We're roughly a third of the way through the season. Most teams have played roughly 54 games. If we simply multiply everything by 3 we'll see what pace people are on:
Jose Bautista is on pace for 60 homers. He might actually be able to break the clean home run record if he stays healthy. He missed 8 games in the first part of the season. If those are the only 8 he misses all season his pace would be closer to 65 or 66. His OPS is down under 1300 though.
I didn't think that could last forever.
Adrian Gonazlez is on pace for 148 RBI. He is the one thing standing between Jose Bautista and a Triple Crown. But this brings up the argument about RBI being the worst stat according to most sabremetricians. A-Gone has had 33 more runners on base during his plate appearances than Bautista has had.
Jose Reyes is on pace for 51 doubles and 24 triples. Both would lead the NL. He's on pace for 228 hits overall. The best pace in the majors.
Someone named Matt Joyce is batting .370. Only Bautista and Lance Berkman have higher OPS.
Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels would both have 20 wins for the Phillies. Young guns Jair Jurrjens and Yovani Gallardo would too. Jon Lester would win 20. Those 5 sound fine, but what about Kyle Lohse and Kevin Correia.
And I know we all expected the Phillies rotation to dominate, but both Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay are on pace for 270 strikeouts. No one has struck out that many since Randy Johnson in 2004 (290).
Some named Leo Nunez would have 57 saves. Other saves leaders this season include JJ Putz, Craig Kimbrel and Brandon League. Closing is just too fickle (if you are not Mariano Rivera) which is why you should never sign or trade for a big name closer.
Ass-Dribble No More
Asdrubal Cabrera is going to force baseball fans to start pronouncing his name correctly, if he keeps making plays like this one.
Aside from his amazing defense though, Cabrera's offense has really come around this season. Through his first four season he never had an OPS of 800. So far this year he is hanging around 900. Among shortstops he is 2nd in homers, 2nd in OPS and 1st in RBI. And that's the key, he's putting up these numbers as a shortstop making him very valuable according to advanced metrics. He's 8th overall in VORP, not quite as good in WAR because his defense actually detracts. But if Cleveland keeps winning we could be talking about Ass-Dribble for MVP.
29th Time is the Charm
Blue Jays pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes finally getting off the schneid, winning for the first time in 29 starts. It's amazing they kept Reyes in the rotation that long, but he actually didn't pitch terribly. He had some games when he got bombed, sure, but there were also plently of times he pitched well enough to win but either his offense or his defense deserted him.
For most Mets fans this will call to mind the plight of Anthony Young who lost 27 straight decisions for the New York Mets in 1992 and 1993.
Picture of the Week
Phillies fans welcoming back Chase Utley after he missed the beginning of the season with an injury. I love looking at crowd shots and scanning the faces and the reactions. Pay particular attention to the gentleman in the lower left.
Video of the Week
I have never caught a foul ball or a home run at a Major League Baseball game. Someday I want to. I would love to be at a game with Chase and Julain and pluck one out of the air. But I don't think it's worth dropping your kid over.
Not only did he drop the ball, the kid hit him afterwards.
But Wait, There's More
Another incident of parental neglect at a baseball game. This time a guy crushes his kid while diving for a foul ball.
But in this case I think I would have done the same thing. Pain is temporary, glory is forever. At least this guy got the ball.
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