Climbing the Ladder with the American League 5/25/08

Boston is Best Again, Chicago Stays Hot, and the Angles Roll, plus more in this weeks Climbing the Ladder with the American League

Before losing their last two road games, the Boston Red Sox were riding a 7 game win streak which included a no hitter by pitcher Jon Lester.  Boston has won 10 straight at home and completed its first multi-series sweep since 2006, including its first 4 game sweep of the Royals since 1988.  The Red Sox have posted the second best home record since 1956 after 26 games (21-5) but have also posted the third worst away record since 1974 (10-16).  Boston is 14-9 in May and holds the best record in the Majors despite ranking 3rd in runs scored (268) and18th in runs allowed (232).

The Tampa Bay Rays are in the middle of their longest home stand of the season and have been playing well at the Trop, going 18-8 so far in 2008 , winning 14 of their last 15 at home.  The Rays are 12-4 in their last 16 games and have pitched to a 2.89 ERA over that stretch.  The Rays are 21-9 since April 22nd and hold the best record in the majors over that period of time.  Tampa has posted a 3.17 ERA and made only 6 errors in their last 30 games.  The Rays have solved the problem that plagued the team over the last few years…pitching and defense. The division leading Boston Red Sox are the only team to have a better record than the Rays and Tampa is a full .179 percentage points better than they were last year at this time.

The Toronto Blue Jays have won three straight and are now higher than 4th place in the American League East for the first time since May 7th and are 1 game over .500. Toronto’s current hot streak, in which the team has won 9 of their last 12 and 15 of their last 23, has come at a time in which the Blue Jays have not faced divisional foes in their last 15 games. Blue Jay pitching has remained strong and holds the 3rd best ERA in the American League at 3.54 and has the 4th most quality starts with 28. Toronto’s hitting has also improved and now ranks 8th in the American League in batting average, 12th in slugging, 4th in OBP, 12th in runs, and 6th in hits.

The Baltimore Orioles have lost four of five on this road trip and have fallen to fourth place in a five team division. Baltimore’s road woes have continued to trouble the Orioles and the team had won three consecutive series before losing two of three to New York earlier in the week. The O’s have scored a 146 runs in the twenty four games they’ve won (6.08 runs per game) and only 50 in their 24 losses (2.08 runs per game), but have still been out scored by 13 runs. Baltimore is playing slightly better then their expected win loss record which equates to a 23-24 record based on their runs scored/allowed ratio. Baltimore starters have been much better in 2008 and currently rank 3rd in the American League with 27 quality starts behind the Chicago White Sox (31) and the Cleveland Indians (31). Baltimore returns home on Monday and will host the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in the upcoming week.

The New York Yankees have won a season high four straight game and this streak comes at a time in which the Yankees were fresh off their season high, four game losing streak. With a win today, the Yankees could reach the .500 mark for the first time since 5/19. The New York offense is heating up and tied a season high 16 hits last night and the combined 25 runs in their last two games is the most the Yankees have scored since 7/29/07. As people return from the disabled list, the Yankee players are beginning to settle back into familiar roles. New York has used an American League high 44 different lineups so far in the 2008 season. The Yankees will begin a 7 game road trip on Monday in which they will travel to Baltimore and Minnesota.

The streaking Chicago White Sox have won 8 of their last 10 games and 11 of their last 16.  Chicago swept the Cleveland Indians earlier in the week but are on the verge of being swept by the Los Angeles Angels later today.  The White Sox have enjoyed their time in the sun this season and have been in first place for 34 days in 2008.  Chicago leads the American League in quality starts (31) and ranks second in team ERA.  The White Sox have allowed three runs or less in 27 of its 49 games and ranks second in the Majors with 182 runs allowed and first in home runs allowed (26).  Chicago will travel to Cleveland and Tampa Bay next week.

