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By Zach, 8/6/2007 12:19 pm

1.) Boston Red Sox
Be afraid, be very afraid.

2.) Arizona Diamondbacks
The Snakes have torn through the class of the NL, taking thirteen of fifteen against solid competition including the Cubs, Braves, Padres and Dodgers to vault into a tie for first place. They’ve got Pittsburgh and the Nats coming to the steamy southwest this week, look for them to build a lead.

3.) New York Yankees
A remarkable resurgence is nearly complete. They’ve been fueled by an unrelenting run scoring machine, and stand a mere half-game back in the wild card, with Minnesota in their wake and sights trained on Seattle and Detroit. Ah, the unfamiliar tranquility of a seven game lead in August.

4.) New York Mets
Watching Oliver Perez makes me yearn for what might have been. Kudos to Omar Minaya on this one, a buy-low young lefty with mechanics issues was a reasonable gamble, but Rick Peterson pulled him aside and turned him back into a young Barry Zito. The success of El Duque, John Maine, and Perez make Omar look good, especially considering they were had for Jorge Julio, Kris Benson and Xavier Nady. For more on his record as a GM, check this out.

Another milestone has come and gone, thankfully. Congrats to Billerica’s own Tommy Glavine, but these annual events have lost much of their luster.

5.) San Diego Padres
At a critical juncture in the NL West, the Padres need to keep pace with the Diamondbacks this week against the Cardinals and Reds. My guess: whoever emerges this week will take the division, but the Wild Card will come from the East.

6.) Chicago Cubs
The Cubs were poised to overtake the Brewers without looking back, until news that Alfonso Soriano will miss up to a month with a hamstring injury. It’s nice to see Kerry Wood throwing again, and the support Chicago fans have shown him is fantastic. He should provide a boost their pen and some motivation to the perennially shaky Ryan Dempster.

7.) Milwaukee Brewers
If, and only if, Francisco Cordero and Derrick Turnbow figure out their latest bouts of ineffectiveness, which conveniently happened at the same time, the Brewers have a shot at holding onto the Central.

8.) Los Angeles Angels
It’s a bit premature for a team with a 3.5 game lead to begin coasting to the playoffs, but the competition in the West appears ready to roll over like Michael Vick’s posse when the heat’s on. The Angels are .500 since the break.

9.) Cleveland Indians
They’ve got the kind of starting pitching that wins a short series, but in best-of-seven they have little hope. The offense, once bordering on prolific, has deserted them – C.C. and Fausto must bear a heavy burden with no sign of respite.

10.) Detroit Tigers
Detroit, we have a problem. The Tigers have lost nine of ten, including a recent sweep at home by superstar manager Ozzie Guillen and his fundamentally flawed White Sox. Jubilation over the return of Fernando Rodney is tempered by Sheff’s sore wing, he’s listed as day-to-day but hasn’t played in nearly a week. I should’ve dropped them out of the top ten, but felt their poor performance needed to be recognized.

Comments (3)

By Jimmy,

Normally, when I think of Seattle, I think of Soundgarden, salmon, and suicide. Great baseball doesn’t normally come to mind when contemplating this picturesque Pacific Northwest metropolis. Nonetheless, the Mariners had given the Boston Red Sox major problems in the past few years. This time around, however, things seemed to be evening out, as the Sox defeated Seattle 9-2, taking 2 out of 3 in Safeco field.

Josh Beckett won his 14th game on the season, helped along by a comforting, well-balanced offensive explosion. Josh is right in the thick of things for the American League Cy Young Award Race, so let’s take a look at the pool of candidates as of today.

