LetsPlay2 2005 - Halfway there

July 11, 2005

We're at the All-Star break, so here's some a-little-more-than-halfway-there stats and chitchat.

LP2 All-Star Team

The LP2 All-Star team is selected based on the Yahoo rankings as of July 11, 2005. So, the 2005 LP2 All-Star team...


Pos Player (team) Yahoo 

Rank

 Team
C J Varitek (bos) 182 Whiteshark
1B D Lee (cub) 1 Whiteshark
2B B Roberts (bal) 10 Golem
3B A-Rod (nyy) 3 Whiteshark
SS M Tejada (bal) 17 Pelican
OF B Abreu (phi) 7 Whiteshark
OF C Lee (mil) 11 Storm
OF Manny (bos) 16 Golem
DH A Pujols (stl) 2 Pope
       
SP C Carpenter (stl)
 4 Pelican
SP Pedro (bos) 6 Magiccup
RP C Cordero (was) 14 Pope
RP M Rivera (nyy) 22 Storm
P R Halladay (tor) 9 Pope
       
Reserves (players ranked in the top 20): 
  • M Teixeira (tex), #5, Cameltoe
  • D Ortiz (bos), #8, Golem
  • M Ensberg (hou), #12, Gspot
  • D Willis (fla), #13, Pope
  • R Oswalt (hou), #15, Golem
  • A Jones (atl), #18, Gspot
  • G Sheffield (nyy), #19, Pelican
  • A Soriano (tex), #20, Pope

Some mildly interesting prattling about this year's All-Stars:

  • 3 All-Stars were not even drafted before the season began: C Cordero, M Ensberg, and D Willis.
  • 2 All-Stars were actually traded: B Roberts and D Willis. The All-Stars were traded away by the same team, the Naperville MagicCups, for some "magic" beans and tickets to this year's Cub world series.
  • 2 All-Stars was actually released: C Lee and M Rivera. These All-Stars were released by the same team, the Coocheyville CamelToe. Look for the Cup and Toe owners, Bill and Denise, in the upcoming reality show, "No, I'M dumber than  YOU"
  • Yeah that's right, the best catcher in the league is ranked #182. Geez.
  • The Whiteshark lead the league with 4 starting All-Stars, and Sharky Ange sports the first half MVP, the improbable D Lee. The Pope leads with 5 All-Stars when counting reserves.
  • Popey All-Star Roy Halladay is now on the disabled list after being hit by a line drive. This is the 2nd Pope starter (M Prior) to suffer this fate in the first half.
  • The best pitcher in the land, C Carpenter, was selected in round 16 of the draft. Yikes!

Halfway Theme... Parity

Here are the current standings after 14 weeks:

Rank Team W-L-T WPct GB
 1  Vatican City Popes 71-54-15 .561 -
 2  white sharks 73-62-5 .539 3
 3  Ukraine Pelicans 68-65-7 .511 7
 4  Gotham City Golems 67-67-6 .500 8.5
 5  Naperville MagicCups 66-66-8 .500 8.5
 6  Hilo Storm 60-66-14 .479 11.5
 7  coocheyvillecameltoe 63-70-7 .475 12
 8  LG Spots 56-74-10 .436 17.5

Current BPR rankings are:

Bopping Hurling Overall
  1. Whiteshark, 37
  2. Pope, 28
  3. Cameltoe, 26
  4. Golem, 21
  5. Storm, 20
  6. Pelican, 19
  7. Magiccup, 17
  8. Gspot, 13
  1. Magiccup, 33
  2. Pope, 32
  3. Pelican, 24
  4. Gspot, 23
  5. Storm, 21
  6. Golem, 20
  7. Whiteshark, 17
  8. Cameltoe, 11
  1. Pope, 55
  2. Whiteshark, 49
  3. Magiccup, 45
  4. Pelican, 38
  5. Golem, 36
  6. Storm, 36
  7. Cameltoe, 32
  8. Gspot, 31

Go:

  • If you go back to last year's break, 44 games separated first place from last. This year it's only 17 1/2 games, so each and every team has hope. In fact, the last place Gspots are a scant 9 games out of the playoff hunt.
  • The Whiteshark dominate hitting, leading in all 4 bopping categories (not counting sissy SB's). 
  • The Pope are the only truly balanced team in the league... 2nd in hitting, 2nd in pitching. Odd... the Pope always seemed so unbalanced to me.
  • The hottest team in the league right now is der Golem. He's on a 4 game jag with a record of 27-13 over that span. The Pope had a 5 game stream snapped by the Tow in week 14.
I know I shouldn't do this, but what the heck. Looking ahead, for the playoffs, I like:
  1. The Pope (balanced, aided by higher power),
  2. Der Golem (Red Sock power, a healthy Vlad),
  3. The Toe (Texas Ranger power, evil), and
  4. The Cup (blind hope, stupidity).
And Sharky, don't get mad at me. By not picking you, you're virtually guaranteed a playoff spot. I will, however, eat my hat if Derreck Lee is the MVP at season's end.

Enough crap already. Shit, you can throw these first 14 weeks out the window. It doesn't matter. The only thing of consequence in the first half was the best dang sequence of posts on the message board ever, including Angeero's misspellings and the Pope speaking in tongues. I humbly present the classic:

Angeero and The "Poap"

Ah, you know what I ment. Angeero rules!

cup win... yow, bill