Leadoff Rankings: Week 8

Previous Rankings: Week 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The eighth weekend of the 2011 season has come and gone, and we're changing up the way we do our rankings. For the first time, our Leadoff Rankings have been determined not by my all-knowing power, but by the use of a formula. Similar to what we did on Thursday with our Rotation Rankings, we set all the statistics relative to league average, and then weighted each statistic to mean more or less than others (OBP means more than slugging percentage, for example). This gives us an overall average of 1.000, with lower scores correlating to above-average performance. More a fan of pitching? Check out our Rotation Rankings, published every Thursday, where we rank each team by the performance of their starting pitchers. The rankings are based on season performance (90%), with a small bias towards recent performance. The stats come from each team's first and second batters every game, regardless of the name on the back of the jersey. To see how things turned out this week, hit the jump!

Phil Jackson: Really Great or Really Lucky?

Legendary coach Vince Lombardi once stated that “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” Although Charlie Sheen would agree and most sports are predicated on this adage, it appears that in the art of coaching even those with the most impressive of track  records may be met with forceful  skepticism  that their merits do not warrant an

anointment of greatness. Phil Jackson, the “Zen Master” himself, has developed an impeccable resume of winning throughout his twenty years as a head coach for the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers. Winning eleven championships during this two decade time period, this means that Jackson has won an NBA Title in an incredible fifty-five percent of the seasons that he has been a head coach. To put this in perspective, when coaching an NBA team, Phil Jackson is roughly 10 percent more likely to win a championship that year than Ben Wallace is to make a free throw. Despite this unparalleled success, Jackson (right) has not gone without his fair share of criticism. Blessed with the commonly accepted (although Bill Russell should be) greatest player of all-time for his first six-pack of championships, Jackson followed up this first act by fortuitously stumbling upon two arguably top ten players of all-time enabling him to win five more rings and reach his currently dauntingly impressive eleven championship rings. There is no doubt that this string of luck is quite possibly the greatest in all of the history of coaching. But how great of a coach was Jackson? Hit the jump to take a look.

The Great Debate: 5/19

Welcome to the May 19th edition of the Great Debate. Today, Andrew Leff and Jake Adams discuss some of the most interesting sports topics of the day. Today, we talk about the never-ending NFL lockout, the recent Heat-Bulls contest, a frustrating start from the NL East favorites, and a surprising comeback in the NL Central. Hit the jump for the discussion!

Stat Line of the Day: May 19th

J. Peavy (CHW): CG, SO, 3 H, 0 BB, 8 K vs. Indians
C. Morton (PIT): CG, SO, 5 H, 2 BB, 5 K vs. Reds
P. Coke (DET): 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K vs. Red Sox
C. Buchholz (BOS): 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K vs. Tigers
J. Niese (NYM): 7 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K vs. Nationals
B. Colon (NYY): 8 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K vs. Orioles
Z. Britton (BAL): 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R (0 ER), 3 BB, 4 K vs. Yankees
J. Vargas (SEA): 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K vs. Angels

