Cy Young Contender: Bartolo Colon

You may laugh at me as you read this blog, as I write about how I think that Bartolo Colon is once more a Cy Young contender, but I feel as though Bartolo is back in business. The two time All-Star and Cy Young winner has gone through a career that has had the highest of pinnacles to the lowest troughs. Now, he is back on the rise in Oakland and has a somewhat viable offense to back him up. But after being with Yankees last year, you would have thought that Colon would have won more games, give him a break! He was coming back from a year plagued with surgeries repairing his torn rotator cuff and many other shoulder problems. Now Colon is 3-1 with the A's and gave a great performance in Japan against the Mariners. His one loss is when pitching against "King" Felix Hernandez, but I would just like to think that Colon was still jet-lagged from the flight back from Japan. In his second start in the US, Colon faced Hernandez again, and then beat the pants off him only giving up 3 hits and 1 walk in 7 innings pitched. But last night's game could have been Colon's hardest outing, but he went out with his best stuff, blanking the Angels to only 4 hits in 8 innings pitched. Bartolo was pitching against Ervin Santana, who entered the day with 13 wins and a 2.00 ERA in 23 career games (21 starts) against the A's. So the Athletics were in a position where it didn't look good, but Colon looked past the numbers and threw 82 strikes, with 38 in a row! Bartolo Colon threw strikes from the first pitch in the 5th inning into the 8thing inning. Throwing strikes against a lineup that is full of powerful hitters means nothing to Colon, he was unfazed. He also did all of this under the team in which he won his 1st and only Cy Young award with, the Angels. Another story developing with the Bartolo Colon triumph is the power behind the bat of Yoenis Cespedes, who hit his 4th homerun of the season to give the A's an early 3-0 lead. As of right now, Colon has a 2.63 ER, a WHIP of 0.80, leads the MLB in innings pitched with 27 1/3 innings, and ties Roy Halladay in MLB with 3 wins. I really think he can pull through for another Cy Young award if he keeps up this pace, what do you think?

Those Crazy Marylanders*

Is there something in the Chesapeake? 13 games into the season, who would have thought that the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Nationals would still be leading their respective divisions. Looking at the Orioles who are 7-5, they lead the division by 0.5 games over the Toronto Blue Jays. What exactly is leading to their success? To start off the season the O's swept the Twins, but then got swept by the Yankees. The Orioles are ranked 2nd in homeruns in the American League with 20, and without any from Mark Reynolds! But Reynolds is certainly contributing to their #1 ranking in strikeouts with 100 Ks.   Offense hasn't been the Orioles biggest problem in the past few years, it's been their lack of pitching. This year they are ranked 5th in the American League in ERA with 3.65 and are leading the American League in saves with 5. Who would have thought that Jim Johnson would have 5 saves with a 0.00 ERA through 5 2/3 innings pitched? Last night the Orioles pitched got hurt by the sluggers of the Chicago White Sox, and they need to learn how to rework some pitching placement against big bats, especially with being in the AL East. With all of that falling into place, the Orioles are still 2 games over .500, and for the team and O's fans everywhere, I hope they stay there.

Even though the Orioles appear as though they are unfortunately on the decline, the Washington Nationals are just starting. The Nationals are a National League best with a 10-3 record, only behind the Texas Rangers in all of MLB. The Nats are just unstoppable. It's just amazing how much they have improved with having Stephen Strasburg back and a Jayson Werth who is actually contributing. New faces to the Nats like Gio Gonzalez and Edwin Jackson are pitching like there is no tomorrow, and old faces like Ryan Zimmerman, Jordan Zimmermann, and Rick Ankiel are contributing to more win games. In their last 10 games, the Nats are 8-2, only losing to the Cubs, Mets, and Reds all this season. But still leading the NL East by 2.5 games? That is something that I never thought I would see this far into the season, but the NL East is nothing of what I thought it would be as of now. In power rankings, the Nationals are ranked 12th by the professionals, and 7th by the fans, giving them a power ranking of 11th out of 15. But after losing Mike Morse to injury, and still not having pitcher Drew Storen until the All-Star break, the Nationals are working to fulfill those gaps in the lineup. As a baseball fan I love to see the Nationals succeed, but as a Phillies fan, I'll keep that opinion to myself.

*Washing D.C. I understand is not technically in Maryland

Pudge Rodriguez Calls it a Career

Thumbs Up from Pudge!

