Red Sox

Dustin Pedroia is one of the best players in baseball. He's a super-solid second baseman,  a great hitter, and a yearly MVP candidate. With him, however, the Red Sox got off to one of the worst starts in their long history.

14 or 15 games ago he hurt his thumb. The Red Sox were forced to use a journeyman infielder to take his place. But something weird happened when this replacement player started playing for the Sox. They suddenly started winning.

In fact they have now won 10 of their last 14 games with this new second baseman providing the spark that superstar Pedroia never quite gave them. Yesterday this backup second baseman came up a triple short of the cycle as he led his team to yet another amazing victory.

The infielder's name?

One of my all-time favorite utility infielders, Nick Punto.

I said the Twins would become losers two seasons ago when we got rid of him. In his first year away form the Twins, he helped St. Louis win their first World Series in a long time. Something they could never quite do with just Pujols in the line-up. Now that he's in the Red Sox line-up they have suddenly become winners again as well. Dustin Pedroia is getting healthier every day and should be back soon. I'm thinking without Punto playing every day their fortunes will suddenly turn. No one will be able to figure out why.

No one that is except me, the casual sports fan. Moneyball has taught me a lot over the years and there are two things that matter more than anything 1) being able to play your position on defense flawlessly and 2) your on base percentage. Even when Punto's batting average suffers, he still gets on base more than most players on his team.

He knows how to win. He's a winner.

Home Court Advantage Continues

OKC evened the series with the Spurs last night. Is there any other sport where home court/field matters this much? It's pretty bizarre when you think about it.

Mauer Power

Joe had three hits and three RBI last night including a two-run homer. Another month of that kind of hitting and I'll change my mind about him some.

Sadly, P.J. was just average yesterday. 4 earned runs in just four innings isn't going to keep him in the majors. Okay, on the TWINS that actually may be good enough.

Best defense? Ben Revere made a pretty nice catch. The Twins beat the second place Indians 7-4. I guess that's the only stat that really matters.

Home Court Advantage

Boston, much like OKC the night before, showed why playing at home is so important for good NBA franchises. Last night it was the Celtics who dominated the Heat. At one point the Celtics had a 24 point lead.

Both NBA series are now at 2 games to 1. Each home team has won every game so far.

No-Hitter

The Mets had never had a no-hitter. Former Twin, Johan Santana had never had one either. That ended last night as Johan became the second ex-Twin to pitch a no=hitter this season. (Phil Humber had a perfect game for the White Sox April 21st.)

Santana missed last season because of shoulder surgery. He was on a strict pitch count because of his recovery, but the manager left him throw 134 pitches (a career high) to give him his shot at history.

There is a bit of a controversy, though. Carlos Beltran hit a scorcher down the third-base line in the sixth inning. The ump ruled it foul. Replay showed that it hit the chalk line. The umpire did not comment after the game.

I'm not giving the Twins loss last night it's own headline. Their three game win-streak came to a screeching halt last night as Cleveland clubbed them 7-1.

Over-Valued

Here's an interesting stat I came across.

I've said from the beginning that the Twins were really stupid to invest so much money into Joe Mauer long-term. Even if he starts having better seasons, you simply cannot justify spending that much money on a guy who cannot consistently hit for power and RBI. Looking at on base percentage this year, he's only the 19th best number 3 hitter in baseball. A-Rod might be a bit more overpriced, but it's not hard to argue that Mauer is being paid way too much for what he does.

Notice how several guys on this list aren't even making a million dollars this season. Excuse the typesetting problems. Blogger can't do tabs.

1) Hamilton   OBP   1321   $15.25 Million

2) Kemp                  1173      $10.25

3) Wright                 1080      $15.25

4) Votto                   1059      $11.41

5) Beltran                1058      $13

6) Ortiz                   1026      $14.575

7) Braun                  1022      $7.399

8) Dunn                     993     $14

9) Joyce                     939     $.5

10) C. Gonzalez        928    $5.43

11) A. Cabrera          906    $4.55

12) Me. Cabrera        900     $6

13) McCutcheon       899     $.7

14) Reddick              874    $.5

15) Freeman             847    $.5

16) Mi. Cabrera        830     $21

17) A-Rod                808     $30

18) Markakis            801   $12.35

19) Mauer               793    $23 Million

OKC Whips Spurs

San Antonio looked so bad last night that I simply stopped watching. This may become a series yet.