Sunday Wrap: Week Five is in the Books

Tanner and… Jose Altuve

 

Oofta, as my Mom would say.  The Astros got swept by the Tigers, were beaten so badly, that even though not much was expected of them, the players had a closed-door meeting after Justin Verlander nearly no-hit them. They were outscored in the four-game sweep 37-8. They’ve lost six in a row.  And now, they are indeed, on track to lose more than the Mets record of 120 games.

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How about them Giants?  A three-game sweep of their rival Dodgers in dramatic fashion with Posey‘s walkoff HR on Friday, Quiroz in a 10th-inning walkoff HR on Saturday, and Matt Cain finally showing his old form in today’s nationally televised 4-3 defeat. They Gigantes have now won six in a row and are back in first place. The poor Dodgers had Hanley Ramirez back for four games before he returned to the DL with a hamstring injury sidelined him in Friday’s game.

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The Rangers made a statement.  They swept the Red Sox, who were the hottest team in the league.

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Roy Halladay is probably going on the DL.  He got spanked- hard- again.

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Playoff picture if the season ended today:

NL West: Giants [Last Week: Diamondbacks/Rockies tied]

NL Central: Cardinals [Last Week: Pirates]

NL East: Braves [Last Week: Braves]

NL Wild Cards: Rockies & Reds [Last Week: Diamondbacks/Rockies & Cardinals]

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AL West: Rangers [Last Week: Rangers]

AL Central: Tigers [Last Week: Royals]

AL East: Red Sox [Last Week: Red Sox]

AL Wild Cards: Royals & Yankees [Last Week: A’s & Yankees]

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Now let’s take a look at the league leaders in all 10 statistical categories that our Fantasy League competes in:

Runs

1) 31: Austin Jackson

2) 26 (two tied): Miguel Cabrera, Carlos Gonzalez

4) 25 (two tied): Shin-Soo Choo, Nate McLouth

[Last week leaders falling out of Top 5: Coco Crisp (2-T), Adam Jones (2-T), Matt Carpenter (4-T)]

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Home Runs

1) 12: Justin Upton

2) 10: John Buck

3) 9 (five tied): Chris Davis, Edwin Encarnacion, Bryce Harper, Mike Morse, Mark Reynolds

[Last week leaders falling out of Top 5: J.P. Arencibia (T-4), Anthony Rizzo (T-4)]

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RBI

1) 36: Miguel Cabrera

2) 32: Prince Fielder

3) 31: Mike Napoli

4) 30: Chris Davis

5) 29: John Buck

[Last week leaders falling out of Top 5: Brandon Phillips (3)]

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Stolen Bases

1) 12: Jacoby Ellsbury

2) 11: Juan Pierre

3) 10: Starling Marte

4) 9: Nate McLouth

5) 8 (three tied): Everth Cabrera, Coco Crisp, Jean Segura

[Last week leaders falling out of Top 5: none]

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Batting Average

1) .385: Miguel Cabrera

2) .379: Carlos Santana

3) .368: Carlos Gomez

4) .361: Torii Hunter

5) .348: Troy Tulowitzki

[Last week leaders falling out of Top 5: Chris Johnson (T-1st), Bryce Harper (4)]

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Wins

1) 6: Clay Buchholz

2) 5 (five tied): Yu Darvish, Jason Hammell, Lance Lynn, Matt Moore, Jordan Zimmermann

[Last week leaders falling out of Top 5: Doug Fister (T-4), Matt Harvey (T-4), Jon Lester (T-4), Justin Masterson (T-4), CC Sabathia (T-4), Adam Wainwright (T-4)]

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Saves

1) 12 (two tied): Jason Grilli, Sergio Romo

3) 11 (two tied): Jim Johnson, Mariano Rivera

5) 10 (two tied): Addison Reed, Rafael Soriano

[Last week leaders falling out of Top 5: Rafael Betancourt (T-4), Craig Kimbrel (T-4), Brandon League (T-4), Joe Nathan (T-4), Tom Wilhelmson (T-4)]

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Strikeouts

1) 72: Yu Darvish

2) 57: A.J. Burnett

3) 54: Max Scherzer

4) 52 (two tied): Clayton Kershaw, Jeff Samardzija

[Last week leaders falling out of Top 5: Felix Hernandez (4), Ryan Dempster (5)]

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E.R.A.

1) 1.01: Clay Buchholz

2) 1.07: Jake Westbrook

3) 1.55: Madison Bumgarner

4) 1.55: Justin Verlander

5) 1.56: Matt Harvey

[Last week leaders falling out of Top 5: Matt Moore (2), Anibal Sanchez (4)]

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WHIP

1) 0.75: Jordan Zimmermann

2) 0.76: Hisashi Iwakuma

3) 0.82: Matt Harvey

4) 0.84: Madison Bumgarner

5) 0.88: Mike Minor

[Last week leaders falling out of Top 5: Yu Darvish (3), Carlos Villanueva (4)]

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So there you go.

