Season half-full

The Mets reached the artificial midway point of the season two games ahead of their nearest competition and lucky to be there. After a strong start that left them with 34 wins and 18 losses at the end of May, they've gone 14 and 21. They are only two games behind their pace from last season in which the division race was decided somewhere around the middle of June. But the significant decline in all areas of the game over the last two months does not inspire confidence going forward.

The offense has been the biggest problem. What was one of the top few run-scoring apparatuses in the league last year and at the start of this year has fallen to the middle of the pack, eighth in the league in runs per game. Carlos Delgado's decline has been the most glaring--.265/.361/.548 in 2006, .242/.305/.435 in 2007--but several other players have also dropped off significantly. Paul Lo Duca has gone from a surprising .318/.355/.428 to a more predictable .274/.321/.372. Jose Valentin was a revelation in 2006 at .271/.330/.490 but in 2007 he's a thirty-seven -year-old man hitting .243/.297/.388. And Carlos Beltran has thus far failed to replicate his monster 2006 in which he hit .275/.388/.594, falling to just .264/.340/.477.

All of this is especially problematic given that no one else has stepped up with a big improvement to compensate. Jose Reyes is getting on base more at .387 compared to .354, but his slugging has dropped off from .487 to .439. David Wright's .292/.373/.506 line is basically the same thing he does every year, though he's stealing more bases and looks improved defensively. And after a hot start--.355/.412/.538 in April--it turns out Shawn Green is still Shawn Green at .275/.325/.428 for the year.

So several important hitters are having down years, the Mets still aren't getting anything from their corner outfielders and no one is having a huge year. So why are things going to be okay? Well, for one thing, Ruben Gotay and Ramon Castro are providing more offense off the bench than any 2006 reserve did. More even than He Who Is Called Endy. Secondly, Lastings Milledge is finally ready to return and rescue left field from the David Newhans of the world. Moises Alou could theoretically return at some point as well. But most importantly, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado are just better than this. Beltran has battled some minor leg injuries and Delgado had wrist surgery in the offseason and missed most of Spring Training. This may not excuse or even explain their performance thus far, but both seem healthy now and I think it is very reasonable to expect more of them in the second half.

The bullpen has also been something of a disappointment after a hot start. Billy Wagner has been great all year in non-All-Star competition and Pedro Feliciano has done almost as good a job of making Scott Schoeneweis obsolete as Schoeneweis himself. But everyone else has struggled at one point or another. Joe Smith got off to a phenomenal start but has cooled off recently, perhaps as a result of being overworked or the league just catching up to him. Aaron Heilman has been quite ordinary. Guillermo Mota has pitched like a guy who's not taking steroids anymore. Aaron Sele has been fine as the long man. As I may have mentioned, Schoeneweis has pitched poorly and been utilized ineptly.

The saving grace of the team has been the starting pitching, with an ERA of just 4.05. The Mike Pelfrey Experiment has not gone well thus far as the twenty-three year old has an ERA of 6.10 in eight starts with more walks than strikeouts. But aside from Pelfrey, the team's worst regular starter has been Tom Glavine with a 4.36 ERA. Glavine hasn't been much more than solid overall, but he has been durable as usual, leading the team in innings pitched. Jorge Sosa has been a surprisingly decent replacement for Pelfrey with a 3.92 ERA in eleven starts. Orlando Hernandez has occasionally been either injured or awful, making just thirteen starts and giving up five or more runs in four of them. But he's also been brilliant at times, allowing two or fewer runs in his other nine starts including four starts in which he pitched at least six shutout innings. This all adds up to a 3.22 ERA in 78.1 IP. Nothing El Duque could do in the second half would be shocking, whether it be getting blown out, getting injured or pitching a no hitter. Maybe he'll even do all three.

The stalwarts of the rotation have been two men who inspired much doubt prior to the season. Oliver Perez has a 3.14 ERA, 85 strikeouts and 37 walks in 94.2 innings. John Maine is at 2.71 with 93 Ks, 40 BBs and 109.2 IP. Perez has been somewhat inconsistent in his last few starts and has missed a bit of time with a minor injury but Maine has been healthy and excellent all year. The starting rotation was the team's biggest question mark prior to the season but right now, thanks in large part to these two, its ERA is more than half a run lower than in 2006. With the return of a certain future Hall Of Famer perhaps only a month away, this rotation could carry this team awfully far.

Now all the remains is for the Mets (48-39) to play about 74 more regular season games, weather permitting. The first four of these will take place at home against the Reds, who are tied for the worst record in the National League at 36-52. El Duque, Maine and Glavine will start the first three games for the Mets with Perez possibly making his return from the DL to pitch the Sunday finale. Bronson Arroyo (3-9, 4.84), Matt Belisle (5-6, 5.28) and Aaron Harang (9-2, 3.67) will start the first three for Cincinnati.

The skipper

Here's a good column by Michael Rosenberg in the Detroit Free Press regarding Tigs manager Jim Leyland. An excerpt:

"He doesn't sleep much, and he doesn't eat much, possibly because both activities would get in the way of smoking. He admits he is nobody's model for a healthy lifestyle. And he often darts around the clubhouse like the nicotine addict he is. I don't know anybody who walks so intensely."

Hitting on all cylinders

Time to review some first-half numbers for the Tigers, starting with the offense. Detroit is putting up some scary good offensive stats. Here’s a look at the Big O:

Detroit is batting .290, six points ahead of the Angels and well above the AL average of .268. The OBA is .352, which is third in the AL (.339 is average). The team’s SLG is .473, No. 1 (.419 is average). The Tigs are hitting an unbelievable .329 with RISP, well in front of No.2 Seattle at .291 and above the .273 average. They are seeing 3.74 pitches per plate appearance, which is around the 3.79 norm. They lead the league in line drive percentage at 20% (average is 18%), which probably helps explain the BA. According to Hardball Times, roughly 75% of the balls classified as line drives go for hits. All of this translates to a league-best 5.95 runs/game (4.89 is average).

By position, Pudge Rodriguez’s .750 OPS ranks in the middle of AL backstops. He is .288-8-46, which I’d say is adequate given his age and the fact he bats sixth or seventh in a loaded lineup.

Sean Casey’s .759 OPS is near the bottom of regular first basemen, but he’s hitting .300 and is second in this group with 21 doubles. His .300-1-34 is pretty amazing considering where his stats where after the first month. Like Pudge, he fits nicely in the lineup, particularly his low 25 K. And even though his hustle doesn’t result in speed, he does hustle.

Placido Polanco’s .815 OPS is No. 3 among regular second basemen and his .335 BA is the best. He is .335-3-38 and his .395 BA/RISP is much the best. His 61 runs created are second to Brian Roberts, and well ahead of the rest of the pack.

Brandon Inge’s .761 OPS is in the middle third of AL third basemen. He is .248-11-41, which, like Casey, is solid considering he was batting .111 near the end of April. All things considered, if you toss A-Rod, Inge is comparable to anyone – especially since he drives in all his runs batting No. 8 or No. 9. Of course, he gets plenty of chances there with this lineup.

Carlos Guillen’s .968 OPS occupies its usual No. 1 spot among AL shortstops. He is .325-14-67. His 60 runs created are No. 2 to Jeter’s 71, but Guillen has 74 fewer plate appearances. Guillen’s 8.4 RC/G edge Jeter’s 8.3. (RC/G measures what a lineup of Guillens or Jeters, in this case, would produce in 27 outs.)

Craig Monroe’s .659 OPS is last among regular left fielders. C-Mo is batting .223-9-44. He is one of the few, if only, Tiger hitters to struggle season long.

Curtis Granderson’s .884 OPS is No. 2 among CF, behind only Torii Hunter. He is .283-12-43, plus 15 mind-numbing triples so far. The other 11 CF that qualify as regulars have 26 triples combined. If he ever learns to hit lefties, watch out. He’s batting .139 in 72 AB vs. LHP; .322 in 267 AB vs. RHP.

Magglio Ordonez’s 1.050 OPS is best in right field. He’s .367-13-70. He’s got an AL best 84 runs created among RF (and No. 2 overall) and leads all players with 11.5 RC/G. Ranks with Polanco and Guillen as the most season-long consistent hitter in the lineup.

Gary Sheffield’s .970 OPS is No. 2 among DHs to David Ortiz. Shef is .303-21-58 and leads all DHs in HR and RBI. He is tops among DHs with 74 runs created and 9.3 RC/G. Another Tiger who didn’t roar until May came around.

Marcus Thames has an .810 OPS in limited action. He is 244-10-28. His power is wicked – 26 HR in 348 AB last season and 10 in 131 AB this year. Omar Infante has a .640 OPS in 113 PA. He is .284-0-11, but has been a savior by playing 2B, SS, 3B, CF and RF this year (with just 2 errors).

Gimme a break

After two straight winning weeks, the Mets stumbled into the All-Star break losing five of their last seven. The offense continued to struggle as they scored just twenty-six runs. The pitching got absolutely slaughtered in a three-game sweep at Colorado, giving up thirty-four runs but they settled down a bit, allowing just seventeen in a four-game split in Houston.

Carlos Delgado did have another good week at the plate, hitting .345/.394/.552 with one home run. But the only other Met regular with an OPS over .700 for the week was David Wright at .353/.353/.559. Ruben Gotay and Ramon Castro did both have good weeks in part-time roles.

It would be nice to see both of these guys get more playing time in the second half of the season as neither Jose Valentin nor Paul Lo Duca is doing much of anything with the bat lately. Finding out if Gotay and Castro can continue to hit with more playing time could also pay dividends next year when both Lo Duca and Valentin could be gone. Castro will probably never be much more than a solid part-time bat, but at just twenty-four years old, Gotay has a chance to be the Mets' second baseman of the near future. He won't provide nearly the defensive value of a healthy Valentin, but he does appear to have some power in his bat. His .514 slugging percentage is second only to Castro's .538 for the team lead. The stop starter is Wright at .506.

