Stats

Through his first 13 starts in 2010, the Atlanta Braves have given pitcher Kenshin Kawakami pitiful run support.

With the Braves scoring just 3.13 runs in KK's outings, it’s hardly a surprise that he is 0-9. Bad luck combined with mediocre pitching can do that to you.

Here’s a look at the unheralded players who played well yesterday:

If you are a true baseball fan, you're probably a regular visitor to Baseball-Reference.com. 

If you are a sports writer, you most likely set your sails for Baseball-Reference.com prior to writing your baseball pieces.

What exactly is Baseball-Reference.com?

It is a virtual warehouse of statistics covering every player who has played an inning of Major League Baseball.

Nick Blackburn has always been tough to figure out. Finishing the last couple seasons with a "well-rounded" total of 11-11, he looks to be skidding into similar figures towards the end of June. 

But what worries me isn't so much the new advent of suck, but it coming after a phenomenal month of May. Blackburn was 5-0 in May, winning all of his decisions. He pitched at least seven innings in every start, as well as starting off the month with a complete game.

Coming into the 2010 season, the Braves had two players who hoped to enter the Comeback Player of the Year race.

Tim Hudson missed the majority of the 2009 season after Tommy John surgery, and many wondered whether the Braves would resign him, as doing so would mean trading either Derek Lowe or Javier Vazquez.

In his late-season appearances, Hudson convinced the Braves that he was worth re-signing, and the team eventually traded away Vazquez (after failing to trade Lowe) in order to stay within the budget.

Hot hitting has been the reason for the Reds' success to this point. It may astonish you to know that four of the top 11 batters in the National League wear Cincinnati uniforms.

That is correct. Scott Rolen is currently fifth in the league at .309, Brandon Phillips is ninth at .304, while Jonny Gomes and Joey Votto are tied at 10th, both batting .301.

I haven't researched it but I bet it has been a good while since four Reds have been in the Top 10 in batting this far into the season.

There appear to be two factors in the Mets' home success and road failure.

First, they just aren't scoring runs on the road (47 percent fewer runs).

Second, Mets pitchers are giving up 58 percent fewer home runs at Citi Field than on the road.

As a result of allowing fewer home runs, the Mets are also allowing 30 percent fewer RBI at Citi Field (135 away, 95 home).  

One could argue that other factors, including the number of hits (singles, doubles, and triples) and walks could account for this, but statistics suggest otherwise.

The Cleveland Indians have come under intense scrutiny for trading away three All-Star players in the past two seasons.  While the majority of the criticism is valid, as the talent the Indians received back in those trades looks weak so far, the Tribe can be praised for luring away right handed starter Mitch Talbot from Tampa Bay for catcher Kelly Shoppach in December 2009.  

Okay so I'm a little late with Part II of my season-long look into the lost art of the stolen base. You can read part I here as a template for what future articles in this series will look like (if you are a new reader of mine). For those that aren't, yes it's the same format.