Marco's Baseball Blog-O-Roonie 2018: Playoffs...Who Do Ya Like?

MARCO'S BASEBALL BLOG-O-ROONIE 2018: PLAYOFFS...WHO DO YA LIKE?

I had to wait until these one game wild card and tiebreaker for division crown type games are over because who the heck can predict winners in those kinds of games anyway? I mean, it's one lousy game? It's been a little easier lately when one team has a Bumgarner or an Arrieta pitching. At least you can go with the Ace and guess right.

This year we had the NL Central tiebreaker with the Adorables at the Ivied Hallowed Halls of Heroes versus the upstart slightly chemically augmented Milwaukee Brew Blasters. I picked the Cubs at home and of course lost. The Crew continued their run of discombobulating the Chicagoans as Maddon kept pitching to Yelich who continued his hot hand and murdered their pitchers.

This forced the Baby Bears into a wild card game at home against the Rockies. They lost again and looked really bad doing it. The game went 13 innings and had the hometowners bringing in starters Cole Hamels and Stork Hendricks to face the Rockheads. They couldn't score to save their adorable souls and went down in fairly pitiful fashion.

The highlight of that game was Javier Baez running into the arms of Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado and hugging him to keep Arenado from throwing to first and doubling up Cubs catcher Wilson Contreras who was limping down to first with a leg cramp after grounding weakly to third. It looked really stupid. Baez just embraced Nolan with great Latin passion and Arenado seemed to forget what he was supposed to do. It was like “You feel so good in my arms Jave! Let's do the Habanera!” And Jave was like “I'm Puerto Rican, make it the Bomba! And hold me tighter you Cuban Hunk, you!”

So now I'm expecting...that's it! The fatal mistake! Now the Cubs will score the winning run in this, the 12^th inning of Doom, and people will be talking about this play for a baseball eternity. But no, the Cubbies didn't take advantage of this Javier Baez Dancing with the Star moment and now this too, the “Merengue of the MVPs” will fade from memory.

So the Rockies, who had just lost their chance at the division crown by losing badly to the Dodgers, are now playing the Brew Crew in a five game set in Milwaukee.

I like Milwaukee in 5 games because the Brewers have been beating everybody lately. And Yelich has been awesome. His swing is so perfect that he's hitting everything on the sweet spot and going to all fields.

Everybody seems to concede the MVP to Yelich because he's had his hot streak late. It's been very impressive, but Baez had some hot streaks earlier and pretty much carried the Cubs offensively in a really down year for the Baby Bear bats. And Baez was playing all over the field wherever Joe Maddon needed him. With Addison Russell in trouble for slumping and for beating on his woman, Baez was mostly at shortstop, and last time I looked that's a much more important defensive position than left field. And Baez is one of the best at short.

In case you forgot, the importance of the defensive positions after pitcher goes something like this:

1/catcher (by a wide margin) 2/shortstop 3/second base 4/center field 5 and 6/third base and first base (pretty much a tie...third basemen get a few more grounders because of more right handed hitters in baseball and have to have a stronger arm. But first basemen handle the ball a lot more and have to dig out throws.) 7/right field (because a right fielder has to have a stronger arm so he can throw that long toss to third when a runner rounds second and goes for it.) 8/left field (where you can hide a weak arm and get away with playing guys who can't field anywhere else.)

Now that doesn't mean that a player at a less vital defensive position can't still be more valuable defensively. A Mookie Betts who plays so well in the difficult right field at Fenway is more defensively valuable than a bad second basement like Danny Murphy. But Murphy is an anomaly. Most fielders that bad get traded to the American League so they can DH.

Yelich is a great left fielder. But Baez is a great shortstop and that trumps whatever Yelich does in left field. So, with their offensive stats being so similar, I give the MVP to Baez by a hair because I think he did more to help the Cubs win as much as they did in a down year for them. I'd rather watch Yelich hit because I like that style better than Jave's swing for the downs and never walk style. Both of them hit in the clutch like Champs.

Both the Rocks and the Brews depend upon their bullpens to control the game. Rocks have one stud starter in Kyle Freeland. Brews have the scary relief closer in Josh Hader. I think the Brews are more ready to win.

The other 5 game playoff in the NL is between the Dodgers and the Atlanta Bravos. The Bravos clinched a while ago and now everybody has forgotten about them. With Freeman, Markakis and Acuna, they are a dangerous bunch. But I don't think they have the pitching or the experience to beat the Dodgers yet.

It took the Bluebloods all year to get their team squared away, but now that the pitching staff is reasonably healthy and deep and Manny Machado and Brian Dozier have adjusted to the National League, L.A. is just too powerful for the Bravos. They also have home field advantage in this series and they should cruise.

