Time Going Forwards
Middle of May
AL East
W L GB WP
BAL 24 13 - .649
BOS 22 15 2.0 .595
TOR 20 18 4.5 .526
NYY 19 19 5.5 .500
TBD 14 25 11.0 .359
Despite winning two out of three from Boston to open the season, the Yankees swiftly moved to the lower half of the AL East and are are playing some very poor baseball. The offense looks sluggish with Posada and Matsui looking uncharacteristically feeble. Bernie and Womack have been terrible, but no surprise there. The wild card of the Yankees' lineup coming into the season, Jason Giambi, simply looks
finished. Author of a .202/.383/.326 line, it's time to stick a fork in the guy. He still has the good batting eye, but pitchers will figure out soon enough that he looks like he's swinging underwater. Farewell, Jason. Overall, the Yankees' starting pitching has been below average, with solid work by Mussina and Johnson completely negated by new Yankees Pavano and Wright.
Over in the AL Central the surprising White Sox have grabbed a super-quick five-game lead over the preseason-favorite Twins.
AL Central
W L GB WP
CHW 27 11 - .711
MIN 21 15 5.0 .583
DET 17 19 9.0 .472
CLE 16 20 10.0 .444
KCR 11 27 16.0 .289
The
Indians, whom some hoped might contend, look like they already might be out of it after a poor start by Travis Hafner (4 HR, 16 RBI and remember, folks, we've played a quarter season already) and a truly
horrendous start by Vic Martinez (.210, 2 HR, 10 RBI).
Elsewhere around the majors, Miguel Tejada has picked up where he left off in his 150-RBI 2004 campaign, leading the majors thus far with 38 runners driven home. Alex Rodriguez paces MLB with 12 home runs. Among hurlers, the early standout is Dontrelle Willis, who seems to have rediscovered his top rookie form of 2003 and then some. The likeable lefty has won all seven of his starts, posting a nifty 1.08 ERA and a K/BB ratio of 4.00. Next on the ERA leaderboards come two greyheads, Roger Clemens (3-1, 1.11) and, surprisingly, Kenny Rogers, who checks in at 4-2, 1.49.
Early July
Well, the All-Star Game is at hand and, lo and behold, the Washington Nationals are the surprise of the season, as they rule the roost in the NL East and by a sizeable 4.5 games:
NL East
W L GB WP
WSN 48 31 - .608
ATL 44 36 4.5 .550
FLA 40 37 7.0 .519
NYM 40 39 8.0 .506
PHI 40 40 8.5 .500
The Nationals' starting pitching has been very solid, with staff ace Livan Hernandez (11-2, 3.32) flanked by newcomer Esteban Loaiza (3.81 ERA) and youngster John Patterson, who has posted an ERA of 3.17 thus far. RFK Stadium appears to be playing as a very tough park for hitters, but Jose Guillen (.300-15-44) has put up fine numbers. Nick Johnson is also having a fine season (.320/.444/.508) and, most importantly, has been healthy thus far.
For Phillies fans there is bad news (they are in the cellar in the NL East), and there is good news (they are playing .500 ball), and there is more bad news (they have been outscored 370-392). Pitching has been the thorn in their side, as they rank 13th in the league in runs allowed. Jon Lieber has been the main culprit, posting a frightening 5.18 ERA in 17 starts.
Derrek Lee, whose name is getting mentioned in Triple Crown discussions, is first in the NL in batting (.379), second in home runs (23), and second in RBIs (65). Lee has always been a solid and under-appreciated player, but I don't think even Mrs. Lee was expecting him to be quite so dominant this year. Before you run off to look up the last Triple Crown winner (Yaz, '67), note that Lee will have a hard time leading the Senior Circuit in RBIs with Corey Patterson and Neifi Perez, with on-base percentages of
.301 and .276 respectively, batting in front of him.
Elsewhere on the leaderboards, we find Andruw Jones and his 25 homers, Carlos Lee with his 72 RBIs, and could anybody have foreseen Brian Roberts, who toils as pivotman for the Baltimore club, painting this masterpiece: .365/.439/.614? Isn't baseball great?
Mark Buehrle gets the All-Star Game starting assignment after a stellar first half, going 10-1 with a 2.42 ERA.
