Chasing the Treble week 12 - Repeat after me: "Scha-den-freude"

Today is one of those days where I have the rather unusual, but
occasional case of writer's block. I attribute it to two things: either
1) I'm preoccupied with work or 2) something great happened recently
that's worth celebrating with a toast of Westvleteren 12 in a Trappist
glass as a morning eye-opener. In this case, it's a matter of both. As
I write this, my mind is being tugged between the thought of web
application design and the euphoria of Italy crashing out of the Euro
2008 football (ugh, soccer) tournament in the best-case scenario of
losing to Spain, albeit winning on penalty kicks.

It must be said that I'm not the least bit impressed or enthused about
international football (soccer); my mantra has always been "club over
country". For those of you who don't know, I'm of half-Catalan descent,
thanks to my father and a good portion of family still resides in
Barcelona and we tend to regard ourselves Catalan first, Spanish last,
dead last. So, it comes as no surprise that I'd be a bit apathetic
about following the Spanish national football team, but I don't
consider myself to be a nationalistic person anyway. However, it has
been 44 years since Spain won well, anything, and they have been
notorious for starting tournaments in flying colors, only for the
quarterfinal jinx to rear its ugly head on seemingly every World Cup
and European Championship. So, for Euro 2008, my sentiment has lied on
"La Furia Roja" to undo 44 years of hurt, even though I'll admit I
wouldn't live and die by the result.

However, that passion for following Spain reached a fever pitch because
our quarterfinal hurdle this time was none other than Italy. The funny
thing is my hatred for Italy is a lot stronger than my fandom for
Spain. It's a rather complex explanation as to why I harbor a massive
disdain for Italy. It probably has to do with the perception that they
play boring, tactical football and the fact that most of their players
would be willing to feign an injury in the most dramatic fashion to
earn a penalty kick from the referee or for play to be halted. I
suppose it has to do with my personal sentiment that Italy, though a
fantastic place to visit, is by far, the most overrated country on the
face of the planet. Most of all, I can't stand how in this country (I
mean the US now), especially this part of the country (yes, I mean
Southern California), how everyone of 1/8th Italian descent at this
time of year acts like they've just arrived fresh off the boat from
Italy yesterday. A spot-on comparison of Italian bandwagon jumpers in
an American context would be to the bandwagon jumpers of the Boston Red
Sox or any other New England area team (ahem, Celtics). Any misery and
heartbreak that the old country had suffered on the world stage of
football (notably the 1994 World Cup vs. Brazil) would be undertaken by
the Italian poseur in the course of one hour and in the same kind of
over-the-top, dramatic, but surely insincere fashion akin to a diving
Italian footballer.

So, today, I'm happy that Spain finally undid the underachiever voodoo
for now (albeit it's an anticlimactic happiness), but I'm ecstatic that
somewhere in Hollywood, Jimmy Kimmel is crying his eyes out for his
then-beloved Azzurri. Filthy Italians and their Italian wannabe
supporters, they deserved the result.

Pronto, onto the previous week's action in the H2H World Series. In the
Series itself, the Thrashers kept cruising along in the standings,
opening up a double-digit lead over 2nd place without an overwhelming
result. Standing in their way were the Edinburgh Dukes, who were
struggling and depleted by injuries. Could the league leaders finally
kick it into the right gear and race away with the lead in convincing
fashion? In California South and the USA West, the repeat leg kicked
off as their Week 1 opponents, Lake Arrowheads (California) and the
Texas Two-Step awaited, waiting to exact revenge on the champions for
an opening loss. At the halfway mark, both the California South and USA
West champions were looking to make their advances to the summit with a
good second half kickoff as basecamp for a playoff push. Let's have
it...

H2H World Series

L.A. Thrashers 7, Edinburgh Dukes 4

The World Series frontrunners proved to be a little too much for
the injury-plagued Edinburgh Dukes as they claimed yet another
satisfactory result to compound on a very good first half and open up
the second half in good fashion. The victory lacked style, despite a
roaring offensive start that resulted in 6 HR's and a gaudy .360
BA/1.090+ OPS after Wednesday's games. With Braun, Markakis, Chris
Young, and Alex Gordon off to promising starts, it seemed like the L.A.
Thrashers were off to the races on the offensive end again, but since
then, had cooled off, with BA/OPS dropping to .293 and .888
respectively and one HR out of the yard (off the bat of Hanley
Ramirez). However, Edinburgh couldn't keep pace as they only managed an
18 R, 4 HR, 20 RBI, .281 BA, .756 OPS performance. With Josh Hamilton
trailing off and Jay Bruce as well as the other Reds (Votto,
Encarnacion) being relatively quiet, the Dukes could only muster a tie
in one of the 6 offensive categories (RBI) as the Thrashers nearly
swept the board. Despite a solid week from Carl Crawford, he couldn't
scratch a stolen base, leaving the Dukes shut out in SB.

