Chasing the Treble Week 19 - Armchair Quarterback, Centerback, Backstroke, and back, back, back!

Fellow sports fans, welcome to sports sensory overload. The MLB season is entrenched in the dog days of summer and the thick of a pennant race. Trade deadlines in the lion's share of fantasy baseball leagues have passed, strapping on for a grueling 3 week run of jostling for position heading into the fantasy postseason. Meanwhile, NFL training camp and preseason games have opened up in earnest, which can mean only one thing: fantasy football draft season. In our little ecosystem, that just means the H2H Super Bowl is right around the corner. Last but certainly not least, unless you've been living under a rock, the Summer Olympics have formally kicked off the last few days with pageantry and intrigue on a level deeper than sport itself. Prestige events such as gymnastics, swimming, beach volleyball and track & field, step out of relative ignominy and take the fore on the world's grandest stage.

Just a quick word on this year's Olympics. As much as I am intrigued about the status and condition of China's global perception from a political and human rights perspective and as much as I like to bash NBC's Olympics coverage, more than any other year, for some odd reason, I'm  on a quest to scan all channels and all sports events for one only thing: a quest to find the most attractive Olympian ladies. As a baseball fan, I probably should be savoring the baseball and softball tournaments before they go on an indefinite Olympic hiatus but out of curiosity (not quite borderline morbid curiosity but perhaps it could be), I wonder if angels reside amongst tomboys and jailbait for lack of better terms. The reason for such curiosity was thanks to last Friday's Olympic ceremony during the Parade of Nations. Croatia's delegation walked by and most of their Olympian babes were wonderful. Czech Republic, fantastic. Canada, what's in the water in Canada anyway, beautiful. Brazil, stunning as you'd imagine. Japan walks on by and there are a few good lookers there too. I pondered one thing that night: where in the world can I catch these beauties gracing my television yet again? With 7 or so channels covering the Olympics (basketball and soccer have their own specialty channels) and 24-hour streaming coverage on the Internet, it's difficult to comb through all of the channels and streams for the quest. So, what am I proposing? An Olympian hottie thread where everyone should post pictures of the hottest Olympian ladies participating in Beijing this Summer. My only rule is 1) they have to be over 18 or we're all a bunch of sick freaks and 2) I'm sorry I asked for Nicole Cooke's pictures. You're all welcome to post revealing Jennie Finch pictures, however, which is fitting given that we'll likely be deprived of her stunning beauty in London 2012. Remember, no baseball, no softball for next year.

In addition, if you're a soccer fan, you're likely getting your hopes up for the upcoming season. The English Premiership starts this coming weekend and as you may have noticed yesterday, if you dropped by around these parts, you would've noticed our site dotted with Premiership live draft threads. We're kind of in a mad dash to finish the draft before Saturday given that the London Times game sadly doesn't handle live drafts yet. Lame. If you're so inclined, check out the first half of the Premiership draft:

http://www.rotodatabase.c...

However, nothing (and that includes the Olympics) could overshadow the monumental showdown in the H2H World Series between the World Series leading L.A. Thrashers and Chris' London Knights, 3-time defending World Series champions and the league's #2 ranked club. The Knights were seeking revenge for an 11-1 early-season defeat at the hands of the Thrashers. Over the course of the week, the Thrashers and Knights had big leads over the other, only for them to be whittled down and blown. In the end, it was an epic showdown that didn't disappoint. Meanwhile, the California South champions were hoping that this was the week for the breakthrough into playoff contention but in their way were 3rd place Missin the Mets. The Thrashers have been relatively dominant over the Mets the last couple of years, leading into this week, but the Mets could very well have a significant say in the Thrashers' fortunes. Could the champs finally get into the playoff seeding? Out West, the defending USA West champions had to take advantage of the schedule maker's kind bounce, as the Thrashers stared down the bottom of the barrel, the last place Houston Headhunters. Time to break down this epic week, let's have it:

H2H World Series

London Knights 5, L.A. Thrashers 4

The second time around lived up to the hype this time around in a week that had it all. Both the Thrashers and Knights faced significant deficits in the eyes and battled back. The result was both sides at each other's throats as title contenders should, leading up to final inning drama on the week's final day.

