The second Sunday in the baseball felt very like a Sunday with a lot of the fireworks being used up Saturday. I watched two full games and neither was particularly inspiring unfortunately but having spent the better part of my Sunday evening staring at them it’s only far I write them up.
Phillies @ Braves
The two teams predicted by many to compete for the NL East crown concluded their early season series in Atlanta with a 3-0 Philadelphia win meaning they take the first series from the Braves and pushed their record to a National League best 7-2. After the Braves got off to a fast start Friday night beating up on Cliff Lee for a 6-3 win behind Tim Hudson and Chipper Jones, Saturday was less successful for the Braves as the Philly offense teed off on Brandon Beachy and the Braves bullpen for a convincing 10-2 victory that set up the Sunday game as a compelling rubber match. Nobody thought to inform the Braves offense that, in order to be competitive, they needed to score runs, a worrying problem that was on display too often in 2010. Shane Victorino continued to swing the bat well finishing the Braves series 7-for-13 with 5 runs scored; he showed how important he is leading off for this Philadelphia team whose offense was questioned in the offseason. After the Phil’s scored in the first inning of each of the two previous games the Braves kept them off the board this time thanks to a trademark Derek Lowe double play ball and then another nice play to get Jimmy Rollins by Alex Gonzalez.
The Philadelphia line-up provided one interesting titbit by starting Michael Martinez at second base they increased the number of Rule 5 Draft picks playing second base in the NL East to three. Dan Uggla was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001 before they didn’t add him to their 40-man roster in 2005 when he was subsequently chosen in the Rule 5 draft by the Florida Marlins. Uggla is obviously now with the Braves. Brad Emaus was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2007 before the New York Mets drafted him in the 2010 Rule 5 and giving him the starting job on Opening Day. They were then joined by Martinez who the Phillies chose in the same draft the Mets took Emaus, Martinez signed with the Nationals organisation in 2006.
After being beaten around by Emaus’ Mets in his first start of the season Cole Hamels bounced back and was absolutely filthy in his second outing, not allowing a hit until the fourth inning and finishing his seven innings of work only giving up four hits while striking out seven. Tom Glavine, who was calling the game for Fox Sports South, pointed out that Hamels was hitting 95 in the first inning which gave him confidence in it while being able to use his other pitched as well. Hamels made the Braves best hitter in Martin Prado look very bad on two occasions, striking him out in the fourth and sixth and leaving Martin looking really overmatched on both occasions.
Victorino scored the first two runs for the Phillies as he manufactured the first run in the fourth inning, hitting a single before going first to third on a Placido Polanco single and scoring on Jimmy Rollins’ double play ground out. He then used his power to score the second run in the seventh when he crushed an inside fastball deep into the right field seats. After the abuse the Braves bullpen took on Saturday Fredi Gonzalez went to young reliable on Sunday pitching Jonny Venters and Craig Kimbrel in the 8th and 9th innings. Venters looked dominant recording three ground ball outs in his inning of work before Kimbrel and Jason Heyward combined to allow Jimmy Rollins to score an unearned run in the ninth inning.
It just felt too much like a lazy Sunday for the Braves as they just never got anything going and looked unfocused at the plate recording first pitch outs with runners in scoring position far too often. The Phillies gave us a preview of what could be with the quality pitching and getting enough offense for the win. This series is not a sign of things to come or even an early season measuring stick just the first round of what will be a slugfest.
Indians @ Mariners
With the Indians currently leading their division and the Mariners poised to begin their annual decline into insignificance I thought it would be a good time to see these two teams. The pitching match-up was hardly marquee with Eric Bedard going for the Mariners against the Indians Josh Tomlin, who had made a very good start against the Boston Red Sox earlier in the week. Eric Bedard was truly horrible in the four innings he ended up working, he lacked control in all four but not to the point of walking people. For someone who was throwing in the high eighties and low nineties Bedard needed to work the bottom of the strike zone and hit the corners, it simply wasn’t happening as he gave up a first inning home run to Asdrubal Cabrera followed by a squib single to Shin-Soo Choo and a towering double to Shelly Duncan on a 75 mph breaking ball left at the letters that would have been a home run in any other ballpark. In the second inning it looked like Bedard might actually get things under control as he found some sink on his change-up and looked a lot better against Matt LaPorta and Jack Hannahan before giving up consecutive double to Lou Marson and Michael Brantley that scored Marson. Brantley then scored when Asdrubal Cabrera singled but ended up being out at second base on a good heads up play by Mariners catcher Chris Gimenez.
