MLB Game Notes: A Few Things Worth Mentioning

BY MELISSA ZIELINSKI

A couple weeks ago I predicted that the Red Sox would take the AL East division and the whole American League, but a lot has changed since then…

Tampa Bay who was a handful of games out when I wrote my last blog has come back to be just three behind the Sox and the Yanks are sitting pretty in first place (four and a half games ahead). Also New York seemingly doesn’t have much to worry about this week matching up against the nothing-to-lose Jays, while the Sox have an all important duel between a team they must beat in Tampa.

According to ESPN, Boston’s “panic meter” is only 3-4, but this may change if their pitching doesn’t improve and with the injured Youkilis on the bench.

There are some other battles that are worth taking a look at too…

Texas Rangers vs. LA Angels vs. Boston Red Sox vs. Tampa Bay Rays

Even though I said I was moving on I had to throw the Sox and Rays into the mix on this next discussion because the Angels, who are three and a half games behind the Rangers for first are also only one game behind the Rays and four games behind the Sox for the Wild Card spot. 

LA has a good chance to make up some ground in this next series as they throw out the first pitch tonight in a weekend series against the Orioles (and since I’m working for the Washington Capitals I should mention Alex Ovechkin is throwing out the first pitch tonight). The Angels are 5-1 this season against the O’s and are on a two-game winning streak, while also winning seven of their last ten.

Still, the Rangers will be facing a three-game set against the Mariners and have went 6-1 against Seattle this season. Their starter CJ Wilson has also won six of his last seven on the mound.

The Angels should be able to sweep the series and help give them self a chance at the wildcard (given that Texas stays hot and sweeps their series against Seattle). Offensively the team has connected and it should make for an exciting AL West race in the final days of the regular season.

Over in the NL, it’s pretty clear that the Phillies will walk away with the best record in the league, leaving Atlanta, St. Louis and San Fran to duke it out for the wild card spot. The best contender out of these three looks to be Atlanta who’s heading into a weekend series against the New York Mets. After this weekend they will have some time to make up ground as they face the Marlins once more (where they took two of three during the week) and Washington before seeing Philadelphia again for the last three games of the regular season.

Atlanta should be able to inch into the postseason, but I have one concern. The Nats want to head into their offseason with some momentum. After getting Strasburg back on the mound, completing a four-game sweep of the Mets (which hasn’t been done since relocating from Montreal) and being on a five-game win streak this young team has something to prove and could give the Braves a hard time.

Both the Cardinals and Giants are at least seven games behind the first-place contender in their division, which will make them extra hungry for a “W.”

Still, with Matt Holliday possibly missing some time with finger inflammation and the inconsistency seen in the Giants, neither will have enough to muster up against Atlanta. In my opinion, the Braves have the hardest schedule nearing the end of September, but should be the WC victor.

It may have seemed like things weren’t going to be interesting, with the Sox on top as usual and the Yankees right behind them, but the dark horse has stopped that from being the case. Of course now the certain isn’t so certain and as always when it comes down to it no baseball, but September baseball matters now.

The Not So Surprising American League East: A Year in Retrospect

The Best Month for Sports

It’s the time of year that any sport enthusiast can appreciate, football is almost ready to kick-off, hockey will drop the puck very soon and baseball is in full-swing. Now that I’ve got that very cliché sentence out of the way it’s time to talk baseball.

First on my list of to-do’s is the rivalry that never gets old, Yankees nation vs. Red Sox nation. Being a fan of neither, I think I have a pretty non-bias approach to the argument of who’ll take the top spot in the AL East and most likely the whole conference.

Now let’s really play ball.

For a Month that Means Consistency for Some…

In April I previewed the American League East and my predictions have proven true as we head into the final month of the regular season. Boston is atop the standings in the AL and Adrian Gonzalez has done the team good, leading the team with a .345 batting average.

There’s even talks about  Gonzalez earning MVP status by the end of the season and as much as I’m not a “fan” of the Red Sox, you can‘t deny it when you see a good baseball player. In his last ten games alone he’s averaged more than .340 and is already nearing his projected hitting totals for the year. Gonzalez also leads the AL in bating average (.345), is second in RBI’s (103) and fourth and fifth in slugging percentage (.559) and runs (90), respectively.

Don’t forget that Boston is also a huge threat when Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford are both healthy and ready to go. Ellsbury, who’s finally at that defining stage of his career has been outstanding defensively and has also been of great importance when up to bat. He leads the team in runs with 95 and is also second in the league overall. He and CC’s wheels and a .251 batting average to boot leave the Sox in good shape for the playoffs.

Also, with four of their big names hitting above .300 Boston has the confidence it needs to guide itself through the first few rounds of the playoffs in what I believe should be effortless fashion. For a team that was anything but consistent in the first month and a half of baseball, since they’ve been just that.

…September Means Higher Expectations for Others

As I try to completely erase the memory of New York setting a record against my beloved A‘s (I won‘t say what was done, but baseball fans know), the Yankees are right behind the Sox and I predict will take the wildcard spot in October, but for now that question is still up in the air being only two games back. What the Yankees don’t have that the Sox do is a solid core that can develop output all at the same time.
 
Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, two of the biggest threats on the roster have been in-and-out with different injuries and while Eric Chavez and Ramiro Pena have served as back-ups, the amount of playing time they receive and other variables (age, experience) are not enough to make the team able to keep up with the competition that surrounds them.

