What does Estonian girl band Vanilla Ninja have to do with the NL Central? Absolutely nothing at all, but it's four hot foreign chicks with a guitar, so why do you care?
|
Mark Haverty here, filling in for Don Webster this week on Senior Moments. Last week, Don romped through the National League East. This week, we are going to take a tour of the National League Central – otherwise known as Rick Ankiel’s stomping ground.
Chicago Cubs
Life without Alfonso Soriano is not good. Given a chance to gain ground on the Brewers, the club has only lost ground. New everyday left fielder Matt Murton is also certainly not going to make anyone forget about Soriano, and he is the least of the Cubs’ problems.
Hot: Carlos Zambrano, of course. Even with his rough outing in his last start, he is still 7-2 with a 2.40 ERA, with 65 strikeouts and 32 walks. There are plenty of impending free agents that have seen their value drop this year – Zambrano is not one of them. Also, while I was picking on Matt Murton in the above paragraph, he has played quite well of late, hitting .310 with three home runs, four RBI, and four runs scored in his last ten games.
Not: Derrek Lee has gone cold at exactly the wrong time for the Cubs. Over his last ten games, Lee is hitting just .189 with one home run, three RBI, and five runs scored. That is not exactly the way you pick the team up when they lose a star.
Cincinnati Reds
Hot: His team might not be doing a great job of supporting him, but Aaron Harang is doing everything possible to help his team win. Since the All Star break, Harang is 2-1 with a 2.20 ERA, striking out 34 while walking just six in 32 2/3 innings over five starts. With those numbers, the Reds should be embarrassed to have gotten him just two wins.
Not: Why do the Reds keep giving Matt Belisle starts? Oh, yeah – because they have no one else. Since the All Star break, Belisle is 1-2 with a 5.79 ERA, with 48 hits and 10 walks allowed in 32 2/3 innings in six starts. If he were on any other team – wait, scratch that; if he were in any other organization, he would not still be with the team.
Houston Astros
Hot: So far, Ty Wigginton seems to have taken a liking to being in the National League again. In his last ten games, Wigginton is hitting .314 with one home run, four RBI, and eight runs scored, and he even stole a base.
Not: So how is that Jason Jennings trade working out for you, Houston? Already bad, Jennings has actually gotten worse as the season has gone on, and he is 1-3 with a 10.31 ERA in seven appearances, six as a starter, since the All Star break.
Milwaukee Brewers
Hot: Geoff Jenkins, a notoriously streaky hitter, is on a hot streak again. Over his last ten games, Jenkins is hitting .394 with three home runs, eight RBI, and four runs scored. Will it last? Of course not, so enjoy it while you can.
Not: The strikeouts are there for Dave Bush, but the results just are not. Over 29 1/3 innings since the All Star break, Bush has registered 22 punchouts, but he also has an ERA of 5.83. There is so much potential and promise here, but Bush continues to fall short.
Pittsburgh Pirates
Before getting to a hot/not here about the Pirates, we have to address the ludicrousness of the trade that the Pirates made for Matt Morris. Instead of giving the spot in the rotation to a rookie or minimum wage veteran, they went out and traded a serviceable young outfielder for a starting pitcher past his prime, pitching horribly, and making millions that they will now be on the hook for. This is not moronic – moronic makes it sound better than it is. The people in charge of this front office should have been fired a long time ago, as every trade they made makes the team worse. Think that Oliver Perez trade looks any better this year than when they made it with the Mets? No, it only looks worse. We can go on and on like that.
Hot: A little late, but Adam LaRoche is finally starting to come around for the Pirates. Over the last ten games, LaRoche is hitting .318 with three home runs, eight RBI, eight runs, and a stolen base.
Not: What was the reason for trading for Morris again? Since the All Star break, Matt Morris is 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA over six starts, with opposing batters hitting a robust .383 against him.
St. Louis Cardinals
Yes, yes, the story here has been Rick Ankiel, I get it. He has had a great four games too, but I am just not buying him as all of a sudden the second coming of Babe Ruth. He is not, nor do his minor league numbers even really look that great. Sure, he had 32 home runs, but he also had a mediocre average, a ton of strikeouts, and very few walks. All of that adds up to eventual failure in the bigs, no matter how feel-good some might think his story is.
Hot: Could Anthony Reyes finally be coming around? Over his last two starts, Reyes is 1-1 with only three earned runs allowed in 13 innings, with seven strikeouts and just two walks. Finally, he is showing some semblance of the former stud prospect.
Not: While just about every Cardinal is hot right now, Chris Duncan is struggling. Over his last ten games, Duncan is hitting just .130 with no RBI and just one run scored in 23 at-bats. Those numbers scream, “increased playing time for So Taguchi.”
That wraps up my look through the Central this week – next week, Don will be back with a run through the West.
Oh, and I would be remiss if I did not throw in some non-baseball names to know, like Don would – Gregory Rucka, whose latest novel, Patriot Acts, finally comes out this month; Vanilla Ninja – seriously, it’s been a year, this hot Estonian girl band needs to get back in the studio; and BET’s effort to get kids to read – no, we cannot quote it here, as this is a family site. Well, sort of.
Have a question or comment for Mark? Email him at markhaverty@sportsgrumblings.com.
