U2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVcJttcRknE


there are lots of U2 songs that i've loved over the years but this one has always spoken to me when i get in the midst of some of the depression/anxiety crap that i sometimes get buried in.

and nobody seems to talk about this tune as one of their greats. i've always loved it.
the embed option was removed so you'll have to go to youtube to check it out.

i know how to save a life

i've always liked this tune. interesting that i seem to be linking to tunes lately eh? whatever, that's not the point today.

i gave blood a couple days ago. i'm a regular donor and have been for several years now. i've endured newbie nurses drilling for oil and missing because i believe it to be important. i've even turned it into a race of sorts. i try to get my pulse rate down when the nurse checks amidst the miriad of questions she throws at you and then during the actual drilling for gold i concentrate really hard at bleeding and i've found that in 5 mins i can be done the formal vampiring (you realize that's a joke right?). of course you have to sit in the chair another 5 mins after that to make sure you don't faint through the experience but i've never been a fainter.
this time a cutey nurse completely missed the vein and all i heard was, "oops, sorry". that's all good though, i'm here because it's important to be here and i'll still be able to donate through the oops. so, my left arm is bruised up over the experience but ... i saved a life. seriously, i saved a life.

donating blood saves lives and it's only an hour of your life. step up. by the way, i don't watch Grey's Anatomy although this tune is apparently featured there regularly.

i want to be a hero

i don't know if i can express this well enough ... but i've always wanted to be a hero. i want to save a life, be the knight in shining armour, the cavalry to the rescue, ... i wanted to be Superman.
i'm not. i don't have the jam. it's not like i freeze under pressure, in fact i react just fine under pressure but i'm talking about something bigger.
i'm married to a wonderful and strong woman. she knows what she wants and she's determined that she can get what she needs. it gets to a point sometimes that i question what it is that i'm about to get for her since i want to be sure that it is something that she actually wants. so i can get a bit gunshy sometimes.
she and i have a general rule that if the other is having a bad dream, you wake the person up so that they don't have to live in the little hell that they're surrounded by. she's done this for me in the past but seldom do i recall having to wake her in the midst of a bad dream.
last night in the middle of the night i was woken in the dead of night at 330 by a cry for help. my thoughts were, was that Wendy? did i just hear what i thought i heard? does she need me? i wasn't sure. Wendy was beside me and she seemed, ok. do i wake my wife who has horrid troubles sleeping, out of the dead of sleep because i thought i might've heard her call me for help? if she's struggling in her dreaming then i don't want her trapped in some hellish place of her own making. what do i do?
some seconds later she began to groan and squirm and i knew that i HAD heard her call for help, so i woke her. the problem was in how long it took me to decide if she needed my help or not. i don't want to be a contributing factor to leaving her stranded in her own pain so i need to jump in but i also don't want to wake her when she's found some relief in sleep if it turns out that i'm wrong about what she needs.
so you see? i want to be a hero and i'm also gunshy about helping when it might just turn around and bite us both in the butt.

i don't know if you listened to that tune to the end but if i can take some snippets for you.

hero. it's a nice boy notion that the real world's gonna destroy. you know, it's a Marvel comic book, saturday matinee, fairy tale boy.
growing older you find, that illusions are bought, and the idol you thought you'd be, was just another zero.
i wanna be a hero.

as the house fell asleep, through a book i was lead to a life that i never knew.
I wanna be your hero.
and it spoke to my heart, from the moment i prayed. here's a pattern i made for you.
I wanna be your hero.
I wanna be your hero.
I wanna be your hero.

after i woke Wendy she told me she loved me and she managed to go back to sleep. i tossed and turned, dozed and prayed and wept because i wanna be a hero and i just won't ever measure up.
i have a hero though. i have a hero.

letter from God to man

thanks to Waving or Drowning? for finding this.

Let's make a deal

i write a monthly baseball article for Dobberbaseball.com and if you're interested then i just want to put this down here also. if you're not interested then ... move on with my blessings, i'll post again on other issues later.

