By the Numbers

If you had asked me before Opening Day what number would be higher, Butler's field goal percentage in the national title game, or Shin-Soo Choo's batting average after the first 6 games, I would've picked Butler, easy. As it turns out, I'm still right.

Butler shot an abysmal 18.8% (.188) from the floor, the worst offensive performance in an NCAA title game. By comparison, they shot 44.6% for the entirety of the 2010-11 season; not great, but good enough to win.

Shin-Soo Choo, a .294 career hitter, is 2-for-24 after 6 games for a whopping .083 average. Not exactly what I expect from a $38 draft day investment.

Couple that with Adam Dunn's emergency appendectomy on Wednesday and the biggest pieces of my offense are more or less out of commission at the moment. My .222 batting average is not going to cut it, though this week's opponent isn't exactly killing the ball either: I'm only trailing him by 6 runs, 4 HR, 5 SB, 31 points in average and 109 points in OPS. 3 solid days and I could make up some serious ground.

My Saltalamacchia gambit is looking less and less viable. He's getting run on every night by guys who want to test his arm-brain connection. The throw down to second is generally a reflex action and wasn't Salty's problem. Getting the throw back to the pitcher was where the yips showed themselves. Still, he has to prove himself defensively capable, and failing that he needs to at least hit better than the .071 he's posted thus far. There are rumors that the Red Sox are talking with the Nationals about Pudge Rodriguez. He would at least be solid defensively even if he doesn't sting the ball like he used to. That would put Salty out of a job.

So I grabbed Tigers catcher Alex Avila today and sent Melvin Mora packing. Like blackjack, sometimes it pays to have insurance on your bets. Avila's hitting .294 with a pair of dingers and seven RBI to start the season. This was the kind of output I thought we'd see from him last year, but it looks like I jumped the gun.

On the positive side, my pitching has looked really strong so far. I'm sitting on a 3-2 record that would look a lot better if not for a few bullpen implosions, plus 56 strikeouts, a 2.78 ERA and 0.95 WHIP. Couldn't be happier with those numbers (aside from the wins, of course.) Jon Lester bounced back from that putrid Opening Day start to throw 7 scoreless against the Tribe yesterday, punching out 9 in the process. I've also got two quality starts from Dan Haren so far with 12 strikeouts over 14 innings of work. We'll see how Kyle Drabek handles the Angels in Anaheim tonight.

Also, Manny Ramirez retired from baseball today. Apparently MLB notified him of a drug test issue and he promptly filed his retirement paperwork. Happy trails, Man-child...