 

 

(Earth) Day in Review: Monday, 4.22.13

The above pinky belongs to Brewers SP Kyle Lohse.  He dislocated it when colliding with Padres 2B Jed Gyorko during a play at first.  It is on his non-pitching hand, so he should be fine for his next start (they say).  Still, ouch.  Easing the pain, I’m sure, is that Lohse and his Brewers won- the team’s 8th in a row after an 8-2 start.  And everybody’s favorite “innocent” PED user Ryan Braun got another HR.  Oh, joy.

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In that Brewers game, the Padres broke their unfortunate streak of innings without scoring a run at 25 2/3 when they scored in the 5th tonight.  It was their only run, losing to the Brew Crew 7-1.

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The Angels lost to the Rangers tonight on an A.J. Pierzynski 9th inning HR by the score of 7-6, but there was a bright spot. Josh Hamilton, who had an awful weekend and who saw Albert Pujols intentionally walked by the Tigers to get to him- a successful move each time- was finally moved in the lineup to hitting behind Mark Trumbo.  Hamilton went 4-4 for the 16th time in his career.  Of course, with Trout-Pujols-Trumbo going a combined 0-13 in front of him, it didn’t help the Angels fortunes much.  Still, it has to be heartening for Angels fans to see Hamilton bust out.  He did have 2 RBI and saw his average rise to .222.

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Mother Nature saw games canceled in Minneapolis and Denver again.  That makes 15th postponed games so far three weeks in.  USA Today’s Bob Nightengale in his piece pointed out that the record for postponed games is 26 in 2007.  A lot of whiny types are saying that the Twins should play in the Metrodome on days like today. The sky isn’t falling, it’s just snow.  It’ll all work out.

Twins closer Glen Perkins is proving to be a pretty funny guy.  Today on Twitter he posted: “If you like peeing in the snow, like I do, this has been a great spring!!”

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The National League teams with the two best records- Braves and Rockies -will attempt to play a double header tomorrow, but the Braves are going to be without Jason Heyward indefinitely as he was taken to the hospital today for an appendectomy. I was going to say “emergency” appendectomy, and maybe I’d be correct, but I have not heard yet of a scheduled one.  I’m sure there have been.  Moving on…

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In Houston, King Felix notched his 100th career win.  The Mariners beat the (Not-lowly) Astros 7-1. Hernandez pitched six innings and struck out 9.  Afterward it was reported that he had some stiffness in his back… Hopefully it isn’t anything serious. Michael Morse, who started off super hot with six HRs in the first six games before getting hit on the hand has been ice cold.  He didn’t go on the DL, but after taking a few days off, he has gone 3 for 28 since, a .107 mark…  Hernandez is the third pitcher to win 100 or more games in a Mariners uniform.  Can you name the other two?  (answer at the end).

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The Reds Shin-Soo Choo got hit by a pitch for the 10th time this month alone.  Enough of this bullshit.  The next starter to face him needs to give him some high heat.  A little chin music for Shin should back him off the plate.  Bring on Bob Gibson.

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The Nationals stadium featured “Sweet Caroline” today during the game.  Enough already.  Time to move on.  The tragedy in Boston was not about baseball… especially not in Washington D.C. three days after everybody else followed the Yankees lead.

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The Giants beat the Diamondbacks in dramatic fashion tonight.  Down 4-2 heading into the 8th, Buster Posey tied it up with his second HR in as many days to tie it.  In the bottom of the 9th, Andres Torres led off with a single, Brandon Crawford sacrificed him to second, and then the story got good.  1B Brandon Belt, who has been off to an awful start, and who was informed that he wouldn’t be seeing as much playing time (in fact, he didn’t start tonight, but came off the bench for defensive purposes) singled in the winning run in a walk-off 5-4 victory.  Hank Schulman, the Giants beat writer, wrote that manager Bruce Bochy himself worked with Belt in the batting cages before the game.  “Apparently, it worked” he tweeted. The Giants are a fun team.

Schulman and the San Francisco Chronicle’s Scott Ostler also wrote a piece on the disappearance of the large plaque on the wall behind the center field bleachers that commemorated Barry Bonds‘ all-time record breaking HR missing.  Are the Giants trying to distance themselves further from the tainted player?  Did it get stolen?  Read it here.

Finally, Giants fans haven’t forgotten the heroes of the 2010 World Series, even though they just won another last year with a team that largely still plays for them.  They are happy to have Andres Torres back after he was traded to the Mets for Angel Pagan.  And they were happy to see playoff hero Cody Ross back in right field, even though for the Diamondbacks… or were until his RBI hit gave them the lead.  Later in the game though, the fans showed appreciation for a tremendous catch that Ross made to rob Buster Posey of a hit.  If you haven’t seen it, check it out.

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Trivia answer: The other two pitchers to notch 100 or more victories in a Mariners uniform besides Felix Hernandez are Jamie Moyer and Randy Johnson…..

