Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

Count me as surprised that this late in the season Raul Ibanez of Seattle has more total bases (123) than David Ortiz (120)... Just a reminder to Cubs fans - Corey Patterson leads the AL in stolen bases with 26... On this day in 1990 - Nolan Ryan threw his record 6th no-hitter - beating the A's 5-0. Ryan had 14 strikeouts in the effort... Maybe one the most impressive things about Mike Lowell's start this season is how few times he's struck out. Lowell has just 18 K's in 211 AB. Compare that to Kevin Youkilis (47), Manny Ramirez (51) or David Ortiz (45). Or if you want to compare Lowell to someone not on the Red Sox - consider that A-Rod has 52 K's already this season... What's up with Jon Garland and his 6.19 ERA? Is this a case of a player getting complacent after getting a big contract (3-years $29 million) or was Garland just pitching over his head last year and this year the pendulum swinging in the opposite direction? I'm guessing that Garland leading the AL in HR allowed (19) can't be helpful... Probably the best indication that Curt Schilling is back to top form is the fact that he leads tha AL in K/BB ratio with 8.56 K's per walk allowed. Now if he can just cut down on those HR (13) - he'd be all set... Even though he lost yesterday - I give credit to Mike Mussina for having an impressive season so far. Maybe his most impressive stat is the fact that he's leading the AL in ERA on the road with a 2.16 mark. He's making it tough for the Yankees not to give him a big dollar extension when the season is over... There are 16 starters in the AL who have gotten at least 6 runs in support per 9/IP. Of those only Eric Bedard of the Orioles (5-5 and 5.84 ERA) and Joe Blanton of the A's (5-6 and 5.60 ERA) do not have winning records. What else do these guys want from their teammates? There was pretty high pre-season expectations for those two guys too... Chris Ray of Baltimore (15/15) and Mike Gonzalez of Pittsburgh (10/10) are now the only two full-time closers yet to blow a save situation this year... Just saying but Kevin Youkilis had a .440 OBP as a leadoff hitter while Coco Crisp has just a .338 OBP as leadoff. Not saying tha Coco shouldn't be the leadoff guy for the Red Sox but I am saying that Coco's career OBP is just .332 and maybe Youkilis leading off is something to consider.