2005 All-Star Teams
American League
Starters:
C - Varitek
1B - Teixeira
2B - B. Roberts
3B - A. Rodriguez
SS - Tejada
OF - M. Ramirez, Damon, Guerrero
DH - Ortiz
SP - Buerhle
Reserves:
C - I. Rodriguez
1B - Sweeney, Konerko
2B - Soriano
3B - Mora
SS - M. Young
OF - G. Anderson, Podsednik,
Sheffield, Suzuki
DH - Hillenbrand
SP - Colon, Clement, Garland,
Halladay, Rogers, Santana
RP - Rivera, Baez, Nathan,
Ryan, Wickman, Duchscherer
National League
Starters:
C - Piazza
1B - Lee
2B - Kent
3B - A.Ramirez
SS - Eckstein
OF - Beltran, Edmonds, Abreu
DH - Pujols
SP - Carpenter
Reserves:
C - Lo Duca
2B - Castillo
3B - Ensberg, Rolen
SS - Izturis, Lopez
OF - L. Gonzalez, Alou, A. Jones,
Bay, C. Lee
SP - Clemens, L. Hernandez, Willis
Peavy, Pedro, Oswalt, Smoltz
RP - Cordero, Fuentes, Isringhausen,
Lidge, B. Wagner
Early August
NL West
W L GB WP
ARI 52 55 - .486
SDP 51 54 - .486
LAD 47 58 4.0 .448
SFG 45 59 5.5 .433
COL 37 67 13.5 .356
What is going on in the NL West, anyway? We're already into August, and nobody seems to be able to get their heads above the .500 mark. Arizona, after losing several hundred games last season, sits on top, but what does it all mean? The Giants are on pace for 72 wins, and since they won 91 games last year, can we conclude that Barry Bonds is worth almost 20 wins a year?
While you ponder such deep questions, I'll come out and say that about the only thing you can count on in the NL West is seeing the Rockies in last place. Boy, the Rockies' offense really, ahem, stinks. Despite playing in a park that turns baseballs into Flubber, they have scored fewer runs than the Diamondbacks and (virtually) the same number as the Dodgers and Giants. Yuck.
Let's turn to a more cheerful subject, league leaders: Red Sox Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz are performing a pas a deux atop the RBI leaderboard, while the longball crown is a three-way dispute right now among Andruw, Derrek and Adam Dunn. In OPS, Lee still commands the top spot by a wide margin, followed by Pujols (ok) and Miguel Cabrera (wow). Among pitchers, along with Houston's Big Three of Clemens (9-4, 1.46), Oswalt (14-8, 2.40) and Pettitte (9-7, 2.58), the Cardinals' Chris Carpenter has elbowed his way into NL Cy Young talk with an ERA of 2.33 and a 15-4 record. In his last 14 starts, all quality starts by the way, Carpenter has gone 10-2 with five complete games, three shutouts and a 1.35 ERA.
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Time Going Backwards
Middle of May
AL East
W L GB WP
NYY 30 15 - .667
BOS 27 19 3.5 .587
TBD 21 22 8.0 .488
TOR 19 25 10.5 .432
BAL 16 28 13.5 .364
Despite losing two out of three to Boston to open the season, the Yankees swiftly moved to the top of the AL East and are playing excellent baseball. On the offensive side, the Yankee attack as been led by Alex Rodriguez, .327-13-35, (not so surprising) and the resurgent Jason Giambi, .252-11-36 (very surprising to many). With only a quarter of the season gone, it's too early to talk about postseason awards, but Giambi certainly looks like a candidate for comeback player of the year. On the other side of the ball, Randy Johnson quickly showed why the Yankees acquired him in the offseason, going 6-1 with a 2.59 ERA in 10 starts. Almost as good has been Aaron Small (who?), 6-0, 3.56 ERA.
Over in the AL Central things are a little more unexpected:
AL Central
W L GB WP
CLE 30 14 - .682
CHW 25 21 6.0 .543
MIN 22 22 8.0 .500
KCR 18 27 12.5 .400
DET 15 30 15.5 .333
The Twins, preseason favorites of many pundits, have dug themselves a hole and are already eight games back of the Indians, who have bolted out of the gate thanks to red-hot starts by Travis Hafner (.296/.401/.667) and Vic Martinez (.354/.424/.544). Is this going to be the long-awaited breakout year from C.C. Sabathia? The big southpaw has started the season on fire, posting a 7-1 record and a miniscule 1.82 ERA.
Turning to other League Leaders, we find Carlos Pena second (tied) for home runs in MLB with 15. Pena has never fulfilled his potential since being a highly hyped prospect a few years back. Is this, his age-27 season, the breakout for which we've by now stopped waiting? Other interesting names on the leaderboards are Matt Holliday (third in RBIs with 43) and Randy Winn, third in OPS and author of the downright Ruthian .381/.406/.714 line, at this, admittedly early, stage of the season.
