Week 6 Marquee and Picks

"Champions." Those scare quotes used by many at the beginning of this season are all but a distant memory at this point. "Hot" is an understatement for the start the Whiteford Wicked Aces are off to this year: 8-0, outscoring opponents by 59 runs, and they have not even played at home yet! This week's series with the Ducks, their big rival in 2012, is the home opener for the Aces at the heavily modified Poolside Park. The left field fence - including the pool - is much deeper, the trees in right have been cleared out, and deep left-center field by the treefort has also been tweaked. This was the premier field in the 2012 season, and it looks to only be getting better. Castle pitching to Austin, Week 4 at the Swamp It is not just the field, either. The entire Aces roster is also playing above the level they showed in their 2012 championship run. Much of the reason for that is the boost in their offensive production. Last season the Aces had "good" bats. This season they are swinging "great" bats. As a team, they are batting .348, slugging .567, have 9 HR, 12 doubles and 66 runs scored in eight games. No one on the team is batting below .255, and three players have 16 or more RBI. The big star has been a name everyone knows, but usually he expect to find in pitching discussions. Austin Bischoff has 6 of the Aces' home runs, 22 RBI, a .422 AVG, and .867 SLG%. The only real question you can ask about Austin's game this season is, "will he be voted onto the Ringler All-Star team as a pitcher or hitter?" Additional impressive stats from the Aces offense include Joel Crozier's four doubles in four games played, Evan Bortmas' .419 AVG, and Evan Bischoff's 16 RBI. The pitching prowess they are known for is still in full effect, too. As they did last year, they are running out a large rotation: four different starters have taken the mound in their first eight games, and all have been more than effective. Bortmas has not allowed a run in 16 innings. Austin has given up just 2 runs on 2 hits over 11 innings. Evan Bischoff has now given up runs in a regular season game for the first time, but is still 3-0 with a 2.08 ERA. As a unit, they have 107 K in 42 innings: that is 85% of their outs that have come by strike out. Individually, Austin has recorded 91% of his outs by K, and Bortmas has gotten 96% that way. With their pitching still firing at an elite level and their bats now at that high level, too, the Aces are stronger than ever. The same cannot be said for the Ducks. Coming off winning the Garcia Division pennant in 2012 and making big roster moves in the offseason, most were expecting great things from the Ducks. However, they have struggled to find any consistency in their lineup. Their highly touted pitching staff has an ERA of 6.58, sixth in WSEM, and a WHIP of 3.24, seventh. Their 0.84 K/BB ratio is the worst in the league. They have tried out the 2-2-1 rotation, and it seems to be yet another strike against that system. No active pitcher on the Ducks roster has an ERA below 5.90 or WHIP below 2.90. Only one pitcher has a K/BB ratio better than 1: David Castle at 1.09. They have been better offensively (first in home runs and slugging percentage, while third in average), but it has not been enough to overcome their pitching woes. That trouble has drawn comparison to another hometown team, the Detroit Lions. The amount of talent the Ducks have at their disposal is among the best in the league, however it is yet to equate to success. Dylan pitches with Crozier on first, Poolside in 2012 Two weeks ago, the Wicked Aces visited the Swamp and wiped out the Ducks by a total score of 13-0. That series is basically a microcosm of the Ducks season: everything went wrong. The Ducks have had three different captains since the season started five weeks ago. That inconsistency at the helm can only be a distraction, especially with three of their four series played at home. It also seems to now be advancing from "distraction" to full-on "panic." According to sources close to the Ducks clubhouse, many players are actively looking to be traded away. Chris Paquin, captain of Holy Balls, confirmed that Dylan Braden expressed interest in playing for Holy Balls; he did not reveal any terms discussed. Jason Hollister of Belgian Wiffles also reported that he was approached by the Ducks about being part of a trade package, but he had declined. To paraphrase everyone's favorite 6 PM Detroit sports talk radio host, this "panic in Quacker Town!" seems very premature. Yes, the Ducks are off to a rough start at 2-6 through eight games. However, that is just two games out of the fourth playoff spot at the moment. They are also one of the few teams with the talent capable of pulling off a 13-7 or 14-6 run over their final twenty games. That could put them in serious contention for one of the playoff spots. It sounds like their players want to play for contenders in important games. Well, in this man's opinion, they have created the perfect scenario for themselves. Every game from here out is important, nay, crucial for the Ducks. Every time they take the field they will be playing for their season. No series should fire them up more to start a turnaround than this one against the Wicked Aces, the team that swept them out of last year's playoffs. The teams had a fierce rivalry last year, and the Aces walked away from it 6-1. They then walked into the Ducks home and, picking up where they left off, took two more games this season. If the Ducks want to be winners, this is the time to show the world that they are. Go into Poolside, play the best team in the league tough, show them you are back, and steal a game - baby steps - or two - a thunderous stomp.

