Random Game Thoughts...

Dodgers vs. Red Sox

1. Manny's first game back. It sounded like a good mix of cheers and boos for the first AB, but definitely mostly boos moving forward after that.
2. J.D. Drew today hit a home run, extending my fantasy baseball lead in that category. Then he caught a sinking liner hit by Manny (shortly after Cameron muffed a sinking line drive hit by Ethier), which excited me, because I still like Manny but I don't want him to get any hits. Of course, J.D. immediately pulled up lame after making the catch and left the game hurt. Ugh.
3. Reed Johnson has a stupid mustache.
4. I didn't think that Roger Clemens went out in public anymore, but there he was in the monster seats. He looked pretty good, much younger than he should, and seemed to be in good spirits. I'm also fairly sure that the pretty lady sitting next to him is not his wife.
5. So, I'm so F'ing tired of people talking about soccer when I'm trying to watch baseball or basketball. If I wanted to see/hear about soccer I would turn the TV to ESPN 5 or wherever.
6. Felix Doubront. Sure. He'll be serviceable for some team like the Pirates or Reds.
7. Russell Martin has a stupid mustache too. Maybe they're having some kind of stupid Andy Garcia stupid mustache-growing contest. Stupid.
8. Ooh, Rihanna is at the ballpark. Is she dating Matt Kemp? They were seen canoodling in Mexico recently. Is she the singer who got beat up all the time?
9. Dustin Pedroia just tried to go from first to third on a foul ball down the line.
10. Adrian Beltre and his dropping-to-one-knee home runs are unbelievable.
11. The Red Sox are really breaking it open this inning. This game was tied at three before the bottom of the fifth, now it looks like Doubront might notch his first career win. And as I type this, the Dodgers still haven't recorded an out in the inning.
12. The names of the three Dodgers pitchers I've seen so far: Monasterios, Troncoso (who didn't retire any of the five batters he faced) and Schlichting.
13. Scott Atchison ties a career high by going three innings. Wow.

Well, that's it.

Ubaldo vs Greinke

It's high time Baseball Oxygen breathed the air of the National League and acknowledged a pitcher making hitters whiff and gasp at a breathtaking rate. The pitcher is Ubaldo Jimenez, ace of the Colorado Rockies, who is towering over NL Cy Young favorites Roy Halladay and TimLincecum after two months of baseball.

Last year, the darling of the pitching world was Zack Greinke. He overcame his fear of turtles or whatever and completely shut down opposing offenses for the first two months of the season. He returned to Earth in mid summer, but still posted great numbers in winning his first Cy, finishing with 242 Ks and a 2.16 ERA.

But it was Zack's April and May that left the baseball world stunned. Greinke didn't allow an earned run in his first four starts, surrendering his first one in his 30th inning of the season. His ERA after two months was 1.10, and in just 11 starts he'd already accumulated 88 strike outs. It was a truly amazing opening, and the best I'd seen in a long time.

Now it's 2010. Greinke has been unlucky, sitting at 1-6, and over in the National League, UbaldoJimenez has posted a 10-1 record and two months even more impressive than Greinke's. After 11 2010 starts, Jimenez's ERA sits at a shocking 0.78 and he's racked up 70 Ks. He's also already tossed a no-hitter.

Fans will argue that the National League is weaker, and I'm one of them. Jimenez gets to face a pitcher a couple times a game, and the overall offense in general seems to be weaker in the NL(see head-to-head interleague numbers or 12-game AL All-star winning streak, excluding 2002's tie, if you don't believe me). Throw Ubaldo in the AL Central and his numbers would likely suffer. However, in all fairness, when Greinke was on his amazing run last year, he wasn't exactly facing Murderer's Row. Greinke went up against the White Sox three times in his first 11 stars, the Indians twice and the Tigers twice. The only AL East teams he faced in April and May were Baltimore and Toronto. In interleague play he drew Houston, Arizona, and Pittsburgh.

Ubaldo has had it easy so far too. Two against the Padres, Diamondbacks, and Nationals. His one loss came against the Dodgers. In his favor, he did hurl his no-hitter against the Braves, who presently sit atop the NL East.

Park factors argue for Ubaldo's case, but I think they're overrated. The reason Colorado's pitching staffs used to get hammered is because their pitchers sucked, not just that Coor's was a launching pad. But looking at the numbers, Kaufman stadium has a rating of 111 for pitchers (anything under 100 is beneficial for pitchers) while Coors Stadium, considered the best hitting park in the majors, score a 122. Neither one is a pitching park, but aces like Greinke and Jimenez don't concern themselves with such frivolities.

Ubaldo or Zack. Both 26-year-old righties with nasty fastballs. Ubaldo's is faster while Greinke'sreportedly has more movement. Greinke has the best curve while Ubaldo has the better slider. You really couldn't lose with either of these guys.

But saying "they're both super great!" doesn't take any balls so I'm going to go with Jimenez. Time will tell.