Article:Baseball Notebook: Around the Bases April 14th

= Baseball Notebook =

Baseball Notebook: Around the Bases April 14th

Cliff Lee 2-0 0.61 after his first two starts is leading the Indians starters in wins and ERA. Fausto Carmona has a 2.20 ERA but he has walked 17 batters in 16 innings. C.C. Sabathia is really struggling with a 0-2 record and a 11.57 ERA. Paul Byrd has a 0-2 record and a 11.05 ERA. The Indians are only 3 games ahead of the 2-10 Tigers. The Tigers are the only major league team to not record a win this season at home with their 0-6 home record. Kenny Rogers 0-3 hasn't lost more than 10 games in a season since 2000 but after his loss yesterday he could lose more than 10 after losing to the White Sox by a 11-0 score yesterday.

The Tigers have four regular players hitting under .200 with Placido Polanco a lifetime .304 hitter hitting .154 this season. Miguel Cabrera, Gary Sheffield and Ivan Rodriguez are the others hitting under .200 with all four players combining for one home run and 7 RBI's while Brandon Inge has 2 home runs and 9 RBI's by himself. The Tigers start shows why they go ahead and play the games on grass regardless of how strong a team looks on paper.

Paul Konerko and Joe Crede both hit grand slams in 11-0 White Sox win over the Tigers. The White Sox are leading the American League in runs scored with 70 runs in 11 games. White Sox lead the majors in home runs allowed with only 4 given up in 97 innings. Reds have given up the most with 20.

Jeff Niemann won his first major league start yesterday as he gave up only one run 6 innings in the 6-2 win by the Rays over the Orioles. He may not be the tallest pitcher in baseball at 6'9" but could be the heaviest at 280 pounds. Evan Longoria is hitting .333 after his first two games with the Rays. Carlos Pena hit three home runs and drove in seven runs in the games Friday and Saturday but is hitting only .209 after going hitless yesterday.

Brian Bannister 3-0 0.86 pitched the Royals to a 5-1 complete game win over the Twins. The Royals have a major league leading 2.58 ERA and they are only team in majors to allow less than 3 runs a game....Daisuke Matsuzaka 3-0 2.70 didn't pitch that well yesterday but still took the win over the Yankees 8-5 as the Red Sox defeated the Yankees for second day in a row. Yankees are now hoping that Phillip Hughes and Ian Kennedy can start pitching better as they have combined for a 0-3 record. In a total of 16 innings combined this season they have given up 22 hits, 19 earned runs and 14 walks. If Hughes and Kennedy don't start pitching better one of them could lose their starting job to Joba Chamberlain.

Gabe Kapler who looked like he was only a fill in till Mike Cameron returned may be winning a spot as an extra outfielder hitting .423 so far this season. He is second in home runs on Brewers with 4 and leads the team in RBI's with 11 and also leads in slugging percentage with a .962 mark. I look for Gabe Gross to be sent down when Cameron returns since he is hitting .111 with 2 hits in 18 at bats. Kapler last played in the majors in 2006 when he played for the Red Sox. He hit 2 home runs for Red Sox that season in 130 at bats but has 4 this season in only 26 at bats.

Tom Glavine only made 16 pitches before leaving with a sore hamstring but it was all the pitches he needed to take the loss against the reeling Nationals who are 1-9 in their last ten games....Cubs took an extra inning win by 6-5 score over the Phillies and moved to within a game and a half behind the first place Cardinals in the NL Central. Felix Pie may not be playing in Wrigley Field much longer as he is hitting only .182 while hitting only .212 last season. Matt Murton is hitting .400 at Triple A Iowa and deserves to be called up. Kosuke Fukudome was hitting .419 before going into a 1 for 13 slump lowering his batting average to .318. Alfonso Soriano is hitting .175 this season. Ryan Dempster and Carlos Zambrano are the only Cubs starters to win a game this season with one win each while the bullpen has won 5 games.

Johnny Cueto 1-1 3.72 showed he is human after all as he took the loss in the 9-1 Pirates romp over the Reds. Cueto has given up more runs in each outing this season going from allowing 1 run to 2 runs and then 5 runs yesterday. Tom Gorzelanny 1-1 returned to form after giving up 7 runs in 2 innings in his last start against the Cubs. Nate McLouth contines to have a breakout season leading the NL in hits with 22, doubles with 8, 4th in RBI's with 11, 2nd in total bases with 35, 3rd in hitting with .400 average.

