Early season hits and misses mean little in end
By Beltway Boss
BaseballBigMouth.com baseball news
Oh, April . . . The Detroit Tigers are 0-7 while the Baltimore Orioles are in first place with six straight wins.
The Orioles got the night off because of a rain out while the Tigers might pick up their first win of the season tonight against the Boston Red Sox. Either way, it shows the marvels of a short sample size. Taking a closer look at the Orioles: The Orioles bullpen is 4-0 with a 0.74 ERA with a .138 batting average against. All best in the majors. This is the same bullpen that went 24-35 with a 5.71 ERA last season - behind on Tampa Bay in the majors. Who thinks they can keep it up?
Detroit’s Willis’ wild outing just one of teams missteps thus far
The team is made up of mostly want to be fourth or fifth starters. Not bullpen flamethrowers. Chad Bradford and Jamie Walker are known quantities and dependable pitchers. Closer George Sherrill was a left-handed specialist up until last year. The Orioles are counting on him to get out both sides this season. Matt Albers came over in the Tejada deal and has done most of the work for the bullpen so far pitching 6.1 shutout innings. He has a good fastball and curve, but lacks command and solid mechanics. The bullpen could be a good home for him. It could also be a good home for Dennis Sarfate. But even if it is, let’s be honest, these guys are not the second coming of the nasty boys.
While the Orioles have a lot of players playing well over their heads, the Tigers have a number not playing up to their potential. Placido Polanco, Ivan Rodriguez and Miguel Cabrera are all hitting under .200. Edgar Renteria is bating .219/.242/.250. Magglio Ordonez is hitting .258/.258/.323. The only Tigers performing for Detroit are Brandon Inge and Carlos Guillen.
On the pitching front Justin Verlander has a 6.17 ERA in two starts. Jeremy Bonderman and Kenny Rogers have faired better posting ERAs of 3.38 and 4.09, respectively. Dontrelle Willis (pictured, above) walked seven in his only start with the Tigers.
Other oddities: Aubrey Huff, of the aforementioned Orioles, and Joe Crede, someone the White Sox tried hard to dump, lead the American League in RBI with 11. Mark Reynolds, of Arizona, — ever heard of him? — leads the majors with 13 RBIs. Luke Scott, also of the Orioles, leads the American League with a .500 batting average. Jason Kendall, who was almost run out of baseball, is hitting .571 to lead the majors.
Ben Sheets, who’s a legitimate star, has pitched 15 shutout innings this season and struckout an even 15 to go along with that. Daisuke Matsuzaka, who has the advantage of an extra start, leads the majors with 22 strike outs. Among those who only made two starts thus far this season, someone called Johnny Cueto of the Cincinnati Reds has 18 strikeouts.
So what does this all mean? A whole lot of nothing. Sit back and enjoy the season, folks.
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