Results tagged ‘ Rockies ’
Top NL Shortstop right now: Jose Reyes
.So who is the best shortstop in the National League right now? Some people would say that Troy Tulowitzki is the best in the League. Afterall, he has lead the Rockies to a decent start this season and is part of the reason why they are just 3.5 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks (yes that’s right, the Diamondbacks are in first place) in the National League West, despite the struggles of Ubaldo Jimenez and others; more importantly, Tulo is the leader of the heart and soul of the Rockies as he has become the natural leader of that club in the past three seasons. What about Jimmy Rollins? He clearly is the leader of that Phillies ballclub, and ever since his 2007 declaration that the Phillies were the team to beat in the National League East, the Philadelphia have been the best team in all of baseball, with four consecutive division titles, two trips to the world series, and three straight trips to the NLCS. What about Hanley Ramirez of the Florida Marlins? For years, Ramirez has been considered to be the top shortstop in the NL. Afterall, Ramirez is a very talented player who could be a superstar in the Majors, if he would concentrate on baseball. But is one of these three players the best shortstop in the National League right now? The answer to that question in my opinion is no. Not even close. The best shortstop in the National League right now is Jose Reyes of the New York Mets.
In 52 games this season, Reyes leads all NL shortstops in runs scored (36), hits (76), doubles (17), triples (8), batting average (.335), slugging (.493) and on-base percentage (.382). Reyes also leads all NL shortstops in total bases with 112. Defensively, Reyes is not in the top five, but he is in the top ten. Tulowitzki right now is the best fielding shortstop in the National League, with a .992 fielding percentage and a range factor of 5.17. Reyes so far this season has posted .972 fielding percentage and a range factor of 4.12, which isn’t bad considering that he likely lost range at short after the injuries to his legs. Reyes isn’t defensive machine, but he is good enough to be a top 10 defensive shortstop.
In all, Reyes is having a much better productive season than the rest of the NL’s top shortstops, which includes the three other shortstops mentioned above. More importantly, the value of Reyes to the Mets is considerable. The reason why the Mets are only just 4 games under .500 and not more, is because Reyes is the Mets top run producer throughout the season. Without Reyes in the lineup and with the struggles of Jason Bay, injuries to David Wright and Ike Davis, the Mets would likely have 5 to 8 fewer victories leaving only Carlos Beltran as the only offense this team would have. If Reyes continues to produce at the current pace, or surpasses it, he should at least be in the NL MVP discussion.
Problem with Reyes…
The problem with Reyes of course is that at times he does too much showboating, which tends to aggravate opposing teams. The Philadelphia Phillies is one of those teams that certainly doesn’t like to be showed up by Jose Reyes, which has lead to something of a dislike for the Mets shortstop in the City of Brotherly Love. Another problem with Reyes is that he doesn’t exhibit the leadership qualities that a Tulowitzki or a Rollins bring to their team. As I wrote above, Jimmy Rollins carried his team in 2007 to a playoff birth, by making a declaration during Spring Training of that season that the Phillies–and not the Mets–were the team to beat in the NL East. After that declaration, Rollins had his best season in the Majors, becoming the NL’s most valuable player and turning the Phillies into perennial World Series contenders. And Tulo is the heart and soul of the Colorado Rockies. So far this season, Tulo led the Rockies to a fast start, and is currently the best player on the Rockies. Reyes, unfortunately, doesn’t come close to having those leadership qualities Rollins and Tulowitzki have. Reyes is just not a natural leader, has never been one and will never develop into one.
But Reyes lacks in leadership, he makes up as an offensive sparkplug. Most teams in the Majors would love to have a leadoff hitter like Reyes at the top of their lineup. Reyes Certainly isn’t a leader, but he is one heck of a baseball player and talent, and definately in my eyes the best shortstop in the National League right now.
Carlos Beltran’s monster game.
So much for Mike Francesa’s prediction that Ubaldo Jimenez would have a good game against a “weak” Mets lineup today, as they were missing Ike Davis who went on the DL. The “weak” Mets lineup ended up scoring 9 runs and received a monster performance from Carlos Beltran who blasted three 2-run homeruns, as they beat the Rockies 9-4. Beltran’s day is good news for the Mets who will no doubt deal the outfielder before the trade deadline this season. If Beltran continues to produce and if he can stay healthy, his trade stock will go up a few notches.
Doubleheader at Citi Field.
Top of the 4th inning in Citi Field and the Mets and Rockies are still scoreless. R.A Dickey and Greg Reynolds are locked in a pitcher’s duel that could unravel at any time as it seems that Dickey is having problems with his knuckleball due to a fingernail injury. Dickey and the Mets scaped a baseloaded jam in the 3rd, when Troy Tulowitzki–who is having a great April–grounded out to an inning ending double play.