Last night was one of the most impressive nights of pitching I've ever witnessed in over 20 years as an avid baseball fan.  Eight out of 30 starting pitchers did not allow a single earned run in their appearance while throwing at least seven innings. Two pitchers, Jake Peavy (see right) and Charlie Morton threw complete-game shutouts for their squads, allowing a total of of 10 baserunners in 18 innings.  Both shutouts were incredibly impressive given the opponents each pitcher faced.  Morton shut down the Reds at Great American Ballpark, the fourth-best hitters park in the baseball.  Peavy was able to hold Cleveland to only three hits and no runs, despite the Tribe leading the American League in runs scored.  In Boston, two hurlers threw dominant outings for their teams.  Phil Coke of the Tigers and Clay Buchholz of the BoSox each threw seven shutout innings. Because both starters were so impressive in this contest, neither pitcher featured in the decision. The same could be said of hard-luck ND-er Bartolo Colon. The former Cy Young Award winner threw eight shutout innings--with seven strikeouts and only three hits--for the Yankees, but Mariano Rivera blew the save and lost the W for Colon.  In that game, Zach Britton nearly matched Colon, throwing seven innings for the struggling O's while giving up only one unearned run. Of the eight pitchers in today's column, Britton was the only one to give up a run, earned or unearned. Perhaps not coincidentally, he also is the only one of those hurlers to allow more than two walks. He too, like Colon, did not get a win due to bullpen problems in the 15-inning marathon. Some pitchers did get a W out of their strong performances, though. Jon Niese threw seven shutout innings in the torrential rain (see right) last night at Citi Field, coming out on the long end of a 3-0 Mets victory.  By the same token, Jason Vargas got his third win of the season by throwing seven shutout innings, while striking out a season-high nine batters.  He even outpitched the Angels' Jered Weaver, he of the 2.45 ERA.  All in all, that's eight different pitchers who threw seven or more dominating innings on Wednesday night.  Some (Peavy, Colon) already have Cy Young's under their belt.  Others (Buchholz, Britton, Niese) are young up-and-comers whose fans have been dreaming about starts like these for some time.  Still others (Coke, Morton, Vargas) are looking to finally get their careers moving in a positive direction.  Regardless of their career history or potential career future, all eight starting pitchers gave us a truly fun night of baseball to watch on May 18th.

Before ending this column, I'd like to make note (and maybe give an Honorable Mention or something) to the two pitchers who squared off in Philadelphia last night.  Cole Hamels of the Phillies and Jorge De La Rosa of the Rockies each gave up only one earned run in eight innings of work.  That's an impressive showing from these two pitchers in the eight-best hitters park in the MLB.  Though they did each allow a run, which is why I did not include them with the eight starters above, Hamels and De La Rosa were both spectacular for their teams.  De La Rosa threw a complete game for Colorado, but he gave up an unearned run that proved to be the difference in the game.  I wouldn't put these two starters on the same level as Peavy, Morton, & Co. were last night, but they did give fans a nice pitchers duel to watch in Philadelphia.

NBA Playoffs: A Look Ahead (Eastern Conference Edition)

Yesterday I wrote a column looking at the NBA Western Conference to see what the Thunder and Mavericks had to do to win the NBA Championship--and what could trip them up along the way.  The verdict, in short, was that the Thunder aren't ready to be championship contenders, while the Mavericks can win if they play up to their potential.  Vegas oddsmakers thought that the Mavericks (+250) were about twice as likely as the Thunder (+500) to win it all, and the analysis yesterday pretty much agreed.  Today, we're going to turn to the Eastern Conference and analyze the chances of the Heat and Bulls each winning the Title.  The series between NBA MVP Derrick Rose and Miami's Big 3 (see right) must have the NBA salivating.  It's a matchup of two of the most hyped teams that have some of the most hyped players in the Association.  But who is going to win this series?  And once they advance to the Finals, can that team win the Championship?  Can either team win it?  D-Rose or D-Wade?  Slow and soft Chris Bosh or slow and soft Carlos Boozer?  Can anyone stop LeBron? Hit the jump to find out.

NBA Playoffs: A Look Ahead (Western Conference Edition)

Since the NBA playoffs started, all we've been doing here at SportStatistics is looking backwards. We've looked at some great/awful individual lines and stats from the previous day's action, and we've  done recaps of almost every postseason game played thus far in 2011. What we haven't done yet, though, is look ahead to the rest of the postseason and assess what is likely to come. Since we're roughly half way through the NBA postseason, I figured now would be a good time to step back from dissecting each individual game in incredible detail and instead look at what is likely to transpire in the Conference Finals and in the NBA Finals. Will Dirk (see right) finally get that first ring?  Can D-Rose be NBA MVP and Finals MVP?  Will the Evil Empire of South Beach continue to make me unhappy? And what about the NBA's humblest superstar, Kevin Durant?  Hit the jump to find out.

The Great Debate: 5/16

Welcome to the May 16th edition of the Great Debate. Today, Andrew Leff and I discuss some of the most interesting sports topics of the day. Today, we talk about Phoenix Suns President Rick Welts' startling revelation, the fate of the two NBA Playoff games last night, and whether one MLB squad of aging stars has finally been shown the door. Hit the jump for the discussion!

