Chasing the Treble Week 18 - That's Cali being Cali

There's an old saying: when life throws you a curveball, hit it out of the park. Oh wait, or is it, take it the other way or lay off it and hope it's not a called strike? At any rate, it's not an old cliche, just something I made up to remind me how surprising and eventful this past week has been in Southern California. A relatively mild earthquake struck here last Tuesday, about 30-40 miles away from Downtown Los Angeles in Chino Hills. The interesting discovery about last week's quake is that seismologists uncovered a relatively minor fault in the Chino Hills area that could be capable of quakes no greater than a 6.4 magnitude. However, seismologists failed to realize that the biggest fault propped up alongside Interstate 5, from Chavez Ravine to Disneyland, given that no earthquake could shadow the big shake-ups that came with the arrivals of Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers and Mark Teixeira to the Angels.

You can color me surprised, folks. As you recall, last week's trade deadline was primed to be an anticlimactic one (at least in my opinion) and last week's column smacked more of a personal plea for a few blockbuster trades to jolt the baseball landscape. Over the course of 24 hours, the Atlanta Braves turned from buyers to sellers, as Tim Hudson and Chipper Jones hit the DL the same day, which compelled the Braves to put a yellow ribbon on Mark Teixeira's head and hope to giftwrap a Scott Boras client away to a contender. Sure enough, Big Tex suddenly found himself as a 28 year-old big kid on the Mad Tea Cups at Disneyland all the while sleeping in the guest house of Scott Boras somewhere down in Newport Beach, I reckon. Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox organization became more like Boston Legal (minus William Shatner unfortunately) as the rift between Manny Ramirez and the entire Red Sox club (from John Henry right down to the equipment manager) seemed to be too great to patch up. As the sun rose on the morning of August 1, the Los Angeles Police Department reported vandalism at the Hollywood sign as some CalTech geeks struck again, but this time turning Hollywood into "Mannywood".

If I could be serious for a minute, as you can expect, as a Dodger fan, I'd be pleasantly surprised and somewhat giddy over Manny Ramirez's arrival. Here are some of my comments on the Manny trade, most of which has been regurgitated from Mark's column, simply because I'm a lazy bum:

-Boston weren't fleeced at all by the trade. Sure, they're obligated to pay Manny's two-month loan to Los Angeles, but the Sox had received a player in Jason Bay, capable of replacing Manny's production without having to fork up any of their truly prized prospects while upgrading their left field defense a bit. Bay had impressed in his first weekend in a Sox uniform and the Sox aren't likely to skip a beat. From an intangibles standpoint, it should be interesting to see if Jason Bay can translate such good form into October. Keep in mind Bay has never played for anything meaningful at a team level while Manny is arguably this generation's most technically sound hitter and when focused, could carry a club to postseason glory as he had in both Red Sox championships this decade.

I can't speak for Red Sox fans, but I think the analogy here is what Laker fans think of Shaquille O'Neal when he was traded to Miami. Both Shaq and Manny have larger-than-life personalities, marked by bizarre, even childish antics. Laker fans tend to be thankful that Shaq ended the Lakers' championship drought after more than a decade and in the process, restoring glory to a proud club. However, by the same token, his legacy has been tarnished for the Shaq/Kobe feud and because he believed the Laker organization betrayed him in some way (i.e. not getting more $, the perception of Kobe being the #1 offensive option). Likewise, I think the Red Sox fans will look at Manny as such. Thankful that he was an integral part in breaking the Curse and tacking on another World Series title but will feel that Manny finally wore out his welcome.

The Pirates got a nice return too. Unfortunately, the Dodgers have not handled Andy Laroche in the right way and in fact, he should've been promoted two seasons ago to easen the learning curve. Here's a kid who's had a track record of improving his plate discipline at every stop in the minors but currently looks lost at the plate for the most part. Again, he should've been recalled earlier to make those vital adjustments early in his career. The kid is what, 25, and I think with a good steady course, Andy Laroche could be a good to great player. I don't think he's a superstar (he'll remind me of Scott Rolen at best) but he'll make an impact.

