Tuesday, June 27, 2006
10 things i learned or re-learned on my trip back east last week (1st non-baseball post in 3 months!)
1. any diner with a purple neon sign reading "EAT HEAVY" and a menu containing the phrase "feed your head" will have excellent country fried steak.
2. in the bustling metropolis of pelham, new hampshire, when you see 3 cop cars and an ambulance converged at a street corner, do not expect to see missing limbs and carnage. expect to see a lady who fell off her bike into the bushes, and seven cops milling around a stretcher while the eighth looks at her sprained ankle.
3. if you go golfing without an ipod/speaker set-up in the cart, you're not really golfing at all. you've never really sank a put until you do it with B.I.G.'s "juicy" blaring in the background. also, it will help you forget that you can't consistently drive a golf ball past the ladies tees.
4. after drinking all nite and heading to mcdonald's for a mcmuffin at 5:30am, it will never not be funny for one of your friends to ask the drive thru lady what time she gets off.
5. quahogs are so fucking good. so is fresh lobster.
6. after living in the desert for a year, the humidity in new england makes it feel like it's raining indoors. it's sort of gross, actually.
7. when going to walmart to purchase balls for beer pong, it is extremely uncomfortable to tap the deaf employee on the shoulder to ask what section they would be in.
8. if one of your friends is constantly trashed and asking you if he's being annoying, you have 3 options: (1) lie and tell him no, (2) somewhat lie and tell him no but that he could probably not grab so many breasts, or (3) microwave his driver's license for 90 seconds, roll it into a tube, and put it back in his wallet while he's passed out.
9. when in the receiving line and the bride's father says "you guys better behave" upon finding out you are the groom's college friends, you will secretly wish for the bridesmaids to make a scene.
10. horse face killah and shovel head are fantastic nicknames.
1. any diner with a purple neon sign reading "EAT HEAVY" and a menu containing the phrase "feed your head" will have excellent country fried steak.
2. in the bustling metropolis of pelham, new hampshire, when you see 3 cop cars and an ambulance converged at a street corner, do not expect to see missing limbs and carnage. expect to see a lady who fell off her bike into the bushes, and seven cops milling around a stretcher while the eighth looks at her sprained ankle.
3. if you go golfing without an ipod/speaker set-up in the cart, you're not really golfing at all. you've never really sank a put until you do it with B.I.G.'s "juicy" blaring in the background. also, it will help you forget that you can't consistently drive a golf ball past the ladies tees.
4. after drinking all nite and heading to mcdonald's for a mcmuffin at 5:30am, it will never not be funny for one of your friends to ask the drive thru lady what time she gets off.
5. quahogs are so fucking good. so is fresh lobster.
6. after living in the desert for a year, the humidity in new england makes it feel like it's raining indoors. it's sort of gross, actually.
7. when going to walmart to purchase balls for beer pong, it is extremely uncomfortable to tap the deaf employee on the shoulder to ask what section they would be in.
8. if one of your friends is constantly trashed and asking you if he's being annoying, you have 3 options: (1) lie and tell him no, (2) somewhat lie and tell him no but that he could probably not grab so many breasts, or (3) microwave his driver's license for 90 seconds, roll it into a tube, and put it back in his wallet while he's passed out.
9. when in the receiving line and the bride's father says "you guys better behave" upon finding out you are the groom's college friends, you will secretly wish for the bridesmaids to make a scene.
10. horse face killah and shovel head are fantastic nicknames.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
tuesday mlb notes
-maybe the cubs should start hoping all their regulars get hit with 10-game suspensions for fighting. in michael barrett's absence, henry blanco, widely known as having offensive skills as terrible as his haircut, has started the last 4 games and hit .600 (9-15) with 3 homers. this coming from a guy who amassed a total of 3 hits in all of april and may, when he racked up a whopping .233 ops. thanks to the recent outburst (and good games in his two earlier june starts), blanco has almost tripled that number (he now stands at .709 on the season). at least for now, cubs fans can smile at more than the mullet.
