PhatzRadio - A New Voice In Sports Talk Radio With Rock, Jazz, Soul, R&B Music
NEW YORK, N.Y. – David Phelps struck out a career-high nine in four innings after relieving the injured Ivan Nova, Chris Stewart threw out two baserunners to quash potential rallies as an emergency fill-in for Francisco Cervelli and the New York Yankees beat the wild Toronto Blue Jays 6-4 Friday night. Lyle Overbay hit a [...]
(PhatzRadio / AP) — ARLINGTON, Texas — Albert Pujols homered twice to offset another tough day for Josh Hamilton in his second game back in Texas, and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Rangers 8-4 Saturday. Pujols hit a two-run shot to the lawn in center field off Matt Harrison in the first inning and [...]
(PhatzRadio / AP) — ARLINGTON, Texas — Albert Pujols homered twice to offset another tough day for Josh Hamilton in his second game back in Texas, and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Rangers 8-4 Saturday. Pujols hit a two-run shot to the lawn in center field off Matt Harrison in the first inning and [...]
Ian Kinsler #5 of the Texas Rangers runs the bases after hitting a solo homerun against the Oakland Athletics at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on September 27, 2012 in Arlington, Texas. (September 26, 2012 – Source: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images North America) ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Ian Kinsler got Texas started with a leadoff homer, Matt [...]
Yunel Escobar #5 of the Toronto Blue Jays slides in safe after Robinson Cano #24 of the New York Yankees fails to make a play during their game at Yankee Stadium on August 29, 2012 in the Bronx Borough of New York City. (August 28, 2012 – Source: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images North America) NEW YORK [...]
Adrian Beltre #29 of the Texas Rangers hits a solo homerun against the Minnesota Twins at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on August 24, 2012 in Arlington, Texas. (August 23, 2012 – Source: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images North America) ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Matt Harrison took a no-hit bid into the seventh and went eight innings for [...]
Melky Cabrera #53 of the San Francisco Giants hits a two-run single driving in Angel Pagan #16 and Marco Scutaro #19 in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at AT&T Park on August 12, 2012 in San Francisco, California. (August 11, 2012 – Source: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images North America) SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — [...]
Josh Beckett #19 and Ryan Laveranway #60 of the Boston Red Sox talk between pitches during a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles on August 14, 2012 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland. (August 10, 2012 – Source: Mitchell Layton/Getty Images North America) BALTIMORE (AP) — Mark Reynolds homered twice and drove [...]
Yes, we took a week off. But, don’t you worry, we’re back in full force with another dose of weekly MLB Power Rankings!
This week, we’re putting a spin on  the article. Instead of giving each team a paragraph for their pros and cons from the week before, we’re going to do something a little different. This time, each team will get just one sentence. However, this one sentence will be from the perspective of a random fan before the season who’s trying to impress his buddy with sports knowledge, but says something totally unbelievable that no true fan of that team would’ve thought was possible.Â
1. Washington Nationals (+1, 71-44, 1st in NL East)
This Week: @ San Francisco (3), vs. NY Mets (3)
Who needs Ryan Zimmerman when we have Adam LaRoche in the middle of our line-up? That dude’s got pop!
2. Cincinnati Reds (-1, 69-46, 1st in NL Central)
This Week: vs. NY Mets (3), vs. Chicago Cubs (4)
I’m serious, we’re not just going to be fine without Joey Votto. We’re going to be better than we were with him! I swear!
3. Texas Rangers (+1, 67-46, 1st in AL West)
This Week: @ NY Yankees (4), @ Toronto (3)
C.J. Wilson? Yu Darvish? Forget it, Matt Harrison is going to lead the staff! We’ll be fine!
4. New York Yankees (-1, 67-47, 1st in AL East)
This Week: vs. Texas (4), vs. Boston (3)
Who needs Mariano Rivera when we have Rafael Soriano? Not gonna miss that guy one bit!
5. Atlanta Braves (+0, 66-48, 2nd in NL East)
This Week: vs. San Diego (4), vs. LA Dodgers (3)
Just when Mets fans thought the dark days of the Chipper Jones era was over, we’re gonna spring Freddie Freeman on them! They won’t see it coming! (OK, probably saw that coming. Just needed another avenue to express how depressed I am that the Braves found another Met killer. Maybe one day…)6. Pittsburgh Pirates (+0, 64-50, 2nd in NL Central)
This Week: vs. LA Dodgers (4), @ St. Louis (3)
Best trade of the off-season? Duh! We got A.J. Burnett! We’ll win 85% of the time he starts! (Seriously, how the hell are the Pirates 17-3 in games started by Burnett…)
7. San Francisco Giants (+0, 63-52, 1st in NL West)
This Week: vs. Washington (3), @ San Diego (3)
Of course we have both an MVP and Cy Young candidate! What else would you call Melky Cabrera and Ryan Vogelsong?!
