Beat the Streak Report: Thursday, July 15
And we’re back.
So how’d you spend your summer vacation? Finally visited that aunt
whose house smells like soup? Finally got around to mowing the backyard
grass in one of those lawnmower golf-cart things from Forrest Gump that
look awesome?
Good. You deserve it. Each and every one of you.
A few things before we get our knees dirty and get down to business:
? I, along with fantasy guru Ian Kay, started a blog called “The Fantasy Goodness”.
It’s pretty much a one-stop shop for all things fantasy baseball, it’s
updated pretty frequently and I know you all are just thirsting for
another outlet to read my stuff. Well cotton mouth no more, click here
for your oasis of liquid information. We’ve tackled a list of
second-half breakout hitters, all first-half value teams, the Yunel
Escobar-Alex Gonzalez deal and we’ll have a full real second-half mock
draft coming up later today. Who doesn’t love mock drafts? Exactly. Oh,
also, if you ever have any fantasy questions or are looking for some
advice, leave them in the comments section of a post or just email me
at david.feldman@mlb.com and I’ll write up a full post for you guys.
I’m just that kind of a guy!
? In the spirit of the All-Star Game (and boredom), I wrote up a blog post unveiling the Beat the Streak All-Star Team. There will be a few surprises in there. LEAVE ICHIRO ALONE!
Alright, alright, time for Thursday’s picks
Oh, hello there …
? Ichiro Suzuki: 13-game hitting streak.
? Rafael Furcal: .431 AVG last 14 games; .357 AVG (5-for-14) since ’06 vs. Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter.
? Michael Cuddyer: .500 AVG (18-for-36) lifetime vs. White Sox starter John Danks
? Vladimir Guerrero: .435 AVG (10-for-23) lifetime vs. Red Sox starter Tim Wakefield
? Alexei Ramirez: .417 AVG (5-for-12) lifetime vs. Twins starter Kevin Slowey
Feeling kinda spicy?
? Jamey Carroll: .375 AVG (6-for-18) lifetime vs. Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter
Utility infielder vs. All-Star pitcher? Thanks, but I think I’ll pass.
You’ll thank me later …
? Brian McCann: .091 AVG (1-for-11) lifetime vs. Brewers starter Dave Bush
? Marlon Byrd: .183 AVG (2-for-11) lifetime vs. Phillies starter Jaime Moyer
? Paul Konerko: .176 AVG (3-for-17) lifetime vs. Twins starter Kevin Slowey
? Ian Kinsler: .154 AVG (2-for-13) lifetime vs. Red Sox starter Tim Wakefield
Leaderboard time!
Our fearsome leader starting off the second half is “respy”, who
is currently rocking a 32-game streak. May your second half be full of
hits, Jamba Juice smoothies and advice from Dick George.
Top MLB streakers
? Miguel Cabrera: 19 games
? Ichiro Suzuki: 13 games
? Jonathan Herrera: 11 games
? Jon Jay: 11 games
? Aaron Cunningham: 10 games
Beat the Streak Report 
What’s up everybody. I’m glad that baseball is back first and foremost and here are my picks for today. My pick in BTS will turn some heads and have people wondering why but I love the pick and I will tell you who it is. I have chosen Omar Infante as he is facing Bush of Milwaukee and he is hitting .464 over the last 7 days with 13 hits so I love the pick. That’s a sleeper for ya today. I have Braves in Survivor and Hart in HR BTS.
hoo hoo baseball is back! vinny i like your pick – good luck. going with ichiro today. that will be me sitting on the couch with the “i believe” sign. 🙂
@Vinny. Looking at Omar also only if he bats in 1st 3 of order. Vlad also a consideration. P.S. Omar kills righties too & Bush’s stats are not impressive. Vlad has hit Wakefield every time they met; going back several years. Have time to mull it over
I like Vlad the Impaler for tonight. He definitely has Wakefield’s knuckleball figured out and the green monster will give plenty of help for those long singles.
Hey hey, made it back into service ( more importantly my 3G) (it’s weird not using my cell for 3 days, thank goodness it was break.) and picks have been made. Hope you all had a nice relaxing couple days break. I know I did.( I’ve got an ideas let’s do a 10 mile hike to cross the border, sounded like a better when we thought of it. But the boy loved it and made a friend from TX)
Back to baseball, was the A.S. game even worth watching?
Nice to see the leader reads the blog too.
GL to all tonight, I’m hitting the Sox-Rangers game.
M
Woo hoo. Michael takes me to a dozen. GL to the rest of you.
Changing my pick as Infante isn’t starting so not taking any chances. Going to Prado.
Last minute Charlie here……not sold on Prado and although Vlad’s numbers are impressive keep in mind that out of his last 4 games (17 at bats), he’s only gotten 2 hits. Got that off ESPN. His last 7 day avg is .118. Good luck everyone!
first i must say this is my first post but i read your guys stuff all the time nd it helps alot…cuz i do know alot about baseball but its always great to hear a tip u werent aware of..but i think ima pick hamilton for myself and my bro is talkin prado!! But im a huge braves fan like my bro so lets say how bout b-mac? gettn all star game MVP..i love it!!
Today’s Top Picks of the current Top2500, 89 batters picked overall
Batter, Times Picked, Percentage
Ichiro Suzuki, 678, 27.12%
Vladimir Guerrero, 343, 13.72 (Leader)
Josh Hamilton, 219, 8.76
Martin Prado, 204, 8.16
Alex Rios, 110, 4.4
Albert Pujols, 84, 3.36
Justin Morneau, 58, 2.32 (DL)
Kevin Youkilis, 48, 1.92
Michael Cuddyer, 47, 1.88
Dane Sardinha, 44, 1.76 (Optioned)
No Selection, 42, 1.68
Rafael Furcal, 41, 1.64
Highest “No Selection”: Page #23 with a streak of 14 now reset to zero.
