Division Update: NL Central

In order to keep you up to date on the goings on of all the divisions around the league, we will be providing a weekly update on each division.

Pleasant Surprise of the Week: The Reds pitching has been a real pleasant surprise over the past week.  They had a stretch of 6 games in which they pitched 4 shutouts.  The starting pitching was stellar in those games, but the bullpen also has surprise.  They have 2 guys on the back stretch of their careers who haven’t allowed a run this season.  Arthur Rhodes (10.2 IP, 0 R) and David Weathers (9 ER, 0 R) each have 5 holds and have been better than anyone could have predicted.  In addition to them, the rest of the bullpen has been solid.  They are the only team this year who has not blown a save.

Best Team Over the Past Week: Both the Brewers and Cubs have gained some ground on the Cardinals over the past week.  Milwaukee has played excellent baseball even hanging a 15 spot on the Reds on Wednesday.  The Brewers lost 2 to Arizona then beat the Pirates in a 2 game set and split a two game series with the Reds.  The Cubs preyed on the lowly Marlins for 3 games, split with the Giants 1 and 1 and beat Houston for two games.  The two start a 3 game series at Miller Park tonight.  The Cubs will have Zambrano on the DL for these games thus Milwaukee has the better starting pitchers going.  It should be a real slobberknocker.

Biggest Negative of the Week: The Pirates have been pretty terrible in recent days.  They are 1-9 over the last ten games.  Last time I penned this post, they had the best pitching in baseball.  It has been all down hill since then.  They have dropped to 4th in ERA since then, which isn’t terrible.  They haven’t been able to put the offense and defense together in the same game.  The main reason they’re 1-9 over the past 10 games is the fact that they played Milwaukee 5 times, and they never beat Milwaukee.

Random Fact of the Week: Trevor Hoffman made his return to the Brewers and has been great.  I wasn’t too high on the signing when it happened, but I’ve really come around on it.  He is intense out on the mound.  He gets guys out and closes games.  I hope he can keep it up perfection in the saves category for the whole season.  Then I’ll really be happy they signed him.

Wildest Moment of the Week: Rick Ankiel made a spectacular catch this week against the Phillies.  After catching the ball off-balanced, he crashed head/face first into the outfield wall and was knocked into next week.  He immediately went limp, was immobilized and carted off the field.  He spent the night in the hospital and was released the next day.  He should make a full recovery but was placed on the 15-day DL.