It’s been a dismal, dismal May as far as both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets are concerned. The Mets were 29th overall in team batting average at .222 this month and the Dodgers, began May with 8 straight losses and swirling “off with his head” rumors for Mattingly, to end up occupying last place in the NL West. It’s a tough watch whether you’re on the east or west coast. You question your faith and your fandom, but as a bum, you never waver. And yet, to make matters worse, the stars just ain’t shining for either club. Sure, David Wright hit 5 homers (and finally his first this year at Citi Field) and for a .277 average, but Matt Kemp, just put on the disabled list for the second time this season due to a mild right hamstring strain, hit for a meager .242 and only one home run in May while Ike Davis seems utterly lost at the plate and stuck on the interstate with four flat tires hitting–as of May 31st–an exact (really!) replica of his 2012 May of a .154 average on 78 ABs. A little too consistent Ike in all the wrong ways, but I guess we now know what to expect and should keep in mind that Davis warmed to a .265 AVG in June last year. But the excitement, the jubilation, can always be found in the details and this May of 2013 belongs to Adrian Gonzalez, Clayton Kershaw and Team Roberts as they bring home all the cash and prizes. On his way to his first Pitching Title of the 2013 season and (only) second in ‘Dem Bums history, Clayton Kershaw edged out the upstart Matt Harvey by pitching for a 1.97 ERA in 6 starts with 35 strikeouts, second only to the Diamondbacks’ Patrick Corbin in the NL in May ERA. This makes for Team Roberts first Pitching Title of the season as and it sure seems hard to see the Pitching Title race being none other than a Harvey / Kershaw photo finish in the months to come, at least, until Zach Wheeler arrives for the Mets. In terms of the “bat” side of things, outside of near flame-worthy performance from the undrafted Daniel Murphy who hit for a .317 AVG on 104 ABs and a near flame-earning performance from the undrafted Juan Uribe who hit for a .327 AVG but five ABs short of the qualifying minimum, Adrian Gonzalez hit for .314 and repeats as the Hitting Title winner. Gonzalez is fourth in RBIs with 33 and sixth overall in NL batting average on the year and is having his best work at the dish in a Dodger uniform. The key now is for the Dodgers to learn how to hit with the bases loaded as the team average is a pathetic .130 with the bases packed. But let’s not let the darkness crowd out this sliver of daylight. Congratulations to Team Hosho, er, Roberts for a 2-for-2 May, perhaps the only perspective from which a so-far-dire season can look a bit brighter.
KINGS OF NYC
Of course, I’d be remiss not to mention the sheer glory that the New York Mets brought to NYC with their first ever sweep of the subway series against the Yankees. However, the sweep of the Yankees wasn’t the only way that the Mets made history this past week. In Tuesday night’s 2-1 bottom of the ninth comeback win against the Yankees, the Mets handed future Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera his first ever blown save without getting at least one out. The inning began with a Daniel Murphy double to the left field corner, followed by a David Wright single up the gut to plate Murphy as the tying run. Wright advanced to second on a throwing error and Duda came in with a strong arm single to shallow right field for the walk-off win. From there on, the Mets went to Yankee Stadium to smack a blowout win on Wednesday night and close out the series on a career pitching performance from Dillon Gee who had 12 strikeouts and no walks on 7 1/3 innings pitched, with his only ER coming on a Robinson Cano homerun in the bottom of the 3rd. Gee looked nothing like his usual 2013 self, just flat out making Yankee hitters miss, and part of this might be the fact that he knows that he is playing for his starting role with the pending arrival of top pitching prospect Zach Wheeler in mid-June. So, after a May that featured 6 and 8-game losing streaks, the Mets finished the month with the key to NYC and five straight wins to make reaching a .500 record seem like a possibility. Here’s the breakdown and I’ll see you in the drafting room.
MAY PITCHING TITLE
1) Team Roberts – Clayton Kershaw (1.97 / 6)
2) Team Talley – Matt Harvey (2.15 / 5)
3) Team Parry – Hyun-Jin Ryu (2.38 / 5)
4) Team Rybakova – Jeremy Hefner (5.14 / 5)
5) Team Reid – Jonathon Niese (5.65 / 5)
MAY BATTING TITLE
1) Team Roberts – Adrian Gonzalez (.314 / 86)
2) Team Parry – David Wright (.277 / 101)
3) Team Reid – A.J. Ellis (.275 / 69)
4) Team Rybakova – Andre Ethier (.250 / 84)
5) Team Talley – Marlon Byrd (.250 / 64)*
*Since we have a tie for fourth place, we will default to the higher AVG for the tying teams’ secondary hitters in which case Team Rybakova’s John Buck (.212) out-hit Team Talley’s Ike Davis (.160).
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