1st & 2nd Team ALL- MLB

MR. RESENTMENT'S 2012 MID SEASON AWARDS

BECAUSE AWARDS ARE MEANT TO BE HANDED OUT AT THE HALFWAY POINT

                                                             

2012 1st TEAM - FIRST HALF ALL MLB

IF BASEBALL HAD TEAMS THE WAY THE NBA DOES, THIS WOULD BE IT... UP UNTIL THIS POINT.  PITCHING IS TBA. 

C.    YADIER MOLINA. St. Louis Cardinals. Best all around catcher in the game in my opinion his numbers actually make a strong case that I am right. It doesn't hurt he just caught a World Series winning staff last season. He keeps getting stronger as an offensive player.
.311 12 HR 44 RBI 7 SB  .872 OPS  Brian McCann OPS? .690 


1B.  JOEY VOTTO. Cincinnati Reds. Is he not the best left handed hitter in baseball? You can't say he lacks enough power to be considered anymore. My NL MVP right now.
.354  14 HR  47 RBI   1.115 OPS.


2B.   ROBINSON CANO. NY Yankees. Far and away the best 2B in the game. Looks like he is going to hit a double every single AB. Certainly helps that Pedroia has been beat up and Utley has barely played.
.305   18 HR  43 RBI .941 OPS. 


3B.  DAVID WRIGHT. NY Mets. David Wright is the Joe Mauer of the National League. Where did he go the last couple of seasons? Wasn't he supposed to be done being an elite hitter? Both have rebounded nicely and David is a strong candidate for MVP if the Mets stick around. gets the nod over Beltre because the OPS is off the charts. 
.359  9 HR   50 RBI  1.022 OPS.


SS.  ASDRUBAL CABRERA. Cleveland Indians. With Tulo out and Jose Reyes not doing much it's really not even a competition at SS as Cabrera is swinging a great bat. All you Jeter fans batting average is a very over rated stat. 
.292  11 HR  38 RBI .860 OPS. 


LF.  MIKE TROUT. LA Angels of Anaheim. Look I am not a hater I just crush a lot and the way Trout is playing I don't want him to stop. Best Player in the game right now. I don't care about age or reputation his numbers are insane for not even a full first half. 
.342  8 HR  32 RBI  22 SB  .933 OPS. 


CF. Matt Kemp on the DL ANDREW McCUTCHEN. Pitt Pirates. 
Andrew very well could be a top 10 player in the game. Playing for the Pirates obviously hurts his cred with most people who don't know anything. Check the stats.
.344  15 HR   51 RBI  14 SB  .993 OPS. 


RF. CARLOS GONZALEZ. Colorado Rockies. Is he the best OF in baseball with a significant track record with Matt Kemp currently not playing? He can play all the positions adn play them well.  I would say you would have to think about it before you say no.  
.338  17 HR   58 RBI   10 SB    1.005 OPS.


DH. RYAN BRAUN.  Milwaukee Brewers. NEWSFLASH He didn't need the juice. Basically the same numbers as last year, legit. 
.310  20 HR  52 RBI  13 SB  .980 OPS. 

  "Hey I didn't make the team?"

2nd TEAM

C.   CARLOS RUIZ. Philadelphia Phillies. Having a career year and has passed up Mauer. Joe  is to busy doing stupid hair commercials for my liking. Brian McCann and Napoli just aren't having worthy seasons to even put up a fight. 
.356  11 HR  43 RBI  1.000 OPS.  


1B.  PAUL KONERKO. Chicago White Sox.  The Hall of Famer that no one ever wants to talk about. What a season, what a career. Killing Fielder, Pujols, A-Gon to this point in the season. 
.337  14 HR  40 RBI   .976 OPS. 


2B.  BRANDON PHILLIPS. Cincinnati Reds. It has been a down  year for 2B in my eyes. Pedroia and Utley traditional powers are banged up. Kinsler could have some beef but Phillips numbers just better where they count. 
.287  10 HR   46 RBI   .776 OPS. 


3B.  ADRIAN BELTRE. Texas Rangers. 3B isn't exactly deep when it comes to impressive stat producers. Mike Moustakas is having a solid year but its not question Adrian is having another fine season.
.325  13 HR  51 RBI  .882 OPS. 