-with all the struggles in the yankees rotation, i'm surprised there hasn't been more attention brought to chien-ming wang (who faced off last week against paul byrd, giving a comical byrd vs. wang matchup in the paper). wang has a terrific 2.94 groundball-flyball ratio and is allowing only .46 homers per 9 innings. he's also displaying great control (only 26 bb's in 97+ innings). about the only knock you could have is that he's not striking guys out, at a 3.14 rate per 9 innings, but here's one yanks fan who isn't complaining (though i will complain about melky's ab's last nite and the scott erickson/t-long experiments).
-i'm going to puke when jason varitek starts the all-star game over joe mauer and jorge posada. while i'm on this topic, the same can be said for when johnny damon gets the nod over vernon wells or sarge jr, or when bill hall spends 3 days fishing instead of hitting 7th for the nl all-stars.
-the toronto signing of edgardo alfonzo had just about everyone shaking their heads, but maybe that was the incentive aaron hill needed to turn things around (i doubt it, but cmon, i'm trying to put a positive spin on that for greg's sake). since moving to short and getting "pushed" by alfonzo, hill wound up finishing may with 5 multi-hit games in the final 7, and has reached base in june at a .406 clip. with hill hitting and zaun getting some more ab's each week, the toronto lineup just keeps getting scarier.
-who do you think the a's would rather have roaming center this year, kotsay or byrnes? the dirt dog is really putting together a nice season. he might even be arizona's lone offensive all-star.
there will be no post friday, as i'll be on cape cod for a wedding drowning myself with sam adams and quahogs. enjoy the college world series, which has been awesome per usual (catchers hitting homers in the 8th inning then immediately warming up in the pen to close the 9th? cmon, that's good stuff).
-maybe the cubs should start hoping all their regulars get hit with 10-game suspensions for fighting. in michael barrett's absence, henry blanco, widely known as having offensive skills as terrible as his haircut, has started the last 4 games and hit .600 (9-15) with 3 homers. this coming from a guy who amassed a total of 3 hits in all of april and may, when he racked up a whopping .233 ops. thanks to the recent outburst (and good games in his two earlier june starts), blanco has almost tripled that number (he now stands at .709 on the season). at least for now, cubs fans can smile at more than the mullet.
-with all the struggles in the yankees rotation, i'm surprised there hasn't been more attention brought to chien-ming wang (who faced off last week against paul byrd, giving a comical byrd vs. wang matchup in the paper). wang has a terrific 2.94 groundball-flyball ratio and is allowing only .46 homers per 9 innings. he's also displaying great control (only 26 bb's in 97+ innings). about the only knock you could have is that he's not striking guys out, at a 3.14 rate per 9 innings, but here's one yanks fan who isn't complaining (though i will complain about melky's ab's last nite and the scott erickson/t-long experiments).
-i'm going to puke when jason varitek starts the all-star game over joe mauer and jorge posada. while i'm on this topic, the same can be said for when johnny damon gets the nod over vernon wells or sarge jr, or when bill hall spends 3 days fishing instead of hitting 7th for the nl all-stars.
-the toronto signing of edgardo alfonzo had just about everyone shaking their heads, but maybe that was the incentive aaron hill needed to turn things around (i doubt it, but cmon, i'm trying to put a positive spin on that for greg's sake). since moving to short and getting "pushed" by alfonzo, hill wound up finishing may with 5 multi-hit games in the final 7, and has reached base in june at a .406 clip. with hill hitting and zaun getting some more ab's each week, the toronto lineup just keeps getting scarier.
-who do you think the a's would rather have roaming center this year, kotsay or byrnes? the dirt dog is really putting together a nice season. he might even be arizona's lone offensive all-star.
there will be no post friday, as i'll be on cape cod for a wedding drowning myself with sam adams and quahogs. enjoy the college world series, which has been awesome per usual (catchers hitting homers in the 8th inning then immediately warming up in the pen to close the 9th? cmon, that's good stuff).
