The Knurve is back....

Hello all. So things with COSFBA weren't working out. So I'm going to try and write on this blog at least once a week. I know only 12 of you will read it, but I don't really care. It's all about love of the game...

With that being said, enjoy.

This week, I have "The Knurve to say..."

"...The Giants will repeat as World Series Champs."

I know it's early in the season, but I am feeling very confident about this one. Many baseball writers seemed to write the Red Sox into the title, but after seeing them in person last weekend, I'm ready to say that the Giants will beat them in the World Series for a few solid reasons.

The first thing is the Red Sox lack of a right-handed bat. Take a look at the splits and you won't see much of a dip in terms of batting average. But the thing that does stick out is the Red Sox inability to hit for power against lefties. They've hit almost 3 times more homers against righties than they have against lefties. I think this will be a problem in October if Madison Bumgarner and Jonathan Sanchez both pitch well. Sanchez is slated to return to the bigs soon, and if he hits his stride in September that solidifies that rotation. Lefties are only hitting .222 off Lincecum so far this year. And believe it or not, righty Matt Cain is incrementally better against lefties than against righties.

The Giants pitching staff hurls .203 versus lefties with a slugging percentage south of .300. Couple that with the fact that the Giants bullpen has allowed the fewest runs in the majors this year and we have a delicious recipie for Giants success against the lefty bats on the Red Sox: Jacoby Ellsbury, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, David Ortiz, Josh Reddick and J.D. Drew.

I haven't even talked about the ballparks either. Lest we not forget that the Giants would have homefield advantage should they make it to the tasty tango, so the fact that San Fran plays as a strong pitchers park could mean more trouble for the lefty-heavy Red Sox.

Thoughts from the week that was...
-I'll start by answering the comments that were posted on my last article. The fan criticized my Jays wildcard pick, and that's completely warranted. I just feel like there's so much offensive potential and an improved bullpen would really make this team a contender, but Drabek has been a disappointment and the starting pitching has underperformed. I'll be interested to see what the Jays, Red Sox and Yankees all do at the deadline, but I'm not ready to call that pick dead yet. As for Ichiro having a big second half, I'll stand pat by that one. He's had a slow July, but I just can't fathom him digressing this quickly, especially since all the sub-stats say he's getting a little unlucky. I'm also going to stand pat with my Matt Kemp 40/40 prediction. I think he'll be the number 1 player off the board next year in fantasy. The commenter said he'd be lucky to get to 30/30. Considering he's already at 24/27, I'd say he's going to get to at least that.
-Fenway is awesome. Went to my first games there last weekend and it's such a personable ballpark. Saturday night I sat right next to the Mariners bullpen and could smell Brandon League's terrible body odor. I also want to point out that Brandon League looks exactly like Rob McElhenney who plays Mac from Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Miguel Olivo also told me to "Watch the game and shut the f#*k up" which was awesome. I didn't even heckle him that bad, but maybe he's mentally weak. The other highlight was Papelbon's entrance, that was epic and people in Beantown go wild.
-Brett Lawrie is a prospect I'm buying. He seems to be recovering well in AAA Las Vegas and could join the Jays in the next few days. I really see him contributing in a quasi-Braun or Longoria-type way as a rookie. His numbers in AAA are stupendous and he has a solid batting eye. If he's available in your league, go nab him.
-I also want to clarify a point I made about Adrian Gonzalez last week. I said to sell high on him post-HR Derby hype. I am of the school of thought where if you possess the "hottest player in fantasy" who is a widely-regarded elite name, than you should sell him, ideally in a 2-for-1 to plug any holes you may have. When you have a white-hot player who already has name recognition, it's a double-whammy that doesn't happen all the time. I said that I don't think Gonzalez gets to 35 shtoinkers when people thought he was a lock for 40. It's worth noting his shtoinker total from July so far.... 1.
- If you own Michael Pineda, I'm selling now. I don't think the 2nd and 3rd time through the league will be very friendly to him, and it's been a rough 2nd half so far. He's one of those guys who you trade now for a struggling hitter with potential or a reliever that could help your team. His fastball has lost life and his ERA by month: April: 2.01, May: 2.81, June: 3.03, July: 8.31. If you're in a keeper league, definitely hang on, but if you're in a Head-to-Head league, you might want to sell. If you're in a roto league, you may need to keep him for the strikeout potential.
- I'm in on Cameron Maybin. Dude's hitting .422 with 10 steals since the All-Star break. Before we call him a failure of a prospect let's remember that he's still only 24 years old. This could be a huge year for him in terms of career development. Hitting in PETCO certainly helped Adrian Gonzalez become a more complete hitter, and I think the same has happened for Maybin. San Diego only has him signed for this year, so if he moves, he could pay dividends for fantasy teams in a hitters park, or anywhere but PETCO.

I'll be quick with the Mike Stanton Mancrush Meter since I'm way over on words already. Last week: 7. This week: 8. Two more bombski's last week. He's the man.

Joke of the week: Banana walks into a bar, bartender says to leave since they don't serve food.