Don't mess with Texas

Don't let it be said that Texans don't know how to hold a grudge. While many of the nation's newspapers have moved on from the Alex Rodriguez steroid scandal feeding frenzy, Texas has been vocal throughout the week.

For anyone not using the Sports Overdose Grid for their sport of choice, may God have mercy on your soul, but more to the immediate point, the Rangers team box has four of the top five links headed to stories or columns ripping Rodriguez tonight.

My favorite is the devil's advocate piece filed by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Gil Lebreton. In it, he questions why Rodriguez would be assumed innocent as he paints the Ranger clubhouse as a den of inequity.

More than that, why would he stop using when he was traded to one of MLB's flagship franchises? There are several good points in play here.

For all of his considerable on-field talents, Rodriguez arrived in Texas as not only the richest man in baseball, but perhaps its most insecure. It doesn’t make sense that he would be traded to a storied franchise such as the New York Yankees and suddenly no longer be engulfed by his unremitting need to please.

Nor am I buying A-Roid’s implication that steroids weren’t tempting until he came to the Rangers. What was he trying to say? That Pudge or Palmeiro made him do it?

How do we know that Rodriguez himself isn’t the one who "introduced" steroids to that Rangers clubhouse? That suggestion isn’t any more unfair than the ones that A-Roid was tossing out.

He goes on to point an accusing finger at superagent Scott Boras as a common thread in those who have turned up dirty in steroid investigations.

While people are compiling a Hall of Shame for the Rangers franchise, therefore, let’s go down another list, one that includes Kevin Brown, Rick Ankiel, Scott Schoeneweis, Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield.

All, at one time or another, have been Boras clients. All have been mentioned in connection with the Mitchell Report.

Just a coincidence, probably. But Boras has always prided himself on being a full-service agency, one that takes interest in all of his clients’ needs, including the athletes’ conditioning.

Good points, but what's the over/under on the lawsuit from Boras' office for slander? I say lunch on Thursday.

(Image from: AskMen.com)

Cubs no longer "got wood"

Not quite a year after I wrote this, the Kerry Wood era has ended in Chicago. Well, on the North Side, at least. There's no telling what Kenny Williams will do next after trading last year's big signing. (More on that later.)

This morning, the Cubs made a move for Florida's Kevin Gregg for a minor leaguer and parted ways with Wood just after lunchtime. Presumably, this means Carlos Marmol becomes the closer and that Gregg becomes the setup man who can move to a closer role if Marmol stumbles.

All of this means that Wood will be pitching somewhere else next season.

While my man-love of Wood (wait, that sounds bad...) is well-documented here, he leaves on a high note after returning from his endless trip to the DL, an All-Star selection and finishing fourth in saves for National League pitchers last year.

"We’re just in a situation, as Kerry fully understands, that that length of deal, for the kind of salary he’d command right now, is not our first priority. We certainly have to finish our rotation, we have offensive situations to address, and by having the prominence that (Carlos) Marmol now brings to the table, it certainly doesn’t come before the other needs we have. We felt it was time Kerry goes out and does what’s best for him and his family, and gets a huge multi-year deal if possible."

On the South Side, the White Sox traded away Nick Swisher, the switch-hitting fountain of awesome that GM Kenny Williams had to have last year.

Wait, make that - Had. To. Have. (Last year.)

To the point that he pried him from Oakland for the most promising part of the Chicago farm system. Yeah, that guy? He's gone now.

The Yankees swapped Wilson Betemit and minor league pitchers Jeff Marquez and Jhonny Nunez in exchange for Swisher and minor league pitcher Kanekoa Texeira.

(And what's up with another Jhonny in the majors? I thought Peralta was the only one ever. Now we have two in baseball?)

I think that the Swisher experiment - which according to the sidebar on ESPN says that he had the lowest batting average of any player with a qualifying number of at bats (502... uh why is that the number?) - is the equivalent of losing your shirt while flipping a house.

You bought the house because you could, but never really kept it long enough to turn any sort of profit.

Note: While I don't share the sentiment on Wood's long-term prospects as the answer to the closer problem for the Cubs put forth by Steve Rosenbloom, I do share this view:

I’ll miss the guy. I’ll miss his story. I’ll miss the big sound of Wrigley when he entered a game and the bigger one when he ended it.

(Image taken for Siberian Baseball)

Last night for Yankee Stadium

The Yankees just tied the Orioles in the last game at Yankee Stadium - it's finally safe to say that the Bronx Bombers won't be hosting any games in October - and ESPN is trotting out the old guard to try and wrap things up in a neat little bow.

While there will certainly be a flood of short stories, poems and nostalgia pieces in the nation's magazines about what the stadium meant to everyone involved that may never end, it's hard to chalk it all up as hyperbole. After all, it is Yankee Stadium.

Other notes:

* This is a big chance for the New York media to try and bully the rest of the country into admitting that Yankee Stadium is the best stadium ever and that no others will ever come close. I'm going on record now to say that to dismiss Wrigley and Fenway out of hand like that is just plain stupid.

* I'm taking a degree of pleasure in noticing that two of the key pieces to the 2004 Red Sox championship team are having an impact on this game - Johnny Damon to give the lead to the Yankees and Kevin Millar to score the tying run - and that most of the stories I've read take time to warn fans that anyone trying to steal souvenirs will be beaten and have their birthdays taken away.

* I may be cynical, but I bet MLB's cut gets smaller if the market is flooded with memorabilia fans took themselves.

* ESPN is still trying to figure out the whole Internet thing tonight, where they don't even have the good sense that God gave lowly bloggers when it comes to live posting. Every few lines on the virtual guestbook reads "Text deleted," which I can only assume is from people jumping on to trash the Yankees or the stadium.

That means some poor intern is tasked with manually deleting such poetry as, "My favorite memory was last year in the locker room when Derek Jeter dropped the soap and A-Rod plugged his anus (with his I LOVE ESPN if you didn't know). I heard Derek now uses liquid soap because it's harder to pick up. That was the only scoring they did that year. Go Yankees."

Thank you, bw71864. Stay classy.

*As a Red Sox fan, I feel like I'm in that scene in Forrest Gump when Forrest bought the home she grew up in and knocked it to the ground. So many wonderful memories to choose from.

* So, did MLB choose the Orioles instead of the Red Sox for the last game the same way that high schools pick the crappiest teams they can find for homecoming games?

* For what it's worth - and this is where things border on sour grapes - the evening is shaping up to be the archetypical Yankee experience for all those who aren't Yankee fans. It boils down to the Yankees and their beat writers telling everyone else why every other franchise and ballpark pale in comparison to the empire that is New York. It's pretty tiresome.

Yes, the Yankees have a long history. Yes, it's been a very successful history. Yes, great players have played at Yankee Stadium, many of them in pinstripes.

They also have a solid head start on most franchises in terms of pure mileage. Give the Twins or Rangers another 50 years and I'm sure they can fill a park full of monuments as well.

It's one thing to show pride in your team. It's quite another to consistently do that by constantly pointing out how other teams fail to measure up to the Yankee standard.

* I think one of the things I'll miss most about Yankee Stadium is that it represents an era where baseball was the only game in town before the NFL assumed its position as alpha dog. I read books on the days of the Dodgers, Giants and Yankees all competing for attention in New York and the stadium was a big part of that.

