Little things could mean a lot in final standings

I have some extra baseball information ready for later today, to commemorate the Diamondbacks pitchers and catchers' reporting today. I'll post that after this usual report.
Today's report is dedicated to the memory of Ralph Kiner. RIP to the Pirates' second-leading career home run hitter.
The Marlins have agreed to terms with RHP Carlos Marmol, but aren't expected to announce that move until they squeeze him into the 40-man roster and move someone else off. More about Marmol in one of what now appear to be two extra posts today.
Signed to minor league contracts:
C Koyie Hill by the Nationals
Infielder Justin Turner by the Dodgers
1B/OF Bryan LaHair by the Indians
The Rangers have picked up some extra revenue by renaming the stadium Globe Life Park in Arlington. Don't expect me to tell someone I'm going to Globe Life Park. I'll also refer to it by that name in writing about as often as I refer to Arlington's football stadium as AT&T Stadium.
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Basketball. After Wednesday's games, Team Fresh Prints' lead increased to 7-1. I trail only in 3-point field goals, 19-17. Six of the guys in my lineup combined for nine 3s. New addition Jose Calderon made only one. Somehow I went ahead in field goal percentage even though Calderon and fellow new Fresh Print Boris Diaw were 4 for 14 combined. They were also the only two players in the full 10-man lineup who didn't score in double figures. Marco Belinelli, on my bench, scored 14 points in his real game for the Spurs despite not hitting any 3s. He'll be one of three players active Thursday; my opponent had no one playing tonight when I last looked at his lineup.
Important key: Find some time or typical times during each day when you can update and upgrade your lineup for daily league.
For me, that time is late the previous night or early in the morning. My sleep is on an irregular schedule, so sometimes late night and early morning are the same thing. I didn't sleep much Tuesday night, so I went to bed at 8 p.m. Wednesday and got up at 1:30 a.m. to start Thursday.
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Hockey. Watching the schedule and switching Joe Pavelski for Corey Perry was somewhat successful. Pavelski played 22 minutes, with only one shot on goal, and was at 0 in plus/minus. Perry was minus-1, but he did take six shots.
Dustin Penner, Perry's teammate in Anaheim and with the Texas Puckin Penguins. was minus-2. Penner was on my bench. So observing that the Ducks were playing the Blackhawks, while Pavelski's Sharks were going against Dallas, was helpful.
Matt Niskanen was plus-1, with a power-play assist, increasing his season lead for my team to plus-27. He's also averaging better than 20 minutes per game.
Two important keys here: 1. I should have begun monitoring games played earlier in the season. Instead of just throwing every available player on fantasy ice, I should have avoided unfavorable matchups and sat players such as Penner against Chicago. 2. Don't always listen to the "experts." Teams will always find a place for those who are playing well. After I picked up Niskanen, every time a Penguins defenseman was returning from injury, I'd read how much playing time Niskanen would be losing and how I should replace him. I figured I'd wait to see if he actually was playing less. As it turned out, it was never enough time that I should give up his strong performance in other statistical categories.
As it happens, the only owner with more games already played than I have is the owner of the second-place team just ahead of me. His skaters have 30 more games, and his goalies 22.
While my team remained at 67 points, each of the top two teams lost half a point to teams in the lower half of the standings. I trail the second-place team by nine assists and nine power-play points, and it's conceivable that I could catch him by season's end by taking advantage of my extra games (really his fewer games) and judicious selection of players for each day's lineup.
From the Thursday lineup I laid out Monday, I made two changes. I replaced forward Paul Stastny with Clarke MacArthur, in part because MacArthur has been filling up more categories recently and also because Stastny will be playing against my only starting goalie, Steve Mason. I don't want anyone, even Stastny, to score against Mason. Well, OK, if another Avalanche player, Nathan MacKinnon, scores Colorado's only goal, that would work. The other change was Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson for teammate Jan Hejda. Johnson has more shots, penalty minutes and ATOI than Hejda.Who knows? An assist, a penalty, or a few extra seconds could make a difference in the final standings.

No big deals -- Ibanez and Veras

There's not much new that's concrete in baseball right now.
The Angels finalized a 1-year contract with former ancient Mariner Raul Ibanez, who could DH and play a little bit of outfield.
The Cubs agreed to a 1-year contract with RHP Jose Veras, who would be their 2014 closer. Now there's not a lot to close on the North Side, and Veras seems likely to blow a number of the opportunities he gets. Expect him to join RHP Carlos Marmol and the ranks of other failed closers for the Cubs.
I'm working on some projects to produce some quantitative fantasy baseball information. I hope you can see at least one piece before the year ends.
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Basketball. Carmelo Anthony didn't play Friday night, and isn't going to play Saturday. I still can fill all 10 spots in my lineup.
I had set up my lineup for Thursday, and neglected to change it for Friday. Thus, I left on my bench Victor Oladipo and his 16 points and 11 assists.
Through Thursday, I had been tied in blocked shots as part of a 5-2-1 lead. I figured Serge Ibaka would help me in that area, and sure enough, he blocked three Friday and helped me take the lead in that category. However, my lead is down to 5-3, partly because Anthony didn't play. But my 16-point deficit coincides exactly with Oladipo's 16 points that didn't count for me. We'll see what happens Saturday.
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Hockey. I was buried under an Avalanche tonight. Colorado lost 7-2 to the Blackhawks. Jan Hejda and Erik Johnson were both -4, and Nathan MacKinnon was -3. That was 11 of my minus-15 for the night. That dropped me down to sixth in plus/minus at plus-19. Somehow, the Avalanche's and my, Paul Stastny broke even. Now I have four individuals on my team with season plus/minuses of 19 or more, but I haven't had those players in my lineup at the right time. Mikko Koivu also has been killing me; he was -3 tonight. In addition, Jean-Sebastien Giguere gave up seven goals in two periods. That's a 10.50 goals against average. And the only thing I can say about his save percentage is that at least it isn't less than 0.
My plan is to divest myself of some Colorado players, and Koivu if I can. I'm a little light in forwards. Despite the debacle with Hejda and Johnson, my defense is pretty good. I'm even using a defenseman as a utility player. But I had Dallas' Brenden Dillon on my bench. He was plus-2 Friday, and he took a minor penalty. Another problem with my lineup was that my lineup totaled 0 penalty minutes. How is that even possible? I probably need a fighter.
Somehow I escaped the night losing a mere two points in the standings.
It's too late to make coherent moves tonight. I got home from the Predators-Stars game at about 1.