Last Week In Baseball! - Pleasant Surprises

If you are like us, you grew up on Mel Allen and “This Week in Baseball.” Here at WCT, we have “Last Week in Baseball!” Please don't sue us Fox!

Ok, so we were pretty negative last week with the whole “guys who are having surprisingly sucky seasons” theme. Well, we're in a good mood today, so we are going to turn that around and examine pleasant surprises. We are going to look at guys who are exceeding expectations. Most of these guys are thought of as being good, but none of us really knew that these guys were this good:

Kevin Youkilis - Before this year, this guy with nothing more than a guy with a funny name who walked a lot and was more famous for appearing in "Moneyball" than for any on-field exploits. This year, he is hitting .350 with a .982 OPS.

Chad Gaudin - Where do the A's find these guys? Three years ago the Tampa Bay Devil Rays traded this guy away for next to nothing. Now Gaudin has won five starts in a row, and is third in the AL with a 2.41 ERA.

Magglio Ordonez - If the AL MVP award were handed out today, Magglio, and not Alex Rodriguez, would get our vote. A-Rod has more home runs (thanks to his other-worldly April), but Ordonez has more hits, runs, RBI, walks, fewer strike outs, a higher batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, and (obviously) OBP.

Now, on to our LWIB notes!

- The fact that Roger Clemens had to miss his scheduled start today against the White Sox because of a “tired groin” is an ominous sign. But even more than that, it is the result of signing a 44 year-old pitcher in the middle of May, with no spring training, rushing him through his preparations, and expecting his body to be ready to go after three minor league starts.

- A few weeks back, we said that the Brewers might have a tough time in May, and felt that if they were still in first as May turned to June, then we would consider them “for real.” Well, they were pretty unspectacular in May (14-15), but the rest of the division was downright abhorrent (55-86 combined record, no team over .500). The division is the Brewers to lose as far as we are concerned, not so much because Milwaukee is that good, but more because the entire NL Central is a joke.

- When was the last time that ESPN televised a game during the week that did not involve a) the Yankees, b) the Red Sox, or c) the Mets?

Take a look at the ESPN schedule for the next few weeks:

Tonight: Yankees at White Sox

Wed June 6: Mets at Phillies

Mon June 11: White Sox at Phillies (disaster scenario: Yankees & Red Sox off day, Mets on west coast)

Mon June 18: Red Sox at Braves

Mon June 25: Cardinals at Mets

Fri June 29: Mets at Phillies

Mon July 2: Twins at Yankees

- Its really good that Lou Pinella is keeping his preseason promise of “taking it easy” this year.

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Its our blog dammit, so we are going to talk about our team every week - Something has got to be done about Jeremy Sowers. He just cannot get it done at this level right now. The schedule gets really soft now with the Royals, Reds, Mariners (make up game), and Marlins on the horizon.

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How ‘bout tha... er, I mean, I'll be goddamned! - Jeremy Bonderman beat the Indians on Sunday to improve to 5-0, earn a split of the four game series for the Tigers, and salvage a bit of dignity for Detroit sports fans.

Last Week in Baseball! - Strug-a-ling

If you are like us, you grew up on Mel Allen and “This Week in Baseball.” Here at WCT, we have “Last Week in Baseball!” Please don't sue us Fox!

Well sports fans, its Memorial Day, the unofficial beginning of summer. We are through basically two months of baseball, so it is officially no longer “early.” In other words, the people and teams that we had high expectations for and have sucked so far are officially having sucky years, and, in many cases, it will take significant movement in the other direction to reverse the momentum of the suckiness. Lets examine some of the suckitude:

The New York Yankees – this is an easy and obvious one, so we will be brief here. Consider this, the Yanks went 4-8 in the so-called “12 games to define their season.” On the last day of April we said that it wasn’t panic time yet, since then, they are 12-13 and have lost six games in the standings. But have no fear Yanks fans, John Kruk has "declared" the Red Sox the AL East champs. That should make you feel better.

Andruw Jones – Yes, his OBP is a respectable (we guess) .338, but he is batting .215, and even worse, he hit .167 in May with only one home run, so things are actually getting worse. This is his free agent year too.

Alfonso Soriano – He has been able to improve his batting average to .301 with hot May (.916 OPS), but he still only has four home runs and 12 runs batted in in two months so far. Not exactly what the Cubs thought they were getting when they got him. While we’re on the Cubs…

Carlos Zambrano – 5.24 ERA so far. How are those contract negotiations going so far Big Z? Actually…You know what? The hell with it…

The Chicago Cubs – if we can kill the Yanks for their 21-27 start, then we should kill the Cubs and their 22-26 start in a laughably bad division. There are times when it looks like Lou Pinella’s head is going to explode.

