Week 8 Marquee and Picks

There are a few noteworthy series on the schedule this week: Belgian Wiffles and King Friday meet for the first time since the blockbuster trade between the two; Westside Warriors and Holy Balls also meet for the first time this season in a series that could inevitably decide second place in Ringler, as well as third and fourth place seeding. No offense to these or any of the other six teams playing, but there is only one series this week: Whiteford Wicked Aces and El Diablos. I find it irreverent that other games are even on the schedule, criminal that some dare to occupy the same day. This is first place in Garcia versus first place in Ringler, the bookmakers' odds-on favorite to be a preview of the 2013 WSEM Championship Series. El Diablos have received a lot of pub recently. So, I will just update you on what you need to know. Their offense is still en fuego and it is heating up even more. Els put up 65 runs while going 5-1 this week. 2012 Co-Country Strong HR King Dakota LaDouceur is hitting his stride as he hit 7 HR and knocked in 23 RBI last week. Chandler Phillips and Kyle Tomlinson added three of their own, Nicco Lollio got one of the grand variety, and Craig Skinner finally decided to rejoin the party by going over the wall for the first time since week two. Skinner kept doing exactly what he has done all season on the mound, though. Three more starts and one relief appearance under his belt without surrendering a hit. Prior to the series Tuesday night, he had already struck out 24 and walked only 5. This pending showdown with the Aces' staff is set to be one of the best ever in WSEM. According to sources within the Aces organization, Evan Bortmas is expected take the ball against Skinner. That match-up will now be game two, so Austin Bischoff will likely toe the rubber for the Aces in the first game against Chandler for El Diablos. Three pitchers slated to throw in this series have an ERA below 1.00, and the combined ERA of all four is 1.00. These two teams have now also combined for seven Marquees on the season: this is El Diablos' fourth, and it is the third for Wicked Aces. One of the two has been featured in each of the last six weeks. Unfortunately for the Aces, their last one was tempered by the Ducks forfeits in week six. That seems to have somewhat quieted their stellar 10-0 start to this season. Let me restate that for emphasis: The Aces are off to a quiet 10-0 start to the season. They blasted the Ducks two weeks prior to that Marquee and won two good games (one comeback, one hold) against Holy Balls in week three, but every other win so far seems to be written off as "ho-hum." Perhaps it is due to their more laid-back approach: just show up and do work. Maybe everyone looks at them the way Red Wings fans handle the Wings: they will be in the dance, we will rap about them then. Maybe the rest of the league is just scared to talk about the reigning champions. Not saying there is any truth to the "don't say Bloody Mary" theory, but there is a lot to fear coming out of Whiteford. Case in point: El Diablos offense is highly and loudly touted; they score 8.22 runs per game. Well, the Aces offense averages 8.25 runs per game this season. El Diablos pitching staff strikes out 2.35 batters per inning; the Aces staff gets 2.55 strike outs per inning. Their team ERA is 1.61 points lower than any other team in WSEM at 0.83, and their team WHIP is 0.30 points lower. Individually, by sheer numbers, the Aces power numbers may not seem on the level of El Diablos, however Austin's 6 HR in 8 GP see him hitting a HR every 1.33 games. That is better than the best Diablo, Lollio, who is hitting one every 1.5 games. Inside the park, the Aces extra base is truly standout. Four of five Aces to see the field already have double-digit doubles: Bortmas and Joel Crozier lead that pack with four. Oh, and in case you need yet another reason - other than the best offenses and the best pitchers in the league facing off - to skip your series, head to Southgate and watch this match-up, there is one more remarkable thing these two rosters combine to bring you: five players that make up the 2013 Big Wood team will share the field at Pervis Memorial on Saturday: Austin Bischoff, Joel Crozier, Dakota LaDouceur, Craig Skinner, and Chandler Phillips. How is that not must see Wiffling?

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Pervis Memorial		Holy Grounds				Wiff-Hill Grounds		The Island
6/15		6/15		6/16		6/16		6/15		6/16
WA	0|2	BW	8|1	WW	0|0	KF	12|15	WW	2|4	DU	16|4
EL	2|0	HB	13|17	HB	3|3	BW	0|1	IS	0|2	IS	6|2

Unavailable Pitchers:    1 Game:   Matt (BW),  D. Braden (DU),  Paquin (HB),  N. Coffee (KF),  Shore (WW)    2 Games:  N/A

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Dog bite injury costs us the Sessions over/under 3.5 BB pick, but aside from that oddity last week was a kind turnaround from its predecessor. At least for Rich. He went 5-0 and retook command of things at 20-11 overall. Nobody else was able to clear the .500 mark this week. Buhr was next best at 2-3; he hit on two of the four picks, but busted his lock on the EL -5 spread against HB. Alex went 1-3 as he was slighted his lock with the Sessions pick taken off the board; his correct pick was on the EL sweep of WW. Chris had the worst showing on the week at 1-4, which drops him to 16-15 on the season. His lock of a BW sweep over DU and being the lone pick of WW to sweep EL dug him in a pretty deep hole. Week 8 is a busy one again, though, so lots of opportunity for anyone to change their stars here at the halfway point. Straight series result picks in WW @ HB and WA @ EL could prove tricky and/or fortunate for the guys, as could the series result in DU @ IS: IS may be underdogs, but they did just sweep DU a few weeks ago. There is also a large point spread being laid, along with a few high-ish over/unders set that could give a picker the chance to shine with a bold pick against the grain. Betting against Rich is starting to seeming fool, but you know what they say about gambling on Wiffleball: it is a fool's game! So, who has the luck and the stones this week?

	David (12 - 18)	Richard (20 - 11)	Alex (9 - 19)	Chris (16 - 15)
@ Series Result	1 - 1 Split Wicked Aces suffer their first loss of the season.	1 - 1 Split	Wicked Aces Sweep	Wicked Aces Sweep Austin takes CJ yard and does a Kirk Gibson fist pump while rounding the bases. (Sorry in advance, CJ)
@ Series Result	1 - 1 Split	1 - 1 Split	1 - 1 Split	1 - 1 Split The mayor walks thrice, not before Pearson beans him for such plate discipline.
@ Total Steal Attempts: Over/Under 3	Under	Under	Over I'll steal 4. :)	Under Haffey with a shut-out, still pissed about the recent raping.
@ Series Result	1 - 1 Split	Westside Sweep	1 - 1 Split	Holy Balls Sweep Castle takes all the steals, Paquin gets pissed and gives him a wedgie.
@ Series Point Spread: HB -10.5	Belgian Wiffles +10.5	Holy Balls -10.5	Holy Balls -10.5	Holy Balls -10.5 Lewis gets his first K pitching, then does a Valverde shimmy. Matt gets his mohawk caught in the fence running down a fly ball.
@ M. Brannan Ks: Over/Under 11.5	Over	Over	Under Comes out in the 2nd.	Over Denzil gets Karen Newman to sing the national anthem. She bears all!