Top 2: Shelly Duncan struck out swinging against Madison Bumgarner

Top 4: Duncan struck out swinging against Bumgarner

Top 7: Duncan struck out swinging against Bumgarner

Top 9: Duncan struck out swinging against Jeremy Affeldt

Final Line: 0-for-4, 4 K

Notes: I guess he’s the Tribe’s best option in RF with Choo out. I guess.

Total 2011 Sombreros: 53

Bottom 2: Xavier Nady called out on strikes against Madison Bumgarner

Bottom 4: Nady struck out swinging against Bumgarner

Bottom 6: Nady struck out swinging against Bumgarner

Bottom 9: Nady struck out swinging against Brian Wilson

Final Line: 0-for-4, 4 K

Notes: Nady’s golden sombrero on Wednesday raised his season strikeout total to 32, which is also how many hits he has thus far.  And just to add to insult, Wilson fanned Nady on three consecutive pitches in the ninth.

Total 2011 Sombreros: 43

When I last wrote about my first fantasy exploits, I was losing in the first week with only three days left. My staff was performing poorly, and I was freaking out in front of my computer screen while Madison Bumgarner, Matt Thornton, and Ted Lilly tried to sabotage my team. After an awkward first week, my staff looked up the definition of “pitcher” in the Oxford-English dictionary and realized what they were doing didn’t fall under those guidelines—and they did something about it (or I made a move). We’ve been through four weeks of heated battles, and I thought I’d give the reader a breakdown of each week, including my weekly moves (henceforth referred to as “Strategery”), best hitter (“Neck Snapper”) and best pitcher (“Cash Checker”). It goes a little something like this:

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When I say this is my first week of fantasy, I don’t mean the first of the season—I mean I’ve never participated in fantasy sports before this year. Previously, I assumed that I would make too big of a time commitment just to be stomped around by guys (and possibly girls) that have done this before and have, you know, strategies and such. When fellow Sombrero contributor Rick Berdelle invited me to his league, “The Sober Valley Lodge,” I thought this was a great opportunity to finally make the plunge into fantasy. The Lodge’s settings look like this:

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• John Parker of MiLB.com recently did a Q & A with the second overall pick in the 2009 draft, Jameson Taillon.  Ranked by MLB.com as the #18 prospect in baseball – and yet to appear on the Sombrero’s list – the 6-foot-6, 225-pound right-hander provides a colorful interview in which he discusses his baseball upbringing, rise to prominence, and lifestyle.  Taillon also mentions that Shelby Miller is a “really good” golfer.

• Although Bruce Bochy has stated that 1B Brandon Belt has a shot to make the club out of Spring Training, Crazy Crabbers still believes that it is highly unlikely.  By delaying Belt’s arrival until late April or early May – provided that he’s still mashing – the Giants retain control of his contract through the 2018 season, as opposed to 2017 if he were to make the team out of Spring Training.  Considering that the two rookies, Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner, were arguably the main reason that the team made the playoffs and went on to win the World Series, perhaps this could be the year that Brain Sabean mixes things up.

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