Spikes Up is back after making a pilgrimage to Turner Field and Camden Yards. Turner Field, for those who have yet to visit, is simply a phenomenal fan experience. Good seats are harder to come by than you’d expect and with no scalpers in sight, I’d suggest tracking quality tickets down on the Internet. We were lucky enough to see a tremendous pitching battle between John Smoltz and Jake Peavy. It doesn’t get much better than that.
The Baltimore game, on the other hand, wasn’t exactly a nail biter, with the Indians plucking the Orioles 15-1. What surprised me most about my second visit to Camden, however, was how easy it is to get great seats. Just two hours before game time, we walked up to the box office and purchased a pair a mere four rows behind the home team’s dugout. The game was lame, but what a view!
Series of the Week
The National League Central – traditionally one of the weaker divisions in recent seasons – is home to three of baseball’s hottest teams (Houston, St. Louis and Cincinnati) after a month of play. The latter two meet in a mini two-game set starting tonight in Cincy. And, while it’s just a short series, it may help us get a feel as to whether the surprising Reds are for real.
Pitching matchups
Monday: Mark Mulder vs. Dave Williams
Tuesday: Sidney Ponson vs. Bronson Arroyo
St. Louis
The Cards again look like one of the top teams in the majors this season, having won seven of their past nine heading into action on Saturday. St. Louis has taken six of its first seven series of the year and, like good teams should, they have been picking on the weak sisters (for instance, after sweeping the Pirates last week the Cards are now 29-10 against them since 2004). And when St. Louis draws first blood, look out, as they are 9-2 (as of Thursday) when scoring the game’s opening run.
According to CREATiVESPORTS.com’s Cards’ expert, Brian Walton, this won’t be a rivalry for long. He expects the Reds to fade thanks to a lack of pitching depth, ultimately winding up in fifth place in the division.
On the mound, tonight’s starter Mulder is looking for his 100th career win after closer Jason Isringhausen let the lead slip away in Mulder’s last start. Mulder’s having a strange start to the season; the club is 5-0 when he starts and he’s got a solid ERA just over three and a half, having thrown quality starts in four of his five outings. Here’s the weird part, though: of the 14 earned runs he’s allowed, all but one have scored on the six homers he’s served up so far. Mulder is supposed to be a groundball pitcher; in fact, he’s only allowed 15 fly balls this season compared to 54 ground balls, yet 40 percent of those flies have flown over the wall. For comparison’s sake, Mulder gave up a homer in just five of his 16 starts after June last season; this year he’s surrendered at least one in every start. Other concerns include the declining strikeout rate and the season-high five walks he issued in his last start. Walton suggests Mulder’s impending free agency could be weighing on him as well.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Cards send the rotund one, Sidney Ponson, to the mound. St. Louis gambled on the troubled Ponson this offseason, and so far the returns are good. After beating out youngsters Adam Wainwright and Anthony Reyes for the Cards’ fifth starter role, Ponson is off to a 3-0, 3.13 start. He’s been getting by without having his best stuff in some starts, which is a great sign, especially after coming off a disastrous 2005 when he had the worst ERA among any major league starter and didn’t win a game after mid-June. According to Walton, Ponson’s velocity is down, but he’s developing into more of a pitcher than thrower, and he’s got a lot at stake, pitching on a one-year deal.
The Reds will miss Jeff Suppan this time around, but he looks to finally be getting his act together, earning his first win of the season in start number four on Tuesday night. Last year, Suppan was a 16-game winner.
The bullpen has been very effective lately, enjoying a streak of 17 shutout innings until Wednesday. During this period, they had limited hitters to a mere six hits in 50 at-bats. Overall, Walton says they rank second in the NL in ERA despite having just three holdovers from 2005 (Isringhausen, Brad Thompson and Randy Flores).
