Kevin1429030929

Getting to be about that time to think football...sooner the better, too, so we don't cut it too close and miss a week. Who's interested ?

The Top Ten Reasons Why YOUR MLB Team Will Make The Playoffs (Yes, I know it's only the All- Star break) 10-Phillies-Starting pitching and new acquisitions (there's better be a couple). 9- Diamondbacks - the other teams aren't used to playing in 115ºF weather 8- Dodgers - Puig will carry them offensively. 7- Yankees - Derek Jeter's return, and mystique and aura appearing nightly 6- Red Sox - Because they suck the least of the five teams in that division. 5- Diamondbacks - because Mexican manufactured steroids are easier to smuggle into Arizona than they are in California. 4- Padres - because they...?, Never mind they are toast. 3- Because I'm switching my team to any team that makes the Playoffs this year. That way, I can't lose. 2-Biogenesis - they've got players on every team ... and they're juiced 1- Because I don't have a team, I can jump on any interesting bandwagon. Top 10 More Interesting Names for the Royal Baby: 10. Iggy I 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.

Same here, BF.

Hey all, If you haven't read about it yet, this current week (15) of the league will continue until July 21st. Of course no All-Star game stats will be included, but the games/stats will pick up again from Friday, July 19th, so there are still a few more games to prepare for in the current match ups until the next round (16) the following Monday (July 22).Unfortunately, pitching starts are currently undecided for these games yet, so you'll have to pop in again sometime to see who will be playing. Enjoy the All-Star Break.

Great to hear from you again, Diggs! Hope all is well with you. :partytime1: I see you've lost your old login too. I need Farin ( or whoever) to pop back in and set me back up again...

Looks like a fantastic trip ,Ken. Great venue choices ! I'm sure you could make money running that very tour if you wanted to ... :sing1:

Happy Birthday ,Shawna ! :guitar: :pianist:

Wishing you could just say, " Just when I thought that I was out they pull me back in." and it would be so ... RIP James.

Happy Birthday , Pinkstones ! :guitar: :pianist:

Nice week for Sammy and I as both our pitching staffs seem to be dead set this week on trying to outdo each other to prove which can be the more embarrassing. We both have combined ERAs around 6.30 ( down from around 7.30 ), WHIPS of 1.65, about 5 losses each, and only 1 or 2 wins and quality starts each -and there's still a couple days to go. Holy Suckville !

If the stakes are low and you can afford it , then there's really no harm in any of the games you mentioned. However, yes, I think playing lotto/bingo weekly-or whatever regularly is- is a type of addiction. As long as you realize what the terrible odds against winning are, you may be better off learning and playing poker.

Pop goes the weasel...

Well, I've been waiting for it to happen , since it always does, and now it has. I lose one of my better players to a bone-headed or freak injury early in the season. Greinke out for about 8 weeks with a broken collar bone after getting charged at the mound. Could have been worse,I guess...

I see your thinking on those categories, Rocky. Quality starts is an option ? Personally, I'd prefer that over IPs. It seems a bit more competitive and interesting to compare. Also, it gives a good indication of the strength of one's SP staff compared to others. Are there any other interesting categories left that we could also consider ? Regarding saves in general, what often happens is that with 10 players, about 1/2~1/3 of us are likely going to end up with mediocre to poor closers anyway-always happens. The only opportunities to mend this are to wait until another player is appointed closer by their actual team (takes a lot of time) or trade ( tough to do as well as people often want a big payoff for a decent closer,understandably). Therefore, BSs are going to penalize some of us without a reasonably easy way to try and improve the situation-unlike a slumping batter or SP for example. A save is a save ,imo, and you will already be getting hit on ERA, WHIP , hits and walks for a poorly earned one or a failed effort. Adding BSs seems piling on a bit and is really going to hurt teams with weaker bullpens. As well, I don't think it is vital that we have exactly 10 batting and 10 pitching categories if it turns out that way. Batters play day in and out unlike pitchers, and one has numerous options to try and improve batting stats. Ultimately ,though, I've clearly got a bit too much time on my hands right now going over this. Let's see if anyone else has something to say and by Sunday night whatever you conclude and want to go with will be fine. You've heard from Ray and me now and most importantly, as long as there is no limit on adding or dropping players allowing Phil to try out about 20% of the entire MLB players list, then all should go well .

