The
GRIZ lead the Less Filling’s Central Division, for now. The GRIZ usually get off to a good start
because they play 30+ home games during the first block and then their record
tends to deteriorate as the road tends to eat them up.
This
year is not much different, at this point.
GRIZ jumped out to 18-13 home
record that should keep them at or above the .500 mark for the first block. Pitching has worked better than even Coach
Howard planned.
1.
Bartolo
Colon is 5-0 in seven starts. Coach
Howard loved Colon for Grand Canyon Natural Field with the park’s 1-2 BP
homerun rating squeezing Colons 8 BP chances vs LHB down to 1.6 in 108 dice roll
chances. Colon has 3.8 outrights against
LHB, but that is probably the worst thing on Colon’s card. Colon is tough on RHB, and his overall OB is
balanced under 22 chances per side.
Colon has a home ERA of 2.18, he has given up 2 homeruns in 53 innings
and only walked 7. His home whip is just
over 1.0.
2.
Josh
Beckett has upstaged Colon by throwing 3 shutouts. 3 complete games without giving up a run in 6
starts. Coach Howard would have bet
against Beckett collecting one shutout this year. Beckett’s home ERA was under 1.00 for the
longest time and sits at the end of Block 1 at 1.03. Beckett has given up 29 hits in 44 IP and has
a 1.0 WHIP at home. This was better than
Coach Howard could imagine. Beckett’s
2012 MLB 4.65 ERA was not good and his
Boston ERA of 5.23 in 21 starts is horrible.
Coach Howard stated, we figured Beckett to be a launching pad. Beckett, like Colon, will probably not see
much road action.
3.
JJ
Putz, the GRIZ closer has 6 saves in 7 games, a 1.04 ERA and a WHIP under 1.0
over his 8.2 IP. JJ has done what we have asked of him, said Coach
Howard. Coach wants to save JJ’s innings
for the road, so he has given opportunities to other firemen in the GRIZ pen
who have also recorded a total of 3 saves.
4.
Team
ERA for 31 home games is 2.64. Besides
Beckett’s masterpieces two team efforts led to shutouts, and Kevin Correia, the
last player taken in the 2013 draft by the GRIZ has one. Correia’s role is a spot starter to give the
team’s top staters extra rest at home so they will have more road
availability. Correia will eat up innings
as the teams’ last road pitching alternative.
Coach
Howard knows his 2 BP chances in 20 erases a lot of the team’s power, but it
works both ways. It helps our pitchers,
he said. GRIZ batters have suffered at
home, however. The highlights are:
1.
Alex
Gordon’s .339 batting average. (Danny Espinosa is second on the team in the
batting leaders race at .278).
2.
Miguel
Cabrera’s 14 RBIs.
3.
Opponents
have hit 20 homeruns to the GRIZ 14 Home blasts.
4.
Team
batting average at home is a dismal .240.
Fielding
has been good. GRIZ error totals 16 in
31 home games. This has to be an
improvement over previous GRIZ teams during the Dan Uggla and Jhonny Peralta
years. Colon leads the team in one more statistic
– 5 errors.
So
went Block 1. On to Block 2.
