**

If Itchie hasn’t sold his soul to the devil, he has at least entered into a very long-term lease with Lucifer.  There is no other explanation for the performance of Itchie’s pitching staff this season, including the year being put together by Florida Marlin closer Todd Jones.  Get a load of this:  Jones’ ERA this season is an almost obscene 1.07.  His career ERA is more than four (4) runs per game, and in 2004, it was 4.15, and 2003, 7.08.  You have to go back to 1999 to find a season in which Jones gave up fewer hits (64) than innings pitched (66.1), yet this year, through this past Sunday, he had given up only 42 hits in 59.0 innings.  Prior to the 2005 season, Jones’ strikeouts-to-walks ratio was a middling 1.94-to-1.  This year, through last Sunday, it was better than 4-to-1.  In his entire career, Jones has never had a WHIP of less than 1.0, but this year he has a WHIP of .915.  And finally, Jones currently has 31 saves.  In 2002 he had 1 save, none in 2003, and 2 in 2004, for a total of 4 saves in the past three seasons, which is of course why nobody drafted him on Draft Day!

**

As has been pointed out elsewhere, SloPay fell prey to the HSL equivalent of the SI curse.  During his week in the sun, when he enjoyed the privilege of being the guest editor for our league organ, his once-competitive Pirates squad could manage only 156.0 points for the week, less than half of everyone else in the league save the Blues, and roughly a third of the league-leading Skipjacks’ total of 434.0.  I don’t know about the rest of you, but I feel very bad that SloPay spent so much time cogitating, writing, rewriting and proofreading his Irate Pirate bulletin that he just didn’t have the time to manage his team last week.  Next time don’t take it quite so seriously, SloPay. 

**

I offer as the People’s Exhibit 1 in the Possum commitment proceedings, the recently-published Finley papers.  My, oh my.  Breathes there anywhere a creature so defensive as the treed Possum?  Methinks not. 

**

Finley will be voted into the Hall of Fame at about the same time that Level 3 achieves profitability. 

**

I realize that it may be a bit premature to begin trying to pinpoint our Trip venue for 2006, but it seems to me that we should either go to Washington, D.C. so that everyone can see a game at RFK before the new stadium is built and the old one torn down; to St. Louis for a look at their brand-spanking new ballpark; to the Bay Area for games at two different ballparks not seen by many of the Hot Stove Leaguers, or possibly a spring training trip to Scottsdale in March, where we could golf, catch a spring training game or two, and hold our hallowed Draft.  Give this some thought. 

That’s it for this week.