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WEEK 11 SAW A REALLLLLLL POWER BOON IN THE BACKYARD (AND AT LEAST ONE JROLL!) AS THREE TEAMS RACKED UP 20+ HOME RUNS, WHICH PROBABLY HASN’T HAPPENED SINCE BACK WHEN EVERYONE WAS ON STEROIDS? I DUNNO FEELS RARE FOR THE BACKYARD. PERHAPS ON A RELATED NOTE, MOST TEAMS ERAS WERE HORRIBLE. PERHAPS ON AN UNRELATED BUT IMPORTANT TO WATCH NOTE, THE FRANCHISES BELONGING TO THE FORMER CO-OWNERS OF THAT DYNASTY I ALWAYS TALK ABOUT ARE RED FUCKING HOT. OR AT LEAST WHAT PASSES FOR RED HOT IN THIS PARTICULARLY TIGHT PLAYOFF RACE OF A SEASON. IN A RELATED NOTE, WE ARE NEARLY TWO THIRDS THROUGH THE REGULAR SEASON. BUT WHATEVER LET’S LOOK AT WEEK 11 FIRST…..
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Point Loma X-Rayz DOMINATE The Toms River Titans And They Wanted Me To Point Out Here That Point Loma Is A Nicer Place Than Toms River But Get The Fuck Over Yourselves Most Places Are A Nicer Place Than Toms River We Get It – 12-2-0
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MVP: Jose Ramirez – Hooooo boy did Jose Ramirez have himself a fucking week, something he shares in common with several other X-Rayz teammates. But Jose had the best week of em all, I think, based off a cursory glance here and based off his 11 XBH. Plus that’s a lovely t-shirt. 16/31, 9 Rs, EIGHT 2Bs, 3 HRs, 7 RBIs, 1 SB, .545 OBP ***MVP OF THE WEEK***
LVP: JT Realmuto – On the opposite end of the spectrum you have JT Realmuto and his 1 XBH and his overall DISAPPOINTING week. Was he a “Hitter of Note” last week or something? I feel like this is becoming a thing where I write a guys name for a good thing one week and then the next week they end up sucking. A CURSE. A curse of small sample size variations. 3/17, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, .222 OBP
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X-Rayz Hitter Of Note: Quite frankly there were lots of them because the X-Rayz offense had themselves a week like they probably haven’t seen in years, at least in the dinger department, but let’s highlight Lorenzo Cain who continues to perform with a certain “fuck you Mikey T” chip on his shoulder (11/24, 8 Rs, 1 2B, 4 HRs, 6 RBIs, 2 SBs, .519 OBP).
X-Rayz Pitcher Of Note: And then there is Jason Vargas, who continues to perform which is just weird enough on his own THE GUY HAS 10 WINS ALREADY ON A PRETTY BAD TEAM AND SHIT (13 IP, 4 ER, 9 Ks, 2 QS, 2 Ws, 2.77 ERA).
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Titans Hitter Of Note: Carlos Correa had a decent week but heeee was nearly the only one, which isn’t ideal (9/23, 5 Rs, 1 2B, 2 HRs, 3 RBIs, .462 OBP).
Titans Pitcher Of Note: Stephen Strasburg failed to turn in a QS in either of his 2 starts last week and the Titans should panic and look to trade him to a willing suitor immediately (10.1 IP, 8 ER, 15 Ks, 1 W, 6.97 ERA).
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XRAYZ OFFENSE XPLOSION here gentlemen, as our pals from Point Loma set the Runs record (and handily won that cat 64-39) and tied the Doubles record (and handily won that cat 25-15) for the 2017 season. Matchups with the TR Titans often focus on the pitching side of things but what this one realllllly comes down to is one team having having arguably the strongest offensive showing of the week while the other team had arguably the weakest offensive showing of the week. THAT IS GENERALLY NOT GOING TO GO WELL FOR THE WEAK OFFENSIVE SHOWING TEAM. And that is precisely what happened here, as the Titans conceded all 7 offensive cats to the the X-Rayz on their way to a blowout L. To add insult to injury the pitching staff was all sort of fucked up for TR as well, pitching to 7 Wins (X-Rayz would win the cat 8-7) and 1 CG (one of the two cats the Titans won, the other being Holds [also won with 1]) but also putting up a 6.411 ERA. But enough about what the Titans failed to do, let’s look at what the X-Rayz managed to do: nothing short of their FINEST power week probably of all time, as one of the THREE TEAMS that cleared 20+ HRs in Week 11 (21 for the X-Rayz, tied for 2nd most in the week). The X-Rayz also pitched to a solid 3.857 ERA in a week where most teams struggled to keep it under 5 let alone 4, and all around just an all around impressive performance from Point Loma. Which is what you want to see when you are winning your 4th straight matchup, STILL TRENDING UP. The Point Loma X-Rayz will look to continue trending up when they seek their FIFTH STRAIGHT win in Week 12, the Toms River Titans will look to avoid dropping their third straight as there is getting to be fewer and fewer weeks remaining for those teams looking to make a push into the playoffs. CLEARLY. Cuz that’s how this thing works.
