Baseball Thread No. 17: Let's Get Dizzy, Mr. Dean

You knew it was coming


Ricky Nolasco had never had more than seven strikeouts in his first 38 career starts.

In his next 17, he has done it nine times.

 

Is it possible that Toronto could finish second in the division and win the Wild Card?

 

Even with their recent run, the Blue Jays are still seven games behind the Red Sox. That's a lot of ground to make up this late. They would also have to pass the second-place team from the Central on the way up.

But this is still a very impressive run.

 

And will be ended by a team that didn't even exist in 1997.

 

Jays' pitching staff, collectively, is having a very strong season. Staff's 3.51 ERA and 1.25 lead MLB. Signing Scott Downs to a three-year deal might turn out to be one of the best moves of last offseason. He started missing bats last year (at age 31) and got even better this year.

 

If I may, I'd like to ask you experts a question. With all the clamor about Carlos Delgado as NL MVP (at least in the NY area), why does no one mention Ryan Howard? I'm not necessarily advocating voting for either one, but they both were horrible the first two months of the season and, while Delgado has certainly gotten incredibly hot, Howard does lead the majors in HRs and RBI. I believe they should both at least be in the discussion.

There is no runaway winner. At one point, I thought it should be Ryan Braun but he had a lousy series against the Mets. And with the Astros' recent rise, why not Lance Berkman, who has probably been the most consistent all season?

Bottom line is this will be an extremely difficult vote.

 

Personally, I think his .241 BA is too much to ignore.

 

There is no runaway winner, I agree.

But I DQ Howard based on his .241 BA, a pathetic .328 OBP and a whopping 189 K's.

If I had a vote, it would still go to Pujols. (hitting .362 with a massive .467 OBP and 49 Ks, for comparisons sake)

The AL is a little easier. Pedroia or Morneau. Either is deserving. I'll wait until the stretch run is over to pick between them.

 

I won't claim to be an expert, but those are good questions. I do agree that Howard belongs in the discussion every much as Delgado does. Suggesting Berkman as a legitimate candidate is also an excellent call.

I understand that Howard is only batting .241 and he has had some terrible games against the Mets, but overall he has still been more productive than Delgado. He has more home runs (42-35), RBI (126-104) and runs scored (89-84) than Delgado. Those home run and RBI totals lead the league. If Delgado is in the conversation, Howard has to be as well.

The Astros' rise back into the race for the Wild Card definitely helps Berkman's case. If anybody wants to disqualify Howard for batting only .241, does that mean you have to put Berkman at the top of the list because he is hitting .330 for a contender? No matter which percentage statistic you favor, batting average, on-base percentage or OPS, his is far superior to Delgado's or Howard's. He has fewer home run and RBI (28 and 100), but a lot more runs scored (110) and he has even been a threat on the bases with 16 steals.

Most importantly, he has helped the Astros climb back into the race despite the loss of Carlos Lee, who was having a monster season.

I don't see how there could be a clear-cut favorite right now.

 

And Pujols has kept a thoroughly average Cards team afloat in the NL Central and WC races all season despite very little lineup protection and a bullpen that has blown something obscene like 30 games. His line is ridiculous:

BA HR RBI OBP SLG
.362 33 99 .467 .655

That's your MVP. It's not a runaway. But Pujols is the one candidate without any massive flaws. (Delgado's awful start, Howard's going to whiff 200 times, Berkman wasn't the MVP of his own team until Lee went down)

 

On a fourth place team that has no prayer of making the playoffs. Great numbers, great player.
But the Cardinals could have finished fourth without him (because the Reds and Pirates suck so bad they couldn't be lower than 4th).