Nationals flying high and old man Moyer highlights National League week
While the Rangers have pulled away slightly from the rest of the pack, albeit at this early stage, there has been no such early season move from anyone in the National League, with the Nationals, Dodgers and Cardinals all having either 11-5 or 12-4 records heading into the final full week of April.
While the Cardinals early season success is hardly surprising, even allowing for the departures of Albert Pujols and Tony LaRussa, the emergence of the Nationals and the Dodgers out of the doldrums in which they have been engulfed in the last few years is refreshing.
Washington went 5-1 this week, taking two of three in the home series against the Astros, while taking both games that were played against the Marlins. If we take away the one game blip, an 11-4 loss in which Edwin Jackson gave up five runs in the first inning, the Nationals pitchers allowed just seven runs in five games, suggesting that concerns about the consistency of their young staff are, as yet at least, unfounded. Remarkably, Nationals starting pitchers not called Edwin Jackson have a combined 1.24 ERA this season.
With a 12-4 record, the Nats have an early two game advantage in the East, ahead of the Braves. A 6-1 loss to the Mets on Monday was followed by four consecutive games in which they were able to score nine runs, while limiting the opposition to three runs per game. A 14-6 victory over R.A. Dickey and the Mets, to clinch the series, included blasts from Francisco, Uggla and Freeman, although Jair Jurrjens continued his early struggles, giving up four runs in 4.0 innings. After the Mets, the Braves were able to take three of four from the Diamondbacks, with a game four loss ending a five game win streak heading into an interesting series in Dodger Town.
Elsewhere in the East, the Mets, Marlins and Phillies have been frustratingly inconsistent. The Mets have spoiled their early decent start by going 2-3 during the week, losing two of three to division rivals Atlanta, before splitting two games against San Francisco. Monday night will see a double-header following the postponement of the Sunday game. On Tuesday, lefty Johan Santana lasted just 1.1 innings, the shortest performance of his career, giving up six runs (four earned) in a 9-3 loss to the Braves.
As for the Marlins and Phillies, their offences have been largely posted missing. Although Miami were able to score 19 runs in a three game sweep of the Cubbies, they managed just two in two defeats against the much more potent pitching staff of the Nationals. There was certainly some relief from those in Marlins country when Josh Johnson got his early season struggled out of the way by throwing seven strong innings on Tuesday in a 5-2 win against Chicago that also included Heath Bell’s first save in a Marlins uniform. Jose Reyes is set to return to New York on Tuesday, as Miami take a trip to New York, with game one being a Josh Johnson v Johan Santana match-up.
The Phillies are in the unusual situation of looking up at the rest of the division, as they currently stand bottom with a 7-9 record on the back of a 3-4 week that saw their anaemic offence grind out just 15 runs, and nine of those came in two games. Such results were possibly to be expected, however, given the injuries to key players Ryan Howard and Chase Utley. And there was a blow on the pitching staff too, as Cliff Lee pitched a remarkable ten scoreless innings against the Giants, only for opposite number Matt Cain to throw nine scoreless in a breathtaking duel. The bullpen that day recorded one out, one run and one loss after Lee’s sterling display. Unfortunately, the ace suffered an oblique strain and landed on the DL after the game.
Over in the Central, the Cards are the only team with a record above .500, and as such hold a four game advantage. St. Louis had a pair of 2-1 series victories over the Reds and the Pirates, during which they conceded more than two runs just once, in a 6-3 defeat on Thursday against the Bronson Arroyo led Cincinnati Reds. Adam Wainwright fell to 0-3 that day, but a 5.0 inning, four earned run display was a significant improvement on his previous start. On the offensive side of things, Rafael Furcal had a breathtaking week, going 12-for-24 with four RBIs, while he was ably supported by Carlos Beltran, who was hardly a slouch with his two homers and five RBIs, although he did finish the week on an 0-for-8 run in a pair of games against the Pirates.
And what of those Pirates? A team that many people believe may break the .500 for the first time since Babe Ruth was a babe (in the young person sense, don’t think he was ever much of a looker). Well, the truth is, they have struggled thus far. Alarmingly, they have neither scored, nor conceded, more than five runs in a game this season. They went 3-3 this week, taking a series from the D’backs, before losing to the Cards, giving them a 6-9 record heading into a home series against the Rockies. A.J. Burnett returned on Saturday and pitched a seven inning shutout on his Bucs debut, having loaded the bases before recording his first out of the game. However, they have scored an MLB worst 30 runs, fully 18 runs behind their closest rivals, alarmingly the Philadelphia Phillies.