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Next Week aka This Week: X-Rayz v. Isotopes (An IMPORTANT battle for playoff positioning kinda, because I guess we will start seeing those sorts of battles at this juncture), Titans v. Renegade Force (An IMPORTANT battle because I may just declare the loser out of the playoff race in next week’s review and advise them to sell all their aging stars and start planning for 2018)
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MVP: Cody Bellinger – Cody Bellinger is slugggggggggin, MAN is he sluggin’ to start his MLB career here. And MAN am I annoyed that he is doing it for the Isotopes. I have half a mind to offer Arenado for him just to end this madness. 9/27, 7 Rs, 3 2Bs, 4 HRs, 8 RBIs, .400 OBP
LVP: Josh Donaldson – WEIRDLY EMPTY stat line for JDon, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen out of him. But here it is, a whole lot of NOTHIN but 4 singles and 3 walks. 4/18, .333 OBP ***LVP OF THE WEEK***
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Isotopes Hitter Of Note: This has been like our usual “let’s check in on Aaron Judge” segment so YEA let’s check in on that guy (7/27, 6 Rs, 1 3B, 2 HRs, 6 RBIs, 1 SB, .412 OBP).
Isotopes Pitcher Of Note: Wanted to take the ‘Topes down a peg by checking in on someone that did terrible here but aside from Melancon allowed that Arenado cycle nobody looked allll that bad, so fine look Jose Berrios had a nice start too YAY YOUTHFUL ISOTOPES (8 IP, 2 ER, 6 Ks, 1 QS, 1 W, 2.25 ERA).
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Slugs Hitter Of Note: In the good news for the Barnegat Banana Slugs Dept. uhhh I guess Jonathon Schoop is having an okay year (9/25, 8 Rs, 1 2B, 2 HRs, 7 RBIs, .433 OBP).
Was Trevor Story Better Than Aledmys Diaz This Week?: WHO CARES I dropped Aledmys, partly just to put an end to this madness.
Slugs Pitcher Of Note: And nowwww it is my distinct pleasure to announce that Rick Porcello sucked last week and has sucked and/or been unlucky for most of the year let’s go with sucked fuck him (12 IP, 12 ER, 7 Ks, 9.00 ERA).
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These DAMNED ‘Topes and their DAMNED youthful contributions. What can really be said here Judge continues to do Judge things and Bellinger is developing into a realllll monster and there is just EXCITEMENT IN THE AIR in Astoria. Like in the matchup discussed above, the Isotopes did themselves a real solid by going out and sweeping the offensive cats in their Week 11 matchup, not necessarily surprising for a team near the top of most offensive categories taking on a team near the bottom but STILL small sample size yada yada yada clearly Barnegat would have liked to grab an offensive cat or two here. They grabbed none, and they pitched to a league-worst 6.868 ERA (the ‘Topes pitched to a league-second-best 3.687) which didn’t help the QS and Wins categories none and so Astoria took those cats as well. ALOTTA CATS went to Astoria, is what I am saying, cuz they won. Mediocre bullpen work on their part did, however, allow the Barnegat Banana Slugs to win both Saves (2-1) and Holds (4-2) but yanno whatever it happens. This victory gave the Isotopes the Season Series Sweep over the Banana Slugs and allowed them to leapfrog them in the standings, with the Isotopes currently in place as the #5 seed and the Banana Slugs dropping down to the #6 seed. so IMPORTANT PLAYOFF JOCKEYING NOW TAKING PLACE, as early as Week 11. Fun stuff. In Week 12 the Isotopes will be seeking a 3rd straight win, the Banana Slugs will look to get back to getting Ws following a 1-3 stretch over their last 4 that has seen them drop from 4th to 6th in the playoff standings.
