After 4 weeks

Think I could hit 70 this year?

Overall standings:
1. Ammon - 24
2. Ed - 21
3. Patrick & Eric - 18
5. Gabe - 17
6. Henk - 12
7. Gary - 11
8. Chris - 9
9. Don - 6

Week 4 results:
Ammon: Kemp 3, Cabrera 3, Holliday 1, Votto 1. (Kemp 3 is now programmed into my AutoText.)
Chris: Konerko 2.
Don: Fielder 1.
Ed: Grandy 2, Swisher 2, Beltre 2.
Eric: Napoli 1, Kinsler 1, Ortiz 4 (including 2 vs. OAK Monday night, so, f u Papi.)
Gabe: Longoria 1, Hamilton 1.
Gary: Freese 2, Ethier 1, Stanton 1 (off the doug-nuts!), Trumbo 1.
Both of Gary's bench players also hit home runs, leading the Lip Pike Rules Committee to discuss whether or not to put a "Bingo" score in next season, i.e. 3 bonus points if all six of your players hit dingers. This guy would like that.

Henk: Adam Dunn 1, Adam Jones 1. Henk has Adam Lind on the bench, and now we are waiting for him to pick up Adam Kennedy and Adam LaRoche.
Patrick: A-Rod, Bruce 4, Buster 2, Upton 1. Braun scored 4 on the bench, 3 of them Monday night in SD, with a triple on the fourth at-bat.

Transactions:
Ed: moved Swisher to bench, Cuban Missile into lineup.
No other moves? Is there anyone out there?!? It's only been a month; don't give up yet! Ammon's already earmarked your money for beer and waffles.

Waiver claim order:
Don, Chris, Gary, Henk, Gabe, Eric, Patrick, Ed, Ammon.

This week's sign Don is not paying attention:
I have never received an Email from him.
Ever.
I was going to post a picture of his favorite person in the world, Neriah Davis, to draw him out, but I could not find a single one where she was wearing clothes. Blame Google.

Top Free Agents

Player	Tm	points
Edwin Encarnacion	TOR	11
Matt Wieters	BAL	9
Luke Scott	TBR	8
Bryan LaHair	CHC	8
Ramon Hernandez	COL	7
Chase Headley	SDP	7
Ryan Ludwick	CIN	6
Michael Saunders	SEA	6
Billy Butler	KCR	5
Matthew Joyce	TBR	5
Kevin Youkilis	BOS	5
Nolan Reimold	BAL	5
Mike Aviles	BOS	5
Cody Ross	BOS	5
Gerardo Parra	ARI	5
Eric Hosmer	KCR	5
Carlos Beltran	STL	5
Pedro Alvarez	PIT	5
Omar Infante	MIA	5

After 3 weeks

Overall Standings:
1. Ammon - 16
2. Gabe & Ed - 15
4. Eric - 12
6. Patrick & Henk - 10
7. Chris - 7
8. Gary - 6
9. Don - 5

Week 3 results:
Ammon: Holliday 1, Kemp 3, Cabreera 1.
Chris: A-Gon 1, Konerko 2, Lawrie 1.
Don: Hardy 1.
Ed: Willingham 1, Grandy 3, Swisher 5 (including a salami), Beltre 1. Sweet!

Eric: Uggla 2, Papi 1, Napoli 5.

Gabe: Cano 1, Tesh 3, Longoria 2, Hamilton 4. Holy crap!

Gary: Ethier 1.

Henk: Dunn 3, Cruz 1, Bautista 2, Jones 1.

Patrick: Panda 1, Braun 2, Upton 1.

Transactions:

Gabe: dropped C. Young (that was fast), added Morneau to DL.

Patrick: moved A-Rod into lineup, moved Braun to DL.

Waiver claim order:

Don, Gary, Chris, Henk, Patrick, Eric, Gabe, Ed, Ammon

This week's sign Don is not paying attention:

Of the nine guys that were selected at the draft and still have not hit a home run, Don still has two of them in his starting lineup (Morse & Reynolds). 

By the way, is it making anyone else happy that Poo Holes is still homerless? I feel a little bad for Chris, but otherwise it makes me giddy.

