Evaluating the Fantasy Baseball Keepers, Round 3

We're quickly approaching the All Star Break for the 2012 Fantasy Baseball Season and it's time to take another look at the Lushbucket Baseball League's Keepers. A reminder for those of you not in the league, we get three keeper players per year. The round that you originally draft the player is the round you get him if you "keep" him. If you didn't draft him the previous season, but want to keep him, then he slots into your first available draft pick. The round the players went in this year's draft is listed in parentheses. Players who made the All Star team this year have an asterisk by their name.

Flying Cave Donkies (84-38-8):

Photo Credit: blog.pennlive.com

Justin Verlander* (7) - 2.58 ERA, 9-5, 128 K

Stephen Strasburg* (18) - 2.81 ERA, 9-3, 122 K
Bryce Harper (19) - .283, 8 HR, 25 RBI, 8 SB


BJ's Upton Here (76-45-9):

Jacoby Ellsbury (8) - .192, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 0 SB (on DL)

Curtis Granderson* (14) - .241, 23 HR, 48 RBI, 6 SB

Adam Wainwright (21) - Cut 5/17

Lonesome Pine (63-60-7):

Photo Credit: halohangout.com

Albert Pujols (1) - .273, 13 HR, 49 RBI, 6 SB

Ricky Romero (16) - Cut 6/27

J.J. Putz (14) - 4.85 ERA, 1-4, 28 K, 14 SV

Diaper Dooty (62-59-9):

Photo Credit: blogs.ajc.com

 Craig Kimbrel* (1) - 1.45 ERA, 0-1, 52 K, 23 SV

Ryan Braun* (2) - .305, 23 HR, 59 RBI, 13 SB

Tim Lincecum (3) - 6.08 ERA, 3-9, 101 K

Los Cuñados (54-68-8):

Photo Credit: countingbaseballs.mlblogs.com

Troy Tulowitzki (1) - .287, 8 HR, 27 RBI, 2 SB (on DL)

Matt Kemp* (4) - .355, 12 HR, 28 RBI, 2 SB (on DL)

Clayton Kershaw* (6) - 2.65 ERA, 6-4, 112 K


Laser Show (51-72-7):

Photo Credit: marauderstigers.blogspot.com

Miguel Cabrera* (1) - .325, 18 HR, 70 RBI, 3 SB

CC Sabathia* (6) - 3.45 ERA, 9-3, 105 K (on DL)

John Axford (14) - 4.86 ERA, 2-5, 47 K, 14 SV

Out of Retirement (49-73-8):

Photo Credit: articles.nydailynews.com

Robinson Cano* (1) - .316, 20 HR, 50 RBI, 1 SB

Cole Hamels* (8) - 3.20 ERA, 10-4, 118 K

Dan Haren (11) - 4.86 ERA, 6-8, 86 K (on DL)

21 Fluffy Bunnies (50-74-6):

Photo Credit: timesunion.com

Nelson Cruz (4) - .257, 11 HR, 50 RBI, 6 SB

Gio González* (14) - 3.01 ERA, 11-3, 112 K

So that's where we are right now. 21 of 23 keepers still on rosters, but 5 of those 21 are on the DL right now. And then surprisingly only 12 of the 23 keepers made an all star team, with none of us getting all our keepers on the squad. But hey, it's our first keeper league, so what do you expect?

Lushbucket Baseball League - Week 11 Recap

Photo Credit: blog.searchdat.com

Apparently we had a wedding in the LBBL this week as our own Brian Steuerwald tied the knot this weekend. Just for that, I promise not to pick on his last place team this week. Instead I'll relish in the fact the the Donkies have moved into first place by means of some unknown tiebreaker. Sure, it's Week 11, but I'm still going to enjoy the moment. Also, what's going on with the Laser Show? Six straight weeks without a win? Here's a look at the rest of Week 11:

