MARCO'S BASEBALL BLOG-O-ROONIE 2018:" LOOK OUT CLEVELAND!"

MARCO'S BASEBALL BLOG-O-ROONIE 2018: LOOK OUT CLEVELAND!

“LOOK OUT CLEVELAND...THE STORM IS COMING THROUGH

AND IT'S RUNNIN' RIGHT UP ON YOU!

LOOK OUT HOUSTON...THERE'LL BE THUNDER ON THE HILL.

BYE BYE BABY DON'T YOU LIE SO STILL”

---The Band

Thunder is right...all this long, interesting season of our National Pastime, one constant has persevered: the best teams in baseball are the Houston Astros, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Put them in any order you want, these three have been the Big Dogs all year. Their success has been assured. Confound these pretenders who get hot for two weeks and then fall back into Bozo-dom. We all knew that when the Playoff dust settled we'd be looking at two of these Titans playing for the American League Crown.

Well Lord Just Lay Me Down...the Astros went and got their offense disemboweled when Altuve, Correa and Springer all went down with boo boos. They've been mincemeat since the All Star Game. (They are lying so still...like the song says) New York has likewise lost Judge, Sanchez, Didi Gregorius and have their Ace Severino trying to remember how to throw his slider. The Yanks are looking vulnerable for the Wild Card even. That's because the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland A's...afterthoughts in the American League West...started winning and wouldn't stop.

In fact, the only sure thing left in the majors is that the Cleveland Politically Incorrects will win the AL Central. We all knew that of course, but we didn't give the Cleves much credit or hope of knocking off one of the Titans. But Cleveland has Kluber, Carrasco, Clevinger and Bauer in the rotation...Encarnacion is back and so is Andrew Miller in the pen. They are locked and loaded now and the rest of the league better watch the frick out. These guys can take anybody in any length series, and now that Chris Sale is iffy for the Red Sox, might actually be favored to win it all. Their four big offensive guns Lindor, Jose Ramirez, Mike Brantley and Edwin Encarnacion may not be quite the equal of Betts, Benintendi, Martinez and Bogaerts of the Red Sox, but they're close enough to make things uncomfortable behind a pitching staff that is out-performing the Sox right now. I think that if Sale is hurt bad enough to keep him out for awhile, the Sox are in trouble.

The Yankees are injury-bugged, but they are playing the dregs of baseball the rest of the way while the Red Sox have to play mostly teams over .500. That means the Red Sox can't relax and let everybody heal up. It would take the return of a vengeful Sitting Bull to keep the Indians from winning the Central, so they can rest everybody and keep them fresh. Thunder on the hill folks.

Meanwhile the Oakland Androids have cloned a bunch of Rocky Horrors and unleashed them upon an unsuspecting American League. Healy, Chapman, Olson, Canha, Khris Davis...they're all pretty much the same player. Big, strong guys who are all going to hit 25 to 35 homers. (Except Khris Davis who will hit 45) and strike out 140 times. (Except Davis and Olson who will strike out 170 times. Also, I better mention Oakland's pocket battleship, Jed Lowry. He's a better hitter than the bigger guys and has performed well all year.) The Androids are only one game back of the Sacredly Secure Astros! What does it portend? Yikes!

Other Stuff:

The poor old National League...remember them? They used to have super teams too, but now they feature a bunch of dachshunds trying to run with the hounds. They're scrappy, but there's just something wrong.

In the East, Washington looked great on paper...they ALWAYS look great on paper. They feature that “is he the best player in baseball?” guy, Bryce “Hairball” Harper, who seems to have been pouting all year because teams put the shift on to defend him and turn his line drives to right field into outs. This seems to distress Bryce who wants MLB to ban the shifts (along with a lot of other numbskulls like David Ortiz...shame on you Papi!) who advocate a rules change.

A lengthy aside here while we're on this topic...if a defense is set up to give you half the field to hit into and even a topped roller down the third base line will be a hit, why wouldn't you take that hit? Players, especially left handed power hitters, seem to think they're still better off taking their full pull-it-or-die hacks into the shift so that once every week they can hit one out. So of course the defense stays with the shift on them. Why? BECAUSE THEY KNOW THEY'RE BEATING YOU THAT WAY, BOZO!

Now, Ted Williams could hit into the shift and still hit 340. Harper, you can't. Look, if a man is on second base, they modify the shift to guard against steals anyway, so then you can pull it. But with a man on first or nobody on and all but one guy playing right of second, the whole of the left side is open for you. Sure, they're going to pitch you inside to get you to pull into the shift. So keep your hands back and even if you miss it with the fat part, a ground ball is a hit. If you hit it to the outfield, you'll get a double a lot of the time. And, in case you haven't noticed, a lot of players are hitting opposite field home runs these days.

So say you strike out one out of four times anyway like you do when you try to pull and hit two grounders to the left side, or maybe you bunt for a hit once and maybe one pop up into left field...you're batting .500 or .750 at least! Do that for a week and see if teams still put the shift on you. They won't ...they can't...they'll LOSE IF THEY DO! Then when they go back to playing you straight up you can start pulling the ball again. There's a reason they never put the shift on players like Stan Musial, Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs, Ichiro Suzuki and Rod Carew...they could hit to all fields. When you can do that...you WIN! Isn't that the point of baseball, Bryce?

Forgive me for repeating myself, because I know I rail on this a lot, but really, people who advocate changing the rules of baseball in a radical way to coddle these pull-hitting prima donas just chap my ass.

So anyway, the Washington Nationals have a superstar in Harper, good offensive players in veterans Ryan Zimmerman, Daniel Murphy, Adam Eaton and Anthony Rendon, young fast guys like Tre Turner and Michael Taylor and even a budding rookie stud in Juan Soto. They have the best pitcher in the league in Max Scherzer and as deep a rotation as anybody in the league with Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Tanner Roark, and Jeremy Hellickson. They fixed the bullpen (or thought they did) with Doolittle, Grace and Madson. Sure they had injuries, but no more than a lot of other teams who still contended.

And yet the Nationals are 64-64 for the season and just traded Murphy and Matt Adams, essentially giving up in Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon's walk year. This, my friends, is one of the great underachieving teams of all time.

The National League East also features has-been teams like The Florida Mudlins and the New York Nyets. Let's not belabor the point...they suck catsup bottles.

