SYNDERGAARD IS NOT RIGHT
Noah Syndergaard allowed eight hits, a walk and three runs over five innings against the Diamondbacks Thursday. He allowed Paul Goldschmidt to steal two bases, Socrates Brito to swipe one and pitcher Braden Shipley to steal another. That’s a total of 36 steals allowed by Syndergaard, the worst mark in baseball by miles. Only three other men in baseball can claim to have allowed half as many steals. Moreover, Noah’s teammate Steven Matz is second with 20 steals allowed, just 56 percent of the league worst mark of Noah. Let’s talk pitching. Over his last eight outings Noah owns a 4.15 ERA while permitting 53 hits over 43.1 innings. The last time he last more than 6.0 innings in an outing was July 3rd. That’s 6-straight of six innings or less and in three of those six he’s failed to reach even six innings.
Yeah, his arm is just fine. Uh huh.
ROAD WORK
As of this writing, Jose Altuve has 6-straight hits to raise his batting average on the road this season to .434. That’s just stupid. No one else in baseball is over .368 as J.T. Realmuto checks in at .367.
Todd Frazier leads all sluggers with 18 homers on the road, one more than Nelson Cruz.
Daniel Murphy has 48 RBI on the road this season, tied with Anthony Rizzo for the most in baseball away from home. The man in second place is Matt Kemp with 46 followed by Albert Pujols with 45.
DAHL IS A DARLING
David Dahl extended his hitting streak to 17 games Thursday, tying Chuck Aleno for the longest streak to begin a players career in history. Let’s hope his career goes better than that of Aleno who hit .209 with a .563 OPS over 356 career plate appearances.
IS IT POSSIBLE GOLDSCHMIDT IS UNDERRATED?
It just might be.
Paul Goldschmidt stole a couple of bags Thursday and he’s up to 18 homers and 16 steals as of this writing. That gives him a fourth season of 15 homers and 15 steals, the second most in baseball history for a first baseman. With the steals Thursday he moved past Derek Lee who accomplished the feat three times and now he only trails Jeff Bagwell who accomplished the feat five times. Bagwell’s greatness included two 40/30 seasons (1997 and 1999).
Goldschmidt is batting .299 with a .413 OBP and .501 SLG. No other first baseman in baseball can match those three numbers. Moreover, only two men at any position can match those three numbers: Jose Altuve (.361/.427/.570) and Mike Trout (.312/.422/.546).
Surfing is cool. Surfing in a hot pink bikini is hot. Surfing off an erupting volcano, that’s insane.
HITTING NOTES
Matt Adams has been placed on the DL with left shoulder inflammation. Over his last 145 games he’s hit .245 with 17 homers, 68 RBI and 44 runs scored. Folks, it’s never going to happen with Adams. He’s a fraud given the expectations folks in St. Louis had. Randall Grichuk will return to the bigs. Grichuk is batting .213 with 12 homers and 35 RBI this season, wrapped around two trips to the minors. Still love his game and all, but he too doesn’t seem likely to find “it” this year, not with so many options in the Cardinals outfield.
Khris Davis is without a homer in eight games. He’s driven in one run in that time as well as his average is down to .247 and his OBP is .289. He’s got huge power, 27 homers and .495 SLG, but his overall game is severely lacking.
Ryan Howard is no longer a daily player, and his numbers this season are terrible (.187-16-35-24 in 241 at-bats). However, check this out. Since the All-Star game he’s hitting .350 with four homers, two doubles and eight RBI. “It’s a game of ups and downs. You have downs. At some point you’re going to have some ups. Fortunately, I’m swinging it well. I’m trying to stick with it and let it ride. Not think too much.”
Colby Rasmus is hitting .211 this season. He’s hitting .195 since May 1st. He’s hitting .196 since June 1st. He’s batting .057 since July 1st as he’s gone 4-for-70. Where are all ya folks who told me he was gonna be legit this season after hit hot start? Back to the drawing board with that one.
Devon Travis is out of control right now. Since June 13th he’s hitting .358 with a .395 OBP and .581 SLG over 44 games. That’s a .976 OPS folks. That’s elite for any player, at any position, in baseball. Travis has also gone deep nine times, with 27 RBI, 30 runs scored and two thefts. Scintillating work from Travis.
PITCHING NOTES
The Cubs’ Jon Lester, I broke down in my Daily Trends piece. He’s good. However, there are some concerns with the Cubs rotation as the team is a bit nervous about the innings their arms have racked up. “Maddon may be most concerned getting right-hander and reigning NL Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta ready for the postseason. A fresh Arrieta often leads to a dominant Arrieta who’s a much different animal than the pitcher who was just pedestrian from late May to early July.” Speaking of the Cubs, Jason Hammel is 5-0 with a 1.16 ERA in the second half.
What happens when the Olympics move on?
The Padres, for the next two weeks, are going with a 6-man rotation to save the arms of their hurlers. I don’t think anyone really cares, do they?
Pirates offer fans alternative to Kang bobble head upon request. Speaking of the Pirates, as Tim Williams points out, Jameson Taillon has been better his first 10 big league starts than Gerrit Cole. Thursday Taillon worked eight scoreless innings against the Padres, and though he walked just two batters he threw only 58 of 101 pitches for strikes. He has a 2.85 ERA and 1.08 WHIP this season.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday, 8 PM EDT, Wednesday 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 11 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).