Thoughts, Ramblings, Useless information and Musings for Tuesday, May 22, 2007
If there are 99 luftballons and 88 lines about 44 women, 50 ways to leave your lover and n-n-n-n-nineteen ... uh, I don't know, I don't remember anything about that song except that he stutters when he says that number a lot … I am sure there are 42 things you probably don't know.
1. It's the answer to life, the universe and everything. That is why I chose that number.
2. That Rafael Furcal is now batting second. Juan Pierre is leading off. It might mean few more RBIs for Furcal, as he has been hitting, just not stealing.
3. That Kaz Matsui came off the DL yesterday. Since joining the Colorado Rockies, he is hitting .353. He has five steals in 10 games this season. He is available in way too many leagues.
4. That I didn't write a TRUM yesterday because my e-mail TRUM got posted late and I really liked that one, so I wanted it to stay up for a while. But I did the research for it yesterday, so some of the things in today's TRUM come from reactions to Sunday's games. That's why I know I can fill 42 of these things, especially with cheapie ones like this.
5. That Erik Bedard now has an ERA of 2.00 for the month of May, and that he leads MLB in strikeouts with 75 in 61 innings.
6. That Sergio Mitre has a 2.25 ERA. He is 2-2 after giving up only five hits in seven innings on Sunday. He's available in all mixed leagues.
7. That tonight (Tuesday) is "American Idol," "Dancing with the Stars" and the NBA draft lottery. I am watching the NBA draft lottery, but make no mistake, it was a close call. I'll say Blake, Joey and, what the heck, Atlanta.
8. That Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is hitting .368 over his last seven games.
9. That very quietly, Jason Varitek is hitting .333 with a home run and 10 RBIs in May. I liked him in the preseason, you'll remember. In other words, it's legit.
10. That Hanley Ramirez is batting third these days for the Marlins. If he starts getting RBIs to go with those steals, you know what he is? Miguel Tejada with speed.
11. That over his last seven games, Ichiro Suzuki has eight steals and is hitting .516. Are we done complaining about him yet?
12. That a guy in my chat Monday afternoon said the name of his baseball team was Garko Milicic. That's one of the best names I've ever heard, along with The Passion of the Chris and Giles Gone Wild.
13. That Tony Gwynn Jr., mentioned here and elsewhere on this site, continues to get playing time, continues to hit and went 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs Monday night.
14. That under the category of just-when-you-think-it-can't-get-worse, Sunday night, during the Rangers' first 14-run game, when everyone was crushing the ball, Michael Young went 0-for-6 and left five men on base.
15. That people finally have stopped complaining about Mark Teixeira and David Wright. Can we get off Paul Konerko's back? He goes 3-for-5 Monday night with three runs scored.
16. That the second start by Jesse Litsch, where he gave up four earned runs in four innings, is why I never trust pitchers that don't strike out a lot of guys.
17. That Justin Germano is now 2-0 with an ERA of 0.47. He has five strikeouts in 19 innings. His K/9 is under three. See No. 16.
18. That there is something there with Cha Seung Baek. Yes, he gave up five earned runs in just over six innings Monday. But he also struck out six and walked one. His K/9 is 6.00. His K/BB is 3.00. So he needs to have better command and keep the ball in the park a bit more, but there is something there. He's also much better at home. This start was on the road. Keep an eye on him.
19. That Hideki Matsui left seven men on base. So did Kevin Kouzmanoff. I'm angrier at Godzilla.
20. That I am worried about Felix Hernandez. Looking at the line from his last start, you probably see nine strikeouts in five innings. I see eight hits, three walks, a hit batter and two wild pitches. It took him 103 pitches and 12 baserunners to get through five. He still is not healthy.
21. That I had to call my ex-wife's office the other day, and her assistant said "who's calling please?" And I had never talked to this assistant before. So I paused and said "Tell her Matthew Berry is on the phone." That was really weird.
22. That I am not concerned about Tim Hudson. He never pitches well against the Red Sox (career ERA of 6.22 versus Boston). Buy low.