The bad news this week wasn't just limited to the scoreboard as injuries continued to pile up. Jorge Sosa and Oliver Perez each went to the DL with supposedly minor injuries, leading to Jason Vargas and Dave Williams making starts in the majors. Each pitched three and one-third inning with Williams allowing eight runs and Vargas nine. Perez and Sosa should be back after the break. Carlos Gomez will be out quite a bit longer with a broken bone in his left hand. As of Sunday, the Mets only had three outfielders on their major league roster and one of them was David Newhan of the .291 slugging percentage. Why they would send Ricky Ledee down but keep both Newhan and Sandy Alomar, Jr., a third catcher, on the roster eludes me, but I figure there will be a little roster rearrangement before they play another game. Lastings Milledge did finally play some baseball games this week as he went eight-for-nineteen with a double, a triple, a home run and a stolen base for AA Binghamton. Hopefully he'll be back in New York in time to start in left field on Thursday.

Fearless predictions, Part II

A look at four more players that caught our eye so far:

Marlon Byrd: .388/.443/.560 in 134 AB. His BABIP is .462. Even with his improved line drive/groundball stroke, that number should tumble. He had a .329 BABIP in 216 AB in 2005 with Washington and batted .264. That seems more likely.

Reggie Willits: .324/.416/.384 in 219 AB. Last year, he had 11 BB and 10 K in 58 PA. This season, he has 37 BB and 36 K in 267 PA. I’d say those numbers bode well for the 26-year-old. He has a .388 BABIP this year, which is 45 points higher than last season. If he keeps the ball out of the air, he should continue to get hits. He might not hit to a .324 tune, but .290-.300 is in range.

Pat Burrell: .207/.371/.392 in 222 AB. Burrell has always hit the ball in the air a lot, but even more so this season. One difference is his HR per flyball percentage has dropped from its usual 15-17% the past few years to a merely mortal 10.7%. The lack of punch coupled with a decrease in line drives makes one wonder if there is more here than meets the eye. His .231 BABIP might not all be bad luck, but it is well below the .298 he had last year and the .341 he produced in 2005. Burrell has always been an enigma, and will remain so. But if he gets playing time in the second half, and is healthy, he has nowhere to go but up. (Although, all parties involved would probably prefer out – as in out of town.) If his BABIP and HR/F are simply bad luck and not indicative of injury, he could put up decent numbers in the second half.

Richie Sexson: .210/.301/.424 in 276 AB. The Pat Burrell of the AL, with 15 HR and 48 RBI. His BABIP is .214, probably because his line drives are decreased and popups are increased. His 19% HR per flyball figure is on par with last season, when he batted .264-34-107. If he can start hitting the ball on a line again and get his BABIP up to the .300 level it saw in 2005 and 2006, he could improve nicely in the second half. Just 10 more base knocks at this point of the year would've jumped his BA from .210 to .246.

Fun fact to impress your friends

You can use this as a trivia question, if you like. There are 51 players in MLB history to record at least 150 career triples. Only 1 of those players never reached double digits in stolen bases for a year. He is Stan Musial.

Musial finished his career with 177 triples. Twice he had 20 in a season and once he had 18. He also had 725 lifetime doubles, good for third place in MLB history. The following is from an early edition of The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract:

"The image of Musial seems to be fading quickly. Maybe I'm wrong, but it doesn't seem to me that you hear much about him anymore, compared to such comparable stars as Mantle, Williams, Mays and DiMaggio, and to the extent that you do hear of him it doesn't seem that the image is very sharp, that anybody really knows what it was that made him different. He was never colorful, never much of an interview. He makes a better statue.

"What he was was a ballplayer. He didn't spit at fans, he didn't get into fights in nightclubs, he didn't marry anybody famous. He hustled. You look at his career totals of doubles and triples, and they'll remind you of something that was accepted while he was active, and has been largely forgotten since: Stan Musial was one player who always left the batter's box on a dead run.

"Musial's performance in MVP voting is the most impressive in the history of the award. Musial won three awards; so did Mantle, Berra, Campabella and DiMaggio. But Musial also finished second in the voting four times, meaning that he had seven years in which he was regarded by on-the-scenes observers as one of the two best players in the league."

It should be noted Musial also had a fourth, fifth, sixth, 2 eighths, and a ninth in the voting. Musial won his first MVP at the age of 22 when he batted .357/.425/.562 in 617 AB. At the age of 41, Musial finished 10th in the MVP voting after batting .330/.416/.508 in 433 AB.

The Man, indeed.

Sox it to me

I just saw the Twins are beating the White Sox 20-13 in the 9th inning. At first, I thought I was looking at the score wrong. Ozzie Guillen probably wishes that was the case. This is the first game of a twinbill in Chitown! Nothing like sitting through 33 runs, 39 hits, 6 errors (5 by the Sox) with another game coming up at 8.

But fear not, South Siders. Gavin Floyd rides to the rescue in game two. The Chicago media is reporting Floyd has matured and added a slider since imploding in Philly. We'll see. There is no confirmation Gavin Floyd is related to this man. (It's a Jersey thing.)

Jonesing

Todd Jones is 3-for-3 in saves with 3 perfect innings since Sparky spanked him last week. First, I get The Mayor straightened out, and now this. I wonder who I should pick on this week? And does this only work with players in my age group?

Fearless predictions

Over the next few days, Sparky will examine the first-half performances of players and predict whether they will improve or regress in the second half. First up are a couple of surprise hitters in the AL, Carlos Pena and Jack Cust.

Pena is batting .285/.393/.612 this year for Tampa Bay. He has 19 HR and 49 RBI. I don't think Pena will improve on his numbers, but I don't know that he'll fall off much, either. He always could hit the ball hard, and far. In 2004, he hit 27 HR and 19.3% of his flyballs went yard. In 2005, he hit 18 HR and 26.3% of his flyballs left the field. Those are both a pretty high percentage of flyballs turning into homers. This year, his percentage is 31.9. He probably will suffer some drop, but his track record indicates it's not a total fluke. He's improved his line drive percentage, which is good, and lowered his percentage of infield popups. His BABIP is .316, which isn't fluky high, either. If he continues to reduce his strikeouts, he should be able to maintain something close to his current pace. He is 29 and could be finding his prime, and has no pressure on him in Tampa Bay -- another plus.

On the other hand, I can't see Cust continue to put up gaudy numbers, even though he's proven in the minors he can hit for power. Cust is batting .280/.399/.607. He has 15 HR and 41 RBI. His percentage of flyballs that become homers this year is a remarkable 42.1 (A-Rod, as a point of comparison, is at 28.8). Cust's BABIP is .372, and note he is hitting five points lower than Pena in overall BA. He's only batting .279 with RISP and has 67 K in 168 AB. Entering this season, Cust's career percentage of plate appearances that ended with either a homer, a strikeout or a walk (the Three True Outcomes) was 47.8 combined in the minors and majors. When those flyballs stop leaving the building at the rate they've been going so far this year, Cust will probably return to earth with them.

First half surprises

As the All-Star Game approaches, I decided to revisit The Hardball Times win shares above bench (essentially win shares minus loss shares) to see who was tops at each position, and how much better they were than the No. 2 player. Here is the list:

AL

C: Victor Martinez (11) +4 over Joe Mauer
1B: Carlos Pena (9) +1 over Kevin Youkilis
2B: B.J. Upton (8) +1 over Brian Roberts
SS: Orlando Cabrera (10) +1 over Derek Jeter
3B: Alex Rodriguez (11) +7 over four others
OF: Ichiro Suzuki (14) +1 over Magglio Ordonez, Vladimir Guerrero
DH: David Ortiz (9) +1 over Gary Sheffield

NL

C: Russell Martin (9) +6 over Brian McCann, Chris Snyder
1B: Albert Pujols (9) +1 over Adrian Gonzalez, Dmitri Young, Prince Fielder
2B: Chase Utley (11) +5 over Dan Uggla, Orlando Hudson
SS: Jose Reyes (9) +1 over Edgar Renteria
3B: Miguel Cabrera (10) +2 over David Wright
OF: Eric Byrnes (10) +2 over Aaron Rowand, Barry Bonds, Corey Hart

This list produced several surprises, I think. Three are in the AL: Pena, Upton and Suzuki. Pena, a flop in Detroit, has found himself in Tampa Bay. He is batting .283/.387/.613. He has 19 HR, 42 R and 47 RBI in 68 games. In 2005, Pena struck out 95 times and walked 31 times in 295 plate appearances. This season, in 254 PA, he has just 62 whiffs and 34 BB.

Upton has missed time on the DL, but he’s .320/.396/.545. He has 9 HR, 36 R and 31 RBI in 56 games. He is 13 of 18 in SB. Suzuki, with the best WSAB in MLB, is batting .369/.424/.471. He has 5 HR, 57 R and 39 RBI in 80 games. He is 23 of 25 in SB. Because he plays in Seattle, he doesn’t get nearly the recognition he should – right now he’s the MVP based on these numbers.

I’d label Martinez a mild surprise, only for his WSAB dominance over the rest of a deep catcher position in the AL.

In the NL, Russell Martin might not be a household name, and as another West Coast player he will have difficulty in that regard, but he’s been a standout. Martin is batting .306/.371/.483. He has 9 HR, 47 R and 55 RBI in 80 games. He’s 16 of 19 in SB. He’s also throwing out 31% of opposing baserunners.

