Results
AZ SnakePit 2, KarateMonkeyDeathCar 7
Karate beat AZ in a bit of a surprise, using good pitching to score 4.5 points out of five - wins ended tied at four apiece. Escobar lead them with a win and seven K's, though Morris had 8, a figure matched by AZ's Mussina, for whom Halladay had two wins. Ortiz (AZ) and Hafner (Karate) had three homers each, and Taveras (AZ) stole four bases.
Man of the Match: Swisher (Karate) - 6 R, 2 HR, 9 RBI, .348
DFA'ders 4, The Fighting Amish 6
Amish's victory guaranteed them a playoff spot: they batted .364 and stole 11 bases, led by Crawford's .583 and seven SB. The teams only hit eight HR and 46 RBI combined, but their pitchers had 11 saves: Rodriguez (Amish) had four, and Jones (DFA) three. K's went to DFA with three starters (Zambrano, Bedard, Kazmir) reaching double figures.
Man of the Match: Hamels (DFA) - 2 W, 16 K, 1.29 ERA
Uk Dbacks 4, GregSchulteOverdrive 6
UK ran off to an early lead, taking all the hitting points bar SB, behind three HR from Molina, and 13 RBIs for Can?. However, Greg swept pitching, albeit by a single win + save, and just 0.04 points of WHIP. Wagner's three saves and 0.50 WHIP were crucial, while Schilling joined Carpenter in posting double-digit K's.
Man of the Match: Carpenter (Greg) - 2 W, 13 K, 1.06 ERA, 0.65 WHIP
JByrnesIsMyHomie 7, Browncoats 3
Byrnes all but locked up top seed, being 20 points clear with two weeks to go. Despite not getting a win from their starters, they edged pitching - it helped that Browncoats had a somewhat Satanic 6.66 ERA, and no-one with more than 3 K's. Hitting was better, Byrnes batting over .300. However, this might not have been a playoff-worthy performance.
Man of the Match: Soriano (Byrnes) - 6 R, 2 HR, 2 SB, .323
BBTNG 9, BigLebowski 0
BBTNG steamrollered Big, a tie in WHIP being all that stood between them and a complete sweep. Some categories were close (one save, two runs, 4 K's), but not even Willis and Clemens (2 W, 26 K's between them) could give them victory. Dunn and Hunter has 2 HR for BBTNG, while Cuddyer drove in seven runs and Zito struck out 11.
Man of the Match: Figgins (BBTNG) - 8 R, 4 RBI, 3 SB, .310
7-2 Offsuiters 7, ?Chalino Sanchez! 2
7-2 continued their good run of form, having gone 28-16-6 in the past five weeks. Delgado had three homers as they won all hitting categories bar SBs, which was split. Sanchez batted only .235, but struck back in pitching, to take both wins and saves, with James notching two wins. However, 7-2 had a 2.21 ERA for the week, with a WHIP of 1.07,
Man of the Match: Garland (7-2) - 2 W, 10 K, 0.61 ERA
The Loose Seals 6, Random Fandom 4
Seals roared off to a 4-0 lead behind Damon's performance in the Boston-NY megaseries, but didn't clinch victory until the final category. Fandom came back hard in pitching, behind two wins and 14 K's for Santana and two more from the Big Unit. Harang had 13 K's and a win for Loose, and Rivera a crucial save, the only score for either side.
Man of the Match: Damon (Loose) - 6 R, 4 HR, 12 RBI, .390
Standings
W-L-T GB
*1. JByrnesIsMyHomie 132-51-17 -
*2. The Loose Seals 111-70-19 20
*3. The Fighting Amish 111-71-18 20.5
4. GregSchulteOverdrive 102-82-16 30.5
5. BBTNG 103-87-10 32.5
6. AZ SnakePit 95-91-14 38.5
7. DFA'ders 86-102-12 48.5
8. Random Fandom 86-102-12 48.5
9. 7-2 Offsuiters 82-99-19 49
10. Uk Dbacks 80-101-19 51
11. KarateMonkeyDeathCar 81-107-12 53.5
12. BigLebowski 78-109-13 56
13. Browncoats 73-110-17 59
14. ?Chalino Sanchez! 76-114-10 59.5
* = clinched playoff spot
Week 21 Matchups
AZ SnakePit vs. BBTNG
DFA'ders vs. KarateMonkeyDeathCar
Uk Dbacks vs. The Fighting Amish
JByrnesIsMyHomie vs. GregSchulteOverdrive
Browncoats vs. Random Fandom
7-2 Offsuiters vs. BigLebowski
The Loose Seals vs. ?Chalino Sanchez!
Byrnes vs. Greg is the TV selection, the former already qualified, the latter seeking to solidify their place. However, Byrnes have won eight straight matches, and have lost only one game this season, by a single point to KarateMonkeyDeathCar. In contrast, Greg have been spotty: since the two sides last met, they have seven wins, four losses and a tie. That previous meeting was in Week 8, and saw Byrnes win easily, 7-2, with Verlander winning two games and striking out 12. Greg are not assured of a playoff spot yet, and will be keen to ensure they get the highest seed possible. [If this seems familiar, it's 'cos I got my weeks confused and used this last time!]