HWC Baseball Week 23 Recap

Well, if there's one word that can describe this week in the Playoffs, I think The Man and I can agree that the word is DAMNIT! But as usual, before the game recaps, let's look at how the scores are counted.
The stats your team builds up are broken down into 12 groups. For batters, there are runs, homeruns, RBI‚’s, strike-outs, stolen bases, and battering average. For pitching, there are wins, saves, strike-outs, holds , ERA, and WHIP. When the week is done and the stats are totalled up, each one of those categories is a win, a loss, or a tie for the teams playing. So in a given week, you can have any combination of wins, losses, and ties that add up to 12.

The preview I had given last week called that The Man, myself, PAWs and Akhtar would advance to the next round. Only Akhtar made it to the second round of the playoffs. So instead of my playing the Wookies this week, and The Man playing The Cardinals, I am playing my brother for the 5th place title in the league.
Needless to say, we were both very upst. The man was quoted saying, "Like the Cubs in Mid May, like the Bills in January, like the Red Sox a few weeks ago.... My team was up 9-2.....and now is playing for 5th place."
I feel my brother's pain because I was up 7-3 most of the entire week, but bRight came back to tie the game at 5, and due to the better record in previous games, advanced to play the wookies.
And it you don't believe me that my Week 22 game against Wookies was vital, look at this. If I had lost to Wookies, and finished 6th, I would have played fm, and stomped him massively. The Man would have had a 5th place seed and played bRight, and either won 6-5 or tied 6-6.

Well, enough babbling, let's look at the games:

Baghdad Bombers - 5
bRight & Early - 5 (ties in saves and holds)
This game was so messed up I can't even begin to describe it. bRight was down 7-3-2 going into Sunday and I was already getting ready for week 24 to face to Wookies, and possibly put a strategy together for the 3rd place game. Then I woke up Monday, looked at the bracket and almost used every color of the vocal rainbow to express my disdain. bRight had 3 starters get wins, 2 of which were shut outs, and gained 32 K's in one night. Those pitchers tipped the balance on the ERA and K's since I only had a middle reliever come in that night. bRight tied the game, and I think due to the better record against me, took the win. The final ERA battle was my 2.92 losing to his 2.84 (after being 2.9 or so to 4.2 the night before), and the K's were 67 to 40.
Game MVP: Johan Santana - 14 1/3 innings, 23 K's and 2 Wins with no earned runs.
Game Wash-Out: Jason Isringhausen - An injured arm prevented him from getting a lone save I needed to win.

Robots Eat Babies - 6 fmragtops spewers - 6
The man was up 9-2 at one point, but "a dog that craps fast doesn't crap long." The man's steam ran out, and fm was able to come back to take the win. This game boggels me though, because fm lost to The Man during the regular season, so I have no clue why fm pulled the win out in this game. The real loser in this game is The Man's starting rotation. Zambrano and Liddle both had ERA's over 25, and the one starter who had a good ERA didn't get the decision.
Game MVP: Eric Byrnes - 8 Runs, 7 RBI's, 3 Home Runs, and 2 Stolen Bases
Game Wash-Out: The Man's Rotation - ERA's of 27, 32.4, and one 0.0, no wins and only 12 K's

RFTR - 6
The PAWs - 4 (Ties in wins and holds)
I am shocked and appalled. RFTR's philosophy of live and let live actually paid off in the clutch. Rather than dying in round one like in Football, RFTR killed PAWs in offense, and stole a couple more in pitching to clinch the win. Wow. This really shakes up my predictions.
Game MVP: Jason Bay - Back to his old habits of demolishing any ball he sees. 3 HR's and 8 RBI's
Game Wash-Out: Mike Lieberthal, Travis Hafner - Did not play this week, and did not help PAWs at all.

Akhtar the Divorcee - 8
Poca Dots Blog! - 3 (Tie in holds)
The lone game that I predicted the outcome of. Geez. I was 1-4 this week on predictions, and that sucks. Akhtar did just what I thought and demolished the gutted team of Don Surber. Don dropped all of his bench players for some unknown reason, then rolled over and gave himself up to Akhtar on a silver platter.
Game MVP: Ryan Howard - 4 Home Runs, 6 Runs, and 5 RBI's with a .526 average
Game Wash-Out: Surber - After gutting his team, he left no options for back-ups.

Well, let's take a look at this week's matchups. As of today here are the scores for the games:
Top Bracket:
Wookies are up 7-0 over bRight
spewers are up 6-4 over the Cardinals
The Man's Robots and my Bombers are tied at 5
Lower Bracket:
RFTR is on top of the webcats 5-4
The Glats are up 5-3 over Akhtar
PAWs are up 7-1 over Poca Dots Blog!

Predictions for Top Bracket:
I still think the championship game will be between Wookies and Cardinals with a Cardinals upset for the cup.
I think bRight will stomp over fm's spewers for 3rd.
I think that 5th place will be given to the winner of a draw between The Man and I.

Predictions for Lower Bracket:
I still think Akhtar will be #7 but now over the cats.
I actually think RFTR may beat the Glats for #9
and sorry Don, but you're going to finish last, with PAWs 11th.

Coverage of the 2nd Round of the playoffs will return here next week.

Playoff Preview
Week 22 Recap
Week 21 Recap
Week 20 Recap
Week 19 Recap
Week 18 Recap
Week 17 Recap
Week 16 Recap
Week 15 Recap
Week 14 Recap
Week 13 Recap
Week 12 Recap
Week 11 Recap
Week 10 Recap
Week 9 Recap
Week 8 Recap
Week 7 Recap
Week 6 Recap
Week 5 Recap
Week 4 Recap
Week 3 Recap
Week 2 Recap
Week 1 Recap
Intro to HWC Baseball