While we are waiting for next week and I didn't play head to head last season, Rocky, I have a couple questions/comments about the scoring categories: IPs (Innings pitched): I'm assuming that the person with the most IPs will win the category, or is it the least ? If it is the former, then this strikes me as rather uncompetitive and likely, more often than not, simply a win based on our respective roster schedules irregardless of having tried to put in the best pitchers for quality starts, saves, etc. If it is awarded to the player with the lesser IPs then it would be indeed interesting to try and balance winning as many pitching categories as possible while using fewer IPs than one's opponent. However, risking other categories in order to do this seems unlikely too, and, therefore I'm not really a fan of this category choice -especially if it is simply for the most IPs. This category seems to be a dud in my opinion anyway it is scored and doesn't seem worth calculating. Why would having the most IPs be any kind of achievement -or the least, even-rather than going for the most effective pitching results ? It may seem a minor thing , but an opponent could easily negate a win in a more relevant and strategic category such as wins, ERA, etc. if we keep it simply by throwing as many pitchers as needed in for the win ( and possibly boosting win category chances too ). BS (Blown saves): Again, I would assume that the player with the lesser of these will win the category , correct ? My only beef with this one is that, in most weeks, these will be rather few or nonexistent in many matchups and will result in many ties. It's not a bad category, but is there another category choice that will accumulate stats more frequently in order to reduce ties ? I'm imagining a lot of 0-0, 1-0, 1-1 weeks ... 2-1 at most. Perhaps it's just my scorn for soccer results coming through here. On the off-chance that the person with the most BSs wins the category then ...well, that's just crazy talk . Total innings required to accumulate pitching stats for the week: I see it is set at only 7 which equals a single quality start for one pitcher per roster each week. Previously, we had it set at 20 or so ( which still was not a problem for most players ) in order to ensure that players did not scoop most of the pitching categories if they started the week with a good start and then benched their pitchers for the rest of the week (personally ,I'd set it at 24 now ). It seems more fair to me that at least 3 starts per week ( along with saves ) should be required from each roster to count toward pitching stat wins. It also helped to coax people to try and check on their rosters as often as they could to ensure they met the minimum IP in order not to lose all pitching categories by default. Even a player who is away, or will be away, can often still easily meet this requirement with a couple of minutes of pre-planning before they take a hiatus, but if they just ditch playing altogether for some time, then I don't see why it can't be a bonus to win all the pitching stats outright if one is actively playing and the other is not. It seriously sucks if someone can 'win' or keep you from gaining ground on the leaders if they are rewarded by an easy default setting (and blind luck) and they are not really playing much. Having it set at 7 ensures pretty much that all roster's pitching categories will be valid at all times (currently 10) , and without any need to check in on them ever. Just my two-cents, and I recall that there were many silly categories and few that were actually realistic to choose from, which makes it tough. I just don't remember what they were now without the commish tools. What do you think ?

Teams are in. Good luck everyone! Looks like we don't start play until next week though (Apr.8).

Cool! If we can quickly get MC and Ray now, we'll have an awesome league. Still willing to sit out if just one wants in as I have a busy year ahead of me. Guys ?

Thanks for setting this up, Rocky. Eyegore's Eyesores are in. Seems I'm the current odd number player, however . If either RJ or Ray or someone signs up then we are good to go. If you get stuck with an odd number and it's holding your draft up though , feel free to delete me and carry on. I'm fine with taking a pass on this season.

Rather like the new uniform colors ...

Why does Prince Michael Jackson wear sunglasses similar to those of his father -or at all? It isn't like anyone would recognize nor care if they spotted him on the street anyway ...?!?! http://news.yahoo.com/prince-jackson-gig-et-correspondent-172154298--abc-news-celebrities.html

" Bummer,man. My brother's in the hospital , I got busted , and now we have no dough or a house."

The picture in my head just keeps cutting me up . It's just so Looney Tunes. http://www.clarionledger.com/viewart/20130218/NEWS03/130218015/Brothers-blow-up-house-celebrating-lottery-Kansas

Man, 50+ years is a real stretch to try and live off a novelty song. "Chubby Checker is best known for his song The Twist which topped the US singles chart in both 1960 and 1962." Correction. ONLY known for his song The Twist... and perhaps some 70's game show appearances.

Check it out ,RJ. The Troggs certainly improved it though . Mind you ,it is a bit 'B-52-ish' if you listen long enough... :sing1:

Yeah ,It's me Sammy .Thanks .Brad is helping me trying to get my secret identity back , but Im pretty slow in most things , as you may recall .