KJNL Week 3 Recap

By Staff Writer: Brad Atkinson

Boston Red Sox over Toronto Blue Jays (7-5-0)

The Blue Jays split the categories they actually competed in, but 0 SB and 0 Holds leaves them out in the cold with a 7-5-0 defeat. High K totals by both teams and a nearly equal pitching match-up with the Jays starters keeping even with the Red Sox relief corps, but in the end, punting two categories killed the Jays.

MVP: Garrett Atkins - .345/.953 in six games with 2 HR.

Goat: Rickie Weeks - .091/.291 in six games with 2 R and no other stats.

Cleveland Indians over Detroit Tigers (9-3-0)

Indian bats killed last week, going 6-0 and none of the races were even close. A split in the pitching categories gets us to the above final score. The Tigers continue to be snakebit and fall to 0-3 . . . maybe the second trip through the division will be more productive.

MVP: Conor Jackson - .480/1.599 with 3 HR, 10 RBI and 10 R.

Goat: Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy – 4 GS, 0 W, 9.00 ERA, 2.1+ WHIP, 16 K in 18 IP.

Chicago White Sox over Seattle Mariners (7-5-0)

A very tight game was played here. The White Sox won BA by .002 and ERA by 0.05. A loss in either gets the Mariners a tie and a switch in both gives them a win . . . so it all came down to about 1 hit and 1 earned run for the week. That’s tough to take on the losing side and hard on the heart for the winners.

MVP: Billy Wagner – 4 IP, 3 SV, 3 K, 0 ERA and 0 WHIP; won saves category all alone.

Goat: Frank Thomas and Todd Helton in the Util spot - .125/.310 and 1 RBI between them.

Minnesota Twins over Kansas City Royals (9-3-0)

A nice, balanced performance put in by the Twins last week. They kind of punted saves getting only one, but the other two categories they lost were by only 1 SB and 2 HR. The Royals had a decent week, but it is hard to compete with the numbers that the Twins were putting up on the scoreboard.

MVP: Derrek Lee - .400/1.204, 3 HR, 7 R, 8 RBI.

Goat: Tom Gorzelanny – rocked in his only start – 2.2 IP, 7 ER, 10 H+BB.

Cincinnati Reds over Atlanta Braves (11-1-0)

What a batting week for the Reds, .347/1.047 as a team!! The Braves are putting up decent ratio numbers, but are falling behind in the accumulation categories, this is because their lineup isn’t being kept up with very well and there are some current holes.

MVP: Chipper Jones and David Wright - .544/1.704, 5 HR, 11 R, 16 RBI combined

Goat: Braves Owner – this team could really compete if someone would keep up daily with the rosters and pitchers.

Chicago Cubs over St. Louis Cardinals (7-4-1)

A dominating batting performance for the Cubs lets them coast on the pitching categories against a tough Cardinal staff and get a satisfying win. The NL East really locks up after these two games . . . three teams within 0.5 games of the lead and a third that will begin to compete if their owner ever pays attention.

MVP: Scott Olsen – 2-0, 0.64 ERA, 0.71 WHIP, did just enough to keep it from being a sweep for the Cards on the pitching side.

Goat: Yuniesky Betancourt – 4 RBI, but only batted .158/.353 for the week, Carlos Delgado was a close second here, but he only played 3 games.

Colorado Rockies over Arizona Diamondbacks (9-2-1)

After a slow start in week 1, the Rockies have been suitably dominant the last two weeks and have taken sole possession of second in the NL West setting up for a showdown in week 4 against their week 1 nemesis and division leader the Astros. The Diamondbacks continue their struggles to put up power numbers and a 1 W, 0 Sv, 1 Hld week is going to get you an 0-3 in those categories about every time.

MVP: Manny Ramirez - .417/1.476, 4 HR, 7 R, 8 RBI. Pedroia on surprise factor almost made it in here.

Goat: D’Backs Owner – Bergmann has been in the minors for weeks and why Messenger, Riske and Reyes are still being used out of the bullpen while pitchers like John Rauch pass waivers and pitchers like Doug Brocail and Wesley Wright are still FA is beyond me.

Houston Astros over Los Angeles Dodgers (5-4-3)

Bobby Crosby goes 3 for 4 with a BB on Sunday in the late afternoon to give the Astros a .005 BA win and a .011 OPS win while the Dodgers pick up a save and hold to even up those categories on the pitching side. The Astros were literally a double and a walk away from a 6-3-3 defeat this week, but the stats stand and they remain atop the division at 3-0.

MVP: Obviously, Bobby Crosby - .345/.939, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 5 R and his Sunday afternoon timeliness.

Goat: Johnny Peralta’s .136/.376 week in 22 AB’s killed the Dodgers in this week’s hotly contested categories.

Week 4 Match-ups:

These should all be repeats of our week 1 match-ups as we start a second trip through our divisions before taking off into interdivisional games for several weeks starting in week 7.

Rockies (2-1-0) at Astros (3-0-0): A fight for the NL West lead, the Rockies have gotten hot since a week 1 defeat and the Astros cooled last week . . . should be a good one to watch.

Dodgers (1-2-0) at Diamondbacks (0-3-0): The D’backs are the Dodgers only win, will it repeat or will there be a tie in the NL West cellar? The D’backs have some roster work to do to get competitive.

Cardinals (2-1-0) at Reds (2-1-0): The winner leads the NL East, hot batting against hot pitching . . . who comes out on top?

Braves (0-2-1) at Cubs (1-1-1): The Cubs can pull into second on their own with a win or in a tie for first if the Cards and Reds tie. That win possibility looks likely with the absentee owner of the Braves

Twins (2-1-0) at Mariners (2-1-0): The three way tie at the top of the AL West begins to sort it self out with this powerful match-up. Both teams will needs their A-games on to win here.

White Sox (2-1-0) at Royals (0-3-0): The White get the early break of playing the cellar dweller first in the round robin through the division in weeks 4-6, but the Mariners and Twins are both next on the list.

Indians (3-0-0) at Blue Jays (1-2-0): The Indians aren’t 3-0 by accident and punting categories like the Blue Jays did last week won’t help them at all here. Bring your bats, make sure your pitchers do their thing and hope that it’s enough to knock off the top dog.

Red Sox (2-1-0) at Tigers (0-3-0): The Tigers try to turn their bad luck around and get off the schneid against one of the better teams in the league. It may not be that the Tigers are bad, it may be that their division is just that good!

Good luck to everyone this week!