Leadoff Rankings: Week 7

Previous Rankings: Week 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

The seventh weekend of the 2011 season has come and gone, and we're changing up the way we do our rankings. For the first time, our Leadoff Rankings have been determined not by my all-knowing power, but by the use of a formula. Similar to what we did on Thursday with our Rotation Rankings, we set all the statistics relative to league average, and then weighted each statistic to mean more or less than others (OBP means more than slugging percentage, for example). This gives us an overall average of 1.000, with lower scores correlating to above-average performance. More a fan of pitching? Check out our Rotation Rankings, published every Thursday, where we rank each team by the performance of their starting pitchers. The rankings are based on season performance (90%), with a small bias towards recent performance. The stats come from each team's first and second batters every game, regardless of the name on the back of the jersey. To see how things turned out this week, hit the jump!

NBA Playoffs Second Round: Night Nine

Eastern Conference

Atlanta Hawks (5) @ Chicago Bulls (1)

5/2: Game One--Hawks 103, BULLS 95 (1-0, Atlanta)

5/4: Game Two--BULLS 86, Hawks 73 (1-1, Tie)

5/6: Game Three--Bulls 99, HAWKS 82 (2-1, Chicago)

5/8: Game Four--HAWKS 100, Bulls 88 (2-2, Tie)

5/10: Game Five-- BULLS 95, Hawks 83 (3-2, Chicago)

Spoiler Alert: he misses.

Despite an 11-point Chicago advantage after the first quarter, the Hawks crawled back into Game Five last night and cut the Bulls lead to two points heading into the fourth quarter.  That final period was never really close, though, as there was too much Derrick Rose for the Hawks to handle.  He hit outside shots, he hit inside shots, and he drove to the basket.  All in all, D-Rose scored 11 of his game-high 33 points in the fourth, as the Bulls won this game going away. Chicago was helped out by some horific outside shooting on the part of the Hawks. They went 1-12 (8.3%) from downtown, including 1-9 from Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford. Those guys were first and second on the team in three-pointers made during the regular season (if you exclude the departed Mike Bibby), but they couldn't hit the backside of a barn from behind the arc last night.  Though Johnson managed to have a serviceable game for himself (15 points, 40% shooting), Crawford stunk it up in Game Five.  He went 1-9 from the field, didn't get to the free throw line once (despite attempting 4.7 per game in the post season before last night), and ended up with only two points.  Crawford's 17.7 points per game in the playoffs this season had been a huge boost to the Hawks--including a game-winner against the Magic.  However, he kept throwing up bricks last night, and the Bulls took the surprisingly easy win.

NBA Playoffs Second Round: Weekend Recap

Though four fan-bases might disagree with me, I thought we got a really fun weekend of NBA playoff action the last two days. Three teams pulled off upsets, including one by mounting a 13-point comeback in the fourth quarter only to win in overtime. Another upset tied the series at two games apiece, while the third was the product of NBA-record shooting performances. There were ejections and rejections and three-pointers galore. Hit the jump to read all about it.

Leadoff Rankings: Week 6

Previous Rankings: Week 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

The sixth weekend of the 2011 season has come and gone, and the Leadoff Rankings are starting to settle out. The division leaders are all in the top-10 (along with two last-place teams), while the bottom 10 is filled with truly offensively challenged clubs. More a fan of pitching? Check out our Rotation Rankings, published every Thursday, where we rank each team by the performance of their starting pitchers. The rankings are based on season performance, with a small bias towards recent performance. The stats come from each team's first and second batters every game, regardless of the name on the back of the jersey. To see how things turned out this week, hit the jump!

