Belief in the power.
Ladies and Gentlemen..it is the LAST week of the regular season, and the Mets, yes..my beloved Metsies, are actually playing MEANINGFUL games..Oh happy days... They are still mathematically ALIVE for the NL wild card, and they are on fire....FUEGO..they are HOT, HOT, HOT!!!
But because, as the ancient Greek prophesy fortells...."Whom the Gods would destroy, they will first make mad..." Tis so true, because the other love of my life..the NY JETS...they really , REALLY SUCK..once again taking the pipe big time....but hope springs eternal..the Nets' season starts soon..
OK..here we go..as usual..
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AL EAST: Red Sox and Yankees are tied. Down to the wire we go..
AL CENTRAL: White Sox lead the Tribe by 2.5
AL WEST: Angels lead the A's by 4.0
AL WILDCARD: Tribe leads the Red Sox and Yankees by .5
In the AL East, I think Boston has an edge..They're at home for the last 7 games, and they get the O's next, for 4 games. Baltimore has quit.mailed it in..they've lost 8 straight...are dealing with the whole Palmiero mess...and they can't wait for the season to be over. I think they lay down for the Red Sox...Yankees are on the road for the final 7..next 4 in Toronto. BJs have a good staff, have a winning record at home..and can make their season by sticking it to the Yanks...I think there's a good chance Boston goes into the final series up by one, possibly two games...
In the AL Central...White Sox got a strong pitching performance today. and gainmed a game on the Tribe..Cleveland lost a heartbreaker..They survived a bases loaded no out inning...with two great fieldng plays to cut down runners at home, only to lose when Grady Sizemore lost a fly ball in the sun...Yet the ball actually hit him on the way down..I expected him to catch it off his shoulder..If Cleveland gets it back to 1 game down going into the last week, they'll overtake the Chisox..if not they're the WC....
In the AL WEST..A's are on life support...They have to run the table...The wild card is wide open....though the Tribe still looks to be a strong favorite..Yankees still are going home early, it says here..
NATIONAL LEAGUE
NL EAST: Braves lead the Phillies by 5.0
NL CENTRAL: Cards want the ring, and the NL MVP and CYA winners..(Trivia question: when was the last time BOTH winners came from the same team, in either league?)
NL WEST: Holy smokes, Batman..in the division nobody wants, the Pods lead the Jints by 4.0, and they start a 4 games series Monday.. SD has their stud going..if he wins..the race is over..if not..look out..
NL WILDCARD: 'Stros lead the Phils by 1.0
Houston lost a tough game today. Pettitte pitched a great game, but the pen blew it..big time..Phillies have the better closer...it may well be the difference down the stretch..but Houston's starters can dominate. Philly's Millwood could win the ERA title with a losing record....he's bounced back from a long stretch of no run support..
When you add your comments..if you're inclined...name your 8 play-off teams...we'll see who has the most mojo working...
My take...AL: Red Sox, Tribe, Angels..WC is the White Sox...in the NL..Braves, Cards, Pods, and the 'Stros are the WC...
Good evening all..Down to the wire we go..
AL: New York, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, and Oakland (A’s 4 out)
NL: Atlanta, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Houston, San Diego, and San Francisco (Giants 4 out)
Four huge head-to-head series coming up in this last week:
Monday-Thursday (4 games each): San Diego-San Fran and LA-Oakland, with the Bay Area teams needing 3 out of 4 to have any chance and 4-game sweeps to tie
Friday-Sunday (3 games each): Boston-New York and Chicago-Cleveland, probably/possibly to decide their divisions. Of the four teams, Yanks, BoSox, ChiSox, and Tribe, three will go on and one will go home.
Phils and Astros tight for NL WC.
The easiest, earliest wrap-up, the Cards, have been limping along and sputtering these last couple of weeks, 6-8 in their last 14 games. And their big award candidates, Pujols and Carpenter, have been tailing off lately. More on that in an upcoming post.
Belief in the power.
Two different guys?
'91-Pendleton and Glavine, Braves
Sometimes one pitcher wins both awards: Willie Hernandez, '84 Tigers; Bob Gibson, '68 Cards. Did Eckersley win both the same year for the A's?
