The Flowers are Blooming

China Cat Sunflowers 40 Game Report

After three straight sub-.500 seasons, the franchise was floundering. Breaking our streak of seven straight WSP-related team names, we took a turn and went with the Dead, and China Cat Sunflowers. Something is paying off, as we enter the 40 game break with the league's best mark, 24-16.

Lucky enough to pull the 2nd pick in the draft, we took 1B Derrek Lee, who is hitting .302/.370/.654, with 12 HR, 33 RBI, 19 2B, and 27 Runs. Fourth round pick Derek Jeter leads the league with 37 runs, 5th round pick Jim Edmonds is hitting .279/.377/.600 with 27 RBI, while 6th round pick David Wright was red-hot early on and has settled in at .252/.319/.558 with a tied-for-league-best 35 RBI and 2nd-best 28 EBH.

In total, the offense is scoring the most runs in the league. That won't last, as we are creating the 3rd-most, or thereabouts, but it's a great sign. The pitching has ended up in the middle, 5th best, with a ERA 0.03 over the league ERA. We are allowing unearned runs at a very low rate, so our runs allowed per 9 is a little better than the league average.

If the numbers stay true for the next 122, we should continue winning. Hopefully the numbers stay true...

Free Agent Draft

We made an astounding three moves in the draft, releasing relievers 17L Bob Wickman and 11Z Julian Tavarez, along with outfielder Cliff Floyd (OF1.32). In their place, we picked up P*18H Juan Padilla (18 G, 36.1 IP), P*17H Clay Hensley (18G, infinite IP), and OF2.34 Austin Kearns. Padilla and Hensley should perform much better than Wickman/Tavarez, while pitching as many innings as I was able to trust the scrubs with anyways. Hopefully Kearns will hit as well as Floyd, while being a much better defender. I couldn't stomach Floyd starting another 60+ games in left with his OF1.

For my own reference for the end of the season, here are the team relief ERA and HR/9 after 40 (Steve played 10 more games before I generated these):

	    The 9 teams with the
   highest Earned Run Average, Relieving   

Rank  Name                           ERA-r   IP-r
1     Zanzibar Rafikis of Zuleta      4.08  145.2
2     Belize City Boil Up             3.95  200.1
3     Manhattan Old Fashioneds        3.52   94.2
4     China Cat Sunflowers            3.30  161.0
5     Mason Corner Avenging Angels    3.26  157.1
6     Kilamanjaro Thirty Helens       2.96  136.2
7     Vail Valkyries                  2.75  111.1
8     Potawatomi Resurrection         2.69  157.0
9     Festus Miracle                  2.32  151.0

	    The 9 teams with the
 highest Home Runs Per 9 Innings, Relieving   

Rank  Name                           HR/9-r   IP-r
1     Belize City Boil Up              1.93  200.1
2     China Cat Sunflowers             1.40  161.0
3     Kilamanjaro Thirty Helens        1.38  136.2
4     Manhattan Old Fashioneds         1.33   94.2
5     Mason Corner Avenging Angels     1.26  157.1
6     Zanzibar Rafikis of Zuleta       1.11  145.2
7     Potawatomi Resurrection          1.03  157.0
8     Vail Valkyries                    .81  111.1
9     Festus Miracle                    .66  151.0

7 Relievers           Tm    Lg      W  L   ERA  SV  BS  HLD    G  GF     IP    H   R  ER  HR   SO  BB  SO/BB
ISRINGHAUSEN, J.      GREG  SL06    4  1  2.01   4   2    1   16   7   31.1   20   7   7   4   34   8    4.3
GORDON, T.            GREG  SL06    2  1  2.60   1   0    2   17   7   27.2   14   8   8   2   17  12    1.4
FUENTES, B.           GREG  SL06    4  0  2.70   3   0    1   18   4   23.1   10   7   7   4   31  10    3.1
POLITTE, C.           GREG  SL06    3  3  3.26   3   3    2   17   4   30.1   21  12  11   5   25   8    3.1
THOMPSON, B.          GREG  SL06    0  2  3.44   0   0    1   11   3   18.1   17   9   7   2    9   4    2.3
WICKMAN, B.                         0  0  4.70   0   0    2   10   5   15.1   12   9   8   4   10  11     .9
TAVAREZ, J.                         0  0  6.75   0   1    1   14   5   14.2   20  11  11   4    8   3    2.7
China Cat Sunflowers               13  7  3.30  11   6   10  103  35  161.0  114  63  59  25  134  56    2.4

7 Relievers           Tm    Lg      R/9   ERA  BF/9  BR/9   H/9  BB/9  SO/9  HR/9  ERPT    OBA  SOP  SOPP  IR  IRS  IRSP
ISRINGHAUSEN, J.      GREG  SL06   2.01  2.01  35.0   8.9   5.7   2.3   9.8  1.15   6.6   .183    7  57.1  10    4  40.0
GORDON, T.            GREG  SL06   2.60  2.60  35.1   8.5   4.6   3.9   5.5   .65   4.0   .149    3  33.3  14    4  28.6
FUENTES, B.           GREG  SL06   2.70  2.70  33.6   7.7   3.9   3.9  12.0  1.54   3.1   .130    4  75.0  21    6  28.6
POLITTE, C.           GREG  SL06   3.56  3.26  33.2   8.9   6.2   2.4   7.4  1.48   2.2   .208    8  37.5  19    5  26.3
THOMPSON, B.          GREG  SL06   4.42  3.44  37.3  10.3   8.3   2.0   4.4   .98    .9   .239    1    .0   6    3  50.0
WICKMAN, B.                        5.28  4.70  41.1  14.1   7.0   6.5   5.9  2.35  -1.4   .207    2    .0   1    0    .0
TAVAREZ, J.                        6.75  6.75  40.5  14.7  12.3   1.8   4.9  2.45  -4.6   .328    2    .0   1    0    .0
China Cat Sunflowers               3.52  3.30  35.8   9.8   6.4   3.1   7.5  1.40  10.8   .200   27  40.7  72   22  30.6


Combined, all three moves were made to help the pitching and defense. I don't see how they can't help, as Wickman and Tavarez were black holes. There may be a small price to pay on offense, giving up Floyd for Kearns, but if anything it should be negligible.

Pennant Races

Unfortunately, I'm in the most competitive division. Perhaps karmic payback for being in the weak division each of the last two seasons. At the break, every team in the Panic Division is over .500, with the Sunflowers at 24 wins, Dave's Festus Miracle at 22, and Graham's Vail Valkyries at 21. China's run differential of +33 outweighs those of Festus (+13) and Vail (+16), so hopefully we can hold on for the rest of the season.

122 games says there is a lot of ball to be played. See you at 162.