By JIMMY D / Cuba loves baseball, Jimmy struggles on beach | Jimmy's archive
A week lounging on the beach in Cuba can fix you right up, unless the fix you are looking for is a hockey fix.
Jimmy was determined to not work, to not touch email or Internet during seven days in Holguin. (For anyone travelling south, a word of advice – check your passport expiry date so that your cranky wife doesn’t get left home).
On the TV, plenty of bad Cuban League baseball, plenty of NBA and plenty of European soccer. But no hockey. Not even a scores ticker. So Jimmy wasn’t aware of his Flyers going down 0-2 to the Pens and wasn’t aware that his forecast early arrival of Simeon Varlamov in the Washington net had happened so soon.
Now that Jimmy is back, expect a glorious Flyers comeback. Capital fans shouldn’t be so sure, judging from their team’s first two games.
In any event, Jimmy got burned in Cuba and got burned with his early fantasy baseball selections of Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz. Before his Monday outburst, the dwarfy Red Sox 2B was slumping to an ugly .179 BA while Big Papi was settled in at .170 with zero HRs!
That lame play was counteracted by Evan Longoria’s peppy start for the Rays and Kevin Youkilis’s early .468 BA. Jimmy’s Grass Gremlins sat in fourth place after two weeks.
Your roster might have been scorched by some early slumps or saved by some early hot streaks.
Jimmy Rollins, SS - Mired in a 6-for-45 slump, came off bench for pinch homer Sunday. Still, zero SBs and .184 BA is ugly start for Philly lead-off man, especially when you were counted on his swipes and runs.
Zack Greinke, SP – It’s a long way yet to Orel Hershiser’s 59-scoreless-inning mark, but the Kansas City ace is more than half way down the road. At 34 innings and counting, the righty boasts an acceptable 0.00 ERA and has also fanned 26 batters in three starts.
Prince Fielder, 1B – The big Brewer bopper with the big butt had seven hits and 15 strikeouts through 12 un-princely games. He is known for slow starts, so don’t panic on Prince.
Marco Scutaro, 2B, 3B, SS – The Blue Jay infielder popped off four early homers to send GMs rushing to the waiver wires. His flexibility in Yahoo!-style formats is a great bonus as he can be slotted into three positions.
Jay Bruce, OF – The Cincy Kid was supposed to be thriving, but his BA is diving, down to .176 in the first 10 games. His roster mate Brandon Phillips was also struggling south of .200, but the Reds were still 6-5, thanks to the fast start of 1B Joey Votto (.379 BA).
Bobby Abreu, OF – The Angels were chastised a bit for signing him, but his .362 BA and seven early swipes stopped that negative vibe. Had six multi-hit games in past nine as of Monday and four straight games with a stolen base.
John Baker, C – Didn’t even have him on your draft list three weeks ago? Florida is flying and Baker’s .333 BA and nine RBIs is part of the reason. So much for the Mets, Phillies and Braves dominating the NL East, as the Marlins were 11-1 vs. the division to start the year.
Carl Pavano, SP – I guess shame on anyone who thought the big guy with the big health problems could bounce back. In three starts for the Tribe, he’s 0-2 with a 9.69 ERA. Only Colorado’s Aaron Cook (with a 10.22 ERA) falls further down the pitcher leader board.
Boston Marathon
And while it’s not fantasy sports, trying to finish a marathon is certainly fantastic. Congrats to Halifax’s Rami Bardeesy and Dartmouth’s Denise Robson for finishing tops among Bluenoses in Boston yesterday.
Jimmy D
jpoole@herald.ca |
