ALL-STAR BREAK STATS

We're at the mythical mid-season point, so how are we doing?  The stats look like this:

BATTERS (Change Display Statistics)

Name	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	AB	R	H	RBI	HR	CS	SB	TB	BB
Bobby Abreu	.257	.351	.414	.765	331	50	85	47	10	6	15	137	49
Miguel Cabrera	.346	.423	.651	1.074	312	64	108	77	22	3	2	203	43
Kosuke Fukudome	.252	.347	.414	.762	222	28	56	26	8	4	4	92	34
Adrian Gonzalez	.301	.397	.533	.930	319	49	96	56	18	0	0	170	51
Aaron Hill	.189	.272	.359	.631	281	33	53	33	12	0	1	101	28
Russell Martin	.244	.346	.332	.679	283	43	69	22	5	2	6	94	42
Hunter Pence	.263	.316	.427	.743	323	47	85	40	12	5	11	138	25
Carlos Quentin	.244	.344	.523	.867	262	48	64	61	19	0	0	137	29
Alexei Ramirez	.274	.306	.408	.714	299	33	82	33	8	6	3	122	14
Justin Smoak	.206	.311	.346	.657	243	29	50	34	8	0	1	84	38
Chris Snyder	.240	.355	.448	.803	183	21	44	31	10	0	0	82	32
Andres Torres	.281	.378	.483	.861	263	46	74	29	7	4	17	127	40
Juan Uribe	.251	.320	.438	.758	283	39	71	50	12	2	1	124	29
David Wright	.314	.392	.532	.924	325	52	102	65	14	7	15	173	45
TOTAL	.264	.349	.454	.803	3,929	582	1,039	604	165	39	76	1784	499

PITCHERS (Change Display Statistics)

Name	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	G	GS	IP	W	L	SV	SO	ERA	WHIP	BS	Hold	R	ER	PA	AB	H	HR	TB	BB	UBB	IBB	HBP	SF	SH	DP	H9	SO9	HR9
Mark Buehrle	.297	.339	.424	.763	18	18	110.3	8	7	0	51	4.24	1.43	0	0	56	52	470	434	129	10	184	29	29	0	0	3	4	13	10.52	4.16	0.82
Luke Gregerson	.154	.206	.289	.495	42	0	43.3	3	5	1	53	2.91	0.74	3	19	15	14	161	149	23	4	43	9	8	1	1	1	1	3	4.78	11.01	0.83
Kenshin Kawakami	.271	.326	.458	.784	15	15	82.3	1	9	0	57	4.48	1.40	0	0	48	41	362	321	87	9	147	28	20	8	1	6	6	6	9.51	6.23	0.98
Nick Masset	.292	.373	.442	.814	45	0	39.3	3	3	1	44	5.26	1.65	1	9	24	23	180	154	45	5	68	20	17	3	1	2	3	4	10.30	10.07	1.14
Brian Matusz	.273	.338	.417	.756	18	18	103.7	3	9	0	80	4.77	1.45	0	0	59	55	460	410	112	12	171	38	37	1	4	3	5	5	9.72	6.95	1.04
Jose Mijares	.243	.293	.429	.722	25	0	18.7	1	0	0	14	2.41	1.18	0	6	7	5	76	70	17	3	30	5	5	0	0	0	1	2	8.20	6.75	1.45
Kevin Millwood	.307	.361	.493	.854	18	18	107.7	2	8	0	84	5.77	1.58	0	0	75	69	483	440	135	20	217	35	34	1	3	1	4	10	11.28	7.02	1.67
Jamie Moyer	.234	.275	.414	.689	17	17	107.7	9	8	0	62	4.51	1.08	0	0	58	54	439	411	96	18	170	20	20	0	4	1	3	7	8.02	5.18	1.50
Darren Oliver	.191	.257	.282	.539	39	0	39.7	0	0	1	43	1.36	0.88	2	10	7	6	146	131	25	2	37	10	7	3	2	1	2	8	5.67	9.76	0.45
Ramon Ramirez	.259	.313	.481	.795	37	0	35.7	0	2	1	24	4.79	1.32	0	3	19	19	152	135	35	6	65	12	11	1	0	3	2	2	8.83	6.06	1.51
Francisco Rodriguez	.235	.312	.337	.649	42	0	44.0	2	2	21	53	2.45	1.27	4	0	12	12	186	166	39	3	56	17	15	2	2	1	0	1	7.98	10.84	0.61
Jonathan Sanchez	.214	.317	.333	.650	18	18	103.7	7	6	0	104	3.47	1.29	0	0	46	40	440	378	81	9	126	53	52	1	4	1	4	8	7.03	9.03	0.78
Ben Sheets	.266	.328	.486	.814	19	19	112.7	4	8	0	82	4.63	1.39	0	0	63	58	483	436	116	17	212	41	39	2	0	2	3	7	9.27	6.55	1.36
TOTAL	.259	.320	.420	.740	353	123	948.7	43	67	25	751	4.25	1.33	10	47	489	448	4,038	3,635	940	118	1526	317	294	23	22	25	38	76	8.92	7.12	1.12