Lushbucket Baseball League - Week 10 Recap

Photo Credit: facebook.com

We had a Brian Steuerwald sighting in Week 10 as our resident cellar dweller made 8 moves and made it back-to-back weeks without a loss after drawing 5-5 with Los Cuñados. Meanwhile the Donkies pulled out a deceptive 9-1 win over Lonesome Pine. We were basically losing the entire week and eked out about 5 categories on the final day. We're still having issues at first base though. Billy Butler did manage to hit .300 for the week, but didn't drive in a single run, and only scored once. That's just not going to cut it. Here's a look at the rest of Week 10:

Evaluating the Fantasy Baseball Keepers, Round 2

Nine weeks into the 2012 Fantasy Baseball Season and it's time to take another look at the Lushbucket Baseball League's Keepers. A reminder for those of you not in the league, we get three keeper players per year. The round that you originally draft the player is the round you get him if you "keep" him. If you didn't draft him the previous season, but want to keep him, then he slots into your first available draft pick. The round the players went in this year's draft is listed in parentheses.

BJ's Upton Here (56-29-5):

Photo Credit: articles.nydailynews.com

Jacoby Ellsbury (8) - .192, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 0 SB (on DL)

Curtis Granderson (14) - .261, 17 HR, 33 RBI, 3 SB

Adam Wainwright (21) - Cut 5/17

Lushbucket Baseball League - Week 9 Recap

Photo Credit: bleacherreport.com

All four matchups this week in the LBBL were decided by two points or less in arguably the most competitive week of the 2012 Fantasy Baseball Season. My matchup with the first place defending champs came down to the wire and I missed a 5-5 tie by 7 thousandths of a point in WHIP. Serves me right too as the main culprit blowing up my staff's numbers was Adam Wainwright, who I poached off of BJ's Upton Here a couple weeks ago. Oh well. On a brighter note, newly acquired Chris Sale got us a win and I finally had a first baseman (Billy Butler) hit over .200 this week so things are looking up. Here's a look at the rest of Week 9:

Lushbucket Baseball League - Week 8 Recap

Photo Credit: komonews

As Albert Pujols goes, so does Pete and the Lonesome Pine. In the blink of an eye, Pete's gone from the laughingstock of the LBBL into third place after a 6-3 win over Diaper Dooty. In other news, another win for the Donkies as we've closed the gap on the defending champs to a game and a half leading into our Week 9 head-to-head showdown. Unfortunately both of my acquisitions last week - Adam LaRoche (.190) and Ted Lilly (21.60) - are no longer with the club. We're now auditioning our second different Royals first baseman in Billy Butler and we snatched up Adam Wainwright on the heels of his 4-hit shutout of San Diego. He's since followed that up with a 6 inning 1 run win over the Phillies, so hopefully he's starting to find himself. Here's a look at the rest of the league in Week 8:

Lushbucket Baseball League Recap - Week 7

Seven weeks in the books in the LBBL and now everyone has played each other once. At the end of the first round, the defending champ maintains a two game lead over the Donkies, but the real surprise is that there's only one other team over .500. Gotta love parity.

Anyhow, finally cut ties with Eric Hosmer this week in favor of Washington's Adam LaRoche. We're almost to the end of May and Hosmer still isn't hitting .200 so the writing was on the wall. Also lost my first player to the DL this week as Neftali Feliz went down, but thankfully Ted Lilly and his 1.79 ERA were still available. Here's a look at the rest of the league in Week 7:

Evaluating the Fantasy Baseball Keepers

We're about a month and a half into Fantasy Baseball this year. Let's check out and see how the Lushbucket Baseball League's Keepers are doing. For those of you not in the league, we get three keeper players per year. The round that you originally draft the player is the round you get him if you "keep" him. If you didn't draft him the previous season, but want to keep him, then he slots into your first available draft pick. The round the players went in this year's draft is listed in parentheses.

