When Kerry’s good friend Ron Santo passed away, it no doubt hit Kerry (while attending the services), what it was like to be a Chicago Cub. Ron Santo loved the Cubs more than anyone possibly could. He’s the definition of being a Cub. Just like Jeter is the definition of being a Yankee. Kerry followed his heart all the way back to Chicago, and that’s where he belongs. As much as I want to see Kerry win, seeing him back in the blue pin strides is awesome to see. I’m extremely proud to be a Cub fan right now…and I don’t get to say that often enough. Kerry Wood is a class act on and off the field, and he should serve as the clubhouse leader for all the new guys coming through the ranks. He’ll be able to teach them how to act like a true professional, and I for one cannot wait until we see Kerry run to the mound from the bullpen with people screaming. Absolutely awesome.

“The ultimate battle for the Lombardi Trophy may be a barn burner, but that isn’t always the case on the scoreboard. When Super Bowl 2011 rears its long awaited head to the betting public, everyone should have their eyes on where the oddsmakers key the total points scored for the game.

Since 2000 the Super Bowl has averaged a total of 51.5 points and has hit the UNDER 64-percent of the time. When Super Bowl 2011 posts its lines, the sharps will likely lean towards the UNDER yet again, but that doesn’t mean this won’t be an exciting game.”

Stanton has been one of baseball’s best prospects this year. He’s been known for his 500 foot monster homers in AA, and frankly it was about time they brought him up to dominate the way he did in the minors. He should be able to protect Hanley and be the hitter they need in the middle. Stanton was an outstanding football and basketball player in California and has only been playing serious baseball for a couple years. That makes this 20 year old one of the hottest commodities in recent memory in terms of hype, status, and power. Hopefully he’ll be able to show the world why he was named one of baseball’s brightest future stars.

Although he was slightly cold to behin the season, Alfonso has been beyond “red-hot” at the plate. Not only did he just belt 2 home-runs against the D-backs this last Sunday, but he has brought his batting average up to .325 accompanied with an astonishing 1.058 OPS in the young season.

Soriano has been a very consistent and smart base-stealer while on the Cubs, although in fewer numbers in his first 2 years on the team. He would be lucky to get much more than double-digit thefts in 2010, but can still add some value to his Cubs and to some fantasy-teams.

He’s quite likely not going to keep up his rate of home-runs and finish with 40, but he most certainly has the ability to get you 25-30 pretty safely, which is pretty cheap power. His average draft position this past season was a middling pick 137, on ESPN.com’s draft boards. Although he may not work his way to first-round value again, he could very likely give you 4th round production from a 13th round pick.
Take that, all you Fonsie-haters. I’m not a big fan of Smilin’ Sori, and I completely loathe his contract, but his production is paramount to the Cubs having ANY chance for the playoffs. His success at the plate could also be apart of many Fantasy Baseball teams championships, so value him in your leagues.

Dan Haren

Haren is one of the best starting pitchers in the National League, and despite a good win/loss record, which is useless, anyway, he has struggled somewhat in this short season. His first start of the year was fantastic, going 7 innings of 3 hit baseball with no walks, 4 K’s and 1 earned run. His next start wasn’t so great. 6.2 IP, 9 hits, 2 BB’s, 9 Ks, and 5 earned runs. His 3rd start was once again, very good, giving up just 2 earned runs over 6.1 innings.

His 4th start was brutal, going 6 innings against the Cardinals who touched Haren up for 7 earned runs over 9 hits and 2 BB’s. This start, from April 2o and Haren’s first start from April 5 are the ones I’ll be focusing on here.

Four Seam Fastball

April 5

April 20

These two graphs show the release points of Haren’s four seam fastball for the two starts. As you can see, they are fairly tightly grouped, which is a good thing. The difference is that in his April 20 start, he seemed to shift his release point about 6 inches to the right (catcher’s perspective). This shift appears to have negatively affected his ability to locate his four seamer:

April 5

April 20

Haren pounded the strike zone with his four seamer on opening day, but on the 20th, he was all over the place.

Cut Fastball

April 5

April 20

Again, the difference in release points for Haren’s cutter on the 5th versus Haren’s cutter on the 20th is that he shifted to the right. It wasn’t quite as dramatic as his four seamer, but the difference had the same effect on his location.

