The Major League Baseball website recently made a big change to its statistics section. It’s now much more computer friendly and it’s a vast improvement over the old system that was there. If you’re a stats freak like me, you’ll love it.
With less than 50 games left in the season many more outcomes are becoming clearer.
It’s easy to take a look at the standings and talk about them but I was thinking about post-season honors today.
At the beginning of the year I mentioned a few names for some post-season honors. I thought that Adrian Gonzalez from the Red Sox and Albert Pujols were MVP candidates. I thought it wise to watch Cole Hamels on the mound for the Phillies and I mentioned the Angels rookie Mark Trumbo. I do forget if I mentioned anyAL
Gonzalez could very well be the MVP if the season were to end today. He is supported by a pretty powerful Red Sox lineup though so there could very well be another strong candidate right now. Red Sox fans would cringe; the Yankees Curtis Granderson has put up some beefy numbers for the second place Yanks. With other injuries to some of the other star players on that squad, most notably Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, Granderson has been a major reason for the continued offensive success of the Bombers.
Trumbo, in LA, has lived up to my pre-season predictions. He has provided a lot of power in a year where there hasn’t been a lot of power. If he simply stays consistent for the balance of the year, he’ll be the Rookie of it.
The AL Cy Young award race is between the Tigers Justin Verlander and the Angels Jered Weaver. They recently had a memorable head-to-head duel a couple of weeks ago. Weaver leads the league in ERA with Verlander close behind who leads in strikeouts and has a better winning percentage.
In the NL, I thought that Pujols while in his contract year would have a major year. Again, for Pujols, this is a down year. But he is heating up right now and does lead the NL in homeruns tied with his teammate Lance Berkman.
Pujols would need to continue to stay hot for the balance of the year and then have the Cardinals overtake the first place Brewers in the NL Central to be MVP right now. That is because the Brewers have two strong candidates for the award in Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. Those two could cancel out each other though and if Albert shines then he’ll get more votes.
The Mets Jose Reyes had been a leading candidate but two recent stints on the DL have hampered his ability to pile up the stats he would need to win the award being on a team struggling to reach the .500 winning percentage mark.
In the NL West there is another potential candidate in Justin Upton from the Diamondbacks. IfArizona
The NL Cy Young is up for grabs. No one is pulling away with that race. Hamels has been very effective for the Phillies and leads the league in WHIP (walks and hits to inning pitched) which make him tough and not just someone who benefits from the overall team power.
The Rookie of Year could very well be contested between two Atlanta Braves – Craig Kimbrell the relief pitcher and Freddie Freeman, their first baseman.
The current interesting story from the league also comes from the Braves. Second baseman Dan Uggla has a 32-game hitting streak going into tonight’s action. It’s the longest of the year now. But with all of that success he is still having a terrible struggle overcoming his horrid start to the year. His streak has only upped his average to the .221 mark. Going into the All-Star break he was hitting .181. So, just roughly speaking, he would have to break Joe Dimaggio’s all-time hitting streak to just boost his average to a level that is just sort of “ok” for the year.
That’s it. I just needed to get lost in some baseball today. Nothing to complain about now and baseball simply helps me straighten out myself after losing myself in it for a while.
Still pretty slow, show-wise, but things will pick up again starting next week. Looks like I’ll add another major university to the show schedule in a couple of days, which will be cool.
If you listen to the Dungeon of Manlove show, it will be a little safer to hear now. One of the major reasons it had an extra cringe factor is now gone. While the show will still be for adults, it’s less of an adult show, if you know what I mean. But still, if you are easily offended by “bad words” pass on it.
I have been, for years I should say, tinkering with the thought of doing a super-G rated show which only features positive and happy news from the area and the world. The idea would be to lift people’s spirits and feature people who are doing great things.
Yes, there are religious shows that are similar, but it would be with far less religion.
Sadly, I don’t think many people would listen to it though.
I don’t know; I’d like to be proven wrong about that. Send me some notes to let me know what you think. What do you like to hear? Would you listen to such a show? What would you like to hear in it? I’ll wait for the notes to decide.
