KJNL Week 7 Recap

By Staff Writer: Brad Atkinson

The West’s dominance over the East continues with only the Cincinnati Reds getting in the win column among all 8 Eastern division teams. That makes the West 15-1 since the start of interdivision play. If this keeps up league management could start getting petitions for realignment to North/South or Central/Coastal divisions. As an additional note: the undefeated stayed undefeated and the winless remained that way too. This second situation prompted league management to remove the ownership group of the Braves and start a search for a new leader. This shouldn’t take very long as the Braves have a strong roster and MiLB system that are currently underachieving. On to the individual recaps!

Chicago White Sox over Detroit Tigers (8-4-0)
The White Sox have quietly brought themselves to the best record in the AL and the second best record in the league. This week it was all about the bats as they take that side of the game 5-1 on route to an 8-4 win. The Tigers can’t seem to find their footing after getting their first win two weeks ago. Of course, no one in their division has had a win in two weeks.
MVP: Troy Glaus - .407/1.145, 4 R, 1 HR, 7 RBI
Goat: Paul Bako - .133/.369, 1 R

Seattle Mariners over Boston Red Sox (8-4-0)
The Red Sox bats really fall flat after their pitching staff compiled some good numbers. Meanwhile the Mariners finally put together a solid batting week after being a little shaky there in the last few games. A solid week will beat down a shaky week every time and going 0-6 on the batting side sunk the Red Sox to their third loss in a row.
MVP: Jimmy Rollins back from injury - .462/1.210, 6 R, 4 RBI, 4 SB
Goat: Brad Hawpe - .125/.250, 2 R

Kansas City Royals over Cleveland Indians (6-4-2)
How far the mighty have fallen . . . losing two in a row would have the once proud Indians in third at best in the other AL division, but the entire AL East has fallen on hard times so their 2 game lead is still intact. The Royals started to roll once they got out of their own division and haven’t lost yet. This could be a case of a decent team in a really tough division, but their win this week is more about Cleveland’s underperformance than KC’s dominance.
MVP: Francisco (K-Rod) Rodriguez – 3.2 IP, 5 K, 3 Sv, 1 ER
Goat: Jim Thome - .067/.367, 1 R, 1 RBI

Minnesota Twins over Toronto Blue Jays (9-3-0)
BOOM go the Twins’ bats keeping the Blue Jays cowering in their AL East cellar. League records for HR and RBI’s are a good start to a dominating week. 60+ K and a .971 OPS are not a bad follow-up. The Blue Jays actually had one of their best weeks of the season they just ran into the best team of the week. Their bad luck continues.
MVP: No-brainer Alfonso Soriano - .516/1.758, 10 R, 7 HR, 14 RBI
Goat: Kurt Suzuki - .067/.133, 1 R

Cincinnati Reds over Los Angeles Dodgers (8-3-1)
Two tough teams going at it right here. The Dodgers lose because of lack of good contact and few RBI. The Reds had a solid week across the board with a record setting HR performance, if not for the Twins, 35+ R and RBI and a 5/6/3 pitching performance on the week. This win, the only Eastern division team in the league to do so, pulls them into a tie with the Cardinals for first in the NL East. Outside of RBI, BA and OPS, the Dodgers had a solid week too, but those three bad categories were too much to overcome.
MVP: Many choices, but going with Scott Downs – 4 IP, 3 K, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 Sv, 2 Hd
Goat: Randy Wolf – 2 GS, 10.1 IP, 2.03 WHIP, 10 ER, 7 K, 0 W

Arizona Diamondbacks over Atlanta Braves (7-4-1)
The Diamondbacks pitched as well as they could with no closers and go 5-1 on that side of the game giving them an insurmountable lead with the Braves struggling bats and no lineup changes. The D’backs are taking the Royals track of losing 5 in a row before winning the last two, unfortunately they still can’t gain ground on the division leaders because those teams are winning at the same pace. As for the Braves, at 0-6-1 hopefully new ownership will turn that team around.
MVP: Delmon Young - .393/.985, 4 R, 2 RBI, 1 SB
Goat: Mark Texiera - .136/.401, 3 R

Colorado Rockies over Chicago Cubs (7-4-1)
A great batting week by the Rockies overcomes a weak pitching performance (1-4-1) to give them the win this week. That’s 3 in a row and if they were in the other division they would have a one game lead rather than be trailing by 2 in the NL West. The Cubs continue to slide to their third loss in a row and they simply can’t find the consistency they need to succeed on a regular basis. Righting the ship is a must because the teams battling for playoff spots are starting to pull away.
MVP: for about the third week in a row, Lance Berkman - .481/1.511, 8 R, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 2 SB
Goat: Johnny Damon - .080/.195, 1 R, 1 RBI

Houston Astros over St. Louis Cardinals (9-2-1)
The battle of division leaders quickly turned into a look forward to the next week as the Cardinals fell behind early and never really caught up. Putting up zeroes in SB, Sv and Hd is never going to be a good thing and it’s that much worse when playing the only undefeated team in the league. The Astros had their normal, solid week: BA around .300, OPS around .800, around 35 R and RBI, 60+ K and 4/5/4 pitching performance. That was more than enough for the biggest blowout on the scoreboard this week.
MVP: Josh Hamilton - .450/1.500, 6 R, 3 HR, 10 RBI
Goat: Adam Wainwright – 2 GS, 11.2 IP, 1.89 WHIP, 10 ER, 5 K, 0 W

Week 8 Preview

Twins (5-2) at Red Sox (3-4)
The Red Sox try to end their losing streak while the Twins try to extend that wild card lead that they currently possess.

Mariners (5-2) at Tigers (1-6)
The Mariners get to play the dregs of the East while trying to keep up with the streaking teams in their own division. The Tigers simply want to get back into the win column any way they can.

White Sox (6-1) at Indians (5-2)
The NL had it last week so the AL has it this week – a battle of the division leaders. This game has a bit less excitement though as the division leaders are trending in different directions, Indians lost 2 in a row, White Sox winning 5 in a row.

Royals (2-5) at Blue Jays (1-6)
The Royals try and stay hot and run their winning streak to 3 games while the Blue Jays try to post another solid week and hope they don’t run into another juggernaut.

Rockies (5-2) at Cardinals (4-3)
Two losses in a row have dropped the Cardinals to a tie for first place and just one game over .500, they need to get things on track or they will be looking up at the Reds before long. The Rockies want to stay strong and move to 4 wins in row, getting a stranglehold on that wild card slot in the process.

Astros (7-0) at Reds (4-3)
The Astros take on the team in first place in the NL East for the second week in a row, this time though it’s the only Eastern division team that has won a game in the last two weeks. The Reds have the players to beat the Astros, can they stop the winning streak at 7?

Dodgers (3-4) at Braves (0-6-1)
The Dodgers must overcome the stigma of being the only losing Western team and get the benefit of a currently ownerless Braves team. That should right their ship just fine and get them back to .500.

D’backs (2-5) at Cubs (2-4-1)
The D’backs are trying to find a way to surge back into the playoff races after a terrible start while the Cubs try and fix their recent losing ways. The only sure thing is that one team or the other will take a big step back into contention while the other will be on the border of elimination from consideration.