As for my hometown Dodgers, Manny is a welcome 2 month rental that really gets better given he's a freebie, which should make the tightwad owner Frank McCourt very happy besides adding yet another Red Sox alumnus out west. I don't see Manny as a flop, as say Andruw because there are no warning signs of a letdown. This weekend stamped the notion that a happy Manny Ramirez is a focused Manny Ramirez that will produce no matter where he hits and what kind of lineup he's hitting cleanup in. With a new lease on life, I can see Manny being Manny in a positive sense of his performance. Safe to say, Ned Colletti pulled one out of the bag, recognized more for not giving up a significant chunk of the future (Matt Kemp) than snagging Manny. A World Series run is still a laughable prospect in my opinion but it's at least within the realm of possibility especially in a NL that looks set on being a wide open playoff yet again.

Then, there's that team down the I-5 in Anaheim, which according to Angels owner Arte Moreno is part of Los Angeles and now, Riverside counties. The Angels ditched their conservative stance of standing pat at the trade deadline and had gone all in by trading Casey Kotchman and minor league pitcher Stephen Marek for one of the coveted big bats at the trade deadline in Mark Teixeira. Arte Moreno tends to dislike two month rentals such as Teixeira but from a pure power standpoint, he's an all-world upgrade over Casey Kotchman while not downgrading too much defensively if at all. Had Kotchman not been dealt, he very well could've been a massive bargain in the long term over Big Tex. Nevermind the fact that Kotchman's OPS is below par for a first baseman: he swings well for contact, doesn't strike out much, gets productive outs, and has flashed a bit of pop (capable of 20 homeruns or so at best). In short, Kotchman's a fantastic fit for Mike Scioscia's philosophy of "small ball". However, despite the Angels' domination of the AL West in this decade with a World Series title under their belts, they've been smacked with the label of forgettable also-rans, not an endearing tag for a club with an ambitious owner wanting to turn a small-market club into a Los Angeles club in name and in its market pull. The scathing criticism has been that the Angels don't have a prototypical three-hole or cleanup hitter, a criticism that's well warranted given that Vladimir Guerrero has struggled to make a playoff impact and the same can be said for table-setter Chone Figgins. Teixeira gives the Angels an added power dimension that they've lacked since the 2004 edition of the team which at least had the 2002 World Series holdover of Troy Glaus hitting behind Big Bad Vlad.

Not only did the Angels get a massive bargain without having to give away a significant chunk of their future (Brandon Wood, Ervin Santana, Joe Saunders, Nick Adenhart) but they could have the money to re-sign Teixeira. Moreno's Angels are one of the few teams that can afford Teixeira even though Tex's request for a 10-year deal seems out of the question. Keep in mind that Francisco Rodriguez won't wear an Angels uniform next season even if technically, there's a chance he'll re-sign. K-Rod is demanding Mariano Rivera-type money (we're talking 5 years, $75 million) and the Angels won't sign K-Rod for that much especially when his record-setting pace to break Bobby Thigpen's save record is inflating his price. K-Rod is having a mildly disappointing season minus the gaudy save total as his walk rate is up, his K rate is down, and the injury problems in both ankles to begin the season hindered his velocity early on, which indicates that K-Rod's violent delivery could show its effects.

On that note, as of today, there's only 6 days to get a trade done in most fantasy leagues, including the H2H World Series. I strongly urge you K-Rod owners to trade K-Rod for an upgrade in other needs while his value is quite good.

Meanwhile, the World Series leading L.A. Thrashers pulled off a win in the trading arena, giving away Chris Young and Ryan Zimmerman for John Lackey, which eventually means the Thrashers upgraded mightily at 3B in Evan Longoria in the prior trade without having to downgrade their pitching in getting Lackey back. The Thrashers were also primed to keep it rolling over the struggling Brazilian champion Peitudas. In California South, the defending champions needed another crucial result over their local rivals and fellow playoff contenders Monterey Park Donuts to inch themselves closer to a playoff spot. Out west, the reigning USA West champions sought to rebound from a minor hiccup as the pride of California was on the line yet again, as they were set to take on the Northern California champion Bonds 762. Let's have it:

H2H World Series

Peitudas 7, L.A. Thrashers 5

The World Series frontrunners had a slight power outage over the weekend and it cost them in a loss to Peitudas, losing 7-5. The Thrashers only had two homeruns from the Saturday and Sunday games from Evan Longoria and Chris Davis while Peitudas enjoyed a solid offensive surge to close the weekend out in style for what seems to be the Brazilians' cup final, seeing as the prospect of the playoffs is moving out of reach.