It's hard not to have the images of Yankee Stadium come to mind when someone mentions baseball in the 1920s and 30s.

Some fans might not like it - a friend just e-mailed to ask if we can keep the stadium and blow up the team - but Yankee Stadium is a hallmark of our shared history, both baseball and otherwise.

Give me five years - I just might miss it.

(Image from: REUTERS)

Pudge to fill in for injured Posada

It's the big story at the trading deadline outside of the Manny Ramirez "will he, won't he" saga, but Ivan Rodriguez has been traded for Kyle Farnsworth.

Straight up one for one deal. The same kind of deal that would be questioned if it happened in my fantasy league (/Simmons). Commissioner Frankie is quick on the draw for those types of shenanigans.

From MLB.com:

Farnsworth, 32, was having his best season of his three with the Yankees, pitching to a 3.65 ERA in 45 appearances. He struggled in a setup role his first two seasons after joining the Yankees as a free agent before the 2006 season.

Farnsworth pitched for Detroit in '05, registering six saves before being traded to Atlanta at the July 31 Trade Deadline. He was emotional as he discussed the deal, briefly breaking down in tears as he spoke to reporters.

"Nothing surprises me in this game, but it's one of those things you can't really put your finger on," Farnsworth said, his lower lip trembling.

Girardi said that saying goodbye to Farnsworth -- a former batterymate and a pitcher for who he had lobbied all season long -- was especially difficult.

It strikes me as a little strange that MLB is saying that the Tigers are the ones who initiated this trade. For Farnsworth.

This leaves Brandon Inge as the only one on the Tigers' depth chart as a catcher - and he's listed as a 3B on his bio page, but has 24 games this season under his belt after starting his career behind the plate - which should change tomorrow morning, right?

The bigger question has to be whether or not this is a white flag for the Tigers.

(Image from: Flickr User BostonWolverine - hey I dig that kind of juxtaposition!)

It's not like they're the Steel Curtain

There's an old story about the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s that says in their heyday there were so many players on the defensive team on the Pro Bowl roster that they began calling their own plays on the field and confusing the handful of guys from the other teams.

It was just easier - and probably made for a better story - to call out the plays from the Pittsburgh playbook and let the non-Steelers fend for themselves instead of trying to play off of the same shortened page in the Pro Bowl.

I'm seeing elements of this as the All-Star balloting comes to a close shortly and players from the teams with huge fanbases are in the top three of each position, regardless of ability or this season's performance.

Primarily, I'm looking at the Cubs and how many are primed for a trip to New York. This shouldn't surprise me much anymore, because aside from being shocked that my e-mail client's spam filters let a message through imploring me that, "Kosuke needs your help!" without immediately dumping it to protect me from Japanese pornography, the rest of the experience is a carbon copy of what is becoming a yearly rant.

When the ESPN broadcast ran the graphic with current vote leaders on Sunday night, it was a little disappointing to see the screen awash in Cubbie blue, Red Sox red and the pinstripes of the Yankees.

Not that players who are having great seasons shouldn't be included, but once again, it seems that muscle memory and fan amnesia are helping to steer the ship.

In the National League, the Cubs are churning out votes with three players scheduled to start - Geovany Soto, Alfonso Soriano and Fukudome - if the voting ended today. This is despite Soriano's injuries which have kept him out of the Cubs lineup for long stretches this season.

Mark DeRosa and Aramis Ramirez are second in the voting, despite DeRosa not having a set position on the team, while Derek Lee and Ryan Theriot are in third place in their races.

For those scoring at home, every position has a Cubs player in the top three vote-getters. They're a good team through the first half of the season - last weekend at The Cell not withstanding - but they're not that good.

The American League is even worse. With the exception of Joe Mauer who just overtook Jason Varitek in the race to backstop the AL All-Stars, every leading vote-getter is a member of the Yankees or Red Sox (in most cases the top two are the New York/Boston connection).

Want proof that fans are voting a straight ticket for their team? There's no way that over 600,000 people truly believe Julio Lugo is the best shortstop in the AL.

The biggest oversight to fix is the omission of Carlos Quentin, who isn't among the top 15 in AL outfielders - despite the inclusion of Johnny Damon, Coco Crisp and Bobby Abreu - even though he's been the sparkplug for the White Sox in the first half.

While it's generally accepted that the whole exercise is just a way to make the fans feel involved and is nothing more than a popularity contest, it was nice to see Josh Hamilton make the cut after his hot start. Still, I think MLB could streamline the whole process by assigning votes like the government does in assigning members of the House of Representatives.

Teams with the largest fan bases as determined by merchandise sales and home attendance would receive the most votes for their players, while teams with small pockets of fans would receive the least.

Just think of all the time and energy we'd save not counting votes that would give us identical results.

(Image from: MLB.com)

A true subway series

In addition to the regional rivalries gearing up again this weekend - including Cubs/Sox on the heels of a sweep at Wrigley last weekend - New York will see a relative rarity today between the Mets and Yankees.

After playing the afternoon game at Yankee Stadium, the teams will head to Shea for the nightcap.

This marks the third time in Major League history that the teams will do this, providing a scheduling quirk for fans of both teams to enjoy. Aside from Chicago and the Bay Area, this is a tough schedule to swing in a single day.

If nothing else, this serves as the warning prior to tomorrow morning's SportsCenter - those tired of New York coverage on the national baseball beat might want to sleep in Saturday.

A-Rod ready if Jeter stays hurt

With Derek Jeter out of the lineup with a quad injury, the Yankees aren't opposed to sliding Alex Rodriguez over to fill the gap and dropping a backup in at third.

I'm positive that there are numbers available to quantify having talent at third versus short, but is it so great that the Yanks have no choice but to move Rodriguez, throw him out of whack and possibly provoke Jeter?

It's all well and good to come up with a solid contingency plan, but was it the best decision to admit to entertaining that idea? Worse yet, why would you disclose that to the media?

With the waves finally settling out between the two stars, it's probably best to treat them like two older dogs at feeding time - keep them at a respectful distance and pray you don't start a turf war over something stupid.

(Image from: nytimes.com)

This warms my heart

First, they signed Kyle Farnsworth.

Now, they go out and do this.

I swear the Yankees are trying to win me over. And they're getting very, very close to achieving that goal.

There was something very satisfying about seeing Farnsworth enter a game at the Metrodome and being able to turn to the other fans and say confidently, "Oh man, watch this."

Twenty minutes later, the carnage was cleared off the field and I looked like a complete genius.

It made for a good night.

(Image from MLB.com)

Holding patterns

The big news in actual baseball this week - that would be dealings that take place outside of the courtroom - seemingly all came out of New York.

* Alex Rodriguez will likely stay a Yankee. For the next decade.

* Mariano Rivera is also opting to keep his pinstripes. For a significantly shorter period of time.

* Paul Lo Duca was never given an offer from the Mets. He's deeply hurt on a personal level because of this.

* Yorvit Torrealba won't need to apply for Empire State license plates just yet.

It really makes you buy into the whole East Coast bias conspiracy theory, doesn't it?

Despite all of the NYCentric developments, the impact felt by the moves and non-moves made by the ripples are being felt in the Windy City, especially on the city's South Side.

Case in point are the rumors that have died to a whisper of a possible Johnny Damon to the White Sox deal that would get Joe Crede out of the way for Josh Fields at third. With Rodriguez now apparently set to spend the next 10 years in the Bronx, the White Sox need to find other possible suitors for Crede, who returns from back problems.

