Mid-April, a time in baseball to ignore your fantasy team so that you don't make any rash decisions. Folks, the Blue Jays will not lead the AL in runs scored, so take a deep breath and just enjoy America's pastime without jumping to any conclusions.
A few observations, on the other hand, are in order:
Just What They're Looking For
This is how the Met brain trust drew it up, at least on one side of the ball. Johan Santana strikes out seven in as many shutout innings, J.J. Putz and KRod fan four in two innings of one-hit ball, and a solid defensive lineup clamps down the Brewers.
Expect To See More of This
Tim Lincecum shakes off a couple of rough starts and blanks Arizona for eight innings without walking a batter for the Giants . He also whiffs 13 Diamondbacks. Great. San Francisco, whose cleanup hitter is Bengie Molina, loses 2-0. Get used to it.
Same script for the Mariners, another team with the hit-making ability of Dexys Midnight Runers. Eric Bedard, still healthy after two full weeks, pitches six solid innings, but Seattle's bats remain quiet against the vaunted Detroit mound corps, which prevails 2-0. With the AL West up for grabs, look for Anaheim, Texas and Oakland to circle every Seattle series on their calendars.
Manny Ramirez smacks two home runs and drops a fly ball, as the Dodgers maintain their hold on first place in the NL West. That's the trade-off you make with Manny and it usually accrues to his team's advantage. But it's got to play havoc with the mellow head Joe Torre's been cultivating in L.A.
Enjoy It While You Can
With a second straight come-from-behind win, this time off a closer who hadn't blown a save in 18 months, the Padres beat the World Champs and improved their record to 9-3. Don't believe the hype. San Diego is a dreadful team. Sixteen runs in two games not withstanding, they have no offense to complement their lack of pitching.
Buyer Beware
The Marlins are an intriguing young team, but let's not throw a playoff party for them just yet. Remember that they've been playing the Nationals, whose management seems to share their host city's good judgment and fiscal discipline. If chronic poor performance is reason for a bailout, this team needs to have a talk with Tim Geithner. Think you can name three members of the Washington pitching staff? You're officially a baseball geek.
There May Actually Be A God
It's fun watching the Yankees self-destruct, if only for one day. It wasn't just Chien-Ming Wang's inability to keep the ball below hitters' navels, but the March of the Penguins behind him that is supposed to be the NY bullpen. The Yanks aren't going to lose a lot of 22-4 games; in fact, they may not lose a lot of games period, but it was nice to see the team's deficiencies showcased on national TV. Their defense-first center fielder dropping a fly ball, their slowing shortstop failing to get to any bouncing ball in his vicinity, their complete lack of a bench -- no wonder they spent the GDP of Botswana for three good players. It's hard to imagine this team beating Boston without some mid-season superstar repurchase program provided by a rebuilding team. Note to Brian Cashman: crappy pitching staffs aren't improved by bringing in more bad pitchers. Carrying 13 pitchers leaves Joe Girardi without options in the field, especially with four DHs in the lineup. For all their stars, this is one of the most poorly constructed teams in baseball.
Twenty-four more glorious weeks of this...and then the playoffs!
b
No comments:
Post a Comment