Results tagged ‘ Ryan Zimmerman ’
Meet Me in St. Louis
As we turn the calendar to June today, I will look back at the way I voted for the National League All-Stars and make a few revisions. The latest results released by MLB this afternoon show the starters to be as follows:
C – Yadier Molina
1B – Albert Pujols
2B – Chase Utley
3B – David Wright
SS – Hanley Ramirez
OF- Ryan Braun
OF- Raul Ibanez
OF – Alfonso Soriano
This is the lineup I picked a month a go:
C – Bengie Molina
1B – Pujols
2B – Utley
3B – Zimmerman
SS – Hanley
OF – Carlos Beltran
OF – Raul Ibanez
OF – Manny Ramirez (later changed to Andre Ethier upon Man-Ram’s suspension)
A month later, that’s four correct picks with two others in second place (Zimmerman and Beltran – technically he’s fourth). First off, I want to thank baseball fans everywhere for heeding the call last week to stop voting for J.J. Hardy and showing love for Ibanez, who climbed up from sixth to second in about a week’s time.
Here is how I’m casting a ballot today:
1B – I still have to give the vote to Albert Pujols, this year’s hometown hero. His average has dropped to a more realistic .339 since May 7th (when I wrote the first post), but the power numbers continue to be there with 16 homers and 42 RBI. Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres has more homers (20) and Prince Fielder has more RBI (48), but their averages are nowhere close to Pujols’, plus he’s still a decent threat in the running game with seven steals. I am surprised that Gonzalez is all the way back in fourth place behind Pujols, Fielder, Ryan Howard and Joey Votto. Gonzalez will be in St. Louis as a Padres representative, perhaps along with Heath Bell. Pujols leads Fielder by 713,000 votes.
2B – Chase Utley and Orlando Hudson are both making great cases to be the NL’s starter at second base. Utley is hovering near .300 with 11 home runs and 33 RBI. Hudson is setting the table for one of the best offensive teams in baseball with a .332 batting average, three homers and 31 RBI. The O-Dog also leads the NL in hits with 70. He’s been put into the third spot in the lineup by manager Joe Torre and he’s hardly skipped a beat. The best team in baseball should have a starter in the lineup and since it won’t be Manny Ramirez, it should be Orlando Hudson. Hudson currently trails Utley by over 625,000 votes.
SS – Hanley Ramirez remains the class of a weak crop of NL shortstops this season. Batting .330 with eight homers, 23 RBI and eight stolen bases is clearly the best of this bunch. Miguel Tejada and Cristian Guzman are putting together pretty solid seasons, but they play for last-place teams and aren’t being noticed like they should. Guzman has also been nicked up quite a bit this season. Ramirez leads Philadelphia’s Jimmy Rollins by 16,600 votes.
3B – Much the same as second base, David Wright and Ryan Zimmerman are both playing well and deserve a chance to run out onto the field in the top of the first inning in St. Louis. It’s tough to decide because, while Zimmerman’s Nationals have been playing poorly from the word go, he has remained a constant bright spot. He had this season’s longest hitting streak to-date at 30 games, he’s batting .319 and leads all NL 3B with 35 RBI. Wright’s home run numbers are down – only three this season, but he’s still knocking in runs (30) and is a threat to steal (12 SB). In addition, the Mets are only a half-game out of first place. No matter, I’m still voting for Ryan Zimmerman at this point, who trails Wright by almost 204,000 votes.
C – In the first entry, I wavered between which of the Catching Molina Bros. I would give my vote to, eventually deciding on the elder, Bengie. I’ve wavered again and now my vote lies with St. Louis’ Yadier, even though Bengie has 10 more RBI (32) than any other NL backstop (Pudge Rodriguez has 22). He’s also tied with Chris Iannetta with eight homers. It’s not right that Bengie is not even in the top five, but I do think he’ll be chosen to back-up little brother in the game. I enjoy Yadier’s all-around game better and I try to put hometown starters in the game where possible. Molina leads Milwaukee’s Jason Kendall by more than 157,000 votes.
