Week Two Recap

Welcome back to the Big Fly.  It’s finally starting to sink in that baseball is back on our television sets, and we’re quickly taking notice of some players and teams who have caught our eye.  Here’s a recap of who’s looking good and who wishes it was still spring training through Week 2 of the 2011 season.

Heating Up

Texas Rangers

·         The Rangers have continued their hot streak to kick off 2011.  They are off to a 9-3 start, including a 6-0 record at the Ballpark in Arlington.  Everything isn’t stellar in Texas now, however, as star OF Josh Hamilton suffered a broken right arm on Tuesday and is expected to miss six-eight weeks.  This is a huge blow to one of baseball’s most powerful offenses.  Players such as Nelson Cruz and Michael Young will have to stay hot, and Elvis Andrus and Adrian Beltre need to heat up for this offense to not miss a beat.

AL Central underdogs

·         We had a tough time during the predictions for this division deciding who would come in last between the Cleveland Indians and the Kansas City Royals.  For now, they’re making us look foolish.  The Tribe reeled off an eight-game winning streak after starting off 0-2, and they didn’t need Pedro Cerrano or Rick Vaughn to do so.  The pesky Royals continue to swing the bat well, with outfielders Melky Cabrera, Jeff Francoeur, and Alex Gordon all hitting above .280.

Prince Fielder

·         In the postseason award predictions, we mentioned Fielder as a potential MVP candidate due to 2011 being his walk year.  He has started off red-hot in his attempt to earn a massive contract this winter.  Through 11 games, he is hitting .385 with three homers and a 1.185 OPS.

Dan Haren

·         Through 4 appearances, including one emergency relief stint, Haren is 3-0 with an 0.73 ERA and an 0.53 WHIP.  In his last start on Tuesday, he stifled the red-hot Indians by throwing a one-hit shutout with only two walks and eight strikeouts.

Honorable Mention: Colorado Rockies, Philadelphia Phillies, Starlin Castro, Gio Gonzalez

Ice Cold

Boston Red Sox

·         Who owns the worst record in baseball through the first two weeks of action?  That would be the winners of the offseason sweepstakes.  The offense is hitting just .230 so far, with 2B Dustin Pedroia the only regular starter swinging a consistent bat so far.  Carl Crawford continues to press and is hitting just .152 with a putrid .204 OBP.  On the bright side, Josh Beckett threw eight shutout innings against the Yankees on Sunday, a big step forward for the rotation.  Daisuke Matsuzaka is a huge question mark with two straight horrible starts.

Minnesota Twins offense

·         For a team that was predicted to win the AL Central again, the Twins’ bats are currently as cold as the weather in the Twin Cities.  The team has scored just 33 runs in 11 games, is 29^th in the majors in OBP and last in slugging percentage.  Jason Kubel and Denard Span are the only regulars over .300, and offensive stalwarts Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau are both between .220 and .240.  The pitching hasn’t been great either, but scoring three runs a game won’t bring many wins to Target Field.

Albert Pujols

·         Don’t panic Cardinals fans.  This is probably the only time you’ll see The Machine’s name in this section.  In his defense, his primary protection, Matt Holliday, has missed time with an appendectomy.   But nobody expected Pujols to have a lower slugging percentage than Ryan Theriot at any point this season.  He’ll come around sooner rather than later.

John Lackey

·         It’s never a good thing when giving up six earned runs in five innings brings your ERA down, but that happened to Lackey on Friday, and he lucked out a win as well.  But the Red Sox desperately need the fiery right-hander to become more consistent.  He is scheduled to start again on Tuesday against Oakland.

Dishonorable Mention: Anyone who’s pitched at Chase Field, Braves’ offense, Vernon Wells, Francisco Liriano

Weekend series to watch

Texas Rangers at New York Yankees

o   Texas has been arguably the best team so far in 2011, while the Yankees haven’t blown anybody away as of yet.  Sunday night’s game will be a good one to watch.  Texas starts RH Alexi Ogando, who hasn’t given up a run in his first 13 innings, while the Yankees send CC Sabathia to the mound. 