April 5

April 20

Once again, Haren’s change in release point resulted in some struggles with locating his cutter. Same story with his split finger fastball, as well. This shows just how important release point is for pitchers to be effective. Those that repeat their release the same way more often are more likely to be successful.

This is going to be a weekly series, so keep an eye out for more. Next week I’ll focus on Josh Beckett, who has had a rough go of it so far this season.

Lance Berkman’s line drive smashed into the head of the veteran right-hander, striking him just below the right ear. Jakubauskas suffered contusions and a concussion.

Chris hopes to return to pitching in the next two-to-three weeks. He was making his first start in the majors of the year, having been called up only the day before.

He had allowed two runs through two thirds of an inning when struck.

A big reason is the alarming climb in strikeouts. The team has gone down on strikes 146 times in 637 at-bats. The strikeout total ranks fifth-to-last in the league.

Players such as Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols are striking out at unprecedented rates.

While Molina’s 8 k’s in 62 at-bats is good, it is still an increase for a player who has been the toughest strikeout in the majors the past two seasons.

Pujols has gone down an alarming 14 times in his first 73 at-bats. Colby Rasmus?

17 in 51.

It is a trend that needs to end for the Cards. They need to put the ball in play to advance runners and put the pressure on the opposing pitching, something they were excellent at in years past.

Aside from a double play, nothing kills an inning more effectively than a strikeout.

And if the Cardinals keep swinging and missing at this rate it truly will be home run or bust in St. Louis.

Chris Carpenter has the next highest ERA of 3.60. The team as a whole has a remarkable 2.72 mark.

Lohse sits at 7.31. He has not been the victim of bad breaks. In his last start against the Brewers he gave up hard hit after hard hit.

He says his stuff has been okay, his location is okay, so whats the deal?

His early-season walk totals would show that his location is not necessarily the best. 7 in 16 innings. From someone who walked 85 in his last 317.2 innings of work this is not acceptable.

Against Milwaukee he consistently fell behind in the count and was hit hard when forced the throw fastballs.

Lohse has made three starts, two poor, one good. The key to his success in his good start? Zero walks allowed.

It allowed the righty to throw a season-high seven innings allow just two runs.

Quite simply put, Lohse needs to find his location. Or he will be bumped to the 5th starter spot in favor of Jamie Garcia.

Ellsbury had this to say:

“Yeah, I would say so, but you never know.” “I’m pretty optimistic. I’m never going to say no on anything. [It's] just kind of what I told you before. I can’t really predict.”

In other Red Sox news, Dice-K has pushed Tim Wakefield out of the rotation as the fifth starter. Wakefield will go to the bullpen for the first time since 2004. Wakefield is 43 years old and struggling a bit to start the season.

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There have only been 22 triple plays in all of the Yankees long and storied history. Nick Johnson the designated hitter for the Bombers got a rare start at first base, and was a part of the historic play.

Johnson had this to say:

“They got rid of it pretty quick, Alex got rid of it, Robbie got rid of it.” “It was pretty cool to be a part of. A lot of things have to go right, but as soon as Alex touched third and threw to second, it was a good exchange and I knew it could happen.”

The Yankees play tonight at Anaheim where we will see a little more of an ALCS rematch.

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24-year old rookie Sean Rodriguez was the talk of spring training, but has failed to deliver much thus far. He hit 6 home-runs, 17 RBI’s, and a .460 batting average in the spring. So far he was sitting at a .160 batting average, but last night he went 3-4 with a double, home-run, and four RBI’s. The Rays hope that this is his breakout game, and that he will hit like he did in spring training very soon.

Joe Maddon had this to say:

“This guy’s got a nice track record of success.” “Most of it’s at Triple-A, but if you watch him and you saw him during Spring Training, his ability’s going to translate to the big leagues. I’ll say it again, it’s all about confidence. Once he gains his confidence here, he is going to play a lot like what you saw during Spring Training.”

The team has James Shields against Jake Peavy tonight in Chicago in a game that should be a tough rubber-game from the three game set in Chicago. First pitch is scheduled for 8:10 PM Eastern.

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