Welcome once again to An Expert’s Audit – baseball edition. In this article we take a look at the fantasy team of a reader to see if there are areas we can improve so that we’re moving down a winning road. If you’re interested in getting your baseball team audited you can begin the procedure by emailing your league and team particulars to ian@dobberbaseball.com

Well, this has been an interesting month. The team that I contacted about an audit … didn’t email back after the initial email and a couple other subsequent attempts also failed. I just don’t get it. I’m a nice guy and I shower regularly so I know it’s not that. So, I decided that I’d run down some of the moves that I’ve been making in my own leagues and deals that have been made with my influence. You’ll notice there’s no team breakdown this month but it’s because I must be more menacing than I think I am, seriously I’m not bad-tempered at all so what’s up with that?

Free Agent Options over the last month

Miguel Batista – nobody talks about holds. I like holds. Valuable MR can be invaluable to a fantasy team as you keep your ratios low. Batista’s value is found in the fact that he’s SP eligible so he doesn’t use up a RP slot but he also is one of the first options out of the pen so he’s got a decent shot at holds. His win totals so far this season have been a huge bonus for my team although the WHIP is too high for my taste. There’s a good chance he wouldn’t make my team if I wasn’t buried in injury.

Chan Ho Park – he’s 2-1 with 7 holds since the beginning of June, he’s dropped his ERA by nearly 2 runs in those 20 IP and he’s put up 12 zeros for ER in those 18 appearances. Additionally, he’s eligible at SP so I can slide him into one of those slots and just take those extra holds to my standings.

Yunel Escobar – Dobber dropped him in the Expert’s League and I thought hard over a weekend about whether I wanted to my #1 waiver priority on a guy that I think could make the jump into the elite tier of SS’s in the game. He has 12 hits, 3 dingers and 12 RBI in the 7 games since the break and has looked really nice in my utility slot.

Brad Bergesen – 9 of his 10 starts since the end of May have been QS. If the O’s can put some more offense together then I think Bergie is going to be a special option.

Casey Blake – he’s carried a significant weight while Manny’s been shelved, so much so that he’s 2nd on the team for RBI and tied for 2nd in HR. He’s not a glamour add but he’s a solid citizen if you’re struggling to find an option that someone like Garrett Atkins was supposed to fill.

Paul Konerko – just as he got dropped by Dobberbaseball’s own Rich Dillon in a fun league I play in, he went on a nice power streak. Rich is a NL fan and missed out on the 10 dingers Konerko has hit since mid-June. Thanks though Rich, it’s appreciated.

Jake Fox – as a general rule I don’t add some rook that comes along but I had space on my roster in the league that I care the least if I win. He’ll be a nice bench option for me and who knows, maybe he explodes and becomes a roster regular. He’s on a 30 HR pace if he were to get regular AB’s, which he isn’t.


Trade Options over the season so far

Traded Miguel Tejada for Paul Maholm – this happened in April and then Tejada was Player of the Month for May so that didn’t feel so good. Maholm’s stats at home until recently have been well worth the cost for a guy that was on my bench when I traded him anyway.

Traded Bobby Abreu and Chad Qualls for Adam Dunn and Javier Vazquez – I did this deal in May after I was lagging in power and had some speed to spare. I had tallied 15 SB’s out of Abreu when I dealt him and I certainly didn’t see that continuing so I loaded on a K pitcher and some dingers for guys that I didn’t see continuing at the same pace. I jumped to 1st place in that league so I think this deal was worth it.

Traded Pablo Sandoval for Bengie Molina and Jermaine Dye – I was languishing in RF after losing Nady there at the start of the season and running Jose Guillen out there as my best option. Sandoval is a special talent and I fully believe he’ll be monstrous down the road if he isn’t already but I absolutely had to improve my RF situation. This deal let me roster a catcher that I didn’t “hate” to roster and improved me at a traditional power slot. Dye’s avg has jumped 20 points since I made this trade and his SLG has jumped 35 points. I’ll take that. This trade was made with Dobberbaseball’s own Dan Hiebert, who came out of the deal just fine I’ve got to think.

