Changeups and Screwballs: A Southpaw’s Perspective for 9/19/11

–  What a weekend for baseball.  The Rays were able to pull within 2 games of the Red Sox and the AL Wild Card spot. The best play of this series was started by David Price’s chest, though.

–  Justin Verlander is a beast.  12 consecutive starts, and 12 consecutive wins.  Not to mention he has now won 24 games this season.  But that’s the obvious.  Here are a few nifty stats for you sabr-minded folks:  Verlander has a WAR of 7.0-still a full 1.1 WAR behind Doc Hallady; Verlander has guys swinging at pitches out of the zone at a whopping rate (33.8%); He is also only throwing pitches in the strike zone 42% of the time while getting hitters to swing and miss at a rate of 10.2%.  Dude is filthier than the turds I leave in the toilet after a night of partying.

–  Apparently Dmitri Young is ready to play baseball again…I know, I didn’t believe it either.  It must be that whole older brother/younger brother rivalry thing. I can’t think of any other reason for a 40-year-old 1B to come out of retirement after four years.

–  Being a fantasy nerd, and at the same time absolutely loathing reality television, I am so thankful for Grantland’s GLRTFL.  It now gives me a new perspective on watching the hideous programming that my girlfriend prefers.

–  Speaking of fantasy, here is a quick rundown of how the Denslow Cup standings are looking heading in to the final week:

1. Asik and Destroy  ——————-139
2. The Clownpenis. Farts  ————-137
3. So Fresh n So Sheen Sheen  ——–118.5
4. Dingo Teriyaki  ———————–113
5. tits and giggles  ———————–100
6. The Nads  ——————————-97
7. Dingleberry Smoothies  ————–90.5
8. The Blump Cornelius  —————–78.5
9. Capital City Corporate Towls  ——-62
10. Quade Steak Burritos —————–57.5
11. The Religion of Mike Hunt  ———-55
12. Ardi’s A-holes   ————————-44

As you can see there is quite a race for the championship.  Fellow writer Barfy is the manager of Clownpenis. The battle for 3^rd is a good one too, with my team (Sheen Sheen) hoping to lock down its first podium finish ever.  Editor in Chief, Mike (The Nads), is actually losing to his girlfriend Julia (tits and giggles) but has an outside shot of overtaking her.