Fantasy Teams Report

Combat Wombats - I'm Leading!
It never lasts long but I'm leading the decrepit, out-of-whack edition of the Jack Kerouac Memorial League this year. The amazing part? Somebody else picked up Alex Rodriguez plus other stars off the waiver wire, and I'm still managing to stay ahead of that team. It's smoke and mirrors, but at this point, I'm in front. It won't last.

Ligers - I'm Bottoming Out
Truly pathetic. I blame it all on Brian Cashman.
I drafted Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain. Well, that got me an ERA of 9.00+ in 12 starts. That'd do my ERA and WHIP in for the rest of the year. My batting has been horrific. I had Adam Dunn and Bill Hall as my power threats, and they batted on the Mednoza line. I'm partly scrambling for some starts but really, I won't be able to shave 1 run off the ERA in the rest of the year, so I'm already cooked. So much for a Top 3 finish.

Zoot Allures - I Suck And I Don't Know How
The CBS league is deep and meaningless. I don't even know how my players are doing relative to the league. It's a total mystery because I can't find out how the league is being scored at al. As such, I don't mind coming last. I sure won't be back for it next year. It's a disaster area.

AFL - Barry Hall, You Schmuck!
I don't have Barry Hall, but I still think he's a Schmuck for taking himself out of a quarter of the season. As such, all I can say is my team sucks again and there's never anything I could do to rectify it because of the restrictive league rules. It is pretty crappy. *Ugh*.

Fantasy Teams Report

Got The Phil Hughes Blues

I drank the Brian Cashman koolaid. I have Phil Hughes in both my Yahoo leagues, and he's pitching up a stink. After 1 great start which catapulted my teams to the top in the first few days, he's had 3 bad starts and his ERA is now 8.82 and a 0-3 record. Worse still, I have Ian Kennedy on all three teams and he's posted a 9.64 ERA as well. I also have Chamberlain in 2 of these leagues and he's been away for better part of the last week, so I've hardly had him come in and blow hitters away.

I planned my season around the troika, just as the Yankees did and right now, I'm being 'rewarded' with copious earned runs and absolute lack of stuff with a bloated WHIP every outing from Hughes and Kennedy. Chamberlain on the other hand has been electric, but he's simply not been around much. Judging from the results, it seems theyoung starters get into a lot of bad counts and are forced to throw down the middle and get hit. Yesterday's outing from Hughes was more encouraging until he let things slip in the 6th, but essentially they need to challenge the hitters more. easy to say, hard to do, I'm sure - but my entire season as well as the Yankees is resting on these guys doing a lot better (or in Chamberlain's case, just more) than they have to date. Who knows? By the end of May they may have picked it up and we may look upon this shaky start to the season as nothing but just that.

I guess it's not like I had the choice of trading for Santana, though. I wonder how Cashman is feeling right now.

My Life In The AFL Bush Of Ghosts
The hardest thing each year with the AFL league each year is to stock a side that actually hits the field and plays. because you only get 2 substitutions a week, and most weeks go by with at least some star sitting it out. It's weird. In the head to head rounds I've already taken a drubbing because 4 of my forwards sat last week. It's just hell when that happens.

Fantasy Season

3 Teams, No Idea

The Jack Kerouac Memorial League is a schmozzle this year, partly because nobody was around and also because I've been busy as hell so it became one job too many to organise. As a result, the league is in an experiment this year. people have carried over their entire teams from 2007. So it's a Keeper League with 25 keepers and no draft. Pretty much like a real MLB team.
So we'll see.

I've also been roped into another 5x5 Roto league where they keep 6 players. Amazingly, apart from Jose Reyes, Takashi Saito and Alex Gordon, I only had junk to keep so this team is going to be a work in progress. OTOH, the draft went very well and I now have Hughes, IPK and Joba as well as Posada and Abreu. I also have Andre Ethier and Broxton from the Dodgers to go with the Yankees squad, so the team should be called The Donkees.
I like my chances of a top 3 finish with that one - I won't win homers or SB, but I'm in line to contest for a lead in W and Ks.
I've called my team the Ligers in honor of nothing so much as indecision. I wanted a bland kind of name, mayb with a big cat but didn't want to be 'Lions' or 'Tigers' so 'Ligers' it was.

The third team is a mystery league on the CBS site with a weekly roster change. My team was auto-drafted so I actually have excess shortstop and hardly any pitching. Yes, I have Reyes AND Derek Jeter as well as Yunesky Betancourt. So far, nobody has offered a trade, even though I've placed Betancourt on the block. I think I'll stink up this league. In fact, early signs are already there. I'm trwling the bottom badly this week. It's had to get anything going from the FA pool so far.

Fuk-U-Dome!
Kosuke Fukudome has an unfortunate spelling, but he can sure bat. His start with the Cubs this year has been with a bang, so I've picked him up in the JKM league. I even drafted him as a whim without knowing
where I'd play him in the 2nd Yahoo League. It's been sweet in 3 games. 159 to go!

AFL Fantasy
The Combat Wombats are back in the PJ League. This year I drafted guys I sort of recognised from my team last year - so it's really a continuation of the Combat Wombats who won the bottom half premiership. Wouldn't you know it, they've already sunk out of the Top 8 in the first 2 rounds. 1 more round to go before the Head to Head starts.
While I don't watch much AFL, I've actually been looking forward to coming back to this league. Its simplicity complements the complexities of trying to figure out the Jack Kerouac Memorial League.