Belt to Triple-A…

http://bit.ly/e7Smqy

It was fun getting to watch our young phenom. He was able to blast a HR against the Dodgers, so that alone is worth the show and being remembered in my heart.

I’m sure he will be back, he has a lot of potential with his plate discipline, sometimes watching a little too much but I think a lot of that has to do with confidence. In Triple-A he didn’t constantly face higher level pitching and it was easy for him to bounce back if he had a bad game, in the Bigs its a whole other ball game (meant to put that).

While its sad to see him leave I have a feeling we will see him half way through. Hopefully not due to an injury by a guy on the roster but more so because he got his confidence back and is killing it. I don’t believe Rowand can keep it up and Burrel is not the answer at all so because of their lack of play I am hoping Belt will get a call back up and shift Huff to LF.

Today… I will pour a little Anchor Steam out for you Belt.

DH + HR = not necessarily more

I took some time to check out some stats on a great baseball stat site open to the public (www.baseball-reference.com) and I noticed something interesting. The following is the avg amount of HR’s hit per team per game in the MLB for the last 15 years:

2010 – .95

2009 – 1.04

2008 – 1.00

2007 – 1.02

2006 – 1.11

2005 – 1.03

2004 – 1.12

2003 – 1.07

2002 – 1.04

2001 – 1.12

2000 – 1.17

1999 – 1.14

1998 – 1.04

1997 – 1.02

1996 – 1.09

1995 – 1.01

 

This shows you that 3 of the last 4 seasons have either been barely 1 HR per game per team seasons or below. This was not the case for all of the other years as you see. What is it that has caused the sudden decline though? Can you say well the NL pulls down the AL production because of the solid pitching and no DH? If you thought that was the case well look at the split between the AL and NL over the last 5 years (I don’t feel like writing out 15 years between them, so you can look up more if you like):

2010 -  AL .97  vs NL .94

2009 – AL 1.13 vs NL .93

2008 – AL 1.00 vs NL .96

2007 – AL .99 vs NL 1.01

2006 – AL  1.12 vs NL 1.04

 

What this shows if anything is that the AL is a lot more inconsistent then the NL. The NL for th emost part hasn’t had much of a drop off but the AL tends to from super highs to lows. Especially the difference between the 09 – 10 seasons. So what is the deal, are DH’s becoming more of a old mans position where once legends now sit their lazy asses down and wait to bat, therefore consistency has gone down? I don’t know but it is very interesting.

First Weekend in the books…

Well… it was an interesting weekend. A lot of walk off wins, some big time upsets but luckily no season ending injuries right out the gates. Reds, Phillies, Rangers, and Orioles are all undefeated. Among those 4 I would have to say the Phillies are the real deal but the other 3 teams I predict will have good years. Unfortunately the Orioles are the ones that will lose out in the end though because of a tough division. I am a little skeptical about the Rangers as well but it will clearly be because of their power if they are to try and return to the promise land.

As for my Giants… although they lost 3 out of the 4 I am still confident in them. Errors killed them on the first two games and I feel like if not both, they could have won one of those games. Also they scored 19 runs which is the 3rd best in the NL right now, only 2 behind the Phillies. Their team ERA is at 2.73 which is the 5th best in the MLB right now. So clearly their bats are working and their pitching is still at an elite level, yet their record is 1-3. As long as they can address the errors issue I think they will be able to show everyone why they are the World Series Champs.

I figure each week I will pay respect to whatever team had the best one and show the best fan appreciation. Since the Phillies are a favorite going into the season this year and they were able to come up with some great wins, I figure they deserve it. So here you go…

Week 1 – Phillies

A Giant Killing…

Well it’s about time, the Giants can now notch one in the old win column.