Traded Jose Lopez and Raul Ibanez for Chone Figgins – I’m in 1st place in my money league and I need to move in runs and SB’s. I also have 4 LF options for only 2 spots, including Manny Ramirez, Carlos Lee and Carlos Quentin. Yes it is an 8 team league in case you’re wondering. I’ll continue to play Manny and Carlos in LF and I’ll slot Chone into the spot previously held by Lopez. I should be ok for power and I’ll undoubtedly improve my lot in the speed categories if Chone stays healthy.

March’s Audit Marcel traded Jason Bay and Angel Guzman for Ben Zobrist and Brian Wilson – Marcel was hurting at 2b and in saves and he had some depth at LF so made this move in an attempt to get better where he needed it. If he can get some SB’s then this team is poised for a run at the championship. I think we gave up a tiny bit too much but, you have to do what you can in order to make a big move. Z is the real deal and he’s got a shot to be viewed in the same tier as Bay sometime soon anyway.

April’s Audit Johnny traded Ted Lilly and James Loney in his NL only league for Matt Kemp and Hunter Pence – I just plain think we smoked the other guy across the board on this deal.

Conclusions

I tried to give you a view of moves that I’ve made from several different leagues and when I could I took a shot at a guy just because I can.

I’m leading 2 of my six leagues, I’m top three in 2 more leagues and I’m sitting in a playoff spot in the last 2 leagues. I figure I have a shot at a championship in just about any of those leagues. I’ll need some quick healing on my Expert’s team with 6 guys on the DL, 5 of whom are pitchers, and I’ll have to hold off the reigning champ in my money league but I have a 5 pt lead there. It’s always a fun season though eh?

If you want to get an audit done you’ll need to submit your team information … and it’ll probably also be wise to respond when I email you about it. Please?

i could see Jackie doing this sort of thing

this is way cool. i love joyous behaviour and it looks like it was a great day. i thought of my sister-in-law who gets married next summer. i hope she doesn't make me dance because i'm not nearly this cool.




thanks to randallfriesen.com for putting this up.

what's out there?

do the hands and feet of Christ also have a voice? the church needs to speak out against injustice. i agree and am posting this because it must be said.

labyrinths hold a special spot in my spiritual development. i'm working on another post about this very link and it may even get posted before this one does.

actually, i reacted pretty strongly to this post. he talks about the 100 mile diet and then equates it to church shopping. he flat out says that he had a great experience going away for a weekend and attended a church 7 hrs from home that was the point of the trip. i'm pleased that his experience was great but i wanted to beg him to find that sort of experience locally. i didn't know how to comment to him appropriately so i said nothing. i'm still chewing on what and how i should say anything to him about this.

the First Nations need a strong leader. say some prayers.

pilgrimage without leaving home

i have a duplicate of the most famous middle ages labyrinth sitting on my desk at work. my wife gave it to me for Christmas one year and it has been a tiny blessing and reminder of the concepts of pilgrimage and prayer. my labyrinth is made of metal and it comes with it's own little travel stick with which i can trace my path as i pilgrimage my way to God, after all since it sits on my desk you have to realize it's only 3 inches tall.

here, go check this out, and you'll see pics of the original that i'd love to go and walk one day. the tiles of the floor have been worn so much over the centuries as priests, nuns, monks and saints kneeled their way through the labyrinth that the cathedral only opens the labyrinth up on Friday afternoons or something and you have to have an appt to be able to walk it anymore.

for me the spiritual exercise involved is in the realization of the journey. i've walked labyrinth's in backyards and i often stop along the path to ponder choices in my journey and pray in Thanksgiving that God is found along the way. the temptation when you get to the middle is to assume that you've arrived, that you've found God but in truth, the middle isn't the goal it's just another stop on the way. the goal is the pilgrimage, it's the prayer that you take part in along the way.

burdens weigh you down? pray about it. if it helps then get your own little handsized labyrinth and pray as you pilgrimage for five minutes.

some co-workers have come by my desk, asked about it, picked it up and started to follow the trail. curious that nobody has ever finished it and they put it down in frustration of how long they have to be introspective as they trace the journey. sad but true.

so who's up for a trip to Chartres France? we can walk together and pray our way together. if not then i can still just journey my way toward God as i sit at my desk at work.

