Aug 15
JonathanSports baseball, Red Sox
I’ve been quite glad not to hear the legendary arrogance and pomposity, but equally sad not to see Pedro Martinez pitch so far in the 2007 season. Occasionally popping up in a news story mentioning how great he was doing as he rehabilitated his surgically repaired right shoulder, Pedro has been missing from a New York Mets team that greatly needs a dominant starting pitcher. The five starters most often deployed by the Mets this year (Tom Glavine, John Maine, Oliver Perez, Orlando Hernandez, and Jorge Sosa) have all done fine, but none has stepped up and claimed a firm position at the top of the rotation. That role has slipped to Glavine, the league’s newest and possibly last 300 game-winner, by default. The Mets need someone to step forward and anchor a team that, while it holds a small lead in the NL East, has floundered and stagnated for months, allowing both the Braves and the Phillies to remain in the hunt for the division title. They’re in need of a boost, an emotional lift, a catalyst. If they’re looking to Pedro Martinez to be that man in September, they’re going to be disappointed.
On the increasingly controversial resume of Red Sox GM Theo Epstein, the non-re-signing of Martinez falls squarely and loudly in the positive column. When Red Sox fans screamed and hollered after Theo let the temperamental pitcher sign with the Mets, who offered an additional guaranteed year, and replaced him in the rotation with Matt Clement (who slams down equally hard on the other side of the see-saw as a negative for Theo,) Theo knew what most weren’t ready to accept: Pedro isn’t Pedro anymore. Injury and mileage have irrevocably changed him as a pitcher. Now, in the third year of a 4 year, $53 million contract, he’s won only 9 games since the end of 2005. After putting up solid numbers in the junior varsity world of the NL that season, the wheels came off last year and he required surgery that has cost him the rest of that year as well as his entire 2007 campaign to date.
Truthfully, Pedro wasn’t even really himself throughout most of 2004, logging a career high (before his 4.48 in 2006) 3.90 ERA, but he came up big when the playoffs arrived. In Boston, we got so spoiled from his glory days that we remember him beginning to deteriorate back in 2003 with his velocity and consistency. On paper, though, he was 14-4 with a 2.22 ERA and over 200 strikeouts. If that’s a drop-off, it only shows how far up he had been. From 1998 through 2002, he was the best the AL has seen since the late 1980s version of Roger Clemens and no one has been better since. Johan Santana puts in a good challenge, but Pedro was an astounding 87-24 during those five years, logging a high ERA of 2.89 in 1998. His 1.74 ERA in 2000 sounds mythical against the backdrop of 2007, where any ERA below 4.00 is seen as all-star caliber. Pedro limped over the 200 win plateau in late 2006 and now sits 2 strikeouts shy of the elite 3,000 mark. If he never wins another game, he is worthy of the Hall of Fame. His dominance from 1997 through 2003 rivals that of any pitcher in history over a similar stretch except for Sandy Koufax’s legendary run from 1962-1966, during which he was 111-34 with an ERA just over 2.00.
But as Martinez attempts to return, at age 35, from surgery, having already gone from a flamethrower with a 97 mile per hour fastball to a deceptive veteran topping out at 91, the early returns are not promising. On Tuesday, Pedro pitched in his second rehab start, giving up 3 runs in 5 innings for the Mets’ rookie ball team. His previous start was similarly discouraging. As a matter of perspective, many of the hitters in rookie ball were playing on high-school diamonds and finishing their U.S. History classes 90 days ago. And this Tuesday, they beat up on a three-time Cy Young award winner. It’s already mid-August and there appears to be a longer road ahead of Pedro than he had hoped in his quest to return to the big stage and playoff baseball. The Mets would be well-served to look elsewhere for their emotional lift.
Pedro Martinez may be back in the big leagues in 2008 and he may very well put together a solid season, but chances are that he will never look like the pitcher we knew five or ten years ago. As is often the case with power pitchers, the “twilight” is never very bright (Roger Clemens being the blinding exception,) though they fight against it fastball after fastball. So while I rooted hard against “Pedro the Punk” in ’05 and ’06, I’m sorry to see him struggle to return this year. I pop in my 2004 Red Sox World Series DVD and I can’t help feeling the nostalgia and a little bit of love for Pedro. As he fights his own body to return, I admit that I’m rooting for the old man, albeit with the sound turned way down, just in case he talks.
