May

[nsacpi]

With one game left, we are a game above .500 for the month of May (we were 2 under .500 in April). The month brought major regression from Pierzyenski (.374 OPS) and significant regression from Markakis (.693 OPS). But also significant positive regression from Maybin, who has an .822 OPS for the month. OPS numbers for the month include Simmons at .758, Peterson at .706, Freeman at .760. Freeman is the notable under-performer in the group. On balance I think our hitting slightly underperformed relative to its capabilities for the month. The addition of Uribe gives me hope we will pick it up. Of course we are not going to hit as well as we did in April either. That represents a significant offensive overperformance. Team OPS was .702 in April and .652 so far in May. We should settle somewhere in between for the rest of the season.

On the pitching side, the FIP numbers for our starters in May pretty much summarize the story. Miller 2.71, Folty 3.69, Wood, 3.03, Perez 3.50 (2.39 as a starter) and Teheran 4.29. As a group, I think their performance is a bit better than expected. In any given month, some starters will outperform while others will underperform. Jim Johnson and Avilan pitched very well in May and Grilli has gotten the job done. The rest of the pen is a shambles. If we can fix it, I think this team can play .500 or slightly better baseball the rest of the way in.