MARCO'S BASEBALL
BLOG-O-ROONIE
MONTHLY UPDATE!!!
(In case you've been unconscious under a rock so far this season or
have been committed to an asylum where they don't allow newspapers
lest you make gasoline bombs out of them or something)
FIRST! YOUR BRAIN
TEASER FOR THE MONTH! TRY NOT TO CHEAT ON YOUR INTERWEB GOOGLE
MACHINE (won't help that much anyway)
“5 ball players
have accomplished this feat: they've hit at least 40 home runs in a
season while striking out less than 40 times. The first four are Hall
of Famers...Mel Ott in 1929, Lou Gehrig in 1934, Joe DiMaggio in 1937
and Johnny Mize in 1948. One player who is NOT in the Hall of Fame
did it 3 times! In 3 consecutive years! For all the marbles...WHO IS
HE???”
I'll give you
a few days to ponder and then if nobody gets it I'll give you another
hint.
THE UPDATE:
AL EAST: Every team has taken a turn at the top of the
division and every team has spent at least some time on the bottom.
Much as I predicted it's anybody's guess who will finish first. The
Yankees have been hot lately but everybody else is .500 or worse.
The YANKEES are looking pretty good right now. Their
pitching has been surprisingly good considering they lost Tanaka for
a spell and Sabathia has only won one game. Pineda just K'd 16 in his
last start. Bullpen combo of Miller and Betances lights out so far.
But the main reason the Yankees are winning is their lead off men.
Ellsbury is hitting .340 something and Gardner about .315 and they
are both hitting with power and getting on base. The rest of the
lineup is knocking them in despite batting averages south of .220.
ARod is at .245 and Texeira .223 but they are hitting homers. The
rest of the lineup is pretty weak unless you count part timer Chris
Young at .310.
It's basic baseball philosophy...get your lead off guys on a lot
and let somebody hit a homer. It works.
The TORONTO BLUE JAYS have all that power but they are
already getting hurt...hate to tell you I told you so but I predicted
Bautista, Encarnacion and Reyes would all get hurt and they have.
Joey Batts is playing with a bad shoulder he got from trying to gun
an Oriole out at first on a line drive single. Edwin Encarnacion has
back issues but he's playing good right now. Reyes is out with a rib.
The Blue Jays pitching isn't good enough to win games without a lot
of offense so they are treading water.
TAMPA BAY is is playing .500 ball which is as good as they
can expect to be. Why does anybody pitch to Longoria? Their starting
pitching is the best in the division but it's wasted with those
feeble bats.
BALTIMORE ORIOLES had a strange fate and had to play a game
in front of nobody at Camden Yards because of the riots. I don't know
why the MLB Fathers couldn't let them play at Washington's ball park
or something. Then at least somebody could sell some cokes and make
some money instead of playing to an empty stadium. To their credit
the Orioles seem to be okay. Crush Davis is hitting homers (8), Adam
Jones is still leading the league in hitting and they are holding
their ground. But at a little under .500 they are currently in last
place.
Trying to pry the Orioles out of the cellar are the BOSTON RED
SOX. Ever seen one of those “nature in all its savagery” TV
shows where the orcas close in on the wounded whale and kind of eat
him alive? That's what's been happening to the Sox. Right now they
are chum in the water. Just winning one game in a series is a moral
victory for them. They started out hot and won several series in a
row but there was a catch...in their first ten games they scored 27
unearned runs. That means the other teams were kicking the ball all
over the park and the Sox benefited. They haven't hit all year.
(Except Panda and Hanley Ramirez) But that's not even their big
problem.
Their starting pitching, as feared, is not only weak...it's
disastrous. The cumulative ERA was over 6 until just recently.
Porcello has had about 3 good starts, Buchholz about 2, Joe Kelly 1
and has control issues the rest of the time, Masterson had one game
where he didn't stink it up but he's really weak. Miley? An ERA of 7
and outside of a partial game in Tampa and holding Oakland scoreless
for 6 2/3 while giving up 9 base runners yesterday has been a
complete bust so far. The bullpen has been overworked and not good
except Uehara and Tazawa.