More Notes from the Cheap Seats
The other loudmouth returning from injury is Boston’s own Curt Schilling. After a month and a half of resting and strengthening his shoulder, Curt dominated minor league hitters in his 3 rehab starts, shutting out the opposition in 15 strong innings, reaching 94 mph on the radar guns. Someone must have been trying to help his confidence with those radar readings because Schilling was regularly around 89-91 in his first start back with the Red Sox, a 6 plus inning performance against the Angels. He pitched well and had surrendered only 2 runs after six innings. Terry Francona, going through a managerial slump of late, sent him back out for the 7th where he surrendered two more runs and took the loss. In his second start back, he gave up only a single unearned run in another 6 innings. He looks solid so far, but his velocity still leaves room for concern.
One loudmouth who won’t be returning from injury this year is Arizona Diamondbacks lefty Randy Johnson. After struggling with his back injury and inconsistent performances (that included several disabled list visits,) Johnson had season-ending back surgery last month. He finished 4-3 for the 2007 season and is unsure if he will be able to return in 2008. This one ends up as a brilliant move by the Yankees’ GM Brian Cashman in unloading Johnson before the season. At 284 career wins, he stands as the only plausible candidate among current pitchers to reach the 300 win mark. The current consensus among sports reporters is that he won’t be able to return to health long enough to win those final 16 games. Which means that he probably will.
The permanently injured loudmouth who won’t go away has finally broken Hank Aaron’s home run record. Barry Bonds limped over the finish line last week and currently stands at 758 homers, playing mostly every other day. Most of us are glad we can finally go back to ignoring him, but it’s impossible to ignore the sadness at the loss of 755 as the magical record. Now, he’ll start blaming the media for not paying enough attention to him after years of the opposite. How can you not fall in love with a guy who’s always angry and not happy unless he’s unhappy?
Jul 25
JonathanSports baseball
A few nights ago, I had a dream that the Red Sox made a trading deadline deal to bring Nomar Garciaparra back to Boston to be a fourth outfielder and role player. In the dream, I was pretty excited by the news and really intrigued by the drama of that compelling storyline, especially after we missed out on the “Roger Clemens returns to Boston to finish where he started” earlier this season. Instead, we got the “Roger Clemens goes back to New York for $1 million per start where he already won two rings and pitched for five whole years” story, which was rather anticlimactic.
But, the Nomar deal probably isn’t going to happen. And neither will a hundred exciting viable trades I can imagine where superstars switch teams midseason blockbuster exchanges. When I was younger, I remember the excitement of the days leading up to July 31st, wondering which stars would move, always knowing there would be something shocking as we closed in on the 4:00pm deadline. But, these days, the biggest question I have is whether the Red Sox will get a better hitter for their bench or maybe another middle reliever, or if the Yankees will bring in a first baseman. The biggest name on the market is Texas Rangers Mark Texeira, a pretty good power hitter who hasn’t quite reached his potential. But, in this era, he’s the cream of the crop. It’s not exactly the stuff of a Hollywood movie plot anymore, is it?
In the 1980′s, some of the excitement was the thrill of seeing a star player in a new uniform, which was something of a novelty before players leapt from city to city every couple of years. While became more commonplace over time, the flurry of trades surrounding the end of July still packed drama and almost never disappointed. That is, until the advent of the Wild Card in Major League Baseball. Since the mid-1990′s, the playoff races have gotten a boost from the inclusion of two additional playoff spots. There has been an amazing amount of enthusiasm about how many teams remain in the playoff mix until the final days of the season and it truly has exponentially increased the number of meaningful games played around the country in September. But, with more teams contending, fewer teams are prepared to give up on their playoff hopes by the end of July. So, here we are, less than a week from the deadline and there are only about half a dozen teams out of thirty who consider their season lost and are prepared to sell off veteran or valuable parts. To filter out more genuine buyers and definite sellers and diminish the pile of indecisive .500 teams, they ought to push the non-waiver deadline back into mid-August, when perhaps more teams will be willing to admit where they stand with only 45 games to play.
