Weeks 6 and 7 Recap

<--Actual Brian Fuentes footage. God, I hate you.

All around atrocious hitting and subpar pitching led the way as the Squirrels dropped two embarrassing match ups in a row and fell out of first place for the first time this year in the East Division. Injuries continue to plague the Squirrels, and unfortunately, the depth on this team is only so so. Lincecum and Pettitte, the mainstays of the rotation got rocked, Duchscherer went down to a likely season ending injury, Lidge went back to the DL and Beckett went to the DL. Pitching depth should not be a problem, but when you have three top flight SPers on the DL, it's tough to hang in there.

The offense, which has been paltry all year, continues to hit at about a .200 clip, with few signs of hope. Mark Teixeira has been terrible, as has Chipper Jones and Brandon Phillips. Teixeira's annual slow start is starting to look like a bad year or at least a bad first half, and Chipper needs to hang it up. He is simply too old and has too many miles on the tires to be serviceable for anything but walks. Phillips, who was drafted in the first round, has finally got his average over the .250 mark, but his peripheral stats have not made up for his inability to hit consistently.

The lone bright spot for the Squirrels has been the bullpen, excluding the closers, who are terrible. Carlos Villanueva, Evan Meek and Hong-Chih Kuo have been untouchable for most of the season, and Hideki Okajima is starting to look like his old self again now as well. If Brad Lidge can get healthy and stay healthy, the bullpen will be as solid as any in the league.

Brian Fuentes...fornicate yourself with an iron stick, buddy. Your Jorge Julio-esque ways are going to find your ass benched. I hate you and I hate everything you stand for. Consider this your final warning. The head has got to come out of the ass at some point, or Fernando Rodney is going to usurp your role, and probably start banging your wife too.
Sincerely-The Management

Squirrels Week 5 Review

Squirrels Flounder Late--Settle for another tie

In a complete reversal from last week, the Flying Squirrels led on Wednesday 9-1...only to watch the Carolina Yankees battle back to tie the match up for the week. As projected and expected, the Squirrels dominated the pitching side and faltered on the offensive side.

The pitching staff was incredibly strong this week with one key exception. The struggles of Josh Beckett continue and with the DL issues already facing the staff, he has got to get his act together or the team will begin to see the losses pile up. In a bittersweet positive, Tim Lincecum could have put up two wins this week and given the Squirrels an outright victory, however the Giants bullpen managed to blow the lead he supplied them with in both games.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Squirrels hung with the Yankees in all categories except avg, and managed to take the RBI and runs categories. Mark Teixeira finally snapped out of his power outage and contributed solidly in four categories. This trend must continue if the Squirrels plan to contend. Unfortunately, four starters had averages under .200 for the week and didn't manage to produce in any of the categories.

Flying High

Brandon Phillips- (8-25) .320, 6R, 2HR, 2RBI, 1SB, 1BB
Phillips finally showed up this week and contributed some--not a lot--to many categories.

Tim Lincecum- 13IP, 0W, 21K, 3.46ERA, 1.15WHIP
Lincecum was on the crap end of the Giants bullpen..2 wins and a match up win down the drain...but Lincecum continued his dominance and now has a 61 K's in 48 1/3IP.


Squirrel Turds


John Baker- (1-16), .063, 1R, 1BB
He's on the wire if you want this waste of space. You bring shame to Keith and Larry.


Josh Beckett- 5.1IP, 9H, 3BB, 9ER, 8K
I don't even know what to put here. For the love of God...please quit sucking so damned badly.


Week 6 outlook

The Squirrels come into this week a little more banged up, but hopefully a little stronger. A mid-week trade saw Jim Thome come to the Squirrels and hopefully some much needed power. This week also saw another starting pitcher fall, as Justin Duchscherer joined fellow A's stud Brett Anderson on the DL. As a result, the Squirrels are going with a four man rotation and hoping the freshly healthy bullpen can claim a couple of categories. Brad Lidge has looked strong since he re-assumed the closers' role in Philly and Brian Fuentes has been average enough to reel in some stats without hurting the bottom line. I think the Squirrels offense stacks up with that of Julian and the pitching should remain strong, despite the injuries to the A's. Prediction: Squirrels 8-4

Squirrels Move Volstad for Thome

Dealing from their strength, the Flying Squirrels sent SPer Chris Volstad to the Gaylord Dingers for aging slugger Jim Thome. When asked about the deal, GM Adam Anson said, "We hated to let Volstad go, but with the teams glaring deficiency in the power department, a move had to be made." The Squirrels expect Thome to step in and contribute some much needed pop to a lineup that has struggled greatly to produce offensively this year. Thome will step in and immediately be the team leader in HR and third in RBI. Anson also speculated on the potential for additional deals in the coming weeks, saying, "We know our pitching will continue to be strong, so at this point we are going to hope Tex can pull out of his annual slow start, see what Thome brings to the table for us, and evaluate any further moves as they present themselves."