Cribbing heavily from Bugs & Cranks, the top two teams in the mix should be the Red Sox and the Phillies. With the possibility of Mike Lowell letting the Red Sox off the hook and excusing himself from a contract in Boston, that would leave room at Fenway for Crede, while the Red Sox have enough young talent to keep Chicago interested.

No word on whether or not Coco Crisp would be a throw-in to balance the karma of Lowell's addition with the Josh Beckett trade. The White Sox would be rolling to their second World Series next year before you know it.

I'd also be interested in knowing what Florida is thinking here, with rumors that Miguel Cabrera is on the move - cash concerns not withstanding. That team seems to fit the same bill for cheap, young talent and a hole at third.

The wait to see what the Yankees and Mets will do seems strange as noise on the free agent front has been limited to the Cubs trading for Omar Infante and shipping Jacque Jones to Detroit and Craig Monroe to Minnesota for a player to be named later.

Seems they're making amends for the outfielder-friendly spree they engaged in this summer.

The Cubs, too, are seemingly locked up waiting to see who keeps and who trades in their Yankee pinstripes, as they were players in the Rivera sweepstakes in lieu of their closer-by-committee for 2008.

Wake the rest of us up when you're done New York - we'll fight over the leftovers here in flyover country.

(Image from Brooks.MLBlogs.com)

Peter Gammons will not receive a Christmas card from A-Rod

Tell us how you really feel, Pete.

In the middle of coverage last night - and possibly this morning, I'm still checking back on this morning's broadcast - Peter Gammons was brought in to answer a few questions about Alex Rodriguez and where he'd end up next season.

After a few seconds that boiled down to "we'll have to wait and see," Gammons ripped Rodriguez for the rest of the segment.

Said Gammons:

What's unfortunate here is the total disrespect for the game of baseball. This is the World Series, Dustin Pedroia and Jon Lester are doing something Alex has never done - play in a World Series game - and to want the attention on this day is kind of a sad commentary and might be a little bit of a buyer beware because, again, he's never played in a World Series game. Maybe there's a reason.

I'm guessing that Gammons would be less than impressed with A-Rod in a Sox uniform.

Update:

Here's the video courtesy of ESPN.com which I found via The Buried Lead on a Ballhype.com board. Wow, that was a long path for 30 seconds of video.


(Image from: MSN.com)

It's a bad night in the Bronx

I can just sit here and shake my head as the Red Sox lead 4-1 (now 4-3 by the time I'm ready to post) in the bottom of the eighth inning as it appears that Fox is trying its best to start a riot in New York City tonight.

If broadcasting the World Series with Boston up 3-0 heading into the fourth game wasn't bad enough, they've taken a little too much pleasure in announcing the apparent departure of Alex Rodriguez as well as rattling off the list of players who are free agents this year.

Sports Illustrated is reporting:

The Angels, Dodgers, Giants, Cubs, Red Sox and Mets would appear to be the most logical pursuers of A-Rod. Although, the Mets would have to move at least one star player to accommodate A-Rod, who wanted to go there back in 2000 before Texas blew him away with their bid.

Can we add another iron into the fire by making sure everyone remembers that Rodriguez was originally a shortstop?

Also of note is the New York Daily News reporting that Joe Girardi is the frontrunner for the vacant position in the Yankee dugout, just days after stories that he was a goner for the manager's job.

All of this is just a little added flavor for Red Sox Nation which is taking this year's trip through the playoffs more calmly than the 2004 campaign. It's amazing what two trips to the World Series can do for a fan base, no?

I'll have to admit that this time around isn't quite as much fun as 2004 and I can't quite place why. I'd be lying if I didn't think that there's a greed factor involved - I've already let thoughts of a Series win in Fenway creep into my assessment of tonight's back and forth game.

I'm still contemplating something that Danny said last weekend - essentially that the Red Sox are the new Yankees. He's right and I think I first heard the sentiment for Red Sox blogs, but that doesn't make it any easier to process.

It's been hard to ignore the fact that Boston isn't the underdog this year and that there are thousands of young Rockies fans who are cursing the Red Sox and everything they stand for now, forging a hatred that will cause conflicts for years to come.

The biggest upside to the whole situation is that watching Fox try to pimp this series and Colorado's Cinderella season has provided quite a bit of entertainment for me this week. I'm pretty sure Joe Buck is about to start crying any minute from the stress.

(Image from: NYDailyNews.com)

Canada shows A-Rod the love

Fresh off the Ballhype wires is a story from Toronto, where the team was apologizing to the Yankees for a ballpark stunt gone digitally awry.

Between innings, the team plays video of a video game played between two random fans, where they were throwing at Alex Rodriguez's head, eventually beaning the Yankee star.

Joe Torre wasn't amused and the Jays have promised to police the game a bit better in the future.

Call me crazy, but if this is what gets Blue Jay fans through the end of a tough season, just let them be. For that kind of money, he can take a virtual beanball every now and again.

Besides, the worst slam of the evening reportedly came from a sign posted by fans over the out of town scoreboard that said simply, "A-Rod: We hate you."

And they're Canadian - they like everybody. They're the Mikey of international politics.

(Image from the Associated Press)

That Vinnie Delpino, what a foulmouthed scamp

I'd know that voice anywhere.

"Ball on ham," it said, further damning Mickey Rivers for placing his junk on the post game deli spread in The Bronx is Burning.

While Thurmon Munson brought Rivers up on charges in kangaroo court for allegations that his private parts touched the ham, Max Casella as Dick Howser offered what might be a great name for a fantasy baseball team next year.

Ball. On. Ham.

And since I can't give you video of this - well, right now until TiVo gets hip to Vista - I'll share this instead. I agree wholeheartedly.

I think there should be some new twists. Like the part where Joe DiMaggio comes back. Or, where it turns out that Munson was a ghost... all... along...

What a twist!

( I've updated with a new screen capture of Vinnie, all grown up.)

Good point

In the mix with the trade deadline chatter is this piece by Bugs & Cranks, a fan favorite here at Siberian Baseball.

It poses the intriguing question, "Will the Yankees and Red Sox ever trade players again?"

I tend to agree with their analysis which boils down to, "Sure, just as soon as my dog re-grows his balls."

According to the post:

Before the Mike Stanley trade in 1997, the Red Sox and Yankees last traded in 1986, when Boston acquired Don Baylor for Mike Easler - a swap of DHs. Before that, the two teams had gone 14 years without trading - the infamous Sparky Lyle for Danny Cater trade in 1972. So, in the last 35 years, the two teams have made 3 trades, or roughly one every 12 years. Even the United States and Cuba trade more frequently than that.

So, while crosstown rivals like the Cubs and White Sox will continue to offer and accept bizarre trades and swap players back and forth, the Yanks and Sox will most likely take the same road as other intra-division rivals and just let each other go to voice mail.

I'm fighting a case of the giggles right now, with images of Brian Cashman at a dinner party, when his phone rings, a friend asks if he needs to take the call and he shakes his head and puts his phone back in his pocket and says simply, "No, it's just Epstein again... You were saying?"

