Taking Notice: Week 3

Week Three was jam-packed with action, as all previously winless teams got off the schnide to pick up a victory. Ninety-two percent of the league is now somewhere in between 2-1 or 1-2 on the young season. Let’s get right to the analysis:

From Around the League:

• Yuri Sucart M.D. made a statement with another predictably strong performance to improve his record to 3-0. However, it was the supporting cast who stepped in to fill the void this week while Miggy Cabrera (3 for 21, 0 HRs and only 3 total bases) struggled offensively. Carlos Lee, Victor Martinez (early Comeback Player of the Year candidate?), Alex Rios, Derek Jeter, and the typically light-hitting Jacoby Ellsbury (who stole home Sunday) all turned in big weeks to surge past San Francisco Switchhitters.
• Laminated Wood and The Fast and the Bi-Curious both snuck by on thin margins (7-6-2) to win their respective games against Jonny Gomes’ Wife and Gangsta Nation. Offensively, Gangsta Nation has been impressive, but his team was done in by some poor and untimely pitching. The very same thing could be said of Jonny Gomes’ Wife. They both had an uncannily similar week.
• Lincecum Honor and Frederick Keys rebounded nicely to pick up their first victories of the season at the expense of two undefeated teams, A-Rod’s Labrum and Inspect Her Gadget. And the balance of power is restored. Henry Kissinger, eat your heart out!
• Fantasy Filipinos, welcome to the party. Having lost in Week 1 and on the door step of victory in Week 2 (eventually tying), Filipinos finally came through with a solid win against the Longhorns.
  

Raking:

• There is no doubt in my mind who the best player in baseball is right now, let alone week 3. It’s Albert Pujols and it’s not really even close. He was 9 for 19 with 4 home runs, and 11 driven in. He had 3 steals to boot. What?! How is that fair? I suspect he’ll top this list more than a few times this year.
• Here is what I love about baseball: You can be the goat one week and a hero the very next. It’s a humbling game. Jay Bruce was a combined 2 for 14 in week two and got benched for two straight games before busting out in week three to bat .455, slug almost 1.200, and jack 4 homers while collecting a league best 24 bases. Gotta love a kid with upside like that.
• Where would the Mets be without Carlos Betran and Johan Santana, you ask? In Trouble. Beltran is taking it upon himself to keep New York in games so far. In week 3, he went 13 for 24 at the plate and drove in 7.
• Someone finally lit a match under “El Caballo” (not to be confused with “Big Donkey”, Adam Dunn) cause he raked in a big way this week, to the tune of 4 home runs and a healthy 1.170 OPS. He’s not flashy, and he’s certainly not pretty, but what you see is what you get with Carlos Lee. Like a successful salesman, his numbers are always there at year’s end.
  

Filthy:

• Ross Ohlendorf. The guy outdueled Jake Peavy Sunday to earn his second victory this week. I am not yet a believer, but I will start to take notice. Plus, Ohlendorf’s got a sweet name… I bet if I stepped out on to the street and asked the casual sports fan what sport Ohlendorf played, 65% would probably say hockey. By the way, this makes it back to back weeks where a Pirate pitcher has appeared on my weekly rundown. Did I just step back in time?
• Rich Harden got pretty nasty with it in Week 3, picking up two Wins and striking out 17 total batters in 12.0 innings. The Cubbies have a nice pitcher in Harden. He’s got the best right-handed changeup in the National League and should continue racking up Ks. Happy times for the North Side and Harden-owners if his arm holds up for 4 more months.
• It’s rare to see a starting pitcher go nine innings these days. I was rather impressed with Yovani Gallardo’s outing last Friday against Houston as he went the distance and only gave up 5 hits and no walks. He induced 15 ground ball outs and was lights out at times with 7 Ks.
• From the Department of Redundancy, we present to you Zack Greinke. My man-crush knows no boundaries for this guy right now. He’s gone back to back Complete Games with 10 strikeouts a piece in each outing. If not for an error that led to a man reaching third base, the Royals ace would have had his second shutout in as many games. I recall a January 2009 rumor that had the Braves sending Jeff Francoeur and AA prospect Gorkys Hernandez to the Royals for Greinke. Pipe dream? Perhaps. But what a heist that would have been.
  

Good Eye:

• Ross Ohlendorf (PIT – SP) picked up on 4/25 by Fantasy Filipinos. Read above.
• Aaron Laffey (Cle – SP) picked up on 4/25 by Fantasy Filipinos. Since, he’s 1-0 with a Quality Start.
• Hideki Matsui (NYY – OF) picked up on 4/22 by Inspect Her Gadget. Since, he’s gone 4 for 9 with a run scored.
• David Ross (Atl – C) picked up on 4/25 by Frederick Keys. Since, he went 1 for 2 with a HR and 2 walks.
  

Power Rankings (All Games through Sunday, April 26):

A big "Thank You" to Jon Hurwitz for computating the weekly power ranking numbers. His excel skills are to be admired.