Thoughts and Things

It's the 4th of July weekend, and that means lots of bar-b-q, ice cream, and taking a break from school, exams, and lab work. I haven't been paying close attention to baseball, but I do have a few things that I've been thinking about lately...

• Why is everyone so surprised with the Rays? They have an insane pitching staff, established offensive talent, and a much improved bullpen. They're farm system is still stacked, and they remind me of the Braves in the early '90s. They're for real folks, and here to stay.
• Speaking of the Rays, Evan Longoria is making a nice case for himself for Rookie of the Year. It's hard to say if he'll continue putting up the type of numbers we've been seeing in the past few weeks, but I won't be surprised if he does.
• With the recent demise of Jeff Francoeur, I started looking at other young players that are "struggling" and where the problems lie. I've noticed that a lot of hitters are experiencing a significant increase in their doubles to home runs ratio, which in turn messes with their slugging percentages. The list of players suffering from this condition include Delmon Young, Billy Butler, B.J. Upton, Prince Fielder, Miguel Cabrera, Lastings Milledge, and Howie Kendrick. Each player is facing other issues as well, but I thought the sudden decline in home run totals was interesting to note. I don't know if it's coincidence or not.
• Besides the Rays, is there any other team that has a young rotation of pitchers that can match up against the Red Sox young staff of Buchholz, Masterson, Lester, and Bowden? Maybe Oakland if Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill reach the majors with Gio Gonzalez in a couple of years, but I don't think any other team even comes close.
  
• The National League is really bad.
  

That's all for now folks.
Peace, love, and motorcycles.

-Adam G