(Image from MLB.com)

... And Shooter McGavin as the Yankee Clipper

Following a link off of another site today for the upcoming ESPN miniseries The Bronx is Burning - don't worry, I haven't seen any advertising for it yet either, but I'm willing to bet that ESPN will more than remedy that in the next four days - I stumbled across something wonderful.

In addition to having Oliver Platt playing who I assume to be Steinbrenner from the official site's cover art, I kept scolling down to see who'd be playing the leads as the 1977 Yankees, I kept needing to click to see who was who.

Needless to say, I stopped when I saw Joe DiMaggio being played by Christoper McDonald, the handsome gentleman pictured to the right and best known as Shooter McGavin.

Having played Mel Allen in 61* - and doing a god job there - I can't see why this won't work, especially playing an aging Joe D. I mean, it's not like they need McDonald to play center while the camera rolls or anything.

Still, I'll be sitting and waiting for that turning point in the season when DiMaggio called Billy Martin (as played by John Turturro) to gather the team together before a tough series in July. It was there, gathered under the seats of Yankee Stadium, where he looked every man on the team in the eye and told them, "I eat pieces of shit like you for breakfast."

(Image from: MovieVillains.com)

I know you're all sick of Yanks/Sox, bear with me

As much as I hate to admit it, there were better games that could be on ESPN tonight in the place of the Yankees/Red Sox game. For the record, yes I'm getting tired of the Worldwide Leader's decision to air any and all games between the two teams - burning fans out on the teams and their rivalry can't be any good for baseball and it can actually hurt ratings in the fall.

Piling on to the situation is the unending coverage of Alex Rodriguez being stalked by the media in Toronto as he made the rounds with a woman who wasn't his wife - a situation that I think is really out of bounds.

Say what you will about the old media being too chummy with ballplayers, obliterating the lines of journalistic integrity - teams used to foot the bill for reporters to travel on the road with the team and held sway over who each paper chose to cover the games - but there was a strong sense of what happened on the field and the personal lives of players.

I'm reading a Joe DiMaggio biography right now and there have been more than a few references to DiMaggio going in and out of cathouses both in and out of season. I can't imagine the kind of firestorm this would set off today. Whether it was politicians or athletes, there were plenty of things that were seen but not reported and I don't think that's such a bad thing.

Much has been made of social columnists covering the Rodriguez story and not being forced to be around the players and I think that there's a solid point there. While I don't condone what he's being accused of, I don't think it's the media's place to out Rodriguez on the front page.

Maybe I'm a little too old school like that.

* So, how are you enjoying suspension Sunday? Lou Piniella is out until MLB tells him he can come back and play nice after a problem with an ump bump and there were a few other guys getting run as well. None had as much fun as the Mississippi Braves manager did on his way out, though.

That's because it's impossible to have that much fun.

Michael Barrett will not be catching for Carlos Zambrano until those two can settle their differences and will likely be disciplined by the Cubs.

Anyone care to place odds on Gary Sheffield getting a call from Bud Selig's office for his comments to GQ?

* Roger Clemens is running a little late in his return to the Yankees and Barry Bonds is stalling a bit in his chase for Hank Aaron... Awesome, now what will ESPN cover for 35 minutes on SportsCenter? Oh, right... Clemens' injury and Bonds' chase and why neither is going as quickly as planned.

* It's weird to have Milwaukee ahead in the standings - though it happened last year as well - but their recent skid (4-6 in the last 10 games) hasn't done them any damage in the incredibly weak NL Central.

It's a rich get richer situation in most divisions, with the exception of the Diamondbacks who have rattled off a 9-1 streak to catch up for a three-way tie with Los Angeles and San Diego.

Man, the NL West is weird.

In the AL Central, the Indians have cooled a bit and everyone except for the Royals are within 7.5 games of them. More on the Twins mid-week, but they're showing signs of life. Not many, but two signs are technically plural and count as "signs" of life.

* And because he's fine I can say this: Hey Doug, karma sucks. Guess you should have given the ball back after the World Series, huh? Sorry about your sprained cervix.

This is the long, petty way around to pointing out that the Yankees first base problems are only beginning. With the first- and second-string first basemen out for a while, it's been pretty brutal to watch the stiffs New York is trotting out there.

Expect more than a few problems with position play there this week.

(OK, I feel better now - just saw this from With Leather.)
(Image from Boston.com)

Interleague Edition - Does Chipper have a point?

So, Chipper Jones was thinking out loud at the end of the week, where he complained pretty openly about having to face the Red Sox as the Braves' official interleague "rival."

While other teams gets to face perpetual patsies, the Braves are forced to play Boston, as neither team has a local AL team to square off against. Granted, the Mets draw the Yankees, but I think his point rested more with the Marlins/Devil Rays and Nationals/Orioles games this weekend.

For as much fun as Cubs/White Sox, Giants/A's and Mets/Yankees are, you also have Rockies/Royals, Padres/Mariners and Phillies/Blue Jays which don't have much inherent venom.

Whether it's the scope of the rivalry - or lack thereof - or the talent levels involved, I think Jones has at least a respectable point.

No matter how awful the Cubs are, the Sox aren't guaranteed a victory when the teams meet up, where there can be problems involved even when the Northsiders are in a tailspin. Compare that with a team like the Twins who see the Brewers or other match ups that can be pretty useless on paper.

I think on the whole, most of these matchups meet somewhere in the middle, with the averages working themselves out over the course of five or more seasons, but in the hot years when teams like the Yanks or Red Sox are steamrolling ahead, I can see where the frustration can set in.

Honestly, it seems like most of the perpetual cellar dwellers have more regional rivalries, where the impact isn't as great. Still, it makes things a little trickier for MLB to defend with this set of games, where the competition is unequal and division teams aren't facing the same opponents.

Overal, though, I think interleague is good for baseball as it hangs some real numbers on these games and helps to stoke casual fan interest. Well, unless you're in Colorado or Kansas City.

* The Twins were on pace to sweep the Brewers this afternoon - Milwaukee has since tied the game through the sixth inning - which should help slow the bleeding for Minnesota's fans. It's been strange to hear the talk radio callers demanding trades, asking for rash AAA call-ups and dusting off the "Get Joe Mauer out from behind the plate" bandwagon.

I've been impressed by the front office response on the whole, with GM Terry Ryan owning up to the team's poor performance, allowing that they've had hitting and pitching, just not enough and not when they needed it, but also criticizing bad fielding and poor baserunning decisions.

Through all of it, I seem to be one of the only people who questions why returning Rondell White, Lew Ford and other secondary players is being seen as the cure for the team's ills.

They lack a solid rotation - as they have since the off-season - and have streaky batters, with career years in 2006 from players like Nick Punto being seen as breakthrough seasons and not statistical flukes.

While Twins fans only have to look back as far as last year to see a shaky start that eventually grew into a postseason visit, I doubt such a turn-around is possible two years in a row. Eventually, the Twins might have to pay to field a competitive team.

In the meantime, we'll wait out the calls to trade Johan Santana to try and shore up the team with younger ballplayers.

* Worth watching as the Yankees prepare to shake things up is a rumor that they might try to void Jason Giambi's deal if he comes out and admits he took performance-enhancing substances before he signed with New York.

Despite the drama, Giambi being cut loose would have to earn him some serious attention in the AL.

* ESPN is also reporting that Kerry Wood will test out his arm Monday. Expect news of a season-ending trip to the DL on Wednesday or early Thursday.

