At
1-7 and 6.5 Opponent Runs per Game the faithful followers of Base
Ball's oldest professional franchise are starting to grumble. This is
not the team Cincinnati had last year . . . they're in Boston now . . .
I thought I should point that out, but I am not sure how that is
relevent. In much the same way it seems Monte Ward knows an actual
baseball is important to the game, but he doesn't quite know what to do
with it . . . yet. John Montgomery Ward was the 10th overall pick in
the 2006 Annual Draft but he has stumbled into the regular season with
an 0-2, 4.91 mark with 3 HR & 15 Hits Allowed in 11 innings. At the
plate he is hitless in 6 AB -- but has 2 Walks, from which vantage
point he was able to be caught stealing twice. In the field he is
perfect on the mound so far, but made an error filling in at second
base. However, it would be unfair to pin all of Cincinnati's problems
on Monte Ward. There is plenty of stumbling going on here: John
Beckwith .217, 23 AB, 11 K's, 4 Errors, .840 Fldg Pct at SS, 1 Passed
Ball; Pete Rose .200/.250/.200; Steve Farr 0-2, 20.25 ERA, 2 Blown
Saves; Ted Lyons 0-1, 7.71; Willie Wells 4 Errors, .875 Fldg Pct. at
2B; Johnny Bassler & Kenji Jojima combined .214 Opponent Caught
Stealing Pct. No, not Monte's fault alone.
Keeping pace in the stumbling department with Cincinnati
is the Toronto Blue Jays team. Also 1-7, and also in the same Legends
League Central Division, the Blue Jays and the Reds are making fans of
the Pittsburgh Pirates (7-1) and the Chicago Cubs (6-2) very happy. The
early money is now on a two-team race for the division crown. That is
unless some of these Toronto players can get untracked, or have the
chance to before being traded away. Ricky Henderson is chief among
disapointments with his .156/.250/.188 stat line. He has 1 Stolen Base
and has scored 2 Runs while hitting into 2 Double Plays . . . and not
knocking in any runs. He's not alone, and in fact Kirby Puckett,
.161/.161/.258, 2 DPs, 3 Runs, 1 RBI, seems to be pacing both Rickey
and Tony Fernandez, .172/.226/.241, 1 RBI, 2 Runs, 1 DP. Lest we heap
all blame on these three, let us also consider that Mike Mussina has
been horrible: 1-2, 6.75, 3 GS, 16 IP, 25 Hits, 3 HR. He has, however,
struck out 16 as well, and he does have the only win . . .
The powerhouse team
of the Union League's Pacific Division was supposed to be the San
Francisco Seals: 2-6. Even with the advent of the Kansas City Monarchs
joining the division, the Seals were still the pick to win by many
observers. But pitiful performances so far by Hughie Jennings
(.067/.167/.067), Joe Medwick (.083/.267/.083), Alejandro Oms
(.190/.292/.190), Joe Adcock (.200/.250/.400) and Barry Larkin
(.200/.200/.360) have dampened any possible pitching prowess from
flourishing. Still, a pleasant surprise from the bullpen has been
Cocaina Garcia (2.45, 3 G, 11 IP, 12 K, .517 OPS), the 76th overall
pick in the 2006 Annual Draft. It is asking a lot, however, for
relievers to come in and put out the fire from a Team whose Starters
have an ERA of 6.19. But with pitchers like Smokey Joe Williams,
Christy Mathewson and Minoru Murayama the Seals expect a turnaround
from the rotation toot sweet. With 7 games against division rivals Orix
Blue Wave and Kansas City, before taking a trip to the nightmarish
American League Park I, the Seals could find themselves alone in the
deep end of the pool.
This is the old Toronto Blue Jays team . . . wait .
. . is there some kind of malicious curse in the works here in the ATL that haunts Toronto
franchises no matter where they move? Even to the hallowed, sacred
ground of Mudville? At 2-6 they are starting out trying to catch up
with two of the most talked about power-teams of pre-season: the Saint
Louis Stars (5-3) and the Houston Colt .45's (5-3). Again, it's some
very poor plate performances that seem to be at the heart of this
falling out of the starting blocks. Chief culprits are: Larry Walker
(.120/.313/.120), Derek Jeter (.138/.219/.138), Frank Baker
(.200/.333/.333), and Bill Monroe (.222/.263/.250). However, upon
closer inspection one sees that the moundsmen of Mudville seem to have
forgotten their craft -- and perhaps the manager as well say some fans.
With a team ERA of 5.97 the Nine have only 3 pitchers under 5.40, two
of the three are relief pitchers with a 0.00 ERA: Larry Jansen (4G, 8
IP) and Takehiko Bessho (3G, 1 Sv, 4.1 IP). Lon Warneke is the other
one, and he had to be pulled after a rain delay because of a stiffening
arm. He threw 5 innings, struck out 6, and allowed a single hit. But
the question the fans have for the Mudville manager is why Larry
Jansen (12-9, 3.61, 2 Sv, 4 CG, 1 Shu, May 2005 Pitcher of the
Month and 1 First Place Vote for the 2005 Cy Young Award) has been
relegated to the bullpen.
Washington has been
at the center of a ton of controversy during the off-season, but with
the opening home stand it has become quite clear that the most
controversial aspect of this team, and the hardest obstacle for them to
overcome, is their ballpark. No team wants the home park to be an 'enemy within,' but that is exactly
what the Nationals have got. Over the first 8 games at home Washington
has been outscored
by 3.25 runs per game (45-71). The pitching staff is reeling with a
8.03 ERA, having allowed 26 Home Runs, 112 Hits and 28 Walks in 74
Innings. Rumour has it that everybody on the staff has asked to be
traded . . . to the Legends League so they never have to see American
League Park I ever again. On the offensive side the Nationals have only
managed 16 Home Runs, 80 Hits and 26 Walks. With a 10-HR/42-Hit/2-Walk
deficit every 8 games it will be a very loooong season for Washington . . .
place your bets now on which pitchers will still be here by the
mid-point, and which will have disapeared on a tramp freighter to parts
unknown. Get all the lowdown on Capitol Hill's moundsmen at the Washington Nationals home on the web.