The outfield in the NL is filled with surprise names, starting with Byrnes. He is batting .314/.367/.504. He has 13 HR, 52 R and 46 RBI in 85 games. He is 15 of 20 in SB. He also has 8 assists. Rowand is .309/.385/.472 with 11 HR, 50 R and 43 RBI in 84 games. He is 5 of 6 in SB. He has 9 assists. Hart is batting .313/.384/.529. He has 11 HR, 41 R and 33 RBI in 67 games. He is 16 of 19 in SB.

Byrnes, Rowand and Hart all are batting between .340-.350 on balls in play, which is above the expected figure of somewhere between .295-.310 for most players. Byrnes, though, is owed it – his BABIP was .238 with Colorado and .221 with Baltimore in 2005. Suzuki’s BABIP is .400 this year, but that’s not completely unusual for him. His BABIP was .401 in 2004 and .350 in 2006. Upton’s BABIP this year is .447, which would suggest he could see his .320 BA drop in the future. He hit .258 in 2004 (.339 BABIP) and .246 in 2006 (.313 BABIP).

K-razy

I visited the Retrosheet site today (I added a link under Around the Horn) and was just surfing around because I never really checked it out. I came upon a section where outstanding game performances are listed and noticed that Nolan Ryan struck out 19 batters three times in a game in 1974 for the Angels. Two of these were in extra innings, but nonetheless, a remarkable feat. I also noticed Ryan was 1-1 with a no decision in those games. Remarkable, too, I think.

He got the ND in a 15-inning game in which he lasted only 13 innings. His counterpart, the Red Sox's Luis Tiant, went the distance in taking the loss, 4-3. Interestingly, Tiant had a 19-K game in 1968, going the distance as his Indians beat the Twins, 1-0, in 10 innings.

Ryan later in 1974 beat the Red Sox, 4-2, with a complete game, 19-K effort. Eight days later, Ryan lost a 19-K game, 1-0 in 11 innings, to Mickey Lolich and the Tigers. Both Ryan and Lolich went the distance. The time of the game was 2:41.

In 1977, Ryan struck out 19 Blue Jays in 10 innings of work, but got a no decision as the Angels needed 13 innings to win, 2-1.

Randy Johnson must have attended the Ryan school of hard luck; he got a ND in his 20-K game in 2001 and was 1-1 in 19-K games in 1997. He also had a ND in an 18-K game in 1992.

Pitchers with at least 18 Ks in a game are 18-4 with 5 ND in MLB history, so you can see Ryan and Johnson were anomalies.

Super Grover

Stanley beat me to the Mike Hargrove farewell. I was surprised by Grover's decision, but I'm sure he is happy with it, even if he can't fully explain it.

My first job out of college was as the public relations director of the Cleveland Indians' Class AA team in Williamsport, PA, in 1988. Grover was the manager. He was a great guy to work with and his family was terrific. His wife, Sharon, did all she could to make the young players and their families feel at home even though all were far from home. For years I had a white Ford Escort that was easy to pick out because it had a Chief Wahoo sticker on the back of it; a sticker slapped onto the car when I first got it by Sharon.

I remember throwing pitches to Grover's son, Andy, who was probably 5 or 6 at the time, in an open area between the concession stand and home clubhouse. This was our routine many nights while Andy waited for his dad to get done with paperwork after games. I can't believe Andy is now playing ball in the minors; we're getting old.

Maybe that's what Grover realized, too. I certainly wish him and his family all the best.

Dudley

I have fond recollections of Mike Hargrove as the manager of the Baltimore Orioles from 2000 - 2003 and his sudden resignation as manager of the Mariners compels me to say so.

The O's had a distinct lack of talent in those years yet watching them play was fine because they played good ball. They lost because they got outplayed, sure, but they got outplayed because their opponents were better. They did not do themselves in. When they got a decently pitched game and a clutch hit, they generally won.

Part of Hargrove's managerial style was to go to the bullpen early and often. There were no quick games with Grover as manager. Once he got to his bullpen, he had no compunction with using 'em all to get a win. The "Human Rain Delay", as he was called in his playing days for his deliberately slow plate routine prior to each pitch, was the "Human Game Delay" when managing.

With the growing frustration it is to be an O's fan, I had been considering turning my attentions to the Mariners, purely because 'Grover was the manager. Now that he's gone, I'm guess I'm stuck with the O's.

Hargrove resigned with the statement that his "passion has begun to fade". I wish him well. I hope he regains his passion.

Godspeed.

This is more fun

The Mets salvaged the month of June after a poor start thanks to a return to National League competition. They went a respectable 8-7 in interleague play, and if the World Series is changed to a best-of-fifteen format I like their chances, but they've put up a much healthier 38-27 record against the NL. This past week they took five of seven from the Cardinals and Phillies, finishing June with twelves wins and fifteen losses and extending their division lead to four games over the second place Braves. Sadly a Sunday loss meant a streak of five straight wins continued to elude them.

The key to the Cardinals series was pitching, as the Mets scored just seven runs in three games but they took a bit more advantage of Citizen's Bank Park's cozy dimensions, scoring twenty-two runs in four games. The worst starting pitching performances of the week came from Jorge Sosa and Mike Pelfrey on Saturday and Sunday as each gave up three runs in five innings. Sosa got a win and Pelfrey a loss. John Maine had the best start of the week, limiting the Phillies to just two runs, one earned, in eight innings on Friday, with four hits, no walks and six strikeouts.

Several Mets had good weeks at the plate, including Carlos Beltran with four home runs in two games on Friday and Saturday and David Wright hitting .273/.414/.636 in the seven games. But perhaps most surprising was the man who led the team with eight hits on the week, Carlos Delgado. It was not quite an offensive explosion, but the struggling first baseman hit .308/.379/.692 for the week with a pair of home runs. He's had brief flashes like this before and is still hitting a paltry .232/.296/.424 for the year, but a good week is a good week and if he can continue to be productive, the Mets could regain their status as an offensive juggernaut.

This week's episode of bizarre bullpen management came in Tuesday's loss to the Cardinals. Willie Randolph brought Scott Schoeneweis in to pitch to a right-handed batter in the top of the eleventh inning. To the surprise of no one aside from perhaps Randolph, the game did not remain tied for long as Mr. Three-Years-$10.8-Million allowed the first batter he faced, Brendan Ryan, to hit his first major league home run. I understand that as long as he's on the team, he has to pitch once in a while--though Aaron Sele might beg to differ--but Randolph consistently uses Schoeneweis is situations that do not play to his meager strengths. Entering Sunday, righties were hitting .339/.437/.729 against him. Basically, he turns every right-handed hitter into Sammy Sosa circa 2001. There's no reason he should pitch to anyone but lefties. And even then only if Pedro Feliciano is unavailable or the Mets are at least four runs ahead or behind.

In happier news, four Mets were chosen for the National League's All-Star squad. Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran were chosen by the fans to start and Billy Wagner joins five other closers on the pitching staff. While John Maine was clearly robbed--he's a top five starter whether your stat of choice is wins, ERA or Baseball Prospectus's VORP--the Mets will have a solid contingent of players trying to make sure game one of the World Series takes place at Shea.

The Mets (46-34) will conclude the first half of the season on the road with series in Denver and Houston. Game one against the Rockies (39-43) will take place Monday night and pit Tom Glavine (7-5, 4.12, 297 career wins) against Jason Hirsh (3-7, 5.21, 6 career wins). Oliver Perez (7-6, 3.14) and Maine (9-4, 2.74) will finish up the series for New York against Aaron Cook (4-5, 4.70) and Josh Fogg (3-6, 5.31), respectively.

Home is where the hurt is

The Tigers lost to the Twins again today at Comerica Park, falling to 1-4 on their current 13-game homestand and 19-18 at the CoPa this year.

Entering today, Detroit was hitting .289/.355/.475 at home this season and .291/.351/.468 on the road; not much of a difference, although the road numbers include pitchers batting. The staff at home has a 4.85 ERA/1.47 WHIP/ and a .271 BAA compared to road marks of 4.11/1.40/.267. The Tigers are 27-15 on the road.

Last year, Detroit was 46-35 at home and 49-32 on the road, so it's no fluke the Tigers play well away from Comerica. The team hit .273/.327/.424 at home in 2006, marks this season's team has surpassed across the board. The pitching, though, was better, too with 3.92/1.33/.259 numbers at Comerica. No one can explain why the Tigs are struggling at home.

The Angels are 29-13 at home this season while Cleveland is 28-12 and Boston is 24-12; all are in first place in their respective divisions. Obviously, the Tigers are going to have to turn around this situation or they are in trouble.

Another reason for concern: Detroit is only 3 games above .500 vs. the AL this season. The Tigers' 46-33 record was helped greatly by going 14-4 in interleague play.

Pray for rain

That's what the Tigers probably were doing today, and their prayers were answered. After an 8-1 road swing against the NL East, Detroit returned to Comerica and watched errors and dismal relief pitching doom it in consecutive losses to Texas. While the Monday defeat can be excused because the team returned from the road at something like 4 a.m., Tuesday's setback was bad. A day off could be just what the doctor ordered.

Detroit's bullpen was solid on the back half of the road trip, but Fernando Rodney went back on the DL and the struggles of old returned as well. Todd Jones has 18 saves, but I fear that at 39 years old the tank is nearing empty. Jones has given up 16 ER in his last 11.1 IP, sending his ERA from 2.37 to 6.23. He's given up 8 BB during the span, which is alarming.

In 2005, Jones held foes to a .230 BA, had 62 K and 14 BB in 73 IP. In 2006, opponents batted .276 while Jones had 28 K and 11 BB in 64 IP. This year, he's giving up a .302 BA with 16 K and 14 BB in 30.1 IP. Jones' success in the past largely was the result of him not walking batters. His K-BB ratio is cause for concern. (Now, maybe he can pull a Casey and prove me an idiot.)

