These Comments are Quite Entertaining!

Ok, in this corner, from the BBC MB, possibly a former big leaguer, famous for the Cleveland Steamer, 1Big9Fooooooooooooooor Yooooouuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!

And in that corner, from parts unknown, famous for his ability to piss off his opponents in a single post........Anony (don't confuse me with mighty) Mouse!!!!!!!

Damn, guys! Keep it coming! All disputes are welcome to be posted here. I say you fight it out via blogspot, with the readers voting for the winner in a loser leave town match!

aaallllllllllllllllletsgetreadyto

rumbaaaaallllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The gloves are in your corners, guys......

Final Edition (probably)

Guys, it has come down to this. While I really did have alot of fun doing this in the beginning, and honestly am overwhelmed from the traffic and support that this site recieved, I am going to have to shut it down. To those of you that have grown to depend on some of the information on here, I am truly sorry for this.

It has been a very long season for me. I have had alot of non-BBC things going on lately and the time it takes me to put this together everyday is quite frankly not there right now. Nor is my interest in doing it.

BBC is a very taxing game to play, as you all know, requiring our full attention, every day, for basically 6 months just to play at a competitive level. Lately, my interest in it has dwindled tremendously. The salaries are probably a part of it. As you all know, we pretty much have 6 or 7 of the same players on a daily basis and there is no incentive to do extensive prep work in order to have a good score. Ultimately though, I've just grown tired of it. Maybe the fact that I finally recorded a Leaderboard finish kind of blew it for me. Maybe since I have now been there, the challenge isn't what it once was. Who knows?

It takes me about an hour to an hour and a half every day to put this together, which is really not a problem. Unfortunately, I can not access BBC from work so I have to do the research for this at home and with a wife and two young kids (who are just now going back to school), I simply don't have the time. Throw in little league, cub scouts and swimming lessons to boot. Yes, what you see here is exactly what I use to make my teams. However, when I don't have to write it down, revise it, condense it, type it, etc., I can do it all in about 15-20 minutes. In my world, at this time, that is a hell of a big difference.

I tried to keep up my interest by doing the "around the league" thing, and it helped......for a few days. But in the end, my passion to put extended time into this game at this part of the season is simply gone. Football season starts in 9 days and I know from past experience that once it starts and I am going to games every week, my interest in baseball goes straight in the crapper.

With this being the case, I would rather not do this if the product is going to be sub-par. I have put alot of effort in what you guys have read over the last three months and don't want to bother putting up a weak effort going forward, which is what I fear it will be. As I have said from the beginning, I don't want to do this half-assed.

I would like to take this time to thank everyone from the Country Club for supporting me in this venture from the beginning, for helping me promote it, and for pitching in for ther All-Star Spectacular which I believe was this site's greatest day by far. I also want to thank everyone who has been here, seen value in it, and continued to come back day after day. For those of you that have commented, both the good and the bad ones, thank you as well. I always took the negative ones in stride and used them to improve the site (when they were valid) and the positive ones kept me going much longer than I really wanted to.

Again, this is something I have been thinking about for a few weeks now and I have tried very hard to weather the storm, I really have, but at this point I have no other option. For those of you who are disappointed, I am truly sorry and wish you the best of luck with the game going forward. And remember, it is just a game.

With this said, I will now back away. Thanks again to you all.

FU Kerry Wood!

Wednesday, the 26th

Good morning, everyone. Were you aware that the Rockies were 15 1/2 games behind the Dodgers at the first of June? Furthermore, did you know that they are only 2 games behand them as we speak? I love this time of season. I love teams that are excited about playing, fans that are excited about their teams, and watching the leaders panic as their leads slip away. And by the way, I took a glance at the Red Sox remaining schedule this morning. Their chances of being in the post season do not look too good. Just sayin'.

YESTERDAY

Wow! What a day for pitching. Wainwright (33) and Jurrjens (32) led the popular staff picks while Cain (14) and Haren (5) disappointed. I was fortunate enough to see Greinke strikeout 15 Indians and give me 35 of his own. With my bats, the O's would have been fine had they not left the bases loaded three damn times. Offensively, I put up a fairly weak 23, giving me a total of 58 for the day and pushing me up to #28 overall and #708 in the half.

TODAY

Josh Johnson vs. Rich Harden. Johnson gets 70% of the picks, while Harden is way behind with 17%. It could be a big day for Harden takers, including myself, possibly propelling us in either direction depending on how the day goes. It feels like a day where we (Harden takers) will either walk away feeling like kings for outsmarting the rest, or heels for being so stupid. Below are the top picks, followed by my load of the day...

Top Picks -
C: Mauer
1B: Tex/Prince
2B: Roberts
3B: ARod
SS: Jeter
LF: Braun
CF: Byrd
RF: Werth
DH: Matsui
PS: Johnson

My Load -
C: Mauer
1B: Morneau
2B: Hill
3B: ARod
SS: O Cabrera
LF: Young
CF: Span
RF: Cuddyer
DH: Kubel
PS: Harden

TOMORROW

Weather:
Mets/Marlins pm t-storms
'Stros/Cards isolated t-storms
Nats/Cubs showers
Padres/Braves scattered t-storms

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Dodgers, Braves, Orioles, Pirates, Red Sox

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Cubs vs. Martin (2-3 4.76 in 7 starts)
White Sox vs. Tazawa (2-2 3.57 in 3)
Royals vs. Fister (1-0 2.21 in 3)
DBacks vs. Martinez (3-1 5.73 in 4)

Possible Load-ups:
Marlins vs. Redding (1-4 6.10, .352 BAA)
Cards vs. Moehler (8-9 5.29)
Rocks vs. Padilla (8-6 4.92)
Angels vs. Cahill (6-12 4.86)

Bats You May Want to Avoid:
Byrd (2-15)
Blalock (2-14)
Uggla (1-13)
Ross (2-11)
Schneider (2-17)
Taveras (3-18)
Ludwick (2-14)
Yadi (2-12)
C Lee (6-31, 2HR)
Erstad (3-20)
Martin (2-11)
Eck (1-17)
J Wilson (1-10)
Chavez (1-10)
Suzuki (1-20)
Cust (2-12)

Pitchers:
Carp (14-3 2.16, 0.96 WHIP, 7-1 1.74 home, 5-0 2.08 August, 1-0 1.59 vs. Hou)
Wells (9-6 2.84, 2-2 2.84 August, 1-0 7.20 vs. Was)
Vazquez (10-9 3.14, 1.07 WHIP, 186 K in 169 IP, 1-0 2.57 vs. SD)
Laffey (7-3 3.42, 3-3 4.97 road, 3-0 2.00 August, at Bal)
Happ (10-2 2.59, 1.17 WHIP, 6-1 1.72 road, 3-0 1.21 August, 1-0 1.29 at Pitt)
Danks (11-8 3.85, at Bos)
Haop, Vazquez and Carp will be battling this one out. Because of the quality of bats the 'Stros have, I would think that Vaz and Happ will be the top picks.

First:
Pujols (9-19, 3HR)
Berkman (9-30, 6HR vs. Carp)
Loney (7-11, HR vs. lefty)
Youk (3-7 vs. Danks)
Branyan (2-4)
Morales (3-3, HR)
Tex and Howard are worth a look as well.

Second:
F Lopez (2-2)
Phillips (9-29, HR)
Schumaker (5-13)
Hudson (3-7 vs. lefty)
Roberts, Utley and Cano are worth a look as well.

Third:
DeRosa (4-13, HR)
Blake (6-20, 2HR vs. lefty)
ARod and Peralta are also worth a look.

Short:
Hanley (8-16, 3HR)
Lugo (8-22)
Furcal (2-6 vs. lefty)
Rollins (2-2)
Renteria (2-4)
Jeter and Asdrubal are worth a look as well.

Left:
Murphy (4-12)
Holliday (4-9)
Manny (3-8 vs. lefty)
Headley (2-3 vs. Vazquez)
Braun, Dunn and DeJesus are worth a look as well.

Center:
Hamilton (4-9, HR)
Morgan (2-3 vs. Happ)
Kemp (6-13, HR vs. lefty)
Victorino (1-2, HR)
Guttierez (6-10)
R Sweeney (4-9)
Hunter, Fukudome and Cameron are worth a look as well.

Right:
Hermida (10-17, HR)
Ichiro (3-9)
Winn (2-5)
Werth, Swisher and Choo are also worth a look.

DH:
Ortiz (1-2, HR vs. Danks)
Matsui and Thome are also worth a look.

Catcher:
Mathis (2-4)
McCann and Posada wre also worth a look.

FINAL LINEUP (Journey Day 7)
I really hate to use the Braves bats right now, but the way I am playing, they are my only option at this point. Hey, at least I like the pick, as Vazques should be able to handle the Pads. It could be worse, and probably will as my options continue to dwindle. With the bats, I have to go with the Cards. I looked at a few options, but with Moehler pitching, I have to believe the Cards have the best chance to go off. They have no one listed at DH, so that is where I will use my out, with big Jim Thome up in Boston. Here's the load...

C: Yadi (s)
1B: Pujols (s)
2B: Schumaker (s)
3B: DeRosa (s)
SS: Ryan (s)
LF: Holliday (s)
CF: Rasmus (s)
RF: Luddy (s)
DH: Thome
PS: Vazquez

JOURNEY STATS

Beginning Rankings:
#29 overall and #596 in the half

Current Rankings:
#28 and #708

Change:
+1 and -112

Bats Used:
Mariners, Royals, White Sox, A's, Orioles, Twins, Cards

Staffs Used:
Tigers, Indians, Mariners, Brewers, Royals, Cubs, Braves

DISCLAIMER

My picks are exactly that, my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, you are welcome to do so at your own risk. Thanks as always for reading, please come again, and pass the word if you will.

FU HALL OF FAME

Kerry MF'n Wood (Founder, -14, -11, -7, -6)
Nick MF'n Blackburn (record holder at -43)
Jake MF'n Peavy (2 time offender at -8 and -2)
Houston MF'n Astros Staff(-4)
Los Angeles MF'n Dodgers Staff (-11)
Zach MF'n Greinke (-4)

Tuesday, the 25th

Good morning, everyone. We all need to remember that as the season is beginning to come to a close, we will see more and more starters getting random days off. Playoff teams such as the Yankees will continue to rest starters and the teams at the bottom of the barrel will begin to play more and more youngsters in order to see what they bring to the table. Of course much of this will happen after September first, but thats less than a week away. Pick wisely.

YESTERDAY

Cliff Lee came through just as expected with an impressive 32 points. He continues to match pitch for pitch what CC did for the Brewers last fall. Fortunately for me, Gallardo was just as good, giving me 29 of his own. My bats were off to a great start with my wild card guys Howard (15) and Braun (7). However, the A's bats continued to do what they do best and got manhandled by Ian Snell. They only accounted for 8 points. My 59 total dropped me to #31 overall and #843 in the half.

TODAY

Choosing the right staff is clearly the key to today as the top staffs are fairly well split. Wainwright is the top pick at 38% followed by Cain (25%), Jurrjens (12% and Haren (10%). I went with Greinke for the Royals in order to get them out of the way. It should be a decent pick. Here are the top picks, followed by my load of the day...

