Results tagged ‘ Evan Longoria ’
Meet Me in St. Louis – Part II
Just as I did yesterday, it’s time again to follow up and check on the American League ballot. Here are the AL starters if voting ended today:
C – Joe Mauer
1B – Kevin Youkilis
2B – Ian Kinsler
SS – Derek Jeter
3B – Evan Longoria
OF – Jason Bay
OF – Josh Hamilton
OF – Ichiro
And here is the lineup that I chose a little less than a month ago:
C – Victor Martinez
1B – Youkilis
2B – Kinsler
SS – Jason Bartlett
3B – Longoria
OF – Bay
OF – Nick Markakis
OF – Nick Swisher
Just like my National League picks, I have four correct at this point, with one player (Bartlett) in second place. We’ve also made some noise in pushing Bartlett up the ballot, but there is no chance, especially with his ankle injury and ensuing stint on the disabled list that he’ll catch Derek Jeter, whom he trails by 582,000 votes. In fact, Jeter has more votes than Bartlett and Texas’ Elvis Andrus combined.
1B – This call is no easier to make than it was the first time around. I can make an argument for any of the players currently in the top four: Youkilis, Mark Teixiera, Justin Morneau and Miguel Cabrera. Despite a stay on the 15-day DL with an oblique problem, Youkilis is continuing to rake at .366/.478/.672, trailing only Minnesota’s Joe Mauer in OBP and Slugging percentage among everyday players. After a miserable April, Mark Teixeira had a monster month since teammate Alex Rodriguez returned to the lineup. Teixiera batted .330 with 13 homers and 34 RBI in May. Morneau boasts at .342 batting average and leads the group with 47 RBI. Cabrera trails only Youkilis in average at .355. This race is too close to call, but I’m going with Kevin Youkilis because he has been the most consistent since Opening Day. All four players certainly deserve to be in St. Louis. Youkilis leads Teixeira by almost 94,000 votes.
2B – Ian Kinsler leads the group in homers (13), RBI (39) and is tied with Brian Roberts of Baltimore with 10 stolen bases, so on paper, there is no need to change this vote. That said, I am changing to Toronto’s Aaron Hill. Through the recent skid his Blue Jays team has gone through, Hill has remained a relative constant. He leads all of baseball with 77 hits and ranks third in the AL with 120 total bases. His .333 average is tops among AL 2B and his 12 HR and 37 RBI are second only to Kinsler. He is currently fourth on the ballot behind Kinsler, Dustin Pedroia and Robinson Cano. Kinsler leads Pedroia by 146,000 votes.
SS – I’m sticking to my guns with this one and voting for Tampa Bay’s Jason Bartlett. Don’t get me wrong, Derek Jeter is having a great season and was one of the few guys who played well for the Yankees when they weren’t playing so great in April and early May. I just don’t know how Bartlett can be ignored; his .373 batting average is the best in baseball, he has the same amount of homers as Jeter (seven) and has five more RBI and four more stolen bases than the Yankee captain, despite the fact that he hasn’t played since 5/24 with an ankle injury that’s sent him to the disabled list. Jeter is a reputation vote if there ever was one. As mentioned above, Jeter leads Bartlett by 582,000 votes.
3B – No reason to deviate from Evan Longoria, the AL’s leading vote-getter. He continues to lead all of baseball with 55 RBI and he ranks second in the AL (third overall) with 124 total bases. He ranks second among AL 3B with a .327 average. The 2008 Rookie of the Year has gone from playing at Class AAA Durham to a serious MVP contender in a mere 14 months. Longoria leads Michael Young by 594,000 votes.
C – I’m going to write what everyone is thinking: Joe Mauer is the best hitter in the American League and maybe even on the planet. He began the season on the 15-day DL, but since joining the Twins on May 1st, Mauer is hitting .414/.500/.838 with 11 homers and 32 RBI. Oh, by the way, his career high for home runs in a season is 13, set in 2006. Victor Martinez has played the whole season and has only five more RBI and three fewer homers. He’ll likely be chosen as the Tribe’s lone representative, but Mauer, no doubt, deserves the start. Jason Varitek has also had a nice season and deserves to be in St. Louis as well. Mauer leads Varitek by 362,500 votes.
OF – No argument with Boston’s Jason Bay. In his first full-season in the AL, the Canadian is trailing only Longoria with 49 RBI. He also leads AL OF with 15 HR. Manny who?
I’m going to vote for a Baltimore Oriole again, but it’s not Nick Markakis, it’s Adam Jones. In the second season with the O’s, Jones is showing no signs of cooling off in 2009. His .346 batting average trails only Ichiro (.352) and he has 11 HR and 36 RBI, which trails only Bay, Torii Hunter and Markakis (tied with Nelson Cruz).
Nick Swisher has probably played the worst of anyone since being named on my ballot in early May and despite a few nice games in Cleveland, this weekend, it’s not enough to keep around. The third spot is going to one of the guys who narrowly missed the cut the first, time around, the Angels’ Torii Hunter. No one will argue that he’s one of the best defensive players in the game and in 2009, he has 12 HR and 42 RBI to back it up.