The other major contributor to the decline in blockbuster deadline trades, though less publicized in this respect, is the dramatic rise in salaries and increase in long-term contracts, which has made a huge comeback in the past couple of years. In terms of July trades, huge salaries act twofold against the likelihood of interesting deals. Salaries for underperforming or otherwise available stars are so large and many payrolls are already bursting that fewer teams are willing to part with hot prospects and take on large financial burdens. And in the age of bloated paychecks, prized prospects themselves become ever more valuable for their first three years of major league service during which they can be paid at or near the league minimum (which, at nearly $400,000, is still a salary I would consider playing for.) We end up with general managers who would genuinely like to upgrade their rosters, but few stars or impact players are available and those that are available are expensive and often have vastly underperformed (otherwise, why would they be available in the first place?) And with such limited supply, the teams who are selling off parts get greedy and expect too much in return. So, the game often ends as a washout. Everyone gives up on significant trades and they settle for making underwhelming exchanges of AAA pitchers and backup infielders. That’s just how the trading deadline tends to be in this era. The cost of veterans is higher, the value of inexpensive production is higher, and in the end, I guess I have to accept that there’s little chance the Red Sox will pull off that Joel Piniero and Wily Mo Pena for Ken Griffey Jr. deal I’ve been hoping for all year.
More Notes from the Cheap Seats
Trades I hope will happen but definitely won’t
With the Houston Astros more than a dozen games out of first place (and without Roger Clemens to the rescue this year!) I would love to see them accept reality that the team’s long-term prospects are in doubt and they need to retool the entire roster. I live in hope that they will put Roy Oswalt up for bids. If that ever happened, every GM in the league would line up to hand over the very best their minor league systems have produced. In my dreams, the Red Sox could get him for a combination of Jon Lester, Coco Crisp, one of our solid minor league outfielders, and maybe Manny Delcarmen. It’s wishful thinking. To have any chance, we’d have to part with our best-known prospects. More likely? The Yankees would get him for Phil Hughes and a couple of Steinbrenner’s bags of money.
Maybe it’s my dream that sparked it, or maybe it’s just pointless nostalgia for the 2004 team, but part of me thinks that it wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world for the Red Sox to make a swap with the Orioles to bring back Kevin Millar for the rest of the 2007 season. For as much as I didn’t mind it when he left, right now he looks like he could be a viable bat off the bench for a team that has struggled to score runs far more than they expected (due in part to a lingering David Ortiz injury.) Millar’s stats aren’t overwhelming but he has a little power and could be a better outfield sub than Wily Mo Strikeout, I mean Pena, who seems so awkward it’s like he’s Tom Hanks’ character in Big, a 10 year old boy who suddenly finds himself in a big body.
The absolute top fantasy is that the Minnesota Twins suddenly decide they can’t afford to resign Johan Santana and they think they’ll get more for him this year in July than next (he’s eligible for free agency after next season.) I’d line up my top five best prospects and offer them on bended knee to Minnesota in the hopes of landing the best lefthander in the league. He is having an off year by his standards, but Santana would instantly be the ace of any pitching staff. I picture a 2008 rotation with Santana, Josh Beckett, Dice-K, Jon Lester, and a healthy Curt Schilling. Now we’re talking!
Jul 11
JonathanSports All Star Break, baseball
The way I see it, we really ought to choose between interleague play and the All-Star game. It doesn’t make any sense to have both. For decades, the baseball All-Star game was essential viewing for any sports fan. From Babe Ruth to Ted Williams even to Roger Clemens in 1986, the game was compelling, filled with exciting and somehow meaningful moments. For an exhibition game, it was intensely competitive (see Pete Rose screaming to pump up his teammates before games in the 1970′s.) Part of that is because there was fierce league pride and part because there was novelty.
Before free agency, most players remained on one team for the bulk of their careers, and even more remained within the same league even when traded. There was a real separation between leagues and a desire to prove that yours was the best. Today, players bounce from team to team. Even future hall of famers can play for five or six teams (or if you’re a malcontent like Gary Sheffield, seven or eight,) bouncing back and forth between leagues. While some players have a preference for leagues (DH David Ortiz is likely to stay in the AL, while Greg Maddux frequently expresses his love of NL baseball,) there’s no overarching league pride any longer.