Day in Review: Three Weeks in the Books

A few items from today…

Ryan Braun continues to prove that he’s a dick.  Mr. Class himself through a little hissy fit, throwing his bat in the air when an umpire had the gall to call a third strike on the douchebag.  C’mon MLB– suspend this PED ass clown already.

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The Red Sox lost both games of a double header.  While it is appropriate to care about Boston and the victims of the heinous crimes from last week, it is okay to now resume not liking the Red Sox, as is a grand tradition.  The Royals lead the AL Central.

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The Diamondbacks cooled off the Rockies, scoring two runs in the top of the 9th, to end the Rockies winning streak at 8.

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The Rays finally are showing some life.  They swept the A’s– no small feat- in authoritative fashion, outscoring them 17-4.  A non-surprise, Brett Anderson hurt himself again.  Josh Reddick tamed his mane and beard, to no positive effect.  Matt Snyder of CBS Sports pointed out that six teams swept series this weekend: Twins over White Sox (though due to cold weather, they only played twice), Rangers over Mariners, Giants over Padres, Brewers over Cubs, and Angels over Tigers.

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Barry Zito rebounded from a thumping in Milwaukee earlier in the week to pitch 7 SO innings versus the Padres.  It was his third time this season so far that he has done so at home. The Padres haven’t scored a run in 21 innings.  More good news for the Giants: Buster Posey finally hit his first HR of the year.

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The Dodgers won.  And if that wasn’t news enough, Matt Kemp also went 3 for 5.  I’ll take my digs now, because part of me is also saying “uh-oh”.

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I feel like I should write about how the Tigers are in trouble, but like ESPN’s Buster Olney pointed out, the Tigers were under .500 in early July last year and they ended up in the World Series.

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But it is Sunday, and it is a good time to take a look at what the playoff picture would be if the season ended today!  I like this part of the week:

AL East: Red Sox   [Last Week: Red Sox]

AL Central: Royals [Last Week: Royals and Tigers were tied]

AL West: Rangers [Last Week: A’s]

AL Wild Cards: A’s/Yankees [Last Week: Royals/Tigers]

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NL West: Rockies [Last Week: Giants]

NL Central: Reds [Last Week: Cardinals]

NL East: Braves [Last Week: Braves]

NL Wild Cards: Giants plus 4-way tie of Nats/Pirates/Cards/D-Backs [Last Week: D-Backs/Rockies]

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Now let’s take a look at the league leaders in all 10 statistical categories that our Fantasy League competes in:

Runs

1) 19 (two tied): Austin Jackson, Carlos Gonzalez

3) 18: Coco Crisp

4) 17 (four tied): Shin-Soo Choo, Adam Jones, Daniel Murphy, Josh Rutledge

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Home Runs

1) 9: Justin Upton

2) 7 (six tied): J.P. Arencibia, John Buck, Chris Davis, Dexter Fowler, Bryce Harper, Mark Reynolds

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RBI

1) 22: John Buck

2) 21 (three tied): Chris Davis, Prince Fielder, Brandon Phillips

5) 20: Mike Napoli

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Stolen Bases

1) 8: Jacoby Ellsbury

2) 6 (two tied): Coco Crisp, Andrew McCutchen

4) 5 (eight tied): Everth Cabrera, Rajai Davis, Austin Jackson, Desmond Jennings, Josh Reddick, Ben Revere, Jose Reyes, David Wright

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Batting Average

1) .407: Chris Johnson

2) .403: Chris Davis

3) .392: Torii Hunter

4) .385: Adrian Gonzalez

5) .382 (two tied): Shin-Soo Choo, Jed Lowrie

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Wins

1) 4 (two tied): Clay Bucholz, Matt Harvey

3) 3 (sixteen tied): Madison Bumgarner, Jhoulys Chacin, Yu Darvish, Doug Fister, Jon Lester, Lance Lynn, Paul Maholm, Justin Masterson, Tommy Milone, Matt Moore, Eric O’Flaherty, Andy Pettite, C.C. Sabathia, Adam Wainwright, Jordan Zimmerman, Barry Zito

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Saves

1) 8: Sergio Romo

2) 7 (four tied): Rafael Betancourt, Jason Grilli, Jim Johnson, Craig Kimbrel

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Strikeouts

1) 38: Yu Darvish

2) 35: A.J. Burnett

3) 33 (two tied): Ryan Dempster, Jake Peavy

5) 32: Matt Harvey

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E.R.A.

1) 0.90 (two tied): Clay Bucholz, Ross Detwiler

3) 0.93: Matt Harvey

4) 0.95: Mike Minor

5) 1.00: Matt Moore

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WHIP

1) 0.52: Hisashi Iwakuma

2) 0.66: Matt Harvey

3) 0.68: Garrett Richards

4) 0.77: Derek Holland

5) 0.79: Yu Darvish

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Hopefully you see some of your players in those leader categories.  If not, don’t fret, next week could change all that.

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