Guys,

Here are the standings through 18 weeks of play:

In no way can I match the recent poetic missives from our beloved Skipper, but I will attempt to refrain from my usual ranting and raving.  I did very much enjoy his account of the minor league game and especially his drunken stream of consciousness from Wrigley Field.  (Cones!!!) Is there any question that Wrigley is the best stadium in the world (and yes, you do have Kauffman Stadium ranked too low. OK so it is surrounded by an ocean of concrete, your point is?)  In a few short hours of writing this paragraph, I am headed out to Kauffman to witness my beloved and hapless Royals take a pounding from the Boston Ortizes.  And I will be bombarded by the “Kiss Cam”; the “ball under the hat guessing game”; the pounding rock and roll music and all the other big screen nonsense that they think we need to enjoy ourselves.  Why can we not just satisfy ourselves with a mere baseball game?  That, in part, is why Wrigley is so great.  It is baseball and the side show is only the weird people.  (Remember the guy whose friends shaved the Cubs “C” into his back, and then colored it in as he sat in front of us in the bleachers a few years back) (OK, maybe I will rant and rave a little bit).

Most disappointing player of the year?: Without question Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox and the KC Blues.  How can a guy fall off the map like this.  Of course, I am forced to ride him out the rest of the year in hopes of squeezing a few points out of him.  He plays for a great team and he still can’t hold it together.  Second most disappointing.  Yes, Bartolo “Fat Man” Colon.  And yes, I should have known. Yes he was coming off of a career year.

Pitching: Let’s take a little look at the League's top pitchers at the moment: J. Santana 441; B. Webb, 440; J. Papelbon 431; C. Schilling 416; R. Halladay 412; M. Mussina, 409; C. Zambrano, 409; F. Liriano, 406; J. Putz, 394; J. Smoltz, 388; M. Rivera, 380; J. Verlander, 376; J. Schmidt, 376; J. Bonderman, 374; A. Harang, 373; B. Arroyo, 370.

Get serious.  Pitching is such a crap shoot.  Obviously the cream is rising to the top, ie Santana, Schilling and Halladay.  But seriously, as you sat at the draft in April can you honestly say you expected to see some of these guys on the list? Obviously you are smarter than me. But seriously, if anyone had drafted Aaron Harang, freaking Aaron Harang, in the first 10 rounds, they would have been laughed out of the place (or more likely greeted with stunned silence).  OK, some had heard of Papelbon, but Arroyo?  No way you draft that guy.  Mussina. I know we all thought he was done.  This is one occasion where actually watching a game hurt me.  I happened to catch Mussina pitch in a preseason game on TV and he got absolutely shelled.  Just mauled.  I was petrified to draft him, and his 400 freaking points!!

The highest Blue: No. 25 J. Zumaya.  And that was a freak shot.  I saw hm pitch against the Royals on opening day and he just blew them away.  Had to get him.  And right now he is my top pitcher, a middle reliever who doesn’t pitch that often.  And I thought I drafted pitching.