KJNL Week 8 Recap

By Staff Writer: Brad Atkinson

The East put up a respectable 5-3 week this week, ending the dominance that the West has had over them the last two weeks. The top teams in each league (White Sox and Astros) keep on keeping on while all of their closest division rivals lose this week . . . those leads are really expanding. Finally, under new management and employing a little bit of the streaming pitchers strategy the Braves get their first win over the Dodgers . . . welcome to the league!! Now for individual re-caps.

Boston Red Sox over Minnesota Twins (9-3-0)
Two great batting weeks by the Twins and Red Sox and they split the batting side 3-3, but the Twins pitchers flop and they get swept on that side of the game. It wasn’t all the Twins fault though . . . the Red Sox were pretty good on that side of the ledger too.
MVP: Ordonez and Gonzalez had huge weeks, but the MVP is Scott Linbrink – 3.2 IP, 5 K, 2W, 1 Hld, 0.00 Whip.
Goat: No one truly awful, though Kason Gabbard was pretty bad in his one start.

Detroit Tigers over Seattle Mariners (7-4-1)
The “Cellar Dwellers” revenge . . . the bottom end of the AL East took on the contending Mariners and came out on top because of a great pitching performance and a 5-0-1 record on that side of the game. Put up a record like that and you only have to win one batting category and 38 runs and a .290 average are hard to beat. The Mariners continue to be good, but inconsistently so, especially on the pitching side of the ball.
MVP: Matsui and Cano – 0 HR, but . . . .420/1.070, 15 R, 10 RBI combined.
Goat: Teahen, Maine and Penny . . . 0/16 batting and 4 starts with 0 W and a 6.25 ERA.

Chicago White Sox over Cleveland Indians (9-2-1)
The current best team in the AL keeps streaking (6 in a row), while the former best team in the AL keeps sliding (3 in a row), though both are still first place teams. The Indians simply had an awful week on both sides of the game. The White Sox had a bad pitching week, but going 6-0 on the batting side makes it easy to win.
MVP: Takashi Saito – 4.1 IP, 8 K, 2 W, 2 Sv, 0.00 ERA, 0.46 Whip
Goat: Boof Bonser and Justin Upton – 2 Starts, 0W, 10.61 ERA and 0/20 swinging the bat.

Kansas City Royals over Toronto Blue Jays (8-4-0)
The battle of the bottom rungs goes to the West and the Royals putting up an impressive .330 BA for the week and having a pitching week that would have them contending with the top teams in the league. The Blue Jays pitched well too, they were just a bit short on amassing stats, almost like they had a few players sitting out or something.
MVP: Jason Bay - .480/1.496, 5 R, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 1 SB
Goat: No one really bad, but why Fred Lewis gets 6 starts in a week is beyond me.

St. Louis Cardinals over Colorado Rockies (8-4-0)
The Rockies suffer their first out of division loss to the first place Cardinals. The Rockies had an obviously off week hitting while the Cardinals excelled at everything except SB. The two teams split the pitching categories. It looked like the Rockies totals over all were down leading to this defeat.
MVP: Aaron Rowand - .364/1.059, 3 R, 2 HR, 9 RBI
Goat: Rockies SP – only 4 starts all week . . . very odd.

Atlanta Braves over Los Angeles Dodgers (6-5-1)
In the closest game of the week, by score anyhow, the Braves get their first win of the year, finally. The Braves were dominant on the pitching side while the Dodgers won on the batting side, though I wouldn’t call their performance dominating. The difference in this game was the fact that the Braves won on runs while the Dodgers could only manage a tie in holds.
MVP: Randy Winn - .318/1.019, 9 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 SB
Goat: Victor Martinez and Casey Blake - .152/.300, 2 R, 1 RBI combined.

Chicago Cubs over Arizona Diamondbacks (10-0-2)
Blowout!! Tied in runs and holds, otherwise it was all Cubs, and they needed it to climb back into the races. Their totals were impressive because the D’backs weren’t exactly off their game this week on the batting side, though their pitching left a lot to be desired. Not winning a single category is a tough thing.
MVP: Bengie Molina - .652/1.697, 5 R, 1 HR, 9 RBI
Goat: Diamondbacks owner leaving to DL players and a non-pitching pitcher in the lineup all week.

Houston Astros over Cincinnati Reds (7-5-0)
Not the closest game in terms of actual score, but in terms of stats, this game was won by the slimmest of margins. Orlando Cabrera went 2/4 with a double Sunday night. One extra base via hit or BB would have given the Reds a 6-6 tie. A bit more would have had to happen for them to actually win, but the margins were tight to say the least.
MVP: Jorge Cantu – 11 AB, .455/1.571, 4 R, 2 HR, 6 RBI – timely insertion
Goat: Johjima and Brian Schneider – only 4 games caught - .143/.400, 1 R combined

Week 9 Preview

Red Sox (4-4) at Royals (3-5)
The Royals try to continue their winning ways while the Red Sox try to continue their turnaround. The Red Sox have gained a game on the Indians despite going 1-2 the last three weeks.

Tigers (2-6) at Twins (5-3)
The Tigers look to celebrate their second win of the year after beating the Twins rival Mariners last week. The Twins look to get back on track and stay competitive in the tough AL West.

Indians (5-3) at Mariners (5-3)
Two teams that took tough losses last week meet up to see who can best get back on the winning side of things. Unlike the Mariners, the Indians can maybe afford to lose this game, but that doesn’t mean that they want their losing streak to continue.

Blue Jays (1-7) at White Sox (7-1)
Two teams headed in opposite directions go head-to-head in this game . . . will the two 6 games streaks continue or will they both end here?

Cardinals (5-3) at Diamondbacks (2-6)
The first place team gets to finish off inter-division play in the NL with the last place D’backs. Arizona is looking to put up a better showing this week than last week and they will need it, the Cardinals do not occupy first place by luck alone.

Braves (1-6-1) at Astros (8-0)
The worst team in the league travels to the best team in the league this week, but the Braves are under new management and haven’t lost under him yet. Of course, the same can be said of the Astros with a larger sample size.

Cubs (3-4-1) at Dodgers (3-5)
Two teams struggling to get back into the races square off against one another. LA is trying to come back from losing two in a row while the Cubs want to start a winning streak.

Reds (4-4) at Rockies (5-3)
Both high flying teams came back to earth last week and now they get up, dust themselves off and go at one another. It’s too early to call this a battle for the wild card but this is the only game between these two teams and head-to-head record is the first tie-breaker.

Good luck to everyone this week!!