San Francisco Giants Starting Pitching Preview

By Kalen Patrick

The biggest strength of the Giants through the 2 recent World Series Championships has been the pitching, will this trend continue as the Giants look to defend the title this season? Ultimately I think the Giants will get another very strong season from the pitching staff.

THE CORE OF THE GIANTS STARTERS (RYAN VOGELSONG, MATT CAIN AND MADISON BUMGARNER)

Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner are pitchers #1 and 2 at the top of the rotation. Matt Cain is the ace of the staff and Mr. Consistent (consistently very good), while Bumgarner provides similar stability for the Giants. Bumgarner did have some control issues leading up to the playoffs last season, but judging by his amazing performance against the Tigers in the World Series, these were fixable problems for him. He is a confident, heavy throwing pitcher, who is developing and refining his pitches. He will have another very good season. The 3rd pitcher of the rotation in my opinion is Ryan Vogelsong. Wow what a story he has been. The Giants will look for another strong year from Vogelsong, and I see no reason as to why this wouldn't happen.

WHICH TIM LINCECUM WILL SHOW UP IN 2013?

The 2 big question marks on the remaining projected starters are Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito. Zito overall had a pretty solid 2012 regular season, some surprisingly good starts, the expected rough patches that left your face in your palm and then the average Zito type games (5-6 innings with 2-5 runs allowed). Something happened to Zito in last years playoffs and he had the biggest game of his career against the Cardinals winning in St. Louis. While Zito will never really earn the money he has made, I expect another solid outing this season. Probably finish 13-13 with an ERA around 4 or maybe a little higher. As good as he was in the playoffs and World Series, this is Barry Zito after all and over the course of a season he will have quite a few terrible outings I'm sure.

Tim Lincecum, well he may just be the biggest question mark in the Majors. 2 time Cy Young winner, who last year had the worst ERA for a starting pitcher (who met the innings pitched to qualify). The 2 biggest issues with Timmy were his fastball and his confidence. His fastball has lost 4-5 MPH since his Cy Young years (95/96 to 91/92). Timmy was able to use his higher velocity fastball to set up hitters with his deadly off-speed pitches. With his decreasing velocity, this clearly effected Lincecum's confidence as he battled control issues all year and he couldn't strike people out nearly as efficiently as before. Not only this, but he was very hittable which led to his inflated ERA. While I do expect a bounce back year from Timmy, he will not regain Cy Young form, maybe become a 3.4-3.8 ERA type pitcher, middle of the pack. I am making a prediction right now that this will be Timmy's LAST SEASON as a Giant, you heard it here first!

Check back for further posts about all your favorite San Francisco based Sports Teams

Over and Out

SF Giants - Offseason

By Kalen Patrick

The San Francisco Giants won their 2nd championship in 3 years, this may have been the most unlikely championship in recent years in any sport. Think about everything that happened, Tim Lincecum (the Giants ace) had a terrible year, Brian Wilson (All-Star closer) done for the season, Melky Cabrera was hitting out of his mind and got busted for PED's and suspended for most of the 2nd half of the season. All of that and I haven't even mentioned that the Giants were down 0-2 in the NLDS Series to the Reds, down 1-3 against the Cardinals in the NLCS. That is hardly the recipe for a Championship, but then again a lot of things went very right for the Giants too.

The Giants approach this offseason has been to hang on to the guys who got the team this years championship, re-signing Angel Pagan and Marco Scutaro were key for the Giants as both are expected to bat 1 and 2 in the Giants order and key reliever Jeremy Affeldt. The Giants proved all year long that they can use (and win) with a Closer by committee and make it work. Hence, the Giants not reaching to sign Brian Wilson to big money.

GIANTS WANT AND EXPECT BETTER ON-FIELD PRODUCTION FROM HUNTER PENCE

Quite honestly I really can't fault the Giants or critique their approach too much. The Giants are not the Dodgers or Yankees where they can have endless money, so we have to keep that in mind. I think the Giants are banking on improvement's from many of their own players, as opposed to going out and signing a bunch of over priced players. Guys like Hunter Pence really stand out to me as one of those guys, while Hunter was definitely a key locker room presence, I feel he is due to play a much bigger role in terms of his production on the field this season. The Giants got a Hunter Pence who in 59 games hit .219 Average, .287 OBP and didn't hit for much power either. Expect a big turn around season for Pence and the Giants are certainly hoping for it.

Another key guy the Giants are banking on is World Series MVP Pablo Sandoval. The biggest question mark surrounding Pablo is his weight, Giants skipper Bruce Bochy has publicly announced the importance of this even after the World Series Victory. A healthy and fit Pablo Sandoval can be one of the most lethal hitters in baseball and a key cog for the Giants in continued success going forward. Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford are two other guys the Giants definitely want to see improve at the plate. I don't expect either to become world class hitters but I know the Giants are thinking they can take the next step and contribute to more success.

I really think the Giants are making the best decision in "keeping quiet" in free agency, keep the team together and develop and progress to be even more formidable. When was the last time the Yankees won the World Series? What happened to the Dodgers when they took on $250+ million in contracts when they traded with the Boston Red Sox? Money and big contracts don't mean wins and championships. With the recent success of the Giants, I think we all know we are in good hands and can expect to be competitive.

