No doubt you’ve heard it by now. “Puig.” And if you take the time to look it up, you’ll discover that “Puig” actually means “moon” in Catalan… actually, it doesn’t. But I wanted to make the headline fit here and to say that Dodgers’ and ‘Dem Bums’ fans alike are “over the moon” about the meteoric rise of the young Cuban star, is probably – like seemingly everything else with the kid – an understatement. Not one baseball player in Dodgers history has drawn more Hollywood-script metaphors before and not one Dodgers rookie, including the likes of Fernando Valenzuela and Mike Piazza, has sold more jerseys in his first 20 games in the MLB (and that’s saying something when you consider that the Dodgers have had 12 Rookie of the Year award winners since 1960). In June, Yasiel led the MLB in hits with 44 and was second only to San Diego’s Everth Cabrera with a .436 batting average (Cabrera hit .459), not to mention his constant clutch play and aggressive base running that consistently lights up the crowd and the “W”s on the Dodger scoreboard as the team went 7-1 in their last 8 games of the month and have renewed energy on the field. Such success, at least for Puig – named both the rookie and NL Player of the Month for June – is no shock to the ‘Dem Bums system though right? May I quote from the very first post of this here 2013 season: “Spring Training doesn’t mean a thing, at least that’s what they say. So pay no attention that some new Dodger named Yasiel Puig is leading all batters in the MLB with a .527 AVG on 55 ABs in the Cactus League.” Of course, along with that post about Puig was a comment about the spring success of Niese, who now sits on the DL and will need to learn to accept his future as a “middle of the rotation” guy when he gets back (but I’m getting distracted). More importantly, at least for Team Roberts, is that Puig brings home what looks like his first of many Batting Titles – and Team Roberts third in a row – of the 2013 season. We are just about halfway home, and with 3 total title wins thus far, Josh is quickly taking steady aim at that bonus ‘Dem Bums Pennant that will earn him that extra $60 before playoffs. So, appropriately, the family name of “Puig” actually comes from the Latin word for “platform” to indicate people who live upon hilltops or plateaus – the heights of which Yasiel seems to have no problem reaching in his young MLB career and the very heights he’ll have to get used to.
COVER BOY
Despite the fact that both the Mets and Dodgers are bottom feeders in each of their divisions, each team arguably has the best players in baseball between Puig and Harvey. For reasons clear above, Puig continues to earn “must-see-TV” titles and for reasons that Team Talley can celebrate, Matt Harvey has become the cover boy of NYC. Part of it might be his new super model girlfriend who Daniel Murphy is forced to third-wheel with at NY Rangers games, but really it’s a matter of the heat. Harvey has the fastest fastball average in the league and leads the NL with 141 strikeouts (his closest competition being Kershaw with 126). In June, Harvey went 2-1 with a 2.31 ERA and a knock-down 48 strikeouts – the closest Met pitcher in strikeouts was Gee with 28 – that allowed him to edge our Team Roberts Kershaw and bring home Team Talley’s second Pitching Title of the season. Though Hefner actually out-pitched all ‘Dem Bums available pitchers for the month with a 1.80 ERA on 5 games started, Harvey is surely the pitcher of the present and future for the Mets, drawing comparisons to Seaver and Gooden to the extent that everyone is waiting for that no-no to comedown with each start – a matter of “when” not “if.” Like Puig, there is much talk of Harvey not only making the All-Star Game, but starting it here at Citi Field. When asked about throwing the first pitch for the NL All-Stars, Harvey said that growing up “I don’t think you could want anything better.” And to that I say, “run-support” – you could always want more run-support. So with that my friends – and a big congrats to both Team Roberts and Team Talley – lace ’em up and I’ll see you in the draft rooms for July.
JUNE PITCHING TITLE
1) Team Talley – Matt Harvey (2.31 / 6)
2) Team Roberts – Clayton Kershaw (2.65 / 5)
3) Team Reid – Hyun-Jin Ryu (2.70 / 5)
4) Team Parry – Dillon Gee (2.73 / 5)
5) Team Rybakova – Jonathon Niese (3.07 / 3) (DNQ)
JUNE BATTING TITLE
1) Team Roberts – Yasiel Puig (.436 / 101)
2) Team Reid – David Wright (.343 / 102)
3) Team Talley – Skip Schumaker (.244 / 78)
4) Team Rybakova – Juan Uribe (.234 / 64)
5) Team Parry – Omar Quintanilla (.232 / 95)
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