Friday, June 16, 2006
friday mlb notes
-it seems the sox have remedied this somewhat in the last 2 days, but when coco crisp returned from the dl they inexplicably bumped youkilis from leadoff (where he had posted a .956 ops and an obp well over .400) to the bottom of the order. this left them with crisp (.324 obp) and loretta (.338 obp) to hit 1-2. wednesday francona wised up and re-inserted youkilis as the leadoff hitter and kept loretta second. i'm as big a loretta fan as they come, but boston would probably benefit from dropping loretta to the 8th spot (behind crisp, in front of sea bass) and penciling in trot nixon second. nixon obviously has the power to be a middle of the order guy, but the fact that his obp is nearly 100 points better than loretta's means papi and manny would have roughly one extra baserunner on when they hit every two games. while i'm on the sox, i'd also like to know why it is that gonzalez has gotten a complete free pass for his atrocious offensive season, while renteria was booed out of town. i know renteria was making some errors, but he also wasn't posting a sub-.300 obp.
-the randy johnson suspension is simply ridiculous. bob watson and the fun police are setting a terrible precedent by suspending a pitcher who didn't even hit the batter he was throwing at. don't these clowns realize getting ejected from a game is a punishment in itself? why does he get 5 more games?
-in thursday's 8-4 win over the yanks, cleveland's top 5 hitters in the order went 2-21 (with both hits coming in the 9th inning). the bottom 4 hitters, though, were 10-18. i don't really have a point here, just found it interesting.
-5 young arms to keep an eye on:
josh johnson, florida, 22 years old - 6 quality starts in 8, striking out nearly 8 per 9 innings, only 2 home runs allowed, 2.05 era, 1.16 whip. he has benefited from some luck in the hits allowed department, as well as throwing in florida, but at 3.00 his nra is still well above (well below, but you know what i mean) average.
elizardo ramirez, cincy, 23 years old - 6 qs in 9, 3.44 era, 1.24 whip, k/bb rate nearing 3. he's been a bit lucky too, but it's easy to forgive pitching in cincy.
enrique gonzalez, arizona, 23 years old - 3 qs in 4 (smaller sample size than the first two guys), 5:1 k/bb rate, 1.64 era, .64 whip, very nice numbers in aaa tucson to start the year (2.24 era in hitter friendly pcl, only 2 homers allowed in 60+ innings). it's nice to have a ground ball guy in that park.
todd coffey, cincy, 25 years old - 1.73 era, 1.24 whip, only 1 homer allowed in 36+ innings, k/bb rate nearing 4. bp doesn't project him to be a strikeout guy, so i'm not sure he's got a future as a closer. his groundball/flyball rate (over 2 each of the last 2 years) seems ideal for the great american batting cage, though, and his ops-against at home this year is under .600.
jon papelbon, bosox, 25 years old - .65 whip (heh), 0 homers allowed in 32+ innings (haha), k/bb rate over 8 (hahaha), 0.28 era (good lord!). i knew he had been awesome, but this stuff is honestly laughable.
all but johnson will have an interesting impact on their respective team's run at the postseason.
-it seems the sox have remedied this somewhat in the last 2 days, but when coco crisp returned from the dl they inexplicably bumped youkilis from leadoff (where he had posted a .956 ops and an obp well over .400) to the bottom of the order. this left them with crisp (.324 obp) and loretta (.338 obp) to hit 1-2. wednesday francona wised up and re-inserted youkilis as the leadoff hitter and kept loretta second. i'm as big a loretta fan as they come, but boston would probably benefit from dropping loretta to the 8th spot (behind crisp, in front of sea bass) and penciling in trot nixon second. nixon obviously has the power to be a middle of the order guy, but the fact that his obp is nearly 100 points better than loretta's means papi and manny would have roughly one extra baserunner on when they hit every two games. while i'm on the sox, i'd also like to know why it is that gonzalez has gotten a complete free pass for his atrocious offensive season, while renteria was booed out of town. i know renteria was making some errors, but he also wasn't posting a sub-.300 obp.