BJ's Upton Here:

Photo Credit: articles.nydailynews.com

Jacoby Ellsbury (8) - .192, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 0 SB (on DL)

Curtis Granderson (14) - .257, 13 HR, 23 RBI, 1 SB

Adam Wainwright (21) - 6.16 ERA, 2-4, 39 K

Lushbucket Baseball League Recap - Week 6

The boys only hit .254 this week, but it was enough to beat Frank 9-0 sending the Donkies into second place. Still not getting production up and down the lineup though and I'm thinking it's getting to be about time to cut ties with Eric Hosmer. I really thought the Royals first baseman would break out this year, but he's actually got a lower batting average than Albert Pujols right now and this year that's saying something. I'm a little concerned about Heath Bell and his 10.03 ERA as well, but at least he got me a pair of wins out of the Marlins pen this week. Anyhow, here's a rundown of Week 6:

Diamond Notes - 5/11/12

PETTITTE SET TO DEBUT SUNDAY

Photo Credit: thetimes-tribune.com

After just four starts in the minors, Andy Pettitte is ready to return to the show. The 39 year old lefty will make his 2012 Major League debut on Sunday when he takes the mound for New York against Blake Beavan and the Seattle Mariners at Yankee Stadium. Pettitte was 0-2 with a 3.71 ERA in his 4 minor league appearances, but showed good command walking just 3 and striking out 13 in his 17 innings of work. The Mariners (15-18) are hitting just .234 as a team, the second lowest average in the American League.

VLAD SIGNS MINOR LEAGUE DEAL WITH TORONTO

Photo Credit: tsn.ca

Vladimir Guerrero isn't done yet. They 37 year old veteran designated hitter just inked a minor league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. Guerrero hit .290 in 145 games with the Baltimore Orioles last year, but hit just 13 home runs, his lowest total since his rookie year back in 1997 with the Expos. Guerrero needs just 1 home run to reach 450 for his career and he'll enter the season sitting on 2590 hits. While there's no guarantee he'll suit up as a Blue Jay, it's certainly not a bad gamble for a team struggling to get production from first base. While Guerrero can't help them there, current DH Edwin Encarnacion can fill in at first base while pushing the struggling Adam Lind (.190 3 HRs 10 RBIs) to the bench.

HAMILTON'S HUGE DAY

Photo Credit: pinstripedbible.com

Josh Hamilton bashed 4 home runs against the Orioles on Tuesday becoming just the 16th player in major league history to accomplish the feat. Hamilton finished the day 5 for 5 and drove in eight runs. How does he stack up compared to the other 15 guys who hit 4 homers in a game? Let's take a look:

Bobby Lowe - Boston Beaneaters vs Cincinnati Reds - May 30, 1894 - 71 Career HRs
Ed Delahanty - Philadelphia Phillies vs Chicago Colts - July 13, 1896 - 101 Career HRs
Lou Gehrig - New York Yankees vs Philadelphia A's - June 3, 1932 - 493 Career HRs
Chuck Klein - Philadelphia Phillies vs Pittsburgh Pirates - July 10, 1936 - 300 Career HRs
Pat Seerey - Chicago White Sox vs Philadelphia A's - July 18, 1948 - 86 Career HRs
Gil Hodges - Brooklyn Dodgers vs Boston Braves - August 31, 1950 - 370 Career HRs
Joe Adcock - Milwaukee Braves vs Brooklyn Dodgers - July 31, 1954 - 336 Career HRs
Rocky Colavito - Cleveland Indians vs Baltimore Orioles - June 10, 1959 - 374 Career HRs
Willie Mays - San Francisco Giants vs Milwaukee Braves - April 30, 1961 - 660 Career HRs
Mike Schmidt - Philadelphia Phillies vs Chicago Cubs - April 17, 1976 - 548 Career HRs
Bob Horner - Atlanta Braves vs Montreal Expos - July 6, 1986 - 218 Career HRs
Mark Whiten - St. Louis Cardinals vs Cincinnati Reds - September 7, 1993 - 105 Career HRs
Mike Cameron - Seattle Mariners  vs Chicago White Sox - May 2, 2002 - 278 Career HRs
Shawn Green - Los Angeles Dodgers vs Milwaukee Brewers - May 23, 2002 - 328 Career HRs
Carlos Delgado - Toronto Blue Jays vs Tampa Bay Devil Rays - September 25, 2003 - 473 Career HRs
Josh Hamilton - Texas Rangers vs Baltimore Orioles - May 8, 2012 - 133 Career HRs