Over in the American League, the Yankees woke up and pounded the Oakland Clones in Yankee Stadium. The key moment in that contest was Aaron Judge hitting a rocket homer (finally) and reassuring the faithful that his broken wrist has healed. Judge seems to be the thermometer for the Yanks. If he's hot, the team gets fired up.

So now we have the long awaited next chapter in the Playoff Saga of the Yankees versus the Red Sox. The Fine Young Bombers against the all time winning-est Red Sox ever.

I have stated before that I think the Sox are in trouble against this team. Chris Sale is the only starter who has been able to control the Yankees this year, especially in the Stadium. Chris is hurt. He has no velocity on his fastball after shoulder problems. It's doubtful he can go long into a game and the Yankees have killed the Red Sox bullpen. I don't think Porcello and Price can beat the Yankees and I don't trust the bullpen.

I think to have a chance in this series, the Sox will have to get Betts and Martinez at the top of their offensive powers and they'll have to hold serve at Fenway. But it's going to be hard to ask Sale to win two games coming off that injury.

The Yankees have to feel good about how Severino looked against the Oaklands. If he's the Ace again, they've got to be feeling confident. They've got the Beef Trust of Judge, Stanton, Voit, Andujar, Sanchez and Gleyber Torres all hitting for power. The one fly in their ointment? Sanchez is such a bad catcher that the Sox may be able to run wild just on passed balls! The Yankees should play Romine.

Yankees in 5.

Who remembers the Houston Astros? Remember? The team that won last year? That old fashioned team that has actual Starting Pitchers? This whole new trend of pitching your bullpen every game instead of having an actual starting pitcher go 6 or 7 innings is not the Astro's bag. They have Verlander, Cole, Morton and Keuchel. Now that Jose Altuve is healthy, they have their sparkplug. Alex Bregman took up the slack when Altuve, Correa and Springer were hurt and pretty much saved their season when Oakland started to surge. Mookie Betts probably overtook Bregman for MVP with a sizzling September and you can't ask any player to do more to help his team. But Bregman was a true hero as well.

He's a little behind Mook stat-wise, but 51 doubles and 31 homers is still pretty good.

The Astros aren't as scary this year offensively because Carlos Correa, their great young shortstop, has back trouble and hasn't hit since coming off the DL. Springer has been sluggish as well. More pressure on Altuve, Bregman and people like Gattis and Gurriel.

The Clevelanders are the true dark horse team of this year's playoffs. They could win if Encarnacion has a good run and Joe Ramirez and Lindor keep up their hotting. (Shorthand for 'hot hitting'!)The Tribe has a starting staff second only to the 'Stros. Their bullpen is just as good. Could be a classic series.

Astros in 5.

I'm going to postpone my predictions for the rest of the playoffs until we've seen the first round.

Hasta La Vista Baby!

Marco's Baseball Blog-O-Roonie 2018: ALPHA-STARS AND MVPS

MARCO'S BASEBALL BLOG-O-ROONIE 2018: ALPHA-STARS AND MVPS

I don't know if you're like me, but I get kind of excited when young stars make a great early impression coming into the majors. Guys like Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuna, Juan Soto and Alex Bregman.

Shohei is just a remarkable cat. I never would have thought this young Japanese kid could say no to the big money and come over to the States at a still young age and just dominate the way he has. He's a very strong candidate for Rookie of the year in the AL, even having missed so much time with injuries and enforced rest days. His offensive stats are as good as Mike Trout's were for the first 300 plate appearances of his career. All-field power, good speed and a great attitude. And then to go out on the mound and pitch like one of the top stars in the game! I so regret that his damn elbow hasn't held up to the strain as of yet. Maybe he'll get Tommy John-ed and come back next summer, just to hit for awhile until he's ready to pitch again. Baseball needs somebody like him to come in and blow our minds. A full healthy year from Ohtani-san and maybe he can help get Mike Trout to the playoffs.

This season so far, Ohtani has batted. .290, gotten on base at a .376 clip, slugged .593 and has an OPS of .970. He has 20 homers and 55 ribbies and has even stolen 9 bases. For comparison Trout..a top MVP candidate... has gone .318/.464/.614/1.078 with 34 homers, 70 ribbies and 23 steals. But Trout has had 567 plate appearances while Ohtani has just 320! Except for on-base Shohei is right there with Trout. And he is almost his equal in ribbies despite 250 fewer trips to the plate!! (Okay, that might have something to do with the fact that Ohtani bats after Trout in the Angel's lineup and Trout has walked 112 times.) Anyway, extrapolate to a full season of plate appearances by doubling these stats and you get something like 38 homers and 110 ribs. That's good enough, wouldn't you say? And add about 20 steals and you have, in Ohtani, the closest thing to a new Alpha-Star that we've seen in baseball in quite some time.

