The Marlins Beast of the Week is…
2B Dan Uggla, again. We’ve spent enough time explaining why this former Rule-V draft pick is a Beast (he won the distinction of Beast of the East the last two weeks running), so here are his stats from the last seven days: .333, .417, .905, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 1 SB, 1.321 OPS (ridiculous).
Runners-Up: Jorge Cantu, Kevin Gregg, Andrew Miller
The Marlins least of the week is…
1B Mike Jacobs. Nine strikeouts in 19 at-bats is just not going to cut it. Jacobs’ stats for the week: .158, .158, .158 (is this possible?), 0 HR, 0 RBI, .316 OPS. Jacobs is a crucial bat for the Marlins; he needs to improve for the Fish to stay hot.
Runners-down: Jeremy Hermida, Hanley Ramirez
Categories: Marlins
Tagged: Andrew Miller, Beast of the East, Dan Uggla, Hanley Ramirez, Jeremy Hermida, Jorge Cantu, Kevin Gregg, Least of the East, Marlins, Mike Jacobs, NL East
The Nationals Beast of the Week is…
RHP Joel Hanrahan. Joel had a phenomenal spring but suffered a rough start to the season. He’s been pitching very well of late, and had a great week for the Nationals, pitching 5.2 innings in 3 games, surrendering just one run on 3 hits, striking out 6 and walking one. His ERA for the week was 1.59, his WHIP was 0.71. Very impressive numbers for a pitcher who barely made the team in April.
Runners-Up: Lastings Milledge, Ryan Zimmerman, Luis Ayala
And the Nationals Least of the Week is…
2B Felipe Lopez. Look, it was a great story when Felipe won back his starting job at second base. But since then, he’s been extremely mediocre, to say the least. The former All Star hit .174 for the week, striking out 5 times. His OBP, extremely important for a leadoff man, was an awful .269. He doesn’t only deserve to be moved down in the lineup, he deserves to lose his starting job when Ronnie Belliard comes back from the DL.
Runners-down: Jesus Colome, Matt Chico, Dmitri Young
Categories: Nationals
Tagged: Beast of the East, Dmitri Young, Felipe Lopez, Jesus Colome, Joel Hanrahan, Lastings Milledge, Least of the East, Luis Ayala, Matt Chico, Nationals, NL East, Ronnie Belliard, Ryan Zimmerman
Beast: Chipper Jones, 3B. Last week the Beast went to Brian McCann with apologies to Chipper. This week, the Beast is Chipper, with apologies to McCann. Chipper hit .474, upping his average for the year to .416. McCann hit .529, by the way. But Chipper gets it for his historic start to the season as a whole. Let’s not forget Kelly Johnson who hit .429 on the week and raised his average for the season to .297.
Runners Up: Kelly Johson, Brian McCann, Mark Teixiera
Least: Jo-Jo Reyes, LHP. Reyes is having trouble finding any sort of consistency in the bigs. 8 runs, 7 earned in only 5 innings is not going to cut it. Reyes has gotten progressively worse in virtually every start. Perhaps a little bit of scouting and film has given hitters the edge over the young lefty.
Runners Down: Tom Glavine, Mark Kotsay
Categories: Braves · NL East
Tagged: Beast of the week, Braves, Brian McCann, Chipper Jones, Jo-Jo Reyes, Kelly Johnson, Least of the week, Mark Kotsay, Mark Teixiera, Tom Glavine
This really pains me because the Mets have played so badly the past week that, to be quite honest, there is no real “Beast.” This past week, the Mets collectively hit .214, 24th in Major League Baseball. The Mets ERA was 5.40, 26th in baseball. But I’m obligated to give the Beast of the Week distinction to someone, so here goes.
The Mets Beast of the Week is OF Nick Evans. After being promoted from Double-A, Evans doubled three times in his debut Sunday and has apparently won the starting position in left field for now. The 22-year-old will surely return to the minors as soon as either Angel Pagan or Moises Alou comes off of the DL. But for now, it’s a good story amidst a whole lot of bad ones.
Runners-Up: Cowbell Man, Mr. Met, SNY’s ratings
I’m tempted to say that the least of the week is the rest of the team, but that’s a bit too dramatic for my taste. So I’ll single out the biggest culprit in the abysmal play that has plagued the Mets of late, and that is pitching coach Rick Peterson. This is a first on NL Beast–giving the least of the week distinction to a coach. I’ve been a Peterson supporter, but the statistics do not lie; the Mets pitching staff is abysmal. For the week, the Mets pitching staff was 1-6 with a 5.40 ERA, walking 32 and striking out 29, allowing opponents to hit .281. The supposedly elite pitching staff has been mediocre to say the least, and was just plain awful last week.