Meanwhile, the Reds and Brewers have been disappointing, although with nearly 90% of the season left, it would be premature to write them of yet, as they clearly have the talents, both with the bat and the ball, to cause problems. Both teams went 3-3 last week, leaving them a couple of games below .500. The Brew Crew were outstanding in taking two of three from the Dodgers, including two one run victories, with game one finishing on a George Kottaras two run walk-off double in the ninth inning. Following the Dodgers, the Brewers took on the Rockies, with game two being their sole win. Ryan Braun broke an 0-for-16 slump, while a six run seventh inning resulted in a 9-4 victory as they torched Rockies relievers Esmil Rogers and Edgmer Escalona for seven runs in two innings.
The Reds, on the other hand, were frustratingly inconsistent, performing admirably in four of their six games against the Cardinals and Cubs, but being blown out by a combined 17-2 in the other couple of games. The most alarming thing for the Reds has been the mediocrity of their offense, with Joey Votto yet to break his home run duck this season, while Jay Bruce went on an 0-for-17 streak, hitting a lone RBI for the week.
As for the Astros and Cubs, the least said the better. While the Astros got off to a decent start, they went on a 1-5 run last week before inexplicably making Chad Billingsley look like a Minor Leaguer in an emphatic 12-0 victory on Sunday that was highlighted by Jordan Schafer’s first career grand slam. Chicago also went 1-5, and with a three game set at Wrigley against the defending champs, it would be a brave man to bet on their .250 winning percentage improving any time before Thursday. Their offence scored slightly over three runs a game last week, thanks mainly to putting up six in their sole triumph over the Reds. A 14 hit game, backed up by a sterling effort from Paul Maholm brought an end a six game losing streak that few would suggest will be their longest of the season, such is the dismal nature of the Cubbies roster.
The main story of the week in the Majors, had it not been for the small matter of a perfect game being thrown, would surely have been another pitching milestone. One that occurred on Tuesday as Jamie Moyer of the Colorado Rockies became the oldest pitcher ever to win a Major League game, a few months shy of his 50th birthday. And this wasn’t one of those 10-9 wins. Moyer pitched seven innings, giving up two runs, both unearned, as he claimed his first victory of the season and lowered his ERA to remarkable 2.55.
That game was the first of a three game win streak for the Rockies, as they won the rubber match against the Padres the next day before taking two of three from the Brewers. While their offence has hardly been consistently impressive, having scored more than four runs twice in the last seven games, their pitching has certainly kept them in most games, none more so than that of the young 49 year old, who made his Major League debut before a significant number of his teammates were even born. Jeremy Guthrie, who had arguably been the least impressive of the Rockies starters, gave up just one run in 7.0 innings on Sunday as the Rockies beat the Brewers 4-1 to claim the series. They start the week with a trip to the Pirates in what will likely be low scoring affairs.
Elsewhere in the West, the Diamondbacks went on a five game losing streak following a victory of the Pirates to start the week, during which time they managed to score more than two runs on just one occasion, proving that you really do have to score runs to win ball games (who knew?). They did finish the week on a positive note, with a Sunday afternoon 6-4 win over the Braves, where Ian Kennedy improved his record to 3-0 and Gerardo Parra nailed a grand slam. While their offence may have been poor, the first two games against Atlanta aside, their pitching had been impressive. Despite losing two of three to Pittsburgh, the starting staff had a 3.05 ERA in the series.
While the D’Backs lost five straight, the lowly Padres sunk to 3-12 on the back of four straight defeats at the hands of Colorado and Philadelphia before shutting down the Phillies offence in the final two games, recording 5-1 and 6-1 wins. Cory Luebke threw eight scoreless on Saturday, while his teammate Anthony Bass gave up only an unearned run in six innings the next day, proving that the Pads have the talent, if not the consistency. Tim Lincecum got his first win of the season for the Giants, who went 4-2 on the week and took a leaf out of the Pirates book, neither scoring not conceding more than five runs in any of their last nine games.
A series win over Philadelphia was highlighted by the epic pitchers battle between Matt Cain and Cliff Lee that eventually fell the way of the Gigantes 1-0 in the 11th inning, while the week ended with a rainout meaning a double-header on Monday against the Mets, with the series tied at 1-1 after a pair of one run games.
It is, however, the Dodgers that are reigning supreme in the West, sitting nicely with a 12-4 record, even though they only went .500 for the week. A couple of one run losses to the Brewers was followed by three close victories, during which time Matt Kemp just kept hitting and hitting and hitting. Even allowing for an 0-for-3 night on Saturday, the outfielder has hit .500 in his last ten games, along with seven homers and 13 RBIs. One assumes a 12-0 loss to the Astros was merely one of those nights. It is, after all, impossible for a team to play 162 great games in a season. Not even Matt Kemp could do that.