After a pedestrian hitting day on the week's opening day, the Thrashers proceeded to tear the cover off the ball, improving an abysmal BA and OPS to a gaudy .350+ BA and 1.000 OPS after Wednesday's games, and post a remarkable mid-week RBI total of 30 RBI's after the fact. The Thrashers raced out to a 5 run lead and a 4-1 SB lead after Wednesday while the Knights couldn't do much with a .300 OPS and .850 OPS, only generating a homerun and a handful of RBI's at the mid-week point. Much to the Londoners' chagrin, Brandon Webb was spot-on in the first of his two starts for the week, going the distance with a complete game victory. Webb's outing as well as Billingsley's rain shortened performance chipped a Brandon Lyon blow-up down to an ERA in the low 2's and a decent enough WHIP (1.25-1.30 range). Meanwhile, the Knights' two-start battery of Manny Parra and Joba Chamberlain were both shelled but to add injury to insult, Joba was placed on the 15-day DL after a sore shoulder injury. The Thrashers had a 9-2 lead on the champions and a repeat of that 11-1 result appeared to be in the offing.

Thursday signaled the turning of the tide for the series. Derek Jeter and Miguel Cabrera both homered to slash the Thrashers' 4-1 HR advantage to 4-3 and despite another solid hitting day for the Thrashers, all they could muster was a single RBI. This led to the Knights to overtake the Thrashers in runs with a 6 run output for a 1 run lead. London had a terrific day which significantly bridged the gap in BA and OPS, as the Thrashers only had a slim .355 to .353 lead in BA and a slim OPS lead (.990+ to .960). A win for the Knights' Clayton Kershaw gifted the Londoners their first win to tie the win category at 1 apiece (despite giving the Thrashers a 1-0 lead in holds thanks to Kuo), giving London the edge in WHIP, a day after Scott Kazmir threw a highly suspect outing against the Grady Sizemore-less Indians and Randy Johnson posted a wonderful start, only to get a no-decision, overshadowed by Jeff Karstens' complete game 2-hit shutout.

This set up the Friday stage for the Knights' top-line ace, C.C. Sabathia to feast on another favorable matchup and he didn't disappoint, as he had thrown a complete game shutout to give the Knights a 2-1 win lead, the momentary lead in strikeouts, and the lead in ERA to go with their WHIP advantage. Johnny Cueto did not throw the sharpest outing for the Thrashers but he posted 9 strikeouts which would prove to be vital in the week's events. On the offensive side of things, the Knights' offense was relatively quiet with Carlos Beltran and Pat Burrell continuing to struggle. The Thrashers' offense settled from their torrid pace but they held onto narrow leads in BA and OPS while Carlos Pena slugged a crucial homerun to extend the Thrashers' lead in homerun to 5-3 and the Angelenos were just one run down from the Knights. Going into Saturday, the Thrashers and Knights were deadlocked at 6, with the Thrashers leading in 5 of 6 offensive categories and the Knights leading in 5 of 6 pitching categories (except holds). With Francisco Liriano and John Lackey taking the mound Saturday as well as Brandon Webb and Chad Billingsley taking a second turn on Sunday, the Thrashers could very well wrestle a few of London's pitching categories back. Likewise, the offensive categories were close enough for London to steal a few of those offensive categories in their favor. It was all going to come to a head in a wild weekend climax.

Saturday kicked off with John Lackey stringing 5 straight scoreless innings and the Thrashers' bid to make up ground on a 4.15 to 3.00 ERA deficit looked bright from the get-go. Then, Lackey surrendered back-to-back homeruns to A-Rod and Giambi while the Knights' Mark Teixeira clubbed a homerun to cut the Thrashers' HR margin to 5-4. Lackey didn't receive enough run support but London's Scot Shields sure did as the Angels broke a 3-3 tie in emphatic fashion to beat the Yankees. Shields was credited with the win to give the Knights a 3-1 lead in wins. Francisco Liriano would have to notch a win in a winnable matchup at Kansas City and he cashed in to make it a 3-2 deficit in wins. Later in the evening, it appeared the Thrashers' Hong-Chih Kuo would vulture a win to tie the category at 3-3 but a blown save from ex-Thrasher Jonathan Broxton would sully Kuo's chance at a win.