Respect in Sport ... or the opposite

last night i very nearly lost some sanctification all over a couple coaches as their team lost a playoff game to end their season. they were naturally pretty upset over losing but nevertheless they were a good deal less respectful than they should've been in the situation. every coach and every umpire in the league is required to take the Respect in Sport course through Sport Manitoba, i just sometimes think that maybe i was the only one who actually paid attention during it.
i had a 2 whackers (that would be umpire lingo for a really close play) at 1b and a stolen base attempt on a pitchout that all went against the losing team. when one of the whackers scored the winning run one of the coach leatherlungs was busy bellowing about how i should get an assist on that run. later at the end of the inning the other coach ran clear across the field in an obvious attempt to discredit/embarrass/disrespect me with his opinion of my call on the stolen base. in both situations i just told the coaches that was "ENOUGH!" and i not so gently told them to go sit down but i could've just as easily told them to leave the park. it's a playoff game though, who wants to end someone's season like that? not me. unfortunately, i've dwelt on this for far too long now that i'm thinking that the right move would've just to turf'em and sleep a little better.
the smugness of the coaches after the game was unbelievable. imagine ... they MUST'VE had a much better view from 120 feet than i did from 7 feet.
i wonder why it was that i had a spiritual song running through my head after the game? y'know what? i slept pretty well anyway.

make a new one

i found this intro here and it just spoke to me about something that i've been thinking for some time now.

from: 'Dying Church - Living God', by Chuck Meyers pg. 37-39

Sometime in the early 1970s, the president of AT&T called all his managers into a large room for an emergency meeting. Attendance was mandatory. Speculation ran high as to what announcement would be made. Perhaps a breakthrough in technology. Perhaps a downsizing. Perhaps ...... They could tell by the grim look on his face that something extremely serious was about to be revealed. When all were seated, the president went to the podium and said, "The telephone as you know it no longer exists." Muffled giggles rippled through the room. What game was this? They all knew he was wrong. They had used phones that morning. He continued: "Anyone who does not believe that state-ment can leave this room right now and pick up your final paycheck on the way out of the building." Sober silence prevailed. No one left. They all just stared. "Your job today is to invent one."

He broke the group up into small teams and they spent the rest of the time coming up with a new phone. Some people wanted one with no cord...... in the car, or to carry around.... to know when another call was coming in.......to be able to forward calls to another number, to see the person on the other end, to send other kinds of messages on it. About 60 items that distinguished the telephone they invented. Many are now the features that we take for granted, from call-waiting to individual digital phones, and the list has not yet completed.

In the same manner, at the beginning of the third mil-lennium, we come to church one morning for the Sunday service and, much to our shocked dismay, we find a vacant lot with a little note tacked on a piece of tattered plaster out front. It is written in Hebrew and it is the same note left on every vacant lot of every former church building in the world, from cathedral to clapboard. Translated, it says, "The church you have always known no longer exists; it is gone - walls, pews, altar, and assumptions." The tomb is empty. "How can this be?" we ask in abject puzzlement. In the background, we hear God's laughter saying, "Given the world the way it is, given the devastating problems and the incredible possibilities opening up for the first time in history, given what you now know to be true in the world, the real question is, 'How can it NOT be?' " Then God looks us right in the eye and says, "Make a new one."

my community is emergent. we don't use the term in our circle but we are. i may have the discussion ALL wrong but emergent churches are simply trying to do church differently than it has been done and yet i hear many in the conversation talking about blowing it wide open and making it "denominational" big. the problem here is that emergent is small, emergent is community based, and it is individual centered. how do you make the conversation that is intended to be all about relationship of the individual with God and turn it into how does the group relate as a whole to God? doesn't that drive you head-on into another hierarchical power hungry system that you're trying to escape in the first place? if denominationalism is cold and impersonal (and i truly believe that it is) then why would emergent want to be big?

the purpose is to do church differently than it has been done over the centuries. emergent is trying to latch onto the idea of the priesthood of all believers and they're trying to "make a new one", at least that's what i think they're doing.

maybe i'm wrong but i sure hope i'm not. this whole post-modernist attachment to the ancient is a desire to be simpler too, isn't it? make a new one. do it differently and don't end up heading down a path that's well worn over the centuries. then again, maybe the house church idea is the well worn one, who's to say?