The Monday start was a bit of an anomaly for the Thrashers as they kicked off the week with a 4 SB day on top of a Ryan Braun homerun. Meanwhile, Johnny Cueto didn't have the brightest of starts in a somewhat favorable matchup against a flaccid Houston offense whereas spot reliever Kyle Farnsworth surrendered a homerun. The Thrashers were in a hole in the ERA/WHIP battle already but soon enough, Chad Billingsley righted the ship with a 5-hit complete game shutout while Brandon Webb and Randy Johnson were brilliant as well. It seemed the Angelenos were back in the ERA/WHIP battles just as soon as they were out of it, having taken a slim lead in WHIP. On limited starters, Peitudas got the most of them as Gavin Floyd spun a fantastic outing which was somewhat unexpected against a red-hot Minnesota squad while Rich Harden proved to be just as equally terrific.

Despite that, the Thrashers seemed poised to pull away from Peitudas. The Brazilians had a good cushion in runs, AVG, and OPS but despite the fact the Thrashers' offense wasn't running rampant as they did in the previous week, they rebounded well to be within a stone's throw of runs, AVG, and OPS. Two homeruns from Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena handed the Thrashers a 7-5 lead in homeruns and a 7 RBI lead. With SB and saves all but wrapped up, the Thrashers were seeking for a dominant result after week's end.

Peitudas had other plans, as they mounted a 4 HR surge on Saturday thanks to the resurgent Kevin Youkilis, Jason Bay, and Jim Thome. With that, Peitudas pipped 1 HR and 1 RBI leads while the Thrashers picked up the first hold of the matchup from Hong-Chih Kuo. The matchup was far from over, given that a swing in HR and RBI, as well as a win from either Johnny Cueto or Francisco Liriano to break the 3-3 deadlock would be enough to see the Thrashers through again. Peitudas' Jake Peavy could have done so, but had taken the loss instead.

Cueto just figured to be OK at best in his start and couldn't notch the win but Liriano threw six shutout innings, good enough for the go-ahead win. On the other side, Troy Percival had a blowup but it wasn't enough to dent Peitudas' ERA and WHIP, which stood at a sparkling 1.95 ERA and 0.94 WHIP compared to the Thrashers' 2.34 ERA and 1.04 WHIP. Had Johnny Cueto not been a go last Monday, the Thrashers might have swept all 6 pitching categories. Meanwhile, the Thrashers' offense didn't get it into gear as Ryan Braun continued to struggle away from home while Hanley Ramirez was a DNP, with his recent slump in mind. Homeruns from Mike Aviles, Matt Kemp, and Chase Utley were enough to pull away with a 12-9 homerun lead and uphold a 2 RBI lead.

Out-of-Town Scoreboard: Psydney bounce back with the 6th seed

In other action, the Psydney Psychos drove in a much needed victory over the then-6th ranked Manzen Marlins by a 9-1 margin, good enough to move a full game ahead of Manzen for the 6th and final playoff spot. Skipping the serious setback to the Thrashers the previous week, the Psychos are arguably the hottest team in the league. Don't tell that to the defending World Series champions as they pulled off another last-gasp victory, this time over the North York Blues, 6-4, pulling their winning streak to 8 matchups, which will be tested in a big way as the Knights take on the Thrashers this week.

Meanwhile, the Knights can rest a bit easier, knowing that the margin between 2nd and 3rd is a little more clearly refined after last week's action. A 7-3 loss for the 3rd place New Hampshire Goats to the 4th place Lower Saxony Tigers means a 5.5 game gap between the Goats and Knights, as the gap clearly is the difference between a first-round bye and not.

Elsewhere, the Edinburgh Dukes have a bit of a lifeline now thanks to a 7-3 victory over the fading Northampton Squirels. Despite Psydney claiming a better result than Edinburgh, the Dukes are 1.5 games away from 6th seeded Psydney. The Brisbane Bikkies' playoff hopes take a sobering turn as they were held by Hamburger Blaufinken, 6-6, but with 4 weeks to go, an 8 game gap is still feasible enough to gain ground, especially when the next matchup is against the Psydney Psychos. At the bottom, the Barcelona Reds were yanked back into last place unceremoniously, with a 10-2 drubbing at the hands of the Felixstowe Fury, who are 8 games clear of the cellar.