Among pitchers, Johan Santana is the early ERA leader, which might have been expected, but seeing Tom Glavine (5-3, 1.71), Jose Contreras (8-1, 2.42) and rookies Brandon McCarthy (3-1, 1.69) and Paul Maholm (3-1, 2.18) on the pitching leaderboards is probably more of a surprise.
Early July
NL East
W L GB WP
PHI 48 34 - .585
ATL 46 36 2.0 .561
NYM 43 40 5.5 .518
FLA 43 42 6.5 .506
WSN 33 50 15.5 .398
Well, the All-Star Game is almost upon us, and the Phillies are atop the NL East, as they have been for most of the first half. Rookie Ryan Howard, who has taken over first base duties for injured slugger Jim Thome, has exceeded even the lofty expectations that we had for him, clouting 21 homers and driving in 62 runs in this half-season. Jimmy Rollins, who of course started the season with an amazing 36-game hitting streak, has cooled off some, but he still has had a fine first half.
It would have been a nice, feel-good story to report that the Nationals, Washington's first major league team in 45 years, were contending in their division, but alas, such is not the case. The Nats languish in last place in the NL East, 15.5 games back, with few prospects of competing in the division. It's been a tough beginning for the Washington club.
David Ortiz has streaked to the top of the HR and RBI leaderboards (28 and 82) in the AL, with A-Rod tied in HR but a ways back in RBI (64). They are neck-and-neck in OPS though: A-Rod 1.049, Big Papi 1.046. Who knows, this might be the start of an MVP race.
On the other side of the ball, Andy Pettitte has emerged as the dominant pitcher in the majors this season, posting a glittering 13-2 record to go with his sparkly 1.69 ERA. Rookie phenom Zach Duke is the buzz of the NL, with his 8-2, 1.81 effort. Felix Hernandez, the 19-year-old pitching in Seattle, has the same types of numbers, sans the winning record, due mostly to a lack of run support from his teammates.
2005 All-Star Teams
American League
Starters:
C - V. Martinez
1B - Giambi
2B - Mark Ellis
3B - A. Rodriguez
SS - Michael Young
OF - Manny, Damon, Vlad
DH - Ortiz
SP - Santana
Reserves:
C - Varitek, Mauer
1B - Teixeira, Konerko
2B - Polanco
3B - Mora
SS - Peralta
OF - M. Cabrera, Crawford, Sheffield
DH - Hafner
SP - Felix, Millwood, Sheets,
Lackey, Mulder, Contreras
RP - Rivera, Nathan, Street,
Howry, Wickman
National League
Starters:
C - Barrett
1B - Pujols
2B - Utley
3B - Wright
SS - Rollins
OF - Jenkins, Winn, Bay
DH - Delgado
SP - Pettitte
Reserves:
C - LaRue
1B - Helton, Howard
2B - Kent
3B - Ensberg
SS - Furcal
OF - Tracy, Holliday, Andruw
SP - Duke, Clemens, Glavine,
C. Zambrano, Pedro, Carpenter
RP - Turnbow, B. Wagner, Dempster,
Lidge, Linebrink
(Editor's note: I was too lazy to observe the rule that requires a player from each team.)
Early August
NL West
W L GB WP
COL 52 59 - .468
SFG 52 59 - .468
SDP 49 60 2.0 .450
ARI 47 62 4.0 .431
LAD 45 65 6.5 .409
OK, what is going on in the NL West? Here we are into August and nobody is within seven games of .500. Can we send these guys home and call in five teams from the Pacific Coast League? And, look, the Rockies are in first place! Sort of. Todd
Helton is having his usual great season, .352/.472/.591, a great line
even if Coors-assisted. Some other Rox are coming through as well
though: Garret Atkins (who?) has driven in 79 runs thus far (more than
Albert Pujols!) and Matt Holliday has continued his early
hard hitting, with a .942 OPS. I know these numbers are
helped out by playing half the games in Coors Field, but I'm just
sayin'.
Looking at the leaderboards, we see Hafner leading everybody in OPS
(1.094), and if there's any justice in the world (hah!), Hafner will
get some MVP consideration. Giambi
continues to rake, getting his average up to .287 and his OPS to
1.077. Derrek Lee has been quietly make his way up the offensive
boards and now sits sixth in HR and fifth in OPS. Sort of came out of
nowhere. Speaking of coming out of nowhere, on the pitcher board we
see Joe Blanton putting together a fine season (12-7, 2.53
ERA). Another Bay Area youngster, Noah Lowry, is also looking very
solid with an 11-8 record and 3.14 ERA.
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