| BASEBALL |
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| 5.7.03 - Notes The question of the season so far has been "Are the Royals for real?" The most popular answer to that question is "hell no." The Royals started the season 9-0, but they had a nine game winning streak during last season, too, when they lost 100 games. And, since that 9-0 start, they have been a very mediocre 11-10. But wait a minute. To say that the Royals are over .500 even without the blistering 9-0 start is something in and of itself, isn't it? This is a team picked by most to lose between 90 and 100 games, but even without the 9 game winning streak to start the season they would be on pace to win 85 games. Is it really outside the realm of possibility for this team to play .500 baseball the rest of the way? If so, they would finish ten games over .500 at 91-71. That may not be enough to get them in the playoffs, but it would certainly represent one of the greatest turn-arounds of all time. ********** Robb Nen is going to have surgery on his shoulder that will put him out for the season. So what? The Giants have the best record in the National League without him throwing a pitch yet this season and they have three viable candidates to close in his place (Worrell, Nathan, Rodriguez). Worrell has gotten the nod so far this season and already has nine saves. ********** It's time to break up the Tigers. They've got their first winning streak of the season - three games, even. It is difficult to conceptualize just how bad this team is when it took them until the first week of May to win two games in a row. ********** What is going on with Toronto? They've got the top two players in the American League in RBI (Delgado and Wells), but are only 15-18. This is a real team of streaks, they are currently on a five game winning streak, but earlier in the year they lost 12 of 14 games. *********** Does anybody feel sorry for Arizona? Both Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson have missed significant amounts of time on the disabled list, and they have struggled to a 15-19 record. They started the year 3-11. Don't feel too sorry for them, though, they still lead the majors in attendance with over 618,000 already coming out to see this old and overrated team. *********** The Royals success has come in large part to their young pitching staff, but another young staff is outperforming even the Royals overacheivers: the Cubs. Four of their five starting pitchers have ERAs under 4.00, led by Mark Prior's National League leading 1.65. The only starter not under 4.00, Shawn Estes, is also the only starter that is over 28 years old. How would you like to have dual aces on your team at age 22 (Mark Prior) and 25 (Kerry Wood, 3.00 ERA), that are backed by Carlos Zambrano (21, 2.92) and Matt Clement (28, 3.95)? They have currently pitched the Cubs into a virtual tie with St. Louis atop the National League Central (they are actually percentage points behind), but where would they be if they had any hitting? Not a single everyday player for the Cubs is batting over .300. ********** And finally, here's an update on how the three overachievers I profiled in my last column have fared recently: Mike Matheny has slowed some, but his stats are still well above his career averages, here are his projected stats as of today: .301 178 hits 10 HR 94 RBI .752 OPS All of those numbers would represent career highs. Brent Mayne has slowed even more than Matheny. His stats are just slightly higher than his career stats: .291 124 hits 22 HR 59 RBI .826 OPS Jeff Suppan has come a little closer to Earth, but is still playing at a level way above his career stats: 20-10 2.06 ERA 111 k's. As expected, all three are having trouble keeping up their early pace, but it is still possible that Suppan and Matheny could have career years. |
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