Pujols’ Season Is Looking Up, Just Like Predicted
At the beginning of May I made ten bold predictions, so on May 31st I could tell you “I told you so”. Below are my bold predictions I made in May, let’s see how I did!
1) Mark my words, Albert Pujols will hit 6+ homeruns in the month of May:
CORRECT: Pujols entered the month of May with 0 homeruns throughout April, in May Albert got hot and launched 8 long balls making me 1 for 1 on the year with my predictions. Pujols is improving and getting himself back into form however he still isn’t quite there yet. He batted .263 in May, much better than his April total .217.
2) Mark my words, Jose Bautista will get his average above .240 before the end of May:
WRONG: Much like Pujols, Bautista struggled in April. I predicted Joey Bats was going to turn it around in a big way in May. In order for Bautista to up his average to .240 from a lousy .181 he had to hit .300 in May. The Blue Jays slugger failed to do so. At one point Bautista had his average up to .234 on May 26th, but a recent slump has dropped him down to .223.
3) Mark my words, former Yankee A.J. Burnett has a lower ERA than Yankee ace C.C. Sabathia in the month of May:
WRONG: This one didn’t look pretty after A.J. Burnett’s first start against the St. Louis Cardinals where he allowed 12 runs in only 2.2 innings. On the other hand Sabathia threw a gem against Kansas City going 8 innings and allowing 2 runs. Sabathia finished the month with a splendid 2.75 ERA, while Burnett finished with a 4.38. It looks bad, but if you really crunch the numbers here, take away Burnett’s terrible outing against St. Louis and he boasts a 1.57 ERA. I just missed on this one and it ticks off enough to repeat this prediction again in June.
4) Mark my words, Japanese pitcher Hiroki Kuroda records more wins than Japanese Phenom Yu Darvish, in the month of May:
WRONG: In this debate neither pitcher really pitched well, Kuroda just got less run support. Yu Darvish finished the month with a 3-2 record and a 4.50 ERA for the Rangers. Hiroki Kuroda finished the month with a 2-3 record and a 4.25 ERA. Kuroda’s most impressive appearance was his last one on May 27th against the Oakland Athletics where he pitched 8 innings of scoreless ball. Once again I just missed on this one but this one doesn’t sting as much as Burnett vs. Sabathia.
5) Mark my words, I had to put this one in… My boy Edwin Encarnacion remains the highest scoring 3B and is ranked #1 in total points for 3b come June 1st:
CORRECT: Edwin Encarnacion has been my man all season long and he continues to dominant in 2012. Encarnacion has already matched his 2011 total of 17 homers early into his 2012 campaign. At the beginning of the month Encarnacion led all 3B fantasy players in points ahead of Miguel Cabrera, David Wright, I predicted he was going to continue to stay at the top and he has. In my format Encarnacion has 199 total points ahead of the next highest player David Wright who currently has 180. I Knew I could depend on Edwin to pull through for me.
6) Mark my words, Jose Reyes gets more hits in the month of May than league leader Derek Jeter:
WRONG: Wow this one hurts… This prediction might not have raised your eyes too much and you may not be surprised because Reyes is expected to out play the older Jeter. However, Jeter was leading the Majors in hits heading into May and Reyes was riding a big time slump. In the month of May Jeter had 34 hits, three less than he had in April. Reyes had 33 hits in May (one less than Jeter) and 15 more than he had the previous month. Tough hit, no pun intended but this one hurts falling just one hit shy.
7) Mark my words, Alfredo Aceves records the most saves in the AL, in the month of May:
WRONG: Going into the month I felt as if this was going to be my toughest prediction to hit on, simply because it’s Aceves vs. the rest of the AL. I still felt confident however, Aceves fell short. Aceves had a solid month finishing with 8 saves and a 2.89 ERA and his Red Sox are now over .500 for the first time all season. The league leader in saves in the AL was a closer in his own division, Jim Johnson of the Baltimore Orioles. Johnson recorded 9 saves for the O’s.
8) Mark my words, In the month of May, Matt Kemp has a higher total of stolen bases than homeruns hit:
WRONG: My luck here has been pretty awful, but is it worse than Matt Kemp’s month of May? Kemp landed on the DL in early May with a hamstring strain and rushed back to the club too quickly putting himself back on the DL. Kemp recorded 0 homeruns in May and 0 stolen bases. Although this one should probably be a draw, I’m saying I’m wrong here.
9) Mark my words, Gio Gonzalez finishes the month of May undefeated:
Correct: Gio Gonzalez is a stud. In his first season with the Washington Nationals Gio has a 2.04 ERA and a 7-1 record. He was also dominant in May, winning all five of his starts and finishing with a 2.25 ERA. The Nationals have a great rotation and a great one-two punch with Strasburg and Gonzalez.
10) Mark my words, the Miami Heat are still in the NBA Playoffs:
Correct: The Indiana Pacers put a little bit of a scare into this prediction running them into a game 6 series. I promise in June I’ll make my next prediction (non-fantasy related) a little bit tougher. Maybe something like… San Antonio wins the NBA finals and doesn’t need game 7 to do so. Yes, I like the sound of that.
I finished the month of May 4-10 on my predictions, looking to do much better in June to up the average a little bit. This month most certainly hurts just missing out on Burnett/Sabathia, Reyes/Jeter and Aceves. I’m excited to dive into next month’s list of predictions I promise you there are some good ones.
May 4/10 40%
Total 4/10 40%
Conner “Country Breakfast” Patch @connerpatch68
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