OF – Outfield is always one of the toughest positions to sort out because you have about 45-50 players to sort through to get to the top three. Raul Ibanez remains a no-brainer for me. He leads the position in homers (17) and RBI (46) and he is in the top five in batting average (.332). Ryan Braun has also proved that he is worthy of a starting spot. The left fielder for the first-place Brewers has nine home runs and 32 RBI while maintaining a .316 batting average.
For the final selection, I’m going completely off the radar. In fact, I’m choosing a player who isn’t even in the top 15 at his position as released this afternoon: Colorado’s Brad Hawpe. Hawpe is batting .348 with seven home runs and 39 RBI. Perhaps this weekend’s managerial change will get the Rockies pointed in the right direction and will have more people noticing Brad Hawpe in the final month before the game. Carlos Beltran trails Alfonso Soriano for third place by 33,000 votes. Manny Ramirez is in fifth place and Mike Cameron in sixth.
Photo credits:
Ryan Zimmerman
Brad Hawpe
Zimmerman’s streak snapped
Ryan Zimmerman’s 30-game hitting streak was snapped at the hands of Barry Zito, Pat Misch and the San Francisco Giants. Zimmerman was 0-3 with two walks (one intentional). He did score a big run in the top of the 9th to help the Nats increase their lead to 6-2.
*Note, the Giants could score 4 3 runs and send this game into extra innings, giving Zimmerman a chance. With their bullpen, anything is possible.
Early National League All-Star Ballot
On Tuesday I laid out my American League ballot after one month of play. Today, it’s time to tackle the National League.
1B – In the biggest no-brainer since CC Sabathia signed with the Yankees, Albert Pujols will be the NL’s starting first baseman. He’s batting .364 (36-99) and he leads the NL in homers (11) and RBI (31). He also leads all NL 1B with four stolen bases in the early going. He has committed four errors, but let’s be honest no one pays their money to watch Pujols collect ground balls.The game is being played in his sandbox and he figures to be a big contributor. Honorable Mention: Jorge Cantu, Marlins (narrowly over Adrian Gonzalez, Padres).
2B – Second base was a little bit tougher to choose than first base, but not by too much. In the NL, it’s a two-horse race so far between Los Angeles’ Orlando Hudson andChase Utley of the Philles. Hudson has proved to be an invaluable pickup for GM Ned Colletti and the Dodgers as the tablesetter for one of the best lineups, top to bottom, in baseball. The O-Dog (by the way, I crack up each time I hear the legendary Voice of the Dodgers, Vin Scully, refer to Hudson as the O-Dog) has collected 40 hits, more than any other NL player and he leads second basemen in batting average at .342 (40-117), is tied for the lead in triples (two) and ranks second in doubles (10). He also has four stolen bases and hit for the cycle at Dodger Stadium on . Utley leads NL 2B in homers (8), RBI (21), OBP (.476) and SLG (.642). He also has two stolen bases. I think Hudson may not make the team if he weren’t voted as a starter because the Dodgers have two virtual locks already in Manny Ramirez and Andre Ethier. If Utley isn’t voted as a starter, he’ll surely be chosen by Phillies’ skipper Charlie Manuel. My gut says Chase Utley anyway. Honorable Mention: The O-Dog, Dodgers.
SS – As is the case in the AL, this year’s NL shortstop class hasn’t overwhelmed anyone just yet. Familiar names like Florida’s Hanley Ramirez and the Mets’ Jose Reyes have not played up to expectations. Only one SS has more than three home runs (Milwaukee’s J.J. Hardy has four to go along with a .215 BA) and Miguel Tejada and Jimmy Rollins have combined for one (Rollins). Only three are hitting above .300 (Washington’s Cristian Guzman @.397, Chicago’s Ryan Theriot @.305 and Atlanta’s Yunel Escobar at .302). Guzman missed some time with a hamstring injury and he only has 69 at-bats, still .397, any way you cut it, is pretty impressive. Theriot has shown some pop lately with three home runs and eight RBI since May 1st. All that said, I’m going to vote for Hanley Ramirez. He’s batting .295 with three homers and 13 RBI and his .484 slugging percentage is second only to Guzman. He can get hot any night and carry that team for a week straight. Honorable mention: Guzman, Nationals.
