I dislike when people say uneducated things

I was watching Sportscenter when they brought on Rick Sutcliffe to discuss A-Rod’s struggles last night.  He went on to make a comment about how the Yonkers haven’t made the playoffs since A-Rod’s arrival.  Brian Kenny explained to Sut that Rodriguez has had some of the best numbers in the league since his arrival, to which Sutcliffe told him that there is alot more to baseball then statistics, called leadership.  There’s another award for MLB, the “Rick Sutcliffe Most of a Leader Award”.  Anyway, I’d like to point out that no matter what Alex Rodriguez does to encourage his teammates they’re gonna put up the same numbers as they would with him talkin’ trash to ‘em.  Also, I thought being leader of the Yankees was the sole responsibility of media darling Derek Jeter.

UPDATE: Alex Rodriguez hit an RBI double with two outs in the first inning of tonight’s game.

Scattered Thoughts

First off, apologies for my extended absence.  There is no one good reason to explain it all away; sadly, I might have another extended break after this post, as I’m heading to school soon, plus taking a trip and generally being socially busy in the near future.  Hopefully I’ll still find time to blog throughout the fall, but I have a lot of adjustments to make as I get back to school.

Anyway, I had planned to write an extended breakdown of why I thought the Dodgers would win the NL West, while analyzing their organizational standing going forward.  Then earlier this week, the Diamondbacks’ Orlando Hudson went down for the season.  Hudson is one of the more underrated players in all of baseball in my mind – he’s one of the few truly game changing defenders at second base (he’s a 3 time Gold Glove winner, for what that’s worth), and he’s developed into a really solid hitter (.305/.367/.450
this year).  As the difference in the standings has been between 2.5 and 0 games in favor of the Diamondbacks everyday since July 1 and the actual team quality difference has been even less than that (actually favoring the Dodgers based on expected W-L records), I figured the Dodgers’ upgrade – adding Manny – plus the Diamondbacks’ loss would equal an easier road for the Dodgers.  Today, though, Josh Byrnes and the Diamondbacks threw a wrench in that idea, trading for Adam Dunn.  Dunn is not a perfect fit there, as they could really use a good outfield defender, but his lefty stick fits nicely in a lineup that leans heavily to the right.  The price was right, too.  I guess I still like the Dodgers by a nose, because the addition of Dunn is largely offset by the subtraction of Hudson.  That’s been enough to keep them in first so far, but as long as Joe Torre resists the temptation to throw Andruw Jones or Juan Pierre into the outfield instead of Matt Kemp or Andre Ethier, the Dodgers are the better team.

Moving along, Cubs manager Lou Piniella basically told Kosuke Fukudome to start hitting or he’ll be losing playing time.  Fukudome has not been quick to react to the league’s adjustment to him, and his numbers have gotten worse as the season has gone on.  The Cubs have to be hoping that Kosuke’s 2008 is roughly the equivalent of JD Drew’s 2007, which is to say, a negative outlier.  Kosuke has good on base skills, so he’s been a plus even with the struggles, but the Cubs have the personnel to bench Fukudome occasionally; against righties, Mike Fontenot can start at second while Mark DeRosa moves to the outfield.  Lou also said that Reed Johnson could get time instead of Kosuke, but Reed’s struggled against righties, and is pretty much already in a straight platoon with Jim Edmonds in center, with Johnson starting versus lefties.

Speaking of Mike Fontenot, he’s been great for the Cubs this year, but they might see what trade value he has this winter.  He’s limited to one position, second base, and has never hit against lefties.  He could be start for about half the teams in the National League.  If not, he’ll continue to be part of an excellent bench.

Tampa Bay, already one of the most interesting teams in baseball in 2008, has been noteworthy of late.  Rocco Baldelli returned from a mitochondrial disorder to play for the first time all year, just as Carl Crawford hits the disabled list with a finger injury.  Evan Longoria, AL rookie of the year shoo-in, also hit the DL with
a wrist injury.  Crawford might be down for the year, a tough blow for a Rays team that was finally going to have its intended starting outfield all set.  Oh, and lefty pitching phenom David Price is knocking on the doorstep of the majors.  He should get a look later this fall, helping the team in the rotation or bullpen.  Also of note is that Price has thrown just over 90 innings so far this year.  If the Rays set a cap at about 150 innings for him this year (roughly the ceiling Clay Buchholz notoriously faced for the Red Sox last year), he’s still got quite a few innings left.  One last Rays/Price note:  if you haven’t read the recent Sports Illustrated feature on African Americans in baseball, do it ASAP.

One last thing:  the Dodgers’ Chad Billingsley should be on your NL Cy Young shortlist/watchlist.  He’s one of the best pitchers in the NL this year, along with a lot of guys you’ve already heard about:  CC Sabathia, Dan Haren, Brandon Webb, Rich Harden, Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano, Tim Lincecum, Ben Sheets, Johan Santana, and Jake Peavy.  He’s probably just a hair behind all those guys in total value so far this year, but gets no media coverage.  Along with Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers are going to have a devastating 1-2 punch in the rotation for years.

Weekend Notes

Our prayers are with the Caray family as they mourn the loss of Skip, who passed away in his sleep this weekend. Onto the notes…

• Really, ESPN, really? You actually think anyone in the world other then you cares about Brett Favre. I will give ‘em credit for the live commercials they’ve been running as advertisements for the new Sportscenter, though.
• While we’re on the topic of ESPN fascinations, the play at the plate play the other day in the ’stros and Mets game wasn’t worth watching over and over and over.
• Back to baseball, Turner Field has a nice, fan-friendly ballpark. For about the first hour or so we were there we were able to get within talking distance of the entire Brewers’ pitching staff. Although, I can’t say the same for the Brew Crew. Ben Sheets promised to come over and sign some autographs for the kiddos close to me and…he never did, nice move.
• Dauthan and I were watching Suppan warm-up before the game started, and the “Brave Girls”, or whatever they call them, were shooting free t-shirts into the stands. They shot one in our direction and both of us were tracking it down until it hit the deck above us, and bounced into the bullpen where Sup was warming up. We called Bill Castro, some kind of coach, to throw it up, but he just kept TCBing (Taking Care of Business-ing). Then Mr. Mike Maddux, came out of the area we weren’t able to see from our point of view, decided he needed a sleep shirt because the one he’d been using had too many stains, so he snatched it up himself. Apparently no one informed Mike that he can get all the Brave gear he wants through Greg, oh well.
• I noticed for the first time this weekend that many of the Brewers’ infielders can’t seem to keep their shirttails tucked in, as soon as the game ends they untuck them, which leads to…
• Prince Fielder’s GINORMOUS jersey size. It’s pretty big.

We’re Back

We did not post this weekend until now, as you may have noticed.  Wyatt and I attended Friday’s Brewers-Braves game, which ended 9-0 in favor of the Beermakers.  You should see more posts in the next few days; I know that I’ve got a nice one bouncing around my head, with the possibility that I’ll turn it into an entire series of pieces.  Can’t speak for Wyatt, but look for more good stuff going forward.  Thanks for reading!

A Quick Note

We’re both going to be out of town at a baseball game this weekend so there might not be any posting for a few days.  When we come back I’m sure we’ll have some posts for you, though.