It's an off-day for the Blue Jays, who open a homestand against the Angels tomorrow.
Yesterday they scored all six of their runs after there were two outs in the inning. At the beginning of the trip, they couldn't have scored six runs if you gave them six outs every inning. In the first 36 innings of this road trip, they scored exactly one run. After that kind of start, coming home with a 6-4 mark for the trip ain't bad. They won three games by a single run, they won twice in extra innings.
David Eckstein should be back for the finale against the Angels, at which point Hector Luna will go back to Syracuse. Joe Inglett will hang around at least until John McDonald is ready. It's safe to say that neither Kevin Mench nor Brad Wilkerson, who are essentially competing for Frank Thomas' old roster spot, has exactly staked a claim for the job. Wilkerson has the advantage of being left-handed on a righty-heavy team and having more defensive usefulness. Sooner or later, the team will find someone who can crack the Mendoza Line. The quartet of Thomas, Lind, Wilkerson, and Mench has collectively hit .152 in 131 at bats, with Mench's .176 leading the way. And only Thomas has managed even one extra base hit.
On Friday, I took a quick peek at five teams who thought they were going to be contenders this season. I thought today I'd take a similar look at a few teams doing much better than some of us (well, me!) anticipated. How did this happen?
Am I the only one who looks at the Tampa Bay Rays and is reminded of the Ottawa Senators? If you're bad enough for long enough, sooner or later all those extremely high draft picks are going to kick in. Even if you completely blow one of them on Josh Hamilton or Alexandre Daigle. The Rays have also finally got some infielders who can make some plays and get some outs, which has helped their young pitchers a great deal.
Oakland has done it with pitching All of the pitchers have been solid to good, with the exception of closer Huston Street who really hasn't been bad. Two outings account for most of the damage, and only one of them actually cost the team anything. The guys getting the ball from the starters to Street have been amazing - Santiago Casilla and Joey Devine have combined to work 37 IP and have allowed just 3 runs. The offense sometimes seems to consist entirely of drawing walks - two of their regulars, Cust and Hannahan, actually have more walks than hits. They've needed them, because they don't hit much for either power or average.
The White Sox went into the season saying bravely that their aging hitters would bounce back and post career seasons like they did several years ago. I mocked them. And that's not why they're in first place. Jermaine Dye is having a good year, and Pierzynski is having the best year of his life. But the big news in Chicago regards three players who appear to have taken a big step forward: Carlos Quentin, John Danks, and Gavin (and His Tools) Floyd. The work of Danks and Floyd, along with what looks like Jose Contreras recovering his Forme of Olden Dayes, has more than made up for the struggles of Mark Buehrle. I still can't see them winning more than 85 games, but that's about 18 more than I thought they'd win two months ago.
In Florida, several good young players are playing as if they were actually great young players. It's not all that surprising that Hanley Ramirez would be one of them, but Mike Jacobs, Dan Uggla, and Josh Willingham have never been this good. I don't expect them to keep being this good, and the pitching doesn't look like much. But this season is not going to be the disaster many had anticipated.
The Pirates don't have any pitching either, but Jason Bay seems to have resumed being Jason Bay. Ryan Doumit and Nate McLouth look like the best thing to happen to the Bucs in many a moon. Alas, it's unlikely that either of them are really this good, of course, and neither is all that young. But it's been so long since the Pirates had anything to feel good about it that it seems churlish to actually point that out.
They say it's a long, long season and nowhere has that been more true than in Houston. Miguel Tejada was 31 years old when this season started, and next week he turns 34. Happily, for the Astros, he's aging quite well. The big story here of course is Lance Berkmann, who's hitting .399 and slugging better than .800. The disturbing news is Roy Oswalt scuffling along with an of 5.43 - still, Oswalt K/BB numbers look much the same as always. He's giving up a few more hits than usual, but not a lot - the problem has for him has been the Big Fly. He's already given up as many homers as he allowed all last season (in 212 IP) and should establish a new career high for homers allowed before the end of June. Strange.