The strange thing is that for as much ink as Wood and Mark Prior have picked up, Fox ran stats during the game Saturday that compared the numbers for that duo and for their replacements - Jason marquis and Ted Lily - that showed the new arms aren't that different from the Wonder Twins' 2003 numbers to this point.

Interesting.

(Image from TaipeiTimes.com)

Do you even like baseball, guys?

Last names are tricky.

I had an editor who used to go line by line through every name on the agate we'd crank out on a nightly basis looking for mistakes and jokingly calling himself "The Hawk" when he'd catch one.

"McDougal or MacDuggle?" he'd ask. "There was a MacDuggle a few years ago who played for Southern Door - is this a brother or a sister?" If we really dug in our heels, he'd toss us a phone book and tell us to prove it.

We were wrong more often than not.

We thought he was trying to be a dick. He was really teaching us how to do a better job, make better connections and learn that a solid quarterback from 5 years ago might have an equally talented younger brother or sister in the wings.

I always silently suspected that as a prep athlete, his off-kilter last name (Harty not Hardy) might have played a role in this as well. Nothing sucks like doing a great job, clipping the box score and seeing your name spelled wrong.

Even on the high school level, it became our responsibility to get the names right, and while I will never claim to be perfect here, I do make an effort and will check and re-check names I don't know very well.

I guess that's why I'm frustrated when PA announcers and radio and TV personalities get things wrong so often. The Red Sox broadcast team just referenced Andre "Ether" and not Ethier and catching the post-mortem on the Twins/Tigers series had a walk-off homer from Brandon Inge, which was masacred beyond belief (Inguh? Ingey?).

I'm not asking for much, and the media guides even have phoenetic spellings of the names, but anyone who has in interest in baseball knows those two names of hundreds in the majors. Would it kill guys to watch a few games in their downtime?

* Jonathon Papelbon has blown the save and is struggling to get out of the ninth in Boston tonight. Wow, that's weird.

He's just not locating his pitches well and hung a fastball for a two-run homer to tie the game. I can't imagine the speculation on the Sons of Sam Horn board... no wait, I can.

* Elsewhere in the East, Phil Hughes is no-hitting the Rangers (see a pattern here, anyone?) and will have a huge rush on the fantasy boards starting now and continuing through tomorrow afternoon.

There are worse guys to pick up than Yankee rookies, but I always get frustrated at premature runs made on guys in their first games.

* As much as Frankie likes to joke that the baseball season hasn't really begun until Kerry Wood or Mark Prior have hit the DL or are gone for the year, I argue the season really doesn't warm up until Roger Clemens begins his annual auction.

He's begun his annual auction.

* Watching the Brewers this weekend made me realize that last year it was the Brewers and Tigers off to hot starts and I stupidly called them both out as pretenders. There's something to be said for being half right.

Currently, the Brewers are 16-9 and 7-3 in the past 10 games in the upside-down Central Division (Brewers, Pirates, Reds, Cubs, Astros, Cardinals in order).

They are holding strong in the top third in average, OBP, ERA and earned runs. Not running away with anything, but seeing more pitching than they had before. With the young bats and the emergence of a viable pitching staff, it's been surprising, but justifies the preseason hype the team attracted.

(Photo from MLB.com)

I'll pay you later - the IOU post on the weekly wrap

With Deadspin.com openly pulling for a back-to-back no-hitter situation for Mark Buehrle, I'll go ahead and ask it - is that a preemptive jinx or something?

I mean, if you can talk about one as it's happening, it has to be bad mojo to talk about one before the game even starts, right? Still, if you're a White Sox fan and you're secretly hoping for this to happen, you have to like seeing Kansas City on the schedule, huh?

Buehrle takes the ball Monday night in Kansas City.

* The Red Sox went back-to-back twice against some poor rookie for the Yankees tonight and while the ESPN crew went on and on about the historical significance, it's pretty easy to see why a shell-shocked pitcher is rarely put in a position to equal that dubious feat.

Usually, you let in two homers and you're getting pulled. Four is just cruel. Plus, by adding in the waiting factor as you swap pitchers, etc. it kills the momentum, but hey, it was fun while it lasted. It couldn't have happened to a nicer team.

* The talk radio in the Twin Cities is officially questioning Joe Nathan's spot as closer for the Twins, citing late-inning trouble he's gotten into (and usually out of) since the beginning of the season.

Imagine that - a man with newborn twins at home is having a hard time at work. I can only imagine what the problem might be... Perhaps the coaching staff should allow the poor guy to cat nap in the clubhouse during the games and they can wake him in the seventh inning if the game is close or something.

* Just a quick programming note that I'll be at Twins games Monday and Tuesday night, so I plan to post after those if anything exciting happens. Like a walk off grand slam like in Los Angeles Saturday night. Because that was pretty rad.

Wild Thing

The first thing I thought of when I saw Kyle Farnsworth's new J-Lo glasses was, "What a pretty, pretty princess!"

Well, that was second after the usual, "Farnsworth? Fucking Fransworth!" from several years of residual Cub bitterness.

I was honestly worried that the whole solution to his control problems would come from the addition of vision and we'd all have to listen to Wild Thing Ricky Vaughn references as he tore through the AL this year and took Mo Rivera's job.

Then he got rocked for four runs faster than I can eat four White Castle burgers. When the dust had cleared, Farnsworth pitched a third of an inning, four runs, all four earned, a walk and a strikeout.

I should have known better than to worry.

Side note: This post was echoed almost a year to the day ago, with Farnsworth melting down in Minneapolis and the Yankees losing 5-1 on April 17, 2006. Weird...

(Image from Fox Sports Network)

Uh-oh... Ponson gets shelled

Not for nothing, but here's Sidney Ponson's line on his start against the Yankees last night - 12.71 ERA, 5.2 IP, 10 H, 8 ER, 2 HR, 3 BB, 2 K - where it was a train wreck in the Metrodome.

Hey, at least water cooler conversations about how "Ponson got bombed last night" didn't end in an arrest, right?

I'm all for second chances and picking arms off the scrap heap and all, but sometimes there's a reason guys have flamed out.

Ponson has won me over after seeing him pick up steam this spring and then actually catching a game he started in Fort Myers.

Then again, it's a different story when the games start to count, too.

And for the record, I don't think it's a coincidence that it was the Yankees that put Ponson through the ringer, considering they used to see him a few times a year and still see his former team, the Orioles, 19 times a season.

It might be a bump on the road back, but with the rumors this spring, this shootout and the young arms in AAA right now, I wouldn't get too attached to Ponson, Twins fans.

For sure, don't buy a Ponson jersey in the near future.

(Photo taken for Siberian Baseball)

Weekly Wrap-Up 4/8

We'll give this a short test drive to see if it's doable through the course of a baseball season. Depending on how diligent I am about keeping up during the week, it could be a simple link dump and weekend recap, but at least to get off the ground, this is a great place to start.

* We've seen nothing but parity in the 3-4-5 spots in most big league rotations this week as teams flew out of the gates only to come back to reality when their second-tier pitchers had to take the ball on Wednesday and Thursday.

This is why so much is being made of the starters and proven stars, as well as the Mets rotation shocking the National League by handcuffing the Cardinals to start the season off officially.

Watch for plenty of ink to be spilled regarding injuries to Chris Carpenter as well as Pedro Martinez and the return of Roger Clemens. It's only the first week, but it really does look like pitching will dictate who will be the major players in both leagues this year - go figure, huh?