*Hall of Famers in Bold

Lushbucket Baseball League - Week 5 Recap

Got bailed out by the official scorer this week as James Shields had 3 earned runs taken off the board giving me a last minute win in ERA and salvaging a 5-5 draw with Diaper Dooty. It's a stretch to say I really "won" in ERA though as my staff posted an ERA of 5.91 for the week. How does a group that consists of Justin Verlander, Stephen Strasburg, Zack Greinke, Josh Johnson, James Shields, Neftali Feliz, Joe Nathan, Heath Bell, Jason Motte and Joel Hanrahan post an ERA that high? Whatever, guess I can't really complain. At least we didn't lose. Here's a rundown of Week 5:

Diamond Notes

2012 just has a weird feel to it, doesn't it? Albert Pujols has one home run (he finally hit it today), the Orioles just swept the Red Sox at Fenway in a game won by Chris Davis (the infielder) in which he struck out Adrian Gonzalez (the all-star), Mariano Rivera tore his ACL shagging fly balls, Derek Jeter is hitting .900... Is the end of the world upon us? I mean what's the deal? Anyhow, here's some notes from around the league:

ORIOLES SHOCK SOX IN 17 INNINGS

Photo Credit: hosted2.ap.org

Today started with Chris Davis as the Orioles designated hitter. Somehow, he managed to go 0 for 8 with 5 strikeouts, ground into a double play, and still be the hero. Davis pitched 2 scoreless innings - albeit thanks to a tremendous relay throw from J.J. Hardy to cut down Marlon Byrd at the plate in the bottom of the 16th - and the Orioles got a 3-run home run from Adam Jones to defeat Boston 9-6 in 17 innings. Boston's DH, outfielder Darnell McDonald, took the loss on the mound for Boston. Davis struck out Jarrod Saltalamacchia AND Adrian Gonzalez and induced a game-ending double play off the bat of McDonald for the improbable win. Gonzalez, like Davis, went 0 for 8 only he didn't get to be the hero. A total of fourteen relievers were used by both teams prior to Davis and McDonald taking the mound. They combined to throw 23 innings allowing just one earned run and striking out 25. Boston has now dropped 5 in a row and they were swept by the Orioles at Fenway for the first time since 1994.

EX-OPENING DAY STARTERS DUKE IT OUT IN AAA

Photo Credit: washingtonpost.com / royalscorner.blogspot.com

How often do former opening day starters face off against one another... in AAA? That was the site today when John Lannan (Nationals, 2009/10) and Scott Elarton (Royals, 2006) went head-to-head as the Lehigh Valley IronPigs hosted the Syracuse Chiefs in International League Action. The 36 year old Elarton, whom the Houston Astros were once so high on that they actually refused to include him in a deal for Roger Clemens, won this round as he threw 6 scoreless innings in Lehigh Valley's 11-2 win. Elarton is now 3-1 on the year with a 2.84 ERA as he attempts to return to the majors for the first time since 2008. Lannan falls to 2-3 with the loss.

MELANCON PERFORMING AT AAA

Photo Credit: bleacherreport.com

Speaking of AAA, after a nightmarish four game stretch with Boston, Mark Melancon appears to be finding himself down on the farm with the PawSox. The 27 year old former-Astro has tossed 7 2/3 scoreless innings since his demotion walking none and striking out 12.

