It was lucky Week 13 in the UmpBump Fantasy League. Here’s what befell each of us:

Sarah: The Somerville Green Sox suffered a 9-2 beatdown at the hands of Box89RowKKSeat14, Ania’s team. Although, I have to say, neither of our offenses were very good this week. I only took the RBI category (by a single ribbie) and steals (which I won even though Jacoby Ellsbury hasn’t stolen a base since June 17). Of course, my pitching got lit up again, in what now feels like the norm for the Green Sox, especially Pedro Martinez, by the Yankees, and Matt Cain, by Cleveland. Thank the hardball gods that interleague play is over. Hot: Johnny Cueto, Ian Kinsler, Vernon Wells. Not: Martinez, Cain, Ellsbury, Clayton Kershaw, James Loney, Rickie Weeks.

Paul: This week shouldn’t have been as close a match-up as it ended up being between myself and my fantasy-challenged colleague, Coley Ward. My players racked up a .423 OBP to Coley’s paltry .326 and I won total bases 123-97. Despite this, I still lost runs scored, tied in home runs, and barely won RBIs. So I’m not sure if it was a successful week offensively speaking. It was a mixed bag on the pitching side as well, having a dominant week in my peripheral categories (0.97 WHIP and 3.92 K/BB) but not having those numbers translate into victories in wins or ERA. In short, it was a week that proved the sabermetric axiom regarding sample sizes. No matter how successfully you execute - whether it be by getting on base and hitting for extra bases for batters or walking few and striking out many for pitchers - over a short period of time you may not get the desired result. But if my team can keep dominating those very categories, then I will be just fine over the long haul. Oh, and I ended up winning the week 6-4-2. So… Maybe I shouldn’t be complaining. Hot: David Wright, Adam “I Hate Baseball SO MUCH” Dunn, Matt Holliday, C.C. Sabathia, Justin Duchscherer, Cliff Lee. Not: Greg Smith, Trevor Hoffman, Chris B. Young.

Coley : Paul shouldn’t be complaining. He was lucky I didn’t beat him this week. Josh Hamilton came to the plate yesterday afternoon with the bases loaded and a chance to win the RBI column for the Crunkball All-Stars, but he popped out. And that was ok, because it was still a 3-1 game between the Phillies and the Rangers, still a save situation, and I figured that meant I’d get a save out of either Brad Lidge or C.J. Wilson and I’d win saves for the week. Unfortunately, the Rangers scored three more runs that inning and Wilson came in and pitched in a non-save situation. So Paul, you got lucky. Hot : Mark Teixeira, Jered Weaver, Jair Jurrjens, Dice-K. Not : Chone Figgins, Brett Myers.

Alejandro: I checked the standings early Sunday morning and I found myself down in the count, but definitely not out. I was knocked around all week, was up and down, but kept my head up, and lo and behold, the results are in. My offense surged on its last day and over came the difference for a solid 8-4 victory that places me 4.5 games out of first place. Jermaine Dye (who’s been on a torrid tear) helped the White Sox sweep the Cubs (along side Alexei Ramirez, who’s having a solid season himself). It’ll be a tough week ahead, though, as Chipper Jones and Dan Uggla, and Magglio Ordoñez are hurt. Hot: Hanley Ramirez, Jermaine Dye, Alex Gordon (barely), Josh Beckett, Tim Lincecum, Kerry Wood, B.J. Ryan. Not: Vicente Padilla, Todd Wellemeyer, Eric Chavez, Hunter Pence, A.J. Pierzynski.

Standings (games behind):

1. Paul - ElDuquesInjuryReport ( - )
2. Alejandro - Center Field Stud ( 4.5 )
3. Scott - Utley’s Firm Quads ( 6 )
4. Doug - Swamp Dragons ( 8.5 )
5. Sarah - Somerville Green Sox ( 14.5 )
6. Kirk - Montefusco’s Revenge ( 15 )
7. Ania - Box89RowKKSeat14 ( 20 )
8. Larry - croutchyoldman ( 27.5 )
9. Bryan - Pirates in ‘08! ( 29.5 )
10. Coley - Crunkball All-Stars ( 30 )
11. Caitlin - caitlin grace ( 32.5 )
12. Sooze - freebase my balls ( 34 )

There are two sides to every story. Take last night’s Phillies-Braves game, for example.

