Hot and cold Firebirds

I haven't told you about my fantasy baseball team, the Fightin' Firebirds (formerly known as the Bottom Feeders and the Albany Mets before that). Last week, my team went on a hitting binge with a season-best .295 batting average, 11 home runs, 37 RBI and 31 runs scored. Through the first three days in this week's match-up, they're hitting .205 with 1 home run, 12 RBI and 7 runs scored.

At least, my pitching has been good. After a disastrous start by Julio Teheran Monday, I've gotten quality outings from Max Scherzer and Tony Cingrani to lower my team ERA to a nice 3.33. Actually, my pitchers have kept me relatively competitive all year. Teheran's lousy outing against San Diego was the first egg one of my starters has laid in about two weeks. As you might imagine, Teheran has been sent packing (actually, I exchanged Teheran for Cingrani).

I'll keep fiddling with my lineup. I'm reluctant to give up on Dominic Brown because he had been hitting so well until the last couple of games, but I may have to pull him if he doesn't turn things around soon. I'm also hoping Giancarlo Stanton shows some life at the plate after coming off the disabled list, but he didn't show it before he went on the DL.

By the way, the logo you see is the old Albany Firebirds Arena Football logo. I felt like adding a little piece of my upstate New York sports heritage here.