Week Three: Summary of Series

Sass Tie
BFB ranking drops
By Beth Sass / hereforthesass.blogspot.com

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Here for the Sass managed to tie team neut in the Week Three contest in Batling Fantasy Baseball, with a final score of 6-6-2.

“It was a good week, really,” said Owner Dawn Sass. “We played hard, and we had a lot of fun.”

The week had its ups and downs, with Sass pitcher Jason Jennings being sent to Nice, and Chad Gaudin being called up to replace him.

“I was scared coming into the team,” Chad said. “They’re a middle-of-the-league team, which means they’ve still got some fight in them, and I thought it would be high-pressure. But it’s turned out to be a lot of fun.”

Fun, it was. While the Sass enjoy winning, both owners stress having fun.

“Tying is a little frustrating,” said Owner Beth Sass, “It’s not a win, but it’s not a loss. How do we celebrate? Meh, we’ll let the pitchers decide.”

The pitching carried the Sass, giving Sass four wins and two losses: Wins (3-2), Saves (5-3), K (41-63), Holds (4-1), ERA (3.60-4.40), WHIP (1.33-1.1), and K/BB (2.16-3.94). The hitting managed two wins, two ties, and three losses: Runs (38-37), Home Runs (8-8), RBIs (47-21), Stolen Bases (2-2), Walks (23-26), AVG (.288-.321), and OPS (.822-.887).

“Yeah, with two extra categories from last year, we’re having a bit of trouble with the tying thing,” said outfielder Rocco Badelli. “We’ll work on it, because it annoys Beth.”

The pitching had stars in both starting and relieving. For the starters, the individual leaders were: Wins, Braden Looper and Tim Hudson (1); strike-outs, Aaron Harang (8); ERA, Tim (0.00); WHIP, Aaron (0.83); and K/BB, Aaron (4.00). The relievers showed strong performances, too: Wins, Jason Isringhausen (1); Saves, Jonathan Papelbon (4); Strike-outs, Jonathan (7); Holds, Justin Duchsherererererer (2); ERA, Jimmy Gobble and Jonathan (0.00); WHIP, Jimmy (0.86); and K/BB, Jimmy and Darren Oliver (Infinity).

“We worked hard this week--attacking the strike zone, stuff like that,” explained pitching coach Bradke.

The pitchers admitted that the extra practices held during the week helped.

“The practices really are a lot of work,” said pitcher Jeremy Sowers, “But somehow it never seems that way. Bradke was passing out gold stars this week. It was so crazy to see a bunch of grown men fighting over who earned a gold star or not.”

The individual efforts of the pitching was appreciated by the hitters, who were playing well, too. The individual leaders were: Runs, Placido Polanco (8); Home Runs, Moises Alou (2); RBIs, Michael Cuddyer and Jeff Francoeur (8); Stolen Bases, Rocco Baldelli and Adam Dunn (1); Walks, Rocco and Adam (4); AVG, Moises (.455); and OPS, Moises (1.227).

“Really, it wasn’t that bad of a week. We need a bit more patience at the plate, but we’re still managing to hit clutch--our average was down, but we got the RBIs,” said hitting coach Michael Restovich.

The Sass were looking forward to their next week, facing goesboom and his Go Boom! team.

“Let’s go, guys! Win it for, um,” said infielder Luis Rodriguez.

“Mrs. Guillen!” exclaimed back-up catcher Mike Redmond, as he nibbled at the latest offering of Mrs. Guillen.