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thehatfield · 11-22-2006, 01:28 PM

There wasn’t really much real analysis to be done that might be useful after just one month of regular season games. Obviously we were playing the traditional role of the “overachieving-out-of-the-gates small market team” with a record of 19-6 that matched the defending MLB Champion New York Mets for the best in baseball. Obviously the 8-18 New York Yankees and their $107.6 million payroll (6th highest in baseball) were underachieving despite hitting .293 as a team, which was better than us (.292). The 5-20 Braves were hitting just .205 as a team and no one expects that to continue all season either. After another month of the season we’d be able to get a better picture of what was actually going on in the league.

Some notes about the team, the traditional stats certainly don’t tell the whole story. Second baseman Ken O’Bryant, for example, is only hitting .252 through the month of April but he leads the club with a .450 batting average in close and late situations. Teddy Revelez leads the club with 6 home runs but has only 15 RBI and has been criticized by fans for never seeming to get a hit when it would mean something important to the club. Mumbles Yamasita is off to a very strong start for us with a .464 OBP but hasn’t exactly been the burner on the basepaths that he was advertised as by his agent and our scouting team. Our bullpen, which figured to be a strength of the club coming out of Spring Training, has not been very reliable outside of Fairfax von Schoening and closer Bill Mathis and both of those two have a blown save!

While en route to Texas for the final 3 games of our 9-game road trip the first set of monthly awards were announced and we had a winner for the first time since Jose Arce took home the Batter of the Month award in April of last year – 25-year old lefty Rowley Dickson was named the Pitcher of the Month for April in the American League. In an official interview with the league Dickson stated that “it isn’t all about how hard you throw, it’s about accuracy…” and seemed pleased with himself when he said he doesn’t give opponents anything good to hit. But he then went on to say “but that’s not always true. Every pitcher gives up a long ball now and then, myself included. Usually there’s at least one mistake pitch per at-bat, but you’ve got to battle through your mistakes and build some positive momentum and the rest will simply fall into place.” Dickson’s happy-go-lucky style has been a fantastic fit in Oakland since he came over to the A’s from Tampa Bay as a free agent in the off-season. Dickson finished the month with a 5-0 record, 2.41 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, .217 opponents batting average, just 6 walks and 37 strikeouts in 37.1 innings.

In the National League it was Brandon Radley of the New York Mets taking home the Pitcher of the Month award after a dominating string of performances that saw him end up with a 5-1 record and 1.09 ERA, 62 strikeouts, and just 10 walks in 49.1 innings. Batters hit .183 against the 30-year old lefty and managed just 32 hits against the 4-time Cy Young Award winner. Bad news for the rest of baseball as the Mets also boasted the National League’s Rookie of the Month Winthrop McDonnell, a 26-year old center fielder from Ocean City, New Jersey. McDonnell hit .347 with 7 home runs and 24 RBI for the Mets in April.

In the American League it was 25-year old shortstop Bobby Hartshorn of the Toronto Blue Jays taking the Rookie of the Month honors by hitting .307 (including 18 extra-base hits) with 5 homers and 26 RBI.

30-year old former All Star and Gold Glove winner Damario Rosado of the Chicago White Sox took home the AL Batter of the Month Award with a blistering .350 batting average and .740 slugging percentage. The center fielder hit a co-league best 9 home runs and knocked in 25 RBI to go along with 6 stolen bases in a truly superior month.

The 2016 Rookie of the Year, last year’s MVP and Triple Crown winner, and the new single-season home run king John O’Hennessy took the NL Batter of the Month honors and stopped a Mets clean sweep by edging out New York first baseman Hippolyte Ashe. O’Hennessy hit a Major League-leading 13 home runs and knocked in 31 while hitting .361 for Colorado in the first month of the year. The center fielder posted a slugging percentage of .835 during the month of April.

We won’t take an in-depth look at league leaderboards until at least next month to account for any anomalies that might have occurred during the season’s first 4 weeks. Next up would be our 3-game set with the Rangers.

