OKAY so the main order of news is I think I overreacted to the stats the first week because I adjusted them, they got really screwy, and now after mostly setting them back they're fine. It's just the usual culprits the game seems to mess with - errors were too low, wild pitches and passed balls were too high. The other change I made was to goose up starter and reliever stamina, not because the "stats are off" per se (complete games are a little lower and I've never been able to do a 70 game, 140 IP reliever but that's not a "stats" thing exactly) but because, now that I've implemented it, I like the leeway it gives me: since I'm making late-game substitutions I'll still remove mid-rotation starters when the bullpen is better, I'll pull good starters even when they're healthy if they haven't pitched amazingly and the bullpen is rested, and on the flip side for those pesky double-headers I don't see teams pulling a starter after 90 pitches all the time anymore (nice to see that the game will still knock a guy out of the box if he's pitching poorly though).
ANYWAY, here are the standings so far, presented in crisp widescreen technology:
April 9: We'll have to see what the second round of stats look like but hey, Angels SP Moses "Duck" Melendez (1-0, 0.00) is definitely benefitting from... something. The normally finesse-based right-hander collected 8 strikeouts today in a 5-0 shutout victory over the Rangers. Melendez did have 2 shutouts since joining the Angels midseason last year although he averaged just 4 Ks per 9 innings in spite of a fastball that can get into the mid 90s and a signature forkball that opposing hitters describe as "nasty" and "not a strike".
April 10: I was feeling bad about moving A's catcher Josh Lewis (.333, 0, 2) down in the lineup this year with the addition late last year of former Pirates RF Brian Jackson (.300, 0, 4). Well, 5 games in I'm going to need to get Lewis, who was hitting 6th, back up into the 3 hole because Jackson sprained his knee and is set to be out until mid-May. Coming on up to take his place is Antiguan cricketeer Viv Richards, who hasn't appeared on any prospect lists but the scouts think he's average-y.
April 11: The A's purchased RP Omar Sanchez (0-0, 4.50) from the Braves. In real life, this move was for a guy in Lew Krausse whom the Braves repurchased back from Oakland a month later. Will I remember this? Probably not. In the grand scheme of things, does it matter? I feel like I've done this kind of deal before. One thing that probably will change is the real-life Krausse never actually played a game with the A's. I goosed up reliever endurance and shortened the pitching staffs around the league to try and make a Mike Marshall type season happen (heck I'd be happy with a Rollie Fingers or Sparky Lyle season).
April 11: SP Raul Mendoza (1-0, 1.00) made his Red Sox debut a fine one, giving up 5 hits and 1 run in a complete game 2-1 victory against the Orioles. He needed his team to rally behind him late but that's nothing againsth is own fine pitching today. DH Matt Williams (.182, 0, 1) delivered a 2-out single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th to bring home the Red Sox' first run and also avoid a Nobletiger (I don't know why it's called that but it's when you load the bases with no outs and fail to score), and then CF Jon Glynn (.462, 0, 2) sent the hometown fans home happy with a 1-out RBI single in the bottom of the 9th. "I was always a bridesmaid," said Mendoza after the game. "Here in Boston I hope I can be a bride. Groom. I hope I can be a groom."
April 12: Everything is very messed up right now stat-wise... but Red Sox CF John Glynn (.353, 0, 2) did have his hitting streak broken at 21 games in a 10-1 loss to the Tigers. That leaves George Harrison's (.500, 0, 4) 24-gamer as the longest in the majors "this year". I'm seeing that among active, um, streakers, Mets OF Barry "The Ritz" Cooper (.350, 0, 5) now has the 2nd longest with 14, including 5 games so far this year.
April 12: Speaking of hitting streaks... Pirates LF Jerry Sherk (.333, 1, 4) was riding a 10 game streak going back to last year himself and was just about out of options when he came to the plate in the bottom of the 9th against Cardinals starter Alec Cosby (0-1, 2.16). Sherk got the safest base hit possible, a home run. With 2 runners on and the Pirates losing at that point, this homerun was the game winner for Pittsburgh, who is now 3-2 on the year. The Cards fell to 1-5; I think the preseason predictions said this would be a tough year but the preseasons predictions were weirdly off in a lot of ways. ANYWAY. Clyde Jones (1-0, 1.00) also went all the way in the victory.
April 12: Also George Harrison's (.464, 0, 4) streak is now at 25 games following a 1-4 performance in a 2-1 win at San Diego. The hit wasn't anything special - a leadoff single in the top of the 6th that left him stranded on 2nd - but hey, a hit's a hit in the grand scheme of things and Harrison's been doing a lot more than going 1-4 over and over again this year for the 6-1 Giants.
April 13: The old curse of Saturday the 13th strikes again... Rangers SP Robert "Rat" McHugh (15-15, 3.44 last year) was just rehabbing in the minors from a strained hamstring he suffered early in spring training. His very first minor league outing, he hurt something else in his knee... it turned out to be a torn meniscus that will take him out for most if not all of the season. The 27 year old Meniscus was projected to be in the back of the Rangers' rotation but he'd just come off of his career best season, so this really hurts the Rat as much as it hurts Texas.
April 13: It's too early in 24 year old OF John Belushi's (.263, 0, 1) career to get the injury-prone label but what else are the Angels to think? Belushi missed a chunk of spring training with knee and ankle injuries and now he's been diagnosed with plantar fasciitis and will miss the next 4-6 weeks. "The doc says maybe this is what was holding me back all March," said Belushi to reporters. "I sure hope so. Oh well, back to doing drugs."
April 13: Oh I missed this somehow... George Harrison's hitting streak is over at 25 games. Sad.
April 14: Tigers 3B Joe Theismann (.259, 1, 7) is going to miss right around the minimum time you can miss and be on the DL, 3 weeks, with an intercostal strain. Darrel Bump (.143, 0, 0), who played a bit with Minnesota last year and was pretty ineffective, has already begun to take his place.
April 14: I know I said that Yankees DH Ernesto Garcia (.270, 6, 11) wasn't going to have a short right-field porch this year with his team playing its games at Shea Stadium (Yankee Stadium is being renovated with, famously/sadly, the monuments in the outfield no longer being in play), but so far he's gotten to play a whole 4-game series in his old haunts at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, where he's gone 5-19 but with 4 of those hits going out of the park. "It's nice to go to my old hometown and really show those (expletive)s what's what", Garcia said following today's nightcap, a 2-1 win in which Garcia knocked home both runs with a dinger.
April 14: In an otherwise forgettable game the Astros' new IF Cho Yang-Ho (1.000, 1, 1) made the most of his first major league at-bat. Pinch-hitting for reliever Josh Teague (0-0, 0.00), he launched a pitch from LA Dodgers ace Fernando Apolonio (2-0, 4.05) into the left field seats for a solo homerun. Sadly for Houston, this was the only time they'd touch Apolonio all game and the Dodgers in turn knocked Ernie Alvarez (0-3, 6.61) out of the box - that was his 2nd early exit in 3 starts this year - en route to an easy 8-1 victory.