Here’s what Atlanta manager Bobby Cox had to say about the game:

"We gave it away," said manager Bobby Cox, whose Braves had won 18 of their previous 22 home games before losing this important series opener. "We didn’t lose it, we gave it [away]. Bad base-running, dropped a popup. …

And here’s what Phillies closer Brad Lidge had to say about the game:

"If you want things in the season to go good, you need to have some of those ‘Force be With You’ moments," Lidge said. "The Force was with us tonight."

The Braves had a 2-1 lead against Philadelphia and were one out from a win when second baseman Kelly Johnson inexplicably dropped a popup in the ninth inning. The ball squirted from his glove as a stunned crowd of 34,074 watched Eric Bruntlett race from second base to score the tying run for the Phillies, who scored twice in the 10th and hung on to win.

The Braves had won 18 of their previous 22 home games before losing last night. Atlanta almost came back to tie the game in the bottom of the tenth inning, but Shane Victorino threw out Yunel Escobar at the plate to end it.

Here’s what Lidge had to say about the play:

"(The last play) was so much fun to watch from my perspective. At first I thought there was no way, and then all of a sudden this absolute pea-rod comes in from Shane, on the money and everything. It just was perfect."

And here’s what Escobar had to say:

"I wasn’t thinking of going home," Escobar said through a translator. "But I saw the throw; that’s why I made the decision."

It’s unclear what Escobar saw that made him think it was a good idea to head for home. As AJC beat writer David O’Brien points out, "it was obvious from the time he took off for the plate that Escobar was going to be out, barring a terrible throw."

And Victorino’s throw was far from terrible. It was a freaking pea-rod!

1. The Phils couldn’t have done any better. Considering what was available on the free agent market (very little) and what Gillick was willing to part with (not much) this is a pretty good deal. Brad Lidge was once one of the game’s premier closers and has shown that he still can be.

The most important thing about this trade is that the Phillies dealt three guys with little potential for one guy with HUGE potential.

Who knows? Michael Bourn may one day be a star, but the best case scenario has him morphing into Juan Pierre, while the more realistic scenario has him becoming the next Endy Chavez.

I don’t know much about 3B prospect Mike Costanzo, but here’s what Baseball America has to say about him, via http://phuturephillies.com/category/players/mike-costanzo/:

He earned comparisons to Russell Branyan for his prodigious lefthanded power and erratic play at third base, where he committed 34 errors.

Costanzo evokes Branyan also for his strikeouts (157 in 508 at-bats), and his grooved swing will continue to produce holes that pitchers at advanced levels can exploit. He has the athletic ability to adjust and the raw power to hit homers even without squaring up the ball, but he must show the ability to make more adjustments and lay off pitches he can’t hit.

Defensively, Costanzo has the tools to play third, most notably a plus arm. But he has yet to make the adjustments that would make him an average defender. He lacks consistent footwork, and scouts question his agility and infield actions.

Not an inspiring description.

Finally, there’s Geoff Geary, who was shuttled between the bigs and the minors last season. He’s a back of the bullpen guy. A throw in. Whatevs.

2. Philadelphia is a tough place to pitch. If you’re not nervous about Brad Lidge’s mental makeup, than you must know something I don’t. If Lidge thought pitching in Houston was tough, wait until he gets to Philadelphia. Lidge is going to need to get off to a good start, or he might not last long.

3. More work to be done? More good news today, as the Philly Inquirer reports that the team is close to resigning setup man J.C. Romero. Romero was a force for the Phils down the stretch last season.

Romero went 1-2 with a 1.24 ERA in 51 appearances last season for the Phillies, who signed him to a minor-league contract after the Boston Red Sox released him.

So that’s welcome news. Read the rest of this entry »

This week Forbes magazine published its annual estimates of the value of each major league baseball franchise. The Yankees were in first place with a staggering estimated value of $1.2 billion, which represented a 17 percent increase over last year’s estimate.