Top Picks -
C: Mauer
1B: RyHo
2B: Utley
3B: ARod
SS: Hanley
LF: Bay
CF: Victorino
RF: Werth
DH: Vlad
PS: Wainwright

My Load -
C: Weiters
1B: Prince
2B: Roberts
3B: Mora
SS: Izturis
LF: Reimold
CF: Jones
RF: Cake
DH: Scott
PS: Greinke

TOMORROW

Weather:
Indians/Royals scattered t-storms
Dodgers/Rocks isolated t-storms
Nats/Cubs scattered
Sox/Sox isolated
Mets/Marlins isolated

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Royals, Tigers, Yanks, Rangers, Pirates, Phills, Jays, Rays, Rocks, Mariners, A's, Giants, DBacks

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Rays vs. Rczepcynski (2-3 3.65 in 9 starts)
Cubs vs. Martin (2-3 4.76 in 7)
A's vs. French (3-3 3.83 in 9)

Bats You May Want to Avoid:
Abreu (5-28)
Kendrick (1-13)
Raburn (0-12)
Blalock (2-11)
Milledge (2-12)
Howard (2-14)
Lind (2-12, HR)
Thome (8-52, 3HR)
Hanley (4-23, HR)
Almezaga (2-11)
D Murphy (2-11)
Bruce (2-17, HR)
Phillips (1-16)
O Cabrera (1-10)
Yadi (3-16)
Michaels (2-13)
Hudson (2-15)
Reynolds (3-16)

Pitchers:
Jackson (10-5 2.86, 1.19 WHIP, 4-4 2.80 road, 3-0 4.13 August, 1-1 2.57 at LAA)
Kawakami (6-9 3.97, 1-1 2.39 August, 0-1 4.50 vs. SD)
Floyd (10-8 3.98, 5-5 5.38 road, 3-2 2.92 post break, at Bos)
Johnson (12-3 2.99, 1.09 WHIP, 6-1 2.09 home, 2-0 2.46 vs. NYM)
Harden (8-7 4.04, 138 K in 118 IP, 3-5 6.31 home, 1-1 1.80 August, 1-0 0.00 vs. Was)
Oz (7-4 3.83, 1.19 WHIP, 4-2 4.04 road, 1-0 5.50 August, 0-1 6.23 at STL)
Pineiro (12-9 3.15, 1.11 WHIP, 5-4 2.41 home, 3-0 4.79 August, 1-0 2.70 vs. Hou)
Wolf (8-6 3.34, 1.11 WHIP, 6-4 2.91 road, 0-0 3.75 at Col)
Davis (7-11 3.77, 3-5 4.46 road, 3-2 4.81 post break, 1-2 4.50 .366 BAA at SF)
I think that Johnson and Harden are clearly going to be the top picks tomorrow and I would definately give the edge to Johnson. One thing that is important here, though, is that the Mets are among the best in the league when it comes to strikeouts taken, while Harden is amont the best in strikeouts given. Just something to think about.

First:
Huff (8-18 vs. lefty)
Miggy (3-8 vs. lefty)
LaRoche (5-5)
Votto (5-15, 2HR)
Pujols (23-75, 5HR vs. Oz)
Berkman (5-14, 2HR vs. Pineiro)
Lee and Butler are also worth a look.

Second:
M Izturis (6-18 vs. Jackson)
Hill (10-30, HR vs. lefty)
Uggla (7-21)
Roberts (2-3)
Sanchez (17-37, HR vs. Davis)
Zobrist is also worth a look.

Third:
Figgins (7-13 vs. Jackson)
Cantu (6-16)
Crede (2-4, HR)
DeRosa (11-25, HR vs. Oz)
Sandoval (5-14 vs. Davis)
Young, Beckham and Blake are also worth a look.

Short:
Escobar (2-2)
Jeter (4-4 vs. lefty)
Scutaro (5-15 vs. lefty)
Bartlett (2-3 vs. lefty rook)
Renteria (6-18, 2HR vs. Davis)
Drew (6-19 vs. lefty)
Asdrubal is also worth a look.

Left:
G Anderson (2-3)
G Jones (1-3, HR vs. lefty)
Quentin (2-3)
Holliday (5-15 vs. Oz)
C Lee (11-26, 2HR vs. Pineiro)
Braun and DeJesus are also worth a look.

Center:
Hunter (4-12, 2HR vs. Jackson)
Granderson (4-13, HR vs. lefty)
Byrd (5-10, HR vs. lefty)
Hamilton (1-3, HR vs. lefty)
McClutcheon (2-3, HR vs. lefty)
Wells (12-33, 3HR vs. Lefty)
Kemp, Victorino and Fukudome are also worth a look.

Right:
Choo (1-3, HR)
Mags (7-19, HR vs. lefty)
Cuddyer (2-4)
Cake (1-2, HR)
Hawpe (3-9, HR vs. Wolf)
Ichiro (2-5 vs. lefty)
Werth and Choo are also worth a look.

DH:
Vlad (5-16, HR vs. Jackson)
Thames (4-12, 2HR vs. lefty)
Venable (3-3 vs. Kawakami)
Matsui (2-4, 2HR vs. lefty)
Ortiz (3-8, HR vs. Floyd)
Kubel (4-7, HR)
Cust and Lind are also worth a look.

Catcher:
Pudge (16-43, 2HR vs. lefty)
Doumit (2-3 vs. lefty)
VMart (5-15 vs. Floyd)
Baker (4-11)
Benji (17-44, 4HR vs. Davis)
Mauer and McCann are also worth a look.

FINAL LINEUP (Journey Day 6)
With the pitching, I definately like Johnson and Harden above the others. I will be going with Harden for two reasons. First, the wind is blowinf in at Wrigley at 10-20 mph, if I'm reading it right (double check this if you are using this to help you decide). Secondly, I need to save the Marlins staff for a Thursday next month where I only have 7 teams to choose from at this point. The bats were tough to call. I really gave some thought to the Cubs, but the wind is an issue there (like that Mr. H?). With the Jays, Kazmir may just have something in him. I will take the Twins instead at home against Guthrie. At second, I do knot know for sure who will play and at third, Crede is hurt, so I will use those two spots for my outs. I will fill these slots with Aaron Hill and ARod. Here is the load...

C: Mauer (m)
1B: Morneau (m)
2B: Hill
3B: ARod
SS: OC (m)
LF: Young (m)
CF: Span (m)
RF: Cuddyer (m)
DH: Kubel (m)
PS: Harden

JOURNEY STATS

Beginning Rankings:
#29 overall and #596 in the half

Current Rankings:
#31 and #843

Change:
-2 and -147

Bats Used:
Mariners, Royals, White Sox, A's, Orioles, Twins

Staffs Used:
Tigers, Indians, Mariners, Brewers, Royals, Cubs

DISCLAIMER

My picks are exactly that, my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, you are welcome to do so at your own risk. Thanks as always for reading, please come again, and pass the word if you will.

FU HALL OF FAME

Kerry MF'n Wood (Founder, -14, -11, -7, -6)
Nick MF'n Blackburn (record holder at -43)
Jake MF'n Peavy (2 time offender at -8 and -2)
Houston MF'n Astros Staff(-4)
Los Angeles MF'n Dodgers Staff (-11)
Zach MF'n Greinke (-4)

Monday, the 24th

Good morning, everyone. It's surely going to be a busy day tomorrow, as there are important numbers everywhere, so let's get right to it today.

YESTERDAY

Well the pitching was certainly disappointing throughout as Lince, Felix and Bills all put up subpar scores. On the bright side of that, having no winners or losers keeps us all even for the most part. My bats is where I got hurt. The White Sox chose once again not to bring their bats to the game and were held in check for most of the day. With Felix giving me 13 and only 18 from the bats all day, my 31 total points kicked me down to #30 overall and #825 in the half.

TODAY

Let me guess...you have Cliff Lee tonight. Well, at least 90% of you do, as he is clearly the top pick of the night. He should be as well, as he has been fantastic since coming over the the NL and the Mets are putrid. Good call, if you have him. As for myself, I have Yoga vs. the Nats. It should be a decent choice as well, but not near as probable as Lee. Here are the top picks, followed by my load...

Top Picks:
C: Mauer
1B: Prince
2B: Utley
3B: Sandoval
SS: Tulo
LF: Braun
CF: Granderson
RF: Werth
DH: Ortiz
PS: Lee

My Load:
C: Suzuki (a)
1B: Howard
2B: Ellis (a)
3B: Kennedy (a)
SS: Pennington (a)
LF: Braun
CF: Hairston (a)
RF: Sweeney (a)
DH: Cust (a)
PS: Yoga

TOMORROW

Weather:
Dodgers/Rocks scattered t-storms
Mets?Marlins scattered

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Rays, Chisox, Marlins, Mets, Twins, Cards, Rocks, Angels, Mariners, A's

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Braves vs. Latos (4-3 4.82 in 7 starts)
Twins vs. Matusz (2-2 6.75 in 4)
Orioles vs. Gabino (MLB Debut)

Possible Load-ups:
Red Sox vs. Garcia (0-1 10.80 in 1 start this season)
Orioles vs. Gabino (Debut)

Bats You May Want to Avoid:
Posada (2-12)
Benji (4-21, HR)
Uggla (1-17, HR)
Ross (3-16)
Hanley (2-15)
N Johnson (2-14, HR)
Phillips (5-28)
Pujols (3-25)
Ryan (2-12)
C Lee (1-17)
Tulo (1-10)
Figgins (4-32)
Kendrick (5-26, HR)
Abreu (3-24)
Rowand (2-15)
Huff (2-30)
Laird (3-30)

Pitchers:
Jurrjens (10-8 2.99, 5-5 2.81 home, 1-1 4.84 August, vs. SD)
Millwood (9-8 3.48, 2-6 4.28 road, 0-1 4.15 August, 0-0 4.77 at NYY)
Joba (8-3 3.98, 3-2 4.73 home, 1-1 6.75 August, 0-0 6.75 vs. Tex)
Blanton (8-6 3.86, 1-2 2.83 August, 1-0 1.23 at Pitt)
Shields (7-10 3.81, 3-4 4.46 road, 1-4 4.95 post break, 0-2 4.03 at Tor)
Lester (10-7 3.58, 181 K in 161 IP, 1-0 2.00 August, vs. CWS)
Johan (13-9 3.13, 5-6 4.10 road, 0-1 1.29 at FLA)
Z (7-4 3.35, 2-0 2.49 post break, 1-0 0.00 vs. Was)
Greinke (11-8 2.44, 1.14 WHIP, 182 K in 173 IP, 7-3 1.94 home, 1-2 4.50 August, 1-0 2.46 vs. Cle)
Wandy (12-7 2.89, 5-5 4.21 road, 2-1 4.30 August, 1-2 2.65 at StL)
Wainwright (14-7 2.61, 5-6 2.02 home, 2-1 1.63 Aug, 1-1 1.50 vs. Hou)
Kershaw (8-7 2.96, 147 K in 139 IP, 5-4 4.12 road, 0-2 4.26 August, 1-1 6.89 at Col)
Washburn (8-7 3.18, 1.09 WHIP, 0-1 6.04 August, 1-2 7.71 at LAA)
Haren (12-8 2.74, 0.93 WHIP, 167 K in 174 IP, 2-2 5.89 August, 0-1 1.50 at SF)
Cain (12-4 2.43, 1.15 WHIP, 6-2 2.37 home, 2-2 2.53 post break, 1-0 3.38 vs. Zona)
My God, there is a lot of good pitching tomorrow. In my opinion, Jurrjens, Lester, Greinke, Haren and Cain are the best of the bunch. If I were playing normal, I would probably go with Cain at home.

