Division Updates Part 4: AL East

The American League East is generally believed to be one of he most competitive divisions in all of baseball. So far this season no one team has proven to be the team to beat in the division. The five teams that make up the AL East are separated by a mere four games, and all have areas in which they can improve. The much anticipated Red Sox have just poked their heads over .500, and the sliding Yankees have given way to the most consistent team--the Tampa Bay Rays. There is only one way to try and understand what has happened so far in the AL East, lets dissect this division by the numbers. Let's take a look:

Stat Line of the Day: May 16th

A. Chapman (CIN): 0.1 IP, 0 H, 4 R (4 ER), 4 BB vs. Cardinals

Chapman, shown here in Spring Training, has
an electric arm--and some accuracy issues

It's been a little while since we've had an epically bad stat line be our Line of the Day, but this was just too bad to leave out. Aroldis Chapman, if you haven't heard of him, is the Cincinnati Reds flamethrow who's been clocked at 105.1 mph, the fastest speed a baseball has ever been thrown. Unfortunately, last night, his ability to throw hard didn't exactly help him out in the 9th inning of a win over the St. Louis Cardinals--a win that ended up being much closer than it needed to be. Chapman threw just five strikes against 18 balls, which helps explain the four walks without a single hit--three on 3-1 counts, and the fourth on a 3-0. The accuracy issues are not a new problem for the Cuban righty, who has walked 20 batters in just 13 innings against just six hits--a WHIP of 2.00 even as hitters are just .143 when facing Chapman. Now, he is still just 23 years old, so the ceiling is still incredibly high--but this is a really bad sign. We're not just talking about poor control, we're talking about game-ruiningly poor control. Last night, he entered the game with a 9-2 lead in the top of the 9th inning, and managed to leave with a 9-3 lead and the bases loaded, having walked four of the five batters he faced. The Reds shouldn't need to use their closer in a game they're winning 9-2, but Chapman forced their hand, and that could definitely hurt them in some games down the road.

Honorable Mentions

J. Bautista (TOR): 3-5, 3 R, 4 RBI, 3 HR vs. Twins
If we hadn't just had a three home run night the other night from Carlos Beltran, I might have felt a little more excited about Jose Bautista doing the same thing last night. However, they weren't all two-run shots like Beltran's, so Jose gets stuck with an Honorable Mention so we can spotlight the accuracy problems of Aroldis Chapman. Bautista's third home run, in the sixth inning (after one each in the 3rd and 4th) made the margin 11-3, which also happened to be the final score of that game.

R. Westbrook (OKC): 14 points, 10 rebounds (6 offensive), 14 assists vs. Grizzlies
The Thunder won game seven of their series with the Memphis Grizzlies by 21 points, and Russell Westbrook put up a +/- of 19. Coincidence? Probably, but that doesn't say that Westbrook wasn't very important for his team in their series-clinching victory. A triple-double in the biggest game of his young career was huge, almost as big as teammate Kevin Durant's game-leading 39 points. The Thunder advance to face the Dallas Mavericks in the conference finals, and Westbrook will be a huge cog in that series.

Stat of the Day Line: April 28th (Quick Hits Edition)

Lately, we've been pretty good about picking only one or two great/awful/interesting lines per night to include in this column, but this time we just couldn't do it.  There were too many awesome/terrible/peculiar stat lines from last night's action for us to single any few out.  So instead, we're going to give you quick nuggets on a six different stat lines (drawn from all three major sports not sorta in a lockout) that really caught our attention. To see who made today's cut, hit the jump!

Stat Line of the Day: April 27th

R. Luongo (VAN): 32 SA, 31 SV, 65 minutes, W
Last year, the Philadelphia Flyers became the first NHL team (and the second major American sports team overall) to come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series. This year, the  Chicago Blackhawks--the same team who beat  the Flyers in the  Stanley Cup

Luongo (L) had a monster Game 7 against Chicago

last season--were down 3-0 to the Vancouver Canucks in just the first round of the playoffs. Granted, these weren't the same Blackhawks who won that Cup, having a different goalie and trading away a good part of their skating crew, but they battled back just the same--abusing Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo in the process. Between Game Five's 7-2 loss and Game Six's 5-0 loss, Luongo faced 40 shots in 65 minutes--and only stopped 30 of them, for an atrocious save percentage of 0.75. That was coming from a goalie who won 38 games this season while stopping nearly 93% of the shots he faced, and the Canucks needed a stellar performance from Luongo in the deciding Game Seven. In the same amount of ice time that he played in Games 5+6 combined, Luongo faced 32 shots--and saved 31 of them, including a huge stop of Duncan Keith in overtime. As with many NHL teams, the success of the team lies on the pads of their goalie--and nobody was bigger in goal last night than Roberto Luongo. If he keeps playing like that, the Canucks are a legit Stanley Cup contender--and if he plays like he did in the middle of the series, they won't advance past the next round.