Wainwright, Thompson and Braden Looper have been all but untouchable. Walton says that Josh Hancock, cut by the Reds during spring training because of weight problems, has been very solid. Former USC Trojan Flores has also been very steady. Closer Isringhausen, however, has been getting rocked. After allowing a mere four long balls in 59 IP last season, Izzy has coughed up three in his first nine innings in 2006. The gopheritis has helped him blow two saves in eight chances, after letting just four chances slip away in all of 2005 (and converting successfully 39 times). Isringhausen was having some mechanical problems early in the year, but those are behind him now, so he should start settling down soon – at least his owners hope so, at any rate.
Lefty specialist Ricardo Rincon has been allowed to face too many righties, and he’s paid for it with his 10.80 ERA so far. Another victim of the World Baseball Classic, perhaps? Either way, on Friday, he landed on the DL.
Hitting
The Cards seem to be breaking out of their early-season batting doldrums, highlighted by an inability to cash in runners. Thursday, despite an easy 6-2 win, they failed to get at least 10 hits, snapping a streak of four straight such games (which jacked the team BA up almost 20 points). On the plus side, five of their eight hits St. Louis recorded went for extra bases, a far cry from Wednesday night when just one of 12 was for more than a single. Heading into the game Thursday, they were slugging just .438 (believe it or not, that’s up from last year’s start of .423), but Albert Pujols’ .929 mark is inflating the team’s overall percentage. Only Scott Rolen is also over .500 among the regular starters.
Obviously, any discussion of the Cardinal attack starts and ends with Pujols. He continues to be a hero seemingly every game. Among the Cards’ first 10 wins at home, Pujols delivered a walk-off hit to win the game twice. Thursday snapped a streak of four times in five wins when Phat Albert had produced the game-winning RBI. He’s batting .350 and has driven in a run in 16 of 24 games, good for a league-leading total of 32 with one game in April still to play. The sticks are starting to come around – the team is slugging .438 through 21 games, but was worse last year (.423); of course, Pujols' .925 mark is inflating the team mark. In fact, he just set the major league record with 14 HRs in April.
Leadoff man David Eckstein’s recent hot streak has helped get the team back on track. He’s batting almost .400 in the past 18 games, with 15 runs.
Some recent illness (Rolen has missed five straight games with bronchitis) and resting of veterans (Jim Edmonds sat for the fourth time in the young season on Wednesday) has led to some strange-looking lineups. How about Scott Spiezio at third base with Hector Luna in left field and So Taguchi in center field? That’s how the Cards shaped up Wednesday, and that trio produced half of team’s 12 hits. Well, good teams do get production from unlikely sources. Speaking of Luna, he was on an 8-for-17 roll on the home stand (including three straight multi-hit efforts) before cooling off the past three games, dropping him back to .364 for the year.
Taguchi is playing every day, Walton says, because Larry Bigbie is still on a rehab assignment. And while Taguchi has been hot, as Walton reminds us, he is still So Taguchi.
Second base, he says, is unsettled at the moment. Luna’s hot play has earned him time at the expense of Aaron Miles, and he has settled into the two-hole in recent games. If Luna remains there, Walton says his value will go up. Junior Spivey was also supposed to be in the mix, but Walton says to forget about him as he’s struggling at Triple-A.
Walton says while Pujols, Rolen and Eckstein are carrying the offense, Juan Encarnacion, Edmonds and Yadier Molina are all struggling with averages below .215.
Cincinnati
Heading into action Sunday, the Reds have won six straight as they continue their very surprising start. They even handed Roy Oswalt his first loss of the year Friday night. In fact, this is the Reds’ best April ever. It will be fascinating to see how they stack up against the powerhouse Cardinals, and you’ve got to believe this mini series means far more to Cincy than it does to St. Louis.
To the Reds, says Shawn Weaver, CREATiVESPORTS.com’s Reds’ expert, this series (and the previous one against the Astros) is about showing they can hang with the big boys, the contenders. A key will be whether the Reds can get starting pitching good enough to hold a strong rival in check. Quality starts are a must, Weaver stresses.