First:
Swisher (10-26, 3HR vs. Millwood)
Tex (4-11, HR vs. Millwood)
RyHo (2-2)
Overbay (9-30, 3HR vs. Shields)
Prince (9-31, 3HR)
Votto (6-16, 2HR)
D Lee and Pena are also worth a look.

Second:
Cano (5-15 vs. Millwood)
Kinsler (3-6 vs. Joba)
Counsell (11-27)
Barmes (3-8, HR vs. Kershaw)
Roberts and Utley are also worth a look.

Third:
ARod (7-18, HR vs. Millwood)
Young (3-8, HR vs. Joba)
Longoria (2-2)
Aybar (5-15 vs. Washburn)
Sandoval (3-10 vs. Haren)
Lowell and Aramis are also worth a look.

Short:
F Lopez (10-25, HR)
A Cabrera (7-13 vs. Greinke)
Tejada (5-15 vs. Wainwright)
Drew (4-12, 2HR vs. Cain)
Hanley and Escobar are also worth a look.

Left:
Melky (4-11 vs. Millwood)
Nix (3-6, HR)
Fonzie (2-2, HR)
Holliday (5-13, 2HR vs. Wandy)
Spilborghs (4-8, 2HR vs. Kershaw)
Rivera (9-25, 3HR vs. Washburn)
Braun (4-7, 3HR)
Bay is also worth a look.

Center:
Byrd (2-5 vs. Joba)
Cameron (8-24)
Morgan (6-15 vs. Blanton)
Sizemore (11-36, 2HR vs. Greinke)
Fowler (3-8 vs. Kershaw)
Victorino, Fukudome and Span are also worth a look.

Right:
Willingham (5-10 vs. Blanton)
Choo (6-16, HR vs. Greinke)
Pence (9-23, HR vs. Wainwright)
Hawpe (3-6, HR vs. Kershaw)
Mags (4-11, 2HR)
Ichiro (3-3 vs. lefty)
Ethier, Cake and Werth are also worth a look.

DH:
Matsui (3-9 vs. Millwood)
Thome (2-3 vs. Lester)
Jacobs (1-1, HR)
Vlad (12-33, 3HR vs. Washburn)
Cust (3-9 vs. lefty)
Ortiz is also worth a look.

Catcher:
Ianetta (2-6 vs. Kershaw)
Johjima (2-3, HR vs. lefty)
Suzuki (5-9 vs. lefty)
Mauer and McCann are also worth a look.

FINAL LINEUP (Journey Day 5)

There are obviously many pitchers that we can make good arguments for, but I have to choose wisely. Teams with scheduled double headers are out, remember, and since I can only choose each team once, I want to make sure I save them for the best possible time. In this case, I think it is a good time to go with Zack Greinke. It gets him out of the way, for one thing, but he has also handled the Tribe well this season. There are a fewdecent loadup options with the bats tomorrow, including the Red Sox and the Twins, but I am going to take the O's against GGabino of the Twinkies. He is making his major league debut and hopefully the Balty bats will toast him up. Yhe only position I struggled with here is at first, where sunce the Huff trade, they have no one listed. I will fill this spot with Prince against Arroyo. I would take Ryho, but he already went deep twice today and the bum rule may be in effect. Here it is...

C: Weiters
1B: Prince
2B: Roberts
3B: Mora
SS: Izturis
LF: Reimold
CF: Jones
RF: Cake
DH: Scott
PS: Greinke

JOURNEY STATS

Beginning Rankings:
#29 overall and #596 in the half

Current Rankings:
#30 and #825

Change:
-1 and -129

Bats Used:
Mariners, Royals, White Sox, A's, Orioles

Staffs Used:
Tigers, Indians, Mariners, Brewers, Royals

DISCLAIMER

My picks are exactly that, my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, you are welcome to do so at your own risk. Thanks as always for reading, please come again, and pass the word if you will.

FU HALL OF FAME

Kerry MF'n Wood (Founder, -14, -11, -7, -6)
Nick MF'n Blackburn (record holder at -43)
Jake MF'n Peavy (2 time offender at -8 and -2)
Houston MF'n Astros Staff(-4)
Los Angeles MF'n Dodgers Staff (-11)
Zach MF'n Greinke (-4)

Sunday, the 23rd

Good morning, everyone. So I see that some of the masses are not too happy with the way I pick my lineups these days. I get that, I really do. Keep in mind, though, that everything you are used to seeing is still here. The only difference is in the way I pick my personal team. So it occurs to me that unless you are copying my team, and relying on me to do all of your work for you, then there should be no reason for anyone to be upset. Am I wrong? So that said, maybe if I was getting paid a little something for putting approximately 15 hours a week into this site, I would take more requests. I provide this as a somewhat of a resource, but do it more for my personal enjoyment than I do for yours. Sorry, but I hope you understand. And if you don't like my picks, oh I don't know, make your own. There is a reason the disclaimer is there in the first place.

YESTERDAY

Had Carp not been insanely good, my pitching staff would have worked out just fine. Laffey started out rough, but ended up with a very respectable 22. Hell, any time I can get that out of a Tribe pitcher, I'll take it. My bats weren't too bad either. I loaded up on Royals and managed 33 points led by DeJesus (8), Teahen (6), and Callaspo (5). My 55 overall did drop me some , though, to #29 overall and #638 in the half.

TODAY

Guys, I just got back from the lake and, since today is pretty much over, I won't go into too much detail. Here's the top picks, followed by my load...

Top Picks -
C: Mauer
1B: Prince
2B: Zo
3B: Chipper
SS: Hanley
LF: Braun
CF: Victorin
RF: Werth
DH: Vlad
PS: Felix (followed by Lince)

My Load -
C: AJ (c)
1B: Konerko (c)
2B: Hill
3B: Beckham (c)
SS: Alexei (c)
LF: Quentin (c)
CF: Victorino
RF: Rios (c)
DH: Thome(c)
PS: Felix

TOMORROW

Weather:
Brewers/Nats isolated t-storms
Chisox/Bosos scattered t-storms

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Mets, Royals, Rocks

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Twins vs. Tillman (1-1 4.80 in 5 starts)

Possible Load-Ups:
Brewers vs. Balester (1-3 6.75)
Red Sox vs. Garcia (0-1 10.38 in 1 start this season)

Bats You May Want to Avoid:
Zobrist (2-18)
Kapler (2-16)
Burrell (1-12)
Sizemore (7-39, 2HR)
Atkins (4-22)
Spilborghs (3-16)
Hawpe (1-14, HR)
Barmes (2-13, 2HR)
Ianetta (1-10)
Rowand (1-17)
Benji (2-15, 2HR)
Figgins (1-13)
Laird (0-12)

Pitchers:
Lee (11-9 2.72, 6-3 2.87 road, 3-0 0.75 August, at NYM)
Gallardo (11-10 3.56, 171 K in 159 IP, 4-5 4.04 road, 1-3 5.92 August, 1-0 3.86 at Was)
Niemann (11-5 3.71, 6-3 4.42 road, 1-1 3.86 at Tor)
Halliday (13-6 2.75, 1.11 WHIP, 8-4 2.89 home, 3-3 2.62 post break, 1-2 2.10 vs. Tam)
Marquis (14-8 3.58, Low K's, 2-1 4.15 August, 1-1 3.60 vs. SF)
Verlander (13-7 3.29, 1.15 WHIP, 2-4 K in 175 IP, 6-5 4.27 road, 0-0 4.85 at LAA)
Weaver (13-4 3.89, 8-1 2.76 home, 3-1 5.83 post break, 0-0 3.86 vs. Det)
Well Lee is obviously going to be the top pick here, and why not? I can't take him because I need to save the Phills for a DH coming up before long, but he will be the pick. Verlander and Roy will clean up whatever scraps are left, if any at all.

First:
Helton (5-16 vs, lefty)
Morales (2-6, HR vs. Verlander)
Butler, Ryho and Branyan are also worth a look.

Second:
Utley (1-1, HR)
Callaspo (2-5 vs. lefty)
Roberts (4-11)
Polanco (5-11, HR vs. Weaver)
Both of the Lopez's are worth a look as well.

Third:
Feliz (2-4)
Zimm (1-3, HR vs. Gallardo)
Peralta (15-40, 2HR)
Sandoval is also worth a look.

Short:
None of the head-to-head numbers are impressive, but Tulo and Asdrubal are probably worth a shot.

Left:
Braun (2-6, HR)
Crawford (27-78, 2HR vs. Halladay)
Quentin (1-2, HR)
DeJesus (4-11 vs. lefty)
Abreu (4-10, HR vs. Verlander)
Bay is also worth a look.

Center:
Upton (11-36, HR vs. Halladay)
A Jones (2-5)
Hunter (8-26 vs. Verlander)
Granderson (6-12, 4HR vs. Weaver)
Ellsbury, Victorino and Span are also worth a look.

Right:
Dye (2-2, HR)
Choo (6-14)
Cake (3-9, HR)
Mags (5-8 vs. Weaver)
Winn (8-22, 2HR vs. Marquis)
Werth, Ichiro and Cuddyer are also worth a look.

DH:
Lind (3-5 vs. Niemann)
Thome (1-2, HR)
Vlad (5-13 vs. Verlander)
Cust is also worth a look.

Catcher:
Zaun (2-5, HR)
Shop (3-10, 2HR)
Mauer is also worth a look.

FINAL LINEUP (Journey Day 4)

I would loved to take either Lee or Halladay, but both of their teams have DH's scheduled and I need to save them. This leaves me with Gallardo and not much else. While heis facing a Nats team that is hetting well, at least he is in a pitchers park. I just hope the rain holds off. The bats are even tougher to pick a load-up today. The only thing I see worth anything at all is Oakland vs. Ian Snell. As much as I hate to take them, I have to do it eventualy, and this time looks like as good of one as any. This lineup is atrocious. I will take RyHo at first and Braun in left as my outs, but fill the rest with A's. Here's how it looks...

C: Suzuki (a)
1B: RyHo
2B: Ellis (a)
3B: Kennedy (a)
SS: Pennington (a)
LF: Braun
CF: Hairston (a)
RF: Sweeney (a)
DH: Cust (a)
PS: Gallardo

JOURNEY STATS

Beginning Rankings:
#29 overall and #596 in the half

Current Rankings:
#29 and # 638

Change: zero and -42

Bats Used:
Mariners, Royals, White Sox, A's

Staffs Used:
Tigers, Indians, Mariners, Brewers

DISCLAIMER

My picks are exactly that, my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, you are welcome to do so at your own risk. Thanks as always for reading, please come again, and pass the word if you will.

FU HALL OF FAME

Kerry MF'n Wood (Founder, -14, -11, -7, -6)
Nick MF'n Blackburn (record holder at -43)
Jake MF'n Peavy (2 time offender at -8 and -2)
Houston MF'n Astros Staff(-4)
Los Angeles MF'n Dodgers Staff (-11)
Zach MF'n Greinke (-4)

Saturday, the 22nd

Well, we are one day into the somewhat contraversial journey through the league and so fat, so good. Guys, I know this may seem sily, but trust me, it is really keeping me interested. Without it, I was really cose to bailing altogether. Also, please be aware that tomorrows post willnot be up until around 9 or 10 pm. I will have no computer access between now and then. Thanks for understanding.

