Wild Ride

It certainly has been a strange two weeks to start off the Major League Baseball season. There have been major upsets, plenty of walk-offs, spectacular pitching performances and great power hitting displays thus far by a wide variety of teams and players. I've missed a lot as I've been busy with multiple theater projects at once, so if there is anything I forget to discuss, please just let me know and I will bring it up next time. So much to do, and so little time. Where to begin?

How about we start off this post with perhaps the most unexpected event of all; the Cleveland Indians winning. It is amazing how well the Indians are doing when one considers that there offensive production has been incredibly average so far. When ranked among all other MLB teams in almost every offensive category, they have consistent mid-level output. On the other hand, when one turns his/her sights to pitching it becomes clearer why the Tribe is so hot. They have let up only 91 hits to opposing teams so far which is the second-best in either league. Also, only 45 runs have been scored against them, (fourth-best), 8 homeruns have been allowed (tied for fifth-best), and the team ERA ranks 9th overall. This is due in large part to the contributions of Justin Masterson, who is 3-0 with a phenomenal 1.33 ERA thus far. The enormous 26-year-old right-hander has been keeping the ace role occupied while Fausto Carmona tries to rebound from a horrible first start, but who has been looking much better lately. Throw in some great pitching from Josh Tomlin and Mitch Talbot, and it's easy to see why the Tribe is 9-4, had a 7-game winning streak earlier, and are tied for tops in the American League Central.

Who are the Indians tied with, you ask? Well the Kansas City Royals, of course. The Royals seem to be winning in the reverse fashion as the Indians. Kansas City has been pitching well, but not great. The entire staff has given up 16 homeruns already, which is second in the AL only to Boston. (We'll get into that later.) The Royals have instead kept pace by putting up some surprising offensive numbers, including having the fourth-best team average, and being tied for the fourth-most runs in both leagues. Their 73 runs scored put them in the same company has power-hitting teams like the Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, and the...St. Louis Cardinals?

Wait a second, I thought the Cardinals were sucking? Oh, how quickly the tides change when you get back an All-Star hitting left-fielder and your perennial MVP starts to actually see the ball again. The eastern team in Missouri has won three-straight, thanks in large part to the sudden reemergence of Lance Berkman. Berkman just had his second two-homerun night of the season versus the Dodgers, giving him 6 dingers for the year already. His .327 average and .377 OBP have been fantastic thus far and he hasn't been hampered by the bad defense that most people assumed would plague him in right-field. In fact, Berkman is probably the hottest hitting player in the game, second only to Mr. Troy Tulowitzki.

The Colorado Rockies shortstop has been ridiculously proficient so far this season, having hit 7 homeruns, hitting .354 with an OBP of .475. He leads all of baseball with 41 total bases, he's tied for second in RBI, and his defense has been second to none as Troy keeps proving he is the best shortstop in the game today. I know many consider Hanley Ramirez more physically talented. However, when you consider Troy's outstanding hitting so far this season, and add in his intangibles like leadership and attitude, Tulowitzki is hands down the better player.

Not all has been fun and games for the hitters, though. This year might soon be referred to as the Year of the DL, as it seems many major players have been sidelined by various ailments. The recently returned Matt Holliday had an appendectomy, as did White Sox DH Adam Dunn. Appendectomies are like this year's perfect game. Then there is Yunel Escobar's concussion, Grady Sizemore's and Chase Utley's slow recoveries from knee surgery, Tsuyoshi Nishioka's broken fibula, Evan Longoria's strained oblique, Ryan Zimmerman's abdominal strain, J.J. Hardy's oblique, Raphael Furcal's broken finger, Joe Mauer's leg virus, and Josh Hamilton's fractured shoulder. And that's just scratching the surface of the total amount of injuries to hitters.

Now consider that the pitchers are doing no better. Brandon Webb and Jake Peavy are still sidelined, Atlanta's Jair Jurrjens and Kris Medlan have strains keeping them out, Ubaldo Jimenez has a cracked cuticle, Scott Kazmir has a bad back, Randy Wells, Kevin Slowey, Andrew Cashner and Takashi Saito all have strains, and now Phil Hughes has a dead arm. While a lot of injuries occur during the season, it is helpful to remember that everyone has bumps and bruises, and injuries are a part of the game. However, with so many severe ailments like oblique strains to hitters and shoulder strains to pitchers, 2011 is turning out to be one for the medical record books.

