Swing batter

When Josh Hamilton comes up to bat for the Rangers, don't look away. Hamilton leads all AL batters in first-pitch swinging, at 62 percent.

The Orioles' Chris Davis and Jays' Colby Rasmus are second, at 43 percent, while the White Sox's Brent Morel and Rangers' Michael Young are at 42 percent.

Hamilton is 8-for-15 when putting the first pitch in play, a .533 average, with 2 HR and 6 RBI. He is batting .391-6-15 for the season.

In the NL, Freddie Freeman leads the way at 61 percent. Nick Hundley of the Padres and Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates are tied for the next highest rate, at 46 percent. Pablo Sandoval of the Giants and Dan Uggla of the Braves, both at 45 percent, round out the top five in the NL.

Freeman is batting .583 (7-for-12) when he puts the first pitch in play. Matt Holliday, who has put the first pitch in play a MLB-high 19 times, is batting .263 in that situation. Holliday is swinging 37 percent of the time.

For the season, Freeman is batting .276 and Holliday is hitting .194.

The Yanks' Derek Jeter is swinging 32 percent of the time (17th in the AL) and is 0-for-14. The Royals' Jeff Francoeur is swinging 39 percent of the time (8th in AL) and is 0-for-11. Oddly, Jeter is batting .382-4-12 for the season. Frenchy is at .246-0-2.

Lucas Duda of the Mets might want to hack more often. He's at 17 percent, but 2-for-3 with 2 HR.

Run down

The Phillies got 10 shutout innings from Cliff Lee last night and managed to lose 1-0 in 11 to San Francisco. Philadelphia's inability to score thus far in the season highlights one area of concern as they chase another division title.

Last year, the Phils won 102 games despite scoring 3 or fewer runs in nearly 48 percent of their outings. Thanks to their great pitching, though, and maybe some good fortune, they went 30-47 in those contests.

Their .390 win percentage in games in which they scored 3 or fewer runs was well better than the NL average, which was .243.

If the Phils played to the league average last year, they would have won only 19 of their 77 games in which they scored 3 or fewer runs.

So far this season, the Phils have scored 3 or fewer runs in nearly 67 percent of their games. They are 2-6 (.250) in those contests.

Get a whiff

The strikeout must truly be a pitcher's best friend. Not to say a pitcher cannot succeed without striking out batters, but boy does it seem to be a big help.

Taking a look at last year's K/9 leaders, there were 30 pitchers with at least 140 IP and 8.0 K/9. Of those, 24 had an ERA below 4.00. Also interesting, I thought, was the fact 21 of the 30 gave up fewer than 1 HR per 9 IP. Of the six pitchers with an ERA above 4.00, five gave up more than 1 HR per 9.

Conversely, out of the 30 pitchers with at least 140 IP and the lowest K/9 rates, 20 had an ERA above 4.00 (and 6 were north of 5.00) and 15 gave up more than 1 HR per 9. Of the 14 pitchers with a K/9 below five, 12 had an ERA above 4.00.

Leading off

There has been a lot of talk on Philly sports radio about the Phillies' lineup and difficulty scoring runs. During the course of the discussions, many people have brought up playing Juan Pierre regularly because he's so great at the top of the order.

Well, that is the perception, but it is not the reality.

Since the start of the 2005 season, Pierre's OBP is .334. He has averaged 43 SB and 14 CS (75 percent).

During that same time frame, Jimmy Rollins -- universally panned as a leadoff man -- has a .332 OBP, almost the same as Pierre. Rollins has averaged 31 SB and 4 CS (89 percent).

So if Pierre is a great leadoff man, so is Rollins. In fact, given Rollins' better baserunning, he is probably better than Pierre.

Porcello's grounded

With three seasons already under his belt, it's sometimes hard to remember that Rick Porcello is only 23 years old. (And he doesn't turn 24 until December.)

Some predicted a breakout season for Porcello this year and through two starts he's making good on those forecasts. So far, he has allowed 12 hits and 1 BB in 14.2 IP while striking out 8. His ERA is 1.84.

He's getting groundballs a little more than 50 percent of the time, which is key to his success. I'm sure most would feel better about his ability to sustain this success if he struck out more batters, but he's hovered between 4.6/9 IP and 5.1/9 IP throughout his career.

Obviously, this year's results are an extremely tiny sample. But Porcello pitched well during spring training and ended last season on a high note.

Over his last seven regular season starts in 2011, Porcello was 3-1 with a 3.50 ERA. The Tigers were 6-1 in those starts. He got groundballs 60 percent of the time.

