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The Full Count: Remember Gary Sheffield?


1. Sheffield’s back: Gary Sheffield took more than a month to give any kind of contribution to the Tigers whatsoever. Yesterday he finally gave the breakout performance every Tigers was fan was waiting for as the team beat the Orioles 3-2 to complete a sweep. Sheffield went 4-4, with a solo homerun and RBI single that provided the difference in this game. He raised his average from .191 to .226 in one day, and in the past ten days his average has nearly doubled. Additionally, he stole his fifth base of the season, which puts him at a career-high pace. The Tigers now have a four-game winning streak going, and they may finally have the slugger they were looking for.

2. From Champs to Chumps: The Cardinals are having one of the worst seasons ever for a defending champ. Due to a five-game losing streak, they have dropped to last place in the division and have the second-worst record in the entire National League. On Wednesday they were shut out 4-0 by the red-hot Milwaukee Brewers, who have the best record in the NL. Starter Anthony Reyes is now the official unluckiest pitcher in baseball. Despite allowing either 3 or 4 earned runs in each of his five outings, he is 0-5 due to awful run support. In fact, the Cardinals have only given him 1.2 runs per game in support, due to an offense with a .245 team average. Don’t blame Albert Pujols for their struggles; he is currently on an 11-game hitting streak that has increased his average by 90 points. The Cardinals can’t wait until starter Chris Carpenter returns, as all of their current starters have an ERA above 5.00 with the exception of Braden Looper.

3. Still perfect: Josh Beckett may be the Red Sox’s team MVP through one month of the season. He has yet to be beaten, and continued his success Wednesday by improving to 6-0 against the A’s. Beckett pitched 7 innings, with 7 strikeouts and 3 runs allowed. It wasn’t his best outing, but the Red Sox gave him plenty of support in a 6-4 win. The Red Sox are 17-9 and have the biggest division lead in the American League; Beckett has accounted for over one-third of those wins.

Player of the Day: Barry Bonds, Giants: 2-4, HR (9, 743 career), 4 RBIs in a 5-3 win over the Rockies.

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The Full Count: Yankees keep breaking their toys


1. Showing his potential: Yankees rookie Phillip Hughes was marvelous in his second start. Unfortunately, he’s now just another injured Yankees starter. Hughes had a no-hitter going through 6.1 innings before suffering a hamstring injury that will keep him out 4-6 weeks. He finally showed his great potential after a rocky first start, but now New York will have to find yet another body to put on the mound. The Yankees carried a team no-hitter through until the eighth inning, when the Rangers got their only two hits of the game. But by that point, the game was over, and the Yanks blew Texas away 10-1. Offensively, Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada, and Robinson Cano each had at least three hits to carry the team.

2. The Central Goes Through Cleveland: Some people didn’t expect anything out of the Indians in the preseason, others thought they would win the division title. So far, the latter group looks right. The Indians lead baseball’s toughest division by 1.5 games after a 12-4 rout of the Blue Jays. The offense took over in this one, as Travis Hafner and Jhonny Peralta homered, with Peralta driving in 5 runs. Trot Nixon had 3 runs and 3 RBIs, and Victor Martinez drove in two as well. AJ Burnett was the main victim on the Blue Jays’ pitching staff. He allowed 7 runs after a dominant previous start against the Yankees. For the Indians, CC Sabathia improved to 4-0 on the year. Cleveland is 6-0 in Sabathia’s six starts.

3. Back and Forth: Though the AL Central may have better teams, the NL West is just as competitive. Four of the division’s five teams are within two games of the lead, which is currently held by the Dodgers. LA beat the Diamondbacks 2-1 to snap their 6-game winning streak. Pinch-hitter Olmedo Saenz hit a game-winning RBI single in that contest. The San Diego Padres have slumped a little lately, but they’re right in the thick of things after a 3-1 win over Washington. Starter Chris Young pitched 8 scoreless innings for the win in his best game of the year. In the division’s other game, the Rockies topped the Giants 9-7 thanks to a terrible start by Russ Ortiz.

