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MLB: The AL East is the Beast

Charlie — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:36:17 +0000

At the beginning of the season the American League looked like the best division in baseball. It looked like it would be a huge battle between the Tampa Bay Rays, the Boston Red Sox, and the New York Yankees. However, the beginning of the season didn’t go according to plan.

The New York Yankees started the season playing horrible baseball. The Red Sox were average at best. And the Rays were just plan horrible. But one team that came out of the gates playing great baseball was the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays jumped out to a division lead and for a couple months they looked like they just might be this year’s Rays. But the Blue Jays cooled off just a little bit and that has been enough to drop them back to 4th place in the AL East. Sure the Blue Jays are still playing over .500 but the rest of the division has really picked it up. Yes, that includes all 3 teams that we thought would be great this year.

The Red Sox are a team to be reckoned with this year. That much is certain. They have the pitching and the hitting to win it all. The only question is whether they’ll be able to hold off the Yankees and even the Rays. Because the Yankees are showing signs of being a team that is so good it’s scary.

In fact, the Yankees have now won 7 straight games. Before this 7 games winning streak they looked like they might be in trouble. But this team has way too much talent to simply fade into oblivion. They will be at or near the top of the division by the end of the season (unless Girardi is even worse than I think).

And the Rays have also seemingly put it back together. They are playing great too. But I just don’t think they can duplicate what they did last year and I think the Red Sox and the Yankees have too much.

Only time will tell. But one thing that is certain right now is the fact that the AL East is a beast of a division. And, as we sit here in very early July, this division is finally living up to the hype.

MLB: Heading into Another Weekend of Baseball

Charlie — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:18:24 +0000

Interleague play continues this weekend. I already made my thoughts known about Interleague play yesterday. Looking at the games coming up this weekend, it’s a little tough to get excited about many of the games. But there are some good match-ups.

The Boston Red Sox will take on the Atlanta Braves. The Red Sox, believe it or not, are threatening to open-up a comfortable lead in the American League East. This division looks to be a shootout all year. However, the Red Sox are red-hot right now and the other teams look like they are fading.

The New York Yankees are playing some bad baseball right now. They haven’t really recovered from getting swept by the Red Sox a couple series ago. The Yankees just lost a series to the Washington Nationals. Yes, the Washington Nationals! The same team that is playing under .300 ball and has only won 18 total games this year. 2 of them have been wins over the Yankees.

Actually the Toronto Blue Jays are playing good baseball lately. They’re now just a game behind the Yankees. The Blue Jays now get to play the Nationals and the Yankees have to play the Marlins. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Yankees find themselves behind the Blue Jays when this weekend is over.

Meanwhile, this weekend will probably see the Los Angeles Dodgers go up double digits on the rest of the NL West too. The Dodgers will actually be locked-up with the Anaheim Angels in the best series of the weekend. The Angels are charging hard and have won 6 straight games. The Angels might take over 1st in the AL West too.

If the Detroit Tigers don’t start hitting they might get caught by the Minnesota Twins this weekend. The Tigers have been in 1st place for more than a month but they aren’t hitting the ball. They have a pitcher starting his first game on Saturday and tonight Gallaraga will take the mound and he’s been struggling mightily.

We’ll see what happens…

MLB: The Tigers’ Bullpen is an Embarrassment

Charlie — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:20:17 +0000

Yesterday I wrote about the American League Central and the National League Central. I wrote that the Tigers have a decent chance of taking command in their division. They have the bats and they also have starting pitching. However, they certainly don’t have the bullpen. At least not the last couple of days.

Two day ago the Tigers started Dontrelle Willis on the mound. His return was okay. He didn’t walk anyone (and that’s huge since his control last year is what got him dropped from the Majors) but he still gave-up about a run per inning. However, the Tigers hitters did their job. They came back from 4-2 to take a 5-4 lead. That quickly disappeared into a 7-5 hole thanks to the bullpen. Then the Tigers came back and regained the lead 9-7. But the bullpen allowed the Twins to tie the game. The game went to extra innings. The Tigers took a one run lead in the top of the 13th inning. The Twins answered with 5 runs in the bottom of the inning.

