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June 1st 2007
My record for May was 12-13. We opened the month with a 2 game mini series against the American League East leading Boston Red Sox and we swept both on strong performances for Tenshin Imai and Francisco Romero (Romero got his first win of the season) After Boston we headed out for a 7 game West Coast swing that took us through Los Angeles and Oakland. We earned a series split in 4 games with the Angles and took 2 of 3 from the Athletics. After our 8 day road trip we were back home to take on the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and then the Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim come to town. We played well at home taking 2 of 3 from the Devil Rays behind wins from Tenshin Imai and Christian Jacobs. After the series against the Devil Rays it all fell apart. We lost 2 of 3 to the Angles and then We opened up interleague play against the Colorado Rockies in Colorado. The Rockies swept us in 3 games. This was the mid point of a 6 game losing streak that carried over into our next series in Florida against the Devil Rays who managed to take 2 of 3 from us. We lost the first 2 games both in extra innings. The first game was a blown save by Lorenzo Silva his 2nd and the second game wasted an 8 inning 4 hit performance by Bill Arkell as he only gave up 2 runs but the offence could't do anything against Tampabay and they went on to win it in the bottom of the 14th on a walk off home run.
The Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox came back to town to close out the month and we lost 2 of 3 to the White Sox before taking 2 of 3 from the Red Sox to finish May.
We Close out May sitting tied for Second Place with the Boston Red Sox 1 game behind the First Place Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Pitching Situation
Everyone has been pitching pretty well up until this point except SP Robinson Martinez who is 2-4 so far with a 5.67 ERA. I have dropped him down to being my #5 starter as he is simply not performing. He did turn in a good 7 inning performance against Boston on May 31st to pick up his second win but he just doesn't seem to be cutting it and I may be forced to look for another starter in the near future.
If SP Robinson Martinez is cold SP Tenshin Imari is on fire! he is 4-1 with a 2.63 era this month and has been almost automatic in the 5 games that he pitched this month. He has even been garnering some trade attention from other teams in the league including the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Arizona Diamond Backs and Minnesota Twins. I am not sure where we stand yet in terms of being a playoff contender so the jury is still out on whether or not I would be willing to move him
Offensive Situation
Offensively it looks like we are starting to heat up. The $53 million dollar man SS Richard Evans was named American League Offensive Player of the week for the week of May 28th. Evans went 14-25 for a .560 batting average with 2 HR and 7 RBi with a .607 OBP. Evans had not been performing very well up until he signed the 5 year extension with Toronto but has taken off since. I guess a new contract was just the motivation he needed.
Another Player who was on fire in May was RF & DH Raul Pagan. He was named the American League Rookie of the Month for May. He hit .327 with 35 hits 5 HR 24 RBI and scored 17 times. He has 9 HR and 33 RBI both lead the team. Not bad for a 21 year old who I was going to have start the season in AAA Syracuse.
Up Next: 2007 First Year Player Draft and June Baseball Recap
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