Michael Young - .281 OBP? .662 OPS??

We promise we’ll be more positive next week!*

*(probably not)

Now, on to our LWIB notes!

- Names you should start to make yourself familiar with :Tim Lincecum (P Giants), and Kelly Johnson (2B Braves)

- is there a LWIB jinx? We picked Jason Schmidt to compete for the NL Cy Young, he goes on the DL. We pick Elijah Dukes to compete for the AL rookie of the year, he threatens to kill his wife and kid. Wow.

- We have to give credit where credit is due: the Phillies are proving us wrong. We buried this team back in April, and they are now over .500. They just swept the Braves, and have thrust themselves into the wild-card race (such as it is in late-May). Ryan Howard is back healthy, and Cole Hamels seems to be the real deal.

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Its our blog dammit, so we are going to talk about our team every week - A very nice weekend sweep in Detroit. We have lifted our embargo on Josh Barfield, after his .295 May and stellar defensive play at 2B. Also, Ryan Garko is officially now the Wasting Company Time man-crush. It doesn't get any easier though, with three at Fenway and the Tigers at the Jake for four.

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How ‘bout tha... er, I mean, I'll be goddamned! - We knew that Jake Peavy was good, but when did he wake up and decide that he was going to be the best pitcher in the NL? 7-1 1.47 ERA so far? Yowzers!

Last Week in Baseball! - Interleague Play Still Kicks Ass.

If you are like us, you grew up on Mel Allen and “This Week in Baseball.” Here at WCT, we have “Last Week in Baseball!” Please don't sue us Fox!

We still love interleague play. We think that it is one of the few good things that has changed in the game under, as Keith Olbermann used to call him, "Acting Commissioner For Life" Bud Selig. But lately there has been a lot of talk about the fact that interleague play causes teams to have unequal schedule strength and could effect playoff races. For example, Chipper Jones of the Braves complained about the fact that his team has to play the Red Sox six times, and the Indians three (.667 combined winning percentage) while the Mets play the Yankees six times, and the and A’s three (.467 combined winning percentage) both teams play the Twins and Tigers. This is true. But the unbalanced schedule that teams have within their leagues already creates larger inequities. Consider this: Lets say that the NL wild card race comes down to the Braves, and the Astros. The Braves have to play the Mets, Marlins, and Phillies, 18 or 19 times. All three of those clubs finished last year at or near .500. At the same time nearly half of the schedule of the Astros is made up of games against the Reds, the Cubs, the Pirates, and the Cardinals, none of whom are .500 clubs. The strength of a team’s schedule is determined in large part by the strength of that team’s division (particularly in the NL central which has six teams) and not by the strength of a team’s interleague opponents. If Jones and others want teams involved in playoff races to have equal schedules, they should be directing their ire at the unbalanced divisional schedules, not nine interleague games. In the meantime, we will continue to enjoy crosstown rivalries like Yankees-Mets, White Sox-Cubs, and Angels-Dodgers, and other matchups like Red Sox-Braves, and Tigers-Cardinals that we couldn't see otherwise.

Now, on to our LWIB notes!

Brewers Closer Fransisco Cordero is now 17 for 17 so far this year in save opportunities. (look for him to blow his next 17 now that we have mentioned that)

The New York Daily News called the 12 games the Yankees would play against the White Sox, Mets, Red Sox, and Angels as the 12 games that would define the Yankees season. We think that is overstating it a bit, but nevertheless, the Yanks have now lost four of the first six of those 12.

This has gone completely unnoticed because of the Yankee’s struggles, but Jorge Posada is absolutely raking at the plate. He is leading the majors with a .382 batting average has a 1058 OPS .

What the hell is going on with the St. Louis Cardinals?

Mets 3B David Wright is heating up. After going homer-less in April, he has seven so far in May (including two against the Yankees this past Saturday) and has raised his average from .244 to .282

Speaking of the Mets, who is this 2B that they have that has a 926 OPS and seven home runs in 28 ABs, and what did he do with the real Damion Easley?

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Its our blog dammit, so we are going to talk about our team every week - Is anyone else noticing what Fausto Carmona is doing? He has been virtually untouchable since being converted from closer to starter in spring training. He threw a complete game shutout against the Twins on Thursday to complete the sweep of Minnesota. This is the guy the Indians have bouncing back-and-forth between AAA and the Majors in favor of stiffs like Jeremy Sowers and the injured Jake Westbrook.

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How ‘bout tha... er, I mean, I'll be goddamned! - Somebody named Jesse Litsch pitched 8 2/3 innings, giving up four hits and one run for the win in his Major League debut for the Blue Jays on Tuesday night.