It could've been a gory week for Edinburgh had the Dukes' pitching not
faltered. With Justin Duchscherer leading the cheers as the Dukes' ace
as well as some decent quality starts from Dana Eveland, Greg Smith,
and Jair Jurrjens, the Dukes posted an impressive 1.33 ERA and 1.04
WHIP by series' end. The Thrashers had the seemingly unfair advantage
of trotting out five two-start pitchers to the mound, but were
surprisingly undone by their pitching staff this time around in terms
of ERA/WHIP. It was an abnormal sight to see Brandon Webb post an ugly
start earlier on in the week and as a result, he posted an
uncharacteristic 9.58 ERA/2.23 WHIP for the series. At one point, the
Thrashers had an unusual 7.13 ERA and 1.70+ WHIP after Tuesday's games,
but were brought back down to size to a 4.80 ERA/1.45 WHIP. However,
the Thrashers' strength in numbers was good enough to take home wins,
4-2 as well as strikeouts, 55-40. Jonathan Papelbon's 2 saves were
enough to match Brandon Lyon's one save, to give Edinburgh the saves
category while holds from Hideki Okajima and Aaron Heilman were enough
to see off Jonathan Broxton's sole hold, 2-1. Unfortunately for the
Thrashers, Broxton's two other holds were left on the bench on Tuesday
and Sunday, on the two days the Thrashers had 4-5 starters pitching.

Out-of-Town Scoreboard: More wholesale changes in the standings

The playoff race had taken on another complexion this past week, as
the #3-6 playoff positions had seen some shifts here and there. Let's
start off with the defending champion London Knights, who throttled
Peitudas, 7-2, which had seen the Brazilian champions tumbling down
from 4th to 7th while the Londoners catapulted to 3rd. It's a bit
premature to say this as we're just a shade past the midseason point,
with 4.5 games separating London from the vanquished 9th place
Peitudas, but the World Series champions would have to be a surefire
bet to qualify for the postseason.

Meanwhile, Northampton squeezed into playoff position, climbing from
7th to 4th with a 7-4 win over the Felixstowe Fury. The then-6th place
North York Blues were on somewhat shaky ground heading into Week 11 and
the floor caved in as the Manzen Marlins had seen off the Blues, 7-5,
which entailed that the Blues would slip out of playoff position for
now and in a virtual 7th place tie with Manzen. Thanks to a 6-4 triumph
over Brisbane, the Lower Saxony Tigers edged their way into 5th
position this week.

Elsewhere, the 2nd place New Hampshire Goats kept pace with London with
a 7-2 victory of their own over the Psydney Psychos, who are now in a
virtual tie with Hamburger Blaufinken for 11th place. The Blaufinken
were also on the wrong end this week, with the league doormat Barcelona
Reds taking an 8-4 result over the Germans.

With New Hampshire and London having identical results, they move a
full game better than the Thrashers given the two extra ties. The
Thrashers' lead is now 9 games over the 2nd place Goats, keeping the US
1-2 intact as New Hampshire retain a somewhat comfortable 3.5 game
cushion over the defending champions. London also have a comfortable
lead over 4th place Northampton, a 2 game margin, but that's where all
the comfort ends as the Squirels have a mere 2.5 game margin over 9th
place Peitudas. Hamburger and Psydney are slowly fading in the race
while Brisbane still has an outside chance, but will need the outside
help to climb up the standings as well as the victories.

H2HWS California South

Lake Arrowheads 9, L.A. Thrashers 3

The defending California South champions' pursuit of top spot took
yet another blow, but a serious one in the first week of the repeat
legs, to fall to Lake Arrowheads, 9-3. After three highly productive
weeks, they've been succeeded by three highly putrid weeks. The offense
failed to kickstart yet again and despite a furious comeback, spurred
by a 7 HR weekend thanks to Mark Teixeira's 3 HR game, Lake Arrowheads'
offense which sputtered at times as well, had enough to one-up the
champions in 4 of the 6 offensive categories. The news was just as
sobering in the pitching categories, as the Thrashers could only take
away the saves category to fall short in the other five. Aaron Harang
and Dustin McGowan were culprits for the dents in the pitching when the
likes of Scott Kazmir, Roy Halladay, and Matt Cain prospered. The
result left the Thrashers 11.5 games adrift from pole position, sliding
from 3rd to 6th while Lake Arrowheads cemented their 1st place lead to
7.5 games.

