MLB: Cheers and Jeers From the Bleachers
It has been a few weeks since my last installment of Cheers and Jeers but I am back with some new perspectives on what is going on around the big leagues.
St. Louis Cardinals
The season has started to get away from the Red Birds a bit over the last six weeks of the season. After sprinting out to a blazing 18-9 record through the beginning of May the Cards have leveled off a bit and currently sit at 38-31. What was once looking like a runaway in the Central has turned into a real dogfight with the Cincinnati Reds making a run at the title and lurking just a game behind the reeling Red Birds.
The Cards are currently dealing with two major issues. One is a rash of inconsistent hitting. They cannot seem to get more than two or three guys consistently hitting at any one time at the plate. Even the usually dominant Albert Pujols has been beset by the inconsistency bug this season.
Pujols still remains a viable MVP candidate ranking in the top ten in the three Triple Crown categories and leading the league in OBP, OPS, bases-on-balls, and ranking 9th in the slugging. On the whole, though, his numbers have come back to the pack a bit this season.
After getting off to blazing start hitting .318 with 31 RBIs the first two months of the season rookie third baseman David Freese has cooled a bit hitting just .256 with two ribs in the month of June. Despite the June swoon he still leads all NL rookies with a .306 average and ranks behind only Jason Heyward in RBIs with 33.
Matt Holliday is finally starting to heat up again and is coming off a series in which he torched the Oakland A’s to the tune of 8 for 12, four homers, and eight RBIs in a three game set over the weekend. After starting the season hitting .423 with three homers and six RBIs in his first six games Holliday has struggled to provide Pujols any kind of protection in the lineup. His average has hovered in the .290/.300 range but he has not been the big run producer for them the way he was last summer. In the time spanning April 12 to June 16 Holliday hit just 3 home runs and drove in just 19 runs.
Colby Rasmus bounced back from a sub-par May and is hitting .296 with 6 homers and 13 RBIs through the first three weeks of June. On the year Rasmus is hitting .276 and ranks second on the team with 13 homers and third with 34 RBIs. He also leads the Cards with 8 stolen bases.
After plodding his way to a .212 start at the plate Skip Schumaker finally got it going with the bat and is hitting .274 since the end of April.
Shortstop Brendan Ryan is starting to show some life at the plate after flat-lining the first two months of the season with a .197 batting average. Ryan is hitting .271 with 7 extra base hits and 7 RBIs in the month of June after just 8 RBIs and 7 EXBHs the first two months of the year.
The other major issue facing the Cards right now is finding enough healthy arms to round out the starting rotation. The team lost Kyle Lohse indefinitely at the end of May when he had to have surgery on his right forearm. Losing Lohse was not a crushing loss for the Cards though as he had given them little by way of quality innings this season. Of his 9 starts only four were quality starts and on the year he is 1-4 with a 5.89 ERA.
The bigger loss was losing Brad Penny about the same time as Lohse. Through his first seven starts Penny had been everything the Cards could have asked for going 3-3 with a 1.70 ERA and five starts of 7 innings or more.
The team has struggled to plug those gaps in the rotation with P. J. Walter, Adam Ottavino, and Blake Hawksworth combining to go 1-3 with an 8.23 ERA in six starts in their stead. The Cards signed the recently released Jeff Suppan to help stop the bleeding but he has yet to pitch out of the fifth for them as he reconditions his arm to being a starter after being demoted to the bullpen in Milwaukee.
Jaime Garcia, Adam Wainwright, and Chris Carpenter continue to be the most dominant threesome in baseball combining to go 24-8 with a 2.26 ERA. Garcia ranks second in the majors in ERA while Wainwright is 5th and Carpenter 16th. Wainwright also ranks fourth in the majors in strikeouts, is second in innings, and is one of five pitchers to own 10 wins as we head towards the end of June. If not for Ubaldo Jiminiez, Wainwright would be the clear front runner for the Cy Young right now.
Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox were being written off as dead floundering in the standings 8.5 games behind the Rays not more than a month ago. Since May 17 the Sox have gone 24-8 to climb to within one-half game of the Yankees atop the AL East standings.
Clay Buchholz has emerged as the ace of the Red Sox staff in helping them scrap their way back into the division race in the AL East. Since May 8th Buchholz has gone 7-1 with a 1.62 ERA over those 8 starts.
Jon Lester has won 8 straight decisions for the Sox as well and has posted a 2.01 ERA since starting off the year going 0-2 with a 8.44 ERA after his first three starts.
After a slow start Daisuke Matsuzaka has won three of his last four starts for the BoSox posting a 1.97 ERA.
Adrian Beltre has picked up the pace at the plate for Boston. After hitting .338 with 9 RBIs in April Beltre has gone on a tear hitting .335 with 10 homers and 39 RBIs since the end of April. Beltre is making a strong case for comeback player of the year.
Catcher Victor Martinez has been another cog in Boston’s resurgence hitting .383 in the month of June.
Big Papi, David Ortiz, finally got his mojo going after a dismal April in which there was speculation that the Sox may be contemplating releasing him. Since the end of April Papi has hit 14 homers and driven in 42 runs.
