Just back from a convention. Got some Big League Chew in my craw...
Justin Verlander now has two more no-hitters in five years than the New York Mets have in 50 years.
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No pitcher has won even 16 games in a year for the Pirates since Dan Quayle was vice president. Kevin Correia, at 5-2, is on pace for 26 wins. While "on pace" is about the dumbest baseball concept since the "unwritten rule," it sure is fun to contemplate.
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Orlando Hudson had swiped just 60 bases in his nine-year career prior to 2011, and never more than 10. On May 2nd, he slid safely into second for the 10th time this season. Hudson is 33, so he's not getting faster. In fact, the Twins jettisoned the proud keystoner in the off-season in an effort to add youth to the lineup.
Perhaps the heightened thievery is a fluke, or an insightfully-rational response to the low-impact environment of the Padres' batting order.
More likely, it's Hudson's way of informing the Twins brass that they can insert their leadoff spot in their collective colonic orifice.
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It's the Year of the Pitcher! Again!
Of course, run scoring is generally down since '01, when teams plated, on average, more than five runs-a-game. Scoring so far this year is still historically high -- around 4.3 runs. Setting aside the fact that scoring in April is not necessarily indicative of season-long offensive tendencies, this year's patterns are still the fifth highest since 1954, outside the bopper-ball era of 1994-2010.
It would be much more accurate to say that the Steroid Era (for lack of a better term), when men were men and pitchers were afraid, ended after 2007, and scoring has been declining since. At least so far.
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"We're only one month into the season, so you're only talking about one-sixth of the at-bats he is going to get this season. "I don't think you can fairly judge anybody on just one-sixth of the season."
That's Joe Girardi on Derek Jeter's miserable .250/.308/.263 start to the season. That is why Joe Girardi is a major league manager and the average sports talk radio caller demanding Jeter's demotion or removal from the lineup is an assistant overnight manager in the shipping department at the fertilizer warehouse.
Unless the Yankees break into the Mets' clubhouse and make off with Jose Reyes this week, Jeter can continue to perform at replacement level and avoid...replacement. More likely, this first-ballot Hall of Famer will make a few adjustments and spit fire for a few weeks to reach levels much more like last year's .270/.340/.369.
No doubt, however, that at 37, the Jeter you once knew has Judge Cratered and that $51 million contract is going to Pavano all over the Yankees for three years.
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