I've Seen This Fish Before

This is certainly not to say that I expect to see an epic 37-65 collapse a la the 2005 30-30 Bucs. Nope, I just want to know what the Bucs record is in games they can either reach or eclipse .500 beyond April? Like the great Marvin Lee Aday said " Two Out of Three Ain't Bad". That's probably the 8th time I've quoted Meat Loaf during the less than one whole month's existence of The Mutiny, but it still holds true. In pro sports, 2 out of  3 ain't bad, especially when it comes to winning. Ironically, 2/3 will likely get you a failing grade on a majority of exams you take during your life, but I digress.

Last night, the Battlin' Bucs had a chance to propel themselves over .500. They failed to do so. The game was actually quite boring, scoreless heading into the top of the 8th inning. Jeff Karstens, who has had to prove himself time and time again as a MLB starter, pitched 7 scoreless innings for the Bucs, but he exited with the game tied 0-0 as the Bucs had trouble getting a runner past second base, amassing 5 hits, all of which were singles. Actually, they didn't just have trouble getting a single runner past second base, they didn't get one. All night. You won't find that anywhere in the PG write up, just that the Bucs couldn't get o Josh Collmenter but they did manage to chip away at his pitch count. When the part of a game summary article dedicated to your offense talks only about your pitcher's 11 pitch at-bat against his mound opponent, you probably didn't do much.

In the Top of the 8th, All-Star Candidate Chris Resop gave up a 2-run bomb for the only scoring of the game. The Bucs couldn't come back from the dead this time, losing by a final of 2-0 and falling back below .500 to 30-31. Who cares, Jake Taylor isn't concerned with .500 and he hates the fans who are, he is focused on winning a championship! Putting the cart before the horse much?

Player of the Game: Josh Collmenter
HeadScratcher of the Night: I only watched sparingly after 6 innings of 0-0 baseball. But Walker GIDP with Cutch on and nobody out wasn't awesome. It's no secret I am a huge fan of Cutch and Walker, but they both do things that drive me nuts. Cutch's Evelyn Gardner impression ( not hitting the cutoff man) drives me up a wall. So does Walker's penchant for hitting into double plays at a Ripken like pace.
Face Palm of the Night: Not getting a runner past second base all night. WOW.

 SmizBlog posted yesterday that the Bucs offense was the best in the NL  in June. The Bucs were first in the NL in runs heading into last night's game as well as first in slugging and OPS. They are also first in total hits, but are middle of the pack in extra base hits and 12th out of 16 in home runs. However, they were first in Sac Flies, because that is one of their main sources of runs. These stats also cover the enormous sample size of 7 games, therefore it was easy to deduce the offensive juggernaut Cutch had predicted before the season was finally starting to show up. 3 runs in the last 21 innings should be enough to quell some of those prematurely celebrating, such as the Bucs broadcasting team, who are all ready to place a nice shiny ribbon around this season.

Unfortunately, to determine the quality of a baseball team, 7 games worth of stats isn't very telling. We still sit at 23rd in MLB in runs scored, 25th in batting average, 22nd in OBP, and 26th in slugging. The June stats might be a bit inflated, as well. Since scoring 17 runs combined on June 1st and 2nd, the team has scored 22 runs in the last 6 games, which isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination. But 43.5% of the runs scored in June came in the first 2 games, 56.5% in the next 6. Consistency is a major issue for any ballclub trying to maintain long term success and the Bus have been lacking  in terms of consistently hitting. That's not to say the June numbers aren't a positive sign, but we should put them in perspective before getting overly excited. SmizBlog also pointed out that the Bucs were 6th in the NL  runs per game in May, which is encouraging, but they  were 11th in total runs, DEAD LAST in batting average, 9/16 in .OBP, 13/16 in SLG %, 12/16 in OPS, 9/16 in HR, DEAD LAST in total hits, and 14/16 in XBH.

This is why pointing to a single stat for proof of anything regarding a team's overall performance is virtually pointless. But nothing surprises me anymore. I saw a guy on SmizBlog yesterday suggest that we could get a good return for Xavier Paul because he could lead off for a lot of teams! They suggested this 2011 30-30 squad won't collapse like the 2005 squad simply because the 2005 squad had McClatchy at the helm. Smiz loved that, noting it as a compliment to Big Bob! In reality, that 2005 team had the SAME CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD BOB NUTTING, but we will ignore those facts. Facts, after all, are a stubborn thing.

 Someone also patted Opie on the back for bringing in Tabata, Karstens,Correia, Morton, Overbay, Resop, Hanrahan, and Cedeno. Morton is money this year but he was 2-12 with 7+ ERA last season, Overpaid has been marginal at best, and I don't see how Cedeno is considered to be very good or at the least consistent. Correia has been excellent thus far but his career numbers show that he is prone to tailing off big time between June and August. Last season, he had a strong July between a dismal June and August. But that strong july was 5 starts against 4 teams with losing records, the Bucs being one, and in that one start against a team with a winning record he gave up 5ER in 5IP. Tabata, Resop, Karstens, and Hanrahan have all been good pickups by Opie. BUT, let's not forget Andy LaRoche, Brandon Moss, Craig Hansen, Dana Eveland, Jeff Clement, Tim Alderson, Aki Iwamura, Latings Milledge, Raul Chavez, Ryan Church, Bobby Crosby, Kevin Hart, etc., etc. etc. Neal has made some good deals, he's made some bad deals, he's done NOTHING to prove he is any type of genius. After all, Cutch and Walker are our 2 best offensive players. They were drafted by Littlefield, who was AWFUL. Someone pointed out that while Littlefield drafted them, Opie should get credit for their performance because he brought them up. Right, he brought them up? Didn't he basically refuse to bring up Walker at one point?


Anyways, obviously, this was supposed to be a recap of last night's game, but when you lose 2-0, there isn't much to talk about. I figured, after being shut out and scoring 3 runs in the last 21 innings, it was a good time to point out that using numbers from 7 games of a 162 game season pretty much don't tell the entire story and stats can't always be taken at face value.SmizBlog chalked up last night's loss to the Bucs not being able to catch a break. You have to create a chance to catch a break in the first place, right?

 Bottom line is this: Bucs are 5-3 so far in June. Those are some pretty awesome numbers for them and they are also 12-8 since The Mutiny launched! Therefore, Pucks_and_Pols and myself deserve all of the credit for the recent up turn in performance!  The Mets are hobbling into town and they are just not a very good baseball team despite taking 2 of 3 from the Braves and Brew Crew espectively. Winning 2/3 from them should be doable. That would pit the Bucs at 32-32 halfway through June. Luckily, the manager isn't concerned with playing .500 baseball.