NBA Playoffs Second Round: Night Five

Eastern Conference

Atlanta Hawks (5) @ Chicago Bulls (1)

5/2: Game One--Hawks 103, BULLS 95 (1-0, Atlanta)

5/4: Game Two--BULLS 86, Hawks 73 (1-1, Tie)

5/6: Game Three--Bulls 99, HAWKS 82 (2-1, Chicago)

Joakim Noah was a beast on the boards
in Game Three in Atlanta

Well, the Bulls don't look so vulnerable anymore.  I've had to eat a slice of humble pie over the last few days because, after I wrote that the Bulls did not look long for the playoffs, they've run off two straight double-digit victories over the Hawks. Last night's win was the most impressive because it came in Atlanta, where the Hawks had not yet lost in the postseason.  Chicago was in control the whole way in this one, leading by 13 at halftime and 17 after three quarters. Game Three really was the Derrick Rose show, as the youngest-ever NBA MVP dropped a career-high 44 points on the unsuspecting Hawks. His 59.3% shooting from the field (16-27) and 4-7 performance from downtown was a sharp departure from the first two games of the series, in which D-Rose shot a combined 21-54 (38.9%) on field goals and 3-15 (20%) on three's.  Rose's career high could not have come at a better time, because now the Bulls have home court advantage back and can advance to the Eastern Conference Finals just by holding serve at the United Center.  If Chicago continues to play the way they did last night, they are likely to do just that.  Not only did Rose live up to his MVP award, but his teammates were fantastic as well.  The Bulls shot 10-20 (50%) from downtown last night, and they outrebounded the Hawks 47-34.  Joakim Noah was particularly dominant in the paint, pulling down 15 rebounds (eight offensive) and blocking five Atlanta shots.  Despite another subpar performance from Carlos Boozer (six points, six rebounds), the Bulls were helped by Taj Gibson stepping up with 13 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.  This was a complete effort from the East's top seed, as they dominated every phase of the game and looked like the team that played to the NBA's best record during the regular season.

Western Conference

Dallas Mavericks (3) @ Los Angeles Lakers (2)

5/2: Game One--Mavericks 96, LAKERS 94 (1-0, Dallas)

5/4: Game Two--Mavericks 93, LAKERS 81 (2-0, Dallas) 

5/6: Game Three--MAVERICKS 98, Lakers 92 (3-0, Dallas)

The Mavericks stymied Kobe Bryant and the

Lakers down the stretch in Game Three

Another close game between the Lakers and the Mavericks, and, once again, Dallas comes out on top. Just like in Game One, this contest was tied in the final two minutes and the Lakers had ample opportunities to win. The Mavs were able to execute while the Lakers made careless mistakes, though, including a bad inbounds pass that gave the Mavericks the ball and more free throws with fewer than 20 seconds remaining.  Perfect free throw shooting down the stretch enabled Dallas to ice the game and prevent Kobe Bryant (see above) from getting a potential game-tying shot. Granted, barely pulling out a win at home is not the most ringing endorsement of the Mavericks' fitness for the Western Conference Finals, but they have managed to win close games this postseason, including against the defending champs.  Last night, just like in the first two games, the Mavs won by playing to their strengths and minimizing the Lakers' own advantages.  Dallas continued to have good ball movement, racking up assists on 71% (22 of 31) of all field goals--compared to just 48.7% (19 of 39) for the Lakers.  That strong team play allowed the Mavericks to find open shooters down the stretch--like Peja Stojakovic and Jason Terry, who each hit big three-pointers--while the Lakers struggled through isolation sets to Bryant and Lamar Odom.  Another result of this ball movement is that Dallas excelled at the perimeter game.  They shot 41.4% from behind the arc compared to just 23.1% for Los Angeles.  That's 12 treys for the Mavs and just three for the defending champs--a huge difference.  Dallas also worked to minimize the Lakers proclivity for controlling the ball.  During the regular season, Phil Jackson's squad committed the fifth-fewest turnovers in the league.  In the final four minutes last night in Dallas, though, the Lakers committed two turnovers, which the Mavericks promptly turned into four points.  By continuing to play to their strengths--passing and outside shooting--the Mavericks are up 3-0 in this series.  All 98 teams to be down 3-0 in NBA history have eventually been eliminated, so this doesn't look to promising for the Lakers.