That’s all for the Week 2 recap.  Let us know what you think about what you’ve seen so far.  We’ll be back next week to look around the majors. See you then.

Week One Recap

Welcome back to The Big Fly.  The first week of the season is in the books, and already we’ve seen some interesting developments.  Let’s recap what we saw in week one of the Major League Baseball season.

Early favorites struggling

                If you remember, The Big Fly picked a Red Sox-Giants matchup in the World Series.  Both teams are struggling out of the gate in 2011, as the Giants lost three of four games to the Dodgers, while the Red Sox have lost their first five games. 

Out by the bay, the Giants have gotten solid pitching led by right-handers Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, but the offense has been inconsistent.  Some good news for the defending champs, however, is that 3B Pablo Sandoval has swung a very good bat after winning his battle with the bulge this offseason.

The Red Sox got swept convincingly over the weekend by the Texas Rangers (more on them in a second).  All five members of the starting rotation were hit hard in their first start, and the offense hasn’t been much better.  LF Carl Crawford was demoted to seventh in the lineup on Sunday, and CF Jacoby Ellsbury and 3B Kevin Youkilis have gotten off to slow starts as well.

We’re not panicking yet about our World Series pick, because both these teams are much too talented to be struggling for long.

“Cellar-dwellers” start out hot

                Raise your hand if you picked the Orioles, Royals, or the Pirates to win the division.  Our hands are not raised.  But we can still acknowledge that these three teams have turned some heads during the opening week of action. 

The Orioles have been the biggest surprise, winning their first four games, including a three-game sweep of division rival Tampa Bay, while only giving up one run in each of those four games.  They’ve done all this without ace LH Brian Matusz, who is out for at least three weeks with a back injury.  Rookie LH Zach Britton jumped into the rotation and had a solid start in his debut, and he and the rest of the rotation will need to step up and pitch well in April.

The Royals have shown an early knack for winning late, with three walk-off wins to their credit already.  So far, DH Billy Butler has started off swinging a good bat, which is not surprising, but LF Alex Gordon has been a pleasant surprise so far, hitting .379 through the first week and showing the promise that made him the number two overall pick in 2005. 

The Pirates have unexpectedly gotten good pitching to start the 2011 season.  Veteran RH Kevin Correia has provided two wins and a 1.37 ERA, and LH Paul Maholm threw 6 2/3 shutout innings in his first start.  Timely hitting from young guns such as CF Andrew McCutchen, LF Jose Tabata, and 2B Neil Walker have propelled the Pirates underrated offense.

Rangers on a mission

              As you read earlier, the Red Sox struggled over the weekend.  They have the defending AL champions to thank.  The Texas Rangers are 6-0 to start the season, and they’ve done it by playing longball, with 13 homeruns already in the first six games. 

Seven of those homers have come from two players.  RF Nelson Cruz homered in his first four games, and staying healthy could be the only thing keeping him from superstar status.  2B Ian Kinsler has three homers and became the first player in major league history to hit a leadoff homer in his team’s first two games of the season.

Despite a somewhat sluggish start from 3B Adrian Beltre, the Ranger offense is clicking early, and the pitching has been very good as well.  This is a dangerous ballclub that will be in the thick of things all season long.

Weekend series to watch

New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox

o   The Yankees have seen 1B Mark Teixeira go against his norm and start the season swinging a hot bat, and 3B Alex Rodriguez is starting off nicely also.  Friday’s game will be huge for both teams, as both teams will start their struggling number two starters.  Phil Hughes for New York will match up with John Lackey for Boston.

Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves

o   The top two NL East teams from 2010 will face off in Atlanta.  Friday night will see LH Cliff Lee take the hill for the Phillies against Braves’ RH Tim Hudson.  The Braves’ offense has struggled so far and spoiled some good pitching efforts, while the Phillies have done everything well en route to a 4-1 start.

That wraps up our recap of week one in the Major League Baseball season.  Be sure to let us know your opinions about what you’ve seen so far and what you’re looking forward to.  We’ll be back next week to look around the majors once again.  See you then.