Erik Bedard was outstanding for the Mariners despite their 3-1 loss to the Yankees. Bedard pitched 7 very strong innings, allowing just 1 ER on 4 H and 1 BB. He also struck out 6 batters and could have very well pitched a shutout were it not for Seattle’s 4 errors on the night. Even as the shoddy defense behind him ruined his night, Bedard pitched stronger as the game progressed. I would say I’m far less concerned about Bedard’s hip troubles now that he’s had two solid starts, particularly with how well he pitched against a very good (albeit injury-plagued) offense.
Despite his 0-4 Friday night, which dropped his BA to .288, the play of Ian Kinsler in the first month-plus must be acknowledged. Kinsler lit up a lot of manager’s eyes last year when he went homer-crazy in April with 9. However, this season Kinsler is kicking the season off by filling up the sheet in all categories except homers. The young second baseman is hitting .288 with 2 HR, 14 RBI, 21 R and 7 SB. Kinsler has easily been one of the best 5-tool players in the league in April and while I expect his BA to drop in May, I don’t think he’s going to slow down on the base-paths. Kinsler’s BHIP is more than 70 points greater than his finishing mark of .233 last season but he did steal 23 bags in 2007. I would expect Kinsler to keep running in what is a pretty solid top-4 lineup for the Rangers. He and Michael Young will be the major run producers with Hamilton bringing them home. If Kinsler can show he’ll hit for .270-plus this year, he’ll be very valuable.
Jered Weaver had yet another rough start. Weaver was better in his last start than he has been all season as he finally allowed less hits than IP but he walked 4 batters. On Friday Weaver’s stat line looks good everywhere except for ER. He pitched 6 innings, allowing 4 ER on 6 H and 2 BB with 6 K’s. He’s finally starting to bring down his hit count but he is not lowering his ERA. Weaver has shown us flashes of pretty dominant stuff in his arsenal but he has yet to be consistent and prove to the Angels he was worth a No. 1 pick. Weaver is young and very talented but I think his main problem thus far in 2007 is simply mental. He is bettering his control but he loses a lot of hitters when he is ahead in the count (by giving up a hit, not walking them). Statistically Weaver shows a hodgepodge of factors that lead to his high ERA. He suffers from some bad luck as his BHIP is at .330 this year but he did finish with an also high .311 mark last season. His XERA is also 20 points higher, but that’s better than the 60-point gap he finished with in 2007. I believe Weaver is close to finding his groove but he’s going to need John Lackey to come back and pitch well to take some stress off of Weaver. Right now I think he feels like an ace and he’s not that kind of pitcher yet. Be patient with Weaver, he will get on track and when he does he will be very good.
Magglio Ordonez extended his hitting streak to 6 games with a 2-3 performance against the Twins, including his 6th HR of the year. Ordonez is coming on huge lately as he’s hit .414 in his last 11 games with 4 HR and 15 of his 22 RBI. Despite starting the first half of April a little slow he’s now starting to look far more like the guy who hit .363 in 2007. I’m a manager who likes to shake things up rather often with my rosters but I will say this - Mags is a guy I wouldn’t trade for anything less than a hugely unfair deal in my favor.
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