Baseball By Paul

It has been entirely too long since I’ve been by here, but such is life with mandatory overtime at work and then a weekend out of town for the graduation of a very good friend. The Tigers continue to play well, but are in danger of dropping the first two in the Chicago series. Before going out last night, I was able to watch most of the game. Thome and AJ got the best of Verlander, but the two pitches weren’t bad, they really weren’t. At any rate, I’m currently at a graduation party for the aforementioned friend so I don’t want to spend too much time in here playing on the computer. I’ll be home tomorrow and I’m starting to settle into the new schedule, which has me working 11:30-8:30 regularly, until 10:30 on the mandatory overtime schedule, with Thursdays and Fridays off. I’ll come with a full update on Monday, if not tomorrow after work. The partying will continue through the day, then I have to drive home around 6 AM tomorrow before working, so looking for an update tomorrow might be a bit much.

The Tigers have an off today and currently hold an 8.5 game lead over the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins. Well over a month ago, I mentioned that with Francisco Liriano and Johan Santana, the Twins couldn’t languish near the bottom of the American League Central for very long. Now, they find themselves tied with the White Sox and just a half game back of the New York Yankees for the AL Wildcard. My lunch break is nearing an end, but I’ll be back with a preview of the huge weekend set against the Twins, in Minnesota that starts tomorrow.

Featured in July 8th Sportsblurb.com Newsletter:

At the Break…

by Paul Sporer

At 41-45, to say the Los Angeles Angels have been a disappointment is as obvious as it is an understatement. Not to be outdone by the Minnesota Twins, the Angels have decided to spot the entire American League West the first half. Unlike the Twins, they aren’t stuck battling two of baseball’s best and as such, they are just four games back of the division leading Oakland A’s. The team is finally starting to show that they are in fact interested in winning this season starting with the selection of the right Weaver (Jered) for their rotation. His brother, Jeff, was moved this week to the St. Louis Cardinals for a Mark McGwire commemorative button. But even still, they are still a few moves from putting their best foot forward in this division race.

First off, they need to get Howie Kendrick back on this team immediately. He is once again crushing the competition in Triple-A ball and does the team no good down there. He is currently sporting a .369/.409/.627 batting line with 13 home runs, five triples and 25 doubles. He is also 11-for-14 in stolen bases. They currently have Adam Kennedy filling the second baseman’s role, and while he is solid in his right, there is no reason to let him block Kendrick. Kennedy is hitting .260/.317/.355 which does nothing to help a team that painfully struggles to score enough runs for their rotation.

Something needs to be done about Garret Anderson, too. If they are truly serious about competing at a high level, then his at-bats need to be cut. He has been utter garbage since his hot April. He has just three home runs in 194 at-bats after hitting four in 94 April at-bats. He has not come anywhere near his .309/.356/.511 April line, either. If they aren’t going to take him out of the lineup more (and they probably won’t) they at least need to drop him in the lineup in favor of Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera.

One move that has worked out beautifully for the team was the promotion of Napoli. His 11 home runs, in just 135 at-bats, give him the second-most on the team (Vladimir Guerrero, 18). Speaking of Guerrero, he is having a “down” year by his standards meaning improvement is expected on his .304/.346/.514 line. Add Kendrick, shuffle Anderson, getting continued production out of Orlando Cabrera, Napoli, Robb Quinlan, Rivera, and Tim Salmon with some improved second half numbers from Guerrero and this team can make a move, because the pitching is there.

With Weaver, Bartolo Colon, Kelvim Escobar, John Lackey, and Ervin Santana, the Angels throw five guys that can all pitch a shutout on any given night. Meanwhile, rubber-armed Scot Shields and his supporting cast of Hector Carrasco, Brendan Donnelly, and Kevin Gregg all leading to ace closer Francisco Rodriguez anchor the bullpen. The Angels, not the Texas Rangers, should be the biggest worry of the Oakland A’s for the second half.

That piece was written during their second of three straight wins against the Athletics. Coupled with their post-All Star sweep of the Devil Rays, they have won six straight and nine of 10 to pull within 1.5 games of Oakland. Oakland handled their own taking three of four from the Boston Red Sox including two routs over the weekend to prevent the Angels from gaining too much ground.

The Angels got one of their keys to success down by recalling Kendrick, unfortunately it only came about because Escobar hit the disabled list. In his first major league game since a stint in early May, Kendrick when 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs. The catalyst, as expected, has been Guerrero. In just 11 July games, he topped his June home run total of three. He is hitting .422 in July with four home runs and 12 runs batted in. Though I called him out last week, Anderson has answered the bell in nine July games, hitting .333 and getting on-base at a .450 clip.

It remains to be seen how long they’ll stay hot, but in terms of pure talent, this team was too good to be playing so poorly. The rest of the rotation should be able to pick up the slack while Escobar is out, but Lackey may decide to pick it all up on his own. He has thrown 24.7 straight scoreless innings and won his last four decisions with a 0.82 ERA, 0.58 WHIP and 34 strikeouts in 32.7 innings. His 2.69 trails just Francisco Liriano (2.12) in the American League and Brandon Webb (2.58) in the National League for the Earned Run Average Crown.

Next up for the Angels are the struggling Indians, who were dumped for three of four against the Minnesota Twins coming out of the All-Star Break. The series presents a perfect opportunity for the team to remain hot before entering back-to-back to road series’ against Kansas City and Tampa Bay before getting Boston and Oakland to close out July.

Work’s been sucking up my time of late, but I’m not going anywhere. I’ll do an All-Star Game Pace Game today or tomorrow and talk about the team going forward. I’ll also probably have a few things to say about tonight’s game after I watch it when I get home from work.

The fans got it half right. The only problem is, the half they got wrong is so pathetically wrong that it almost completely erases the correct part. For the All-Star Game Final Vote, the fans voted in Dodger firstbaseman Nomar Garciaparra for the National League and White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski for the American League. I’m thoroughly happy with Nomar winning the NL vote as he was my vote. Garciaparra outlasted Milwaukee pitcher Chris Capuano, Philadelphia outfielder Bobby Abreu, New York Mets pitcher Billy Wagner and San Diego pitcher Chris Young to earn his trip to the game. He is leading the National League with a .359 batting average and also has a .426 on-base and .582 slugging in 64 games, two more than he played all of last year.

Fans that voted for Nomar (or even Capuano and Abreu) and either Travis Hafner, Francisco Liriano or Justin Verlander, you’re excused. The rest of you: SIT DOWN! It is an aboslute travesty that Pierzynski pulled this vote off and you clowns are at fault. I can’t even get my head around it. Were you guys dropped on your heads as kids, in the past month, yesterday???? The cause seems to be a ridiculous campaign called “Punch A.J.” that fueled a bevy of ballot stuffing leading to his victory, because it certainly was any level of merit. He is so completely outclassed by Hafner, Liriano and Verlander in terms of statistics warranting an All-Star berth that it’s not even funny. The fifth candidate, Ramon Hernandez, was more deserving as well. You try to give the fans a chance to fix Ozzie Guillen‘s egregious errors and they compound his stupidity by selecting yet another one of HIS players!!! As if I needed any more reasons to hate Guillen (though I’m sure he’ll keep them pumping out faster than USWeekly can produce photographs of Paris Hilton being a dumb skank). Please keep in mind that this has nothing to do with any feelings of Pierzynski as a person. He has a negative reputation in some places, but I’m not taking any of that into account here. This rant is based strictly on the fact that Hafner, Liriano and Verlander will have three straight off-days next week when they should be in Pittsburgh and Pierzynski . I guess AJ stands for “a joke.”