The Predicate Pennant, Week 5

Week 5 was a tough one.

Your Commissioner continued in a series of tough weeks, getting thorougly stuffed 9-3 by the Infield Flies after a collaps of relief pitching and the Flies' usual devastating attack of good pitching and Albert Pujols.

The Hooligans, too, took a tough loss to the surging Sparkly Knee Sox, who managed to pull off a decidely sparkly 10-4 win despite having no catcher.

The Headbangers and Cubs, in a Chicago matchup of sorts, proved that it's possible to kick ass defensively or offensively, but if you don't do some ass-kicking in both categories you'll end up spinning your wheels. The metalheads ended up a narrow 8-6 victory by decisively winning all the offensive categories (despite the Cubs' use of 15 offensive players), and losing all but one of the defensive.

The Show took another solid win, defeating the Suicide Squeezes 9-4, but the Show's management may be grumbling about a tough week nonetheless: Despite racking up almost twice as many innings pitched as Squeezes pitchers, the Show's pitching only tied on wins, and notched fewer saves and strikeouts.

The Monkey Grinders put together an excellent performance last week, including some pitching gems from starters Ted Lilly and Mike Mussina, but the Plutocrats were able to battle back with base speed and a few squeaker victories in pitching categories, reducing the Grinders margin of victory to 8-6.

The league leading Middletown Mediocres finally lived up (or perhaps down) to their nickname this week, tying with the Mind Killer 7-7 despite strong batting and pitching performances. The Killers outfielders kept the team afloat this week, combining for 21 hits, 8 homers, and 21 RBIs.

We're just about a quarter of the way through the fantasy season, and it looks like our pennant race is shaping up: The Mediocres, Flies, Sox, and 'Bangers are all in a tight race for first, with the Cubs and Monkey Grinders trailing not far behind - a couple of good weeks could put either of those teams right back in the hunt. The rest of us, it would appear, have some work to do during the middle of the season if we're hoping to have any shot at the title by the end.