Much like its Canadian magazine equivalent, the Walrus stumbled a little last week, and the rest of the BBFL's Alomar Divison continued to take advantage. Riding All-Star performances from Mike Sweeney and Michael Barrett, the K-Town Mashers thumped the Walrus 7-4, pulling Coach's squad down and ever closer to the slavering hordes bunched below. One team in particular was the main beneficiary.
On the strength of an 11-1 whipping of previous second-place holder Mebion Glyndwyr, the short-but-sharply-named AGF team vaulted into the silver-medal position, a mere five games behind the Walrus. Led by a 1.602 OPS week from Godzilla Matsui, AGF knocked Mebion down to 6th spot and continued its own recent rise up the standings. The Eastern Shore Birds, riding 4 saves from Matt Herges and a breakout week from Miguel Cabrera, edged Dancin' Homer and the Springfield Isotopes 7-5 to hold on to third place, 8 1/2 games back. Leaping up to fourth position was another hot squad, hannibal's cannibals, which used the Greek God of the High Waiver-Wire Pick, Kevin Youkilis, and BoSox teammate Mark Bellhorn to score a huge 10-1 win over Billie's Bashers, who fell to 11th position. Rounding out the top five was Baird Brain, which held on to the fifth spot despite a 7-5 loss to the Red Mosquitoes.
The week's other big mover was sentimental favourite SABR Magicians (okay, they're my sentiments), whose 9-2 victory over the Horse Field Hammers wasn't nearly as one-sided as it appears. A single walk by someone on my squad gave me a .001 edge in on-base percentage; a last-minute steal by Ichiro Suzuki produced a 6-5 win in steals; and Billy Wagner's injury gave Tim Worrell two fill-in saves, just enough to win that category 2-1. A close shave, but I'll take whatever breaks I can get, particularly since that 9-2 series victory moved the Magicians all the way up to 10th place.
Lots of good matchups this week. The Walrus look to get back on track against defending BBFL champion Austin Senators; both the BBFL and the real Toronto squads desperately need a healthy and productive Carlos Delgado back in their lineups. Eight-place and fourth-place teams square off as the Red Mosquitoes try to take a bite out of hannibal's cannibals. And red-hot AGF puts its second-place position on the line against none other than your friendly neighbourhood SABR Magicians. What's new in the Barfield Division?
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