WHIP and 21.9 percent strikeout rate in his past 10 turns

CHICAGO -- Matt Ridley climbed his ladder, scrawled a tribute to his deceased loved ones and high fived his mom when his feet hit the sidewalk.The Cubs winning it all still seemed a bit surreal to him. Yet, there he was writing Ridley Nation high on the brick bleacher wall along Waveland Avenue in honor of his brother, father and uncle.Every time I hear the call of the last out, it almost sounds like its not real -- like its a joke, Ridley said Monday.No joke, the Chicago Cubs at long last won the World Series when they beat the Cleveland Indians last week. And their first championship in 108 years stirred all sorts of emotions.Fans who werent sure they would ever see it happen have been thinking about loved ones who never got to witness it. Theyve been flowing to Wrigley Field in a steady stream, turning the walls and sidewalks outside the famed ballpark into one gigantic chalkboard.The bricks beyond the ivy are jammed with names and notes to family members. There are messages encouraging the team, and drawings, too.It was all in chalk, and it was all about to go away.The Cubs announced Monday they need to remove the messages and artwork due to offseason construction. Fans had until 5 p.m. CST Tuesday, though some were still adding to the walls sidewalks after the deadline. The team also said final photographs will be taken and displayed publicly at a later date.Fans started writing encouraging messages to the team in chalk on the walls outside the bleachers during the run to the Cubs first championship since 1908, and they have continued in such a steady stream there is little room left anywhere outside the ballpark, be it outside the bleachers or near the marquee.Along Sheffield Avenue, beyond right field, Kathleen and Bob Dove of Evanston found a spot a few feet up the wall to pay tribute to her mother. They colored a brick in light blue chalk and wrote Dorothy McGuire in white.The whole time I grew up, it revolved around the Cubs game -- meals, Kathleen Dove said. She knew all the players every year. She would tell me all the statistics, this will be the year. She was a very typical diehard, I mean just brutally diehard, Cubs fan. She would be really amazed at this.Bob Dove, a retired sound technician for Chicago PBS affiliate WTTW, recalled working on a documentary about Bill Veeck Jr. during the last year of his life. And he has little doubt Veeck would have loved the scene playing out along the streets outside Wrigley.We have all of this angst about immigrants and racial animus and all that stuff, Bob Dove said. The Cubs victory is the greatest thing to happen in Chicago right now because everything else thats going on right now is so negative. Veeck would love this wall because its representative of his philosophy of being a team for everyone. And he was the person that integrated the American League.Bill Veeck went to work for the Cubs when his father Bill Sr. was team president and was responsible for the ivy being planted in 1937. He also integrated the American League as owner of the Cleveland Indians when he signed Larry Doby and frequently hung out in the Wrigley Field bleachers after selling the White Sox to Jerry Reinsdorf in 1981.Kim Bresnahan of Evanston was on the phone with her friend Nana Sedor in Homer, Alaska, as she looked for space on the wall along Sheffield. Bresnahan was there to pay tribute to her ex-husbands father as well as her friends brother Chris, a loyal fan who died at 16.This victory was for every underdog in the world, Nana Sedor said.The two friends have been following the Cubs for decades, going back to the black cat and the collapse against the New York Mets in 1969. They recalled ditching school to go to Wrigley Field as teenagers and cheer on those Lovable Losers. In some ways, this championship run was like a shock to the system -- a glorious shock to the system.In our lives, we dont have a lot of hope, Bresnahan said. Theres a lot of bad stuff going on. And its like, `Oh my God, if the Cubs can do it in 108 years, we can do anything. Right?Lifelong Cubs fan Becky Ellous cried when the championship drought ended and thought about her grandfather Frank Sokol, who died five years ago at age 87. To him, the Cubs were bozos, yet he would watch every game no matter how bad they were.This would have made him so happy, Ellous said. He would have loved every single minute of it.Along Waveland Avenue, Ridley said he started bawling listening to Eddie Vedders Someday Well Go All The Way heading to the ballpark on Monday.He came with his 12-year-old son Matthew Jr., and his mom Nancy Ridley, who grew up on Addison a few blocks from the famed marquee. She was in the bleachers for Game 6 of the NLCS when then the Cubs beat the Dodgers for their first pennant since 1945. And she was blunt when asked if she thought she would see a moment like this.No, she said. I really didnt. Vapormax 97 Bianche . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan. Vapormax Plus Italia . It was the second consecutive win for the Pacers (2-5), who lost their first five preseason games. Jeff Teague led the Hawks (1-5) with 17 points and eight assists and Al Horford had 12 points and seven rebounds. Mike Scott scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. http://www.scarpevapormaxscontate.it/vapormax-plus-italia.html . Despite dominating possession, Schalke needed an own goal from Nicolas Hoefler for the breakthrough a minute before the interval. The Freiburg midfielder misjudged Jefferson Farfans corner and bundled the ball into his own net. Vapormax Flyknit 3 Bianche . The incident occurred at 19:56 of the second period of the Kings 4-2 road win over Edmonton on Sunday. Nolan punched Oilers forward Jesse Joensuu in the jaw in front of the Kings goal during a scrum. Vapormax Plus Arancioni . Murray beat Sam Querrey 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-3 to clinch Britains opening-round victory against the United States on Sunday at Petco Park. "Im proud of the way Im playing just now, because I had to do a lot of work to get back to where I want to be," Murray said after celebrating with his teammates on the red clay court in a temporary stadium in left field of the downtown home of baseballs San Diego Padres. After