SS.  ELVIS ANDRUS. Texas Rangers.  I am going to go with Andrus here over the one dimensional Starlin Castro. I also feel Andrus is a better overall player than Jeter at this point. 
.302  1 HR   31 RBI   .786 OPS. compared to Starlin Castro's .745 ops.  


LF.  JOSH HAMILTON. Texas Rangers. Sorry Melky Cabrera.  Power prevails everytime. A single is the same thing as a walk in my book. Hamilton when he can keep from throwing the bat into the stands seems to either dent OF walls or put the ball over them. 
.316   24 HR  69 RBI  1.027 OPS. 


CF. ADAM JONES. Baltimore Orioles.  MVP talks for the first half of the season as he has the Orioles sticking around in the East. Granderson and Bourn both have beef with this ruling but I say to Granderson that he should mix in some hits that average is too low when everything else is so similar. Bourn is having an outstanding season but once again when you compare the numbers its not close. 
.297  19 HR  41 RBI   10 SB  .890 OPS. 


RF. CARLOS BELTRAN. St. Louis Cardinals. Who needs Albert Pujols when you have Carlos Beltran? what a great first half. If the Cards win the Central he is going to have to be considered for MVP votes. 
.311  20 HR  60 RBI   7 SB  .975 OPS.  


DH. MIGUEL CABRERA. Detroit Tigers.  Perfect for the DH spot because he is like watching a dancing bear trying to track down balls at 3B. Premier hitter in the game and a certain Hall of Famer with his bat. Plenty of guys you could argue that could fill the DH slot but with his track record you have to take him. 
.309  16 HR  62 RBI   .904 OPS. 

LEGENDARY BASEBALL INSTRUCTOR

Mr Resentment Salutes: 
BACK TO BACK TO BACK AAU NATIONAL CHAMPION
TOM EMANSKI.

HONORING THE ESPN COMMERCIAL KING THAT ONCE HAD VIDEO TAPE SALES THAT RIVALED RICHARD SIMMONS INSTRUCTIONAL SERIES "SWEATIN' TO THE OLDIES" 
IT BREAKS MY HEART THAT KIDS PLAYING TODAY HAVE NEVER SEEN THESE CLASSIC COMMERCIALS. IN THE 90'S ESPN PLAYED THE EMANSKI SPOT ON ROTATION OF 3 TIMES AN HOUR AROUND THE CLOCK.... FOR A DECADE. 

TOM EMANSKI

is the man behind Tom Emanski Instructional Videos, a set of nine video tapes which lay out the fundamental techniques of baseball. The videos, sometimes referred to as "The Nine Commandments," have taught millions of youths worldwide how to play the sport of baseball and the commercial for this video has been running for nearly 18 years. Many viewers have memorized Emanski's commercial by heart, albeit unintentionally. Emanski is a former major league baseball associate scout and youth coach.

The Emanski videos are best known for their frequent and long-running commercials on ESPN and during Major League Baseball games. Featured in the commercials is former Major League Baseball star Fred McGriff. Fred McGriff met Emanski at age 18 when he was still in the minor leagues playing Winter Ball in Puerto Rico. Emanski videotaped McGriff's swing and offered to slow it down and analyze it

In 1991, Emanski prepared to release his first videos and filmed a short endorsement clip in Chicago with McGriff, who was then with the San Diego Padres. ^[1] The commercial advertising Emanski's nine videos has been aired continually and relatively unchanged despite McGriff's multiple team-changes. Because of their frequent showings, Emanski's name has become synonymous with the fundamentals of baseball.

Emanski developed a "building block" approach to improve the fundamentals of hitting, running, and fielding. He tested his techniques on students at Baseball World, a youth baseball school inFern Park, Florida. His teams found success winning back-to-back-to-back Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national youth championships in three divisions: 12 and under (1990), 13 and under/under '90 (1991), and 11 and under (1992). ^[2] Emanski also coached the 1996 Junior Pan American team to two wins against Cuba and the gold medal. ^[3]

The frequent commercial airings have made the Emanski Videos widely known in the sports viewing world, and the instructional tapes have become fodder for sports analysts who wish to reference a lack of fundamental play in professional baseball players. source Wikipedia. 