-the randy johnson suspension is simply ridiculous. bob watson and the fun police are setting a terrible precedent by suspending a pitcher who didn't even hit the batter he was throwing at. don't these clowns realize getting ejected from a game is a punishment in itself? why does he get 5 more games?
-in thursday's 8-4 win over the yanks, cleveland's top 5 hitters in the order went 2-21 (with both hits coming in the 9th inning). the bottom 4 hitters, though, were 10-18. i don't really have a point here, just found it interesting.
-5 young arms to keep an eye on:
josh johnson, florida, 22 years old - 6 quality starts in 8, striking out nearly 8 per 9 innings, only 2 home runs allowed, 2.05 era, 1.16 whip. he has benefited from some luck in the hits allowed department, as well as throwing in florida, but at 3.00 his nra is still well above (well below, but you know what i mean) average.
elizardo ramirez, cincy, 23 years old - 6 qs in 9, 3.44 era, 1.24 whip, k/bb rate nearing 3. he's been a bit lucky too, but it's easy to forgive pitching in cincy.
enrique gonzalez, arizona, 23 years old - 3 qs in 4 (smaller sample size than the first two guys), 5:1 k/bb rate, 1.64 era, .64 whip, very nice numbers in aaa tucson to start the year (2.24 era in hitter friendly pcl, only 2 homers allowed in 60+ innings). it's nice to have a ground ball guy in that park.
todd coffey, cincy, 25 years old - 1.73 era, 1.24 whip, only 1 homer allowed in 36+ innings, k/bb rate nearing 4. bp doesn't project him to be a strikeout guy, so i'm not sure he's got a future as a closer. his groundball/flyball rate (over 2 each of the last 2 years) seems ideal for the great american batting cage, though, and his ops-against at home this year is under .600.
jon papelbon, bosox, 25 years old - .65 whip (heh), 0 homers allowed in 32+ innings (haha), k/bb rate over 8 (hahaha), 0.28 era (good lord!). i knew he had been awesome, but this stuff is honestly laughable.
all but johnson will have an interesting impact on their respective team's run at the postseason.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
tuesday mlb notes
-milwaukee is definitely a popular pick to have a stronghold on the nl central in the near future, but let's not overlook the pirates. if they would have the guts to just sit burnitz indefinitely, their lineup could look something like this (player followed by age, obp, slg, eqa).
freddy sanchez (3b), 28, .376, .483, .289
sean casey (1b), 31, .402, .548, .311
jason bay (lf), 27, .445, .619, .343
craig wilson (rf), 29, .350, .492, .279
jose bautista (cf), 25, .356, .529, .287
jose castillo (2b), 25, .346, .465, .271
ronny paulino (c), 25, .373, .395, .265
jack wilson (ss), 28, .323, .419, .251
you can see they only have 1 regular with a below average (.260) eqa, and even their oldest player (casey) barely cracks 30. that said, they may want to dump casey and his $8.5 mil/year pricetag whenever possible to make room for brad eldred. though i'm not at all crazy about eldred, they could do more with the extra cash. well, assuming they don't go sign guys like burnitz and randa with it...
-chris shelton sure opened his eyes with that torrid start, but since april 17 he's hitting .225 with 3 home runs. he posted a .703 ops in may (with only 1 long ball), and a .448 (um, gross) mark thus far in june. basically if he take away his first three weeks he's been absolutely horrendous.
-it's easy to forget mark teahen is only 24, since he's been struggling in the sink hole that is kansas city for multiple seasons now. teahen started so poorly that he was demoted in early may, only to dominate aaa for a month. since being called back up, he's posted an impressive .375/.412/.500 in june and given back the royals some hope in this one time prospect. there's no reason to rush alex gordon and billy butler, but both are excelling in aa wichita (gordon more so) and if teahen is for real he could always be moved to first to make room for gordon. lord knows dougie mink isn't the long term answer in kc.
