FEDERAL LEAGUE BASEBALL

Okay, since nobody but me and Tom reads this blog, it's time to go off topic and recap my fantasy baseball season. Tom is not in this league whch is now in its fourth year. I am the St Louis Cardinals. In year one, I finished in third place, upset the A's in the League Championship Series and faced the Phillies in the World Series. I was way outclassed and fell in five games.

Year two, I finished second place behind the A's and again made it to the World Series and lost to the A's. Year three, I won 100 games, made it to the World Series and beat the A's in dramatic fashion with Larry Walker providing a Kirk Gibsonesque HR in game six and Livan Hernandez hurling a shutout in game seven. We just wrapped up the year four regular season. I won 96 games but the Yankees won 102. We were neck in neck all season until I suffered some injuries down the stretch and fell a few games behind. I think my team is even better than last year's although the Bombers are fielding the best all-around team our league has yet seen.

And now to really bore the non-baseball fans, here is my 2005 squad. We are playing a simulated season based on stats from the 2005 MLB season.

C Victor Martinez - .307/16/79
Great offensive catcher, lead the team in batting average, also allowed no passed balls.

C Ramon Castro - .281/6/25
Great defenisve catcher, surprisingly productive offensively, started against LHP.

1B Derrek Lee - .292/36/117
Offensive MVP, played every day, league record 59 doubles.

2B Placido Polanco - .292/10/54
Steady with the glove, terrorized LHP.

3B Antonio Perez - .325/3/40
Part-time player produced tremendously from the leadoff spot.

3B Scott Rolen - .154/5/17
Signed a cheap 3-yr deal during his injury-plagued '05, used mainly as late inning glove.

SS Jhonny Peralta - .269/24/79
Played him at 3B during the first half, ahead of Jeter during the second half.

SS Derek Jeter - .259/8/45
Never got going and spent a lot of time on the bench due to tremendous team depth.

OF Bobby Abreu - .253/20/87
Productive until a late-season slump killed his average, scored 102 runs.

OF Grady Sizemore - .266/29/90
Terrorized RHP, slumped badly in the final month.

OF Ichiro Suzuki - .265/8/65
From leadoff to bench then a late-season surge, nice RBI total, poor OBP.

OF Ken Griffey - .259/18/48
Primary DH when healthy, prone to slumps, couldn't touch LHP.

OF Mark Sweeney - .294/12/42
Drafted as bench depth, earned playing time over Griffey with good production.

OF Jay Payton - .252/6/20
Drafted for defense, wound up platooning with Sizemore in CF.

SP Roger Clemens - 2.50/22-4
Tied with Pettite for new single-season wins record, second to Santana in ERA.

SP Barry Zito - 3.83/14-13
Pitched well all season but didn't get much run support, three shutouts.

SP Freddy Garcia - 5.32/14-8
Tall ERA but won consistently and tossed two shutouts.

SP Tim Hudson - 5.04/9-12
Didn't pitch as well as hoped but filled out the back of the rotation adequately.

SP Livan Hernandez - 5.95/6-8
Last year's World Series MVP was demoted when he stopped winning.

SP Noah Lowry - 3.26/7-1
Picked up at the trading deadline specifically to give me another LHP for the playoffs.

RP Brad Lidge - 2.85/6-2
Compiled 108 strikeouts in 72 2/3 IP, racked up 26 saves.

RP Aaron Fultz - 2.62/5-3
Saved five games, lead team with 62 appearances.

RP Jesse Crain - 2.62/4-5
Saved five games, lead bullpen with 82 1/3 IP.

RP Will Ohman - 3.72/1-2
Saved three games, contributed 46 IP.

RP Jerome Williams - 4.91/4-4
Gave me some good innings in long relief, saved four games, started a few in September.

RP Matt Miller - 1.13/1-1
Late season sensation, saved six and gave the pen much needed rest down the stretch.

So the season in summary was expected success based on good pitching, especially a solid bullpen, good defense, productive offense up and down the lineup, and great depth. Whenever somebody fell into a slump there was always somebody else to run out there to take up the slack. I had enough offense to score about five runs per game and when I got the lead, the bullpen was good enough to maintain it. For as good as my team is, it is amazing that the Yankees are even better. I must get past the third place Phillies to keep my World Series appearance streak intact and give myself a shot at defending my title against the Yanks, assuming they will make short work of the Mets in their LCS.