Pitching
While Boston fans are giving flak to management over the deal that sent Wily Mo Pena to Beantown, the Reds must be delighted in their end of the trade. Tuesday’s starter Bronson Arroyo has been a steal so far and actually looks like an early Cy Young candidate. After throwing a one-hit shutout over eight innings on Wednesday, he’s lowered his ERA to 2.34. He may have been crushed about leaving the Sox, but Arroyo hasn’t pouted and is 4-0 with 30 Ks (7.79 K/9). And let’s not forget about him smoking long balls in each of his first two starts.
Struggling Dave Williams (Monday’s starter) finally bagged his first win of the year last week, but still didn’t look very good getting it.
David Weathers has been anointed the closer despite having just 15 career saves in his first 13 seasons. Always a long reliever/set-up man, Weathers has weathered the transition well, going eight for nine so far, with the only blown save coming off a Pujols homer, and there’s no shame in that. He was shaky Friday night, but held on for a big save over the Astros, and then saved it again on Saturday with a tidier effort. Still, many expect the team to try to trade for an established closer, but none are available right now, so the job is his for the foreseeable future.
Todd Coffey has stepped into Weathers’ old set-up role and been fantastic. He leads the team in holds and has surrendered just a single earned run through 12 appearances. Some have speculated that he could handle the closer role should Weathers falter.
Matt Belisle has been inconsistent, but looked solid in has last outing, throwing four innings of relief for his first win of the season. Veteran reliever Chris Hammond, however, has been the most ineffective reliever so far.
Hitting
Edwin Encarnacion’s rapid development into a top run producer has been a pleasant surprise. Through 21 games, he’s scored 17 runs, hit 10 doubles, amassed a team-leading 24 RBI and has drawn almost as many walks as strikeouts. He’s hitting over .300 with a .404 OBP and .579 SLG and clearly, Encarnacion has arrived as a fantasy force.
Brandon Phillips is the story of the year so far. Cleveland’s trash has been Cincinnati’s treasure, but if you’re holding on to him, consider him a great sell-high candidate. Phillips still hasn’t a clue about the strike zone and sooner or later that’s going to catch up to him.
Adam Dunn is enjoying his typical fast start, leading the team in runs, homers and OPS. However, beware that May is traditionally his worst month. In fact, he’s already cooling off. Wednesday marked his first multi-hit game in 15 days. But at least he continues to get on base via the walk.
The club will get a boost on when Ken Griffey Jr., struggling in the early going, comes off the DL. He was eligible to come off on Friday, but there was no sign of him this weekend. Quinton McCracken is expected to be dropped to make room, especially considering Cody Ross was just acquired earlier in the week
The Reds catching situation is not doing fantasy owners any favors as they have opted for a three-headed monster of Jason LaRue, Javier Valentin and David Ross. Ross has supplied some power, even hitting an upper deck shot, the first at RFK Stadium this year. LaRue’s getting the most action, but splitting the at-bats into three certainly limits the value of all involved.
The Skinny
According to Walton, the Redbirds have dominated the Reds, winning 65.9 percent of the head-to-head matchups since 2002. Even in Cincy, the Cards hold a 19 to 16 edge over that stretch. In fact, last May in Cincy, the Cards scored seven runs in the ninth inning to shock the Reds 10-9 in the biggest final-inning comeback in franchise history, he says.
NEXT: Spikes Up returns next week, May 8. We haven’t done a team report in a while, so that may be in offing soon. Basketball fans should check out Three in the Key, next appearing tomorrow.
Comments? Questions? Criticisms or witticisms? You can reach me at rob@creativesports.com if you’d like further information or have a question you’d like me to answer in an upcoming column. Have a suggestion for a column or want to hear analysis about a particular player? Feel free to write. I might even answer!
Rob Blackstien is a freelance writer and the principal of Pen-Ultimate (www.pen-ultimate.ca), a Toronto-based writing and editorial services firm. Position Battles, a column he writes for www.rotoworld.com, also appears on usatoday.com and foxsports.com.