Jason Grilli needs to step up, too. Maybe Zach Miner's return can help. Or maybe this is just something the Tigers are going to have to scuffle with this season. Detroit has used 21 pitchers this season compared with 19 for all of 2006. The starters are going to have to go at least 7 and then hope for the best. And the offense will need to continue to mash.

Charlie's Best So Far...

Last nights line up was the best so far from Charlie Manuel. Now that Pat Burrell has officially become the highest paid pinch hitter in MLB, young Michael Bourn has been given the opportunity to grab a hold on to left field. What makes last nights line up great was speed. Rollins, Bourn, and Victorino are three of the fastest players in the league, and combined with Utley’s hustle and Carlos Ruiz’ s surprising speed for a catcher, the team can put a lot of pressure on a defense. It showed last night as Bourn stole his 11th base (11 for 13 on the year), and Ruiz stole home.

As much as I like seeing Victorino batting second, if Bourn is playing sixth is a great spot for Shane. Shane is starting to hit for power, (especially when he bats from the right side) and he brings great speed to the bottom of the line up and that should help Dobbs (or Nunez) and Ruiz to be productive.

Vlad is bad

Most writers and commentators are focused on Magglio Ordonez and Alex Rodriguez as the top candidates for the AL MVP at this point of the season. This is not to be unexpected as both are having great -- OK, incredible -- years. But according to the win shares posted at Hardball Times, neither is No. 1 in the league.

The top spot belongs to Vladimir Guerrero. Vlad has 17 total win shares and 12 win shares above bench while Maggs is at 16/11 and A-Rod is 15/10. Actually, Orlando Cabrera is between Maggs and A-Rod with 16/10. Ichiro Suzuki and Victor Martinez are even with A-Rod at 15/10 and Grady Sizemore is 14/9.

It's a shame Guerrero plays on the West Coast. If he played in NY, could you imagine how big he would be? The median Vlad season since his first full year in 1998 is .329-39-111 with 15 SB and a .978 OPS. He led the AL in intentional walks in 2005 and 2006 (and is tops so far this year). He also is annually above the league average for range factor among right fielders (although below the average for fielding percentage) and contributes 10 assists per season in his median line.

According to Baseball-Reference.com, the three most similar hitters to Vlad through the age of 30 are Willie Mays, Duke Snider and Frank Robinson.

Killer B

Craig Biggio entered tonight needing 4 hits for 3,000 in his career. Biggio is an interesting player when looking at his place in history.

He started his career as a catcher before winning 4 Gold Glove awards at 2B; only Sandberg, Morgan and Mazeroski won more in the NL. He leads all active MLB players in doubles with 658, is 6th in history, and is the tops among right-handed batters in history.

Biggio led the NL in runs twice and scored 100 or more 8 times; his 1,820 runs are 15th in history. He was a top base stealer in his prime and got hit by an unusually high number of pitches.

On the downside, he struck out frequently and never had an MVP-type season; his highest finish was fourth in 1997. His career BA is .282 and he had only four .300+ seasons.

Nonetheless, he compares favorable to several Hall of Famers (not all second basemen, but contemporaries). He has more homers (286) than Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Joe Morgan and Ryne Sandberg. His BA is better than Morgan's (.271) and comparable to Yount's and Sandberg's (both .285). His .800 OPS is better than Sandberg's .796 and Yount's .772. In fact, his BA and OPS both are better than Cal Ripken's (.276 and .787). But Yount, Morgan and Ripken all won multiple MVP awards and Sandberg won one. Molitor finished second once and had an .817 OPS.

According to Hardball Times, Biggio ranks second in win shares for all active batters, behind only Barry Bonds. He is third among all active players; Roger Clemens is the only pitcher ahead of him. Hardball Times also came up with a calculation for "win shares above bench," which ranks Biggio as the fifth greatest second baseman in history. It's an interesting list and you can check it out here.

You had your chance, Phillies and Braves

This week began just like any other in June with the Mets losing a series, this time to the Twins. The offense came to life in a game one win, but they were unable to repeat the performance in game two or three. But over the weekend they bounced back at long last, sweeping the A's for their first series win in seven tries.

Tom Glavine, Orlando Hernandez and John Maine each pitched excellently against Oakland and the offense scored at least nine runs twice. No one hitter carried the offense as nine men had at least one multi-hit game with Carlos Beltran doing it twice. Every spot on the diamond had one except for catcher and Ramon Castro did provide a double and score the only run of Saturday's game after Paul Lo Duca got ejected for acting like a jackass. Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran each had five hits on the weekend including a home run by Beltran and two doubles by Reyes.

The rest of the NL East has completely failed to take advantage of the Mets' (41-32) poor June and as a result they were able to stretch their division lead back to three games over the Phillies (39-36) with their modest win streak. The series with Oakland began a stretch in which the Mets will play at least one game on seventeen straight days including a doubleheader this Friday. So they picked a pretty good time to start playing well again.

This difficult stretch of games, which in no way resembles the Bataan Death March, continues with four games against that team that got lucky last October and isn't even ahead of the Cubs in the standings right now, the St. Louis Cardinals (33-39). Jorge Sosa (6-3, 4.05), Oliver Perez (7-6, 3.16), Glavine (6-5, 4.38) and El Duque (3-3, 2.77) will start for the Mets. Mike Maroth (5-2, 5.06) will make his first start for St. Louis since being acquired from the Tigers and will be followed by Todd Wellemeyer (2-1, 6.65), Anthony Reyes (0-9, 6.64) and Adam Wainwright (6-6, 4.58).

Roaring

The Tigers completed their 9-game NL swing with an 8-1 record and 7-game win streak. One of the more remarkable features of the streak is the fact Detroit batted around in 6 of those games, all without the benefit of the DH. The offense simply continues to be scary good. The Tigs went 14-4 in interleague play.

Making the situation better (at least for Tig fans, perhaps not the AL) is the staff is coming into form. Kenny Rogers returned and immediately recaptured his 2006 brilliance. Nate Robertson is slated to come off the DL and start Tuesday. Justin Verlander and Jeremy Bonderman keep winning. Chad Durbin got a three-inning save in his first appearance out of the pen. Over the last 5 games, Detroit gave up just 6 runs -- and 4 of those came in one game. Granted, the span came against the Nats and struggling Braves, but it's still a good sign. (And the Nats, it should be noted, took 2 of 3 from Cleveland over the weekend.)

After being a sore spot much of the season, the bullpen is enjoying one of its best stretches. Over the last 5 games, the relievers tossed 15 IP, giving up 8 hits and 1 run while striking out 14 and walking 5. That's a 0.60 ERA and 0.87 WHIP.

The Tigers will have to make some more moves with Robertson and Zach Miner returning to the staff. I'm interested to see what becomes of 23-year-old Eulogio De La Cruz, who has been sharp in 3 relief appearances. He's supposed to have a 95+ mph fastball and big league curve and change. Plus, his numbers in the minors show him to be a groundball pitcher. Detroit might have another unheralded weapon in its arsenal.

Detroit now returns to Comerica for a 13-game homestand. The Tigers could really help themselves in the AL Central race if they continue to play well the next two weeks. It begins with a 4-game set against Texas, and for the first time this season the rotation will resemble 2006: Bonderman - Robertson - Rogers - Verlander.

The Tigers have been coming through in clutch spots this season. The hitters are batting .313 with a .963 OPS with 2 outs and RISP (387 plate appearances). The pitchers are allowing a .244 BA and .722 OPS in that situation (308 PA).

Goodbye, Mike

This is a sad day for me as a Tigers fan, having to bid the expected farewell to pitcher Mike Maroth. When I was deciding to buy a jersey last year, Maroth was the player's I picked; no one better symbolized the team's rise to success from the despair of 2003. Maroth lost 21 games in 2003, the first 20-game loser since 1980, and never once complained or asked to be taken out of the rotation to avoid the ignominious distinction.

He was a man, on and off the field. The past two seasons, Maroth was the Tigers' nominee for the Clemente Award for his charity work in Detroit.

"Mike Maroth is class personified," Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski said, "he and his wife, Brooke -- the whole family. He's grown into an established Major League pitcher. He's gone through a lot of adversity. He dealt with it front and center. He's first-class in every regard."

I hold a special place for the guys from 2003 that got to be a part of last year's AL champions, particularly Maroth, Brandon Inge, Craig Monroe, and Jeremy Bonderman.

There was no spot left for Maroth with Kenny Rogers' return to the rotation, plus the expected returns of Nate Robertson and Zach Miner, and the emergence of Chad Durbin as a (so far) reliable arm and promotion of young Andrew Miller.

Maroth was 50-62 for the Tigers, but 24-18 since the start of 2005. He's not overpowering or flashy, he's just Mike Maroth, and that's why I loved him. Had it not been for elbow trouble that derailed him last season -- while pitching the best ball of his career -- this trade probably doesn't happen.

The Tigers will get a player to be named later from the Cardinals for Maroth. As for Maroth, he will get a chance to remain a starter and should benefit the St. Louis rotation. Here's wishing him all the best and thanks for being a great Tiger.

No relief

I love this note from Philly.com:

Charlie Manuel has had to mix and match 14 relief pitchers at different times this season.

Just two pitchers have been in the bullpen since the start: Geoff Geary and Antonio Alfonseca.

Brett Myers, Tom Gordon, Ryan Madson and Francisco Rosario have spent time on the disabled list. There is Clay Condrey, who was designated for assignment once and outrighted once. There are Yoel Hernandez, Mike Zagurski, Matt Smith, Fabio Castro, Brian Sanches and Joe Bisenius, who have either been called up from the minors or optioned to the minors.