Meanwhile, the Thrashers' offense had gone south as Grady Sizemore struggled yet again, going 0-for-5. With Evan Longoria a DNP with a day-to-day wrist injury and Ryan Braun making a quick exit, the Thrashers' prospects for a solid offensive day had gone down the tubes. Nick Markakis was the bright spot, smashing a 3-run homerun that would give the Thrashers a 6-4 edge in the department. However, London were too good to be kept down entirely, as Miguel Cabrera had a 2 homerun day and Carlos Beltran tacked one on to give the Knights a 7-6 homerun lead. A futile offensive day for L.A. coupled with a productive burst for the Londoners led them to expand their lead in runs while overtaking in AVG and OPS. It was suddenly an 8-4 lead to London. However, with HR, AVG, and OPS remaining relatively close to be overturned within a day and Brandon Webb and Chad Billingsley taking the hill for the Thrashers, a dramatic comeback tie or victory was still possible for the Californian side. To make up for possible scratches from Ryan Braun and Evan Longoria, the Thrashers acquired Lastings Milledge to plug in the outfield. Because London had Manny Parra and newly activated Aaron Harang on Sunday, to maximize win chances, Clay Buchholz was added to the Thrashers' roster. A riveting Sunday matinee was in store.

For some reason, the Knights decided to trot Aaron Harang on Sunday and it backfired, as he gave up 9 earned runs to balloon the Knights' ERA from 2.85 to 4.21 at one point, giving the Thrashers the lead in ERA. At the last minute, Buchholz was pulled as the Thrashers needed just for Manny Parra to throw a no-decision at the very least. Parra was brilliant, posting 9 strikeouts and a run allowed, but didn't have a chance at a victory. The Knights had momentary short leads in wins and K's but with Billingsley and Webb slated later in the day, those leads were greatly threatened.

On the hitting side, both teams were fairly tepid but the Thrasher offense struggled mightily, with Hanley Ramirez posting a mere 6-for-23 with 2 SB and Grady Sizemore had just a 3-for-21 series while the blistering hot Nick Markakis had gone 0-for-5 on the penultimate day of the series. The Knights wouldn't have been much better had it not been for Brian Roberts' 4-for-4 day that resulted in 3 runs and a stolen base. The Thrashers finished with a .300 BA and an OPS at .869 after such a promising start while London ended up with a .320 BA/.935 OPS. Lastings Milledge would add on a homerun to give the Thrashers a 7-7 tie in homeruns but Alex Gordon would swipe a bag to cancel out the Thrashers 4-2 lead in SB heading in to Sunday into a 4-4 tie. The irony is that Gordon, a former Thrasher, waived because of the Longoria trade, had a homerun and SB that tied the HR and SB categories.

It all seemed dire straits for the Thrashers as at one point, they were down 8-2 for a moment on Sunday afternoon but the World Champs weren't out of the woods yet. Brandon Webb did enough to nail down a win to tie the weekly win total at 3. With Billingsley's 3 earned runs, the Thrashers were down by the slimmest of margins in the ERA department. However, in a non-save situation, the Knights' Brian Fuentes gave up a run and two additional shutout innings from Billingsley and Kuo meant the Thrashers would take home K's, 56-50 and ERA, 3.73-3.86.

The score read, 5-4, in favor of the Londoners. As inefficient as Billingsley was, he was in line for a win, a victory that would give the Thrashers a win in the wins column, 4-3. Hong-Chih Kuo was set to close out the game (even though London had an easy 4-2 win in saves). As it unfolded, Kuo gave up two hits and with one out, Casey Blake's indecision of touching third or throwing to first led to a fielding error. Kuo would get the double play ball off of the ensuing batter but a little bobble from Jeff Kent in fielding the ball, led to a mere force-out to tie the game. Kuo had a comebacker dribble between his legs for an infield hit and all chances of even a Kuo victory were snuffed and so were the chances of a 5-5 tie. It was a cruel ending for the Thrashers in a classic regular season meeting that could very well be a World Series finals prelude.

Out-of-Town Scoreboard: The race for the playoffs just got interesting again

The Thrashers/Knights epic showdown may have overshadowed the rest of the World Series fixtures but in all honesty, the ramifications were a lot more significant in those games as opposed to the former. An all-Aussie affair between the Psydney Psychos and Brisbane Bikkies had more than just pride at stake. Psydney needed another victory to cement their standing as a playoff seed whereas Brisbane were in dire need of a big result to keep their playoff chances alive. Brisbane got their wish and came out of the week as 9-3 winners and although Brisbane are in 9th place still, they are within 4 full games of the 6th seed.