fielding many questions surrounding the breakthrough campaign by this Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman, Ive examined Jake Lambs profile closely and vaulted him within my top 100 overall players. Simply put, hes earned it, deservedly ranked in the third/fourth third-base tier that includes Adrian Beltre and Evan Longoria.Much of the foundation for Lambs breakthrough year comes from an adjustment he made to his swing during the winter, which has fueled a noticeable jump in power: His isolated power has nearly tripled (.123 in 2015, .328 this season), he has increased his fly-ball rate by more than two percent (26.2 percent in 2015, 28.6 percent in 2016) and he has boosted his average fly-ball rate by 22 feet (301.6 in 2015, 323.7 in 2016).Perhaps equally encouraging is Lambs boosted performance against left-handed pitching: Hes a .190/.307/.429 hitter, for .238 isolated power, after sub-.100 isolated power numbers against them in both 2014 and 2015. That helped earn him six starts in the Arizona Diamondbacks past 11 games against left-handed pitchers.Still, Lambs ranking (97th overall) might seem modest for the No. 36 name on the Player Rater. Some regression needs be baked into any rest-of-year projection, particularly in the power department. For the season, Lamb has homered on 18.6 percent of his fly balls, second-highest among qualifiers, and since May 9 he has a major league-high 22.0 percent rate, resulting in 18 of his 21 homers for the season. To put that number into perspective, consider the major league leaders (among qualifiers) the past five seasons: Giancarlo Stanton, 15.2 percent in 2011; Chris Davis, 16.3 in 2012; Pedro Alvarez, 18.3 in 2013; Stanton, 17.3 in 2014; Nelson Cruz, 18.4 in 2015.My best guess at his projection: .275-.280 batting average, 10-12 home runs.Here are some quick thoughts about the weeks other big movers...There might not be a tougher player to rank this week than Clayton Kershaw, who was shut down indefinitely following a setback with his injured back. Its possible that this might merely push back his recovery by a matter of days, rather than weeks, but the chances well see Kershaw before August are now poor, and hes now enough of a risk that a compelling case could be made to lower him to 14th at the position (roughly 50th overall). Your hope should be eight top-shelf starts upon his return.Wil Myers is legit. Consider: .313 BABIP (81st in the majors, and four points beneath his career number), 13.4 home run/fly ball percentage (29th, and in line with his 12.7 percent rookie-year number).Jacob deGroms return to the top 10 starting pitchers is much more a testament to his own ability than it is a criticism of the positions depth in the 11-20 tier. Hes once again the safe guy, with a 2.32 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 29.4 percent strikeout rate in his past 10 starts, and thats quite an asset to own in a season like this.Im only lowering Gregory Polanco amidst concerns about his recent hamstring injury. Hes a .171 hitter thus far in July -- nine games, though -- and Im somewhat concerned that hell be playing these next few weeks at less than full strength.We talked quite a bit about Dallass Keuchels performance on Wednesdays Fantasy Focus Baseball podcast, and while I think hes no longer a Cy Young-caliber pitcher statistically speaking, hes back to being a solid member of the top 20 starters, thanks to six consecutive quality starts as well as a 3.dddddddddddd2 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 21.9 percent strikeout rate in his past 10 turns.With Dee Gordons return upcoming -- hes eligible to play in eight days, barring Miami Marlins rainouts between now and then -- he might be under-ranked as the No. 13 second baseman and No. 118 player overall. I think hes closer to 8-and-80 in those sets from the day he returns, so hell almost assuredly rank there in a week.Since May 21, Matt Shoemaker has a 29.1 percent strikeout rate, ninth-best among qualifiers, and a 9.78:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, behind only Mike Leake (11.40:1) and Jose Fernandez (9.90:1).Kudos to the Chicago Cubs for giving Willson Contreras nine starts behind the plate in their past 17 games overall, signaling that hes now their top choice to start a majority of the time there. Contreras also has eight starts in left field during that time, and has generally been batting fourth or fifth, giving him a playing-time advantage that no other catcher quite enjoys. Will it last? If so, he probably warrants a top-100 ranking rather than 152nd (and sixth among catchers), but Id like to see a little more first.Most projections systems continue to love Drew Smyly, but after a nine-start stretch during which time he had only one quality start and an 8.03 ERA and 1.72 WHIP, hes perhaps too generously ranked as even my No. 52 starting pitcher. I still think theres top-20 talent in that left arm, though, but my patience is running out.New ESPN position eligibilityThe following players added new position eligibility within the past two weeks. As a reminder, position players need to appear 10 times at a new position to gain in-season eligibility, while pitchers need to make three starts to earn starting-pitching eligibility or five relief appearances to earn relief-pitching eligibility.Chris Beck (RP), Willson Contreras (OF), Chase dArnaud (OF), Wilmer Flores (1B), Raisel Iglesias (RP), Jordan Lyles (RP), Jefry Marte (OF), Shawn OMalley (SS), Ramiro Pena (2B), Jose Peraza (OF), Hernan Perez (OF), Jurickson Profar (1B), Rob Refsnyder (OF).The following players are within two games of earning new eligibility, with their total games played noted at the listed position.Cristhian Adames (2B, 9 games), Mike Aviles (2B, 9 games), Christian Colon (3B, 8 games), Chase dArnaud (2B, 9 games), Stephen Drew (3B, 9 games; SS, 9 games), Prince Fielder (1B, 9 games), Adam Frazier (OF, 8 games), Jedd Gyorko (3B, 9 games; 1B, 8 games), Matt Holliday (1B, 8 games), Howie Kendrick (1B, 8 games), Matt McBride (C, 9 games), Jose Reyes (3B, 9 games).Going-forward rankings: Week 15Listed below are my updated, going-forward rankings. These are based upon an ESPN standard league of 10 teams and Rotisserie 5x5 scoring. Click here to see these rankings sorted by position. ' ' '