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Next Week aka This Week: Isotopes v. X-Rayz (Read above for my thoughts on this matchup, WHY DO I EVEN WRITE THIS PART shit gets repetitive CHANGES COMING), Banana Slugs v. BDSliderz (Battle of 5-5-1s, his Dochness looking to stop a 4 week slide)
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MVP: Edwin Encarnacion – Edwin’s demise has been greatly exaggerated, KINDA LIKE WHAT HAPPENS EVERY YEAR. But yes Edwin had a slow April and yes we were the teensiest tiniest bit worried maybe for a second there but worried no more, over the last 30 days he’s been the best hitter in baseball not named Aaron Judge and in June he’s been the best hitter period. Hi to his haters (Heroy). 9/23, 10 Rs, 4 HRs, 10 RBIs, .545 OBP
LVP: Brandon Belt – Brandon WHAT HAPPENED HERE? Brandon Belt did not get a hit last week but still did enough to avoid LVP for the week, the Backyard Championship League is wacky like that. Have we settled on BCL as a thing? We need to settle on something as the formal version of “the Backyard” someone fetch me a poll question. 0/16, 1 R, 1 SB, .158 OBP
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MooniniteZ Hitter Of Note: NOLAN CYCLENADO NOLAN JROLLENADO NOLAN ARENADO whatever you wanna call him, he had one of the greatest cycles of all time Sunday and also had a JROLL in Week 11 and sadly even with all of that I couldn’t vault him over Eazy E for MVP of this matchup (13/33, 4 Rs, 5 2Bs, 1 3B, 1 HR, 9 RBIs, 1 SB, .394 OBP).
MooniniteZ Pitcher Of Note: Jimmy Nelson earned himself a long leash in the MooniniteZ rotation by FINALLY getting us the CG we craved, we only wanted one we aren’t greedy (14 IP, 4 ER, 14 Ks, 1 QS, 1 W, 1 CG, 2.45 ERA).
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Morning Wood Hitter Of Note: The Morning Wood offense finally showed signs of life in Week 11 and Logan Morrison was right at the forefront of that uhhh signage (7/20, 7 Rs, 1 2B, 4 HRs, 9 RBIs, .458 OBP).
Morning Wood Pitcher Of Note: And let’s keep thaaaangs positive, QTC started 12 so I don’t need to yell at them so I can instead point out that Carlos Martinez has been very good and very good for them and good for them (6 IP, 1 ER, 8 Ks, 1 QS, 1 W, 1.50 ERA).
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ABOUT. What could be expected when a team that hasn’t won since April takes on a team that hasn’t lost in a month and change. The team that hasn’t lost in a month and change still hasn’t lost, is what happened. Manchester (I guess Q-Tip City is also Manchester HOW CONFUSING) continued their hot streak here, fueled by a 57 R, 21 HR, 66 RBI offensive performance that helped make up for a pretttttty mediocre performance on the pitching portion (Jimmy Nelson Complete Game aside). Q-Tip City actually put up as strong of an offensive performance as they’ve mustered in MANY WEEKS (probably), winning the Doubles cat (20-17) and hitting 14 HRs (their highest total since they hit 17 in their last W in Week 2). But ALAS the MooniniteZ are hot, and their week-leading .3859 OBP helped key a 6 outta 7 cat win on offense that was enough to mask some unpleasantness on the pitching side of things (only 3 QS 3 Ws). Which isn’t to say pitching was all bad, their 77 Strikeouts were good enough and Nelson chipped in a CG and they amassed a league-leading 8 Saves (and even a shitty 4.838 ERA bested QTC’s even shittier 4.909). But whatever, I think we have discussed this matchup enough and we aren’t trying to talk about it so much as be about it, if you catch my drift. The Manchester MooniniteZ will seek to continue to BE ABOUT IT when they look for their SIXTH STRAIGHT WIN in Week 12 (last year the MooniniteZ set the season record with 8 straight TAKE NOTE), the Q-Tip City Morning Wood will look to win again at some point before the season concludes.
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Next Week aka This Week: MooniniteZ v. OGTFC (Guy With The Most Championshippy Record In 2017 v. 2016 Champion), Morning Wood v. Bad Dudes (LEAVE IT ALL ON THE COURT QTC what can I really say here….)
