Quarter Season Review – American League

Written by Akshay on May 23, 2008 – 10:13 am

We’re about at that point in a season when one can look at the standings and say, “so these are the contenders.” And here they are:

In the AL East we have the mighty Red Sox, the only team with a better (by 1 win) home win-loss record than our own Braves. The surprising Rays and Orioles check in behind the Sox. The Rays have never had this good of a record this late in the season and it’s been a long time since the Orioles have been here. The Orioles have scored less runs than they’ve allowed, giving them the title of “this year’s 2007 Diamondbacks.” While they don’t have the same kind of ridiculous young talent that the D’backs had last year, they do have their fair share. Adam Jones, the stud center field prospect from Seattle, is hitting .260, a respectable average for a rookie. Luke Scott, from Houston in the Tejada trade, is hitting .271 with four homers and Nick Markakis, of Woodstock, is hitting .264 with eight homers. The Orioles, who traded ace Erik Bedard to Seattle in the offseason, still have a good crop of young pitchers. Second year pitcher Brian Burress leads the team in ERA with 3.47, a run and a half better than last season. Daniel Cabrera is 5-1 and Jeremy Guthrie also has a sub-4.00 ERA for the starters. George Sherrill, who also came over from Seattle, has been a pleasant surprise for the Orioles with 17 saves in 19 opportunities.

Moving on, in the AL Central may be the most even division. The Detroit Tigers (ESPN’s preseason darling) is sitting in last place, six games out of the lead. They probably could have used Jurrjens in their rotation this year. Overall, they are the only division where just one team has a winning record. The White Sox have played above expectations all year. Jermaine Dye and A.J. Pierzynski are both hitting over .300 and Carlos Quentin leads the AL with 12 homers. On the pitching side, both John Danks and Gavin Floyd (who the Phillies traded for nothing when they got Freddy Garcia) have a sub-3.00 ERA, Jose Contreras is back to form with a 5-3 record and Javier Vazquez is tied for the AL lead in strikeouts.

Finally, the AL West may be the one division where the best team is not necessarily leading the division. To this point, the Oakland A’s have scored nearly as many runs as the Angels (3.0 games ahead), but have given up 31 less runs. With Rich Harden coming off the DL recently, the rotation should get a boost assuming no other injuries hit the team. The A’s have average at best hitting, with their best everyday hitter (Bobby Crosby) sitting at .266. As a team they are fourth in the AL in runs scored, but 11th in hitting overall. The disparity is easy to spot though; the A’s are hitting .282 with runners in scoring position (4th in the AL). They are also winning games by getting ahead early and allowing the pitchers to take over. Oakland is second in team ERA (3.19) in the first six innings and their bullpen has a 3.25 ERA, also second in the league.

Here are my predictions for the rest of the season:

AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL Central: Cleveland Indians
AL West: LA Angels of Anaheim
AL Wildcard: Oakland Athletics

Stay tuned for the NL Review.


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