Runners-down: Brian Schneider, Oliver Perez, Mike Pelfrey
-Jonathan Kraft
Categories: Mets
Tagged: Mets, Moises Alou, Brian Schneider, Oliver Perez, Rick Peterson, Mike Pelfrey, Beast of the week, Least of the week, NL East, Angel Pagan, SNY, Nick Evans, Cowbell Man, Mr. Met
NL Beast is really, really enjoying Ryan Zimmerman’s blog. Here’s an excerpt from Zim’s latest post:
So I have to get it out that there is a new lady in my life. She has even been staying with me for the last week or so. It has been everything I had wished for and more. Although I don’t know if it will lead to marriage like my Washington sports counterpart Chris Cooley (congratulations by the way) I have to admit it is going quite well so far! So I figured she could make her world debut on this blog right here. Ok Ok there is no girl, well no girlfriend just the new English Bulldog I got. Jokingly named Miley after the young pop culture princess of today, Miley Cirus. She is all white with a brown ear and has already started tearing stuff up! Although she does act better than some girls I have hung out with. So that’s been the excitement in my life for the past week picking up poop and trying to mix a few wins and hits in at the same time!
Priceless.
Categories: Nationals
Tagged: Nationals, Ryan Zimmerman, NL East
Beast: Pedro Feliz, 3B. Feliz was outstanding this week. He hit .379, going 11 for 29, with two doubles, a home run. Yes, he only had 4 RBIs, but he gets the Beast for having an outstanding May in general. For the month he is hitting .310 with 12 RBIs, a vast improvement over April’s .218. Geoff Jenkins and Shane Victorino also deserve props for excellent weeks. Jenkins hit .381 and Victorino .394, but Feliz plays every day and has had such a stellar May that he deserves the Beast this week.
Oh, did I mention Ryan Howard with 4 HRs and an average of .276 for the week?
Runners Up: Geoff Jenkins, Ryan Howard, Shane Victorino
Least: Brett Myers, RHP. I didn’t want to give it to Brett again, but no one else has really had the stand out crappiness that he manages to pull off start after start. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to witness the last two outings, and while they’re not horrendous, they’re nothing close to good either. Brett needs to get away from the team for a couple week. Phantom DL or AAA or personal time - I don’t care. The Phils have lost the last 6 Myers outings and he has a 6.67 ERA in May. Something needs to Happen soon.
Runners Down: Charlie Manuel. I can’t stand these pinch runners every game. So yes, managers are up for beast and least, too.
Categories: NL East · Phillies
Tagged: Beast of the week, Brett Myers, Charlie Manuel, Geoff Jenkins, JA Happ, Least of the week, Pedro Feliz, Phillies, Ryan Howard, Shane Victorino
First inning of the Mets-Marlins game and Jose Reyes just mishandled a double-play ball for his 7th error of the year. He had only 12 last year.
He’s not hitting, he’s not fielding, what is going on with Jose? I’m concerned.
UPDATE: After Reyes’ error, Mike Jacobs (remember him?) rocketed an RBI double down the right field line to bring up Dan Uggla, who did the same down the left field line. Mike Pelfrey had only thrown 16 pitches through the error…Unbelievable.
-Jonathan Kraft
Categories: Mets
Tagged: Jose Reyes, Mets, NL East
During a press conference this afternoon, Omar Minaya told reporters, “Willie Randolph is our manager. There is no limbo. He’s the manager…and I hope he is our manager for many years to come.”
Here’s what Omar said to the media:
“We had a good, productive meeting,” said Minaya, who noted they all share ideas on how best to make the team better, adding, “Two things, ownership is very disappointed in how the team is playing…They wanted to talk to Willie about those things…Also, about the comments, once we get beyond today, like today is over, those comments are over, and they felt it was important to talk to Willie about it, they’ve accepted his apology and we move on from there. It’s over. Let’s go on. It’s over. Let’s move forward now.”
Now, Omar is lumped in with Willie as far as I can see. If the team continues to underperform, either fire them both or don’t fire them at all. Will it happen that way? Probably not. But it’s not Willie’s fault that the Mets roster has no depth or that the farm system is completely depleted. Omar has done great things for the Mets; he’s turned the franchise around. Of course, he’s also made some awful moves (where are you, Ambiorix Burgos?) But if the team continues to stink then Minaya really deserves the boot. Being a GM is not an easy job and people make mistakes, but I for one do not like the direction in which this team is headed. Our time to win was two years ago, and I believe that this team is largely over the hill. But still, with so much of the season left, anything can happen.
-Jonathan Kraft
Here’s what Matt Cerone had to say on MetsBlog…well worth the read.
Categories: Mets
Tagged: Mets, NL East, Willie Randolph, Omar Minaya, Ambiorix Burgos
Bill Ladson reports that Chad Cordero played catch on Monday and reported feeling no pain. It was the first time Cordero has thrown since injuring his shoulder back on April 29.
