FSBL Blog

Halladay goes 10 innings for the win.

Back to back to back 9th inning home runs (2 pinch hit) propel VORP to victory.

VORP disregard managers appeal to rest for playoffs and close to 1/2 game of league leading Sounders.

TRANSACTION:

The Bobble Heads release Jason Isringhausen and acquire free agent Raul Mondesi.

# posted by Mike : 4:57 PM

The once mighty Vorp have been in a tailspin since about 50 games into the season. We started out with a run differential of around 80 and haven't moved off that spot in around 100 games. We're like the Mariners of 98. One good streak and then .500 ball for the rest of the year.

Frankly I'm mystified at our inability to win more games. I thought my pitching staff would be better. We've allowed almost 35 more runs than the Bashers and Sounders. Mulder's numbers are as far off the expected charts for pitching as A-rod's are for hitting. Loiza and Guardado's numbers are also way off what I expected. I'd love to see the league run 100 more times to see the expected outcomes.

We can't even blame our record in 1 run games any more.

The VORP have decided to pace themselves during September and prepare for the playoffs. Our only trade proposal was met with silence.

BTW If anyone thinks Lopez deserves the MVP over Bonds they're crazy :-)

Bonds leads the league in OBP, SLG, Runs, total bases, OPS, total average, secondary average and Walks
2nd in Average, hits, Home runs, extra base hits
3rd in RBI

You can also throw in the fact that he's played in every game, graciously granted interviews to any interested parties and donated all his salary to medical research.
:-)

Here's the latest Pythagorean chart - what has happened to the once mighty VORP???

Team      W    L    RS    RA   Pct   Exp Exp W Exp L   DIF  RSvAve  RAvAve RSvAve/G RAvAve/G

WES      81   57   786   677 0.587 0.574 79.22 58.78  1.78  78.000 -31.000    0.565   -0.225

BAB      73   62   776   675 0.541 0.569 76.85 58.15 -3.85  68.000 -33.000    0.504   -0.244

VOR      78   60   793   708 0.565 0.556 76.79 61.21  1.21  85.000   0.000    0.616    0.000

JER      73   62   800   719 0.541 0.553 74.68 60.32 -1.68  92.000  11.000    0.681    0.081

BOB      67   68   581   649 0.496 0.445 60.06 74.94  6.94 -127.00 -59.000   -0.941   -0.437

KIT      58   80   647   756 0.420 0.423 58.34 79.66 -0.34 -61.000  48.000   -0.442    0.348

PUB      47   88   573   772 0.348 0.355 47.95 87.05 -0.95 -135.00  64.000   -1.000    0.474

                   708   708

There's no denying that Bonds has the strongest offensive numbers of the season from a Baseball Prospectus type perspective. If the season ended today, however, I think Lopez would probably get the most votes from the baseball traditionalists who value RBI and homers highly, and would point out that Bonds isn't on top in any of the big 3. Never mind that Lopez is well off the pace in average and OBP, he's leading in two of the triple crown categories. Also his team is on top, and he's a huge part of that - plus he's a catcher. By any measure, though, I think it's a race between those two.

MVP has to be Bonds....

What's amazing is that the VORP continues to let the other teams stay close despite having 3 or 4 league leaders in almost every major hitting category. I have three guys with OBP over 400 and a 3rd at .384. My platoons, for the most part have failed to work out well from the right hand side of the plate, yet I'm actually 21-13 vs. left hand pitchers. I really can't figure this game out ( I mean baseball, not diamond mind).

Cy Young should be Pedro but Acevedo has some great secondary numbers. He's just not getting any run support from the Sounders.

Right after the regular season ends I'll send out MVP and CY Young ballots. Should be interesting.

With 36 games to go quite a few offensive categories have already been locked up for the season. I think Mora pretty much had a lock on Hit By Pitch by mid-season, but that's not the only one that's been pretty certain for a while.

Not yet certain is the Batting title, though Koskie probably has an 85% chance at it. It will be someone from VORP for sure though, with Bonds and Edmonds the only reasonable contenders.

The Home Run title is also not yet locked, though Lopez is getting pretty close. He could go cold and Bonds get hot, though, so I'm not calling that one yet.

Here are the certainties:
Bonds will walk the most. (Anyone surprised?)
Guerrero will walk intentionally the most.
Bonds will take the Runs created & RC/27 'titles'.
Lopez should take the Isolated Power crown, whatever that is.
And, of course, Mora wins the black and blue title, having been hit 25 times (12 is next as of yesterday)

In the almost sure department (~85%) I expect we'll see two more league toppers for Bonds with Runs and Secondary Avg, whatever that is.

Cabrera is in a solid position for thief champ, and Bonds (who is that?) likewise is pretty solid for OPS. I'd give them 70% chances for those.

Any MVP speculation out there?

Hey, the Runyans own the eleventh inning!