MLB: Cheers and Jeers From the Bleachers
With roughly a month of the major league baseball season in the books it is time for some more cheers and jeers from around the majors.
St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals have established themselves as the early front runners for the National League pennant. Entering tonight’s game against the Phillies the Cards stand at 18-9, have won 8 of their last 9 games, and have taken 7 of the 8 series they have completed this season. Only the Giants have won a series against St. Louis this season.
First year starter David Freese has been something of a surprise at third base for the Cards this season. They always knew he could hit, but lately he has been tearing it up against NL pitching. Freese currently leads the race for the batting crown hitting at a .360 clip. During his current 8-game hitting streak Freese is hitting .500 (16 of 32) with all three of his home runs on the year and 14 of his 19 RBIs. He has had multi-hit games in his last four games and 6 of his last 8. He has also had at least one extra base hit in four straight games.
First year starter Jaime Garcia continues to be a pleasant surprise as well. Garcia has arguably been the ace of the staff in the early going winning three of his first four decisions to along with a team best 1.13 ERA. Garcia has gone at least six innings in all five of his starts and the Giants are the only team score more than one run against him.
Brad Penny is looking like another successful reclamation project for Dave Duncan as he stands at 3-1 with a 1.56 ERA through his first five starts. Penny has also gone at six innings in all five of his starts and only Reds have touched him up for more than two runs in a start.
Adam Wainwright continues to dominate opposing lineups though. Last year’s Cy Young runner-up won four of his first six starts with his only loss being a 2-0 complete game effort against the Giants last weekend.
The Cardinals starting rotation is a stellar 14-4 with a 2.45 ERA. Kyle Lohse is the only member of the starting rotation that has not won at least three games this year. In fact he is the only starter with an ERA over 2.84.
After seeing his average dip to .275 Albert Pujols has gone on an9-game hitting streak of his own. He is hitting .429 (14 of 30) during his streak but has hit only one home run.
After driving in 6 runs in his first six games Matt Holliday has struggled at the plate driving in just 5 runs in his last 20 games.
Colby Rasmus has been either boom or bust at the plate this season. It is something of an interesting phenomenon with him this season. In 24 games in which he got an at bat Rasmus has gone hitless 11 times, and of the 13 games he has gotten base hits he has had 9 multi-hit games. While he has struck out an astonishing 27 times he still leads the club with 17 walks, a .442 OBP, and .658 slugging percentage. It is nice to see the 23-year old outfielder hitting the way the Cards thought he would at the big league level.
Cheers
The Dodgers’ Andre Ethier leads the league in homers and RBIs and is second in hitting and yet I don’t hear anyone talking about a possible Triple Crown run from him.
Tampa’s Evan Longoria is hitting .487 (19 of 39) with four homers and seven RBIs during a current 10-game hitting streak. He also has 8 multi-hit games during his current streak.
Arizona’s Kelly Johnson continues to impress with his comeback season. He has already hit more home runs this season (9) than he in 109 games last season (8). With 18 RBIs he needs just 12 more to eclipse last season’s total. His current .697 slugging percentage is five points higher than his OPS last season.
Barry Zito and Tim Lincecum are 8-0 with a 1.62 ERA for the Giants through their first 11 starts. Zito has pitched at least 6 innings in each of his five starts. Lincecum has gone at least seven innings in five of his six starts and has struck out seven or more in all six games he has pitched in. He also has three double digit strikeout games.
After starting the year going hitless in 7 of his first 13 games and hitting just .205 with 3 RBIs, Josh Hamilton’s bat has come to life hitting .345 with 4 homers and 11 RBIs in his last 13 games for the Rangers.
Almost two years removed from elbow surgery Francisco Liriano is back pitching like an ace for the Twins again. Liriano has allowed runs in only two of his five starts which included a string of 23 scoreless innings. He has also pitched at least seven innings in each of his last four starts and struck out at least 8 batters in three starts this year.
The Rays starting rotation is 15-3 with a 2.63 ERA. Jeff Niemann is the only starter with fewer than three wins and James Shields is bringing up the rear with a 3.15 ERA but leads the team with 43 K’s and is tied with Matt Garza for the team lead in wins with 4.
Detroit’s Austin Jackson is hitting .548 (17 of 31) during his current 7-game hitting streak. He is currently second in the league with a .376 average despite the fact he is on pace to strike out 203 times.
Dontrelle Willis has allowed two or fewer runs and pitched at least six innings in three of his first four starts this season.