The front office kept making pronouncements of support for their
ill-conceived roster makeup until recently when they got to about 5
games down after losing 3 in a row to the Yankees at Fenway. That got
their attention. If you go 10 down you are probably in a hole you
never climb out of in a division as even as this. Then Toronto carved
them up and suddenly they are shopping for starters all over baseball
and firing their pitching coach.
They sent down Allen Craig (.190 slugging in last 55 games!!
That's almost impossible!!) They wanted to sit Daniel Nava too (BA
.133) but he is out of options. They brought up Jackie Bradley Jr.
who couldn't possibly do worse than those two. Remember all the
muttering about the Sox' crowded outfield? Well Victorino is hurt,
Hanley was hurt, Rusney Castillo is hurt and Nava and Craig were
non-existent offensively. Hanley and Mookie Betts were doing okay
(even though Betts is a leadoff hitter with a .300 OBP) and their
best hitter for average has been Brock Holt in right.
What happens next? I predict the Sox will rally when the weather
gets warm and they start to hit. That's assuming they come up with at
least two new starters. Whoever is scouting pitching prospects to
draft should be fired. The Sox haven't come up with a home grown
starter since Lester and Buchholz last decade. None of their current
crop of pitching prospects has panned out. Matt Barnes may make a
helpful relief pitcher and Steve Wright with his knuckler a good long
man out of the pen. *last minute update: Masterson to the DL with
“arm fatigue” (read: can't get anybody out) and as predicted by
your faithful correspondent “Knuckle-baller Steven Wright will be
in the starting rotation by May.”
AL CENTRAL: We have a real pennant race developing between the
two good teams in this division, DETROIT and KC. It's
such an interesting rivalry because these teams are mirror images of
one another...Detroit built on power bats and power starting pitching
with no bullpen, little speed and just okay defense while KC features
a scary good bullpen and a speed/defense first lineup. I watched a
game or two and it seems like they respect each other. Herrera struck
out Miggy Cabrera in a tight spot with a fastball under the hands and
Miggy nodded to him as he walked away. I like that kind of mutual
respect.
CLEVELAND and CHICAGO WHITE SOX were built up in the
preseason as threats for the playoffs but the Indians have buried
themselves 10 games out already and look pathetic. Their Cy Young
winner Kluber hasn't won a game. (It's not all his fault because the
offense has scored 2 less runs per game for him. His strikeouts are
still top ten but he's giving up key big hits.* news flash: Kluber
just 1-hit the Cardinals and struck out 18. He also hit Holiday in
the elbow which bodes ill for the Redbirds.)
The White Sox are showing signs of life lately. Isn't there
something interesting I can say about them? Not really.
MINNESOTA? How are they doing so well? They are 3 games
over .500. Well it helps when you have two other teams in your
division stinking up the joint. The Twinks are also winning at home
(12-5) and have gotten consistent hitting. If you look at the AL,
most other teams have at least two or three hitters in their lineup
hitting below the Mendoza Line (.200) The Twins are all between .240
and .290. Makes a difference. You also have to credit their manager
Paul Molitor for keeping them on a steady keel.
One way or another, I have despised them and impugned their
prowess in these pages, predicting doom. I politely eat my shorts.
The Twins may NOT finish last. (Because the Indians really suck.)
AL WEST: Oh those ASTROS! Who knew they'd be so good.
Wait a minute...whistle on the play. I hate to burst your bubble but
the Astros are not THAT good. They got hot for ten games and caught a
lot of teams napping because they sucked so bad the last few years
teams could just come into town and walk all over them. The Astros
ARE competitive this year. No more walk-overs. That's because they
have a few decent pitchers (Keuchel is the best) and they lead the
league in homers and stolen bases at the same time. In Minute Made
Park they can bludgeon people because of all the long ball potential.
In the bigger parks they aren't quite as lethal.
The Astros' strike out totals are woeful. All their hitters go for
the homer every swing (except for the great Altuve)and it's killing
them when they don't connect. So they'll blow hot and cold all year.
