Reynolds proving what a snub he was

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Every year the All-Star Game has one or two snubs, or players who deserved to be in, but were left out, whether it be because of lack of room, idiotic fan voting or a mixture of the two.

One of my favorite snubs this year has been Mark Reynolds, who had made a case for being the starting third baseman with his bat this spring and early summer, but ended up being forced to hope to be the last player voted in as part of the ridiculous final vote system Major League baseball has set up. Reynolds lost out to Shane Victorino - who needed to go door to door campaigning for votes and have radio stations have contests to see who could click his name the most in a 62-hour period to win the "honor" - and also came in behind Pablo Sandoval.

Now Reynolds is showing the baseball world how wrong they were to overlook him. Even with his team falling apart around him, Reynolds has still been one of the best power hitters in the game this season.

The one knock everyone pointed to in terms of Reynolds' game is his strikeouts. He was the first major leaguer in history to strike out 200 times and is on pace to do it again. However, he hits the ball often enough - and when he does, he does bad things to it - that the question has to be raised: Is it really that big of a deal? After all, Ryan Howard twice had 199 strikeouts and was an All Star and was actually considered for MVP both of those years. One of those seasons, he had those 199 in just 144 games. In his MVP season, he had over 180 K's. Bobby Bonds held the major league record for strikeouts for a long time and some, including Willie Mays, make the argument he should be in the Hall of Fame.

But forgetting all that, the bottom line is strikeouts or no strikeouts, Reynolds produces. Let's review. He's batting .281 with a .371 on base pecentage, both very respectable. His slugging percentage of .593 is third in the National League and his OPS is .964, which ranks fifth. He's second in the league in home runs with 48, just two behind the immortal Albert Pujols. His 84 RBI are eighth in the league and he's scored the sixth-most runs in the league, sitting at 81. Oh, he's also stolen 21 bases, which is good for ninth.

When a guy is hitting .281 and is on pace for 50 homers and 110 RBI with Miguel Montero batting behind you, he is raking. And since his All-Star snub, Reynolds seems to be a man on a mission. Since the break, Reynolds is batting at a .339 clip and leads the league in homers with 14 and his slugging percentage leads national league regulars at .732. Yep, that's a better SLG than every national league player that took part in the Midsummer Classic, including Albert Pujols.

You can't even use the excuse that he's getting aided by the warm Arizona air, because he's batting almost 15 points better on the road.

I hate to say I told you so, but Reynolds is shaping up to be the real deal. Hopefully next year fans will pay attention.

Fantasy football dreaming

By Chad Garner

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

So what's your dream team in fantasy football?

If you could pick an entire starting lineup -- quarterback, 2 running backs, 3 wide receivers, one tight end, one kicker and one team defense -- who would you pick and why?

Well, it's my turn to turn my cast on big-game winners into a fantasy football championship. Do you think this team would compete, more like compete at a very high level week in and week out? We all know how important consistency is in fantasy football.

Here's my championship club:

QUARTERBACK

Tom Brady -- Are you really surprised? I'll spit at the next person who says his knee injury is a concern entering the season. He's fine. He might be a tad rusty early so only expect maybe 280 yards a game and a few scores, but when that rust is completely gone, look out. Brady has the best cast around him -- Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Joey Galloway, Fred Taylor, ect. -- plus we all know how the Patriots like to expose secondaries. Expect -- more like bank -- on an MVP-type season. If you made a case for Drew Brees here, I wouldn't argue.

RUNNING BACKS

Adrian Peterson -- In a new wave of running back by committee approaches, you know in Minnesota who's going to get the ball early and often. AP is a beast, no doubt. He's averaged 12 TDs and 1,551 yards in his two years in the league, so Year 3 should be even better. Image if he only factored into the passing game (40 catches in 2 years)?

Matt Forte -- The second-year back in Chicago is a fantasy superstar since he can run like the wind and he's got glue on his hands in the passing game. Forte had 1,238 yards receiving and 63 catches for 477 yards as a rookie. Can you say stud?

WIDE RECEIVERS

Larry Fitzgerald, Randy Moss, Andre Johnson -- All three star wide receivers have the same thing in common -- they have the ability to score from anywhere on the field, plus they are clearly the No. 1 options on their respective teams. Fitzgerald keeps improving (12 TDs last year and up from 10 in 2007), Moss has a mojo with Brady (23 TDs in 2007, 11 last year with Matt Cassel at the helm) and Johnson (115 receptions, 1,575 yards, 8 TDs) should be a household name. If I had all three of them, no one could touch me at the position.

TIGHT END

Tony Gonzalez -- Please look past the fact that I met Gonzalez years ago at a New England Patriots game and I've got many autographs from him, bottom line is he keeps getting his numbers. Still, at the age of 33, he's the most productive guy on the block (some say Jason Witten, I say Touchdown Tony). Don't be afraid that he's now on the Falcons, he still will post top-of-the-line numbers. Over 1,000 yards the last two years ...that's just sick, considering he's a tight end.

KICKER

Stephen Gostkowski -- Kickers are so hard to predict, but the Patriots kicker has been a nice treat in fantasy circles for two straight years with 135-plus points in each of those years (137 in 2007 and 148 in 2008). He may blast a lot of PATs, but he'll always be scoring points because of how good the Patriots' offense is. But there are plenty of other guys that can do the job, too.

DEFENSE

Steelers -- I guess you have to go with the defending Super Bowl champs? This in another crap-shoot position where plenty of teams deserve to be recognized. But The Steelers attack, attack and attack some more. They had 51 sacks last year, 20 INTs, 22 fumble recoveries, one TD off of a fumble and 2 INT touchdowns. It all equals friendly fantasy points. Ravens, Eagles, Giants and Vikings are also good picks that should be highly productive.