I coined the term Alpha-Star back in 2015 (check July 9^th blog from that year if you want the whole essay) to designate those rare players who dominate in all 5 tool categories. (Those being: ability to hit, hit with power, run, field and throw).

“Dominate” doesn't necessarily mean leading the league in all phases of the game. It means that on any given day, that player is capable of being the very best on the field at all the skills. The prime examples are players like Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle. Guys like Ted Williams and Stan Musial were awesome hitters of course, but were never the top fielders or runners in their eras. Most Alpha-Stars were either center fielders or shortstops because by definition players with those skill levels would best be used at those positions...if you can run and field and throw that's where they play you and the hitting takes care of itself. The only player who actually DID LEAD his league in every 5 tool category was probably Honus Wagner, the legendary shortstop of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Wagner was a barrel-chested, bowlegged German with blacksmith-type strength. Honus is penalized in our feeble memories because he played in the dead ball era in a small market on fields with no fences when you couldn't hit home runs. But get this, in several seasons Honus lead the league in batting average, slugging percentage and steals. He hit the ball farther than anyone else on those ridiculous no-fence fields they used in the 1900's. He was also the best fielding shortstop and it is said of him that he would have been considered the best fielder in the game at any other position that they could have chosen to use him at. He played all over the diamond. He had the best throwing arm in baseball bar none. (These evaluations are the opinions of hundreds of baseball experts like John McGraw and Connie Mack, managers who played against Wagner and saw thousands of baseball players over the years).

The other Uber-Alpha-Star (with an asterisk) is Babe Ruth. The Babe contended for batting titles, of course hit for power like nobody before or since, and is in a special category with throwing because of his excellence as a pitcher early in his career.

Pitchers don't qualify for Alpha status because they don't often figure in offensively...but their importance as hurlers means that that one skill...throwing...can help them dominate the game. Well, Ruth would have won at least one Cy Young Award if it had existed in his day, so that means he was the very best pitcher in the game at one time and also the very best hitter in several other seasons.

The asterisk is because for most of his career The Babe couldn't run that well. Early on he was actually deceptively fast, but he wasn't a stolen base leader or anything. He is top twenty of all time in steals of home. But power plus pitching has never been seen in our game like this since the Babe...until Ohtani! Bow down...we are not worthy!

Are there any other Alpha-Stars in major league baseball right now? Some are close. Let's take a look:

AL:

1/Mike Trout/Angels. He's close to the top as a hitter and a power hitter. He can steal with the best or close to it if they'd let him run that much. He's a top center fielder. He doesn't have the dominating arm of some other players, but he's much better than he was when he came up. 4 out of 5 categories as an Alpha.

2/Carlos Correa/Astros. Has the power and the hitting ability to go with super speed and fielding ability. One of the best arms in baseball. But Carlos hasn't put it together yet. If he can stay healthy he'll hit 40 homers some day and he can bat .320 anytime. They probably won't want him stealing more than twenty or thirty times a year. He's not the best shortstop in range or magic glove work but he has that arm so he's good enough. Let's give him 3 for 5 but with an up arrow.

3/Jose Altuve/Astros. A perennial MVP candidate and batting champ, Jose has power... in Minute Maid Park. I doubt he'd hit more than 15 a year if his home games were played in Seattle or somewhere. He could lead the league in steals anytime and he's among the very best defensive second baseman. If his arm was stronger they'd have put him at shortstop so we can't give him Alpha status there. Jose gets a 3 for 5 but see below for a more in depth analysis of his value.

4/Alex Bregman/Astros. My choice along with Mookie for MVP this year. These two and Lindor are above J.D.Martinez because of running and defense. Bregman has kept the Astros in the race when all their other hitting stars were injured. Batting Average – top ten. Power - check. (But also helped a whole lot by Minute Maid Park.) Fielding- check (He could be their shortstop if they didn't have Correa.) Throwing not the very best, after all we have Machado and Arenado and arms like that out there, but Bregman is plenty strong. Run – just slightly above average. 10 steals this year. Give Alex a 3 1/2 out of 5 but give him props for hitting 50 doubles and 30 homers in the same season and for being mind-numbingly clutch.

5/Francisco Lindor/Indians. A shortstop and the best in our game. Andrelton Simmons of the Angels is his only real competition as a fielder. Simmons hits better than he used to, but he's not in Lindor's neighborhood. Correa can hit with Frankie, but when they played for their World Baseball Classic team it was Lindor who played short. Nuff said. 41 doubles, 34 homers 23 steals. Only batting .283 so that's not top flight. 4 out of 5.

