TruffleShuffle

I'll do it again next year if the rules are different or if everyone makes a gentlemen's agreement not to use the add/drop loophole to their advantage in the playoffs. I feel kind of like I do when I take two bad beats in a row to get knocked out a poker tournament. I know I played it the right way and should have won, but just got unlucky. As for my drops, if it's possible you can open up the add/drops to just me and I'll pick those guys up and stick them on my bench. Then you can open up the add/drops for the rest of the playoffs to keep the rules consistent all the way through.

He thinks he's playing for the Cardinals?

I would argue that point :wink:

Why change the rules now? I say if people were able to use the add/drop loophole to win in the first round of the playoffs, you should just be consistent and let people do that the rest of the way. If you're going to change the rules, make it for next year... at least that's my opinion on the matter.

By the way, several of my players have been released... go get 'em! I guess I have a matchup this week with someone, but I fold... I'm in fantasy football mode now.

Actually I just looked at the guys he picked up yesterday and this is what they did: Wakefield: 8 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K Claussen: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 K Maholm: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K Helling: 7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K Meanwhile my guys pitching yesterday did this: Silva: 1 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 0 K Hernandez: 7 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 5 K I knew it would take incredibly bad luck to lose, and that's what happened. His newcomers all had some of their best games of the season, and my guys had their worst. It's funny, after I saw what he did I actually thought about dropping a couple of guys on my team (Vidro, Lowe) to pick up Sunday starters and guarantee myself the victory. But I figured I'd rather lose with the team that I played with all year than win by some technicalities. It's cool though, everyone plays the game differently. It would have been fun to see how my team could have done this week, but I guess I am not ready for the cutthroat game of fantasy baseball. :lol:

Yeah, too bad you guys have to use cheap tactics to win! Is "All-American" the ID chosen by Julian "What, Nothing is on my Hat!" Tavarez?

Wow, this was great. My team lost the lead in runs and lost by 2 runs. I also lost by 1 SB. This shouldn't have been a problem, since the first tiebreaker was ERA. But, All-American's gauntlet of scrub pitchers racked up enough strikeouts to beat me by 1 K, thus winning 6-4. Oh well... I had the better team, but he played the game better. Thanks to whoever came up with the idea for the contest. Let me know next year if you're going to hold it again, although I will say that I will likely sit out unless the rules about adds and drops are different. I just don't like that you can play the game a completely different way in the playoffs as you do during the regular season. Good luck Vance... it's on to fantasy football for me.

Back on topic, heading into the last day of the matchup... my number first, opponent's number second: Runs 33-28 HR 8-9 RBI 28-29 SB 1-2 AVG .242-.343 W 6-0 SV 10-3 K 69-40 ERA 2.76-7.05 WHIP 1.21-1.79 Gah... trailing by 1 in three categories! Still I'm in very good shape. My opponent has really pulled out all the stops, adding bums like Paul Maholm, Rick Helling and Brandon Claussen to his team since they're starting today. Still, he needs to make up 6 wins on me today, which isn't likely. The bigger concern is him catching me in strikeouts, since he has 6 SP going. If he hadn't loaded his team with SP today I would have sat my guys to ensure the ERA and WHIP titles, but now I will keep Felix Hernandez and Carlos Silva in the lineup today to get some strikeouts. As long as I hang onto the runs lead I should be in good shape though, since apparently the first tiebracker is ERA, and unless all his guys throw a shutout and my guys get shelled, I should have the ERA lead sewn up. On a side note, I think yahoo should do something to prevent people from doing this. It's not like I can combat his moves, because I have the lead and don't want to dump good players to pick up bums just so they can get a start... after all, I have a good shot of playing next week, and I'm not going to get better for next week by throwing away good SP. I think yahoo should set a roster freeze or allow at most 1-2 pickups a week in the playoffs to prevent teams that fall behind from doing this.

Point and laugh at Oklahoma.

Truffle's team is really good. Thank you... I thought so when I drafted it and I still like it a lot now. What's amazing to me is that my team has still done quite well even though a number of guys have had down years: 1B Brad Wilkerson - sucked (for fantasy purposes) all year 2B Jose Vidro - injury problems and not as productive as recent years SS Bobby Crosby - has been good but also injured almost half the year OF Ichiro - hitting below .300, nuff said OF Jim Edmonds - numbers down across the board, especially BA, and he's had injury problems OF Trot Nixon - power numbers down; injuries P Curt Schilling - been hurt or horrible all year A lot of the guys who have performed pretty well for me (Utley, Street, Silva, Brett Myers) were guys I picked up to help keep my team afloat when other guys were getting hurt or stinking it up.

