My Baseball Fantasy: The Man in the Alloy Mask

Week: August 29-September 4
Current Standing: 1st out of 12
My Player of the Week: Brian McCann (Catcher, Braves) with 3 home runs, 3 RBI, 5 runs and a .529 batting average

I have not shown due appreciation for my starting catcher this season. He wasn't cheap: fourth-round draft pick. But he has been the second-best catcher in fantasy world this season, behind only Joe Mauer. I didn't get any direct benefit for his MVP performance at the All-Star Game but it speaks of his quality nonetheless.

US Open Day 6: Dominguez Lino

Curtain Call

Player: Lourdes Dominguez Lino
Nation: Spain
Age: 29
Current Ranking: 148
Notable Conquest: Yaroslava Shvedova (30th seed, Kazakhstan)
Tour Page
Today's Result: loss to Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) in straight sets

She got tuned today 6-1, 6-0 (bacon and egg) but in reaching the third round, this veteran qualifier has attained her best ever US Open result. Her career-high ranking is #40.







My Tennis Fantasy

Amazingly, the suicide pool train is still rolling. I picked Caroline Wozniacki today and she took care of business, doing her own bacon-and-egg job on Yung-Jan Chan. I've definitely taken some long-term risks in that I've already picked the #1 and #3 seeds. I'll be completely sunk by a Wozniacki-Williams final. But I'd still consider myself lucky to get to that point.

US Open Day 5: Minella

Curtain Call

Player: Mandy Minella
Nation: Luxembourg
Age: 24
Current Ranking: 185
Notable Conquest: Tsvetana Pironkova (32nd seed, Bulgaria)
Tour Page
Today's Result: loss to Venus Williams (3rd, USA) in straight sets

Minella was dazzled into submission by Venus and her far too sparkly dress this evening. But to go through qualifying to reach your first slam main draw at 24 is a very big deal. Add to that beating Pironkova, a semifinalist at Wimbledon but a few weeks ago and playing a living legend under the lights on Arthur Ashe, and Minella's got an awfully good story to tell the grandchildren.


My Tennis Fantasy

Ana Ivanovic carried my banner successfully today in the suicide pool, taking out Virginie Razzano in straight sets. I could go back and check but I'm pretty sure this is my first time making it to the weekend in one of these. I'm starting to get a little nervous!

US Open Day 4: Paszek

Curtain Call

Player: Tamira Paszek

Nation: Austria

Age: 19

Current Ranking: 196

Notable Conquest: Lucie Safarova (26th seed, Czech Republic)

Tour Page

Today's Result: loss to Yung-Jan Chan (Chinese Taipei) in straight sets

Paszek is another 19-year-old qualifier. She did not make it to the main draw last year so the second round certainly counts as an improvement. However, she has experienced slam success before. At 16, she made it to the fourth round at both Wimbledon and the US Open. Though Austrian-born, Paszek claims family lineage from Chile, India and Tanzania.

My Tennis Fantasy

Yanina Wickmayer was my suicide pool pick for the day and she came through with a straight-set victory over Julia Goerges.

US Open Day 3: Marino

Curtain Call

Player: Rebecca Marino
Nation: Canada
Age: 19
Current Ranking: 179
Tour Page
Today's Result: loss to Venus Williams (3rd seed, USA) in straight sets

Marino went through qualifying to reach her first slam main draw. There is certainly no shame in losing to a two-time champion. She is young. The future is bright.




Catching Up with Old Friends

Tobias Kamke (Curtain Call, Roland Garros Day 4) - This is Kamke's first appearance in the US Open main draw and he was able to skip qualifying altogether. Hopefully, his ranking will continue its upward trend through the fall.


My Tennis Fantasy

Venus Williams was my suicide pool pick for the day. Her victory over Marino sees me through. There is obvious risk in picking such a strong player this early but I don't see Venus going much further.

Let's Talk Baseball: Bold Proposal August Standings

Following are the current standings (as of 9/1/10, morning EDT) for my bold proposal for baseball realignment. The basic idea is two divisions, upper and lower, determined by last year's final standings. The bottom three of the First Division are relegated for next year. The top two of the Second are promoted, along with the winner of a playoff between the next four.


First Division

1. Yankees (unchanged from July)
2. Rays (unchanged)
3. Braves (+1)
4. Twins (+3)
5. Rangers (-2)
5. Red Sox (+1)
5. Phillies (-4)
8. Giants (-3)
9. Cardinals (-2)
10. Rockies (unchanged)
11.Dodgers (-1)
12. Marlins (unchanged)
13. Tigers (unchanged)
14. Angels (unchanged)
15. Cubs (unchanged)
16. Mariners (unchanged)


Second Division

1. Reds (+2)
2. Padres (-1)
3. White Sox (-1)
4. Blue Jays (unchanged)
5. A's (+1)
6. Mets (-1)
7. Brewers (unchanged)
8. Astros (+1)
9. Nationals (-1)
10. Royals (unchanged)
11. Diamondbacks (+1)
12. Indians (-1)
13. Orioles (+1)
14. Pirates (-1)


Biggest rise: Twins

Greatest fall: Phillies

Naturally, the big excitement for me is seeing Baltimore out of the league cellar. Interesting, too, that this month, the first division is the more static of the two: the opposite of last month.

We still have two real-world division leaders in the second division: Reds and Padres. As I've said before, I'll consider the experiment a failure if one of my second division teams wins the World Series.

My Baseball Fantasy: August Player of the Month

Month: August 2-31
Player: Josh Hamilton
Position: Left Fielder/Center Fielder
Team: Texas Rangers
Stats: 8 home runs, 22 RBI, 24 runs, 1 stolen base and a .356 batting average

Photo from sharps.net