Week #4 — games through 5-7-23

COMMENTARY

Mets’ lament…my team is doing about what the actual team is doing, which is depressing…the real issues is that Rick Wynne kept insisting after our Verlander-Kershaw trade that I couldn’t keep both players…and all games either pitcher started this week ended in a loss…I think we completed a trade that made each team exactly the same…Danny Wildes got the Braves to the only winning week for any team in NL East…Gordon Leckie repeated that feat with he Cubs in the NL Central and nudged 4 games up on everyone else for the biggest divisional lead in the NL…Josh Clark has the Cardinals at +3 WOR, tops in the division, and only a half-game behind Pat Walsh’s Giants for best WOR rate for any team not leading the division…and kudos to Rick and Adam Symonds for keeping pace or exceeding their actual clubs while holding the divisional lead…Mark Druyos and Pat are giving Rick a run for his money, both improving over the actual clubs and both with 19 wins or more…Dodgers have 21… Giants are doing it in interleague play with an 11-4 record agains the AL…this balanced schedule will even that out by the end of the season, but it’s wild that so far the Giants have 15 interleague games, the Phillies have 18, and the Padres have zero…Ben Leckie has to feel good about the Rays, and you’re not really going to improve on a real record of 28-7, but Johnny Mac has the only plus-WOR mark in the division with the Jays as is only 5 back, which is coverable ground if the Rays ever cool down…best record ever was the 1906 Cubs at 76%…current Rays are at 80%…best MLB in the last century are the Mariners at 71.6%…Mike Mendoza is doing the best job of pushing buttons in the AL central at +4 WOR, but Tim Walsh and Steve Skrovan both have their clubs within 1 game of the real team and sit at first and second with only 2.5 games separating them…Top 3 AL central teams are negative-WOR and Royals and Chisox are both positive…Rangers pushed ahead in the MLB AL West this week but Greg Achten held the lead against Ben Brockreiede and Texas, despite the Rangers creeping a game closer…John Weerts deserves special accolades for avoiding the Vegas Malaise and getting Oakland +4 WOR…Houston and Seattle each had tough weeks but Jim Casey has the Astros +4 WOR…Oakland is in the top-5 WOR…Lourdes Gurriel hit .500 for the DBacks last week…Thairo Estrada stole 3 bases…Kevin Pillar hit .357 for Atlanta while striking out 11 times…someone should tell him the new rules are supposed to stop stuff like that…Santander of the Orioles did him one better by hitting .308 but striking out 12 times…Evan Phillips of the Dodgers inherited 6 runners over 10.33 innings last week and stranded them all…Zach Eflin walked 6 in only 12.67 innings this week, but he also struck out 20…Xzavion Curry of the Guardians has what is undoubtedly the highest-scoring Scrabble name in MLB history…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Thairo Estrada (San Francisco) stole 3 bases (on 5/1/2023 against Houston) 
Kevin Pillar (Atlanta) struck out 5 times (on 5/1/2023 against New York (NYM)) 
Chris Sale (Boston) struck out 11 batters (on 5/2/2023 against Toronto) 
Jason Vosler (Cincinnati) struck out 4 times (on 5/3/2023 against San Diego) 
Anaheim and St. Louis played 14.5 innings on5/3/2023
Yordan Alvarez (Toronto) struck out 4 times (on 5/4/2023 against Boston) 
Kevin Kiermaier (Toronto) struck out 4 times (on 5/4/2023 against Boston) 
Sean Murphy (Atlanta) struck out 4 times (on 5/5/2023 against Baltimore) 
Elvis Andrus (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 4 times (on 5/5/2023 against Cincinnati) 
Mitch Keller (Pittsburgh) struck out 11 batters (on 5/5/2023 against Toronto) 
Edmundo Sosa (Philadelphia)  had 5 hits (on 5/6/2023 against Boston) 
Jarred Kelenic (Los Angeles) hit 8 RBI (on 5/6/2023 against San Diego) 
Amed Rosario (Arizona) struck out 4 times (on 5/7/2023 against Washington) 
Dansby Swanson (Chicago (CC)) struck out 4 times (on 5/7/2023 against Miami) 
Triston Casas (Boston) struck out 4 times (on 5/7/2023 against Philadelphia) 
Trent Grisham (San Diego) struck out 4 times (on 5/7/2023 against Los Angeles) 
Kyle Higashioka (New York (NYY)) struck out 4 times (on 5/7/2023 against Tampa Bay)

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