The scary thing is the Tigers and Phils have remarkably similar numbers from their relievers, as far as BA/OBA/SLG:

Detroit .275/.351/.437
Philly .278/.364/.430

Those numbers are fairly dreadful. Here are relief numbers for all teams, clumped somewhat by effectiveness:

San Diego .216/.279/.312
Toronto .218/.296/.333
Boston .232/.319/.349
Angels .232/.302/.370
Dodgers .233/.292/.344

Yankees .235/.338/.360
Seattle .239/.333/.339
San Fran .240/.323/.376
Mets .240/.324/.403
Texas .240/.325/.375

Milwaukee .241/.307/.367
Arizona .241/.324/.395
Oakland .242/.312/.359
Atlanta .244/.330/.361
Cleveland .246/.324/.368

St. Louis .247/.312/.381
Minnesota .248/.322/.368
Cubs .248/.328/.383
Florida .258/.344/.382
Washington .259/.327/.409

Cincy .263/.347/.399
Houston .264/.342/.429
Baltimore .267/.356/.380
KC .267/.343/.428
Colorado .269/.345/.400

Pittsburgh .273/.349/.449
Detroit .275/.351/.437
Philly .278/.364/.430
White Sox .289/.381/.441
Tampa Bay .292/.376/.458

June boom

Here's what the Tigers have done so far in June:

Magglio Ordonez .500-1-18
Brandon Inge .373-3-17
Placido Polanco .370-0-7
Gary Sheffield .369-5-19
Omar Infante .343-0-6
Curtis Granderson .342-1-11
Carlos Guillen .326-5-13
Ivan Rodriguez .322-2-13
Sean Casey .321-1-15

Surprisingly, the only time the Tigers have been shutout came in June. Detroit is 1-5 in June when scoring 5 or fewer runs. Kenny Rogers return, hopefully, can help remedy that.

Left out

The Tigers traded lefty reliever/starter Wil Ledezma to the Braves for lefty reliever Macay McBride today. The move is billed as giving Detroit flexibility as Kenny Rogers and Nate Robertson get ready to return to the staff because Ledezma is out of options and McBride is not.

I hate to see Wil go, but this deal seems to make some sense for the Tigers, although given the bullpen woes, I’m not sure about McBride’s future. It seems he could help now, rather than be sent to the minors.

McBride, a 24-year-old former No. 1 draft pick, is great against left-handed hitters, holding them to a .176 BA and giving up 2 HR. His WHIP is 0.93 vs. lefties. He was 6-1 with 2 saves and a 3.99 ERA in 112 career games for the Braves, all in relief. He reportedly struggled with his control earlier this season and was sent to the minors for a stint.

Lefties hit .293 with 8 HR off Ledezma, who is 26. Ledezma was 15-18 with a 5.15 ERA in 106 games, 33 starts, for Detroit.

"We could do nothing with Wil," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "We wish we could have sent him out and started him. It was just one of those deals. He's been very good on some occasions and just OK on others, but there's a lot of potential there."

A vote of confidence

Somewhere around April 21, old Sparky declared Sean Casey a dead man walking. The Mayor was hitting .158-0-1 at that time and his .238 OBA and .193 SLG didn’t help. That’s a .431 OPS for those unwilling to do the math.

Since then, Casey is batting .333-1-25 in 37 games and his OPS is .825. He even has a stolen base!

One of the stats to most concern me at the beginning of the season was Casey’s lack of doubles. Since April 21, he has 14, which translates to 1 every 11.3 AB. His best rate was in 2004 when he hit one double every 13 AB. It also was the second-best season of his life (.324-24-99).

Granted, his power is lacking for a corner position, but the Tigers don’t need power from that spot. Maybe, just maybe, Casey is the player we thought prior to the season. (Count on a prolonged slump from here.)

The Runs Created All-Stars

NL

C: Russell Martin, LAD, 39.6
1B: Prince Fielder, MIL, 62.1
2B: Chase Utley, PHI, 62.1
SS: Jose Reyes, NYM, 57.6
3B: Miguel Cabrera, FLA, 58.2
OF: Matt Holliday, COL, 61.6
OF: Eric Byrnes, ARI, 52.9
OF: Ken Griffey Jr., CIN, 51.3

AL

C: Jorge Posada, NYY, 47.1
1B: Kevin Youkilis, BOS, 54.3
2B: Brian Roberts, BAL, 46.9
SS: Derek Jeter, NYY, 51.3
3B: Alex Rodriguez, NYY, 68.9
OF: Magglio Ordonez, DET, 69.8
OF: Grady Sizemore, CLE, 58.9
OF: Vlad Guerrero, LAA, 58.3

The OPS All-Stars

NL

C: Russell Martin, LAD, .824
1B: Prince Fielder, MIL, 1.023
2B: Chase Utley, PHI, .967
SS: Edgar Renteria, ATL, .915
3B: Chipper Jones, ATL, 1.014
OF: Barry Bonds, SF, 1.067
OF: Matt Holliday, COL, 1.019
OF: Ken Griffey Jr., CIN, .965

AL

C: Jorge Posada, NYY, .965
1B: Casey Kotchman, LAA, .967
2B: B.J. Upton, TB, .941
SS: Carlos Guillen, DET, .938
3B: Alex Rodriguez, NYY, 1.107
OF: Magglio Ordonez, DET, 1.115
OF: Vlad Guerrero, LAA, .992
OF: Gary Sheffield, DET, .945

Pitching in

Since the start of the 2000 season, 16 pitchers have won at least 100 games. Here’s the list, with their record and ERA.

Randy Johnson 124-61, 3.17
Greg Maddux 118-80, 3.59
Tim Hudson 114-62, 3.54
Curt Schilling 114-59, 3.54
Bartolo Colon 110-68, 3.98
Andy Pettitte 109-62, 3.67
Tom Glavine 108-80, 3.66
Barry Zito 108-70, 3.60
Mike Mussina 106-71, 3.85
Roy Oswalt 105-51, 3.09
Jamie Moyer 104-70, 4.13
Mark Mulder 103-57, 4.11
Roger Clemens 102-45, 3.28
Mark Buehrle 101-69, 3.80
Livan Hernandez 101-95, 4.14
Freddy Garcia 100-68, 4.07

Only one pitcher on the list has a save (actually 9 of them) – Curt Schilling. Bartolo Colon caught me by surprise. It's also easy to forget how remarkable Maddux is; he tossed 210 IP last year at the age of 40. It was his fourth consecutive 200+ effort. The only time he threw fewer than 200 IP since his rookie year in 1987 came in 2002, when he went 199.1 IP. He might not be great anymore, but he's still good. Or maybe Woody Allen was right that 80% of success is just showing up.

Pedro Martinez (2.78 ERA) and Matt Morris have 99 wins.

The Gambler returns

Kenny Rogers is slated to pitch Friday for the Tigers after two rehab starts in the minors. Hopefully, he is ready and not rushing. Detroit is still winning games, thanks to its mind-boggling offense, so the team could afford to be cautious.

But this comment from Jim Leyland is telling:

"Anytime you get some guy back with the quality of a Kenny Rogers, obviously you're tickled to death, because it solidifies your rotation more and you're not grasping for straws like we have been all year," Leyland said. "We need to get our pitchers straightened out. It's still a mess."

Philly

I think I've finally figured out Philly fans. They want their teams to be good enough to keep them interested, but bad enough so they can complain. It's fitting that "Rocky" was from Philly. He is quintessentially what Philadelphia loves -- someone who tries earnestly and fails.

Poor Charlie Manuel can't get a break. He managed the 7th inning of Sunday's loss to Detroit, from my perspective, perfectly, except his players failed to execute. So Philly fans continue to howl Manuel is a moron. He was ultimately done in by Craig Monroe lining a single off Abraham Nunez's glove after an intentional walk to Placido Polanco. Monroe was in a 2-for-15 slump with 8 strikeouts prior to the single. In fact, Monroe was just 5-for-35 going back to June 6.

To quote from the AP account of Sunday's game:

Then came the sound as familiar in Philly as the vendors shouting "Hot dogs!"

Boooo!

Now, I don't necessarily blame the fans for booing or being upset. But take it out on the players, not Charlie. Ultimately, I think Manuel will go because the organization will need to do something, and firing the manager -- in this case one that has become hated by the fans -- is the only move. But a new manager isn't going to make the bullpen better. Look at Jim Leyland; he doesn't look like the genius he was last year when Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney were lights out in the late innings. Funny how good players, performing well, make you smart.

Kill me now

The Mets are just awful at everything right now. They lost five of six games this week, outscored 37 to 17. Only once did a Mets starter pitch more than 5.2 innings or allow fewer than four runs. The team hit just .243/.285/.328. And the bullpen ERA was 4.41. Oliver Perez pitched a heck of a game against Roger Clemens, though.

The Mets scored three or fewer runs in five of these six games, with an eight-run outburst on Saturday padding the team's averages considerably. Right in the middle of the ineptitude were Carloses Delgado and Beltran. Delgado's been "slumping" more or less all season long while Beltran is playing hurt, just as he did in his disappointing 2005, with similar results. This week the pair had just six hits with a combined line of .157/.157/.196. That's right, neither of them even drew a walk. The Carlos Of The Week Award clearly goes to Mr. Gomez, who had seven singles and one free pass in these six games. A lot of Mets had a bad week, but this team is never going to turn things around with Delgado and Beltran playing this poorly. If the Mets weren't already down three outfielders it would probably make sense for Beltran to hit the DL and rest his sore quad for a couple of weeks. Since that's out of the question, I'm not sure how this team is going to regain its stroke.

