Hello all,
I'm pinch-blogging for Chris this week.
We have a new leader in the UK South this week and plenty of movement in the table.
Week 19 Results
- Orpington Dodgers 6-3 Guilford Angels
- London Knights 6-5 Havant Hackers
- Enfield Lips 3-7 Bognor Yankees
- St. Leonard's Marlins 5-6 Dunstable Phillies
- Felixstowe Fury 10-2 SussexRoyalEngineers
- Bromley Slumpdicious 3-7 Oxford Oilers
- Woking White Sox 7-4 London Bananas
- Essex Eagles 10-2 Solent Vipers
Standings
| Rank | Team | W-L-T | Pct | GB | Last Week | Waiver | Moves | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Havant Hackers | 119-89-20 | .566 | - | 5-6-1 | 2 | 31 | |
| 2. | Essex Eagles | 118-92-18 | .557 | 2 | 10-2-0 | 11 | 20 | |
| 3. | Solent Vipers | 118-94-16 | .553 | 3 | 2-10-0 | 7 | 37 | |
| 4. | London Knights | 116-95-17 | .546 | 4.5 | 6-5-1 | 15 | 29 | |
| 5. | SussexRoyalEngineers | 111-92-25 | .542 | 5.5 | 2-10-0 | 1 | 8 | |
| 6. | London Bananas | 109-101-18 | .518 | 11 | 4-7-1 | 5 | 26 | |
| 7. | Oxford Oilers | 104-102-22 | .504 | 14 | 7-3-2 | 4 | 6 | |
| 8. | Dunstable Phillies | 101-99-28 | .504 | 14 | 6-5-1 | 6 | 28 | |
| 9. | Enfield Lips | 107-105-16 | .504 | 14 | 3-7-2 | 16 | 33 | |
| 10. | Woking White Sox | 104-106-18 | .496 | 16 | 7-4-1 | 13 | 12 | |
| 11. | Felixstowe Fury | 103-107-18 | .491 | 17 | 10-2-0 | 10 | 9 | |
| 12. | Orpington Dodgers | 98-103-27 | .489 | 17.5 | 6-3-3 | 12 | 21 | |
| 13. | Guildford Angels | 95-107-26 | .474 | 21 | 3-6-3 | 3 | 14 | |
| 14. | St Leonards Marlins | 88-114-26 | .443 | 28 | 5-6-1 | 9 | 17 | |
| 15. | Bromley Slumpdicious | 84-116-28 | .430 | 31 | 3-7-2 | 8 | 19 | |
| 16. | Bognor Yankees | 75-128-25 | .384 | 41.5 | 7-3-2 | 14 | 9 |
Significant Moves
There were no more trades made and the deadline has now been and gone. Among significant names hitting the wire were Johnny Cueto and Yunel Escobar.
We will see how the recent spate of injuries affect teams with players such as Joba Chamberlain, Evan Longoria, Orlando Hudson, Tim Wakefield and Carl Crawford all being hurt in the past week or so.
The hopes of my Dodgers were dealt a major blow with the injury to Carlos Lee, who has been my best and most consistent hitter this year by far.
I've picked up ex-Dodger Jayson Werth as his replacement, but the injury happened too late to try to trade for a replacement bat.
Waffle
It's all change at the top of the table as Havant leapfrog the Solent Vipers, who were battered 10-2 by Essex, putting the Eagles second.
Sussex dropped three places to fifth as Felixstowe showed signs of life with a 10-2 win of their own.
The Oilers and Lips changed places after Enfield's 7-3 loss to struggling Bognor, while Oxford's won by the same score against Bromley.
My Dodgers finally managed to have a decent week, beating Guildford 6-3, but still dropped a place thanks to Felixstowe's big win.
The matchup between my Dodgers and the Angels (but not the MLB rivals!) was a close one, with homers, steals and saves ending level, wins decided 6-5 in my favour. WHIP was even closer, with my team winning it by 0.01!
The surprising thing was no saves for Papelbon, but two for Joel Hanrahan!
I was also kicking myself after seeing Mark DeRosa homer twice, including a grandslam, while on my bench! Aaargh!
My team are still alive in the playoff hunt - just - but I am concerned about how my hitters will do without Lee, as the rest have been so inconsistent.
We'll find out soon!
Mark
for doing this Mark!
I love how close this league is, with the top 5 teams within 5.5 games of each other, and every team from 6th to 12th still in with a realistic chance of the playoffs!
I've just seen the H2H World Series update - looked like quite a tussle between the Knights and Thrashers!