Not a good weekend for the Sox. They continued to fumble and bumble in front of the home fans, dropping 2 out of 3 to the Angels of Anaheim and scoring a combined 2 runs in those losses. Add to that the fact that Jim Thome is on the 15 day DL with a rib cage ailment, and that the Sox are going to the West Coast (for the second time already this season), this week, followed by a 3 game set in the Metrodome, and there is a chance that the S.S. White Sock could begin taking on water this week.
FRIDAY-
SOX 7, ANGELS 3
The Sox scored in each of the final 5 times they came to bat in this game, obviously getting it all out of their system before they would score in one of the next 18 times they came to bat the rest of the weekend. If it wasn't for the bullpen, the Sox would be slugging it out with the Royals for last place now, but the bullpen is good and that definitely counts, so let's credit them in this game. They pitched 3 scoreless innings after Jose Contreras coughed up a 3-0 lead in the sixth inning on a 2 out, 2 run homer by Casey Kotchman.
Game Scores- Angels- E. Santana 40, Sox- Contreras 45
SATURDAY-
ANGELS 3, SOX 0
Here begins the suck. Jon Garland gave up 3 runs in the first two innings, which was 3 more than the Sox would plate the whole night. Jered Weaver befuddled the Sox by throwing everything 6 inches off the plate, and the Sox refused to stop swinging at them or move any closer to the plate to make the pitches hittable. Meanwhile, Hawk and DJ engaged in a three hour treatise on how unhittable Jered Weaver was. I will counter that by saying many pitchers appear unhittable when your team is hitting a major league worst .225.
Game Scores- Angels- Weaver 62, Sox- Garland 54
SUNDAY-
ANGELS 5, SOX 2
Were it not for a 2 run Darrin Erstad home run this would have been 2 shutouts in a row in front of the home fans. It's like the 2005 ALCS in reverse.
Game Scores- Angels- Escobar 65, Sox- Buehrle 49
The Sox go on the road to face these same Angels this weekend. It'll take a 180 degree turn from the way they played last weekend to avoid having that series be a cannonball to the hull of the ship that is their 07 season.
In keeping with our nautical theme, the Sox begin a short two game series in Seattle tonight.
TONIGHT-
(12-11) SOX (Vazquez 2-0, 3.75, 54.3 Avg GS, 42 Last)
at (10-10) MARINERS (Washburn 1-2, 2.96, 57.3 Avg, 81 Last)
Washburn was great in his last start, posting an 81 in a win over Oakland. In his 4 starts the AL is batting .216 against him, which is even worse than the Sox league-worst .225. So, by that logic, the Sox should hit even worse than they usually do tonight. That should rule.
AL CENTRAL ROUNDUP
INDIANS (14-8, 1ST PLACE, .752 OPS, 4.21 ERA)
The Indians are taking advantage of a soft early schedule, and are atop the AL Central at 14-8. Last weekend, they hosted the Oriole, and won 2 out of 3. Their May schedule is pretty murderous though. They start with 3 at home against Toronto, then go on the road for 10 games against the O's, Angels, and A's, then they are home for 6 against the Reds and Twins, before another 9 game road trip which includes stops in Detroit and Boston. If they get out of this month still in first place, I will be ready to crown their ass. Not yet though.
TWINS (14-11, 2ND PLACE -1.5, .731 OPS, 3.98 ERA)
God bless 'em, if Ramon Ortiz and Carlos Silva can continue to win 5 out of every 7 decisions with an ERA hovering around 3.00, they'll be golden (Silva has a near mathematical impossibility of a 3.10 ERA despite having a .308 batting average against) . And they're the Twins after all so why shouldn't they?
TIGERS (14-11, 2ND PLACE -1.5, .727 OPS, 4.16 ERA)
The Tigers are a better team than they were last year, but after one month of play it's obvious the magic pixie dust from 2006 is not there in 2007. We saw this last year with the White Sox, and we know how that movie ends. Their bullpen has been a disaster area so far this year, and in this division that's not going to get it done.
ROYALS (8-18, 5TH PLACE -8, .700 0PS, 4.32 ERA)
KC is worst in the division in OPS, and worst in ERA, so conversely, if you are the worst at scoring runs, and the worst at giving up runs, that should mean you are out of the race after a month, which the Royals are. KW likes to trade with the Royale, and Reggie Sanders is a guy the Sox really could use so they no longer have to DH Alex Cintron should anything happen to Jim Thome. Please Kenny, look into that.