Photo Credits:
Kevin Youkilis
Joe Mauer
Who’s on third?
Joe Maddon, I can relate.
Last season, I worked as an intern for an American League team and one of our day-of-game responsibilities was too fetch each team’s lineup from the clubhouse and input onto our scorecards which were made available to the media covering the game. Once or twice we may have made a mistake and listed two first basemen or even list one player twice. We also goofed up the order of the umpires a couple times, but I still contest that it was their fault for switching against their normal rotation.
In this afternoon’s game against the Indians, the Rays’ coaching staff made a mistake and it COULD have cost them. The lineup card submitted to the umpires at home plate before the game is the gold standard. The one posted in the clubhouse for the players and media is the equivalent of a rough draft that won’t change – it counts for nothing.
The lineup submitted by the Rays listed Evan Longoria batting third and playing third base. It also listed Ben Zobrist batting fifth and playing … third base. The intention was to give Longoria the afternoon off from playing the field, but still including his bat in the lineup.
After the Indians were retired in the top of the first a 13-minute delay ensued. The umpires, lead by crew chief Tim McClelland sorted it out and determined that the Rays were going to be stripped of their designated hitter – Longoria – for the afternoon. Instead, the pitcher, in this case Andy Sonnanstine, would hit in place of the DH. However, because he had never entered the game, Longoria was still eligible to play (and he did later, pinch-hitting for Sonnanstine and taking over at 3B).
Sonnanstine entered the game as a .400-hitter (4-10) in his career. Undaunted by his new role as the Rays’ third hitter, Sonny hit an RBI-double in his final at-bat of the afternoon. It was the ultimate “I told you so” moment in a bizarre afternoon in Tampa. The Rays won the game, 7-5 and Sonnanstine picked up his second win of the year to go along with his first RBI.
Who knows, maybe the Rays will “accidently” make the same mistake again in another Sonnanstine start down the line.
Quick Update: After being tossed after two pitches yesterday, it sounds like Angels starter John Lackey will be back on the mound tomorrow against the Mariners. Let’s see if he can make it past the first batter this time.
Photo Credit:
http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/devile-rays-manager-joe-maddon-ap.jpg
Early American League All-Star ballot
When all-star balloting began a few weeks ago, I denounced the start date because I feel like two weeks into the season is much too small of a sample size to get a good read on things. Now that we’re into May, I am going to take a stab at who should be lining up in St. Louis. Today’s entry will be the American League with their National League counterparts coming in the next day or so.
3B – I’m starting at third base because, to me, it’s the only crystal clear choice on the AL ballot. The nod here goes to the Rays’ Evan Longoria. As of this morning, he leads all of baseball with 31 RBI and has eight homers while batting .360 (36-100) with a slugging percentage of .720. Last year, he won the fan vote for the 25th man, but I don’t think he’ll be on that ballot this time around. Honorable mention: Mike Lowell, Red Sox
SS – Remember when the American League shortstop position at the All-Star game was one of the most hotly contested? We were spoiled with Alex Rodriguez in Seattle, Miguel Tejada in Oakland, the Yankees’ Derek Jeter and Jose Valentin in Chicago (Just kidding about Jose. Any day I can throw a Valentin reference in my blog, you bet I’m going to pull it off). Anyway, those days are long gone (I’ll leave it at that). My vote, today, goes to Jason Bartlett of Tampa Bay. He is batting .363 and is currently the only AL SS above .300. He’s got three homers and 10 RBI to go along with six stolen bases. He’s also got a great glove (.990 Fld. %, 2nd among everyday AL SS). Honorable Mention: Marco Scutaro, Blue Jays
2B – In the perfect world, voters could select two second basemen this season, letting one of them get the start at short. A very strong case can be made for the Rangers’ Ian Kinsler, The Yankees’ Robinson Cano and the Blue Jays’ Aaron Hill. Even Alberto Callaspo in Kansas City is having a great start, though his power numbers aren’t as strong. All four are certainly on pace to make it to St. Louis, but who gets the start? Kinsler, Hill and Cano rank 1-2-3 respectively in both home runs and RBI. Callaspo, Hill and Cano are 1-2-3 in batting average, while Kinsler leads the position with seven stolen bases. Hill leads the AL with 45 hits. I eliminate Cano because he seems to be third every way I dissect it and Callaspo because as I said, his power numbers (one homer, nine RBI) don’t stack up. That leaves Hill and Kinsler with the vote going to Ian Kinsler because, most everything else being equal, he has a better glove (Hill has five errors already in 2009 to one for Kinsler). Honorable mention: Hill
1B – As easy as it was to choose the left side of the infield in the AL, it’s equally as difficult to choose the right side. There are three horses in the race as I see it (and maybe a late closer in New York’s Mark Teixiera if last night’s multi-homer game is any indication). For now, the contenders are Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera, Tampa Bay’s Carlos Pena and Boston’s Kevin Youkilis. Youk leads the league in batting average (.393) and OBP (.505), while Cabrera ranks second overall in average (.391) and second among 1B in OBP (.467). Pena leads the league with 11 homers and has collected 28 RBI. He trails only Youkilis in SLG % (.684 vs. .719). Youkilis had to leave last night’s game against the Yankees with a lower back injury, but if the injury isn’t severe enough to set him on the shelf for long, I expect his production to continue. My vote goes to Kevin Youkilis. Pena might have the better power numbers, but Youkilis, when healthy, has been the best overall hitter in the American League. Honorable Mention: Pena (narrowly over Cabrera)
C – Catcher – or as I like to call it this year, the man with the honor of calling pitches for Zack Greinke – comes down to two players, Cleveland’s Victor Martinez and the Yankees’ Jorge Posada. Posada has six more RBI in 26 fewer at-bats, but Martinez, at .379, is third overall in the AL in batting average behind Youkilis and Cabrera. Both players have five home runs and have come up with clutch hits. Martinez ranks second in hits (39) behind Toronto’s Hill. And while Posada has thrown out 10 baserunners to Martinez’ one, he’s also allowed 19 stolen bases to nine for Martinez. To be fair, stolen bases cannot be entirely pinned on the catcher and with that said, my vote goes to Victor Maritnez. Honorable mention: Posada
OF – First outfielder chosen is Baltimore’s Nick Markakis. While his career-best 17-game hitting streak may have been snapped on Sunday against the Blue Jays, he has still reached base safely in 35 straight games dating back to last season. He’s hitting .370 with four homers and 27 RBI (ranks 3rd in AL). For me, Markakis is the only lock in the AL outfield as of today.
