Monday, July 6, 2009

After 81 Games - Mid Season Thoughts


We were told by upper management that this was going top be a long season. We were told by upper management that we were going to suck. We were told by upper management to be patient.

Well here we are - halfway done the season and own a winning record, who would have thought that eh?

How have we been doing this? I am confused myself. Our can't miss rookie was sent to the minors in May. Our entire starting rotation has been on the DL or sent to the minors at one point this season. We have had two pitchers that we're drafted in 2007 make starts. Our elite closer hasn't been able to through a fastball over 88mph, and his replacement went down with a foot injury. Our two projected main offensive threats have been complete busts this season. Attendance is down about 6%, but SOMEHOW we have a winning record at the midway point. Baseball is a great game.

It is pretty simple to see that Scutaro, Lind, Hill, Rolen, Halladay, and Romero have carried this team on their collective backs. With special thanks to Frasor, Downs (before his injury), and Richmond.

The combo of Scutaro and Hill have been more then solid all season long. Hill has always been a potential guy, but has dropped that tag with his tremendous offensive first half. Scutaro, who has always been a part-time player has become one of the best shortstops in the entire majors. Nothing short of a major surprise there.

Rolen has adjusted his game to the point where you are shocked when he hits a homerun. However his .330ish batting average and near .900OPS more then balances out his diminished power. I am extremely happy with Scott this year (understatement).

Doc has been Doc.

Adam Lind in my opinion has been our best and most consistent hitter all season. He is the only hitter who hasn't gone through a prolonged slump, and is showing no signs of slowing down.

We have arguablely been a 5 or 6 player team all season long, but nonetheless have shutup the critics for the time being. Did we do it with smoke and mirrors? Perhaps, considering we have played 13 games under .500 since the hot start, but let's all be happy here. It was nothing but negative propaganda spewed out by our team management at the start off the season. The positives moving forward far out-weigh the negatives.

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