Out-of-town Scoreboard: Giants douse the Blaze, ascend to 5th

In a battle of underachieving squads, it has been the SF Giants'
fortune that has reversed for the better in the last few weeks as they
trounced the California Blaze, 10-2, as the Giants take 5th spot,
moving a full game ahead of the Thrashers. Saddlebackers were another
big winner this week, by dispatching the league doormat, Boondock
Saints, 9-3 to move into 4th place. Meanwhile, the SF Pacificans move
into a 2nd place tie with the Monterey Park Donuts in edging out the
2nd-to-last place club, the San Marcos Sox.

There were a couple of upsets to report as well. In an L.A.-area derby,
the Monterey Park Donuts were upset victims at the hands of the Los
Angeles Dodgers, 7-4. The Davis Destroyers' momentum has slowed of late
and they've found themselves on the wrong end of an 8-4 defeat at the
hands of Missin the Mets, who climb to 7th, 6 games back of the
Thrashers for the final playoff spot as things stand.

Here's how the table lays out: Lake Arrowheads gains a 7.5 game lead
over the 2nd place Pacificans and 3rd place Donuts. Saddlebackers are a
game out of 2nd/3rd place while the Giants just trail the
aforementioned Saddlebackers by a game and a half. Meanwhile, the
Dodgers have leapfrogged the Blaze for 9th place and are now just 7
games out of the final playoff spot.

H2HWS USA West

L.A. Thrashers 5, Texas Two-Step 5

The defending USA West champions had been reeling a bit of late,
but found themselves in a 9-3 hole to the Texas Two-Step heading into
the penultimate Sunday of the series. However, the Thrashers pulled off
a final day comeback to come away with an entertaining tie, 5-5 against
the Two-Step.

The series started off brightly for both sides. Ryan Howard had a 2 HR
day on the opener, but that was seen by a Carlos Beltran 2 HR day and
raised by a Nick Markakis HR as both teams were off on the right foot
offensively. The champions had pulled away in the offensive categories
for a while thanks to Alex Rodriguez. Unfortunately, playing the hot
bat while sitting the cold bats didn't materialize well for the
Thrashers, as 4 homeruns sat on the bench, thanks to Jim Thome, Mark
Reynolds, and Chris Young. Slowly but surely, the Texas Two-Step carved
away at the R/HR/RBI categories and thanks to Dan Uggla and Aubrey
Huff, they overtook those categories.

On the other foot, the Thrashers' pitching was being out-dueled by the
Two-Step as Felix Hernandez, Rich Harden, and Ervin Santana were
brilliant for the Texans. As for the Thrashers, the return outing of
Daisuke Matsuzaka as well as one horrible inning from Pedro Martinez
did the champions in, with the ERA/WHIP battles dropped.

Staring defeat in the face, the Thrashers had 2 starting pitchers on
Sunday in Tim Lincecum and Dustin McGowan to tie or win the win
category and because Texas had no more arms in the holster to keep up
their narrow lead in strikeouts, there were points to be wrestled away.
The Thrashers also were within an eyelash of tying/winning the run
department and they needed to hold their narrow leads in AVG and OPS.
McGowan was so-so yet again on the road, but did enough to get that
important win. Tim Lincecum wasn't at his best, but had a huge lead
which was blown to leave the win category tied at 3. The champions had
enough to take away the strikeout category, however.

Meanwhile, Carlos Beltran slugged a homerun to cap off a very solid
week (4 R, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 2 SB, .333 BA, 1.157 OPS), but somehow the
Thrashers were being edged out in both AVG and OPS. Enter Ryan Theriot.
A good hitting game as well as a run scored, would mean outright
victory over the Texas Two-Step. Theriot came through with a 2-for-4
game as the last hitter for both teams, sustaining a lead in AVG (.300
to .291) and sneaking by in OPS (.870 to .867). Theriot couldn't
squeeze in a run which left both teams tied in runs and for the series.
The Thrashers had some bad luck in their starts as the 4 HR's off the
bench would've tied the champions with Texas in homeruns (Two-Step,
12-8), but for all the bad luck for both squads, it was a deserving
result.

Out-of-Town Scoreboard: Sparks and Bonds 762 step up to the fore

Elsewhere, the Sparks Red Sox Slayers and Bonds 762 started off
their second halves with a brilliant result, an identical 8-3 margin;
Sparks laid siege to last-place Houston Headhunters while Bonds 762
rattled off the Seattle Scorpions. Sparks climbs to 3rd as a result,
13.5 games from top spot and 7 full games behind the 2nd place L.A.
Thrashers. Bonds 762 step up to 4th place, 15.5 games behind the
league-leading Panolas Coyotes and only 2 games off Sparks.