Over and Out.

San Francisco Giants Race to the Playoffs

By Kalen Patrick

We are entering the final stretch run leading up to the 2012 Playoffs and just as expected there is a close race between the rival San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers. As of today, the Giants hold a major advantage, as they own a 5 game lead over the Dodgers with each team having 20 games left to play. I'm a big Giants fan and the last thing I would ever want to do is jinx my team but I find it very hard to imagine a scenario where the Giants don't win the division. Lets take a look at some of the reasons why.

If the Giants play .500 ball and go 10-10,the Dodgers would have to go 16-4 over their final 21 games in order to just draw even. Now don't get me wrong, crazier things have happened (just ask the New York Mets), but the Dodgers (even with all of their additions) have showed me almost nothing to prove they can play at the level they will need to. Adrian Gonzalez really hasn't been the force in the lineup that the Dodgers had expected, Matt Kemp is battling injuries, Eithier, Victorino and Ellis have not been difference makers. The Dodgers Ace Clayton Kershaw is an absolute beast, but after him, they have to send out pitchers who have been overachieving all season (Capuano and Harang) along with Josh Beckett and Joe Blanton. Just looking at the roster, I don't see a team that can go 16-4 when you factor in the teams the Dodgers will be facing.

THE GIANTS - DODGERS RIVALRY IS ALIVE AND WELL IN 2012

The Dodgers remaining schedule is significantly more difficult than the Giants. The Dodgers have a 4 game series vs the St. Louis Cardinals, then go on the road to take on the Washington Nationals and Cincinnati Reds, who own the NL's best and 2nd best records respectively. The rest of the Dodgers games are within the NL West. In comparison, the rest of the Giants schedule is against NL West opponents.

The Giants are going to need some major improvements from certain players if they want to not only wrap up the NL West but make some noise in the playoffs too. The Starting Pitching must improve significantly, Vogelsong has been getting shelled lately, Zito is someone you can't count on for a strong performance, Lincecum has rebounded to have a very steady 2nd half of the season. Most importantly both Bumgarner and Cain have to be better, even in tonight's game for example, Bumgarner's line was 4.1 Innings with 5 ER allowed. Not good enough. Secretly the Giants offense has been carrying the load due to the struggling pitching staff.

BUSTER POSEY IS MAKING A STRONG CASE FOR NL MVP

On offense, surprisingly its been Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence who have been struggling. Sandoval's season average has plummeted to .276, while Pence is hitting a measly .260. Pence, as of late, has at least shown some power but Sandoval has been a disaster since coming back from injury in Mid-August. He has only 2 extra base hits, no HR's (last HR on July 8th) Batting around .230, Slugging .275, On Base % around .295 in that time. These are garbage numbers for your supposed number 3 hitter. Can't consistently win when your 3 and 5 hitters are not performing up to expectations.

On a positive note, Posey has been playing at an MVP caliber, Pagan and Scutaro are making Brian Sabean look really good, Joaquin Arias and Brandon Crawford get timely hits and last but not least Belt has been very good, in his last 10 games he has 2 HR and 12 RBI, all season has been seeing the ball well with his ability to draw walks leading to a .361 OBP.

If I had to bet, I would put my money on the Giants making the Post Season, I could see them winning the 1st round of the playoffs, but I just can't see the Giants winning the NLCS on top of that. Giants would most likely have to beat the Reds and then the Nationals to get to the World Series and unfortunately I don't see that happening, but then again, once you get in to the playoffs, ANYTHING can happen. That's it.

Over and Out.

The Melk has Gone Sour

By Kalen Patrick

Wednesday, August 15th, I wake up and start thinking of the afternoon game for my Giants vs the powerhouse Washington Nationals (that's still weird to say). I was feeling confident after yesterday's win, we finally had THE lineup we have been waiting for. Then, in a flash, a tweet by Ken Rosenthal changed everything " Just announced by MLB: SFGiants' Melky Cabrera suspended 50 games without pay after testing positive for testosterone." 

As a die-hard fan, I went through the usual list of emotions, First: Denial "Hey maybe the report is wrong! It has to be wrong!" Second: Sadness "We are screwed!! No playoffs!!" Third: Anger "F**k Melky! He is a cheating piece of S**t!" Finally: Accepting Reality, we no longer have Melky for the rest of the regular season, we can start looking at names as to who can replace him. I like Gregor Blanco but he shouldn't be an every day player. Other names float around, and an interesting one is Alfonso Soriano from the Cubs, but the Giants wouldn't go near him unless the Cubs eat a significant portion of his contract. 

WHO KNOWS WHAT THE FUTURE NOW HOLDS FOR MELKY CABRERA

Ultimately the whole situation just sucks. Plain and simple. After yesterday's game confidence was sky high, we beat the Nationals, we have our lineup and things were looking great. Now we have no Melky, Timmy got beat up by the Nationals today, and confidence is near an all time low. 

