Seattle Zephyrs Recaps: Week 5, 14-1 Win

Well, that's more like it. After two straight losses brought on by the offensive drought my lineup was going through, the Zephyrs' bats came through in a big way, posting their highest weekly OPS of the season. With the pitching staff continuing to be utterly dominant, the team delivered the most lopsided victory in the league so far. Thanks to this outstanding week, the Zephyrs sit atop the league standings and things are only looking to get better. Tonight, the struggling Corey Hart was cut from the team and Mariners slugger Justin Smoak will be DHing for us this coming week. The future looks bright.

The fact that the team posted such outstanding results despite our ace, Jered Weaver, losing both his starts is quite impressive and bodes well for the future. After about of month of frantic lineup tweaks and roster shuffling, the team has truly settled down into an efficient unit. Our six-man rotation, featuring Weaver, Haren, Danks, Shields, Pineda and Hudson, can go toe to toe with any team's best and the offense is starting to look explosive. Hopefully, this will lead to more landslide victories and a continued stranglehold on the league leader boards.

Offense
-Runs: tie - Adrian Gonzalez, Colby Rasmus, 7
-Hits: Jose Reyes, 11
-Home Runs: A. Gonzalez, 3
-Runs Batted In: A. Gonzalez, 9
-Stolen Bases: Reyes, 2
-Walks: tie - Carlos Gonzalez, Casey McGehee, Dustin Pedroia, Rasmus, Reyes, 4
-Batting Average*: Reyes, .440
-On-base Percentage plus Slugging*: Reyes, 1.357

*minimum 15 at-bats

...and the Week 5 Offensive MVP Award goes to:


JOSE REYES! One of the weird things about the Zephyrs this year has been the unpredictable nature of our offense. From week to week, there has been no single player who's been leading the charge. In five weeks, five different batters have won the MVP. However, the fact that it has taken over a month for Reyes to win the award for himself doesn't do his season justice. Although he's been eclipsed every week by someone else, he's been the only truly consistent offensive player we've got. Combining steals with a solid batting average and ability to hit for power, Reyes has been the biggest unsung star for this team in the early going. Adrian Gonzalez had a monster week, but Reyes is finally getting the nod here.

Pitching
-Wins: Daniel Hudson, James Shields, 1
-Losses: Jered Weaver, 2
-Saves: Heath Bell, Joel Hanrahan, 2
-Strikeouts: Dan Haren, 18
-Holds: Daniel Bard, 2
-Earned Run Average*: tie - Bard, Hudson, 0.00
-Walks plus Hits Per Inning Pitched*: Bard, 0.40
-Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio*: tie - Hudson, Michael Pineda, infinite

*minimum 5.0 innings pitched

...and the Week 5 Cy Young Award goes to:


DANIEL HUDSON! Although new Zephyr Daniel Bard had an incredible week, giving the team its first holds and generally being awesome out of the bullpen, I've got to give Hudson the accolades here. His seven shutout innings against the Padres stabilized a pitching staff that was losing some very close games, striking out six dudes while walking none. It wasn't a dominant week for Daniel, but he got the job done and has become a valued contributor to the team.