Josh Beckett, BOS:          14-5, 3.31 ERA, 138.2 IP, 8.57 K/9, 1.88 BB/9

The rest (in alphabetical order):
Erik Bedard, BAL:            12-4, 3.09 ERA, 154.1 IP, 11.20 K/9, 2.80 BB/9
Fausto Carmona, CLE:     13-6, 3.17 ERA, 144.2 IP, 5.41 K/9, 2.61 BB/9
Kelvim Escobar, ANA:       11-6, 2.79 ERA, 145 IP, 6.89 K/9, 2.79 BB/9
Dan Haren, OAK:              13-3, 2.46 ERA, 161 IP, 7.10 K/9, 2.40 BB/9
John Lackey, ANA:           14-6, 3.11 ERA, 153.1 IP, 7.22 K/9, 2.52 BB/9
Daisuke Matsuzaka, BOS: 13-8, 3.70 ERA, 151 IP, 9.06 K/9, 3.10 BB/9
CC Sabathia, CLE:            14-6, 3.56 ERA, 167 IP, 7.98 K/9, 1.24 BB/9
Johan Santana, MIN:        11-9, 2.98 ERA, 154 IP, 9.58 K/9, 2.16 BB/9
Justin Verlander, DET:      11-4, 3.49 ERA, 134 IP, 8.06 K/9, 3.29 BB/9
Chien-Ming Wang, NYY:    13-5, 3.49 ERA, 136.2 IP, 4.21 K/9, 2.24 BB/9

Please excuse my K-Mart quality formatting abilities.

Wow. Lots of pitchers having a strong season in the American League, which isn’t something we really expect in this day and age. From the above pool, if I had to handicap the race (and please note that I am factoring win-loss record, because the writers will do that), the top 5 would go like this:

1) Bedard
2) Haren
3) Beckett
4) Santana
5) Sabathia

Comments (3)

By Jimmy, 8/5/2007 6:16 am

After Daisuke Matsuzaka’s impressive win against a tough Seattle team last night, we can basically split his season into two chapters:

Chapter 1: The Adjustment Period (April and May):
72.2 IP

4.83 ERA
8.42 K/9
9.17 H/9
2.60 BB/9

Chapter 2: The Evolution (June – Present):
78.1 IP

2.64 ERA
9.65 K/9
7.47 H/9
3.45 BB/9

Notice while most of his numbers have improved (ERA, K rate, hit rate), his walk rate has actually gone up.  Perhaps Dice has decided to stray a bit more from the strike zone against MLB hitters, and rely more on deception (as opposed to brute force)?

Whatever his strategy may be, it is indeed working.

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By Jimmy, 8/2/2007 11:57 am

I thought it might be interesting to try to put together a theoretical 25-man roster of the best prospects in the organization, based on their expected position or role if/when they reach the big leagues.

By “best” prospects, I mean best combination of ceiling and likelihood of reaching ceiling, which is basically the same criteria used to normally rank these guys.

Lineup:
C: George Kottaras – His numbers are deceiving. For some odd reason, he’s crushing the ball on the road, but hitting terribly at Pawtucket. Is he allergic to renovated factory buildings and mill-style lofts?
1B: Lars Anderson – Barely edges Bates. His ceiling is sky high, but very far away.
2B: Chih-Hsien Chiang – Pure ceiling guy. Can be a monster at 2B if his bat continues to develop.
3B: Miguel Almanzar – 16 years old, thus this is another pure ceiling pick. He’s currently a SS, but given his size (6’5″ and growing), he might have to move to the hot corner. Management thinks his ceiling is sky-high, given a $1.5 million signing bonus.
SS: Jed Lowrie – He’s been playing SS regularly at Pawtucket. May become a solid offensive SS at the big-league level. Great plate discipline.
LF: Bubba Bell – Barely edges a slew of other corner outfielders in the organization. Even though Lancaster is a hitter’s environment, his utter dominance of the league can’t be ignored, at least until we see how he continues to adapt to AA.
CF: Jacoby Ellsbury – an easy pick.
RF: Brandon Moss – an easy pick, although he’s cooled down a bit lately. Also playing a little 1B in Pawtucket, which doesn’t hurt his stock.