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Field of Make-Believe				Warriors Den				Holy Grounds		Poolside Park
6/2		6/2		6/2		6/2		6/2		6/2
BW	2|0	EL	6|11	BW	0|0	EL	10|23	IS	6|1	DU	0|0
KF	4|1	KF	0|4	WW	5|14	WW	0|9	HB	4|9	WA	3|3

Unavailable Pitchers:    1 Game:   M. Brannan (BW),  Castle (DU),  Paquin (HB),  C. Phillips (EL),  Bursey (KF),  Francis (IS),  DeMaria (WW),  Bortmas (WA)    2 Games:  N/A

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For the second straight week Chris went 4-1 to lead the Picker pack. This draws even with Rich, who went 3-2, for the overall lead. Both of them hit their locks last week. The Islanders/Belgian split series that gave everyone a strike, but it hurt doubly for David, who busted his lock on that pick. He ended up 2-3 on the week having gone against the grain while El Diablos covered the spread in their series with the Wiffles. Alex didn't play his lock, and fell in the middle at an even 2-2. Busiest week of the season so far with six series on the table. That means a lot of opportunity to move up or down in the rankings. The picks are pretty balanced: three series results, two over/unders, and one point spread. One locks per Picker is still in play, but some are shying away from using it after last week's surprises.

	David (9 - 13)	Richard (15 - 7)	Alex (8 - 13)	Chris (15 - 7)
@ Series Result	Belgian Wiffles Sweep Belgian finally starts getting back on track.	1 - 1 Split King Friday's bats show up for the home opener.	1 - 1 Split Hewlett with 3 HRs.	1 - 1 Split Hollister goes ape-shit after snorting a substance we can only assume is powdered sugar.
@ Over/Under: 43.5 Total K	Under This is a really tough one since I know Westside has some really good pitchers, but the most they can strike out in 2 games is 30 (unless we go extra innings), leaving 13 for Belgian.	Under BW pitcher ejected from game for putting maple syrup on the balls.	Over Way over. By WW alone.	Over Buhr has a brain fart and tries to steal home.
@ Over/Under: 7.5 Total HR	Over Though the tree may be effective in stopping a few, I'm still going with the Over on this one. Lollio and Skinner aren't the only Diablos that can rake.	Over As easily as it could be under it could be double.	Over By EL alone.	Over Myers pulls himself early from the game to go play on the slide.
@ Series Result	El Diablos Sweep I picked a Diablos sweep before and I'm doing it again.	Blos Sweep	El Diablos Sweep A Phillips family cycle.	Warriors Sweep No home runs this series.
@ Series Point Spread: WA -8.5	Wicked Aces -8.5 Also a tough one even though the point spread was not that close in their first meeting. Ducks still have a lot of talent, but it just hasn't shown up as of late it seems.	Wicked Aces -8.5	Wicked Aces -8.5 Way more than 8.5!	Wicked Aces -8.5 Roberts gets scared of Austin and goes to hide in the fort.
@ Series Result	1 - 1 Split Islanders are making a good run and with Murtha and Mundel pitching may be able to squeak out a few more wins.	Holy Balls Sweep Balls plant a fake treasure map in Islanders dugout and blow the concentration of the team.	Islanders Sweep !!!!!!!!	Holy Balls Sweep Corbett flies his underwear in place of the Jolly Roger.