Player of the Day: Matt Holiday, Rockies: 3-5, HR (4), 4 RBIs in 9-7 win over the Giants. Holliday is second in the league to Derrek Lee with a .395 batting average.

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Waiting for the other shoe to drop


What is the opposite of “redacted”? Whatever it is, a whole bunch of MLB players are sweating it out. The New York Daily News published a 31 page affidavit that detailed the investigation into the steroid and performance enhancing drug network of ex-Mets batboy Kirk Radomski. The names have been redacted from the document but could be revealed in the future as the investigation continues.

If you scroll to section 24 (page 15), the document reads:


A review of the deposits made into these accounts indicated numerous significant deposits from current and former MLB players as well as some individuals affiliated with MLB players. This financial activity is consistent with information that the source told agents the MLB contact had related about Radomski’s prevalence with distributing drugs to a wide range of MLB players.

The document then lists 23 deposits between 5/12/03 and 3/12/05. It’s hard to tell how many names are on this list because there could be duplicates, but unless someone is using a hell of alot of nandrolone and other PEDs, it’s safe to say that a lot of major leaguers are going to be exposed.

There’s a lot more coverage of this story over at Steroid Nation. And here’s an excellent article by Gwen Knapp over at the Chronicle on this topic.

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The Full Count: Fun with April Numbers


1. Random Projections: April is now over and some ridiculous stats are in the books. If everything went just like it did in April:

– Alex Rodriguez would hit 99 homers and 239 RBIs.
– Josh Beckett would go 31-0.
– Francisco Cordero and Jose Valverde would each have 65 saves.
– Matt Holliday would have 262 hits.
– Jose Reyes would steal 115 bases.
– Kelly Johnson would have more walks than Barry Bonds.
– Bonds would hit 58 homers in only 429 at-bats.
– Vicente Padilla would go 0-24.

2. Complete Dominance: Only three starts after a 10-inning complete game, Roy Halladay was back in domination mode against the Rangers. He threw a complete-game, allowed just one run, and struck out 8. The Blue Jays gave Halladay plenty of support for the win, and now he’s 4-0. If there’s anything this Cy Young candidate has to be concerned about, it’s lasting through the season: he’s thrown 100 or more pitches in five of his six starts. After the 6-1 win, the Jays are 13-12 and in second place in the AL East.

3. Another Webb Gem: Defending Cy Young winner Brandon Webb was shaky his first three starts, but now he’s settled down into his usual dominant self. His last three outings have all been quality starts, including a 7-inning, one-run effort on Monday. Webb, backed by the Diamondbacks’ offense, helped the team move into first place as they beat the Dodgers. The 9-1 rout featured hits from nine players and RBIs from seven. Chris Young hit two homers as Dodgers starter Randy Wolf had another tough outing.

4. Not slowing down: The Brewers haven’t showed any signs of decline after taking the NL Central division lead earlier this year. On Monday, they crushed the three-time defending division champion St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals were playing in their first game after pitcher Josh Hancock’s death. But usually tragic events like that make a team stronger, and that certainly wasn’t the case against the Brewers. Milwaukee won 7-1, thanks to a complete-game by Jeff Suppan, who has won four starts in a row. On offense Prince Fielder hit his 6th long ball of the year as they tagged Cards starter Kip Wells for seven runs. The 16-9 Brewers are now tied with the Braves for the best record in the National League.

Player of the Day: Roy Halladay, Blue Jays: 9 innings, one run, no walks, 8 strikeouts in a 6-1 win over Texas.

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MLB Cost Index for April 30 2007



Look at my payroll! I kick ass!

The MLB Cost Index is one measure of how well your GM did over the course of the offseason and during the season. The Index takes a look at the payrolls for each team and calculates a Cost per Win number. Pretty simple stuff right? But in the wide open world of baseball with no salary cap, it’s the best way we can think of to judge teams on a level (monetary) playing field.

