In a futile attempt to revive a short-lived feature I started back at TMS long ago, I bring you the Gracies and Neifis, 2010 Edition. Basically it's a "Who's hot and Who's not" in the world of baseball over the past week. I think I made it to week nine last time I tried this before giving up. This time I'm determined to at least get to week ten before I more than likely give up.

Week Four (4/26 - 5/2)

THE GRACIES - The cream of the crop this past week

CATCHER: John Buck (TOR) - John makes the Gracies list this week based on his perfomance in just one game.  On Thursday Buck went 3 for 4 with three home runs against the Oakland A's, raising his SLG by 161 points in a single day.  Nice job John.  Now you can drift back into obscurity for the rest of the season.

FIRST BASE: Paul Konerko (CHW) - Konerko seems like he's been playing baseball since the Carter Administration.  Either way he still seems to know how to hit the ball deep.  Konerko hit 4 dongs and knocked in 10 runs to get him a Gracie.

SECOND BASE: Robinson Cano (NYY) - If there was an AL MVP for the month of April, few would argue against Robinson Cano winning that honor.  Cano went 11/25 last week with 4 home runs.  He now has 9 home runs on the season with a .387 AVG, 21 RBI and 23 runs.

THIRD BASE: David Freese (STL) - Freese's monstrous week has created a mad dash to the free agent wire in fantasy leagues all over to see if he's still available.  Freese is 12/22 in his last 6 games with 3 homers and 11 RBI.  Another Cardinal putting up big offensive numbers just drives me further to drinking.

SHORTSTOP: Hanley Ramirez (FLA) - Hanley destroyed that Nationals over the weekend, going 7/14 in the three game series with 3 home runs and 7 RBI.  Maybe Hanley should tell the Cubs that Washington's pitchers really are hittable.

OUTFIELD: Carlos Gonzalez (COL), Andre Ethier (LAD), Alfonso Soriano (CHC) - Carlos Gonzalez is quickly emerging as the new star player in Colorado and proving to be a great return on the Matt Holliday trade a few years back.  Carlos hit 2 homers last week to go along with 3 stolen bases.  Andre Ethier continues his torrid hitting and leads the Dodgers in AVG, HR and RBI right now (.363/9/26 respectively).  Alfonso Soriano locked in this past week and is having one of his classic hitting sprees which included 4 home runs in the last 3 games.  It's been a long time Soriano, but I'm glad to see you back.

STARTING PITCHER: Josh Johnson (FLA) - In two starts last week Josh Johnson got the win in both, one of which was a complete game.  He went 15 innings total with 20 strikeouts.  He improved to 3-1 on the year with a 3.16 ERA.  Looks like Florida has made a sound investment with this kid.

RELIEF PITCHER: Heath Bell (SD) - The Padres have stunned folks early on with their first place record.  A lot of their success can be attributed to their solid bullpen led by closer Heath Bell.  Bell converted 3 saves last week in 3 innings of work, allowing no runs on 4 hits and 6 K's.  If only the Padres sucked so they would trade him to Chicago.


THE NEIFIS - Desperately in need of a Slumpbuster

CATCHER: Victor Martinez (BOS) - 2/17 last week.  Jason Varitek has been getting some more playing time as a result.  Well I guess Boston should be happy Victor doesn't have a bruised heel.

FIRST BASE: Casey Kotchman (SEA) - Kotchman did a good job channeling his inner Richie Sexson, going 2/23 with 0 runs, 0 homers, and 0 runs batted in.  Here's a fun fact.  Seattle hasn't had a starting 1B bat over .270 in a season since John Olerud hit .300 back in 2002.

SECOND BASE: Andres Blanco (TEX) - Blanco was only 2/11 on the week before Ian Kinsler came back from the DL and mercifully ended Blanco's reign of terror in the Rangers starting lineup.

THIRD BASE: Casey Blake (LAD) - Third basemen have been struggling all over the league.  While we've endured Aramis Ramirez's worst slump of his career several other teams have had issues with their hot corner as well.  Alex Rodriguez, Michael Young, Jose Lopez, Pedro Feliz, Mark Teahen and Chipper Jones have all struggled mightily recently.  But Casey Blake takes the crown over all of them this week.  Blake went 1/19 with 1 RBI.  True, Chipper did go 1/20 in that span but at least Chipper gets on base despite not hitting (Jones has 18 walks and only 14 hits this season).

SHORTSTOP: Ronny Cedeno (PIT) - ONE FOR TWENTY ONE!  That is a .048 batting average over the past week for those without a calculator handy.  Now it appears ol' Ronny has lost his starting job to Bobby Crosby.  Yes, that Bobby Crosby.  The fact Cedeno even has a career in the majors at this point defies all logic and laws of nature.

OUTFIELD: Jose Guillen (KC), Juan Pierre (CHW), Laynce Nix (CIN) - Guillen only managed 3 hits in 25 at bats and fell from Gracie to Neifi in just a few weeks.  Juan Pierre can still steal bases, unfortunately for the White Sox he can't actually get on base to begin with.  Pierre was 3/23 with only 2 walks.  In those 5 times he reached first base, he attempted to steal 3 times and was successful once.  Cue sad trombone.  Laynce Nix.  All I know about him is that he actually had 18 plate appearances last week and got a hit in 3 of them.  I can only assume there is a better option to replace him but Dusty is sticking with his guns.

STARTING PITCHER: Edwin Jackson (ARI) - Apologies to Luke Hochevar and Ben Sheets.  Both of them had massive pooped-the-bed weeks, but Edwin Jackson left the biggest pile on his mattress.  After giving up 10 runs in only 2.1 innings at Colorado last Tuesday, he dropped another turd in Chicago as the Cubs lit him up for 8 runs in 4 innings yesterday including 2 homers from Marlon Byrd and Soriano.

RELIEF PITCHER: Trevor Hoffman (MIL) - You know how to tell if it's time to maybe call it a career?  When you give up the only hit Ronny Cedeno had all week, and it was a HOME RUN, that cost you a save and your team the win.  Not that I care if Milwaukee wins or not.  You just shouldn't be giving up dongs to a guy that is in Wolter's FIREBARN Hall of Fame.