Game 39 Open Thread: May 18, 2005

carpenter lieber
5-2, 4.02 5-2, 3.31

this morning's pujols-as-best-player-in-baseball article has generated lively discussion both at Beyond the Boxscore (which published the original post) and at another SB Nation site, John Sickels' Minor League Ball. both edmonds and rolen get into the debate, along with vlad guerrero and a few others. author marc normandin divulges that it was a very close call betw albert and another player: "I typed Abreu as the best overall player...then I changed it to Pujols...then I changed it to Abreu...then Pujols..."

which is funny, because pujols isn't even the best player on his own team -- at least not this month. that honor would go to johnraham mabrez, better known as john mabry and abe o nunez. between them they've made 15 starts this month, the equivalent of one full-time player. here's their aggregate line:

26-for-64 (.406), 16 runs 4 db, 5hr, 13rbi, 11bb, .493obp, .703slg

mabry has a 1.236 ops in may and rates 4th in the league in obp (.526) and 7th in slugging (.710) over the span. nunez ranks 9th in nl slugging for may (.697) and has a may ops of 1.156. (thanks, baseball musings' day-to-day database.) in his limited duty, mabry has been the cards' most efficient hitter, creating 12 runs per 27 outs . . . . he is 2 for 11 in his career against tonight's starter.