H2HWS California South

L.A. Thrashers 6, Monterey Park Donuts 5

The defending California South champions had gotten the victory to inch themselves closer to the playoffs, but have to be somewhat disappointed with the outcome given that they could've tacked on a few more points for a more decisive victory. The result is a narrow 6-5 win and the Thrashers still on the outside looking in on Monday morning in 7th place.

Despite an early 7-3 margin, the week had seemed to be primed for a dogfight from the beginning. The Donuts had fallen well behind the Thrashers' pitching because of horrid starts from Hiroki Kuroda and Dana Eveland as the defending champions received a solid enough effort to cruise with easy wins in saves, K's, ERA, and WHIP. On the offensive end, things weren't quite clear-cut as both offenses struggled to post anything truly consistent. It didn't help things when the Thrashers accidentally benched Adam Dunn on a 2 HR day. The Donuts' Bobby Abreu was the difference maker in the matchup, posting an 11 R, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 1 SB, .444 BA, 1.516 OPS line, good enough to take runs and HR by a comfortable enough cushion while edging the Thrashers slightly in BA and OPS. A Mark Teixeira grand slam was good enough to hold off the Donuts in RBI while Corey Hart's 2 SB on Sunday pipped the Donuts for the SB lead, to see off Hideki Okajima tying the Thrashers' sole hold from Grant Balfour.

Out-of-Town Scoreboard: A Giant Slayer among Saints and Sinners

The story of the week goes to the last place Boondock Saints landing a prodigious upset of the 2nd place SF Giants, by a surprising 10-2 margin. The 1st place Lake Arrowheads were also upset victims but by a much closer margin, a 6-4 defeat at the hands of Saddlebackers, who are still in 6th place and are now a full game over the Thrashers instead of a half-game. There was a changing of the guard at 3rd place as Missin the Mets vanquished the SF Pacificans, 7-3, steering them clear by a half-game for 3rd place.

At the bottom half of the standings, the Los Angeles Dodgers did their playoff hopes a great favor with an 8-3 trouncing over the San Marcos Sox. Elsewhere, the California Blaze edged out the Davis Destroyers, 6-5.

Here are the standings: Lake Arrowheads despite losing 6-4 have a larger 10 game cushion at the top over SF Giants. With the Giants losing, suddenly a first-round bye is possible as they only lead the 7th place Thrashers by just 6.5 games with 4 weeks to play. The Dodgers move into 8th place, just 5.5 games out of the final playoff spot while the Blaze lie 6.5 games out. The 10th place Davis Destroyers will need to act fast against a 12 game cushion though while the San Marcos Sox have a mathematical outside chance as well.

H2HWS USA West

L.A. Thrashers 9, Bonds 762* 2

The reigning USA West champions comfortably won a double over the Northern California champions Bonds 762 with a commanding 9-2 performance. The Thrashers' pitching was solid all the way through, taking home 5 of the 6 pitching categories rather easily with a 5 win, 5 save, 66 K, 3.38 ERA, 1.22 WHIP line. The defending champions pulled away on the offensive end over the weekend with Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Ludwick being bastions of offensive firepower. A-Rod just needed to be A-Rod with 8 R, 3 HR, 5 RBI, .308 BA, 1.112 OPS while Ryan Ludwick has continued to be a revelation with a line of 7 R, 4 HR, 8 RBI, .538 BA, 1.651 OPS. Lance Berkman and Carlos Beltran were quiet yet again but so were Magglio Ordonez and Derrek Lee yet again for Bonds 762, who needed to be carried by Miguel Cabrera and Shane Victorino while Carlos Quentin and Nate McLouth posted decent enough weeks. The NorCal champions could only manage to take away RBI and SB in the end as their pitching faltered thanks to Josh Beckett, Ben Sheets, and new acquisition Fernando Rodney.