The Michigan Panthers were also big gainers, as they triumphed 8-3 over
Bilbos Bunch, who are now teetering on the edge of slipping out of the
6th and final playoff spot, just a half-game above the aforementioned
Panthers (19 games out of 1st place). The other Michigan side weren't
so lucky, as Cafe Michigan ran into the frontrunning Panolas Coyotes
and lost, 7-4 while the Missouri River Jacks fell 7-4 to the Bellingham
Rauks as the upset of the week.

After Week 11, the Coyotes extend their lead over the 2nd place
Thrashers by 1.5 games to make it a 6.5 game lead. The champions still
have some healthy separation over the 3rd/4th/5th place sides, but the
5th place Texas Two-Step only have a 5.5 game cushion over the 11th
place Bellingham Rauks. Although the Headhunters have slumped greatly
for a last-place finish, they are just 7.5 games from the 6th place
Bilbos Bunch. No one is quite out of it yet.

Who's on deck?

The first leg in the H2H World Series wraps up against the third German representative in the World Series, the Manzen Marlins,
who have flip-flopped inside and outside the playoff window and they
currently find themselves just outside of it by the slimmest of
margins, just a half-game out of the 6th and final playoff spot. The
Marlins have tended to hit well for average of late, with the likes of
Johnny Damon, Russell Martin, and Torii Hunter leading the cause while
their best player, Jose Reyes, ensures that Manzen will be a
basestealing force week to week. Manzen is a little light on power but
Aramis Ramirez and Aubrey Huff have been providing the lumber of late
for the Germans. The Marlins will have the advantage of trotting four
two-start pitchers including two from their staff aces, Dan Haren and
Zack Greinke, and two from finesse pitchers, Darrell Rasner and Jon
Garland, both of whom smack of spot start quality. Even Kyle Davies and
Livan Hernandez have a home on the Manzen roster while Joba Chamberlain
will be the Marlins' X-factor in starting pitching. Manzen only has one
closer (Takashi Saito) and one setup man (Tom Gordon), which it makes
it key for the Thrashers to take home saves, ERA, and WHIP to at least
earn a split in the pitching categories after the Californians had
exhausted all their two-start options last week vs. Edinburgh.

In the California South, the defending champions will try to right the ship after three consecutive down weeks against the San Marcos Sox,
who have found themselves in a bit of bad luck all season. Thanks to a
few trades, the Sox have assembled an impressive offensive unit, with
Hanley Ramirez, Matt Holliday, B.J. Upton, and Miguel Cabrera
headlining while the previously hot bats of Jorge Cantu and Jay Bruce
have run a bit of a dry spell recently. Aside from having an itchy
trigger finger for playing the hot starter, the pitching has been the
Sox's downfall as they rely on the spot start heroics of Jose
Contreras, Scott Baker, Manny Parra, Gavin Floyd, and Armando Galarraga
to complement staff ace James Shields. It doesn't help matters when
Daisuke Matsuzaka returns off the shelf only for the Sox's best pitcher
to date, Shaun Marcum to visit the DL to see Dr. James Andrews, which
is never a good proposition. Neither club has a two-start advantage and
this matchup could be an offensive slugfest, should the Thrashers'
offense be up for it as they were last Sunday. The champions will get a
boost in having Rickie Weeks return to the lineup as well as activating
SS pickup Troy Tulowitzki (previously of the Sox).

Lastly, the defending USA West Champions are certain to see fireworks when they clash with the offensive-minded Missouri River Jacks,
who were bested by the Thrashers in Week 2 by a 7-4 score. The Jacks
have underachieved some, especially when you consider that Mark
Teixeira hasn't fully shaken off his customary early season slump, Matt
Holliday has yet to get it going in earnest after his first DL trip,
and Jeff Francoeur has been a bust thus far. The Jacks' bullpen is
superb with Saito, Rivera, Broxton, Soria, Kuo, and Linebrink firmly
entrenched in their ranks, but are a bit shallow in starters with Dan
Haren, Tim Hudson, Randy Wolf, and John Danks featuring greatly in
their starting rotation. Haren's a go for the Jacks twice this week
while the Thrashers will send out Zack Greinke twice to counter.

After a relatively disappointing start to the second half, the
Thrashers on all three fronts will give it the old college try in
regaining their form, all in the name of chasing the "T" word. Check
back next week and until then, keep your clothes on.

-Ray