Here are the Week 5 results and standings in the USA West league:

Not sure if you have a keen eye like yours truly, but you may have
noticed a few minor changes to the Roto Database site over the past
week. If you check out Chris's Captain's Blog page, you'll see a Mr.
Met picture on the sidebar. Likewise, if you check out my blog page,
you will find an autographed Topps Pedro Martinez baseball card (circa

From here on out, I will post all my box scores and standings on an entry separate from my weekly blog. I'll just link you to this page here from my blog if you're interested in seeing the box scores/standings, just to avoid a really long journal.

I'll post my weekly diary later today.

-Ray

Standings

H2H World Series Standings (after Week 4):

Here are the Week 4 results and standings for the H2HWS USA West League:

Here are the Week 3 scores and standings for the USA West league:

Below are the results and standings of Week 2 of the H2HWS USA West league:

Is it just me or has fan atmosphere in American sports in general been watered down greatly over the decades, especially in the 90's/2000's? I suppose it has to do with me living in "Blah Blah land" Los Angeles, where the prevailing attitude (or stereotype) is that our fans are too laidback, some even oblivious, to what's going on in the field of play or just don't follow the teams as religiously because there are zillions of things to do in Southern California.

Here's the first step in the quest to see who's best out west for a shot at promotion to the 2009 H2H World Series. Below are the Week 1 standings and detailed Week 1 box scores.

With Opening Week in the books, I'm sure most of us learned a thing or two about our fantasy teams as well as our favorite real-life teams. For me, it just dawned on me that Joe Torre's full-time offseason job must be a car mechanic and
some of those skills have channeled into his normal day job. Torre has tweaked

In the spirit of WR and h0rt's own watch lists, I'll toss in a few players who are currently on my radar. I won't update this series religiously at all, but I thought I'd lend you all (including you lads in my leagues) a helping hand as you scour free agency for that homerun pick which could very well put your squad over the hump (hopefully not in any of my leagues, mind you).

Today, I thought I'd reflect on a wonderful Opening Day set of games and most importantly, how they impacted my three H2HWS teams. I'll also talk a little bit about the preseason moves made, if any, as we all geared up for Opening Day. Let's have it:

H2H World Series

After the draft:

It's about this time each year where I say Christmas has come early (or late, if you've waited 90+ days for your Aunt Hortense to fork up your $100 gift). As I write this, I'll be juggling my attention span across two television screens: WrestleMania 24 and the first MLB Opener on U.S.

In the grand scheme of fantasy managers, I suppose I look at myself
as the Rafa Benitez of the lot and no, it's not because I fattened
myself with one too many pig's ears. Using another half-baked soccer analogy, I think of the rotisserie league as the Premiership and the H2H league as
the Champions League. As Rafa is as proficient in the Champions League

I opened my big yap about possibly writing an opinion about the "leastern" region of the H2HWS (sorry, couldn't resist) and I'll live up to my word today and comment on the other US Regional, the H2HWS USA East league...but that's only because I'd like to read Professor h0rt's scathing criticism of my H2HWS leagues and imagine how it would sound like if he delivered it with a Brooklyn accent. Like I said on the East draft results, I didn't think there was a clear-cut favorite, but it was just a first glance and I'll rate the East teams as I see it.

So, right now, we're heading back into the "war room" for the final H2HWS draft of the season, the USA West. After a wonderful lunchtime draft in H2HWS California earlier last Sunday, I was spending a lazy late afternoon back on my computer, awaiting the West draft. I was quite content with the way the California draft panned out for me and I was hoping I'll carry the same kind of luck into this one. Sizing up the competition and knowing we've got a good group, I was pretty sure I'd have to earn my luck in this one.

Today, I want to talk about the USA West - last year's campaign and this season's draft. First order of business this morning is a spotlight on the 2007 West competition. I will say that I'm glad to see that the West regional is back to a 12-teamer as opposed to a 10-teamer, simply because I made out like Jesse James - in that how the west was won - seemed criminal with the team that helped me lift the trophy, felt like an act of shoplifting.

In this entry, I'll discuss my thoughts on this year's H2HWS California draft. If you haven't already, I recommend reading my backstory on the two past H2HWS California leagues I won, A Look Back - 2006 and 2007 H2HWS California before diving into this one.

I had the 4th overall pick in this draft and although I'd prefer the middle, this was a room with an ocean view compared to the 12th spot in my prior H2H World Series draft.

NOTE: Lake Arrowheads autodrafted the league draft and didn't do his own pre-rankings.

And we're underway...

Hey, welcome back. In my debut blog entry of "Chasing the Treble", I shared with you my in-depth perspective of the H2H World Series draft. Today, I'm going to discuss about the H2HWS California draft as I embark on my bid to win an unprecedented 3-peat, but before I do, I'll describe just how hotly contested this state division is.

Howdy, my name is Ray and you'd probably know me better as a disgruntled Dodger fan named The Artful Dodger on the Fantasy Baseball Cafe. I'm managing three teams in this year's H2H World Series tournament, as the L.A. Thrashers. I'm heading into my third season in the H2HWS with back-to-back California titles and a USA West title in hand.