How important are groundballs to Porcello? Last year, there were six games in which he gave up at least three more flyballs than groundballs (according to game logs on baseball-reference.com). He gave up 33 earned runs in those six starts, for an 11.28 ERA.

By my math, that means his ERA in his remaining 25 starts was 3.64.

When Chase was on

Chase Utley says he shall return, but I have my doubts. Even if he does return, I fear he will no longer be Chase Utley. And that is a shame.

I'm not sure fans in Philadelphia really appreciate what they had in Chase Utley. Sure, Harry Kalas called him "The Man," but it seems to me that while Utley was certainly popular, he wasn't beloved or truly recognized for his prowess. For five seasons, though, Utley was remarkable.

From 2005 through 2009, Utley was arguably the best player in baseball not named Albert Pujols.

He probably should have won at least one MVP award, if not more. But he never finished higher than seventh in the voting, suggesting he was underappreciated in more places than Philly. According to Fangraphs' WAR calculations, Utley's best season was 2008 -- and he was 14th in the MVP voting.

Utley's NL rank by WAR each year was 3rd in 2005, 3rd in 2006, 3rd in 2007, 2nd in 2008 and 2nd in 2009. For those five years, Utley averaged .301, 29 HR, 101 RBI, 111 runs and 15 SB while playing sterling defense.

Oh yeah, he also made one of the best defensive plays in World Series history that no one seems to talk about, either. (Not to mention a memorable effing speech following the victory parade.)

Using cumulative WAR for 2005 through 2011, Utley trailed only Pujols in all of MLB. Alex Rodriguez was third. That's even after his offensive production began to drop a little bit in 2010.

According to Fangraphs' adjusted weighted runs created stat (wRC+), Utley is tied with Rod Carew as the sixth-best offensive second baseman since 1900, behind Rogers Hornsby, Eddie Collins, Nap Lajoie, Joe Morgan and Jackie Robinson.

I don't believe WAR or wRC+ to be the definitive words on a player's career, but they do provide some context. And it says here Chase Utley was The Man. Hopefully, he can be The Man again.

On 2nd Thought....

Player	TEAM	POS	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	AVG
Mark Reynolds	BAL	3B	70	230	36	52	52	0	13	37	105	42	74	4	0	0.349	0.457	0.226
Alex Rodriguez	NYY	3B	67	253	47	74	74	0	13	44	128	30	56	4	1	0.374	0.506	0.292
Adrian Beltre	TEX	3B	75	290	40	76	76	0	12	53	129	17	26	0	1	0.31	0.445	0.262
Kevin Youklis	BOS	3B	68	243	45	67	67	1	11	53	123	41	59	1	0	0.393	0.506	0.276
Dan Valencia	MIN	3B	69	253	23	56	56	0	7	33	90	21	39	2	4	0.281	0.356	0.221
Evan Longoria	TB	3B	46	160	25	37	37	0	6	23	65	21	27	1	1	0.332	0.406	0.231

Mark Reynolds leads AL 3rd basemen in Home Runs, Walks and Stolen Bases. He is 3rd in On Base Percentage and Slugging. He is 4th in Runs, RBI and Total Bases. 5th in Hits and Doubles.

WRT to Mark Reynolds offensive production, should I?
	STFU
	Make snide observations, he's a rally killer
	Complain about his fielding, he's a rally starter there
	Present
pollcode.com free polls

What's Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander

Oriole pitchers are hitting .444 in interleague play.

I'd give Mark Reynolds a turn in the rotation.

Joyce to the world

Matt Joyce is among the AL leaders in WAR -- virtually on par with anyone in baseball not named Jose Bautista -- and he's doing it all with one hand. Well, against pitchers of one hand, anyway. Joyce is raking righties. For the year, he is batting .397/.455/.690 against RHP. Some of this is luck, as his BABIP is .443, but Joyce has a career OPS+ of .929 vs. RHP.

Now, the question: Will Joyce ever be able to hit lefties, or should he be platoon only? In his career, he has 658 PAs vs. RHP and 84 PAs vs. LHP. His career line against southpaws is .167/.274/.264.

Joyce won't turn 27 until August, so he is just entering his prime years. If he could hit for power against lefties, which he hasn't in his limited chances so far, it would probably be worth letting him go to the plate. He certainly will not get better by sitting the bench. On the other hand, the opportunities against RHP are plentiful, so he is a valuable weapon. Maybe it's better not to mess up his head with trying to hit lefties.

When Chase Utley came up, it was thought he wouldn't be able to hit lefties. After a year or two of some struggles, he started to mash them. I guess part of it depends if you have a suitable platoon partner. Otherwise, I guess it's best to give Joyce his chances and find out.

