20 % done 80 % to go

Your first thought might be that this post is about a set I am trying to complete and letting everyone know how far I have to go but no, I would not be advertising if I had such a long road ahead.

What I am alluding to is that I can not believe that the baseball season is already 20 % complete (most teams have played 32 games, give or take) and it is already over one month into this young season. It does seem like just a few days from opening day.

Being a numbers guy as I am (that is the former math teacher coming out in me) I was looking at some statistics and am interested to know how some players and teams might perform, such as:

a) Evan Longoria has 44 RBI's . . . projected to 220 . . . will he break Hack Wilson's record of 191 ?

b) Aaron Hill has 54 hits . . .projected to 270 . . . can he break Ichiro's 262 hits ?

c) Zack Greinke . . . 6 wins . . . projected at 30 . . . will he be the first since McClain to see 30 Wins ?

d) Juan Pierre hitting .426 . . . Youkilis is at .393 . . . will either of them stay the course and threaten a year long average of .400 ?

e) Blue Jays and Dodgers . . . 22 wins . . . will they be able to flirt with the Mariners 2001 "record" of 116 ?


f) will either the Nationals or Indians continue with their losing ways and challenge the 1962 Mets futility of 120 losses ?

I am fairly confident the records mentioned above will stand pat though if I was a betting man I might put some money on Longoria to break Wilson's RBI record. The season is only 20 % done . . . lots of games to go . . .

P.S. I thought this had posted to my blog a few days ago but in error I guess I never clicked on the "publish post" button . . . this all might be old news by now, but because I wrote it I am now posting it . . . this season has a long way to go . . .

Kudos to Longoria

It was announced today that Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays won the AL player of the week award for this past week. Longoria went 7 for 19 with two round trippers including that grand slam in the season opener against Boston on Thursday.

Longoria is the first repeat winner this year and needless to say, Longoria is becoming the heart and soul of the young Rays and just might make a run for AL MVP (if the Rays can put together few more wins and make 2009 a repeat performance of last years AL Championship team).

Early in the week, Longoria collected his 100th RBI of his career, in only his 135th game. That ranks him third behind Ryan Braun (118 games) and Albert Pujols (131 games) as the fastest to reach that plateau amongst active players.

As an aside, being a Cubs fan living in Sarasota, the Tampa Bay Rays are the AL team I root for. I actually attended the game this past Saturday against the BoSox - being the only game the Rays lost as they took three out of four over the weekend. I probably will stay away from now on, maybe.

I still have a hard time grasping indoor/domed baseball, although Tropicana is very family friendly, being indoors is just not "right" (that is just the traditionalist coming out in me). I did have a great time though . . . (sorry no pictures).

Congratualtions to Longoria . . . Lets Go Rays !