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Friday, June 8, 2012

6 Disappointing Teams

Arizona Diamondbacks-After winning 94 games and running away with the division last year, the D-Backs are three games under .500 behind the much more formidable Dodgers and Giants

Who's to blame? Justin Upton's protracted slump, Miguel Montero not hitting for power, Ian Kennedy's regression, Ryan Roberts, prolonged DL stints by Chris Young and Daniel Hudson, still missing Stephen Drew at shortstop, J.J. Putz's ninth inning struggles, Josh Collementer pitching his way out of the starting rotation

Boston Red Sox-Devastated by injuries and plagued by inconsistent pitching, the Old Towne Team find themselves looking up at the rest of the American League Beast

Who's to Blame? In a nutshell, it's been the pitching.  Jon Lester not performing like an ace, Adrian Gonzalez leaving about a million runners on base, Kevin Youkilis being ineffective when he's not hurt, the front office failing to reinforce a thin starting rotation by adding a Roy Oswalt or Edwin Jackson type, whoever thought moving Daniel Bard to the rotation instead of having him inherit Jonathan Papelbon's vacant closer role (hello Alfredo Aceves) and of course, the slew of injuries to Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury, Cody Ross, John Lackey, Andrew Bailey, Dice-K, Youk, Pedroia, et. al.  Not a big fan of Bobby V, either

Detroit Tigers-The AL Central was theirs for the taking after landing Prince Fielder during the offseason, but they're five games beneath .500

Who's to blame? A thin lineup missing Victor Martinez with black holes in Ryan Raburn and Brennan Boesch, Jhonny Peralta coming and Alex Avila coming back to Earth, terrible defense with Peralta at short, Fielder and Miguel Cabrera manning the corners and Delmon Young in left, not much pitching to back up Justin Verlander with Max Scherzer's maddening inconsistency, Doug Fister's injury and Rick Porcello's suckiness, shaky bullpen highlighted by Jose Valverde suffering from the Brad Lidge year-after effect

Los Angeles Angels-Looked prepared to make a run at the Rangers after inking the best free agent hitter and pitcher in Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson, but have just a .500 record to show for it

Who's to blame-Pujols pressing too much, zero offensive production from Howie Kendrick, Erick Aybar, Alberto Callaspo, Vernon Wells, Peter Bourjos, Maicer Izturis, Torii Hunter, and whoever catches for them nowadays (and it's not Mike Napoli), so pretty much the entire lineup except for Mark Trumbo and Mike Trout, slow start from Dan Haren, Jered Weaver on the DL, Ervin Santana battling gopheritis, mediocre bullpen

Milwaukee Brewers-The Brew Crew, led by NL MVP Ryan Braun, advanced to the NLCS last year but now find themselves in fourth place, just two games up on the Houston Astros

Who's to blame-Horrible pitching, especially in the 'pen, Mat Gamel is no Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks nowhere to be found, Nyjer Morgan no longer a sparkplug, injury derailing Jonathan Lucroy, slow starts from Aramis Ramirez and Yovani Gallardo, unproductive fourth and fifth starters with the well-traveled Randy Wolf looking done at 35

Philadelphia Phillies-The NL version of the Red Sox have been hammered by injuries to key players and are toiling in last place

Who's to blame-AGE (even the manager), the lineup is about as bad as everyone feared, and the pitching has fallen far short of expectations, inability to replace Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Placido Polanco look old, Shane Victorino replicating 2010's production instead of 2011's, Cliff Lee comes back but Roy Halladay (who'd been surprisingly average) is lost for the summer

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