Another team revived their playoff chances as well and that was Hamburger Blaufinken, who had thoroughly routed the Northampton Squirels, 10-2. The result kept Hamburger in 10th place, but 10th place moved a lot closer to 6th, as Blaufinken are just 5 games out of the final playoff seed. Northampton have been the slumping patsies of late and they are now an overwhelming 14.5 games back of 6th place, drifting down to 12th.

With Psydney yielding out of 6th and down to 8th, there would be a new sixth seed and it's a bit of a surprise to say the Edinburgh Dukes are just barely in the driver's seat for the sixth and final playoff seed, registering a 6-5 win over the Felixstowe Fury. The Dukes and Manzen Marlins (who drew Peitudas 6-6) are tied in games back (26 games off of 1st place) but Edinburgh has the tiebreaker. Edinburgh was the top team in the league for the first month or so and had a calamitous drop with all the injuries hitting their side, but with Pujols and Hamilton leading the way, Edinburgh are still very much in the race.

Another big matchup had seen 3rd place New Hampshire Goats take on the 5th place North York Blues. The Goats have had relatively firm control over a top 3 spot for much of this season but it's become ajar a bit, especially after the Blues edged the Goats, 7-5. Meanwhile, 4th place Lower Saxony Tigers pulled away from the last place Barcelona Reds, 7-3. The Tigers are just a half-game from the 3rd spot while the Blues are 2.5 back of the Goats.

The standings look something like this: Only a full game was chipped from the Thrashers' lead and so it remains a double-digit gap over the 2nd place London Knights, a 10 game lead. Meanwhile, the Knights have a firm 7 game lead over 3rd place New Hampshire. The Goats, Tigers, and Blues are comfortably ahead of the Edinburgh Dukes, a collective lead that ranges from 6.5 to 8.5 games. Edinburgh can't breathe easy for long as Manzen, Psydney, and now Brisbane and Hamburger are hot on their tails. If Peitudas can post a convincing result, they can make a dent on that 8 game gap separating them from 6th.

H2HWS California South

L.A. Thrashers 9, Missin the Mets 2

In the Inglewood Challenge, the Thrashers were barely challenged from the get-go by the Mets and dispatched of them rather easily, 9-2. The strong result was more than considerable enough to move from 7th and into 4th, deep into playoff contention. The champions were in cruise control throughout despite putting up rather lackluster power numbers, as their pitching proved to be good enough to post a rout, sweeping aside all 6 pitching categories. Roy Halladay, Matt Cain, and Jair Jurrjens were fantastic in their first go-rounds for the week, setting the tone in ERA and WHIP. The Mets received good efforts out of Mike Mussina, Mike Pelfrey, and Paul Maholm, but Aaron Cook, Carlos Zambrano, and Mike Pelfrey on his second start were atrocious, leaving a huge dent on the Mets' ERA and WHIP (6.29 and 1.74 respectively). It didn't matter if Aaron Harang was started by accident for the Thrashers as they were still comfortably ahead in ERA and WHIP. With Jonathan Papelbon not registering even a save opportunity for the Mets, their lone closer was shut out, meaning that a save from Brian Fuentes and B.J. Ryan were enough to take the week in saves. Grant Balfour also picked up 3 holds to the Mets' 1 to take home the sweep while Jair Jurrjens' win on Saturday night meant a 3-2 edge to the champions.

On the offensive front, the Thrashers stiff-armed the Mets in runs, AVG, and OPS despite Adam Dunn being shut out on all fronts but slowly and surely, the Thrashers crept up on the Mets in the power department. Going into Sunday's games, the Thrashers had a 9-2 lead, but were down 1 HR and 1 RBI while the SB category remained tied. Homeruns from the struggling Chase Utley and the hot bat of Aubrey Huff were enough to send the Mets through with the wins in HR and RBI. Corey Hart swiped two bases to make it a 4-2 lead in SB but a Kemp SB and a fluke Mark Reynolds SB tied the SB category for the series. Other than that, it was a convincing win for the Thrashers and keeps their title defense alive and in great shape.

Out-of-Town Scoreboard: Top-bottom upheaval

It wasn't the Mets that felt the blow of a bottom 6 side beating a top 6 side as 5 of the top 6 sides were defeated and the results were stunning. The league's top team, Lake Arrowheads were upset victims at the hands of the San Marcos Sox, 9-3, as the Sox's retribution of a 11-1 loss by these same Lake Arrowheads at midseason. The SF Giants were held back by a 6-5 loss to the Davis Destroyers, which oddly enough leaves them second to last despite winning because of the Sox's more convincing victory. The last place Boondock Saints scored a 5-4 win over then-third place San Fran Pacificans, which has them sliding from 3rd to 5th this week. The only top 6 side that emerged victorious was Saddlebackers, who moved up from 5th to 3rd with a 9-3 beating of then-6th place Monterey Park Donuts.

