Who’s Hot and Who’s Not

Who’s Hot

1. Ryan Zimmerman– In the month of July Zimmerman is leading the N.L. in hits with 33 and is batting .413 during this month. Zimmerman has 8 doubles, 9 homers, 22 RBIs, .472 in base percentage, .850 slugging, and a 1.322 ops for the month making him the hottest hitter in the N.L.
2. Andrew McCutchen- McCutchen has continued to impress and make noise for the N.L. MVP into the month of July. With 33 hits, 7 homers, and 15 RBIs McCutchen has an average of .464 for the month. McCutchen can still arguably be the best hitter right now.
3. Paul Maholm- Maholm is the hottest pitcher going 4-0 giving up just 4 runs in 30 innings pitched. Maholm has a 1.20 ERA and a .97 WHIP for the month of July.
4. Homer Bailey- Bailey has gone 4-0 in the month of July giving up just 6 runs in 30.2 innings pitched with a 1.76 ERA and .98 WHIP for the month of July.

Who’s Not

1. Satrlin Castro- Castro is batting .208 in the month of July with just 15 hits in 73 at bats with 10 strikeouts. Castro has lowered his average by 18 points to .281 on the season.
2. Hunter Pence- Pence is batting just .188 for the month of July with just 13 hits in 69 at bats including 18 strikeouts. Pence has lowered his average 18 points, to .261 during the month.
3. Johan Santana- Santana has started 3 games in the month of July and is 0-3 with a 13.50 ERA. Santana has last just 12.2 innings while giving up 19 runs off 28 hits during the month.
4. Jordan Lyles- Lyles is 0-3 in the month of July with a 7.54 ERA in just 22.2 innings. Lyles has given up 22 runs of 36 hits during the month and is now 2-7 on the season.

There ya have it. Who’s Hot and Who’s not in the month of July

Cocach Tom

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Good

Carlos Lee

The Marlins 1st baseman and long time Cub killer got them again going 2-4 in Tuesday’s 9-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Lee had a single, a grandslam, 2 runs scored, and 4 RBIs on the night, and is now batting .287 with 6 homers on the season. Lee now has a 5 game hitting streak in which he has gone 7-18 improving his average 3 points during this short streak.

Anthony Rizzo

The young Cubs 1st baseman went 2-4 in Tuesday’s loss to the Marlins. Rizzo had 2 singles on the night and is now batting .359 on the season. Rizzo has 16 hits over his last 10 games and has improved his average by 63 points during that span. Since being called up from triple A Iowa, the Cubs are 11-5 with Rizzo in the lineup.

Jordany Valdespin

The New York 2nd baseman had one important at bat in the 4-5 loss against the Washington Nationals. Valdespin came into action as a pinch hitter in the 9th inning where he hit a 3 run homer with 1 out to, at the time, tie the game. Valdespin is batting .269 with 5 homers, and 18 RBIs on the season.

Buster Posey

The San Francisco Giants catcher, Buster Posey, went 3-5 in the Giants 9-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves. Posey had a single, 2 doubles, and 5 RBIs on the night. Posey is now batting .302 with 82 hits, 18 hits, 11 homers, and 52 RBIs on the season

Johnny Cueto

The Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher, Johnny Cueto, got his 11th victory of the season in a 4-0 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Cueto went 6 innings giving up 0 runs off just 4 hits while striking out 3 and walking 4. Cueto got his second win in a row and is now 3rd in wins in the NL.

David Freese

The St.Louis Cardinals 3rd baseman, David Freese had 3 hits in the Cardinals 2-3 loss to the Brewers. Freese went 3-4 with 2 singles ad a double on the night. Freese is now batting .298 on the season.

Andrew McCutchen

The Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder, Andrew McCutchen, had 2 hits in the Pirates 6-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies. McCutchen went 2-4 with a single, a homer, 2 runs scored, and a RBI. McCutchen continued his hot streak increasing his hit streak to 8 games. McCutchen has 18 hits over this span and is now leading the NL in average batting .374 on the season. McCutchen is in the run for the triple crown as he leads in average, 2nd in homers(22) just 4 behind 1st place, and 2nd in RBI(65) just 1 behind 1st place.

Yonder Alonso

The San Diego Padres 1st baseman, Yonder Alonso, had 2 hits in the Padres 8-2 victory over the Houston Astros. Alonso went 2-3 with a double, homer, 2 runs scored, 3 RBIs, and a walk on the night. Alonso is now batting .266 on the season with 4 homers, and 27 RBIs.

The Bad

Christian Friedrich

The Colorado Rockies starting pitcher, Christian Friedrich, got his 7th loss of the season in a 8-2 loss Tuesday. Friedrich could only manage 4.2 innings giving up 5 runs off 6 hits while walking 3. Friedrich is now 5-7 on the season with a 5.85 ERA and has lost 6 of his last 8 starts.

