Charlie’s News at Five: Solidarity, injuries and more

by UK American Sports Fans

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A brand new weekly feature now on UKAmericanSportsFans.com as Charlie Baldwin brings us his top five news stories from the world of baseball.

So, without further ado, let’s get started and hand things over to Charlie…

1. The Boston Red Sox Rebound

I will admit that the awful events of Monday, have propelled the Red Sox to the top of this list, and my personal thoughts and condolences are with all those affected.

The Red Sox are currently leading the AL East with a record of 9-4. Most analysts have been surprised by how well the Red Sox have done so far. Led by twin aces, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz, the Boston Red Sox rotation is vastly improved this year. The bullpen with the additions of Koji Uehara and Joel Hanrahan has also been deepened and solidified. The cumulative starting rotation ERA for the Red Sox stands at an exceptional 2.09, which is the best in MLB. The bullpen ERA stands at a more mediocre 3.72, but should improve. The only negative point is the offense has struggled to score runs.

After the tragedy of Monday, Boston needs its baseball team, more than ever. In these difficult times for the city, baseball can be a great distraction even if it is for just three hours a day.

2. Zach Greinke injured by Carlos Quentin

After being hit by a pitch in the sixth inning of the Dodgers at Padres game on April 11th, Carlos Quentin angrily glared at Greinke, who then shared his thoughts with Quentin. Carlos then charged the mound and shoulder barged the Dodger’s ace. Greinke is a lot smaller than Quentin, which resulted in a broken left collarbone for the pitcher. Greinke is expected to miss up to eight weeks. Quentin was subsequently banned by MLB for eight games.

This is a big loss for the Dodgers, Greinke up to that point had only given up one run in eleven innings of work this year. The Dodgers fortunately do have some spare pitching with the likes of Chris Capuano, Stephen Fife and Ted Lilly. None of them are even close to Greinke’s ability level, and this could have an effect on the outcome of the NL West. The Dodgers will look for Hyun-Jin Ryu or Josh Beckett to slot into the number two role.

3. The Angels Flop

The LA Angels are currently bottom of the AL Central, with a record that currently stands at 4-10. A lot of analysts jumped aboard the Angels bandwagon once Josh Hamilton was signed, but there were some who doubted the Angels ability to compete in the AL West. The reason for this was pitching. The Angels rotation currently ranks last in MLB with a cumulative 6.07 ERA. Jered Weaver is still also on the DL for another month. The bullpen has also been awful, putting up a 4.44 ERA. Throw in the struggles of Josh Hamilton, Mark Trumbo and Mike Trout, you then have the seeds of a season of struggle for the red side of LA.

4. The “Hotlanta” Braves

The Atlanta Braves have so far been the best team in Baseball. If their record of 12-2 isn’t enough evidence, then I shall provide you with more. The Braves starting pitching rotation leads MLB with a cumulative starters ERA of 1.99. The Braves bullpen also leads MLB, with a cumulative ERA of 1.49. The offense has slugged an MLB leading 25 home runs. To make this even more incredible, the Braves are missing Brian McCann, Freddie Freeman, and star setup man Jonny Venters. The Washington Nationals who were most analysts pick to win the NL East are 8-6 so far, but have not been playing well.

5. The Amazin’ Mets

The New York Mets in spring training were written off as a fourth place team in the NL East. Apparently, the players and manager Terry Collins weren’t listening. After losing Johan Santana in the first week of the season, the Mets needed somebody to grab the role of staff ace and run with it. Matt Harvey has done brilliantly so far, allowing only two earned runs in 22 innings of work for an astounding 0.82 ERA. Jonathan Niese has done a good job as the number two starter with a 2-0 record in three starts and a very good 3.57 ERA. The star hitter unexpectedly has been John Buck. In just 13 games, he has blasted six home runs and 19 RBIs. Just to put the cherry on the cake, Buck’s OPS currently stands at 1.066, good enough for 11th in all of MLB.

The question for the Mets is how long can they keep this going? Will we be talking about them as a wild card contender in August or will they be the fourth placed team most analysts expected them to be?

and one more thing…

I just had to get in something Jackie Robinson related. 42, the biographical film about Robinson and how he broke the MLB colour barrier, set a new record at the US box office last weekend. 42 grossed $27.5million, which not only put it in the top spot, but also made it the biggest grossing opening weekend for a Baseball film of all time. The previous record was held by Moneyball, which grossed $19.5million on its first weekend.