Going forward this season either one of two things will happen, the Giants will let this drag them down and they will get to the finish line gingerly, maybe ending up 3rd in the NL West with a record slightly over .500. Or else the team can rally around this, play the whole "Nobody Believes in Us" card and make a great run to the playoffs and beyond. Obviously I am hoping for the latter but right now the former is firmly stuck on my mind. I just hope Bruce Bochy and the Giants can think as positive as possible about the whole situation.

Until Next Time....

San Francisco's Best Kept Secret

By Kalen Patrick

Ryan Vogelsong has been setting the Baseball World on fire since re-joining the San Francisco Giants in 2011. Vogelsong once a high draft choice of the San Francisco Giants had a forgettable MLB career. He was in the Majors between 2000-2006 spending most of his time in Pittsburgh. He then played overseas for 5 years before his triumphant return to MLB with the San Francisco Giants.

In his 1 and 1/2 seasons with the Giants he has an ERA a shade over 2.5, a WHIP under 1.2 and an impressive 21 W's to 11 L's. The Giants prior to Vogelsong's arrival had a very good rotation, heck we won the World Series the year before and that was mostly due to the Starting Pitching. However, that does not take away the importance of Vogelsong's arrival to this team.

SF GIANTS SP - RYAN VOGELSONG

He has no doubt been the most consistent and reliable pitcher on the 2012 SF Giants. Lets look at the numbers: He has not gone less than 6 innings this year, the most Earned Runs he has given up in a game has been 4 and that was way back on April 26th against the Reds in Cincinnati. Vogelsong is Mr. Consistent, you know you will get between 6-8 innings and he will only likely give up a 1 or 2 and put the team in a position to win every single time.

I think the most fascinating part of the Vogelsong story, is the fact that while he has been the best pitcher for the Giants this year and maybe for the last year and a half, he is not even well known outside of San Francisco. He lives in the Shadows of Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner. Maybe that is a good thing though, he doesn't have the pressure of those guys, he does his job, and does it very well. Sure he doesn't have the flashy numbers but you know what you're gonna get and that is something I know Bruce Bochy and all the Giants players and fans love.

San Francisco Giants - Pathetic

By Kalen Patrick

The San Francisco Giants won their first title in San Francisco not even 1 year ago after 52 years of suffering. You know who suffered too for those 50+ years? The fans. This team ended the suffering when Brian Wilson struck out Nelson Cruz and I have never seen a fan base so happy. Now fast forward to last night (August 30th 2011), the team has been struggling for a month and the fans were booing the team off the field.

A part of me is wondering if the fans are justified in booing the team that still are the defending world champs. However, when a team is struggling mightily against the likes of the Houston Astros and Cubs, that just spells bad news. The Giants often struggle to score more than 2 runs, and while the Giants lineup is far from lethal, they do have some capable hitters.

When you look at Jeff Keppinger, Carlos Beltran, Pablo Sandoval, Brandon Belt and Aubrey Huff, all of these guys can hit. And what is funny is they actually are hitting pretty well, Keppinger and Sandoval are hovering at or over .300, Beltran has been hitting over .300 with the Giants, and Belt and Huff both have pop and Belt has been hitting extremely well of late. The problem with the Giants is hitting with RISP (Runners In Scoring Position).

JEFF KEPPINGER HAS BEEN AN EXCELLENT ADDITION, EXPECT HIM TO STICK AROUND

As easy as it is to put all the blame on the hitting, the pitching has been pretty inconsistent too, even with the additions of Beltran and Keppinger, they don't even replace the loss of Posey and Freddy Sanchez. The strength of this team is the pitching and always will be. The losses of Brian Wilson and Sergio Romo certainly don't help, and Vogelsong has come right back down to Earth. To be honest, sometimes it just isn't a teams year, similarly to last year everything going right for the Giants, everything has gone wrong this year.

The future is still very bright for the Giants, young pitching staff, capable hitters, next year the 1st 4 hitters in the lineup should be Keppinger, Sanchez, Sandoval, Posey and possibly they bring back Beltran or sign another bat and with having an improved Brandon Belt. 2010 was the year of the Giants, it may be as simple to say that 2011 is not.

GOOD MEMORIES, SF GIANTS 2010 WORLD CHAMPS

San Francisco Giants Updates

By Kalen Patrick

Things are pretty good for the Giants right about now. 16 games above .500, 3 games ahead in the division, pitching is as good as ever (well Zito stinks as usual) oh and the Giants just added Carlos Beltran. Beltran will immediately become the leader in HR's and RBI's and is 3rd in Average (behind Pablo Sandoval and Jeff Keppinger). Here is the Giants offensive philosophy: timely hitting, score just enough to win, not flashy, just get the job done.

The Giants are a Major League leading 28-13 in 1 run games. The Giants know how to win these games, they are used to it. Now runs should become a little easier to come by with the addition of Beltran. Lets forget about what the Giants gave up to get him, Wheeler may become a legit starter, or we may never hear from him again (Alderson ring a bell?). The Giants now have a pretty solid middle of the order in their lineup. The leadoff position mostly manned by Andres Torres is still shaky, but he really is due by now to get somewhat hot. After that you have, 2 guys hitting around .300 with Keppinger and Sandoval. Now you add in a guy like Beltran, who hits for average and power, well suddenly the Giants lineup isn't so much of a walk in the park.