There have been some definite bright spots early on, though, especially for pitchers. Jeff Weaver set a career-high with a very impressive 15 Ks in one game. My fantasy team thanks you Jeff. Tim Lincecum and Edwin Jackson also struck out 13, while Matt Garza had 12 and Cliff Lee whiffed 11. Dan Haren threw a 1-hit shutout the other day, while Jaime Garcia had a shutout earlier, and Jhoulys Chacin tossed one yesterday. Even Josh Beckett had a great pitching performance against the Yankees with 8 innings of 2-hit, 10 K baseball. This helped account for one of the two wins Boston has so far.

You heard me correctly. The Boston Red Sox still only have two wins, and it appears as though that early failure fluke thing is turning into something very, very real. It is still incredibly early, but there is plenty to be scared about right now in Beantown. Notably, that Boston's lineup is hitting only .224, which ranks 25th in baseball. Their 46 runs scored also ranks 25th, and their 89 total hits is tied for second-worst in the game. While I am quite confident that this lack of offensive production will not continue at this pace for much longer, the real concern comes from the pitching side of things.

Boston has the worst ERA in the game, with a staggering 6.79. That is nearly a full point higher than the second-worst team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. While Boston isn't giving up a ton of hits every game, they are letting the big hits take their toll, especially the long ball. Boston leads all of baseball with 79 runs allowed, and 21 homeruns given up. That is a horrible combination that will continue to win the team merely 2 out of every 12 games. I can only imagine how frustrated this is for GM Theo Epstein as he has done everything possible to put a dominant force on the field. And as much as I love Terry Francona, a good portion of blame must fall on him, as he keeps flip-flopping guys around in that lineup, instead of letting them get comfortable in one spot. It happened too much early already and now everyone is pressing to get out of the funk.

The Tampa Bay Rays have come out of their tailspin to win 4 games in a row, however. It certainly helped that they played Boston for a shortened series. But wins and loses haven't made up the entire baseball landscape. Some outstanding rookie performances by Orioles' Zach Britton, Mariners' Michael Pindea, and Ranger's Alexi Ogando have been keening some eyes on some early Rookie of the Year candidates. And perhaps most surprising of all was the retirement of one of the greatest hitters of this generation. Manny Ramirez decided to call it quits after just a handful of games with the Tampa Bay Rays. He retired not of his own volition, but because Major League Baseball found evidence of a second infraction against the drug policy. Since this would have been Manny's second time testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs, he would have faced a 100-game suspension, effectively ending his potential last season.

Manny retires having played an incredible 19 seasons. He finishes with a career .312 average, 555 homeruns (14th all-time), 1831 RBI (18th all-time), 2574 hits, and an OBP of .411 (32nd all-time). Many are now questioning whether Manny is Hall of Fame material, which was brought up the first time he tested positive. A player having one positive test against him is bad enough for his reputation, but having two positive tests shows a lack of respect for the testing process and therefore baseball in general.

Not that Manny was ever one for respectful behavior. This is the man known for urinating inside Boston's Green Monster during a game. While his outlandish behavior such as slapping high five with a fan mid-play were deemed "Manny being Manny" by the beloved faithful who turned a blind eye to his childishness, it quickly worn thin when his bat became less effective in more recent years. He wore out his welcome in Boston, which seemed almost impossible just a few years prior, by saying essentially the town and team weren't worth his talented time. Meanwhile, L.A., Chicago and Tampa were never really his home.

So the question returns, 'Is Manny Hall of Fame material?' This could be an entire post in itself, but I don't feel like delving into the minutia that is the life of Manny Ramirez's antics. Let's sum up instead by saying Manny was a phenomenal hitter, and probably had the best eye for the strike zone I have ever seen in my life. He also was a dreadful left-fielder and didn't care enough about his own performance there, or about the team to improve his skill set. He was who he was and didn't change for anyone. He also tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs twice, which calls into question his power numbers. I have absolutely no doubt that Manny's average would have been about the same had he not taken drugs. But could he have blasted over 500 homers without them? Would he have been so feared by pitchers without that threat of putting one in the seats, instead of just hitting a single? I doubt it.

When I think of Manny Ramirez and the game of baseball, I get a little sad. He had an enormous amount of talent, and unfortunately a lot of it was in his head. Like others who have been caught using, I still look fondly on their on-field achievements as best as I can, because it's impossible to know what was done naturally or not. But Manny's terrible fielding, his attention-grabbing antics, and his disregard for those he played with really stick out more than they should for someone who is Hall of Fame bound. Will he ever make it in? I doubt it. But time is a great healer, and maybe one day in the near future, "Manny being Manny" will be inscribed on his bust.