Last Week in Baseball! - Take a Stand Bud!

If you are like us, you grew up on Mel Allen and “This Week in Baseball.” Here at WCT, we have “Last Week in Baseball!” Please don't sue us Fox!

For some reason, Bud Selig has still not decided whether or not he will attend Giants games when Barry Bonds gets close to Henry Aaron’s 755 home run mark. (we know, indecision from Selig? Shocking!) This has been the biggest lingering story of the baseball season, now that Roger Clemens is signed. Its our opinion that Bud has to go. Unlike Aaron himself, who is just a private citizen and owes nothing to Bonds or Major League Baseball, Selig represents MLB, and therefore his stance becomes the official stance of the league. If MLB had a positive test, or any other damning evidence against Bonds with respect to steroid use, then they should suspend him. Otherwise, they have to honor him as they would anyone else. Selig needs to take a stand one way or another on Bonds (we know, Selig not taking a stand? Shocking!), either a) suspend his ass for steroid use, or b) treat him like you treat every other player. Neither suspending him, nor showing up and congratulating him on passing Aaron is sitting on the fence.

Now, on to our LWIB notes!

- We knew this start of the season by Josh Beckett was too good to be true. That guy is never more than a few pitches away from his next blister.

- We think that the hot start by the Milwaukee Brewers is a bit of a mirage. Don’t get us wrong, we think they are going to be good this year, but not “best record in the big leagues” good. After losing two of three to the Mets this past weekend, they still have yet to win a series from a team that is .500 or better. Starting this weekend the Brew has three game series with the Twins, Dodgers, Padres, and Braves. If they are still in first place on June 1 then we think they are for real.

- Nice to see that King Felix Hernandez will return to the Mariners rotation this week.

- On the other hand, it really sucks that Roy Halladay, who has an injury history so bad it makes Rondell White look like an ironman, now has to miss time with appendicitis.

- We are beginning to think that Brad Penny might be one of the more underrated pitchers in baseball. He is 5-0, leading the NL in ERA (1.39), and is banging Big Lead favorite Eliza Dushku.

- As we are writing this, we just witnessed the Baltimore Orioles’ bullpen blow a five run ninth inning lead to the Red Sox to lose 6-5. Orioles idiot manager Sam Perlozzo removed starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie after eight shutout innings and 85 pitches. It must suck to be a fan of that team.

- We know that this is a baseball post, but we can’t let this go unsaid: That Baron Davis dunk on Friday night was disgusting. Andrei Kirilenko should never be allowed to don a basketball uniform again after that.

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Its our blog dammit, so we are going to talk about our team every week - We have to give credit where credit is due: Josh Barfield is hitting .313 in May and has raised his average from .167 to .212. Maybe we were too hard on him. On the other hand, Grady Sizemore is batting .125 since appearing on the cover of SI (or since we got our copy anyway). One more thing: Joe Borowski makes us sick to our stomach.

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How ‘bout tha... er, I mean, I'll be goddamned! - Giants rookie CF Fred Lewis had five hits, four RBIs and hit for the cycle in a 15-2 bludgeoning of the hapless Colorado Rockies. Who needs Barry?

Last Week in Baseball! - Yay! Discussions about race!

If you are like us, you grew up on Mel Allen and “This Week in Baseball.” Here at WCT, we have “Last Week in Baseball!” Please don't sue us Fox!

Why does ESPN always have to make a racial issue out of everything? This weekend, we were blitzed with a study the network created that shows that your feelings for Barry Bonds and his chase of Hank Aaron may be affected by your race. The study highlighted statistics that show that a higher percentage of black baseball fans support Barry Bonds than white baseball fans. What this study did not consider is the fact that hatred of Bonds in this chase is support for Aaron, who is also black. Nor did it consider the fact that the network where most baseball fans get there Bonds-related news, ESPN, is the network that portrays him as the surly, steroid freak that most people know. If you know us, you know that we have no love for Barry, that being said we think that ESPN inundates us with news about Barry and what a dick he is just to piss fans off. Programming for ESPN has degenerated into six months of Barry Bonds news, and six months of Terrell Owens news, with some Yanks/Sox talk mixed in for variety.

Now, on to our LWIB notes!

- Speaking of Bonds, don’t look now, but he leads the NL with 10 home runs and an OPS of 1335 so far this year.