Top 10 Free Agents:

Player	Tm	points
Matt Wieters	BAL	8
Chase Headley	SDP	7
Luke Scott	TBR	6
Ryan Ludwick	CIN	5
Carlos Beltran	STL	5
Nolan Reimold	BAL	5
Gerardo Parra	ARI	5
Cody Ross	BOS	5
Bryan LaHair	CHC	5
8 tied at		4

After 2 weeks

Standings:
1. Ammon - 11
2. Patrick - 6
3. Ed, Gabe, Gary - 5
6. Eric, Don - 4
8. Chris, Henk - 3

Week 2 results:
Ammon: Kemp 4.
Chris: Konerko 1, Lawrie 1.
Don: Hardy 1.
Ed: Torrence Swisher 1.
Eric: Kinsler 2, Napoli 1, Ortiz 1.
Gabe: Hamilton 2.
Gary: Ethier 2, Trumbo 2.
Henk and Patrick:

Transactions:
Ammon - Votto in, CarGo to DL
Ed - Swisher and Willingham in, Cespedes to bench, Ellsbury to DL
Eric - Soriano to bench, Howard to DL
Gabe - Dropped Wieters (after he hit a grand slam!), added C. Young (AZ) to DL
Gary - Dropped Berkman, added Freese (STL) to lineup
Henk - Dropped Freeman, added A. Jones (BAL) to lineup, Tulo to bench, Lind to DL

Waiver claim order:
Henk, Chris, Eric, Don, Gary, Gabe, Ed, Patrick, Ammon

New feature!
This week's sign that Don is not paying attention:
Mike Morse is on the shelf.

Our nightmare is over

Eric is on the board.

The dougnut shop is closed. And for that, we are thankful.

Well, maybe not Doug.

Meet the new league, same as the old league

In case you haven't heard, the proprietor of a certain eatery in The City gently but firmly discouraged me from using the place's name, even in tribute, to identify this silly little undertaking.

I guess I should have known that was coming ever since my mother Googled the place one day and this blog came up in the list before the restaurant itself.

So, Henk and I were brainstorming new names that (I hope) we wouldn't get cease-and-desisted for, and he asked me: "Who was the first guy to lead the league in home runs?"

According to baseball-reference.com a guy named Lipman Emanuel "Lip" Pike, initially of the Troy Haymakers and then of the Baltimore Canaries, led the National Association in home runs three years running, beginning in 1873.

Aside from the fact that Lip Pike is a great baseball name, here are some more cool facts about him, courtesy of his Wikipedia page:

• Pike is considered the first professional baseball player (or at least the first to acknowledge he was being paid to play).
• Pike was one of the fastest players in the sport, and even won a 100-yard race against a horse.
• Pike was Dutch.
• Despite being left-handed, Pike played second base quite a bit.
• Pike was the first famous Jewish ballplayer.

So, as a result of necessity, all bow to our new namesake - - until his ghost's attorney tells me to knock it off.

After 1 week (and 4 Opening Days)

Standings:
1. Ammon - 7
2. Patrick - 6
3. Ed - 4
4. Gabe, Don, Henk - 3
7. Chris, Gary - 1
9. Eric - 0

Ammon				Chris				Don
Cabrera, M	DET	3		Gonzalez, A	BOS	1		Fielder, P	DET	2
Gonzalez, C	COL	0		Konerko, P	CHW	0		Hardy, JJ	BAL	1
Holliday, M	STL	2		Lawrie, B	TOR	0		Morse, M	WSH	0
Kemp, M	LAD	2		Pujols, A	LAA	0		Reynolds, M	BAL	0
		7				1				3
Ed				Eric				Gabe
Beltre, A	TEX	1		Howard, R	PHI	0		Cano, R	NYY	0
Cespedes, Y	OAK	3		Napoli, M	TEX	0		Hamilton, J	TEX	2
Ellsbury, J	BOS	0		Ortiz, D	BOS	0		Longoria, E	TB	1
Granderson, C	NYY	0		Uggla, D	ATL	0		Teixeira, M	NYY	0
		4				0				3
Gary				Henk				Patrick
Berkman, L	STL	0		Bautista, J	TOR	1		Braun, R	MIL	1
Ethier, A	LAD	1		Cruz, N	TEX	1		Bruce, J	CIN	3
Ramirez, A	MIL	0		Lind, A	TOR	0		Sandoval, P	SF	2
Stanton, G	FLA	0		Tulowitzki, T	COL	1		Upton, J	ARI	0
		1				3				6

Next week, you can start using your DL players. However, you have to keep that DL spot filled, so whoever you swap out to the DL will be unavailable for two weeks.

Waiver claim order:
Eric, Chris, Gary, Henk,  Gabe, Don, Ed, Patrick, Ammon

Week 1 observations:
Carlos Pena hit the first grand slam of the season. He would have scored 5 points for Don had he been in the lineup . . . 66 undrafted players hit home runs last week, nine players hit 2 . . . Chase Headley leads the free agents with 5 points as he hit a grand slam as well.

