Around The Bases #3

The second full week of the season was overshadowed by the brawl between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres from Petco Park earlier in the week. Pitcher Zack Greinke threw inside and hit Carlos Quentin of the Padres and immediately words were said and the hitter went right after the pitcher. It resulted in Greinke breaking his collarbone and Quentin was suspended 8 games.

Top 5 Storylines:

1) Dodgers/Padres brawl
2) Oakland Athletics leading the charge in AL West
3) Boston sweeps Tampa Bay
4) The Incredible Matt Harvey
5) Chris Davis continues his hot start to the season


5) Chris Davis was selected in the 5th round of the 2006 draft by the Texas Rangers. In 2011 he was traded from the Rangers to the Baltimore Orioles as part of a package deal and had his breakout season last year, with 33 home runs and 85 RBI’S. His 33 long bombs last year were more then he had in the last three years combined. This season he’s continued his hot streak and is off to the best start in his career. In 13 games Davis has 6 home runs 19 RBI’S and currently owns a .350 batting average (BA). His strong play has gotten the Orioles to a (7-6) record.

4) Once R.A. Dickey was dealt to the Toronto Blue Jays this past off-season it instantly focused all the attention for the N.Y. Mets towards their top pitching prospect Matt Harvey. The 2007 draft pick of the Los Angeles Angels made the jump to the bigs last season and finished with a (3-5) record over 10 games. This season he’s off to a tremendous start and is a big reason to why the NY Mets are playing well early into the season. Harvey has won his first three starts against (San Diego, Philadelphia and Minnesota), and is averaging 8 strikeouts per nine with a miniscule ERA of 0.85. At this rate Harvey looks as a CY Young candidate.

3) The John Farrell experience in Boston, is going a lot better early on then it ever did as the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. It is hard to say that the 2013 Boston Red Sox are better then the 2011 and 2012 versions of the Blue Jays but it looks like Farrell is more instinctive with his new team, his "dream job". After opening the season with series wins against division rivals the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays (both on the road) they returned back home last week for their home opener. After dropping the series with the Baltimore Orioles, the Red Sox finished their first cycle in the AL East with a series sweep over the Tampa Bay Rays. The Sox have used solid starting pitching to vault them to an (8-4) record, something they lacked the last two years.

2) In a division that has the dynamic duo of Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols in LA and the formidable Yu Darvish in Texas it’s Billy Beane’s Oakland Athletics in first place in the AL West after 2 weeks of the season at (11-4) . After dropping the first two game of the season the A’s went on a 9-game winning streak the featured series sweeps of Houston and Los Angeles (both on the road). The Athletics are showing that making the playoffs last year was no fluke. Coco Crisp is the catalyst at the top of the lineup with the young pitchers maturing over another full season.

1) The LA Dodgers prized free-agent Zack Greinke will be out for the foreseeable future with a broken collarbone after this mayhem occurred at Petco Park in San Diego…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/12/dodgers-padres-brawl-greinke-quentin-video_n_3066278.html

Carlos Quentin got really heated with Greinke after being hit, and charged the mound resulting in the injury. Baseball is not known for it’s brawls but every once in a while, the benches will clear, punches will be thrown and players will get fired up. Look at the Canada/Italy World Classic brawl a month ago that resulted in both teams landing some nasty punches. Greinke is the lone player to suffer anything severe from that play and Quentin has been suspended 8 games.

Games To Watch:

1) Kansas City Royals (7-6) @ Boston Red Sox (9-4)
- Friday to Sunday
- Hearts are heavy as people around the world are still reeling from the tragic events from the Boston Marathon.
- Should be a very emotional series at Fenway

2) Detroit Tigers (8-5) @ Los Angeles Angels (4-10)
- Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera come to town as the struggling Angels search for 1st series win
- Pujols and Hamilton need to step up in a big way for this team after all the money was dished out for them.

3) San Diego Padres (4-10) @ Los Angeles Dodgers (7-7) (04/17/13)
- Kershaw hits the mound in search for his 3rd win
- Teams meet again with the brawl fresh in their mind