Tulowitzki has Beiber Fever (whatever that means)?
One of the reasons why I love baseball has to be the superstitions fans and players alike develop during the course of the season. I know that I as a fan have a few rituals (which I will not share) when I sit down to watch the Yankees play an important game. Likewise players have their superstitions, whether it is ignoring a pitcher that is throwing a no-hitter or pitching a perfect game; or whether it is using the same hat no matter how dirty and funky it looks. Whatever superstition–no matter how crazy–a player develops during the course of the year, they are likely to stick with it until they go through a slump. For Troy Tulowitzki, Katy Perry’s song Firework was probably the source of his 0-for-8 start to the season. Tulowitzki used Perry’s song as his walk-up to the plate theme, but after not getting a hit in Colorado’s first few games of the year, Tulowitzski has apparently changed songs (and his undershirt) and is now using Justin Beiber’s Baby as his new walk-up theme.
Since the switch, Tulowitzki now has hit 3 homeruns. I guess he has caught Beiber fever…whatever the heck that means.
Escape from Arizona.
The Yankees were lucky to win last night’s game, let’s be serious. They had every opportunity to put the game away early, and blew all of them by making boneheaded baserunning mistakes that would drive any manager, or any fan, insane. Dontrelle Willis, who clearly has lost his ability to be a MLB pitcher, was no where near the plate last night, walked 7 batters, and all the Yankees could do is just score 2 runs off him. The much maligned D-Backs bullpen, actually pitched well for most part, while the Yankee bullpen, in this instance, Mr. Marte, gave up a run after the Yankees tided the score at 4 in the top of the 6th.
The sloppiness and the ugliness of this game could have cost the Yankees a golden opportunity to increase their lead in the American League East, as both the Red Sox and Rays lost their respective games. But after the fifth inning, after Robinson Cano’s lineout that resulted in a double play, it was possible to think about the Yankees losing a series to the struggling D-Backs. Even worse, Javier Vazquez looked bad last night. Just like Willis, Mr. Vazquez couldn’t find the plate if his life depended on it. It could be that he just had one bad game, but Vazquez reverted back to his early season form, and that isn’t good news for the Yankees. Of course, it could be just one bad game, but I’m not encouraged by Vazquez’s performance last night.
But despite the sloppiness, and bad pitching, the Yankees rallied and took the lead, and in the process showed why they are the favorite to win the East. Not only did their big guns managed to get on base, but produced runs in the clutch. After both Jeter and Swisher got on base, Teixeira moved them to scoring position, and A-Rod drove in Jeter with a sac-fly. In the top of the 10th, Curtis Granderson gives the Yankees the lead with a solo homerun, and Mo comes in, manages to make the game interesting, but finishes off the D-Backs to earn the win.
Mo reasons why the Yankees will win the East:
It is rather simple really. The Yankees will in the AL East because of Mo. Let us compare and contrast Mo with another closer in the division. In Colorado last night, the Red Sox had a one run lead heading to the bottom of the 9th at Coors Field against the Rockies. Their closer Jonathan Papelbon comes into the game to try and nail down a win for the Red Sox. Win for the Sox right? ah no. Papelbon surrenders a leadoff homerun, allows a single, gets a quick out, then allows the game winning homerun to Jason Giambi, ball game over..Red Sox lose. On the other hand, Mo comes into the game, gets out of the 9th inning, the Yankees take the lead in the 10th, and in the bottom of the frame Mo allows: a single, double, and intentional walk. Yankees are in trouble right? no. Rivera proceeds to get a foul out, pop out and strike out, Yankees win…nuff said!
May is long gone..
Now that May is history, I ask myself the same question I had at the end of April: What did baseball fans learn this month? The answer to that is quite simple. First, the Tampa Bay Rays proved throughout the month that they are contenders. Two weeks ago, the Rays made a trip to Yankee Stadium and took care of the Yankees, letting the rest of the league know that the American League east was Tampa Bay’s division to lose. Although by the end of the month the Rays have hit a bit of a road block, they are still the best team in the majors.
What baseball fans also learned in May was the Yankees lack of depth when injuries hit. Entering the month, the Yankees were one of the hottest teams in baseball. But an injury to Curtis Granderson and then to Jorge Posada, the Yankees went into a two week funk that was helped by the lack of talent or depth in their bench and farm system. Francisco Cervelli has fit in nicely while Jorge Posada has been down with injury, however, Marcus Thames and Randy Winn–before being released–couldn’t get the job done at the plate or on the field while Granderson recovered from his groin injury.