Out-of-Town Scoreboard: Coyotes and Jacks win big, Texas Two-Step take a gigantic leap

There's no movement in the top 3 with all top 3 sides marching on to substantial victories. The league leading Panolas Coyotes breezed past the Nevada champion Sparks Red Sox Slayers, 9-2 while the Missouri River Jacks did slightly better: a 10-2 rout of the new bottom feeder, the Seattle Scorpions. The gap between the 3rd place Thrashers and 4th place Cafe Michigan is now a whopping 12 games. For now, the top 3 can take a ringside seat at the battle royale taking place against the 4th to 10th place sides.

The biggest jumper for the week is Texas Two-Step, leaping from 8th to 5th, thanks to an 8-3 win over the Michigan Panthers. The Two-Step slumped down to second-to-last near midseason, got hot in midseason, then slumped off to second-to-last, and now find themselves at a windfall, back into playoff position. Each team in the West can sing a similar tune, it seems. Anyway, Cafe Michigan can't breathe any easier at 4th place, losing 7-5 to Bilbos Bunch, who climb from 10th last week to 7th. The Hobbits share the same exact story: up and down again, then down and up again. Last but not least, the Bellingham Rauks keep their playoff hopes manageable with a 6-5 win over the Houston Headhunters, who climb out of the cellar with a lesser defeat.

Here's the table: the Panolas Coyotes' first game lead is trimmed by a half-game as they lead by 8 games over the Missouri River Jacks. The Thrashers lose a half-game on the Jacks but being a full game out of second place and a first-round bye signals that the battle for the bye is very much up in the air. Let's just say 4th place Cafe Michigan has a 4.5 game gap over 10th place Bellingham Rauks and somewhere sandwiched in between are Texas Two-Step, Sparks Red Sox Slayers, Bilbos Bunch, Michigan Panthers, and Bonds 762 in that order. It's worth noting that Cafe Michigan is only a game over .500 and Texas Two-Step is right at .500. Only the Houston Headhunters and Seattle Scorpions can be ruled out of playoff contention.

Who's on deck?

Perhaps a slap in the face from Peitudas is exactly the kind of motivation the World Series leading L.A. Thrashers to get ready for an epic bout against the 2nd place and 3-time defending World Series champion London Knights. This is the week the Thrashers have been waiting for, as they're off to prove that the 11-1 beating the Thrashers administered to the champions wasn't entirely a fluke. The Thrashers are off to douse another fire against the Knights, winners of their last 8 matchups. The champions have arguably the league's best offense, top 5 in nearly every offensive category but run a bit streaky. Miguel Cabrera is starting to roll but Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira have proven to be on-and-off again. Joe Mauer and Derek Jeter should keep the Londoners in it for average whereas Brian Roberts is their main source for speed and Pat Burrell being the club MVP. However, the Knights' fortunes have changed for the better thanks to trading Adam Dunn for CC Sabathia which gives them the one true ace they've lacked, but the Thrashers have 4 of a kind in Webb, Kazmir, Billingsley, and Lackey. Joba Chamberlain and Manny Parra are a go twice this week for the Knights whereas the Thrashers counter with Brandon Webb and Chad Billingsley twice.

Just as important or more important than that matchup is the showdown in the Inglewood Challenge against Missin the Mets with playoff implications in store. The defending champions knocked the Mets around, 9-1 in the first meeting this season. The Mets are powered by the usual suspects (Utley, Morneau, McCann, Longoria, Kemp) but Ryan Ludwick, JD Drew, and Aubrey Huff have been revelations for the 3rd place Mets. The Mets have gotten quality pitching from unlikely sources (Aaron Cook, Mike Mussina, Mike Pelfrey) while powered from the usual strongholds (Zambrano, Papelbon, Wagner). Aaron Cook and Mike Pelfrey are slated to start twice for the Mets whereas the Thrashers should get a boost in starting staff aces Roy Halladay, Matt Cain, and Jair Jurrjens twice.

The defending USA West champions are seeking revenge against the second-to-last Houston Headhunters for a midseason defeat that started a midseason slump. Houston are riding on Adrian Gonzalez, Carlos Lee, Joe Mauer, and Robinson Cano to produce along with the hot bat of JJ Hardy and the rampant basestealer, Willy Taveras. The Headhunters' Brandon Webb is the only two-start pitcher for the matchup.

Check back next week as Week 19 promises to be an epic one, as an epic quest like Chasing the "T" word should. Until then, keep your clothes on.

-Ray