The new darlings of the East are Atlanta and Philadelphia. If I was a kid just getting interested in baseball (if there are any kids still interested in baseball...stats say the average age of a baseball fan is something like 55!) I'd root for the Atlanta Braves.

First of all they have Ronald Acuna, as appealing a young player as I've seen since Ken Griffey Jr. And they have players with cool names, like Ozzie Albeis and Dansby Swanson. Freddie Freeman plays for them, and he's one of the best hitters in baseball. They have a Polish person (Mike Foltynewicz), a Columbian (Julio Teheran), two Venezuelans (Albeis and Acuna), a Greek American(Nick Markakis), a Japanese Hawaiian American (Kurt Suzuki) and a Haitian (Touki Toussaint) on their roster. It'd be like rooting for the U.N.!

I had to laugh at all the broohaha about Marlins pitcher Jose Urena hitting Ronald Acuna with his first pitch of the game. Acuna had been hitting homers at will off the Marlins, most of them leading off the game. So Urena came in on him, and since he obviously has very little control of his pitches, the ball sailed into Acuna and plunked him on the arm.

“MURDER! OUTRAGE! VENGEANCE! You hit our cute little outfielder who we like a whole lot and hits homers for us and have you seen him smile? He's SO CUTE!” (That's the Atlanta fans and press and manager after this outrageous event which happens every day in major league baseball.)

I've seen an old interview with Don Drysdale where they asked him about throwing at Willie Mays. Drysdale said, (approximately) “First of all, if I didn't brush him back off the plate he would absolutely kill me. (Willie batted .330 lifetime against Don. He was only hit by two of DD's pitches.) So I'd come inside with the first pitch. Willie knew I wasn't trying to hit him. Hell, you couldn't hit him, he was like a cat. He'd just get up, brush off the dirt and we'd go about our business.”

Times have changed I guess. But remember, I'm on record as saying if the pitch comes up and in above the letters and the umps say it was intentional... fines, suspensions and expulsions are in order. We can't go throwing at people head high. Those pitches seem to break a lot of arms, elbows, hands, wrists and fingers too.

You might remember that I picked the Phillies as the surprise team in baseball, and even then I only allowed them second place to the Nats. (Yes, I fell for the Nats bullshit again...a team so much less than the sum of its parts.) The Phils are in it but go on long losing jags fairly regularly. But that's the thing with these National League clubs...nobody is good enough to create any big leads in the standings. The Phils look good in a possible Wild Card play-in game because they have Ace Aaron Nola. He's the best in the league after Scherzer (but Max ain't goin' to the playoffs this year, is he? Because Washington is throwing in the towel.)

I think the Phils are still a year away...maybe two. Part of their strategy was keeping the payroll really, really low so they could afford to make a play for Harper or Machado in the free agent market at the end of this year. But the Dodgers got Machado (and will probably keep him...as I predicted) and Harper has had a dismal year. I think the Phils will wait and then lure Mike Trout (eligible for FA after 2020)back to his roots on the east coast to help his childhood hero team win. The Angels can't get over the hump and I think Mike wants to have a shot to make the playoffs more often. Whoever he goes to is going to have to pay him $40 million a year for at least ten years, so money won't be the deciding factor.

The NL Central is another under-achieving collection of imperfect clubs, most of them lacking pitchers. The Cubs have been the favorites all year, but without Kris Bryant they haven't pulled away. Darvish stayed hurt and their starting staff never jelled. But they went out and traded for some of the things they lacked (like hitting...hello Danny Murphy!) and are winning more. I think they should use their high on-base percentage guys more...LaStella, Bote, Zobrist and Murphy. Put them up top in the lineup and let Rizzo, Baez and Schwarber bat 5,6 and 7 and drive them in. The Adorables should have put this race to bed long ago.

The reason they didn't was that when St. Louis was down, the Cubs didn't step on their necks. Now the St. Louis Carpenters have gone 19-4 in August. Whoops! Might have a pennant race here! But watch out for that really bad defense! That stuff always rears its ugly head come Playoff time.

Milwaukee is still looking good mathematically, but they always seem to allow as many runs as they score...and their record reflects it.

The NL West has the real thing going...a three team Donnybrook with both the Diamondhumps and the Rockheads pushing Los Angeles. The Dodgerinos finally shot their wad for Manny Machado, and he's starting to do damage. He doesn't have much range at short but Damn!... Manny has the best arm I've ever seen on an infielder! I mean...Wow! He and Puig should have a contest. I'd pay to see it. The Bums in Blue also got Brian Dozier, which shouldn't hurt. And they have two worthy studs in the rotation who are pitching well right now: Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler. We're talking 6-1 and 5-1 K/BB rates with these two. Nobody in this division matches up with those two.

I'll own up to my courageous pre-season pick of Colorado to win this race, but the Dodgers have a better lineup with much more depth and much better starting pitching right now. Their bullpen Ace Kenly Jansen is serving up gopher balls because he's rusty after a month off from throwing his cutters, but he'll come back. The Rocks are in first place right now, but they'll have to get hotter than they've been against the Cards this weekend if they want to even win a wild card.

The Diamondbacks are basically Goldschmidt, Pollack and Peralta against the world. If those guys don't hit, the Rattlers lose. Their pitching is good, but they have no margin for error.

The Rockies are playing 22 more games against plus .500 clubs, the Diamondbacks a hefty 24 more and the Dodgers?...only 17 games against plus .500 teams the rest of the way. These three clubs play each other a lot, of course, and that should decide it for the most part. But the Dodgers have also scheduled 11 games with

big Loser teams like San Diego (3 games), Cincinnati (3 games), NY Mets (3 games), and Texas (2 games).

Big Advantage Los Angeles...here's your odds on faves in the NL.

Cubs, Cards, Braves, Dodgers, Diamondbacks

And now, a little story from the baseball past:

Herb Score was a great lefty pitcher for the Cleveland Indians in the early fifties (rookie of the year 1955 with a rookie record 245 K's; 20-9 with 263 K's in 1956) whose career was unfortunately cut short in 1957 when Gil McDougal of the Yankees lined a fastball into Score's face. Herb was never the same. He could have been one of the all-time greats.