Yesterday they scored all six of their runs after there were two outs in the inning. At the beginning of the trip, they couldn't have scored six runs if you gave them six outs every inning. In the first 36 innings of this road trip, they scored exactly one run. After that kind of start, coming home with a 6-4 mark for the trip ain't bad. They won three games by a single run, they won twice in extra innings.
David Eckstein should be back for the finale against the Angels, at which point Hector Luna will go back to Syracuse. Joe Inglett will hang around at least until John McDonald is ready. It's safe to say that neither Kevin Mench nor Brad Wilkerson, who are essentially competing for Frank Thomas' old roster spot, has exactly staked a claim for the job. Wilkerson has the advantage of being left-handed on a righty-heavy team and having more defensive usefulness. Sooner or later, the team will find someone who can crack the Mendoza Line. The quartet of Thomas, Lind, Wilkerson, and Mench has collectively hit .152 in 131 at bats, with Mench's .176 leading the way. And only Thomas has managed even one extra base hit.
On Friday, I took a quick peek at five teams who thought they were going to be contenders this season. I thought today I'd take a similar look at a few teams doing much better than some of us (well, me!) anticipated. How did this happen?
Am I the only one who looks at the Tampa Bay Rays and is reminded of the Ottawa Senators? If you're bad enough for long enough, sooner or later all those extremely high draft picks are going to kick in. Even if you completely blow one of them on Josh Hamilton or Alexandre Daigle. The Rays have also finally got some infielders who can make some plays and get some outs, which has helped their young pitchers a great deal.
Oakland has done it with pitching All of the pitchers have been solid to good, with the exception of closer Huston Street who really hasn't been bad. Two outings account for most of the damage, and only one of them actually cost the team anything. The guys getting the ball from the starters to Street have been amazing - Santiago Casilla and Joey Devine have combined to work 37 IP and have allowed just 3 runs. The offense sometimes seems to consist entirely of drawing walks - two of their regulars, Cust and Hannahan, actually have more walks than hits. They've needed them, because they don't hit much for either power or average.
The White Sox went into the season saying bravely that their aging hitters would bounce back and post career seasons like they did several years ago. I mocked them. And that's not why they're in first place. Jermaine Dye is having a good year, and Pierzynski is having the best year of his life. But the big news in Chicago regards three players who appear to have taken a big step forward: Carlos Quentin, John Danks, and Gavin (and His Tools) Floyd. The work of Danks and Floyd, along with what looks like Jose Contreras recovering his Forme of Olden Dayes, has more than made up for the struggles of Mark Buehrle. I still can't see them winning more than 85 games, but that's about 18 more than I thought they'd win two months ago.
In Florida, several good young players are playing as if they were actually great young players. It's not all that surprising that Hanley Ramirez would be one of them, but Mike Jacobs, Dan Uggla, and Josh Willingham have never been this good. I don't expect them to keep being this good, and the pitching doesn't look like much. But this season is not going to be the disaster many had anticipated.
The Pirates don't have any pitching either, but Jason Bay seems to have resumed being Jason Bay. Ryan Doumit and Nate McLouth look like the best thing to happen to the Bucs in many a moon. Alas, it's unlikely that either of them are really this good, of course, and neither is all that young. But it's been so long since the Pirates had anything to feel good about it that it seems churlish to actually point that out.
They say it's a long, long season and nowhere has that been more true than in Houston. Miguel Tejada was 31 years old when this season started, and next week he turns 34. Happily, for the Astros, he's aging quite well. The big story here of course is Lance Berkmann, who's hitting .399 and slugging better than .800. The disturbing news is Roy Oswalt scuffling along with an of 5.43 - still, Oswalt K/BB numbers look much the same as always. He's giving up a few more hits than usual, but not a lot - the problem has for him has been the Big Fly. He's already given up as many homers as he allowed all last season (in 212 IP) and should establish a new career high for homers allowed before the end of June. Strange.