what's out there?

this is where i feel like i am today maybe i should read more Psalms, particularly the ones where David is fleeing from Saul.

i seem to be doing this linkage thing a lot but i think it speaks to the areas where i'm getting stuff that i like and incorporating it. if you've been linked in the past and you're reading now then let me just say thanks for what you've done for me already.

not that it makes any sort of difference whatsoever but the Pope confirms that the bones that are in the tomb of Paul the apostle actually are Paul's bones. ever read Act of God by Charles Templeton? it's a book about what happens to the church if some church funded archaeologist finds the bones of Jesus. great story but i can tell you where the bones of Jesus are if you ask me, Jesus still has them.

composting as a spiritual practice. very cool.

this brought some interesting thoughts to me about hell and the dark night of the soul. the Psalmist says that if i go down to Sheol, God is still there. is God in hell? is that the torment of hell? to see God and realize that you can't have him? that's just an aside though, i was more interested in being able to find God when the lights are out and the soul is dark, like in Sheol.

it's just not fair. how often i hear the complaining and too often i react that you shouldn't just be a victim like that. this reaction from this post is soooooooo much more graceful and relational that i have to change how i do this sort of thing.

prayers rise like incense

Wendy has been going through some really hard shit of late. i spend my days of late worrying while trying to work. Wendy's health has been an issue for all of her adult life, well actually her childhood needs to be included in that too. we have been VERY blessed in that my health has been very good so that for the most part i've been able to work and bring home enough to keep us afloat, that isn't a concern really. the concern has been just how frustrating life has been for the one i love. she had a great job that she loved, she was fulfilled and basically happy ... and then her health hits her with a sucker punch that floors her. she hasn't worked since Christmas and it tears her apart that she can't take part in something that has given her life.
we've tried to find other ways to get some life. we play our guitars together, that is a blessing beyond what i can express; we play games, we go for a bike ride, i read to her in bed. i want to thank God for the blessings that she gives to me, i really do love her. the mood stuff that we both struggle with gets in the way as we both ask the questions about where God is and what He is doing within this mess.
there are times that i don't want to keep slugging at this. there was a time that i was in the middle of a deep depression and i tell the story of how i took everything that was my faith and threw it on the floor so that i could decide what i wanted to pick up again. a part of me didn't want to pick up any of it again but ... i did pick some of it up again.
i still believe. i hope. my prayers still rise, even amidst this desert of answers to my questions.
enter Lisa. i found her blog linked on another blog i've been following and i related to some of her struggle. now her words are encouraging me to keep praying, keep hoping, keep believing. she recently quoted a tune i've never heard or heard of but it still spoke to me.

I can't feel You like others around me
I don't feel like kneeling or closing my eyes
Is there something wrong with my heart that I can't see?
Or do You feel love still when nobody cries?

'Cause I know in my heart how bad I want to touch You
You must sense this love my soul barely contains
No lack of desire in this desert to worship
I keep singing skyward it just never rains

So I'll praise You if I never feel You
And I'll love You cause I know You're there
And if You should choose I'm sure one day I'll feel it
But feeling good's never the reason I cared.

i keep hearing the echo of "no lack of desire in this desert to worship, I keep singing skyward, it just never rains". i commented on her blog thanking her for her words and she replied by quoting Psalm 141, "the prayers rise like incense, a pleasing aroma before the throne". it made me weepy sitting in my little cubicle on my lunch break.
how long oh Lord? how long? i'm hoping that questioning prayers still have a pleasing aroma before the throne. even in my desert, i still pray for cleansing, healing rain.

what's out there?

my sister in law would LOVE this post ... i think, then again she may not like the breakdown of the tune in light of a Christian perspective. she loves Boney M, and this album in particular.

i'm loving much of the stuff found on nakedpastor. this reached me.

i've never met Lisa but i like how she writes and struggles like we all do. here she quotes Anne Lamott and i just gotta read more of that stuff. then she absolutely blew me away by quoting these lyrics.

some interesting thoughts by an apparent former atheist about what it's like to view the athiest and see the absence of life and hope. this is linked elsewhere so you'll have to dig deeper to discover the original author(s).

a recent link to a community here in Winnipeg revealed a more recent link to a community of believers in Kingston Ontario. i grew up about 45 minutes away from there so i have been very interested in just seeing this blog. i love finding blogs to church communities that i have even the smallest connection to, sometimes it's just geography and history. God bless The House Famous.