Well, when he first came up, even though he was pitching great, his manager, Al Lopez, wasn't happy with his bunting. After one complete game shutout, Lopez kept him from going to the locker room and made him take bunting practice on the field. After that, Lopez said in the next game he pitched, he wanted Score to bunt every time he came to the plate, to get some more practice.

Well, Score's first game after this managerial directive is against the Red Sox and as luck would have it, the Indians jump out to a lead of...like... 19 to 0 before Herb even gets his first at bat. He has to do what his manager ordered of course, but he doesn't want the Red Sox to misunderstand, the unwritten Rules of Baseball being what they are about bunting or stealing when you have a huge lead.

So Herb says to the catcher, “There's going to be a bunt, so get ready to throw me out and everyone will be happy.”

Thanks for the Memories, Herb Score...and Bye Bye 'til next time, ball fans.

MARCO'S BASEBALL BLOG-O-ROONIE 2018: HOT CHILD IN THE CITY

MARCO'S BASEBALL BLOG-O-ROONIE 2018: HOT CHILD IN THE CITY

If you're like me you got to hate all those early season games they were trying to play in Detroit or Cleveland or Minnesota where you had to watch Edwin Encarnacion or some other Dominican try to hit while snow was swirling around the infield and the on-field wind chill temperature was about 15 degrees above zero. So when Edwin was hitting .050 in April all the pundits were griping about how he was washed up and letting the team down.

Just about every year of his career Edwin hasn't hit in cold weather and then he heats up as the weather does. Now he's raking with 20 homers and 60+ ribs at the halfway mark. He'll wind up with his usual 40 dings and 115 ribbies this season. Duh...like pretty much every other hitter in the game, Ed likes it hot.

It's not even any fun to hit a hundred mile per fastball with a wooden bat in cold weather unless you hit it right on the sweet spot. Anywhere else on the bat and cold weather contact results in bone-rattling stingers racing up into your armpits. Psychologically, that messes with your head and you wind up hoping you miss the ball entirely.

So why do they play baseball games in cold weather ballparks early in the season when bad weather cancellations and grade F playing conditions make the game a joke?

The answer is money, of course. Gotta play 162 games and we can't run the playoffs into November any deeper or else you have the same problem during those showcase games. So every year the game endures frozen night games, pulled hamstrings and postponements that lead to no days off later in the season trying to play baseball in conditions it was never meant to be played in.

Baseball hates injuries, and yet it insists that its high salaried workers risk muscle pulls and arm trouble playing in the cold, and then fatigue injuries later in the season when teams have to double up on plane tickets to play make up games (and doesn't that cost extra money, MLB?) and cancel much needed off days trying to complete the schedule. Plus they play double headers, which are really an anachronism in today's game when most teams are regularly using seven pitchers in the average nine inning contest. (They act like it's 1903, when Joe “Iron Man” McGinnity of the New York Giants could pitch 434 innings including starting and completing both games of a doubleheader THREE TIMES in one month!) Stupid Stupid Stupid.

All of which is just my way of saying that I'm glad it's summer when the pitching elbows are toasty and the hitters have a little sunshine in their bats!

I guess while I'm complaining I should suggest a fix for the problem of April winter baseball.

PLAY THE FIRST TWO WEEKS OF THE SEASON IN WARM WEATHER CITIES OR DOMED STADIUMS!

With 14 domed stadiums and warmer April weather cities available, this system will result in fewer games canceled so you can still play 162 games in the season without taking away so many off days to use for makeup games. It means fewer injuries. It means more money. And it's fairly easy. Just have two teams a day take the day off, and the other 28 have a place to play. It means several inter-league games in that two week period, but big deal...they now play inter-league almost every day of the season anyway.

F.Y.I. the domed stadiums are in Tampa, Miami, Toronto, Houston, Milwaukee, Phoenix and Seattle and open air stadiums in warmer weather cities can be found in Atlanta, Arlington, Oakland, San Francisco, L.A. Angels, L.A. Dodgers, and San Diego.

Why more money? Because you'll get more fans coming out to a game in a nice cozy dome or warm weather city than you do now in beautiful 4 degree Target Field in lovely Minnesota. How about a night game in Toronto on April 3^rd?

Doesn't that seem logical? Baseball has resisted this fix because they don't think it's fair to have the cold weather teams play the first two weeks on the road. And it is fair to have 28 games (2018 stat) canceled this spring? Besides, the northern teams get to have an extended home stand in prime summer months later on.

In fact, a bonus result of this change is that the cold weather teams will catch up on their home game schedule in July and August so we have fewer games in Atlanta or Arlington when the on field temps are about 110, even at night.

Things would be even better if baseball would play more day games in the first two weeks. Day games draw fairly well early in the season because the fans are excited to see baseball again and will still come out. And even if you draw fewer fans for day games in April, you don't have to suffer the notoriously poorly attended make up games and day night double-headers later in the season, which are often played in the daytime anyway.

This fix is so obvious that it's almost guaranteed that baseball will obstinately refuse to institute it. What's new?

If I sound a little truculent, it's because I got a knee replacement a month ago and I've been reclining in bed in between painful bouts of “rehab therapy” (which is euphemism for “torture”). Nothing to do all day but watch baseball punctuated by world cup soccer. Those soccer players are teaching me new and better exclamations of pain and anguish as they writhe in uncontrollable agony every time a member of the opposition gets within breathing distance. I need some of these new moves to try out on my therapist. So far nothing is working. She's merciless.

As far as the baseball goes, everything is unfolding much as I anticipated:

New York and Boston rule the roost in the AL East. Cleveland is quietly dominating the AL Central and Houston is...wait a minute! Who is that only one game behind the best team in baseball? Why, it's the Seattle Mariners!

So...AL WEST:

The M's suspended their steroid baby Robbie Cano and promptly went on a big winning streak. Rich Haniger, Kyle Seager, Dee Gordon, Jean Segura and Nelson Cruz are the main guns, but they've got a few good pitchers like James Paxton and Wade LeBlanc to take the pressure off of Felix Hernandez. Of course the M's have had early summer hot streaks before and then caved in September so we'll see. They aren't exactly obliterating people...most of their victories are amazing one run comeback wins, which are very inspirational but tend to even up eventually. Not a good way to negotiate a pennant race.