8. Tampa Bay Rays (+6, 62-52, 2nd in AL East)
This Week: @ Seattle (3), @ LA Angels (4)
Seriously guys, don’t worry about the bullpen. Fernando Rodney’s got this.
9. Chicago White Sox (-1, 62-51, 1st in AL Central)
This Week: @ Toronto (4), @ Kansas City (3)
Power? We got plenty of power. No, no, fool. Not Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko. A.J. Pierzynski! MVP! MVP!
10. Baltimore Orioles (+5, 62-53, 3rd in AL East)
This Week: vs. Boston (3), @ Detroit (3)
That second Wild Card spot? Totally ours. Just wait for Manny Machado! He’ll put Bryce Harper to shame!
11. St. Louis Cardinals (+2, 62-53, 3rd in NL Central)
This Week: vs. Arizona (3), vs. Pittsburgh (3)
Dude, I’m calling it now, but Kyle Lohse is going to be the biggest snub from the All-Star team. Just you wait.
12. Los Angeles Dodgers (-3, 62-53, 2nd in NL West)
This Week: @ Pittsburgh (4), @ Atlanta (3)
I’m tired of these ownership problems. Why doesn’t Magic just buy the team so we can spend on the talent we really need.
13. Detroit Tigers (-1, 61-54, 2nd in AL Central)
This Week: @ Minnesota (3), vs. Baltimore (3)
Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander and Prince Fielder are nice, but this is Austin Jackson’s team!
14. Oakland A’s (-3, 61-53, 2nd in AL West)
This Week: @ Kansas City (3), vs. Cleveland (3)
Yoenis Cespedes is going to be the single most important player to his team in all of baseball. Seriously!
15. Los Angeles Angels (-3, 60-55, 3rd in AL West)
This Week: vs. Cleveland (3), vs. Tampa Bay (4)
I don’t know you guys. I think we overpaid for Pujols, especially since we already have Trout, Trumbo and Torii…
16. Arizona Diamondbacks (+0, 58-57, 3rd in NL West)
This Week: @ St. Louis (3), @ Houston (3)
Justin Upton needs to go. We can do better without him!Â
17. Boston Red Sox (+1, 57-59, 4th in AL East)
This Week: @ Baltimore (3), @ NY Yankees (3)
Whatever we get from Adrian Gonzalez is just a bonus, but we’ll be fine if we just play Cody Ross and Will Middlebrooks more often!
18. Toronto Blue Jays (-1, 54-60, 5th in AL East)
This Week: vs. Chicago White Sox (4), vs. Texas (3)
Joey Bats is nice, but just you wait until Edwin Encarnacion kicks it into gear!
19. New York Mets (+1, 55-60, 3rd in NL East)
This Week: @ Cincinnati (3), @ Washington (3)
Alright, guys. For real. R.A. Dickey, 2012 NL Cy Young. Mark it down.
20. Cleveland Indians (-1, 53-62, 3rd in AL Central)
This Week: @ LA Angels (3), @ Oakland (3)
The Grady Sizemore era was cool and all, but thank god Michael Brantley is here to take over!
21. Milwaukee Brewers (+2, 52-61, 4th in NL Central)
This Week: @ Colorado (3), vs. Philadelphia (4)
Mike Fiers is the best damn pitcher we got, what are we waiting for?!
22. Seattle Mariners (-1, 53-63, 4th in AL West)
This Week: vs. Tampa Bay (3), vs. Minnesota (3)
I think its time we move on from Ichiro, you know?
23. Philadelphia Phillies (+1, 52-62, 4th in NL East)
This Week: @ Miami (3), @ Milwaukee (4)
I get that we are returning all our major pieces from last year and added Papelbon to our bullpen, but this really just doesn’t feel like our year.
24. Miami Marlins (-2, 52-63, 5th in NL East)
This Week: vs. Philadelphia (3), @ Colorado (4)
There’s no way this team can keep Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante. No way! What I would do for this team to flip Heath Bell and John Buck for Jason Bay right now…
25. San Diego Padres (+2, 51-65, 4th in NL West)
This Week: @ Atlanta (4), vs. San Francisco (3)
I know we’re going to struggle this year, but why trade away any of our pieces for the future when we can do this entire thing next year for largely the exact same product?
26. Kansas City Royals (+2, 49-65, 4th in AL Central)
This Week: vs. Oakland (3), vs. Chicago White Sox (3)
I totally see Jonathan Sanchez grabbing us a Cy Young at some point in his career! We’ll be fine without Melky Cabrera, he only had that one good season anyway!
27. Minnesota Twins (-2, 49-65, 5th in AL Central)
This Week: vs. Detroit (3), @ Seattle (3)
This is gonna be Ben Revere’s year!
