Little Havana in Queens

 

The Mets pitching rotation became 2/5ths Cuban on Wednesday as Alay Soler made his major league debut against Philadelphia, throwing six solid innings without a decision as New York downed the Phillies 5-4.  Earlier in the day, the Mets added the flamboyant Orlando Hernandez in a trade with Arizona in exchange for hard throwing reliever Jorge Julio.  El Duque struggled in the dessert, posting a 2-4 record with a 6.11 ERA while averaging just 5 innings per start.  However, averaging 10.25 K/9, second only to Pedro Martinez’ 10.38, he should fit in well with the Mets who as a team average a major league best 8.03 K/9. 

 

Ouch!

 

Wednesday’s marquee match-up between the Phillies phenom Cole Hamels and the Mets Soler never materialized after the Phils placed Hamels on the 15-day DL with a strained left shoulder.  Hamels said he felt a “pop” while playing catch on Tuesday night, although a subsequent MRI showed no structural damage.  The move is retroactive to May 19 and Hamels expects to be ready to go when he is eligible to return on June 3 or very soon after.

 

The reigning NL Cy Young award winner Chris Carpenter was scratched from his starting assignment against the Giants on Wednesday due to an inflamed bursa sac.  Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa termed it a “yellow flag” and Carpenter professed not to be worried.  The club will monitor the situation but it is unclear when he will be available to pitch again. 

 

Wait ‘til next year?

 

A day after he threw five innings in his second start of the year, Cubs manager Dusty Baker said on Wednesday that Kerry Wood might not make his next scheduled start on Sunday in Atlanta in order to give his valuable right shoulder some extra rest.  Mark Prior meanwhile threw 64 pitches over 4 innings in a Cubs rookie league game on Wednesday as he recovers from a strain of his valuable right shoulder. 

 

Adding to the Cubs woes are the troubles of future HOF’er Greg Maddux.  After beginning the year 5-0 with a 1.35 ERA in April, Maddux has gone 0-4 with a 7.81 ERA this month.  If you exclude his start against San Diego on May 13 (7.1 IP, 0 ER), his ERA jumps to 10.62 for the month.  On Wednesday he allowed 6 runs and 8 hits in 6 innings as the Marlins (now 14-31) finished off a three game sweep of the Cubs.

 

How badly does Chicago need to get healthy?  After recording a modest 13-10 record through the first month of the season, the Cubs have gone into a severe nosedive and their 5-18 record in May is the worst in baseball.  Overall they are 10-23 since Derrick Lee broke his wrist.     

 

The Longest Streak Pt I – The woes continued on Wednesday for the Royals as the Tigers beat Kansas City for the third straight day and sent them to their 12th consecutive loss. In doing so, KC dropped their record in May to 5-17. They'll finish up their four game seires with Detroit on Thursday and then take to the road (where they’ve won just twice in 22 games) to face the New York Yankees.

 

The Longest Streak Pt II – Two more hits from Nomar Garciaparra and three each from Jeff Kent and Rafael Furcal along with 7 shutout innings from Aaron Sele led the Dodgers to their major league best 7^th straight win as they beat Colorado 7-1.  L.A. has now won 9 of their last 10 and they remain a half a game behind the Diamondbacks. 

 

Patience is a Virtue Pt I – Jason Giambi is leading the majors with an average of 4.49 pitches per plate appearance.  Kevin Youkilis (4.41), Bobby Abreu (4.35), Jhonny Peralta (4.26) and Scott Podsednik (4.22) make up the rest of the top five. 

 

Patience is a Virtue Pt II – Placido Polanco on the flip side of the coin has seen an average of just 2.98 pitchers per plate appearance, the lowest mark out of 187 qualifying hitters. Jay Payton and Vladimir Guerrero at 3.12 have seen the second fewest, while Vinny Castilla (3.13) and Jeff Francoeur of Atlanta (3.14) round out the bottom five.

 

Who’s Hot…

 

Red Sox rookie closer Jonathan Papelbon has continued to dominate hitters in lowering his ERA to a miniscule 0.39 over 23.1 IP.  He has allowed just 11 hits and issued just 3 walks (7 to 1 K/BB ratio) for a ridiculous WHIP of 0.60.  Hitters are batting just .139 against him and slugging just .165. 