WE BELIEVE CAL RIPKEN JR.'s CONSECUTIVE GAME STREAK WILL BE BROKE BEFORE ANY COACH EVER CHALLENGES EMANSKI'S IMPROBABLE RUN AT 3 AAU CHAMPIONSHIPS IN A ROW. 

LEBRON IS SO COMMERCIAL

NEW LEBRON JAMES COMMERCIAL

NIKE SLOBS HIM HARD

RINGS DON'T COME EASY

What I got out of that story was that it took Lebron really a long time to win one. just sayin.  

Lebron ended the great debate of who the NBA's best player is last night. The real question now is Lebron James a top 10 player in the history of the game? I think we need to see multiple rings before we say that. Let's see if he can catch Duncan before we start putting him in Magic, Kobe or MJ status.  Yes Kobe. If Michael can acknowledge Kobe is the closest player to himself then you haters can as well. 

If you look at the last 30 years of NBA basketball you see a pattern. The team with the best player in the league is usually going to be a favorite for a title. If you don't have either the best player in the NBA you better have at least the second best possibly third best in rare occasions. No other team sport compares to the importance of this. Other than last year with Dirk and Dallas and the every Detroit Pistons Championship team, all other rings have been won by the team with a top 3 player on it. 

The Lakers, Spurs, Bulls, Celtics, Rockets and Heat have dominated the NBA's Championships of a 30 year old persons life. 

Lakers thru 3 dominate runs had- Kobe,Shaq,Kareem,Magic. 

Celtics through 2 different runs - Bird, Big 3

Bulls- Jordan

Rockets- Hakeem

Heat thru 2 different runs- Wade, Lebron

In baseball teams that had Barry Bonds were certainly not guaranteed deep playoff runs. Hockey teams with Wayne Gretzsky weren't guaranteed a Conference Final every year. But in basketball when you have Lebron it does means deep playoff runs every single year. James has 5 more years in his peak prime that is at least 5 more great chances at cashing in.  I say he ends up with 4 when its all said and done. 

TOP 5: AL CY YOUNG TO DATE

AL CY YOUNG RANKINGS 

AS OF JUNE 21:

CJ WILSON RISING UP: LIVING UP TO CONTRACT.

Major League Baseball 2K12 : CJ Wilson

      5.  JAKE PEAVY.  Chicago White Sox.  

Has been a workhouse for the White Sox this season making 14 starts logging almost a 100 innings already, the only pitcher with more is Justin Verlander with 108.2 innings this season.  Peavy has revitalized his career this season. A 6-3 record is the least impressive of his numbers. Jake is sporting a 2.74 ERA with a WHIP of 0.94. While nowhere near a strikeout an inning guy anymore he still has fanned 83 guys so far. 

      4. JERED WEAVER.  Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. 
 **We have to Penalize the "Dream Weaver" for riding the pine while on the DL, this is why he isn't higher on our list. With that said he came back  strong last night with a win over the Giants . Weaver has been great again this season as he leads the staff of aces the Angels trot out there each night. Jered has pitched 75.0 innings and given up just 51 hits, that's a 0.91 WHIP. Currently 7-1 with a 2.40 ERA while striking out 60 guys he has the most impressive stats in the rankings to date. If he continues his brilliance he just might wrestle this years Cy Young Award from Zoolander.    

        3.  C.J. WILSON. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. 

Started 15 games logging 92.1 innings giving up just 67 hits that is a nice 1.15 WHIP. C.J. has been all that the Angels have wanted when luring him away from Texas. 8-4 with a very nice 2.44 ERA will make any organization happy. 79 k's Wilson is holding his own with fellow ace quality arm David Price who has racked up 82. The key stats that have Wilson in my top 5 are definitely the nasty low WHIP and sub 2.5  ERA.  It is no wonder the Angels have the best staff in baseball as they have 2  arms in my top 5 to date. 