Trust me, there's no such thing as a division nobody wants. The Twins once won the World Series in 1987 despite being outscored over the entire season. Losing more games than you won? Pah! it all starts back at 0-0 once the playoffs begin.
If you had asked me two weeks ago, I would have said MVP Pujols and CY Carpenter, easily. Now maybe both still, but maybe not.
On September 10, Pujols was hitting .338 with 39 HRs and 107 RBI and a season-high 1.068 OPS. Now he's hitting .333 with the same 39 HRs and only a few more RBI, 110, and an OPS down closer to 1.040. In the last 14 games, Prince Albert is hitting only .267 with 0 HR and 3 RBI. His feet and leg have been paining him, curtailing his power.
The thing is, Andy Jones has tailed off, too, with only a few RBI in his last ten games. Sure he's got the HR and the RBI, but he's hitting only .265 for the year and his OPS is well down the line.
Derrek Lee has continued strong, and his stats are at least as good as Albert's, and even a little better. But people hold the Cubs' mediocre team standing against him.
Those are the only three legitimate candidates for MVP. I think Albert still might have the edge.
Two weeks ago, I thought Carpenter was even more of a lock than Pujols. But now I think less. Willis may have pulled past Carp. He's got one more win and better ERA now. In his last three starts, Carp has gone from bad to worse to worst. Over that span, he's 0-1, 15.2 innings, 27 hits, 17 ER, and a 10.07 ERA. In contrast, over his last three starts, Willis is 2-1, 25 innings, 17 hits, 5 ER, and a 1.80 ERA. Now I'd rate the CY a toss-up between the two, depending on their start(s) this week.
So 1) Pujols, 2) Lee, 3) Jones for NL MVP. 1T) Willis and Carp for CY.
AL next.
The White Sox took three of four from a good Twins team. They're not "done."
AL MVP: Ortiz? Hafner? No!!! No DH should be MVP!!! Especially when there are position players with close numbers. Manny plays OF, but he's a defensive liabilty and bad for team chemistry. So I give it to a guy with great numbers, fine defense, and on a contending team: A-Rod.
So I give the awards to two HOF players from the Evil Empire, Mo-Riv and A-Rod.
Badesball has been belly, belly good to me.
You might want to revise your predictions -- Boston faces Toronto this week, and the Yanks Baltimore.
I think the White Sox will barely hang on.
Ken -- for the record -- Millwood is with Cleveland, not Philly. He was previously with the Phillies after coming up with the Braves. Among relievers winning Cy Youngs, two of the most forgettable, at least to me, were Mark Davis and Steve Bedrosian.
Having been to all three Red Sox games I have a few thoughts:
1) Damon does not look good at the plate. The home run he hit was nice but he was otherwise ineffective at the plate.
2) Ortiz looks to be off in his swing as he did little to be effective the past 3 games
3) Tek, Nixon and Mueller had some decent games for them.
4) Pitches per AB were up across the board. Very few outs on the 1st or second pitch. A 7 pitch K is a good out. In the second and third games they forced 30 plus pitches in the first inning.
5) Hanson has a damn good fastball but until he learns a good offspeed pitch that can be relied upon for strikes, he will get lit up. Nice touch by the guys in the dugout who cheered him when he was lifted.
6) Orioles have some good arms in their pen. They will survive without BJ Ryan.
7)The O's miss Brian Roberts a great deal.
8) Jay Gibbons is a less expensive and more productive version of Trot Nixon
9) Matt Clement needs an overhaul. He simply cannot throw strikes and while movement is nice, the word is out to sit back and let him run up his pitch count.
I'm not a Braves fan, but it is time for people to recognize the Braves feat of 14 straight division titles is one of the most tremendous feats in sports history. It's much tougher to win a division over 162 games, than to get hot for one or two weeks and win a World Series.
In any event, let's hope for the a GREAT game tonight for the Sox... hope Clement is "on". GO SOX!!! (And Orioles!)
It will be Cards over Red Sox in 6. Forget about all the preliminaries.
Woohooo get fired up Sox fans!
Some inspiration...
OWNED!
http://cache.boston.com/images/sports/redsox/2004/072404_varitekarod_1024768.jpg
