Atop the Rubble

Armando’s now out, essentially, for the season. No matter what brave face the Giants are putting on this, there isn’t anyone in that bullpen who looks like they can even fake closing for them. This one is going to be painful to Giants fans. Fantasywise, there will probably be some spirited bidding for whoever gets the first save, assuming someone gets one before Tuesday, all for a pile of crap.

Julian Taveras looks to have taken over in St. Louis. It’s still not 100% clear what the Braves situation is now, and the Brewers are also a mess, though Derrick Turnbow may be sticking his nose in there. Suddenly all of those rock solid closers aren’t any more. And with us sitting at 3.5 points in saves, we’ve got to try to figure it out. Life would be easier if Ray King got a save for Atlanta tonight.

Without early FAAB, only teams with openings would be able to bid on some guys who could be a closer for a long time. This is a good rule.

I woke up this morning to see that at least today, no one is to the north of us. Poor Barry, at least he’s past the pain of passing a kidney stone. The Pounders have continued their fade South, down to 51.5 points. Some of that is in wins, which is always a tight category.

Ominous sight in BABI standings: Busch Leaguers are moving up in BA. The top 5 teams are still the top 5 teams in BA. The Leaguers are still down with only 41 points, but this could be a sign that things are looking up.

I caught some of the Dodger-Dbacks game last night. There was one of those “oh so close moments” for the Pickled ones: Duaner came in for the last out in the 7th (one pitch) with the Dodgers down 5-3. Koplove lets the 1st 2 guys get on in the bottom of the 7th, and then JD Drew absolutely spanks one to dead center which Quentin McCracken catches at the top of the wall. One foot higher and we’ve got not only a 3 run homer but also maybe a vulture win to boot. I had one of those bad moments here where though I hate the Dodgers, I did want that ball to go out.

Finally, I want to quote a hilarious comment in The Talented Mr. Roto site (good writers, not such great information):

"Public Service Announcement to anyone thinking of grabbing Wes Obermueller for his potential spot-start in lieu of Ben Sheets: you want none of that. If this were a visual medium, I’d have concocted for you one of those “this is your WHIP, this is your WHIP on Obermueller” deals involving 50’s stock footage of the nuclear explosion in the desert, complete with the mushroom cloud and macabre music."