Trevor Bauer

The Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher, Trevor Bauer, got his 2nd loss of the season Tuesday night. Bauer could only manage 3 innings giving up 4 runs off just 1 hit while walking 5. Control was a major problem with Bauer as he threw 79 pitches in just the 3 innings.

Jair Jurrjens

The Atlanta Braves starting pitcher, Jair Jurrjens, got his 3rd loss of the season Tuesday night. Jurrjens went 3.1 innings giving up 8 runs off 8 hits while walking 3. Jurrjens is now 3-3 on the season with a 6.20 ERA.

Tyler Clippard

The Washington Nationals relief pitcher, Tyler Clippard, had a rough outing Tuesday night. Clippard came in for 1 inning and gave up 3 runs off 3 hits bringing his ERA to 2.45 on the season. Clippard’s ERA was down to 1.88 before this outing.

Travis Wood

The Chicago Cubs starting pitcher, Travis Wood, broke the Cubs 4 game winning streak in the Cubs loss Tuesday night. Wood went 4l2 innings giving up 8 runs off 8 hits and walking 2. This was Wood’s first loss in 5 starts and is now 4-4 on the season with a 3.92 ERA.

The Ugly

New York Mets

The New York Mets have loss 5 in a row and are now 7 games out of 1st place with a 46-44 record on the season. This lossing streak has much to do with the Mets pitching.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Good

Matt Garza

The Cubs starting pitcher got the win in a 3-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks to complete the 3 game sweep. Garza went 7 innings giving up 0 runs off 5 hits while striking out 7. Garza got his 5th victory of the season and is now 5-7 with a 4.02 ERA.

Stephen Strasburg

The Washington Nationals starting pitcher got his 10th victory on the season in a 4-0 victory over the Miami Marlins. Strasburg went 6 innings giving up 0 runs off 6 hits while striking out 7. Strasburg now has a 2.66 ERA with 135 strikeouts on the season, and is just 2 wins behind R.A. Dickey for the lead in wins in the NL.

Ben Sheets

The Atlanta Braves starting pitcher got his first win in nearly 2 years after a 6-1 victory over the New York Mets. Sheets got his first start after coming off injury that has kept him out of the league for the past 2 seasons. Sheets is homing to help the the Braves make a push for the top spot in the NL East.

Andrew McCutchen

Despite the 1-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, McCutchen went 3-4 on the night to stay hot. McCutchen had 2 singles, a homer, a run scored, and a RBI on the night to extend his hitting streak to 6 games, with 14 hits during this span. McCutchen is now hitting .371 with 21 homers, 119 hits, and 64 RBIs on the season. MVP anyone.

Martin Maldonado

The Brewers catcher, Martin Maldonado went 3-4 in the Brewers 4-1 victory over the Pirates. Maldonado had a single, 2 doubles, and an RBI on the day. Maldonado is now hitting .285 with 3 doubles on the season for the Brewers.

Cole Hamels

The Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher got his 11th victory on the season with a 5-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies. Hamels went 8 innings giving 1 run off 6 hits while striking out 7. Hamels is now tied for 2nd in wins in the NL with 11, and is 4th in strikeouts with 125. and innings pitched with 126. Hamels is 11-4 with a 3.04 ERA on the season.

Buster Posey

The San Francisco Giants catcher, Buster Posey, went 3-4 in the Giants 3-2 victory over Astros. Posey had 3 singles, and 2 RBIs in Sunday’s game and is now batting .297 with 11 homers, 16 doubles, and 47 RBIs on the season.

Matt Cain

The Giants starting pitcher, Matt Cain, got his 10th victory on the year over the Houston Astros. Cain went 6.1 innings giving up 2 runs off 5 hits while striking out 6. Cain improved to 10-3 on the year making him 6th in wins in the NL, 2nd in innings pitched(126.2), 6th in the NL in strikeouts(124), 5th in ERA(2.56), and 1st in WHIP(0.96). Cain is a definite candidate for cy young.

Aroldis Chapman

The Cincinnati Reds closer, Aroldis Chapman, got his 13th save of the season in a 4-2 victory over the St.Louis Cardinals. Chapman improved his ERA to 1.70 on the season with 79 strikeouts. Chapman struck out the side Sunday night, and now has 20 strikeouts over his last 8 innings.

The Bad

Hanley Ramirez

The Marlins 3rd baseman, Hanley Ramirez is went 0-4 in the Marlins 0-4 loss to the Nationals. Ramirez struck out once, and now has 5 strikeouts over the last 3 games, and just has 4 hits over his last 33 at bats giving him a .246 average for the season. 

Johan Santana

The New York Mets starting pitcher, Johan Santana, got his second straight loss Sunday against the Braves. Santana went jsut 5 innings giving up 6 runs off 8 hits.Santana has now given up 21 hits and 13 runs over his last 9.2 innings thrown. Santana has a 6-6 record with a 3.59 ERA on the year.

