Baseball, again

Well, we've passed Memorial Day, which is a traditional time for early-season evaluation. Since the current playoff system went into effect, 67% of teams who were in first place on Memorial Day made the playoffs. So that's news that the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, Florida Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals, and San Diego Padres will like (the Marlins were the only team of the six I had pegged for a division title (though I didn't call it in my predictions post, I know)).

The star player of the first half has to be the Cubs' Derrek Lee. He's currently the triple crown leader for the National League (.363, 16, 46). Before this year, he's been a good, but not great player, so it's rather unexpected for him to be doing so well. He's on pace to set career highs in hits, doubles, homerruns, runs, RBI, total bases, stolen bases, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and batting average, plus he's on a borderline pace for a career high in walks (and is just two shy of his career high in intentional walks already). Definitely a career year for him.

The San Diego Padres had a phenomenal May at 22-6, erasing the effects of a poor April. The Yankees also overcame a poor April and rose into second place in their division, though they fell back to fourth on the last day of May (though only one game out of second and four games out of first). St. Louis and a host of injury problems are making me look dumb for choosing the Cubs, and injuries are also making me look dumb for choosing Giants (who, due to their own recent poor play and the amazing play of the Padres, just fell to nine games back in the division). The good news for the Giants is that it looks like Barry Bonds will be back around the All-Star Break -- for real, this time.

Juan Gonzalez has a history of getting injured. He's reached 145 games played (a season has 162 games) only twice in his career, and over the last three years, has averaged about 60 games played. So, he comes off the injured list on May 31, plays his first game in over a year, and what does he do? He injures himself grounding out in the top of the first.

A surprising number of hitters have been having big trouble at the plate so far. A couple of guys even have batting averages 100 points off from last year. Following is a list of all players with a qualifying number of plate appearances who have averages at .230 or below, along with a select group of bigger names who have higher averages but still way below their career average, often by 50 points or more.

Average Player
.157 Aaron Boone
.183 Cristian Guzman
.198 Casey Blake
.200 Mike Lowell
.210 Victor Martinez
.210 Doug Mientkiewitz
.217 Jack Wilson
.218 Eric Chavez
.218 Jason Lane
.220 Steve Finley
.223 Paul Konerko
.224 Adam Everett
.227 Joe Crede
.228 Jermaine Dye
.229 Rafael Furcal
.230 Royce Clayton
.236 Adrian Beltre
.242 Mike Piazza
.246 Jason Kendall
.251 J.D. Drew
.253 Manny Ramirez
.259 Todd Helton
.262 Larry Walker

And some that have done poorly, but with limited playing time (mostly due to injuries), but still with 100+ at bats:
.192 Rich Aurilia
.202 Marquis Grissom
.211 Raul Mondesi
.213 Jim Thome
.231 Jason Giambi
.246 Sammy Sosa

I could have added some more, but there were a few who, while doing 50 points worse than their career average, were on about the same pace as last season. I could have probably left a couple more off the list, but oh well. It looks like Mondesi is heading for retirement due to his poor play, and some of the others have lost some playing time due to theirs (though, in the case of the first group, obviously not very much playing time). Unfortunately for the Cleveland Indians, Boone, Blake, and Martinez have been everyday (not literally, but they have been the regulars) players for them, so three of the five worst hitters so far this season (among those with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title (though that's not something they have to worry about anytime soon)) are in their nine man lineup, though it's not like they have many bench options -- Alex Cora, Jose Hernandez, Josh Bard, and Ryan Ludwick are hitting .230, .219, .209, and .220, respectively. The only surprising thing is that the Athletics actually have a worse team batting average. Though, as Roger Clemens could tell you, the Astros have the worst offense in the majors, which is why he's only 3-3 despite leading the majors with a 1.30 ERA (he's allowed no runs five times, which resulted in four no decisions, and his losses came in games where he game up 3 runs, 3 runs (2 earned), and 2 runs (the only other game that he gave up two runs in was a no decision)).

One last tidbit, and then I'm out. The Royals haven't had a three game win streak since around the all star break last year, a streak that has reached 125 games and is the longest such streak since the 1985 Pirates went 144 straight games.