World Series Game Preview of the Pitching Matchup in Game 2
Game 2 of the 2011 baseball World Series takes place tonight. The game will take place at Busch Stadium, making it another home game for the St. Louis Cardinals. On the mound will be the young lefty Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia facing off against the Rangers ace Colby Lewis. With the Cardinals up 1-0, Texas is counting on Lewis to deliver.
Garcia grew up in Texas, making tonight’s World Series game quite a homecoming. With the Rangers down 0-1 it will be tough for the young Garcia to overcome the big game anxiety and keep the hungry Rangers from evening up the series. In the NLCS Garcia had a dismal Game 1 performance against the Brewers, allowing over 7 earned runs and giving up 13 big hits. He has had only three career post-season starts, all this year, and has done poorly in all three outings, giving him a career post-season record of 0-2 with a 5.74 ERA. Garcia has had success against the only Ranger he has ever faced, Yorvit Torrealba, not giving up any hits. However, Garcia’s inexperience could prove to be his downfall. He has an advantage being a lefthander though, as historically lefty pitchers make for tougher at bats, especially against left-handed hitters. The Cardinals will be hoping for a little lefty magic from the young Garcia.
Righty Colby Lewis will be taking the mound for the 0-1 Rangers. Lewis is much more familiar with the St. Louis batters and has a decent record against them. The five Read the rest of this entry »
The LA Angels best hitter in 2011
Who is the best hitter on the Los Angeles Angels?
In the number one market on the West Coast, the LA Angels possess the financial resources to sign and maintain solid hitters. With aging stars including Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu as part of their lineup, the Angels look towards 27-year old Kendry Morales not only as their star hitter of the future, but also of the present.
How does Morales compare to the other Los Angeles hitters?
Bobby Abreu is set to lead the Angels this year in runs, being apart of 88 in 2010. If Morales can stay healthy this year, he should be short of Abreu’s run production, but not by a significant amount. Hunter, Wells, and Morales all provide pop to the Angels’ lineup, each capable of contributing 20-25 homers a season. Abreu, Hunter, Vernon Wells, and Morales all can drive in 80-90 runs annually, with Eric Aybar doing the majority of base stealing. Howard Kendrick will lead the team in batting average, prone to post a number around .300, with Morales not far behind him.
Will Morales compete for the home run title?
No one on the Angels will win the home run title, and this holds true for Morales. While Morales may hit 25-30 homers this season, he’ll
Los Angeles Angels 2011 Pitching Outlook
If there is one thing that the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim struggled with in last year’s season that was pitching. With pitching ace Jared Weaver in the forefront of their rotation and Dan Haren finally making his full season debut in an Angels uniform, their starting rotation is bound to have some heat coming to the plate.
With closers like Trevor Bell and Fernando Rodney, they have grown as they know now what Angel baseball is all about and an era over 5.00 is not going to get you into the pennant race.
Scott Kazmir has been working on his mechanics during spring training and can now handle the middle rotation spot in the Angel pitching lineup. Ervin Santana needs to keep his composure, especially late in the game and keep his fuundamentals down to his techniques that pitching coach Mike Butcher has spent years instilling into these young pitchers. Scott Kazmir is really starting to come into his form this spring training. His fastball is starting to hit
San Francisco Giants pitching in 2011
Its entire pitching staff – the starters and the relievers – was that main component that enabled the San Francisco Giants to complete a surprising rise from mediocrity midway through the 2010 season to first become the champion of the National League’s Western Division and ultimately the champion of Major League Baseball – the winner of the World Series.
Following a 4-3 loss at Colorado on Sunday, July 4, 2010, San Francisco had a record of 41-40 at the exact mid-point of the 162-game marathon that is the regular season. The Giants trailed the division leader, the San Diego Padres, by four games in the NL West.
The series in Colorado was the start of an 11-game road trip, San Francisco’s longest of the season. The Giants went 1-3 in Colorado before finishing the trip 6-1, sweeping a four-game series in Milwaukee and winning two of three games in Washington.
The 6-1 finish to the road trip ignited the Giants. And they stayed hot the rest of the way, going 51-30 in the final 81 games to finish 92-70 and edge San Diego for the NL West title.
The division championship was won on the last day of the season, with the Giants taking the winner-take-all finale of a three-game series against the Padres at AT&T Park in San Francisco.
After the Padres won the first two games of the series to pull into a first-place tie with San Francisco, lefty Jonathan Sanchez and five relievers combined on a 3-0 shutout to earn the Giants the NL West title.
Dunn, Konerko Key to White Sox in 2011
The White Sox put up a valiant fight in 2010, competing with the Twins for most of the season for the AL Central crown.
