On the Sunday before last, I started something called MLB Sunday Twidbits which is something I’ll be doing every Sunday throughout the baseball season. It’s a simple exercise whereby I tour the league giving a statistical tidbit per team on Twitter feed (@sporer). Sometimes a team or two will get more than one if I have more than one nugget I really want to share, but every team will be represented at least once.
Starting with yesterday’s, I will post each week’s Twidbits here at paulsporer.com for anybody who misses them on Sunday and just for a quick and easy reference later on instead of having to scroll through my feed days later. They are grouped by the Sunday game matchups.
KC – Mike Montgomery was thrashed on Sat – 11 R (8 ER) in 4.3; 25 BB in 42 IP
Det – Brad Penny has 1 BB in last 20 IP; career high 54% GB in ’11
Sea – Brandon League‘s last four ERA has gone from 2.08 to 7.31 3: IP, 10 ER
Cle – Cleveland scored a lg high 141 R in Apr (5.4/gm). Their OPS is down from .791 to .670 in May & they are scoring 3.6 R/G. Easy w/Oct. plans.
StL – Chris Carpenter has allowed 40 H in last 4 starts; Josh Johnson has allowed 32 in 8 starts
StL 2 – Albert Pujols is hitting .302 w/6 HR and 20 RBI in the last calendar month
Cin – The Reds C combo (Ramon Hernandez/Ryan Hanigan) has 8 HR, 27 RBI & .321/.373/.526 line; hands down the best backstop production in baseball.
Cin 2 – Drew Stubbs has been Matt Kemp-lite: R 30/23, HR 7 ea., RBI 20/25, SB 13/12, AVG .276/.336
Phi – Buoyed by a return in his BABIP, Jimmy Rollins is hitting .279 along w/a career high .362 OBP, but last yr’s power outage remains (.377 SLG)
Atl – Martin Prado has 8th-most RBI in baseball (27); far & away the most for a leadoff hitter (Brian Roberts, 19)
Flo – Florida’s Gaby/LoMo 4-5 combo is hitting .332/.418/.572 w/12 HR, 37 RBI & 32 R even w/LoMo playing just 17 G so far.
Was – Jayson Werth‘s .232 AVG is the best qualifying AVG on Wash. Only one Nats hitter w/80 AB holds an OPS over .752 (Nix, .892).
Bal – SSS caveats, but JJ Hardy has two 6 G set this yr. .200/.294/.400 in his 1st, then .435/.480/.696 since returning. A must-add at thin SS.
TB – Ben Zobrist only has 1 HR, 2 RBI since his crazy DH on Apr 28th, but he’s hitting .360/.468/.540 w/6 2B and 11 BB.
NYM – Carlos Beltran has matched or exceeded performance from ’10 in 64 G playing just 37 so far in ’11. Same R, 2 more 2B, 1 more HR, 3 fewer RBI
NYM 2 – Most importantly, Beltran’s .294/.384/.587 line is well above last year’s .255/.341/.427 line.
Hou – After four 6 IP starts (Apr 9-26), Bud Norris has gone 7+ in last 3 in an effort to keep his fate away from NL’s worst ‘pen (5.25 ERA).
Pit – Jose Tabata has 21 walks in 147 PA (14.1%) & is just 7 away from ’10 mark of 28 in 441 PA. 45 SB pace is legit as AVG will rise soon, too.
Mil – Ryan Braun is pulling out of 15-gm minislump (.193)-hitting .389/.522/1.056 w/2 HR, 10 RBI & 6 R in last 5 gm.
Tor – Jose Bautista has 7 HR in last 30 AB; .400/.486/1.167 w/11 RBI, 9 R… Bondsian treatment upcoming? TOR #4s have .734 OPS, 20th in MLB
Tor 2 – More Bautista, his .868 *SLG* would be the 17th best *OPS* in the AL. :drool: He’s prob <$5 keeper in most lgs.
Min – Minnesota’s .617 OPS is easily a league worst; 6 batters w/75+ PA have better *SLG* (Bautista, Berkman, Morrison, Sizemore, R.Hernandez & Granderson). Joyce’s .615 is close.
SF – Just two healthy regulars (Sandoval on DL) w/70+ PA have an OBP above .316 (Posey .347, Burrell .350). Alas, elite pitching staff has propelled them atop tough division (-2 run diff.)
Chc – Kosuke Fukudome‘s trend of hot April followed by precipitous drop in May is holding to form. His OPS has drop .130 pts; he’s empty OBP.
LAA – Scioscia has split time equally b/w Hank Conger (.788 OPS) & Jeff Mathis (.499 OPS) & while it’s sub-optimal, it’s better than expected.
Tex – Adrian Beltre‘s power is intact w/same ISO as ’10 (.233), but disgustingly low .218 BABIP is holding his AVG to .252; target for AVG upside.
SD – Will Venable on pace for 45 SB, but empty otherwise. Rise in MLB SB (0.67/G v. 0.61 in ’10) makes him less valuable, even w/high pace.
Col – Seth Smith hitting .250 v. LHP (up from ugly .154 clip in 55 PA last yr), but he’s still best deployed in daily lgs v. RH starters.
Chw – Alexei Ramirez is once again heating up after an ugly April w/.790 OPS in May. Career .840 OPS in June (.820)/July (.860)… buy immediately.
Oak – Batting 3rd often Conor Jackson may chase down a line near his 06-08 peak, maybe: .290, 10 HR-65 R-65 RBI-12 SB. *Cheap* AL-only usefulness.
Ari – Ugly .233 BABIP is saddling Chris Young w/.219 AVG & masking improved K rate & career-best ISO. Regression will improve SB opp; buy now.
LAD – Apart from Matt Kemp & Andre Ethier, the rest of the Dodgers are hitting .230/.282/.320. They’re tied w/Bautista w/16 HRs in 1057 AB!!!
Bos – A month ago Adrian Gonzalez was hitting .244 w/1 HR & 7 RBI; since then .357 w/8 HR & 27 RBI, leads AL in RBI & on pace for 36 HR.
NYY – Despite Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada & Nick Swisher being useless, NYY is pacing the lg w/859 RS (41 more than BOS).
Baseball By Paul 