Is it possible that Roy Halladay's turnaround could be attributed to the fact he's gotten over being separated from his personal catcher? His worst starts were the two immediately after Huckaby was designated for assignment; he then followed up with three middling starts, and has turned it on since, with four gems.
Eddie Perez still hasn't slowed down. You don't sign a 35-year-old catcher with less than 1,000 career at bats to be a major offensive contributor, but Eddie is hitting .322/.344/.542 in May, with four home runs, and he's fourth on the team in slugging percentage... if you don't count the contributions of Brooks Kieschnick.
Kieschnick has been a story himself; he's getting innings and pinch-hitting appearances to boot, and what's more he's hitting for once, though with only eleven plate appearances so far. He's made nine appearances in May, and if he can continue at that pace, getting twelve PA and 14 innings a month, he's a terrifically useful player. His peripherals are good so far, opponents are hitting .281/.317/.439 off him. He had three fine scoreless innings in a 6-0 loss to the Dodgers on Saturday. Unfortunately, Ned Yost hasn't yet cottoned on to Kieschnick's potential contributions in the field; his 11 PA have all come as a pitcher or pinch-hitter and he hasn't played a defensive position other than pitcher yet.
Roger Cedeno has to be, finally, on the way out in New York. The Mets have been electing to start Jeromy Burnitz in center over Cedeno, an unbelievable slight to any legitimate CF but Cedeno, of course, is no such thing. The Mets generally look to be in need of a complete tear-down; the imminent end of Mo Vaughn's career due to degenerative damage to the cartilage in his knee really ought to be the cue to Steve Phillips to begin the healing. But of course, being Steve Phillips, he'll do no such thing, he'd rather go down thrashing about, trying to recapture the lightining of 2000 in a 2003 bottle. It's tempting to pick on Mets fans (I mean, putting hope in Ty Wigginton?) but really they do have my sympathies.
With Minnesota having a rash of injuries (that vaunted depth does sometimes come in handy) they called up Lew Ford to fill in in the outfield. Ford was hitting very well at AAA Rochester, his MLE stats for 2003, park-adjusted to the Metrodome, give him a line of .310/.359/.468, a function of Rochester being a fairly severe pitcher's park. Ford began his career as a defensive replacement for Torii Hunter last night - Hunter has been injured, but it's still something to brag about to the boys back home. He also hit a ninth-inning single.
It's good to be back doing the Notes, at least for tonight, and hopefully I'll be able to continue most days. One final note, if anyone has a site for current Japanese stats in English, please let me know. I have grown accustomed to NPB's own site (NPB is the Japanese equivalent of MLB) which has always had an English section. Unfortunately, that's now unreachable.
Eddie Perez still hasn't slowed down. You don't sign a 35-year-old catcher with less than 1,000 career at bats to be a major offensive contributor, but Eddie is hitting .322/.344/.542 in May, with four home runs, and he's fourth on the team in slugging percentage... if you don't count the contributions of Brooks Kieschnick.
Kieschnick has been a story himself; he's getting innings and pinch-hitting appearances to boot, and what's more he's hitting for once, though with only eleven plate appearances so far. He's made nine appearances in May, and if he can continue at that pace, getting twelve PA and 14 innings a month, he's a terrifically useful player. His peripherals are good so far, opponents are hitting .281/.317/.439 off him. He had three fine scoreless innings in a 6-0 loss to the Dodgers on Saturday. Unfortunately, Ned Yost hasn't yet cottoned on to Kieschnick's potential contributions in the field; his 11 PA have all come as a pitcher or pinch-hitter and he hasn't played a defensive position other than pitcher yet.
Roger Cedeno has to be, finally, on the way out in New York. The Mets have been electing to start Jeromy Burnitz in center over Cedeno, an unbelievable slight to any legitimate CF but Cedeno, of course, is no such thing. The Mets generally look to be in need of a complete tear-down; the imminent end of Mo Vaughn's career due to degenerative damage to the cartilage in his knee really ought to be the cue to Steve Phillips to begin the healing. But of course, being Steve Phillips, he'll do no such thing, he'd rather go down thrashing about, trying to recapture the lightining of 2000 in a 2003 bottle. It's tempting to pick on Mets fans (I mean, putting hope in Ty Wigginton?) but really they do have my sympathies.
With Minnesota having a rash of injuries (that vaunted depth does sometimes come in handy) they called up Lew Ford to fill in in the outfield. Ford was hitting very well at AAA Rochester, his MLE stats for 2003, park-adjusted to the Metrodome, give him a line of .310/.359/.468, a function of Rochester being a fairly severe pitcher's park. Ford began his career as a defensive replacement for Torii Hunter last night - Hunter has been injured, but it's still something to brag about to the boys back home. He also hit a ninth-inning single.
It's good to be back doing the Notes, at least for tonight, and hopefully I'll be able to continue most days. One final note, if anyone has a site for current Japanese stats in English, please let me know. I have grown accustomed to NPB's own site (NPB is the Japanese equivalent of MLB) which has always had an English section. Unfortunately, that's now unreachable.
