"Halfway There"....

Although the All-Star break is referred to as the "midpoint" of the season by most people in reality, it isn't... For example, the Arizona Diamondbacks have already played 90 games and four teams have played 89... For the break to truly represent the halfway mark, it would have been last week... At this point, I'd like to check out some of my fantasy teams, give a midseason assessment and also maybe offer up some suggestions as to who to trade and who to target in trades in the coming weeks...

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CBS Sportsline Leagues:

(note: all are 10 team, 5x5, 22 man ML universe leagues with 2 reserve spots - 2 C's, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 SS, 1 3B, 5 OF, 2 Util, 9 P, 2 bench, no DL slots)

Right Wing Agenda

Rk Team                   BA   HR RBI   R   SB   K   ERA   WHIP  W  S Total
1.California Waves.2785 174 651 618  80 698 3.328 1.161 42 75 79.0
2.Bottom Feeders   .2851 152 624 621  41 679 4.161 1.297 57 51 71.5
3.078 BEEF            .2774 138 566 619 110 732 3.867 1.317 51 39 62.5

Things are going very well in this league... I've opened up a 7.5 point lead and that's with being LAST in wins... I've had a lot of bad luck with wins this year, but as you know they are the most fickle category. The past month though I've finally started getting some... I have very strong leads in Home Runs, RBI's, ERA, WHIP and in Saves... no, it's not over yet, but that trade of A-Rod for Johan Santana ultimately is what has made my team so good - my pitching was just above average at the time of the trade while my power stats were amazing. Dealing A-Rod hasn't hurt my power numbers at all, and my pitching stats are now nothing short of dominant!!!

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Fanatics

Rk Team                 BA   HR  RBI   R   SB   K   ERA   WHIP  W  S Total
1.Bingo All Stars   .2809 149 596 585 101 665 3.819 1.269 46 47 65.5
1.ahchump           .2869 141 600 594  98 643 3.740 1.307 54 56 65.5
3.Calif. Piranhas   .2807 155 575 598  80 654 4.114 1.273 41 68 62.0
4.Grays                .2763 143 587 597  76 651 4.073 1.321 56 65 59.0
5.VictoryDC          .2935 142 605 580  88 690 4.284 1.338 43 62 58.0
6.Bio Boys            .2801 114 559 550  75 692 3.518 1.180 53 47 57.5
6.Apple Jackers    .2728 151 556 625  74 610 3.674 1.263 62 44 57.5
8.Trojans            .2687 153 578 594 112 667 3.969 1.283 52 41 56.5

Now you want to talk about a CRAZY race... look at this - 8 teams within 9 points of the lead!!!... I've personally lost or gained as many as 6 spots in a day... I did manage to spend about 40 minutes in first place a couple of weeks ago, only to slide back to third later that day... As with my California Waves team in the other league, this team of mine has had trouble getting wins. I'm last in them here as well. My ERA is not good either thanks to a lot of bad luck with "two start" pitchers. I do have Jake Peavy, Jon Lackey, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Javier Vazquez, Rich Hill & James Shields as starters, so I do think the ERA will head down and become more in line with my WHIP soon.

Needless to say, this is anyone's race... if I can just get that ERA down and the WINS up, I should have a great chance here!

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Fantasy Gurus Unite

Rk Team                   BA   HR  RBI   R  SB   K   ERA   WHIP  W  S Total
1.Bald Eagles          .2897 188 677 650 68 618 3.966 1.240 54 54 73.0
2.Pinstripe Pub       .2805 151 615 598 80 644 3.961 1.311 44 66 62.0
3.Team of Destiny   .2854 145 540 570 58 649 3.655 1.241 53 50 61.5
4.Chitown Thrashers.2838 139 622 580 93 679 4.166 1.336 55 47 60.5
5.Hits and Giggles   .2715 153 599 584 74 635 3.886 1.289 46 52 58.5
6.California Crush   .2599 124 501 503 72 693 3.445 1.205 50 68 55.0


Very obviously this team of mine has one major problem: OFFENSE!!! The sub-.260 batting average is only the tip of the iceberg. If you saw my hitting lineup, you wouldn't think there would be much of a problem with the offense, but I managed to pick a bunch of guys on draft day who have totally underperformed offensively. They are led by Andruw Jones and his .211 BA... Jermaine Dye is right there with him at .214 and Carlos Delgado boasts a .241 BA... Mark Teixiera is injured and Big Papi only has 14 homers so far and now is hurting... Who is my team's leader in home runs? Well there are two actually... the aforementioned Jones and the unheraleded Jack Cust with 15 a piece. Cust has done his damage in only 180 at bats!!! With Juan Pierre on pace for 60 steals, speed is not a problem. As is, this team is VERY capable of coming back and winning but only if my underachieving hitters start playing to their capabilities. Once again, my pitching is VERY strong, and I even am doing well in WINS in this league... While 18 points may seem like a lot, it's not - remember I did overcome a 31 point June deficit and 9th place standing in a 10 team 5x5 roto league last year to co-lead three times in the final two weeks. I wound up finishing 3rd there.

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