Now that we’re through with April (almost), the MLB Cost Index gets to be a little more interesting. It used to be that the Yankees were at the bottom of the rankings no matter how many games they won simply because of their huge payroll. Well, after a 9-14 start, they’d be close to the bottom even if they had half their payroll.

After one month, the Indians and the Brewers are the biggest bargains in baseball. The Indians lead the AL Central in the standings and are ranked 5th on the MLB Cost Index. Meanwhile, the surprising Brewers are leading the NL Central by 3.5 games and rank 7th on the Index. The biggest wastes of money outside of the Yankees? The Cubs, Mariners, Orioles and White Sox all rank in the top 10 for payroll this year but are underperforming. Only the White Sox are within shouting distance of the division leaders but they play in a tough AL Central, loaded with Indians, Twins, and Tigers.

The complete MLB Cost Index after the jump.

Continue reading “MLB Cost Index for April 30 2007”

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The Full Count: Extra Innings madness



Now we can go home!

1. 4 hours and 55 minutes: The 16-inning Astros-Padres game on April 26 didn’t take long to get passed as the longest game of the year. The Padres and Dodgers nearly played two games back-to-back in a 17-inning marathon. The game was tied 4-4 after the seventh inning and then went scoreless for a remarkable 10 consecutive innings. Finally, in the 17th, the Dodgers were able to score after an error by a Padres backup and subsequent double by Brady Clark. The story of this contest was the bullpen play of both teams. None of the 11 combined relievers for both teams gave up an earned run in 25 combined innings. San Diego came close to a comeback in the 17th with two men on and one out, but then back-to-back strikeouts gave the Dodgers a 5-4 win. They are a half-game above red-hot Arizona for the division lead.

2. A game of craziness: The game between the Braves and Rockies turned out to be quite a unique one. The most notable occurrence was a rare unassisted triple play by Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. As players on second and first for the Braves were running on a 3-2 pitch, Tulowitzki caught a line drive, tagged second base, then tagged the runner coming from first. This was only the 13th unassisted triple play in major league history, and the second by a Rockies player. Also in this game, the Braves walked an incredible 13 batters, including five free passes to Todd Helton alone. In the 9th inning with the Braves up 7-5, Bob Wickman walked the bases loaded and then gave up two runs to tie the game. Only a diving catch by Jeff Francoeur saved the Braves from defeat in that inning. But the Rockies won it anyway in the 11th, as Matt Holliday hit a two-run homer to end this wild game. The Braves still won the series, 2-1.

3. Bigger than baseball: Unfortunately, a tragic off-field event overshadowed a great day of baseball on Sunday. Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock, who had pitched on Saturday, died in a car accident coming home from the game. He slammed into the back of a tow truck, which was stopped to help another car that had crashed. The Cardinals-Cubs game, scheduled for Sunday Night Baseball, was postponed as a result of the tragedy. The Cardinals will wear #32 patches the rest of the season in honor of Hancock, a reliever who was with the team for their World Series run in 2006.

Player of the Day: John Maine, Mets: 7 innings, 3 hits, no runs, 8 strikeouts in a 1-0 win over the Nationals which improved his record to 4-0.

Walk Off: It was reported by two New York newspapers that Joe Torre’s job could be in jeopardy if the Yankees continue to struggle. This would be the stupidest move the Yankees could make right now. Torre has led the team to four World Series titles and ten division titles in a row. He is at absolutely no fault for the Yankees’ last place standing. The pitching has been simply awful, particularly the starters. There is a current trend in sports right now to fire the manager/coach if the team is underperforming, no matter what success this coach has had. Why not fire the people responsible for trading away all the Yankees’ prospects for over-the-hill veterans?