* It'll come up in a day or so when I can post video, but Jonathan Papelbon needs to stay right where he is as the closer in Boston. He wasn't screwing around tonight when he took the mound with one out and the bases loaded in Texas.

I can't place it, but he's lost the goofy kid vibe and looked like a madman in the ninth. Needless to say, I like this turn of events.

* With the Cubs trailing 6-0 against Milwaukee, it was refreshing to see the team surge and try to make a comeback and not just because it was the third game on a Sunday afternoon on the road, but because the Cubs haven't had a lot of spark recently.

To paraphrase Ron White, "That team's got a lot of quit in it."

I'll need to see more, but the fact that the starters didn't get a 45-minute head start on the Tri-State makes me think things might actually be different with Lou Pinella in charge.

* Alex Rodriguez took Chris Ray deep to notch a walk-off grand slam and silence his critics who claim he's a world-class choke artist and that he can't deliver in the clutch.

Yeah, he sure rocked the Orioles in the fourth game of the year with his team down by three runs... That'll show 'em.

* Finally, the biggest story of the weekend is that everyone was too cold to play baseball - ask Paul Byrd how that worked out for him - and there were a few places where games were snowed out.

I'll admit that weird stuff happens when the weather goes cold like that, but it didn't provide quite the opening week we had all hoped for. Instead, we had pitchers taking it easy, players being overly concerned with pulling muscles and pitchers being given the A-OK from the umps to blow on their hands.

There were plenty of odd moments to open the season and while no team can get into trouble in just a week, it was a good enough opening act. The important thing - as I've been saying for a week - is that baseball is definitely back.

(Photo from the Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Thanks, Tim - We appreciate the vote

According to Tim Kurkjian's breakdown of the best rotations in baseball, the Red Sox are his winners by default.

It's akin to handicapping the presidential races right now, where we really need to see more from each rotation, not to mention that injuries and other fluke things come up in March to hamstring teams that look pretty strong on paper - remember the ESPN the Mag cover in 2004 that had the Cubs rotation as the prettiest girls at the dance?

In any event, the lineup of Daisuke Matsuzaka, Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling, Jonathan Papelbon, Jon Lester and Tim Wakefield is being seen as the best of a down year in terms of team pitching, with Kurkjian pointing out it's not like the old days of the Braves rotation that was always the prohibitive favorite heading into Grapefruit League play.

When it's a Japanese rookie with no experience in the majors - much less Boston - an injury-plagued young guy coming off a down year, an older power pitcher, a former closer with a season-ending injury last year, a pitcher who just finished chemo (not going for the cheap laugh here, only stating the facts) and an aging knuckleballer as your rotation, I'm not seeing how this is seen as the staff to beat.

I do, however, see the plot to Major League 4 coming along quite nicely.

Rounding out the Top 5 are the Tigers, Angels, Dodgers and Yankees.

On that list, I see at least two rotations I'd bank on ahead of Boston. It's also interesting to note only one National League team in the mix.

I think this only serves to prove two points. First, that picking a top rotation this year is a total crapshoot (can you honestly make a case that Contreras, Garland, Buherle and Vazquez couldn't be substituted into that five?) when pitchers and catchers have yet to report.

Second, it'll be an interesting year again with no big dog in the majors lurking to take everyone's lunch money and walk to a championship.

* Odds were posted the other day on Deadspin.com and I'm seeing things differently after reading The Wisdom of Crowds which pointed out that the Vegas lines aren't really there to pick who will win, but rather to provide an attractive line to get an even 50/50 split among all the bets being placed with the bookmaker.

Seeing the Cubs near the top of the list was jarring in that regard - all sorts of suckers place bets on the Northsiders every year just for the hell of it and the recent additions make the team that much more attractive to stupid gamblers.

I'm pretty sure they Cubs could be listed as triple-digit odds underdogs and still see plenty of action on the Vegas line. No need to fuel the fire with 9-1 odds this early in the process.

* Just as a housekeeping note, I'm still (I know, I know) deciding on how to handle the preseason previews and when. Obviously, working full time puts a dent into the process, so last year's team-by-team breakdown won't happen again.

Be patient and I'll more than likely start rolling these out by division once the spring games begin.

(Image from: SpringTrainingPhotos.com)

The new year

JD Drew still isn't signed, Barry Zito is happy he won't have to move and Truck Day throughout the league is just around the corner.

What could possibly make a man any more content?

The Randy Johnson experiment is over in the Bronx.

Not that it's a big surprise or anything, but Johnson is expected to be dealt back to Arizona in the next couple of days. Where does that leave the Yankees?

To quote ESPN.com:

New York's projected rotation includes Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte and Kei Igawa. The Yankees also have oft-injured right-hander Carl Pavano and hope Roger Clemens can be persuaded to follow Pettitte back to New York.

Is it just me - and my anti-Yankee bias - or do you see a few possible holes in that lineup?

At least the papers have an easy task to print pictures of what Johnson will look like in an Arizona uniform.

(Image from About.com)

Week's end wrap up

I was really excited Thursday morning after a big night of moves in the hot stove league. Better yet was Steve Phillips chasing Barry Bonds around like Carl Monday, asking who he was talking to, if he was staying with the Giants and if he was jacking it.

Bonds told him his testicles were too far gone to even consider the last option. Not really, but in the television of my mind it was awesome.

The biggest, but least shocking moves were today, with Andy Pettitte going back to the Bronx and bringing rumors of a return of Roger Clemens with him. Bonds is also returning to San Francisco where he'll be hated the least.

Other big moves:

Jason Schmidt - Dodgers - Headed to the Dodgers, the biggest free agent arm (tied with Barry Zito this year) undercuts the Giants and helps Los Angeles which has a much better rotation on paper now (Derek Lowe, Brad Penny, Schmidt, Randy Wolf and any number of arms looking to take over the five spot.)

Being able to beef up your team while draining a division rival is a nice bonus, but these moves put the Dodgers as the early favorites in the NL West next year.

To his credit, Drew has defended himself a bit to the media, but given that it's Boston, this could get ugly in a big way. We'll see what happens, but this could be a train wreck right out of the gates.

Seriously, you can't trust LA, but who else is going to step up? In other words, business as usual in the NL West.

JD Drew and Julio Lugo - Red Sox - Here's what worries me. Five words in 20 years: The Curse of Johnny Damon. Expect JD Drew to get a lot of face time with Joe Buck's kid and AJ Pierzinski if this becomes a story line of my future nightmares.

Bad attitude and injury prone? Where do I sign?

To his credit, he's defended himself to a point, but it's still Boston and it's not out of the realm of possibility that this could be a train wreck out of the gates.

As much as I'm skeptical of Drew, I like the Lugo signing.

Not as much as I'd like Damon and Orlando Cabrera, but still...

(The best part of the Cabrera Era was screaming, "Welcome to the O.C., bitch!" every night.

Ted Lilly - Cubs - Please, oh please can we get at least a half-powered Bronson Arroyo factor here?

He was 15-13 with a 4.31 ERA in 32 games for the Blue Jays last season.

I can't lie, I was awake after I turned off the TV the other night asking over and again if Ted Lilly was worth $10 million per year. My gut reaction is no.

