Late August Baseball Factazoid Frenzy!

The last 33 appearances of Orioles relief pitcher Cla Meredith (pronounced “Clay” for some reason) have come in games in which his team ultimately lost.

Nelson Cruz hits the ball very hard.

Nelson Cruz and Mark Reynolds top Hit Tracker’s 2009 Golden Sledgehammer List thus far into the season. The Golden Sledgehammer list ranks hitters by farthest average distance their home runs have traveled. Through Monday’s games, Cruz’s HR’s went an average of 419 feet, which is obviously awesome, especially for a player finally getting his first opportunity to play every day at the age of 28.

Back to Reynolds; the 25-year-old is currently rocking an isolated power of .312 with 38 home runs and 170 strikeouts. What a freak.

Ted Berg’s find of the day, presumably discovered during his daily Google search for “Dickshot.”

Ratio of Indians batters struck out by Zack Greinke to thousands of fans in attendance at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday night: 1:1.56

Cliff Lee has been impossibly dominant since joining the Phillies last month, going 5-0 with a K:BB of 6.5 and an ERA of 0.68. Two of his five starts have been complete games and he has yet to allow a home run in the sucky National League.

After an 0-4 start to open the season, Twins’ starter Scott Baker has been excellent, striking out 109 against 25 walks in 132 innings en route to a 12-3 record in decisions.

It’s time to pay attention to Brandon Snyder again, as the 13th overall pick in the 2005 draft now finds himself in AAA as a 22-year-old following a .343/.421/.597 showing in AA this season. I imagine he will spend all of next season in AAA and if all goes well could find himself starting at first base for the Orioles on opening day 2011, about seven months shy of his 24th birthday. What a beast.

In more Orioles first base news, the team has ensured that the period beginning in 2007 and lasting until Snyder takes over will never be without an Aubrey, as the team swapped Aubrey Huff for Mike Aubrey last week.

Last but whatever the opposite of least is in this context (most?), Albert Pujols has somehow elevated his game over the past two seasons. After hitting like Jimmie Foxx over his first seven seasons with an adjusted OPS+ of 167, Pujols has now maintained an adjusted OPS+ of 190 over his past 1186 plate appearances, or roughly the level of production of Ted Williams. Jesus.

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