Round-up
NEW YORK METS
13-10 (3rd Place) 1.5GB
The Mets have been riding high since the season began last month. No
fan expected this over .500 month of April and the Mets did exactly what
they needed to do. Win! Win any way possible. It's a beautiful thing
when the pressure is non-existent and failure is the only outlook from
even your most die-hard dedicated fans. It eases every at bat. It helps
during the extra breath in between pitches. One thing is certain in a
year like this in Queens...if you get the chance to don a Mets jersey
and take the field for even one game...you have a solid chance of
playing everyday. It's a perfect time to impress the coach/manager and
if you are productive, there's room for you on the roster.
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Example: Kirk Nieuwenhuis 
The man has done all he can in replacement of old man Torres, who
went on the DL quicker then the Mets could ever expected. No worries we
got this Nieuwenhuis guy. Great! I'm sure he awesome, never heard of
him...
Low a behold the man can play defense and be a
quality lead off guy in this young home-bread system of a team. Kirk
takes more pressure off Tejada and gets on base for Murphy and Wright.
You can't ask for more. A lead off batter batting over .300 sets the
table for opposing teams destruction.
Let us not
disregard the starting pitchers. They have been the real story behind
the Mets early success. Mr. Dickey, Mr. Neise and Mr. Gee have done a
remarkable job at keeping this team in 80% of the games they started and
this is so important that if anyone of these three men fail, it sub
.500 for the team. The 5th spot in the rotation is a spot fill right now
for Mike Pelfrey's injury, which now looks like a season long
situation. Not good, but certainly not the absolute worst thing that
could have happened. I mean let's be real, nobody had Pelf on their
fantasy squads right? Of course not.
Finally you have
Johan Santana, who has been nothing but "stellar", despite that one start
in Atlanta. Too bad it seems that whenever he pitches it's the only day
the Mets can't seem to hit. Coincidence? Maybe. Whatever it is it seems
to be a continuing story ever since the All-star pitcher came over to
New York. Being win less with an ERA in the low 2's is tough to swallow and there is nothing he can
do about it except return to the mound ever five days and pitch his
heart out. The last two games he has a combined 21 strikeouts and
increased his pitch count to repeatedly build confidence. If he keeps
pitching like his past two appearances Johan can win 12 games easily.
It's up to the bats to do the other part.
Two weeks ago
the Mets learned about Pelfrey's shoulder and Jason Bay's next set back
as they continued to lose against the Giants. They lost both games of a
double header and had the media frenzy with Jose Reyes coming into town.
Surprisingly they took care of business by sweeping the NL East rivals
and now have a 10-5 division record playing each team at least once in
the month of April. You can't ask for a better start my beloved Mets
junkies for the season is very much alive and the weather hasn't even
been beautiful enough to really enjoy yourself at the ballpark. Prices
haven't dropped off completely and the "suites" are still in line to
make some money this year. After a one run loss to the Astros last night
with another quality start coming out of Dickey the Mets finish the 1st
month of baseball at 13-10. Only a game and a half behind 1st
place Washington. All's fair in love and war, and if you play your
division hard a fight out victory after victory you will always be in
the race.
THE FUTURE:
The Mets must
finish with Houston taking at least one before coming home to play a hot
hitting Arizona team over the weekend. By then Ike Davis and Lucas Duda
better be ready to do battle against a struggling Phillies squad that
can't seem to hit a lick in Philly. So the Mets only come home for a 3
game set. To round out that week they end in Miami, who I'm sure would
love a little revenge after being swept at Citi Field.
P.S. Ike Davis needs to pull his head out of his ass and the team would improve drastically with another threat in the lineup.
NEW YORK YANKEES
13-9 (3rd Place) 1.5GB
Thirteen wins after one month, just like the Mets. A game and a half
back from 1st place, just like the Mets. Three games over .500 playing
at home...just like the Mets. New York baseball has been mirrored from
Queens to the Bronx and there is nothing you Yankee fans can do about
it. However, things should change and most likely will change in the
upcoming month.
Robinson Cano is batting .267 right now with
only a single HR. This of course is because your wonderful writer owns
him in a couple fantasy leagues for the first time ever. You are
welcome. To follow that trend Teixeira, Rodriguez, and Granderson are
all batting under .265 while Russell Martin can't buy a hit as he
struggles with a dismal .167 average after last night. The production
will turn around as Jeter should slowly fall back to earth.