At home when they are hot they can kill you but look at their lineup:
Marisnik .316, Altuve .328, Valbuena .197, Gattis.179, Springer .192,
Rasmus .232 (or Grossman .143), Carter .147, Castro .224, Gonzalez
.232. Nobody hits enough homers to make up for that much weak
hitting.
The Astros are last in the league in team average and team on base
percentage and first in homers, steals and most strikeouts. What a
weird team! It's actually their pitching (and especially the bullpen)
that have them in first (temporarily I'm afraid).
The favorites in this division, the ANGELS and the
MARINERS, have been playing sub-.500 ball. Why?
For the Angels it's easy: they are the number 15 AL team in on
base and slugging, 13 in average, 14 in runs, 15 in hits, 14 in
doubles, 15 in triples, 11 in homers, 12 in steals, 12 in
walks...EVERYTHING A TEAM CAN DO TO SCORE RUNS THEY AREN'T DOING!
This in a lineup with presumptive best-player-in-baseball Trout and
Albert Pujols.
The Mariners are more complicated. They've had the hottest hitter
in the league in Nelson Cruz. But everybody else? They only have 3
players besides Cruz with an OPS above .700. That's not good. Cano is
hitting .279 with no power (1 homer).
Of course, the Mariners never lead the league in hitting because
of their huge hitter's graveyard of a ballpark but still...at least
their pitching is usually great, right? Not this year. King Felix is
still awesome but Iwakuma, their number 2, is hurt. Walker (presumed
number 3) has an ERA of 8+. Not so good, Seattle.
So who's left? Oh yeah...TEXAS. Not much excitement there
except waiting to see if Josh Hamilton can rekindle the flame he had
last time he played for Texas. And watching Adrian Beltre...that guy
is a great player. They have one good pitcher now! This kid
Martinez...but maybe he's just fooling them the first time around the
league. We will see. But we won't see the Rangers in any playoffs
anytime soon.
This will take you a few days to read so I'll give you some time
before the National League Update. As if you had something else to
do!
Bon Jour!
PS: Bonus Coverage! MLB has asked fans to choose the “Mt. Rushmore”
of each team...the 4 players who represent each team best throughout
their history. Here are my picks for the original 8 teams of the
American League:
YANKEES: easy...Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle.
...but in the foothills are Berra, Ford, Jeter and Rivera.
RED SOX: harder...Cy Young, The Thumper, Yaz, Ortiz
foothills: Pedro Martinez,(Big Asterisk* Clemens)
ST.LOUIS BROWNS/BALTIMORE ORIOLES: George Sisler (hit .400
twice), Brooks Robinson, Cal Ripken, Eddie Murray
foothills: Jim Palmer
WASHINGTON SENATORS/MINNESOTA TWINS: Walter Johnson, Harmon
Killebrew, Rod Carew, Kirby Puckett
foothills: Bert Blyleven (under-appreciated), Jim Kaat
DETROIT TIGERS: Ty Cobb, Hank Greenberg, Charlie Gehringer,
Al Kaline
foothills: Alan Trammel, Miguel Cabrera
CLEVELAND INDIANS: Nap Lajoie, Tris Speaker (The Grey
Eagle...always liked his nickname), Bob Feller, Satchel Paige (I know
he only played a couple of years for them when he was about 50 but
hey, some team should have room for the greatest pitcher of all time
on Mt. Rushmore. Who would you rather have, Rocky Colavito?)
foothills: Lou Boudreau, Rocky Colavito
PHILADELPHIA/KANSAS CITY/OAKLAND ATHLETICS: Jimmie Foxx, Lefty
Grove, Reggie Jackson, Ricky Henderson
foothills: Home Run Baker, Al Simmons, Catfish Hunter, Dennis
Eckersley
CHICAGO WHITE SOX: Eddie Collins, Luke Appling, Nelson Fox,
Frank Thomas
foothills: Big Ed Walsh (deadball era pitcher who won 40 games in
1908 while pitching 464 innings! Lifetime
ERA? 1.84)
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