In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down the playoffs from a scouting perspective.
The contrast between Tuesday night's starting pitchers could not have been more stark. CC Sabathia was efficient, mixed his pitches and threw nothing but strikes. Scott Kazmir, on the other side, never seemed to find any kind of rhythm and essentially played right into the strengths of the Yankee lineup.
New York's lineup is difficult enough to navigate without giving them any assistance, and assistance is exactly what Kazmir gave them. If you intend to have success against them, you must establish a secondary pitch in the early innings. Especially given the issues their lineup has had against the breaking ball in the early part of the ALCS, Kazmir's ability to locate his slider was going to be crucial to his outing.
In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down the playoffs from a scouting perspective.
It's easy to be pessimistic after a team suffers a crushing loss, mostly because fans and broadcasters alike like to zone in on intangibles like momentum and the players' psyche. But if you are a New York Yankees fan and looking for reasons to be worried, there are some perfectly logical and tangible ones to focus on.
From the performance of Joba Chamberlain, to many of the Yankee hitters' struggles against the breaking ball, to the decision most New York fans will be screaming about, the removal of David Robertson from the game in the 11th inning in favor of Alfredo Aceves, there are more than enough tangible reasons to be concerned about the Yankees. And from a scouting standpoint, there are certainly points of intrigue in New York's weaknesses.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
What a fantasy season it has been for Prince Fielder. Of course, we must thrown the "fantasy" before season, as I'm sure Fielder pictured himself squarely in the middle of a playoff race when looking ahead to September 21st earlier in the season, but his owners must be pleased by their second-round pick's production. Fielder launched his 40th homer of the season Sunday, making this year the second (2007) in which he's reached the 40-HR mark. His average is still trucking along near .300 (currently at .299), which is a pleasant surprise, and his 128 RBIs tie with Albert Pujols' total as the best mark in baseball.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That Cole Hamels is starting to look like the World Series MVP.
The left-hander, who was one of the biggest reasons the Phillies won a title last season, tossed eight innings of one-run ball and struck out 10 in a 4-2 win over the Nationals.
Hamels hasn't looked like the ace he was for Philadelphia last year, but his last five starts suggest he could be rounding into form at exactly the right time.
BOSTON -- The Angels left Fenway Park late Thursday night, after avoiding a sweep with a 4-3 victory.
They will be back in three weeks.
With 17 games to play, the Rangers are 6 1/2 games behind the Angels and six behind the Red Sox.
Which means unless Texas figures out a way to score 10 runs a game more than it has recently, or the Yankees blow a six-game lead for the first time in their history, or Detroit runs the table, the Angels and Red Sox will meet in the American League Division Series for the third straight season.
And that means flashbacks for the boys from Orange County.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the Phillies don't need Roy Halladay to get a complete game. That's because they have Cliff Lee instead. The reigning AL Cy Young winner made his Philly debut Friday night, and he was simply dazzling.
The left-hander carried a no-hit bid into the sixth inning and went the distance, limiting the Giants to four hits and one run. It was his third complete game effort in his last four starts.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Prospects' careers don't always progress the way we hoped they would. While players like Rick Porcello and Clayton Kershaw became fantasy-relevant before their 22nd birthdays, Nolan Reimold had to wait until he was 25 to get a legitimate shot. Travis Hafner wasn't a true force until he was 27, etc.. In any case, like the curious one of scorching outfielder Garrett Jones, it's important to keep that perspective in mind.
So what exactly do we know about "The Robber Baron"? (Other than the fact that he's drilled nine homers in his first 17 games with Pittsburgh)
While he doesn't have much power or a ton of speed, one thing Howie Kendrick has always been able to do is hit the baseball. His career batting average in the minor leagues is an absurd .360 -- with a .972 OPS, which is even more impressive considering his lack of home run power. In the majors, he's generally been a .300 hitter as well. Thus, entering 2009 as a 25-year-old with a firm grasp on an everyday second base job, expectations were a bit high. Kendrick flopped.
He was demoted to the minors after hitting only .231 with an abominably low .636 OPS through 51 games. After about three weeks in Triple-A, though, the Angels feel confident Kendrick is ready to come back, and he's been recalled.
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.
This coming weekend, Major League Baseball will reveal its 2009 All-Star teams. So what better opportunity than this to run through a list of this season's "Anti-All-Stars." Anti-All-Stars is far too bland a name, though, so we decided to name the team in honor of Andruw Jones. After all, he was the poster child for guys not earning the lucrative contracts bestowed on them last season. We'll sort through each position and find the player who is least helping his team in comparison to expectations -- whether monetary or from management.
Three years later Kendrick has failed to establish himself in a meaningful way at the major league level, and it could cost him his job according to the Los Angeles Times.
In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down the playoffs from a scouting perspective.
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Starting Five
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Starting Five
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