CATCHING UP, PART ONE

The following notes describe Game Days 35-45, and represent middle to late May of this year. Individual games are not described, as that would be too much in too short a time to absorb. Instead, overall trends per week and top performers are described.

By tomorrow there will be another post like this representing Game Days 46-55, which will take us to the end of the first week in June.

By Wednesday there will be a third post like this, we will be in "mid-June", all caught up and slightly less than a month behind the majors, which is where we want to be. At that point, more individual game descriptions, injuries and trade talk will be discussed. We will also begin tabulating votes for our own version of the All-Star Game.

I've been back since late Friday, but I've had trouble getting the league environment up and running, for reasons I won't bore you with. Anyway, the main computer and file are up at my room at Bullard and I'm getting caught up. We should have a party early on Wednesday evening. More details to come:

ARIZONA is the poster child for inconsistency, playing brilliantly at times and at others showing their inexperience. It makes perfect sense, then, that they had yet another .500 week (5-5) and entered the end of May 19-19 overall. But there are hints of things to come: megahyped Steven Strasberg is due for a mid-season promotion, and RHP Mat Latos has shown the ability to shut down a lineup. RF Andre Ethier is on the DL with a busted pinkie, but set to return, where he could partner with BARB-leading (.384) batsman Ichiro Suzuki to make the Central Division interesting. A sign of inexperience: some solid pitching numbers as a whole for the staff (less hits than innings pitched), but a BARB-leading 66 HR surrendered.

BLACK MESA loves the long ball so much, they don’t seem to care whether it’s their guy hitting it out or giving it up. The club has 57 round-trippers, third-best in the league, and a lot of the credit goes to new cleanup man Miguel Cabrera (.348, 15 HR, 32 RBI). But the pitching staff also likes to give it up, and their 61 bombs surrendered is third in the loop, as well. The result is a lot of seesaw slugfests and multi-HR games...for someone. And, as entertaining as this might be for fans, there can be no doubt that the Anomalies approach has not led to wins. At 15-33, they are eleven games out, essentially out of the race, and leading the league in runs scored. This has been said before, but it bears repeating: they have players on their roster that never get enough playing time (Dustin Pedroia, Ian Kinsler, many OF), more than enough offense, and could probably get some significant pitching prospects by making the right move.


BROOKLYN was able to activate OF Mike Cameron and (briefly) Jacoby Ellsbury, and immediately their offense received a lift. The Moabs rattled off a six-game winning streak to retake the lead in the competitive East while compiling the loop’s best record (27-19) overall. Starting C Brian McCann (.304, 10 HR, 27 RBI) continued to be the club’s rally starter and was putting up numbers comparable to Worcester’s Joe Mauer. 1B Ryan Howard had 59 K, but also BARB-leading 48 RBI as the week came to a close, including a clutch two-run bomb (his 18th of the year) off Joakim Soria in the top of the ninth to send Frostbite Falls to a 3-2 loss at home. In the middle of all this excellence, the amazing start of Ubaldo Jiminez (7-0, 2.33 ERA) and the near-perfect work of closer Francisco Rodriguez (BARB-leading 17 saves). “We feel that we can’t lose with ‘The U’ on the mound,” explained SS Troy Tulowitzki.

CASSELTON has played .500 ball in the first two months, but got a boost May 25th when they were able to activate a pair of injured shortstops, J.J. Hardy and (starter) Rafael Furcal. The Horned Toads were getting tremendous leadership from second-year starter Kendry Morales (.345, 8 HR, 21 RBI) at 1B and DH to lead their attack, while both Derek Lee and Mike Napoli had chipped in 12 HR to tie for the team lead. The surge had them neck-and-neck with defending division champion Pottsylvania, and it will be interesting to see if they take their depth in OF and use it to deal for another piece of the puzzle.

DARWIN reactivated troubled OF Milton Bradley from the ‘Too Wacked Out to be of Any Use’ list, but Bradley appeared only sparingly, with Aaron Rowand and Jeff Francouer getting the bulk of the playing time. After a slow start, both DH David Ortiz and long-injured OF Josh Hamilton showed signs of life with the bat, with each carrying five-game hitting streaks into mid-May. Another Josh, RHP Josh Johnson, has been the club’s stalwart of late, evening his record at 5-5 to beat division-leading Yuma and keep his club in the Western hunt. A mediocre record hides the fact that Johnson is tied with Oakland’s Danny Haren for nine quality starts, tops in the loop. Last year’s ace, Zack Greinke, had some interesting stats: he was among the league leaders in strikeouts, batting average against, least walks, etc. but is just 3-6 with a 3.69 ERA. In his most recent start, Greinke took a shutout into the eighth against Oakland, only to lose 3-0.... to Danny Haren.

