It’s that time once again to go back and see how the major’s hitting and pitching has done in the past week. With the all-star game approaching next week, there were some players that showed that they do, indeed, deserve to represent their team as one of the best in the league, then there were some players that were lucky that the votes were tallied before fans had a chance to witness their less-than-average performance.

Since this is going to be an on-going column, I wanted to create a standard scoring system that would allow me to be unbiased when I give out the weekly awards as studs or duds.

In order to derive at this statistical baseball formula I looked at the major stats for hitters (i.e. homeruns, RBIs, runs, etc.) and issued varying degrees importance associated with each category. For example, a triple is worth more than a double, but less than a homerun. That makes sense to you, right? Also, batting average and strikeouts played a big factor as well since a player could have four homeruns in a week, but if they only batted .133 with 13 strikeouts then you get the real story behind the inflated homerun statistic.

As far as pitchers go, I have yet to get the kinks out of my formula so I’m going to put a hold on that for the time being. Pitching is pretty straightforward anyway, so I’m not going to rack my brain until I’m put-away into a small, padded-wall room for that one.

Getting all that out of the way, I locked myself in my room to come up with a fair formula. I looked at many statistics, drank a 12-pack of Surge which I’ve been saving for a special occasion, and listened to nothing but the Rocky soundtrack and C & C Music Factory. When I finally emerged from my room I immediately made a trip to the bathroom and then basked in the glowing goodness of the Excel spreadsheet that was on my monitor.

The batter who has been hitting the cover off the ball the best in the past week is an unfamiliar player. His last name isn’t unfamiliar because his older brother (Jerry Hairston Jr.) played for the Cubs a few years back. Outfielder Scott Hairston of the Padres has been out-performing his older brother and the rest of the league recently. According to my formula (which isn’t NASA approved), Scott has put up the best stats for the week. He had five homers, three doubles, six runs, eight RBIs, and batted .550. His week total would have been even higher had he stolen some bases and not struck-out three times, but that’s just being picky.

Newly-elected all-star, shortstop J.J. Hardy of the Brewers, also had himself a fine week. Counting the solo homer he had on Thursday afternoon, Hardy had five homers, seven runs, eight RBIs, 15 total hits, and an average of .469. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any steals in the past seven days either, so that factored-in to his second place finish.

Taking the bronze medal for hitters this week is Marlin outfielder Cody Ross. Like Scott Hairston, Ross isn’t a household name for many fans but if he continues to have weeks like the past one then he’ll soon find himself talked about more. Ross batted .500 for the week, smacked two homeruns, four double, six runs, and impressive 15 RBIs. If he had stretched some of his nine singles into extra base hits then he would have came on top.

The bottom spots on the list come courtesy of right here in Chicago. White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski has definitely seen better weeks at the plate. He limped to a .130 batting average (3-for-23), a single run, three RBIs, five total bases, and eight strikeouts. While he was the lowest batter on the list, he had a few White Sox teammates that were in the same vicinity as him as well. Orlando Cabrera, Nick Swisher, and Joe Crede found themselves towards the bottom of the list.

Chicago Cub Kosuke Fukudome, the starting right-fielder for the N.L. all-star team, needs to make sure this past week isn’t a sign of things to come if he ever hopes to make the all-star team future seasons. He batted a sad .192, struck-out ten times, and didn’t steal a single base. His 0-for-5 day at the plate with three strikeouts in Thursday’s loss to the Reds didn’t help his cause either.

Fukudome isn’t the only all-star struggling now either. Astros shortstop, Miguel Tejada, could only muster three hits the past seven days. He only had one run, one RBI, and four total bases as well! Meanwhile Mets’ third baseman David Wright is sitting at home wondering how he got left off the all-star roster for this guy.

Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs takes the top honor as the starting pitching stud of the week. Coming off the DL, Zambrano notched two wins, had an ERA of just .64 and a WHIP of .50, and struck-out ten batters as well. He managed to sport those numbers in 14 innings on the mound.

Yankee closer Mariano Rivera had an impressive week also. In just five innings of work he managed to score two wins, one save, and a tiny ERA and WHIP of 1.80 and .80, respectively. Rivera had a lot to do with the recent sweep of the first place Tampa Bay Rays.

Another team that’s been on the rise lately is the Los Angeles Dodgers. Their closer, Takashi Saito, pitched four innings and had the same number of saves last week.

The pitching dud of the week comes from Florida Marlins. Their closer, Kevin Gregg, had two losses in just three innings and had an ERA of 9.00! Somehow he got two saves as well, but those losses and high ERA are too much to overcome. Honorable mention goes to Orioles starter Garrett Olson he had an ERA of 12.00 in nine innings of baseball. If it wasn’t for the Red Sox run support I’m sure he would have gotten more than just the one loss.

Before I wrap-up this latest edition of “studs and duds” I wanted to give my condolences to Jermaine Dye of the White Sox and Ryan Howard of the Phillies for inexcusably being left off the all-star rosters. Howard leads the majors in homeruns and is now second in RBIs while Dye is second in the A.L. in homers and batting a solid .300. I was hoping to see J.D. would get the last fan all-star selection, but it wasn’t meant to be. Oh well, he’ll have to just settle being on a first place team at the all-star break instead.