In fact, all 30 teams increased in value over the past year, as baseball continues to rake in money at a tremendous rate thanks to new television deals, higher ticket prices, and increased ad revenue. Wheras as recently as three seasons ago the 30 teams combined to have an operating loss of $57 million, even before taxes, amortization, and depreciation were factored in, in 2006 the teams combined to have an alltime high operating revenue of $496 million.

Not surprisingly, at the very bottom of the list of teams in terms of estimated value of the franchise were the Florida Marlins at a mere $244 million. But amazingly, the Marlins led all 30 teams with an operating revenue of $43.3 million, whereas the Yankees were dead last with an operating loss of $25.2 million.

The reason for this of course is that the Yankees paid an estimated $70 million in luxury taxes for the 2006 season, and the Marlins received a good portion of that money. While I’m sure the Yankees don’t mind the loss so much, given that the value of their franchise as just increased by about $200 million in a single year (at least according to Forbes), how happy must the Marlins be? Given that their payroll last year was only $15 million - easily the lowest in baseball - that means that nearly about $30 million dollars is going directly into owner Jeffrey Loria’s pockets.

Now it would be one thing if the Marlins were just purposely fielding an uncompetitive team just to turn a profit, but this is not the case. Not only did the Marlins field an extremely talented squad last year that made a legitimate run at the playoffs, but their refusal to trade Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrerra - the only two players on the team who actually make any money - shows that the Marlins actually do plan to try to win when the time is right.

And given that the Marlins have an ridiculous amount of talent, with a quality young player (or in some cases, two) at every position on the diamond, all of whom can reasonably be expected to improve over the next few years, as well as a talented young pitching staff, the time for the Marlins to go deep in the playoffs could come very, very soon. And given that the Marlins increasingly appear to be on track to get a new $500 million retractable-roof stadium in South Florida by 2009 or 2010, the Marlins will soon have a massive new revenue stream to sign some free agents to bolster any holes in their team.

So basically we have baseball’s most profitable team in possession of its most dazzling collection of young talent and about to get a new stadium. Looks to me like the Marlins are going places, and fast. As I’ve written in this space before, everyone criticized the Marlins for the two fire sales they’ve had after their two World Series championships, but given that the young players acquired in the first fire sale led directly to the second World Series crown, and this new crop of players seems likely to contend for another World Series title in the very near future, who’s to say that the Marlin Way isn’t the best way to go?

So Brad Lidge is no more. The Astros finally gave him the hook and he’s no longer closing for them. I would bet a million bucks that if I ask 10 people, those 10 people would give the same reason for his troubles.

Two words. Albert Pujols.

Even ‘Stros manager, Phil Garner, gets into the act:

Garner is adamant that Lidge’s problems stem from bad karma and the media scrutiny from having given up Albert Pujols’ game-winning home run in Game 5 of the 2005 National League Championship Series.

“He’s conscientious,” Garner said of Lidge. “As I had said earlier, I think it’s time for him to say to a few of you folks, ‘I’ve talked about this enough. I have work to do.’ You got to follow a story, but you can’t keep answering the thing from Pujols. And most of this stems from that moment and what’s carried on.”

Lidge was on the Dan Patrick Show yesterday and, as usual, he was all business when it came to the question if whether Albert Pujols’ home run in the NLCS begat his demise.

“It’s obviously a fair assessment for someone to make that conclusion and say that was the reason…”

Of course it is, Brad; but as much fanfare as has been made over Pujols’ blast (it was monumental), one thing that gets constantly overlooked is Lidge’s performance in the World Series. The guy himself seems to have forgotten.

From the Dan Patrick show, April 16:

lidge_danpatrick.mp3

Wait, but what happened in between the NLCS and the World Baseball Classic?

Oh right, the World Series. It was there where Lidge truly spiraled out of control.

And of course, game four, top of the 9th, Willie Harris on second. Jermain Dye singles in the only run of the game. Pitching for the Astros was Mr. Brad Lidge.