There was some shaking at the bottom half of the standings as the resurgent California Blaze posted a 10-2 victory over the 2005 California champion, Los Angeles Dodgers, sending the Blaze a couple of games above .500 and into 7th place, with a date with top team Lake Arrowheads in store. Meanwhile, the Dodgers drift on down to 7th.

The complexion of the standings has gotten quite interesting. Lake Arrowheads are still relatively comfortable, ahead of the pack by 7.5 games over nearest neighbor SF Giants. The Giants have seemed more tentative in recent weeks, which certainly means their first-round bye is still up for grabs. 3rd place Saddlebackers are just 2 games out, the Thrashers and Pacificans 2.5 games back, and the 6th place Mets still 5 away from the #2 spot. Meanwhile, the Mets can't look up for too long as behind them, the California Blaze are 2.5 games from usurping them for the final playoff seed. The same goes for the Donuts. Meanwhile, the Dodgers, Sox, and Destroyers still need to post convincing results as well as some help to move up the standings.

H2HWS USA West

L.A. Thrashers 9, Houston Headhunters 2

The reigning USA West champions had gotten some well-deserved payback on the Houston Headhunters, avenging a midseason loss with a rousing 9-2 rout that gives the Thrashers sole possession of 2nd place, a 4 game lead over the 3rd place Missouri River Jacks, and are 7 games back of the frontrunning Panolas Coyotes for pole position.

The Thrashers weren't completely sharp on the offensive side as they managed just a 268 BA and .844 OPS, with one of them being a losing category (AVG) but the Thrashers' power was there for yet another week to see off the hard-hitting Headhunters who were led by Adrian Gonzalez and Carlos Lee, who unfortunately has to sit out the rest of the year with a broken hand. An 11-for-30, 7 R, 4 HR, 12 RBI, .367 BA, 1.274 OPS Saturday was the difference maker and Lance Berkman finally broke out of the homerun drought on the week's final day. With A-Rod and Ryan Ludwick getting some help from Nick Markakis, Jim Thome, and the occasional chip in from Carlos Beltran and Hunter Pence, the Thrashers came out on top in 5 of the 6 offensive categories.

The Thrashers' staff was brilliant as well for another week, posting a sharp 2.22 ERA and 1.01 WHIP, due to stellar performances from staff ace Tim Lincecum, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Randy Johnson, and Oliver Perez. Houston broke a 3-3 tie in wins thanks to wins from Brandon Webb and Francisco Rodriguez but Ryan Franklin, Ian Snell, and Huston Street did sufficient damage to the Headhunters' ERA and WHIP. All in all, a second straight 9-2 rout, a command performance, and a crucial win down the stretch.

Out-of-Town Scoreboard: Rauk, paper, scissors...

The USA West never ceases to amaze, and believe me, I'm a man that's rarely amazed by anything. We have two new playoff movers within the #4-6 playoff spots. Cafe Michigan was in 4th place last week but drop to 8th in stunning fashion as the Bellingham Rauks jump from 10th to 5th, with an 8-3 victory over Cafe Michigan. The other Michigan side, the Michigan Panthers, make a relatively less dramatic leap but nonetheless it's a significant one, as they move up from 8th to 6th with a 7-4 win over the Missouri River Jacks, which consequently means the Jacks are bumped out of 2nd and into 3rd. Despite a 6-4 win for the Sparks Red Sox Slayers over Bilbos Bunch, somehow they're on the outside looking in because of wins from Bellingham and the Panthers. In the midst of such chaos, the Texas Two-Step move one step forward from 5th to 4th, with a 6-5 win over the NorCal champion Bonds 762*.