Honorable Mention

A. Lind (TOR): 3-for-5, 3 HR, 5 RBI @ TEX
Toronto beat the Rangers on the road last night 10-3, thanks in part to the bat of first baseman Adam Lind. Lind had a monster night, and what's more impressive, he did so in five at-bats while seeing 13 pitches, so he was swinging early and swinging well. In addition, the homers came in consecutive at-bats in the third and fourth innings, the latter a three-run blast off Texas reliever Brett Tomko. Rangers starter Matt Harrison did struggle, giving up eight hits and seven runs in just three innings, but the more impressive line from this game came out of the Toronto infield.

Rotation Rankings: Week 2

Week two of our Rotation Rankings: the statistical ranking of every rotation in MLB. For a better explanation, check out last week's rankings (also shown as LW). More a fan of offense? Check out our Leadoff Rankings, based on every teams first and second batters. 

G: Games; ERA: Earned Run Average; WHIP: (Walks + Hits)/Innings Pitched; GS: Game Score; K/BB: Strikeout-to-walk ratio; K/9: Strikeouts per nine innings

30. (LW: 29) Boston Red Sox (2-9, 5th AL East)
This Week: 2-3, 5.51 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 48.0 GS, 2.54 K/BB, 9.09 K/9
Season Stats: 2-7, 6.83 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, 42.2 GS, 1.80 K/BB, 6.98 K/9
Well, the Red Sox are in last place in just about everything, aren't they?  I guess last night's rainout was a fortunate for them and they're 6.83 rotation ERA.  Daisuke Matsuzaka is the biggest culprit, giving up seven earned runs in two innings Monday night to the Rays.

29. (LW: 30) Houston Astros (3-9, 6th NL Central)
This Week: 2-2, 3.98 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 50.1 GS, 2.23 K/BB, 6.07 K/9
Season Stats: 2-6, 6.02 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 41.8 GS, 1.88 K/BB, 6.02 K/9 
You know, the Astros lineup really isn't that bad. And Brett Myers is trying, he really really is--he's got a nice 1-0 record with a 1.77 ERA in three starts for Houston, including what should have been an opening day home victory over the Phillies before the bullpen blew it. This week was actually not that bad for Houston, but other than Myers and a fairly promising J.A. Happ, there's not much to look forward to in terms of who shows up on the Astros "probable starter" that day.

28. (LW: 17) Chicago Cubs (6-6, 3rd NL Central)
This Week: 3-2, 7.72 ERA, 1.88 WHIP, 37.8 GS, 2.23 K/BB, 8.61 K/9
Season Stats: 4-4, 5.80 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, 44.7 GS, 2.65 K/BB, 8.69 K/9
Matt Garza (0-1, 5.68 ERA) has been underwhelming in his first two starts, and in that sense he's paced the Cubbies rotation perfectly. Carlos Zambrano picked up a win yesterday despite giving up 5 runs in 5.2 innings, not exactly a good recipe for success--the Cubs need someone to start acting like an ace, and it needs to happen quickly.

(For number 27 all the way to #1, hit the jump!)

Stat Line of the Day: April 12th

Toronto Bullpen: 3.2 innings, 6 hits, 7 walks, 8 runs @ Seattle

Litsch left the game with a five-run lead, but
the Blue Jays bullpen made sure it didn't hold up