 

Meanwhile the Sox mercurial OF Manny Ramirez has woken up from his early season slumber and is now hitting .369 with 7 HR and 16 RBI in May including 8 hits in 12 at bats with 4 HR and 10 RBI in this weeks series with the Yankees.

 

Yankees SS Derek Jeter has hit safely in 14 of his last 16 games (24 for 67, .358).  He is batting .348 for the year.

 

Carl Crawford is 8 for his last 13 (.615) after going 5 for 5 with a 2-run HR, 4 SB and 5 runs scored in Tampa’s 10-8 win over Toronto Wednesday. 

 

Blue Jays 2B Aaron Hill is finally starting to get hot at the plate.  He has hit safely in 9 of 10 games (14 for 32, .438) to raise his average from .186 to .240.

 

C.C. Sabathia has been money since he returned in May from the DL.  In five starts he is 4-1 with a 0.92 ERA with 33 K and 6 BB.  His lone setback was a tough luck loss May 13 as the Indians lost to the Tigers 3-0. In the loss, he pitched 8 innings and allowed just 2 ER and struck out 10.

 

The Tigers have won 5 in a row, 12 of 13 and have the best record in the majors at 32-14.

 

…And Who’s Not

 

Florida OF Josh Willingham was batting .306 on May 13 but is just 5 for 33 (.151) since then and has seen his batting average sink to .269. 

 

Despite his three run HR off Maddux on Wednesday, fellow Florida OF and former Stanford QB Joe Borchard has just 2 hit in his last 19 at bats and just 3 in his last 27 to drop his season average to .197 and his lifetime mark to a mere .193 (373 AB). 

 

Josh Towers lasted just 1 2/3 innings on Wednesday in his shortest start of the season and saw his ERA rise to 9.00.  He has averaged just 4.5 innings per start and after the game, Towers (1-8 in 10 starts) was outrighted to Syracuse.

 

From May 12 through May 20, Gary Matthews was red hot (13 for 32 - .406) but since then the Rangers CF has cooled way down with just 3 hits in his last 18 AB (.167).

 

Randy Johnson has been awful in his last six starts.  In that span the Big Unit has thrown 31.1 innings, giving up 43 hits and walking 17 and allowing 26 earned runs for a 7.46 ERA. 

 

After going 16-8 in April, the Houston Astros have stumbled their way through May with a 9-14 record. 

 

Randomness…

 

The Astros are a major league best 10-3 in one run games.

 

The Mets 16 inning affair on Tuesday was not only the longest game of the season but it was also their 8^th extra inning game of the year, the most in the majors.  They are 4-4 in such contests.  The Rockies (4-0) have the best record in extra inning games and the Angels (0-3) have the worst.  The Royals are the only team in baseball that has not played an extra inning game.

 

The left-handed hitting Ryan Howard has hit 14 home runs this season, including 10 at home at Citizens Bank Park (1 every 9.3 AB), and 4 on the road (1 every 15.25 AB).  Of those 14, 12 have been hit to either left or center field.

 

Vladimir Guerrero went 1 for 5 yesterday to extend his remarkable hitting streak against Texas to 42 games in the Angels 8-5 win.

 

Three St. Louis pitchers had extra base hits on Wednesday in a 9-4 win over San Francisco.  Braden Looper got his first career extra base hit, a double and just his second career hit in 9 at bats.  Tuesday’s starter Jason Marquis had a pinch hit triple and Adam Wainright hit the first pitch he saw for a home run in his first major league at bat.

 

Chasing the Babe – Barry Bonds had a scheduled day off on Wednesday afternoon (just his 8^th missed game in San Francisco’s first 47) and remains attached at the hip with the Babe.  The Giants next face Colorado on Friday night at AT&T Park.  Bonds is 2 for 4 with no home runs against scheduled starter Jeff Francis. 

 

This Day in History – 71 years ago today Babe Ruth hit his 714^th, and last major league home run as a member of the Boston Braves at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.  Ruth was 4 for 4 with three home runs and 6 RBI in what turned out to be his last hurrah.  He would retire five days later, his 714^th home run, his last major league hit.