Then Justin Verlander took the mound for the Tigers yesterday. For the 4th straight game, Verlander was dominant. Verlander went 6.1 innings and left with a 5-0 lead, one out, and men on 1st and 2nd. Before the bullpen could get 2 measly outs, they allowed 6 runs to plate. The Tigers lost 6-5.

So, the bullpen has totally let the team down these past 2 games. The Tigers have been good enough to win both games. The bullpen has been horrendous.

The only bright spot is Zumaya and Rodney. They can work the 8th and 9th innings for the Tigers. But the Tigers at least need someone who can pitch the 7th. That looked to be Bobby Seay but he’s been in the middle of these last 2 games. In fact, he’s been mostly to blame.

If the Tigers hope to be good this year, they better find some relievers or the ones they’ve got better get a whole lot better.

MLB: Seems Like Old Times

Charlie — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:08:48 +0000

A few days ago I wrote about the 2 big American League match-ups that were about to take place. The New York Yankees were about to host the the Texas Rangers and the Detroit Tigers were going to welcome the Boston Red Sox. Well, the Yankees and the Red Sox both proved they were superior teams.

Now, before we make too much out of the Boston and Detroit series, the Red Sox did have the benefit of their best pitchers being on the mound while the Tigers had their worst pitchers on the mound. But still, the Tigers hitters have to do a lot better job. They were atrocious in this series and they’ve been pretty bad all year. How a team with the best ERA in the American League is only a few games over .500? Well, because their bats have been horrible. That’s how!

As for Texas, they haven’t had the best showing against other good team in the AL. They’ll get another shot at being a top tier team when they to Boston for a weekend series with the Red Sox. They need to win 1 of these series or they’re not going to be taken seriously.

Now, the main headline to come out of these 2 series has to be the fact that the Yankees and the Red Sox clearly look like the 2 best teams in the American League once again. I still don’t think the Red Sox can challenge the Yankees for too long. But who knows? They have decent pitching and good players. They have experienced players who know how to win. And that’s the 1 advantage they have over the Yankees. The Yanks have Jeter and Petite who know how to win and that’s about it. They don’t even have a manager who knows how to win. However, the Yankees do have tons of talent. And that should be enough.

Grienke’s Been Perfect

Charlie — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:19:50 +0000

Tonight Zach Grienke will take the mound against the Toronto Blue Jays. He’ll try to run his record to 5-0. But more importantly and much more impressively, Grienke will try to keep his perfect ERA intact. That’s right, he has yet to give-up a run in his first 4 starts. That is unbelievable.

He’s pitched against some good teams too. He went 6 innings against the White Sox and then 5 innings against the Indians. Then he threw complete games against the Texas Rangers and the Detroit Tigers.

I do wonder if Grienke will be able to take all the attention that he’s suddenly receiving. He’s been able to pitch in pretty much obscurity up until now. He also has the Sports Illustrated cover jinx to deal with. All those pesky reporters that are hounding him won’t help either. But if he comes out and throws another shutout tonight then he’ll reach a status that very pitchers have ever hit in the regular season.

But I feel like he’s due for a letdown. I actually like the Blue Jays to win tonight and I see Grienke getting hit around for at least 3 runs. I just don’t think he’s used to all the attention.

And these are the Blue Jays who just took back the lead in the American League East. Boston finally lost and the Blue Jays beat the Royals last night. So Toronto has a 1 game lead again.

In the NL East the Marlins finally got a win and broke their losing streak. But the Phillies won their 5th straight so the Marlins still only lead that division by a half game. The Detroit Tigers continue to lead the AL Central by a game. The Mariners and the Dodgers have 2.5 game leads in their division and the St. Louis Cardinals lead the National League Central by 3 games. That’s the largest lead in baseball.