As many know, Ike played quite a bit of havoc in the great state of Texas at the tail end of last week. One of the more inconsequential things that happened, was that the Cubs-Astros series scheduled for Houston was postponed. MLB decided to play the series at a "neutral" site in which Houston would be the "home" team. The problem is, the "neutral" site was located in a city that is nearly 1100 miles closer for the "away" team than the "home" team. That's right, the Cubs-Astros series is being played in apparently MLB's favorite "home away from home" Miller Park. (If you'll remember, the Indians and Mariners started their 2007 season at Miller Park when it snowed in Cleveland.)
Here's where the "neutral" site theory breaks down.
1) Houston, as said before, is nearly 1100 miles further away from Milwaukee than Chicago. If the Cardinals had to play a make-up game in Louisville, you can bet that I would make as much of an effort as possible to drive those 90+ miles to see them play, but if they were playing in Denver, there is no way that I'd go. (Denver to Indy is about the same distance as Houston to Milwaukee.)
2) Houston is trying to catch Milwaukee in the Wild Card standings. Milwaukee, at 7.5 games back, pretty much has no chance of catching Chicago in the standings, but are still fighting for the Wild Card, with Philly tied right now, and Houston only 2 games back (additionally, the Cardinals are 4.5 back, but fading fast). In other words, Milwaukee fans would much rather see Chicago win than Houston.
Houston is at a distinct disadvantage in playing these three "home" games at Miller Park. Perhaps what compounds the stupidity of playing there in the first place is that the Rangers were out of town this weekend, and they could have easily played in Arlington (where they only got .5 an inch of rain) instead of Milwaukee. Now Zambrano is a pretty good pitcher, but are you going to seriously tell me that he throws a no-no if they are playing in front of a Houston-friendly crowd? Doubtful, highly doubtful. Okay, back to my original reason for posting: fantasy football.
It's always fun watching some of the games on Sunday and thinking about who is sitting on my bench. And by fun, I mean "gut-wrenching." For example, I have Peyton Manning as my QB. For Manning, I have instituted the "Albert Pujols" rule - he is always first on my draft board, regardless of what the experts say (you know, those same experts that said Larry Johnson was a can't miss first overall pick last season). Last time the Colts played the NFC North teams, Manning torched them. I mean seriously torched them. Throwing for at least 4 TD's in each game if I remember correctly. That was the season that he threw 49 TD passes, and I think nearly half of those were against the NFC North (okay, that may be exaggerating a little, but not a whole lot).
Manning had a decent game yesterday. Threw for 311 yards and 1 TD. Of course, he also threw 2 picks, but overall, a 14 point performance. Not bad, until I look at my bench. Do you know who my backup is? Aaron Rogers, who threw for 328, 3 TD's and even ran for 25 yards. Throw in a lost fumble, and Rogers comes out with 25 points yesterday. DANG IT!!
Now, I won't say I was intently watching it, but as I was doing some work on the couch yesterday afternoon, the Vikings-Colts game was on the TV, a game featuring both of my kickers, and which one did I have starting? Vinatieri, who had 5 points - 1 PAT and 1 FG. Longwell, who was sitting on the bench, kicks 5 field goals (2 for 40+ yards, and another for 50+ yards) and racks up 19 points.
Add those in, and there an extra 25 points that could be padding my lead this morning. I'm up by 18 points, which sounds like a lot, but the guy I'm up against has T.O., Witten and Akers going tonight (not to mention McGahee's game was postponed, and will probably come back to bite me in November when it is made up). I'm not as comfortable with an 18 point lead as I would be with a 43 point lead. I just might lose on tonight's game.
All that being said, I did make one good decision: Tennessee DEF, 17 points; San Diego DEF, -1 point. How's that for a silver lining?
0 comments:
Post a Comment