YESTERDAY

Well the top staff, Vazquez, kind of got rolled last night. The bullpen managed to hold on and get a positive score, but it wasn't near good enough to match Jackson, who had a very nice 25. As you know, I had Jackson. The bat were quite interesting. I had 3 DNP's and Bay got pulled after two at bats in the massacre. Only 4 bats got me any points at all, but I was right about Huff getting punked by the M's. Branyan, Lopez, Guttierrez, and ichiro combined to give me 30 ontheir own and my 55 overall actually bumped me up to #27 overall and #515 in the half. I will document the "Journey" stats later on.

TODAY

The summary is not up yet and I am about to leave for the weekend. My guess is that the top staffs will be Carp, Happ and Hanson in that order. Here is my load again...

C: Mauer
1B: Butler
2B: Callaspo
3B: Teahen
SS: Betancourt
LF: DeJesus
CF: Maier
RF: Werth
DH: Jacobs
PS: Laffey

TOMORROW

Weather:
Phills/Mets scatterd t-storms
Brewers/Nats scattered
Yanks-Sox scattered

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Angels, Phills, Nats, Rangers, O's, Red Sox

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Jays vs. Bell (1-0 5.91 in 2 starts)
DBacks vs. Norris (3-1 4.05 in 4)
Cards vs. Carillo (1-1 4.88 in 2)

Possible Load-ups:
Braves vs. Nolasco (9-8 5.22, .357 BAA)
Chite Sox vs. Berken (2-11 6.72, .450 BAA)

Bats You May Want to Avoid:
Stewart (1-12)
Benji (2-16)
AGonz (2-12, HR)
Furcal (6-31)
Varitek (1-13, HR)
Lowell (2-13)
Almezaga (1-11)
Mora (4-27)
Teahen (2-13)
Olivo (1-10)
B Harris (2-11)
Atkins (3-16)
Francouer (4-25, HR)
Howard (3-24, HR)
Feliz (1-19, HR)
Utley (3-16)
Helms (1-11)

Pitchers:
Felix (12-4 2.66, 1.18 WHIP, 167 K in 172 IP, 8-1 1.92 road, 1-0 2.00 August, 1-0 2.25 at Cle)
Romero (10-5 3.95, 6-3 4.17 home, 1-1 5.56 August, vs. LAA)
Buehrle (11-6 3.78, 1.19 WHIP, 0-2 5.54 August, 1-0 1.23 vs. Bal)
Lince (12-3 2.37, 1.04 WHIP, 207 K in 178 IP, 5-2 2.82 road, 1-0 2.73 August, at Col)
Jiminez (11-9 3.41, 4-0 1.47 August, 1-1 2.57 vs. SF)
Bills (12-6 3.70, 2-0 1.59 August, 0-1 2.57 vs. CHC)
CC (14-7 3.58, 1.13 WHIP, 4-0 2.35 August, 1-1 2.46 at Bos)
Beckett (14-4 3.38, 1.13 WHIP, 8-0 2.58 home, 2-0 4.14 vs. NYY)
I think Felix and Bills are the best picks here, and I would probably go with Felix as the top pick. Lincy is nice, but I don't like any staff at Coors.

First:
Prince (2-3)
Konerko (1-2, HR)
Butler (5-12)
Morneau (9-25, 2HR but hurt)
Helton (7-11, HR vs. Lince)
Miggy (5-14, HR)
Youk (4-12 vs. CC)
Votto and Berkman are also worth a look.

Second:
J Lopez (3-8)
F Lopez (2-3)
Callaspo (5-10, HR)
Eck (5-13)
Cano (14-41, 2HR vs. Beckett)
Hill, Uggla and Zobrist are also worth a look.

Third:
Chipper (10-19, 4HR)
Cantu (7-8, HR)
Zimm (5-8 vs. lefty)
Sandoval (3-9 vs. Jiminez)
Reynolds, Longoria and Young are also worth a look.

Short:
Rollins (8-26, 2HR vs. lefty)
Escobar (7-13, HR)
Hanley (10-19)
Tejada (11-26, 2HR)
Tulo (5-14, HR vs. Lincy)
Theriot (3-5 vs. Bills)
Scutaro, Drew and Aybar are also worth a look.

Left:
Ibanez (2-4, HR vs. lefty)
Diaz (3-8)
Braun (2-3, HR)
DeJesus (5-15)
Dunn, Crawford and Rivera are also worth a look.

Center:
Grady (7-14 vs. Felix)
Victorino (5-15 vs. lefty)
Bourn (2-3)
Span (5-14)
R Sweeney (4-4)
Melky (12-36 vs. Beckett)
Morgan, Byrd and Hamilton are also worth a look.

Right:
Werth (5-16, HR vs. lefty)
Willingham (2-6, HR vs. lefty)
Rios (3-5, HR)
Cake (6-13, HR vs. Buehrle)
Cuddyer (6-16, HR)
Ethier (6-14, HR)
Abreu and Pence are also worth a look.

DH:
Thome (1-3, HR)
Ortiz (7-23, 2HR vs. CC)
Vlad and Burrell are also worth a look.

Catcher:
McCann (7-22, 2HR)
Mauer (6-19)
Ianetta (6-9, HR vs. Lincy)
Martin (3-10)
Posada (10-31 vs. Beckett)
Montero and Napoli are also worth a look.

FINAL LINEUP (Journey Day 3)

Pitching is a tough one. I don't really want to burn Felix in a road game, but there are no other quality options really. So that's my pick there. With the bats, I am looking in a few directions. The best four choices for me are the Braves, Nats, and White Sox. I will hold off on the Braves right now and only want the Nats on the road, so White Sox it is. They do not have anyone at second or center, so those are the spots that I will go elsewhere for. Here's the final...

C: AJ (c)
1B: Konerko (c)
2B: Hill
3B: Beckham (c)
SS: Alexei (c)
LF: Quentin (c)
CF: Victorino
RF: Rios (c)
DH: Thome (c)
PS: Felix

JOURNEY STATS

Beginning Rankings:
#29 overall and #596 in the half

Current Rankings:
#27 and #515

Change:
+2 and +81

Bats Used:
Mariners, Indians, White Sox

Staffs Used:
Tigers, Indians, Mariners

DISCLAIMER

My picks are exactly that, my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, you are welcome to do so at your own risk. Thanks as always for reading, please come again, and pass the word if you will.

FU HALL OF FAME

Kerry MF'n Wood (Founder, -14, -11, -7, -6)
Nick MF'n Blackburn (record holder at -43)
Jake MF'n Peavy (2 time offender at -8 and -2)
Houston MF'n Astros Staff(-4)
Los Angeles MF'n Dodgers Staff (-11)
Zach MF'n Greinke (-4)

Friday, the 21st

Good morning, everyone. I am sorry for the delayed post, but it has been a little hectic today. Please remember, that everything will pretty much be the same on her for the rest of the season. The only difference is that my personal lineups will be a lot diferent. If you read yestarday, you know that today I start my "around the league" trip where I will take every staff andload up on every teams bats once and once only for the next 30 days. Keep an eye out for this, as I will track my succes or lack thereof. Aside from that, everything you are used to seeing will stay the same. Finally, sorry for the shitty layout. It does this when I save drafts and come back to it. Tomorrow will be better.

YESTERDAY

It was surely a disappointing day for pitching as the top two starters, Johan and Johnson, combined for only 20 points. If you were in the minority with Lester, you should be very happy with his 29 point effort. I had Johan of course. My bats were not too good themselves, once again. They were led by Longoria (7), VMart (6), and Tulo (5). The rest pretty much stunk it up and they totalled only 22. My 33 total points left me #29 overall and #596 in the half. These rankings will alos mark the starting point of my trip around the league.

TODAY

Vazquez is the top pick of the day with over 40% of the take. He is followd by Jackson (20%) and Wold at around 15%. 7 different teams were represented on the leaderboard as well, so this could be a good moving day. I have Jackson, myself. Below is the most popular lineup of the day, followed by what I have, including my Mariner's loadup...

TOP PICKS
C: Mauer
1B: Pujols
2B: Utley
3B: Sandoval
SS: Tulo
LF: Bay
CF: Victorino
RF: Werth
DH: Ortiz
PS: Vazquez

MY LOAD
C: Johjima (s)
1B: Branyan (s)
2B: Lopez (s)
3B: Hannahan (s)
SS: Tulo
LF: Bay
CF: Guttierez (s)
RF: Ichiro (s)
DH: Griffey (s)
PS: Jackson

TOMORROW

Weather:
Yanks/Bosox scattered t-storms
Reds/Bucs pn thundershowers
Brewers/Nats t-showers
Mariners/Indians pm showers
Phills/Mets t-storms

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Dodgers, O's, Mariners, Brewers, Reds, Royals, Mets, Giants

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Yanks vs. Tazawa (1-2 5.40 in 2 starts)
Indians vs. Fister (1-0 1.93 in 2)
Rocks vs. Martinez 93-1 4.76 in 3)

Possible Load-ups:
Yanks vs. Tazawa (1-2 5.40)
Twins vs. Davies (4-8 5.92)

Bats You May Want to Avoid:
Morneau (1-16)
Rowand (2-15)
Rollins (6-35)
RyHo (3-24)
Scutaro (2-16)
Barajas (2-13)
Hill (2-12)
Ad Jones (1-10)
Phillips (1-14)
Young (2-15)

Pitchers:
AJ (10-6 3.69, 6-5 4.01 road, 0-2 4.44 August, 0-1 6.46 at Bos)
Lilly (9-7 3.42, 1.14 WHIP, 3-6 4.91 road, 0-0 0.00 August, 1-0 1.29 at LAD)
Hanson (8-2 3.05, 3-0 2.41 August, vs. Fla)
Danks (10-8 3.96, 4-5 4.23 home, 2-1 4.23 August, 2-0 3.00 vs. Bal)
Laffey (7-3 3.38, 4-0 1.51 home, 3-0 1.35 August, 1-0 2.08 .333 BAA vs. Sea)
Lannan (8-9 3.68, Low K's, 5-1 1.98 home, 1-1 6.06 August, vs. Mil)
Garza (7-8 3.73, 0-0 4.11 August, 0-1 9.00 vs. Tex)
Duke (9-11 3.42, 0-2 4.58 August, 0-1 1.29 .333 BAA vs. Cin)
Hunter (6-2 2.64, 1.14 WHIP, 2-0 0.87 road, 5-1 2.82 post break, 1-0 1.69 at Tam)
Happ (9-2 2.66, 1.16 WHIP, 5-1 1.77 road, 2-0 1.19 August, 0-0 3.27 at NYM)
Carp (13-3 2.27, 0.97 WHIP, 6-2 2.65 road, 4-0 2.53 August, at SD)
I think both Happ and carp are wise picks. But with the weather possibly an issue on the east coast, I would probably go with Carp.

First:
Branyan (2-5, HR vs. Laffey)

Votto (4-6 vs. Duke)

Pujols (3-8)
Tex, Lee and RyHo are also worth a look.

Second:
Roberts (5-14 vs. Danks)
Sanchez (6-11, HR vs. lefty)
Schumaker (2-4)
Utley (9-21, 2HR)

Third:
ARod (1-1, HR)
Beltre (5-7 vs. Laffey)
Zimmerman (3-5)
DeRosa (2-6)
Feliz (7-19, HR)
Reynolds (2-3, HR)
Sandoval and Beckham are also worth a look.

