Cleveland join the party.
CENTRAL W L PythW PythL RS RA Chicago Sox 50 24 45 29 358 281 Minnesota 41 33 41 33 335 302 Cleveland 40 34 41 33 333 299 Detroit 36 36 37 35 329 316 Kansas City 25 50 28 47 323 424
Chicago
The last two weeks
The White Sox actually lost a series to Arizona, and then took their frustations out on the Dodgers and Royals with back to back sweeps. Lost two of three to the Cubs over the weekend.
The next two weeks
Travel to Detroit and then get to feast on Oakland twice and the Devil Rays.
Notes
The confounding miracle continues, the Sox just kept on winning games as the Twins fell away. Two weeks ago the difference in Run Differential between the two was four runs, as of Tuesday it was 44. The Pythagorean difference between the two still is still significantly different to the real standings, but it's hard to see the Sox giving up this lead...Last Friday they became the first team to fifty wins...Frank Thomas has been hitting home runs like they were going out of fashion, he has 11 hits, 7 of them have been dingers, one every 7 at bats, his slugging percentage you ask ? .767...Brandon McCarthy was called up again when El Duque got hurt and got a start against the Royals, he struggled giving up 6 runs in 4.2 Innings...El Duque was apparently put on the DL just to rest and should be back soon...Mark Buehrle has an ERA of 0.87 in 31 Innings in June, with a crazy 25/2 K/BB ratio, he's vaulted himself into midseason Cy Young contention...Jose Contreras though has struggled recently, he's given up 20 runs in 31 Innings in June...Old friend Cliff Pollitte hasn't given up an earned run since May 21st...Joe Crede who was rumoured to be under some job pressure has responded with an .875 OPS in the last month...Crazy Carl Everett has lost some playing time since the Big Hurt got back, but he's giving Thomas a run for his money - he has five homers in his last fifty at bats...talking of homers, the White Sox are fourth in the AL with 91 - smart ball shmart ball...It's still pitching that dominates here of course, the team ERA is 3.54, trailing only the Angels.
Over at The Hardball Times Dave Studeman had a look at The White Sox unique run distribution. Noting "If you had your druthers, you'd score between two and seven runs in every game. Which is just about what the White Sox have done."
Minnesota
The last two weeks
Lost, lost to everyone, well not everyone, but the Giants, Padres, Tigers and Brewers.
The next two weeks
Have time to regroup with Kansas City coming up twice in the next two weeks, they also get a series against Tampa Bay for some batting practice, they do have the Anegls mixed in there as well though.
Notes
The Twins have lost five straight series...Twins bloggers have been hyper-ventilating and much has been made of the problems at BatGirl...where things have reached such a pass they are invoking the spirit of Rudyard Kipling...Mr Gleeman meanwhile is looking on the bright side pointing out the Twins are still in the Wild Card lead...the funny things is they're only 5-8 over the last two weeks, heavens knows what would happen if they ever lose eight straight or something...the Twins will honour Archibald "Moonlight" Graham before tonight's game...Gammons believes Minnesota may be interested in Joe Randa, to replace the struggling Mike Cuddyer...Cuddyer has an OPS of .779 in June, but has lost his job to Aussie Glenn Williams...Johan Santana has given up 13 runs in his last three starts, but still has inhuman peripherals (131/21 K/BB ratio)...old friend Brent Abernathy had a cup of coffee here earlier in June, but is now on the DL with a bum shoulder...Luis Rivas is always good for a laugh, he has no extra base hits and 3 rbi this year...Joe Nathan had an ERA of 7.00 in June and 5.73 in May...
Cleveland
The last two weeks
Continued to kick the **** out of the NL, sweeping Arizon and Colorado and winning a series with the Reds, Boston came into town to administer a beating in the middle of all that, all told though a very excellent 9-4 over the last 14 days.
The next two weeks
Boston, Baltimore, Detroit and the Yankees should provide a good indication of whether the renassaince in Cleveland is for real.
Notes
Now neck and neck with the Twins, Cleveland are doing what was expected of them in the pre-season, finally...C.C Sabathia can hit (at least in small sample sizes), he has 4 RBI and a 1.333 OPS in inter league play this year, his pitching hasn't been so hot, he has a 4.60 ERA and a 5 - 4 record - so much for my prediction he would have a bnreakout season...The Indians have a 34.68925% chance of making the playoffs according to BP...Cleveland's pitchers lead the majors in OPS against and are fifth in ERA...Bob Wickman leads the AL with 21 saves...Travis Hafner has been lighting it up in June, he is up to .296/.401/.532 on the year...Grady Sizemore hasn't been too shabby himself posting a 1.121 OPS in June...Kevin Millwood doesn't have the greatest win-loss record, but he's been getting very little run support and Mark Shapiro hopes to bring him back next year...Arthur Rhodes has an ERA of 0.87, and Terry Francona is reportedly considering him for the All Star team...the key to winning for Cleveland is scoring just four runs, mlb.com reports the Indians are "31-12 when scoring four or more runs. In games that the Tribe has scored three runs or less, its record is 9-22"...
Detroit
The last two weeks
An extremely pleasant 8 and 4, dealt comfortably with San Diego, San Francisco and the Twins but lost a series in Arizona.
The next two weeks
Have the dubious privelege of entertaining the White Sox and Yankees then travel to Cleveland and Tamp Bay.
Notes
Had a great run over the last two weeks, but made up no ground at all on the Indians...Jeremy Bonderman is taking another step this season towards his future as a bone-fide ace, but there have been stumbles along the way like his last outing at Arizona, where he gave up 8 runs in just 2 Innings...Carlos Guillen returned from injury on Sunday, and there was much rejoicing, particular amongst those of us who own him in fantasy leagues...Magglio Ordonez may be sighted in the next few weeks, he has apparently been traveling with the team and is on a rehab assignment in Toledo, Trammel says he'll be the everyday rightfielder when he returns...old friend Sean Douglass started for the Tigers on saturday and beat Arizona 5-1...Placido Polanco likes the AL, he is .391/.437/.500 since his trade...the Tigers are apparently undecided whether to buy or sell at the trade deadline, should they be selling Rondell White, Polanco and Jason Johnson are all potential free agents.
Kansas City
The last two weeks
Lost a lot of baseball games.
The next two weeks
Have a great chance to lose a lot more basbeall games, although a visit to Seattle will give them a rare chance to win some.
Notes
Remember the honeymoon after the Buddy Bell arrival, sweeping the Yankees and all that ? I think we can declare the honeymoon period over, the Royals have lost eight straight, during that stretch they've scored an average of 3.6 runs per game and conceded 5...the Royals are 5-21 against the rest of the AL Central...Terence Long is leading the team in hitting in June, I bet that's a sentence that's never been written before...Magpie has pointed out Zack Grienke's lack of run support, but, he's not doing himself any favours either, he has an ERA of 10.08 in June...and that's not worst on the team...Runelvys Hernandez has been outstanding, he has a 2.37 ERA in his last five starts, but he has walked 17 in 31 Innings.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050629150926101