The Astros still have the best starting staff in baseball with Verlander,Cole,Morton, Keuchel and McCullers all pitching well. Their offense has been off and on all season, though. Sometimes Springer carries them but he's in a deep slump for the last three weeks. Altuve was hot, then not. Gurriel batted .220 for two months then went roman candle up to .293. Now it's Bregman (player of the month in NL) who is keeping them in games. Nice system, especially when Carlos Correa has been out with a bad back. The bullpen still mostly sucks. That's the Achilles heal. But with those starters, Houston will be a dreaded matchup in any playoff series, along with New York.

The rest of the AL West looks tame, even though Oakland is stirring and should be a contender soon. They need pitching but have a whole bunch of strong boys who hit homers and strike out all the time, which seems to be what baseball wants these days. Well welcome to Oakland, where NINE guys are on pace to strike out at least 100 times! (Big Deal, you say. Yeah, I guess you're right. About half the teams in baseball can say the same thing! And a golden sombrero used to be what they called it when a player got fanned 3 times in a game. Now they reserve that expression for players whiffing 4 times in a game and it's so common that it barely makes the recap. And yet everybody still bat flips, struts around the bases and points Upwards to a Loving God when they hit a homer. What would happen, do you think, if every pitcher spiked the resin bag and genuflected after a K? Mayhem, probably.)

The Angels lost Shohei Ohtani with a bad elbow. He came back for hitting but can't pitch for the time being. Too bad. They need his pitching. And baseball needs his flash. The kid is a special treat...like Bird Fydrich or a young Mickey or Willie. A signpost for a new baseball age. I hope he can stay healthy.

Without Ohtani, and even with Trout having maybe his best season, the Angels don't seem to be able to muster the Right Stuff. Maybe because Kole Calhoun, Ian Kinsler, Chris Young and Zack Cozart (DL for the season) are all hitting under their weight.

AL EAST:

The two Super Teams continue to be super, Boston and New York trading first place back and forth. I expect New York to pull away for these two reasons: New York has only 20 games remaining with teams playing over .500 ball. Boston has 27 remaining with plus .500 teams. But New York has 27 games with clubs currently in last place...guaranteed zombie squads like Baltimore, KC, Texas and even Miami. Boston only has 14 against the bottom feeders. That's going to make a diff going down the stretch. (Out of curiosity, I looked at Houston's remaining schedule. The Astros will be facing 51 games against plus-.500 teams! What does that mean? It means New York will probably have home field advantage throughout the playoffs.)

The second reason I think New York is destined for first place in the East is that Boston only has one pitcher who can seemingly stop the Yanks...Chris Sale. Everybody else they send out there gets lit up like Johnny Depp on a talk show. I think the Red Sox planned their rotation around needing left-handed pitching to beat the Yanks, but now that they have Sanchez, Judge, Stanton, Andujar and Torres the Yanks are even scarier from the right side of the plate, and all those hitters love lefties. Especially when they've learned to take that outside pitch to right field and into that friendly right field porch.

Torres (on DL til end of July) and Andujar give the Yanks a dangerous bottom of the lineup. Boston doesn't match up in their last third of the lineup.

Give credit wear credit is due. The Yankees most valuable player is...Frank Cashman, the GM. What a team this guy has assembled. He changed the culture of the Yanks from reliance on free agents to building one of the best if not the best farm system in baseball. His young players are producing and he can trade for help whenever he wants to without running dry in the minors. His team has huge stars, pitching and dynamic young players. And, he stayed under the luxury tax penalty cap. Congratulations Frank! (We've almost forgotten the Jacoby Ellsbury debacle.)

Boston needs to find some pitcher besides Sale...anyone really...who can control the Yanks, especially in the Stadium. They might try trading for Jacob DeGrom from the Mets, but it would take virtually all their top prospects from the minors. If knuckleballer Steve Wright could get it together, he might answer at least as somebody to take the Yankee hitters' timing away. Right now Betts, Martinez, Benintendi and Bogaerts are playing great baseball...if those four and Sale can stay healthy...Boston might just make it.

The only interesting thing about the other three teams in the East is who they'll trade their stars (Machado, Adam Jones, Happ, Stroman, etc.) too as July winds down.

*A note on Machado: I know the Orioles are having a disastrous, epically catastrophic season, but Manny...an admittedly great player... hit a double play grounder the other day and practically walked to first. The infielder bobbled the ball and the throw was ridiculously late but of course they still doubled up Manny by ten feet because he was dogging it so bad. Now it's one thing when you jog on a routine grounder...but not hustling on a double play ball? That's betraying your team. I saw Harper pull the same thing. Cano is another great player who doesn't want to run it out. I don't want any of these guys on my team. If you're hurt, that's different.

I played senior baseball with guys in their sixties who couldn't make it to first base on a ground ball inside of a minute (me included when I was in my sixties!) and you'd still see them beating it down the line as if their life depended on it. I have more respect for those old, slow bastards than I do for superstars who dog it.

These guys should be made to sit down with Pete Rose for a little conversation. Maybe visit the grave of Enos Slaughter. Or remember when Deion Sanders came up to the plate with Carlton Fisk catching and drew a dollar sign in the dirt with his bat. Then he hit a weak pop up to the infield and just turned around and went back to the dugout? Carlton got in his face and said “There's a right way and a wrong way to play this game and you're playin' it the wrong way. I'm an old guy and it offends me so if you do it again I'm gonna kick your ass. Run it out goddamnit!”

Come back Carlton. We need you! This great game of baseball has been around for 170 years. Have a little respect.

AL CENTRAL:

No big mystery here. The Indians are cruising to the division crown behind big years from Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor and solid offensive support from Michael Brantley and Encarnacion. Cleveland will be able to rest their starters down the stretch and should be in good shape for the post season. They have a starting staff second only to Houston. Kluber, Carrasco, Bauer, Clevinger...the Tribe is loaded. If Andrew Miller can make it back from knee trouble they might surprise the other Super Teams in their league. They sure won't get any competition from the zombie teams in their division.