So, here's the ever-changing lay of the land: the Panolas Coyotes are in cruise control thanks to a 7-4 win over Seattle Scorpions and are still comfy in 1st place. The defending USA West champions are 7 games behind them in 2nd while the River Jacks are down to 3rd this week. Despite Missouri being bumped into 3rd and out of a first-round bye as it stands, they're still snug knowing they're not in the 4-10 moshpit, ahead 11.5 games over 4th place Texas Two-Step. Texas have a narrow 2 game cushion over 5th place Bellingham but they'll need their inhalers knowing that the Michigan Panthers, Sparks Red Sox Slayers, and Bonds 762 are each a half-game from the heels of Bellingham. Let's not forget that Bonds 762 are 2 games out of the 6th and final playoff spot while Bilbos Bunch are 2.5 games out of 6th. In fact, 4th place Texas only has a 5 game edge over 10th place Bilbos Bunch. By all seasonal indications, the standings will look drastically different next week. Man, I need my inhaler now and I don't have asthma just getting through all that.

Who's on deck?

After a narrow epic defeat by the slightest of margins to the World Series champion London Knights, the Thrashers are locked up in another potentially epic showdown against the USA East representative and 3rd place New Hampshire Goats. In the first All-American derby this season, the Thrashers knocked off the Goats, 8-3 in a low-average slugfest carried by the shoulders of Ryan Braun. New Hampshire are without the services of Carlos Lee for the rest of the season perhaps but they shouldn't be wallowing in Agony City for long, knowing they have one of the top 3 offenses in the World Series. The Goats are powered by David Wright and Adrian Gonzalez as well as 5-cat threats in Nate McLouth and team MVP Ian Kinsler. The outfield looks noticeably more suspect with a platoon of Juan Pierre/Kosuke Fukudome/Aaron Rowand/Fred Lewis as the Goats' other fill-in options. New Hampshire have yet to get much of anything from FA pickup Troy Tulowitzki who now replaces Rafael Furcal from here on out. New Hampshire's starting rotation has been built from the waiver wire and three of their starters: Jonathan Sanchez, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Chris Volstad are slated to start twice. New Hampshire are strapped for saves with Billy Wagner on the DL and Huston Street a recent drop and will rely on the holds battery of Tony Pena, Manny Delcarmen, and Ron Mahay. The Thrashers had picked up Dave Bush as a two-start matchup in place of Clay Buchholz while Scott Kazmir and Randy Johnson are slated to start twice as well. The pitching will have to snap their whippersnapper ways while Hanley Ramirez and Grady Sizemore will need to shape up as Ryan Braun and Evan Longoria are mending.

In the Inglewood Challenge, the Thrashers lock up against a dangerous last place Boondock Saints side. The Thrashers were 7-4 winners in the first meeting. Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome, Robinson Cano and Carlos Pena are heating up and the Saints need Jacoby Ellsbury and David Ortiz to do the same. The Saints have also built up a nice pitching staff with Brett Myers and Chris Young being recent pickups to build on top of Jake Peavy, Rich Harden, and Roy Oswalt. The latter two and Jeff Karstens are two-start pitchers this week whereas the Thrashers will counter with Scott Kazmir and new trade acquisition Cole Hamels as the champions' two-start aces. Ichiro was traded to SF Giants for Cole Hamels, a trade that benefits both sides as the Giants needed an OF with pitching to spare whereas Ichiro was usually on the bench in the midst of the Thrashers' crowded outfield.

Out West, the champions square off against Cafe Michigan as both sides settled for a 6-6 split last time out. Cafe Michigan had all guns blazing on offense in the first matchup with Chase Utley, David Ortiz, Carlos Guillen, Chipper Jones, and Justin Morneau swinging hot bats. It has been far from that lately for the Michiganders which gives them an interesting platoon situation with Jorge Cantu, Ortiz, Chipper Jones, and Morneau. They have a similar platoon situation in the outfield as Raul Ibanez has been tearing it up for Michigan lately but will run the hot bats between Johnny Damon, Lastings Milledge, Garret Anderson, and Billy Butler. Cafe Michigan have staked most of their pitching fortune on Justin Verlander and it has been a losing bet for the most part. He's starting twice though and so is Ubaldo Jimenez, while Justin Duchscherer, Brett Myers, and Jair Jurrjens round out Michigan's staff. With Billy Wagner on the DL, they'll rely on Brad Lidge and Brandon Lyon to notch the saves. The Thrashers are slated to have staff ace Tim Lincecum for two starts while the old farts, Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez will have a go twice.

An epic week ends with two steps forward despite one step back which perhaps doesn't mean anything at this point in the grand scheme of things. It's all one big push in the quest for the "T" word. Check back for for what's sure to be a recap of yet another exciting week. Until then, keep your clothes on.

-Ray