Climbing the Ladder with the American League 6/16/08

There’s a Fire in Seattle and a Tiger Loose in the Park Plus More in this Week’s Climbing the Ladder with the American League

The Boston Red Sox have left the friendly confines of Fenway Park and experience some road success in the beginning of this 6 game road trip. Boston took 2 of 3 from the Cincinnati Reds and will face the red hot Philadelphia Phillies tonight. The Red Sox have experiences a lot of success in interleague play and are tied for the best interleage record in the majors since 2006 at 33-9. As temperatures heat up in Boston so do the Sox. The Red Sox are tied for the best winning percentage in June (10-4, .714) with the Chicago Cubs and have posted a 3.17 ERA over that span. Boston is in the middle of a stretch of 15 games in which the Sox play National League teams. Boston will host the St. Louis Cardinals after it finishes its series with the Phillies on Wednesday.

The Tampa Bay Rays will begin a three game series against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night which will feature Ryan Dempsteragainst Rays ace Scott Kazmir. The series with the Cubs should be a good one as the two teams are in the top five in wins and will mark the Cubs first ever visit to Tropicana Field. The last time these two teams faced each other, Cubs slugger Sammy Sosawas disciplined for using a corked bat back on June 3rd, 2003. Tampa Bay ranks just 17th in the majors in runs scored but ranks a surprising 6th in the majors in runs allowed. Tampa will face the Houston Astros in a weekend series after the Cubs leave town.

The New York Yankees received some bad news today when MRI results showed a torn ligament in the foot of would be Yankee ace, Ching Ming Wang. The Brox Bombers may have to look outside the organization to replace Wang as there aren’t many options within the Yankee farm system. Yankee fans need not panic as veteran Mike Mussinahas shown new life in 2008 and is currently tied for the the American League lead in wins with 10. Mussina has had 10 or more wins in the American League for 17 consecutive seasons and is only the 6th pitcher in Major League history to do so.

The Baltimore Orioles are out of the basement in the American League East and most of the O’s wins have come in the form of comebacks. Baltimore has come back from 2 runs down or more 15 times this season and lead the Major Leagues in come backs after being down 2 or more runs. The Orioles magic number is 4 as the team is 30-10 when scoring 4 or more runs in a game, but are just 4-23 when scoring 3 or fewer runs. Baltimore shouldn’t remain out of the basement for long as they are over performing according to their expected win loss record of 32-36.

The Toronto Blue Jays faced the best in the National League over the weekend and lost 2 of 3. Toronto remains 3rd in the majors in runs allowed with 267 but scoring runs remains an issue for the Jays. Toronto ranks 24th in the majors in runs scored with 286 and as time goes on and the American League East leaders pull away, it looks more and more likely that the Blue Jays will be sellers when the hot stove heats up.

The Chicago White Sox have lost 5 of their last 6 including 2 of 3 to the National League worst Colorado Rockies. Sox pitching continues to dominate despite not finishing with the W. Chicago leads the majors with a 3.33 ERA and 44 quality starts. The White Sox will have a chance to get back on the right track when they host the Pittsburgh Pirates in a series beginning on Tuesday. Chicago will need the momentum of playing at home to carry them into their series with Chicago’s favorite team, the Cubbies.

The Minnesota Twins are having continued success in interleague play and won two of three over the weekend in Milwaukee. The Twins are 1 of only 10 teams in the majors with 100 or more interleague wins. Minnesota will look to continue their interleague success on Tuesday when they host the Washington Nationals.

The Cleveland Indians are glad to have their ace back, but how long will he be around? CC Sabathiahas been the talk of the early hot stove and there are many rumors circulating that he will be heavily pursued by the New York Yankees now that the future of Ching Ming Wangis uncertain. Its unsure if the Yankees will actually put on the full court press for Sabathia and it is also uncertain if Cleveland is willing to throw in the towel after just 7o games. With Carmona returning in the next few weeks and the team beginning to hit, it may be unlikely that the Indians move last seasons Cy Young award winner. It will be an interesting next few weeks in Cleveland.

The Detroit Tigers have caught fire and won 6 straight games. The Tigers are creeping up the standing in the American League Central and are closing in on Cleveland’s strong hold of third place. The Tigers will play the weak hitting San Francisco Giants beginning tonight and will hope to keep their winning ways going as the week continues. Reliever Francisco Rodneyhas returned from the DL along with RHP Aquilino Lopez, who was immediatly optioned to AAA Toledo in an effort to stretch him out and make him into a starter. The Tigers would not have done this if they did not believe relievers Joel Zumayaand Rodney would return soon and be effective. If Gary Sheffieldcan return to the line up and be productive, the Tigers pitching looks to be improving enough for the Tigers to make a run at the American League Central.

The Royals continue their win one, lose two ways in the American League Central. At times the clubs potential shines through and other times they look to regress back to the team they’ve been over the last few seasons. This was very apparent when the Royals took 2 of 3 from the first place Diamondbacks over the weekend, but had lost two of three from the Texas Rangers the series before. The Royals would probably fare better in the National League at this point and are 33-27 against the National League over the last four years. The reality of the situations is that the Royals do not play in the National League but should try and take advantage of interleague play before its over.

Last nights shutout was the 7th for the Angels in the 2008 season, just two shy of their total in 2007. Los Angeles lost its home series over the weekend against Atlanta, just the second time the Angels have lost a home series this season. The Angels currently rank second in the the American League with 42 wins and have held sole possession of first place for the last 34 days. Dating back to 2007, the Angels have spent 239 of a possible 257 days in first place. This impressive run shows no signs of ending any time soon and the Halos will look to continue their winning ways this week when they host the New York Mets.

The Oakland A’s are fresh off their fifth series sweep of the season. This series win marks just the third series win in the A’s last 11 series. The win comes at a time in which the Oakland A’s have enjoyed tremendous success in recent years. Oakland holds the second best win loss percentage (115-81, .587) behind the New York Yankees in interleague play and have finished with a winning record in 9 of the last 11 interleague seasons. The Oakland Athletics hold the second best ERA in the Major Leagues behind the Chicago White Sox and their pitching has carried them through the season.

The Texas Rangers have lost 3 of their last 4 and despite being able to score runs, their pitching has let games slip away. When the Rangers win, they win while giving up a lot of runs. Texas still leads the Major Leagues in runs scored with 394 but also leads the league in runs allowed with a whopping 414 runs. Many Ranger fans think that Edison Volquezwould have been the 20 game winner that saved the Rangers pitching staff but in reality, he would not have been able to win 20 games with the Ranger team he was on. This trade has worked out remarkable for both the Rangers and the Reds and the Rangers received the masher they were looking for in Josh Hamiltonand the Reds received their future ace in Volquez. The trade looks to be win win for both teams.

The Seattle Mariners remain the worst team in the Majors and the loss of JJ Putz does little to help the team dig itself out of the bottom. The Mariners made a step in the right direction when they fired General Manager Bill Bavasi. It is likely that this firing will also lead to the firing of the teams manager. The move comes after the worst team in the American League was swept by the worst team in the National League (Nationals) in Seattle. Its hard to believe that this was the straw that broke the camel’s back but a $117 million dollar payroll should get you more than last place. Its hard to imagine what a good general manager could have done with money like that…I can assure you that it would be better than a 24-45 record and a .348 winning percentage.