Starting in 1997, the advent of interleague play also removed all of the novelty (which came into being courtesy of George Costanza and his drinking buddies from the Houston Astros.) I remember games through the 1980′s and even the early 1990′s when it was a big thrill to see some of the National League stars who I never got to see any other time of the year. Now, I see these players all the time. Between the 20 games each year against NL teams, the endless highlights on television, and the accessibility of every game online, I can watch all my NL favorites, from Maddux to Albert Pujols to John Smoltz whenever I like. The excitement is completely gone from the All-Star game. I mean, what potential All-Star game matchup excited you? Jake Peavy pitching to Ichiro (in which Ichiro singled)? Justin Verlander versus Pujols (impossible since Pujols was inexplicably left on the bench for the whole game)? Both have already happened several times before during interleague. And the matchups that actually might be exciting to see, like Francisco Rodriguez facing Ken Griffey Jr. with the game on the line, you’d never see because Griffey is long out of the game by then. Now, I’ll grant you that Alfonso Soriano’s 9th inning homer to make it a 5-4 game, followed by an error and walks to load the bases with two outs, provided some manufactured drama. But, in a game like this with a little league, “(nearly) everyone should get to play” managerial mandate, when few players really give 100% effort, how can you really care what happens?
Interleague play was the result of the strike of 1994 and has helped renew interest in baseball in some smaller cities across the country. With attendance at interleague games significantly higher than other contests, it’s not going anywhere soon, no matter how incongruous and illogical I find it to be. Then, a couple years ago, the baseball powers realized that interest in the All-Star game was fading, so they trotted out the lame idea to make the game “count” by awarding home field advantage in the World Series to the winning league. So, now you have a meaningless pseudo-competition where a few players on the field who play for contenders have an incentive to win and the rest have incentive simply not to pull a muscle.
If it were up to me, I’d be much happier if all the Red Sox players just claimed “intestinal distress” or a “sick great-grandmother’s cousin’s niece’s husband,” or whatever Manny Ramirez’s excuse was last year. I’d rather they all just take three days off and forget the charade in the middle. I’m really just glad none of them got hurt (though David Ortiz announced his likely off-season surgery.) I was disappointed that Barry Bonds, the San Francisco treat, didn’t pull a shoulder muscle waving to the crowd. The rest is sadly meaningless.
More Notes from the Cheap Seats
For the life of me, I can’t figure out why ESPN puts Chris Berman on the air. For some reason, he thinks he’s funny. And unlike most other sports announcers, he believes that he’s as much a part of the show as the event he’s broadcasting. It’s among the most irritating acts on TV. From his OCD-style need to give players sickeningly-cutesy nicknames to his bizarre belief that “back, back, back, back” counts as a trademark home run call, it’s gotten to the point that I have to mute the television whenever he is on it. I dread when the Red Sox are on the Sunday night game. For Monday’s home run derby, he was pared with great player/awful analyst Joe Morgan. Even on mute, I was a quick draw with the Tivo fast-forward button all night.
Speaking of which, is there a bigger waste of time than the home run derby? It’s not new to say so, but here are a few of my lowlights and reasons why we don’t need it: Many of the most appealing power hitters don’t want to participate because it will mess up their swings; The big names that do participate often disappoint because of all the pressure; They use juiced-up baseballs, which seems to me to defeat the purpose (while sending all the wrong messages about moving past the steroid era); It takes as long as an actual game; By the time they reach the finals (usually close to 3 hours later,) the hitters are so tired they can barely move their arms. It’s awful. Get rid of it.
To end on a positive note, the best part of the multi-day extravaganza is the All-Star Futures game, which most people don’t even know is happening. This year, it was relegated to a Sunday afternoon showing, which isn’t even part of the actual All-Star break (it started while several big league games were still being played.) Often juxtaposed with the unbearably stupid celebrity softball game (“celebrity” is a term of art now, I gather, based on the lineup for this year’s version), the Future’s game showcases many of the hottest prospects in the minor leagues. These are players who serious fans may have heard of but serious and casual fans alike have probably never seen play a game. It’s an exciting opportunity for those players to have a national stage and for all of us to see the next generation before they reach the big-time. I had the thrill of watching the 1999 game live at Fenway Park. I bought a ticket on the street for a mere $40. I got to enjoy the All-Star atmosphere live and see Alfonso Soriano hit two home runs back when he was a Yankees prospect. The game is tons of fun to watch. So, I say, give the big-leaguers a three day rest and just show the Future’s game on Tuesday night instead!