FROSTBITE FALLS lost six of ten to fall out of the lead in the East, including an agonizing 9-8 loss in extra frames to Madtown which saw their bullpen give up the go-ahead run in three consecutive innings. The Squirrels clubhouse has missed the constant tinkering of GM Andrew Haynes, if rumors are to be believed. 3B Evan Longoria is frustrated with his swing despite smacking a BARB-leading 20 doubles, as he felt that many of the two-baggers could’ve been long balls with a slightly different follow-through. His struggles did not affect him in the field, however: Longoria recorded a team-record 14 assists in a 3-2 loss to Brooklyn, including a triple play! Ace Tim Lincecum leads the loop in ERA (1.80), but he’s also had some command issues, walking 37 hitters so far in

LOS ANGLELES needs a reboot, but it’s probably too late. The club is a BARB-worst 9-28 and it isn’t getting any better. The Flyers are in the middle of a 14-game losing streak, even though of late they have gotten quite a few quality starts from their much-maligned staff—but have nothing to show for it. The Flyers have a power outage, with counted-on cleanup man Lance Berkman slumping and much of the lineup simply not playing very well. SS Stephen Drew and 2B Howie Kendrick have not shown any chemistry on defense or in setting the table, and the only spark in the lineup this season has been provided by rookie OF Chris Coughlan (.326, 4 HR) For the Flyers, it’s probably time to bring up the kids (Carlos Santana, Logan Morrison, Michael Stanton) and try to squeeze a few prospects out of owners who might have interests in a veteran.

MADTOWN: Red-hot LF Matt Holliday had five hits in a 9-8 win as the Murlocs outslugged host Frostbite Falls. The five safeties lifted Holliday’s total number of hits to a BARB-leading 68. It’s a good thing, too, because the Murlocs have given up their share of hits: their 234 runs allowed is 11th in a 13-team league, and their winningest pitcher is a setup man (Matt Lindstrom) who has ‘vultured’ a pair of blown saves to pad his total. 2B Dan Uggla and Kelly Johnson are both big run producers. There is depth in the corner IF slots, and an OF to spare. When will one of these extra parts be shopped for pitching help? Who knows?

OAKLAND suffered a double setback in mid-May, losing ace Josh Beckett and slugging C Jorge Posada at the same time. To plug their thin pitching staff, the United added RHP Brad Penny and Kyle Lohse, able to contribute after long stints rehabbing in the minors. Despite the tough luck, 1B Kevin Youkilis remained hot with a pair of 2-HR games and there was talk that the ‘Greek God of Walks’ was being shopped around the league. But why would Oakland be in any hurry to move their team’s leading hitter (.348), especially when they were only one game behind the BARB-leading Moabs in the East?

POTTSYLVANIA: 1B Carlos Pena, after a slow start, became red-hot in late May, drilling five bombs in a ten-game stretch, including his BARB-leading 19th blast of the year in a 9-6 loss to Arizona. Pena is slugging a BARB-leading .776 overall...which is good, because the club’s pitching (such a strength in the second half last year), has been shockingly inconsistent. None of the club’s aces has yet to go the distance, and they’ve been slowed by injuries to Carpenter and Lee.

ST. FRANCIS: RF seems to be a good spot for plate discipline for the Friars: Ben Zobrist, who platoons at both right and 2B, and Shin-Soo Choo, who switches from right to center in different lineups, are respectively second and first in BARB in terms of on-base percentage. Management has stressed that their improved lineup take more pitches at the top of the order, and the result is that a club that finished last in scoring last season is tied for fourth in total offense. Often-injured Carlos Quentin, however, may be playing his way out of the lineup, not hitting his weight and having been drilled a BARB-leading seven times with inside pitches. ‘Carlos is pull-happy, and not using his Stanford education right now,’ concluded GM Scott Hatfield.

WORCESTER had to be happy with the strong play of 2B Robinson Cano, whose .451 average in May had him posting the best numbers of any regular keystoner in the loop. On the minus side, CF Grady Sizemore was placed on the DL with what could be a season-threatening injury requiring surgery, and the club needed three straight wins to end the week to keep themselves above .500. The club appears to be underachieving.

YUMA: C A.J. Pierzynski was slated to backup starter Russell Martin, but the veteran’s hot start (.345, 23 RBI) is threatening to reverse that plan. The defending world champs hit a slow patch in mid-May, losing seven of ten, but still remain in the lead out in the West, where young guns Clay Buchholz and David Price have pitched so well that the club may literally be seven-deep in starters by mid-season.