NL WEST:

I predicted Machado would get picked up by the Dodgers, but it appears the Dodgeheads are depending on Matt Kemp for the duration. He's been great, hasn't he? Justin Turner has come back strong from injury and this guy Max Muncy has been amazing. Where did he come from? They're not getting enough from the rest of their lineup, in my opinion. They're going to need a big bat in the playoffs, if they make it. Still, how many other teams in the majors could overcome an average of 13 guys on the DL at any one time...including 3 or 4 stars...and still be in the thick of it?

Right now, it looks like L.A. will make it. Arizona had a chance to bury them when they were playing so bad. Now that they've gotten some of their injured stars back, that opportunity has evaporated. Arizona will be lucky to hang on to a wild card. At least Goldschmidt turned it around after a Reeking Spring. He's added 60 points to his BA in June and July so far.

My pick to win the West, Colorado, has regressed. They can't win at home and they can't pitch except fitfully. They can't get all the hitters hot at once. Arenado has been their only consistent performer.

San Francisco has reclaimed their honor by challenging in the West with a .500 record. Finally, after a half season, they have their big three pitchers Bumgarner, Cueto and Samardzija all healthy. Let's see what they can do. If there's one thing we should have learned this decade, it's DON'T COUNT THE GIANTS OUT!

San Diego, however, is another story. The Press boys should have the post mortem already written and ready to file.

NL CENTRAL:

Best record in the NL...Milwaukee. Who'd a thunk it? This is a particularly weak year for the NL, because the Brew crew just ain't that good. Yeah, they have a couple of pitchers and Cain and Yelich have been great for them. Jesus “Shrek” Aguilar (he looks like Shrek!) goofs it up for the camera after he hits one out. They just don't seem like a juggernaut. Maybe the Crew and the Cubs will fight it out in a pennant race so we can get some enjoyment out of this.

The Cubs have lost Kris Bryant until this week, but this is the year that Javier Baez and Albert Almora emerged as top of the line players. Jason Heyward also resurrected himself into a .280 hitter. I'm happy for him...he was made the target of a lot of bad attention based on his lack of offense for the dollars he's been earning. Strangely, the Cubs starting staff has become John Lester and a bunch of guys impersonating the Cubs pitching staff. What happened to Quintana, Stork Hendricks and Yu Darvish? Somebody needs to pick it up or the Adorables may let their opportunity slide.

The St. Louis Cardinals are a real head scratcher. What happened to this team? In an age of home runs they don't hit home runs. They don't even hit doubles except for Matt Carpenter (17 homers and 27 doubles). They don't hit for average. They don't steal bases. They don't get on base. They still strike out a lot. Get the drift? This is a really weak offensive club. And their pitching just isn't strong enough to make up for it. Plus they play mediocre defense. This leaves the Redbirds floundering around 7½ games out of first in the Central.

Pittsburgh and Cincinnati bring up the rear in this division...skeletons of the proud franchises that once stood like titans on the necks of the also rans of the NL. Now they are the also rans, hoping for good draft choices. At least Cincy can see the possibilities with some of their young position players. Pitching is not developing as fast. The Pirates don't have anybody with an on base percentage over .350 except catcher Francisco Cervelli (.381) Their high man for slugging is Cervelli at .481. And Pittsburgh's starting pitchers are 4.50 ERA men across the board and they aren't even that young.

NL EAST:

The surprising mediocrity of the Washington Nationals have somehow made this the most interesting pennant race in baseball. AS usual, the Nats have lost half of their lineup to injury and the rest to incompetence. Don' task me to explain it. Every year I tell you this bunch has the strongest lineup, the best rotation etc. etc. and they continue to stink it up. Right now nine guys are on the DL (of course Strasburg is one of them) and only Anthony Rendon is having what could be called a good year at the plate. Harper has hit 23 homers but he's batting .213! That he made the All Star team is an embarrassment. 19 year old outfielder Juan Soto is the most exciting player on the team. He could be a good one and is definitely a Hot Child candidate. They still have probably the best pitcher in baseball in Mad Max Scherzer. Why isn't this team better?

The Nats are in third, but still close to the Atlanta Braves and the Fightin' Phillies. That means they are still in it. Need I remind you that they stand to lose Harper and Rendon to free agency next off-season? This could be it for this classically underachieving team.

Thank God for Atlanta and Philly! Two former zombie tams now resurrected into contenders. We actually have a pennant race and some great players to watch.

The Bravos have Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuna Jr. to put in the lineup with Freddie Freeman and a suddenly sizzling Nick Markakis. That's a potent offensive block of hitters for pitchers to negotiate. Power, average and speed. Inciarte (when he hustles) is good for defense and steals. Suzuki is a good defensive catcher and the Braves have three or four decent starters. Let's see if the bullpen can hold up over the second half, when Atlanta plays a whole bunch of good teams.

The Phillies, my pick for a respectable second place finish behind the Nats in this division, have decided not to wait til next year to celebrate their metamorphosis into a contender. They have a lot of fruit on the tree, but it's not quite ripe yet. But Odubel Herrera and Rhys Hoskins are players and Aaron Nola is an Ace already. If Jake Arrieta can somehow recapture his technique...well, there's not that much distance between this team and the Dodgers, the Cubs, the Brewers, the Braves or the Diamondbacks.

The Mets are sinking into a giant sinkhole that is opening up under Citi Field. Years of lousy front office work, bull-headed managers and injury prone players have left the team in shards. They've had a potentially super pitching rotation that is now meaningless because they can't score a run for any of them. They spent big money on Yoenis Cespedes and he just can't keep his body healthy. They have ten other players on the DL, an annual condition for the Mets.

In fact, the tragic condition of the Mets remind me of my reworked system of player evaluation. In the old days they would say “He's a five-tool player” meaning the player in question could hit, hit with power, run, field and throw. I think players should be judged in three additional categories to truly evaluate their worth...durability, baseball intelligence and leadership. Cal Ripken wasn't the best hitting shortstop for average or power. He couldn't run that well. He was a good, but not Ozzie Smith-good fielder. He did have one of the best arms in baseball. But Cal Ripken was ALWAYS READY TO PLAY. How valuable was that to the Orioles? Cal was also a very smart player who knew how to play every hitter in the league, and he was a true inspirational leader in the locker room and on the field. So that jacks up his worth far beyond his batting average or homer totals.

Ok, I've got to go now. I have a date with an S and M rehab woman. (Hear me scream!)

All the best and enjoy the All Star break!