6/Jose Ramirez/Indians. His .960 OPS is higher than Lindor's. 35 doubles, 38 homers, 99 rbi's and 32 steals. Last year he hit 56 doubles and 29 homers. His batting average of .280 is a little low for Alpha status this year but he hit about .315 the two previous years. That's in the territory. He's been generally unstoppable for three seasons now. Jose plays a lot of positions. Not a gold glover but better than adequate. 3 out of 5.

7/Mookie Betts/Red Sox. All around star. He plays right field instead of center but please remember that right field at Fenway is the biggest and toughest right field in the majors. Mookie's speed allows him to run down a lot of fly balls and liners that other fielders would miss. A lot of value there. His arm isn't as good as the guy to his right, Bradley Junior. But Betts could easily lead the majors in steals if he focused on that and only a very few players can run with him. He's hitting .340 this year to lead the world and his 29 homers are significant power indicators. 4 for 5 in Alpha credits.

8/Vlad Guerrero Junior/Blue Jays. Here's one to watch. Toronto won't bring him up this year to avoid starting his “clock” on free agency, but he's the best prospect in baseball for a 2019 debut. His power is approaching the top of the chart and he will hit for average as well. He has a great eye, and like his Dad, seldom swings and misses. I know his arm is okay (at third base) but his defense is a work in progress at 19. They just moved him to third from the outfield and he has to learn. I doubt if he'll be the running threat that his Dad was, but who knows? Scouting reports are emphatic that this guy will have several .300 average/ 40 homer seasons in the Bigs. 3 for 5.

NL:

1/Juan Soto/Nationals. Pretty exciting player. At 19 he's already a major force in the lineup. The guy is scary looking at the plate. He looks a lot like Manny Ramirez but from the left-hand side. Power to all fields. He's a good base runner but not a stolen base threat of any note. His arm seems just adequate so far and his defense solid but not awe inspiring. But that bat! 2 1/2 for 5 Alpha points.

2/Victor Robles/Nationals. You might have forgotten that the Nats have this Dominican kid for their outfield next year as well. A right handed, high average hitter with plus-plus speed that make him a top notch go get 'em outfielder and stolen base machine. He has a powerful arm too. Only 15-20 homer power projected, but should get lots of extra base hits. 4 out of 5 Alphas.

3/Bryce Harper/Nationals. Oh yeah...that guy again. Despite all the clamor that he's maybe the best player in baseball blah blah he's really only had one outstanding season. That was when he had his stance together and was spraying the ball to all fields with power. It was kind of awe inspiring. He still produces good power, but he seems content to pull the ball into the shift and bat .249. He has 35 homers but 158 strike outs! Good defense, good runner but doesn't try to steal much. Good arm but not an elite arm. 3 out of 5. If somebody could inspire this kid and keep him from sulking so much he could be a Mickey Mantle type.

4/Ronald Acuna/Braves. The Real Deal down in Georgia. Acuna is a high average type hitter with 40 homer a year power, 40 steals a year speed, great defense and one of the best outfield arms in baseball the minute he first took the field. When people start mentioning your name and then saying “Hank Aaron” right after, you better take note. I won't tweek the nose of the Gods by sanctioning this comparison, but I will cross my fingers and pray that it's true. Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing to watch? LEGITIMATE 5 FOR 5 AS AN ALPHA-STAR.

5/Christian Yelich/Brewers. Not dominating yet, but a very good player in all phases who might win the batting crown this year. 29 homers and 19 steals...great defense, arm. Keep your eye on him. 4 out of 5.

6/Javier Baez/Cubs. I have to admit, he shut my mouth this year. I can't stand his type of hitting. No plate discipline...no walks...tons of strikeouts...takes maximum hacks at every opportunity. But this year he's in the top ten in EVERY big offensive category. 31 4-baggers, .295 average, 21 steals and one of the best defensive players at several infield positions with a gun of an arm. Credit where it's do. He's probably the MVP. And he owns 5 OUT OF 5 of the basic baseball tools.

7/Paul Goldschmidt/Diamondbacks. Goldy has character. He had the worst start I almost ever saw for as consistent hitter as he's been but look at his line now, after another season of carrying his team offensively. .300/.401/.558...33/83 homers and rbis. He didn't steal as much this year, but he's had as many as 32 in years past. He's one of the best defensive first basemen so I give him 4 out of 5. He probably should have won the MVP by now.