- We said last week that it was not panic/celebration time for the Yankees, and right on cue, Roger Clemens rides in on his white horse to save the day. Clemens is obviously better than the clowns that they have been sending out there so far this year, but he isn’t exactly the innings-eater that they need. He was basically a six inning pitcher down the stretch last year, and that was facing NL lineups. The Yanks still have an average to below-average bullpen (when that bullpen is fresh, which it rarely is) and several other holes in their rotation. Not to mention the fact that no one knows quite what to expect out of a 44 or 45 year old Rocket.

- Last note on the Yanks: A-Rod hasn’t homered in two weeks! BOOOOOOOOO!!

- Maybe we buried the Cubs, who have won five in a row, eight of ten, and are now one game over .500, too early. Or maybe their stretch of Pittsburgh for three, Washington for three, Pittsburgh for three, came at the perfect time.

- When are people going to start to recognize how good Placido Polanco is? He is batting .361 and leads the AL in hits. Not only that, but he has only struck out four times so far this year. If he only took a walk more than once in a blue moon…

- People that have over a 1000 OPS that surprise us, Magglio Ordonez, B.J. Upton, Kelly Johnson, Aaron Rowand, and J.J. Hardy

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Its our blog dammit, so we are going to talk about our team every week - We did not shed any tears when Jake Westbrook and his 7.90 ERA were put on the DL today. Also, nice to see the Jhonny Peralta and Victor Martinez of 2005 have shown up, at least so far. The Tribe was on a roll last week, but let’s see how the first west-coast trip of the season goes.

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How ‘bout tha... er, I mean, I'll be goddamned! - What’s gotten into John Maine? The Mets starter is 5-0 with a WHIP of 1.07 and a league-leading ERA of 1.37. Weren’t the Mets supposed to have starting pitching issues this year?

Last Week in Baseball! - Not Panic/Celebration Time Just Yet

If you are like us, you grew up on Mel Allen and “This Week in Baseball.” Here at WCT, we have “Last Week in Baseball!” Please don't sue us Fox!

We are through a month of regular season baseball so it really isn’t “early” anymore, but we really feel like Yankee haters (like ourselves) cannot celebrate the team’s demise just yet. Even though the Yanks are in sole possession of last place, looking up at the Devil Rays, we have seen this from them before. Let us not forget 2005, when the Yanks were 11-19 in early May, then caught fire in the second half including a 17-9 September to beat out the Red Sox for the division title. The Yankees pitching staff was banged up for the entire month of April, and we think this team will stabalize once Chien-Ming Wang gets his legs under him and Mike Mussina retuns from the DL. We may end up being wrong, but we will hold off on our "the Yanks are dead! the Yanks are dead!" parade for at least another month

Now, on to our LWIB notes!

- Speaking of the Yankees, we have no idea why Joe Torre has to go through this every year. Four world series championships, six AL pennants, ten division titles, yet he is managing for his job after a slow April.

- It is really, really sad that we've lost another Cardinals pitcher. There are still guys on this team that have not gotten over the passing of Daryl Kile, and now they lose Josh Hancock in a tragic accident.

- Ian Kinsler refuses to go away.

- Now that Bartolo Colon and Jared Weaver have returned, and Chone Figgens is on his way back, we expect the Angels to take off and finally be the team to beat in the AL.

- Nice to see Julian Tavarez pick up a win for the Red Sox yesterday. We were ready to talk about how much sending him out there every fifth day is killing this team.

- Speaking of the Red Sox, so far Hideki Okajima has been a lot more impressive than Daisuke Matsuzaka. A LOT. We think the Sox have found their 8th inning set up man.

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Its our blog dammit, so we are going to talk about our team every week - This is really scary. The Browns had the best draft of any NFL team, and the Indians are in first place in the best division in the sport. We sincerly expect to be struck by lightning.


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How ‘bout tha... er, I mean, I'll be goddamned! - Sunday at Jacobs Field, Fausto Carmona, in what will likely be his last start since Cliff Lee makes his return this week, pitched 8 1/3 innings, giving up six hits and only a 9th inning solo home run. Fausto Freaking Carmona?

Last Week in Baseball! - Mediocrity Lives

If you are like us, you grew up on Mel Allen and “This Week in Baseball.” Here at WCT, we have “Last Week in Baseball!” Please don't sue us Fox!

Its dangerous to make any sort of conclusions based on records or standings at this point in the season, but it is still interesting to see who fast out of the gates, and we are through almost a month of baseball so its really no longer that early in the season.

Can you believe that 20 of the 30 teams in baseball are no better than one game over .500? We were never really big believers in the idea that there was parody in baseball, but maybe this year there will be. By our estimation, at least three whole divisions (NL Central, NL and AL West) are no better than mediocre, with the AL West having no teams over .500. It will be interesting to see how long it takes teams like the Angels, the Cardinals, the Yankees, and the Blue Jays, supposed playoff contenders who are currently at of below .500, to right themselves.

