So the number of runs per team per game has gone up significantly since my last post on this subject, unsurprisingly since it's really early and a couple of offensive explosions can easily make up for several slow days.
However, oddly, it remains the case that batting averages are way down from last year. I first noticed this trend when looking at team averages in the Mr. 3000 invitational fantasy league - only one club is above .300, and I believe I'm in second right now at about .285. It turns out that the MLB average is .255, a good 15 points off of last year's average. Moreover, there is near parity between the AL and NL. This suggests that pitching in the AL is exceptional this year, since the parity is achieved in spite of facing 11% more good hitters than in a league without the DH.
OR I guess, pitchers could be hitting really well in the NL, but that doesn't appear to be true.
Meanwhile, another Mariners game was postponed.
Finally, on A-Rod - ESPN.com has a survey asking who fans believe to be the best Latino third-baseman of all-time. Notwithstanding A-Rod's unclear self-identification as such, it would be very amusing to me if Castilla received a single vote in this contest. Has there ever been a more outlandish beneficiary of the thin Coors air? To wit: Castilla's first full season was with the Rockies in 1995, when he hit an impressive 32 homeruns with 90 RBIS to boot. He hit 30/100 for each of the next four seasons, consistently batting around .300.
He went to Tampa Bay in 2000 (I guess they felt that if he could help one expansion team he could help another), where in 331 at-bats he hit 6 homeruns and walked the Mendoza line at a cool .221. After a few more mediocre years with a variety of teams, he was traded BACK to Colorado, in a grand experiment. Castilla returned to form at 35/131/.271. Sadly, the next year he was shipped to the Nationals (I guess the TB lesson wasn't fully apparent), where he hit 12 homeruns in 500 at-bats, before retiring at the end of last season.
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