Fantasy Baseball By The Numbers: Week 7

I was watching the Cubs – Rockies game yesterday. Sandra Day O’Connor threw out the first pitch and then they brought her into the booth for the customary interview.

It was unbelievable.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for the former Supreme Court Justice, but it was like listening to the unholy offspring of Harry Carey and Betty White. And the jacket they gave her was all stretched out in the belly area, making it look like it was just her head on a Lou Pinella manikin. It made me miss ole’ Harry and the old senile announcers who say things so hysterical you miss the last out because your eyes are watering.

We lost another one of those guys recently, with Bob Uecker announcing late last month that he is undergoing heart surgery and will miss 10-12 weeks of the season. He is probably best known by non-Brewers fans as the hilarious, drunken announcer for the Cleveland Indians in the Major League movie trilogy. Some of his best stuff comes from his agreement with Usinger Sausage to mention the company a minimum amount of times, usually with hilarious results. Just go here, and enjoy.

Hopefully this doesn’t mean the end for Mr. Baseball. Whether it is or not, I know I’ll be tuning into a lot more Ron Santo broadcasts in the near future.

Swing rate for pitches outside the strike zone for Grady Sizemore, a full 15% higher than his career average. Maybe he’s been seeing Brian McCann’s eye doctor. A friend asked recently whether he should take Sizemore and Jonathan Sanchez for his Brett Gardner and John Danks. At the beginning of the season I would have Andre Ethiered my finger clicking the ‘Accept’ button too hard, but with how bad Sizemore’s been I told him no.

On top of his horrible performance so far, he has an MRI on his bruised knee today, so make sure to keep tabs on that. I don’t think it’s serious, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they put him on the DL anyway as an excuse to give him some time to figure things out.

Speaking of Brett Gardner, steals for the emerging Yankees #2 hitter. I thought he’d fade but looking at the numbers I think he’s sticking around, simply because he wears the pinstripes. His batting average will dip some as the season progresses but considering his favorable K/BB ratio he should continue to get on base enough to be a valuable source of runs and will have plenty of stolen base opportunities. Of course having said all this, he’s a fantastic sell high option if there’s someone in your league looking for stolen bases.

Slugging percentage improvement over the last 11 games for Prince Fielder, bringing his average up to .438. I was worried the vegetarianism had finally shriveled his manhood to such an extent that it was affecting his power numbers but of course he’ll be good. And imagining Ryan Braun with more run opportunities and Casey McGehee with more RBI opportunities is scary. If McGehee is the real deal this will be one of the best 3-4-5 combos in the game.

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