PUJOLS FINALLY GETS ONE

Photo Credit: newstimes.com

Albert Pujols FINALLY connected for his first home run as an Angel, a 385 foot shot off Toronto rookie Drew Hutchinson, finally putting his 2012 homerless streak to an end. But despite the homer, Pujols is hitting just .196 on the year with 7 runs batted in. And here's a list of 20 guys who still have more home runs than he does:

Howie Kendrick
Jed Lowrie
Dexter Fowler
Kyle Seager
Lucas Duda
Travis Hafner
Cody Ransom
Jason Bay
Colby Rasmus
Nate Schierholtz
Dayan Viciedo
Clint Barmes
Travis Ishikawa
Jack Hannahan
Joe Mather
Jemile Weeks
Gordon Beckham
Logan Morrison
Andy Dirks
Zack Cozart

A List of Players With More Home Runs Than Albert Pujols

Photo Credit: foxsportswest.com

The Machine is broken. Albert Pujols went hitless again tonight extending his homerless streak in 2012 to 27 games and 108 at bats. Pujols is hitting just .194 since joining the Angels and has only driven in five runs. To put that in perspective, Houston's Chris Johnson drove in six runs on Wednesday alone.

Photo Credit: espn.go.com

Some players who currently have more home runs on the year than Albert Pujols:

Scott Rolen
Jason Giambi
Rick Ankiel
Rafael Furcal
Ichiro Suzuki
Brandon Inge
Mark Kotsay
Chone Figgins
Jeff Keppinger
Yadier Molina
Starlin Castro
Tyler Pastornicky
Yamaico Navarro
Daniel Descalso
Chris Denorfia (who I pitched against in college)
Trevor Plouffe
Kirk Nieuwenhuis
Mike Moustakas
Jason Kipnis
Eric Sogard
Clete Thomas
Robert Andino
Cliff Pennington
Freddy Galvis
Devin Mesoraco

Props to you if you can actually name the teams that all 25 of these guys play for without looking it up. And how ridiculous is it that 41 year old Jason Giambi has more home runs and the same amount of RBIs as Albert Pujols this far into the season??? Giambi only had 18 at bats on the year entering play tonight!

Photo Credit: tumblr.com

Lushbucket Baseball League - Week 4 Recap

Four weeks into Fantasy Baseball and we're finally starting to see a little bit of separation between the top and the bottom, but there's still a long way to go. After a disappointing Week 3, the Flying Cave Donkies got back to their winning ways thanks to an offensive explosion and a league high 12 home runs. We got outpiched again though as Stewy's staff posted 5 wins with a 1.43 ERA and 0.69 WHIP denying us a sweep. Here's a rundown of Week 4:

Lushbucket Baseball League - Week 3 Recap

It doesn't happen often, but my boys were outpitched this week.  Despite 6 wins and a 1.72 ERA, i only took 3 of the 5 pitching categories and came up short by a final score of 6-3 giving us our first loss of the young season. Tough to win when you post some of these gems though: Eric Hosmer (.130), Justin Upton (.100), Carlos Gonzalez (.158), Austin Jackson (.118)... Oh well, can't win 'em all. Here's a look at the rest of Week 3:

Lushbucket Baseball League - Week 2 Recap

Another successful week for the Flying Cave Donkies as we knock off the defending champs 5-3 thanks in large part to Jacoby Ellsbury winding up on the DL. Here's a look back at Week 2 of the Lushbucket Baseball League:

Lushbucket Baseball League - Week 1 Recap

Fantasy Baseball is officially underway. Here's a look back at Week 1 of the Lushbucket Baseball League:

Top Performers:

Runs - Matt Kemp (Dodgers) - 6
HRs - Miguel Cabrera (Tigers), Jay Bruce (Reds), Corey Hart (Brewers), Yoenis Céspedes (A's) - 3
RBIs - Matt Kemp (Dodgers), Andre Ethier (Dodgers), Miguel Cabrera (Tigers) - 8
SBs - Starlin Castro (Cubs) - 4
Avg - David Wright (Mets) - .667 (6/9)

