TDA Bullpen - Our Writers' Blog

Monday, August 23, 2004

A Sleeper Record Possibility

Adam Dunn has 147 whiffs through the Reds' first 123 games, in which Dunn has appeared in all but one. Assuming he gets one more game off down the stretch, he's on a projected pace of 192 K's, which would break the record held by Bobby Bonds with 189. The conditions are pretty much as good as they can get for a run at this record -- the Reds are out of postseason contention and Dunn is right in the thick of the NL home run race. Stay tuned.

Speaking of Bobby Bonds...

I thought when Dusty Baker compared Corey Patterson to Lou Brock, that another equally apt comparison was available, one between Patterson and Bobby Bonds. Patterson strikes out a LOT, just like Bonds, and has more power than Brock, though maybe not as much as Bonds. And while Patterson has managed to steal 11 bases in three weeks in the leadoff spot, he strikes me as someone who might steal 40-50 bases, but not 60-70, on a year-in, year-out basis. Of course, Bonds always drew at least 60 walks in any season in which he played in at least 100 games, so that is one aspect that Patterson needs to work on to be in the same league as Bonds.

That Was Over Quick

A week after the Indians pulled to within one game of the Twins in the AL Central, they now sit seven games in back of Minnesota after absorbing sweeps against the Rangers and Twins. In addition to sweeping the Indians, the Twins also took two out of three from the Yankees, including Wednesday night's game in which Johan Santana finally hit the mainstream of the baseball consciousness. Long time readers of this blog will have been completely unsurprised by Santana's performance, but it's nice to see the spotlight on him, and he deserves every scintilla he gets.

Both the Indians and Twins are going through tough stretches on their schedules. The Twins go to Texas and Anaheim this week, while the Indians pay a visit to Yankee Stadium. The marquee pitching matchup Monday is Kenny Rogers vs. Santana. Rogers has an excellent 15-5 record but a fairly indifferent 4.55 ERA. Meanwhile Santana has held down some pretty tough lineups like the White Sox (back when they still had Frank Thomas), Red Sox and Yankees in his post-May surge. It will be fun to watch whether Santana can hold down the potent Rangers lineup to move to 14-6 and one step closer to that improbable charge to the AL CYA I wrote about a few weeks back. At the time of that writing, he was 5 wins behind Mark Mulder at 13-8, but with a win tomorrow night it would be 16-14 Mulder, pending what he does in his next start. I'm still a little worried about what Santana will have left in the tank come September, but he's sure making things interesting as we head into the stretch run of the 2004 season.

Correction: The Yankees are at the Jake, as opposed to the Indians visiting the Bronx. Mea Culpa.

posted by Tom Renbarger 1:53 AM