A 3-2 week against the Cubs and Pirates. The Rox currently stand at 17-9. Four and half game lead in the division. Currently 7-6 at home and 10-3 on the road, the Rox have outscored its opponents 123-104 (expected wins is 15 versus historical wins at 12). On pace for 106 wins with 766 runs scored and 648 runs against. Playoff indicator (Runs scored/Runs Against ratio) is 1.18 (1.16 indicates high playoff potential).
And that was April...Whew! Based on the events that happened over night, I guess before I go on some rant about the Rox I probably should step back and realize that what the Rox do night in and night out is to play a game on a field the same size that I played when I was a child. Not to say that what big leaguers do is childish but realize they are lucky to be able to play a child's game!
So instead of whining about U-Balls dead arm (see graph below), or CarGo's April slump, or losing two of three to the Pirates, or Fowler's strikeouts, or Lopez's slow start, or Spilly awful pinch hitting, or anything else I should simply look at the standings of the NL West and realize our Rox are in first place. With all that has happened (or didn't happen), the Rox took care of business (for once in April) and now have the advantage of playing above average baseball the rest of the way instead of being supermen trying to make up 10 games during the Summer!
It is kind of comical how we view our team. 8 games over 0.500, 4 and half game lead, and suddenly nothing is right with this team...what would we do if the Rox were 8 under 0.500 instead? Maybe if that had happened we would feel OK because that is what we are used to but now we are the front runners. Teams look at us differently now because we are the division leaders. Maybe as fans we simply don't know what to do but complain?
In the end I think the last week of April soured the month. Up until we hit the gauntlet of the Giants and Marlins pitching we were averaging 5.6 runs per game and then after that stretch we ended up averaging only 4.8 over the entire month. Getting almost no hit three times in one week has got to mess with your head. Throw in the weather and Rox must have felt like leftovers being freezed (Colorado), thawed (Florida), and then back to freeze (Chicago and Colorado). I think this especially messed with the pitchers and probably the extended time off hurt the offense. So anyway as the saying goes you can't win a pennant in April but you can certainly lose one and the Rox didn't hurt themselves!
Links and Other Random Thoughts
- Tulo article in NY Times - This one was published awhile back but I don't think I included it...And that was April...Whew! Based on the events that happened over night, I guess before I go on some rant about the Rox I probably should step back and realize that what the Rox do night in and night out is to play a game on a field the same size that I played when I was a child. Not to say that what big leaguers do is childish but realize they are lucky to be able to play a child's game!
So instead of whining about U-Balls dead arm (see graph below), or CarGo's April slump, or losing two of three to the Pirates, or Fowler's strikeouts, or Lopez's slow start, or Spilly awful pinch hitting, or anything else I should simply look at the standings of the NL West and realize our Rox are in first place. With all that has happened (or didn't happen), the Rox took care of business (for once in April) and now have the advantage of playing above average baseball the rest of the way instead of being supermen trying to make up 10 games during the Summer!
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| http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfxo.aspx?playerid=3374&position=P&pitch=FA |
In the end I think the last week of April soured the month. Up until we hit the gauntlet of the Giants and Marlins pitching we were averaging 5.6 runs per game and then after that stretch we ended up averaging only 4.8 over the entire month. Getting almost no hit three times in one week has got to mess with your head. Throw in the weather and Rox must have felt like leftovers being freezed (Colorado), thawed (Florida), and then back to freeze (Chicago and Colorado). I think this especially messed with the pitchers and probably the extended time off hurt the offense. So anyway as the saying goes you can't win a pennant in April but you can certainly lose one and the Rox didn't hurt themselves!
Links and Other Random Thoughts
- After the rain out in Chicago and the difficulty of scheduling games later in the season I wondered if a home team had ever hosted a double header but with two different teams? While officially this is not a doubleheader (definition states that it is between the same two teams) I had to wonder. According to Wikipedia it happened in:
"On September 25, 2000, the Cleveland Indians hosted a doubleheader against two different teams. The September 10 game against the Chicago White Sox in Cleveland had been rained out. With no common days off for the remainder of the season and both teams in a post-season race, the teams agreed to play a day game in Cleveland on the same day that the Indians were to host the Minnesota Twins for a night game. The Indians defeated the White Sox 9-2 in the first game while the Twins defeated the Indians 4-3 in the second."
- Nice article on developing 50 game winners for an organization. The Rox can say they have done it with U-Ball, Francis, and Jennings (by the way article left out Cook)
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