“Everything felt good. I wasn’t trying to blow it all out,” Cordero said. “I was a little nervous, too. When you have [an injury] like that, you don’t know how it feels until you go out there. My first throw was kind of nerve wracking. I had no pain. The only thing I felt was not throwing for four weeks.”
Manny Acta has previously said that Cordero will get his closing job back when he returns, which could be by the end of June, but Ladson reports that there could be a “closing controversy” when the Chief is healthy. It’s highly possible that either Cordero or Jon Rauch could be traded by the July deadline; it’s a badly guarded secret that many teams have scouted both pitchers in the past.
Categories: Nationals
Tagged: Chad Cordero, Jon Rauch, Nationals, NL East
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that Braves closer Rafael Soriano might return today. Soriano has been out since the second week of the season with elbow tendonitis. Joining him in the bullpen soon could be John Smoltz, who has indicated that “he doesn’t believe that his shoulder will withstand the rigors of pitching five or six innings as a starter without more trips to the DL.” Smoltz will join the Braves on their upcoming roadtrip to Milwaukee and Cincinnati.
Categories: Braves
Tagged: Braves, John Smoltz, NL Beast, Rafael Soriano
According to Adam Rubin, Aaron Heilman could be demoted to Triple-A New Orleans in an attempt for the former set-up man to regain his form. Replacing him could be Carlos Muniz, who has pitched very well for the Zephyrs (2-2, 1.80, 5 SV, 8 BB, 17 SO, .192 BAA).
I’m all for this move. I’ve discussed why I think Heilman should be traded, but if that doesn’t work out, why not give him some time to try and work out his problems in a no-stress atmosphere? As far as I can see, since Heilman has been so bad, there’s really no downside.
-Jonathan Kraft
Categories: Mets
Tagged: Aaron Heilman, Carlos Muniz, Mets, NL East
Jim Salisbury of the Philadelphia Inquirer gives a quick snapshot of every stadium around the league in yesterday’s paper. For the most part I think he’s right on with these reviews.
Maybe we’re getting spoiled.
During the last two decades, 18 new major-league ballparks have opened. They are all terrific places to watch a game - clean, modern and comfortable.
The downside of the stadium boom is that so many have come along that we get a little less excited each time one opens.
That was the case when the Phillies visited baseball’s newest stadium, sparkling Nationals Park, last week.
The place is beautiful. You can see the Capitol from the upper deck. It’s convenient and accessible. The concessions are superb, though not cheap. Players like it and fans should, even if that upper deck is a little far from the field.
But when held up against some of the other baseball-only parks that sprouted since 1990, and even some older ones, Nationals Park lacks something. It doesn’t have that one signature feature, like the Green Monster in Boston or the Roberto Clemente Bridge in Pittsburgh. It doesn’t make you say Wow! like Camden Yards or AT&T Park did the first time you walked in those places.
This is not a slight of Nationals Park. It’s just that the competition is tough these days.
With that, we thought it would be a good time to rate the 30 big-league parks. These are just the opinions of one scribe who has been fortunate to see them all. The criteria are wide open, from atmosphere to fan experience. Here goes:
Premium seating
Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore. The park that kicked off the retro-stadium boom in 1992 is still a standard-setter. From the smell of Boog Powell’s barbecue wafting over the right-field wall, to the iconic warehouse, to the skyline beyond the outfield wall, it is very pleasing to the senses.
PNC Park, Pittsburgh. It has all the player/fan amenities you’d want, but the surrounding ambience makes it one of the best. Beyond center field, the Clemente Bridge spans the Allegheny like a giant yellow welcome mat. At night, one of America’s most underrated cityscapes glistens in the distance. A must-see.
AT&T Park, San Francisco. Most picturesque, with the bay just beyond the right-field wall and the Bay Bridge hanging in the distance to the left. The seats are close to the field. Whether you liked Barry Bonds or not, there was no more electric setting in baseball than when he was hitting home runs there. The environment, a complete turnaround from blustery, uninviting Candlestick Park, once led a scout to say, “You used to go to the ‘Stick, nobody was there, and all you smelled was marijuana. This place is packed and all you smell are garlic fries.”
(more…)
Categories: Braves · General · Marlins · Mets · NL East · Nationals · Phillies
Tagged: Ballparks, Jim Salisbury, Stadiums
Bobble Feet
Yes, you’re right, it’s a Larry Craig bathroom stall giveaway from the St. Paul Saints. Marketing genius if you ask me. Click the link and watch the video for a good laugh.
The Smoking Gun has more pics. The number is the Saints ticket office.
-Greg Berlin
Categories: General
Tagged: Larry Craig, St. Paul Saints, Bobble feet