Squirrels Week 4 Recap

Squirrels Battle Back to Tie Mid-Michigan

Another week and another lackluster performance from the Flying Squirrels. After being down as much as 9-1 early in the week, the Squirrels battled back for a 6-6 tie, mostly on the merits of the pitching staff. The pitching, while not excellent, put up 4 of the 6 categories won, with walks and stolen bases as the only offensive categories taken.

The starting pitching was led by strong outings from Tim Lincecum, Chris Volstad, and young stud Jaime Garcia. Garcia has been an outstanding pickup for the Squirrels and has truly bolstered the starting staff. These strong outings were somewhat offset however, by the continued suckage of Josh Beckett and the first poor start this season from Andy Pettitte. The bullpen was solid, with the exception of Hideki Okajima, but the needed stats just didn't come through as the Squirrels pen combined for only one save and one hold. Brian Fuentes rebounded nicely this week, posting a win and a save, and with Brad Lidge ready to come back in the coming week, the saves category might become less of a gimme for opposing teams.

Offensively, the Squirrels attack was simply outmatched. Mid-Michigan clearly had the superior offensive team and it showed through as they took all the power categories. If anything, some of the Squirrels' bats are probably being too patient, i.e., Mark Teixeira and Chipper Jones. Both continue to pace the team in walks, and both continue to put up nothing in the power categories. The SB category was taken by one steal, as neither team had a particularly strong showing in the category.


Flying High

Derek Jeter- (10/26) .385, 6R, 1HR, 8RBI, 2BB
Jeter started the week 0-4 and never looked back, contributing in five categories.

Brian Fuentes- 2IP, 1W, 1S, 3K, 0.00 ERA
While only pitching 2 innings, Fuentes put up a win and a save. The save saved a category loss and saved an overall matchup loss...that's a helluva save.


Squirrel Turds

Christian Guzman- (2-17) .118, 1RBI
Guzman had been on a tear...right until he got into my lineup. I remember when he led the league in triples back in 1983...so far he leads my team in completely wasted starts. You suck Christian. Rot on the bench.

Hideki Okajima- 1/3IP, 2ER, 3H, 1K, 54.00ERA
Okajima was drafted to log solid innings and rake in the holds. So far he has logged 8IP, and raked in 6ER. With Lidge and Kuo off the DL, Okajima could see his playing time take a major hit if he doesn't turn it around in a hurry.


Week 5 Outlook

The Squirrels come into their first match up with the in division rival Carolina Yankees, with the same old tune as every week...DL issues. Brett Anderson was placed on the DL in the middle of last week and reports are that he will be sidelined 4-6 weeks. Also falling to the DL this week was Carlos Guillen. While no offensive juggernaut, Guillen was having a solid season, and was contributing weekly to the avg, bb, rbi and runs categories, and his bat will be missed by a team that is struggling in almost every offensive category. The Yankees boast a strong offense and even with Yunel Escobar going to the DL, should have no problem handling the Squirrels in all power categories. The Squirrels will have to hope to take the BB category and SB category and hope to steal something like runs to have any chance at all this week on the offensive side. Pitching could really go either way this week. If Josh Beckett ever pulls his head out of his hind-quarters, the Squirrels would have a dominant SPing staff with Lincecum, Beckett, Pettitte, Garcia, and a strong bullpen in Fuentes, Kuo, Villanueva, and USUALLY Okajima. Theoretically, the Squirrels match up with any pitching staff in the league, but until I see the proof from Beckett and Okajima, all I can expect is more of the same. Look for more of the same from last week. Squirrels win handily on the pitching side, 5-1 or 4-2, and get dominated on the offensive side by a similar score. Prediction: Yankees 7-5