With less than 50 games left in the season many more outcomes are becoming clearer.
It’s easy to take a look at the standings and talk about them but I was thinking about post-season honors today.
At the beginning of the year I mentioned a few names for some post-season honors. I thought that Adrian Gonzalez from the Red Sox and Albert Pujols were MVP candidates. I thought it wise to watch Cole Hamels on the mound for the Phillies and I mentioned the Angels rookie Mark Trumbo. I do forget if I mentioned any
Gonzalez could very well be the MVP if the season were to end today. He is supported by a pretty powerful Red Sox lineup though so there could very well be another strong candidate right now. Red Sox fans would cringe; the Yankees Curtis Granderson has put up some beefy numbers for the second place Yanks. With other injuries to some of the other star players on that squad, most notably Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, Granderson has been a major reason for the continued offensive success of the Bombers.
Trumbo, in LA, has lived up to my pre-season predictions. He has provided a lot of power in a year where there hasn’t been a lot of power. If he simply stays consistent for the balance of the year, he’ll be the Rookie of it.
The AL Cy Young award race is between the Tigers Justin Verlander and the Angels Jered Weaver. They recently had a memorable head-to-head duel a couple of weeks ago. Weaver leads the league in ERA with Verlander close behind who leads in strikeouts and has a better winning percentage.
In the NL, I thought that Pujols while in his contract year would have a major year. Again, for Pujols, this is a down year. But he is heating up right now and does lead the NL in homeruns tied with his teammate Lance Berkman.
Pujols would need to continue to stay hot for the balance of the year and then have the Cardinals overtake the first place Brewers in the NL Central to be MVP right now. That is because the Brewers have two strong candidates for the award in Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. Those two could cancel out each other though and if Albert shines then he’ll get more votes.
The Mets Jose Reyes had been a leading candidate but two recent stints on the DL have hampered his ability to pile up the stats he would need to win the award being on a team struggling to reach the .500 winning percentage mark.
In the NL West there is another potential candidate in Justin Upton from the Diamondbacks. If
The NL Cy Young is up for grabs. No one is pulling away with that race. Hamels has been very effective for the Phillies and leads the league in WHIP (walks and hits to inning pitched) which make him tough and not just someone who benefits from the overall team power.
The Rookie of Year could very well be contested between two Atlanta Braves – Craig Kimbrell the relief pitcher and Freddie Freeman, their first baseman.
The current interesting story from the league also comes from the Braves. Second baseman Dan Uggla has a 32-game hitting streak going into tonight’s action. It’s the longest of the year now. But with all of that success he is still having a terrible struggle overcoming his horrid start to the year. His streak has only upped his average to the .221 mark. Going into the All-Star break he was hitting .181. So, just roughly speaking, he would have to break Joe Dimaggio’s all-time hitting streak to just boost his average to a level that is just sort of “ok” for the year.
That’s it. I just needed to get lost in some baseball today. Nothing to complain about now and baseball simply helps me straighten out myself after losing myself in it for a while.
Still pretty slow, show-wise, but things will pick up again starting next week. Looks like I’ll add another major university to the show schedule in a couple of days, which will be cool.
If you listen to the Dungeon of Manlove show, it will be a little safer to hear now. One of the major reasons it had an extra cringe factor is now gone. While the show will still be for adults, it’s less of an adult show, if you know what I mean. But still, if you are easily offended by “bad words” pass on it.
I have been, for years I should say, tinkering with the thought of doing a super-G rated show which only features positive and happy news from the area and the world. The idea would be to lift people’s spirits and feature people who are doing great things.
Yes, there are religious shows that are similar, but it would be with far less religion.
Sadly, I don’t think many people would listen to it though.
I don’t know; I’d like to be proven wrong about that. Send me some notes to let me know what you think. What do you like to hear? Would you listen to such a show? What would you like to hear in it? I’ll wait for the notes to decide.
Done
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