Short:
Drew (1-3, HR)
Cabrera (5-14)
Tulo and Jeter are also worth a look.

Left:
Bay (6-18, HR vs. AJ)

D Murphy (5-12, HR vs. Garza)
R Sweeney (5-9, HR)

Braun and Lee are also worth a look.

Center:
Wells (5-12)
Ellsbury (6-20, HR vs. AJ)

Kemp (2-5, HR vs. Lilly)

Morgan (5-8, HR)

Taveras (7-20 vs. Duke)

Victorino (6-19)

Hunter is also worth a look.

Right:

Cake (5-15, HR vs. Danks)

Ichiro (6-14 vs. Laffey)

Willingham (3-7)
Hart (2-4, HR vs. Lannan)
Abreu, Werth and Pence are also worth a look.

DH:
Scott (3-9, HR vs. Danks)
Kubel (6-14)
Cust (4-7, HR)
Lind and Vlad are also worth a look.

Catcher:
Martin (2-4 vs. Lilly)
Johjima (3-9 vs. laffey)
Pudge (4-13 vs. Garza)
Olivo (2-2, HR vs. lefty)
Mauer (8-19)
Benji (5-15 vs. lefty)
Montero is also worth a look.

FINAL LINEUP (League-Wide Trek - Day 2)

Starting with my staff, of course I would like Happ, but the Phils have a DH coming up and I have to save them for that. Carp is a good option as well, but I would rather take him at home. This leaves me with Laffey. Now take a close look at his stats. He has been as solid as anyone lately, but we never give him credit for it. He is also at home. What better time is there going to be to take an Indians pitcher? Yeah, I know. MF'n Wood is on the team. But with this trek, I am going to have to do it sometime. The bats are going to be quite a ride as well. I want to go with the DBacks, but I think I will hold off on them until Upton is back. This leaves me with the Royals. They are facing a pitcher in Duensing who is 4-8 with a 5.92 and they are in a good park for hitting if you can get the bat on the ball. Now, since I only have to take 7 of them, I will pass on right (where they have no one anyway) and catcher. Here it is, in all it's naked glory...

C: Mauer

1B: Butler (k)

2B: Callaspo (k)

3B: Teahen (k)

SS: Bettancourt (k)

LF: DeJesus (k)

CF: Maier (k)

RF: Werth

DH: Jacobs (k)

PS: Laffey

DISCLAIMER

My picks are exactly that, my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, you are welcome to do so at your own risk. Thanks as always for reading, please come again, and pass the word if you will.

FU HALL OF FAME

Kerry MF'n Wood (Founder, -14, -11, -7, -6)

Nick MF'n Blackburn (record holder at -43)

Jake MF'n Peavy (2 time offender at -8 and -2)

Houston MF'n Astros Staff(-4)

Los Angeles MF'n Dodgers Staff (-11)

Zach MF'n Greinke (-4)

FYI

Today's edition will be up by around 8 pm. Sorry for the delay.

OK, Time to Change It Up a Little

Guys, I'm bored. Bored so stiff at this point in the season that I have to make some drastic moves in effort to keep myself interested. So here is what I am going to do. Starting tomorrow, and over the next 30 days, I am going to try a little experiment. I will take each pitching staff ONCE, with no repeats. This means that once I take Lincy, he and the Giants staff will be dead to me until September 20th. I will do the exact same thing with the bats from each team. I will load up on each team offensively once, and no more. If I use the Yanks tomorrow, they are also dead to me until September 20th. Now not all teams have bats listed at every position, so I will self enact a rule saying that each load up will require a minimum of 7 bats. The other two positions can be used at my leisure when warranted.

There will be some serious factors to consider when doing this:
- I will have to check not only the daily starters, but the starters for the rest of the week, particularly near the end of the 30 days, so as not to corner myself.
- I will have to save DH teams (there are 4 currently scheduled during this stretch).
- I will have to look pray that if a last minute DH is scheduled, that I haven't used those teams yet
- Going into the last week or so, I will have to make sure that the remaining teams have games scheduled for the lat day of the trip, so as not to have to take an assload of DNP's.

...and these are just the ones that come to mind now, as I have certainly not thought this out thoroughly.

As for the blog, it will be reported in the same way it has been, except that I will be taking really screwed up lineups and I will have to go against the common sense pitching staffs quite often. Under the FINAL LINEUP category, I will list who I am taking and why I think they are the best option. There are three reasons why I am going to do this. First and foremost, I am bored out of my mind with everyone having the same basic guys every day. Secondly, I want to see how it effects my overall and second half rankings. If I fall, I fall. It will still be cool to see how it shakes out. Finally, I want and need the challenge.

Anyway, keep an eye out for this, starting later tonight, when I make tomorrows team. You may enjoy following my journey.

Thursday, the 20th

Good morning, everyone. After this week, there are only 6 weeks left in the season. For that I would like to say Thank GOD! I'm really ready for it to end. I am also beginning to feel like testing the load-up theory again, just out of boredom. From now on, I may try to take at least 6 bats from one team every night, just for kicks. I'll let you know for sure tonight when I post the final lineup. Anyway, here we go..........

YESTERDAY

You've got to take a chance every once in a while. I did that yesterday with Jurrjens who, aside from a few two out fudge-ups, did pretty well. At least he equalled Verlander with 21. Unfortunately, Cliff Lee turned into Bob Feller and smoked the DBacks for 41 points. My bats were pretty weak as well, led by McCann (10), and totalling a measly 25. My 46 points for the night left me ranked #26 overall and #522 in the half.

TODAY

As expected, Johan is the top pitcher with 30%, but he is closely trailed by Johnson at 25%. Lester and Cain, both at 14% also had good showings. There could be some movement today for sure, especially with possible rain issues all over the league. Here's my final again, along with the top picks...

C: VMart*
1B: Pujols*
2B: Kinsler*
3B: Longoria*
SS: Tulo (Hanley*)
LF: Bay*
CF: Hunter (Hamilton*)
RF: Willingham (Werth*)
DH: Vlad (Ortiz*)
PS: Johan*

TOMORROW

Weather:
Reds/Pirates scattered t-storms
Brewers/Nats scattered
O's/Chisox pm showers
Yanks/Bosox scattered
Phils/Mets scattered
Marlins/Braves scattered

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Indians, Mariners, Angels, Red Sox, Mets, Rangers, Rocks, Tigers, Cards, Cubs

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Indians vs. French (2-3 3.74 in 8 starts)
Brewers vs. Martin (2-2 4.61 in 6)
Jays vs. O'Sullivan (3-1 5.98 in 8)
Angels vs. Rzepczynski (1-3 3.98 in 8)

Possible Load-ups:
Tigers vs. Gonzalez (4-3 5.88, .357 BAA)

Bats You May Want to Avoid:
Kinsler (2-16, HR)
Young (2-15)
Tracy (4-21)
Winn (5-29)
Eckstein (2-18)
Willingham (2-11, HR)
Pedroia (6-32)
Pagan (2-11, HR)
Pudge (2-16)

Pitchers:
Vazquez (10-8 2.99, 1.04 WHIP, 178 K in 162 IP, 2-1 2.86 August, 0-1 7.94 vs. SF)
Floyd (10-7 3.94, 5-2 2.38 home, 3-1 2.57 post break, vs. Bal)
Jackson (9-5 2.85, 1.19 WHIP, 3-4 2.79 road, 2-0 4.50 August, 1-0 1.29 at Oak)
Wells (9-5 3.01, 4-2 2.98 road, 0-1 2.57 at LAD)
Wolf (7-6 3.43, 1.14 WHIP, 1-2 4.03 home, 1-0 1.29 vs. CHC)
I think Vazquez is the best pick here at home, and Jackson would be a good second choice.

First:
Prince (1-3, HR vs. rook)
Youk (9-25, HR vs. lefty)
Howard (6-17, HR)
Gload (10-25 vs. Vazquez)
Pena (1-2, HR)
AGonz (7-17, HR)
Also worth a look are Pujols, Miggy, and Morales.

Second:
J Lopez (2-3 vs. lefty)
Sanchez (3-7 vs. Vazquez)
Polanco (2-5 vs. lefty)
Also worth a look are Hill and Utley.

Third:
Zimm (2-5)
Lowell (8-24 vs. lefty)
Crede (2-2, HR)
Atkins (7-19 vs. lefty)
Sandoval (2-5 vs. lefty)
Also worth a look are ARod, Beckham, and Kouz.

Short:
Jeter (3-6)
Escobar (3-10)
Renteria (7-14)
Drew (7-17)
Tulo (5-12, HR vs. lefty)
Also worth a look are Scutaro and Aybar.

Left:
Bay (12-27, HR vs. lefty)
Ibanez (3-9)
G Anderson (2-4)
DeJesus (6-12)
Quentin (3-6, HR)
Also worth a look are Braun, Holliday and Crawford.

Center:
Ellsbury (5-12 vs. lefty)
Upton (2-3, HR)
Hamilton (3-9 vs. lefty)
Also worth a look are Morgan, Cameron and Sizemore.

Right:
Drew (12-32, 3HR vs. lefty)
Werth (5-14)
Church (8-16, HR)
Dye (4-11, HR)
Cake (2-5, HR vs. Floyd)
Mags (2-3, HR vs. lefty)
Also worth a look are Abreu, Ichiro and Hawpe.

DH:
Ortiz (17-46, HR vs. lefty)
Thome (3-12, 2HR)
Also worth a look are Lind and Matsui.

Catcher:
Doumit (3-5, HR)
Varitek (17-55, 2HR vs. lefty)
McCann (4-11, HR)
Olivo (6-11, 2HR)
Mauer (2-6)
AJ (4-13)
Benji (5-17 vs. lefty)
Also worth a look is Napoli.

FINAL LINEUP (League Wide Trek - Day 1)

Picking just as I promised I would, I am going to take Jackson as my starter tomorrow, eliminating the rest of the Tigers for the next 29 days (including Verlander). The only other decent choice is Vazquez, but the Braves have a lot of games left with the Mets and I will save their staff for one of those.

Bats are more difficult. I narrowed it down to the Mariners, Royals, and Rockies to start the journey. I want to save the Rocks for a time when they face a weaker pitcher at home and even though the Royals face my nemesis Blackburn, he can be good at times. So the Mariners it is. I can pick six of them pretty easily, but it is difficult to find a seventh that is sure to play. I am lacking at short, left, and catch. Short is out, as Josh Wilson sucks eggs. Left is no better, so I am stuck at catcher with Johjima, who has only caught one of French's 3 starts, but hits much better than lefties. I hope he plays. Here is what I have for tomorrow...

C: Johjima (s)
1B: Branyan (s)
2B: Lopez (s)
3B: Hannahan (s)
SS: Tulo
LF: Bay
CF: Gutierrez
RF: Ichiro
DH: Griffey
PS: Jackson

STAT CORNER

The Longest Current Hitting Streaks and ther Stats That Match:
Hanley - 14 games, .456 avg, 2 HR, 13 RBI
B Pena - 11 games, .366, 1 and 4
Ichiro - 10 games, .400, 1 and 6
Cantu - 10 games, .311, 2 and 8
J Baker - 9 games, .472, 1 and 6
Roberts - 9 games, .381, 2 and 6

DISCLAIMER

My picks are exactly that, my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, you are welcome to do so at your own risk. Thanks as always for reading, please come again, and pass the word if you will.

