Week 4 NewsletterMay 5, 2009PHONY LEAGUE BASEBALL NEWSLETTERVol. 25, No. 4 PHONY LEAGUE BASEBALL ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Instigators had a powerhouse week on offense in Week Four, but thanks to apparently hitting off their own pitching, their defense was less than stellar. Similarly, while the Ghost Riders dominated on pitching (thank you Mr. Greinke!), their bats were missing the balls. In all, not a lot of movement, and no one seems determined to pull away from the pack, though the Kiwis are inching away from the second-place Scapegoats. Slowly I turned, step by step…. All right, enough vaudeville, on to the POWs. PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINATIONS: The Player of the Week is Zach Greinke. Player of the Week on the Bench is Trevor Hoffman, with his four saves of shut-out ball safely ensconced on the Kiwi bench. To be fair, we understand the Kiwis were going to put him in but remembered a few minutes after the Tuesday 9 AM deadline. Plan ahead is the message. Since he was coming off the DL, it’s hard to be too critical about it---witness Scott Baker, who returned from the DL to stink up the joint in nearly every start since. TRANSACTIONS: April 29: May 1: May 3: May 4: May 5: A correction to last week’s transaction list: The Ghost Riders claimed MARK DiFelice, not MIKE DiFelice. I keep mixing the two up (even though Mike apparently is now retired), and so I checked it four or five times before the claim went in to make sure it was Mark, the Brewers pitcher, not Mike, that I was claiming. When the email of confirmation came, sure enough it said Mike, not Mark. I remarked on this asking for a correction, and then like a bonehead I cut and pasted the erroneous confirmation into the transaction sheet, so it looked like I was an even bigger bonehead than I actually am. But it’s MARK, not Mike. You’d think that I’d be able to remember that, wouldn’t you? But no. Ai yi yi. Mark. Not Mike. Mark. The last day to postmark or deliver a waiver claim for the players released in this newsletter is Monday, May 11, 2009. If a claim for one or more of those players is postmarked or delivered on or before that date and does not specify whether it is a waiver claim or a free agent claim, it will be considered a waiver claim. Announcements of all free agent and waiver acquisitions are subject to change if a late arriving letter or postcard is received from a team with a superior claim. REMINDER ABOUT FREE AGENT CLAIMS: When claiming a free agent, you must specify whether the player being released is in the lineup or not. The status of the released player is the status on the day before the claim goes into effect, which means in most cases it is the status on the day you send the claim. If the released player is not in the lineup on the day you send the claim, you can just note NIL, which, of course, means not in lineup. If the released player is in your lineup on the day you send the claim, you must report who will replace that player in your lineup. I do not care if you already reported a sub to your “checker.” You must also report the sub in the free agent claim. If it makes it easier to understand, when you make the claim just forget that you have a “checker” for your lineup and pretend that all your substitutions are reported to the person receiving the player claim. Then, report the substitution in the free agent claim.
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