All Entries Tagged With: "AL"

Tigers Still looking for Bats

As the All-Star break draws near, many teams around the league are looking for upgrades. Your Motor City Kitties are no exception. The Tigers need for a another bat has been well chronicled, and many names have been tossed around the blogosphere. Unfortunately, the Tigers failed to pounce on the one name that I would have liked them to target; Eric Hinske.

On Tuesday June 30, the Pirates made…

The Rangers Struggled in June

“The Rangers have lost the lead in the AL West with the Angels taking the spot that they have been so familiar with over the last four years.  Texas has lost steam, but ironically, the pitching has kept them afloat and the offense has let them down.  The Rangers have finished the past two seasons atop the AL in offense and now they find themselves in the middle of the pack.

1B/DH Justin Smoak

“Chris…

Baltimore Orioles Midseason Report: Seeing Past the Ugliness

From the very beginning, the goal of the 2009 season for the Baltimore Orioles has been to be respectable on the field while continuing behind the scenes to develop the pieces needed to eventually lead the Orioles back to contention in the American League East.

With the season now three months old and nearing the mid-point, it’s time to see just how the Orioles have been doing in meeting their objectives.

It is probably…

June Reflections on the Blue Jays

When my partner in crime, Tom, penned his last epistle about our beloved azure corvidae, things were just going great in the Queen City.  He mentioned how much he was enjoying the season thus far, and confided that he wasn’t sure how long the Jays could keep it up.  The answer – not long.  Almost immediately after his missive, the Jays went into a tailspin in which they were swept in…

Royals Showcase Textbook Bad Baseball

When I last reported on the Royals, the team was sitting just one game out of first place in the American League Central with a respectable 20-18 record.   Sure, Kansas City had dropped seven of their last nine games to get to that mark, but all was still well in the land of blue.   My, my, my, what a difference a month makes.

Over the last twenty-seven games, the Royals have lost…

Why The Trade Deadline May Be Disappointing For Tigers Fans

With just about six weeks remaining until the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline the Detroit Tigers find themselves in first place in the AL Central, albeit with some gaping holes in their roster. Through ineffectiveness or injury the Tigers are struggling to fill the bottom two spots in the starting rotation, are platooning various youngsters in the outfield with mixed results and have little flexibility in the bullpen.

Quality left-handed pitching seems to be lacking, to…

Oakland Still Sitting In Last Place

Although they were originally looked at as the number one contender to knock off the two time reigning American League West champions, the Oakland Athletics find themselves ten games under .500 and in last place in the division.

General Manager Billy Beane deviated from his usual plan this past offseason by adding aging veterans and trading some of his young players in hopes of winning big in 2009.

The…

Detroit Tigers June Splits

Every season is a different season, however there are trends in baseball. So today we’ll take a look at the career split stats for the current group of Detroit Tigers for the month of June and see at least on some level, what we might expect.

Let’s start with the hitters. As you would expect Magglio Ordonez and Placido Polanco lead the pack in most categories, as they have the most at-bats…

Will The Baltimore Orioles Have To Trade Aubrey Huff?

Baltimore Orioles team president Andy MacPhail made the right call in his decisions to trade Erik Bedard and Miguel Tejada and to keep Brian Roberts.  He could soon get another test as he must decide whether to keep or trade free agent-to be Aubrey Huff.

There is no question that Huff is a valuable member of a formidable lineup that with the recent additions of Nolan Reimold and Matt Wieters which ranks favorably with any offense in…

What’s Wrong With Josh Hamilton?

Image by Keith Allison via Flickr

The Texas Rangers are 30-19 after 49 contests, leading the Angels in the AL West by 5.5 games after play on Saturday. The Rangers’ quick start can be attributed to their potent offense, which ranks fifth in the majors, scoring 5.44 runs per game.

Ian Kinsler, Michael Young and Nelson Cruz have led the way for Texas, combining to hit .303 through the first two months of the season.

Josh…

Matt Wieters Scheduled to Join the Baltimore Orioles on Friday

The wait is over.  In an interview with Gary Thorne and Buck Martinez during Tuesday night’s game between the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays, Orioles President Andy MacPhail announced that top prospect Matt Wieters will be making his major league debut on Friday, May 29, when the Detroit Tigers visit Baltimore to face the Orioles.

“We are planning on Friday to introduce him [Wieters] to Major League Baseball right here at Camden…

Dontrelle Willis Needed This!

He needed to step onto that mound at Comerica Park and feel the evening sun shine upon him, the clouds in retreat, the swirling winds at bay. He needed to kick his right leg high into the air and bring his left arm across his body in perfect plane as the baseball left his fingertips with a sizzle. He needed this, and so did we.