Lineup changes:
Gary: Trumbo in, Ramirez to the bench
Henk: Dunn in, Lind to the bench
Ed: Swisher in, Granderson to the bench
Eric: Kinsler in, Howard to the bench

Opening Day lineups

Henk			Chris			Ammon
Bautista, J	TOR		Pujols, A	LAA		Kemp, M	LAD
Tulowitzki, T	COL		Gonzalez, A	BOS		Cabrera, M	DET
Cruz, N	TEX		Konerko, P	CHW		Holliday, M	STL
Lind, A	TOR		Lawrie, B	TOR		Gonzalez, C	COL
Gary			Eric			Gabe
Stanton, G	FLA		Howard, R	PHI		Teixeira, M	NYY
Berkman, L	STL		Uggla, D	ATL		Longoria, E	TB
Ramirez, A	MIL		Ortiz, D	BOS		Cano, R	NYY
Ethier, A	LAD		Napoli, M	TEX		Hamilton, J	TEX
Ed			Don			Patrick
Granderson, C	NYY		Fielder, P	DET		Braun, R	MIL
Beltre, A	TEX		Reynolds, M	BAL		Bruce, J	CIN
Ellsbury, J	BOS		Morse, M	WSH		Upton, J	ARI
Cespedes, Y	OAK		Hardy, JJ	BAL		Sandoval, P	SF

Current standings:
1. Ed - 1
2. 8 tied - 0

Just since it's the last time I will lead all season.

Someone's on the board!

It's The Showcase!!

Lineup change deadline extended

The hopes and dreams of all A's fans . . . until he gets traded.

I just noticed that I am the only one who has either a Seattle or Oakland player on his TGBL roster, and thus, I'm the only one with any interest in the games in Japan.

So, as a kind and benevolent Tadministator, I have decided to extend the deadline for changing your lineup for the first week.

Any lineup changes are due by 5 p.m. PST, Tuesday, April 3. No adds or drops will be accepted.

After the first week, any changes (adds, drops or lineup changes) will be due by 5 p.m. PST, Monday, April 9, and by 5 p.m. Monday every week thereafter.

If more than one owner claims a player, claiming rights will be granted in reverse standings order (last place gets first shot). If the owners are tied, then the original draft order (Henk 1st, etc.) will be used as a tie-breaker. If the tie-breaker is used, the winner will then be moved to the bottom of the tie-breaker priority list. The waiver list will be posted along with the standings on the blog every Monday night.

Additionally, in the spirit of fair play and full disclosure (or just plain stupidity), I am making the first move of the TGBL season by inserting Yoenis Cespedes into my lineup prior to the games in Japan. (Quit laughing. I said, quit laughing!!)

Draft results

Henk				Chris				Ammon
1	Jose Bautista	TOR		2	Albert Pujols	LAA		3	Matt Kemp	LAD
18	Troy Tulowitzki	COL		17	Adrian Gonzalez	BOS		16	Miguel Cabrera	DET
19	Nelson Cruz	TEX		20	Paul Konerko	CHW		21	Joey Votto	CIN
36	Adam Lind	TOR		35	Brett Lawrie	TOR		34	Carlos Gonzalez	COL
37	Adam Dunn	CWS		38	Corey Hart	MIL		39	Andrew McCutchen	PIT
54	Freddie Freeman	ATL		53	Rickie Weeks	MIL		52	Matt Holliday	STL
Gary				Eric				Gabe
4	Giancarlo Stanton	FLA		5	Ryan Howard	PHI		6	Mark Teixeira	NYY
15	Lance Berkman	STL		14	Dan Uggla	ATL		13	Evan Longoria	TB
22	Aramis Ramirez	MIL		23	David Ortiz	BOS		24	Robinson Cano	NYY
33	Andre Ethier	LAD		32	Mike Napoli	TEX		31	Josh Hamilton	TEX
40	Mark Trumbo	LAA		41	Ian Kinsler	TEX		42	Hanley Ramirez	MIA
51	Vernon Wells	LAA		50	Alfonso Soriano	CHC		49	Matt Wieters	BAL
Ed				Don				Patrick
7	Curtis Granderson	NYY		8	Prince Fielder	DET		9	Ryan Braun	MIL
12	Adrian Beltre	TEX		11	Mark Reynolds	BAL		10	Jay Bruce	CIN
25	Jacoby Ellsbury	BOS		26	Michael Morse	WSH		27	Justin Upton	ARI
30	Josh Willingham	MIN		29	J.J. Hardy	BAL		28	Alex Rodriguez	NYY
43	Nick Swisher	NYY		44	Carlos Pena	TB		45	Buster Posey	SF
48	Yoenis Cespedes	OAK		47	Carlos Santana	CLE		46	Pablo Sandoval	SF

Ammon remarked that he thought Eric was the pre-season favorite, but I think Ammon's and Gabe's lineups look very tough.

What do you think? Who's the best player not to be picked? Do you think Don and Chris bricked by not showing up?

REACT!!