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Congratulations to Joe Thelen, whose Showtime team in New York League 7 led all NFBC participants last week with 3,044.5 points.



Big weeks from Jose Bautista (.458-2-9), Shane Victorino (.346-2-3-4) and Orlando Hudson (.412-1-3) led the way offensively. Justin Verlander tossed a no-hitter, won two games and fanned 18 to lead the pitching staff. Shaun Marcum added 11 strikeouts.



For finishing first last week, Joe wins a Tony Gwynn 16x20 Gwynn/Stan Musial Dual-Signed Photo courtesty of Upper Deck Authenticated. Congratulations again to Joe and good luck to everyone in the NFBC this week.

congrats to Joe for his big week and the nice prize. Please dont ever do it again your killing us. good luck

A deep bench is a powerful ally for the fantasy baseball owner in his quest for supremacy. Even more critical is knowing when to utilize the right player at the right time.



Joe Thelen got it right last week with Jose Bautista and that played a key role in his team having the best week of the entire NFBC field.



Thanks in large part to a big week from Bautista (.458-2-9), Thelen’s Showtime team in New York League 7 led all NFBC participants last week with 3,044.5 points. Shane Victorino (.346-2-3-4) and Orlando Hudson (.412-1-3) also stepped up offensively. Justin Verlander tossed a no-hitter, won two games and fanned 18 to lead the pitching staff. Shaun Marcum added 11 strikeouts.



But it was the decision to go with Bautista in the starting lineup over Billy Hall and Mike Sweeney which proved to be the key move of the week.



“Sweeney and especially Hall were not exactly chopped liver last week but Bautista was better,” Thelen said. “That is one of the benefits of the Extra Innings package – being able to see these guys play. I just liked the way Bautista was swinging the bat.”



A no-hit gem from Justin Verlander certainly didn’t hurt either. Neither did strong weeks from some of Thelen’s in-season FAAB pickups such as Marcum, J.P. Howell and Hong-Chih Kuo.



Another key move was using the league’s DL rule. Thelen had benched Claudio Vargas, but when Brandon McCarthy went on the DL Thelen benched him and activated Vargas, who promptly picked up a quality win.



“We could have done even better if I really knew what I was doing,” said Thelen, a four-year NFBC vet. “Along with Vargas, I had benched (Justin) Germano, so I missed his nice win over Tampa Bay.”



The strong week helped take the sting out of some Draft Day moves that so far haven’t gone as planned. Thelen and his co-manager (his brother Jim) were prepared to punt saves if the closers they liked went early. That happened but some of the starters they landed, such as Nate Robertson, Zach Duke, Adam Loewen, Jeff Weaver and Phillip Hughes, haven’t produced as expected.



“We have high hopes for Waiver Wire pickups Marcum, Kuo, Howell and Germano,” said Thelen, who has two league titles on his NFBC resume. “They’ll have to keep performing in order for us to win our league – and dare I say, do more.”



For finishing first last week, Joe wins a Tony Gwynn 16x20 Gwynn/Stan Musial Dual-Signed Photo courtesty of Upper Deck Authenticated.

Joe,

Nice job representing our league. I would be happy with a top ten finish for the week ... in our league!



Kevin