By JIMMY D / Jimmy exploits trade deadline to extend lead | Jimmy's archive

So obviously, Jimmy’s rivals in fantasy baseball were on vacation last week. Or maybe they kept pressing the snooze button.

Despite the much-balleyhooed trade of Ranger Mark Teixeira to Atlanta for (primarily) stud catcher prospect Jarrod Saltalamacchia, nobody snapped up young Salty. The kid has a dynamite stick, has dual eligibility and goes to a hitter’s ballpark where his production should soar. And he will get plenty of at-bats down the stretch for rebuilding Texas.

So Jimmy D grabbed him, cutting loose mediocre A.J. Pierzynski of the White Sox in the process. Here’s hoping it works as well as Jimmy’s vacuuming of Ryan Braun (NL Player of the Month for July and possibly the fantasy MVP by the way) off the free agent wire back in April.

And nobody seemed to be paying attention to Red Sox starter Curt Schilling’s scheduled return from the DL yesterday because he sat on the waiver wire for Jimmy to grab (ditching back Dodger Chad Billingsley to make room.)

It matches up with Jimmy’s policy of finding reliable two-start pitchers each fantasy week in his Yahoo! league.

Stay busy, stay lucky, stay away from the snooze button. Small wonder hard-working Jimmy remains atop his league.

As for Schilling, his mouth didn’t stop running while on the DL, as he raked Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire over the steroid coals a few more times. Others have opined ‘Just tell the truth, it will set you free.’ Well, the truth doesn’t always set you free and doesn’t always make things better.

But at least it shows some respect to the people you have been lying to. And sometimes, they will even forgive you.

NFL fantasy is nearby

Of course, NFL preseason means NFL fantasy leagues are starting to form and it’s time to brush up on rosters, holdouts and fantasy hot charts.

Some people are amazed that folks bet heavy on NFL exhibition games, but there are a few reasons why this league’s preseason gets preferential treatment from Vegas bookies. First, it’s football which is king of sports betting. Second, why not try to take advantage of games where the coaches spell out their strategy for you?

Hell, you don’t even need a point-shaving ref like in the NBA to get the edge you need to beat the spread. Just open up the newspaper and see Coach A explain that his starting defense will play only one series, while the other coach plans to use his starters for a full half. Duh!

More ammo for the legalize-sports-gambling side

So what happens in Europe when it looks suspiciously like a tennis player is taking a dive and there is plenty of funny business going on at the betting window?

The bookie shuts down betting and alerts the tennis federation. This happened last week when betting exchange Betfair.com noticed wild swings of money on lightly regarded Martin Vassallo Arguello in his match against No. 4-ranked Nikolay Davydenko.

Betfair said $7 million in bets – much of it on Arguello – flooded in on the match, which was about 10 times the expected amount for a second-round match in the smalltime Prokom Open in Poland.

After Davydenko won the first set early, he lost the second set, then had to retire due to an alleged foot injury. Which would have made winners of all those longshot Arguello bettors, but Betfair actually voided all the bets and tennis officials began investigating immediately.

Bookies and the leagues working together to fight crime and protect the integrity of the games. What an idea. Anyone paying attention at NBA, NFL, NHL or MLB headquarters?

Penner pens whopper deal

Dustin Penner is an Oiler. A rich one. He doesn’t deserve to be, even those he’s a solid young player. But Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe was running out of free agent options, spied the Ducks close to the cap and overpaid bigtime for big Penner.

You’d think Lowe would have been gun-shy about dealing with Anaheim GM Brian Burke after the Chris Pronger Theft of last season. Actually, it was less of a theft than a Joffrey Lupul Disappearing Act.

The young winger was the centerpiece of that trade, but he struggled and the Oilers had seen enough, peddling him to Philly in the Joni Pitkanen deal.

Jimmy hosts football contest?

We did this on Jimmy D’s website (www.JimmyDSports.com)  two years ago, but didn’t have a sponsor last year so it fizzled. It’s the Pro Football Pickem Contest and if there is enough interest out there in Jimmy Nation, we’ll set it up and you can challenge your friends and Jimmy D.

Drop Jimmy an email at Jpoole@herald.ca with ‘I’m in for NFL pools’ in the subject line and we’ll see how it goes.

In the meantime, stay busy, stay lucky, beware sneaky Russian tennis players and high-roller NBA refs.

Email Jimmy at jpoole@herald.ca .