3B – To the best of my knowledge, since the Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals, only one player from that franchise has been named as a starter to the National League All-Star squad, outfielder Alphonso Soriano in 2006 (probably because so many Yankees fans still had love for him). My gut tells me that the Nasty Nats will have one of their own this year in third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. There are three players really in the running for this spot so far, but one of the, Chicago’s Aramis Ramirez, has been hobbled by a leg injury that has limited him to just 61 at-bats in 16 games. Another, Arizona’s Mark Reynolds, leads all NL 3B with seven homers, but he has just 14 RBI and leads the group with 32 strikeouts. That leaves Zimmerman, the man who hits, at least once a day for the past 24 days (or games). He has the longest hitting streak in baseball, he’s got a .333 BA and the third-highest slugging percentage amongst NL 3B at .568. He leads the group in hits (37), doubles (11) and RBI (20). Honorable mention: Ramirez, Cubs.
C – Among National League catchers, there is a ‘Big 3′ that the ASG starter figures to come from every year for the forseeable future: Atlanta’s Brian McCann, Chicago’s Geovany Soto and Los Angeles’ Russell Martin. That doesn’t look to be the case this season. McCann is on the disabled list with an eye problem and was hitting only .195 prior to sitting down. Soto, last year’s starter and ROY, is batting .159 with no home runs and four RBI. Martin is doing the best of the three, batting .242 with 11 RBI and his team is the best in the league right now. With those three counted out, the fight this year is between the Brothers Molina, Giant Bengie and Cardinal Yadier. Bengie leads the group with five homers and 23 RBI, while Yadier has the higher average at .315 and both players have the same number of hits, 28. I go back and forth wondering if older brother (Bengie) would want little brother (Yadier) to get the start in his home ballpark or if younger brother wants older brother to get the start in an All-Star game for the first time. I’m going to go with the latter and vote for Bengie Molina. Honorable Mention: The Other Molina, Cardinals. (And who knows, since Posada is out for the Yankees, maybe Jose can get hot and join the duo in St. Louis…)
OF – Last, but never least, we come to the NL outfielders.The first two are no-brainers for me: Carlos Beltran of the Mets and Manny Ramirez Andre Ethier of the Dodgers. Beltran leads the group in hits (38) and batting average (.388). Manny has been hitting everything in sight since putting on that Dodger Blue after last year’s mid-season trade that sent him over from Boston. (But word just came down as I prepared to post this that he will be suspended for 50 games as a result of a positive test for steroids. Here’s a link to the LA Times story: Manny).
The last spot is tougher to assign with Philadelphia’s Raul Ibanez, LA’s Andre Ethier, Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun and St. Louis’ Ryan Ludwick all having strong cases to claim the spot. Ibanez leads the NL OF with eight homers, while Ethier has the most RBI with 27 (Braun, Ludwick, Ibanez round out the top four). Ibanez leads in average and slugging percentage, while Ethier has the best OBP in the group. My vote goes to Raul Ibanez, who has looked very impressive and had no trouble after switching over from the American League. The other three, should, no doubt, be chosen as reserves.
I plan to revisit revise my predictions in another month or so. Until then, here is my ideal NL lineup:
Hanley
Beltran
Pujols
Manny
Ibanez
Utley
Zimmerman
Molina
Johan Santana
I’m going back home to Chicago this weekend, so until next week…have a good weekend.
Photo Credits:
1 – http://baseballcanadiana.mlblogs.com/NationalLeagueLogo.png
2 – http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/0/2008/03/31/320×240/ryan_zimmerman_80436770.jpg
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