After 21 seasons in the Majors, Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez is retiring. Out of those 21 seasons, 12 (and some change in 2009) were spent in Texas with the Rangers from 1991 to 2002, one year with the Marlins in 2003, 4 years with the Tigers 2004-2008, some time with the Yankees in 2008, one year with the Astros in 2009, and lastly two years with the Nationals from 2010-2011. Wow, talk about some serious playing some with true contenders. Pudge played in two World Series, his first in 2003 with the Marlins against the Yankees to win his first ring, and then lost to the Cardinals in 2006 with the Tigers. He is a lifetime .296 hitter, with .255 batting average in the playoffs. The funny thing about his batting average in the playoffs is that Pudge played the Yankees in every single post season, so realistically, 5/9 of that average is from Yankees pitching, which isn't that bad. If you don't think Ivan Rodriguez is an amazing catcher, well then you apparently haven't seen his stats. Yes I understand that in his later years with the Astros and Nationals his numbers faded, but he's been catching longer than I've been alive, and a 40 year old catcher is nothing to shake a stick at. I mean those knees must be tired! "I-Rod" has racked up 13 Gold Gloves (10 with the Rangers), 7 Silver Sluggers, 14 All-Star games, and one MVP award. Of active players, Rodriguez leads all of MLB in doubles with 527, which greatly outnumbers such players as Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, and Chipper Jones. Pudge also leads all of Major League Baseball history with 2,427 games started as a defensive catcher, which outnumbers the next highest catcher (Carlton Fisk) by over 200 games. Other things Rodriguez leads all of MLB history in is: Putouts as a catcher, caught stealing as a catcher, caught stealing %, assists as a catcher, and total zone runs as a catcher. Phew! Those are Hall of Fame statistics in my book, and hopefully he will make it there some day. Pudge has decided to retire with the team that he was most successful with and made a name for himself with, and the Rangers have not made a formal announcement, but should do so soon. What a great career Ivan, I'm glad I was there to see possibly the greatest catcher of Major League Baseball play during my lifetime.

"The Freak" in Trouble

Tim Lincecum is a 2 time NL Cy Young Winner, a 4 time NL All-Star, and a World Series Champion, but what's wrong with him? After three very poor outings, Giants fans everywhere are wondering exactly what is wrong with their ace pitcher? I was able to watch Lincecum's first outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks in which he got rocked. He did two things that he did not do in all of the 2011 season which was give up two homeruns in the same inning, and give up a homerun in the first. Lincecum got the lost that day after pitching 5 1/3 innings, with 6 hits, 1 walk, 5 runs, and an ending ERA of 8.44. His next start was not much better after the entire Colorado Rockies had his number. Lincecum only pitched 2 1/3 innings with 8 hits, 2 walks, 6 runs, and a rising ERA of 12.96. Last night against the Phillies, Lincecum's struggles continued as he "dueled" against Doc Halladay. In his longest outing of 6 innings pitched, Lincecum gave up 8 hits, 1 walk, 5 runs, and lowered his ERA to 10.54. Now Lincecum is 0-2 and since 2007, he has never allowed at least five runs in more than two straight games. He has allowed a total of 16 runs this year, marking that the first time he has given up that many runs in a three-game span. Who knows what is going on with "The Freak" but apparently neither does he. After his start against the Rockies and before last night's game against the Phillies, Lincecum cut off a considerable amount of his hair, maybe to remedy his poor starts. In 2011, Tim finished 13-14, but with an ERA of 2.74, the reason behind his poor win-loss record can be attributed to the Giants lack of offensive power, finishing 2nd to last in the National League. Now the Giants are facing more problems losing closer Brain Wilson to Tommy John surgery, his second of his lifetime. Two years after winning the World Series, the Giants are scratching their heads trying to find out what they did wrong. Was it getting rid of Pat Burrell? Or is it that Tim Lincecum is smoking too much marijuana? Who knows, but in my opinion, it's getting harder to compete in the NL West with the Dodgers and Diamondbacks starting off the season red-hot. I know that I say this often, but I remember going to Tim Lincecum's Major League debut back in 2007 against the Phillies. I remember him looking goofy and also looked like he was 12 at the time, but I never knew that he would become a 2 time Cy Young winner. I really don't mind Tim Lincecum and even think that he is an amazing pitcher, especially for his size, but I hope "The Freak" can regain his former stature.

Freddy!

