Week Four

"I have all the offensive categories locked up, barring a cataclysmic offensive collapse."

Never, ever let yourself say something like to a person. In particular if that person has a memory so strong that he can remember how many sweaters you owned in college and is likely to throw anything you say back in your face if and when your offense vanishes without a trace. I said this on the phone to a friend of mine Wednesday night when I had comfortable leads across the board offensively. As late as midnight Thursday, I was leading the week 10-1. How the week ended, well it's the stuff of legends.

I got great starts to the week from A-Rod, Holliday, Derrek Lee and Ian Kinsler. Their production, through Thursday, was however, hiding a larger problem. A problem which had risen to the forefront by Sunday. For the week, Bobby Abreu, JD Drew, Carlos Delgado and Bill Hall went a combined 8-88 (.091) with a homer, 2 RBI and six runs. Most of this took place from Thursday through Sunday, during which time my team lost leads of 12 hits and over 120 points of OPS. Carlos Delgado's season so far has been horrible. He's battting under .200, and still said to a reporter that he doesn't think he's in a slump. Oh great.

Of course, my offense only tells half the story. The other half is a story of my bullpen, which blew more saves (4) than it converted all week (3). The most impressive of which took place on that fateful Wednesday night when two of my closers (Wickman and Borowski) blew wins for two of my starters (Hudson and Sabathia). The real sting of this impressive event wasn't felt until Sunday night when the week's stats are final and of course, I'd lost by one win and one save. It's almost funny, or at least it would be if I didn't have both Hudson and Sabathia on two of my three teams.

The good news continue of course, because now Harden won't be returning as scheduled (I really don't know why I picked him - twice - this year).

(Side Note: HOLY SHIT, TEIXEIRA HOMERED TWICE THIS WEEK!! SHEFFIELD PUT UP SOME DECENT NUMBERS! wright still sucks, and if hadn't been for Wickman and Torres - admittedly, my fault for owning Torres - I might have actually won a week in my keeper league. Also, in that league, I completed my first trade: Kent for Arroyo. I can't tell you how nice it is to get Derek Lowe out of my fucking lineup, and how much nicer it will be when/if Harden comes back)