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MVP: Anthony Rizzo – Rizzo has actually been the THIRD best hitter in baseball over the past 30 days. Is something I learned. Just now. So yea good on him. 10/24, 6 Rs, Realllllllly tried to not give this one to Mookie Betts since I’m on this kick this week of being mean to the Red Sawks but just….couldn’t….do it. He was good and now the Sawks are playing better and it is just a sad thing. 12/31, 8 Rs, 4 2Bs, 3 HRs, 5 RBIs, 1 SB, .441 OBP
LVP: The All Holds Strategy – This is partly because nobody on the team was that bad and partly because IT IS JUST TRUE. I mean look at this shit, the Fishing Club was actually out there TRYING to pick up holds guys and they could only must one and they also only mustered one save. If you flip the strategy and go all Saves and then just try and stream Holds on the weekend you are better off. I don’t think anybody can deny this. But what do I know I only have the best record over the past 2 years (mehhhh regular season wins mehhhh I’m Mikey T). 0 Saves
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OGTFC Hitter Of Note: That goddamned madman Trea Turner stole 4 bases on Sunday to help spark the OGTFC comeback so we are gonna highlight his numbers over the superior numbers of Anthony Rizzo cuz fuck why not (9/33, 5 Rs, 1 2B, 2 HRs, 4 RBIs, 5 SBs, .294 OBP).
OGTFC Pitcher Of Note: How’s about Archie Bradley racking up 2 Ws and a Hold in a mere 3.1 IP IS THAT NOT NOTABLE (3.1 IP, 0 ER, 5 Ks, 2 Ws, 1 Hold, 0.00 ERA)?!
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RRF Hitter Of Note: Like I said RRF hitters weren’t that bad they just weren’t good enough, but damned if scrappy little Chris Taylor didn’t try his best to pull out this W (7/21, 5 Rs, 3 2Bs, 1 HR, 7 RBIs, 3 SBs, .391 OBP).
RRF Pitcher Of Note: Masahiro Tanaka looked better for one game and then looked bad again but at least K’d 10 and I swear this motherfucker is the only pitcher I talk about for RRF I HAVE WRITTEN TOO MANY OF THESE STARTING TO GET TO ME (10.2 IP, 6 ER, 18 Ks, 1 QS, 5.06 ERA).
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Not gonna lie folks, there was a moment where this one looked DESTINED for a tie and I was like oh goddammit not a-fucking-gain. Well it turns out this one turned out farrrrr far worst, as our defending champeen snuck out the win and nobody ever wants the defending champeen to win. The OGTFC got it done in part because they were the THIRD team in Week 11 that was able to notch 20+ HRs, and the OGTFC were the cream of the crop of the league with 22 HRs. Those HRs combined with a strong OBP (.3775) and 9 Ws helped give the OGTFC the cats they needed to make a comeback on Sunday, but the reallllll story here was the Sunday SBs. The Fishing Club racked up 9 RBIs Sunday to 4 RBIs from Rojo’s Renegade Force (OGTFC would win RBIs 54-51) and that part was huge, but eeeeeven huger was the stolen base onslaught that managed them to grab them the lead in that cat. Rojo’s Renegade Force entered Sunday clinging to a 5-4 SB lead but 4 SBs from Trea Turner (and 2 other SBs from other fuckers) later and the OGTFC would end the week with a 10-5 edge in SBs. Andddd when George Springer failed to rack up the 2 doubles or 4 RBIs needed in the Sunday night game (he instead hit a solo HR), the OGTFC ended the week with a 7-6-1 edge overall. In Week 12 the OGTFC will look to STOP THE MOONINITEZ FREIGHT TRAIN and win their second in a row, as they continue to climb up the standings. Rojo’s Renegade Force will seek to avoid a 3rd straight loss that would put a reallll damper on playoff hopes.
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Next Week aka This Week: OGTFC v. MooniniteZ, RRF v. Titans
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2017 WEEK 11 MATCHUP OF THE WEEK, SPONSORED BY NABISCO’S LIMITED EDITION WAFFLES & SYRUP OREOS
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MVP: Rougned Odor – ROUGNED ODOR JROLL. I didn’t properly celebrate the other JROLL from this week so we shall properly celebrate this one. The real MVPs were probably those that contributed in the Sunday night game but whatever we have Sawks bias here at the blog, plus Rougned has been awful so let’s give him a pat on the back and see if that’s just what he needs. He has been so piss poor that I am not going to use his picture however, and will instead use the ACTUAL JROLL himself. Baddddd motherfucker, that guy. 9/22, 7 Rs, 2 2Bs, 1 3B, 3 HRs, 6 RBIs, 1 SB, .458 OBP
LVP: Jedd Gyorko – Jedd Gyorko you didn’t do much, you jerko. I dunno someone needs to go here and your OBP sucked more than Bregman’s. 1/11, 2 Rs, .231 OBP
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Bad Dudes Hitter Of Note: TRULY Xander Bogaerts was the MVP of this week, with a 2 dong Sunday night performance that should keep him in River City for a long time, but truly I don’t care about getting these things “right” or whatever so fuck him he goes here and I get to use a thug life Jimmy Rollins pic above (8/30, 3 Rs, 3 2Bs, 2 HRs, 7 RBIs, .313 OBP).