Week 5 Marquee and Picks

It is the final meeting of the season between our international franchises, El Diablos and Belgian Wiffles. Of course, the core of El Diablos roster broke onto the WSEM scene as members of Belgian Wiffles. Two Weeks ago, they returned to their once friendly confines - although, eviction slotted the games over to the "Side Griddle" next to the Wiffle Iron. Kyle Tomlinson poked 5 hits, 1 home run, 3 RBI and scored 5 runs; Chandler Phillips added 6 hits, 2 home runs, 5 RBI and 3 runs scored of his own while striking out 11 and allowing 3 runs as they swept their former club. Now, they get to show off their proud new digs, and Craig Skinner gets to take the field against Belgian for the second time after being traded to the Squirrels last July and losing the first showdown in last year's playoffs. El Diablos offense is the most powerful in WSEM El Diablos strong start is not predicated solely on the former Wiffles, though. Rookie Nicco Lollio, veteran signing Dakota LaDoucuer, and Seamen-now-captain Mark Phillips are all supplying just as punch to try and close out this first sweep of a season series. Five of six El Diablos to take the field are batting over .300, and two - Skinner and Lollio - are hitting over .500. All six have at least one home run and five RBI to their name. The team also has 11 doubles in 8 games, adding versatile extra base power to the ever-present home run threat. Speaking of ever-present threats: of the 110 outs recorded by El Diablos this season, 90 have been strikeouts. Skinner has been the anchor of the rotation with a 0.33 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and 2.5 K/BB ratio. Chandler has struggled with walks at times, but has still gotten the job done as a solid number two starter: getting 3 wins with a 1.88 ERA and 2.00 WHIP. In 8 games played their entire rotation has given up only 5 hits, and this past week surrendered only a single hit to the increasingly lauded Westside squad. Both losses this season have been suffered by a single run. Even with those heart-breakers, El Diablos have been consistent in every facet of the game this season. On the other hand, the new Belgian crew jumped right on the rollercoaster upon entering the league. After a quick 3-1 start propelled them to #24 in the NWLA rankings on May 5th, they are now struggling with a six-game losing streak that has dropped them to third place in Garcia, four games below .500. Their team batting average has dropped to .154, seventh in WSEM. Belgian's slugging percentage is also seventh in the league at .217, although, their team on-base percentage is fourth at .426 - about .100 points behind the league best. They also find themselves in the middle of the league with 3.6 runs scored per game and 2.4 runs allowed per game. So, despite the slump the Wiffles find themselves in, they are still in the hunt. Mark Brannan's been the ace of the Belgian staff The Belgian offense has been led by their version of the "Killer B's." Greg Brannan leads the team in average at .269; his brother, Mark Brannan, is the team leader in extra base hits with two doubles and a home run, for a 423 slugging percentage; and David Buhr has an astounding on-base percentage of .619. At the risk of mixing MLB themes, the Wiffle's ability to get on base would make Billy Beane cream his pants. As a team they get on-base at a clip nearly 380 points higher than their batting average. Every player's OBP is at least double their AVG, four players triple it, and Ryan Alexia's OBP is a whopping ten times his batting average! Pitching seems to be where Belgian's struggles lie at the moment. It is a team effort, as six different pitchers have taken the mound - most of any team in the league. Their 6.42 ERA is seventh in the league; their 2.49 WHIP, sixth. Belgian pitchers have also been stolen on ten times, which is by far the most in the league. Mark Brannan has been their bright spot toeing the rubber. He accounts for more than half of the team's strike outs with 51; his 3.51 ERA is a team best, as is his 2.55 K/BB ratio. Mark appears to be getting better with each start and locking down the ace role for Belgian, as he held the potent Aces offense scoreless through nine innings. The real question remains, "can the Wiffles find a consistent number two starter?" Perhaps the remedy for Belgian is getting back out on the road, though. They were 2-0 on the season before coming home, moving homes, and going 1-7 on the long home-stand. "Better on the road" sounds peculiar, but there may be some merit to just having to show up and play without having to worry about set up or responsibilities. To that point, it was noted by someone who has witnessed both series at Pervis Memorial that if you want to beat El Diablos at home you have to get to them early and do it in the first game, because their bats come alive as the series progresses. In fact, El Diablos dropped there first game last week at home to the Warriors, then promptly rallied to a one-sided 6-0 victory in response. There may be something to this theory after all.