ERA - Jeremy Hellickson (Rays) - 0.00 (8 2/3 IP)
WHIP - Roy Halladay (Phillies) - 0.25 (8 IP)
W - Duane Below (Tigers) - 2
SV - Frank Francisco (Mets) - 3
SO - Felix Hernandez (Mariners) - 13



Best Available:

Runs - Mark Ellis (Dodgers), Austin Jackson (Tigers), Kelly Johnson (Blue Jays) - 5
HRs - Nick Markais (Orioles), Aaron Hill (D-Backs), Adam LaRoche (Nationals), Lucas Duda (Mets), Carlos Peña (Rays) - 2
RBIs - Carlos Peña (Rays) - 7
SBs - Cameron Maybin (Padres), Rafael Furcal (Cardinals) - 2
Avg - Austin Jackson (Tigers) - .571 (8/14)

ERA - Chad Billingsley (Dodgers) - 0.00 (8 1/3 IP)
WHIP - Kyle Lohse (Cardinals) - 0.27 (7 1/3 IP)
W - Duane Below (Tigers) - 2
SV - Frank Francisco (Mets) - 3
SO - Chad Billingsley (Dodgers) - 11



Worst Move of the Week:

Congratulations to BJ's Upton Here for this 4-day nightmare:

4/5 - Added Alfredo Aceves
4/8 - Dropped Alfredo Aceves

Aceves's line for the week: 0 IP 4 H 3 ER 1 BSV. Andrew Bailey cannot get healthy soon enough.

Lushbucket Baseball League Fantasy Draft Results

You know baseball season is getting close when your league's fantasy draft goes down. We held our annual Lushbucket Baseball League Fantasy Draft tonight and the Flying Cave Donkies are poised for redemption. No third place finish this year, it's time to get back to winning titles. We did something a little different this season opting to go with a keeper league for the first time in our league history. Basically we could keep up to three players from our roster last year. Whatever round you drafted the players in originally, that's the round you got them in in this year's draft. Here's how my draft shook out, my keepers have asterisks:

Photo Credit: sportsillustrated.cnn.com

1 (6) - Justin Upton - Arizona - OF
2 (11) - Carlos Gonzalez - Colorado - OF
3 (22) - Andrew McCutchen - Pittsburgh - OF
4 (27) - Zack Greinke - Milwaukee - SP
5 (38) - Buster Posey - San Francisco - C
6 (43) - Asdrubal Cabrera - Cleveland - SS
7 (54) - Justin Verlander - Detroit - SP*
8 (59) - James Shields - Tampa Bay - SP
9 (70) - Matt Moore - Tampa Bay - SP
10 (75) - Josh Johnson - Miami - SP
11 (86) - Heath Bell - Miami - RP
12 (91) - Eric Hosmer - Kansas City - 1B
13 (102) - Joel Hanrahan - Pittsburgh - RP
14 (107) - Dustin Ackley - Seattle - 2B
15 (118) - David Freese - St. Louis - 3B
16 (123) - Neftali Feliz - Texas - RP
17 (134) - Jason Motte - St. Louis - RP
18 (139) - Stephen Strasburg - Washington - SP*
19 (150) - Bryce Harper - Washington - OF*
20 (155) - Joe Nathan - Texas - RP
21 (166) - Peter Bourjos - Los Angeles Angels - OF

As with most years, I went pitching heavy, and once again I'm really happy with my pitching staff. Verlander, Shields, Greinke, Josh Johnson, Strasburg, Matt Moore... That's quite a rotation.  A little worried about the offense, but six of my guys had double digit homers and steals in 2011, and I could see guys like Hosmer, Ackley, Upton, McCutchen and Bourjos taking big steps forward. We'll see how it comes together. Either way, I'm pumped about the season. Let's go Donkies!