Facing a Twins team (34-33) with one of the top few pitching staffs in the American League is probably not going to help. The Mets (37-30) are still atop the NL East, but their margin over the Braves is down to just 1.5 games. John Maine (6-4, 3.05), Jorge Sosa (6-2, 3.42) and Oliver The Great (7-5, 2.93) will take the mound for New York in this series. Carlos Silva (4-7, 4.07), Johan Santana (6-6, 3.19) and Scott Baker (1-2, 7.33) will likely have some of their best starts of the year in opposition.

Keystone combo

Since the start of the 2005 season, Placido Polanco ranks tied for 7th in MLB with a .320 batting average. Carlos Guillen is No. 10 at .317. Here’s the top 10:

Miguel Cabrera .332
Derek Jeter .329
Derrek Lee .328
Matt Holliday .326
Albert Pujols .326
Vlad Guerrero .325
Placido Polanco .320
Joe Mauer .320
Ichiro Suzuki .319
Carlos Guillen .317

The Tigers’ Magglio Ordonez is 14th at .314, behind Freddy Sanchez, Michael Young and Miguel Tejada.

Polanco has struck out just 65 times since the start of 2005, a span of 1221 at-bats. Mike Lieberthal has struck out only 57 times during the time frame, the best in MLB, but in just 629 AB.

A few of my favorite things

Pitching Rotation

Two 90-year-old men, Moe and Joe, have been friends all of their lives. When it's clear that Joe is dying, Moe visits him every day. One day Moe says, "Joe, we both loved baseball all our lives, and we played minor league ball together for so many years. Please do me one favor: when you get to Heaven, somehow you must let me know if there's baseball there."

Joe looks up at Moe from his deathbed, "Moe, you've been my best friend for many years. If it's at all possible, I'll do this favor for you." Shortly after that, Joe passes on.

At midnight a couple of nights later, Moe is awakened from a sound sleep by a blinding flash of white light and a voice calling out to him, "Moe, Moe."

"Who is it?" asks Moe, sitting up suddenly. "Who is it?"

"Moe -- it's me, Joe."

"You're not Joe. Joe just died."

"I'm telling you, it's me, Joe," insists the voice.

"Joe! Where are you?"

"In Heaven," replies Joe. "I have some really good news and a little bad news."

"Tell me the good news first," says Moe.

"The good news," Joe says, "is that there's baseball in Heaven. Better yet, all of our old buddies who died before us are here, too. Better than that, we're all young again. Better still, it's always springtime, and it never rains or snows. And best of all, we can play baseball all we want, and we never get tired."

"That's fantastic," says Moe. "It 's beyond my wildest dreams! So what's the bad news?"

"You're pitching Tuesday."

DoH

The Tigers begin a 9-game NL road trip, which means no DH. I've checked all the Tiger Web sites and haven't found any indication of what Jim Leyland's plan is for getting Gary Sheffield into the lineup. I'm guessing he will play LF or 1B depending on whether Leyland plans on sitting Craig Monroe, Curtis Granderson (against lefties) or Sean Casey.

Detroit is coming off back-to-back losses and won't face an easy task in Philly, which is only 2.5 games worse than the Tigers. Fortunately, the rotation favors the Tigs with Jeremy Bonderman, Andrew Miller and Justin Verlander getting starts.

Tonight, Jon Lieber goes for the Phils. If Bondo and Lieber are on their games, this one could be finished in under 2 hours. Philly sends Jamie Moyer on Saturday and Adam Eaton on Sunday, although Cole Hamels originally was slated for that start.

The Tigers go to Washington and Atlanta following this series.

Ranger wrecks

Here are lowlights about the Rangers, as pointed out by NY Daily News writer Bill Madden:

Traded Travis Hafner for Ryan Drese and Einar Diaz.

Traded Francisco Cordero, Kevin Mench and Laynce Nix for Carlos Lee (lost to free agency).

Traded Chris Young (the pitcher) and Adrian Gonzalez for Adam Eaton (lost to free agency) and Akinori Otsuka.

Signed Vincente Padilla for $33.75 million.

Released Doug Davis.

I'd gladly pay you Tuesday ...

There's a story making the rounds, which I just came across, about Justin Verlander needing 50 cents to buy chocolate milk one day while a sophomore in high school. He made a deal with a friend to give him 0.1% of his signing bonus if he would lend him the money for the milk. The friend wrote down the terms on a napkin, Verlander signed it, and got his milk. Later, after Verlander signed with the Tigers, the friend produced the napkin.

"I forgot about it, but after I signed, he whips out this old napkin. I'm like, 'Oh my God!' My bonus was 3-point-something million," Verlander said.

"Was a chocolate milk worth $3,000? I want to say yes. I was parched."

Brilliant

What can you say about Justin Verlander's game tonight? Brilliant. The first no-no for the Tigers since Jack Morris in 1984 and the 6th in team history.

I missed the first 3 innings, but once I saw Verlander set down the Brewers in the 4th, I immediately thought he was going to throw a no-hitter. He was so in command it was scary. Bill Hall was the only Brewer to "solve" Verlander, getting 3 of the 4 walks allowed by Verlander.

Verlander struck out a career-high 12, including 2 in the 9th. He reportedly was clocked at 102 mph in the 9th. He also had his curveball and filthy change working. He was hitting the corners at the knees with his fastball at 99 mph and coming back with knee-locking curves or 85 mph changes. It was pitching.

Magglio Ordonez made a sliding catch of a flyball in the seventh and Neifi Perez started a terrific double play, with great pivot by Placido Polanco, to end the eighth. That really was the only times Verlander was in trouble, if you can call it that.

I almost posted after the 4th a prediction that Verlander would throw a no-hitter, but wimped out fearing the jinx.

Verlander joins Hideo Nomo and John Montefusco as ROYs to throw a no-hitter the following year.

Inge rises

Tigers 3B Brandon Inge is batting .319-7-23 over his last 34 games. He’s got 22 runs and a .971 OPS. Perhaps most encouraging is the fact he’s got 15 BB and only 23 K during that time. Over his last 9 games, he’s batting .387 with a 1.145 OPS and 12 RBI.

Inge is batting .242-10-29 for the season with a .775 OPS. He was hitting .111 on April 24.

* * *

The Phillies need pitching help, both starting and relief it now appears, and the Tigers have supposedly been shopping lefty Mike Maroth. Might there be a deal in these teams’ future? I’m not sure the squads match up well for a trade now, and I don’t know if the Phils would have interest in another soft-tossing lefty. But imagine what Maroth could learn from Jamie Moyer. I’m guessing Detroit might also use Marcus Thames as a chip. Thames could hit 40 HR in the Zen.

* * *

Have to wonder if Brad Lidge being returned to the closer role in Houston is to showcase him for a trade.

* * *

Also wonder if a Maroth-Thames package might be good enough to pry Eric Gagne from Texas? When you look at the Rangers’ outfield of Marlon Byrd, Frank Catalanotto, Victor Diaz, Jerry Hairston and Kenny Lofton, you’d think they should be interested.

NY Daily News columnist Bill Madden had a great piece about Texas and its ineptitude over the years. I’ll post a snippet tomorrow.

Death to Flying Things

Really.

One win is better than none

A Mets starting pitcher was bound to have a bad day eventually. Jorge Sosa shutting out the best offense in baseball for eight innings on Friday only served to tempt fate. The Mets' offense showed some signs of life, scoring as many runs in each of the last two games as they did in the entire Philadelphia series. Still, what may be the Mets' toughest two weeks of the season did not get off to a promising start.

After Sosa's gem, Oliver Perez and Tom Glavine both got smacked around. Perez gave up five runs in five innings and Glavine was charged with nine in four and a third. Neither got any help from their bullpen as Guillermo Mota and Joe Smith had particularly bad weekends. Mota has pitched five times since returning from his suspension with three good outing and a pair of disasters. His 7:2 K:BB ratio is nice, but the eleven hits he's given up in 6.1 IP are less pretty. As for Smith, perhaps his heavy early season workload is catching up to him a bit as he's allowed at least two base runners in his last four outings. He's seemed unhittable at times this year, but far from it this past week.

The offensive ineptitude of the past week was a total team effort and so was the turnaround in the last two games of this series. Seven starters had hits in each game, though David Wright did lead the way with three hits, including two home runs, and a pair of walks in the two games. Wright has raised his slugging percentage fifty points to .511 in the last six games with eight hits including four home runs and a double. Unfortunately, he is the only Met slugging over .500 aside from Ricky Ledee, who had a very un-Newhanlike weekend, going two-for-seven with two doubles. Shawn Green did not return to the team this weekend, but the Mets sent Ben Johnson back to New Orleans on Sunday night, so Green will likely be back on Monday.

From Detroit, the Mets (36-25) fly to Los Angeles, after which they'll head back to New York as part of the MLB scheduling department's continuing assault on their sanity. The Dodgers (35-28) also lost two of three this weekend and five of their last six. Someone will have to win these three games, so why not the Mets? Orlando Hernandez (3-1, 1.94), John Maine (6-3, 2.78) and Sosa (6-1, 2.64) will give it a shot. Randy Wolf (7-4, 4.03), Hong-Chih Kuo (0-1, 4.85) and Brad Penny (7-1, 2.26) will provide the opposition. The Mets are hitting .320/.379/.475 against lefties this season, so perhaps they will be able to keep up the hitting against Wolf and Kuo.

Win some, lose some

The Mets and Tigers have split the first 2 of their series, with NY shutting out Detroit on Friday night and the Motor City Kitties roaring back to get today's game 8-7.

