BONUS BLOG: Stats Through 16 weeks.

RE-INTRO

You'll find the previous BLOG following this stuff.  So.  I subbed for the Cleats last night. Remember that that their first loss of the season followed my BLOG about them stealing signs.  Hmmmm.  Now their second loss of the season follows me subbing for them.   My sincere and heartfelt apologies to the Cleats.  I seriously tried my best, but I think Scott Barton's second base position is pretty safe. 

The MVP from this game was David Polny who, I think, was on base with every at bat AND ripped a solid double down the left field line.  Nicely done.  But the real story was Dave's dive at second, coming up with the ball and getting the out at first.  It was brilliant and a great night for DP!!!!

STANDINGS

So....as its pushing 1am, I know I have to get this done because I've discovered that John Harrett reads this when he gets to work in the morning!  The pressure is killing me!!!

The Race for the top 3 Spots

None of the teams in play for second place were in action on Monday Night so the order remains unchanged.

The Grisslies, Hot Tub Woody's and Wild are all playing tonight.  I think there are 26 different combinations of wins losses.  I got confused trying to figure them all out so I'll just wait for the games. 

  Projected Order Of Finish

August 18 - Hot Tub Woody's win means they can not finish lower than 8th.
August 22 - Dog Catchers win means they can not finish lower than 8th.
August 22 - Banshees loss means they can not finish any higher than 8th
August 22 - Hurtin' Units win means they can not finish any lower than 13th.

INTRO

As promised, here are some stats broken down through 15 weeks.  Before I go too far into this, let me say that, first off, I had a tremendous time at the golf tournament today.  Although, we should probably change the name from golf "tournament" to golf "day".  There was nothing the least bit 'tournamentish' about today.  Good times, good friends, damn good beverages and a brilliant dinner at the Clubhouse (Legion).  Hats off to Chris Ross and Randy Hipken for all their efforts and thanks too to Tony Mrasek and Ed Vonda for their 'behind the scenes work.

Secondly, thanks to those (and you know who you are) for the unsolicited and extremely kind words about the BLOG.  I don't take compliments terribly well, so allow me to thank you from here where I'm much more in my comfort zone.  My heartfelt thanks.   

Onto the stats.  Most of this is the usual fare you've seen a few times by now.  OBA for the season, last ten games and last five games.  Also,  the same break down for hits and ABs.  As we have a bit of time between season end and playoffs for me to work on prognosticating, I'll be looking at these and other stats in terms of the first 1/2 of the season, the second 1/2 and the season on the whole.  Having done some looking ahead there are a few surprises (Rusty Rebels?)

This is on the website and really not any big surprises.  A few things to note:  How hot is Scott Barton?  Well, on three occasions this year he's made two outs in a game.  Never more.  He was 3/5 in games eight and nine of the season and he was 4/6 in game four.  He's been perfect in 12/21 games so far.  Dear pitchers:  Good Luck!  We also have another 15 players hitting over .700 who don't appear on the list above. Overall, the average player in the league is hitting .638 (or .240 behind Scott)

No big surprises here with the possible exception of Andy Gee.  Andy is a good hitter anyway, but he is in some kind of streak right now hitting an even .900 over the last 10 games.   

The Rusty Rebels 4-1 over their last five games and Hugh Armstrong hitting over .900 during that stretch.  That can't be a coincidence.  Also 4-1 in their last five are the Grisslies and its not surprising to see 4 Grisslies in the top 16 on this list.   This proves what I always thought; Hugh Armstrong can do the work of four Grisslies. 

Wow!  5 guys over 70 hits!  Art Sager, who has had a year for the ages is still a full 11 hits behind Scott.  Amazing season so far for Scott (in case no on knew). 

A nice mix of "usual suspects" and "good for him's" on this list.  Having played Olliffe a couple of times recently and sensing that he was hitting well; its good to see that it wasn't just against the Grisslies!

I might be wrong, but I think its the first time that we've seen Andy, Matt, Mike, Bob, Gord, Randy and Harley on this list; which is kind of what I was really hoping for!

The vast majority of these guys come from teams that are over .500.  You could think that teams that win more, get up more and therefore you have more at bats.  Its not an unreasonable assumption.  However, it seems to me that teams that have their guys show up regularly, tend to win a little more regularly.  Or it could be my imagination.  

Wow! The top five are Grisslies or Dog Catchers with Gary Cox leading the way.  Way to go Gary!

Congrats to those on this list for having perfect attendance over the past 5 games AND hitting near the top of your team's order!!!

OFFENSE, DEFENSE AND SPECIAL TEAMS

Offense

Chart one shows total runs for each team.  Chart two show on a per game basis. 

You don't have to play in this league too long to realize that anyone can win on any given night.  However, seeing this helps understand the Dusty Cleats season, doesn't it?

Defense

The top four on this list have been in the top four for quite some time....although its the first time (that I can remember) that the Cleats have shown up as fourth.  It can change from game to game though when teams are that close, so not too much to read into this unless your sorting by pool. 

Special Teams

The only surprise in this one is that there are only 6 teams with a positive plus / minus.  Oh...the Hot Tub Woody's being five games over .500 and -5 is a wee bit of a statistical anomaly. 

No change in this what so ever from the total chart previous.  Thought it should be included just for fun. 

Then next BLOG will be Monday Night / Tuesday Morning and have an update of standings, magic numbers and potential order of finish.  After that, every day of the week!