CARLOS BELTRAN IS A BAT THE GIANTS NEEDED

Furthermore, adding Beltran essentially pushes every one else down a spot in the lineup and thus taking pressure off of, well, everyone. I think we can expect to see the best of Beltran and here's why. He is in a contract year, he is now going to be putting his talents on display in a pennant race and hopefully in the playoffs, not only this but rather than playing for a mediocre at best Mets team, he is now on a World Series Contending team. Plus beside for not having any HR's in AT&T, he has excellent numbers there and is gonna be a double machine.

Why I love the trade even more is that, unless you are the Red Sox, Yankees or Phillies who almost have limitless money to spend, the window for winning a World Series is always going to be relatively small. The Giants have all the pitching you need to win a World Series and then some. Honestly, I would expect the Giants to try and acquire a catcher too. Whiteside and Stewart just isn't going to get it done. The whole trade has been summed up perfectly by Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News:

"It's the kind of move -- if it's done at the right moment, for the right player -- that fans should embrace, if chasing greatness is the goal here. And it should be. It's a bit of an epochal shift for the Giants: They're no middle-muddle franchise anymore, just happy to win the N.L. West. They're in control of the West, and they're trying to become a mega-team, a multi-title team; and they're willing to risk large piles of chips to try to do it. I think the Beltran Bet is a strong move -- one of the strongest and boldest the Giants have made in a while. To win big, you have to risk big, too"

FIRST THINGS FIRST, THE GIANTS WILL LOOK TO REPEAT AS NL WEST CHAMPS

There are just under 60 games left and the Giants have basically just added a guy who will be the best offensive player to a team that desperately needed it. I like the Giants chances, especially if Jonathan Sanchez can get back on track and take Zito's spot in the starting rotation. Fun times ahead folks. 

Updates Coming

Been MIA for a while, been really really busy with work. Gonna write some stuff on the various trades in Baseball, and a WHOLE LOT of Football talk coming soon. Be prepared!

Trade Idea - Giants Edition

By Kalen
Just been mulling over some ideas for what the Giants could do in terms of what trades they could look to make.

Trade Idea #1 - San Francisco Giants trade SP Barry Zito to the Chicago Cubs for OF Alfonso Soriano, Giants also pay 7 million of Barry Zito's contract in 2012 and 2013.

HOW WOULD SORIANO LOOK PLAYING LEFT FIELD IN AT&T PARK FOR THE GIANTS?

The Reasoning - The Cubs wanna cut payroll as they are not a contending team. They save 7 million over the next 2 years, plus their pitching is extremely weak and could use another SP like Zito. The Giants don't need Zito as they have 5 capable starters, they are a contender and could use a bat like Soriano's. You put Soriano on the Giants team right now and he is instantly right there with Sandoval as the best hitter. Then lets take a look at the Giants 2012 lineup:
Torres CF
Sanchez 2B
Sandoval 3B
Posey C
Huff/Belt 1B
Soriano LF
Schierholtz/Ross RF
Crawford/Burriss SS
Pitchers Spot

Not exactly a muderer's row, but nothing to laugh at either. The Giants with their pitching staff in their prime, need to capitalize and be in win now mode. The Giants should also have the money to spend especially when guys like Rowand, Tejada and DeRosa come off the books. They are top 3 in attendance, with playoff and World Series success have made huge sums of money. I'm not saying Soriano is the difference between winning and losing, but it helps to solve a major weakness, and would essentially come at a price of approximately 3 years 21 million (Same as Juan Uribe got from the Dodgers).

Other players who would cost a lot more in terms of trade chips could be: Hunter Pence, Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes. While all these guys would help, I just don't imagine the Giants making this drastic a trade.

Kalen from the Sports Cave.

Baseball Realignment - My Thoughts

By Kalen
Personally I like how Baseball is with the number of teams going through, it makes it so the best of the best get in, unlike football where teams like Seattle with a 7-9 record get in or in Basketball where the 1st round tends to be a snoozefest the majority of the time. However, I can and do understand the arguments for adding 2 extra teams to the playoffs. And not only this but maybe realigning the divisions too. Is it really fair to have teams like Baltimore and Toronto have to compete with the likes of Boston and New York year in and year out? I think changes can be made without having to completely alter the game. The beauty of this debate is hearing all the interesting ideas people come up with. Here are my thoughts:

What to do with the Divisions? - I've heard arguments that have just 1 division in the AL and NL, and the top 4 teams go though and so on and so forth. This is an intriguing idea but not one I agree with. One of the beautiful things about baseball are the rivalries and division teams playing each other regularly, Boston vs New York, San Francisco vs LA Dodgers, St. Louis vs Chicago Cubs. Not only this, but having the Mets and the Padres in the same division means so much more travel in an already crazy schedule for the players.
Here is my idea, move 1 of the National League teams to the American League. The easy choice has to be the Houston Astros, they are already a team re-building, a great rivalry can be made with the Rangers and they can be slotted in to the AL West. Thus giving each division 5 teams. I never understood why so many thought it was fair having 6 teams in the NL Central but only 4 in the AL West?

WOULD MOVING THE ASTROS TO THE AL BE GOOD FOR BASEBALL?

