How To Be Comeback Player of the Year

AL Comeback Player of the year. Joe Nathan? Nope. Kendrys Morales? Negative. Fernando Rodney won the MLB's voting and Adam Dunn took home the Sporting News' hardware. Of which, neither player actually had to "comeback" from, well, anything.

Let's start with Fernando Rodney who also won the Fireman of the Year award. Rodney was as lights out as you could possibly be this year. posting a 0.77 ERA and converting 48 of 48 save opportunities. This season was a far cry from the previous two seasons he spent in Anaheim, the last of which he was relegated to mop up duty. However, that is where it should end. Reliever of the Year. All he had to come back from after the last two years was just being bad at baseball, but he did have an amazing year, so I'll buy it.

Adam Dunn on the other hand, has absolutely no business winning the Sporting News' Comeback Player of the Year award. Dunn was terrible in his first season with the White Sox last year posting a .159/.292/.277 slash line. Somewhere, Mario Mendoza is laughing at you Adam. Adam Dunn's 2012 line, .204/.333/.468 with 41 HR and 96 RBI's. Damn you RBI's. Shiny counting stats win again. Apparently the voters failed to notice that the Big Donkey led the league in strikeouts with 222 (which is also his career high). For contrast, Kendrys Morlaes' slash line was .273/.320/.467. Oh yeah, and Morales had to come back from a career threatening leg injury, not that that matters or anything. 

At least the National League voters got it right with Buster Posey taking home both the MLB and Sporting News awards. After getting nuked at the plate last year, some didn't think he could come back as a catcher. Not only did he come back as a catcher, but he is also right in the thick of the MVP race in the NL. Well done Buster, well done. It's just too bad the two different players won in the AL who did not embody the idea of overcoming adversity to actually come back. 

My prediction for next year; Justin Smoak in the AL, because Jacoby Ellsbury set the "Coming back while still arbitration eligible" precedent. Xavier Nady in the NL, because someone has to actually deserve it.

Curveballs for Jobu 5/17/11

Curveballs for Jobu is Offbasepercentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy is Frank Menechino.

A's 5, Angels 4 (10).
It was another challenging night for the Angels bullpen as Jordan Walden blew a save and Fernando Rodney made me cry a little. Any rational baseball fan knows the only business Rodney has near the pitchers mound is replacing a rosin bag or etching the Angels logo on the back of it. But Mike Scioscia just keeps running him out there and losing games because of it. Rodney walked two and threw a wild pitch before allowing the Mark Ellis game winning hit. I threw some plastic lawn furniture.

Rangers 4, White Sox 0.
Colby Lewis tossed his first career shutout on 5 hits and 7 strikeouts. It was't that surprising considering how terrible most of the Sox lineup is at hitting baseballs. The Rangers moved back into first in the West and I don't recognize any of the people they have wondering their outfield nowadays.

Indians 19, Royals 1.
How bad was your day yesterday? Yeah? Well Vin Mazzaro's was worse. In the course of recording 7 outs, Mazzaro gave up 14 runs on 10 hits and 3 walks. After the game, he was demoted. So yeah, the deli messed up your lunch? Suck it up jerk.

Cardinals 3, Phillies 1.
Tony La Russa returned to the dugout after battling shingles and plugged Albert Pujols in at third base for the first time in nine years. Why not, I say. While your at it, if you could get Colby Rasmus some time at second base, that would be great. The middle infield of my fantasy team is a train wreck. Pujols went 0-4 but the Cards still managed to defeat Cliff Lee. Lee, uncharacteristically, walked 6 and gave up 6 hits while allowing all 3 earned runs.

Marlins 2, Mets 1 (11).
Josh Johnson had a short outing lasting only 5 innings after being hit by a Carlos Beltran liner. Hanley Ramirez went 0-6 and the game winning hit was delivered by Marlins reliever Burke Badenhop. It was a weird game. But the biggest news broke before the first pitch. An MRI revealed David Wright has a stress fracture in his lower back, crippling the Mets chances for 2011. That would have been funnier if the Mets had any chance at 2011 before the season started.

Brewers 2, Dodgers 1.
Shaun Marcum is quietly having a great season for the Brewers. Overshadowed by the Zack Grienke trade, Marcum improved to 2.54/2.63/3.25 (ERA/FIP/xFIP) after his 7 inning, 5 hit, 1 earned run performance on Monday.

Other games, but down here...
Rays 6, Yankees 5.
Blue Jays 4, Tigers 2. Jose Bautista homers 0
Red Sox 8, Orioles 7.
Mariners 5, Twins 2.
Nationals 4, Pirates 2.
Braves 3, Astros 2.
Reds 7, Cubs 4.
Rockies 7, Giants 4.
Padres 8, Diamondbacks 4.

Curveballs for Jobu

Curveballs for Jobu is Off Base Percentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy is Mickey Morandini.

Alright baseball fans, shut ins and people who Googled drunk donkey looking for something else entirely, Derwood is prepping for his trip to Anaheim so I'll be your Sherpa though the parks. Derwood hates the All Star Game and the Angels so it's only fitting that he's going to cover it for us. What a jerk. On that note...

Angels 6, A's 5 (10). The Angels got a win after being swept in a 4 game series against the White Sox. Joel Pinero had a quality start pitching 7 inning while allowing 3 runs but then Fernando Rodney happened. In one inning, Rodney gave up 2 runs on 3 hits doing his best Brian Fuentes impersonation. Luckily the Angels were able to count on the power source known as Erick Aybar and he hit his 3rd home run of the season in the 10th to get the Angels the W.

Phillies 9, Reds 7 (10). Rookie Red pitcher Mike Leake was cruising into the 9th with a 7-1 lead. But no lead is safe when your opponent has Greg Dobbs and Cody Ransom. The modern day Gehrig-Ruth duo each homered in the 9th to help the Phils tie it at 7. For those keeping score at home, that's Dobbs' 3rd of the year and Ransom's 1st. Ryan Howard would go on to hit a walk off 2-run home run in the bottom of the 10th. Game balls go to Reds' relievers Fransisco Cordero and Arthur Rhodes. They combined for 0.2 innings, 3 hits, 2 walks and 4 runs.

O's 7, Rangers 6 (10). The Rangers won the Cliff Lee sweepstakes and then lost to the Orioles. Talk about two ends of the spectrum. The Rangers had a 6-2 lead going into the 9th powered by Vlad Guerrero's 20th homer of the season. *sigh* But no lead is safe when your opponent has Corey Patterson and Jake Fox. Patterson hit a 2-out grand slam off of Neftali Feliz to tie the game at 6 in the 9th. Then Fox hit the go ahead home run in the 10th for the O's win. Baltimore's 2 game winning streak leaves them only 28 games out of first place in the East in early July. Good times.

Brewers 5, Pirates 4 (10). Our final 10 inning game of the night is fairly boring compared to the rest. It included Octavio Dotel blowing a save and a walk off single by Ryan Braun. That's not fun. Where are the game tying and walk off homers by George Kottaras and Joe Inglett?