8/Nolan Arenado/Rockies. I'm sure his stats are a little inflated by Coors Field, but this is a really good player. Always near the top in power and a good average hitter too. Best defensive third sacker in baseball. His arm would be the best if Manny Machado didn't exist. (Manny has the best third base arm I've ever seen. He's much better there than at short because of his range.) Nolan doesn't run with the deer, so give him 4 out of 5 Alpha points.

9/Trevor Story/Rockies. Trevor is the only shortstop in baseball history to hit 30 homers, 40 doubles and steal 25 bases in one season. I thought Nomar or ARod would have done that. Guess not. How good a defensive shortstop is Story? He only has 11 errors this year and that's really good for a shortstop. I'm a little foggy on his range but I think he's petty good. Depending on how good, we might have to give him an extra point. For now we'll give his arm the benefit of the doubt and give him 4 out of 5 points.

10/Yasiel Puig/Dodgers. He has all the tools but never seems to put it all together. At the very top of power/speed/arm strength combos. Plays hard but dumb. Weakest area is hitting for average. 4 for 5.

A latter day Bo Jackson.

So that's my list...7 guys in the AL, 10 in the NL and one sure thing in the minors contending for Alpha-Star status. I will watch them all with pleasure and frustration.

I've said before that I really don't agree that the 5 tool designation really sums up a player's possible contributions to victory in this game. I always add 3 more categories: DURABILITY, INTELLIGENCE and LEADERSHIP. I've explained them all in previous blogs, but here's a short story that illustrates it:

Willie Mays finished in the top 6 for MVP voting 12 times. He started playing in the majors at 20 and didn't miss but maybe 10 total games (except for a spell in the military) in his whole career until he was over 36 years old. Willie's hands were so strong that he regularly won bets that he could catch any pitcher's fastball barehanded. Think about that for a minute. (The only other guy I ever heard of who could do that was big Ernie Lombardi, the catcher from the Cincinnati Reds who could actually hold seven baseballs in one hand.)

Well, back to my point. In addition to his durability, Mays was an on-field coach. He placed the Giants outfield for every hitter, and he knew all the hitters in the league. That's some kind of intelligence that helped his team win. And of course, leadership...how would it feel to play with the best all around player in the history of baseball?

As Leo Durocher used to say, “Jesus Christ could come down from heaven and play center field and I'd still look you in the eye and tell you Willie was better.”

THE RACES:

We're getting so close to the Playoffs that I won't waste too much time speculating on the pennant races this time.

AL:

Boston and Cleveland are in. Houston is a lock.

Houston will be favored because of their four great starting pitchers and suddenly better bullpen.

Cleveland went out and got Josh Donaldson to reunite with his old Toronto pal Edwin Encarnacion. If Josh can get back in game shape that may be the best late season move of the year. Josh is a natural leader and Grit Meister.

Boston has the best record but their pitching is suspect, both starting and bullpen. If Chris Sale can't come back and pitch seven innings every four days they won't win anything. They might start relying more on Stephen Wright and his knuckler to eat up innings and disrupt hitter's timing. Their Ace closer Craig Kimbrel is giving up hits, walks and is using about 30 pitches an inning. Not good.

It looks like Oakland and New York are the wild cards but in what order nobody can tell.

The Yanks have been in a funk. They had the schedule opportunity to beat up on the losers of the league but blew it. What is their major malfunction? Probably the loss of Aaron Judge. He seems to spark them with his Humble Giant routine. Also, Severino has lost control of his slider and therefore leans on his fastball too much. BANG! POW! SEE YA! And another thing...it's really hard to win pennants when you don't have a catcher who can catch ...or at least block...pitches. Sancho Sanchez may be the worst defensive catcher in the majors. The Yanks should DH him and let him be the backup catcher. They need a competent backstop.

Oakland is a Mystery Ship, cruising the sea lanes ready to sink whole convoys. Those home run bats might sweep them to an unexpected victory if they can get their excellent bullpen to divide up the innings efficiently and avoid their very iffy starters.

NL:

Atlanta seems like they're in the catbird seat with their 6 game lead over their only competition the Ever-Napping Nats and the Ever-Festering Phillies. However, the Braves are also liable to go on a ten game losing streak at any moment so I'll wait til the votes are counted, thank you.

The Cubs can't put away the Brewers and the Cards for the division title in the Central.

The Dodgers and the Rockies (who I picked to win) are beating each other up for the Div...but neither looks like they can win the Wild Card over the Cards and the Brew Crew.

Whoever comes out of the NL this year will be a major underdog to whoever the winner of the AL winds up being. I always root for the Red Sox to meet the Cubs in a match of the old time ballparks, but that's mainly nostalgia.

Stand by for a dazzling finish to the season!

---Marco

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!