Abba, bless Brittany on her journey as she serves and grows in Congo for the next while. i get really excited for younger folks who get to go out and do stuff like this, it's where the growing edges really are. at least that's exactly where they were for me at that age and i remember those opportunities VERY fondly.

what's out there?

this made me laugh and i need to laugh more. here's another one.

still testing to find out if i have interest in this but it's being linked on another blog that i frequent so i'm going to test it. i could make use of a free pdf book and the topic looks engaging.

Jordon Cooper has started a nice conversation about being Disappointed with the Emergent Village. nice conversation indeed, i've already commented.

St. Benedict's Table is an emergent group right here in Winnipeg that i've longed to go check out but there are other issues preventing that. anyway i found this two part podcast on Christian Rock and Church, music and art. Part I, and Part II. Steve Bell chimes in during Part II and Steve is an all time fave of mine.

Brother Maynard has started a new series on spiritual songs that get some play in secular music circles. of course U2 makes that list and there's a vid to see too. how long, to sing this song? is still going through my head. the song is 40 and it's taken from Psalm 40:1-3. man that's just freaky good.

just found this ... after i had already posted this. call it an addendum. funny.

i hate the hospital

my wife struggles regularly, mightily with migraines. there are days that are much worse than others and she's hyper-vigilant to know when those days are. this weekend has preceded an epic battle for her with the mother of all migraines. she woke me after a sleepless night to say "Ian, you better take me to the hospital."
i've taken Wendy to the hospital before, it always breaks me apart. it used to be that she'd worry about me sitting there with her, stewing in my own worry and she would just send me to wallow at home until she called, but now i just think she realizes that i'm worrying at home alone and she just lets me stew beside her through the experience. there have been times that i've worried for her life but most of the time it's been just hard to see her in pain. i do what i can to take my mind off of it; i read the paper, do the Sodoku, fail miserably at the Crossword, read the Sports page again and dissect the boxscore, and sit and do nothing but think too much and pray too little.
my prayer in those moments is ... how long, oh Lord? it's not an easy struggle as you listen to some guy behind some curtain wretch his way through the day after a night of too much of some substance. normally Wendy, who understands her situation much better than the doctor, asks for a certain iv steroid and that helps. it didn't help much this time so she endured the pain as they slowly got another iv ready for their 2nd attempt. the 2nd attempt only helped ... about 20%. the 3rd attempt (after 6 hours) brought some relief and by about 8 hours we were home.
Wendy thanks me for my patience through this and my reaction is, no thanks are necessary, i just want to help you somehow. normally the only way i can help is just to be there and to pray, so that is what i try to do. but the question still lingers, how long oh Lord?
i did a homily in our church community a couple months ago, it was based on the story of the paralytic and his 4 friends who tore open a roof so they could lower their friend before Jesus. i called it "The faith of a few close friends". i believe. i know that Jesus can help her and i know that i ask for it. i also know i'm not alone in asking for it, but the question still hovers in my mind, how long oh Lord? what value is there in this journey? i suppose it makes me more attentive to my wife's needs, and i do need to be more attentive, so perhaps that's the cutting edge for me. mold me Lord. i want to be a better husband. i want to reach more folks and i want to start with the person who means the most to me.
i love you Wendy. i still believe and i'm still praying. bless you my wife, my dearest.

An Expert's Audit - baseball edition

I write for a fantasy baseball website, a fantasy hockey website and i have my own hockey blog at a 3rd website. i want to put my articles at a second sight just so that it can be seen elsewhere. if you have no interest in baseball and/or fantasy sports then you probably don't want to read the rest of this post ... otherwise enjoy.