-kevin mench's overall numbers (.291/.344/.525) look nice enough, but take a look at his splits:
vs. lhp - .425/.511/.825
vs. rhp - .259/.299/.440
i heard that ol' big head has lost his every day job, which makes sense. there's little reason he should be doing more than platoon work at this time.
-i want to hear suggestions of what milwaukee should get in return for carlos lee. the yanks seem to be an obvious candidate, but ahren (filling in for gm doug melvin) is insisting on getting melky cabrera, phillip hughes, AND another pitcher in return. in brian cashman's shoes, i say no way, no how. not for a 2 month rental (in fact, hughes should be as untouchable as a leper). clearly the cards need an outfielder who can hit (and have the arms in the minors to deal), but trading in the division seems unlikely. perhaps the tribe would be a good fit, it cleveland wants to make a playoff run. jason michaels doesn't really cut it as a corner outfielder.
and while we're on the brewers trade options, i say they should dump koskie to the padres in return for some young arms. koskie is (a) playing well, and (b) not hurt yet, so milwaukee should try to sell high here. san diego can't possibly be happy with vinny castilla at the hot corner.
-milwaukee is definitely a popular pick to have a stronghold on the nl central in the near future, but let's not overlook the pirates. if they would have the guts to just sit burnitz indefinitely, their lineup could look something like this (player followed by age, obp, slg, eqa).
freddy sanchez (3b), 28, .376, .483, .289
sean casey (1b), 31, .402, .548, .311
jason bay (lf), 27, .445, .619, .343
craig wilson (rf), 29, .350, .492, .279
jose bautista (cf), 25, .356, .529, .287
jose castillo (2b), 25, .346, .465, .271
ronny paulino (c), 25, .373, .395, .265
jack wilson (ss), 28, .323, .419, .251
you can see they only have 1 regular with a below average (.260) eqa, and even their oldest player (casey) barely cracks 30. that said, they may want to dump casey and his $8.5 mil/year pricetag whenever possible to make room for brad eldred. though i'm not at all crazy about eldred, they could do more with the extra cash. well, assuming they don't go sign guys like burnitz and randa with it...
-chris shelton sure opened his eyes with that torrid start, but since april 17 he's hitting .225 with 3 home runs. he posted a .703 ops in may (with only 1 long ball), and a .448 (um, gross) mark thus far in june. basically if he take away his first three weeks he's been absolutely horrendous.
-it's easy to forget mark teahen is only 24, since he's been struggling in the sink hole that is kansas city for multiple seasons now. teahen started so poorly that he was demoted in early may, only to dominate aaa for a month. since being called back up, he's posted an impressive .375/.412/.500 in june and given back the royals some hope in this one time prospect. there's no reason to rush alex gordon and billy butler, but both are excelling in aa wichita (gordon more so) and if teahen is for real he could always be moved to first to make room for gordon. lord knows dougie mink isn't the long term answer in kc.
-kevin mench's overall numbers (.291/.344/.525) look nice enough, but take a look at his splits:
vs. lhp - .425/.511/.825
vs. rhp - .259/.299/.440
i heard that ol' big head has lost his every day job, which makes sense. there's little reason he should be doing more than platoon work at this time.
-i want to hear suggestions of what milwaukee should get in return for carlos lee. the yanks seem to be an obvious candidate, but ahren (filling in for gm doug melvin) is insisting on getting melky cabrera, phillip hughes, AND another pitcher in return. in brian cashman's shoes, i say no way, no how. not for a 2 month rental (in fact, hughes should be as untouchable as a leper). clearly the cards need an outfielder who can hit (and have the arms in the minors to deal), but trading in the division seems unlikely. perhaps the tribe would be a good fit, it cleveland wants to make a playoff run. jason michaels doesn't really cut it as a corner outfielder.
and while we're on the brewers trade options, i say they should dump koskie to the padres in return for some young arms. koskie is (a) playing well, and (b) not hurt yet, so milwaukee should try to sell high here. san diego can't possibly be happy with vinny castilla at the hot corner.
