In this blog:
My Top 5 players and 5 pitchers.
Who's Hot/Who's Not
My surprises of the week.
Honorable mention in every segment.
(hr-home run, rbi-runs batted in, ba-batting average)
Top 5 Players Of The Week
1. Evan Longoria(TB/3B)Picture above: Ridiculous numbers for a week. .467 BA, 5 hr, 12 RBI's. It honestly doesn't look like he is slowing down anytime soon. He is the reason why his team has a good chance to make the playoffs again this year. That's why he is my player of the week.
2. Albert Pujols(STL/1B): This guy has never averaged below 30 hr's a year. He's healthy and is breaking out to a good pace to at least 81HR(lol). In 8 games, he has a .357 BA, 4hr, and 10 RBI's.
3. Adam Lind(TBJ/LF). This 4th year stud has only been playing 3 seasons. Within those seasons he has only played 195 games, with a .295 average, with 22 homers and 94 RBI's. He averages at least a hit a game.
This kid this week. Has 3 homers, 12 RBI's and batting .400. Looking at these stats he should play the whole year and will show how he belongs in the big leagues.
4. Nick Swisher(NYY/CF). Being a Yankee CF is an honor. And boy did the Yankees choose a good one. In his first 4 full seasons in the major leagues he averaged 25 hr
and 79 RBI's. This week Swish is off to an amazing start with 3 hr's, 10 RBI's, and .450 BA. Look for these numbers to improve, but don't expect him to hit .500.
5 Miguel Cabrera (DET/1B) It was tough putting him at #5 on the list. But if he wasn't so consistent he would not be on this list. In 5 full seasons in the majors he has averaged at least 30+ hr's, 110+ RBI's, and approximately a .300 BA. This week looks like he will easily get those numbers and more with a .467 BA, 3 hr's, and 10 RBI's
Honorable Mention:
Alfonso Soriano(CHC/LF)-Eventually he will be on this list a lot this year. But if it wasn't for everyone else's ridiculously looking batting averages he would be on the list. This week he has 4 homers, 7 RBI's and a .313 BA.
Leading On the Mound...
(ERA-Earned Run Average)
1. Josh Johnson(FLA)- In 53 games over a 4 year career, This youngling on the mound is looking pretty promising. He has 19 wins and 11 losses. Mind you that those aren't perfect numbers but this week this kid was lights out. In 15 innings, 2 wins and 15 strikeouts. He has only given up 1 earned run and 12 hits. In that period, he has only given up one walk. If he can consistently do this....Looking at it inning by inning. It's a strikeout, a grounder, and a pop fly. Occasionally a run, and a walk every other game. There's no way he could do this, but it's fun to make that outlook very early in the year. Great numbers kid.
2. Aaron Harang(CIN)-Well he's not had a spectacular career, but he has had a great week. Over the past 7 seasons, his greatest year was 2 seasons ago where he went 16-6 with a 3.73 ERA. As far as this week is concerned. He's dead on with 2 wins and 11 strikeouts and a .64 ERA in 14 innings. He has only gave up 10 hits, 1 earned run and 3 walks. That hit he gave up was a homer. Of course, The opposing team has to go yard sometime.
3. Johan Santana(NYM)- He's 30 years old, he's been in the majors 9 seasons and he has been lights out every where he goes. If he has a bad game he follows up by winning the next 5 or 6. Over the past 5 years he has won 86 games, over that period he has 15 or more per year. He is consistently around the 2.5 ERA range but this year should be better than the 16-7 year he had last season. This week: Through 12-1/2 innings pitched..2 wins, 20 strikeouts, 1 earned run and a .71 ERA and gave up 6 hits.
4. Kevin Millwood (TEX)- In 12 years, Kevin Millwood has been labeled inconsistent. And there's no doubt that he is. His career is as follows: first 2 full seasons(Atl) 17-8, 18-7, then 2 bad years. 2002-2003(Atl/Phi) 18-8, 14-12, then 2 bad years. (2006-2007) 16-12, 10-14. Right now he is in the middle of the two bad year stretch... but not this week. Through 14 innings, 2 wins, only gave up 1 earned run and 9 hits, 11 strikeouts and an ERA of .64.