What to do with the Playoffs? - As I said before, I quite like how Baseball is done with the playoffs, but I can't help but think it can be improved. Hear me out on this, 10 teams go through, 5 in the AL and 5 in the NL. The winners of each of the divisions automatically go through to the 2nd round, so in both the AL and NL you have 2 teams play each other. 1 game, and whoever has the better record gets the home field advantage. Can you imagine how exciting this one game would be in each League? Imagine the Phillies, Cardinals and Giants win their respective divisions and then you have the Braves travel to the Brewers to play sudden death. How great of a start to the postseason would that be? What a way to kickstart it.

Minimum Team Salary - First off I want to say that Baseball will never be like the NFL where you can have 1 salary cap figure for every team, its just impossible. What my idea is to implement a minimum team salary that owners must spend. MLB needs to do this on a team by team basis, and the number is based on how much income the team gets. Example, the Yankees make so much more than the Pirates, so the minimum salaries are going to need to be significantly different. I just don't think it's fair or reasonable to fans of say the Pirates to look at their awful team of 18 straight years losing, most owners should wanna spend money to win and therefore make money. In recent years, all the Pirates have done is dump contract after contract and spend so little on the team and they just keep losing. I feel that owners of each team need to be serious about the team and not just in it to make money. This would be good for all the smaller markets like Kansas City, Florida, etc.

WHILE HAVING A SOLID 2011, THE PIRATES HAVE NOT SPENT ENOUGH TO KEEP THE TEAM COMPETITIVE

All in all I think Baseball is in a great position and with the pending Lockouts of both the NFL and MLB, they can hope to expect a big surge in interest. By possibly implementing my ideas I feel it could vault Baseball to be right there with Football and ahead of Basketball once again. The one issue you can say about Baseball, is the refusal to alter the game for the better. This is something that Football has been great at.

Baseball is my 2nd favorite sport behind......you guessed it Football. Who knows how that will go in the future? Giants are playing great and the 49ers have been tough to watch. I like the direction of the 49ers and the Giants and Bulls are all in great positions going forward. God it's good to be a sports fan.

Kalen from the Sports Cave. Check in tomorrow when I update my weekly MLB Power Rankings.

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MLB Weekly Power Rankings

Here again is another issue in my weekly MLB Power Rankings. This weeks version will be shorter than previous weeks but will certainly get the job done. In my rankings I take overall record and how well the team has played recently in compiling my Power Rankings. Here goes, starting with the top 5:

Top 5
1 (1) - St. Louis Cardinals (37-26) - What can I say about the Cards, Pujols is back to being Pujols, Matt Holliday coming back from injury soon, pitching has been great. Not much else to say except I'm glad my Giants don't play them again and they are right now, the best team in Baseball.

Gonzalez and Crawford have been red hot for Boston

2 (NR*) - Boston Red Sox (35-26) - Red Sox have won 5 in a row, have beaten the Yanks in New York in back to back games, Carl Crawford has come to his usual form and Adrian Gonzalez has been better than advertised. Also they have the best pitcher in the AL with Josh Beckett.


3 (NR) - Detroit Tigers (33-28)- The hottest team in the Majors. 8-2 over their previous 10 games and have their sights firmly set on taking over the Indians who have come way back down to Earth. This team can hit, and the pitching has improved significantly.

4 (NR) - Texas Rangers (35-28) - They have been getting great pitching recently out of Alexi Ogando, CJ Wilson and Colby Lewis. They have a legit closer in Feliz, and we all know how well this team hits. 7-3 in their last 10. The Rangers are gonna open up a gap at the top of the AL West.

5 (NR) - San Francisco Giants (35-27) - The Giants have been without star catcher Buster Posey for 2 weeks. Giants lost 3 of their first 4 games after the injury, since then they (we) have won 7 of 10 and are eagerly awaiting Pablo Sandovals return to send Tejada to the bench.

Bottom 5
26 (30) Minnesota Twins (23-38) - The Twins have gone 6-2 since last weeks rankings, they are playing better for sure. Hopefully they can get Morneau going and Mauer back soon. Their overall record is what keeps them in the bottom 5. They may not be here next week.


27 (28) Houston Astros (24-38) - They are showing some signs of life, a red hot Cardinals team with Pujols hitting like crazy is tough for any team to stop. Will they trade Hunter Pence in July?


28 (27) Kansas City Royals (26-36) - 3-7 in their last 10 games, a pathetic 6-16 road record. Imagine where they would be without all those walk off wins.


29 (29) Chicago Cubs (24-36) - They have gone 1-5 since last weeks rankings, pitchers can't pitch, problems all over the clubhouse and have such an overrated and overpaid lineup.


30 (NR) Oakland Athletics (27-36) - They have lost 9 in a row, they can't hit and have injuries all over their good pitching staff. Yikes.

         Oakland A's have found Wins hard to come by the last 2 weeks

That concludes this weeks rankings. Be sure to check out the blog daily, give feedback, and tell me what you think of my rankings and where you might make changes. Power Rankings will be back next week. Until then, enjoy the other posts I will be making.

