A lot of close games this week - the biggest recorded victory was 8-4 - and new leaders for England South! Let's get to the results...
Week 18 Results
- London Knights 8-4 Orpington Dodgers
- Guildford Angels 7-3 Enfield Lips
- Havant Hackers 5-7 Dunstable Phillies
- St. Leonard's Marlins 6-5 Sussex Royal Engineers
- Felixstowe Fury 5-5 Oxford Oilers
- Bromley Slumpdicious 4-7 London Bananas
- Woking White Sox 5-6 Solent Vipers
- Essex Eagles 7-3 Bognor Yankees
Standings
| Rank | Team | W-L-T | Pct | GB | Last Week | Pos Change | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Solent Vipers | 116-84-16 | .574 | - | 6-5-1 | +1 | ||
| 2. | Havant Hackers | 114-83-19 | .572 | 0.5 | 5-7-0 | -1 | ||
| 3. | SussexRoyalEngineers | 109-82-25 | .563 | 2.5 | 5-6-1 | - | ||
| 4. | London Knights | 110-90-16 | .546 | 6 | 8-4-0 | - | ||
| 5. | Essex Eagles | 108-90-18 | .542 | 7 | 7-3-2 | - | ||
| 6. | London Bananas | 105-94-17 | .525 | 10.5 | 7-4-1 | +1 | ||
| 7. | Enfield Lips | 104-98-14 | .514 | 13 | 3-7-2 | -1 | ||
| 8. | Dunstable Phillies | 95-94-27 | .502 | 15.5 | 7-5-0 | - | ||
| 9. | Oxford Oilers | 97-99-20 | .495 | 17 | 5-5-2 | - | ||
| 10. | Woking White Sox | 97-102-17 | .488 | 18.5 | 5-6-1 | +1 | ||
| 11. | Orpington Dodgers | 92-100-24 | .481 | 20 | 4-8-0 | -1 | ||
| 12. | Guildford Angels | 92-101-23 | .479 | 20.5 | 7-3-2 | +1 | ||
| 13. | Felixstowe Fury | 93-105-18 | .472 | 22 | 5-5-2 | -1 | ||
| 14. | St Leonards Marlins | 83-108-25 | .442 | 28.5 | 6-5-1 | +1 | ||
| 15. | Bromley Slumpdicious | 81-109-26 | .435 | 30 | 4-7-1 | -1 | ||
| 16. | Bognor Yankees | 68-125-23 | .368 | 44.5 | 3-7-2 | - |
Significant Moves
We have a trade to report! And first glance suggests it is an excellent one for Sussex as they fight for the title. They received Jose Reyes from St. Leonard's in return for Yuniesky Betancourt & Rich Harden. Obviously the Marlins are after pitching help - they really need Harden to stay healthy! But even if he does, I can't fault the Royal Engineers for acquiring Reyes in return.
A few waiver wire transactions took place - Bognor claimed Samardzija off waivers, and London Knights took a chance on Marcum after he was cut by Enfield; Solent picked up Casey Kotchman, and Dunstable have taken a shot on Chris Volstad.
Waffle
One of the season's battle of the Croydon Pirates saw London Knights take the 8-4 win over Orpington Dodgers. In what is surely a first for any match-up involving my teams, the Knights swept the pitching categories! It was close, though - saves & holds were won by 1, and WHIP by 0.01...
New leaders at the top in Solent Vipers - their narrow 6-5 win over Woking was enough to move them ahead of Havant, who went down 7-5 to Dunstable. 3rd-placed Sussex also lost narrowly - 6-5 to St. Leonard's. Essex cemented their top 6th place with a 7-3 victory over Bognor.
London Bananas move back into the top 6 after their 7-4 win over Bromley. They take the place of Enfield, who went down 7-3 to Guildford. Oxford failed to take advantage of teams above them stumbling, as they were held to a 5-5 tie by Felixstowe.
Some more top of the table clashes to look forward to in Week 19! Leaders Solent take on 5th placed Essex, whilst Havant in 2nd take on the 4th placed Knights. Another great chance for teams behind these 4 to gain some points on the losers of these match-ups! Enfield will fancy their chances against bottom of the table Bognor, whilst Woking will want a big win over London Bananas to try and close the gap on 6th place. A key match-up also takes place between Orpington & Guildford - the losers of this one can almost certainly kiss their play off chances goodbye...
I was trailing 5-6 all week 'till Sunday, with the Engineers winning easily, 'till Sunday. This meant the standings were Sussex, Me, then Havant down to Suday's finish.
I lost out on 1 point with Doug "Shell Me" Davis not getting a win in the week's final start and Kyle Farnsworthless blowing the hold against the Rays.
Bringing Casey Kotchman back for Hank Blalock looked good after his trade to the Braves, shame he can't make contact there either. Brandon Lyon has at last has figured out how to pitch without giving up lost of souvenirs cemented saves and I doubts I lose a runs matchup here on in, the only category I'm doing well in.
The fight for the top spot is going to be rough, The Chairman's acquisition of JBR won't hurt at all. This weeks matchup looks ominous: Pujols, Peralta, Hunter and Magglio in the opposition line up dwafs my power hitters, or rather hitter in Cantu.
Chavtastic.
thats my new favorite word
Ive had a good streak, winning my last 7 matchs ups, but 3 out of my next 4 games are againts those in the top 6 - crunch time.