5. Donald "Zack" Greinke (KC)- Now you're going to wonder why he is on this list. Bare with me. Zack has been with the Royals 5 seasons and he has a record of 36-45. I think this year might be his breakout year. The Royals have a lot to look forward too this year. And the reason for the Royals being in first place right now is because of this kid's great week. Zack could have been number #1 this week on the list. He has 2 wins, 16 strikeouts, and a ERA of 0.00. Through that stretch he has only given up 9 hits and 5 walks. The reason he is not #1 is because he has only pitched 11 innings.
Honorable Mention:
Zach Duke(PIT)- Great week. Through 15-1/3 innings pitched...2 wins, 9 strikeouts, with a .59 ERA. The reason why he didn't make the list is because I don't have 6 players on my list. If he stays consistent he will be.
Who's Hot/Who's Not
In this segment of my blog, I will tell you what I think are the hottest teams in the league and who are the coldest teams in the league and what surprising team in the middle to look out for in the MLB.
Who's Hot
National League/American League
St. Louis Cardinals. The reason why this team is #1 is because of pitching with Chris Carpenter, again, this team should be dominant and it shows with a 6-2 record and by only giving up 23 runs. Mind you, that they were at home let's see if they take this surge on the 7 game road trip against the Diamondbacks and Cubs.
Toronto Blue Jays. This was tough, because other teams are doing so well in the league. The reason why they are the hottest team is because... They have most runs scored in the majors with 54. Also, they have the fourth best run differential(runs scored/runs against) with +13. Hopefully their offense will stay hot while playing in the toughest division in baseball.
Honorable Mention:
National League-It's tough to pick one. So I picked 2-1/2. San Diego finishes with a mean 2nd. but it depends this week against the Florida Marlins and the Atlanta Braves. The funny thing is they match up this week. Pitching is the 'Key' to a division title for all these teams.
American League- Seattle Mariners and Baltimore Orioles. The Mariners without Ichiro are getting it done. And Baltimore because they won the opening series against the Yankees. On top of that, they roughed up C.C. Sabathia.
Who's Not
National League/American League
Washington Nationals. This one is really obviously. These guys are playing every game to lose. This might be our new Royals team, but I honestly will think that they will honestly invest in Adum Dunn. He's the best thing running for this team. They're 0-7 and they have given up the 2nd most runs in the league, with 54.
Cleveland Indians. Now I haven't gave up believing yet. If you read my MLB predictions blog(hint hint). I had them up in 2nd in the AL Central. I said they have to pretend to want to contend. And this past week they got off to a bad start. This team is 1-6 and they have given up 55 runs in 7 games. That's the most in the league. They're offense is off. Hafner is on. It comes down to pitching. Cliff Lee has to turn it on. He was the CY Young award winner last year, finishing 22-3. He's starting off this year 0-2 and he has given up 11 earned runs. so he's has to work on that ERA.
My Surprises Of The Week
It's good to try to come out of the gate hitting and pitching well. But who expected the Royals to be in first place in the AL Central. There's a couple of things that shock me about this club.
1. They close-close games. When they are winning late in a ball game, they can easily rope it up by bringing in closer Joakim Soria. 2. I'm shocked because they leading the race in the division with 18 runs scored total. That's the lowest number of runs scored in the league. And they have a run differential of -3. If you add 3+18...you get (see below)
I'm trying to understand, They have the least runs scored in the league with 18 and they have least allowed of runs scored with 21. That's INSANE. If you read my blog about my MLB Predictions(hint hint). I gave the Royals their props. WATCH OUT FOR THE ROYALS!
Depressing News
1. I give my condolences to Nick Adenhart's(Pitcher for the LA Angels) family. Losing his life less than 12 hours after he pitched a brilliant perfomance the night before. According to ESPN. "He scattered seven hits over six scoreless innings and escaped a pair of bases-loaded jams. He struck out five and walked three in his fourth major league start".
2. The legendary broadcaster of the Philadephia Phillies, Harry Kalas. He will be known for his great call last year when the Phillies won the World Series. "The Philadelphia Phillies are Champions of Baseball".
3. There will be a tribute to former Detroit Tigers pitcher Mark "The Bird" Fidrych on next week's blog, but I do send my condolences.
Please pray for the families or at least a moment of silent.
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