You’ve probably at least felt it: the rattling of satellite waves and the slot-machine click of twitter-driven messages that have “esteemed” Johan Santana’s first Mets’ “no-no” as either history-making or asterisk-worthy.  And while the asterisk button gets its workout across the cell phones of St. Louis–and I respond “yes” to a number of my own incoming text messages confirming Beltran’s liner as “fair”–the Cards had 133 other pitches to get a hit and, really, that’s baseball.  But I’m not here to fight for the legitimacy of Nohan’s no-hitter but to remind you all of how the May ‘Dem Bum Batting and Pitching Title races only doubled the excitement of both the Dodgers’ and Mets’ play on the field.  While the NL West and East are “topped” by our respective franchises, the May Batting Title turned into a teeth-grinder between Team Roberts’ David Wright and Team Parry’s Andre Ethier who were separated by less than .030 points of average going into the last couple days of the season.  And while Wright is still 3rd overall in the MLB in batting average on the year by hitting .363, he has “cooled” down by going only 5-22 over the course of the past seven days compared to Ethier’s 10-28 that makes him the RBI leader in the National League.  But perhaps “Andre the Giant” is the wrong headline here as Ethier attributes his success to not trying to fill in for the long-bomb shoes of the still-ailing Kemp (though he has the second most HRs on the Dodgers with 9), but to drive-in the runs that have led to Los Angeles to win 16 of their 28 games in May despite an injury-ridden lineup that has one of the best hitters in baseball on the bench.  So a grand congratulations to Team Parry as they take their first Batting Title of the year as Andre hit for an overall .366 AVG on 101 ABs in May that narrowly beat out Team Roberts’ David Wright hitting .347 on 98 ABs.  Surely nobody expected the Dodgers and Mets to be 2nd and 5th respectively in NL batting average at this point in the season and it sure makes for some exciting ‘Dem Bums Batting Title races.

TIP YOUR CAPUANO

But let us not forget the chuckers as the headlines for both the Mets and Dodgers recently have regarded the effectiveness of their starting pitching.  Of particular note – at least other than Team Reid’s Johan Santana’s no-hitter and Team Roberts’ R.A. Dickey’s complete game shut out and 8-1 record – is Team Carlson’s Chris Capuano who has the second best win-loss record in the MLB at 7-2 and held off Team Wanzel’s reigning NL Cy Young winner of Kershaw and Team Roberts’ mad-knuckler of R.A. Dickey to take the May Pitching Title.  Capuano went 4-1 on 5 starts in May and struck out 29 batters to chalk up a 1.62 ERA and helped himself out by–a la Vin Scully–“snagging bullets”:

Team Carlson’s closest competition for the Batting Title was Team Roberts’ Dickey who is putting up All-Star numbers this year and went undefeated with a no-decision on 5 starts in May to post a 1.83 ERA.  April’s Pitching Title winner – Team Wanzel’s Kershaw – lost his shot after he gave up 5 runs on 8 hits and 4 walks during the Dodgers four game sweep at the hands of the Brewers to close out the month.  The May Pitching Title is Team Carlson’s second title on the year after taking the April Batting Title with the talents of Kemp.

JUNE PLATOONS

As we head into June–actually we are already here–I have no advice, at least, considering that the Mets and Dodgers have a total of 19 players currently on the DL and that such unknown names as Nieuwenhuis, Herrera, Quintanilla, Van Slyke, De Jesus, Rottino, Valdespin and Hefner in their lineups.  I’d just be sure to check the injury updates as to who is coming back soon and who may be out so you’re sure to get those needed 5 starts for a pitcher or 60 ABs for a batter to qualify to take home June title prize money.  I’ll see you in the email draft!

MAY PITCHING TITLE RESULTS

1. Team Carlson – Chris Capuano (1.62 / 5)
2. Team Roberts – R.A. Dickey (1.83 / 5)
3. Team Wanzel – Clayton Kershaw (2.86 / 6)
4. Team Reid – Johan Santana (3.09 / 5)
5. Team Talley – Ted Lilly (4.71 / 5)
6. Team Kitchen – Chad Billingsley (5.52 / 6)
7. Team Parry – Jonathon Niese (6.07 / 6)

MAY BATTING TITLE RESULTS

1. Team Parry – Andre Ethier (.366 / 101)
2. Team Roberts – David Wright (.347 / 98)
3. Team Wanzel – Daniel Murphy (.303 / 99)
4. Team Talley – James Loney (.264 / 87)
5. Team Reid – Kirk Nieuwenhuis (.263 / 80)
6. Team Carlson – DNQ (Injuries)
7. Team Kitchen – DNQ (Injuries)