Friday Free For All

Hello baseball fans. Five weeks of the 2023 season are in the books. To celebrate, I’m offering 20% off the regular (already low) price of a paid subscription to the newsletter. Click on this link for the 20% discounted price.

This week, paid subscribers received my ode to Clayton Kershaw, an eternal Giants nemesis, and my celebration of the quick return of Bryce Harper to the Phillies lineup after Tommy John surgery last November.

It’s worth noting that the day after my Clayton Kershaw newsletter arrived in inboxes, he was named the National League Pitcher of the Month. And the day my Harper newsletter published, he went 3-for-3 with 2 walks. I have my finger on the pulse, folks.

The Rays just keep on rolling

On Thursday, the Rays completed a sweep of the upstart Pirates to take their record to 26-6.

Tampa Bay’s offense is relentless and it’s not just the league-leading 67 home runs. The Rays lead the majors in hits and runs, are sixth in doubles, and fifth in stolen bases. They’re the only team in the majors that haven’t yet given up 100 runs. Not surprisingly, their staff ERA is the lowest in the majors at 2.87. After the Rays started the season 9-0, I wrote that they were for real and not just succeeding against very weak schedule. Still think that’s true.

The Pirates ran into the Rays’ buzzsaw

Heading into their 3-game series with Tampa Bay, the Pirates were 20-9 and leading the National League Central. Now they’re 20-12 and leading the NL Central with the second best record in the NL, behind the surging Braves. I still don’t think the Pirates are for real, as I’ve written. Let’s see how they bounce back from their first bit of adversity this season.

The NL Central is a mess

The Pirates remain in first place in large part because the rest of the division has been playing the kind of baseball that makes you want to look away and wince. The Cubs (who I still believe in) were just lost 3 of 4 to the Nationals, the Brewers were swept by the Rockies, and the Cardinals. Oh my the Cardinals.

St. Louis has the worst record in the National League at 10-22 after being swept by the Angels and the Dodgers, and losing 3 out of 4 to the Giants. Do you know how difficult it is to get swept by the Angels, a team with a bullpen that looks like a tire fire on a good day?

The Cardinals’ starting pitching is dreadful. Really dreadful. The rotation ERA is above 5.00, they’re in the bottom 10 in the league in strikeout rate, and the top ten in the league in home runs allowed per 9. None of the starters is pitching well with any consistency, which puts a terrible strain on the bullpen.

As a Giants fan, I’m not shedding any tears for the Cardinals’ malaise. And while Nolan Arenado has always done damage against San Francisco, he’s one of my favorite players in the league. And he’s struggling, big time. After Thursday’s action, Arenado is batting .236/.291/.317. His struggles aren’t just bad for the Cardinals, but for baseball, because Arenado has been one of the best overall players in the game since his debut with the Rockies in 2013. He hits, hits for power and his defense at the hot corner is sublime. Get better soon, Nolan.

The Mets are flailing, even with Scherzer and Verlander

After splitting a 4-game series with the Giants on April 20-23, the Mets lost 2 out of 3 to the Nationals and 2 out of 3 to the Braves. New York was looking to Max Scherzer to right the ship on Wednesday against his former team, the Detroit Tigers. Scherzer made his first start after serving a 10-game suspension for using “sticky stuff” on his hand in a game against the Dodgers on April 19.

The Mets lost Game 1 of a doubleheader on Wednesday after the Tigers rallied in the 8th inning to take the lead. Scherzer took the mound in Game 2 and absolutely did not right the ship. In 3.1 innings, Scherzer gave up 6 runs on 8 hits, including 2 home runs, and walked one, against only 3 strikeouts. It was the shortest start in Scherzer’s Mets career, save the “sticky stuff” game when he was ejected after 3 innings. In his previous two starts against the Tigers after pitching for Detroit from 2010 to 2014, Scherzer faced a combined 61 batters and struck out 34.

There will be a lot of eyes on Scherzer’s spin rates in his next start.

Justin Verlander started the season on the injured list with a shoulder injury. He made his season debut and his Mets debut on Thursday, and while he pitched better than Scherzer did—giving up only back-to-back home runs to Riley Greene and Javier Baez in the first and nothing else over five innings—the Mets offense was no where to be found.

The Mets will limp in to Denver for a weekend series against the Rockies, which is often a prescription for what ails you. But the Rockies are feeling confident after sweeping a 3-game series from the Brewers.

Braves and Dodgers doing Braves and Dodgers things

While the Mets stumble, the Braves cruise along and, at 22-10, have the best record in the NL. When your rotation is anchored by Max Fried and Spencer Strider, you’re in The Good Place. It also helps when 5 guys in the lineup are slugging above .500—Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Olsen, Sean Murphy, Ozzie Albies, and Orlando Arcia—with Sam Hilliard just a smidge below.

The Dodgers head to San Diego this weekend for, ostensibly, a showdown series between the teams expected to compete for the NL West title. Los Angeles just swept the Cardinals (outscoring them 14-6) and the Phillies (outscoring them 36-11). Starter Tony Gonsolin is back from the IL, Julio Úrias is back to his winning form, and Clayton Kershaw, as noted above, is pitching like an ace. And Max Muncy is hitting out of his god damn mind. His 12 home runs lead the majors.

Whither the Yankees?

The Yankees are 17-15 but sit in last place in the ridiculously stacked AL East, 9 games behind the Rays. On Wednesday, GM Brian Cashman implored Yankees fans not to give up on the season. No doubt, the Yankees are dealing with lots of injuries to important parts of their lineup (Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton) and their rotation (Carlos Rodón, who’s yet to pitch in pinstripes since signing a 6-year/$162 million dollar deal with New York in the offseason).

Among non-injured position players, only Anthony Rizzo is hitting with any consistency. Hard to win games like that, unless Gerrit Cole is the starter. Cole has been magnificent so far this season. His fastball-slider-change up combination keeps batters off balance and unable to get off swings. That’s why Cole was named AL Pitcher of the Month for April.

The Red Sox are . . . good?

My friend Matthew Kory writes the Sox Outsider newsletter and, from his COVID sick bed, just reviewed how Boston seems to have pulled it together after a slow start. The Red Sox just swept the Blue Jays in a 3-game series at Fenway. In Thursday’s game, the Sox absolutely tagged the Jays’ best starter, Kevin Gausman, with 8 runs on 10 hits in 3.1 innings. Gausman had been untouchable in his prior two starts. So the Red Sox can hit, for sure. The team’s 195 runs scored is second only to the Rays. Will the pitching catch up?

If I have written much about your favorite team yet, I will get there. I know the Orioles, Astros, Rangers and Twins deserve my attention.

If there are topics you’d like to see me write about, drop me a note and let me know.

Hope you catch a game or two this weekend. Enjoy.