Ironically, one of the keys of success for the Twins in pulling away from the White Sox was the play of Jim Thome, who batted .283 and hit 25 home runs for the Twins after the White Sox decided to part ways with their slugging designated hitter in the 2009 off-season. The White Sox spent much of the year futilely trying to replace Thome’s power, going so far as to claim Manny Ramirez off of waivers from the Dodgers last August in a desperate last push to overtake the Twins. However, the move failed to pay off and the White Sox fell out of the Read the rest of this entry »
CLE Indians,MLB, can they win their division next year?
Manny Acta is in his second season as manager of the Cleveland Indians and he reportedly likes the direction that the team is going.
There are three teams in the AL Central Division who have fairly well paid players or staff. It would be interesting to see the Cleveland Indians catch up with the Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers.
The Cleveland Indians are expecting big things out of a guy like Jensen Lewis on their staff, but they need him to actually be able to stay healthy. Tim Belcher, the pitching coach will be assigned with the task of trying to get something out of the promising right hander. Fausto Carmona may in fact be the only truly finished major league pitcher on their staff at this point. The trading of Jake Westbrook from the Cleveland Indians to the St. Louis Cardinals certainly seems to have created a void of a veteran presence on the Read the rest of this entry »
Detroit Tigers: 2011 American League Central Champions?
The Detroit Tigers have a legitimate shot to win the American League Central Division in 2011. Despite a mediocre 81-81 finish in 2010, the team played very strong in the first half. Detroit has the talent to maintain that success for a full season in 2011.
Last year Detroit finished behind both the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox in the American League Central. Both teams reloaded this off-season and will provide heavy competition again in 2011. Despite this, both teams are vulnerable in spots and can be beat.
Below are the reasons why the Detroit Tigers can bring home the 2011 American League Central title.
Improved Offense
Opposing teams can no longer pitch around Triple Crown candidate Miguel Cabrera. Victor Martinez was signed in the off-season and will hit behind Cabrera. Martinez is a career .300 hitter and has averaged 20 home runs a year in the nine seasons he has played.
2010 Rookie of the Year finalist Austin Jackson will return in the lead off spot. Solid hitting, but injury plagued veterans Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen both enter 2011 healthy. Outfielder Brennan Boesch took the baseball world by storm for part of 2010 and can only improve this season.
Deep Starting Rotation
Justin Verlander returns as the ace of Detroit’s staff and is one of the premiere pitchers in all of baseball. Young starters Rick Porcello and Max Scherzer both showed improvement in the second half of last season and should carry that Read the rest of this entry »
San Francisco Giants Possible 2012 Repeat Champions
No reigning World Champion has returned to the World Series winner circle in the twenty first century. Only one team has even made it back to the championship series the next year. Now the San Francisco Giants are faced with the task of defending their World’s Series Championship and keeping the trophy for a second year.
The odds of this happening are long. Although the pitching staff remains intact from 201 there are some questions. The Freak, Tim Lincecum, has had several fine seasons and won two Cy Young awards. Keeping the pace for one more year will be challenging for his young star with the strangest delivery in baseball.
Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner and Barry Zito will fill in the other top spots in the rotation. Brain Wilson will once again be called upon to close victories for the starters. The mid relieves such as Read the rest of this entry »
Oakland’s Chances in 2011 – The A’s May Return to the Top of the West
For many years the Oakland A’s where one of baseball’s premier teams. Oakland has produced several word champion teams as well as divisional champions. The American League West can be a challenging division. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have provided the main competition to the Oakland team for division honors. In 2010 the Texas Rangers prevailed while the A’s came in second with a .500 record. The Rangers have lost some momentum with the defection of Cliff Lee. This leaves the division open for 2011.
Oakland has made some moves to insure they are a contender for the division title in 2011. The team’s management made a commitment to add a strong bat to producer runs. The addition of Josh Willingham from the Washington Nationals will add strong bat and shore up the defense in the outfield. Teaming up with Connor Jackson and Ryan Sweeney will provide Willingham the opportunity to have solid hitters around him in the lineup.
Hideki Matsui, the World’s Series Most Valuable Player of two years ago continues as the designated hitter for the team. His powerful bat gives the team another weapon and makes it harder Read the rest of this entry »
the Nationals Have A Shot?
For as long as their franchise has been in Washington, and even before that, the Nationals have been at the bottom of the National League East division. Still, one thing that comes with finishing with one of the worst records in all of baseball year after year is the ability to select high draft picks and bring young talent into your organization; and sooner or later that young talent will rise to the surface and make an impact at the big league level.
So it really could be any year now that the Nationals make a big leap, shocking all of baseball as they make a run towards the top of the NL East. So why not this year? The Nats could be stronger up the middle than most people think, with Ian Desmond at shortstop and fellow youngster Danny Espinosa as the second basemen. Joining them in the infield is perennial all-star Ryan Zimmerman who has been a constant force in their lineup for many years.
Joining him across the diamond is first baseman Adam LaRoche who should provide 20-25 home runs and an upgrade in defense at that position from previous years. But the real power in the lineup won’t be coming from Read the rest of this entry »