Hope it's worth hospitalizing a GM over, but this deal isn't as exciting as it should have been. Yes, Cubs front office, we get it, you're trying to win now. There's still no need to try and spend 15 years worth of surplus cash in one mediocre off-season for talent.

Mike Piazza - A's - It's about time, huh? Maybe they'll give him Frank Thomas' old locker.

Freddy Garcia - Phillies - I'm with Frankie on this one who sent me an e-mail when this signing was confirmed. In an off-season where Lilly gets $10 million per, the White Sox give away a very, very durable pitcher for peanuts?

I thought this would be a move to bring Aaron Rowland back, but was surprised when he was left out east.

Still waiting to get word back on whether or not Kenny Williams is still a genius. That said, I'm getting a Billy Beane vibe off Willaims still where no matter how ridiculous the signing or free agent drop is, you can't help but wonder what he's up to.

This is a direct turn around from the Williams we were given in Moneyball where he was emasculated and painted as too dumb to grasp the finer points of a simple multi-player swap.

More from Frankie on this subject can be found here.

Joe Borowski - Indians - This guy keeps finding work and he always seemed like a good enough guy, but I can't help but wonder how he keeps signing contracts.

He's never very good, but never very bad, either. I think this is indicative of the season Cleveland can expect next year.

Gil Meche - Royals - Good for you, Royals!

Aren't they cute everyone? Yes, they are! Yes, they are!

Cute little ballclub you got there, KC...

For more of the same, jump over to ESPN.com where Jayson Stark has a similar breakdown, but with, you know... facts and stuff.

Good point

Want to see how far salaries have gotten out of control this offseason?

Check out this little math lesson courtesy of Boston Dirt Dogs and Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe.

His [J.D. Drew's] asking price, according to sources, is at least $14 million. That's $4 million a year more than the Sox offered last winter to Johnny Damon before he signed a four-year, $52 million deal with the Yankees. Bobby Abreu, the right fielder the Sox passed on in July because of luxury-tax ramifications before he was dealt by the Phillies to the Yankees, is due $15 million in 2007, with the Yankees holding an option of $16 million for 2008.

Yeah, I feel better now. God, Mondays are the best, aren't they campers?

Mortgaging the future

One of the decisions I was able to respect as the Red Sox season started circling the drain was Theo Epstein's announcement that the Sox wouldn't risk the future for immediate help in 2006.

Given how the rest of the team fell apart at the seams, this is one of those 20/20 hindsight decisions that paid off. What good is an extra arm if Manny starts to pout and all the other bad luck things start comng down anyway?

I know, it's chicken and egg material, but dumping young players for a rent-an-arm isn't the best idea unless you're looking for someone to push you over the top. Sad to say, the Red Sox didn't have much of a chance once the Yankees knocked the shit out of Boston in that five-game series.

Theo's comments on July 31, according to BostonDirtDogs.com:

"We came close on a lot of things … countless opportunities we were pursuing …We have a long term plan and as much as we desperately wanted to do something to help our big league team, it would have been short-sighted to sacrifice that long-term plan. It just wasn’t worth it."

Very disappointing [not being able to make a deal]. We have a lot of people in the front office and scouts that worked very hard to get things done.

"In the end, we gathered around everybody, thanked them for their hard work. We’re proud of the process, and proud of the results… There’s always an opportunity for waiver deals."

Granted, there were plenty of players who were moved along and went on to good to great seasons (Anibel Snachez pitches a no-hitter, Hanley Ramirez does well in Florida and Cla Merideth holds strong in San Diego) but I took a degree of solace in a GM who has a basic understanding of building a strong organization from the farm up.

I'm not sure if it's as bad as Kevin Hench thinks - "Jon Lester is not Francisco Liriano and he never will be. Craig Hansen is not Joel Zumaya and he never will be. Manny Delcarmen is not Mark Lowe and he never will be. Sadly, Hanley Ramirez is Miguel Tejada, only way ahead of schedule." - but there are questions on Yawkey Way this fall

At least Theo has an office to start this offseason. You'll never convince me that being without a true GM for months last fall/winter wasn't the biggest reason that the Red Sox belly-flopped this year... and lost Johnny Damon...

Today, the rumors indicate that the Cubs are at a similar crossroads, hiring Lou Piniella, who has made no secret of his ongoing man crush on Alex Rodriguez.

If you listen to the buzz, the Yankess want Carlos Zambrano in exchange and the Cubs are just stupid enough to entertain that possibility. If the trade would go through, Chicago fans can save cash on tickets, chalk up another losing season and get ready to take the over on every betting line when the wind kicks up at Wrigley, because there'd be no saving them at that point.

While I'll drink gallons of Cubbie Blue Kool-Aid in the off-season and get my hopes up based on a healthy rotation anchored by Zambrano, Mark Prior and Kerry Wood, despite zero evidence to support this hypothesis - In fact, the top two headlines on the Chicago Tribune right now are Piniella takes over as Cubs manager/Prior to have shoulder examined - I can't see a single scenario in which trading Zambrano for Rodriguez results in a winning season, much less a division title.

While it's not a true apples to apples comparison, the Cubs need to snap out of it and not mortgage their season for the big splash signing. Honestly, the rumors that the White Sox are in line as well (Kenny Williams has man-crush on A-Rod, too) make much more sense with a stud third baseman looking for a ticket out of the minors, an extra arm in the rotation and enough support to keep the heat off his fragile ego.

So, while Red Sox Nation steadies itself with reassurances that "In Theo we trust" the Cubs fans aren't that lucky. They shouldn't trust much of anybody after nearly 100 years, especially an organization that hides behind goats and shell-shocked fans to cover for years of futility, bad decisions and foolish spending.

(Photos from MSNBCMedia.com / WildCardSports.com)

Hater nation - your team sucks

October baseball jumps off tomorrow at noon at the Metrodome, but my song here has been the same: It's hard to dislike the Twins, but you need pitching to make it anywhere in the playoffs.

This isn't an opinion, it's a simple fact.

Go back a few years and look at what these teams have in common: 2005 White Sox, 2004 Red Sox, 2003 Marlins, 2002 Angels, 2001 Diamondbacks and the 2000, 1999 and 1998 Yankees. Just off the top of your head, most fans can pick out the top guys in those rotations years later.

There's a reason for that.

Fast forward to this morning's drive time here in the Twin Cities where speculation is reaching a boil that the fourth starter will be Silva, Garza or Perkins. Four games out and no one is quite sure who the starter will be.

Actually, the rotation of Santana, Bonser, Radke and Who Knows is the biggest hole in the Twins' post-season hopes.

Not to leave anyone out:

New York Yankees: The odds-on favorites to win it all, the Yankees have been dinged up and Rivera will only be used one inning per day (if that) according to this weekend's stories. Luckily for the Yankees, they'll keep playing long enough this year to make use of the payroll after they were rocked by injuries all season.

Still, when Chien-Ming Wang is your top gun it means things might get sticky... or that you completely disrespect the Tigers. Randy Johnson's back is an issue and the Tigers could go either way here after their top-shelf choke job to end the season.

Speaking of choke jobs, the Yankees are only two years removed from the biggest choke in post-season history... sorry, just had to get that in there. Yes, I know the Red Sox are on vacation this week. It was a cheap shot and I'd take it again...

Detroit Tigers: While we're on the subject, what the hell happened this weekend? My money says Leyland needed a smoke break and wasn't thinking clearly... all weekend. Just a theory, though.