The Minnesota Twins lost last night 19-3 and had not given up that many runs since July 13, 1996. The19 runs allowed marked the 11th time in club history that the Twins had given up 18 or more runs and just the 5th time the team had given up 19 or more. During last nights loss, the Twins allowed a four-run inning, a six-run and a seven-run inning.  The Twins have now allowed their opponents to score four-or-more runs in an inning 14 times this season including in each of the last four games.  They have allowed seven runs twice, six runs in an inning four times, five runs in an inning three times and four runs in an inning four times. Offensively this season, the Twins have six four-run innings, four five-run innings, one six-run inning and one seven-run inning. Minnesota will need to limit these big run innings in the future if they hope to remain competitive in their division.

The Cleveland Indians are fresh off a 6 game road trip in which the team was swept in two separate three game series against Cincinnati and Chicago. Cleveland’s 7 game losing streak was the longest the team has had since August of 2004. The Indians have snapped out of whatever funk they were in last week and have since scored 14 runs on 9 extra base hits and now rank 11th in the American League in runs and 18th in the majors in runs scored. The Indians also rank 4th in runs allowed with 186 and have been under performing according to their expected win loss record of 26-23. Cleveland starting pithing still holds the lowest staff ERA in the majors (3.21) and have allowed just 64 earned runs in their last 226.2 innings (34 games).

The Detroit Tigers have won four of their last five games and have batted .509 with runners in scoring position in the first five games of the Tiger’s current home stand. The Tigers had hit just .205 with runners in scoring position during their first 16 games in May. Despite the recent success the Tigers have had in their latest home stand, fans have been disappointed with the team so far this season and last nights sell out was just the 6th of the season and the third of May for Detroit.

The Kansas City Royals have had a grand slam play a huge role in their losses three times in the last three days. The Royals, who have yet to hit a grand slam this year and have not done so in their last 226 games. The Royals have surrendered an astounding 11 base clearing round trippers since the beginning of the 2007 season with 5 coming so far this season. Kansas City has lost 6 straight games and is now 7 games below .500 for the first time in the 2008 season. The Royals are in the midst of a stretch in which the team will play 20 games in as many days. The Royals began the stretch by winning 4 straight and 5 of 6 but have since lost their last 6, bringing their series mark to 5-7 with 8 remaining games.

The Angels remain on top of the American League West for another week and their 30 wins is tied for second best in the majors.  The Angels are 9 games over .500 and have outscored their opponents 226-214.  Los Angeles has been over achieving according to their expected win loss record of 27-24 but have won 5 of their last 6 games.  The Halo’s 16 road wins lead the majors and this team can win wherever they are.

The Oakland Athletics have won back to back to back games despite going 4-6 in their last 10.  The Athletics are 3-2 on their 9 game home stand and will face the Toronto Blue Jays after Boston leaves town later today.  Oakland leads all of baseball with 181 runs allowed and ranks 10th in runs scored.  The Athletics have been under performing according to their expected win loss record of 30-20 and have done so despite leading the majors with a 3.27 ERA.  The A’s have scored 91 runs in May but 44 of those runs have come in 4 games.  Oakland will need to increase its runs scored to help support its great pitching.

The Texas Rangers have catapulted themselves out of last place and have done so in style. Texas has won 3 of their last 4, 12 of their last 18, and 16 of its last 24. The Rangers have gone 7-0-1 in their last 8 series and holds the 2008 record for consecutive series wins. Texas has scored 9 first inning runs in their last three games and lead the majors with 48 first inning runs this season. The Rangers will travel to Tampa and Oakland after finishing their series with the Cleveland Indians.

The Seattle Mariners have lost 5 straight games, matching their season high losing streak and are 4-8 over their last 12 games and 12 of their last 17. Seattle is just 7 for its last 37 with runners in scoring position in its last three games and the team has dropped its average with runners in scoring position to .235. In Seattle’s last 15 games, the team has allowed 27 multi-run innings including at least one in each game. Seattle has allowed 102 runs during this stretch with 86 of them coming in multi-run innings. Seattle has also allowed 9 or more runs in 5 straight games and have fallen to 7 games below .500 and 11.5 games behind the division leading Los Angeles Angels.