Bad Dudes Pitcher Of Note: WELCOME BACK Tyson Ross, you were not as good as Lester but you pitched in a real live game and I want to point it out because you used to be pretty damned good (5.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 Ks, 1 W, 3.18 ERA).
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BDSliderz Wood Hitter Of Note: Marcel Ozuna continues to be a bright spot for a MEH offense that certainly misses Freddie Freeman right about now (6/18, 4 Rs, 1 2B, 3 HRs, 6 RBIs, .478 OBP).
BDSliderz Pitcher Of Note: Good lord did Jacob DeGrom look good last week, prrrrrobably and probably definitely the best he’s looked all season SO THAT IS POSITIVE FOR LACEY (17 IP, 1 ER, 12 Ks, 2 QS, 2 Ws, 1 CG, 0.53 ERA).
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DAMMIT I really wanted this one to end in a tie, we are not anti-tie here we are just anti-OGTFC tie cuz enough is fucking enough. But ANYWAYS, this one had alternately gonna back and forth from a Bad Dudes lead to a BDSliderz lead to a tie to a BDSliderz (may be out of sequence) and thennnnnn we arrived upon Sunday night and the Sunday night game that usually accompanies Sunday night. As the game began the BackdoorSliderz were absolutely clinnnging to a 5-4-5 lead and Lobman had already sent out a bunch of “mehhh ya got me mehhhh good week” type messages in the chat, EVER THE HUMBLE LOSER. But unfortunately the fucking Red Sawks waltzed into the Sunday night game hellbent on spoiling the Bad Dudes loss for all of us. A Xander Bogaerts HR gave the Bad Dudes the lead in that cat (14-13) and gave this matchup a tie, and then combo of Bogaerts and Hanley Ramirez threatened to knot up the Runs category but ultimately fell short (BDSliderz would win Runs 51-50 thanks to a Jose Altuve run). UNFORTUNATELY that wasn’t the only trick the Bad Dudes had up their sleeve, and yes I guess I am now rooting for Lacey Twp in this matchup even though it is already over and I know how it ends. THE FAILURES OF THE ASTROS (special shoutout to Alex Bregman whom gave the BDSliderz nothing both in the Sunday night game and in all other games last week) left the door open for a Craig Kimbrel appearance, with Saves all knotted up at 2, and naturally Kimbrel did what he is good at and nailed the door shut and gave both the hated by me Red Sawks and the hated by everyone Bad Dudes victories. SAD! The Bad Dudes will look to continue righting their ship in Week 12, as a 3 week slide had helped drop them from 1st to 3rd. The Lacey Township BackdoorSliderz will head into a CRUCIAL battle with the Barnegat Banana Slugs having lost 4 straight, which has dropped them allllllll the way out of the current playoff picture (a win against Barnegat gets them right back in that bitch however). FUCKING FANTASY BASEBALL FOLKS, tis heating up in the Backyard.
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Next Week aka This Week: Bad Dudes v. Morning Wood, BDSliderz v. Banana Slugs
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WEEK 11 OVER AKA THE WEEK BEFORE WEEK 12 AKA THE WEEK THAT WILL PUT US OFFICIALLY TWO THIRDS OF THE WAY THROUGH THE SEASON WHEN IT IS OVER. NORMALLY I WOULD SAY WE SHOULD SEE A TRADE DEADLINE IN THE NEAR FUTURE BUT YOU IDIOTS VOTED FOR ONE LIKE A MONTH AND CHANGE FROM NOW SO NONE OF THAT, JUST A LOTTTTTT OF TEAMS JOCKEYING FOR PLAYOFF POSITIONING WHILE WE WATCH FROM OUR IVORY TOWER ON THE MOON……WITH OUR TWO GAME LEAD……WHICH MIGHT AS WELL PUT US ON THE MOON GIVEN THE WAY THE REST OF YOU WILL DEVOUR YOURSELVES IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS. SUCK IT NERDZ.
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Backyard Views 