Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

Is Jason Bay of the Pirates on a HR streak or what? He's got 7 home runs in his last 24 at bats... Last season the average ERA in the AL was 4.35 - this year its up to 4.76. I'm not sure what's causing the almost half-run bump... Believe it or not but the best road pitcher in the AL so far has been Mark Hendrickson of the Devil Rays with his 1.00 ERA in 27 road innings. It is doubly strange that the pitcher with the best home ERA would also be from Tampa Bay, Scott Kazmir and his home ERA of 1.29... Runs created is a stat created by Bill James that helps gauge the total overall contributions of a hitter - the formular used is:

[(H + BB + HBP - CS - GIDP) times (Total bases + .26[BB - IBB + HBP] + .52[SH + SF + SB])] divided by (AB + BB + HBP + SH+ SF)

Right now the top four offensive players in the AL according to runs created are Jim Thome (51), Travis Hafner (45), Derek Jeter (44) and Nick Swisher (44). It is interesting to note that Alex Rodriguez is not even in the top 20. In fact A-Rod would not be in the top 20 in either league... It is not surprising to see Albert Pujols lead the NL in total based with 128 but I admit that I am surprised that Alphonso Soriano is second with 120. I was wrong about Soriano not being able to adjust to RFK stadium after playing in the launching pad in Arlington these past few years... So far Brad Penny of the Dodgers has been the ace that many people thought he could be. Right now he's 5-1 with a 2.31 ERA. I hope that Paul DePodesta is feeling a little bit of vindication this morning... It is strange to see Livan Hernandez and Andy Pettitte lead the NL in earned runs allowed (each has 42 already). It was just 3 years ago that Hernandez only gave up 83 earned runs in the entire season and it was just last yar that Pettitte only allowed 66 earned runs for the entire season. Strange. I guess sometimes age doesn't creep in on little cats feet but instead pounces like a full-grown lion... To be fair to Livan Hernandez - he has been decent in his last 2 starts (2-0 with a 2.57 ERA)...