When Blue Jays starter Jesse Litsch left the game after five solid innings (four hits, four walks, four strikeouts, no runs) due to a pitch count of 111, Toronto was beating Seattle five to nothing. After the sixth inning, it was 7-0, and things looked really bad for the Mariners--not only did ace Felix Hernandez give up seven runs in six innings, but talented-though-struggling Chone Figgins had left the game with a bruised thumb. No hope? No problem for the Mariners, who got some help from the Blue Jays bullpen in a furious late-inning comeback that ended with Figgins' replacement, 31-year-old journeyman shortstop Luis Rodriguez. Rodriguez, who only had 69 career RBIs spread out over the last five seasons, hit a two-out, two-RBI single to center to score Michael Saunders and Ichiro Suzuki. Unfortunately for Toronto reliever Shawn Camp, he'd intentionally walked Ichiro after a Saunders leadoff double, but then Suzuki stole second, allowing him to score on the single. The real trouble came, however, in the five-run 8th inning, when Octavio Dotel came in to relieve David Purcey with one out and the bases loaded. Instead of getting the outs his team needed to preserve what was at the time a six-run lead, Dotel instead walked both Rodriguez and Michael Bradley on full counts. Marc Rzepczynski came in next, and promptly walked Jack Cust on only four pitches before giving up a two-RBI single to Justin Smoak, making it 7-6. Usually getting five quality innings out of your starter while getting seven runs off the defending Cy Young winner is a recipe for a win, but the Blue Jays bullpen found a way to not let that happen.

Honorable Mention

Mark Buehrle, CHW: 8 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 1 K

Nothing too crazy about this stat line, but you have to feel bad for a guy who gives his team that kind of effort and doesn't get the win, as the Sox ace managed to do last night. This time, it was Matt Thornton and Jesse Crain who each let up a run in the 9th and 10th innings, respectively, to give the Oakland Athletics a 2-1 victory in those 10 innings. At some point we're going to do a post about pitchers who've given the best efforts and got nothing to show for, and I would imagine that Buehrle's gamescore of 78 is going to be right up near the top of that one. The White Sox have usually been taking advantage of good starting pitching, but not last night.

Stat Line of the Day: April 10th

Toronto  Blue  Jays vs. Los Angeles Angels: 14  innings,  16 pitchers, 29 hits

Maicer Izturis ended the game with an RBI single 
in the 14th inning, after five hours of play

This game had one of the more interesting swings I can remember seeing in a box score recently. Through the first four innings, the teams combined for 10 runs, 14 hits (in 35 at-bats, a .400 combined batting average), plus a couple of walks, an error, and a few sacrifices. In other words, for four innings, this game was quite the offensive show. However, after both starting pitchers--Brett Cecil (0-1, 7.20 ERA) of the Blue Jays and Matt Palmer (0-0, 7.71 ERA in his first start)--were taken out after the fifth inning, the offenses went dead. Tied at five when the starters left, the two teams combined for just 8 more hits over the next 9 innings--and only three hits between the sixth and twelfth innings! In fact, after getting 10 hits off Cecil, the Angels next hit was off Octavio Dotel, who pitched the 11th inning. The Blue Jays had slightly more success, with only three innings between a McDonald single to left in the sixth and a Juan Rivera infield single in the ninth inning. However, it was the Angels who finally got to the Blue Jays, getting three hits in the 13th and then finally breaking through in the 14th, when Maicer Izturis (above) ended the game by singling in Peter Bourjos.

Honorable Mentions

Ty Lawson (DEN): 31 min, 37 pts (11-16 FG, 10-11 3PT), 6 ast, 1 TO vs. MIN

No Chauncy Billups? No problem for these Nuggets, who might have found the next NBA star point guard in former Tar Heel Ty Lawson, who set an NBA record last night by making 10 straight threes over the first three quarters of the game. Unfortunately for Lawson, his one miss was a 28-foot chuck at the end of the third quarter--if not for that, he would have also set the NBA record for made threes without a miss (Latrell Sprewell had made 9-of-9 to set the record back in 2003). I get the feeling that Lawson will be happy with the win, as the surprisingly surging Nuggets nearly secured the 5th seed in the West, avoiding San Antonio, Los Angeles, and Dallas in the first round.

Zach Britton (BAL): 7.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 Ks vs. TEX

Gamescore-wise, this wasn't the best start of the evening: the Dodgers' Hideki Kuroda was only one out away from beating the Dodgers when he was lifted because of pitch counts, and he got a 74 for his performance, just four points higher than Britton. Kuroda, though, was facing the San Diego Padres--not exactly a terrifying lineup, the Friars have scored the second-fewest runs in the National League while batting only .212 through their first seven games. Compare that with the Texas Rangers Britton had to set down, hitting .281 through their first eight games, and who are 2nd in the AL in runs even after getting shut out yesterday. As further proof how impressive Britton was, we can look at how the Rangers did in the second game of yesterday's doubleheader, scoring 13 runs on 13 hits while chasing Jake Arrieta after just 3.1 innings and eight earned runs.