Tonight is a huge night for me. My opponent has Clemens, Santana, Washburn and Loaiza going. So far I'm feeling pretty good... Santana didn't pitch very well and is out of the game after 5 innings, and can't get the win. Clemens is down 3-2 in the 3rd inning, while Loiaza has given up 6 ER in 6 innings of work... not likely to get the win over Atlanta unless Washingon makes a huge comeback. Washburn is pitching pretty well though, and is up 2-0 on Buerhle and the White Sox. The only guy I have going right now is Jake Westbrook, and he and the Indians are leading the Twinkies 4-2. If I'm REALLY luck I can pick up the double dip with a win for Westbrook and then a save for Bob Wickman. It would help if my offense would show up at some point though... my team is still hitting under the Mendoza line for the week. I guess there are some signs of life though... A-Rod is 2-3 with a HR and Jason Varitek has his first hit in what seems like 3 weeks.

The Cubs' AA affiliate win the pennant!

Carpenter should have stayed with the Blue Jays... if he were in the AL this year he'd win the award, probably unanimously.

At least there is something associated with the Cubs this year that isn't a disappointment!

For whatever reason, almost every game I have seen Edmonds play in over the past couple of years he has seemed below average. Maybe he just played bad defense against the Cubs, but I have seen him butcher some plays against the Cubs (like turning the liner by Zambrano into a triple). I don't know if that play shows up in any of the metrics, and he didn't get an error on that play, but he gave Zambrano an extra 2 bases on that play. There was another poor play that he made in that game, and I recall at least 2 balls that he misplayed against the Cubs in 2004.

If that's the criteria, then you should also side with Gary Scott and Jeff Pico.

He's also running away with the team lead in losses. (he's only tied for the team lead in wins, not the leader) As for Maddux's losses on the year. 5/20 vs. CHW - 7.0 IP, 3 ER (Cubs scored 1) 7/16 vs. PIT - 8.0 IP, 2 ER (Cubs scored 0) 8/06 vs. NYM - 7.0 IP, 2 ER (Cubs scored 0) 8/27 vs. FLA - 9.0 IP, CG, 2 ER (Cubs scored 1) The other ones he probably deserved, but you can't fault the guy for no run support. He also should/could have many more wins if the Cubs would hit. 4/10 vs. MIL - 3 ER, ND 4/17 vs. PIT - 2 ER, ND 4/23 vs. PIT - 2 ER, ND 7/21 vs. CIN - 3 ER, ND 7/26 vs. SF - 2 ER, ND Should he have won all those games? Probably not, but he kept the Cubs in it, they just couldn't score for him. We certainly have some good "picking and choosing" going on in this thread. Like pointing out how Maddux has the most innings and wins, but not the most losses and earned runs. The above is another example... I can point out these games: 4/10 vs. MIL - 3 ER in 5 IP (ND) 5/5 vs. MIL - 4 ER in 6 IP (ND) 5/15 vs. WAS - 4 ER in 5 IP (ND) 6/4 vs. SD - 3 ER in 6 IP (W) 6/20 vs. MIL - 3 ER in 6 IP (W) 7/21 vs. VIN - 3 ER in 5 IP (ND) There are 4 games in which he was average to below average, but didn't lose any games. You can present the argument any way you want, but in the end it boils down to Maddux being a durable pitcher who is putting up average numbers. Next year he will be mediocre again, and so will the Cubs.

Carpenter's ERA is now around half of what his career ERA was coming into this season. It's things like these that make me want to vomit.

Sorry to see your team decided not to show up for our series in the first round of the KMAL playoffs. :P

Well the playoffs have begun in our Cubs vs Cards Yahoo fantasy league. 4 Card teams made the playoffs, with Fire Dusty and Cubtownies laying an egg in the final week to miss the playoffs to AAAA Cardinals. The teams representing the Cubs are Sandberg Was In Awe (vance) and Way To Go 2005 Cubs (myself). Vance has a bye this week. The standings this week through 3 days are: WTG2005C - 6 All-American - 3 My offense has decided to take the week off, so this one is dicey. Pitching I'm up 5-0 though. Thrillride - 5 AAAA Cardinals - 4 Who cares... 1 Cardinal team will lose and that's fine with me! Stay tuned for updated results, plus next week we will bring you the exciting semi-finals. Hopefully I will win this week, because I would be taking on the Man-eating Tarps, while vance would be playing the winner of the Cardinals matchup from this week.

Big Bump for Eric winning the NSBB Minor League Player of the Year award! He may have gotten hosed out of the MWL POY award, but he was clearly deserving of the NSBB MLPOY award - a far more presigious honor. Hopefully he will remember us fans who supported him from the beginning when he becomes the best player in major league history.

Even if you lose the giveaway during the 6th inning, you can still get free gas at the game by eating the chili at the concession stands.

I have been a Jeremy Hermida fan for a while now. Somehow Jim Hendry needs to get the Marlins', D-Rays' and Mariners' GMs drunk and get them to give Hermida, Delmon Young and Felix Hernandez to the Cubs.

Tomorrow, the Cards will start a team full of little leaguers just for fun, and win 8-2.