The Jon has likened Newspaperman and FreeSanJose, the two combatants in the World Series of the State League, to Daniel LaRusso and Mike Barnes of the Karate Kid III. Much of the first week was back and forth, and for four days, Newspaperman (Larusso) had control. Then FSJ came storming back.

And now it all comes down to this. Sudden death.

I must admit, there was a part of me last week, when I was leading 11-3, that wished the championship round was only one week long. At that point I had a good lead and figured I’d be able to hold on. But here we are Monday, the first day of Week Two, and I am behind 6-7-1.

There are only two categories that appear to be out of reach: saves and RBIs. Barring some miracle, your 18-RBI lead will net you one category, and you’ll certainly take a second with saves as I’ve again deployed the no-closer/seven-starter arsenal. The other categories seem to be a toss up, some with more flexibility than others.

One thing I do want to discuss at this point is strategy since the rosters have been finalized for the championship week and everything that occurs during this time is out of our control.

Watching the stat line this week I was VERY intrigued by the fact that Kerry Wood had one lonely save posted through Friday night. And given that I was ready to conceded the category, I decided to make one final addition by picking up Francisco Cordero just in case you still had only one save heading into Week Two. But when Wood picked up his second save on Saturday night, and then at the end of Sunday night we were knotted up in Innings Pitched and really close in Strikeouts, I changed my mind. One category I have to win is innings pitched. And given that we were knotted after a week, and the uncertainty of scheduling for the remainder of the season, I figured that instead of chasing saves, I’d be better off playing seven starters. Which I’m sure you noticed since you did the same.

Offensively, I decided to bench Randy Winn and Pablo Sandoval this week and roll with the stars who got me to the party. Winn wasn’t spectacular last week and Sandoval reportedly is fighting some stiffness in his quad. This coupled with the fact that both Votto and Doumit had excellent weeks last week (Doumit had three games where he collected three hits) it seemed like a no-brainer. I love Sandoval, and he did pinch hit twice over the weekend, but at this time there is no room for error. If the Giants decided to sit him for a day or two, I’ll be screwed out of plate appearances, which ultimately could lead to a few hits — and as close as we are in that category, I had to go with the hot and healthy hand, Doumit.

I see you also made a few offensive moves.

I have to admit, you threw me for a bit of the loop when I noticed you were going with a traditional 5-and-2 pitching alignment. At that point, I was planning on sticking with my 6-and-1 rotation, and inserting Joakim Soria into the closer’s role.

The reason this had me worried was simple: All five of your starters were scheduled for two starts. If they had actually gotten both of those starts — against my projected eight — you would have had a huge advantage in innings pitched and strikeouts and still had a very real shot at stealing the saves category. Of course, in the final week of the season, no starts are guaranteed, which makes your decision to punt the saves categories and go full-boar for the other two completely understandable.

But, it also allowed me to win saves uncontested and deploy my all-starters alignment, in which you also have a projected advantage. Still, I like my chances. I have a slight lead in strikeouts and we’re even in innings pitched. Undoubtedly, we’ll both come up a start or two shorter than projected, but if the net result is you only having +1 starts, I’ll happily accept that trade off. I have the much greater strikeout upside and with no less than seven starts each, that leaves ERA and WHIP — despite your significant leads — still in play.

Offensively, my team has seized control of the power categories, just as I predicted. All the others are still very much in play. I swapped out the slumping Corey Hart and the injured Michael Young for the red-hot Jay Bruce and versatile Mike Aviles.

Considering this had all the early makings of a runaway victory for you, I very much like my chances headed into the final week essentially even.

Yeah, the ERA and Whip categories are anything but a lock for me. Hell, one more poor performance like Liriano’s early last week will even things up. The same could happen if Hamels and Sabathia pitch complete-game shutouts this week, which is always a possibility. Oh, by the way, I had a dream last night that Sabathia struck out 19 batters. It was so real that when I woke up I had to make sure it was just a dream. Hopefully I was not seeing the future.

Well, I’ve certainly got mixed feelings this afternoon. Ricky Nolasco pitched really well this morning, until he seemed to hit a wall in the seventh inning and put his club in a position to blow the lead, which it did. Nolasco is out of a win, but he won’t get the loss. His six innings and five strikeouts are average, but temporarily give me leads in two more categories. Joey Votto came through with a pair of hits, including a solo homer, and two runs scored. And Francisco Cordero did notch a save — this better not become a trend because it’ll piss me off to no end — but gave up a run and allowed two runners to reach base in the process.

What started off as a so-so day only got worse as it wore on. Behind a strong performance from Ervin Santana and a solid offensive output, Newspaperman will likely pick up a couple of categories and close the gap in others. I didn’t have any pitchers going today, but Newspaperman’s staff has set the bar pretty high.

Scoreboard after Monday, Sept. 22.