Welcome once again to An Expert’s Audit – baseball edition. In this article we take a look at the fantasy team of a reader to see if there are areas we can improve so that we’re moving down a winning road. If you’re interested in getting your baseball team audited you can begin the procedure by emailing your league and team particulars to ian@dobberbaseball.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

I’d introduce you to Scott Wysocki but ... he never told me anything about himself. Life gets pretty busy sometimes, I get that, and that has meant a little less contact between us this month than is the norm. I think he was just in awe of my presence, either that or he just didn’t trust me much but nevertheless Scott plays in a 12 team 5x5 including R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, W, SV, K, ERA and WHIP. When I came on the scene Scott had had just made a move that I hated and I told him so.

Let’s take a look at Boats ‘n Hoes.

C Jorge Posada NYY – the worst of the Yankees you roster but still an ok option in standard fantasy leagues. Well, he’s ok at best.

1b Mark Teixeira NYY – it’d be a lot easier to like this guy if he wasn’t a Yankee. Oh well, dude can mash.

2b Freddie Sanchez PIT – this is the move that I hated. Scott dropped Alexei Ramirez to pickup up Sanchez and the first words of advice out of my keyboard were to go get lexy back. It was too late. Ramirez had been selected in the 5th round of the draft and now a key member of your team was starting for someone else. I never drop anyone I take in the first 10 rounds unless they’re done for the season. If they start abysmally slow then they can be benched but don’t drop them.

3b Alex Rodriguez NYY – brrrr, is it cold in here? I dropped him so far down my draft lists that I didn’t end up with him on a single one of my teams. New York has a way of getting into a guy’s head and with all his troubles this season you can make an argument that you should buy low right now or you can make my argument that you should just stay away from ARod for a long while.

SS Derek Jeter NYY – he recently passed the Babe for career doubles, why do people call him overrated? You won’t find many better offensive options that you can stick at SS and get the leadership and consistency you’d find in Derek.

OF Nelson Cruz TEX – beware, the avg has been dropping like a stone in June (.183 for June as of the 24th of the month). He has the potential to put up numbers like Matt Holliday gave as a Rockie though so that’s some very valuable stats.

OF Matt Holliday OAK – well, he’s no longer a Rockie. At this pace he’d be really hard pressed to get to 20 HR and 100 RBI, which I thought was a given at the beginning of the season.

OF Shane Victorino PHI – I’m a believer in Rollins but I’ve got to think that Victorino could do decently well at the top of the order and then Rollins can relax lower in the order with less pressure on him. The criticism against the Flyin’ Hawaiian has been around OBP but … that looks pretty good to me (.372 which is higher than at any time in the bigs).

OF Elijah Dukes WAS – when healthy and contributing he can be phenomenal. Unfortunately he was hurt the last half of May and June has seen his avg drop 30 points.

Util Dexter Fowler COL – see Dexter run. Run Dexter run. He doesn’t have much fantasy value except in some SB’s and maybe some runs.

BN Nyjer Morgan WAS – see Dexter Fowler. He's got more value to his new team and they will also likely give him more runs to score. The Nats offense is one of their strong points.

BN Daniel Murphy NYM – well, I don’t think he brings anything to the table quite honestly. He doesn’t run, he doesn’t hit for avg and the power stats aren’t there either. No thanks.

SP James Shields TB – I say this guy has the tools to be Johan Santana good. He’s 6-5 right now and I for one will be targeting him more in any league where I need to make a SP move. The K’s are there, the ratios too and the W’s are on the horizon with that offense.

SP Cole Hamels PHI – The QS is still decent here, he’s not allowing many hits or runs and he also hasn’t won since a complete game shuttie on June 4. He’ll be fine … I hope.

RP Mariano Rivera NYY – as steady an RP option as there is in the game. No worries here.

RP Brad Lidge PHI – well ok, start worrying here. His most recent DL was coming along all season as he had several little implosions and few instances of shutdown behaviour.

P Ted Lilly CHC – only 4 starts this season that weren’t a QS and yet he’s only 7-5. The ratios and K’s are there though so I’m not worrying about him.

P Edwin Jackson DET – I’m betting few pundits predicted these sorts of stats at the beginning of this season. He was one guy I was expecting a bounceback from but I was thinking a baseball bounceback not an Indian rubber ball bounceback.

