April 17, 2013

April 17, 2013

First post in April!!  Lots has happened since I was away, most importantly the beginning of the new baseball season.  The season is already 2.5 weeks old and already the contenders are becoming clear.  Here's my Top 10 teams, as of now!

1.  Atlanta Braves (12-2)
2.  Oakland Athletics (11-4)
3.  Washington Nationals (8-6)
4.  St. Louis Cardinals (8-5)
5.  Detroit Tigers (8-5)
6.  Texas Rangers (9-5)
7.  San Francisco Giants (9-5)
8.  Boston Red Sox (9-4)
9.  Colorado Rockies (10-4)
10. Arizona Diamondbacks (8-5)

So far the NL West is looking very strong, with 3 teams in the Top 10 according to me.  Overall, the Braves are the team to beat and are my early favorite to win the World Series.  Their rotation is deep and strong and a revamped lineup has given them the power to put big numbers as well.  One of the other big surprises this year has been the Oakland A's.  A surprising and young lineup is putting up tons of runs and a up and coming rotation has been dynamite so far.  My only question is: can they keep it up over an entire season? 

Who's Hot:

Justin Upton, OF, ATL: .340, 8 HR, 12 RBI, 2 SB
Carlos Gonzalez, OF, COL: .380, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 3 SB
Matt Harvey, SP, NYM: 3-0, 0.82 ERA, 25 K, 22.0 IP
Paul Maholm, SP, ATL: 3-0, 0.00 ERA, 20 K, 20.1 IP

Who's Not:

Pedro Alvarez, 3B, PIT: .073, 0 HR, 1 RBI
Giancarlo Stanton, OF, MIA: .167, 0 HR, 0 RBI
John Axford, RP, MIL: 0-2, 15.19 ERA, 5 K, 5.1 IP, 1 BS
Jarrod Parker, SP, OAK: 0-2, 10.80 ERA, 4 K, 11.2 IP, 8 BB