Langston
Beltway Breakdown:
Charm City Calamity-
Following our last "TMR," the Orioles only managed to get one win moving their record to 3-16. The schedule has been tough on them with 13 of their first 19 games coming against the Rays, Red Sox, and the red hot A's, but that doesn't begin to explain their putrid record. If you want a more clear explanation, take a look at the numbers and you'll notice they rank near the bottom of the league in runs scored, on-base percentage, and ERA. Now their ugly start would make you think that things couldn't get worse in Charm City, but you'd be wrong. Today the O's start an extremely tough stretch that has them playing their next four series against the Yankees, Red Sox, and Twins. If the bad start placed manager Dave Trembley on the annual manager deathwatch, these next two weeks could leave him in the unemployment line.
Note-worthy National's-
Over the past couple seasons, one of the few positives the O's could point towards was that they were not the Nationals. However, that won't work this season as the Nationals appear to be a real threat to break their back-to-back 100 loss streak. The team is 10-10 and only 1.5 games back from the NL East leading Phillies. Though a .500 record over just a couple weeks isn't going to have anyone from the Capitol placing any orders on playoff tickets, the record presumably could continue to improve. Like the O's the Nationals had a tough start to the season with twelve of their first eighteen games having been against the Phillies, Rockies, and Dodgers. Jason Marquis, the big money free-agent acquisition with the 0-3 record and 20.52 ERA is now headed to the DL and at the moment, free from doing any more damage to their reclamation project. With it just a matter of time before Stephen Strasburg, Drew Storen, and Chien-Ming Wang hit the lineup, things will continue to get better and better for the team that always appeared destined to fail.
Dodgers (at a glance): 8-10 record, 4 road series, 4 series lost, 2nd in team batting average, 4th in total runs scored, 23rd in team ERA, seven losses by bullpen, three pitchers headed to disabled list, and one Manny on the mend.
Berndon
From the Ivy:
After struggling against the suddenly resurgent Mets, the Cubbies have won 4 in a row. They took three from the Brewers in Milwaukee, then beat the Nats last night on a walk-off walk. The biggest buzz has come from Carlos Zambrano getting moved from the rotation to the bullpen. Different people in both the local and national media have mostly criticized the move, but I like it. Mainly, the Cubs bullpen before Zambrano and after rookie Esmilin Caridad got hurt was beyond putrid. They've been the culprit in 6 of the team's 10 losses, and blown at least 2 other leads. I'm not worried about Ryan Dempster, Ted Lilly, or Randy Wells as far as the rotation is concerned, and as long as Carlos Silva and Tom Gorzelanny are having the best seasons of their career, Zambrano is the odd man out. He's also the most qualified as the 8th inning flame-thrower, someone who has that Rick Vaughn-esque ("I'm crazy as shit and I can throw a baseball very hard") combination that could make a hitter a tad bit uncomfortable. Now, they can follow the formula of having the starters go 7, Big Z in the 8th, and Marmol in the 9th. This could work, but then again I talk myself into pretty much anything the Cubs do I'm so desperate for them to win it all. If they were putting Jay Cutler in the starting rotation, and having Verne Troyer hit lead-off because he could draw walks, I'd still be nodding and saying "this could work." Right now, they sit at 10-10, 2nd place in the NL Central.
South Side: The White Sox also have picked it up a little bit, keyed by two consectutive walk-off wins against Seattle at home last weekend. Paul Konerko leads all of MLB with 8 homers. Jon Danks has pitched to a 3-0 record with a 1.55 ERA and a WHIP under 1. Andruw Jones has been getting starts in the OF instead of DH, and has responded with 6 HR's of his own. Jake Peavy got dropped from my fantasy squad, with Alexei Ramirez and his average that is hovering dangerously close to .200 likely to be next.
Fantasy Minute:
Last week I talked about 5 AL players who are playing over their heads so far, this week we'll look at the Senior Circuit
Carlos Silva, SP, Chicago: I thought nothing about the Cubs getting him other than the fact that he could start a famine and/or incite race riots throughout the city of Chicago and still not be hated nearly as much as Milton Bradley. He's proven so far at 2-0 with a 1.73 ERA that the club got the better of the deal on the field as well as in the clubhouse.
Matt Capps, RP, Washington: Capps was pretty terrible last year closing out games for Pittsburgh. This year, he's leading the league with 8 saves for the suprisingly frisky Nats.
Livan Hernandez, SP, Washington: I'll see it for myself tonight when he faces the Cubs, but how in the world is Hernandez off to this kind of start? Like Silva, he just throws strikes and makes hitters hit the ball in play. It's worked so far to the tune of a 2-1 start with ERA and WHIP's under 1.
Martin Prado, 2B, Atlanta: One-time top prospect who's taken his time breaking into the lineup, has been a base hit machine so far for a struggling Atlanta offense. He's hitting .392, while the next best regular is hitting .255. Without Prado and Jason Heyward, the Braves might be 4-15 instead of 8-11.
Chase Headley, 3B, San Diego: Leading the 1st place (at least for now) Padres in Avg. runs, and SB's. The stolen bases are a little shocking, plus his OBP of .421 isn't bad either.
Photo Sources: 1, 2
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