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Holy Grounds		Wiff-Hill		The Swamp		Pervis Memorial
5/23		5/25		5/25		5/26
KF	0|0	IS	2|15	IS	8|15	BW	0|1
HB	7|3	BW	12|12	DU	7|13	EL	7|12

Unavailable Pitchers:    1 Game:   Dancza (BW),  Castle (DU),  Paquin (HB),  C. Phillips (EL),  C. Coffee (KF),  Mundel (IS),  DeMaria (WW),  Bortmas (WA)    2 Games:

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Ouch! It was a rough week for David and Alex, who went 1-4 and 0-5 respectively. On the other end, Paquin only missed on the "Diablos sweep" pick that everyone else also made. Rich is still out in front by one over Chris, but the two of them have some separation from David and Alex, now. This makes it the perfect time to incorporate a new element to the Picks: Lock of the Week! Each Picker may make one pick per week their lock, which will count as double: 2 correct if they hit, 2 wrong if they miss. They don't have to use the lock every week, but why not? There are four series this week, and the Belgian vs. El Diablos Marquee gets the honor of being our first "Series Point Spread" pick of the season. These work the same as point spreads in any other sports betting, except it incorporates the score from both games in a series. There is also an over/under pick for total home runs in the Islanders vs. Ducks series, a simple Yes-or-No for the Thursday night special between Friday and the Balls, and one lone "Series Result" pick: Islanders at Belgian Wiffles. Can David and Alex close the gap? Will Rich give up his lead for the first time in three weeks?

	David (7 - 10)	Richard (12 - 5)	Alex (6 - 11)	Chris (11 - 6)
@ Series Point Spread: EL -11.5	Belgian Wiffles +11.5 Tough call as I know who I plan on having pitch, however, they may be off their game, and last series run spread was 12. I'm going with under- ever so slightly.	El Diablos -11.5 I also pick the over on the 11.5% chance that David finds a way to bring up Les Misérables during a Wiffleball game.	El Diablos -11.5 Blos blow it wide open.	El Diablos -11.5 Greg Brannon kills a squirrel in an attempt to make a diving grab.
@ Series Result	Belgian Wiffles Sweep	Belgian Wiffles Sweep	1-1 Split Islanders newest recruit, Will Mundel, throws a no-hitter in game 2 (but not perfect game).	Belgian Wiffles Sweep In spite of Hollister's theory, the mayor WILL swing the bat.
@ Total Home Runs: Over/Under 5.5	Over	Over During a blowout in the second game Alex calls Parley then orders his own team to walk the plank.	Under Definitely UNDER.	Over DP hits 3 bombs and does the horse trot while rounding the bases with the bat between his legs on the 100th.
Yes or No: Will Bullard get his first hit of the season against King Friday?	Yes	No	Yes ... but he gets caught stealing immediately after.	Yes He will shotgun a beer in celebration with me. (All other players on the field may join in the festivities

Week 4 Marquee and Picks

El Diablos are 5-1, in sole possession of first place in the Garcia Division, and ranked 32nd in the NWLA. Westside Warriors are 4-0, have a share of first place in the Ringler Division, and are ranked 10th in the NWLA. It is an early season showdown between two young teams for divisional power, league dominance, and personal bragging rights. Players from these two teams have taken to Twatter to tout their successes off the starting blocks and downplay those of the other; specifically those each have had on the mound. Probable Starters Game 1 Game 2  Haffey   Skinner   DeMaria   C. Phillips  ERA: 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.73 WHIP: 0.33 0.60 0.44 2.18 K/BB: 29.0 4.17 5.50 1.09 KPI: 2.42 2.50 2.44 2.27 CS%: 0/0 0/1 1/1 0/3 Both rosters include pitchers who have put themselves in the Clown Shu discussion. In fact, three of the four WSEM pitchers with an ERA of 0.00 are expected to be featured in this series - Thomas "Bones" DeMaria (WW), Kiefer Haffey (WW), and Craig Skinner (EL). On top of that, Haffey and Skinner each have a a perfect game to their credit already this season. Going further into the numbers Westside seems to distinguish themselves a little more: 0.38 WHIP, 2.43 KPI, and 10.2 K/BB compared to a 1.73 WHIP, 2.23 KPI, and 1.45 K/BB for El Diablos. Aside from the walks, though, the case could be made that strength of competition could play as much of a role in the shape of those numbers as the team's talent. Westside's four games have been against two teams with a combined 2-10 record; El Diablos past opponents have a combined 7-13 record. The one common opponent the two teams have faced is King Friday. El Diablos outscored Friday in that series 17-0, while Westside played the series much closer and won both games 1-0. El Diablos and Warriors playing at Sat. #1 Speaking on that, El Diablos do look much more impressive offensively early on. They lead the league in nearly every major stat category (6.83 RpG, 13 HR, 8 2B, .432 AVG, .510 OBP), and are second in only SLG% with an .808. No player in the lineup is hitting below .240, and everyone has at least 1 HR and 4 RBI. As with pitching, Skinner is again showing himself to be the team's early star on offense. Craig has a .778 AVg, 1.722 SLG%, 5 HR and 11 RBI. Like his team, he is the league leader in most key stats; all except doubles, which belongs to teammate Tomlinson, and RBI, where he is just 1 behind the leader. It is hard to get a good read on Westside's offense, as their two series have been played into a strong headwind that knocked down anything hit in the air. Still, the Warriors have so far put up a .273 AVG, .378 OBP, and are averaging a 3.25 RpG. They have also hit 3 2B, and Nick Woods managed to muscle a home run through that stiff wind. These numbers currently put them at sixth in the league, however, we should expect them to hit above that level this week in less wild conditions. All that said, none of the WSEM Pickers show any love to the Warriors in this series [see below]. Kiefer called this out after Westside's 4-0 week two performance, "WSEM STILL doesn't show Westside any respect," which sparked off a back-and-forth with Chandler Phillips of El Diablos on the Twatter. A rivalry has sparked between these teams from a single high-scoring game played at the first satellite tournament and online chatter. Now, here is the really fun part: last season most of this El Diablos roster was in the same spot this year's crop of Warrior rookies are - overlooked, underrated, and seething to takeover the league. Now look where they find themselves.