 

Other then saying yes the game turned out the way I figured, Lilly throwing it over the plate and waiting to see what the Giants can do and Cain rocking it as long as his change up was hitting its spots so his fastball could rip through, I have to say I was disappointed in Dodger fans. That was a long sentence I know but anyways here is my problem…

 

We’re only 3 games in to the season and Dodger stadium was barely half full. How is it that the Dodgers are suppose to be known as “loyal” or “diehard” and they can’t even fill up a stadium on the 3rd day while still undefeated and playing their rival who are reigning world series champs? I guess it just goes to show you that when you beef up security at Dodger stadium, you lose half your fan base. I have to say it was definitely obvious when the Giants did well, since I could hear cheering through out the stadium. The section I was sitting in was predominately Giants fans and we of course we loving every second of today. Shame on you Dodger fans, opening weekend on  a Saturday afternoon and you can’t even show up for your team. Just one more reason why I’m glad I’m not a Dodger fan.

 

Enjoy…

Errors, Errors and more Errors…

Well…. At least I can say that I was able to point out the key players to the game last night. Kemp definitely had the better bat for the Dodgers and was the key figure in running for an extra base which set up the 2nd run for the Dodgers and also hit in one earlier off a big double. Belt also hit his first home run (3 run) in his young major league career, and it also looked like it would be a 3-2 game at that point but….

In 2 games now the Giants have made 5 errors, 3 of which have been crucial errors that ultimately cost them the game. Last nights worst one was a routine grounder that Sanchez could have made the play to end the inning but he miss played it and so the inning stayed alive and so did the rally for the Dodgers to take the lead. For the most part though it was another pretty good pitching match up. Billingsley was on for the most part until his pitches werent staying down in the 4th and Sanchez was dealing until that crucial inning when things started falling apart.

Today is a new day though and it poses a interesting pitching matchup. The Dodgers pitcher, Ted Lilly, is more of a hard nose pitcher that just tries to throw strikes and get batters to make easy out. He has some stuff to his arsenal but for the most part he is not looking to be a high strikeout type of guy, just a I’m gonna put the ball over the plate and its up to you to make something happen type of guy. While the Giants pitcher, Matt Cain, is a proven fastball pitcher with some stuff to help compliment it. I would say Cain should have the upper hand today but then again I believe Bochy is changing up the line up (too soon) and that may not be the right move I feel. Hopefully though the defense can stand strong and the line up change won’t matter. we will see though.

 

My guys to watch out for are Andre Ethier and again Brandon Belt. Ethier likes to show up on Saturdays in the afternoon and put on a show and I am a little afraid of that and how he might fair against Cain but Belt I still feel like has some stuff to prove and show the nation as they play on Fox this afternoon as one of the big games.

Dodgers 2

Giants 4

Day 1 in the books… Giants fan pummeled

I was able to attend opening day last night at Dodger stadium for yet another rivalry match up with the Giants.

I have to say that Kershaw is the real deal. He has nasty stuff and he looks like he is poised to have a Cy Young worthy year, although I don’t think he will win it, he will still be a top 5 pitcher in the NL towards the end. Lincecum was pretty studly as well, although he wasn’t racking up the K’s like his counterpart was, he still was able to throw strikes and get the outs. Location was his biggest problem on his payout pitches. Other then sloppy defense on behalf of the Giants, it looked like it could have gone extra innings the way it was rolling.

Other then the Giant fan being pummeled in the parking lot the day wasn’t that bad. I for one went with just a standard black shirt but no representation of the Giants on it. There were definitely a lot of Giants fans there this year and of course the consistent argument was as follows:

“World Series Champs” – Giants Fan
“Stop living in the past, were in the future” – Dodger Fan
“One game, we’re still reigning champs” – Giants fan
“Shut up Faggots!” – Dodger fan

It’s good to see you can still count on a Dodger fan shouting out the ever so original “fag” line and of course stabbing someone for being a supposed “fag” in black and orange.

Tonight’s game should be another interesting one. Billingsley has been pretty solid against the Giants while Sanchez has normally struggled but over the last couple starts found his rhythm against them. One guy to watch out for tonight is Kemp. He was actually patient last night (a shocker) and was able to draw walks and score the runs for the Dodgers because of it. Sanchez throws more fastballs for strikes and that could be problematic for the Giants if Sanchez isn’t hitting his spots. As for the Giants, although it’s only his second game I think Belt may be able to do something tonight. He showed a lot of poise in his at bats by drawing a walk and digging in for what had to have been a 12 pitch at bat against Broxton last night.