Cheers
Atlanta’s Tim Hudson has been on roll lately going 6-1 with a 1.99 ERA over his last ten starts for the surging Braves. On the year he is 7-2 with a 2.34 ERA and has allowed more than two runs in just two of his 14 starts.
Florida’s Josh Johnson is 5-1 with a 0.63 ERA over his last 8 starts. He has not allowed more than one run in any of those starts leaving Bob Gibson as the only pitcher in the modern era to have more consecutive starts without allowing more than one run with 11.
After muddling his way through the month of May Troy Glaus has been on fire for the Braves hitting .316 with 12 homers and 46 RBIs. Glaus currently leads the league with 55 RBIs and has been a key to the Braves recent surge to the top of the NL East standings.
Milwaukee’s Corey Hart is 10 of 28 (.357) with 11 RBIs and 5 EXBHs during a current six game hitting streak. He has driven in three runs in three of his last five games.
Delmon Young has base hits in 17 of his 19 games in the month of June for the Twins. Young is hitting .379 and has driven in 16 runs during the month.
Catcher Carlos Santana is hitting .393 with two homers and 8 RBIs in the 9 games he has played in since being called up by the Indians.
Scott Kazmir posted a 2.35 ERA while winning his last four starts for the Angels. Kazmir has lowered his ERA from 6.34 to 5.08 during the month of June.
Magglio Ordonez is hitting .442 with 8 EXBHs and 13 RBIs during his current 10-game hitting streak. He also has 5 multi-hit games during that same time span.
Paul Konerko is hitting .390 with 18 RBIs in the month of June for the Chicago White Sox. Konerko currently ranks third in the AL with 17 homers and 5th with 51 RBIs.
Alex Rios has 13 homers and 20 stolen bases and is currently on pace for 32 homers and 49 steals.
Clayton Kershaw is 6-1 with a 1.82 ERA over his last 8 starts.
Jake Peavy has won two of his last three starts for the White Sox posting a 1.56 ERA.
Since the end of April Scott Rolen is hitting .317 with 10 homers and 36 RBIs for the surging Reds.
Javier Vazquez is 3-1 with a 2.25 in the month of June for the Yankees lowering his ERA from 6.86 to 5.01 during the month.
Joey Votto is 8 for his last 19 with two homers and 5 RBIs. Votto has had two hits in four of his last five games. He also has four homers over his last eight games.
Kansas City’s David DeJesus is hitting .411 for the month of June raising his average 33 points to .323. He has had multi-hit games 9 times in 19 games in June.
Houston’s Carlos Lee has five of his ten home runs and 17 of his 38 RBIs in the month of June.
Arthur Rhodes has thrown 30 scoreless innings out of the pen for Cincinnati.
Marlon Byrd is hitting .385 in the month of June for the Chicago Cubs.
Despite going winless Brian Matusz has pitched well of late for the Orioles posting a 2.39 ERA and pitching 26.2 innings in his four starts this month.
Jeers
Colorado 1B Todd Helton is hitting just .204 with one homer and two RBIs in the month of June.
Roy Halladay has given up five home runs over his last two starts, both losses.
The Dodgers’ Andre Ethier has gone hitless in his last four games and is hitting just .197 with with 5 RBIs since returning to the lineup May 31st.
Arizona’s Mark Reynolds continues to be this generation’s Rob Deer. He has almost twice as many strikeouts, 100, as he does base hits, 51. Reynolds has struck out 3 or more times 12 times this season and has amassed 18 strikeouts in his last 24 at bats.
Travis Hafner has seen his average drop from .281 on May 25th to .251 entering play today.
A. J. Burnett has allowed at least four earned runs in each of his last four starts for the Yankees and is 0-4 with a 10.35 ERA for the month of June.
Rick Porcello has allowed five or more runs in each of his last three starts earning him a demotion to the minors. On the year Porcello is 4-7 with a 6.14 ERA.
Houston’s Wandy Rodriguez allowed 14 runs and walked 9 batters over 8 innings in his last two starts. Rodriguez currently leads the league with 10 losses on the year.
Francisco Cordero has allowed walked five batters and allowed six runs while blowing two saves in his last six appearances for the Reds.
Jason Heyward has hit a bit of a wall for the Braves in the month of June hitting just .205 with one homer and six RBIs. He has also struck out 28 times in 78 at bats.
Detroit’s Austin Jackson is hitting just .220 with 0 RBIs and 3 extra-base-hits in the month of June.
After hitting 13 homers and driving in 32 runs the first two months of the season Baltimore’s Ty Wigginton has cooled off in the month of June hitting just .233 with no homers and just seven RBIs.
White Sox 3B Gordon Beckham is following up a strong rookie year with the dreaded sophomore slump hitting just .205 with one homer through the first three weeks of June.
Since beginning the season 1-1 with a 1.80 ERA after his first two starts David Huff was sent to the minors by the Indians after losing 8 of his next 9 decisions and posting a 6.39 ERA.
The Angels’ Ervin Santana has allowed 10 earned runs over 10 innings in his last two starts.
Kansas City’s Kyle Davies is 1-2 with a 9.78 ERA over his last five starts.
Brian Bannister has given up 14 earned runs in 7 innings over his last two starts for the Royals.