Stat Line of the Day: May 7th

J. Garcia (StL): 9 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 Ks vs. MIL

Garcia dominated the Brewers in a
complete-game shutout on Friday night

There are quite a few pitchers having outstanding starts to the 2011 season, and St. Louis' 24-year-old righthanded placed himself among that group with his complete-game shutout of the Milwaukee Brewers last night. Garcia threw 66 of his 102 pitches for strikes--not a great strike-to-ball ratio, but he struck out eight while walking only one Brewer. Garcia's start was the fifth start this year with a gamescore of 90 or higher, and the first gamescore over 90 of Garcia's young career. He's now 4-0 with a 1.99 ERA, good enough for the 6th-best ERA in all of Major League Baseball. The only problem with Garcia's season thus far has been his non-complete game starts: in the four games prior to last night, he'd been throwing to a 3.80 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP, averaging just over five innings per start with an average gamescore of 48.3. Garcia has talent, but he needs to become more consistent pitcher on a start-to-start basis if he's going to be taken more seriously as an "ace" in the National League. Still, he's only 24, and hitters are batting just .205 against him--even with a .270 BABIP, not too much below the league average. He's avoiding the dreaded "sophomore slump" thus far, and starts like these help the future look bright in St. Louis.

Honorable Mention(s)

C. Lee (PHI): 7 IP, 9 H, 3 R (3 ER), 1 BB, 16 K vs. Braves
Well, it's pretty obvious why this one jumped out at us. 16 strikeouts in any start is quite impressive, but to do so in just seven innings shows domination of the Braves lineup. Yet, Lee still managed to give up nine hits and three runs, taking the loss against Derek Lowe (6 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs). This seems like one of those starts where Lee was around the strike zone too much--87 of his 117 pitches, or 74%--but really he got killed by BABIP. Only 14 balls were put in play against Lee, and on an average night one would expect around four hits and nine outs to result from those batted balls--but instead, the numbers were reversed. On a different night this could have been the most dominant start in the majors this year, but the luck just didn't hold up for Lee.

D. Rose (CHI): 44 points , 5 rebounds, 7 assists vs. Hawks
D-Rose put the Bulls on his back yet again as Chicago got home-court advantage back with the win in Atlanta last night. He shot the ball really well from the floor (16-27 FG, 4-7 3PT) and went 8-9 from the free-throw line to finish off his scoring line. The five boards and seven dimes are nice, but that's what you come to expect from Rose, which is why he only merits the honorable mention.

NBA Playoffs Second Round: Night Four

Eastern Conference

Atlanta Hawks (5) @ Chicago Bulls (1)

5/2: Game One--Hawks 103, BULLS 95 (1-0, Atlanta)

5/4: Game Two--BULLS 86, Hawks 73 (1-1, Tie)

Marvin Williams's 2-9 shooting in Game
Two wasn't good enough for the Hawks

This was a game the Bulls absolutely had to have--to avoid heading to Atlanta in a 2-0 hole--and they got it in dominating fashion.  The Hawks never really threatened after Chicago went into halftime with an 11-point edge, and the Bulls cruised to a 13-point victory.  The big difference in this game--and I know it's not an exciting difference--was shooting percentage: 39.3% for the Bulls compared to only 33.8% for the Hawks.  Atlanta's starting forwards, Marvin Williams (see right) and Josh Smith, combined to shoot 6-23 from the floor, only 26.1%.   If you add in starting center Al Horford and sixth man Jamal Crawford, that group of four critical Hawks players shot 11-45 (24.4%) from the field last night.  Sure, starting guards Joe Johnson and Jeff Teague had solid performances (37 points on 14-29 shooting) for head coach Larry Drew, but they got almost no help from their teammates.  The Bulls, by contrast, got solid performances up and down the lineup.  Derrick Rose turned in his usual big performance, with 26 points, six rebounds, and 10 assists.  His eight turnovers are certainly cause for concern, but his defensive intensity (two blocked shots) and distributing ability (10 assists) are good signs.  Chicago even got a fantastic all-around performance from Joakim Noah.  He scored 19 points (6-8 FG, 7-8 FT), with 14 rebounds (seven offensive), two assists, three steals, and a block.  With Carlos Boozer failing to reach double-figures in scoring (eight points) last night, Noah's 19 points were huge for a Bulls team that desperately needed this victory.

Hit the jump to read the Lakers/Mavericks recap!

