are in New York taking on the Yankees, while the Red Sox and Rays continue their rivalry at Tropicana Field. In the National League, there are two good NL East battles as the Mets take on the Braves and the Nationals face the Marlins, while the St. Louis Cardinals are in Cincinnati taking on the Reds.
The American League once again had much the better of the Interleague Play this season, combining for a 142-110 win-loss record over the National League.
However, the NL’s All-Star Game success on Tuesday restored a bit of pride and gave the Senior Circuit home field advantage in the World Series for the third consecutive season.
Good luck with guessing which team will be hosting Game One of the Fall Classic though.
Just as the American League playoff race is wide open, the majority of the teams in the National League will think they are still in with a shout as we head into the second half of the season.
The National League East is the most competitive of the three divisions and the team that has owned that division for the last five years is sitting in the cellar. The Philadelphia Phillies’ run as NL East Champions is surely over as they entered the All-Star Break on a 37-50 record, 14.5 games behind the Washington Nationals.
Chase Utley and Ryan Howard only barely managed to make their season debuts prior to the All-Star Break after long injury lay-offs, while ace Roy Halladay was set to begin a rehab assignment in High-A on Thursday. Does having those guys back give them any chance of a Wild Card run? At ten games out it would seem a longshot. The key will be their early post-All Star form because if they don’t quickly make up ground then they may feel they have little choice but to trade a few players before the 31 July deadline.
The Phillies’ fall has created an opportunity for the other four teams in the division and all of them are doing their best to take advantage. The Washington Nationals could be the emerging force in the National League and the rapid rise of Bryce Harper has generated plenty of excitement, while Gio Gonzalez has settled in quickly after his offseason trade from Oakland. The question mark hanging over the team is how many innings will Stephen Strasburg be allowed to pitch and, if he’s shut down late in the season, can they still compete without him?
Meanwhile the Atlanta Braves are quietly putting together a strong season and the Miami Marlins are noisily putting together a decent season, with the belief that they might make a bigger splash than trading for Carlos Lee to push them on. That leaves the New York Mets. Much like the Orioles in the AL East, everyone keeps waiting for them to slip back and that may well still happen. However, considering their expectations coming into the season, David Wright’s renaissance, R.A. Dickey’s incredible first half and Johan Santana’s shattering of the Mets’ no-hitter hoodoo have all combined so that any other positive news from 2012 will be a bonus.
In the NL Central, the Pittsburgh Pirates are making everyone blink hard when they look at the standings. Yes, that really is the Buccos at the top of the division. They will find it difficult to stay there without making some additions – Andrew McCutchen is a fantastic player, but even he can’t provide a one-man offence for a full season – and that could lead to some difficult decisions. They’ve been so bad for so long that they could be forgiven for jumping at the chance to contend, but they shouldn’t give up too many of their good prospects to make that happen because they are probably not quite as close to being a real contender as their position currently suggests.
The Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals will be intent on steaming past the upstarts. Both teams have had to cope with injuries, with the Reds losing Ryan Madson for the season before he had thrown a single pitch for the team, and the Cardinals seeing Adam Wainwright return only to have Chris Carpenter go down for the season. Thankfully Lance Berkman’s knee injury suffered in May wasn’t as serious as first thought – by which was meant season-ending, and possibly therefore career-ending – and he should be back fairly soon after the Break.
As for the Milwaukee Brewers, they are most likely to be in the news for potentially trading Zack Greinke over the next couple of weeks. The Brew Crew have predictably fallen back after losing Prince Fielder over the offseason, a blow made worse by Rickie Weeks’ terrible first half to the season.
The NL Central and NL West provide the four teams who are already out of the playoff running for 2012, namely the Cubs and Astros, and the Rockies and Padres.
That leaves three teams in the race in the NL West. The Arizona Diamondbacks have flown under the radar during the first half of the season and that’s hardly surprising as they haven’t been pulling up any trees. They have done enough to stay in the race though and while the loss of Daniel Hudson (another pitcher undergoing Tommy John surgery) is a setback, they shouldn’t be underestimated, especially if Justin Upton has an upturn in form. That’s unless they trade him first, of course.
The San Francisco Giants have had their ups and downs this season, losing Brian Wilson to injury (another Tommy John casualty) and Tim Lincecum to a baffling loss of form, but gaining Buster Posey from his injury ordeal, a red-hot Melky Cabrera and a perfect game from Matt Cain. As for the Los Angeles Dodgers, they were the hottest team in baseball early in the season (16-7 in April) but predictably have cooled down as Matt Kemp cools his heels on the Disabled List. With new ownership in place, the Dodgers may make a splash before the non-waiver trade deadline passes to supplement an offence in need of help and to make the NL West a great battle the rest of the way.