Friday, June 09, 2006
friday mlb notes (late edition)
i was only in the office for maybe an hour on friday, due somewhat to another desperados win thursday nite and the ensuing celebration of ahren's near perfect game. hence the late edition.
-to say the rockies had a rough road trip to end may would be a colassal understatement. in the first 5 games the scored 4 total runs, never posting more than 1 in any game. in going 2-7 on the trip they averaged 1.9 runs a game, and before they exploded for 16 on wednesday they had only averaged 2.4 runs a game in the first 5 games of their current homestand. i still like their 3-6 hitters (helton, holliday, atkins, hawpe) make for a solid core but whatever mishmash clint hurdle pencils in the other 4 non-pitcher spots have been abysmal (with the exception of jamey carrol, who is dueling mark derosa for biggest overacheiver in 2006). troy "the big" tulowitzki can't replace clint barmes fast enough. also, the offensive drought may have tipped clint hurdle over the edge - with 1st and 2nd and none out with a 4-2 lead in the second inning on wednesday, the #2 hitter in colorado's lineup was bunting.
-reason number 483 the royals are terrible (from si.com): "Mike Sweeney was scheduled to swing the bat Tuesday but didn't because when he arrived at the stadium, nobody was around."
-honestly, what has happened to the power of these guys? (numbers as of friday morning)
mike cameron: 1 homer, .059 isolated power (which is slg minus avg), .189 career iso pwr, -.140 2006-career in iso pwr
brian giles: 6, .126, .237, -.111
aubrey huff: 3, .088, .186, -.098
shawn green: 4, .125, .218, -.093
todd helton: 4, .181 (thanks to a lot of doubles), .268, -.087
-i was not glad to see ned yost using jeff cirillo to pinch hit in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs and no one on (down just 1 run) instead of corey hart the other day. not that this was overly terrible (cirillo has been hot), but hart has a way greater chance of going yard.
i was only in the office for maybe an hour on friday, due somewhat to another desperados win thursday nite and the ensuing celebration of ahren's near perfect game. hence the late edition.
-to say the rockies had a rough road trip to end may would be a colassal understatement. in the first 5 games the scored 4 total runs, never posting more than 1 in any game. in going 2-7 on the trip they averaged 1.9 runs a game, and before they exploded for 16 on wednesday they had only averaged 2.4 runs a game in the first 5 games of their current homestand. i still like their 3-6 hitters (helton, holliday, atkins, hawpe) make for a solid core but whatever mishmash clint hurdle pencils in the other 4 non-pitcher spots have been abysmal (with the exception of jamey carrol, who is dueling mark derosa for biggest overacheiver in 2006). troy "the big" tulowitzki can't replace clint barmes fast enough. also, the offensive drought may have tipped clint hurdle over the edge - with 1st and 2nd and none out with a 4-2 lead in the second inning on wednesday, the #2 hitter in colorado's lineup was bunting.
-reason number 483 the royals are terrible (from si.com): "Mike Sweeney was scheduled to swing the bat Tuesday but didn't because when he arrived at the stadium, nobody was around."