Bench:
C Mark Wagner – Gaudy offensive numbers, and he might actually stick at catcher. But, he’s padding his numbers in Lancaster, and still has a long way to go.
IF Oscar Tejeda – A pure ceiling pick. The 17-year-old is impressing in rookie ball, and the brass thinks he might be able to stick at SS for a while.
CF Ryan Kalish – Stock shot up this season, before sustaining a season-ending injury.
1B Aaron Bates – Needs a change of scenery, pronto.
LF/RF Josh Reddick – Stock has shot up, hitting extremely well in the Sally League. Still far away.

Rotation:
1 Clay Buchholz – Yessir.
2 Michael Bowden – One of the youngest starting pitchers in all of AA. Had a rough adjustment period, but is holding his own in the league now.
3 Justin Masterson – Stock has essentially gone though the roof this season. Very close to Bowden, you won’t go wrong putting either at #2.
4 David Pauley – A pure expectations pick. Has been getting it done in AAA for a while now, and could likely hold his own in the back-end of several MLB rotations…just not in this town.
5 Kris Johnson – Really tough to evaluate him in Lancaster (God, I hate that place).

Bullpen:
CL Craig Hansen – He’s back…
MR Craig Breslow – Would be in the major leagues in most other organizations. The left-hander’s time will come soon enough.
MR Edgar Martinez – We’ve been waiting for his secondary stuff to get better, but it hasn’t really happened. He still throws heat, and is doing well enough in AAA. Might pop up in September.
MR Daniel Bard – 2007 is a lost season, but with his stuff, I can’t just ignore him. Might need to reinvent himself as a reliever, as his blistering fastball might not be enough to cut the mustard in a big league rotation.
MR Devern Hansack – At age 29, he’s not a prospect, and his window is barely open at this point. However, he still throws strikes, he still has flashes of brilliance at AAA, and frankly, I like him so I’m adding him here.
MR Dustin Richardson – The big lefty has a decent arsenal of pitches, and is starting games for Greenville, but some project him as a reliever further down the road.
MR Bryce Cox – Stock has really plummeted this season, as the reliever is struggling in the Sally League, after being demoted from AA Portland. His control has been terrible. Still makes the list on potential alone.

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By Jimmy,

Don’t call him a “bust” just yet.

Craig Hansen, the 2005 1st round draft pick, still only 23-years-old, appears to have “found something” in AAA.

In his last 10 games, Hansen has had an ERA of 1.62, a K/9 of 11.34, and a K/BB of 4.2.

Comments (3)

By Zach, 8/1/2007 6:33 am

Baltimore Orioles 5
Boston Red Sox 3

Last night, Eric Bedard continued his quest to become Andy Pettitte.  The Red Sox (save David Ortiz) resembled Neifi Perez-lite.  Ortiz’s rumored injury concerns and power outtage were laid to rest, at least for this week, as he collected three hits, two of them right field bombs.  Other than Papi’s offensive explosion, the Sox managed only one hit, a single by Covelli Loyce Crisp.

After a mid-game sparring match with a water cooler that looked at him the wrong way, Josh Beckett got it together and gutted out eight innings.  He didn’t have his best command, but went to the curveball well time and time again.  Our AL East mole laid a crushing two-out blow in the top of the third; if Kevin Millar really wants to help this team he has to cut out this clutch hitting charade.

Bedard made some big pitches, notably to Julio Lugo with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth, although the strike three call was questionable.  Kevin Youkilis looked foolish on two swinging strikeouts; what happened to the Youkilis that didn’t swing at balls?  You’re batting fifth, kid, but don’t alter your approach.  We love you for your plate discipline.

The good news comes from the farm.  Curt Schilling threw seven scoreless innings, giving up a mere four hits without walking a batter.  He struck out four.  All signs point to his readiness, but a cautious approach is prudent.  Shoulder injuries are no small concern for any pitcher, much less one of his…wisdom.  On the heels of the Gagne deal comes news that Brendan Donnelly’s season is over.  Neither the timing nor content of that announcement are a surprise.

Tonight, Julian Tavarez opposes Steve Trachsel.  A matchup for the ages.  Tavarez is keeping this slot warm for Schilling, who will return August 5th.

In other news, I’m totally on the Celtics’ bandwagon.