I will refrain from making any predictions, other than that it is going to be fascinating second half.
Heavy rain washed away the vast majority of the British league schedule last weekend.
The league tables therefore didn’t change much, but we do have some additional complications to factor in when predicting potential playoff teams, namely the growing number of postponed games that some teams have to make up and the short amount of time left in the schedule to do so.
It now seems likely that a number of games over the leagues will end up not being played and we’ll have to wait and see how they are accounted for the in the standings in each case.
Fingers are firmly crossed that we get some good weather over the coming weeks, although the recent heavy rain in some areas could lead to one or two fields being declared as unplayable this weekend even if the rain largely stays away.
Let’s be optimistic and look ahead to the feast of baseball that we should have this Sunday.
National Baseball League
Despite some sterling efforts to get the games on, all of the NBL action had to be postponed last Sunday. There is only one double-header on the schedule for this Sunday and it should be an absolute belter between the Herts Falcons and London Mets, at the latter’s Finsbury Park diamond.
Herts had been due to face the Harlow Nationals in a top of the table clash last Sunday, but with those games postponed it denied the Falcons the chance to overhaul their rivals or for the Nationals to put some distance between themselves and their competitors. The London Mets are hot on the heels of the top two and will hope to improve their 10-5 record with a double-header sweep at home this weekend.
Depending on field and player availability, it’s possible that last Sunday’s double-headers between the Southampton Mustangs and Essex Arrows, and Croydon Pirates and Lakenheath Diamondbacks, could be made up this weekend, although there is no word on that at time of writing.
Triple-A
The BBF website lists the AAA-North leaders the Liverpool Trojans as being on the road against the Halton Jaguars, with the Manchester A’s facing the Menwith Hill Patriots and the Cartmel Valley Lions taking on the Bolton Robots of Doom.
In the South, the Cambridge Royals are scheduled to host the Oxford Kings for a double-header at the former’s field on Coldham’s Common. Both teams are currently second in their respective Pool in what’s proving to be a very competitive division this year. The Kings trail the Bristol Badgers by one game in Pool A, while the Royals are also one game back of the Essex Redbacks in Pool B.
Double-A
In the South, the Southampton Mustangs II are at 5-7 so far in their debut season at the Double-A level and they will hope to get back up to .500 by taking both games of their home double-header against the Richmond Dragons this Sunday. Meanwhile the London Mammoths, also newcomers in 2012, would jump ahead of the Sidewinders to take the lead in Pool B if they can win both games against the Kent Mariners.
In the North, the division-leading Sheffield Bladerunners are scheduled to travel to the North East to face the Newton Aycliffe Spartans. The second-placed Harrogate Tigers are away to the third-placed Manchester Torrent, while the Hull Scorpions travel to Oldham to face the North Stars.
Single-A
We did get a couple of results in Single-A last Sunday. The London Maruaders defeated Tonbridge 32-12 to improve their winning start to the season to 6-0. Richmond Dukes got credited with their first win of 2012 with a 9-0 victory over the Braintree Rays.
This Sunday, the London Marauders are scheduled to host Hove Tuesday, while Herts Raptors host the Old Timers.
Keep a check on the BBF website, and the respective team’s Twitter feeds, for updates on which games will actually go ahead this Sunday.
The 83rd MLB All-Star Game wasn’t much of a contest in some ways.
The National League’s five-run first inning against Justin Verlander immediately put the American League in a hole and it was one they couldn’t recover from.
However, the All-Star Game really isn’t something to be analysed. It’s a fun exhibition event and even though the result was one-sided, the game produced enough moments to make it enjoyable, my favourites being …
Triples all ’round. Yes, ‘chicks dig the long ball’, but true baseball connoisseurs love a triple just as much as a big fly. Pablo Sandoval, Rafael Furcal and Ryan Braun all sprinted around to third base – well, maybe not quite a sprint in Sandoval’s case – for the National League.
Flashing some leather. There were a couple of notable fielding plays. Jose Bautista made an impressive diving catch in right-field that Rick Sutcliffe initially thought was a certain ‘trap’ catch until he saw the replay and immediately admitted his mistake. Ryan Braun’s catch in left-field wasn’t quite so flashy, but the fact that it robbed former teammate Prince Fielder of a double made up for it.
The Melk-Man delivered. Melky Cabrera continued his incredible 2012 season with an MVP performance. If you’re going to wear a dazzling pair of orange shoes, you had better play well. Cabrera did just that.
