The Weekend Take

Each Monday we’ll provide you with some things we saw or thought of over the weekend around the game of baseball. For daily and nightly commentary around the big leagues, follow Diamond Hoggers on twitter.
Friday night’s game for the Reds was really a lot of fun to enjoy as a fan. Not only did Jay Bruce have a really elite ballgame, but the Reds battled back late and held on in the rain for a win that wrapped up shortly after I returned home from this cool hole in the wall sports bar some friends and I found down the street from my house. No one was in the bar except a few regular patrons. We got the old bartender to put the game on the big screen and watched it until the game went into rain delay. By the time we were in bed and shaking off the spins, the Reds had wrapped it up. We thought play would be suspended as we kept seeing the FSN Ohio camera update and report of Tornado warnings and what looked like monsoon conditions. It was a pleasant surprise to see the Reds extended their win-streak to five games and took a high character opening game of a series against a very, very good team. To win Saturday afternoon after battling back twice would have been huge, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
-If you’re still waiting for Jason Heyward to fall on his face, it’s not going to happen. Heyward homered in three straight ballgames, two of which were this weekend. This came after adjusting to the small book that existed on him to get him out. He’s now second in the National League with 24 RBI. The Braves had a mini-resurgence after losing ten straight, in sweeping the Houston Astros over the weekend. Here’s a stat for you that tells you of the rookies importance: Atlanta has not won a game in which Heyward failed to get multiple hits or drive in an RBI.
-The White Sox had a rough weekend in New York. They witnessed a Time Square bomb investigation, and then got it handed to them on the field at New Yankee Stadium. Mark Texeira had only 11 hits total in April, but got six the first two days of May. Paul Konerko is still rolling however. He was named AL Player of the Week and hit two more home runs over the weekend, bringing his season total to 12. A lot of people including myself pawned off Konerko as a forgotten power slugger, but if you look at his career numbers he has been incredibly durable. Unless he gets hurt he’s going to have a year that is similar to his career years he had early on in the decade. Look for between 35-40 home runs, a .290 average, and over 100 RBI. He’s at an age (34) where we now consider a guy old or past his prime. However, the throwback players even in the 1980’s and 1990’s were still extremely valuable at that age. Why not Konerko? He should be a lock for an All-Star selection as well.
-Just ran across this: Accuscore Playoff Probabilities after week four. Well shit. That didn’t make me feel a whole lot better about things.