11-22-2006, 01:28 PM	#41
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	There wasn’t really much real analysis to be done that might be useful after just one month of regular season games. Obviously we were playing the traditional role of the “overachieving-out-of-the-gates small market team” with a record of 19-6 that matched the defending MLB Champion New York Mets for the best in baseball. Obviously the 8-18 New York Yankees and their $107.6 million payroll (6th highest in baseball) were underachieving despite hitting .293 as a team, which was better than us (.292). The 5-20 Braves were hitting just .205 as a team and no one expects that to continue all season either. After another month of the season we’d be able to get a better picture of what was actually going on in the league. Some notes about the team, the traditional stats certainly don’t tell the whole story. Second baseman Ken O’Bryant, for example, is only hitting .252 through the month of April but he leads the club with a .450 batting average in close and late situations. Teddy Revelez leads the club with 6 home runs but has only 15 RBI and has been criticized by fans for never seeming to get a hit when it would mean something important to the club. Mumbles Yamasita is off to a very strong start for us with a .464 OBP but hasn’t exactly been the burner on the basepaths that he was advertised as by his agent and our scouting team. Our bullpen, which figured to be a strength of the club coming out of Spring Training, has not been very reliable outside of Fairfax von Schoening and closer Bill Mathis and both of those two have a blown save! While en route to Texas for the final 3 games of our 9-game road trip the first set of monthly awards were announced and we had a winner for the first time since Jose Arce took home the Batter of the Month award in April of last year – 25-year old lefty Rowley Dickson was named the Pitcher of the Month for April in the American League. In an official interview with the league Dickson stated that “it isn’t all about how hard you throw, it’s about accuracy…” and seemed pleased with himself when he said he doesn’t give opponents anything good to hit. But he then went on to say “but that’s not always true. Every pitcher gives up a long ball now and then, myself included. Usually there’s at least one mistake pitch per at-bat, but you’ve got to battle through your mistakes and build some positive momentum and the rest will simply fall into place.” Dickson’s happy-go-lucky style has been a fantastic fit in Oakland since he came over to the A’s from Tampa Bay as a free agent in the off-season. Dickson finished the month with a 5-0 record, 2.41 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, .217 opponents batting average, just 6 walks and 37 strikeouts in 37.1 innings. In the National League it was Brandon Radley of the New York Mets taking home the Pitcher of the Month award after a dominating string of performances that saw him end up with a 5-1 record and 1.09 ERA, 62 strikeouts, and just 10 walks in 49.1 innings. Batters hit .183 against the 30-year old lefty and managed just 32 hits against the 4-time Cy Young Award winner. Bad news for the rest of baseball as the Mets also boasted the National League’s Rookie of the Month Winthrop McDonnell, a 26-year old center fielder from Ocean City, New Jersey. McDonnell hit .347 with 7 home runs and 24 RBI for the Mets in April. In the American League it was 25-year old shortstop Bobby Hartshorn of the Toronto Blue Jays taking the Rookie of the Month honors by hitting .307 (including 18 extra-base hits) with 5 homers and 26 RBI. 30-year old former All Star and Gold Glove winner Damario Rosado of the Chicago White Sox took home the AL Batter of the Month Award with a blistering .350 batting average and .740 slugging percentage. The center fielder hit a co-league best 9 home runs and knocked in 25 RBI to go along with 6 stolen bases in a truly superior month. The 2016 Rookie of the Year, last year’s MVP and Triple Crown winner, and the new single-season home run king John O’Hennessy took the NL Batter of the Month honors and stopped a Mets clean sweep by edging out New York first baseman Hippolyte Ashe. O’Hennessy hit a Major League-leading 13 home runs and knocked in 31 while hitting .361 for Colorado in the first month of the year. The center fielder posted a slugging percentage of .835 during the month of April. We won’t take an in-depth look at league leaderboards until at least next month to account for any anomalies that might have occurred during the season’s first 4 weeks. Next up would be our 3-game set with the Rangers. __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 11-22-2006 at 03:42 PM.