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By Zach, 7/7/2007 10:41 pm

1.) Detroit Tigers
After shellacking C.C. Sabathia on Thursday, the Tigers and phenom Andrew Miller turned their sights on the AL East, besting Red Sox of Boston in two of three and now sit tied atop the AL Central. The return of Kenny Rogers will take some pressure off the rest of the staff. Wow, I never thought I’d be writing that a few years ago. If anyone predicted the continued effectiveness of Rogers I humbly welcome you as my overlord.

2.) Cleveland Indians
The Tribe deserve a 1A ranking, but that’s not how we do things here at Dewey’s House, so they get saddled with a 2. They’re 5-0 and 6-3 against the Twins and Tigers, respectively, including the bad loss on Thursday.

3.) San Diego Padres
Chris Young (202 ERA+) and Jake Peavy (184) look like their on a collision course for Cy Young controversy. This one will be closer than the last time two teammates contended for the honor; Randy Johnson was the unanimous choice over our injured (cooked?) compatriot, Curt Schilling, in 2002. My pick is still Young. It’s too bad my little league team had a more prolific offense than the Pads, I don’t see Jeff Spicoli – I mean Khalil Greene – carrying this team to a postseason series victory.

4.) Boston Red Sox
An injured rotation with three hit-or-miss starters and a bullpen with visible holes won’t get you far, unless the offense is officially “clicking.” They own the best record in the game so they aren’t completely undeserving, but after playing .700 baseball through May, they’re 17-16 since. And I couldn’t be happier about it.

5.) Los Angeles Angels
Kelvim Escobar is quietly putting together another good season (133 ERA+) and Justin Speier should come off the DL in the next week, but 3 wins over their last 10 isn’t going to get it done.

6.) Milwaukee Brewers
The Brew Crew have weathered the storm and emerged on top of the NL Central. Losing Bill Hall for 2-6 weeks will hurt, but Tony Gwynn Jr. will get another shot. An exciting young team with an unreal pedigree, they are.

7.) Seattle Mariners
Since June 24th, the Mariners have cut their deficit in the AL West from 8 to 3.5 games. You can add the M’s to the short list of teams I was wrong about, balanced by the aura of spot-on correctness that oozes from the pores of this humble scribe. They reek of first half overachiever; their Pythagorean record is a pedestrian 42-40, compared to actual 47-36. If anyone is interested, I made a quick Google Docs spreadsheet that makes calculating Pythagorean record easy as pie. Just input runs scored, runs allowed, actual wins and actual losses and you’ll get a slew of tasty stats.

8.) New York Mets
I don’t understand John Maine’s success. His stuff appears underwhelming, but he backed up his torrid start with an excellent June. Its only a matter of time before the Braves/Phillies overtake the Mets in the NL East, but I can’t in good conscience slot one of them above. Billy Wagner has had a fantastic season, but his elbow will explode any second now. A little regression from Maine or El Duque and this team is very average.

9.) Los Angeles Dodgers
The bruised and beaten Dodgers will need some luck to keep pace in the NL West; they’ve lost Randy Wolf and Hong-Chih Kuo to the DL in the last week, joining Yhency Brazoban and Jason Schmidt. Chad Billingsley and Brad Penny will have to bounce back from a pair of bad starts for the Dodgers to stay in the race.

10.) Minnesota Twins
They can barely sniff the playoffs at this point, but they’re playing better than their record indicates (-2.93 wins according to Pythag), they’re 7-3 over their last 10, and demolished the White Sox in a double header on Friday. Look for a second half push and a very interesting AL Central race.

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By Jimmy, 7/6/2007 8:56 am

In no particular order, here are some up-and-coming guys in the Red Sox organization who have been drawing notice lately.

Jacoby Ellsbury, 23 CF AAA: No longer a secret, even to the Pink Hat faction of Red Sox Nation, after the speedster hit .375 over a 16 at-bat cup of coffee at Fenway.  Prospectphiles everywhere cried out in agony as Terry Francona sent the kid back down to AAA after his 2-2 performance last night.  Hopefully, Jacoby will work on adding some pop to his bat, because infield hits and bloopers will not be suffecient to carry him to stardom at this level.  Gotta love the glove and speed, though.

Craig Breslow, 26 RP AAA: Not really a prospect, in the sense that he’s turning 27 next month, but certainly a guy that could be a useful bullpen arm on almost any team in the majors right now.  At this point, the numbers game is victimizing the CT native, as he’s dominated AAA hitters for 2 years now.  The lefty is particularly tough on left-handed hitters, but has also made quick work of righties at this level.  Probably an improvement over 2 or 3 pitchers in the Red Sox bullpen right now.

