Sunday, June 04, 2006 |
Two Games
Serial Winner, Almost: Phillies 6, Dodgers 4
Maybe you're surprised by the title of this subhed, given that the Dodgers lost the game thanks to a bullpen implosion by Joe Beimel. But at the moment, the Dodgers are 4-3 versus the Phillies, which, if it holds, would be the first time the Dodgers have won a season series from Philadelphia since 2002. Of course, that narrow lead is contingent on the Dodgers winning or not playing one makeup game from an April 8 rainout.You can see the cracks in the ceiling with Sele, but for most of his time on the mound, he was pretty good, keeping his head despite a first-inning error by J.D. Drew that allowed a run to score. It's a better start than he had with the Mariners last year; by this time, he had a 4.43 ERA, and a couple of games in which he gave up six earned runs, harbingers of the awfulness to come. Like all such gifts, you keep riding the horse until the legs fall off.
Poleaxe: Angels 14, Indians 2
John Lackey, once again, was on, but as you can tell by the score, the show really belonged to the Angels' offense, which once again decided to show up in a laugher against the Tribe; never behind and never threatened, Chone Figgins' leadoff homer to left in the game's first at bat set the tone, and the Angels never looked back. In all, the Angels got homers from Figgins, Vlad, Napoli, and McPherson, making C.C. Sabathia look terrible, at least, for one night.Speaking of the three-true-outcomes hero, here's an interesting little list:
Player Team VORPr
=============================
Michael Napoli LAA 0.474
Gregg Zaun TOR 0.458
Joe Mauer MIN 0.441
Jorge Posada NYA 0.370
Ramon Hernandez BAL 0.354
Mike Redmond MIN 0.348
Gerald Laird TEX 0.261
A.J. Pierzynski CHA 0.242
Victor Martinez CLE 0.207
Ivan Rodriguez DET 0.192
In other words, for AL catchers with 50 or more at bats, Mike Napoli is lapping the lot of them. He's hitting for average, power, and getting on base at a fearsome clip (.314/.426/.510 going into tonight's game). While I don't think he can necessarily keep this kind of production going through the end of the season, if he can, he's immediately the best catcher in the league.
It's sad to see what's become of Guillermo Mota; he's now sunk to the level of mopup pitcher. That's baseball, I guess.
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