MARCO'S BASEBALL BLOG-O-ROONIE 2018: MOOKIE AND THE MIGHTY MASHING MUNCHKINS

MARCO'S BASEBALL BLOG-O-ROONIE 2018: MOOKIE AND THE MIGHTY MASHING MUNCHKINS

One third of the 2018 season completed and what do we know?

Negatory:

1/the games move too slowly.

2/there are too many bad teams.

3/everybody strikes out too much.

4/injuries decide pennant races.

Positractive:

1/3 super teams make for a pennant race worth watching.

2/a whole bunch of great young players have come up.

3/Mookie and the Munchkins are taking over.

Let's start with the last item:

Mookie Betts is 5'8” and weighs (very suspect listing) 180 lbs. and he leads all of baseball in home runs. If he winds up winning the home run crown he will be the smallest player ever to do that. (Hack Wilson hit 56 in 1930 and he was 5'6” but he weighed about 230. He was a true walking barrel. Size 4 feet. How did he balance himself, even?)

Of course, even though the baseball reference lists Mook at 5”9” we know that's bunk. And I doubt he's within 10 pounds of the 180 he's listed at. All pro sports lie about size because everybody want to be bigger. (Okay...not horse racing. Jockeys lie that they're smaller.) Basketball players always add a couple three inches in height so they get drafted higher. Charles Barkley was listed at 6”6”. Hah! He's like 6'3”. Football players likewise. Quarterbacks need to be tall so they lie. Offensive lineman can't get anybody to take them seriously unless they're over 300 lbs. And nobody used to want to recruit little guys to play baseball. If they were tiny little men, they had to play shortstop or second and steal a lot of bases. Little guys with power? Seen any unicorns lately?

In the history of baseball only a handful of smaller hitters have been real power threats.

Mel Ott of the New York Giants in the 20's to 40's was probably the first. He was listed at 5'9” and 170 and he arrived in the majors at the age of 17. Ott was the first hitter (that anybody remembers) who used the high leg kick as a timing mechanism, something that was completely unheard of in baseball at the time. Ott, a leftie hitter, would balance on his back leg and dip his hands so the bat was below his waist as the pitch came in. Then he'd launch his weight forward and generate power. His manager, John McGraw, refused to send him down to the minors for seasoning because he knew some minor league coach would try to change Ott's style. McGraw left him alone and Ott rewarded the Giants with 6 years as home run leader and 511 taters for his career, 7 years with an OPS of over 1.0 and 9 years top 12 in MVP voting.

Yogi Berra played at 5'6” and 185 (stretching it) and learned how to jack the ball to right in Yankee Stadium. He wasn't a home run leader, but he was dangerous and averaged 27 homers for every 162 games played.

Joe Morgan was 5'6” and was a pretty good home run threat who averaged 16 dings for each 162 games. He was never close to leading the league though.

Kirby Puckett (5'7” 178 lbs.) likewise. Puck hit 19 homers per 162 games.

Now, Ott and Berra really benefited from the parks they played their home games in. The old Polo Grounds that housed the Giants was 257 down the right field line. Ott knew that and tailored his swing accordingly. Berra had a very friendly relationship with the famous Yankee Stadium right field porch.

So what do we make of Jimmy Wynn, the Toy Cannon? Wynn played for the Astros in the worst hitter's park in the majors, the famously dead-aired Astrodome. And yet Jimmy Wynn, at 5'9” and 160 lbs., finished in the top 10 in N.L. home runs 5 times. He is unfairly undervalued by historians because he played in the relative backwater of Houston and wasn't on competitive teams. And of course his offensive stats were curtailed by that lousy hitting environment. But Jimmy was a legit bomber. (25 4-baggers per 162 games.) He hit one of the longest home runs in the history of Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

Watch it on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ2fs9p-J3s

and this freak show at Forbes Field https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4Cn6qusV3c

But now we have at least 4 Jimmy Wynn's playing in the majors. The Mighty Mashing Munchkins have arrived!

2018: season so far…

Mookie Betts Red Sox: 17 homers (1^st), 19 doubles (1^st) 36 rbi's (6^th but he's a lead off hitter!) runs 52 (1^st) batting average .359 (1^st) steals 13 (2^nd)

Jose Ramirez Cleveland (5'8” 165lbs.) 15 homers, 14 doubles (through only 50 games!) (29/56 last season)

in the National League:

Ozzie Albies Braves: (5'7” 165 lbs.) 14 homers, 15 doubles 46 runs scored

and lest we forget…

Jose Altuve Astros: 5'5” 165 (listed...actually about 150) only 4 homers so far but he hit 24 each of the last two seasons. Perennial batting champ and hits leader.

This is the year we were all supposed to be gaga over the Twin Towers of the Yankees, Judge and Stanton...forget it. I'll take the Munchkins!

MLB was making a big deal over the length of games in the off season and making plans to correct said sloth. That's funny. Games still drag on. The reasons are mostly because nobody can put the ball in play and counts go deep to every batter, most of whom wind up striking out. And with all the pitches being thrown, naturally you have to use more pitchers...6 or 7 per game regularly. Warming up and replacing reliever after reliever and then having every other batter going to full counts...that'll lengthen your games a little, don't you think?

MLB made some noise about voluntarily getting pitchers to take less time between pitches and asking batters not to step out as often but it's done little to shorten ball games. I watched some of the Yankee/Angels game with the very deliberate deliveries of Tanaka versus Garrett Richards...painful! Both of them topped 26 seconds between every pitch.

What to do?

First here's what NOT to do...don't mess with the strike zone. Don't limit the number of relievers used in an inning or anything nutty like that. Try these ideas:

1/A 20 second pitch clock except on charged time outs when the catcher absolutely has to go out to the mound.

2/Limit those visits to 5 a game.

3/5 warmup pitches each half inning instead of 8, including relievers who should have warmed up in the pen anyway.

4/All relievers brought in by golf cart.

5/Cut one thirty second commercial out of each half inning but add a full minute and a half back during the seventh inning stretch to reclaim some lost commercial dollars.

6/No batter step outs except after a swing or if the ump thinks the pitcher is taking too much time and grants the batter a time out.

7/equip umps with a two way radio so the replay ump in New York can tell the chief instantly if a call should be changed or not. No more walking over to a dugout and waiting around endlessly for a call...the ump should know the answer by the time the manager calls for a replay.

