Well, it’s July 1st. The Red Sox are in the basement, the Astros still appear to be the real deal (this year’s Brewers?), and the Royals have graciously invited a couple of other team’s players to join them in the All-Star Game.
Thoughts at the (roughly) halfway mark?
The NL East is confusing me, mostly my rooting interest, the Mets. A week ago the Mets were on their way getting swept by the Braves and then losing 2 to the Brewers, and looked as if they were starting their late season swoon a bit early. But then they won a few in a row and are back at 2 games above .500 (40-38) and only 3.5 back of the leading Nationals and 2 back of the 2nd Wild Card slot. The Braves, who swept the Mets a week back, have not at all capitalized and are now 7 back of the Nats, while being in 3rd place.
I guess I have full faith that the Nats will win the division, but I can’t imagine what the Mets are going to do the rest of this year. They enjoy toying with me… but since I’m not expecting anything this year, the attempted toying with my emotions may be for naught.
The Nats’ pitching is starting to look like what we had been promised all year. If they can keep winning, hopefully they can limp into the All Star break letting Ryan Zimmerman, Anthony Rendon and (eventually) Jason Werth get healthy. If those guys can get in their groove and if Harper can stay healthy, DC baseball could be a lot of fun in October.
There is also the consistently interesting case of the Oakland A’s. 35-45, but their Pythagorean Record (based on Runs Scored vs. Runs Allowed) is 45-35. They are -10 compared to the record they should have based on Runs. That record would put them 1 game back the Astros in the West and the 2nd best record in the American League. That is insane!
Though Oakland is 7.5 games back of the 2nd WC. So, if they can figure out their bullpen issues (which I’m guessing is a main contributor to their 6-20 record in 1 run games).
This week, the Cleveland starting pitchers have done the following all against Tampa
Monday: Cody Anderson (2nd start in the majors) perfect for 6 1/3 innings. Lost perfect, no-hitter. and shutout on homer to Grady Sizemore. Ended with 8 innings pitched 2 hits one run, no walks. Game score 76.
Tuesday: Salazar perfect for five innings. Leadoff walk in 6th and later a double in the inning. Ended with 7 2/3 innings, 2 hits, 2 runs (one earned) 2 walks. Game score 69.
Wednesday: Carlos Carrasco perfect through 6 1/3 innings, ho hitter through 8 2/3. Ended with 8 2/3 innings 1 hit 1 run two walks one HBP. Game score 89.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen three such starts in a row.
The Giants have played without 2 of their projected starting pitchers all season, had their starting right fielder for only about 2 weeks, and DFA’d their starting third baseman twice…and found themselves only 1.5 games back starting July. All things considered, it could have been a lot worse.
They appear to have found a couple of gems in starter Chris Heston and now-third-baseman Matt Duffy, and have Matt Cain and Jake Peavy coming odd the DL today and tomorrow, respectively, and Hunter Pence hopefully back after the All-Star break. If all their injured players come back healthy, we could be in for a heck of a race in the NL West. And even if they don’t come back healthy (or effective), I don’t think the Giants are going to let the Dodgers walk away with the division this year.
We’ll see. The Dodgers are actually getting Brandon League back (which is good or bad news, depending on what sort of Dodger fan you are) and Brandon Beachy soon. So there’s strong potential for a little better rotation and a stronger bullpen. And I suspect there will be some movement around the trade deadline this year.
I’m very curious to see what the hell we’re going to do with Carl Crawford, who is almost back from his oblique injury. The entire Dodger outfield (including the reserves) has been playing well for the most part. Who draws the short straw, here? Who is trade bait?
I doubt like hell that it’ll be him, but Yasiel Puig has been causing some dissension in the Dodger clubhouse.
You bundle Crawford, Callaspo and Frias or Garcia and go after another starting pitcher. You dump Crawford because he’s old, expensive and not very versatile. The rest of the outfield is young, moderately cheap and can play damn near anywhere you need them to. Not to mention hitting a ton.
Puig is acting up because without Uribe he has nobody to really talk to. Well, that and the fact that for all his talents, he’s still an immature little jerk.
Puig has been acting far more mature this year than Pederson, whose temper tantrums each time he strikes out are getting very old.
I say sell high on Ethier and possibly Van Slyke. I don’t think either one will ever be worth as much as they are now. Love both those guys but something has to give and they will actually net a return. I would say Crawford should go, but I don’t think anyone would take him.
The Marlins, with what I thought was the best outfield in baseball , option Ozuna to AAA.
Bad news for the Royals: Alex Gordon out for likely at least six weeks with a groin injury, suffered in last night’s game against the Rays.
Good news for the Royals: Jarrod Dyson, put in to replace him in said game, seems intent on channeling his spirit, first throwing out a runner at home, and then hitting an inside-the-park home run - a REAL one, not a double that couldn’t get fielded because the fielder went down with injury (which was the result of the Gordon play).
Remember when David Ortiz was getting pissed that reporters were implying he was washed up? In the last 5 weeks he’s hitting over .250 with 8 HRs.
And yes, I know he just said he doesn’t want to play 1B. Do you blame him? He’s not refusing to play it, though. He was asked a question and answered honestly.
Good to see the Red Sox playing pissed again. They had been pretty damn passive all year. Let’s hope Napoli finds his stroke again, because we don’t want to have Papi at 1B all the rest of the year.
I have to think part of the problem was that Swihart just isn’t ready yet. The entire pitching staff was performing badly, not just a few of them, and the common factor just might have been that they were throwing to a kid who should still be in AAA. Or maybe Juan Nieves suddenly got stupid as a pitching coach. OTOH, Betts and Bogaerts, at about the same age, have shown they are All Star level players.
So, the entire division is going into the break all around .500. Somebody needs to make a trade and make a move.
Isn’t Jason Veritek still in the organization? His job should be catching coach. It would be invaluable if he could spend a good amount of time with a guy like Swihart.
Yes, he is, and no, I don’t know why he isn’t.
They should hire Schilling and let him and Tek create pitching strategy for every game. They were the hardest working player/scouts.
It’s truly a pleasure to watch Jose Fernandez pitch. He’s shutting out the Reds right now, 85 pitches into the 7th inning ,nasty breaking pitches and so for now walks.
If the Blue Jays don’t make a huge trade for someone who can pitch it’s the end of the GM’s career, and it should be.
They have the best hitting team in baseball and the pitching has completely blown that opportunity. What’s frustrating is that it should have been obvious the pitching would be bad; the team had no particularly obvious #1 starter (though credit Mark Buerhle for just rolling along like he always has) and a bullpen that looked leakier than the Titanic. They went into the season with the eyes wide open having spend money and prospects on big hitters and knowing the pitching staff was simply not up to par. As I’ve said before, nothing about the team is at all surprising, and the path to being the favourite to win the division is very clear.