Andruw Jones and Paul Konerko have combined to hit 20 of the White Sox 36 home runs so far this season.
After three underwhelming starts Boston’s Jon Lester struck out 23 and allowed just one earned run over 20.2 innings in his last three starts.
Atlanta’s Jason Heyward continues to be an early favorite for the NL rookie of the year smashing 8 homers and driving in 24 runs in his first 25 games. The only real knock on him is the 26 strikeouts he has compiled.
Colorado’s Ubaldo Jiminiez has not allowed more than two runs in any of his six starts this season and has yet to allow more than two runs in a start. He also has gone three starts where he did not allow any runs.
Phil Hughes has not allowed more than two runs in any of his four starts and opponents are hitting just .122 against him.
The White Sox bullpen has struck out 92 batters in 77.1 innings this season.
It is a shame the Braves cannot get any consistent starting pitching after Tommy Hanson and Tim Hudson as the bullpen features three pitchers with sub 3.00 ERAs.
The maturation of Johnathon Niese and Mike Pelfrey has been a welcome surprise for the Mets who came into the season wondering who was going to round out the rotation after Johan Santana and John Maine. Pelfrey and Niese have combined to go 5-2 with a 2.75 ERA in their ten starts for the Mets. The Mets are 7-3 in games the young duo have started for them.
Joba Chamberlain has saved the last two games for the Yankees in place of Mariano Rivera who was unavailable due to stiffness in his side.
Matt Capps has converted his first 11 save opportunities for the Nats allowing just one earned run in his first 14 appearances.
Jon Rauch is making Twins fans quickly forget Joe Nathan converting 7 of his first 8 save opportunities for the Twins.
Daniel Bard has struck out 11 batters in his last five innings pitched for the Red Sox.
Carlos Marmol has struck out 11 in his last five innings as well for the Cubs.
Jeers
Ben Sheets allowed 17 runs in 7.1 innings over his last two starts for Oakland. The A’s are just 1-5 in games Sheets has started for them.
Mark Teixeira and Nick Johnson are hitting a combined .159 with just 19 RBIs for the Yankees.
Javier Vazquez has given up five or more runs in three of his five starts and has not given up fewer than three runs in any of his starts. He has yet to pitch six innings in any of his starts and has allowed 8 home runs in just 23 innings. Manager Joe Girardi has already gone on record stating Vazquez will skip his next start in the rotation.
Arizona starter Edwin Jackson has surrendered 18 runs in 6.1 innings over his last two starts.
The Pittsburgh Pirates starting rotation is 5-15 with a 7.34 ERA.
It is beginning to look as though this may be Trevor Hoffman’s last season in the big leagues. He has blown 4 of 8 save opportunities and allowed 6 home runs in his first ten innings for Milwaukee.
Doug Davis has pitched into the fifth inning just once in five starts for the Brewers this season. He has also allowed 4 or more runs in four of his five starts.
Derek Lowe, Kenshin Kawakami, and Jair Jurrjens have combined to go 4-9 with a 5.63 ERA for the Braves. Lowe has all four of those wins by the way.
Even though the Diamondbacks lead the league in runs scored they also lead the league in strikeouts and are on pace to whiff an astounding 1482 times.
Justin Upton has yet to live up to the contract extension he received in the off season. Through the team’s first 26 contests he is hitting just .225 with four home runs and has struck out an astronomical 38 times in just 102 at bats. He is currently on pace to whiff 237 times this season.
After getting off to an encouraging start Chipper Jones has seen his average dip from .295 to .225 over his last 9 games in which he has gone just 3 for 28. He is beginning to show even more signs of being over-the-hill.
Pitching continues to be Arizona’s bugaboo as Ian Kennedy paces the team with a 4.45 ERA and Esmerling Vasquez is the only pitcher with more than one appearance with an ERA lower than Kennedy’s with a 3.12 ERA in 8.2 innings pitched.
Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder has just one home run and two RBIs in his last ten games.
Heyward and Martin Prado are the only two members of the regular starting lineup hitting over .257 for the Braves.
Boston’s Josh Beckett has given up five or more runs in 3 of his 6 starts this season.
Jake Peavy has given up at least six runs in 3 of his six starts for the White Sox.
Johnny Cueto, Homer Bailey, Aaron Harang, and Bronson Arroyo are a combined 3-8 with a 6.14 ERA for the Reds.
Paul Konerko has hit three more home runs (12) than the Houston Astros have as a team (9).
