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.