Oscar Tejeda, 17 SS R: A caveat: always take Rookie Ball stats with a grain of salt.  The quality of competition, the fields, the weather, they create variables that can skew things in either direction.  With that said, this teenager is tearing the league a new asshole.  At an age where I was mastering Final Fantasy III and still trying to get laid for the first time, Oscar Tejeda is hitting .340/.426/.553 in his professional debut.  Still a long way from the bigs (5 years at least), he has a nice glove to go along with his bat, and might be able to stick at SS.

Clay Buchholz, 22 SP AA: Could be sent to AAA soon.  It’s all been said before, plus-plus-changeup, plus fastball and curve, yadda yadda.  Not much more I can say, I’ll just post his current stats: 86.2 IP, 55 hits, 22 walks, 116 strikeouts, 1.77 ERA.  In my last prospect report, I said “he could be” the best pitching prospect in the minors.  I’ll just update that statement slightly: he is the best pitching prospect in the minors. 

Jed Lowrie, 23 SS AA: Jed possesses tools the Red Sox organization loves to see: terrific plate discipline and a steady middle-infield glove.  Now hitting .296/.405/.485, Lowrie could become a Pedroia-type hitter at the big league level, perhaps without Dustin’s extreme contact abilities.  He’s actually tall and lanky (unlike #15), has a decent arm, and might be able to stick at SS.

And now, a sleeper…

Josh Reddick, 20 RF A:  After being drafted in the 17th round last year, The Chronicles of Reddick are off to an inspiring beginning, as Josh is mashing in the Sally League (.338/.386/.529).  The one hole in his game right now is plate discipline, as Josh’s bat does not meet many pitches it doesn’t like.  What is encouraging is that he still manages to hit everything, only striking out 15 times in 169 plate appearances.  Keep an eye on this one…

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By Zach, 7/5/2007 9:47 am

Red Sox 7
Devil Rays 5

As the Sox turn the corner into the second half on pace for 100 wins, it’s the contributions from the dugout that will put them over the top. This team and its pitching staff may be a few pieces shy of the upper echelon of greatness, but yesterday their bench delivered. Four RBI and three hits later, a win in the books.

Doub Mirabelli awoke from his most recent (1-16, 9 Ks) slumber and knocked in a pair. Alex Cora flexed his massive, pulsing baseball IQ in the first on a successful safety squeeze. Jacoby Ellsbury notched the first of many RBI doubles. Eric Hinske, uh, struck out thrice. It’s alright, dawg, we still love you.

With all the talk surrounding Brad Lidge, I think we may have found him in our own pen. No, I’m not referring to Javier Lopez, but if Manny Delcarmen builds on recent success the middle of the bullpen looks very strong as it’s presently constructed. Of course, this is assuming Donnelly comes back strong and Okajima continues his current dominance. Neither of those assumptions are likely, but Delcarmen could step up and fill in where others have fallen. I’d love to see Lidge in a Sox uni, but only for middling prospects like Lowrie, Moss, and Murphy. If Theo brought Ellsbury up to showcase him to other teams, his new status as fan favorite all but eliminates his trade from the realm of possibilities.

7:05 EDT: LHP J.P. Howell (1-2, 5.19, 1.62) at RHP Josh Beckett (11-2, 3.38, 1.10)

The Sox have limited experience against Howell, but Ortiz has a homer in six at-bats. He’s been awful on the road, in three starts he’s posted an ERA over 9.

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By Jimmy, 7/3/2007 6:40 am

Texas 3
Boston 7

Finally, the Red Sox offense wakes up and saunters downstairs for breakfast, albeit propelled by a couple of unlikely sources.  The team was helped by a solid effort from Kason Gabbard and excellent help from the bullpen, but that wasn’t the story.  The story, of course, was the rookie center fielder. 

Let’s look at our two catalysts from last night: 

Catalyst #1: Eric Hinske.  Our favorite frat-boy has been struggling this year, but he delivered last night, driving in 3 runs on a triple.

Catalyst #2: Jacoby Ellsbury.  Like every Red Sox player under age 25 with a modicum of talent, Ells has been hyped beyond the level of normalcy.  However, last night only added gasoline to the hype-mobile, as the outfielder had a perfect night, reaching base 4 times and putting his blazing speed on display, scoring from second base on a wild pitch.

