EHSPN: Fact or Fiction, Week 2

Pedro Gammo and Jayson Snark take a break from drinking beer all day to sit down to discuss some of the pressing issues facing the EHCC this week, and also drink beer. Lots and lots of beer.



Fact or Fiction, Week 2
Pedro Gammo, EHSPN
Jason Snark, EHSPN

1) Bridgewater is the Best Team in the League

Gammo: FICTION: Well, that's just not true. Why would you even ask me that? They beat a very young and rebuilding Golden staff who got one start, and not a good one, from Matsuzaka before he went north and they played them before the addition of Jonny Cueto. Bridgewater isn't even the best week 1 team in the league. Sure they won 9-1 this year, but their overall record in the past 4 years in week one 24-13-3. Vegas and Weymouth both trump that. Too much is being read into week one results. If you look into all the stats themselves, Las Vegas is the best team in the land, but they still finished with a score of 5-4-1 after week 1. Get back to me in 10 weeks and we'll see where we stand.

Snark: FICTION: Bridgewater sucks. Their pitching is all smoke and mirrors and their hitters are all old and overrated. The only thing they have going for them is that the team they played last week was even worse than them, making them look awesome, when they’re not. The fact is, Golden sucks; that doesn’t make every team that kicks their ass the best team in the league, it just makes Golden the worst. Period!


2) Golden is the Worst Team in the League

Snark: FICTION: Golden has a great young team. They’re rebuilding and looking good doing it. Thanks to the prospect shuttle from Canada to the Rockies, they’ve got some fantastic pieces that have already started delivering big-time results. Chris Young The Outfielder is destroying pitches and Johnny Cueto is the greatest Golden pitcher since Tim Lincecum. Once Clay Bucholz, Jon Lester, and Jason Bay start putting it together, watch out. Just because Bridgewater beat them badly in Week one, you can’t read too much into that. Bridgewater is the best team in the league; that doesn’t make Golden the worst. Golden is awesome. Period!

Gammo: FICTION: Again, week 1 hype is boggling my mind. We shouldn't be asking this question based on the first match up of the year, we should be asking this based on the numbers the teams put up thus far. If we really want to crown a "Worst Team of 2008" after week one let's forget who played who, who got lucky and who didn't, and let's look at the numbers. Golden has hit the second most amount of home runs in the league thus far. They are also in the middle of the past in RBI, SB, and team AVG. Their pitching staff, though didn't explode onto the scene this season, is young and building maturity, and the team has already matched their Save total from 2008 after just one week (1). They still aren't the worst team in the league. That honor goes to Tijunana, who ranked last or second to last in every pitching category except saves after week 1. They also finished last in 3 of the 5 offensive categories as well.


3) Winston-Salem will fall just short of the playoffs for the 3rd year in a row

Gammo: FACT: If week one stats are any indication, and they aren't (just look at the fact that Vegas, statistically, has the second best pitching staff in the league after week 1), the playoffs will consist of Vegas, Bridgewater, Rakeville, Weymouth, Quebec City, and Tokyo. Finishing 7th and 8th would be Peoria and Winston-Salem. This seems to be the trend for the Monsters. Unless they get a great choice to use their now #1 waiver priority on or make a big move before the all star break, I can't see them making that huge push needed to get back over the hump.

Snark: FICTION: This is the year Winston-Salem makes the leap from “also-rans” to “also-rans who lose in the first round of the playoffs”. Look at that team! They have ‘just a shade above mediocre’ written all over them! Sure, they have terrible players at every other position; but look at the OTHER positions! Great players! So what is Kevin Youkilis is a bad fantasy third baseman? Hanley Ramirez is at Short! So what if David Murphy is consistently in their starting lineup? So is Grady Sizemore! And on and on it goes! Zach Duke? Meh. Erik Bedard? Hooray! Pat Maholm? Boooooo! Rich Harden? Well, uh…can we say Erik Bedard again? Hooray!

The point is, Winston-Salem traditionally does just enough to almost make it. Thanks to their fantastic pickup of scorching hot phenom Edwin Jackson, look for them to finally get over the hump. Management is ready to play some meaningful ballgames in the postseason (for one week, then they’re ready to play some consolation matches. They’re just more comfortable with it).


4) The Peoria Cardinals are a legitimate playoff contender

Gammo: FACT: They need to fill a few holes to be a championship contender, but they could conceivably sneak into the playoffs with a well timed run and some breaks along the way. They play Winston-Salem in a shortened week 15 match-up and that could be the biggest game of the season as far as determining the bottom half of the playoff is concerned. If they can add one more quality arm to that rotation without giving up too much they should be able to pick up a few more wins down the stretch. I don't think they'll make it however. The teams above them are just a bit too strong to pass this season. They will contend but fall just short, but will definitely not be fighting for that top pick in the 2009 draft.

Snark: FICTION: They’re not quite a playoff contender just yet, but they don’t suck anymore. The off-season acquisition of Mark Teixeira gives them a big-time power bat in the middle of the order, which should nicely compliment a balanced outfield of 2008 draftees Kosuke Fukodome and Vernon Wells. With the continued maturation of future OF All-Stars Matt Kemp and Adam Jones, the Peoria offense is suddenly pretty intimidating.