Now, on to our LWIB notes!

- Maybe the Cubs finally have the 1-2 punch that they have needed in their pitching rotation. And those pitchers are... Jason Marquis and Rich Hill of course! Last week the two were a combined 3-0 with an ERA of 0.43. Hill has been especially strong, leading the NL in WHIP (0.68) and has a 16 inning scoreless streak working. Look for one of these guys' throwing arm to fall off and the other to get struck by lightning in the next few weeks, because after all, its the Cubs.

- How about the Orioles? We thought this would be a last-place team (and they still might be) but at least so far they have been a pleasant surprise. The O’s took two of three from the Devil Rays, then swept the Blue Jays over the weekend to leapfrog the Yankees into second place in the division. We'll have a better idea about this team this time next week after they have played the A's, the Red Sox, and the Indians.

- Brad Lidge has officially lost it, and Phil Garner has completely lost confidence in him. On Sunday, he came in, gave up a leadoff double, and was taken out of the game. On Friday, he walked two batters, gave up a three-run bomb, and gave up a double after getting two outs. Thats seven batters faced over the weekend, two walks, three hits, and three runs.

- There appears to be some negative karma associated with this blog. Both Jason Schmidt, whom we picked to win the Cy Young this year, and Felix Hernandez, whom we highlighted last week, landed on the DL this past week. Oops.

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Its our blog dammit, so we are going to talk about our team every week - Ideally we would like to just forget that whole mid-week series against the Yankees ever happend. And we know that Josh Barfield was acquired in the offseason mainly for his glove, and so far he has played a good second base, but would it be too much to ask for him to hit his weight? Or even slug his weight? He is listed at 190 lbs, and is slugging .245 so its close. We'll keep an eye on this. By the way Barfield has seven hits this year, including one in the last calendar week. He started every game but one last week.

The Tribe has the Twins, the Rangers and the Orioles this week.

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How ‘bout tha... er, I mean, I'll be goddamned! - Everyone knows that Alex Rodriguez has 12 home runs so far this year (its only the lead story on SportsCenter every night), but did you know that Ian Kinsler has 7 home runs? Ian Kinsler?

Last Week in Baseball!

If you are like us, you grew up on Mel Allen and “This Week in Baseball.” Here at WCT, we have “Last Week in Baseball!” Please don't sue us Fox!

The Jackie Robinson tributes Sunday were great. It was great because its impossible to overstate his value to American sports, and American history. It was also great because as much as we know (or thought we knew) about Jackie, we learned a lot about him on Sunday.

Now, on to our LWIB notes!

- The Phillies bullpen looks like it is going to be what prevents this team competing for a playoff spot. Its never a good thing when your closer, in this case Tom Gordon, has an ERA of 9, and the eighth inning last Monday against the Mets was a disgrace. We hope that manager Charlie Manuel is renting and doesn’t own.

- Stop us if you've heard this before, but the Texas Rangers have no pitching. They currently have the second worst team ERA in the American League (5.07) and allowed 9, 8, 6, and 14 runs in games played last week. When is this team going to realize you can't win without pitching?

- Did you know that Mariano Rivera doesn't have a save yet this year? We're still shocked when he blows one as he did against the A's on Sunday. The Yanks starting rotation is becoming the walking wounded, with Mike Mussina and Carl Pavano joining Chien-Ming Wang on the DL.

- If you had "April 13" in your office's "when will Lou Pinella's first tirade as a Cubs Manager occur?" pool, congratulations..

- Manny Ramirez is still without a home run this year.

- Its April 16 and Nationals still suck. We feel that this team is going to make a serious run at the '62 Mets record of 120 losses. We will follow this story all summer.

- Albert Pujols is heating up. He had two more home runs on Sunday.


- The Braves are also hot out of the gates. The Braves-Mets race in the NL east will probably turn out to be the best division race in baseball this summer.


- The NL central, on the other hand, is a joke. In our NL west preview we predicted that division would be the worst in baseball. However, through the first two weeks, it looks like the central will out do the west in terms of suckiness.

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Its our blog dammit, so we are going to talk about our team every week - How about the Tribe winning a game with only one hit Sunday? C.C. Sabathia is on point so far this year, and it was nice to see the Indians take two of three from the White Sox and Angels (our pick for the AL pennant) in Milwaukee. Lets see how they do against the Yanks this week.

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How ‘bout tha... er, I mean, I'll be goddamned! - "King" Felix Hernandez's pitching line so far this year - two starts, 17 IP, four hits allowed, no runs allowed, 0.47 WHIP, two wins. Yikes!