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MLB Power Rankings Roundup for Apr 27 2007

Everyone is finally figuring out what the best team in baseball is. There isn’t complete agreement but it seems that the consensus is that either the Mets or the Red Sox rule. Meanwhile, the Yankees are sliding in most rankings due to their latest losing streak. The surprise team this week is the San Francisco Giants, winners of 8 in a row and moving up the charts. The Diamondbacks, after a brief fling with the top 10, are dropping as well after a 3-7 record in their last 10.

Here are the major Power Rankings this week:

Rank Sportscolumn ESPN FoxSports Sportsline USA Today TSN.ca
1 Mets Mets Red Sox Red Sox Red Sox Mets
2 Red Sox Red Sox Braves Angels Mets Red Sox
3 Dodgers Tigers Mets Mets Dodgers Dodgers
4 Braves Braves Twins Dodgers Braves Brewers
5 Yankees Indians Indians Tigers Twins Twins
6 Tigers Didgers Tigers Indians Tigers Padres
7 Padres Blue Jays Dodgers White Sox Padres Orioles
8 Twins Brewers Padres Twins Yankees Braves
9 A’s Twins Brewers Brewers White Sox Giants
10 Angels Giants Angels Yankees Brewers White Sox
11-30 more more more more more more

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The Full Count: Streaking Giants move into first place


1. Eight is Great: One of the more surprising teams this season has been the San Francisco Giants. Expected to be one of the worst teams in the NL by many, they have moved up to first place with a league-high 8 consecutive wins. They just swept the Dodgers, who gave up their division lead. Bonds didn’t go deep on Thursday, but Ray Durham and Bengie Molina each had two RBIs, and starter Russ Ortiz somehow found a way to pitch well. Brad Penny (3-0, 1.95 ERA) continued his success for Los Angeles, but the bullpen blew a 3-1 lead for him. The Giants, who have the highest winning streak in the majors so far this year, will look to extend it as they face division foes Arizona and Colorado over the next week.

2. Bartolo is Back: Remember when Bartolo Colon won the Cy Young in 2005? Most people probably don’t due to his injury-riddled 2006. But now, after two starts this year, Colon looks to be an ace again. He improved to 2-0 after shutting down the Devil Rays. He pitched 7 innings, with one run allowed and 11 strikeouts. The Angels offense gave him plenty of support, with 11 runs, including a homer by Vlad Guerrero. The Angels were struggling at the beginning of the year, but now after three straight wins, they’re in first place. Their rotation, when healthy, could be the best in baseball: Colon, John Lackey, Ervin Santana, Kelvim Escobar, and Jered Weaver.

3. Still no pitching: Desperate in their search for capable starting pitching, the Yankees gave one of their best prospects, Phillip Hughes, a major league start. While you can’t draw conclusions based on one outing, Hughes doesn’t seem to be much of an improvement over the other guys they’ve tried out. He only lasted 4 innings against the Blue Jays, allowing 4 runs and throwing 91 pitches. But for Toronto, AJ Burnett gave his best start of the year against the Yanks’ great offense: 7 innings, 5 strikeouts, no runs allowed. The 6-0 win for the Blue Jays was New York’s sixth straight loss after getting swept by the Red Sox and Devil Rays. They are currently in last place.

Player of the Day: Josh Beckett, Red Sox: 8 innings, 2 runs, improved to league-best 5-0 in a 5-2 win over Baltimore.

Stat of the Day: Sammy Sosa’s two homeruns against the Indians made Jacobs Field the 44th park he has homered in. That is a major league record.

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The Full Count: Bad + Bad = extra innings Bad



Hell, even Garner looks bored

1. Longest Game of the Year: There have been quite a few extra-inning contests this year, but none as long as the Astros-Pirates game on Wednesday. The Astros always seem to get involved in the really long games, and this one lasted 16 innings. The winner of this marathon was the Pirates after Adam LaRoche hit a walk-off single. It was his first career hit at PNC Park, and only the 7th hit overall this year for LaRoche, who has been in a slump since the season started and is only hitting .106. The teams combined for 15 different pitchers, 30 different hitters, and 476 pitches thrown.