Freddy Galvis' name has been tossed around for the past year or so, debating whether or not he could fulfill shortstop if Jimmy Rollins did not sign with the Phillies, but after it was apparent that Chase Utley would not be available to start the season, it's all about Freddy. Galvis started off the season going 0-12 and finally notched his first Major League hit last Monday with a 2-run double off Anibal Sanchez. Freddy was quoted saying, "As soon as I got to second, I could breathe. I was feeling much better. After the second game, I was like, 'Wow, when am I going to get it?'" That double was the only offense for the Phillies on their home opener, but Galvis' bat didn't quiet down after that. On Wednesday night's game against the Marlins, Josh Johnson on the mound, Freddy's name was being chanted by the fans at Citizen's Bank Park, and Freddy ripped a double into right field, giving him his second hit, 3rd and 4th RBIs, and the love of Philadelphia. "Freddy! Freddy! Freddy!" is what they were chanting, to which Roy Halladay said he was jealous because no one has ever chanted his name like that. Maybe someday soon Roy. But Freddy is now batting .226 going 7-19 after his 0-12 stretch, so as of last Monday, Galvis is batting .368. His offense isn't the only thing that is turning heads, but his defense is impecable. Many have been speculating that Galvis is turning plays that a healthy Chase Utley could not make, and saying that would mean that Galvis' defense is better than a 5 time NL All-Star. So far, Galvis has committed one error, but that in my mind is debatable because the ball took an awkward hop at the last second, causing Galvis to misread the ball. Is that an error? I don't know. Let's hope that Freddy moves up in the Phillies lineup, allowing him to get more at-bats and hopefully more RBIs and runs scored. Ending on a happy note, Freddy Galvis had his first home run on Friday against the Mets off R.A. Dickey in the 3rd inning in front of Phillies fans at CBP. After receiving the standard "freeze-out" by his teammates, he was welcomed into the dugout with high-fives, hugs, and congratulating pats on the back. Good luck Freddy and keep up the good work.

Are the Phillies Back?

10 runs in two games? The Phillies didn't have 10 runs in their first 4 games! The Fightin' Phils offense may be back in the city of Brotherly Love, but will it hold? In the past two games, strong outings from Roy Halladay and Joe Blanton have given the Phillies an edge over the Marlins. Roy Halladay dished out his best stuff against Josh Johnson, whom he normally struggles with. Before the two met on Wednesday, Halladay was 1-2, that one victory being his perfect game, but now the pitchers are 2-2. Joe Blanton who had his first official start as a Phillies pitcher this year, only gave up 3 hits, 1 walk, and one run to the Marlins, while Mark Buehrle gave up 3 runs across 6 1/3 innings. Maybe the Phils just needed to get back to Citizens Bank Park to really have the bats come alive. Hunter Pence has been the glue that holds the lineup together, so far hitting .391, with 1 homerun and 4 RBI. Close behind him is the man behind the plate, Carlos "Chooch" Ruiz had an outstanding Spring Training and keeping that momentum going by hitting .375, with 1 homerun, and 2 RBI. Last's game was all about Shane Victorino and Ty Wigginton, who had their first blasts of the season, Shane's in the 4th inning, and Wigginton had his in the 7th to give the Phils some breathing room to make it 3-1. But are the bats really back? I and the city of Philadelphia certainly hope so. Without Chase Utley at second, Freddy Galvis has been outstanding at second base, but he as of now lacks the offensive power that Utley brings to the team. Utley is an All-Star, and possible Hall of Famer, Galvis is a rookie, so he certainly has time to make a name for himeself. I personally am waiting for Jimmy Rollins to step up his game and validate his new contract. Other than that, Juan Pierre, Ty Wigginton, and Jim Thome are fitting into place in Philadelphia, and Jonathan Papelbon is doing great with his two recorded saves for the season. I look forward to the rest of the season and this upcoming series against the Mets at CBP.

Vlad Guerrero a Criminal?

"Me? Nah I didn't fight anybody"

What do players do when they haven't been signed by a Major League team? I'd imagine if you were to check in on Johnny Damon or Derrek Lee, they're probably practicing somewhere or out relaxing with their families. But if you head down to the Dominican Republic, in the city of Bani and look for Vladimir Guerrero you might not find him relaxing. He'll be out dancing at the disco El Punto, and possibly fighting and assaulting police officers. What?! That doesn't sound like our Vlad! That night, Vlad presented himself to the jail, and then in the morning to the arresting officers who were there that night. The police were looking for Guerrero and his two bodyguards after they allegedly left one person injured at the disco. Community leaders and Guerrero's brother spoke out to reporters the morning where Vlad surrendered himself to the authorities, defending the ballplayer's integrity. Vladimir told the press after he presented himself to the police that he had nothing to do with the injury of anyone at the club and came out because he had nothing to hide. But as of an hour ago (6:30pm EST), Guerrero's lawyer spoke out and stated that Vlad will not be charged with anything. It has been speculated that he had nothing to do with the fight that broke out at the disco, nor did his bodyguards. Phew! Thankfully Vladimir Guerrero can come back to MLB in the United States so none of this will happen again. And let's also hope that the only hitting that Vlad is dishing out, comes from in the batter's box.