I’ve got it … no I haven’t. Even the most talented players can suffer some misfortune every now and then and Bryce Harper had one of those ‘oh no’ moments when he completely lost a fly ball in the lights and stood helpless as it landed behind him. Cue his National League teammates, particularly his Washington Nationals teammates, chuckling away in the dugout.
Cheers for Chipper. Finally, it was great to see Chipper Jones receiving a rousing standing ovation as he came to bat in his final All-Star Game and even better to see the reaction to his seeing-eye single.  Whether you are at the beginning of your career like Harper, or near the end like Jones, you can be sure your teammates will take every opportunity to take the mick whenever they can. Jones knew what was coming his way and joined in with the fun.
That’s the best part of the All-Star Game for me, watching the ballplayers having a good time and having some fun with it all.
The slightly more serious part to it is that the Senior Circuit’s representative in the World Series will once again get the benefit of home-field advantage thanks to their 8-0 victory. The battle to make it to the postseason and then on to that Fall Classic continues on Friday when the regular season resumes.
As we reach the All-Star break, which teams are in a good position to make the BaseballGB fantasy league playoffs, and which teams need to heat up in the second half?
Before we get into the numbers, well done to the teams who revamped their rosters to make sure they met the 20-inning minimum limit. We all want the most competitive league we can possibly have and, as we have seen in past seasons, second half surges to the playoffs can happen to fantasy teams as well as MLB sides. Keep up the effort and we are in for a cracking second half.
| R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score | |
| Orpington Isotopes | 41 | 10 | 35 | 2 | 0.31 | 0.89 | 3 | 1 | 48 | 4 | 5.1 | 1.37 | 10 |
| YD33’s | 22 | 5 | 24 | 3 | 0.24 | 0.66 | 2 | 1 | 24 | 0 | 6.1 | 1.56 | 1 |
We begin with my Isotopes, who were the week’s biggest winners. The 10-1 victory was down to the offense of McCutchen, who had a monster week, three homers from Rizzo and signs of life from the struggling Rickie Weeks. It was hardly a vintage week for either team’s pitchers, but Eovaldi picked up his first win of the season and Belisario had three holds. Blanco, Molina and Scutaro helped YD33s take steals.
| R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score | |
| Bonestalkers | 24 | 4 | 16 | 6 | 0.26 | 0.67 | 3 | 3 | 42 | 1 | 3.1 | 0.95 | 2 |
| The Wright Stuff | 33 | 13 | 43 | 8 | 0.27 | 0.86 | 3 | 4 | 53 | 3 | 3.4 | 1.3 | 9 |
A huge week from the Stuff’s hitters saw them notch an offensive sweep in their 9-2 win against Bonestalkers. McCann homered four times, Trout went yard three times and stole four bases and the Ramirezs (or should that be Ramiri?) – Aramis and Alexi – also had nice weeks at the plate. Peavy and Scherzer pitched well for the Stuff and Wilhelmsen had three saves. Gee and Quintana helped Bonestalkers take ERA and WHIP.
| R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score | |
| The Cheddar Chasers | 21 | 4 | 14 | 4 | 0.23 | 0.67 | 2 | 3 | 50 | 4 | 5.3 | 1.54 | 2 |
| Weston-Super-Sox | 37 | 9 | 33 | 7 | 0.27 | 0.78 | 4 | 3 | 44 | 4 | 5.3 | 1.41 | 8 |
Another offensive sweep saw the Sox beat the Chasers 8-2, with Kotchman, Kubel and Holliday doing most of the damage. Hanson racked up 14 strikeouts, while the Pirate duo of Grilli and Hanrahan combined for a win, three saves and three holds. Shields gave the chasers the edge in strikeouts while the bullpen of Betancourt, Pestano and Melancon helped take ERA.
| R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score | |
| stevenston angels | 19 | 4 | 22 | 1 | 0.26 | 0.76 | 4 | 1 | 37 | 1 | 3.5 | 1.17 | 3 |
| NE Riverkings | 35 | 9 | 30 | 8 | 0.28 | 0.77 | 4 | 5 | 44 | 0 | 6 | 1.7 | 8 |
The Riverkings keep on rolling, defeating the Angels 8-3 behind yet another offensive sweep. Wright, Jackson and Salvador Perez all had great weeks with the bat, while Bauer had 10 strikeouts and Motte had three saves. The White Sox duo of Floyd and Thornton helped the Angels salvage holds, ERA and WHIP.