FU HALL OF FAME

Kerry MF'n Wood (Founder, -14, -11, -7, -6)
Nick MF'n Blackburn (record holder at -43)
Jake MF'n Peavy (2 time offender at -8 and -2)
Houston MF'n Astros Staff(-4)
Los Angeles MF'n Dodgers Staff (-11)
Zach MF'n Greinke (-4)

Wednesday, the 19th

Good morning, everyone. I never thought I'd say this, but thank God for good bullpens, right? Wow. Here are a few random thoughts, Larry King style........Bret Favre - who gives a shit?........John Smoltz - if he signs with the Cards, I hope it goes well. He deserves to go out successfully.........the Rangers, the Giants, and the pennant race - Man it would suck if these two played eachother in the series, as unlikely as it probably is.........Panama - never been there, probably never will.......That chick on the Evony ad - nice cans! Probably talks with an accent, too!

YESTERDAY

It surely started out poorly, as Lincy got railed early and often. Fortunately, the bullpen came through with a great effort and the majority of us walked away with a decent 18 points. My bats were pretty much crap asode from Mauer (14), Kinsler (9), and Hanley (5). They totalled 34 on the night, giving me a grand total of 52. Again, I don't complain about any score above 50. This morning, I am ranked #26 overall and #462 in the half.

TODAY

So I pulled out my sack last night and laid that sucker on the table for all to see. I am not sure at this point if it was a good move or not, but I went with Jurrjens in New York tonight, hoping he outduels Lee and Verlander. Lee was clearly the top pick with 45% and Verl followed with 29%. It's a do or die kind of day, but I felt like it was a good time to try to sneak one in. If it works...but if it doesn't....shit! Here is my final, along with the top picks...

C: McCann (Mauer*)
1B: Huff (Pujols*)
2B: Cano (Kinsler*)
3B: Longoria (Figgins*)
SS: Hanley*
LF: Braun*
CF: Cameron (Hunter*)
RF: Cuddyer (Cake*)
DH: Vlad*
PS: Jurrjens (Lee*)

TOMORROW

Weather:
Giants/Reds scattered t-storms
Mariners/Tigers rain and thunder
DBacks/Phils scattered
Rocks/Nats scattered
Angels/Indians scattered
Braves/Mets scattered

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Tigers, Mariners, Phils, Jays, Bosox, Rays, Braves, Twins, Marlins, Dodgers, Cubs

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Rays vs. Matusz (1-2 6.75 in 3 starts)

Possible Load-ups:
Rays vs. Matusz (1-2 6.75)
Rangers vs. Swarzak (3-6 5.87)

Bats You May Want to Avoid:
Phillips (2-14, HR vs. starter)
Hafner (4-26)
A Cabrera (1-11)
Feliz (3-26)
Rollins (3-22)
Utley (2-11)
Millar (4-21)
Hill (0-14)
Lind (2-14)
Scott (3-16)
Infante (2-24)

Pitchers:
Cain (12-4 2.49, 1.15 WHIP, 6-2 2.61 road, 0-2 4.84 August, 0-1 6.43 at Cin)
Rowland-Smith (2-1 3.60, 1.11 WHIP, 0-0 4.91 road, 1-0 4.08 August, at Det)
Washburn (8-7 2.95, 1.09 WHIP, 0-1 5.12 August, vs. Sea)
Lackey (8-5 3.73, 1-1 2.49 August, 1-0 1.29 at Cle)
Davis (7-10 3.59, 3-4 4.10 road, 2-0 2.70 August, at Phi)
Blanton (7-6 3.88, 4-3 4.03 home, 0-2 2.61 August, vs. Zona)
Lester (9-7 3.71, 176 K in 153 IP, 4-4 4.03 road, 0-0 2.37 August, 2-1 2.33 at Tor)
Shields (7-9 3.88, 1-3 5.45 post break, 1-0 0.00 vs. Balt)
Johan (13-8 3.10, 8-2 2.32 home, 1-1 0.00 vs. Atl)
Johnson (12-2 2.85, 1.07 WHIP, 2-0 2.66 August, at Hou)
Wandy (11-7 3.05, 6-2 1.92 home, 1-1 6.60 August, at Hou)
Pineiro (11-9 3.25, 1.12 WHIP, Low K's, 2-0 6.27 August, 1-0 4.05 at SD)
My top three here are Lackey, Johan and Cain. The depleted Tribe should be no match for Lackey. I like Cain more, being in the NL, but the Reds bats scare me just a little after what they did to Lincy. But I like Johan more than the rest. He has not given up an earned run in 2 starts vs. Atlanta this season and the Braves have a long history of struggling vs. lefties. Johan for me.

First:
Votto (4-8 vs. Cain)
Howard (2-6, 2HR vs. Davis)
Youk (2-3)
AGonz (6-19, HR vs. Pineiro)
Pujols (2-3)
I have to go with Pujols here. Of the group, he faces the weakest starter. Youk is appealing as well, but I have to stay with the best hitter in the game.

Second:
K Johnson (7-18 vs. Johan)
Uggla (3-9 vs. Wandy)
Well obviously I don't like either of these guys, but Kinsler vs. Swarzak looks appealing enough. He seems tobe getting back into his early season groove.

Third:
Peralta (10-25 vs. Lackey)
Zimmerman (1-3, HR)
Lowell (1-3, HR vs. lefty)
Chipper (5-14 vs. Johan)
Kouz (2-6, HR vs. Pineiro)
I don't much care for the way this group works either. I guess I'll stay with Evan. Eventually, he has to come through. This is definately a throw away pick, though.

Short:
Scutaro (6-19 vs. Lester)
Escobar (5-15 vs. Johan)
Hanley (4-8 vs. Wandy)
Furcal (3-6 vs. lefty)
Once again, the numbers leave me wishing for more. Pencil in Tulo, but I may dump him if I need money later.

Left:
Bay (2-2, HR vs. lefty)
Diaz (11-20, HR vs. Johan)
Holliday (1-3, HR)
I have to take Bay here. I think I will get the same value from him as I would out of Holliday, plus he's much cheaper.

Center:
Hunter (2-6, HR)
Morgan (3-6)
A Jones (6-15 vs. Shields)
Ross (3-5 vs. Wandy)
I would take Kemp vs. the lefty, if it wasn't for the flu that kept him outlast night. Let's take Hunter. The Halo's are killing the ball right now.

Right:
Choo (4-9 vs. Lackey)
Abreu (2-6)
Willingham (2-4, HR)
Werth (3-6 vs. Davis)
I like Willingham here. He has recently become a favorite pick of mine. Something tells me Hawpe will have success as well.

DH:
Velez (4-9)
Griffey (3-9, HR vs. Washburn)
Ortiz (1-3, HR vs. lefty)
It's a shitty group. I guess I'll stay with Vlad.

Catcher:
Napoli (2-5, HR)
Bard (4-6)
VMart (2-5, HR vs. lefty)
Varitek (2-2, 2HR vs. lefty)
Paulino (5-8, HR vs. Johnson)
Martin (2-5 vs. lefty)
VMart is an easy pick for me. I still think Mauer may sit. Let's just say I heard from someone who knows someone who knows something about this game that Mauer may sit before the weekend. Keep in mind, though, that this is UNCONFIRMED.

FINAL LINEUP

C: VMart
1B: Pujols
2B: Kinsler
3B: Evan
SS: Tulo
LF: Bay
CF: Hunter
RF: Willingham
DH: Vlad
PS: Johan

DISCLAIMER

My picks are exactly that, my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, you are welcome to do so at your own risk. Thanks as always for reading, please come again, and pass the word if you will.

FU HALL OF FAME

Kerry MF'n Wood (Founder, -14, -11, -7, -6)
Nick MF'n Blackburn (record holder at -43)
Jake MF'n Peavy (2 time offender at -8 and -2)
Houston MF'n Astros Staff(-4)
Los Angeles MF'n Dodgers Staff (-11)
Zach MF'n Greinke (-4)

Tuesday, the 18th

Good morning, everyone. Let's start the day off with a little trivia nugget I heard during the radio broadcast of the Braves game yesterday afternoon. We all know that the Mets moved into their new stadium (CitiField) this year. Who are the two players with the most home runs in this park thus far?
The answer will be in the Stat Corner near the bottom of today's post.

YESTERDAY

Well, Hanson didn't get much help from the pen, but he put up a respectable 17 points for many of us. Unfortunately, (for me, anyway), Carp held on for 28 and I lost that one. My bats were decent, accounting for a total of 33, led by Cake (9), Cameron (7), and Pujols (6). Notice that I have taken Cameron now twice in the last week and he has delivered 13 points for me. I like that, and you may see him in my lineup again tomorrow. In the end, my 50 points left me ranked #25 overall and #387 in the half.

TODAY

As per usual, every 5th day we don't have to worry too much about our bats as Lincy is on the hill tonight. As a matter of face, 85% of us have him. CC was the next most popular pick, but he registered too low percentagewise to even matter. So rest easy and pray for bats tonight. Here's my final again, along with the top picks...

C: Mauer*
1B: Howard*
2B: Kinsler*
3B: Longoria*
SS: Hanley*
LF: Braun (Ibanez*)
CF: Wells (Hamilton*)
RF: Pence*
DH: Jacobs (Vlad*)
PS: Lincy*

TOMORROW

Weather:
Royals/Chisox isolated t-storms
Giants/Reds isolated
Twins/Rangers isolated
DBacks/Phils scattered t-storms
Rocks/Nats scattered
Brewers/Bucs scattered
Braves/Mets PM t-storms

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Angels, DBacks, Brewers, Reds, Astros, Yankees, Cards

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Rays vs. Tillman (1-0 4.88 in 4 starts)
Cubs vs. Latos (4-2 4.01 in 6)

Possible Load-ups:
Tigers vs. Snell (2-9 5.84)

Bats You May Want to Avoid:
Konerko (6-48, HR vs. starter)
Alexei (3-17, HR)
Getz (0-13)
Teahen (6-34, HR)
J Buck (2-17)
Betancourt (1-14)
Butler (2-12)
Hafner (0-11)
Kendrick (1-10)
Everett (2-12)
Feliz (3-25)
Stairs (1-10, HR)
Prince (3-30)
Kendall (2-19)
Taveras (2-15)
Winn (4-22)
Ausmus (2-12)

Pitchers (and lots of them):
Greinke (11-7 2.33, 174 K in 166 IP, 1.14 WHIP, 4-4 2.81 road, 1-1 4.26 August, 2-1 1.61 at CWS)
Verlander (13-6 3.28, 194 K in 167 IP, 1.16 WHIP, 2-1 2.11 home, 1-1 4.09 August, 0-1 6.14 vs. Sea)
Marquis (13-8 3.55, Low K's, 1-1 4.05 August, 1-0 0.00 at Was)
Haren (12-7 2.50, 0.89 WHIP, 6-2 2.96 road, 2-1 4.71 August, 0-1 3.60, .194 BAA at Phi)
Lee (10-9 2.86, 2-0 1.20 August, vs. Zona)
Gallardo (11-9 3.52, 165 K in 153 IP, 3-5 2.52 road, 1-0 6.38 August, 1-0 1.80 at Pitt)
Holliday (13-5 2.69, 1.08 WHIP, 8-3 2.67 home, 2-1 2.52 August, 1-0 1.00 vs. Bos)
Niemann (10-5 3.86, 4-2 2.89 home, 1-0 4.12 August, 1-1 6.97 vs. Bal)
Jurrjens (9-8 2.99, 0-1 5.51 August, 1-0 1.32, .179 BAA at NYM)
Millwood (9-7 3.31, 7-1 2.47 home, 0-0 2.31 August, .336 BAA vs. Min)
Wells (9-5 3.01, 4-2 2.98 road, 0-1 3.86 at SD)
Wainwright (14-7 2.62, 2-1 1.31 August, 1-0 0.00 at LAD)
Kershaw (8-7 2.91, 142 K in 136 IP, 3-3 1.86 home, 0-2 4.11 August, 0-0 0.00 vs. StL)
Ok, I am feeling a little crazy today. There are three of these that I like most of all: Gallardo, Jurrjens, and Lee. I think Lee will be the popular pick and it may be a good time to take a risk. Therefore, I will be going with Jurrjens. The only Mets that hit him well are on the DL and I will be hoping Reynolds continues his tear in Philly. Eventually, I have to do it, and this looks like a reasonable time. Ah, Hell. I just saw that Harden is going for the Cubs tomorrow. They must have made a late change. Sorry I don't have the numbers for you, but I am going to stay with my pick.

