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Gentlemen:

Romans.  And Countrymen.  Lend me your ears.  But just for a short while.

With the official Hot Stove League Trip set to begin tomorrow, and with the promise of a richly-detailed account of the junket to come in the form of next week’s Jiggernaut, I will not overburden your weary eyes with an excessively long Bullpen this week.  Just a few thoughts and points. 

STANDINGS THROUGH THREE WEEKS

And speaking of points, the standings after three weeks of play look like this: 

Good Lord, are we really in store for a wire-to-wire championship run by the Wahoos this season?  Other than my recent nightmare where Newt Gingrich had been elected president, I can’t think of a more chilling scenario for my immediate future as a citizen on Planet Earth. 

The Wahoos’ rocket launch out of the gate may be unprecedented in the annals of this league, and while Possum has obviously picked a fine team this year—or so it would appear—does anyone really expect Round 25-pick Kyle Lohse to continue averaging 30 points per start, go 27-and-0 on the season, and to lead the league in Hot Stove League pitching points this season?  Will Wahoos hitters Josh Willingham, Chris Young, Nick Swisher and Edwin Encarnacion finish the season in the top 13 in points scored by hitters, which is the position in which they currently sit?  Well, not if Possum’s “reversion to the Mean” theory has any merit to it at all.  But let’s wait and see what happens. 

LEADERBOARD

Here are the leading hitters through three weeks of play:

HITTERS

 PITCHERS

It is astonishing how hot Ted’s hitters have started the year.  He has 5 of the top 13 hitters, 6 of the top 21, 8 of the top 44, and 11 of the top 75.  On the other hand, the poor Bears don’t have a single hitter in the top 25, and their only hitter in the top 50 is Alejandro DeAza, a name I had never heard before, who has 59 points as an outfielder for the Chicago White Sox.  His only other player in the top 75 is Zack Cozart, shortstop for Cincinnati, at No. 55. 

On the pitching side, Possum has the top pitcher in Kyle Lohse with 120, but the Senators have Jered Weaver at No. 2 with 119 points and Justin Verlander at No. 3 with 118 points, and a total of four pitchers in the top 25.  Everyone else in the league has at least one pitcher in the top 25 save the Chiefs, who went with the strategy this season that hitting is everything and pitching means nothing.  Yeah, let’s see how that works out for you this season, B.T. 

ODE TO THE ORACLE

I absolutely loved Underbelly’s guest edition of The Bellyflop last week, a classic which will be posted under the Oracle’s personal link on the website.  Loved his high school picture with the plaid sports coat and that full head of hair, loved the White House picture with all of the Hot Stove League clues (how did you do that?), loved the comment about Tony Bennett’s toupee, loved the observations about Moneyball (could not have agreed more with this analysis), and loved the bit about Bob’s trips with Jody to Cancun and Aruba.  Great stuff!

NEXT WEEK:  The Jiggernaut

Skipper