P LaTroy Hawkins HOU – as soon as Valverde was healthy again then LaTroy’s value tanked.

BN Zach Duke PIT – Duke, Maholm and Ohlendorf are all over .500 for the Bucs. Think about that, the Bucs stink. Duke is leading the charge for a rebirth of decent pitching in Pitt.

BN Ricky Romero TOR – an injury for 5 weeks really puts a cramp in your ability to put up stats. Most recently he’s had 5 QS in a row and he’s 3-1 in that span. I like him.

BN Chris Volstad FLA – I was thinking he might have a shot at something decent this season but he’s been 1-4 over the last month and getting spanked around the park too much. I’d be cutting ties pretty quickly in any league I had him in.

Think maybe Scott’s a Yankee fan? His infield is loaded with 4 from “the Dark Side” and then he added the closer to the mix too. The only one I wouldn’t be thrilled to roster is Posada who I think has lost too much to be a full time viable fantasy starter.

What place was Scott in when I showed up? 11th. Yeah, that’d be because his pitching has more than struggled to start the year and his hitting lacks runs.

The things to target for this team over this period were all forms of pitching and on the hitting side we’d need runs.

FA Options

Clayton Kershaw – this kid is way too good to have this bad a record and stats. He’ll get K’s and with LAD he’s bound to get W’s over the course of what will be a very long and nice career.

Michael Cuddyer – I love it when you glean a hot bat off the wire and then flip him for a better option. See the Trading Options section to see what you were able to turn Cuddyer and a low end pitcher into.

Jerry Hairston Jr. – from the end of May until about mid-June he was on fire and we caught most of those stats as we searched for a run scoring 2b option.

David Price – doesn’t belong on a waiver wire in any standard league. He’ll get K’s and W’s and the ratios will be fine.

Dallas Braydon – nine of his last ten starts have been QS’s and he’s still only been 2-4 over that span. That says to me that the A’s just aren’t hitting enough. This kid could be something special if he got more support.

C.J. Wilson – while Lidge was shelved then C.J. was a nice short term addition to the lineup. Francisco can still take the job back and Easy Eddie might get some chances too but C.J. is still a strong option for saves in that pen.

Carlos Marmol – Gregg is the closer for the Cubs but the stats are pretty steep for him. The next and only real option other than Gregg is Marmol right now. He’ll probably vulture some saves and do a better job at keeping ratios down.

Trading Options

Traded John Baker, Nick Johnson, and Edwin Jackson to The Schist for Evan Longoria, Joe Mauer, and C.C. Sabathia – you had made this deal just prior to joining up with Expert’s Audit for a review. My reaction when I saw this deal was that you must’ve had pictures of Schist with a squirrel or a penguin or something. But no matter how you dissect it, this was a freaking steal.

Traded Michael Cuddyer and Zach Duke to The Mexicutioner for Chad Billingsley – this was another steal since you paid a price you could easily afford in order to add a SP that you needed pretty desperately. This was the 2nd elite SP you had added and it enabled you to start looking at the other areas you needed help on.

Traded Jorge Posada to dr c&b for Kevin Gregg – you needed to add a RP3 after Lidge has struggled all season and then went on the DL. You resisted this move because Gregg’s ratios are so poor but the additions to your SP corps will help your ratios and Gregg will get you saves that you won’t be getting with Lidge on the DL.

Traded Nyjer Morgan and David Price to Nats for Ben Zobrist and Francisco Cordero – you still need saves and you needed a 2b eligible player who gets runs, Zobrist and FCord fit the bill perfectly. The price tag was Price and a bench OF you could afford to part with.

Conclusions

That’s a lot of work in a month’s time actually. Over the course of the past 8 weeks your team has gained nearly 30 roto points and you’ve gained 5 places in the standings. There are some big moves in store for you once the “tweaks” you’ve made to your roster get to a place that guys actually add to your totals significantly.

You helped your pitching a lot, you added incredible quality in Mauer, Sabathia, Longoria, Billingsley and then you traded for specific needs in getting Gregg, Cordero and Zobrist. Great deals. Great talent off the FA. You’re on your way. Well done.