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 )

I don’t think that I would ever dare challenge Peter Gammons and his views on things. We’re talking about a guy who has elevated his profession to a point that I can’t even fathom me doing in mine (which, by the way, is far less interesting than baseball journalism and will never get me into Cooperstown).

But now, more and more often, I feel like the man is indirectly criticizing me for liking non-conventional  statistics. And I guess I didn’t expect any of this from a guy like him, especially because it wasn’t too long ago that he was considered one of the old school writers who was open to utilizing sabermetrics.

But since late October, here are some things that Gammons has written (seemingly unprovoked, mind you):

Want to know about winners? (Dustin) Pedroia gave up his scholarship at Arizona State to free up money to sign a much-needed pitcher, so when the Sun Devils reached the College World Series, coaches and players had “DP” on their caps in honor of their leader who never got to Omaha. The sabermetrics guys in their garages never understand these things.- October 29, 2007

Raines, Rickey Henderson and Wade Boggs were the best of the ’80s and early ’90s, and while some of our sabermetric fellows do not believe players are humans, Raines made every team he was on better – December 29, 2007

I voted for (Jim Rice), but it’s been interesting that there have been people like Rob Neyer who are so obsessed with degrading Rice’s career. - January 3, 2008

What gives, Peter? All three of these comments were written regarding topics that didn’t necessarily have to include sabermetrics. Gammons was the one who brought up the topic.

Look, I get it. I’m not sure if I’m good enough at analyzing numbers to even qualify as a sabermetrics guy, but as a group, we can be incredibly snarky and too stubborn to take intangibles into account – not because we “do not believe players are humans”, but because none of the hard data proves that these things help in any way shape or form. If we can’t prove that Jason Varitek’s leadership helped David Ortiz hit 5 more homeruns than he would have otherwise, then we can’t take it into account when crunching numbers. It’s all it is.

And I don’t want to speak for Rob Neyer (who has probably penned a few too many words against Rice’s candidacy) because he can take care of himself. But I don’t think that he ever even thought to “degrade Rice’s career” to any extent. I think it’s far more accurate to say that Neyer and others (including myself) disagree with the manner in which Rice is perceived. Simply put, it doesn’t appear to me that Jim Rice would have been even close to the Hall if he didn’t play so many games in Fenway Park. And if he really was feared to the extent that’s been written and spoken about him, he’d have been walked far more often than he actually was. Does this stance qualify as “degrading”? Not to me, it doesn’t. If it does, then it stands to reason that I degrade Miguel Olivo’s career by claiming that he can’t hit a lick.

I really doubt that I would have been bothered by any of these comments had they been written by Skip Bayless or Bill Conlin. But Gammons is obviously a guy I have tremendous respect for. And it makes me a little sad to be honest. See, Peter? We have feelings too.