| R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score | |
| SWAT* | 27 | 5 | 23 | 6 | 0.29 | 0.8 | 3 | 4 | 48 | 2 | 3.7 | 1.22 | 3 |
| Pontypridd Pirates | 28 | 5 | 24 | 4 | 0.31 | 0.82 | 4 | 0 | 24 | 3 | 1 | 0.79 | 8 |
A balanced attack saw the Pirates beat SWAT 8-4, with hitters and pitchers taking four categories each. Choo and Daniel Murphy were the pick of the hitters, while Buerhle was the pick of a pitching staff which put up ridiculously good ERA and WHIP numbers. SWAT had speed from Bourn, while the Brewers duo of Fiers and Estrada each struck out nine and Johnson and Reed had a pair of saves each.
| R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score | |
| Chatham Anglers | 32 | 4 | 24 | 1 | 0.27 | 0.73 | 4 | 1 | 46 | 3 | 3.8 | 1.25 | 3 |
| Richie’s RBI’s | 34 | 9 | 31 | 3 | 0.26 | 0.79 | 3 | 5 | 46 | 0 | 2.4 | 1.09 | 8 |
Another 8-3 score saw the RBIs defeat the Anglers, with Zimmerman, Granderson and Aoki the pick of the hitters. Weaver won twice and helped take ERA and WHIP, while Rodney (three) and Soriano (two) took care of saves. Miguel Cabrera helped the Anglers take average, while James McDonald won twice and struck out 14.
| R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score | |
| tavira expats | 34 | 6 | 23 | 7 | 0.31 | 0.83 | 3 | 0 | 29 | 2 | 3 | 0.96 | 8 |
| Pretzel Vendors | 22 | 7 | 21 | 0 | 0.28 | 0.79 | 2 | 2 | 48 | 2 | 4 | 1.25 | 3 |
The Expats picked up a win against the Vendors, again with an 8-3 score. BJ Upton, Garrett Jones, A-Rod and Jeter helped take five offensive categories, while Bailey won twice and helped take ERA and WHIP. The Vendors had power from Rios and Fowler, while Kimbrel had two saves and King Felix and Volquez racked up the strikeouts.
| R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score | |
| Beck ‘Nams (GB) | 8 | 1 | 15 | 1 | 0.21 | 0.55 | 4 | 4 | 42 | 0 | 3.6 | 1.34 | 4 |
| Boyd’s Base On Balls | 25 | 13 | 35 | 5 | 0.29 | 0.86 | 1 | 1 | 40 | 2 | 4.6 | 1.3 | 8 |
An offensive sweep saw the Base On Balls end the first half on a high with an 8-4 win against Beck ‘Nams. Desmond homered four times and stole three bases, Morrison went deep three times and Moustakas also had a great week. O’Flaherty had two holds and Verlander made the difference in WHIP. Jurrjens won twice for Beck ‘Nams, while Axford and Putz each had a pair of saves and Capuano struck out 11.
| R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score | |
| BD Yankees | 30 | 7 | 34 | 3 | 0.26 | 0.77 | 2 | 2 | 22 | 1 | 3.6 | 1.43 | 4 |
| Iron Men | 33 | 12 | 32 | 6 | 0.27 | 0.84 | 1 | 2 | 35 | 0 | 3.9 | 1.23 | 7 |
Iron Men got the better of the Yankees 7-4 thanks to a four-homer week from Delmon Young. Braun and Sandoval each went deep twice and Espinosa swiped three bases. Wei-Yin Chin topped the staff in strikeouts and made the difference in WHIP. Fielder homered three times and drove in 10 for the Yankees, while Zimmerman and K-Rod helped take wins, holds and ERA.
| R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score | |
| Ridge Bolts | 21 | 6 | 19 | 1 | 0.23 | 0.7 | 2 | 6 | 38 | 3 | 4.5 | 1.38 | 6 |
| daebhid2 | 31 | 6 | 41 | 4 | 0.28 | 0.79 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 2.8 | 1.69 | 5 |
Finally, daebhid once again failed to meet the 20 inning minimum limit, which turned what would have been a win into a 6-5 loss to the Bolts. The Bolts enjoyed a win and 15 strikeouts from Samardzija, while Bell, Downs and Chapman each had two saves. Teixeira homered twice and drove in 10 for daebhid.
The week 15 matchups begin on Friday. Due to the shortened schedule this week, the matchups will run from July 9 to July 22.
Riverkings (1st) v Beck ‘Nams (13th)
Sox (2nd) v Angels (19th)
Stuff (3rd) v SWAT (5th)
Chasers (4th) v daebhid2 (20th)
Base On Balls (6th) v Yankees (14th)
Iron Men (7th) v Bonestalkers (18th)
Isotopes (8th) v Expats (17th)
Vendors (9th) v Anglers (12th)
Pirates (10th) v RBIs (11th)
YD33s (15th) v Bolts (16th)