Quick Hits - 9/20/11

Ok, so I spent the last few days up in New England for a wedding and a little vacation time with the wife so once again I find myself with far too much stuff to write about right now. So, similar to last week, here's a quick hit list of what's going on around the sports world and my thoughts in a sentence or two:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

1) Why even show up when you're facing Justin Verlander? - The Tigers ace won yet again on Sunday tossing 8 shutout innings against the Oakland A's and improving to 24-5 on the year. Verlander, who now leads the American League in Wins (24), Strikeouts (244) and ERA (2.29) became the first pitcher since 1978 to win at least 24 games and strike out at least 240 hitters. Verlander may just start one more time this season as he's next scheduled to throw against Baltimore on Saturday.

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

2) Mariano All Time Saves Leader - Mariano Rivera struck out Twins rookie Chris Parmelee to cap off a 1-2-3 9th inning and pass Trevor Hoffman to become baseball's all time saves leader on Monday afternoon with the 602nd save of his career. Rivera now has 43 saves on the year and a 1.98 ERA. Don't overlook the importance of his supporting cast though. Setup man David Robertson has been sensational this year. He threw a scoreless 8th inning last night to earn his 34th hold, and lower his ERA to 1.13 in 67 appearances.

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

3) Tigers Clinch First Division Title Since 1987 - The last time the Tigers clinched a division, they had Jack Morris, Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, Frank Tanana, Matt Nokes and Doyle Alexander. That changed on Friday when Doug Fister helped pitch the Tigers to a 3-1 win over Oakland and they were able to clinch the AL Central joining the Phillies as the only two teams to have clinched a postseason berth thus far.

4) Boston Lead Down to Two - Following Tampa's taking 3 of 4 from Boston this weekend, the Rays were able to knock Boston's lead in the Wild Card down to 2 games as we enter the final week and a half of the regular season. Boston's stretch run got off to a rough start yesterday with a double-header in Boston that saw them lose the opener 6-5 and have to rally to win the nightcap 18-9 to maintain their two game lead over idle Tampa. Neither of Boston's starters got through 5 innings forcing the bullpen to eat 9 more innings between the two games. Tampa starts a 4 game series in New York against the division leading Yankees today. Speaking of collapses...

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

5) Atlanta's Lead is Down to Two and Half - Ex-Atlanta Brave Omar Infante homered off of Craig Kimbrel with two outs in the bottom of the 9th to give the Marlins a 6-5 win over the Atlanta Braves. That loss coupled with the Cardinals 4-3 win over Roy Halladay and Philadelphia means that the Braves lead in the Wild Card is getting uncomfortably small. The Braves have dropped 7 of their last 10 including a 3-game sweep at the hands of surging St. Louis while the Cardinals have won 8 of their last 10 including last night. The Cardinals would appear to have the advantage in schedule down the stretch as they have 3 at home against New York, 3 at home against Chicago, and then 3 on the road against league-worst Houston while Atlanta has 2 in Florida, 3 in Washington and 3 at home against the Phillies.

6) Strasburg Goes Six on Saturday - Stephen Strasburg made his longest start of the season on Saturday going 6 innings against the Marlins and giving up just 1 run on 4 hits. He needed just 61 pitches to get through the 6 innings, striking out only 3, but once again not walking a batter. In 3 starts with the Nationals, Strasburg has a 1.29 ERA and is holding opposing hitters to a batting average of just .188. He's walked none and fanned 11 in 14 innings of work. Strasburg is slated to pitch again on Friday against Tim Hudson and the Braves.

7) Kennedy Wins Number 20 -  Ian Kennedy became the first National Leaguer to reach 20 wins on Monday night tossing 8 shutout innings allowing just 1 hit, a single to opposing pitcher Jeff Karstens, and fanning 12 in a 1-0 victory. The game's only run came on a broken bat home run off the bat of Justin Upton, his 31st of the season.

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

EUROPEAN SOCCER

8) Manchester United Wins Again - 5 games into the season, United has a cool 15 points and have outscored their opponents 21-4. Wayne Rooney scored his 9th goal of the season and despite missing a 2nd half penalty, United still cruised to a 3-1 win over rival Chelsea. Manchester City finally failed to match United win for win drawing with Fulham 2-2 to drop to second place at 4-0-1.

