The Week in Rewind (May 6 - May 11)

Written by Daniel Paulling
Saturday, 12 May 2007
If you missed the hot topics from the week that was, here is your chance to get up to date. Every Saturday, I’ll rehash the major events from the previous week, and offer an opinion. Big News SUNDAY Roger Clemens announces that he will come to the rescue of another team, this time the New York Yankees. He made the announcement while standing in Boss Steinbrenner’s box during the seventh inning stretch in a game versus the Toronto Blue Jays. Even though Clemens said it wasn’t about the money, he’ll become the highest paid player in the major leagues, earning $4.5 million per month. As for that pesky clause which allows him to leave the team while he’s not starting, that’s in there, too, even though Clemens didn’t know about it until after the contract. Sounds weird, doesn’t it? MONDAY There was another positive steroid test in major league baseball, but it wasn’t Barry Bonds, sadly. The positive test belonged to Juan Salas, a relief pitcher with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. His punishment includes having to sit out 50 games, which is a huge blow to the team, as Salas was one of their best relievers. Kei Igawa gets sent to the minor leagues, going down to Class A Tampa, so that he can be close to the Boss’s Tampa home. Igawa looked spectacular against the Boston Red Sox last week, pitching six innings of shutout relief. However, he has been unable to consistently get to curveball over for a strike. WEDNESDAY The Mitchell investigation is nearing its end, asking the Player’s Union for medical records for Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa. Of course, the Union denied these requests, which just incriminates Palmeiro and Sosa further. Neither player has made a comment as to whether or not they’d be against allowing their records made public. If they’ve got nothing to hide, why not allow Mr. Mitchell see? Injuries SUNDAY Things just aren’t getting better for the Washington Nationals. At the start of the week, they lost staff ace John Patterson due to elbow inflammation and manager Manny Acta believes he will miss at least a month. If the Minnesota Twins are to defend their American League Central crown, they need catcher Joe Mauer healthy. His loss to the DL, which came as a result of a strained quadriceps muscle, is a huge blow. The good news is that he is eligible to come off on the 20th. MONDAY It doesn’t look like Joel Zumaya will be taking over for Todd Jones as the Tigers’ closer any time soon. It’s not because Jones has a 2.45 ERA and 13 saves, but only because Zumaya is going to miss 12 weeks due to a ruptured tendon in his middle right finger. Too bad this didn’t even happen during a game: Zumaya was injured will warming up. TUESDAY He threw a no-hitter last season, but he’ll be facing no hitters for the foreseeable future. After being demoted to AAA last week, Sanchez began suffering from a sore right (throwing) shoulder. The injury was diagnosed as tendonitis, and it should be a week until he can start throwing. THURSDAY The Blue Jays sustained a tremendous loss on two days ago, losing closer BJ Ryan for the remainder of the season, as well as part of next year, most likely. He went down with the dreaded Tommy John surgery. With such an awkward delivery, it could have been foreseen that Ryan would suffer some sort of elbow injury in the midst of his five-year deal. One good thing: Ryan feels bad about not being able to take the field. Awards Player of the Week – 1B Prince Fielder: The large first baseman of the Milwaukee Brewers got his bat going in a big way during the week that was. He hit .409 with four homers and ten RBIs. It’s no wonder the Brewers are winning so much with this powerful bat in the middle of things. Pitcher of the Week – SP Kelvim Escobar: Here’s a guy who is consistently underrated, getting picked in fantasy drafts in the very-late rounds and never getting discussed by experts as one of the good pitchers in the Angels rotation. However, this past week he lit up the baseball world, getting two wins in two starts, throwing 16 innings and striking out 13. I don’t know what’s better, however: the ERA of 0.56 or the WHIP of 0.94. We want to hear your feedback. Feel free to comment on this article here or visit our message board. You can contact Daniel Paulling via the writer's Profile or the AHP Staff via the contact form. Hype up this post at BallHype!

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