Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

Rocco Baldelli is capable of playing at All-Star caliber levels but the Devil Rays have him leading off this season despite the fact he's hitting just .211 with an OBP of only .271. You just can't have that level of production out of your leadoff guy and expect to be successful. The Devil Rays really should consider swapping Baldelli (1st) and BJ Upton (5th) in the batting order.... Alfonso Soriano very quietly has a 20-game hitting streak going... Today is Barry Zito's 29th birthday. Not sure if he'll be able to enjoy it though after giving up 6 runs in last night's loss to the Rockies... Brad Penny had a pretty good week going 2-0 with 18 K's in two starts - giving up just one run in 13 plus innings. Penny has a MLB best ERA of 1.39... I don't think the Braves are missing Marcus Giles very much. Kelly (Ha ha - you have a girl's name) Johnson has been very solid starting at 2nd for Atlanta. Johnson has 3 more HR, 4 more RBI and 10 more runs scored than Giles does so far this year... The fact that Josh Beckett is going for his MLB leading 8th win today softens the realization that Hanley Ramirez is hitting .338 for the Marlins. Ramirez is now hitting an even .300 for his career... Alex Rodriguez went 0-4 last night. The Yankees should cut that guy... There are six teams with a starting catcher hitting better than .300 (Posada, Mauer, Martin, Martinez, Bengie Molina, and Estrada). These guys can all hit - so its no surprise that they are all hitting better than .300. What is surprising to me is the cliff Jason Kendall's batting average has fallen off. Kendall is a career .299 hitter but this year he's hitting a measly .183. If you have Kendall on a fantasy team - drop him. Drop him now... The Mets have been killing lefties this season - hitting .345 as a team against them...