First:
Miggy (3-9, HR)
Huff (2-2)
Overbay (5-7)
Youk (17-47, HR vs. good starter)
Morneau (6-16, 3HR vs. good starter but may be hurt)
Tex (2-6 vs. lefty)
Pujols (4-7 vs. good starter)
My favorite here would be Morneau, but he left last night's game with dizziness. I think I will take Aubrey Huff, hoping that he will make a big splash in his first games with the Tigs. He is also a very good value, salary wise.

Second:
Polanco (5-10)
J Lopez (8-25 vs. good starter)
Roberts (3-9 vs. good starter)
Phillips (4-8 vs. lefty)
Cano (3-6 vs. lefty)
Robbie Cano hits good enough against lefties that, with minimal options, I will take him and his red-hot Yankees out west.

Third:
Peralta (5-14, HR)
Wiggy (3-6, HR vs. good starter)
Sandoval (2-6)
I know I have rolled with Longoria alot lately, and I am going to do it again against the rook. In this case, that's the best reason I have.

Short:
As Cabrera (3-9)
Aybar (3-7 vs. lefty)
Renteria (6-17)
O Cabrera (28-87, HR vs. good starter)
Jeter (3-7, HR vs. lefty)
Furcal (7-13 vs. good starter)
I don't know who the Hell Bazardo is, or that a Bazardo is, but I am going to bet that Hanley holds his own against him. Otherwise I would go with Jeter, who always seems to turn into a straight singles hitter when I take him.

Left:
Pods (16-30 vs. good starter)
Rivera (2-6 vs. lefty)
Braun (7-19, HR vs. lefty)
Gomes (2-5 vs. lefty)
Holliday (4-9 vs. good lefty)
I have to go no further than Braun here. None others seriously considered.

Center:
Grady (5-16, 2HR)
Hunter (2-4, HR vs. lefty)
Gutierrez (6-20, HR vs. good starter)
Cameron (11-26, 3HR vs. lefty)
Hamilton (2-6)
Melky (4-5, HR vs. lefty)
As I said before, Cameron has done me right twice in the past week. Once again, he has owned the starter and earns a shot on my team. Like Huff, he is a salary benefit as well.

Right:
Dye (16-41, 3HR vs. good starter)
Choo (5-12)
Drew (8-25, HR vs. good starter)
Cake (4-9, HR vs. good starter)
Cuddyer (8-18, HR vs. good starter)
Ethier (4-13 vs. good starter)
All the good ones face good pitching. I hate that Cuddyer is ice cold, but the way the Twins have hit Millwood, I have to chance it.

DH:
Lind (2-5)
Velez (3-7, HR)
Kubel (4-10 vs. good starter)
I want to give Velez a shot, but with Vlad hitting like he has been and his history of owning lefties, I'll pass on Velez.

Catcher:
AJ (16-37, 2HR vs. good starter)
VMart (3-10 vs. good starter)
Benji (5-15)
Mauer (9-25 vs. good starter)
Martin (7-11 vs. good starter)
Not caring much for the matchups, and knowing that Mauer is likely to sit in the next few days, I will take McCann. At least he'll be in the lineup.

FINAL LINEUP

C: McCann
1B: Huff
2B: Cano
3B: Longoria
SS: Hanley
LF: Braun
CF: Cameron
RF: Cuddyer
DH: Vlad
PS: Jurrjens

STAT CORNER

Our trivia question was which two players lead the league in home runs at CitiField this season? The leader is Gary Sheffield with 5. In second is Mark Reynolds with 4. Did you guess right? Reynolds hit 4 in a 3 game set earlier this season. Flat out amazing if you ask me.

The Teams Thas Have Struck Out The Most (and Least) This Season:
1. Texas
2. Arizona
3. Florida
4. Tampa Bay
5. Colorado

26. LA Angels
27. Baltimore
28. Toronto
29. Houston
30. NY Mets

DISCLAIMER

My picks are exactly that, my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, you are welcome to do so at your own risk. Thanks as always for reading, please come again, and pass the word if you will.

FU HALL OF FAME

Kerry MF'n Wood (Founder, -14, -11, -7, -6)
Nick MF'n Blackburn (record holder at -43)
Jake MF'n Peavy (2 time offender at -8 and -2)
Houston MF'n Astros Staff(-4)
Los Angeles MF'n Dodgers Staff (-11)
Zach MF'n Greinke (-4)

Monday, the 17th

Good morning, everyone. Sometimes a double dip is just what the doctor ordered. Then again, sometimes it's not. Some of my favorite days playing this game have been when I went against common sense and picked the weakest end of a DH, and then saw it pay off. Some of my most miserable days have been when I did the exact same thing, only to see it crumble in front of me (remember the White Sox a few years back). A double header is certainly a chance to get double the points, but is can also ruin your season. The bottom line is that if you want to go big, you have to be prepared to fall big as well.

YESTERDAY

As you may have seen, I in no way endorsed my lineup for yesterday. It was thrown together in mere minutes, but managed to work out well. Yes, I had the Marlins staff which, thanks to a ton of strikeouts, manager to put up a decent 29 points. The Rocks ended the day just above freezing with 2, I believe and no one saw the Harden rain out coming. Because of this, we Marlins takers reap great benefit from yesterday's work. My bats were solid, led by Hanley (13), Cohglan (13), Ross (10), and Hawpe (9). They gave me 61 total points and my 90 overall bounced me up to #23 overall and #373 in the half (a second half high). It's taken way too long to get me here, but I am finally beginning to rise some. Of course, you know what this means....

TODAY

41% of us went with Hanson and the Braves today. I feel pretty certain they will get it in, but there may be a delay or two in Atlanta. 31% took Carp and another 16% have Burnett. Again, there could be some good movement today, as none of the staffs are surefire guarantees, in my opinion. Here is my final again, along with the top picks...

C: Benji (Mauer*)
1B: Pujols*
2B: Roberts (Kinsler*)
3B: ARod*
SS: Jeter*
LF: Braun*
CF: Cameron (Hamilton*)
RF: Markakis*
DH: Thome (Kubel*)
PS: Hanson*

TOMORROW

Weather:
Angels/Indians scattered t-storms
Brewers/Pirates scattered
Giants/Reds scattered
Mariners/Tigers scattered

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Pirates, Red Sox, Orioles, Braves, A's

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Indians vs. Bell (0-0 6.75 in 1 start)
Marlins vs. Norris (3-0 3.00 in 3)
Cubs vs. Carullo (0-1 30.86 in 1)

Possible Load-ups:
Angels vs. Carmona (2-7 6.37)
Rays vs. Berken (2-10 6.63)

Bats You May Want to Avoid:
Taveras (2-14 vs. starter)
Francouer (3-18, HR)
Castillo (3-16)
D Ross (2-23)
Diaz (4-22)
An Jones (2-20)
AJ (5-27)

Pitchers:
Felix (12-4 2.72, 158 K in 165 IP, 8-1 1.96 road, 1-0 2.25 August, 2-0 2.77 at Det)
Jimenez (10-9 3.47, 3-0 1.19 Aufust, at Was)
Beckett (14-4 3.10, 1.11 WHIP, 2-0 0.86 August, .324 BAA at Tor)
Romero (10-5 3.70, 1-1 4.26 August, 0-2 9.72, .333 BAA vs. Bos)
Lince (12-3 2.19, 1.02 WHIP, 205 K in 172 IP, 5-2 2.46 road, 1-0 1.52 August, 0-0 2.57 at Cin)
Lowe (12-7 4.08, 6-4 4.38 road, 1-0 3.55 at NYM)
Feldman (12-4 3.90, 4-3 4.28 home, 4-2 4.08 post break, 0-1 4.50 vs. Min)
CC (13-7 3.64, 1.14 WHIP, 3-0 2.38 August, 1-0 5.93 at Oak)
Bills (11-6 3.73, 143 K in 149 IP, 1-0 0.82 August, 0-1 9.53 vs. StL)
Looking at Beckett's career numbers vs. Toronto, I will pass on him. Felix is a pretty good option, as is CC. However, I think I have to go with Lince again. Unless I see something tonight that assures me the weather is going to me more of an issue than it is, I will stay with him as well. If the forecast gets too dicey, I will probably change to CC.

First:
Miggy (4-8 vs. good starter)
Howard (1-3, HR)
Youk (2-4, 2HR vs. good lefty)
Morneau (3-9 vs. good starter)
Berkman (4-8, HR)
Tex (2-3, HR)
Berkman is very intriguing for tomorrow. I have a feeling he will do well,but I think I will take Ryho at home. He has wrmed up a little over the past few days and is hopefully ready to go on a run.

Second:
Polanco (6-15 vs. good starter)
Barmes (2-3)
F Lopez (3-3)
Pedroia (2-5, HR vs. good lefty)
Kinsler (2-2)
I like taking at least one bat vs. Carl Pavano whenever I can. This time it's Kinsler. Although his batting average is under .250, he hits .294 at home.

Third:
Chipper (11-29, HR vs. lefty)
Young (2-2)
Crede (3-7 vs. good starter)
It's tempting for me to take Reynolds vs. Pedro, just to prove how little confidence I have in the new Philly. But, I will let common sense prevail and take Longoria vs. a struggling Berken instead.

Short:
Scutaro (3-7 vs. good starter)
Escobar (5-10, HR vs. lefty)
Tejada (4-12)
Hanley (2-3, HR)
Norris has started his career off on the right foot. Nonetheless, I am going to take Hanley against him.

Left:
Dunn (3-7 vs. good starter)
Ibanez (22-62, 2HR)
Sheff (9-19, 2HR)
G Anderson (3-6, 2HR vs. lefty)
DeJesus (11-28)
Damon (2-3)
I don't see anything here that clearly stands out, so I guess I will stay with Braun. Against the Bucs, he is sure to come through with something for me. I don't trust Sheff and Damon is better at home.

Center:
Granderson (9-22, HR vs. good starter)
Wells (9-28, 5HR vs. good starter)
Byrd (9-21, HR)
Bourne (3-9)
Ross (2-3)
I've been spending quite alot and, since I need to cut back somewhere, I cannot pass on Wells' stats ve. Beckett. That's just flat out impressive, enough so that I really don't care who the starter is.