At the same time that the injury bug hit the Yankees, CC Sabathia has struggled. In his last 4 outings, Sabathia has gotten the loss twice, and recorded two no decisions. During this 4 game start span, Sabathia has not been sharp, allowing 17 earned runs and even more distressing, not able to put hitters away after getting ahead in the count. I would be concerned about Sabathia, but knowing that he is typically a very slow starter, the month of May, may (no pun) just have been one of those bad months that a player will usually forget about as the season rolls along.
We still like Ike…but Heyward is better
No player was more impressive during the Month like Ike Davis was. The Mets rookie first baseman seems to have added life to a team that certainly needed it. Although Ike has been in a slump to finish the month, the rookie has made his presence felt at the plate and on the field, where he has made several outstanding plays. If he continues to play well, could a Rookie of the Year award be possible?
Maybe not, because Jason Heyward is making definately in the running to be the NL Rookie of the Year. By the end of May, Heyward has a batting average of .292 with 10 homeruns and 38 RBI’s. During his first two months of his young career, Heyward has 93 total bases, with an OBP of .410 and .578 slugging average. The rookie is producing so far this season, and will no doubt continue to produce for the Braves, as they suddenly find themselves in first place in the NL East.
NL Cy Young Award winner….
Ubaldo Jimenez…After his performance in the last day of the month, I think the baseball writers should just award him the Cy Young Award and forget about waiting until November to decide. Ok, maybe I’m being facetious, but still what more can you say about Jimenez. In what was supposed to be a pitcher’s duel yesterday in San Francisco, Jimenez not only outlasted Tim Lincecum, but gave the Rockies a six consecutive quality outing. In a complete game shut out, Jimenez struckout 9 and just gave up 4 hits. His fastball had late movement all day long and he was able to throw his breaking pitches with command; in fact, he has thrown all his pitches with command so far this season. His record is now 10-1 with a ridiculous 0.78 ERA. If Jimenez continues to pitch this well, he will make a run at Bob Gibson’s single season ERA record of 1.12.
Will 2010 be remembered as the other year of the pitcher?
For those that love reading baseball history, and for those that love watching Baseball Seasons on the MLB Network, now that 1968 will always be remembered as the Year of the Pitcher. That season was the culmination of advantages that the pitchers began to receive after the offensive explosion at the beginning of the decade that saw, among many other things, the fall of Babe Ruth’s single season homerun record to Roger Maris.
That season, Bob Gibson set a modern season ERA record of 1.12 and a World Series record of 17 strike outs. The last 30 game winner in baseball pitched in 1968 as Denny McLain won 31 games for the Detriot Tigers, and was the first 30 game winner in baseball since Dizzy Dean last did it for the St. Louis Cardinals. The rised mound, the wider strike zone helped the pitchers and curbed hitter’s offensive production. After that season the trend began to reverse itself and the hitters were once again given the advantage as the mound was lowered, and strikes zone began to shrink.
During the 70′s all the way through the Steroid Era, there has been a renewed offensive explosion. People have blamed everything from baseball expansion, new friendly hitter ball-parks, a smaller strike zone, juiced baseballs to juiced players. All these factors could explain why there was an offensive explosion since the late 60′s, but in no way could they explain why all of the sudden the tide is once again turning to in the pitcher favor.
In 2010 there has been…
five or six near no hitters or perfect games that were broken up in the late innings. It all started with CC Sabathia in Tampa Bay when he threw 7.2 innings of no hit baseball against the Rays. Later that week, Ricky Romero, of the Blue Jays, took a no hitter into the 7th inning against the White Sox before giving up a two run homer. Phil Hughes of the Yankees had a no hitter in the 7th inning before losing it in Oakland. Last week, both Jared Weaver and Scott Olsen almost achieved baseball immortality before giving up late hits. And I know there has to be more near-no-hitters that I have certainly missed.
In 2010 there has also been a no-hitter and a perfect game thrown. Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies pitched a no-hitter against against the Braves and Dallas “Get of his mound” Braden threw a perfect game.
In 2010, the best top 5 pitchers (includes both starters and relievers) in the league have ERA’s below 2. The top 13 pitchers in baseball have an ERA between 1.45 and 1.98. At the same time period last year, 2009 the top 13 had ERA’s of 2.15 and above.
Clearly pitchers have done well in the early part of the season. Even if it is too early in the year to say that 2010 could turn out to be the ”other year of the pitcher,” the pitching around the league has certainly improved from the past.
Ubaldo Jimenez, Mets, Yankees…
How great has Ubaldo Jimenez been for the Rockies so far this season? The right hander is 6-0 for the Rockies and in 5 of his 6 starts this season, Jimenez has given the Rockies a quality start by pitching over 6 innings. Last night against the San Diego Padres, Jimenez pitched 7 strong innings, striking out 13 Padres in the process. It doesn’t get better than this for Jimenez and the Rockies, who lost a decent starter in Jason Marquis over the winter. With his early season success, Jimenez is making a case to be the league’s Cy Young Award winner, an award many predicted would go to the Phillies Roy Halladay.
