Article 1:
Who's Hot
Mets pitcher Danys Baez is off to a SIZZLING start. He is 3-0 with a
miniscule 1.09 ERA. He has given up just 16 hits and has 27 K's in 33
innings pitched. He's gone at least 8 innings in 3 of his 4 starts.
Cubs Hitter Jim Thome is maybe the hottest hitter in the NL. He's gotten
off to a quick start in all offensive categories. He's 2nd in average at
.391, second in HRs at 8, and 4th in RBI's with 19. He is also 2nd in
slugging and 2nd in OBP, at .813 and .487 respectively. That's quite a line
for this early in the year.. look out for Thome.
Indinas pitcher Randy Johnson is the hottest pitcher in all the land. He is
4-0 with a microscopic 1.08 ERA. He's K'ed 11, 15, 11, and 17 batters in
his 4 starts. He's scattered 14 hits in his 33 innings pitched. He has 1
complete game shutout and I don't know if he will ever lose... Look out AL
Central.
Orioles hitter Barry Bonds is off to what we call an enfuego start. He's
batting .477 with an OBP of .590. He's already knocked 13 out, knocking in
27 RBI's in doing that. He's scored more runs than anyone in the AL. He
has 20 more total bases than anyone else. He is the most dominant player in
the game thus far this season, I'd be scared if I was an AL East opponent.
WHO'S NOT
Cardinals pitcher Tim Hudson is off to the slowest start of his impressive
career. He's a pedestrian 0-4 with an ERA of 7.20. He's given up 36 hits
in 30 Innings pitched. Twice he hasnt even made it 5 innings. And he leads
the NL in runs allowed with 24. Something tells me he'll turn it around
though, but right now he's definitely NOT HOT.
Tigers pitcher Damian Moss has started off as the worse pitcher in the AL.
Leading the AL with 4 losses, he's also allowed more runs and hits than any
AL pitcher.
A's ShortStop Derek Jeter is not playing the best baseball of his career.
He's batting a poultry .211 with just a single homer, and he's only batted
in 5 runs. Plus he's only scored 8 times.
Cardinals Outfielder Jermaine Dye is hitting .188 with just a single home
run and 4 RBI. He's K'ed 17 times and has just 12 hits.
WHO'S HOT
Atlanta Brave's Chipper Jones is off to a tremendous start. He is batting
.364 and leading the league with 10 Home Runs. He is also tops in slugging
at .831. He's also tied for first in runs with 17. Proving to be one of the
toughest outs in the NL East.
Giant's Closer Eddy Guardado has not blown a save in his first 6 chances.
In fact he hasnt even given up a single run in his 6.2 Innings Pitched.
He's only allowed 2 hits and no walks in his time. He has had untouchable
stuff. He's struck out 17 men as well. Quickly becoming the most feared
reliever in the NL, i wouldnt want to have to try and come back against this
guy.
So far this year, the Blue Jay's SS Nomar Garciaparra may be the best
infielder in the entire league. He's batting .425. Leading the league in
doubles and hits. As well as being 2nd in RBI's. This is great production
from a position that offense hasn't been expected from.
If Guardado is the most feared Closer in the League then Jeff Zimmerman has
to be the 2nd most feared. He is also perfect in his save opportunities and
he's had 8 of them. He's allowed just 9 hits in 9 innings, and has a great
ERA for a closer at 1.93.
WHOS NOT
Dodgers 1B Sean Casey is not off to the start he hoped for. As he come out
swinging a slow bat, just a .206 average. He hasn't hit a home run yet this
year and he's only mustered up one RBI. Casey has the ability to turn
around a season like this though.
Big Things were expected from Rockie's pitcher Roy Halladay and in his first
4 starts he's been disappointing. He's 0-4 with a 10.53 ERA. In 3 of his 4
starts he hasnt lasted until the 5th inning. He's only K'ed 5 batters and
given up 23 runs in 16 innings.
Chan Ho Park is off to just as slow of a start with his Orioles ball club.
He's 1-2 with a 9.16 ERA his only win came in a game that he gave up 8 runs.
He's only K'ed 8 men in 18 innings.
The Red Sox OF Preston Wilson has only been swinging for the fences this
year, and it hasn't been working. He's batting a pathetic .176 with just 11
hits in 70 ABs. Has just 5 RBI's this is not the production the Red Sox
were expecting from this man. He's fanned 20 times in 70 AB's. The last
place Red Sox desperately neeed him to turn it around.