THIS WEEK-
INDIANS- 3 v. TOR, 3 at BAL
TWINS-3 at TB, 3 v. BOS
TIGERS- 3 v. BAL, 3 at KC
ROYALS- 4 v. LAA, 3 v. DET
Game Score Corner
*******************
So who've been the best in the biz thru one month of the season? The answers may surprise you:
Top 10 MLB Average Game Scores (Minimum 4 Starts)
1. Matt Cain SF 68.6
2. Tim Hudson ATL 68.5
3. Rich Hill CUBS 67.4
4. John Maine NYM 66.2
5. Roy Halladay TOR 65.7
6. Ted Lilly CUBS 65.4
7. Ian Snell PIT 65.0
8. Jake Peavy SD 64.2
9. Braden Looper STL 61.8
10. Mark Buehrle SOX 61.0
Actually, that list is really NL-heavy (8 NL, 2 AL), so let's give the top 10 AL hurlers recognition, since their league is better and they face lineups with 9 major league caliber hitters every time out.
1. Roy Halladay TOR 65.7
2. Mark Buehrle SOX 61.0
3. James Shields TB 60.8
4. Dan Haren OAK 60.5
5. Josh Beckett BOS 60.2
6. Ramon Ortiz MIN 59.4
7. Johan Santana MIN 59.3
8. Nate Robertson DET 57.8
9. Chad Gaudin OAK 57.6
10. Jarrod Washburn SEA 57.3
And, here's how the teams rank thru April:
1. A's 57.8
2. Red Sox 54.6
3. Mets 54.4
4. Cubs 54.0
5. Reds 53.9
6. Giants 53.3
7. D-backs 52.6
8. Angels 52.6
9. Sox 52.3
10. Brewers 51.7
11. Blue Jays 51.4
12. Tigers 51.1
13. Twins 51.0
14. Phillies 50.1
15. Astros 50.0
16. Braves 49.9
17. Dodgers 49.7
18. Royals 48.9
19. Padres 48.8
20. Orioles 48.5
21. Pirates 48.1
22. Cardinals 47.9
23. Indians 47.8
24. Nationals 47.5
25. Rockies 46.7
26. Mariners 44.8
27. Devil Rays 43.9
28. Marlins 43.0
29. Rangers 42.6
30. Yankees 41.6
And finally, here's Average Game Score Against, which might give you an idea of what kind of pitching a team's been facing, or may tell you how good or bad their offense is. It's in reverse order, because you want this score to be low for your team.
1. Marlins 43.0
2. Devil Rays 43.8
3. Yankees 44.0
4. Blue Jays 46.6
5. Cubs 46.8
6. Dodgers 47.0
7. Indians 47.0
8. Angels 47.5
9. Brewers 47.5
10. Phillies 47.6
11. Orioles 48.0
12. Mets 48.3
13. Twins 48.4
14. Red Sox 49.3
15. Tigers 49.4
16. Giants 49.5
17. Braves 49.9
18. D-Backs 50.0
19. Reds 50.4
20. Padres 51.1
21. Pirates 51.2
22. Rockies 51.6
23. Royals 51.9
24. Rangers 52.4
25. Mariners 53.0
26. A's 53.9
27. Astros 54.0
28. Sox 54.5
29. Nationals 55.5
30. Cardinals 58.3
I'll leave you with another fun table, which summarizes how a team ranks offensively and defensively by average GS:
AL East
Red Sox 16-8 (14th offense, 2nd pitching)
Blue Jays 13-12 (4, 11)
Orioles 12-14 (11, 20)
Devil Rays 11-14 (2, 27)
Yankees 9-14 (3, 30)
AL Central
Indians 14-8 (7, 23)
Twins 14-11 (13, 13)
Tigers 14-11 (15, 12)
Sox 12-11 (28, 9)
Royals 8-18 (23, 18)
AL West
Angels 15-11 (8, 8)
Mariners 10-10 (25, 26)
A's 12-13 (26, 1)
Rangers 10-15 (24, 29)
NL East
Braves 16-9 (17, 16)
Mets 15-9 (12, 3)
Marlins 12-13 (1, 28)
Phillies 11-14 (10, 14)
Nationals 9-17 (29, 24)
NL Central
Brewers 16-9 (9, 10)
Pirates 12-12 (21, 21)
Reds 12-13 (19, 5)
Cubs 10-14 (5, 4)
Astros 10-14 (27, 15)
Cardinals 10-14 (30, 22)
NL West
D-Backs 16-11 (18, 7)
Dodgers 15-11 (6, 17)
Giants 13-11 (16, 6)
Padres 13-13 (20, 19)
Rockies 10-16 (22, 25)
So, by looking at these rankings, it would look like the Cubs were by far the best team in baseball in April, and yet here they sit 5 1/2 games out of first and tied for last in their division. They can't continue to pitch and hit as well as they have without it beginning to translate into wins and losses, but if they don't continue to pitch and hit as well as they have, geez imagine how bad they'll be then.
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