Right:
Ichiro (2-6)
Church (3-5 vs. lefty)
Cuddyer (3-8, 2HR vs. good starter)
Pence (3-7, 3HR)
Rios (11-18)
In the same way that I had to go with Vernon, I will do the same with Pence. Three dingers in 7 at bats is not too shabby.

DH:
Lind (3-6, HR vs. good starter)
Ortiz (3-5 vs. good lefty)
Thome (10-33, HR but hurt)
Jacobs (2-2, HR)
OK, it's time to get a little crazy. I'm going to risk it with Mike Jacobs. He has been hitting pretty decent lately and Freddie Garcia is less than enough to scare me away from the cheap bat.

Catcher:
Barajas (4-10, HR vs. good starter)
Benji (1-3, HR)
Mauer (3-8 vs. good starter)
Posada (2-3)
Yadi (3-9 vs. good starter)
It's either going to be VMart or Mauer here. They both face decent young pitchers and they are both terrific bats. In the end, I will take Mauer, simply because he is facing the Rangers in a Hell of a hitters park. It's basically a coin-flip situation here.

FINAL LINEUP

C: Mauer
1B: Howard
2B: Kinsler
3B: Longoria
SS: Hanley
LF: Braun
CF: Wells
RF: Pence
DH: Jacobs
PS: Lincy

STAT CORNER

Benji Molina is hitting .265 on the season, with 15 HR and 63 RBI in 103 games. When Tim Lincecum pitches, Benji hits .319 with 6 Homers and 21 RBI in 24 games.
Lince has started 23% of the games in which Benji has played. In these games, he has hit 40% of his home runs, drivin in 33% of his RBI's and hits 54 percentage points higher.

Hitting with Bases Loaded - Season Leaders (7 AB min.)
Helton .714, 1 HR, 15 RBI (7AB)
Hunter .667, 15 RBI (9AB)
Pujols .667, 5 HR, 27 RBI (12AB)
VMart .625, 10 RBI (8AB)
Victorino .625, 1HR, 13 RBI (8AB)
Span .600, 15 RBI (10AB)
D Lee (.583, 2HR, 22 RBI (12AB)

DISCLAIMER

My picks are exactly that, my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, you are welcome to do so at your own risk. Thanks as always for reading, please come again, and pass the word if you will.

FU HALL OF FAME

Kerry MF'n Wood (Founder, -14, -11, -7, -6)
Nick MF'n Blackburn (record holder at -43)
Jake MF'n Peavy (2 time offender at -8 and -2)
Houston MF'n Astros Staff(-4)
Los Angeles MF'n Dodgers Staff (-11)
Zach MF'n Greinke (-4)

Sunday, the 16th

Good morning, everyone. I am sorry for the overall weakness of my DH post, added late last night. I hope you all at least caught word that there was a DH today and made the most of it. It will be interesting for sure, as the pitchers leave alot to be desired. I also hear that there were site issues at ESPN, preventing somelate lineups from being made. If you were one of the left out, sorry pal, tough break.

YESTERDAY

Well, Johan surely left many of us a little disappointed, putting up a very unimpressive 11. Fortunately though, Cainonly had 18 of his own, so it wasn't a total wash. For my bats, Mauer (8), Hill (7), and Lingoria (7) led the pack as the lineup combined for a decent 35. My total of 46 for the night moved mu up to #28 overall and #684 in the half (a 7 spot climb). I'll take any improvement, though, on a day where my pitcher only gives me 11.

TODAY

The daily summary has not been posted as of yet, so I am not sure whothe top picks are. My guess is that there will be a pretty decent split between Harden, the Rocks, and the Marlins. What I have was pretty much put together in mere minutes, with no serious thought put into it. It could be a very wough day. Here's my final again and, if I have the time, I will post the top picks when they arrive...

C: Mauer*
1B: Johnson (Helton*)
2B: Uggla*
3B: Bonaficio (Stewart*)
SS: Hanley*
LF: Coghlan*
CF: Ross*
RF: Hawpe*
DH: Smith*
PS: Fins*

The Marlins were barely the top pick, followed by the Rocks and Harden. It's goona be fun.....

TOMORROW

Weather:
Royals/Chisox scattered t-storms

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Rangers, Royals, Padres,

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Mets vs. Martinez (2-1 6.00 in 2 starts)

Possible Load-ups:
Orioles vs. Santana (5-6 6.38, .336 BAA)
Chisox vs. Bannister (7-9 4.26, .293 BAA)
Yanks vs. Mazzaro (4-8 5.54, .400 BAA)
Cards vs. Haeger (1-2 6.35 career, 1st start this season)

Bats You May Want to Avoid:
Konerko (4-22 vs. starter)
DeJesus (10-63, HR)
J Buck (6-45, 2HR)
Ellis (3-16)
Cust (1-10, HR)
Eckstein (5-39)
Ausmus (6-40)

Pitchers:
Sherzer (7-6 3.94, 128 K in 123 IP, 1-0 6.19 August, 1-1 7.45 at Atl)
Hanson (7-2 3.05, 2-0 2.13 August, vs. Zona)
Hernandez (4-4 3.81, 1-2 5.79 August, 1-0 4.05 vs. LAA)
Hunter (5-2 2.26, 1.13 WHIP, 2-1 2.75 August, vs. Min)
Buehrle (11-6 3.70, 1.16 WHIP, 0-2 5.40 August, 1-0 2.61 vs. KC)
Burnett (10-5 3.71, 6-4 4.09 road, 0-1 4.91 August, at Oak)
Lilly (9-7 3.59, 1.15 WHIP, 3-6 5.40 road, 0-1 15.75 post break, 1-1 5.68 at SD)
Carp (12-3 2.27, 0.98 WHIP, 5-2 2.69 road, 3-0 2.63 August, 1-0 1.29 .205 BAA at LAD)
I like Hanson at home, as well as Carp vs. LA. In this one, I am going to go with Hanson. The DBacks ate dropping in Atlanta for a makeup game, then heading right out of town agter the game. The Braves will be waiting for them and I kind of suspect that the DBacks will not be too jacked up to play this one.

First:
Huff (7-17, HR)
Morales (1-2, HR vs. rook)
Teahen (22-50, HR vs. good lefty)
Tex (2-3, HR)
Lee (3-7)
I think I will stay with Pujols here against the Dodgers rook (technically). I like Morales and Tex as well, but rarely pass on Fat Al vs. an inexperienced pitcher.

Second:
K Johnson (3-7 vs. good starter)
Roberts (9-24, 2HR)
Brian Roberts looks like just about the only viable option here. He is also facing a washed up starter.

Third:
Chipper (4-6, HR vs. good starter)
Wiggy (4-9, HR)
Sandoval (4-11, HR)
I'm not taking Chipper, so ARod will have to do. He should have some success against Mazzaro.

Short:
Escobar (4-9 vs. good starter)
Renteria (13-36)
Alexei (5-12, HR)
Theriot (3-6)
Ig Escobar was hitting better, he would be my pick. But since he is not, Jeter is my pick, even though he usually disappoints when I take him.

Left:
G Anderson (3-5, HR vs. good starter)
G Jones (2-2, HR)
D Murphy (2-2 vs. lefty)
Quentin (3-5, 2HR)
Damon (2-3)
None of these work for me either, so I will go with a hot hitting Braun. Holliday is a decent option as well.

Center:
Rowand (7-15, HR)
Byrd (2-3 vs. lefty)
This group flat out sucks. Rowand is cold as ice, Hamilton sees a lefty, and nothing at all looks good. I'll take Cameron, mainly because he is cheap. I also considered Adam Jones.

Right:
Cake (7-21, 2HR)
Bloomquist (12-25 vs. good lefty)
I think, based on the numbers, that I have to go with Markakis here. Again, the matchups really stink today.

DH:
Scott (3-10)
Thome (8-24, 3HR)
Thome has to be the pick.

Catcher:
Benji (8-27, 3HR)
AJ (9-22, HR)
Posada (2-3)
Soto (2-5)
I think I will give Benji a chance here. Posada looks good, as does AJ, but I want at least one bat against Livan.

FINAL LINEUP

C: Benji
1B: Pujols
2B: Roberts
3B: ARod
SS: Jeter
LF: Braun
CF: Cameron
RF: Cake
DH: Thome
PS: Hanson

DISCLAIMER

My picks are exactly that, my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, you are welcome to do so at your own risk. Thanks as always for reading, please come again, and pass the word if you will.

FU HALL OF FAME

Kerry MF'n Wood (Founder, -14, -11, -7, -6)
Nick MF'n Blackburn (record holder at -43)
Jake MF'n Peavy (2 time offender at -8 and -2)
Houston MF'n Astros Staff(-4)
Los Angeles MF'n Dodgers Staff (-11)
Zach MF'n Greinke (-4)

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!! DH Edition

Sorry for the delay guys, but I just found out about the rainout thanks to the comments below. I'ave been out all day, am coming down with a cold, and would have totally missed it had it not been for the comments. Thanks a ton, guys. Before going any further, please keep in mind that I am putting this together with very little prep work and about 10 minutes of thought.

So its the Marlins hosting the Rocks with Volstad and VandenHurk against Cook and DeLaRosa. My first instinct is to take the Marlins, as they are at home. They are also still in the NL East race and need a sweep here badly. My previous pick was Harden vs. the Bucs and that's going to be tough to pass on. Let's come back to this. I need to simmer on it a little.

First: I had Pujols. Now I will take Nick Johnson over Helton. If I take any DH staff it will be the Marlins and I have always been a fan of Johnson.

Second: I had Cano. Now I have Uggla over Barmes. This is a tough one as well, but I just have a feeling on Uggla for some reason. I think the majority will have Barmes, though.

Third: I had Beckham. Now I have Bonaficio over Stewart and Atkins. Those two may split, so Bonaficio seems safer to play two.

Short: I had Hanley. I still have Hanley. Tulo is good, but not as good as Hanley.

Left: I had Holliday. Now I have Coghlan. The Rocks have a few guys at this position and who knows who will go two?

Center: I had Granderson. Now I have Cody Ross over Fowler. Ross has more power and singles don't get me too many points.

Right: I had Pence. Now I have Hawpe over Hermida. This is the first position, aside from short, that is not even arguable for me.

DH: I had Papi. Now I have Seth Smith. Now way Gload plays two, but Smith might. I wasn't too high on Ortiz anyway.

Catcher: I had Mauer. I still have Mauer. None of the catchers will go two anyway, so there is no need to change.

Pitcher: Fuck it. I have almost all Marlin bats anyway, it's time to get a little crazy. No guts, no glory. Give me the Fins.

Ok guys, as you can see I did not put a ton of thought into this. The whole thing took about 12 minutes and you see what I came up with. I do not in any way endorse this lineup. You can make the same argument for going against me at every position and have a pretty good case. It is what it is. Sorry for the late post and the lack of effort, but I am as sick as a dog and too damn tired to give you more than this right now. Thanks again to those of you that commented, letting me know about it. To the dude from Panama, my rank is listed here every day, for future reference. Thanks for reading, and here's the final...

C: Mauer
1B: Johnson
2B: Uggla
3B: Bonaficio
SS: Hanley
LF: Coghlan
CF: Ross
RF: Hawpe
DH: Smith
PS: Marlins

Good luck, guys.