-honestly, what has happened to the power of these guys? (numbers as of friday morning)
mike cameron: 1 homer, .059 isolated power (which is slg minus avg), .189 career iso pwr, -.140 2006-career in iso pwr
brian giles: 6, .126, .237, -.111
aubrey huff: 3, .088, .186, -.098
shawn green: 4, .125, .218, -.093
todd helton: 4, .181 (thanks to a lot of doubles), .268, -.087
-i was not glad to see ned yost using jeff cirillo to pinch hit in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs and no one on (down just 1 run) instead of corey hart the other day. not that this was overly terrible (cirillo has been hot), but hart has a way greater chance of going yard.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
tuesday mlb notes
-i know alfonso soriano is having a phenomenal year, and there is some merit to getting him some extra ab's over the course of the season. but aren't his .628 slugging and 21 jacks being a bit wasted with him hitting in front of the pitcher? it would seemingly be better to hit vidro (.391 obp, .436 slg) leadoff, and you could even consider marlon byrd (.347 obp, .354 slg) there (vidro is a better choice of course). and while we're questioning frank robinson's lineup decisions, what is up with hitting royce clayton 2nd?!
-where have you been andy phillips? i'm glad to see he's finally found his stroke, because the yanks really need to have some better bats coming off the bench. with all the injuries of late, joe torre has started him 7 games in a row (his previous high was two). phillips has turned his season around with 6 multi-hit games in that span (good for a .467 clip) and 3 homers in the last 4 games. i've been in phillips' camp for a long time but even i was started to lose faith. he's still not walking enough, but there's no doubt he should be dh'ing regularly even when all the starters return from the dl. sadly, bernie is just miserable in that role.
-kudos to jim leyland for finally penciling marcus thames into the lineup over craig monroe (sub .280 obp!!) on a regular basis. thames has one less homer than monroe in less than 1/2 the ab's, and has been thriving since been given a shot to play regularly. he's started 9 of the last 10 games and responded with 3 homers and an obp of .460 in that span. i know some of you readers have criticized me for hoping thames would play more, but here are the pecota cards of thames and monroe - which seem to favor thames as well. it's easy to forget monroe is just as old as thames (29), and thames has far better walking potential.
-beware rangers fans - it appears jerry hairston may be seeing some time at second, taking ab's from ian kinsler. why the rangers just didn't immediately demote hairston is beyond me - if anyone is going to take ab's from kinsler it should be super sub and dartmouth alum mark derosa, who's doing a fantastic job off the bench thus far (.403 obp, .302 eqa in 109 ab's).
-i'm sure you all are aware, but in case it slipped your mind today is the draft. si.com has a mock of the 1st round - i'm interested to see how accurate they will wind up being.
-i know alfonso soriano is having a phenomenal year, and there is some merit to getting him some extra ab's over the course of the season. but aren't his .628 slugging and 21 jacks being a bit wasted with him hitting in front of the pitcher? it would seemingly be better to hit vidro (.391 obp, .436 slg) leadoff, and you could even consider marlon byrd (.347 obp, .354 slg) there (vidro is a better choice of course). and while we're questioning frank robinson's lineup decisions, what is up with hitting royce clayton 2nd?!
-where have you been andy phillips? i'm glad to see he's finally found his stroke, because the yanks really need to have some better bats coming off the bench. with all the injuries of late, joe torre has started him 7 games in a row (his previous high was two). phillips has turned his season around with 6 multi-hit games in that span (good for a .467 clip) and 3 homers in the last 4 games. i've been in phillips' camp for a long time but even i was started to lose faith. he's still not walking enough, but there's no doubt he should be dh'ing regularly even when all the starters return from the dl. sadly, bernie is just miserable in that role.
-kudos to jim leyland for finally penciling marcus thames into the lineup over craig monroe (sub .280 obp!!) on a regular basis. thames has one less homer than monroe in less than 1/2 the ab's, and has been thriving since been given a shot to play regularly. he's started 9 of the last 10 games and responded with 3 homers and an obp of .460 in that span. i know some of you readers have criticized me for hoping thames would play more, but here are the pecota cards of thames and monroe - which seem to favor thames as well. it's easy to forget monroe is just as old as thames (29), and thames has far better walking potential.