Friday's game, played in a crisp 2:14, marked the first time the Tigs were shut out this year and was the direct result of our praising their offense. Saturday's game, played in an interminable 3:29, showcased Detroit's season in a nutshell -- a good amount of Polly and Maggs and Guillen, then hold on and pray the bullpen gets the job done. (As a side note, the Fox broadcast team of Dick Stockton and Eric Karros almost made me yearn for Buck and McCarver.)

Maggs hit another double today, giving him 30 and putting him on pace for around 80. The MLB record is 67, set in 1931 by Boston's Earl Webb. Colorado's Todd Helton, who hit 59 in 2000, is the only player in the last 70 years to hit more than 58.

Curtis Granderson has 12 triples this season and is on pace for around 30. The record is 36, set by Pittsburgh's Chief Wilson in 1912. It's been 58 years since anyone hit as many as 23.

* * *

Bad news buried in a note in last night's AP story on the Tigers' game: Jim Leyland said Joel Zumaya could miss the rest of the season. On the bright side, Kenny Rogers is slated to make his first rehab start Sunday.

* * *

We were totally wrong about Freddy Garcia giving a good effort in KC, and he was placed on the DL today. We were totally correct about Jose Mesa gaining employment with the Phils.

Eureka!

The Baltimore Orioles finally won a baseball game in which they scored 4 runs, defeating the Colorado Rockies 4-2 last night in Baltimore. Steve Trachsel (5-4, 3.82) notched the win, pitching 6 innings and allowing 7 hits and 2 earned runs.

Nick Markakis belted a two run homer in the bottom of the 5th inning to give the O's a 4-1 lead. From the moment Markakis took that swing, I could sense the impending doom.

Sure enough, in the 6th inning the Rockies advanced a runner to 3rd base with two outs and Trachsel was called for a balk, scoring the runner from 3rd and cutting the lead to 4-2.

For those unfamiliar with Steve Trachsel, he balks on every pitch he throws from the stretch. O's talking heads Buck Martinez and Rick Dempsey both have explained to television viewers that umpires around the league have advised them "he does it on every pitch, therefore, there is no intent to deceive the runner. It is his natural motion and thus, it is not a balk."

So, apparently, Steve Trachsel does not balk on every pitch. Except when he does. O's skipper Sam Perlozzo went ballistic with 1B umpire Larry Vanover and got ejected. Trachsel gave up a smoking line drive double on the next pitch.

But then something happened that I didn't see coming. Trachsel retired the next hitter (and thus the side) on a routine ground ball. Then the O's bullpen took over and pitched 3 scoreless innings to preserve the victory.

The novel approach improves the O's record to 1-11 on the season in games in which they've scored exactly 4 runs.

Kids want to play for ... Detroit?

It hasn't taken long for the Tigers to become cool. Remember when nobody wanted to play for Detroit? Remember when the Tigs had to overpay to get what were viewed as shaky free agents (Pudge, Maggs) to come to town? That's no longer the case, apparently.

The Tigers are being hailed for getting Jersey high school star Rick Porcello -- one of the best players in this year's draft -- with the 27th overall pick. Porcello is being compared to Josh Beckett and Justin Verlander. Time will tell.

But this is what I found most interesting, reported in the Free Press:

Fred Porcello, the pitcher's father, said in a telephone interview that the Tigers were very high on the family's wish list of possible teams. Detroit's appeal was surely enhanced by a stockpile of young pitching stars (Miller, Verlander, Jeremy Bonderman and Joel Zumaya) and its status as the defending American League champion.

"The pitching staff has a tremendous amount of charisma and skill," the elder Porcello said. "The entire baseball world is going to be watching this team. It doesn't hurt when you're in the World Series."

KC barbecue

The Phils go to KC for 3 games and can really make some noise before returning home to face the White Sox and Tigers. Philly needs to take 2 in KC, if not sweep. The last time Philadelphia was in KC was the 1980 World Series.

Hard to believe how good the Royals were in the mid-70s to mid-80s. The Royals have had just 7 winning seasons since taking the 1985 Series against St. Louis. Probably cosmic payback for Don Denkinger's call. KC had 9 winning season from 1975-85.

Freddy Garcia goes to the hill tonight. I think he will give a good showing tonight. Garcia has been decent on the road, posting a 4.50 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and holding foes to a .256 BA. It’s been totally different at the Zen, where he has a 5.50 ERA, 1.69 WHIP and .331 BAA.

I’m not sure what to make of this stat: Garcia has 11 K in 22 IP on the road and 38 K in 34.1 IP at home. That’s 4.5 K/9 IP on the road and 10 K/9 IP at home. I’m guessing Garcia tries to be too fine at the Zen because of its dimensions. That leads to more strikeouts, as well as more walks (3.1/9 IP at home and 2/9 IP on road).

Hit men

The Tigers are riding an incredible wave of run-scoring production. Over the last 9 games, Detroit has scored double digits 4 times and scored 9 runs twice. For the season, the Tigs have hit double figures 10 times and scored 9 runs on 4 occasions. That's nearly one-quarter of their games to date.

Last year, Detroit had 16 games with 10 or more runs and another 8 with 9 runs. Five of the 2006 double-digit bashings came against Kansas City.

Over the last 9, the Tigs have put up some unbelievable numbers. They are hitting .350/.402/.556 with 13 HR and 75 RBI overall. They're bashing lefties at .375/.430/.608 and hitting righties at .338/.387/.530. With RISP, they're .394/.438/.576. They're also getting off to fast starts, batting .458/.490/.833 in the first inning. They're hitting no worse than .375 in any of the first four innings during this span.

Now the Mets come to town after getting swept in their Bizarro World series with the Phillies. The Tigs will send Chad Durbin, Jeremy Bonderman and Andrew Miller to the hill. Miller has taken over the rotation spot from Nate Robertson, who was put on the DL with a "tired arm." I think that means Detroit got tired of seeing that arm come forward and not get anyone out. The Tigers also put pitcher Zach Miner on the DL.

The Miller-Glavine matchup holds potential as one of the game's great lefties meets one of the (hopefully) next great southpaws. The 22-year-old Miller threw 6 shutout innings against the Cardinals in his only start this year. He was 2-0 with a 0.59 ERA in 4 starts at Double-A Erie. He struck out 24 and walked 5 in 30.2 IP and had a 0.88 WHIP.

Ugh

What an awful series. The Mets got three excellent starting pitching performances and wasted them with a combination of bad hitting and worse relief pitching. And to top it all off, Endy Chavez pulled his left hamstring and likely won't be back anytime soon.

Tom Glavine, Orlando Hernandez and John Maine combined for twenty innings pitched in this series and allowed just four runs. That makes nine straight quality starts for Met pitchers, adding up to a grand total of three wins. If this keeps up, Glavine's going to have to come back next year for number 300.

In these nine games, the Mets have scored just twenty-five runs, or 2.78 per game. This series was the worst of the last three with just seven runs scored. The Mets have too many good hitters for this to continue for very long and Jose Valentin's return to the lineup should help a little bit. Yet even with so few runs scored, the Mets were ahead on the scoreboard in two of these games and tied in the other when the ball was first handed to a relief pitcher.

Met relievers, who had been largely excellent this season, completely fell apart in this series, allowing ten runs in ten innings. I, of course, blame Scott Schoeneweis. The lefty, whose entire purpose on this team is to retire the tough lefties of the NL East, such as Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, pitched in all three games. He allowed a walk, a single and a double to Utley. He did retire Howard in the first two games, intentionally walking him in game three. Schoeneweis now has an ERA of 7.17 with 20 hits, 19 walks and 9 strikeouts in 21.1 innings. That is the same number of innings Jorge Julio pitched for the Mets in 2006 and Julio's 5.06 ERA seems downright adequate in comparison. Three-year contract or not, Schoeneweis needs to not be on this team anymore.

To be fair, the Big Scho was not the only reliever who failed to live up to the job title in this series. The game one loss was the result of Pedro Feliciano and Joe Smith combining to give up four hits and two runs in one inning. Game two saw Aaron Heilman turn a 2-0 seventh inning lead into a loss like he was pitching to a whole team of Yadier Molinas. And game three wouldn't have even gotten to Chase Utley's personal batting practice pitcher had Billy Wagner not blown his first save of the season by allowing a home run to noted pain in the ass Pat Burrell. At this point, the Mets spending four of their first six draft picks on college relievers almost makes sense.

The Mets (35-23) still hold a comfortable 3.5 game division lead thanks to the Braves losing three in a row and the Phillies having been eight games out in the first place. But the schedule gets rather torturous now as their next five series are against the four 2006 American League playoff teams and a very good Dodger team. Meanwhile, the Phillies get to play the Royals three times this weekend, but I digress. The Mets' punishment for being good last year starts this weekend with an interleague battle for DTFT bragging rights in Detroit. Jorge Sosa (5-1, 3.22), Oliver Perez (6-4, 2.80) and Glavine (5-3, 3.36) will get the starts for the Mets against Chad Durbin (5-1, 4.75), Jeremy Bonderman (5-0, 3.27) and Andrew Miller (1-0, 0.00) of the Tigers (33-25). Hopefully the Mets will make it to town with enough healthy hitters to field a DH.

Big mouth, big bat

Gary Sheffield’s mouth is getting more publicity than his bat right now, which is saying a lot considering how hot his bat’s been. Since the famed Daniel Cabrera plunking on April 30, Sheff has batted .323 with 14 HR and 32 RBI. He’s got a .418 OBA and .685 SLG during that span.

Only Prince Fielder has put up better numbers since April 30. Fielder, who looks very much like Big Daddy, is .328-16-34. Victor Martinez also has 34 RBI during the time frame, to go with 10 HR and .326 BA.

No. 3 on the list of HR since April 30 is Ken Griffey Jr., with 11.

Magglio Ordonez is .385-9-30 during the span.