2. Man on Fire: Bonds hasn’t been this good since 2004. He hit a first-inning, three-run homerun on Wednesday against the Dodgers, giving him 7 on the year and 741 for his career. Barry Bonds has now homered in three of his last four games, and leads the league in homers, slugging, and OPS. He’s 14 short of the career homers record, and he Willie McCovey as the Giants’ all-time RBI leader. The Giants won 6-4 over the Dodgers, with Noah Lowry getting the win and Armando Benitez the save. For Benitez, it is his 6th save of the year with an ERA of 2.45.

3. Dueling Complete Games: You wouldn’t expect a matchup between Jarrod Washburn of the Mariners and Joe Blanton of the A’s to turn into a pitcher’s duel, but it did. Both hurlers threw complete games, but Blanton allowed two solo homeruns while Washburn shutout the A’s. Jose Guillen and Kenji Johjima both went yard, supplying all the offense the Mariners needed. Oakland’s loss combined with the Angels’ win over Tampa results in a tie atop the AL West standings.

Player of the Day: Jake Peavy, Padres: 7 innings, 2 hits, no runs, 16 strikeouts. He struck out nine straight from the second to fourth inning.

Stat of the Day: Joel Zumaya hit a batter and then walked four straight against the White Sox. It is only the second time a reliever has issued a free pass to five straight batters in the last 40 years, according to Elias Sports.

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The Full Count: Return of the Big Unit not as good as hoped



Dude, those CANNOT be real

1. Bad Debut for the Unit: Randy Johnson going to Arizona was one of the biggest stories this offseason. But, in his first start of the season due to a back injury, Johnson was not himself. He went 5 innings, allowing 6 runs and an uncharacteristic 4 walks. Johnson did strike out 7, but he ended up losing his matchup with fellow 43-year-old David Wells. Wells allowed just one run less than Johnson, but the bullpen behind him surrendered nothing. The Padres’ offense was the real star in this game. Adrian Gonzalez went 3-3 with 3 runs and 3 RBIs, and hit a rare lefty homer off the southpaw Johnson. Khalil Greene‘s 4-5, 4-RBI performance further helped the Padres in their 10-5 win, which sent their record to 12-8. The slumping D-Backs, meanwhile, have lost five in a row.

2. From Awful to Dominant: As any Braves fan would tell you, the main reason their 14-year division title streak ended last year was their bullpen. Their relievers blew the most saves in baseball last year. But this year, Atlanta’s bullpen is probably one of the best in the National League. That was proven on Tuesday, when they made up for another bad start by Mark Redman with six shutout innings. Redman, whose 3-inning, 6-run start gave him a 10.12 ERA this season, could and should be demoted from the Braves’ rotation. But the bullpen only allowed three baserunners, and Bob Wickman continued his 0.00 ERA season. The Braves’ offense is heating up as well; seven different players had an RBI as they beat the Marlins 11-6. at 13-7, they are a half-game back from the Mets for division supremacy.

3. Underperformers: The Tigers and Angels are two teams with World Series potential this year, but neither is looking good right now. They played each other on Tuesday to end their two-game set, and the performance by both teams was sloppy. There were 5 combined errors, including one by Tigers closer Todd Jones that led to an Angels victory in the 10th inning. But the Angels shouldn’t be pleased with their play either; they gave up a 7-run lead with an unusually poor effort by their bullpen. Both teams are lucky to be within a game of their division leader, as the Tigers are 11-9 while the Angels are just 10-10. Expect those records to get a lot better as the year goes on.

Player of the Day: Vernon Wells, Blue Jays: 4-5, HR (4), 3 RBIs, 4 runs.

Stat of the Day: When David Wells and Randy Johnson faced each other, it was the first time in MLB history that opposing pitchers were each 43 years or older.