Week 2 Marquee and Picks

When the Westside Warriors step onto the field May 4th it will have been 654 days since the franchise last played an official WSEM game. It is a triumphant return trumped only by that of Rod Farva to the road, and the Warriors are doing it with all the pomp and circumstance of a home opener double header. The first opponent to come into the Warriors Den will be King Friday, fresh off a tough opening week and looking to build momentum in the right direction coming off this series atop the hill. Westside Warriors at Satellite #1 The Warriors Den is the only carry-over tying Alex Shore to his time spent with the Donkeys last season: built in the same location as the Zoo. Looking back to 2011 Westside you will also see only sparing similarities to the 2013 version. The rebooted Warriors franchise is stocked with new faces for their everyday roster. Part of what Shore described as, "just playing ball with friends again," this new group brings a team-wide interest in Wiffle that the last incarnation often lacked. What they bring in enthusiasm, they more than match in fundamentals, skill, and speed. They were the only team to threaten El Diablos at the first satellite tournament, eventually losing 12-8. An impressive performance for a tournament that, according to Shore, was just about the rookies learning the game. Learning the nuances of game is always the first - and often the most difficult - hurdle when depending on new Wifflers. Westside could actually get a boost by having new blood at pitcher this season, however, since they do not have to adjust to the new 48' pitching distance. Whatever command of the Wiffleball that slated rookie pitchers Keifer Haffey, Thomas DeMaria, and James Barone may lack in these early season games will potentially be offset by veteran pitchers acclimating to the new distance. Mike Myers on the mound at Sat. #2 King Friday has an entirely different thing going with the new faces on their roster. After being shut-out in their week one series loss to El Diablos, Captain Hurd lamented, "all new faces, same old story for King Friday." To be fair, El Diablos are said to be, "on a totally different level," and honored with the greatest respect, "any time I see EL, I'm calling a sweep." To Friday's credit, though, they hung in the first game with El Diablos. Mike Myers shined in that game, taking the mound and holding a dangerous lineup to just two runs on a home run off the bat of Skinner. Not a pitcher by trade, this was just Mike's third time starting a game on the mound, and it was a massive improvement from first appearance of the year during Satellite #2. Both appearances came after the last-minute loss of a starter, but his week one performance (2 R, 6 K, and 2 BB in 4 IP) coupled with his only other start - last May against the Aces (1 R, 4 H, and 5 K in 5 IP) - looks to give Friday a good third option that can help them weather this upcoming four week stretch in which Adam Cosby is expected to be out of the lineup. Myers also provided Friday's only hit in week one on their way to a .045 team average. Again, though, that number comes against two potential Clown Shu candidates. All of the King's new faces are veterans out to erase those zeroes and begin changing the image of the King Friday franchise. Last season, in their first series, Friday hosted Whiteford on this same hilltop and in both games wound up on the wrong side of perfect games, making this Saturday the perfect place and time for them to start that turn around.

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Warriors Den				Holy Grounds		Wiffle Iron
5/4		5/4		5/5		5/5
KF	0|0	IS	0|0	EL	4|2	DU	11|7
WW	1|1	WW	1|10	HB	0|3	BW	1|8

Unavailable Pitchers:    1 Game:  Matt (BW),  Constanti (DU),  Paquin (HB),  Hewlett (IS)    2 Games:  N/A

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It was a plus week for everyone to start off the year. Three pickers went 3-1, while the fourth was a perfect 4-0. Rich and Alex both missed picking their team to split and win, respectively. David and Chris both picked each series result correctly, which left it up to the total runs scored over/under to decide who would start the season on top. The number was set at 56.5 - David took the under, Chris the over - and it couldn't have been any better. Teams combined for a total of 57 runs, just edging to the over and giving Chris the early bragging rights. Picks for Week 2 are straightforward: 4 series, the guys are asked to pick the result (sweep, sweep, or split) for each.

	David (3 - 1)	Richard (3 - 1)	Alex (3 - 1)	Chris (4 - 0)
@ Series Result	1-1 Split	1-1 Split	Ducks Sweep Pearson with 2 home runs. Buhr switches it up and bats from the middle of the plate.	Ducks Sweep
@ Series Result	El Diablos Sweep	El Diablos Sweep	El Diablos Sweep 30 runs scored in total.	1-1 Split
@ Series Result	Warriors Sweep	Warriors Sweep	Warriors Sweep Friday plays game 2 shirtless.	1-1 Split
@ Series Result	1-1 Split	Warriors Sweep	1-1 Split Joe Seto throws a shutout and hits a home run.	1-1 Split

