Week in Review: May 27 through June 2

Ron Kittle leads the A.L. in homers (19) and whiffs (60).

The last "Week in Review" posted on April 9, 2017.  That means we went another seven months or so to complete a week of play.  That was the same pace as last time, so that's good.  I feel like I've been playing more frequently as of late.  I've been ignoring my two baseball card blogs as a result.  I also picked up coaching my daughter's soccer team, so I'm surprised the pace hasn't slowed down.

The Phenomenal Phive:

1.  Toronto Blue Jays, 35-15, .700 win%.  The Blue Jays continue to hold off the Tigers for the top of the AL East.  Dave Stieb and Doyle Alexander are the best pair of starting pitchers in the game and the Toronto offense still rips triples more than any other club out there.  An injury to Tony Fernandez will be hard to ignore as he's out for 30 games.

2.  Houston Astros, 34-16, .680 win%.  The Astros continue to throttle the rest of the NL West and even had the advantage over the Cardinals in their head to head play this last week.  Their offense continues to hit above their true talent level, including Terry Puhl, Bill Doran, and Jerry Mumphrey.  But their key to success continues to be a lights-out bullpen led by Bill Dawley.

3.  St. Louis Cardinals, 36-17, .679 win%.  The Red Birds are still playing great baseball, which is a good thing considering the real 1984 division champs, the Chicago Cubs, have ripped off a lot of wins in the past two weeks.  Bruce Sutter is nearly unhittable while numerous Cardinals are grabbing hits in bunches.  Tom Herr had a great week and has snuck into the top five in a couple of different offensive categories.

4.  Detroit Tigers, 32-16, .667 win%.  The Roar of 84 are still playing dominant baseball, even though they're stuck in second place behind the Blue Jays.  Kirk Gibson is in the running for league MVP and Trammell and Whitaker continue to be a potent top of the lineup.

5.  Boston Red Sox, 29-20, .592 win%.  Tony Armas continues his climb up the home run leader board and is now just one (18 total) behind Ron Kittle for the league lead.  Wade Boggs and Dwight Evans are dominating in the top of the batting order and rookie Roger Clemens made his debut this past week.  But it's Oil Can Boyd who is leading the rotation, with a top five ERA and WHIP in the American League.

Useless Stats:

• Eddie Murray leads the AL in intentional walks with 4.  Darryl Strawberry leads the NL with 6.
• Jack Perconte of the Mariners has the most plate appearances in the AL at 242.  Tim Raines has logged the most in the NL with 233.
• Who has the most plate appearances without a walk in each league?  In the AL it's Jeff Kunkel of Texas, who has come to the plate 64 times without a free pass.  In the NL a pitcher leads the way.  Mario Soto of the Reds has batted 32 times with no base on balls.
• Who has the most plate appearances with a single digit strikeout total?  In the AL it's Pete O'Brien of the Rangers.  In a 120 PA's he's only whiffed 8 times.  For the NL it's Bryan Little of the Expos.  He has 146 PA's and just 9 K's.
• What about most plate appearances without a strike out?  In the AL the leader is Donnie Hill of the A's.  The part time infielder has 16 times at the plate without a K.  The NL leader is the injured Brian Harper of the Pirates.  He's totaled 32 PA's and has yet to get wrung up.  Considering he's on the DL for two more months his lead seems safe.
• Mike Mason of the Rangers leads the AL with 2 balks.  In the NL it's Rick Mahler of the Braves.  He has 3.
• Who has registered the most losses so far?  In the AL it's yet another Ranger...Charlie Hough with 8.  In the NL three pitchers have 8 too - Bill Laskey and Jeff Robinson of the Giants and Walt Terrell of the Mets.
• Don Sutton, Ken Schrom, and Scotty McGregor lead the AL with two pick-offs on the season.  Chuck Rainey of the Cubs leads the NL with 2 as well.

As always, thanks for checking in!  If you have any requests or want to set a lineup, just let me know in the comments below!  I also updated the stat tabs - you can see all player hitting and pitching data through June 2nd.