Astros are off to a slow start with their ace Roy Oswalt 0-3 with a 9.00 ERA. In 16 innings he has given up an astounding 30 hits. He has also given up 16 runs. With the Astros 13 games into the new season only Brandon Backe and Wandy Rodriguez among the starters have won games with each pitcher posting one win each while the bullpen has notched 5 wins this season. Hunter Pence is off to horrific start this season with a .180 batting average with one RBI after 50 at bats with only two walks and 13 strikeouts. Jose Cruz Jr. who was red hot in spring training has only 2 hits in 13 at bats for a .154 average.

Astros are 28th in batting with a .238 average. The Astros OBP of .300 is 29th in the majors. The Giants are 24th in ERA but lead the majors in strikeouts with 102 strikeouts. Giants have hit only 7 home runs in 13 games but the Mets are even worse with 5 home runs in 11 games which ties them with Royals for worst home run hitting team in the majors.

Benjie Molina with 3 home runs and John Bowker with 2 home runs have hit 5 of the 7 Giants home runs with pitcher Matt Cain and Ray Durham with one each. Diamondbacks and Marlins lead in home runs with 21 each. Mike Jacobs is off to a great start with 5 home runs already in 47 at bats. Last season it took Jacobs 426 at bats to hit 17 home runs. In his first 100 at bats with Mets in 2005 he hit 11 home runs which projected to 55 home runs in a 500 at bat season.

Troy Tulowitzki who was mired in a 2 for 18 slump was replaced by Clint Barmes who drove in 4 runs for the Rockies in their 13-5 win over the Diamondbacks. Greg Maddux posted his 349th major league win in the Padres 1-0 defeat of the Dodgers. Maddux needs 5 wins to tie Roger Clemens with 354 wins and 12 to tie Kid Nichols who retired in 1906. Next on the list is Warren Spahn with 363 wins. If he were to pass Clemens, Nichols and Spahn he would be tied with Pud Galvin who retired in 1892 with 364 wins.

If he can win 16 more games this season he would be 4th on the alltime wins list leaving only Cy Young with 511 wins, Walter Johnson with 417 and Pete Alexander and Christy Matthewson with 373 each ahead of him. If Maddux doesn't have Hall of Fame numbers nobody does. He has lost more than 12 games only four times in his 23 year career. By the end of this season only Cy Young, Nolan Ryan and Don Sutton would have started more games than Maddux. He is 355th in complete games with 109 but that is only because of the advent of relief specialists who most managers will call into a game if the starter exceeds the pitch count for that particular game. He has 310 more wins than his brother Mike Maddux who won 39 games in his 15 year career.

Triple A Minor League Prospects Progress Report

Hitters

Shelley Duncan (Yankees) 3 HR, 5 RBI .571 Andy Gonzalez (Indians) 2 HR, 9 RBI .387 Jay Bruce (Reds) 2 HR, 6 RBI .317 Josh Fields (White Sox) 1 HR, 7 RBI .333 Brandon Wood (Angels) 6 HR, 8 RBI .267 Ian Stewart (Rockies) 3 HR 11 RBI .333 Colby Rasmus (Cardinals) 1 HR, 3 RBI .220 Steve Pearce (Pirates) 0 HR, 7 RBI .214

Pitchers

Lance Broadway (White Sox) 2-0 0.64 Homer Bailey (Reds) 1-1 0.71 Kei Igawa (Yankees) 1-1 0.90 Nick Adenhart (Angels) 2-0 0.82

Local Tennessee Smokies (Cubs)

Hitting

Ryan Harvey (Cubs) 0 HR 3 RBI .320 Tyler Colvin (Cubs) 1 HR 4 RBI .182

Pitching

Jeff Samardzija (Cubs) 2-0 0.75 Jesse Estrada (Cubs) 2-0 0.00

Southern League Prospects

Hitting

Cameron Maybin (Marlins) 2 HR 4 RBI .333 Matt LaPorta (Brewers) 2 HR 5 RBI .214 Ivan DeJesus Dodgers)Jr. 0 HR 1 RBI .379

Pitching

Jeff Samardzija (Cubs) 2-0 0.75 Matthew Torra (Diamondbacks) 2-0 0.75 Chris Volstad (Marlins) 2-0 2.25 Jacob McGee (Rays) 0-1 2.25 Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers 0-2 3.38

Non- Prospect Arthur Rhodes (Mariners) 0-1 27.00