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Pervis Memorial		Wiff-Hill		The Island		The Swamp
5/18		5/18		5/18		5/18
WW	1|0	WW	5|5	WA	16|16	WA	8|5
EL	0|6	BW	2|1	IS	0|2	DU	0|0

Unavailable Pitchers:    1 Game:   D. Braden (DU),  Paquin (HB),  C. Phillips (EL),  C. Coffee (KF),  Murtha (IS),  DeMaria (WW),  A. Bischoff (WA)    2 Games:  M. Brannan (BW)

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Rich did it again! He hit on 75% of his picks to move to 9-3 on the year, putting a small margin between him and the other Pickers. The HR in the Belgian/El Diablos series was the wrench in his week, as well as for Alex and Chris, as the lack of Skinner in the EL lineup and Belgian staying in the park kept the total well under 9. David was the only one to pick that right, but it was the only one he got in his 1-3 week. He falls back into a share of the trailing position with Alex and 6-6. Chris is one pick up on them at 7-5. Things ramp up a bit in Week 4 with 5 picks, and only 2 of them are series results. The Island has been living up to the "Coors Field meets the Metrodome" hype, with strong winds making the ball fly and a fast surface leading to a lot of hits and runs. So, an over/under for total runs at the Aces @ Islanders series is a must. Also, there was some chatter on twatter the other week about "most strike outs in a game", so we are going to have some fun with that while the Belgian rotation is in question for the week with Mark Brannan unavailable to pitch; Pick 'Em: More strikeouts thrown - Keifer Haffey or Belgian pitching staff. Finally, the last non-series result, Dennis Pearson is sitting at 98 career hits. So, a simple yes or no pick: will Dennis reach the 100 career hits milestone this week against the Aces?

	David (6 - 6)	Richard (9 - 3)	Alex (6 - 6)	Chris (7 - 5)
@ Series Result	Wicked Aces Sweep	1 - 1 Split	1 - 1 Split Pearson trips while rounding bases after a home run.	Wicked Aces Sweep Dennis sets a league record for longest bat-flip after a Bischoff K.
@ Series Result	El Diablos Sweep	El Diablos Sweep	El Diablos Sweep A stray dog goes after Shore's crotch.	'Blos Sweep
@ Total Runs Scored: Over/Under 26.5	Under Aces will mercy Islanders without allowing a run by the Islanders	Over	Under Way under.	Over Aces are an hour late because they get lost on the race track.
@ More Ks Pitched: DeMaria or Belgian staff	Belgian staff	DeMaria	Belgian staff Buhr starts switch pitching.	DeMaria Really the only option since Brannon is ineligible to pitch.
Yes or No: Will Pearson reach 100 career hits this week vs. Aces?	Yes	No	Yes With a home run.	No But nothing a shot of tequila can't cure. He will get it next week for sure.