- 11-18 isn't insurmountable for the Yanks; most recently, the 2001 A's were 11-20 on May 6. But they got hot right afterwards, winning 11 of their next 13 to pull the record back up to .500. The moral of the story: the Yanks aren't done, but they've gotta turn this around soon or at least stop the bleeding.
- The "Best Opening Month of the Season that Few are Talking About" has to go to David Dellucci of the Texas Rangers, with his .288/.495/.591 line and league-leading .773 secondary average. He already has 28 walks and has walked in 29.5% of his plate appearances.
- The "Worst Slump" early on is that of Adrian Beltre, who is just not hitting right now: .221/.246/.310 with his .115 secondary average. His -4.0 VORP is a nice way to look at it.
- Aaron Heilman went 3.1 IP in relief of Kris Benson against the Phils, giving up 1 hit, walking 1, and striking out 5. Heilman has been unhittable at Shea Stadium in the early going (which I'll attribute to a quirk of sample size, but the numbers are nice to look at): 3 G, 2 GS, 19.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 5 BB, 19 K.
- Making me look bad in the early going: Vinny Castilla, with his inexplicable .341/.402/.580 line. I have no doubt that this will turn around.
- The Economy of Mercy (to cite a Switchfoot song): Carlos Silva's only throwing 11.6 P/IP, which is the lowest in the league. #2 is the wildly successful Jon Garland, with 12.6 P/IP. These guys are "economical," hence the song title. John Lackey, Noah Lowry, and Oliver Perez are uneconomical / more centrally-planned, if you will, as they all average over 18 per inning.
- Needs a Mercy Rule: Kevin Brown, who should retire after getting shelled yet again against the Devil Rays.
- John Patterson leads the league in isolated power allowed, with an .042, scattering 5 doubles and 0 homers as the only EBHs he's given up.
- What do Doug Mientkiewicz, David Wright, Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Morgan Ensberg, Jason Bay, Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Jeromy Burnitz, Jason Dubois, and So Taguchi have in common? They've all gone deep again Eric Milton, who is making his opponents look like Wily Mo Pena with a .301/.333/.588 line (I cite Pena b/c of the lack of walks but the obscene power). So much for that new sinker.
- And, finally, Erik Bedard leads the American League in dERA at 2.42. He's only walking 1.59 per 9 innings. John Sickels said, "I do think he has a good chance of improving his control" back in March, so his prediction is looking good right now. If Bedard keeps this up, the Orioles might be around for a while.
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