NBA Playoffs Second Round: Night Two

Eastern Conference

Atlanta Hawks (5) @ Chicago Bulls (1)
5/2: Game One--Hawks 103, BULLS 95 (1-0, Atlanta)

A microcosm of Carlos Boozer's
Game One against the Hawks

For the entirety of Round One, I wrote that the Bulls looked incredibly vulnerable against the Pacers, and that Indiana would get at least one win in the series.  I also said that Chicago's inability to play well against the Pacers meant they'd have trouble in later rounds--and that showed last night against the Hawks.  In fact, the Bulls suffered from many of the same problems that led them to play such close games against the under-.500 Pacers.  They got very little support from the bench (only 22 points, compared to 37 for the Hawks), Carlos Boozer (see right) failed to become a significant factor (only 14 points, compared to his pre-2011 playoff average of 20.3 ppg), and Derrick Rose took too many shots yet again (27, compared to a high of 18 for everyone else).  Against Indiana, the Bulls could get away with these troubling trends because they were the far more talented team and had far more playoff experience.  Against the Hawks, though, they were unable to do so because the Hawks have been battle-tested in the playoffs each of the past four season.  The big difference for Atlanta last night was Joe Johnson, who had the breakout performance that Indiana's Danny Granger never could against Chicago.  He had 34 points on 12-18 shooting (66.7%) while also hitting all five of his three-pointers and all five of his free throws.  In contrast to Rose, who hit 40.7% of his field goals, Johnson's remarkable efficiency meant he could score more than D-Rose while also getting his teammates involved.  Johnson had a huge Game Six against the Magic, and he's continuing his strong performances in Chicago.  The Bulls better watch out.

Western Conference

Dallas Mavericks (3) @ Los Angeles Lakers (2)
5/2: Game One--Mavericks 96, LAKERS 94 (1-0, Dallas)

In the most exciting game of the Second Round so far, Dirk and the Mavericks edged Kobe's Lakers in the final minute.  They have a 1-0 lead in the series, and home court advantage now belongs to Dallas.  Though the officiating was somewhat questionable down the stretch, Dallas managed to hit the big shots that they needed, while Kobe missed his last-second attempt to tie. Jason Kidd (see left) played superb defense on Bryant in crunch time, proving that he has value well beyond his seven points scored. For most of he night, though, Kobe was phenomenal, scoring 36 points on 48.3% shooting, while also pulling down five rebounds.  The problem for the Lakers last night was the lack of scoring depth. Only Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom were in double-figures scoring (15 points each) to complement Kobe. Andrew Bynum--who looked fantastic against the Blazers--and Ron Artest combined for only 10 points on 4-16 shooting (25%).  In addition, the Lakers bench outside of Odom only provided 10 points and one assist while committing three turnovers.  The Mavericks, by contrast, had five players in double-figures scoring, including Peja Stojakovic and Jason Terry off the bench.  Dirk Nowitzki was stellar like always (25.7 career ppg in the playoffs), scoring 28 points on 50% shooting to go along with 14 rebounds.  If Dirk continues to score at will and J-Kidd manages to keep playing solid defense on Kobe down the stretch, the Mavs might actually surprise some people in this series.

What's Going on in the AL Central?

Sizemore's return has been a 
huge spark for the 19-8 Indians

Back in the mid-2000s, the American League Central seemed like a pretty hot division. The Twins were fresh off three straight playoff appearances, behind the amazing arm of Johan Santana and the bat of Torii Hunter. The White Sox won 90+ games in 2005 and 2006, including a World Series title in '05. The Tigers won only 71 games in '05 by made the World Series in '06, while the Indians won 90+ games in '05 and '07, making it to the ALCS in 2007. Lately, however, the AL Central has taken a backseat to the power race in the American League East and the amazing pitching staffs out in the AL West--the division-winning Twins got swept out of the playoffs the last two seasons, and no AL Central team has won a playoff series since those 2007 Indians. This year, more of the same was expected--the Royals were a year or two away from contending, the Indians were an unknown quantity with Grady Sizemore (see right) returning from injury, while the Twins were expected to win the division behind the arm of Francisco Liriano and the bats of Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer. However, a month into the season, the standings are straight out of the Twilight Zone: the Indians have the best record in baseball at 19-8, followed by the Royals at 15-13. Behind Kansas City is Detroit (12-17), Chicago (11-19), and the Twins (9-18). Let's take a look at each team and see why they are where they are, and if they can keep it up.

