Jair Jurrjens

So we may as well say that we're at the halfway point of the season right now. During this time, we've celebrated some people that are excelling and some that were excelling. We've looked at the strikeouts of all of those free swingers that just keep thinking that they can win if only they swing for the fences (a concept that works better against alien invaders that come out of a Pennsylvania cornfield than it does in reality).
However, today, let's look at pretenders and winners on the win / loss circuit of pitchers.
In the last 10 games, Cole  Hamels has let up 4 runs once. In that stretch, he has let up 0, 1, or 2 runs 7 times to include his last 6 starts. In those game, he has lost 2 times and his team blew the game a third time. For that reason, his record is 9-4. However, his WHIP is 0.96 and his ERA is 2.49.
This definitely sounds a lot better than the vast majority of 10 game winners not named Justin Verlander (124 strikeouts, 0.84 WHIP and 2.38 ERA because nobody can touch him right now), who is my Cy Young pick for the season (at the halfway point). It's definitely better than CC Sabathia's 3.25 ERA and 1.22 WHIP (very pedestrian) to get to that 10-4 record (definitely a benefit of playing in the Bronx, I might add).
Roy Halladay is truly becoming Mr. Consistency in that beautiful way that numbers like 2.40, 1.03 and 123 add up to (and 5 complete games now, too).
But what about the forgotten people? We've remembered Justin Masterson, Dan Haren, and Kyle Lohse, but where is Jair Jurrjens who is now 10 and 3 with a WHIP of 1.14 and an ERA of 2.07? We see these numbers now, and we say "shit god damn" (ot at least we listen to the Eagles of Death Metal singing them).
This is becoming an every non-injured year thing for Jurrjens.
However, what sets him apart from the other guys on the list is 3 fewer starts. He's just winning, and he's winning for Atlanta... a team that isn't exactly scaring the hell out of other pitching staffs. The strikeouts may not be there (55), but the walks aren't really that numerous either (22). He's just quietly good on a team that's always been known for its pitching. Is he the Tom Glavine to the flashier Greg Maddux-esque characters listed above? I hope not since I never thought much of Glavine (he always reminded me of a David Cone type player - you know, a Yankee who wins because he's on a team that wins a lot and he's above average).
In 3 years in the bigs (we'll forget the short season in 2007 and the injured campaign in 2010), he's doing some good things (13-10 and 14-10 - getting a little better in ERA year 3 as he dropped to a 2.60 from a 3.68).
And while he's not doing it with a winning team, he's still doing it and doing it strong as he shores up his options at getting to Phoenix in the next 2 weeks.
Hopefully, the abundance of teams that aren't worthy of having anyone go, but still, they send someone because Bud Selig hasn't ammended that rule (not necessarily a bad things because nobody wants to watch the Yankees / Red Sox combined team take on the Phillies (other than a few players who will be there on talent and fan vote alone, you know that it's true) won't affect Jurrjens deserved spot on the NL All Star roster.

Carlos Quentin

By this point in the season, Albert Pujols should be flirting with .400 - not sitting below .300 with a gap (.033) between the magic mark and where he's at. He shouldn't be breaking a 100+ (105 at bats and 119 plate appearance) at bat streak without a home run. Is it really the year of the pitcher, or are we ushering in a new crop of offense?
Matt Joyce is currently leading the major leagues in batting average with a .367 mark. If I wouldn't be looking at him in his Rays uniform, I would have no idea who he was, but he seems to be part of the new Tampa Bay outlook and his 8 home runs attests that he's not all singles either.
This is not diminishing Jose Bautista, who is still hitting at a .340 clip with 19 home runs (guess I was really wrong on not believing in his salary bonus), but other than that, there are people with about 10-12 home runs, and they're the usual suspects, but there aren't many big time boppers - save Curtis Granderson and his 16 jacks (and 45 strikeouts in 178 at bats).
Matt Holliday has also been solid with his .349 average and 6 home runs, but for the most part, the bats have been silent this year. Big boppers like Adam Dunn who came to new teams with hope for power are striking out a lot more (60) than they are connecting (5). Mad Mark Reynolds is drifting into worse obscurity (.191) as he racks up his usual misses (49) and falls short on his connections (5). It's an ugly affair really.
So when Carlos Quentin hooks me up fantasy style with 3 jacks and 5 RBIs for my 2nd place fantasy team (the Ephrata Green Dragons), I have to give props (that said, I like the acquisition of Jair Jurrjens as well since he's always been good for me and last night, his 4 Ks and 7.2 scoreless innings brought a much needed win to my team, which has been decimated by injuries to Joe Mauer and Josh Hamilton).
Now that Quentin opened up, he's tied for 3rd place with Ryan Braun, Mark Teixera, and Jay Bruce. Yeah... that Jay Bruce, but that's fantasy points as well, so we can live with that. Looking at the home run leaders... you really wouldn't guess many of them. The same could be said for the free swinging strikeout leaders.
And as I heard it said the other day, it's not 1.12 in 1968, but it's a step away from the steroids era home run boppers of years past.