Tuesday, June 19

All-Star Lineups through Week 11

The races are getting down to the wire, with voting only open through June 28.

AL
C Jorge Posada (2, Rodriguez)
1B (ha) David Ortiz (1)
2B B.J. Upton (4, Polanco)
3B Alex Rodriguez (1)
SS Derek Jeter (1)
OF Magglio Ordonez (4, Guerrero)
OF Ichiro Suzuki (3, M. Ramirez)
OF Vladimir Guerrero (1, Suzuki)
SP Dan Haren
RP J.J. Putz

NL
C Russell Martin (1)
1B Prince Fielder (1)
2B Chase Utley (1)
3B Miguel Cabrera (2, Wright)
SS Jose Reyes (1)
OF Matt Holliday (7, Beltran)
OF Barry Bonds (4, Griffey)
OF Aaron Rowand (>15, Soriano)
SP Jake Peavy
RP Takashi Saito

Wednesday, June 13

PAP

Also, taking a look at the Pitcher Abuse Points report, we see again that the Giants are running their rotation into the ground.

6. Barry Zito
8. Matt Cain
9. Matt Morris
13. Noah Lowry

Is this the fault of Dave Righetti, the pitching coach who has been with San Francisco for several years, or Bruce Bochy, who arrived in the offseason? Part of the problem may be the Giant bullpen - it ranks 20th in WXRL.

By the way, the #1 pitcher on the Pitcher Abuse Points report, A.J. Burnett, had to leave yesterday's game due to a shoulder strain.

That's Nasty! (Week of June 11)

I'm going to be in Puerto Rico for a week starting tomorrow, so let's go ahead and crown Justin Verlander as this week's nasty pitcher. His line yesterday against the Brew Crew:

IP: 9
H: 0
R: 0
BB: 4
SO: 12
GmSc: 95

Monday, June 11

That's Nasty! (Week of June 4)

Special extended edition of That's Nasty! this week to give credit (and hell) to several pitchers. First off, the best performance of the week was turned in by Jon Lieber on Saturday against the Royals. His line:

IP: 9
H: 3
R: 0
BB: 0
SO: 11
GmSc: 92

Just dominant. Two singles and a double allowed for the whole game, with 11 strikeouts mixed in. Also of note, C.C. Sabathia had the best start of the day on both days he pitched, Tuesday and Sunday.

On the other side of things, three pitchers turned in outings that had a GameScore of less than 10: Roy Halladay (6), Tom Glavine (5), and Kameron Loe (4). Loe's line on Thursday against the Tigers:

IP: 2.2
H: 9
R: 9
BB: 1
SO: 1

All-Star Lineups through Week 10

Starting this week, I'll give each player's pole position in the All-Star balloting race, followed by the leading vote-getter at their position.

AL
C Jorge Posada (4, F. Rodriguez*)
1B Mark Teixeira (>5, Ortiz)
2B B.J. Upton (5, Cano)
3B Alex Rodriguez (1)
SS Derek Jeter (1)
OF Magglio Ordonez (5, Guerrero)
OF Vladimir Guerrero (1, M. Ramirez)
OF Grady Sizemore (6, Ichiro)
SP Dan Haren
RP J.J. Putz

NL
C Russell Martin (1)
1B Prince Fielder (2, Pujols)
2B Chase Utley (1)
3B Miguel Cabrera (2, Wright)
SS Hanley Ramirez (>5, Reyes)
OF Matt Holliday (8, Beltran)
OF Barry Bonds (4, Griffey)
OF Aaron Rowand (>15, Soriano)
SP Jake Peavy
RP Rafael Soriano

*Fucking Ivan Rodriguez. Makes the damn All-Star team every year even though he doesn't deserve it. At least Mike Piazza's not on the radar this year (yet).

Saturday, June 9

Braves Update

Alfonso Soriano hit three home runs against the Braves last night. Lance Cormier's first two starts have been disastrous, both against Chicago...8 ER in 4 IP last week, 5 ER in 3.2 IP this week. Ugh. This was supposed to be the rock at the back of our rotation? Is Cormier looking to become the latest incarnation of Mark Redman?

The Braves selected Jason Heyward, a power-hitting, toolsy outfielder from a Georgia high school, as their first pick in the draft. Both BA and BP had nothing but positive things to say about the pick. Our sandwich pick, Jonathan Gilmore, is also projected as a raw power hitter.

UNC players selected:
Josh Horton, #90, Athletics
Luke Putkonen, #121, Tigers
Andrew Carignan, #180, Athletics
Reid Fronk, #215, Devil Rays
Benji Johnson, #528, Braves
Robert Woodard, #627, Padres

Monday, June 4

That's Nasty! (Week of May 28)

Joe Blanton beat the Twins on Saturday this week 1-0. His line:

IP 9
H 3
BB 0
R 0
SO 6
GmSc 87

Blanton needed 108 pitches to complete the game in 1 hour and 49 minutes. The three hits allowed were all singles.

All-Suck Lineups through Week 9

AL
C Jason Kendall
1B Aubrey Huff
2B Erick Aybar
3B Joe Crede
SS Ben Zobrist
OF Nelson Cruz
OF Jay Gibbons
OF Corey Patterson
SP Jeff Weaver
RP B.J. Ryan

NL
C Yorvit Torrealba
1B Rich Aurilia
2B Jamey Carroll
3B Alberto Callaspo
SS Omar Vizquel
OF Ryan Langerhans
OF Kory Casto
OF Steve Finley
SP Mark Redman
RP Jorge Julio

All-Star Lineups through Week 9

AL
C Jorge Posada
1B Kevin Youkilis
2B Brian Roberts
3B Alex Rodriguez
SS Jhonny Peralta
OF Magglio Ordonez
OF Vladimir Guerrero
OF Grady Sizemore
SP Dan Haren
RP Al Reyes

NL
C Russell Martin
1B Prince Fielder
2B Dan Uggla
3B Miguel Cabrera
SS Hanley Ramirez
OF Barry Bonds
OF Matt Holliday
OF Carlos Beltran
SP Jake Peavy
RP Takashi Saito