I think these changes could cut 20-30 minutes off a game. But they never listen to me anyway…

The pennant races this year:

There are too many bad teams in baseball. Teams intentionally folding and selling off everything of value so they can finish last and get draft choices has gotten out of hand. I brought this up in my start of the season issue and it's even worse than I thought.

Now we have 6 Zombie Teams in the majors (I define it as teams at .400 or under). Miami and Cincinnati in the N.L. (San Diego almost qualifies except they are at .407 and still only 6 ½ games out in the weak N.L. West.) the A.L. has 4: Baltimore (19 games back already!), Kansas City, Chicago and Texas. That's a lot of non-competitive teams and a lot of disinterested fans.

What to do? Outside of imposing some kind of financial penalties for badness, not much. One thing MLB could do is force Zombie Teams to spend any money that the rich teams who go over the spending limit share with them on the team and not on profits for owners. The only other thing would be to dictate the ticket prices based on where the team finished the year before. That would be an incentive to win more games for sure, but I doubt if that is even constitutional. And a $100 ticket in New York kind of equals a $30 ticket in a Zombie town, so how do you parse that?

One thing for sure...attendance is down in baseball and I think long games, too many strike outs and Zombie Teams are to blame.

Injuries decide pennant races: Witness Washington. As usual, half their roster is on the DL at any given time. So they've been treading water at 1 game back. I still say they'll finish first in the East, but Harper hasn't had his annual injury yet and neither has Strasburg. (Note: everybody swoons over Harper and his unbelievable talent and power...give me a break... the guy is batting .226!)

The New York Metropublicans also got their annual bombing and lost Cespedes, D'Arnaud, Flores, Frazier and several starting pitchers to the usual Met afflictions. (oblique/hammy/elbow etc.)

Philadelphia and Atlanta took advantage and are now vying for first place in the East.

I predicted the Phils would finish second and I stand by that. They have much better pitching with Nola emerging as a real ace and Pivetta and Arrieta a solid 2 and 3. If they can pick up a good hitting outfielder to help out Odubel Herrera and get Hoskins and Santana off the snide, they could surprise. (Note: I don't expect Odubel to stay this hot. He has the most complicated batting stance I've ever seen. His front (right) foot is lying sideways on the ground at this weird angle. He has a good batting eye though.)

Atlanta has suddenly become relevant with great young players. Acuna and Albies and Swanson are helping Freeman and Markakis and Inciarte. Their team BA is .265 and OBP is .335, both near the top of baseball. Their pitching ERA is in the top half of MLB, even while playing in the new launching pad of SunTrust Park. I expect the Bravos to finish third, but this is one team that's worth the price of admission.

The N.L. Central is a 4-team race with Milwaukee currently on top. The addition of two great outfielders in Cain and Yelich, plus the ongoing excellence of third sacker Travis Shaw has their offense humming. The rotation has been ordinary, but the bullpen, led by Josh Hader, has been exemplary. I didn't think they would be this strong.

Of course, continued under-achievement from Chicago and St. Louis has helped the Brew Crew build a 4 game cushion. God knows what's with the Cubbies. I suppose they are waiting for their usual post-All Star Game surge, but how do they lose so many games with their roster? Rizzo (BA .215) and Heyward (.224) have been duds all year, but Bryant, Baez and Schwarber have all been hitting well. Put most of the blame on the really wretched performances of starters Yu Darvish, Tyler Chatwood and Jose Quintana.

The Cardinal story can be told with crystal clarity if you look at the DL list below:

Name	Last Updated	Injury Type	Injury Details
Matthew Bowman	May 18, 2018	Finger	Bowman has been placed on the 10-day disabled list due to blisters and there is no timetable for return.
Paul DeJong	May 25, 2018	Hand	DeJong has been placed on the 10-day disabled list and is expected to miss four-to-eight weeks after having surgery to insert screws and a metal plate into his fractured left hand.
Dexter Fowler	May 27, 2018	Knee	Fowler sat out the last game with a right knee injury and it is unknown if he will play against the Brewers on Monday.
Luke Gregerson	May 16, 2018	Shoulder	Gregerson has landed on the 10-day disabled list due to a right shoulder impingement and elbow soreness. There is no timetable for his return to the lineup.
Greg Holland	May 26, 2018	Hip	Holland has been designated for the 10-day disabled list due to a right hip impingement. A timeline for his return has yet to be established.
Dominic Leone	May 06, 2018	Bicep	Leone is on the 10-day disabled list with right biceps nerve irritation and it is unclear when he will return to the lineup.
Carlos Martinez	May 20, 2018	Upper Body	Martinez has been placed on the 10-day disabled list due to a strained right lat muscle but is expected to return to action in 10-14 days.
Yadier Molina	May 06, 2018	Pelvis	Molina has landed the 10-day disabled list after undergoing surgery to his pelvic area for a traumatic hematoma. He is expected to be shelved for at least four weeks.
Alex Reyes	May 27, 2018	Elbow	Reyes has been transferred to the 60-day disabled list while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He is on a rehab assignment and is expected to be activated and start Wednesday's game against the Brewers.
Adam Wainwright	May 17, 2018	Elbow	Wainwright has been transferred to the 60-day disabled list while recuperating from inflammation in his pitching elbow and is expected to held out of action until at least the All-Star break.

8 out of those 10 names were players they were really counting on. Losing Molina alone put them behind the eight-ball because he is so important to their pitching staff. Add to this grim casualty list the under-performing Marcel Ozuna, Matt Carpenter, Kolton Wong and Dexter Fowler and you have the reason St. Louis is 4 back.

But the rest of the league should be concerned that it's only 4 games, even with that much carnage.

Another surprise: the Piraticals are playing .538 and are only 5 games out! We all wrote them off when they traded McCutcheon and Cole. But here they still are, hitting for good average, little power and pitching fairly poorly but winning more games than they lose. Congratulations Buccos...you didn't go Zombie...you're still trying and your fans appreciate it I'm sure. That's all the fans can ask for, really, is a team that really tries hard to win and plays with spirit.

N.L.West...Diamondbacks...currently in free-fall. Reason? 11 out of their top 16 position players are hitting .220 or less...9 are fully under the Mendoza Line of .200. Result: Utter Disaster!