Cruzin

I was in Florida for a weekend of business during the winter, but stayed down an extra day to catch a spring training game. I saw the Cardinals and Marlins play. The Cardinals catcher for much of the game was Tony Cruz, who was destined to start the year at Triple-A. Yesterday, though, he got the call to start in the bigs. He responded by going 3-for-5. I just happened to flip on the game when he came to the plate for his first at-bat, and singled.

The following notes are from MLB.com. I took these photos with a camera I'd bought in December and was just messing around with at the spring game.

Cardinals catcher Tony Cruz went 3-for-5 vs. the Padres on Tuesday with a double and two singles in his Major League debut. He was the first Cards player with three or more hits in his debut since Terry Pendleton on July 18, 1984, and only the fifth to do it since 1919. The others: Enos Slaughter ('38), Creepy Crespi ('38) and Ernie White ('40).

Cruz was the 17th catcher since 1919 to have at least three hits in his big league debut. The two most recent occurrences before Cruz's game took place last year, when Wilson Ramos went 4-for-5 on May 2 and J.P. Arencibia was 4-for-5 on Aug. 7.

Cruz's three hits were one more than the Padres' total in their 3-2 loss to the Cardinals.

Same but different

Here is the story of two pitchers, one in the AL and the other in the NL.

Entering last night, the NL pitcher was 5-2 with a 2.17 ERA. The AL pitcher was 1-5 with a 4.23 ERA.

Following were their stats in several categories, NL/AL.

K9: 4.88/4.82
BB9: 1.76/1.75
HR9: 0.41/0.88
GB%: 45.5/50.0
BABIP: .224/.312

The NL pitcher is Kyle Lohse and the AL pitcher is Jeff Francis. Looks like Lohse has been a little bit lucky and Francis has been a little unlucky. I'll be interested to see what happens moving forward.

Tribe time

The Cleveland Indians show no signs of slowing down, despite Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner -- their most productive hitters -- being injured. Asdrubal Cabrera is the only active player batting .300 (at .302) but the Tribe ranks No. 1 in the AL with a .266 team BA, thanks in part to Hafner's .345 mark. Their .761 OPS is No. 2 in the league.

Pitching wise, outside of Justin Masterson (5-2, 2.52) and Josh Tomlin (6-1, 2.41, 0.82 WHIP) the starters have been below average. The bullpen, though, has been ridiculously good outside of Chad Durbin. This is a very young staff, too. Durbin (33) is the only pitcher older than 29. Fausto Carmona, at 27, is the elder statesman among starters.

It will be interesting to see how the Indians fare the rest of the way, but they might be too young to know they're not this good. It doesn't seem like they do anything particularly well, nor do they do anything particularly poorly. That might be plenty good enough in the AL Central.

One thing is probably for sure, Tomlin is likely to tumble. He is not a high strikeout pitcher, not a high groundball pitcher, and is living off a .175 BABIP.

Ups and downs

Ex-Tiger reliever Todd Jones was nicknamed Roller Coaster for his penchant for turning saves into wild rides. He would have been the ideal closer for this year's Detroiters.

The Tigers' season so far? It looks like this: Lose 2, win, lose, win, lose, win, lose 3, win 4, lose 3 of 4, win 4, lose 7, win 10 of 11, lose 5. Their longest losing streak is 7 and longest winning streak is 7. I don't know for sure, but it would seem that having a 7-game losing streak and a 7-game win streak within the season's first 45 games has got to be rare.

Perhaps even more unusual is the fact those streaks were separated by only 4 games.

It seems likely this is the way the season will go and the Tigers will end up around .500, as they are right now at 22-23.

King Cole

Despite going 29-15 with a 3.22 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 139 ERA+ in 2007 and 2008 (Oh, yeah, and winning a World Series MVP) some Phillies fans came unglued when Hamels went 10-11 with a 4.32 ERA in 2009. There were even suggestions he should be traded.

As noted here during that season, Hamels looked to be mainly a victim of bad luck as his walk, strikeout and homer rates all were on par with the previous years.

Lo and behold, Hamels went out in 2010 and posted a career-best 3.06 ERA. He was victimized by a lack of run support, finishing 12-11. Throw in his work this year, and Hamels is 17-13 with a 3.03 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 131 ERA+ over his last 42 starts. His K rate is 9.2/9, walk rate is 2.5/9 and HR rate is 1/9.