For the second and third outfield spots I seriously considered four different players (in no particular order): the Angels’ Bobby Abreu and Torii Hunter, New York’s Nick Swisher (who, by the way, isn’t on the ballot so you’d need to write him in), Boston’s Jason Bay. I also gave some thought to a trio of AL Central outfielders, Curtis Granderson, Carlos Quentin and Grady Sizemore, but I concluded these three need to show me some more before I could give them a vote. My second vote goes to Jason Bay. He has flawlessly made the transition from NL to AL and has allowed Red Sox fans to forget (mostly) about the man who used to patrol LF at Fenway Park. Bay is hitting for average (.321) and a little bit of power (6 and 22).
Choosing the last spot is tough. Abreu’s got the monster average (.363, trailing only Markakis amongst AL OF) and 11 stolen bases, but he has yet to hit a home run. Hunter has made up for Abreu’s lack of Power in the LAA lineup by smashing eight homers and he has 21 RBI (vs. Abreu’s 12). Swisher has a higher OBP (.434) and SLG % (.688) than either of the Angels’ duo to go along with seven homers and 19 RBI. On top of that, he pitched an inning in relief earlier in the season so if we won’t have to relive the great Milwaukee nightmare of 2002. I went back and forth a lot on this pick, but my vote is going to Nick Swisher. The change of scenery has done a world of good for him. Honorable mention: Abreu, Hunter, Nelson Cruz, Rangers
Now just for fun, here’s the lineup I would use in STL based on my picks:
Kinsler
Swisher
Youkilis
Longoria
Markakis
Bay
Martinez
Bartlett
Greinke
I’ll have my NL choices later on this week.
Photo Credits:
1 – http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3345/3188994155_b1518b1bbb.jpg
2 – http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xR_lGuuhlLE/RzFO6VuvhQI/AAAAAAAAA9A/EoabV9A4zn0/s400/FgHOkXmu.jpg
3 – http://www3.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/New+York+Yankees+v+Toronto+Blue+Jays+I4wngxo9evMl.jpg
Here comes Matt?
There is a buzz coming out of Cleveland and it’s surrounding a red-hot prospect, Matt LaPorta. Acquired from Milwaukee in the deal that sent CC Sabathia to the Brewers, LaPorta began this season with the Class AAA Columbus Clippers of the International League. Needless to say, the 24-year old slugger is doing pretty well. Through 19 games, LaPorta is batting .368 (25-68) with four doubles, two triples, five homers and 14 RBI. He has also scored 20 runs and was recently named IL Batter of the Week for 4/20-26.
Yesterday, the Indians placed DH Travis Hafner on the 15-day disabled list with a sore shoulder. Yes, the same right shoulder that caused him to miss so much time in 2008. The word out of Cleveland that it’s not as serious, but according to MLB.com reporter Anthony Castrovince, Pronk will be making the obligatory visit to Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham to have it checked out. To take his place, the Tribe summoned a pitcher, Rich Rundles from Columbus, but that gives them 14 pitchers currently on the roster so another move is most assuredly forthcoming.
The MLB.com article mentions LaPorta and David Dellucci as possibilities, but I think it has to be Matt. Look at what Evan Longoria did last season with the Rays. Granted, he was only with Class AAA Durham for about a week, but he came up and went a season-long tear that resulted in the American League Rookie of the Year Award. Or how about the Brewers’ Ryan Braun in 2007? He spent 34 games with Class AAA Nashville, got the call-up to Milwaukee and batted .324 with 34 homers and 97 RBI in 113 games on his way to claim National League RoY honors.
The timing is right and LaPorta could be just the jolt the Indians need to rise from the cellar of the AL Central.
Photo Credit:
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0eGi5d9aX75TE/340x.jpg
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