23. That Randy Winn is hitting .382 in May.
24. That of the guys with at least 70 at-bats in May, your batting average leaders for the month are Furcal (.405), Carlos Lee (.400), Kevin Youkilis (.400), Mark Teixeira (.392), Derek Jeter (.390) and then Winn.
25. That flavor-of-the-day Carlos Marmol had a 48/12 K/BB in 41 innings at Triple-A this year before being recalled. Even if he doesn't get the closer gig, he is worth owning.
26. That I have a total girly dog. She's a 14-pound terrier mutt, a rescue and my best friend. She is super cute and as unmanly as you get. Her name is Macy.
27. That Joe Borowski owners should note that while he was nailing down the save Monday night, Rafael Betancourt needed nine pitches (seven for strikes) to retire four batters. That's pretty good, kids. His ERA is 2.16.
28. That Bill Bray pitched a scoreless inning in the minor leagues the other day. Remember, he was the centerpiece of the Felipe Lopez / Austin Kearns trade. He will help in leagues where middle guys help you, and he could close at some point.
29. That a little while ago, I was at a bar on a Saturday night and a very pretty girl came up to me and said "Hey, I've got a question for you." I said "What's that?" She said "Who's the number one fantasy player?" I've been recognized in person before, but never by an attractive member of the opposite sex. First (and only) time I've managed to find companionship due to my celebrity. I use both terms very loosely, but I'm not gonna lie. It was pretty cool.
30. That Josh Hamilton just went on the DL while I was writing this. Norris Hopper just became pick-up worthy in deep, deep NL-only leagues.
31. That I really like Mark Reynolds in Arizona. He's a typical all-hit, no-field guy, but so far they're keeping him in the lineup. He was hitting .306 in the minors before being recalled, and he's starting every day for the Diamondbacks. He's hitting .381 in his first six games.
32. That I often say that I am usually right about 75 percent of the time. But when I am wrong, I am fantastically wrong. Yesterday, on the "Fantasy Focus" show we do here on ESPN.com, my "Fantasy Forward" plays for last night were Joe Blanton at the White Sox (wrong), Tim Wakefield against the struggling Yankees (wrong). And I advised you to bench Noah Lowry against an Astros team that does not hit lefties well (three times I am wrong). Wow, I don't think I could be that wrong if I actually tried.
33. That I've started doing these "Fantasy First Take" segments every morning on the ESPN2 show "First Take." It's the new show that took the place of "Cold Pizza."
34. That today, I was talking about strikeout pitchers off of Jay Crawford talking about C.C. Sabathia. I wanted to say "C.C. Sabathia? I call him K.K. Sabathia, because he's fourth in the majors in strikeouts," but I chickened out. Too cheesy.
35. That I did get a "Way-Rod" reference in there, so all is not lost. You know Wandy Rodriguez has a 1.19 WHIP, don't you?
36. That Boof Bonser has 56 strikeouts in 50 innings pitched. His control is terrible, so he has a 1.44 WHIP, but still. If you need K's, I bet he's available in a lot of mixed leagues.
37. That when I am at work, I don't go to the restroom on my floor. I seriously walk or take the elevator to another floor.
38. That with his eight-strikeout performance last night, Jose Contreras now has an ERA of 1.93 and 24 strikeouts in 28 innings in four May games.
39. That the Giambi stat I used on "First Take" today was that over the last three years, he has hit fewer home runs in May than any other month. From 2004-2006, he has hit 10 in May, 14 in June and 20 in July. Good buy-low, or if you own him, hang tough. He's getting there, starting with his jack Monday night.
40. That I can't believe baby Shiloh was no accident. And that I actually know what that means.
41. That last week I had dinner in an upscale restaurant in upstate New York, and President Clinton was in there as well, having dinner with a friend. The place started emptying out, and after a while, my buddy and I decided, "why not" and went over to say hi. And he waved us over and we ended up talking to him for 15 minutes. He could not have been nicer. It was as surreal a moment as I've ever had. Talking politics and theory with the former leader of the free world. He's a big ESPN fan, by the way.
42. That I said to my friend John today that I like my chances to win in the two leagues we are in together. I'm currently in fourth in one of them and third in the other. He says he hates my team and I've got no shot. We'll see.
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Matthew Berry