       2.  Chris Sale. Chicago White Sox. 

The White Sox have landed their second arm in my top 5, Sale has emerged as an elite left handed arm. He has started 12 games pitching 80.1 innings so far which is a few less innings then my other top contenders but his dominance can't be ignored. Given up just 22 ER, while K'ing 82 guys and walking just 22 is remarkable for a young fireballer.  8-2 record and a 1.00 WHIP is outstanding. A 2.46 ERA is good for 3rd best in the AL. I look for Chris to come down to earth in the second half but he is riding a great start awfully far into the season. 

       1. JUSTIN VERLANDER. Detroit Tigers.  

Last year was no joke. He is back and is on top again... for right now anyway. Throwing over a 100 innings already (108.2) he has 106 K's while walking just 27. Nasty. 7-4 record doesn't tell the story. His sub 1 WHIP makes for a very impressive line when you put that with his 2.57 ERA. Giving up just 81 hits with that many K's makes Verlander the most dominant pitcher in the American League and he is going to need a brilliant second half to lead the Tigers past the Indians and Sox for a playoff bid. 

      

NEW POWER RANKINGS

UPDATED: 2012 Power Rankings

 66 GAME MARK.

Barton Silverman/The New York Times

TOP 10 TEAMS 

10. Atlanta Braves.  (35-31) not ranked last poll. 4-6 in last 10 games. 4 games back of Washington I am still a believer that the Braves are a playoff team. With Brandon Beachy the NL ERA leader headed to the DL they will look to hold their ground in the NL East. Currently 8th in overall runs scored while only 16th in ERA but 27th in Quality Starts. Need better Starting pitching and they need young slugger Freddie Freeman to get healthy. 