Leadoff Rankings: Week 5

Previous Rankings: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4

The fifth weekend of the 2011 season has come and gone, and the Leadoff Rankings are starting to settle out. More a fan of pitching? Check out our Rotation Rankings, published every Thursday, where we rank each team by the performance of their starting pitchers. The rankings are based on season performance, with a small bias towards recent performance. The stats come from each team's first and second batters every game, regardless of the name on the back of the jersey. To see how things turned out this week, hit the jump!

Stat Line of the Day: April 29th

B. Zobrist (TB): 7-10, 10 RBI, 5R, 2 2B, 2 HR, SB vs. Twins

Zobrist single-handedly dominated the
Twins in a doubleheader on Thursday

Well, it's Stat Line of the Day--doesn't mean it has to be just one game! Ben Zobrist had himself quite a day against the Twins in Minneapolis. First, he goes 4-for-6 with 8 RBIs, including 4-for-5 with RISP, along with one home run. That was a three-run shot that made the first game 10-1 in the sixth inning, and he added four more RBIs in the last three innings to finish out game one. In game two, Zobrist went 3-for-4 with another home run, a two-run shot that put the first runs on the board in an eventual 6-1 Rays victory. Suddenly, after the doubleheader sweep, the Rays are 13-11--just eighteen days after they were 1-9! Zobrist hadn't exactly been a part of that so far--coming into the day yesterday, the 29-year-old second baseman was hitting just .205/.272/.482. In fact, as recently as April 22nd, Zobrist was batting .183/.266/.394 with just with three home runs and seven RBIs. Now he's up to .258/.314/.602 with seven home runs and 25 RBIs--the most RBIs in the entire American League. In his last five games, Zobrist has gone 11-for-22 (.500) with four homers and 18 RBIs--a ridiculous stretch, but it balanced out his first 18 games, that's for sure. Don't expect Ben Zobrist to lead the AL in RBIs this year, but he certainly enjoyed himself yesterday.

Honorable Mention

R. Dempster (CHC): 0.1 IP, 4 H, 7 R (7 ER), 4 BB @ ARI
It's really a shame that this wasn't Ryan Dempster's first start of the year, because his ERA would have been a lovely 189.3 after his failure to get more than one out yesterday in Arizona. After starting the game giving up a double, a walk, hitting Justin Upton with a pitch and then having Stephen Drew hit a grand-slam, Dempster got Miguel Montero to ground out, and it seemed like he might settle down. Then he promptly walked the bases loaded to bring up pitcher Barry Enright...who promptly hit a single, picking up his 7th career RBI. After Chris Young got his second hit of the inning, a two-RBI single to left, that was the end of the day for Dempster--he should consider himself lucky reliever Justin Berg got the next two men out!

NFL Draft Preview: NFC North

Welcome to part six of our eight-piece preview of the 2011 NFL Draft. Three division still need to be previewed, and this installment will focus on the NFC North, home of the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers.

Perhaps more than any other division in the NFL last season, the NFC North was incredibly unpredictable. Brett Favre was expected to lead the Vikings to a deep playoff run in his (real) last season in the league, but those plans fell through very quickly as the team started a miserable 3-7. The Lions showed progress and have a young core of talent to build around for the future  The Chicago Bears surprisingly won the division, as Jay Cutler appeared to mature and play smart football. But the story of the year in the NFC North was Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews and the Green Bay Packers, who underachieved for much of the season before finally turning the corner late in the season, and subsequently using that momentum to roll through the playoffs for the franchise's first Super Bowl title since 1996. With last season in mind, where will each team head in this season's draft? Hit the jump to find out.