Two problems are occurring that seems to be holding the Yankees back
from breaking out. The starting pitcher situation needs to fall in
place and the tough road they have traveled. First things first, Freddy
Garcia is now in the bullpen for long relief. How can he pitch long
relief if he couldn't get through three innings as a starter. I do
believe he will turn things around and find his groove just from his
track record, but as of the month of April he has been a big part of
some losses. The next situation is beginning to sound like a movie
title... "There is something wrong with Phil Hughes". He doesn't suck
this bad. I watched him two years ago and his ball moved...a lot. What
the hell happened? He needs work. He needs a clear head and sadly the
answer for him might be a different location. Can you trade and get
anyone worth it for a downtrodden pitcher with a 1-3 record and a 7.88
ERA? Who knows Cashman, but get on your job. Lastly of pitching bad news
we have the report of the newest Yankee officially missing the entire
2012 season...Seattle scofflaw, Micheal Pinada will be out, but most Yankee fans will just be
pissed when they hear about how well The Jesus is doing behind the plate
in Seattle.
The other factor that has the Yankees right
there with the Mets (and once again you Yankee fans cringe at the
comparison) is the fact that they have played some real tough
competition. Besides going 4-0 against Baltimore so far this year they
have face Tampa Bay, Boston, Texas and Detroit to make note of. Just
this past weekend they beat the Red Sox two in a row with the Saturday
game in memorable fashion. Down 9-1 after six innings because of another
awful Garcia start, all hope looked lost until the Yankees bats went
flying or Boston's pitching went sour. It's a tail of both stories, but
the Bronx Bombers put a hitting clinic on in the 7th and 8th innings to
score 15, that's right, 15 unanswered runs in total to embarrass Bobby V
and all his shit-talking Spring Training hula-baloo. 7 runs in the
7th inning and 7 more in the 8th. I thought John Sterling and that old
bag that sits next to him in the radio broadcast booth were going to
begin making nasty gross old out of touch to the mainstream public sex,
they were so excited. Get that image out of you head!
They followed the short two game sweep (Sunday night was
postponed) with a hard fought series in Texas. All good games as the
only took one, then flew back home to win an important two out of three
against Detroit. They fought out a win after scoring four runs off of
Verlander, lost the second game because of yet another horrible Garcia
start and ended the series with a good win over Max Scherzer. 5-3
against playoff potential teams is what you must do day in and day out
to get to where you want to be.
Right now the Rays look
to be a solid leader in the AL East. Their pitching staff has continued
to empress and they know how to grind out victory after victory. Joe
Maddon surpasses any manager in this division by making the Rays who
they have become. A natural threat.
THE FUTURE:
Two
more win, oh I mean games against the Orioles then the team ships off
to Kansas City for a four game set where they are 117 - 104 all time. This is much more appetizing for the Royals since they are only 76 - 147 when they travel to the Bronx.
Thought that was interesting, anyway the Yankees then quickly get back home to face the 1st place Rays hoping to get them back from the season opening weekend sweep and
finish off the week against Seattle who actually just swept the Tigers
last weekend. Wild times in the AL my friends. Keeping that momentum would be surprising but the Mariners
have hit the ball well since Phil Humber no hit them last Saturday.
The Yankees are top four in Slugging and On Base percentage, Batting average and Runs.
ADAM HAMMER'S "Loose Lips"
- The Angels, and Albert Pujols are off to a slow start. The team is in last place, 9 games out of the division, a mark they didn't hit until the second to last day of the season last year. Pujols meanwhile has yet to hit a home run. It seems that if you ship steroids, it takes longer to get to Los Angeles than it takes to get to St. Louis.
- Mike Plefrey is scheduled to have Tommy John surgery in the coming days. The Mets have been proactive and have scheduled an appointment for Pelf with Dr. James Andrews in August of 2013 after he is re-injured at the hands of the Mets trainers.
- Delmon Young went nuts and got into a scrum in New York last week. Apparently he was hanging out with Prince Fielder, who purchased three pizza pies. When they arrived, Delmon was upset to hear the three pies were just for Prince.
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Well I just want to end this Issue with a quick thank you to all who take the time out to read this. I appreciate you thoughts and your time very much. I'm glad to be doing this for a second season and hope to expand and do more in the future.
This weekend on May 5th is the Kentucky Derby. One of my favorite days of the year as it reminds me of my Grandpa who taught me my love for sports. He was a grumpy old man with a ton of passion and I want to send out a "Thanks to the Heavens" for that wonderful bastard. He is my drive and dedication and I always wish that he could read this piece each time I send it out. I'm not sure if there is a heaven or hell and I'm pretty positive he wouldn't be sent in one direction or the other, but I'll believe in the good and not the evil.
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Did you know?
Walter Johnson looks like a young Robin Williams.
ReplyDeletehaha! He does!
ReplyDeleteanonymous Loafer...