Pedro Alvarez

The Pittsburgh Pirates 3rd baseman, Pedro Alvarez, went 0-3 in the Pirates 1- loss against the Brewers. Alvarez has 3 strikeouts, giving him 7 strikeouts over the last 3 games. Alvarez is just 7- 31 over his last 10 games giving him a .226 average on the season.

The Ugly

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers lost 7-2 Sunday against the Padres thanks to 5 errors on the day. This was a season high in errors for the Dodgers, and the3rd baseman Hairston Jr. had 2 errors in the same innining. The Dodgers are now 48-42 on the season, leaving them 1.5 games out of first.

Houston Astros

The Houston Astros have won just 1 game over their last 14 games, and are now officially the worse team in the NL. The Houston Astros are now just 33-56 on the year. Many of the problems come from the bats. The Astros are ranked 23rd in runs, 24th in batting average, 25th in on base percentage, and 25th in slugging percentage. Also on the rubber side the Astros rank 27th in ERA, 16th in quality starts, 27th in WHIP, and 28th in batters average,

Coach Tom

Look At Me Now!

Meet Andrew McCutchen, the frontrunner for National League MVP. The 25-year-old is batting .371 with 21 home runs, 64 RBIs and a .423 on-base percentage. McCutchen leads baseball in batting average, slugging percentage and OPS.

The 11th overall pick of the 2005 MLB draft hit .300 in April, .360 in May, .370 in June and sports a .537 average in July. Over his last ten games he has more home runs (six) than strikeouts (five). The center fielder is also on pace for 26 stolen bases this season.

McCutchen is the reason the Pirates are 49-39 this year and not somewhere around .500 with the arms to compete but no bats to be found. Despite McCutchen’s torrid offense, Pittsburgh remains second to last in on-base percentage, 23rd in batting average and 20th in runs scored. He is the straw that stirs the black and yellow drink.

The NL Central may be the butt of jokes around baseball, but McCutchen and Pittsburgh and Cincinnati and their leader Joey Votto will make for some of the most exciting September ball. The Pirates trail the Reds by one game and if they Pirates can add a semi-significant bat before the deadline look for them to surpass the Reds and win the NL Central for the first time.

The Big Guy

Coach Tom’s National League All Star Team

Here are the starting all stars for the National League, and who i believe deserves to be starting for the National League

Coach Tom’s Cacher- Yadier Molina, St.Louis Cardinals

Actual Catcher- Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants

The Giants catcher Buster Posey will be starting in the 2012 all star game despite not being first in a single category offensively or defensively. Lets compare my all star to the actual all star. Posey’s average .303, Molina .309. Posey’s hits 77, Molina 82. Posey’s doubles, 15, Molina 15. Posey’s homers, 10, Molina 13. Posey’s RBIs, 42, Molina 45. Posey 1 stolen base, Molina 7. Posey, slugging .480, Molina .513. Molina leads all catchers in every offensive category but 2, and also is above Posey in all but 1 defensive category. Molina should be your N.L. starter.

Coach Tom’s 1st Baseman- Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds

Actual 1st Baseman- Joey Votto

The Cincinnati Reds 1st baseman Joey Votto has proven himself to get to his 3rd all star game in his career. Votto is ver deserving of the starting role after going  .350 with 93 hits, 50 runs, 33 doubles,  14 homers, 47 RBIs, and 60 walks. Votto leads 1st baseman in virtually all offensive categories including obp .471, slugging .632, and ops 1.103. Fans got it right when voting for former MVP Joey Votto to represent the N.L. in the all star game.

Coach Tom’s 2nd Baseman- Aaron Hill, Arizona Diamondbacks

Actual 2nd Baseman- Dan Uggla, Atlanta Braves

This is my biggest snub in all the all star starters. Dan Uggla is batting .234 on the season which puts him 9th between all 2nd baseman in the N.L. while Aaron Hill is batting .300 which leaves him second. Hill and Uggla lead 2nd baseman with 11 homers on the season, and Hill has 86 hits to Uggla’s 64 which again is 9th between N.L. 2nd baseman. To add to Aaron Hills great year, not only being in the top 6 in all the offensive categories, Hill made history of his own becoming the first player in over 100 years to hit for the cycle 2 times in the same year. Most interesting stats are the runs created, 51.4, runs created per 27 outs, 6.61, and isolated power, .213 lead all 2nd baseman. That fans got this one terribly wrong in my eyes.

