A defeat for the runaway leaders? A 3rd successive win for the previously struggling defending champs? 10 games separating 2nd place from 12th? It could only be the ultra-competitive league that is the 2008 England South league...
Week 13 Results
- London Knights 8-2 Sussex Royal Engineers
- Guildford Angels 7-3 Oxford Oilers
- Enfield Lips 6-6 London Bananas
- Orpington Dodgers 4-7 Solent Vipers
- Havant Hackers 5-7 Essex Eagles
- St. Leonard's Marlins 4-7 Woking White Sox
- Felixstowe Fury 7-2 Bromley KC Royals
- Dunstable Phillies 5-5 Bognor Yankees
Standings
| Rank | Team | W-L-T | Pct | GB | Last Week | Pos Change | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Havant Hackers | 86-52-18 | .609 | - | 5-7-0 | - | ||
| 2. | Solent Vipers | 80-65-11 | .548 | 9.5 | 7-4-1 | +1 | ||
| 3. | Woking White Sox | 79-66-11 | .542 | 10.5 | 7-4-1 | +2 | ||
| 4. | SussexRoyalEngineers | 75-62-19 | .542 | 10.5 | 2-8-2 | -2 | ||
| 5. | London Bananas | 79-67-10 | .538 | 11 | 6-6-0 | -1 | ||
| 6. | Dunstable Phillies | 70-63-23 | .522 | 13.5 | 5-5-2 | +1 | ||
| 7. | Oxford Oilers | 73-69-14 | .513 | 15 | 3-7-2 | -1 | ||
| 8. | Enfield Lips | 74-73-9 | .503 | 16.5 | 6-6-0 | - | ||
| 9. | London Knights | 72-73-11 | .497 | 17.5 | 8-2-2 | +4 | ||
| 10. | Guildford Angels | 69-71-16 | .494 | 18 | 7-3-2 | +1 | ||
| 11. | Orpington Dodgers | 68-71-17 | .490 | 18.5 | 4-7-1 | -2 | ||
| 12. | Essex Eagles | 70-75-11 | .484 | 19.5 | 7-5-0 | - | ||
| 13. | St Leonards Marlins | 65-74-17 | .471 | 21.5 | 4-7-1 | -3 | ||
| 14. | Felixstowe Fury | 66-76-14 | .468 | 22 | 7-2-3 | - | ||
| 15. | Bromley KC Royals | 56-80-20 | .423 | 29 | 2-7-3 | - | ||
| 16. | Bognor Yankees | 47-92-17 | .356 | 39.5 | 5-5-2 | - |
Significant Moves
Bit more activity on the wire this week, although still no trades to report. DeJesus, Kent, Glaus & Guardado all found new teams this week, whilst the biggest names hitting the wire were Varitek (perhaps surprising in a 16-teamer), Billy Butler (just before he was recalled from AAA) and Owings (as the London Knights gave up waiting for a player they traded for to actually get back to pitching like he did in April!)
Waffle
Big movers this week were the London Knights after an 8-2 win over 2nd-placed Sussex Royal Engineers. The Knights had a narrow lead for most of the week before extending it at the weekend. A vulture win for Doug Brocail threatened to give Sussex the win in that category, but the late night victory for Mark Buehrle, along with an excellent ERA, and a blow-up by Sherrill for the Engineers meant that the Knights tied wins and sneaked ahead in WHIP. Eddie Encarnacion coming back with a HR also proved significant, giving the Knights the victory in that category by 1.
Elsewhere, Havant maintain a big lead, despite a narrow 7-5 defeat to Essex. Moving into 2nd place are the seemingly unstoppable Solent Vipers, as they overcame Orpington 7-4. Woking moved back into 3rd spot with a 7-4 win over St. Leonard's, whilst Guildford boosted their play-off chances, beating Oxford 7-3. And defending champs Felixstowe are within 10 games of 6th place for the first time in goodness knows how long, after a comfortable 7-2 win over the fading Bromley KC Royals. Lots of teams still in with a shout of the top 6 with 9 weeks still to play.
Many of those teams face one another this week, so expect to see the table change significantly yet again! But there is one outstanding match-up this week: 1st-placed Havant against 2nd-placed Solent. Solent have won 4 straight to storm up the table, whilst Havant hold a 9.5 game lead. A case of the immovable meeting the irresistable? The next 7 days will tell the story...
as a Varitek owner, I understand the frustration, i do. I almost dropped him myself in the Hot Stove league, but I reconsidered, after sitting on it a few days. He will find his groove again real soon.
I have had no luck with catchers this year, Jason Varitek, Victor Martinez, and Josh Bard have all been massive disappointments.
when the Reds aren't in Cincinnati?
Great foresight on your part, I also got burnt in a league where the go chose to start Edwin on Sunday.
lol - he's my only 3B, so he was in my starting line-up all week! I didn't have anyone on my roster I felt I could cut to pick up another 3B, and I was half-expecting/half-hoping he'd be put on the DL. So he ended up in my roster all week, and I got lucky that he came back with a homer on the Sunday! And fortunately, having one position not producing for the other 6 days didn't affect the outcome of the match-up!
In this 16-teamer, there is so little available on the wire. You can tell from the names I mention above how little there is - in a 12-teamer of this format, pretty much all of them are border-line rosterable...but here, they can make a difference.
Gosport vs Havant, a local derby meade even more so that I used to live in Havant & Ed's family come from Gosport.
Last week was painful, yet another win which could have gone either way. Bronson Arroyo's dreadful outing virtually sealed ERA & WHIP for me and I couldn't buy a hold.
Lil' Papi got sent to the waiver wire along with Daniel Cabrera to make way for Hammer and Church. Hank "Injury Zone" Blalock still has Carl Pavano syndrome & picks up yet another knock in rehab, though Casey Blake has come alive of late, so that's not a bad thing.
Whilst winning is not imposible, just unfeasable, the aim now is to secure a bearth in the playoffs (top 6?) and stay above . 500.
Wow - I just checked his stats over the last month!
Looking at what he's been doing, I'm not at all surprised to see him hit the wire!
yeah it been pretty tough. I traded a prospect for him in the hot stove.