Sos Roofline Systems

Posts Tagged ‘mlb’

Josh Beckett has struggled throughout his previous three starts, going 0-1 with a 9.82 ERA, letting up 10 homers. However the Sox have still one twice during those three starts.

In his last start, Aug. 28 against Toronto at Fenway, Beckett was not involved in the decision as he gave up 5 runs on hits and 5 BBs, with 9 strikeouts in 5.0 innings.

All five runs came on homers. Beckett, who surrendered just eighteen home runs in 2008, allowed twelve in The month of August.

Beckett last pitched against the Rays May 10 at Fenway, allowing three runs and 6 hits and three walked batters with five strikeouts thrown in 6 IP, but didn’t attain a decision in Boston’s 4-3 win.

In his latest game at Tropicana Field, April 30th, he gave up seven runs in 4.2 innings pitched. In five career starts at the Trop, Beckett maintains a record of 1-3 with a 3.58 ERA.

Garza is struggling through a six-game run without a win, and has not won at Tampa Bay in his past 5 appearances. His most recent win was July 24 in Toronto, defeating Roy Halladay. He has just one win in his most recent 10 games.

He leads the AL with a .233 opponents’ average, but has gotten the worst run support in the American League with 3.73 runs per 9 IP. Tampa Bay has scored a sum of eighteen runs in the midst of his 9 defeats.

He has allowed 3 ER or less in 19 out of 2 outings this year, including 17 of his last 22.

This is his 11th ever start versus the Red Sox and 5th all year. He boasts a career win-loss count of 5-1 with a 2.93 earned run average, (20 earned runs 61.1 innings pitched.

This season he is 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA facing the Sox. His last outing vs. the Red Sox was August 4 in Tampa Bay. Garza did not obtain a decision, as the Rays won, 4-2 in thirteen innings.

If you’re hungry for sports talk, visit the sport forum at RootZoo. Play all types of trivia, fantasy sports, and lots of free games.

Denard Span has quickly emerged as one of the best Minnesota Twins. With his first appearance in the majors occurring last season (he filled in for Michael Cuddyer after he hit the disabled list), Span became the team’s regular right fielder. Having played 104 games last year, he played over 80% of them in right field.

During 2009, however, Span has been all over the place. Due to lineup changes and a logjam at the outfield positions, Span has been swapped around through the course of the season.

Thus far, Span has played 40% of his games in left field, 40% of them in center field, and 20% of them in right field. Far less games in right field in 2009 than in 2008. Like any baseball player, he’d be best suited at one outfield position, which would give him the best chance to get acclimated there.

What position Span will field is still in question, but there is one of the three that Span fields best, and it just might work perfectly. According to the numbers, Span’s best defensive position is left field; with 23-year old Carlos Gomez the hopeful future in center field and Michael Cuddyer currently a mainstay in right, the question may answer itself.

The UZR measures a player’s range at each position. The UZR is measured in runs and shows how many runs a player has saved or cost his team.

This season Span has a UZR of 7.0 in left field, -3.5 in center field, and -1.2 in right field. With only 12 starts in right this season, his right field statistic may not beaccurate(he had a rating of 7.1 in right field last season), but his numbers in center and left have a much largersampling.

The UZR 150 measures the same exact stat, but over the course of 150 games. Here, Span’s UZR is 17.6 in left field, 7th best among all baseball players at the position. This is a very telling stat.

Span is a talented young force in the majors, and an exciting player to watch. The Twins clearly realize that he must be a starter, and it’d benefit him to find a home at one position. We’re hoping it’s left.

The Boston Red Sox came into the four game series against the New York Yankees just 2.5 GB of first place in the AL East. This was a crucial series for both teams; the Yankees were 0-8 against the Sox this year and desperately needed a series victory in order to gain momentum in the AL East race and to prove they could beat the Sox. The Sox, on the other hand, needed a series victory in order to cut the gap between these two teams and to end their current slide.

Boston came in hoping for the best and got the worst. Swept by the Yankees, shut out twice, and more pitching woes for the Sox.

The Yankees showed the baseball world that they are officially the favorites to win the AL East. The Red Sox, on the other hand, are struggling just to stay in the playoff race. Now 6.5 GB of the Yankees with less than two months left to play, they will most likely need to win the Wild Card in order to get into the playoffs. But that won’t come easily, either. The Sox are currently tied with the Rangers in the Wild Card race at 62-48, and the Rays have quietly remained 1.5 GB.

Boston did nothing that it needed to do during its weekend series in New York. Twice, the team failed to score a run in a game. The hitting, however, is less of a concern than the team’s pitching may be.

Now, with Wakefield and Dice-K on the DL, Buchholz struggling, and Smoltz being designated for assignment (after eight dismal starts), the Sox need some immediate pitching help. If they don’t get any, they might not even make it to the playoffs.

In other baseball news, the Washington Nationals have been on fire lately! And yes, that means more than two wins in a row. In fact, the Nationals have won eight straight games! They’ve also gone 12-4 since July 25, the best record out of all MLB teams in that span. Too bad they still sport the worst record in the majors, but at 40-72, they are improving, at least. They’ve gotten excellent hitting out of their lineup, especially from Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman, and they’ve averaged 7.06 runs per game since July 25, also the most in the majors.

Much of their success should be credited to their bullpen. More specifically, Mike MacDougal has stepped up as a reliable closer in a role that no Washington pitcher seemed to take well to before this. His presence in the bullpen has been key in winning the team games.

My final MLB news of the day is centered around Arizona Diamondbacks’ Mark Reynolds. Reynolds has been the hottest player in baseball lately. In the past ten days, he’s raised his BA from .275 to .290, and he has 8 HR’s, 12 RBI’s, and 2 SB’s. This kind of stat line is exceptional. Of course, he did singlehandedly beat me in fantasy baseball this week, which somewhat dampens his performance in my eyes.

On August 11th, 2009 the Red Sox and Tigers’ tensions were high and patience was low. On the 10th, Miguel Cabrera was hit by Brad Penny, and Edwin Jackson retaliated by hitting Kevin Youkilis.

The next night, it seemed that neither team had forgotten about the events of August 10th. Early in the game, Miguel Cabrera was beaned with a pitch and forced out of the game. Tigers’ rookie Rick Porcello wasn’t happy about this.

When Victor Martinez came up to bat, Porcello went in on him. Martinez took a couple steps toward Porcello, chose some words, and that was the end. Little did anyone know that was just the beginning.

Kevin Youkilis came to the plate after Martinez, and was immediately hit in the back by Porcello. Youkilis knew this was done intentionally and let it be known by running after Porcello. While Porcello moved away from the attacking Youkilis, Kevin Youkilis decided to hurl his helmet at Porcello and even tried to bring him to the ground. Youkilis failed in his efforts.

After seeing this I began to think about baseball brawls. There were a ton of mistakes in this “fight.” The first mistake was Youk throwing his helmet. That’s just wrong. What’s next, charging the pitcher with the bat?

Then the tackle was unnecessary too. A real man would have just punched the other player!

Porcello at 20 years old made Youkilis look like he was 12, but it wasn’t as if Porcello did much right. Youkilis just did more wrong. Porcello would have been much better off moving off to this right, in the direction of Brandon Inge, who would have provided much better protection than the Tigers’ first baseman.

It seemed like Youk wanted all hell to break loose, and once he got to Porcello he decided to hold back. He already charged! And it’s a great thing Youk plays in this era, because back in the day pitchers threw inside to batters. It was part of the game!