Mr. Feel Good

So a lot has been brought up recently regarding a surprising Triple Crown Candidate, and I don’t mean the horse. Josh Hamilton is absolutely tearing up Major League Baseball this season and through the first two months of the season is atop all three Triple Crown Categories (Batting Average, RBI, HR). Every year someone gets insanely hot to start the year and then fades away with minimal press coverage. Perhaps, expectations for this feat have plummeted due to the fact that the last Triple Crown winner was 41 years ago. Today, with smaller surface area to hit to and fresher, harder throwing pitchers to hit against, hitting for average and power has become a lot harder to do.

It’s not so much Hamilton’s numbers that make this a good story but the way he got to where he was today. For those of you who don’t know his story, I ask you to come out from under your rock and search his name. Within the last 2 weeks every major sports site / magazine has done a feature on him. In summary, Hamilton was the former #1 pick in the 1999 draft that had been compared as the best pure talent since Alex Rodriguez. He was a 6 tool prospect with a 96 mph fastball at age 17 and not even a hint of an attitude problem. However, spending time off the field and alone caught up to him, leading to a battle many don't win. From 2001 - 2004, Hamilton battled drug and alcohol addiction and fought back from a ban from baseball to give us the topic covered so in depth today.

I’m going to distance myself from being just another blogger praising the personal and athletic achievements of Hamilton. In no way am I trying to discount what Josh Hamilton has done as anything but incredible. However, it is a broader image that sticks out whenever I read a story about him. Baseball is currently engulfed in the biggest self cast shadow since the gambling issues of the past. Cast above every achievement today in any sport is the topic of Performance Enhancing Drugs, or PEDs. Today, any athlete who rises from relative obscurity is suspected of using PEDs before being praised for individual achievements. The Mitchell Report was an “I told you so” report that has cast an especially darker shadow over baseball. As a result, skepticism today is off the charts. It is for this reason that Hamilton’s feat can be so much more than a personal comeback. It could quite possibly be the redeeming grace of a very dark time in baseball. You see, due to Josh Hamilton’s mistakes, he is currently the only player in Major League Baseball required to submit to drug tests 3 times a week.

Imagine a player hitting for power and average, running with speed and covering the largest outfield in the AL for 81 games a year. Now, imagine them achieving something that hasn’t been achieved in 41 years without doubting the influence of HGH. For that reason, I have planted both feet firmly on the Josh Hamilton bandwagon. As a result, with the 22nd round pick in my fantasy draft this March, I took the center fielder for the Texas Rangers who was formally addicted to drugs. The same ex-drug addict who could not only give me bragging rights for the biggest steal in the history of my fantasy league, but save the state of baseball as well. All with the sun shining brightly above him, not a shadow in the sky. That, to me, is the proverbial icing on this cake.

The Bronx is Burning?

Well the first month of the 2008 MLB season has come and gone and the goings on in one MLB City has particularly caught my attention. To this date, both the Mets and the Yankees currently hover around .500 at 14-12 and 14-15 respectively. However, all the talk in the sports media is about the Yankees and how their fans should be panicking. However, no one is talking about their neighbors to the southeast and their lack of dominance. Although it’s only the first month and for that reason no one should panic, I’m here to discuss why if anyone should, it should be the Mets.

Both the Yankees and the Mets have big name players that have struggled so far this season and neither team is catching any breaks. No matter how good a team is, you need breaks in order to win a Championship. Based on the law of averages, it can only get better from here on for both teams. It’s the following reasons that I feel the Mets may be in more trouble than the Yankees.

