Notable Numerals: Felix Hernandez, Brandon Lyon, J.P. Arencibia & More
By Brian Phair
What a crazy 1st few days of the baseball season it has been. We have seen home runs flying out of ballparks across the country and brooms being held high for many opening series’. The Red Sox have struggled, to put it lightly, but there have been some great signs of life from newly acquired Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz, who both made strong statements early on. The pitching staff also made a strong statement, but a negative one. Across the MLB, we saw some impressive pitching performances and some hot-hitters. We saw one closer implode and a young catcher come out with a bang. With that in mind, let’s take a look around the majors in the 1st regular season edition of Notable Numerals for the 2011 season.
Home runs for the Texas Rangers in 3 games. What a series for the Rangers offense. They smoked the Red Sox, averaging 3.67 home runs per game in the season opening series. Both Ian Kinsler and Nelson Cruz joined elite company by jacking 3-home runs in the 1st 3 games of the season and Kinsler became the 1st leadoff hitter to hit a home run in his 1st at-bat the 1st 2 days of the season. Wow. On the other end of the spectrum, a team that also enjoyed an opening series sweep, the Baltimore Orioles had the least amount of collective home runs in baseball with just 1. Home runs aren’t the only indicator of a strong offense, as proven by the Orioles, because 3 wins are 3 wins, period. The Red Sox return to Texas once more this season, but have a while to wait and they couldn’t be happier. The AL West and AL Pennant winners from last season look strong on both sides of the ball and are poised to make another run at the post-season.
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Complete games so far this season, one resulting in a shutout. Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners and Jaime Garcia of the St. Louis Cardinals gave their teams a boost in their 1st start of the season, going the distance. Hernandez set the tone by allowing 2 runs in 9 innings against the Oakland Athletics, as he looks to repeat as the AL Cy Young Award winner. Jaime Garcia decided to 1-up Hernandez and pitch a complete game shutout, striking out 9 (4 more than Hernandez) and allowing just 4 hits against the San Diego Padres. After losing the 1st 2 games of the season to the Padres, the Cardinals needed a big performance from their #3 starter and it doesn’t get much bigger than that.
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Slugging percentage for young Toronto Blue Jays catching prospect J.P. Arencibia. In his 1st game of 2011, Arencibia lived up to all the hype and jacked not 1, but 2 home runs, while throwing in a 3rd hit, a triple, just for good measure. Pressure? What pressure? Arencibia has only been one of the most talked about prospects in the Blue Jays system over the past few years and the organization decided to let John Buck go and ride their young star-in-the-making this off-season. Arencibia instantly made the Blue Jays management look like geniuses after he had an incredible 1st appearance, indicating good things are coming. If he continues to hit for power and drives in runs, he could be the next great catcher in a thin catching era in baseball. It is the hardest position to fill and a team has a real advantage if a guy can come up through their system and make an impact at the big-league level.
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ERA for closer Brandon Lyon of the Houston Astros. He appeared in just 1 game, and in 0.1 innings, allowed 6 hits and 3 earned runs. Talk about a rough way to begin the season. For the Astros, if you have a chance to win a game, you need to take advantage of it, because they don’t come around very often. Maybe it isn’t fair to judge Lyon after 1 appearance, but wow. He was straight up awful and will likely give Astros fans heart-burn this season. Lyon will never be a top tier closer and is barely an okay closer at this point, so there is certainly concern for Brad Mills and the Astros. After 1 outing, Lyon is still the guy, but how long will they be able to ride the losing train until a change needs to be made? It’s not like that have a chance at the playoffs anyway, so get your Costco-sized Tums bottles Astros fans, it’s gonna be a doozy of a season in the ‘pen.
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Red Sox team ERA through 3 games, the worst in the majors. Since this is a Red Sox blog, a team-related stat seems appropriate. There was an indirect stat about the Rangers hot offensive start, and now, we look at a Red Sox specific number. Unfortunately, there weren’t many stats in the positive direction for this club so far, and their biggest struggle has been pitching, so here you go. I doubt this number will stay in this stratosphere for too long (crosses fingers), because I think beginning the season in Texas against the Rangers plays a big role in that inflated number. The Rangers bats were firing on all cylinders from the words ‘Play Ball’ on opening day and the ball just seemed to jump off their bats and into the left-field seats. That being said, regardless of how good the Red Sox offense is in 2011, unless the pitching staff is solid, the World Series, and even the playoffs, are in jeopardy. Great pitching trumps great hitting every time. It’s been a rocky start to the season for the Sox, so strap in and get ready for the ride.
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