Gimenez is a perfect example of where the Mariners currently are. The position of catcher is currently filled out on the M’s depth chart by Gimenez and Miguel Olivo, the former has a .163 career average while Olivo is nearly 33 years-old but coming off a career year at the Rockies paradise last year. When the Mariners traded Cliff Lee last year they had to choose between the Rangers package that had Justin Smoak as the centrepiece and the New York Yankees and their top prospect, catcher Jesus Montero. The Mariners chose Smoak at a position that was already filled by Major League average Casey Kotchman. Even if the Mariners had received Gary Sanchez or Austin Romine instead of Montero they could have quality offense at a premium position, they don’t and seeing Gimenez come in the lack of offense at that position in such a weak line-up is just much more pronounced.
Bedard left the game after four innings in which he gave up six runs and threw 83 pitches, is the Mariners are going to do anything like compete they need more from their starting pitching because the bullpen they have isn’t deep or strong enough to make up the deficiency like it did yesterday. Of the 10 hits Bedard gave up 6 were for extra bases including 2 home runs in as ineffective a start as you’re likely to see. Tomlin on the other hand continued his good start to the season with 6.2 strong innings allowing only 3 hits and 3 runs, a number somewhat skewed by one bad pitch to Ryan Langerhans that resulted in a two run homer. Chad Durbin was awful allowing a home run and a single to the two hitters he faced without getting anyone out. Despite the small offensive surge that saw the Mariners score three runs in two batters it never felt like they were actually going to come back and were eventually shut down by a good back end of the Indians bullpen.
Neither of these teams seems set to compete, despite the Indians good start they just don’t match up to the White Sox, Twins or Tigers and will fall off quite quickly one would expect. However they still have some potential excitement with Choo and Carlos Santana as well as some intriguing prospects. The Mariners on the other hand have so little to get excited about outside of Felix Hernandez. They still have good players in Ichiro and Franklin Gutierrez but, especially for Ichiro, they are models of consistency and that isn’t sexy. Ichiro is one of the best players in the game still but he has become something of a classic painting, you go to admire and appreciate and rarely get excited about.
Ball Four
1. Gordon Beckham is going to have a great season. The first week of the season has given White Sox fans and the wider baseball public a glimpse into what Beckham should become. He is hitting .333 with two home runs and a .400 OBP and made two dazzling defensive plays yesterday that show his improvement in the field. Beckham could be on the cusp of establishing himself as the All-Star calibre player the White Sox imagined.
2. Jered Weaver continued his dominant start to the year Sunday as he moved to 3-0 with a career high 15 strikeouts. He has compiled 20.2 innings in 3 starts, given up 9 hits and 9 walks while striking out 27 and putting up a 0.87 ERA.
3. The retirement of Manny Ramierez and conclusion of the Barry Bonds trial will hopefully begin to bring to an end the sordid steroid stories in baseball. Manny was the last high profile player to serve a ban, serving 50 games last year, and may have been headed for more bench time that resulted in his retirement. The lack of fanfare that Manny has received as he slinks off into the shadows seems to reflect baseballs attitude to steroid users.
4. The Red Sox and Rays recorded their first wins of the season amid reports the world was ending in Massachusetts. The Sox even saw fit to add to their win total last night beating the Yankees for the second time in three days last night thanks to Josh Beckett going all 2007 on the Yanks. The Red Sox will most likely push on from this point and make the charge to October everyone has predicted; the Rays need to be more concerned especially with Evan Longoria on the DL. A weak line-up has been exposed even more by a rotation that appears to have regressed and an underachieving bullpen. This is simply not the same Rays team in spirit, mentality or achievement.
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