Jun 27
JonathanSports baseball
Over the past several years, baseball fans everywhere, myself included, have constantly bemoaned the lack of quality pitching the major leagues. While steroids played a role, expansion and the dilution of pitching was almost certainly a contributing factor in the home run explosion of the late 1990′s and earlier this decade. Among the old-timers, it’s common knowledge that pitching is terrible these days and teams simply can’t find enough quality arms to fill out a roster. And I’ve assumed that to be true.
But, something has happened this year. And I’ve started to question the established wisdom of the ages. How come every single team I watch has at least one young flamethrower who mows down hitters with a fastball up over 96 miles per hour? Why is it that there’s a young ace pitching nearly every single night? How can we simultaneously be in an age of awful pitching and at the same time be in a golden age of young power arms?
Statistics-obsessed devotees of sabermetrics (the absurdly complicated baseball evaluation methodology pioneered by Bill James) have long held that you don’t learn nearly as much about baseball by watching it as you do from analyzing the resulting data. And again, the old-timers spit chewing tobacco on your feet if you even suggest that. Now I don’t really know which point of view is more accurate, but I still think I’d prefer to watch the game than break down a spreadsheet. But, our eyes may be lying to us. Just because we think that pitching is spread thin, and ripping big league pitching is always a good scapegoat for increasing offense (plus, there are a million great baseball phrases to do it. My favorite is, “guys fight each other at the bat rack to get up against this guy,”) it doesn’t mean that it’s true. If you look around the league, you’ll see dozens of dominating and potentially dominating pitchers with cannons for arms who were all born in the 1980′s (does this mean my pro career really isn’t going to happen?)
In Boston, Jonathan Papelbon is a legend in the making of Riverian proportions in the closer role. He’s 26 and throws 96. Also on the Red Sox, Josh Beckett, the likely American League All-Star starting pitcher is only now 27 years old, leads the majors with 11 wins, and throws 97. Behind them are Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Manny Delcarmen, all of whom throw 95.
The Detroit Tigers have four fire-armed twenty-somethings: Jeremy Bonderman, Justin Verlander, Joel Zumaya, and Andrew Miller. The oldest one is 24! Each day, they vie to see which one will hit 100 on the radar gun first.
Even the San Francisco Giants boast Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum. Vinnie Chulk even throws in the upper 90′s, but at 28, he’s too old to mention here (seriously, 28 is too old?)
Francisco Rodriguez in Anaheim (I hate to point out the obvious, but Anaheim is not L.A.) has been shutting the door at the end of games since 2002 and he’s still only 25.
In San Diego, Jake Peavy is a true ace at 26 and Chris Young is becoming one, though he’s also over the hill at 28.
In Cleveland, C.C. Sabathia has already been in the league for years and is only 26. He’s already up to 11 wins this year. Fausto Carmona throws 97 and is developing into a dominating pitcher in 2007.
Cole Hamels of the Phillies is only 23, but already has 9 wins this season and 256 career strikeouts in 239 innings.
Seattle’s Felix Hernandez, sometimes known as “King Felix,” is only 21 and is already among the most feared arms in the game.
I could keep going, but you get the idea. The point is that, every pitching staff is going to have bad days and look pathetic, even occasionally against a bad lineup (and then it’s fine to make fun of them.) And it’s true that many teams will have at least one guy filling out that last bullpen spot who really shouldn’t have a big league job. But, it might be time to rethink the old-timer’s stance. It’s true, pitchers don’t throw 150 pitches per game anymore, or pitch 20 days in a row and then start both ends of a double-header on the 21st. But, just like those Don Zimmer types didn’t actually walk uphill to school both ways, the message about the old days is louder than the reality. And the reality of today is that there are dozens of exciting, hard-throwing pitchers in their low and mid-20′s who are more than worth the price of a ticket. And if we start throwing in some of the guys who are a few years older, like Tim Hudson, Brad Penny, Dan Haren, John Lackey, Roy Halladay, Johan Santana, and others, we might start to have a different perspective. For all our complaining, any time any of these guys take the hill, we know we just might see something really special. And that alone proves pitching is making a very powerful comeback.