Coach Tom’s 3rd Baseman- David Wright, New York Mets

Actual 3rd Baseman- Pablo Sandoval, San So  Francisco Giants

This is another pick that was a no brainer for me and concluded to me that fans have no brains. So the Mets David Wright is leading in every offensive category except homers this season with 53 runs scored, 98 hits, 26 doubles, 50 RBIs, 48 walks, .354 average, .447 on base percentage, .560 slugging, and 1.006 ops. This is by far Wright’s best start to a season and it’s not like Sandoval is even close in statistics with Wright. Sandoval is 10th or worse in every category besides average, which technically he hasn’t had enough bats to even qualify for. So sad how someone as in David Wright can blow the competition away, yet doesn’t get rewarded.

Coach Tom’s Short Stop- Willie Bloomquist, Arizona Diamondbacks

Actual Short Stop- Rafael Furcal, St.Louis Cardinals

With short stops looking rather weak this year, Willie Bloomquist would be my starting short stop if I were choosing the starting lineup. Bloomquist is batting  .295 on the season in comparison to Furcal’s .276. Most staggering is that Bloomquist is peaking over the last month hitting .341 in June, while Furcal has been on the down slope hitting just .150 in the month of June. To boast his numbers Bloomquist has just 3 errors on the season, 4 better than Furcal who is sitting at 7. Bloomquist should be starting and couldn’t even find his way on to the all star team as a reserve let alone a starter. Fans got it wrong all over again.

Coach Tom’s Outfielders- Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates, Melky Cabrera, San Francisco Giants, Carlos Beltran, St.Louis Cardinals.

Actual Outfielders- Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers, Melky Cabrera, San Francisco Giants, Carlos Beltran, St.Louis Cardinals.

Lets start with what we agree with and that is Melky Cabrera, LF for the Giants. Cabrera is hitting .352 with 111 hits, 16 doubles, 7 triples, 7 homers, 39 RBIs, 10 stolen bases,and 23 walks on the season. Well deserving to start in the all star. Matt Kemp would be starting if it wasn’t for his early season injury to his hamstring. Kemp was batting .355 with 12 homers and 28 RBIs before being injured on may 30th. Andrew McCutchen will being starting and is still very well deserving of the start as he is hitting .355 with 101 hits, 17 doubles, 4 triples, 15 homers, 52 RBIs, and has the Pirates just 1 game out of first place. The last spot is Carlos Beltran. Beltran is hitting .308 with 84 hits, 10 doubles, 1 triple, 20 homers, 63 RBIs, and 7 stolen bases on the season. Beltran’s consistant play throughout the season have left him far above any other right fielder in the National League.

So here’s both my views and America’s views on who should/is starting the all star game for the N.L.

Coach Tom

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Good

Ryan Braun- The Brewers left fielder extended his hit streak to 6 games as he went 2-5 with 2 runs scored, a homer, and 3 RBIs in a 6-5 victory vs. the Padres. Braun 11 hits over his last 10 games and is now hitting .311 on the season.

Logan Morrison- The Marlins left fielder went 3-4 with 2 doubles and and RBI despite the 2-4 loss vs the Rays. This is just Morrison’s 2nd multi hit game in the last ten games.

Andrew McCutchen- The Pirates center fielder was all the offense the Pirates needed Sunday against the Kansas City Royals. In a 3-2 victory McCutchen went 2-3 with a double and all 3 of the Pirates RBIs. McCutchen is now hitting .325 on the season for the Pirates.

Jose Altuve- The Astros 2nd baseman went 2-5 with a homer and 3 RBIs in the Astros 11-9 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Altuve is now hitting .326 on the season for the Astros.

Ryan Dempster- The Cubs starting pitcher got just jis 2nd victory on the year despite having a 2.31 ERA on the season. Dempster went 8 innings giving up no runs off just 4 hits while striking out 6. Dempster has a 0.51 ERA over his last 3 starts.

The Bad

Jason Motte- In Sunday’s loss to the Indians, Motte went just 1 innings giving up 2 hits, a walk, and a 3-run homer for a final score of 4-1. Mottes ERA is now 3.71 on the season.

Christian Friedrich- The Rockies starting pitcher went just 4 innings while giving up 9 runs off 10 hits. Friedrich’s ERA raised nearly 1.5 points from 4.50 to 5.85 on the season. This was Friedrich’s shortest outing on the season.

Michael Morse- Morse played the role of DH in Sunday’s victory vs. the Red Sox, but no thanks to Morse as he went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts. Morse is now hitting .188 on the season.

The Ugly

San Francisco Giants- Sunday’s game vs, the Texas Rangers was ugly in every aspect from the Giants dugout. The starting pitcher Tim Lincecum went just 5.2 innings while giving up 5 runs off 9 hits and 4 walks. Lincecum’s ERA is now a stagering 6.00 on the season. The Giants offense was in no shape to help Lincecum as they were 3 hit and no one had more then 1 hit on the day.

Miami Marlins- The Marlins have now lost 6 games in a row scoring just 9 runs and giving up 43 runs during this span.

Coach Tom