Of course, to load up that offense, they took a big hit to their pitching. Losing Cole Hamels and Chris Young The Pitcher hurt their staff quite a bit, and while the addition of Shaun Marcum and Chad Billingsley were savvy moves, it’s clear pitching will likely be the team’s Achilles heel all year long; and we all remember what happened to Achilles—that’s right. He missed the playoffs too.



5) Quebec City has the best pitching staff in the league

Gammo: FACT: The numbers don’t lie in this case. After week 1 the Piglets were tops in strikeouts and ERA, while finishing second in Wins and WHIP. There's no reason to suspect that, barring 3 or 4 injuries, this rotation can't hold those numbers all season. Now, if only the pitching staff could help out their offense, who finished week one as the 3rd worst offense in the league, they'd be the top team to beat.

Snark: FICTION: It’s still Rakeville until somebody proves otherwise. While the Piglet staff is by far the most improved in the league, and while it’s true that off-season defections hurt Rakeville’s staff, it’s likely that the continued maturation of youngsters like Felix Hernandez and Phillip Hughes should offset those losses. Too bad Jack Reed couldn’t fetch his ‘King’s Ransom’ for Kelvim Escobar in the offseason before his arm was hit with toxic waste. You hate to see that.

Pedro Gammo and Jayson Snark write a column every week discussing issues related to the EHCC, and also their deepest, darkest fears. Gammo is afraid of orange highlighters.

Read more!

EhSPN: History In The Making

Going into Week 17, EHCC Historian Barry Larkin is hard at work trying to figure out what records will be broken by the end of the season. This is all he does with his life after retiring from the EHCC as a player, so he gets a little excited when he sees potential for such a record breaking season. Here's a look at some records that are on pace to being broken at the end of the 2007 regular season.


History In The Making
By Pedro Gammo, EhSPN

Stolen Bases (Season)
Current Record: 135 set by Las Vegas in 2006
Future Record: 164 set by Tijuana in 2007

Three teams are in line to not only break, but demolish the mark set by the Doggs in '06, including Winston-Salem, Tijuana, and the '07 Doggs. Each are on pace to steal around 160 bases by the end of the regular season. The Doggs may have lost a step by sending away Ichiro to the Piglets last week, but they'll always have a shot at the record with Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Alfonso Soriano on their staff, not to mention the recent addition of Corey Patterson who should be used as their 4th outfielder with the recent acquisition of home run threat Adam Dunn. The Hispanics have 6 players with double digit steals in the past month, and has outscored opponents 116-66 in the category this season thus far. The Green Monsters are at the top of the SB leader board right now, but have struggled in the category in the last month, netting double digit steals from only 2 players, and single digit steals from just 5 other players.

Wins (Season)
Current Record: 117 set by Bridegwater in 2006
Future Record: 120 set by Rakeville in 2007

This one was a close call, as both Bridgewater and Weymouth are on pace to barely break last year's record set by the Weasels. I would have said that the Weasels had a shot of keeping their name on the record if former ace Chris Carpenter was going to come back this season, but with the announcement of his future Tommy John surgery, that's not an option. Weymouth's starters just have a better offense behind them to help them gain the wins they need to set the record. The thing that gives Rakeville the overall edge to take the record away from Bridgewater is not only quality, but overall quantity of starters in their rotation. They currently have 10 starters not on the team's DL, plus Pedro Martinez, AJ Burnet, and Randy Johnson scheduled to make a comeback in the coming month. If Rakeville doesn't break the record, no one will.

Strikeouts (Season)
Current Record: 1398 set by Rakeville in 2006
Future Record: 1600 set by Rakeville in 2007

This is insane. The Rockets are scheduled to break their own record in strike-outs in a season by the end of Week 20. The team averages more than 72 strikeouts per week and is on pace to have 1,596 K's by the end of the regular season. This again is not only attributed to quality of their rotation, but the quantity as well. Just imagine if they starts churning one or two spots in their rotation.

ERA (Season)
Current Record: 3.87 set by Las Vegas in 2006
Future Record: 3.72 set by Weymouth in 2007

Weymouth seems to have decided to stick with quality over quantity when it comes to their rotation. This has helped them keep a 3.59 ERA overall thus far this season. I can't see that staying put, but I can see them holding onto a sub 3.8 ERA come season's end. Johan Santana, Jeremy Bonderman, Carlos Zambrano, and Jered Weaver each have a an ERA no higher than 3.00, not to mention closers Joe Nathan and JJ Putz have kept a combined ERA of 0.651 over the course of the last month (27.2 IP). They have the talent to take another record as their own.

Total Losses (Season)
Current Record: 148 set by Hudson in 2003
Future Record: 149 set by Santa Dominga in 2007

The one record no one wants to break. The White Devils are only on pace to hit the 144 loss mark, but I feel they have a good shot at getting the extra 5 losses to put them over the top, especially with their upcoming schedule. To end the season the Devils are facing off against Tijuana, Winston-Salem, Bridgewater, Rakeville, Weymouth, and Peoria. They currently are averaging 6.5 losses per week, but can easily rack up more than that against the heart of their remaining schedule. With 6 losses expected in the final 6 weeks, and scores of 7-3, 6-3, 8-2, 9-1, 8-1, and 6-2 well within their range, the Devils should be able to squeak by the contracted Hudson Cortesticulastics for a new season-loss record. Congratulations in advance.

Read more!

EHSPN Radio

Read more!