More Notes From the Cheap Seats
One of the great pitching matchups of the year was this past Sunday in San Diego. Josh Beckett got the better of a worn-down Jake Peavy and won his 11th game of the season, costing Peavy his 2nd loss. The Red Sox dragged more than 110 pitches out of Peavy in just five innings. But, the crowd was as electric as you’ll see out in mellow Southern California. From the vault of oddly specific statistics, it was the first time two pitchers with at least 9 wins and no more than 1 loss pitched against each other in many years.
A heavy contender for the American League All Star starting pitching assignment is Justin Verlander of Detroit. It doesn’t hurt that his manager, Jim Leyland, will be managing the AL team and might be inclined to go with one of his own guys. Of course, it also doesn’t hurt that Verlander, 24, is 9-2 going into Wednesday, with a 2.78 ERA and threw a no-hitter a couple weeks ago. Oh, is that all?
Dan Haren of the Oakland A’s has developed into an ace in 2007. Appearing on the scene as part of the 2004 St. Louis Cardinals, notably swept in the World Series by the 2004 World Champion Boston Red Sox (boy, it was really easy to slip that reference in there…,) he was traded to Oakland the following year. After two seasons of 14 wins each, with about a .500 winning percentage and a 4.00 ERA, Haren has taken his 93-95 mph fastball and nasty splitter to new levels, leading the American League in ERA to this point in the season, at 1.78, logging a 9-2 record.
Jun 13
JonathanSports baseball
As I woke up, full of joy on June 13th, with my Boston Red Sox enjoying a 9 ½ game lead over the soap opera that is the 2007 New York Yankees (despite their 10-2 run to the .500 mark in the past 2 weeks,) I realized that something isn’t quite right. Now, I know, being a New England baseball fan, that I am prone to panic and fear that somehow the Yankees will come back and take the division title again, just like they did in 2005 after an 11-19 start. I’m thrilled to be so far ahead and I don’t think it’s 1978, and while I fear choking up a big lead, that’s not what’s throwing me off. And no, I’m not one of the pathetic fans who thinks it’s only fun when the battle between the two teams is a tight race. I’d laugh myself silly if the Yankees could go back to the team from a couple weeks ago that was falling apart at the seams. A 30-game lead by Labor Day sounds just peachy to me. What’s wrong here is that, though there was supposed to be a lot more, there just aren’t a lot of good major league baseball teams this year.
For starters, 2007 was supposed to be a revival of power in the American League East, the division considered the best in baseball only a few years ago. Toronto, fresh off their first finish in a decade higher than 3rd place, added a big bat in Frank Thomas, and continued to increase payroll to compete with the big boys from the Big Apple and the Bay State. Baltimore was a trendy pick to surprise some folks after spending on the pitching staff. But, here we are in mid-June and not a single team, other than the Red Sox at an impressive 41-22, is above the break-even mark (damn the Yankees for winning Tuesday night and reaching 31-31!) The mediocre records don’t even tell the story of the lifeless seasons put in so far by Toronto, Baltimore, and Tampa Bay.
Out in the National League, it’s even worse. The two best teams appear to be the New York Mets and the San Diego Padres. Of course, both teams, entering Wednesday’s play, have lost 4 games in a row and share a 36-27 record, far from dominating even their uninspiring NL competition. The Padres boast good pitching with Jake Peavy and Greg Maddux guiding the rotation and they have the best bullpen ERA in the game, but they are very limited at the plate. The Mets might be the closest thing to a balanced team, boasting a powerhouse lineup with David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran, that will only get better when Carlos Delgado gets hot. With Tom Glavine, Oliver Perez, and John Maine, they look strong in the starting rotation. But, other than Glavine, no starter has any proven track record. And good friend Pedro Martinez remains on the shelf while he recovers from surgery.
Beyond New York and San Diego, it’s a real crapshoot in the NL. Wait, I mean crapfest. Seriously, who else would you be scared to see in the opposing dugout on any given night? Look no further than the NL Central. Even the Cinderella-rags-to-riches-feel-good-out-of-nowhere-Chariots-Of-Fire team of the year (or at least of April), the Milwaukee Brewers, have come spiraling down to earth and are now the owners of a 34-30 record. That puts them 7 ½ games behind the Red Sox. Of course, in their division, it puts them 5 ½ games ahead of the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals (last year’s World Series Champion Cardinals, mind you) for 1st place. That’s right, being 4 games over .500 leaves them as runaway leaders in the worst division in baseball where the 2nd place teams are each 7 games below .500. Not a single team in the division broke even in the month of May.