Prediction: Giants 3 Dodgers 2

Predictions…

I wanted to take my time and actually write out something nice the beginning of the new season but because I am at the 11th hour with this I figure I will just put down the predictions and get dirty with the posts later. I plan on trying to really follow this season and update this as much as possible so stay tuned. Of course part of this new found need to update this is because my San Francisco Giants are the reigning World Series Champs, so we will see how much glory I can swim in as this season moves along. With that out of the way here are my predictions for everything:

AL East
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Tampa Bay Rays
Baltimore Orioles
Toronto Blue Jays

AL Central
Detroit Tigers
Minnesota Twins
Chicago White Sox
Kansas City Royals
Cleveland Indians

AL West
Los Angeles Angels
Oakland Athletics
Texas Rangers
Seattle Mariners

NL East
Philadelphia Phillies (1)
Atlanta Braves
Florida Marlins
New York Mets
Washington Nationals

NL Central
Cincinnati Reds
St. Louis Cardinals
Milwaukee Brewers
Chicago Cubs
Houston Astros
Pittsburgh Pirates

NL West
San Francisco Giants
Los Angeles Dodgers
Colorado Rockies
San Diego Padres
Arizona Diamondbacks

AL Wildcard
New York Yankees

NL Wildcard
Los Angeles Dodgers

Playoffs
Phillies over Dodgers
Giants over Red
Giants over Phillies

Red Sox over Angels
Yankees over Tigers
Red Sox over Yankees

Red Sox over Giants in 6 games

AL MVP
Adrian Gonzalez

NL MVP
Ryan Braun

AL ROY
Jeremy Hellickson

NL ROY
Brandon Belt

AL Cy Young
Jon Lester

NL Cy Young
Tim Lincecum

AL Manager
Jim Leyalnd

NL Manager
Dusty Baker

There you have it…

The fat boys are back…

And you know they could never be wack! Yes I’m paying homage to a classic fat boys song and I’m doing that because B-Mo and P-Blo rocked it once again tonight. Molina went 4-4 with a HR to help his 4 RBI night and Pablo went 3-4 with 2 runs of his own.

Our pitching meanwhile held ittogether very nicely. Zito took the mound and went 6 innings giving up 2 runs to then get in a little trouble in the 7th but Romo bailed him out only giving up one run credited to Zito and getting his 3 outs on Strikeouts. Meanwhile our young stud lefty Runzler owned again and Mota showed he still has it as they had perfect innings of their own.

That makes those Bay bad boys 6-1, still rolling and just getting pumped for the upcoming series in LA. On a side note how about then A’s?! I mentioned in a early post that you shouldn’t question Mr. Beane’s motives even though some player were concerned. Glad he has faith in his players while his own guys were worried cause they are owning their division. Owned the Angels in Anaheim and took care of the Mariners in their first series and are at it again as they won 4-0. Bay area is playing some standout ball, suck it LA.

Barry Zito is still Dy-No-Miiitee!

For those of you that still like to hold onto the argument that Barry Zito is a big waste of money, I just wanted to point something out to you. Sure he hasn’t been that productive as a Giant overall, I wouldn’t necessarily argue with that BUT… he’s either found some fountain of youth sports drink or decided to show up finally as of last years All-Star game. Since July 18th (his 1st start after the All-Star break) Zito’s line looks like this:

16 starts – (6-4) 2.64 ERA, 79 k’s [SO/9 (7.7)], .233 AVG

Here’s some Cy Young type players to compare him to since that date as well

Felix Hernandez
18 start – (10-2) 2.54 ERA, 105 k’s [SO/9 (7.4)], .225 AVG

Roy Halladay
16 starts – (8-7) 2.63 ERA, 111 K’s [SO/9 (8.1)], .258 AVG

Justin Verlander
17 starts – (9-5) 3.67 ERA, 126 K’s [SO/9 (9.2)], .252 AVG

Chad Billingsley
15 starts – (4-7) 4.95 ERA, 67 K’s [SO/9 (7.9)], .270

Joshua Sacco does my taxes…

and he knows how to give a great pep talk, worked for the Red Sox since they came back and won this game all because they never forgot what Josh told them before the game.