Carlos Zambrano tossed his 9th quality start of the season Friday night as he struck out 6 while giving up 2 ER on 6 H in 6 IP and collected his 7th win of the year. Zambrano is certainly putting up NL Cy Young numbers as his ERA is now 2.47 and is easily one of the league’s most consistent starters. The only thing that has me puzzled is Big Z’s K/9 this year, which is only 6.5 right now. Zambrano posted the lowest K/9 of his career last year with a mark of 6.27 but at just 27 years old, I sincerely doubt that trend will continue. Zambrano has always been a good power pitcher and averages a K/9 of 7.78. The strikeouts will return as the season progresses and I expect Zambrano to compete with Brandon Webb for the NL Cy Young. Oh, and I think it also merits mention that Zambrano went 4-5 last night with 2 RBI and a run.
I believe it was two weeks ago that I said Dan Uggla would easily be in the same sentence as Chase Utley if he could cut down on his strikeouts and keep his BA up. With a 2-4 performance last night, including his 15th HR of the year, Uggla is now hitting .320 with 15 HR, 34 RBI and 37 R. Just like Utley hit 10 HR in April, including 8 HR in a 13 game span, Uggla has blasted 11 HR in May thus far. His peripherals are still in line as far as his BB/K (which still isn’t as good as I’d like but it’s simply the kind of hitter he is) but his HR/FB is astronomical at 21.2%. His GB/FB is slightly lower than last year but he’s proven himself to be primarily a FB hitter anyway. Not to mention the fact that almost every fly ball he hits is for power. I’m not sure he’ll keep this pace up with his BA but I most certainly believe he’s a 40-HR, 110 RBI candidate this year. If he does happen to stay with Utley in average this year, he’ll be one of the most sought after 2B in the league.
Stephen Drew continued his hot run in May as he went 2-5 last night with 1 HR and 1 RBI. That’s Drew’s second HR in the last three games and he improved his season numbers to .288/7/20/28. A lot of managers drafted Drew last year hoping to watch the youngster break out in his first full season but were pretty disappointed with his .238 BA and lack of power. However, Drew has vastly improved both those things early this season and I agree with Joe that these trends are here to stay. Drew has definitely become more comfortable with major league pitching and it’s starting to show.
Edinson Volquez was absolutely incredible last night as he posted his 6th QS of the season and still has yet to allow more than 2 ER in a start. Volquez tossed 6 innings of 2-hit ball, allowing just 1 ER and striking out 12 batters while walking just 2. He wasn’t able to secure the win because of Cincy’s bullpen, but he nonetheless continues to surprise me. With Volquez’s extremely high BB/9 of 4.79 I really didn’t think he’d be able to keep this up but with exception to his BB rate Volquez’s numbers are stunning. His ERA is now 1.34 and his K/9 is a ridiculous 11.08 and despite all the walks his WHIP is 1.27 (only allowed 41 H in 60.1 IP).
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