MLB: Cheers and Jeers From The Bleachers
With the first week of the season officially in the books I have some thoughts on how the season has started.
St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals have to feel good about opening the season going 4-2 on the road against division rivals Cincinnati and Milwaukee.
Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday have picked up right where they left off last fall. Through seven games Pujols is hitting .407 with five homers and 14 RBIs. Holliday is hitting at a .379 clip with 3 homers and six RBIs.
Colby Rasmus is off to a good start hitting .294 and knocking out a pair of homers so far. Rasmus has shown a new found discipline at the plate drawing 9 walks and posting a .538 on-base percentage which begs the question as to why Tony LaRussa moved Ryan Ludwick into the two spot instead of Rasmus. If Rasmus is showing a willingness to take pitches and draw walks stick him in the order in front of Pujols and Holliday to give them more RBI opportunities. Ludwick is a nice power guy but has never really been a high on-base guy. For the record Rasmus, who hit .251 last season, hit .284 batting in front of Pujols last season.
David Freese will not hold onto the third base job much longer if he continues to kick the ball around the infield. LaRussa and Dave Duncan build their pitching staff around guys who are comfortable throwing ground ball outs. They cannot afford a 3B who is going to commit errors every two or three games.
Chris Carpenter has not looked terribly sharp allowing five homers in his first two games thus far. But if memory serves Carpenter is no stranger to throwing a couple of clunkers his first few starts of the season. He is typically at his best in July, August, and September.
Adam Wainwright, Jaime Garcia, and Brad Penny combined to go 3-0 with a 1.28 ERA in their four starts.
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners were the hot stove media darlings by dealing for Cliff Lee and signing Chone Figgins away from their division rivals in Anaheim. They were being hailed as the favorites to win the American League West going into spring training. I never bought into the notion of the Mariners being that much better of a team this spring. Sure Lee and Felix Hernandez may arguably be the best one-two punch atop a starting rotation, the problem with the Mariners is where do go from there?
After those two, Lee has yet to start a game by the way, the rotation consists of Ian Snell, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Doug Fister, and Jason Vargas. But, the main issue with the Mariners is a very lackluster lineup. They have some good sticks at the top of the order with guys like Figgins, Ichiro, Milton Bradley, and Jose Lopez. The problem is Milton Bradley is arguably their best power hitter and is hitting clean up for them. When Milton Bradley is your cleanup hitter you are going to have problems scoring runs. Also, consider that Bradley seems to drag teams down with his antics.
Through 8 games the Mariners are 2-6 with a team batting average of .212 and have scored just 21 runs.
Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox have to feel pretty good about being 3-4 despite the fact that Josh Beckett and Jon Lester are just 1-1 with a 6.64 ERA in the four games they have started and J. D. Drew and David Ortiz, two bats the team is going to rely heavily upon to drive in runs are a combined .159 and driven in just 4 runs through the Sox first seven games.
With Drew and Big Papi not carrying their weight in the early going Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Beltre have stepped in to provide run support. Pedroia is hitting the way he did when he won the MVP Award two years ago. Through seven games he is hitting .357 with 3 homers and 8 RBIs. Beltre is hitting .375 and driven in six runs for the BoSox.
Early Surprises
The A’s are 6-2 and 6-0 in games Ben Sheets has not started this season. Now Sheets has not been awful but he has not been great either.
The Twins are 6-2 despite losing All Star closer Joe Nathan for the season during spring training. New closer Jon Rauch has converted all five of his save opportunities and allowed just 5 base runners in 5 innings.
The Giants are 6-1 despite having a lineup that features Aubrey Huff and Mark DeRosa as its best power hitters.
Barry Zito is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA.
Vernon Wells (5) and Alex Gonzalez (4) have combined for 9 of the Blue Jays 13 home runs as they have jetted out to a 5-2 start this season.
Kevin Gregg appears to have wrested the closer job away from Jason Frasor in Toronto converting two save opportunities and allowing just one runner in his first 3.1 innings.
Could Tampa’s Matt Garza be this year’s Zack Greinke? The 26-year old righty has won his first two starts with a 1.13 ERA and .179 opposing batting average.
It is no surprise that Ryan Howard has 3 homers and 11 RBIs in his first 7 games, however it is a surprise that he is hitting .375 and has struck out only 4 times so far.
Cincinnati’s Scott Rolen is hitting .318 with 3 homers in the Reds first seven games.
Kelly Johnson is hitting .368 with three homers through the Diamondbacks first six games.
Early Duds
Jason Frasor has allowed runs in two of his first five outings and has already blown two of his first five save opportunities.
Orioles closer Mike Gonzalez has blown two of his first three save opportunities and allowed at least two base runners in each of his three appearances this season.
Mark Teixeira and Nick Johnson are hitting a combined .130 through the Yankees first six games and neither guy has hit a home run.
David Ortiz and J. D. Drew are hitting a combined .159 with just one home run and 4 RBIs between the two.
Javier Vazquez got shelled in his first start of the year against the Rays making some wonder why the Yankees bothered bringing him back in the first place.
Jake Peavy has given the White Sox just 10.2 innings in his first two starts while posting a 8.44 ERA.
Raul Ibanez and Shane Victorino are hitting a combined .190 for the Phillies after seven games.
The heart of the Astros lineup, Hunter Pence, Carlos Lee, and Geoff Blum, has combined to hit .137 with one homer and 2 RBIs in the Astros first seven games.
The Astros bullpen is 0-2 with a 6.23 ERA.
Minus Roy Oswalt the Astros starting rotation is 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA.
The Cubs are hitting just .223 and scored 27 runs through 7 games.
The Cubs bullpen is 0-3 with a 6.30 ERA.
Milwaukee’s starting rotation is 1-3 with a 6.57 ERA.
Pirates starting pitching is 2-4 with an 8.82 ERA. Take Zack Duke out of the equation and it is 0-4 with a 12.04 ERA.
Random Notes
Roy Halladay has been everything the Phillies were hoping for winning his first two starts with a 0.56 ERA and striking out 17 batters in 16 innings.
Ryan Madson has been solid as the Phils closer so far converting both his save opportunities, however, he gave up a run against the Astros and has allowed 4 hits in 3.1 innings.
The Mets are 2-4 and in last place in the East despite outscoring their opponents while the Marlins, Braves, and Nationals are all ahead of the Mets despite being outscored by their opponents.
The Astros have scored just 13 runs and hit two homers this season. Albert Pujols have driven in 14 runs and hit five homers on his own.