Bloggers Group Top2500
UserName, Streak, Page#, Pick
LaVolpe, 16, pg11, A.Rios
Deb23, 14, pg15, R.Braun (25x by Top2500)
dalywalker322, 14, pg22, I.Suzuki
00Liber, 11, pg47, M.Young (32x by Top2500)
RIP2TheCompetition, 11, pg49, I.Suzuki
dragbunt104, 9, pg87, I.Suzuki
leeungaretta, 9, pg99, I.Suzuki
champion_88, 9, pg100, J.Hamilton
Schenk015 @ 9 reset by A.Beltre
WOW!
I feel so honored to occupy the 2,500th slot of 2,500 active players!
Has anyone here ever occupied that final slot before?
And Hamilton had a 2nd inning double, so I finally broke through the double-digit barrier!!!
I went with Hamilton too. It was either him or VG but it looked like VG might be slumping. One thing that concerned me is the knockerball and they’re playing on the road.
Lav, I don’t understand why u chose Rios as he stinks at night but we will see what happens.
@Vinny. Gut feeling. He’s hitting it well, just came up twice with Pierre on 3rd & 1 out; so 2 sac flies. Problem is that Slowey may not make it to 5th when Rios due up again.
The numbers only tell so much. Rios has been one of the most consistent players on the best team in the MLB for the last month. I didn’t pick him tonight, but day or night, I’d put my money on him after watching him as much as I have this year.
“Problem is that Slowey may not make it to 5th when Rios due up again.”
Don’t worry. The Minn ballpen is lot worst than Slowey so you have to hope he gets maybe 6 ABs if it turns out to be a blowout.
“Rios has been one of the most consistent players on the best team in the MLB for the last month.”
What? He has been consistently divergent in his hitting. Every month. Kills day. Suck night.
Rios Night time stats:
Mar and Apr Chicago White Sox 14 55 5 14 3 1 1 5 22 3 10 4 1 .293 .400 .255
May Chicago White Sox 17 61 11 16 6 0 4 11 34 4 6 4 1 .313 .557 .262
June Chicago White Sox 18 72 7 17 2 0 1 9 22 4 13 2 2 .295 .306 .236
July Chicago White Sox 8 31 4 8 0 0 1 5 11 1 4 2 1 .273 .355 .258
Only logical explanation with Rios is he needs his eyes checked out. Even just out of curiosity. I played tons of stickball @ church parking lot growing up and we even had flood light @ night time. It was much easier to see the ball during the day time for me but the disparity wasn’t that much.
Then there is Jose Reyes. If a team can platoon Jose Reyes and Rios as a DH, they would get .450 avg. out of that spot.
Well a 250 average is all I’m looking for: 1-4 is good for me 😉
Rather be lucky than good! Only time this streak so far, had to wait for 1st hit off a reliever. Don’t like that anxiety. But if Pierre didn’t go from 1st to 3rd two innings in a row, I think Rios would have had a hit off Slowey vs 2 sac flies. Got ChiSox in Survivor too; so could be a bonus day 🙂
I went 3 for 3 in all 3. Prado got a hit, Hart hit a HR and Braves won. I see my luck changing.
@Vinny: I had Howard for HR BTS & he got 2. But I don’t hold my breath for that game.
@btsplayer Okay, follow the laws of numbers and accumulate the best players possible. But a lot of people here do that and no one has one this contest yet. If you think those lines you posted are bad, to every man his own, but when a majority of your season is played at night and you’re still hitting .310, you’re usually doing just enough at night to not be written off instantly. At the least, let’s agree to disagree?
@lavolpe: My experience has been don’t go against a heavy wall. You can only do that few times before the odds get you. I considered Rios many times but as soon as I saw that it was @ night, I just let it go. Not worth the risk.
Its the same with top notch pitchers. Sure you may get away with one or two games here & there but in the end they get you. Avoiding all that barely increases your odds just a bit more. Then you have to avoid #6 starter suddenly throwing a 2 hitter.
@btsPlayer: Rios avg is crud @ night; no doubt. But it stays lighter longer in summer :). Anyway, I was convinced he’d get a hit in 1st 2 ABs vs Slowey — almost cost me!
I was thinking Alex Rios for most of the past 2 days, last night I decided to go with Ichiro though, almost thought THAT was gonna cost me.
“@btsplayer Okay, follow the laws of numbers and accumulate the best players possible. But a lot of people here do that and no one has one this contest yet. If you think those lines you posted are bad, to every man his own, but when a majority of your season is played at night and you’re still hitting .310, you’re usually doing just enough at night to not be written off instantly. At the least, let’s agree to disagree?”
Doesn’t Rios tend to cluster his hits though?
So why would you take his worse split?
His cluster issues is why I am skeptical in using him during the day.
I had Rickie Weeks for July 15th. I thought he went o for 4 because they originally charged the hit with an error. When I woke this morning I looked at the box score for the heck of it and noticed that they changed the error to a hit. I had a 16 game hitting sreak and it went to 0. This hit would have made it 17 because they haven’t yet changed it on the hitting streak. I just want to put pressure on MLB to give me my 17 game hitting streak which now should be 18 because vernon Wells got a hit. Did anyone else have Rickie Weeks for the 15th?