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* NR = Not Ranked Top 5 or Bottom 5 last week

Underrated Starting 9 - American League

So I previously wrote on the Underrated Staring 9 in the National League link , now I'm turning my attention to the American League. Again the aim here is to get my readers to find out more about players they don't know or know very little about. The rule I'm using is the player I pick at a position must make most if not all starts at that position. Lets get this started.

Pitcher - Jered Weaver, Los Angeles Angels - Weaver has been in a word 'Dominant' this year, not often a name you hear with the elite pitchers in the AL, but he has been playing that way. Weaver has a 2.14 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 7 wins already. His ERA and wins are 2nd in the American League only to Josh Beckett and his WHIP is also 2nd. Weaver is right in line for a potential Cy Young this year if he can keep up his already impressive season. At the age of 28 expect Weavers name to be mentioned in Cy Young candidacy for the next 5 years.

      Don't be surprised to see Weaver be in contention for the AL Cy Young.

Catcher - Alex Avila, Detroit Tigers - The young 24 year old is having his coming out party this year, with significantly less at bats than most other hitters, Avila is already hitting 9 Homers, with 32 RBI and a .351 OBP. If you take these numbers and project them for the rest of the season, expect him to hit between 20-25 HR's, 85 - 90 RBI and is currently at a .289 AVG. Russell Martin of the Yankees is having a resurgence, but needs to improve upon that .238 AVG.

1st Base - Paul Konerko, Chicago White Sox - Konerko is one of the most reliable consistent hitters in the game, just one of those guys who's not flashy in any way but always puts up big numbers. This year he is on pace for a 36 HR and 121 RBI season with an impressive batting average floating between .315 and .320. Again I think playing for the White Sox, a mostly non-playoff team in recent years and being one of the most normal, non-flashy guys in baseball is a reason he gets overlooked and underrated so much.

            Paul Konerko has been the one consistent piece of the White Sox team.

2nd Base - Howard Kendrick, Los Angeles Angels - Maybe its the team being stranded in mediocrity and out in Anaheim, maybe its the total East Coast bias of ESPN, but Angels players get so overlooked. Not only Weaver but Kendrick has been having one of the best seasons for a 2nd basemen in the Majors. He has solid power numbers, his RBI numbers should definitely increase, but his main weapons have been his defense and AVG. Can't ask for much more then that.

Short Stop - Jhonny Peralta, Detroit Tigers - Peralta is the best SS you've never heard of. Guys like Tulowitzki and Reyes seem to hog the attention at his position and Miguel Cabrera and Verlander on his team but Peralta is having himself the best year of his career. Right now Peralta is projected to finish with 22 Homers, 86 RBI's and is currently hitting for high average too (.314). With solid defense and these numbers, thats excellent production for your Short Stop.

3rd Base - Wilson Betemit, Kansas City Royals - Overall 3rd Basemen have really disappointed this year in the American League, A-Rod, Youkilis, Beltre and Longoria have all not played up to expectations. This are all the big name underperforming 3rd basemen. Betemit is earning 1/25th of what A-Rod is earning, and keep in mind Betemit plays better defense, hitting for almost 20 points higher in average, and if Betemit played in the Yankee lineup would have just as much RBI.

Left Field - Alex Gordon, Kansas City Royals - Another Royal makes the list here. Was very tempted to go with Corey Patterson who is extremely underrated playing up in Toronto in the shadows of Jose Bautista, but Gordon is just as underrated and is putting up much better numbers:
Patterson: .281 AVG, 5 HR, 28 RBI and .311 OBP
Gordon:   .280 AVG, 7 HR, 31 RBI and .350 OBP

Center Field - Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles - Cursed with playing for a bottom feeder team that hasn't much chance competing with the likes of Boston and New York, Jones is still a great player. Recently Jones made one of the best defensive plays you will ever see, think Willie Mays and add in being able to brace himself for the wall too. Besides for awesome defense, lets not forget his numbers this season so far, 8 HR's, 32 RBI's and a .301 AVG.




Adam Jones' unforgettable catch, 1st picture during the catch and 2nd picture (with footprints in wall) after




Right Field - Jason Kubel, Minnesota Twins - Most casual baseball fans wouldn't have heard of Kubel (myself included), then you go and check out his stats and they are so much better than you'd expect. Often when people think of the hitters for the Minnesota Twins, the only guys they can come up with are Morneau and Mauer. But Kubel has been just as good as any of those guys. Kubel on one of the worst teams in baseball has a projected statline to finish the season with 14 HR's, 82 RBI's and a .310 AVG. Great numbers for a guy you would never have heard of.


I wanna say that half the players on this list are guys I never heard of, the other half I was shocked when I saw just how good they have been doing. This is my list of the most underrated players in the AL, I intentionally left off the DH. Not a fan of the DH at all.