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

9) Arsenal Having All Kinds of Problems - While everything is going right for United, Arsenal finds themselves in 17th place 5 games into the Premier League season with a record of 1-3-1 and following Saturday's 4-3 loss to Blackburn Rovers, they have now conceded 14 goals in just 5 matches.

10) Real Madrid Stunned by Levante - Real Madrid lost just 4 games all of last season in Spain while Levante finished in 14th place with a record of 12-17-9. None of that mattered on Sunday as Sami Khedira was sent off in the 40th minute and Arouna Koné scored midway through the second half to give Levante the surprising 1-0 win. Meanwhile Barcelona blew out Osasuna 8-0 behind 3 goals from Lionel Messi and a brace from David Villa.

Photo Credit: thetop.in

11) Stuart Holden Ready to Return - American Stuart Holden will return to the pitch today for Bolton Wanderers in their Carling Cup match against Aston Villa. Holden has been out of the lineup since suffering a brutal knee injury in March against Manchester United.

WOMEN'S SOCCER

12) Wambach Scores - USA draws with Canada - In the American women's first match since their crushing shootout loss in the World Cup Final to Japan, the USA drew with Canada 1-1 in Kansas City on Saturday. Abby Wambach converted an early penalty kick, her 123rd goal for the United States, but the Americans couldn't hold on to the lead conceding a late first half goal to Melissa Tancredi, and neither side would score in the second half. The two sides will meet again in Portland, Oregon on Thursday.

Photo Credit: nbcsports.msnbc.com

EUROBASKET 2011

13) Spain Wins Championship - Juan Carlos Navarro scored 27 points and Pau Gasol had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds as Spain retained the European crown with a 98-85 win over France. France got 11 points and 8 rebounds from Joakim Noah, 26 points and 5 assists from Tony Parker, and 12 points and 7 assists from Boris Diaw, but the Spaniards just had too many weapons. Spain lost just one game the entire tournament, in the first round to Turkey, going 10-1 en route to the title. Russia, who also only lost once the entire tournament, defeated Macedonia 72-68 in the third place game behind 18 points and 7 rebounds from Andrei Kirilenko. Tony Parker led all players in scoring with 22.1 points per game while ex-University of New Orleans point guard Bo McCalebb averaged 21.4 points for Macedonia.

Photo Credit: fibaeurope.com

FANTASY BASEBALL
14) LBBL Finals - My bid at back-to-back championships has fallen short after dropping a 6-4 match to Itchy Buchholz in the semifinals. What's ironic about this is that I'm the one who actually drafted his team since he missed the draft. Last time I'm doing that... Ultimately what killed me though was our inability to hit. Last week the Flying Cave Donkies hit a collective .239 thanks to Joe Mauer (.167), Freddie Freeman (.118), Ian Kinsler (.154), David Wright (.207) and Carlos Gonzalez (.167). Considering that that's half of my starting lineup, it's not hard to see why we lost. It's all right though. I successfully made it through the season with my 'keepers' Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg, so if nothing else, at least the future looks bright.


NFL

15) Giants Defeat Rams On Monday Night - In a matchup between two teams that have been devastated by injuries, the Giants came away victorious against St. Louis 28-16 last night. Eli Manning threw for 200 yards and a pair of touchdowns including an acrobatic catch by Domenik Hixon as the Giants got their first win of the year. Sam Bradford, despite being without weapons Steven Jackson and Danny Amendola, threw for 331 yards in a losing effort.

Photo Credit: newyork.cbslocal.com

16) Jamaal Charles Injury - The season is over for Jamaal Charles. The Chiefs 24 year old running back, coming off of back-to-back 1000 yard rushing seasons is headed to the injured reserve with a torn ACL sustained in Sunday's loss to Detroit. Charles joins Pro Bowl safety Eric Berry and tight end Tony Moeaki on the IR as the Chiefs' season continues to go from bad to worse. Thomas Jones and Dexter McCluster are expected to carry the load at running back in Charles' absence.

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