For some reason, the obligatory comparison for Jacoby Ellsbury, since the day he was drafted, has been Johnny Damon.  In a sense, I can see it: both are left-handed, both look somewhat similar, playing the same position in the same organization (when he was drafted).  Both guys even have Native American blood.

Now, Johnny Damon has a bit more pop in his bat, and Johnny Damon is fast.  But I’ll say this now, after seeing it first-hand: Johnny, on his best day, never ran like Jacoby Ellsbury.    

P.S…41 innings pitched, and an 0.88 ERA?  He deserves it.  Vote Okajima. 

Comments (3)

By Jimmy, 7/2/2007 11:19 am

1) Angels
Where did this Reggie Willits cat come from?  A .430 OBP and a 90% stolen base success rate?  Those are Ricky-esque numbers.  All the kid has to do now is address himself in the third person and tell a bunch of ridiculous stories.

2) Indians
Pitcher C.C. Sabathia has been a giant, heaping, quivering mound of effectiveness for the Tribe, and is right there in the CY Young race, with a handful of other guys. 

3) Red Sox
The pitching has been terrific, but the power duo of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz are hitting .171 over the last 6 games.  On top of that, right now, Julio Lugo is now the most expensive pinch-runner in baseball history.

4) Padres
While the parade floats and dancing elephants are all ready for Roger Clemens to grab win #350 in New York, Greg Maddux just quietly won game #340 down in San Diego.  Keep in mind this guy has averaged about 6 Ks per game over his career. 

5) Dodgers
Russell Martin is beginning to establish himself as one of the premier catchers in the league.  On top of his .297/.364/.479 line at the plate, he’s also stolen 15 bases.  The kid is doing it all.

6) Tigers
One of the biggest things keeping this talented team down is a lousy bullpen.  The 4 most-utilized relievers on the team have ERAs of 5.97, 5.85, 4.79, and 5.40, respectively.  The Tigers anxiously await the return of fireballer Joel Zumaya, who is expected to resume throwing July 11th. 

7) Brewers
Look out!  Top 3B prospect Ryan Braun is already putting the fear of God into NL pitchers.  His .346/.388/.632 pace won’t continue, but he will be an absolute monster for years to come if he stays healthy. He had no business being in the minors this year to begin with.

8) Mets
Young superstar Jose Reyes is on pace for 81 steals, but that’s not even the amazing thing.  The amazing thing is his 44/45 K/BB ratio.  This kid’s improvement in plate discipline has been nothing short of mind-boggling.

9) Diamondbacks
Eric Byrnes: .315/.368/.508. Manny Ramirez: .285/.383/.468.  For some reason, that makes me very ill.

10) Mariners
Seattle makes a surprise debut in the Top 10, despite what many (including myself) thought would be a disastrous season back in March.  The sudden resignation of Mike Hargrove is one of the oddest things I’ve seen as a fan.   

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By Jimmy, 7/1/2007 8:44 pm

Texas 2
Boston 1

Again, the Red Sox find themselves in a mini-funk.  Kameron Loe had a 6.02 ERA entering Sunday afternoon’s game, but the 6’8″ right-hander still managed to hold to struggling Sox to 1 run.  Loe wasn’t exactly bringing back memories of Christy Matthewson out there, as he escaped several jams and only struck out 1 hitter. 

Boston has now lost 6 of their last 8, and have officially fallen out of the top spot in our Power Rankings (coming Monday night).  If the Yankees weren’t also struggling, this would me a much larger issue, but as luck would have it, the denizens of the Evil Empire are also experiencing mechanical issues on their Star Destroyers, losing 9 of their last 11.

It was interesting to see newly-promoted prospect Jacoby Ellsbury patrol the outfield.  The prospect didn’t do much at the plate over the weekend, and a line-drive managed to get over his head last night, but we can chalk that up to cup-of-coffee jitters.  Ellsbury is renowned for his speed, outfield range, and contact abilities, and draws comparisons to Brett Butler and Keny Lofton.  He won’t get too much of a chance in the bigs at this point, as Joel Pineiro is due to come off of the DL in a week. 

Monday night, the Sox will try to salvage a tie in the series, and save a little face against an AL West team that has been like Kryptonite over the last year and a half.  THis time, the Sox will try to fend off a wave of McCarthyism, as Kason Gabbard (1-0, 6.48) takes on Brandon McCarthy (4-4 5.90). 

Sorry to cut this short, but I just moved into a new place, and digging a moat is more time consuming than I thought it would be.  Not to mention, the guy is charging an arm and a leg for the tiger sharks.  Sheesh.