Starting Pitching
Coming into the season the Yankees rotation and bullpen were a major concern. So the fact that this is their glaring weakness so far is anything but surprising. Two of the Yankees starting amongst the youngest players in the league and are a combined 0-8 with an ERA over 9, yet the Yankees are still only a game back of .500. Given time to get it right, those young pitchers of the Yankees could get awfully scary in the coming weeks. Even with Pedro and El Duke on the DL the Mets put out a tested rotation in a pitcher friendly league. However, they still remain only 2 games above .500 relying on the return of two older pitchers that may be past their prime. However, Santana is the best pitcher in baseball and that alone makes this a wash.
Advantage: Wash

Relief Pitching
The Mets play in a league where the bullpen can factor into a game more with the pitchers coming up to bat. In the AL a pitcher can go 7 innings then turn it over to the set-up man then the closer for the win. For that reason the middle relief is more important to an NL team than an AL team. Even though the Mets have better middle relief than the Yankees, the tail end of the bullpen gives the edge to the Bombers. If you think about going into the 7^th and 8^th with a lead, would you rather send in Chamberlain then Rivera or Schoeneweis then Wagner.
Advantage: Yankees

Offense
The best way to counter poor pitching is with good offense. In order for a team to have a chance to win when their pitching is struggling, is to keep a game close and give themselves a chance. As a team, the Yankees are batting .255 to the Mets .250, with 13 more Home Runs and 27 more hits. Next, the Yankees 15 losses have been by an average of 3.3 runs while the Mets 12 have been by an average of 4.2 runs. As a result the Yankees are losing by almost a run less per game and giving themselves more of a chance that one break can win them a game.
Advantage: Yankees

Defense
As far as team fielding percentage goes this is a wash. However, the best way to break this down is to do so individually. As a team the Mets have committed 17 Errors with 16 of the 17 being committed by infielders. That is 16 extra base runners that could have been avoided. As a team, the Yankees have 15 errors with only 10 being committed by infielders. 94% of total errors committed by the Mets resulted in an extra out for the inning to only 67% for the Yankees. Forgetting the numbers, throughout the first month Jose Reyes has had his head in the clouds and been out of position on more than a few plays, and at times looks lost. A perfect example was during a beating at the hands of the Pirates last night when, during a rundown, Reyes completely forgot his assignment and looked asleep at the wheel.
Advantage: Yankees

Schedule / Division
One of the biggest reasons to panic after one month of baseball is to look and see what you have to look forward to. As a Met you have to realize that you play in a deeper league and division. The National League has much more parity as of late then the American League (with the exception of the AL Central). In the last 5 post seasons, 12 of the 16 National League teams have made the playoffs with 4 of the 6 NL East teams earning a bid. In the American League over the past 5 post seasons, only 8 out of 14 different teams have made the playoffs with only 2 different AL East representatives. Further more, the last time a team not from Boston or NY from the AL East made the playoffs was in 1997, 11 years ago. This shows that the Yankees have a much easier schedule down the stretch. This should make it easier for them to make a run to the post season in the late months if need be.
Advantage: Yankees

The Yankees are a team that is constantly being ridiculed for not trading for Johan Santana last off-season. The main reason for this is the underachieving of pitchers Ian Kennedy and Phillip Hughes. For those of you who don't remember, Minnesota wanted 2 of Hughes, Kennedy or Chamberlain plus Melky Cabrera for Johan Santana. If you look at the stats so far, Hughes and Kennedy are struggling at 0-8 with an ERA over 9. Chamberlain is 1-1 over 11 innings with 14 Strike Out's and an ERA of 1.59. Meanwhile Melky Cabrera is hitting .299 with 5 HR and 12 RBIs with the strongest arm in the Yankees organization. So basically the cynics are saying that giving up all of that for one pitcher would have made a huge difference this past month. Trade your future for a pitcher that is 3-2 with a 3.12 ERA and only 39 strike outs in only 40 Innings worked? Those are by no means bad numbers, but I find it hard to justify giving up the future of your organization for one player, even if he is the best at his position.

Welcome

Hey there everyone. Dumb Guy Number 1 from Two Dumb Guys here to instill some of my sports knowledge on you. I'd like to welcome everyone to The Winners Circle, a new blog that I have started in an attempt to hopefully let everyone know what I think about the happenings in the sports world and build up a following of loyal readers. Feel free to email me questions or topics and I hope you enjoy. And remember, if you like what you see, pass on the good word.

- C

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