By Dalton Del Don
The Cliff Lee train kept on chugging Wednesday with another gem, only this time coming in New York against the Yankees. There’s simply no stopping Lee, who now sports a ridiculous 39:2 K:BB ratio. Entering 2008, Lee had allowed 1.27 homers per nine innings. He’s surrendered just one long ball through 44.2 innings this season.
He’ll never help in batting average, but Mike Cameron is consistently one of the more underrated 20/20 threats in baseball. He’s not going to have the best season of his career at age 35, but remember his numbers from the past two years were suppressed by Petco Park, and the top of Milwaukee’s lineup is an excellent place to bat.
I’m going to go on record and state the Spurs will still win their series against the Hornets.
The pride of Carmel, California, Xavier Nady is off to a blistering start this season, batting .349 with five home runs. His 34 RBI leads the National League. He’s always been somewhat of an underachiever after being taken in the second round of the 2000 draft, so a career-season looks to be in store. However, Nady’s obviously not this good, has a .402 BABIP and has clubbed 75 percent of his homers throughout his career before the All-Star break. He’s someone you should be shopping.
Francisco Rodriguez’s 10:9 K:BB ratio is ugly, and his huge drop in strikeout rate is concerning for the future, but he’s still somehow on pace to finish with 63 saves this season.
After Tuesday’s near no-hitter, let me reiterate, trade Gavin Floyd. If all of your league members remain skeptical, I’d still think a 2.50 ERA and 0.96 WHIP would look good in a packaged deal. No one has been luckier in 2008 than Floyd, who boasts a 4.3 K/9 IP mark, a 1.06:1 K:BB ratio, a 4.08 BB/9 IP line, a 0.66 G/F ratio and a .147 BABIP that leads major league baseball.
Coldplay came correct with their new single. Can’t wait for the new album. No joke.
Only Dusty Baker would leave a 24-year-old pitcher in to throw 118 pitches in a 9-0 game. In life, I’ve found it’s often a good idea to learn from past mistakes. Edinson Volquez may very well lead the majors in both walks and strikeouts this season. Speaking of Cincinnati, tough to have a better fantasy game than Joey Votto’s three homers and a steal Wednesday.
How many setbacks can Mark Mulder possibly have?
I really like Sidney Ponson this year. After three starts, he has a 1.33 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and a 2.75:1 K:BB ratio. He’s in the best shape of his career and should get good run support from Texas’ lineup. He’s flashing a highly impressive 2.13 groundball to flyball rate and has really improved pitching out of the stretch, stranding a remarkable 87.5 percent of baserunners. Additionally, he’s gone six consecutive months without being arrested. OK, I’ll stop now.
One thing I wanted to mention was that you can’t just assume a pitcher’s BABIP will return to the norm, as that stat is also largely a reflection of team defense. If you really want to get specific, you should compare pitchers’ BABIPs among teammates.
Considering that I have both Conor Jackson and Shane Victorino in LABR, watching them violently collide Wednesday night, which ended with Jackson lying motionless on the ground, was no fun. Get well soon CoJack!
Emmitt Smith is a gift that keeps on giving. Check out this recent quote he made in regards to the Cowboys trading for Pacman Jones: “You can be with the guy and in his ear 24 hours a day, but at the end of the day you can’t be there the whole time.” Without a doubt, he’s easily my favorite analyst in any sport.
Despite a 4.74 ERA, Jose Valverde is on pace to finish with 19 wins and 33 saves. I’m not sure he’ll keep that pace in both categories, but 25 saves are within reach. In all seriousness, over his last 11.2 innings, he’s allowed zero runs with a 14:3 K:BB ratio. Valverde’s still not exactly the safest closer around, but this is someone with a staggering 11.4 K/9 IP mark throughout his career.
Fausto Carmona is having one of the more fascinating seasons in memory. His 2.95 ERA and 3-1 record are rock solid, but his WHIP is 1.79, he’s not striking anyone out, and he’s walked at least four batters in all of his seven starts but one. His 4.05 groundball to flyball rate is by far the best in baseball, and he doesn’t have a lucky BABIP (.287) either. Still, his 7.03 BB/9 IP mark is easily the worst in the league, and he’s looked nothing like the pitcher he was last season. All those free passes are going to catch up to him eventually.
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