Even still, some fans seem cool to Cole. Too bad. They're failing to recognize a heck of a pitcher. Even with his average 2009 campaign, Hamels ranks No. 13 among all MLB hurlers for WAR beginning in 2007. Those ahead of him: Halladay, Sabathia, Lincecum, Haren, Verlander, Lee, King Felix, Greinke, Beckett, Weaver, Lester, Jimenez. There are a few Cy Young winners in that group, as well as a few no-hitters.

Not bad company.

No hitters

The Phillies trotted out a lineup last night with only three legit full-time big leaguers, so it's no surprise they managed only one unearned run. The lineup included Michael Martinez, Wilson Valdez and Dane Sardinha. Yikes.

But over their last 33 games, the Phillies are batting .225/.298/.342. They are averaging 3.4 runs per game during that span. Of course, they're 19-14, but this is not a recipe for success. They've turned into the team equivalent of Daniel Descalso (.217/.295/.337). They are being outhit and outslugged by Cole Hamels (.263/.368).

The weight on Chase Utley's bad knee just got heavier.

Gibson's power and speed

I remembered this play, but wanted to find documentation. It sums up Gibson's abilities. Strong enough to hit a ball over the right-field roof of Tiger Stadium and fast enough to circle the bases on a 440-foot drive to center. And score even when a base-runner ahead of him was thrown out. Read about here.

Gibson finally an All Star

I guess a player's big moments can make them larger in your memories. They were talking tonight on MLB Network about Kirk Gibson being the only MVP to never play in an All-Star Game as a player. (He was named to the coaching staff for this year's game.) That seemed unbelievable to me, and all the talking heads as well.

So I looked up Gibson's stats. There were many surprises.

Gibson played 17 seasons in the big leagues, but topped 132 games only 3 times. He got more than 467 PAs only 6 times. Although he broke into the bigs at the age of 22, he didn't become a regular until the age of 26. He never hit 30 HR in a season and he never drove in 100 runs. He scored 100 runs only once. He never batted .300 in a full campaign and reached that level only once in his career.

Yet, he ranked below league average in OPS+ only three times in his career. He stole 26 bases or more in six seasons. From 1984 through 1988, he batted .282/.369/.500 for an OPS+ 139 while averaging 27 HR, 86 RBI and 30 SB. He also, of course, hit two memorable World Series dingers during that span.

He was fun to watch. I can still picture him flying around the bases. He was big and fast and played with an abandon that, ultimately, not even his 6-3, 215 frame could withstand.

Running low

Last year, the Phillies scored 4 runs or fewer in 51% of their games. So far this year, they've done so in 64% of their games. They continue to defy the odds, going 2-2 when scoring 2 runs, 6-4 when scoring 3 and 4-1 when scoring 4. They are 13-1 when scoring 5 or more and 10-0 when scoring 6 or more.

Running with the Pack

With 39 games played, the Orioles are practically at the quarter pole of the 2011 AL East race and have the leaders in sight. I'm not convinced they are stalking the pace-setters, but this start is vastly superior to the start of the last 2 campaigns.

With a record of 19-20, the O's are just 3 games (in the loss column) behind the division leading Rays, from whom they just took 2 of 3 in Tampa Bay. The O's have scored 156 runs on the season and allowed 176. Allowing 1/2 run per game more than you score and being within 1 game of .500 is an efficient use of runs. The offense will have to step it up as this cannot continue for very long.

The offense is 11th in the AL in runs scored. Pitching is 13th (ERA). Again, efficient use of a weak offense and inconsistent pitching to be within a game of .500.

The O's are 10-11 at home and 9-9 on the road. The road record is a significant improvement over prior campaigns.

The O's are 7-9 against the AL East, 8-9 vs. AL Central and 4-2 vs AL West. No single glaring weakness. 0-4 vs the Yankees and 0-3 vs Cleveland are the bugaboos.

The O's are 16-12 vs RH pitching and 3-8 vs LH. This must change for the O's to keep pace with a .500 record, let alone keep pace in the AL East. This is a glaring weakness that AL managers will exploit by juggling rotations and/or calling up left handed minor leaguers for spot starts in order to load up lefty starters for a series with Baltimore.

So, on to Boston for 2 games and then back home. The O's catch a little break in getting Matsuzaka and Lackey in the 2 game set. Both have been hittable thus far. The O's send Tillman and Britton. Tillman vs Matsuzaka favors the Sox as Tillman pitched well in his last start and has yet to pitch well 2 starts consecutively in the AL, but perhaps the O's can outslug the Sox with Matsuzaka on the mound. Britton vs Lackey would appear to favor the O's.

Insert own joke here

Kids at tomorrow's Tigers game receive a Magglio Ordonez mini bat.