Salvatore Vella Is Week 6 Winner

[Tom Kessenich]

Congratulations to Salvatore Vella whose Pinochle Bunch team in Chicago League 2 led the way in the NFBC last week with 3,203 points.



Strong weeks from J.J. Hardy (.400), Dan Uggla (.350-4-8), Emil Brown (.333-1-7) and Carl Crawford (.304-1-5) led the way offensively. Johnny Cueto had 13 Ks while George Sherrill had a pair of saves to lead the pitching staff.



Congratulations again to Sal and good luck to everyone in the NFBC this week.

[Tom Kessenich]

There’s nothing like a little offensive fireworks to get a fantasy owner feeling good about his baseball team. And last week, Salvatore Vella was feeling better than everyone in the NFBC.



Strong weeks from J.J. Hardy (.400), Dan Uggla (.350-4-8), Emil Brown (.333-1-7) and Carl Crawford (.304-1-5) led the way as Vella’s Pinochle Bunch team in Chicago League 2 led the way in the NFBC with 3,203 points. Johnny Cueto had 13 Ks while George Sherrill had a pair of saves to lead the pitching staff.



“It's great to win the weekly prize and we are grateful for that,” said Vella, who runs the team with his brother Charles. “However, what we love most about the recent week is that nine out of our 14 offensive players hit over 300 with 4 players (Uggla, Votto, Church & Chris Young) hitting three-plus homers each.



“Johnny Cueto and Nick Blackburn racked up 19 K's for the week. However we knew it was going to

be close and (Sunday) night was the key to winning the weekly prize. Nick Blackburn pitched the Sunday night game and was off to a five-run lead. However, he got knocked around and barely lasted long enough to be the pitcher of record. The Twins held on to win 9-8 and had Cueto not won his game, we would have finished in second for the week.”



Was the big week due to strong performances or a change in NFBC destination? Perhaps a mix of both as the Vellas, residents of Staten Island, decided to try their luck in the Windy City this year.



However, the decision to shift draft locales did present at least one major challenge.



“I don't fly,” Sal said. “And Sunday March 16 we had a local draft to attend at my home. Anyhow, we were determined to switch venues so Greg put us in at the Chicago event. We arrived Friday and spent the evening and morning on our strategy. We had a wish list of nine players – and we bagged seven of them.



“Instead of trying to dominate a category or two we went for balance instead. Middle-round picks such as Uggla (9th round), Yunel Escobar (14th round) and Ryan Church (22nd round) have turned out to be key contributors for the banner week. These three players combined for .340 average 7 HRS, 13 RBIs and 17 Runs.



“I guess our trip to Chicago has already paid off.”



Sal is married with two children and works as SVP of a financial service Company on Wall Street. Charles is also married with two children and he has a senior management position for the US Postal Service.