Wow, this feels different!

So, I enter into the weekend's games with a 9-1 lead over Melnick and Greco. The bottom line is that my pitching is carrying me, but I am finally playing a team whose offense hasn't taken a recent injection of fantasy HGH.

Rather than competing with 14 HRs this week (what each of the teams I have played have hit against me), Greco's squad is hitting a measly 2. There are a number of deadlocked positions, so this is a much closer match than it looks. BUT, Greco seems to be resorting to throwing even the kitchen sink against me, and this is going to make or break my week.

I suspect that A. Galarraga (who knew the old guy could pitch?), Dempster, Weaver, and crew will win him the strikeout category. I was hoping that Billingsley's weird game yesterday would get Greco scrambling, and it seems that it has. His focus is on getting more strikeouts by simply throwing more innings. That's well and good, but I think it will help me to take WHIP and ERA, while giving him Ks and wins. I have saves locked up.

Unlike last week, I don't need to resort to pitch and ditch, I don't think. We'll just have to wait and see. I do have some interesting things to think about. Smoltz is facing the Mets, and is due for a hit to his ERA. Verlander is throwing against the Angels, and he has been anything but solid so far. I might just choose NOT to pitch either to preserve my current WHIP and ERA stats.

All in all, even if my team tanks in the weekend, I am happy to have changed the course of my previous weeks by entering into the weekend with a monster lead. This feels good. It feels like a new set of balls! A new set of BIG balls if I am not going to throw Smoltz and Verlander.