Robi Cano has served as the rock of this team for the past two seasons and has a solid .303 average (team leader) and is second on the team in RBI’s (95) just behind Curtis Granderson who has 107. If A-Rod and Jeter can get healthy and stay solid for the rest of the regular season along with Granderson and Cano then watch out. These top four players will be eyeing to edge the Red Sox’s top four in what makes for some great end of the season baseball (they will be playing each other this week and the second to last series in September hint hint).

Other keys to the Yankees success could be Brett Gardner and Nick Swisher. Gardner has wheels and makes a statement in the outfield and while Swisher has been a bit of a wash this year, a breakout September could help him regain his confidence and spirit that makes him so well liked by teammates and fans alike.

Last Call

With out a doubt these two teams will be the most talked about teams this month given their rich history, but at the same time who wouldn’t be excited? Do we remember the AL all star roster? Many complained that it consisted of too many players from these two teams (including me…hey look at my last blog), but now that they are in a truly competitive atmosphere watching these two teams won’t be all that bad to say the least.

Next up I will look at the rest of the AL and what my predictions for the playoffs will be and then I’ll share what I think about the National League.

The All-Star Critique

Player Picking or True All-Star?

By Missy Zielinski

It’s been a long week in the MLB, some historic (Jeter’s 3000th) and some rather tragic (in Texas), but with all the buzz around baseball this week, I thought it only timely and appropriate to continue to hype up the yearly controversy surrounding the All Star game that always happens at this time in July by adding my two sense about the display of what’s supposed to be today’s “best.”

If you noticed the quotations hugging the word best it was for good reason. Are the players set to match-up in tonight’s game really the best the MLB has to offer? And, does the MLB even care?

A Chance to Make Some Money

In my opinion, the MLB is one big marketing scheme. While I love the fact that baseball is attempting to advertise and promote to get back into terms of America’s pass time, they’ve forgotten one very crucial thing…the All Star game is there to honor the best. Call me a real fan, but I love to watch a game that can truly celebrate the number of players who actually have talent, but will not see it go past the regular season…think Andrew McCutchen? I mean the Pirates are above .500, but playoffs? That’s a stretch.

What the MLB does is promote a game around the most popular players in the league for a very meaningless match up. This is all for the sake of grabbing a huge national fan base. Yet, it’s not even working- according to ESPN viewership is down and the fact that players are pulling out due to injury and vacation doesn’t help.

Let’s get to the numbers though….

American League Mistakes

Starting with Derek Jeter- yes, I’m going to point him out because come on now, he is Mr. 3,000th- and wouldn’t it seem that he’d be the perfect person to be the starting shortstop for the American League? Sure it all seems correct in theory, but it’s not.

Just because someone will forever be known as an all star over their career doesn’t necessarily make them a 2011 All Star. Jeter’s season has had a slow start and was plagued with a calf injury thus far. His average is also only .270 and he’s ranked 5th among the AL in his position. Yet, what about Jhonny Peralta (DET) who ranks second in the AL and has a .312 average. That looks like a better pick to me.

Asdrubal Cabrera from Cleveland was listed as the reserve (sixth-best SS in the AL), but Peralta was only added after Jeter withdrew from the game. If it were up to me I would have had Peralta as the starter, saving room for J.J. Hardy (BAL) and Erick Aybar (LAA) as my reserves. They rank first and third among there position, respectively, and both have averages higher than Jeter. Still neither is in the game.

Well it is also well known that I am certainly not a fans of the Bronx Bombers, I don’t want to see them pushed out entirely. Alex Rodriguez definitely deserves his spot at third. He’s ranked 1st at his position and is always consistent at the plate. Also, what about C.C.? Guess you Yankee’s fans got it wrong there. He is currently the winningest pitcher in the AL, but wasn’t even listed as a reserve…only added again due to other players who dropped out. 

Sabathia had this to say about the situation…it shouldn’t be about how many come from a team, but how good each player really is....if this were the case, we’d see more C.C.’s and less Jeter’s.

National League Was Worse

There was even more disappointment from the National League. When it came to Joey Votto (CIN), who ranks second at his position (1B) and is ranked fourth among the whole MLB in hitting. Yet his spot went to Prince Fielder, who not only had a poor showing at the Home Run Derby, but also ranks 13th at his position and 17th in the NL among hitters.

Another huge snub was Andrew McCutchen. If you aren’t mesmerized when you look at this 24-year-old, then you haven’t seen a ball player like him. This CF doesn’t only have wheels, he can use them in the field and at the plate. While his average is just hovering below .300, he also owns the 10th spot in rankings for CF. Luckily, someone saw that he was left absent from the roster and added him to the reserve list after others opted out.

My last player argument (yet it could go on) is Shane Victorino, who ranks second in his position and has an average of .303. While all the outfielders have averages above .300 it makes it a little harder to get in all the talent that’s loaded in this position for the NL, but still they shouldn’t be forgotten.

The Problems Will Continue…

So, as the MLB continues to “market” its league, we’ll continue to see the choices being made and sports journalists will continue the same arguments year after year, but if this is what we do to get players noticed than so be it.

Coaches of their respective league's team in the All Star game (who are in charge of the reserve roster) will continue to make the hard choices they must when it comes to players who will be recognized and players who won’t. In a league where talent is so often left unnoticed, could we at least let those players who often don’t see a playoff berth for seasons to come, get recognized just a little…midway through the season?