huge week from the bums moves them to first in the league .287 52 13 47 11/ middlebrooks replaces flores in the line-up as montero qualifies at catcher. pitching is not nearly as strong, 4.24 2 1.18 39 5. own fault, played wolf and his two starts, benched blanton and missed a threee hit shut-out. team is 154 overall. first = 1k.

dodgers had another strong week and have a 17 point lead in their league, and sit third overall. that is worth 4k at the moment. 299 48 11 49 13/ 3.03 6 1.13 57 1. saves the only low cat. this team also missed blanton's gem, but got alvarez's shut-out of the angels instead. blanton replaces nicasio. if the season ended today the team would win 4k. on march 30, i thought the dodgers the weakest of my four slow draft teams. i few good guesses ( lynn ), and some fast starts are driving this team. i won't be surprised if it gets caught. regression is a powerful force.

the drifters also had a strong hitting week; .300 45 12 44 7/ la roche returns to the line-up and replaces h sanchez, as montero has qualified at catcher. 3.77 4 1.37 60 2. lots of teams had poor pitching last week. this team really missed blanton's shut-out. blanton replaces nicasio, and there may be help in the saves cat, as sale takes over as closer for the w sox, and jansen may be, again, on the verge of taking over for the dodgers. this team sits second, worth $375 . 103 overall. lost sandoval last week. that will hurt a lot over the next six weeks.

the team i thought best pre-season, is struggling most. the drifters did not hit well last week, 254 43 7 50 3. 290 4 1.32 47 4, ok pitching numbers. this team needed and got blanton's blank, and that game helped the team hold onto second place in the league, another $375 if the season ended today. they sit 226 overall. losing ellsbury is really starting to show, as the team was short sb to begin with and sits well back in that cat.

$5750 for a $600 investment if the season ended today. very encouraging.

$14,700. that would be the total pay out from the eight nfbc teams if the season ended today. i fear this will be the season's high water mark. the team winning the most, $8100 for first place in the n.l. auction, my burleigh spitters, have lost sandoval for 6-8 weeks and there is no hope for a worthy replacement in the free agent pool. further, ryan perry, in the last inning of the last game of the week, torched my pitching line ( how does harper not get an error there !? damn ).

244 17 3 35 2. terrible hitting numbers. the league is quickly eating up ground i gained with my fast start. i had a seventeen point lead early last week. after sunday's disaster, i lead by three. 4.23 6 1.41 45 1. bad pitching. another week like this and i will drop to middle of the pack.

i make eight faab bids this week, putting about $400 dollars in play. i only win three of them. i miss badly on abreu who goes for $405, i am the second place bid on taylor green, still miss by over $60. i am not in the ballpark for gillaspie nor mujica nor ishikawa. i do win my bid on arias, and punt theriot to make room. i also aquire conrad for small $ and cut nady. a small bid is enough to win grandal for my bench, and cut wily peralta. most teams still have >$800 left in faab, and i am one of them.

the spitters are consistently middle of the pack or better in nine of the ten cats, and are still way up there in hrs and rbi. the team is well back in sb. with sandoval and chris young on the d.l., the team needs a great pitching week. bowden taking over as closer for the cubs would be a welcome break.

the loafers continue to set up a comfortable home at the bottom of the a.l. league. they sit tenth, a half point out of last. typical hitting weak, 275 18 5 23 2. not enough regular players, not enough at bats. nothing on the wire to help out. 4.81 2 1.21 41 0. pitiful pitching . blah.

bought three players with faab$, rhymes, komatsu, and frieri. watched frieri pitch this weekend and i think he will end up as their closer. over bid by about $200. surprised, because frieri went for more than i bid in my main event league, a 15 team mixed. cut jose lopez, lyonis martin, and garret richards. i have $552 remaining. i will spend it all before the season is through.

my main event team is dropping out of contention, perhaps permanently. the hitting isn't there. poor #'s this week, 237 37 13 38 8. worse pitching 5.47 3 1.51 35 1, hochevar a one-man wrecking crew. lost rivera this week as well. i will attempt to re-tool this team via faab, but there are so many problems i may not be able to shore up all the loose boards.

took a stab at several free agents and missed on most. i bid what i thought was a solid $82 on frieri. not close, as he went for over $200. that is a stunning number in a 15 team mixed for a guy who has not been named closer. also missed on seager who cost $165. and several others who all went for lots more than i thought they were worth at this point in the season. i did win bids on blanton and benoit. mo and g richards were cut. i am one of a few teams with >$800 left. most teams have <$700. there are several closers-in-waiting as free agents. i will have to bid aggressively if/when one of them earns a job. i only have marshall left in the role. perhaps benoit beats out valverde...

the rogue waves had a rough pitching week as well. dropped a spot down to third. the hitting remained reliable, 288 39 10 42 5. pitching wasn't floater/horrid, 3.65 5 1.39 51 2. team still rides the crest of their dominant offence. trying hard to improve the pitching. benched alvarez in favour of below, expecting two starts. got two thirds from him instead. 2/3 of an inning. that was very costly. the saves i thought were coming also disappeared in the anti-closer suck-hole that is 2012. thornton lost his job again, this time to sale, and downs got me a single save for my $300 faab, then twisted his knee. still awaiting word.

in the meantime, i put in what i thought was a pretty aggresive bid of $82 on frieri. after i saw what he went for in the main event league, i was shocked that i overbid in this league by about $60. i needed to protect my downs investment, so i am happy with the buy. alvarez returns to the rotation this week, thornton to the bench. i released below when i bought frieri. also picked up lance nix and dropped seth smith. with taylor up, the a's are playing reddick at dh. manny is due back soon, gomes is crushing lefties, i don't see where smith gets enough at bats to make a difference. i like what nix is doing in philly, and i think the momentum he is building could continue. i read at fangraphs last february or march that nix might be this year's morse. maybe.

i also picked up matusz, and dropped strop. i need some k's, though i won't be starting him this week because he faces the rangers.

two teams out of four from vegas contending. all four of my slow draft teams contending. a great start to the year. need a lot of good luck to keep it going.

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dobber pro 2012-2013; campbell conference

c; b richards, ribiero, desharnias, zajac
lw; sedin, e kane, pacioretty, kunitz
rw; kessel, callaghan, cole, paranteau
d; chara, seabrook, souray, leddy, markov, s elliott
g; rinne, elliott
bench; garon, giguerre, hodgson, orpik, d roy
ir; nobody, yet