Week 1 Marquee and Picks

It is the oldest tradition in WSEM: Opening Night in Detroit. Each season begins with the big city franchise tossing out the first pitch in their friendly confines. This season the site will be even more grand than years past, as the Islanders host the Belgian Wiffles on Belle Isle. The Island moves the series from the shadows of 1300 Lafayette to the scenic overlook of the Detroit River and Windsor skyline. The Island is also a much larger field than Lafayette Park, and takes care of that "jungle problem" by eliminating grass from the playing field entirely. The Islanders team keeps some familiar faces, though. Alex Linebrink, captain, has played in both Opening Night series with the Commandos, including dealing last season's first pitch when Daniel Egan took the field in his first Wiffleball game behind him. Joe Seto threw out the first pitch and hit the first home run in league history for the Commandos, and is now returning downtown to play for the Islanders. The Belgian Wiffles also feature two players who have been part of Opening Night before. Ryan Alexia made his Wiffleball debut with the Flying Squirrels to begin last season, and Jason Matt played the first ever series in WSEM with his namesake team in 2011. This will be Mark Brannan at bat during Satellite #2 the first Opening Night - the first Opening Weekend - experience for David Buhr, and despite having several old faces in the mix, Friday night will once again be a showcase for many rookie players. For the third straight season Belgian features a completely turned over roster filled with new-to-Wiffle talent. The brothers Brannan, Jason Hollister, Dougie Wesserling, and Matt Dancza complete what is, in captain Buhr's opinion, his most cohesive roster yet. During the spring tournaments the Wiffles gave the ball to any pitcher who wanted a start, and let him take the game as far as he wanted. They are also one of only two teams to have had every player on their roster in the lineup at least once. The 2-4-1 record on the spring does not seem to concern the Belgian clubhouse, since they used the games to test things out and get accustomed to playing together. Besides, Belgian also had one of the most memorable performances of the spring: "Shock the World" theater at Satellite #1, in which they advanced to the championship game. It may not show in the record, but the effect of that run means arguably much more. Hewlett at bat during Satellite #1 The Islanders were also feeling things out at the spring tournaments. Five different rookies laced them up as captain Linebrink used the two tournaments as try outs and to build build interest in playing for his team. Aside from the captain, Jason Hewlett was the only Islander to play in both. His performance at the plate and on the mound has Coffee declaring him a frontrunner for the 2013 MIP. The Islanders best performance of their 1-5 spring was coming back from a 7-1 deficit against this Belgian team to win 8-7 in the first game of the first Satellite Tournament. What can we expect when these two teams meet up for the first game of the 2013 season? One, the Island will play like a combination of the Metrodome and Coors Field: the field is gravel, so grounders will play very fast; also, early reports are that "the ball FLIES here!" Combine that with early season jitters and, two: these games could be either tightly contested low scoring games, or out of control high scoring hitting derbies. Maybe we will get one of each. One thing is certain: it is bound to be a fun and exciting way to kick off 2013!

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The Island		Pervis Memorial		The Swamp
4/26		4/27		4/27
BW	8|9	KF	0|0	HB	3|2
IS	4|7	EL	2|15	DU	7|0

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This season we are featuring picks for the weekly series on tap made by four players from around the league. David Buhr, Richard Hurd, Alex Linebrink, and Chris Paquin will make their picks for series results, various over/unders, and possibly point spreads or assorted prop bets as we get into the season. We will track what they get right and wrong throughout the season to identify who best has their finger on the pulse of the league, is a good source to follow when heading to your bookie, or is a good target if you need to make a couple bucks in a pinch. Nobody made identical picks for Week 1, so the WSEM Pickers guaranteed to get off to an interesting start!

	David (0 - 0)	Richard (0 - 0)	Alex (0 - 0)	Chris (0 - 0)
@ Series Result	Belgian Wiffles Sweep Buhr and Linebrink get knocked around a bit and both leave the mound after 2 innings.	Belgian Wiffles Sweep Jason Matt gets 1st career HR	Islanders Sweep Linebrink 1st game shut-out, Hewlett with 3 HRs. Buhr's hand brace falls off.	Belgian Wiffles Sweep Jason Matt falls in the batters box while swinging at least twice. Linebrink's shoe falls off while wiggling his foot on the mound.
@ Series Result	El Diablos Sweep Carl Coffee doesn't draw a single walk.	1-1 Split Nick Coffee leaves in 2nd inning of first game to go poop.	El Diablos Sweep Craig Skinner asks every batter "Do you even lift?" en route to a perfect game.	El Diablos Sweep Carl Coffee feels up at least two El Diablos, Nick Coffee makes one spectacular grab in left.
@ Series Result	1-1 Split Corbett hits a home run off of Pearson.	1-1 Split Paquin goes Oregon and wears a different color knee high socks for each game.	1-1 Split Pearson hits 2 HRs, Brandon Corbett loses a pop-fly with his shirt stuck over his head.	1-1 Split Corbett hits a bomb, as well as Pearson. Paquin gets smoked at short by a line drive off the bat of Pearson.
Over / Under: Total Runs Scored 56.5	Under Some games will be fairly high scoring while others are really low with it averaging out to approximately 8-9 runs per game or 48-54 runs total.	Over	Over WAY Over.	Over