Miguel Cabrera may win the Triple Crown, and perennial stars David Wright and Adrian Gonzalez are comfortably in the .900's in OPS.  Carlos Quentin is apparently healthy (until he isn't, which shouldn't be long) and has hit six homers in his last four games.  The biggest pleasant surprise is Andres Torres.  He's taking playing time away from several other Giants outfielders and is displaying skills that a 32-year-old journeyman should not have.  He's hit as many homers in 77 games as he hit in over twice that many games during his first five seasons in the Majors.  He's also done the same trick with stolen bases.  If that's steroids, those are some damned good steroids.

The rest of the hitters are a mixed bag.  Bobby Abreu is a shell of his former self, and may decline right out of baseball by next year.  Hunter Pence is about where you would expect him to be, although I thought he'd have more homers.  Kosuke Fukudome has turned into a glacier after a hot start.  Aaron Hill is battling hamstring problems and can only contribute the odd homer now and again.  Russell Martin became old very fast.  Alexei Ramirez still has some pop, but he never walks, and he needs to hit .300 to be useful, not .274.  Justin Smoak has drifted off to Seattle in the Rangers' Rent Cliff Lee trade.  I'm not so sure this will work out well for Smoaky in such a punishing hitting environment.  Chris Snyder is back to spot duty since Miguel Montero got healthy.  I wish some other team would give this guy the 350 AB's he deserves.  Juan Uribe is tapering off rapidly back to reality after a good start.

The hitting is actually the good news in this report.  Luke Gregerson is emerging as a superstar, and Darren Oliver is the best 40-year-old in anybody's bullpen, after maybe Arthur Rhodes.  Jose Mijares is getting lefties out, when he isn't on bereavement or seeing double.  It's all pretty bad after that.  Mark Buehrle usually has good second halfves, and I need that from him badly.  Kenshin Kawakami has been relegated to the pen.  Nick Masset is somebody else's problem.  Brian Matusz is starting to figure it out very slowly, and his peripherals aren't that bad.  Kevin Millwood is toast.  Jamie Moyer is a guy I almost have to keep, because his WHIP is so good, but man, those HR's allowed are outrageous.  Ramon Ramirez is another fungible reliever that will not make my 2011 squad.  Jonathan Sanchez continues to tantalize and drive me crazy.  Ben Sheets may end up a Met before too long, which would be just like Omar Minaya.

This is a losing team as constituted.  I'm going to have to do a lot of work to get this team even to .500.  Ugh.

The Minors aren't going to provide much immediate help, it seems.  The closest guy to a call-up is Alex White, and he's not considered a "hot" prospect because he doesn't throw 99 mph or have hellacious breaking stuff.  Martin Perez is right where a 19-year-old in AA would be expected to be, struggling mightily.  The second half will be very important for him.  Mike Trout won't see the light of day in Anaheim for three years no matter how great he is because that is how the Angels roll.  Grant Green is a pretty good hitter for a SS, but he can't actually play SS, so that is a big problem.  Chris Withrow hasn't impressed anyone, but people still consider him a prospect, for some reason.  Aaron Crow is terrible.  Miguel Sano could be great, but I'll have to wait another two years to really see how great he might be.  Christian Colon will have to get by on makeup and leadership skills, because he doesn't look like any kind of naturally gifted hitter.

In the 2010 replay, I'm one game behind the Hobos for first place, despite a 40-43 record.  That record puts me exactly one game ahead of the Madmen for the fourth and final playoff spot.  It's not a good enough result to really be buyers on the trade market, but any kind of playoff spot is great for me, and I hate to start selling off and miss a chance like that.  I'm stuck in the middle, which is where I've been for years.  Suits me, I guess.