O's Win! O's Win!

The Baltimore Orioles defeated the Seattle Mariners 9-5 yesterday afternoon in Seattle to complete their longest road trip of the season at 5-5 and halt their most recent losing streak at 5 games after winning the previous 6. What a treat!

Daniel Cabrera (5-6, 4.71 ERA) notched the win for the O's. After a shaky start (1 run in the 1st, 3 in the 2nd), Cabrera settled in and pitched 8 innings allowing 7 hits and the 4 earned runs. Chris Ray finished up in the ninth surrendering what has become the O's bullpens' obligatory run (minimum per appearance).

After 60 games, the O's are 28-32. In 2006, they were 27-33. So, they really are better than last year!

Since declaring Danys Baez the only concern on the pitching staff, the O's embarked on a 6 game winning streak followed by a 5 game losing skid during which the bullpen puked all over the place. Oh well, I suppose I had that coming. I still expect the bullpen to get back on the beam. Strike One men, Strike One!

The Orioles are 23-4 when scoring 5 or more runs. They are 5-28 when scoring 4 or less including 0-11 when scoring exactly 4 runs. 0-11! @%&#@%&#@

The bullpen and offense both need to step up, however, the team as a whole has to figure out how to make 4 runs stand up.

Nate's not so great

Nate Robertson got shelled last night in Texas, failing to get an out. This is of great concern because Nate was able to scuffle through poor outings in the past, and now seems unable. His last 6 starts have resulted in a 1-5 record and 9.12 ERA. He’s given up 50 hits (including 7 HR) and 12 walks in 25.2 IP. Ouch.

Amazingly, Nate’s ERA during the span ranks only 8th worse among pitchers with at least 10 IP. (This goes back to May 9.) Here are those who make Nate feel better:

Levale Speigner (WSH) 0-2, 14.06 ERA
Matt Albers (HOU) 0-3, 11.68
Ramon Ortiz (MIN) 0-2, 10.80
Robinson Tejeda (TEX) 1-4, 10.62
Nicholas Masset (CHA) 1-1, 10.45
Rick White (HOU) 0-0, 10.22
Kelvin Jimenez (STL) 0-0, 9.82

Unfortunately, the Tigers will miss Tejeda and Vicente Padilla (1-4, 9.00 in his last 5 starts) during this trip to Texas.

In other news, Kenny Rogers threw 2 innings in a simulated game and reported all went well. Meanwhile, former Tigs reliever Troy Percival will toss for scouts as he attempts a comeback. Detroit will be among those watching the workout. The Phillies, too, will be there.

How Big is it?

As suspected, the Orioles have followed a 6 game winning streak with a (currently active) 4 game losing streak. Only once this season have the Orioles followed a winning streak (2 consecutive wins or more) with a losing streak of fewer games than the winning streak.

The O's have also only once executed a non-losing road trip this season. It was a 3 game trip to Tampa Bay where they took two, but I suppose it still counts.

The O's are 4-4 on the current road trip with two games left in Seattle. Win one of the two and the O's will have both a winning streak as long or longer than the successive losing streak as well as a non-losing road trip.

It's an opportunity for the O's to demonstrate that the one occurrence of each of these achievements thus far this season were not flukes. This is as big a 2 game set as an O's fan has to look forward to.

Wish I could fly like Superman

There still seems to be a lot of talk about the Phillies inability to "protect" Ryan Howard in the lineup. I think people are missing the boat. There are only about a half dozen players that could protect Howard, and it would take a hitter of Howard's caliber to do so. You need a situation like Big Papi and Manny in Boston to make it worthwhile.

Philadelphia's failure is that the players batting behind Howard don't make anyone pay for putting Howard on base. That's what you need. Look at the Giants with Bonds, particularly when Jeff Kent was there. Kent never "protected" Bonds even though he drove in more than 100 runs in all 6 seasons in SF and had 3 years with 120+ RBI. The most important thing he did was make teams pay for walking Bonds.

For the 3 seasons of 2000-2002, Kent batted .313-69-273 in the No. 4 spot in the lineup (1,459 ABs). The Giants went 97-65, 90-72 and 95-66 in those seasons, and should have won the World Series in 2002. I couldn't get Kent's stats for 1997-99 with SF.

Philly's No. 5 hitters (excluding Howard) since the start of last year are batting .247-24-111.

Three out of six ain't bad

Numerous injuries finally started to catch up with the Mets this week as they won a mere fifty percent of their games. This was the first Monday-to-Sunday period this season in which the Mets failed to win more games than they lost and the weekend series against Arizona was their first series loss to a team outside the NL East. They haven't had a win streak longer than four games all year, but this consistency has left them with the best record west of Boston.

A bruise to Carlos Beltran's knee was the final nail in the coffin of ordinariness as the Mets' outfield was so depleted that they resorted to starting David Newhan. Twice! Beltran says he'll be back in the lineup on Tuesday, but he also says he still feels "a little bit of pain" when he runs, which ought to disturb any Mets fan who remembers 2005.

The Mets' offense was the main culprit this week, as they scored just eighteen runs in the six games. Only two Mets--Jose Reyes and David Wright--had more than ten at bats and a batting average above .200. Carlos Delgado hit three home runs and a double, but unfortunately those were his only hits all week. Carlos Gomez has cooled off considerably since his hot start and is hitting just .229/.263/.286 for the year. If the Mets had anyone to replace him, the twenty-one would surely be back in AAA by now.

The team as a whole has stopped hitting for power, with a team slugging percentage of just .424 compared to last year's .445. On the bright side, the team OBP is up to a league-leading .348 from last year's .334. The team's 4.87 runs per game is good for third in the league. It's down from 5.15 last year, but that was also just the third best in the league. The average NL team is scoring only 4.44 runs per game compared to 4.76 last year.

It is to the credit of the pitching that the Mets were able to scratch out three wins this week. No Met starter allowed more than three runs or pitched fewer than six innings. Oliver Perez had two seven-inning, three-run performances and didn't get a win in either. Perez pitching well has become commonplace, but Orlando Hernandez's second post-injury start was more encouraging. He gave up just two runs on two hits and one walk in seven innings. Mets starters now have an ERA of 3.48, third best in the majors.

Up next for the Mets (35-20) is a three-game series with the under-phive-hundred Phils (28-29). Game one features a couple of starting pitchers who throw with their left hand and would likely not be described as "young" in Tom Glavine (5-3, 3.44, 41 years of age) and Jamie Moyer (5-4, 4.23, 44). El Duque (3-1, 2.20) and John Maine (6-3, 2.81) will follow for New York, Adam Eaton (5-4, 6.28, 3 years, $24.5 million) and Cole Hamels (8-2, 3.55) for Philadelphia.

Number crunching

I decided to take a look at the Tigers’ pitching from 2006 and compare it to the pitching this season, through the same time period. Here are the results for opponents’ BA, OBA and SLG:

Staff 2006: .246 - .312 - .389
Staff 2007: .274 - .345 - .432

Starters 2006: .256 - .315 - .403
Starters 2007: .271 - .339 - .432

Relievers 2006: .222 - .308 - .357
Relievers 2007: .278 - .357 - .431

Staff with runners in scoring position
2006: .244 - .333 - .384
2007: .286 - .362 - .439

Staff with one-run lead
2006: .198 - .267 - .316
2007: .288 - .344 - .425

Obviously, the numbers in 2006 were outstanding. Of course, this season the Tigers have dealt with injuries to Kenny Rogers, Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya, plus losing Jamie Walker to free agency and not adequately replacing him in the pen (see: Mesa, Jose). Also, Mike Maroth was healthy for much of the 2006 time period while this year he is coming back from elbow trouble.

The surprising emergence of Chad Durbin has helped offset the loss of Rogers, and the starters’ numbers aren’t too far off from 2006. But the pen is going to need some help, it appears. The Tigers have 11 blown saves this season, compared to 16 for all of 2006. Rodney’s return, if he’s healthy now, will help.

Detroit is 32-24, so it’s nice to consider what the Tigs might do if they get improved pitching.

As far as the hitting, here are the numbers again for BA, OBA and SLG:

2006: .276 - .332 - .460
2007: .287 - .348 - .475

With runners in scoring position
2006: .260 - .337 - .413
2007: .321 - .403 - .510

Against starters
2006: .285 - .336 - .483
2007: .293 - .343 - .491

Against relievers
2006: .257 - .323 - .412
2007: .277 - .357 - .446

Strikeouts/Walks
2006: 391-148
2007: 345-179

So, the hitting is improved from last year, which we knew. Thanks to Baseball Musings for its database making this easy.

Mesa grilled

The Tigers released Jose Mesa to make room for Fernando Rodney coming off the DL. Mesa gave up 16 ER in 11.2 IP. Hopefully, Rodney is healthy and can return to 2006 form, which would be a huge boost to the Detroit pen.

Meanwhile, why do I have this feeling Mesa will resurface somewhere -- like Philly.

Split decision

Seeing how the Tigers scored 5-11-9-9 runs in their 4 games in Cleveland, it's a little disappointing to only get a split. Todd Jones' 9th-inning meltdown Friday night certainly could have spelled doom for the entire series, but Detroit bounced back to take the final 2. So I'd say the Tigers passed a big test as far as resolve, which is nice. It's also nice to see the offense roll up runs without Carlos Guillen and Brandon Inge in the lineup.

From 2nd place in the AL East

The AP reported that O's 2B Brian Roberts is sanguine. No word on how long it's expected to last.

I noticed this quote in the story: "People have to realize, it's a long, long season," Roberts said. "You're going to have your streaks, you're going to have your ups and downs, individually and as a team. You can't panic."

Seems almost exactly what Sparky was saying yesterday. We print it here, it comes out there.