NBA Playoffs: Night Eleven

Eastern Conference

Indiana Pacers (8) vs, Chicago Bulls (1)
4/16: Game One--BULLS 104, Pacers 99 (1-0, Chicago)
4/18: Game Two--BULLS 96, Pacers 90 (2-0, Chicago)
4/21: Game Three--Bulls 88, PACERS 84 (3-0, Chicago)
4/23: Game Four--PACERS 89, Bulls 84 (3-1, Chicago)
4/26: Game Five--BULLS 116, Pacers 89 (4-1, Chicago wins)

After a Game Four speed bump in Indianapolis, the Bulls finished off the Pacers last night on their home floor, winning a game that was never really close. Chicago outscored the visitors by 11 points in both the first quarter and the third quarter at the United Center, essentially sealing the game by taking a 19-point lead into the final period. Tom Thibodeau's squad even kept up the pressure late in the game without Derrick Rose, holding a lead of 20 or more for the final 7:09. Unlike in the Bulls' Game Four loss, Rose did not try to carry the team on his injured ankle; rather, he got his teammates involved. He dished out six assists, attempted a series-low 17 field goals, and facilitated five of his teammates scoring in double-figures. Though Rose still had a fantastic statistical night (25 points on 8-17 shooting) the big performer for the Bulls was Luol Deng (see above). He collected 24 points, six rebounds, a team-high seven assists, and three steals in 41 minutes of play. On a night when Carlos Boozer scored only two points (on one-for-five shooting) and D-Rose could not drive with his usual aggressiveness, Deng stepped up for his team and led the Bulls into the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Atlanta Hawks (5) @ Orlando Magic (4)
4/16: Game One--Hawks 103, MAGIC 93 (1-0, Atlanta)
4/19: Game Two--MAGIC 88, Hawks 82 (Tied 1-1)
4/22: Game Three--HAWKS 88, Magic 84 (2-1, Atlanta)
4/24: Game Four--HAWKS 88, Magic 85 (3-1, Atlanta)
4/26: Game Five--MAGIC 101, Hawks 76 (3-2, Atlanta)
In the first blowout of this first-round series, the Magic trounced the Atlanta Hawks to fend off elimination at least for one more game. Now the series travels back to Atlanta, where the Hawks took both games--but only by a total of seven points. Expect Game Six to be nothing short of a dogfight, which is the exact opposite of how Game Five went down. The Magic led by 13 points after 12 minutes and 23 points at halftime en route to utter statistical domination of the Hawks. The Magic had a better shooting percentage from the field (41%-36.2%), from downtown (42.3%-25%), and from the free throw line (75.9%-68.8%). Orlando also bested the Hawks in rebounds (48-43), assists (18-15), steals (seven to three), and blocks (four to three). The Magic even pulled down four more offensive rebounds than Atlanta, while turning the ball over six fewer times. That translates to 10 extra possessions for Orlando, giving them three more fast break points, eight more points in the paint, and nine more points off turnovers. The silver lining for the Hawks? They committed three fewer personal fouls. Congrats.

Western Conference

New Orleans Hornets (7) @ Los Angeles Lakers (2)
4/17: Game One--Hornets 109, LAKERS 100 (1-0, New Orleans)
4/20: Game Two--LAKERS 87, Hornets 78 (Tie, 1-1)
4/22: Game Three--Lakers 100, HORNETS 86 (2-1, Los Angeles)
4/24: Game Four--HORNETS 93, Lakers 88 (Tie, 2-2)
4/26: Game Five--LAKERS 106, Hornets 90 (3-2, Los Angeles)
In New Orleans' two wins so far in this series, Chris Paul exploded for elite statistical performances--33 points, 14 assists in Game One and a triple-double in Game Four. Last night in Los Angeles, however, the Lakers held CP3 pretty much in check all night. He finished with (what for him would be considered) a modest performance: 20 points, 12 assists, and only four rebounds. Paul dished out eight assists in the first quarter alone, but then the Lakers backcourt limited him to only four dimes the rest of the evening. Similarly, the former Wake Forest star was held to only two points in the first quarter and three points in the third quarter. Paul was never able to really get a consistent rhythm going last night at the Staples Center due mostly to swarming Lakers defense. Their seven-footers (Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, and Lamar Odom with some heels) controlled the paint all night long, and Bynum had five offensive rebounds all on his own. The Hornets, by contrast, had more offensive fouls (four) than offensive rebounds (three) or second-chance points (two). That is not a winning formula in the playoffs, especially not when every starter for your opponent (including a hobbled Kobe Bryant and octogenarian Derek Fisher) scores in double-figures.