28. Chicago Cubs (-2, 44-69, 5th in NL Central)
This Week: vs. Houston (3), @ Cincinnati (4)
Yeah…I got nothing.
29. Colorado Rockies (+0, 41-71, 5th in NL West)
This Week: vs. Milwaukee (3), vs. Miami (4)
I’m telling you, Troy Tulowitzki is just not that important to this team! We’ll be fine if we lose him for an extended period of time!
30. Houston Astros (+0, 38-78, 6th in NL Central)
This Week: @ Chicago Cubs (3), vs. Arizona (3)
No matter what happens this year, there is no way we can trade Jed Lowrie!
Check out other great articles at The Waiver Wire.
Play Our Fantasy Game Today and Try Your Hand at Winning $250 for FREE
The American League has better hitting and pitching. The National League sucks! How many times have baseball fans said this (Or at least the first half of that statement)? For a while now it has been widely assumed that the AL is the better league, even with the NL taking the last 2 world championships.
But that assumption is wrong, and there has to be something that helps people begin to realize why the league that lets pitchers hit is the MLB’s better half.
So how in the world did I find this groundbreaking revelation? Let’s start with last week’s all-star game. The AL had their powerful lineup all set and ready to put on a show, one that would basically extend the previous night’s home run derby. Before they even had a chance to do so, the NL had gone completely through the batting order and scored 5 runs on Justin Verlander.
If you ask me, the AL should have called it quits when bowling ball-shaped Pablo Sandoval hit a bases-clearing triple. The NL would go on to use all 11 pitchers to combine for a 8-0 shutout. Despite having such a loaded lineup and the supposed best pitcher in the league (Verlander), the AL managed to find one thing in common with the Kansas City Royals, whose stadium was hosting the All-Star Game: Even when playing at home, they get destroyed.
There’s probably already one person reading this who wants to say, Hey, no fair! You can’t judge them based on one game. And only 2 AL pitchers allowed runs in this game!
Yes. That is true, it was only one game. Take out Verlander and Matt Harrison, and it’s a 0-0 ball game. That still doesn’t help the argument for the American League being better.
The stats also don’t help the AL’s argument.Â
Consider this: The National League uses pitchers, who take up roughly 60% of the at-bats for the 9th spot in the batting order. The rest are from pinch-hitters, who mostly aren’t every-day starters. Conversely, the American League has the Designated Hitter, who gets more than 1/9 of the team’s at-bats, and is usually good enough of a hitter to be in the top half of the lineup. The American League’s DH should provide much more offensive production than the average 9th hitter on a given NL team.
The stats disagree here. If you average the batting statistics of all teams, and compare the two leagues against each other, the batting averages are virtually equal (AL .255; NL .254). In the other major categories (RBI, runs, total bases, on-base %, slugging), the AL’s stats are less than 5% better than the production of the NL. The average Designated Hitter should easily create that small margin. Even if American League teams end the season with 10% more runs than their National League counterparts, that wouldn’t be anything real impressive- Especially when you consider that we’re putting the batting stats of Billy Butler and David Ortiz up against the numbers from NL pitchers and 5th outfielders.
Unless the AL and NL are relinquished and all teams are free to play each other under the same rules, we’ll have no exact way of comparing all 30 teams. With that said, the small statistical margin despite the handicap advantage of having a DH in no way supports that the AL is a better hitting league. At best, the two teams are dead even.
As far as pitching goes, look no further than the all-star game. Out of the 9 guys with 20+ home runs, and the others who are hitting well over .300, the AL was loaded with sluggers. Worst case scenario, they struggle but one of them manages to hit a home run or something. With a lineup that good, somebody’s guaranteed to produce a run or two, right?
Nope. The National League shut them out. There was clearly depth on the pitching staff, too, as all 11 pitchers played, and no runs were scored. Beyond that, there were numerous National League pitchers having all-star caliber seasons that weren’t selected to play. Maybe after this all-star game, guys like Jose Bausista, Josh Hamilton, and Curtis Granderson will be thankful that they don’t have to face National League pitching every day.
We’re well into the season now. The National League has proven that its players are just as good as, if not better than, the American Leaguers at hitting and pitching. The NL also dominated the All-Star Game. What other evidence is needed? Do fans need ESPN to leave the love affair with the Red Sox and Yankees, and do a 3 hour SportsCenter special on the National League’s recent success? The Senior Circuit is back in business, and has young teams like Washington, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh on the rise, so it’s only getting stronger. And guess, what? The American League gets to have the Astros, starting next year! Hope the AL has fun with that.
Play Our Fantasy Game Today and Try Your Hand at Winning $250 for FREE
Canadian Football News Horse Racing News