You stumble down the stretch, lose three of three to the Royals... How is this a good thing for a team in the playoffs?

Young players, tired arms and a misplayed rotation (starting Bonderman and spelling him with Rogers?) put them behind the eight-ball against the Yankees. It's never a good idea to spot the Yankees any sort of advantage.

Trust me on this.

Oakland A's: Not even Philly could stand this team - that's saying something...

Also, the Moneyball A's never win in the post-season. Remember the Jeter play where he cut off the throw on the first baseline? That was against the A's.

Remember when the Red Sox had their backs against the wall in the 2003 ALDS? A's again. If they couldn't win with Jason Giambi, what chance do they have with the Big Hurt?

The National League: Go back to the list of World Series winners - the cream of the NL crop was the Fish and the D-backs...

The Cardinals faded down the stretch, the two teams from the West played in a joke of a division (moreso than the basement of the Central), lest you forget the Padres almost earned a berth with a sub-.500 team last year - need I go on?

Finally the Mets ran to a quick lead and are without Pedro for October. May I reference the Cards of the past few seasons? It's enough to make you sick...

Of course, I could also make a less-fun list of why you should feel good about your team, but where the challenge in that?

As a programming note, I'll be at the Dome tomorrow for Santana's start and plan on dropping some knowledge if I get time in the evening. If not, look for something Thursday.

MFY

Nine years running.

Say what you will, but it takes more than just a checkbook to win a division nine years in a row. Granted, it's been a while since it panned out in the end, but good for them.

How are they not the frontrunners in this year's post-season?

The Piranas of September

It's raining in New York today with the Twins up on the Yankees in the eighth inning (note: this is how the game ended when it was called) and it seemed as good a time as any to get some thoughts in about the upcoming stadium here in the Twin Cities.

After a trip to the state fair this morning, I saw new shirts from the Twins marketing department for this year's gimmick (the pirana bit) and the signs for the upcoming seasons in the sun.

Event staff shirts had slogans like "Take home a souvenir sunburn" and I think that's the thing that I'd be most excited for if I was a fan who had been sentenced to indoor ball for 20-plus years.

Where's the fun in sneaking out of work early for a day game if you have to go sit in a ball mall? Some of my favorite memories of ballgames involve being out in the sun and fresh air with the wind blowing out to or in from the lake or just outright inclement weather.

Those of us who grew up outside of domed stadiums can't really process how much games blend into each other when the scenery never changes, except for the tint of the roof. Day game or night? Was it summer or early fall? Was it so cold you ducked out in the seventh or such a nice night that you stayed until the ushers shooed you from the upper deck seats?

These are the things you miss out on until you get a fresh air and green grass stadium. (Speaking of which, have you seen the Arizona Cardinals new digs? I love the rolling turf idea, it seems so cool.)

So while a home of their own is exciting in and of itself, I hope that all of the trappings that come with the new park will be the real draw once the idea catches on.

Imagine a whole generation of fans who have never known games that can be impacted by the elements or even the simple pleasure of being able to come into work the morning after a day game with a nasty sunburn and a self-satisfied grin.

* Yes, I know it's been quiet here at the dumping ground, but in addition to life getting busy, it's tough to find the motivation to spend some time thinking about baseball when your soul is being ripped into ticker tape confetti by your team and the forces of nature.

In the last two weeks there was a five-game tanking againast the Yankees as the Red Sox fell from playoff contention faster than it takes corn to pass through my digestive tract.

On top of that, the two star sluggers are out with a heart problem and a mystery ailment, Wily Mo hopped the flight with Manny for the hell of it, Papelbon got hurt last night and Jon Lester has cancer.

No really, he has cancer.

These things never happen to the Mariners or the Reds, do they?

At least I should be able to watch the playoffs with a more critical eye this year, right?

* And finally, Jesus, what happened to the Braves this year?

Could one borderline autistic old man and his handling of a pitching staff make such a difference?
Huh, who knew?

(Image from: edenprairieweblogs.org)

Getting warmer...

One game is all that seperates the White Sox and Twins in the Wild Card race after tonight's win. It's looking like this really will go down to the wire after all.

Meanwhile, at Fenway, the Red Sox and Yankees are playing two of five in the next four days. That's just brutal, especially considering how the Red Sox rotation and bullpen are just being whipped lately.

Making matters worse is the local sports chatter about the Twins and their bullpen. I heard the descriptors go from hedged bets with "one of the best in baseball" to flat out "best in baseball."

The thing is that they might have a point. From Mark Gonzalez's post in this evening's Chicago Tribune recap:

Relievers Pat Neshek, Dennys Reyes, Jesse Crain and Matt Guerrier held the Sox scoreless over the final 3 2/3 innings to secure the victory. The Twins' bullpen has allowed two runs over its last 30 2/3 innings, and Twins relievers have allowed a major-league-low 123 earned runs and 25 homers.

Looks like the Twins are a major roadblock to October, regardless of the color of your Sox.

Countdown to the Trade Deadline

Baseball Tonight just wrapped up its Saturday trade deadline special and as I don't have inSider with ESPN, I just jotted notes as Buster Olney gave away the top bullet points.

I'm cheap like that.

Bobby Abreu to the Yankees? Looks kinda sketchy. Would you want to be Philly's GM explaining this the year after letting Jim Thome go and watching him find new life in Chicago?

Yeah, me neither.

Brad Lidge to Rangers? I have no idea why this made the end of the show graphic. They shot this one down as they were talking about it. Get your shit together, ESPN. First Soriano to Chicago, now this?

Just for the sake of arguement, can you imagine his trade value at this time last year? Or if last year's post-season never happened?

Miguel Tejada to Houston? Whoever gets Tejada should be a happy, happy team. After watching him play quite a bit in Baltimore, I'm a believer.

Alfonso Soriano still waiting to be dealt? The Twins are the fashionable team as frontrunners today. They were playing last week's frontrunners, the Tigers. As much as Minnesota makes me nervous (and skeptical) as contenders, add Soriano and they immediately become serious players in the AL Wild Card race.

Immediately.

Phillies looking to move Jon Lieber? Eh. So? I have nothing to say here. Instead, did you see Manny Ramirez make that throw home today? Wow, it's amazing what happens when he gives a damn.

Also, the Neifi Perez out on So Taguchi when Taguchi missed tagging back on second base in the Cubs/Cards game today? Pretty crazy, too.

How sick do you feel if you're a Phillies fan watching Cole Hamels get drilled? Hungover sick or bad clams sick?

Red Sox large 3 or 4 team deal? Mike Lowell and San Diego's favorite stable pony Scott Linebrink are rumored to be pieces of this trade. As always, the more teams and crazy double- and triple-loopbacks between teams for salary reasons and other concerns, the less likely the teams will make the trade.

The so-so Coco Crisp was reportedly offered straight up for the struggling Mark Buehrle and that deal was shot down. The chances of pulling off all the necessary twists and turns in time makes things dicey at best.

And finally, while not technically part of the final rundown, check the power rankings. Anyone who needs more fuel for the "NL teams are slipping aginst the AL" fire needs only to count to 10.

Top four are AL teams and seven of the top 10. Subjective rankings? Sure, but give me a strong arguement of which NL teams should be there that aren't. Exactly.

(Image from the New Number Two - flickr.com)