Talkin' Baseball: Halfway There

49er16: I see what the Pirates have done (they've won 9 in a row) but then I look at their offensive stats and they scare me. They struggle to get on base and their wOBA leaves a lot to be desired but they do hit for power. Love that bullpen but the starters are kinda scary. Should I be worried.

The Colonel: Oh definitely. That lineup looks scary when they're not hitting for power and Jeff Locke being in the rotation and pitching well should be worrisome because of regression. Their remaining schedule doesn't look that bad. One or two rough series a month but a lot of games left against Milwaukee and Chicago. I want to see them a week from now when they play Oakland before making a final decision.


49er16: Yeah that Oakland series should be really good. The A's are playing out of their minds. Their lineup does everything you want a lineup to do. They work counts, get on base, almost always hit line drives instead of bloop singles. That's why I do like the Pirates to stay in the race because it seems like the only way the Cardinals survive is with bloop hits.

The Colonel: Yeah the Cardinals are 2nd in BABIP and it looks like they're finally starting to regress. The team the Pirates should maybe worry about is the Reds but they seem to play them tough and the Reds can be very inconsistent because of their pitching.

49er16: The NL Central is going to be fun the rest of the year. Who knew we would have to pay attention to teams in fly over country?

The Colonel: And the AL Central is interesting because that's finally a two team race and not just the Tigers and everyone else. The Indians are humming along looking like a Francona team that drives up pitchers pitch counts.

49er16: I thought we weren't suppose to pay attention to that division? Or is that the terrible NL West?

The Colonel: The NL West is terrible. Too many injuries. Too much mediocre. Look at how bad the Giants have been and they're only 3 games out of first place. The Dodgers are surging despite a very shaky bullpen. It's a bad division.

49er16: The Diamondbacks and Rockies are the only teams with plus run differentials. And they're both not exactly great. It is a miserable division.

The Colonel: Looking at the divisional races as a whole, the American League looks like it's going to be a fun league to watch the rest of the year. The NL though there is only the NL Central. The NL East looks all but wrapped up and the NL West is a grease fire.

49er16: It's going to be fun watching the AL East teams beat up on each other the rest of the way. The Red Sox should regress because like the Cardinals their BABIP is way up.

The Colonel: I like that the Yankees are dropping like a rock. Injuries and age have finally caught up to this team. Two years too late.

49er16: I want to take a second and send out my thoughts and prayers to Hawk Harrelson. I can only imagine how tough this season has been for him.

The Colonel: /RIP the White Sox's TWTW

49er16: So what series' are you looking forward to this fourth of July week? I know I'm not looking forward to MLB Network's over coverage of the Cardinals visiting the Angels and the Albert Pujols storyline.

The Colonel: Did you know Albert Pujols once played for the Cardinals or that the Harbaugh brothers are brothers or that Jerome Bettis is from Detroit?

49er16: Yeah it's time to end this bad boy. Have a good week folks.