Even the current best division in baseball, the American League Central, is off its game. While we knew Kansas City would comfortably lounge in the basement yet again (and they have…I think they’ve redecorated down there, added a couch, a TV, really made it livable so they could stay for the long haul,) the other four were all thought to be championship-caliber teams. The Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers have both looked good (though the Indians have lost 3 straight and 7 of 10,) and mostly lived up to expectations, but the Minnesota Twins have floundered and sit at 31-31, needing back to back wins just to get there. The Chicago White Sox, meanwhile, are falling apart. Manager Ozzie Guillen was angry that they were broadcast nationally on ESPN this past Sunday because he said he didn’t want everyone to see how bad they are. Having lost 8 of 10 and sitting 9 games out of 1st place, I’d say that’s about right.
Even the Red Sox, with the best record in baseball, have holes on their roster that haven’t cost them many games just yet, partly because other teams simply have more holes themselves. But, the good news is that baseball is still baseball and, unlike the other major sports, the worst teams will beat the best teams somewhat frequently, so there will always be more parity and more competitive games than in the NBA and even the NFL. But, for me, it’s a little disappointing that while there are as many unbelievable individual players as ever, most teams just aren’t very well constructed and aren’t performing the way good teams should. Of course, I say that in June. We’ll see what tune I’m singing in October.
More Notes from the Cheap Seats
As we head down the first stretch, 60+ games into the season, the Texas Rangers appear to be ahead by a nose in the horse race for the worst debacle of a baseball season. Standing at 23-41, they own the worst record in the league, edging out the Kansas City Royals. Not even a hot start from Sammy Sosa could avert this train wreck. Sosa, meanwhile, has reverted to the Sosa of 2005 after looking like the Sosa of 1998 throughout April. He’s been stuck on 10 home runs, 598 for his career, for weeks, though his RBI total of 46 is still very impressive. Come on Griffey, you can catch him!
Speaking of Griffey, he’s been one of very few bright spots on a disappointing Cincinnati Reds team that owns a record of 26-39. His 15 home runs and Josh Hamilton’s solid performance in his first big-league season after years of drug problems are about the only things worth watching on this team. That and maybe watching to see if Adam Dunn will strike out 200 times this season. He already has 85. But, weak hitting and bad pitching have sunk this team early and now there are even talks of Griffey being traded. When your “ace” pitcher is Bronson Arroyo (does anyone know if he still has the white guy dreadlocks?) who is a solid 2 wins and 7 losses with a 5 ERA, you know it’s going to be a long summer.
This last spot was reserved for our beloved New York Yankees, but unfortunately they are on a 7 game winning streak, Roger Clemens has returned, Bobby Abreu is hitting like A-Rod and A-Rod is still hitting like A-Rod. All that said, they just reached the .500 mark, so are still far under-performing for the year. But, anyone who didn’t think this team would go on at least one of these runs was caught in some sort of delusional euphoria. I’m hopeful that their age catches up with them again in the dog days of summer, but they look strong now. That better happen because the Yankees fans are already insufferable and the team is still a mile from first place. Just imagine if this thing gets closer come fall.
Jun 06
JonathanSports baseball
Scribbles in the Notepad
So, the Red Sox bailed on Johnny Damon, which now looks wise, and traded Edgar Renteria to Atlanta, which now looks stupid, for Andy Marte. Then, they traded the highly-touted prospect Andy Marte to Cleveland, which now looks wise, for Coco Crisp, which now looks stupid. So, in the end, they’re not paying $13 million per year for Damon, but they are paying a part of Renteria’s salary while he hits over .300 for the Braves. And Coco Crisp remains an absolute disaster at the plate. Though he’s made several brilliant diving catches, he’s gone from a leadoff hitter to a #2 hitter to an 8th spot hitter, to an afterthought. Minus one point for Theo Epstein on this one.
Gary Sheffield, king of misery, not a week from volunteering to befriend thug and criminal Elijah Dukes (who threatened to kill his wife and kids on a voicemail), gave an interview where he essentially stereotyped blacks, whites, and Hispanics, managing the difficult achievement of disparaging all three groups. Calling whites in management bigoted, Hispanics easily controlled and servile, and blacks angry and out of control, his logical next step is to remind us all yet again that the world is out to get him. This despite a $13 million per year salary guaranteed for the next few years, until he’s 40 years old. I can’t wait until he retires.