Underrated Starting 9 - National League

The aim of this post is to highlight who I think are the most underrated players in the National League and form a starting team with them. I hope that by reading this, you guys will look at some players you may not have heard of and realize how good some of these guys are. The 1 rule I will use for this: I will keep players to the position they make most of their starts at, (example: No Pujols at 3B). Alright here goes, and let me know what you guys think in the comments section or at my twitter (twitter.com/kalen182)

Pitcher - Ryan Vogelsong, San Francisco Giants - I know I know, you are saying, Ryan who? Well let me enlighten you, Vogelsong was drafted by the Giants, then traded to the Pirates as part of the deal that sent Jason Schmidt to the Giants, injuries and lackluster performance stunted Vogelsong in Pittsburgh. Was essentially out of Baseball, then gets a call from the Angels for their minor league team, then in the offseason the Giants bring in Vogelsong. He had a strong spring training, and Barry Zito going down early in the season opened the door for Vogelsong. And how has he done since? He has pitched 53.2 innings, an ERA of 1.68 and a WHIP of an insane 1.04, with a record of 4-1. I just had to go with Vogelsong because, not only am I a homer, but the odds of him pitching this well was so incredibly unlikely. He truly is one of the better stories in Baseball today.

Ryan Vogelsong of the San Francisco Giants has maybe been the biggest surprise of Baseball.

Catcher - Ramon Hernandez, Cincinnati Reds - There are some great catchers in the National League (Yadier Molina, Brian McCann, Buster Posey), there are some great hitters for the Reds (Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Brandon Philips), what do these 2 lists have in common? They are both missing the name Ramon Hernandez. You will be shocked when I tell you his numbers; .320 AVG, .385 OBP, 7 HR, 17 RBI and a crazy .541 Slugging. He has 60 less AB's then most of the other top catchers, which is why his RBI numbers are lower. He is a 13 year veteran and knows all the ins and outs of the position. Having Votto and Bruce in the lineup helps, but don't discount how good Hernandez has been this year.

1st Base - Gaby Sanchez, Florida Marlins - Where do the Marlins keep coming up with these guys? Miguel Cabrera a few years ago, Hanley Ramirez, Mike Stanton and now Gaby Sanchez. This year Gaby has exploded on to the scene and is destined for a trip to the All Star game, if not this year then soon. .321 AVG, .394 OBP with 10 Homers and 38 RBI. He provides unexpected power and can hit the long ball off the best pitchers in the game. He along with Stanton have really picked up the slack, while Hanley Ramirez has been struggling early this season.

Florida Marlins 1B Gaby Sanchez is just another hitter to come up from the Marlins Farm System

2nd Base - Freddy Sanchez, San Francisco Giants - The Giants have had an unfair amount of injuries to key hitters (Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval), since these guys have gone down hurt, Sanchez has been the most consistent hitter. In an offense that really lacks....good hitters, Freddy has provided the spark to get the key hits to win close games. So far with almost no help in the lineup Freddy has batted a very respectable - .294 AVG, 3 HR, 23 RBI and a .335 OBP. One of the things that most often gets overlooked with Freddy is his defense, he plays great defense, it doesn't always look good but he gets the job done.

Short Stop - Ryan Theriot, St. Louis Cardinals - One of the better lead off men in the game, he spent 5 years with the bad luck Cubs, now with St. Louis he has exploded. Batting .300 and playing very underrated defense. Theriot has come up with clutch hits when the Cardinals need it most, which they have since Pujols started out slow and Holliday being injured.

3rd Base - Ryan Roberts, Arizona Diamondbacks - The D-Backs, have been one of the biggest surprises this season, and one of the reasons for this has been the play of Roberts. It was a tough decision between Roberts and Chase Headley of the Padres, but Roberts has just slightly lower AVG and OBP, but hits for much more power (8 HR's for Roberts and 1 for Headley) and strikes out less too (30 for RR and 41 for CH). The D-Backs will need him to keep playing well if they wanna compete with the SF Giants going forward in this season.

Left Field - Martin Prado, Atlanta Braves - Prado is a guy who gets overlooked way too regularly, one of the better defensive outfielders in the game and has been hitting for surprising power this season. If you project his current numbers to 162 games, he would hit for 22 HR's and 89 RBI. Not bad from a guy who gets forgotten so often, that is until your team plays the Braves.

Center Field - Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates - Although he is about the only guy people know from the Pirates, a lot of people barely know the Pirates exist. 18 straight losing seasons will do that to a team. However the Pirates have been hovering around .500 and that has largely been down to the play of McCutchen. While the Pirates have been pitching better (Kevin Correia and Charlie Morton), McCutchen is the spark plug to the hitting. Of any of the consistent starters, he (McCutchen) has the highest AVG, OBP, HR's and Hits. Only Neil Walker has more RBI. Pretty impressive.

With the weight of a struggling franchise on his shoulders, Andrew McCutchen has been a 'hit' in Pittsburgh becoming the face of the franchise.

Right Field - Hunter Pence, Houston Astros - The fact that Pence plays for the bottom feeder Houston Astros is why he doesn't get the recognition he deserves. Pence is quietly having a great season, batting: .310 AVG, 8 HR, 44 RBI and .353 OBP. Not only this but Pence is extremely athletic and has great baseball instincts, which makes him an excellent fielder and baserunner. Any team would be lucky to have a guy like Pence manning RF.

Random Facts I discovered after picking all the players: 3 players are named Ryan, 2 have the last name Sanchez and all of them (yes ALL of them) bat right handed. None of them are even switch hitters.