9. San Francisco Giants. (37-30) not ranked last poll. 5-5 in last 10 games.  Still well behind the Dodgers in the West as they trail by 5 but they certainly have inched closer the last few weeks. Matt Cain fresh off a perfect game my finally get some respect around baseball as a illegitimate top tier ace.  Nothing new here they still have a brutal offense as they suprisingly rank 8th in team batting but rank 22nd in runs scored. The pitching has been brilliant aside from Lincecum as they are a clear cut top 5 staff in baseball. Sunday wraps up all that has been and continues to be wrong with the Giants as they just don't score enough runs to be a top 5 team, they took another 2-1 loss. 
8. Cincinnati Reds. ( 38-27) not ranked last poll. 7-3 in last 10 games. First place in the Central up 4 games on Pittsburgh. Playing solid baseball lately led by of course Joey Votto who is on pace for 70 something doubles- ridiculousness. Surprisingly the Reds rank 6th in ERA while they are only in the middle pack on runs scored. Jay Bruce leads the team in Home Runs (15) and RBI (44)  Johnny Cueto has been lights out and if he had any doubters he has done a fine job trying to change people's minds. He is leading the team in Wins (8) ERA (2.38) and K's (67) and would have to show up on most Cy Young ballots somewhere.
7.  Tampa Bay Rays. (37-29) ranked 7th last poll. 6-4 in last 10 games.  3.5 back of the Yankees in the East as they are currently 3rd in the division.  How Joe Maddon does it, no one knows. Spectacular at nothing they plot on and remain a potential playoff force. 14th in runs scored and 7th in overall team ERA you have to wonder if Maddon has used all the magic up in that wand. If the point of the game is to win games then I guess no other stat matters right? Getting the organizations best player back in Evan Longoria should reinforce the offense. Without Matt Joyce I don't know where the Rays would be. He leads the team in hits (56) Home Runs (11) and average (.283) 
6. Baltimore Orioles. (39-27)  not ranked last poll. 7-3 in last 10 games. Can you believe Baltimore is only 1.5 games back of the first place in the AL East? If you predicted that in April then you are a liar. Ranked 9th in overall runs scored and an above average team ERA with 3.78 the Orioles have been playing solid baseball all season long. Buck Showalter should get a lot of the credit but it's not like he is the one scoring the runs. Adam Jones is probably the AL MVP at this point in the season and if the Orioles want to remain in the playoff hunt he will have stay in the top 5 the remainder of the season. .311/18 HR/ 39 RBI/.360 OBP/ 82 hits. 
5. Los Angeles Angels.  (36-31) ranked 10th last poll. 7-3 in last 10 games. Throw all the stats on the Angels out the window as the slow start killed all the pretty numbers. The Angels have roared back into the picture doing so while ace Jered Weaver is on the shelf. The Angels are who we thought they were a great team. A very deep lineup led by Mike Trout,  Mark Trumbo and of course Albert Pujols they are scoring runs in bunches and with the pitching they have should push the Rangers in the second half. Mark Trumbo has been the teams MVP to this point as he leads in all major offensive categories. 
4. Texas Rangers. (40-27) ranked 4th last poll. 7-3 in last 10 games. Well they got to beat up on the Astros over the weekend so that will always solve good teams problems. Statistically the Rangers offense ranks first in all major categories while their pitching ranks right about 10th in overall peformance compared to the league. This will always result in a lot of regular season wins. Most will still consider the Rangers the best team in baseball but i see things differently. It is very difficult for a team to reach 3 consecutive World Series, so to think that they can just snap their fingers and automatically roll over teams in the Divisional Series and ALCS is not right. Will Yu Darvish hold up in the Texas heat? Will fragile body and minded Josh Hamilton hold up? Right now they remain strong and certainly one of the favorites in all of baseball. 
3. Washington Nationals. (38-26)  ranked 3rd last poll. 6-4 in last 10 games. Up 4 games on the Braves it's no secret how they been winning games on a regular basis. Pitching has been the formula as they rank at the top of almost all major pitching categories led by Strasburg and Gio as both are Cy Young candidates entering the second half. Questions remain as they don't score a whole lot of runs currently 25th in overall run production. Can the pitching carry the entire season? It's time Ryan Zimmerman and the offense step up and put up a crooked number every once in a while. When Adam LaRoche is your offensive MVP then you have problems. Can a team with no offensive stars make arun in the playoffs? Yes, but can they win the whole thing? Ehhhhh Giants? 
2. Los Angeles Dodgers. (42-25) ranked 1st last poll. 6-4 in last 10 games.  What you don't know about the LA Dodgers- well they have been holding their own without all world Matt Kemp up until this point. The offense isn't as bad as everyone assumes. You have to look at the stats people. Currently 2nd in overall OBP which is leading to a respectable 12th in runs scored. (6th in team batting average) What you probably already know the pitching has been outstanding. 2nd in ERA and 3rd in Quality Starts along with a bullpen that has stepped up their game which  has made manager Donny Mattingly look real good this year. They just locked up Andre Ethier long term and they are starting to build something in real LA not fake Anaheim L.A. 
1. New York Yankees.  (40-25) ranked 10th last poll. 9-1 in last 10 games.  Finally the Yankees have come back.... to the top spot in baseball. It's official they are the hottest team in baseball in the toughest division.  Jeter,Cano, Granderson, A-Rod, Swisher, Teixeira good luck opposing pitchers. Courtesy of ESPN check out the bats of the Bronx Bombers, not much more is needed to be said. 

BATTING
NAME	GP	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Brett Gardner	9	28	5	9	2	0	0	3	11	5	7	2	0	.321	.424	.393	.817
Derek Jeter	64	277	39	87	12	0	6	21	117	20	37	5	1	.314	.361	.422	.784
Robinson Cano	65	253	44	76	21	1	12	31	135	26	39	1	0	.300	.367	.534	.900
Eduardo Nunez	20	51	7	15	2	1	0	5	19	5	6	6	1	.294	.356	.373	.728
Alex Rodriguez	64	238	35	64	6	0	10	31	100	29	56	6	0	.269	.360	.420	.780
Eric Chavez	41	99	9	26	7	0	3	8	42	7	18	0	0	.263	.306	.424	.730
Nick Swisher	58	214	26	56	18	0	10	40	104	20	50	1	1	.262	.325	.486	.811
Chris Stewart	19	54	5	14	2	0	0	7	16	1	9	0	0	.259	.273	.296	.569
Curtis Granderson	65	257	47	66	9	1	21	40	140	37	74	3	3	.257	.353	.545	.897
Mark Teixeira	62	234	33	59	16	0	11	39	108	27	35	1	1	.252	.332	.462	.794