Mets three game losing streak…
The Mets 4th inning collapse on Sunday night is hard to put into words. I guess the only words that will suffice in describing the two out meltdown of Johan Santana and the Mets is “What Happened?” The last person you’d think of when you think of a pitcher giving up 8 runs with two outs in an inning is Johan Santana. Unfortunately, Santana indeed gave up 8 runs, with two outs in the 4th. That inning killed whatever momentum the Mets were riding from their 8 game winning streak, and from their big win over the Phillies on Friday night. Saturday’s loss to Halladay was expected, but the meltdown of the Mets ace wasn’t, especially when his teammates gave him two three run leads to work with.
Last night in Cincinnati, in the Queen City, the Mets lose a heart breaker in extra innings. Mets had their chances from what I saw, but couldn’t capitalize. In the top of the seventh, or 8th inning, the Mets had two men on base with one out, and both David Wright and Jason Bay fail to put the ball in play. What is even more maddening is that Oliver Perez gave the Mets a solid outing and that one positive was wasted.
Yankees Win….
Behind a strong outing from CC Sabathia, and a three run homerun from Randy Winn, the Yankees beat the Orioles for the third straight time this season. As I watched the game yesterday, Sabathia didn’t look too comfortable out there, missing on close pitches and at times getting frustrated by the umpire-in-chief’s inconsistent strike zone. Still, Sabathia gave the Yankees a fifth straight quality start.
Randy Winn, who will now get more playing time, thanks to the injury suffered by Curtis Granderson, made the most of his start with a three run homerun that gave the Yankees a 4-1 lead and the victory. The Yankees, who spent most of April healthy, are now finding themselves a bit banged up, with injuries to Granderson and now Posada, however, they haven’t missed a beat as players like Winn step up and contribute.
A few thoughts on Zack Greinke
Without a doubt Zack Greinke was more deserving of the Cy Young award in the American League. Even though Felix Hernandez won more games (19), Greinke’s major league leading 2.16 ERA, 242 strike outs for the Royals made him a one man pitching staff. Greinke has overcome a lot since 2005. That year he posted a record of 5-17 with an ERA of 5.80, certainly not a good a good way to spend your second year in the league. To make things worse, in 2006 he left spring training to battle psychological issues. But since 2007, Greinke has won 36 games and has slowly develop into a dominant starting pitcher in a last place team.
So congratulations to Zack Greinke!
Manager of the Year award…
The NL and AL Manager of the Year award will be revealed today. The clear favorites for both leagues are Jim Tracy of the Colorado Rockies and Mike Scioscia of the Los Angeles Angels. Jim Tracy took over the Rockies back in May when the club was 18-28 and basically left for dead. After he took over, the Rockies completed an incredible run that resulted in a 92-70 record and a Wild Card birth. Even though the Rockies lost to the eventual NL Champions, what the Rockies did under Jim Tracy is something you don’t see a lot in baseball.
As for Mike Scioscia, he did a great job all year. The Angels faced adversity in the beginning of the year as suffered injury after injury and the death of Nick Adenhart. Yet thanks to Scioscia the Angels played awesome baseball, ultimately winning the American League West title and earning a trip to the ALCS against the Yankees. Scioscia did an incredible managing a team that battled through injuries and the mental anguish of losing a teammate, and for that he deserves the A.L Manager of the Year award.
Phillies rally to win series.
I have to say that I am sorry I missed this game tonight because of Monday Night Football (I’m a Jets fan), but watching the highlights from this game, you have to give the Phillies a lot of credit. For a second cold night in a row, the Phillies rally to take the lead and beat the Rockies at Coors Field. All series long the Phillies have come up with clutch hit after clutch hit and tonight Ryan Howard had the biggest clutch hit with two outs in the 9th to bring in two runs. Jayson Werth completed the rally with an RBI single to bring home Howard and a trip to the NLCS. This victory by the Phils tonight was also possible because Cliff Lee once again pitched a magnificent post season game. Although he did not get the decision tonight, Lee was able to hold the Rockies to only 5 hits and 1 earned run. The only trouble for Lee came late in the game when he left the game with a runner on 2nd base with 1 out. The Phillies bullpen however couldn’t find a way to get out of the 8th without giving up the lead. But in the end it didn’t matter, the Phillies just had too much offense and the Rockies just couldn’t put them away.
Thumbs up to…
A big thumbs up to Brad Lidge. Unlike last season, 2009 has been pretty much a forgetable one. Tonight however, Lidge found the intestinal fortitude to get the job done in the clutch and nailed down a second consecutive save.
David Veloz
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