Results
AZ SnakePit 3, GregSchulteOverdrive 5
Despite being, effectively, two men short, AZ held their own in batting, with David Ortiz having more HR than Greg's entire side. However, the pitching skewed strongly to Greg, though wins and saves were split. Sabathia had 14 K's and a 0.60 ERA for them, helping Greg to victory in both categories.
Man of the Match: Ortiz (AZ) - 6 R, 5 HR, 8 RBI, .370
DFA'ders 4, Browncoats 6
Not exactly a great pitching duel here, with the teams managing only one win combined, and posting ERA's over 5.00. Both categories went to Brown, and that was the difference between these two teams. DFA did better on hitting, though there two, individual performances were lackluster, with nobody on either side scoring more than four runs or driving in more than five.
Man of the Match: Martinez (Brown) - 9 K, 1.50 ERA, 0.67 WHIP
UK Dbacks 2, JByrnesIsMyHomie 8
With this victory, Byrnes became the first team to clinch a playoff spot, and did it with hitting, a good all-round team effort overcoming Howard's 12-RBI week for UK. Both sides batted above .300, but seven runs from Jackson and Guerrero, and 7 Dye RBIs, helped Byrnes sweep the board there. UK pitchers were winless, but did take saves and overall ERA. Smoltz and Capuano had double-digit K's for Byrnes.
Man of the Match: Soriano (Byrnes) - 6 R, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 2 SB
The Fighting Amish 1, BigLebowski 6
Both sides piled up exactly 50 K's - Olsen for Amish had 16, despite a 5.11 ERA; Johnson (Amish), Pettitte and new D'back L.Hernandez (both Big) also hit double figures. However, Big did it with a 2.47 ERA, less than half that of Byrnes. They also took most hitting areas, batting .378, though Rollins 8 runs helped Amish to a tie there too. HR, RBI and SB were all close.
Man of the Match: Furcal (Big) - 7 R, 9 RBI, SB, .414
KarateMonkeyDeathCar 7, ?Chalino Sanchez! 3
This was another game where wins were at a premium, Hern?ndez getting the only one, for Karate. Chalino took HR, behind four from Teixeira, and SB (two from Podsednik were enough), but points were otherwise hard to come by. The loss of Liriano sunk them, and only Peavy had more than 6 K's for either side. Ramirez had 3 homers and 7 RBI for Karate.
Man of the Match: Hafner (Karate) - 8 R, 4 HR, 9 RBI, .385
BBTNG 2, The Loose Seals 7
Cuddyer had nine runs and Ramirez eight for BBTNG, but Loose still swept the board in hitting, though only three runs and one homer separated the teams. Haren's two wins helped BBTNG take wins and overall ERA, though both teams were sub-3.00 in the latter area. Schmidt and Vazquez posted 10 and 13 K's respectively, and Seals posted an excellent WHIP of just 1.09.
Man of the Match: Reyes (Seals) - 8 R, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 2 SB, .360
7-2 Offsuiters 5, Random Fandom 3
Despite three players batting .400 or more for the week, 7-2's figure of .308 still wasn't enough, Fandom hitting .313, behind Blake's .476 and Guillen's .429. SB's and Wins were tied, but Morneau's 12 RBIs power 7-2 to victory there - Glaus also had 4 HR for them, as Blake did for 7-2. Myers and Santana led K's with eight, but 7-2's pitcher had better overall stats.
Man of the Match: Cabrera (7-2) - 5 R, 2 HR, 11 RBI, .407
Standings
W-L-T GB
*1. JByrnesIsMyHomie 118-46-16 -
2. The Fighting Amish 99-63-18 18
3. The Loose Seals 97-64-19 19.5
4. GregSchulteOverdrive 91-74-15 27.5
5. AZ SnakePit 89-78-13 30.5
6. BBTNG 88-83-9 33.5
7. Random Fandom 80-89-11 40.5
8. DFA'ders 78-91-11 42.5
9. 7-2 Offsuiters 73-89-18 44
10. Uk Dbacks 71-92-17 46.5
11. BigLebowski 71-97-12 49
12. KarateMonkeyDeathCar 71-98-11 49.5
13. Browncoats 67-98-15 51.5
14. ?Chalino Sanchez! 70-101-9 51.5
* = clinched playoff spot
Week 19 Matchups
AZ SnakePit vs. The Fighting Amish
DFA'ders vs. GregSchulteOverdrive
Uk Dbacks vs. Browncoats
JByrnesIsMyHomie vs. Random Fandom
KarateMonkeyDeathCar vs. BigLebowski
BBTNG vs. ?Chalino Sanchez!
7-2 Offsuiters vs. The Loose Seals
SnakePit vs. Amish is the TV pick; SnakePit management, having ignored the team for about six weeks, finally saw fit to make changes, with Garciaparra and Wilson getting benched. They'll be leaning heavily on David Ortiz for offense, with Halladay and Mussina leading their pitching. Amish still occupy a playoff spot, and will want to make sure of their place. Beltran has been rock-solid in the outfield, and is closing in on 100 RBI, while Beckett is their only pitcher with an ERA above four.