Is there any pitcher who is more fun to watch on the mound when he’s on his game, but more annoying to listen to whenever he opens his mouth than Pedro Martinez? Maybe Randy Johnson, but I’ll get to him later. Rehabbing a surgically-repaired shoulder, Martinez threw from a mound for the first time this week. Prior to that, he announced that he would be better than Roger Clemens and taunted the baseball world with his giant ego again. It was nice not to hear from him for a few months. He’s not even pitching and he’s already talking. Curt Schilling has been supplanted. Meet the new Red Light.
Most people don’t realize that the all-time saves leader in Major League Baseball is Trevor Hoffman, who is still pitching effectively and closing games for the San Diego Padres at age 39. He’s been at it since 1993. He just got his 499th save on Tuesday, his 17th of the year. He has never quite received the same recognition as other closers due to being on the west coast, not having an overpowering fastball (his big out pitch is a devastating change-up), and having limited postseason exposure. But, he’s one of the best and is on the brink of being the first ever to 500 saves.
Also thriving in San Diego, Jake Peavy has returned from a subpar year in 2006 to post a 7-1 record so far, with an invisible 1.68 ERA. At only 26, now he’s back to being considered one of the best in the National League. He’s dominated NL hitters, striking out 92 in 80 innings and allowing only a single home run this year. He’s the fashionable pick as the early Cy Young leader.
The past month has filled me anew with a sense of false hope that maybe Barry Bonds‘ body will break down and he just won’t hit those last 10 home runs he needs to break Hank Aaron’s record of 755. Bonds has struggled mightily of late, hitting only one homer in the 30 days. He also sat out Tuesday night’s game with shin splints. Though it looked like he would be knocking on the door by now, having hit 11 homers by May 8th, he has fallen on hard times. And let me just say, it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
Okay, I am from Boston and even I think it’s enough of the Red Sox-Yankees games! The ridiculous 2007 schedule saw the two teams play 12 times in the first 55 games. That leaves only 6 games for the remaining 2/3 of the season. With a big Boston lead and a disastrous New York season so far (it is not over, so don’t bother saying so), it’s made these games even less interesting. And since each one tends to last almost 4 hours, it’s downright exhausting, just way too much for two months. And we haven’t played a single game against the Devil Rays yet. So, at least we have 19 of those to look forward to.
By your 60′s, we all hope we will have acquired a little more wisdom and developed a little more dignity than Lou Piniella has. This past weekend, he went on another one of his patented tirades, screaming in the face of an umpire, kicking dirt on him, storming around the diamond, and getting perilously close to a coronary attack. Does anyone else think it looked exactly like some footage of him from 20 years ago? Lou, grow up. This screaming, kicking, whining, surly bastard act is really old.
Chase Utley, second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies, is the best player you’ve never heard of (though if you’re a devout baseball fan, you’ve definitely heard a lot about him.) While he’s nowhere close to a household name, he’s the best second baseman in all of baseball. Currently, he has 11 homers and 47 RBI, on a pace to drive in more than 130. He’s coming off back to back 100 RBI seasons, including a 2006 where he hit over .300 and slugged more than 30 homers.
Don’t look now, but the other incredibly irritating but fabulously entertaining pitcher is back on track. At 74 years old (or at least looking it), Randy Johnson is back pitching with authority in the NL, logging 61 strikeouts in 47 innings with a 3.78 ERA. He’s been dominating at times. He just passed Roger Clemens for 2nd all time in strikeouts. With all the Yankees’ pitching troubles so far this year, you have to wonder, why can’t they get guys like that?
The senior citizen injuries really just keep coming for the poor, poor, rich Yankees. Best buddies Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens both hit snags this week. Pettitte left the game against the Red Sox after suffering back spasms. Pitching well so far this year, Andy says his back feels better and he’s going to try to make his start this Friday. Beware the recurring back problems. And beware the recurring groin problems (no, not A-Rod). The Rocket had to further postpone his dramatic return after suffering from what he termed a “fatigued groin” (I said this isn’t about A-Rod!) a term none of us have ever heard before. He’s had groin injuries many times over the past half dozen years. We’ll have to see if this one lingers or if he and good pal Pettitte can stay healthy the rest of the way. What are the odds?
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