Icon SMI (Edison Volquez)
Slumpbuster
FBG Players of the Week
With Week 4 wrapped up, there was a hotly contested competition for the top pitching spot and a run-away in the hitting category.
Hitter of the Week
Jayson Werth had a good week. And if you had him on your team, you got more than you could have hoped for. Hitting out of the lead off spot, Werth had 4 home runs to go with his 9 runs, 7 runs batted in and a .323 average. But it wasn't good enough. Lance Berkman kept the 1B Hitter of the Week streak alive. Picking up where Albert Pujols and Conor Jackson left off, Berkman had 12 RBI on the week. That and his .455 AVG really were the resounding factors in his selection. But the 4 HR and 7 R, and the garbage SB, certainly didn't hurt his cause.
Pitcher of the Week
Icon SMI (Edison Volquez)
This was a tough one. There were so many great, and I mean great, performers this week. C.C. Sabathia had 19 punch outs in 14 innings, but just one win. Brandon Lyon was almost flawless out of the pen with 4 saves for the week to go along with a 0.40 WHIP. Not enough. Clay Buchholz , Carlos Zambrano , Paul Maholm , all were impressive. Not enough. It came down to two pitchers; James Shields and Edinson Volquez . They both had two wins. And while Shields had better numbers in the ERA and WHIP categories, beating Volquez 1.12 to 1.29 and 0.69 to 1.07 respectively, it just wasn't enough. And this is why. When you take those numbers and add them to the rest of your staff, the impact is not as measurable as you'd think. Maybe not enough to bump you up one spot, let alone two in those categories in your league's standings. However, factor in the K's, and you have a different story. The young Reds pitcher beat Shields soundly in that area. With 17 strikeouts, Volquez had almost a full start worth of K's more than Shields' 12. And that could translate to several points.
Previous Winners
Conor Jackson John Danks
Albert Pujols Cole Hamels