-beware rangers fans - it appears jerry hairston may be seeing some time at second, taking ab's from ian kinsler. why the rangers just didn't immediately demote hairston is beyond me - if anyone is going to take ab's from kinsler it should be super sub and dartmouth alum mark derosa, who's doing a fantastic job off the bench thus far (.403 obp, .302 eqa in 109 ab's).
-i'm sure you all are aware, but in case it slipped your mind today is the draft. si.com has a mock of the 1st round - i'm interested to see how accurate they will wind up being.
Friday, June 02, 2006
friday's mlb notes
-the twins offense as a whole continues to struggle, but it isn't having an adverse effect on joe mauer. the twinkies backstop capped off a fantastic may (.386/.432/.554) with an 11 game hitting streak, hitting .512 (22-43) in that span. i haven't heard who was named the al's player of the month in may, but there's no doubt he was in the running.
-after scoring 7 runs in the first 5 innings against the mets on tuesday, the d-backs went 24 innings without scoring again: a 13 inning shutout loss to new york on wednesday and 7 scoreless frames to start the game against the bravos last nite. if you just count their last 2 games (22 innings), they have scored AND given up only 2 runs.
-congratulations are in order to derrick turnbow who blew a save not once but twice against the pirates yesterday. first he gave up a walk off homer that was reversed to a double, then surrendered a walk off single. turnbow's efforts are on par with the rest of the brewers bullpen this week. in losing 4 straight to the bucs, milwaukee's relievers surrendered 14 runs in 13.2 innings.
-i am constantly reading/hearing complaints about espn cutting live to bonds ab's (which i'm fine with), but no one has a problem with sportscenter airing over 15 minutes (out of 60!) of live nba post-game press conferences? do they think we're really tuning in to hear avery johnson give canned responses to boring questions?
-nobody look now, but chicago exile corey patterson is putting together a fine start to 2006. he's producing an extra-base hit every 10 ab's, which is where he was during his two decent seasons (03, 04), and homering at the best rate of his career (one every 20 ab's). his k rate is down and bb rate is up (still not good, but up). perhaps most impressive is patterson's 22 steals in 23 attempts (good for a 96% success rate). i can't say i saw this coming. the only question is whether guys like patterson and alex rios are finally living up to their hype, or should we be counting the days to an inevitable burst of their bubbles?
-the twins offense as a whole continues to struggle, but it isn't having an adverse effect on joe mauer. the twinkies backstop capped off a fantastic may (.386/.432/.554) with an 11 game hitting streak, hitting .512 (22-43) in that span. i haven't heard who was named the al's player of the month in may, but there's no doubt he was in the running.
-after scoring 7 runs in the first 5 innings against the mets on tuesday, the d-backs went 24 innings without scoring again: a 13 inning shutout loss to new york on wednesday and 7 scoreless frames to start the game against the bravos last nite. if you just count their last 2 games (22 innings), they have scored AND given up only 2 runs.
-congratulations are in order to derrick turnbow who blew a save not once but twice against the pirates yesterday. first he gave up a walk off homer that was reversed to a double, then surrendered a walk off single. turnbow's efforts are on par with the rest of the brewers bullpen this week. in losing 4 straight to the bucs, milwaukee's relievers surrendered 14 runs in 13.2 innings.
-i am constantly reading/hearing complaints about espn cutting live to bonds ab's (which i'm fine with), but no one has a problem with sportscenter airing over 15 minutes (out of 60!) of live nba post-game press conferences? do they think we're really tuning in to hear avery johnson give canned responses to boring questions?
-nobody look now, but chicago exile corey patterson is putting together a fine start to 2006. he's producing an extra-base hit every 10 ab's, which is where he was during his two decent seasons (03, 04), and homering at the best rate of his career (one every 20 ab's). his k rate is down and bb rate is up (still not good, but up). perhaps most impressive is patterson's 22 steals in 23 attempts (good for a 96% success rate). i can't say i saw this coming. the only question is whether guys like patterson and alex rios are finally living up to their hype, or should we be counting the days to an inevitable burst of their bubbles?
