As an A’s fan, I’m tempted to give this week’s award to the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner. 

His ‘performance’ on Tuesday night was a horror show for San Fran, naturally making it a highlight for us in the green and gold.  Bumgarner was chased by the Twins having recorded just one out on Tuesday while conceding eight runs. 

Baseball has a habit of biting you on the behind even before tempting fate by laughing at a rival’s misfortune, so I’ll settle for a slight chuckle and to send the award to someone who truly deserves it.

There are several candidates.

The Reds’ Chris Heisey had the hitting performance of the week as he went deep three times against the Yankees on Wednesday.

As for pitchers, James Shields struck out ten Marlins and gave up just one unearned run on Sunday, while Zack Greinke also added more K’s to his name (in more ways than one) with ten against the Rays on Tuesday.  Clayton Kershaw had set the K trend the day before Greinke’s start by striking out eleven Detroit Tigers as he pitched a complete game shutout.

The winner  Continue reading →

Once again, there were a number of contenders for the Performance of the Week award.

The Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw was outstanding in his start on Sunday against the Marlins, pitching a complete game shut-out and racking up 10 strikeouts in the process. 

The Yankees’ Bartolo Colon also went the distance without conceding a run against the A’s on Monday, while on the same night the Arizona Diamondbacks enjoyed two fruitful appearances by Justin Upton (5-for-5 with a homer and a stolen base) and Kelly Johnson (4-for-6 with two homers).

However, despite the above, the final vote came down to two pitchers.  Continue reading →

Last week’s award was shared between Jose Bautista and Jason Giambi, as both hit three home runs in a game.

Shift ahead to this past week and that would make two hitters prime contenders for the award.  The Milwaukee Brewers’ Corey Hart hit three home runs in a game against the Nationals on Monday and the White Sox’s Carlos Quentin repeated the feat on Tuesday with a triple-salvo against the Texas Rangers.  They deserved to be in the running, but hitting three homers is clearly a ‘last week’ fad that they decided to latch on to, so they don’t quite get the vote this time.

Who else had notable performances on the week?

In terms of individual games, James Shields pitched a complete game shut-out, with 13 strikeouts, against the Florida Marlins on Sunday.  Meanwhile the Cleveland Indians’ shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera is having a great start to the season and he went 5-for-5 on Sunday against the Cincinnati Reds, with two home runs, five RBIs and a stolen base.

The Washington Nationals’ Michael Morse had an impressive series this week as well.  He hit three home runs in three days against the Brewers, although that didn’t stop the Nats from being swept in the three-game series. 

The winner  Continue reading →

Picking my performance of the week was a tricky decision this time, so tricky in fact that I ended up giving it to two people.

There were several impressive pitching performances, not least by Jake Peavy on Wednesday. 

In just his second start of an injury-hit season, Peavy pitched a complete game shut-out against the in-form Indians, giving up just three hits while striking out eight and not allowing a single free pass. 

The Pirates’ Charlie Morton blanked the Cincinnati Reds on the same night and Bartolo Colon pitched eight scoreless innings against the Orioles. 

Brian McCann’s late-game heroics against the Astros on Tuesday were almost too good to look past too.  Entering the game as a pinch-hitter, the Braves’ catcher hit a game-tying home run with two outs in the ninth inning and then hit a walk-off shot in the eleventh. 

Like most catchers, McCann doesn’t like taking days off, but if he responds like that every time he rides the pine then he can expect manager Fredi Gonzalez to excuse him from starting duties more often.  Continue reading →

We haven’t had any no-hitters this week, which is a bit disappointing really. Still, several players have staked a claim to be deserving of the Performance of the Week award.

Starlin Castro was moved down to the seventh place on the Cubs’ batting order on Tuesday after going through a slump.  He went 2-for4 that day and then followed it up with a 4-for-4 showing on Wednesday, including a triple and 3 RBIs.

Victor Martinez has been red-hot over the last week as the Tigers have won their last five games in a row.  V-Mart has gone 12-for-21 during that sequence, while batting in 13 runs.  Somehow I managed to leave him on fantasy bench during all of that.

While some performed well as their team was winning, others had their performances go to waste.  Andrew McCutchen went  3-for-4 with two homers on Tuesday, only for his Pirates to lose 10-3.  Roy Halladay gave up one earned run over eight innings (striking out nine) and yet the Phillies still lost to the Marlins, while Ian Kennedy threw eight scoreless innings (8Ks) and lost 1-0. 

The latter was due to Kennedy matching up against Tim Lincecum, who watched the D-Backs’ starter with eight scoreless frames but got the benefit of one run to help his cause.

And we had a late contender last night, as Carlos Beltran hit three two-run homers for the Mets against the Rockies.  That sort of thunder would normally win the award, but another hitter has just edged it.

The Winner  Continue reading →

Never mind the Royal Wedding, the big news story of today is who will win Performance of the Week award?

Contenders

We can go back to last Sunday for two excellent pitching performances.  Roy Halladay (surprise, surprise) was simply dominating against the San Diego Padres, striking out 14 batters as the Phillies won 3-1.  Doc gave up a run in the ninth inning and was taken out of the game with one out remaining, giving him some room for improvement in his next start tomorrow against the New York Mets.  The Rays’ James Shields went the full nine innings against the Toronto Blue Jays, allowing just four hits and two walks in a complete game shut-out.

There were two more complete game shut-outs pitched on Monday. Jered Weaver and Ian Kennedy both went the distance while striking out ten, but Kennedy’s achievement was slightly more impressive because:

1. he gave up three hits to Weaver’s seven
2. Weaver’s performance came against the A’s, so bitterness compels me to downgrade him
3. Kennedy also became a father for the first time on the previous day.

The Florida Marlins’ Chris Coghlan had a good day at the plate on Monday, going deep twice in a 3-for-4 performance.  Adam Lind, Jack Hannahan, Wilson Ramos, David Ross and Todd Helton all got a pair of homers on Tuesday, while Lance Berkman continued the trend in a satisfying night back in Houston yesterday, going 4-for-5 with 5 RBIs.  

My pick  Continue reading →

After Yovani Gallardo and the Seattle Mariners took the prize in weeks one and two, who will be the third recipient of the performance of the week award?

Contenders

Jered Weaver gets a mention once again for his performance against the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night.  Weaver pitched the complete game, giving up just one earned run while striking out eight to send his season record to 5-0 with a 1.23 ERA. He wasn’t the only pitcher in the AL West turning in impressive performances over the week either, most notably with the A’s Brett Anderson shutting out the Red Sox over eight innings on Tuesday.

As for the hitters, the D-Backs’ Ryan Roberts had a big night on Tuesday in Cincinnati, striking two longballs and driving in three runs as Arizona beat the Reds 5-4.  And if we’re stretching the performance tag to cover a period of games, few deserve consideration more than the Red Sox’s Jed Lowrie. Prior to Thursday’s games, Lowrie had gone 18-for-39 to start the season, with three home runs and 11 RBIs, all amounting to a .462/.488/.744 batting line.  Continue reading →