Two series, featuring the top three players selected at last weekends draft, kicked off the AL Season this past Saturday in lovely East Troy, Wis. Here's your recap...
Keith @ Butts
Game 1: Lackey @ Weaver
You know how the first game of the season is. You've been staring at your cards for at least a week, tweaking the lineup, and its time for the rubber to hit the road. You hang on each inning, each run. We had a wild opener at scenic Kauffman Stadium.
Keith scored a run in the top of the 1st just the way he drew it up. 1B by Crawford, SB, advanced to third by Ichiro, and driven in on a Youks sac fly. Butts came right back in the bottom of the first though, getting big hits from Pedroia and Miggie Cabrera and scoring four runs. This is basically how the entire game unfolded.
Too much to type out, but as you have likely heard by now, Youks stat line was rediculous. 4-6 with two sac flys, 2 doubles, a HR and a single. Pitching coaches in both dugouts were on the line back to the minors seeing if there was any talent available anytime soon...
Keith wins 17-13
WP: J. Frasor
LP: Ziegler
Player of the Game: Kevin Youkilis
Game 2: Beckett @ Danks
Butts came back swinging in game two, with yet another Pedroia 1st inning double ending in a Mauer RBI single. Beckett settled in after that, however, throwing 6 scoring inning and getting a three run Youkilis home run and an Alberto Callaspo solo job to build a lead. Another run by Keith in the top of the 8th left him up 5-2 before Butts rallied in the bottom of the 8th, scoring three runs against Beckett and Camp on a clutch hit by Michael Young. All for naught, however, as Brian Robertson allowed three straight walks to start the top of the 9th, three of which Callapso and Russ Branyan drove in for the win.
Keith wins 8-5
WP: M. Rivera
LP: B. Robertson
Player of the Game: Youkilis - 2-4 with a HR, 2B, BB, 3 RBI
Game 3: Washburn @ Braden
As if things weren't looking poorly enough for Butts, Dallas Braden grimmaced in pain while facing his second batter of the day. It just so happens Braden has himself an "F" durability. Butts didn't roll terribly, however, it was bad enough to send Braden to the IR - out 21 games - the remainder of the game and his next four starts.
No phasing the focused Jason Butler though, who got 4-baggers from both Miguel Cabrera and Jeter on his way to a series-salvaging 8-3 romp.
Butler wins 8-3
WP - Carrasco
LP - Washburn
Player of the Game: Miguel Cabrera 1-4, HR, 4 RBI
Keith wins series 2-1
Nick @ Keith
Game 1: Grienke @ Niemann
Baltimore welcomed Zach Grienke in town the way they hope to welcome many pitchers. Crawford single, SB, advanced by Ichiro, sac fly Youks. Keith followed in the 3rd with an Adam Jones solo HR and another run driven in on the Crawford-Youkilis combo. While Grienke went the whole game, the real story was unheralded Jeff Niemann, who silenced Nick's bats en-route to the complete game victory.
Keith wins 5-1
WP - Niemann
LP - Grienke
Player of the Game: Niemann, 8 IP, 5 K's, 1 BB, 4 hits
Game 2: Peavy @ Gaudin
After Keith scored once again in the 1st, a Mike Napoli leadoff HR in the 2nd inning got things started for Nick, and a Chin Soo Choo 3B drove in Cabrera and Izturis later in the inning. The fragile Peavy dominated from there, holding a 4-1 lead until things got hairly in the bottom of the 9th. Polanco drove in two for Keith and was on 2nd with one out before Mike Wertz came in for Nick to save the day.
Nick wins 4-3
WP - Peavy
LP - Gaudin
S - Wertz
Player of the Game: Choo 1-4, 3B, 2RBI
Game 3: Baker @ Lacky
A Jason Kubel HR gave Nick a 1-0 lead in the top of the first before Keith came back with 3 runs in the bottom of the first. Lacky and Baker battled from there, each going 7 innings and each allowing 3 runs. In the bottom of the 8th Keith grabbed the lead back, with Placido Polanco pushing Vladdy across the plate. Frasor held off Nick in the top of the 9th, despite a Lyle Overgay double and a walk to Lind.
Keith wins 4-3
WP - Frasor
LP - Baker
Player of the Game: Matt Wieters, 4-4, 2B, RBI
Keith takes series 2-1.
On some side notes....
I have now joined the club of the stat keepers (getting off to a decent start is inpiring). Stats worth mentioning include:
Batting Ave Leaders
Callaspo .714 (7 ABs)
Wieters .533 (15 ABs)
Youkilis .370 (27 AB's)
RBI Leaders
Youkilis 16
V. Guerrero 7
Polanco 4
HR Leaders
Youks 2
2B Leaders
Youks 4
4 tied with 2
SB
Crawford 4
Ichiro 2
The pitching - ahh, not so much. Once someone reminds me how to calculate ERA I can give you Niemann's, but I don't think many of my pitchers are going to show up on the leaderboards...
Any other stats we want to keep please let me know. Torto - Record Book check - Youks had 9 RBI's in the first game of the season, 14 in the first series (sorry Butts). That good for anything?
Also, I unfortunately will probably need to pass on this weekend. I've spent the past two weekends guzzling Bud Lights and stuff around the house has caught up with me. Would be up for a mid-week showdown next week if anyone is interested - Wed or Thur night??
Wow - 16 RBIs already! Those are Kung Fu Panda-type numbers! Nice start to the season Keith, very impressive. Your 1-2-3 hitters have me a little nervous...
ReplyDeleteAs far as stat tracking goes - for this season, stick to the easier ones to track - BA, HRs, RBIs, and SBs. I'd suggest we just provide our top two players, and I can update the side bar. Keep your BA candidates as guys who get regular PAs. I say this because I know that nobody cares (nor should you) that the oft-scoffed Juan Pierre batted 0.456 for me in the NL regular season in a platoon role (70 ABs).
As far as pitching goes, ERA (starters only?), Ks, and Saves are pretty easy to track.
Oh, and the ERA calc is simple. Divide the # of ERs by the number of IP, and multiply by 9.
Yikes...my team's one through four hitters went a combined 7 for 46 (.152 AVG) against Keith. Don't see that happening too much. Hope not, at least. When you draft a SP in the first round, you really expect him to go get you wins. Good work though, Keith, your team did well...
ReplyDeleteI too am tracking my, to this point, butt-thetic stats. Lyle Overbay is the only player of note, batting .455 with 5 hits in the first series.
Youkilis might be a problem for America. We might have to send in the National Guard, or Kerry Wood.
ReplyDeleteAnd is the Cory Niemann that took down the first round pick Zach Grienke?