AL Recap

This week I did a recap of every AL team’s season so far, gave the key player for each team, as well as gave the team’s record and current streak.

AL West:
LA Angels: The Angels have been very good so far this year, with average pitching and good offense, as they have scored the 2nd most runs in the AL.
Key player: Casey Kotchman: .324 AVG, 6 HR, 20 RBI

Record: 19-13
Streak: Won 1

Oakland A’s: The A’s have gotten off to a very good start without Eric Chavez (injured) or Dan Haren (traded). Dana Eveland has really helped the pitching staff with a 3-2 record and a 3.67 ERA.
Key player: Emil Brown: .281 AVG, 3 HR, 26 RBI
Record: 18-14
Streak: Lost 2

Seattle Mariners: The Mariners do not have a very good record at 13-17, but are outscoring their opponents 130-127 this year. What’s killed them is the fact that they are 1-8 in one-run games.
Key player: Jose Lopez: .298 AVG, 2 HR, 17 RBI
Record: 13-18
Streak: Lost 4

Texas Rangers: The Rangers have been struggling badly this year, allowing the most runs in all of baseball. They’ve only scored 136 runs, while allowing 181. But the Rangers have won four straight games and are finally playing good baseball. Since Brandon Boggs got called up he’s 7-for-16 (.438 batting average) with 1 HR and 2 RBI’s. He’s playing very well. AJ Murray had his first game of the year Saturday night and gave up 2 earned runs in 5.1 innings. After two starts this year Sidney Ponson has a 1.38 ERA with 9 strikeouts in 13.1 innings pitched. Josh Hamilton is leading all of baseball in RBI’s with 33 and Milton Bradley is second in the AL in batting average with a .333 AVG. CJ Wilson is tied for seventh in the AL with seven saves. Last week the Rangers DFA’d Jason Botts to call up Chris Shelton. That move doesn’t make much sense to me, because I didn’t think they had given Jason Botts enough time. He was only batting .158 but had only been given 38 at-bats. I don’t agree with this move because they cut a guy with the potential to be a big part of this team the next few years for Chris Shelton, who probably isn’t part of our future. Since this is a rebuilding year, I wish they had been more patient with Jason.
Key player: Josh Hamilton: .310 AVG, 6 HR, 33 RBI
Record: 13-18
Streak: Won 4

AL Central:
Minnesota Twins: The Twins have done well, but have been outscored by seven runs, even though they've allowed the third least amount of runs in the AL.
Key player: Justin Morneau: .286 AVG, 6 HR, 24 RBI
Record: 15-14
Streak: Won 4

Chicago White Sox: The White Sox are outscoring their opponents by 21 runs this year, but are still a .500 team due to a losing record against right-handed pitchers.
Key player: Carlos Quentin: .289 AVG, 8 HR, 22 RBI
Record: 14-14
Streak: Lost 4

Cleveland Indians: The Indians have been struggling so far this year and a lot of it is due to CC Sabathia's bad start. They also have a 7-11 record in non-divisional play.
Key player: Grady Sizemore: .278 AVG, 4 HR, 15 RBI
Record: 14-16
Streak: Lost 1

Detroit Tigers: The Tigers offense hasn't been bad, but their pitching's been horrible, allowing the second most runs in the AL. They are 4-11 in divisional play.
Key player: Magglio Ordonez: .313 AVG, 6 HR, 22 RBI
Record: 14-17
Streak: Lost 2

Kansas City Royals: The Royals pitching has been good this far, but they have scored the second least runs in all of baseball.
Key player: Billy Butler: .299 AVG, 1 HR, 12 RBI
Record: 13-16
Streak: Won 1

AL East:
Boston Red Sox: The Red Sox are doing very well, especially on hitting. But what’s really helped them is that their 7-2 record in one-run games.
Key player: Manny Ramirez: .322 AVG, 6 HR, 22 RBI
Record: 19-13
Streak: Won 2

Baltimore Orioles: The Orioles have a pretty good record, but are still being outscored by 9 runs. Their 8-2 record in one-run games is why they’re doing so well.
Key player: Nick Markakis: .276 AVG, 5 HR, 13 RBI
Record: 16-14
Streak: Lost 1

Tampa Bay Rays: The Rays have scored 15 more runs and allowed 5 less runs than the Orioles and are still tied for 2nd with them due to the Rays 2-4 record in one-run games.
Key player: Eric Hinske: .280 AVG, 6 HR, 15 RBI
Record: 16-14
Streak: Lost 2

New York Yankees: The Yankees record is even and their score for the year is about even, only being outscored by three so far. They are three games back.
Key player: Melky Cabrera: .293 AVG, 5 HR, 15 RBI
Record: 16-16
Streak: Won 2

Toronto Blue Jays: The Blue Jays are three games under .500 and are outscoring their opponents by 12. But in one-run ballgames they are 2-8.
Key player: Alex Rios: .313 AVG, 3 HR, 15 RBI
Record: 14-17
Streak: Won 3

Results of last week’s poll:
Who do you think should be the AL MVP?
Manny Ramirez – 50%
Casey Kotchman – 12%
Justin Morneau – 12%
Carlos Pena – 12%
Other – 12%
Joe Crede – 0%

Come back next week for the NL Recap.