April 2007: A Month for Pitchers!
Fans love to see baseballs flying out of the park. But that's not been the case this baseball season. In fact, hitters can't even get the ball out of the infield! In 2006, only three major league teams finished the season with team ERAs under 4.00, the Tigers, Padres and Twins.
So far in 2007, 22 teams have ERAs under 4.00! Part of it is that pitchers are a bit ahead of the hitters this time of the season. Also, managers don't have their full batting lineup in place. That is, managers are going often by what happened last year and what they think a hitter will do this season. However, hitters vary from season to season, sometimes dramatically (look up Brady Anderson). By July and August some of the guys hitting now will be in different places in the batting order or on the bench.
I recall four years ago at this time that Boston slugger David Ortiz was a part-time DH and 3B Bill Mueller was on the bench while Shea Hillenbrand was the everyday Red Sox third/first baseman. Yet, by the end of the season, Ortiz was playing everyday, busting out as a major offensive force, while Mueller was winning the batting title. It was only when Hillenbrand was traded in late May that Ortiz and Mueller got to play every day. That's another example of why Fenway fans were happy to see Grady Little exit.
A more tangible reason for the decline in offense this month, however, has to be the weather. It's been crazy. Here in Las Vegas it was up to 90 last month, nearly breaking a record, and now down to 55, with wind and some rain. The Northeast has been even more volatile, with cold, rain, wind, sleet and even snow. The Indians had an entire 4-game series snowed out. Here are the top 7 teams with sizzling team ERAs thus far:
1. New York Mets: 2.69
2. Boston Red Sox: 2.79
3. Cincinnati Reds: 2.93
4. St. Louis Cardinals: 2.94
5. Oakland Athletics: 3.03
6. Los Angeles Dodgers: 3.14
7. San Diego Padres: 3.23
How does this translate to sports bettors? The Angels: 9-3 under the total. The Red Sox: 7-3 under. The Mets: 7-3 under. The White Sox: 7-3 under. The Twins: 8-3 under. The Tigers: 8-3 under. The Cardinals 8-3 under. The Padres: 7-5 under. The punchless Pirates: 6-2 under. The erratic Cubbies: 7-4 under. All these teams play their home games outdoors and most have played in lousy weather conditions.
Tiger manager Jim Leyland said this week, "We've had some excellent pitching, but don't have our bats going yet. We've had a few timely hits, had a good trip, but overall we've been pretty fortunate, really." Gary Sheffield is hitting .122.
One team that is not enjoying the benefits of the cool weather on the starting pitching is the Yankees. Mike Mussina and Carl Pavano joined fellow Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang on the disabled list Sunday, further depleting New York's already taxed pitching staff.
The Yankees called up right-hander Chris Britton from Triple-A Scranton to give them a fresh arm in the bullpen. Manager Joe Torre said the club was discussing a couple of possibilities to take Pavano's turn in the rotation Tuesday against the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium. Left-hander Chase Wright was thought to be the leading candidate to be called up from the minors.
Even after starting 4-0-1 over the total, the Yankees have gone 4-2 under, and would have been 5-1 under if the A's hadn't hit a 3-run HR with two outs in the bottom of the 9th in a 5-4 comeback win. Baseball may mean the coming of spring, but not so in 2007, at least that's the way things have started.
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