PL made his biggest strategy mistake of the season, taking the Mets PS against the Yankees in their doubleheader. The Mets got him a -21, and a +22 for the day.
But DB made an even bigger mistake, missing the doubleheader all together. Instead he took the Reds PS, and got a -33 in pitching, and a -1 total for the day.
Had DB caught the doubleheader (as did JG, FS, and LD, whose scores ranged from 100-116), he undoubtably would have scored around 100.
That's PL's margin of victory right there.
Then came the Baltimore-Tampa Bay doubleheader. DB wasted cap room on Melvin Mora who didn't play, while PL took Newhan, and used the money saved on Javy Lopez, while DB took Brook Fordyce.
Newhan and Lopez scored 12 Mora and Fordyce got nothing.
Still, going into Thursday DB led by 25 points.
But DB's offense went stone cold the next three days, as he scored only 45 points offensively, while PL got scorching hot on offense. Led by Delucci's 19 on Thursday, he scored 118 on offense the next three days, to make Sunday anti-climactic.
How did FS beat out Buffy for fourth place?
Easy.
On the morning of July 2, Buffy had a 56 point lead, and looked totally safe as FS missed the Milwaukee-Pittsburgh doubleheader.
But the Buffster made her biggest strategy mistake of the season, taking the Milwaukee PS and getting a whopping -36.
FS had only a +6 in pitching for the day, but that 42 point swing accounts for his entire margin of victory.
Starting with that doubleheader, Buffy went 0-7 in pitching with a 7.74 E.R.A. and -43 points over the next five days, while FS, despite being mediocre (going 2-4 with a 3.63), still managed 77 points over the same five day span, accounting for a total swing of 120 points between the two.
Is there such a thing as the "Buffy Pitching Curse"?
No, not really. Except for her early season woes and the brutal five day streak cited above, LD actually did quite well in the pitching department.
As a matter of fact, from May 31st through June 29th, a total of 30 days, her pitching line is a phenomonal
25-7, 3.08, 594 Pts. (19.8 PPD).
That was the best stretch of that length that any of us had all season.
Of course, on the other hand, if you subtract that stretch from her season total, it becomes quite ugly