Once upon a time Dontrelle Wayne…

The Rays After 40 Games

The 2009 Tampa Bay Rays played their fortieth game of the season on Monday, May 18th and in so doing got themselves back to the .500 mark at 20-20. But at this point, things that went right in 2008 so far have not in 2009, and the Rays find themselves in fourth place in their division.

Things have taken a strange turn for the Tampa Bay Rays – the 2008 team was pitching-strong…

The Royals Become Relevant

Unless you are a Kansas City Royals fan or a really, really huge baseball fan in general, chances are you have not given the Royals much thought since about 1994. Even during the 2003 campaign, when Kansas City won sixteen of their first nineteen games and hung in the race until late August, they were not so much relevant as the Royals were simply a team ‘that was due to come…

The Texas Rangers Are In First Place Still!

The surprise Rangers are sitting in first place in the AL West! This time it’s their pitching that’s carrying them.  Unlike last season, the Rangers are relying more on balance from the starting pitching and offense to win games.  Last season, the Rangers lost many close games (3 runs or less) and this season, they’re winning those close games.  The biggest surprise coming out of the Rangers team is their health.

Indians After Two Months = Disappointing

While the Cleveland Indians are currently on a winning streak at the time of this writing, it is the first time in nearly a month that they have won at least two games in a row. Even though there were no huge expectations coming into this season like there were in 2008 when many, including ESPN’s Buster Olney, picked them to go to the World Series at the beginning of the…

Interleague Play Q&A

Back on December 8, 2008 I posted a 10 question interview session that I conducted with 6 other baseball bloggers about their thoughts concerning Interleague play.

With the first Interleague series of the year going this weekend I thought it would be a good time to post this link to it for your amusement! Enjoy!

http://baseballreflections.com/2008/12/08/an-interview-of-baseball-bloggers-on-interleague-play/

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White Sox Reflections 1 ½ Months In

Manager Ozzie Guillen

I’ll let Paul Konerko and Ozzie Guillen sum up the White Sox season (15-18) through the halfway point in May.

“We stink.” – Guillen

“We’re just not good right now, that’s it.” – Konerko

That pretty much sums it up, but let’s take a look at why the Sox are struggling so much.

Offense

The offense has struggled mightily thus far, ranking them near the bottom in the AL in many

categories.

Runs Scored – 14^th (Last)

Batting Average – 13^th

OBP…

The Blue Jays Are On Fire!

Hi from us at Bluebird Banter where, I can quite honestly say, I have never enjoyed baseball as much in my life. And I was there for the Jay’s World Series seasons. The great part of it this time is that we weren’t expected to be anywhere near this good.  It really is good to prove the experts of the world wrong. Maybe the fun will end but we are…

April’s Top 9 Hitters By Position

Here’s a look at the top players per position for the month of April. We have included the top 3 outfielders rather than list them by LF, CF & RF. Admittedly this is a little late and next month I’ll try to get this to you quicker, but for now, I hope you enjoy this look back into April’s hot starters.

The top hitting catcher was Indian’s Victor Martinez after an injury…

Red Sox Reflections After 25 games

After 25 games, the Red Sox found themselves with an 11 game winning streak and neck and neck for first place, with the Blue Jays who have 2 more games in hand than the Sox (both are wins).

During the first few weeks of the season, we have seen the injury bug hit SS Jed Lowrie, SP Daisuke Matsuzaka and OF Rocco Baldeli.

The Rotation

We have also seen great starts be Jon Lester,…

O’s CF Jones Living Up to Potential

We all know that one month of success does not make a season, but early returns indicate that Baltimore Orioles centerfielder Adam Jones is indeed the real deal.

When the Orioles traded ace starting pitcher Erik Bedard to the Seattle Mariners for a cast of players highlighted by Jones, there were many skeptics questioning whether the then-22-year-old outfielder could parlay the potential he had showed at the minor league level into major league success.

Even though…

Rangers Reflections: The First 3 Weeks

One month into the season and we know two things about the Rangers: their offense is picking up where it left off last season and their pitching has drastically improved from last season’s horrendous output.  Though both facets of the team are virtually the same as last season’s mark, the team has managed to stay hovered around the .500 mark, good for second place in the AL West.  That’s not…

Why I’m high on this Tigers team

Before the season, I wrote that these Tigers would be a bit of a mystery. We didn’t know what to expect. Unlike the “experts,” I didn’t expect the worst. But other than that, I had no idea what we’d see out of the 2009 Detroit Tigers. Well — and knowing full well the dangers in trying to extrapolate too much out of two weeks of baseball — I’ve come to my…