The Humps started hot despite Paul Goldschmidt's awful slump, but instead of coming out of it, Goldie has infected the rest of the team, and, now that Pollack is hurt, they have no offense at all to speak of. Goldie has struck out 69 times in 220 plate appearances! He has only 16 ribbies in a third of a season! He looks so lost! 5 other players have struck out over 40 times in the 52 games the team has played.

The pitching has held up well, led by Corbin, Greinke and an effective bullpen of Boxberger, Bradley, Hirano and Chafin.

This is a team playing in one of the best hitting parks in the majors hitting .211 for the team. OBP .289. Meltdown!

So you'd think the Dodgers would be running away with it, but they aren't. They had terrible luck with injuries to Justin Turner and Corey Seager and lost Kershaw for a month with a strained bicep. They were buried in fourth place for a while, but the 'Heads have come roaring back to 3 ½ games behind the Rockies (but still playing .462 ball.) I confidently predicted that the front office would make a play for Manny Machado, but losing Kershaw and Seager might have made them think that first place was out of reach. Or maybe they're just tired of spending all that money. But Kershaw is back now, the other starting pitching has been

stellar, and Kenley Jansen has worked through his early season funk. Turner came back with a bang. Maybe they think they can still take it.

I think the Dodgers are short and really need a big bat. Matt Kemp has been unexpectedly awesome, but they need somebody to give them what Seager could. Bellinger has been okay, but not the force he was last year. (As I predicted!)

The reason I think that L.A. is short is that the Colorado Rockies are in first place despite having a terrible start offensively. Arrenado, Blackmon and Story have been hitting but that's it. And they've been stinking it up at home in Coors Field!

Their pitching has been very ordinary, despite that stacked bullpen. When it gets warm, the Rocks are going to get it going and pull away, I predict. The Dodgers usually get hot in July and August, but they'll have to get really hot to grab a playoff spot.

San Francisco lost their whole starting rotation but have been playing with pride to stay around .500. Bumgarner is almost back, but it would take something really miraculous to resurrect the Gigantes.

A.L. East: Let us now praise the first two of our Super Teams in MLB. New York and Boston. These two heavyweights have proved their superiority. They should wrestle down to the wire. The Yanks have come up with a truly scary lineup mixture of hitters in their prime (Stanton, Gregorius, Walker, Gardner, Hicks) mixed with young studlies (Andujar, Torres, Judge, Austin, Sanchez and Bird)

Add in Severino as a Number One starter and that lights-out bullpen and the Yanks are about one starting pitcher away from total domination. And this domination should last for a while. Only the Red Sox and the Astros can play with the Big Dog Yankees.

Boston has the best record in baseball for now. But even with that unbelievable record hot start they're only up by one game over the Yankees. I think they'll keep hitting, but if they lose Betts or Martinez to injury they'll be in trouble. They have depth in the rotation, but they need Sale and Price to keep pitching at a high level.

Toronto and Tampa Bay are scrappy teams but they are also- rans in this division.

The A.L Central I call the “Who has the Lousiest Bullpen” Division. Statistically, it's the Cleveland Indians, who would probably be considered a Super Team if it wasn't for their bottom of the barrel pen. They just put Andrew Miller back on the DL. Cleveland needs help...but they're still the first place team in this flawed division.

Minnesota has watched Byron Buxton slide back to being a

.157 hitter after showing signs of life last season.

Mauer is hurt and so is Santana but the starting pitching has been petty darn good and the Twinks are 3 ½ back. (and yes, the bullpen sucks.)

Detroit has specialized in bad bullpens over the years so what's new? Their big star players (Cabrera and Zimmerman) are hurt so what's new? Detroit was expected to Zombie but their pride won't let them. Strive ever onward, Tigres! You and the Pirates can look at yourselves in the mirror and not flinch.

Over in the A.L. West it's a fight for the second wild card spot after either Boston or New York wraps up the first. Houston is going to win this division unless their bad bullpen does them in. They really should get a few new arms out there cause that bunch sucks right now. They had an 8-3 lead over Cleveland yesterday and coughed it up in the ninth with lousy relief.

But what Houston has is starters. That rotation will be hard to deal with in the playoffs...Verlander, Cole, Keuchel, Morton and McCullers. That lineup might dominate the Yankees even.

Seattle lost Cano (no more bold face type for you, Cheater!)to drug cheating and went on a winning streak. They're only 1 back of Houston right now. The Angels are 4 ½ back but don't have enough pitching behind Richards and Ohtani (who only pitches on Sundays)

What an interesting kid that Ohtani is! Has such a joy for the game you gotta love him. Good eye at the plate. Power plus. One of the fastest runners in the league (and one of the worst baserunners!)

Nobody takes Oakland seriously but the A's take mediocre pitching and stomp it in the head. And they have a few good pitchers themselves. Beware!

The only note I have for poor Texas is...teach Joey Gallo how to hit to the opposite field! Teams are shifting EVERYBODY to the right side when he comes up...nobody in left at all, nobody left of second base at all! And yet the big lug just keeps trying to pull it to Arkansas every time up.

Think about it...Gallo hits on average 1 homer every four games. He barely gets a hit other than an occasional homer. He's struck out 78 times in 219 plate appearances. With this shift he's only had 20 other hits besides the 15 taters he's hit. He's batting .197.

Now what if suddenly, Gallo starts hitting the ball to left field every time he comes up...or at least trying to. Don't go for homers at all, just bunt it or slap it or somehow hit the ball to left. It's an automatic hit because nobody is over there! If he does that four games in a row even figuring in his strike outs he gets on say 12 out of 16 times. Don't you think the other team is going to start putting a guy or two back on the left side? I mean, would you be willing to let Joey Gallo bat ..750 against your defense game after game? So if Joey gives up pulling the ball for a few games, he helps his team out a lot and eventually the defense is going to have to come back to the left side. Then he can try to blast a few again.

If you were the Texas manager, would you rather have Joe hit 1 homer every four games and make almost all outs otherwise, or would you like him to get on 3 out of 4 times every game?

Okay...that's enough for today. Happy Memorial Day and remember our soldiers and sailors and aviators who have to put it on the line to take care of us.

Until next time...

--Marco