I didn't make this team to be an effective lineup, just the players at each position who I feel are the most underrated. Of course this is just my opinion, and I look forward to hearing all your guys' thoughts on my starting 9 and who you guys would go with.

American League Version coming soon.

Favorite Athletes from My Childhood

Sports has been my life for as long as I can remember, whether it was watching the 49ers on Monday Night Football with my Dad, going to Giants games in Candlestick Park with my Friends and Family, staring in awe as Michael Jordan would seem to do the impossible or playing Soccer and Little League, sports has dominated my life and I love every minute of it. So I am gonna talk about my favorite players from the sports I watched as a kid. Lets do this.

Baseball

WILL CLARK 1B of the SF GIANTS

Will Clark 1B - San Francisco Giants - Will "The Thrill" Clark will probably always be my favorite Giant of all time. Bonds has come very close, and no doubt Tim Lincecum and Buster Posey will come close too, but #22 is my guy. There was just something about him, he had that sweet sweet swing, was the first player I got to see live who was a superstar in not only my eyes but in the Baseball world. He was the guy who I would pin my hopes on to come up with the big hit, or make a diving play at first. I remember trying to imitate Will's swing playing Little League but never getting it right, and of course I wore #22. The great thing about Will Clark and Baseball, was that they looked like every day guys (stress the past tense), players back then didn't have bulging muscles, heck some of them even wore glasses! Seeing these kind of players made me think I could be one of them. Will Clark will always be the guy I thought I could be, and that's a pretty awesome feeling.



Football

THE FAMOUS FUNKY CHICKEN DANCE

Merton Hanks FS - San Francisco 49ers - Yeah there were a ton of Hall of Fame players I could have gone with here, Rice, Montana, Young, Lott, Craig, some LEGENDARY names, and I course I loved every last one of them, but Hanks was always a personal favorite, with Tom Rathman coming in a close 2nd. While Rice and the other Hall of Famer's were the most talented of the bunch, they were not flashy, business like even, but they got the job done, Hanks also got the job done, but he did it while maintaining character. Not a big guy but he could lay the wood if needed, and of course Hanks is known for the famous funky chicken dance for whenever he would score a TD on an interception or fumble return. Hanks is one of the more underrated and forgotten men of the great 49er teams. While his career was short lived (9 seasons), he made quite an impact, Superbowl winner and 4 time Pro-Bowler. Hanks had the personality fans loved and had a great game to back it up.

Basketball
Scottie Pippen SF - Chicago Bulls - As much as I would love the best players on my favorite teams, I guess I always was a bigger fan of the Robin to the teams Batman (sidenote: Batman is way more awesome than Robin). Sure I loved Jordan as much as any other kid growing up in the 90's, but Pippen was always my favorite. Always got overlooked despite being a great player, he even led the Bulls when Jordan went on sabbatical and did a more than admirable job at that. I definitely don't agree with Pippen's recent comments regarding Lebron being a better player than Jordan, he will always have my respect. He despite being a Hall of Fame caliber player understood, that Jordan was the guy for the Bulls. I am a big fan of ESPN's Bill Simmons, and in his book of Basketball he references "The Secret". This involved putting the team first, and knowing your role on the team. Pippen "got this" and knew that he was the secondary player and that in crunch time, just give the ball to Michael.

Soccer
Enrico Chiesa - Parma - Manchester United and Parma were my 2 favorite teams growing up. I have about 10+ players from Man United who I loved, but for Parma it was always all about Chiesa. Often overshadowed (seeing a theme here?) by other great strikers in the Italian Soccer League (Serie A) but was so extremely talented in his day. Chiesa is a personal favorite, not many casual soccer fans will know of him or too much about him. I guess I can be a Soccer snob when it comes to this.

Formula 1
Michael Schumacher - Benetton/Ferrari - Yes back in the day I was a HUGE fan of Formula 1, and instantly Schumacher was my favorite. I loved the rivalries with Mika Hakkinen, Damon Hill, David Coulthard, Jacques Villineuve etc etc. Having spent a great deal of my growing up in Ireland, Formula 1 occupied many of my Saturdays and Sundays. The qualifying on Saturday and race on Sunday. Even I have to admit that it did get boring for a few years where Schumie just seemed to win every race with ease, but there is nothing better than two cars going 175+mph trying to do everything they can to get by one another on crazy turns on the creative racetracks. In recent years I have definitely lost track of F1, which is a shame, even Schumacher returning wasn't enough to get me interested again. My advice to people not familiar with the sport is to watch the Monaco Grand Prix. Intense action, any tiny mistake and you are done, Monaco is certainly a non-forgiving race track but it is essentially the highlight of the race year and always worth the watch.

              Michael Schumacher - Greatest Formula 1 driver of all time.

Wrestling
Bret "The Hitman" Hart - What kid growing up in the late 80's or 90's didn't love wrestling? I loved the Sharpshooter, I loved the "Best there is, best there was, best there ever will be", and what I loved was that he was never the biggest wrestler, but always put up a good fight and held his own.

These are some of my favorite athletes from my childhood, post comments on who your guys' favorites were when you were younger. Would be interested to get some answers and feedback from the readers.