Made a huge mistake last week giving you all the wrong date for the Belmont Stakes. I'm still having difficulty figuring out how I could have done that, but each man must make mistakes.
This past weekend, I took in a Chicago White Sox game at U.S. Cellular Field, replete with extra innings and tons of home runs. Summer has definitely come, and with it the inexorable march through the Slough of Despond where baseball reigns supreme and we must begrudgingly see commish Bud Selig every week on TV.
That said, however, baseball should intrigue us because the season is so long, meaning really anything can happen. The season’s only two months old, but already they’ve played enough games to merit serious analysis and attention. In addition to season’s length, baseball remains the most well-documented sport in North America. The fact we know who threw perfect games in the 1890s and that baseball uniforms first appeared in 1851 impresses me, considering the various generations that have passed through planet Earth since then. Whether we like it or not, baseball is a part of American culture, maybe less now in the hyper-media sports age, where sports in and of itself represents a huge chunk of culture, but baseball has withstood the test of time.
Now that we’ve hit June, there are a few really crazy things happening in baseball right now that, in order to be an informed citizen, you must know.
1.) The Nationals…tops in the division?
That’s right. The Nats are tied with two other teams for the lead in the NL East, but have held the top spot now for weeks. Their pitching and defense has been fantastic. The Nats have given up 170 runs this entire season, the lowest by 29 in the major leagues. Their run support, however, leaves much to be desired, scoring only 196 runs so far, the lowest of any division leader.
Unfortunately, I do not expect the Nationals to continue at this clip, while they have markedly improved this season. Very few teams can win over an entire season with such pitiful run support, no matter the pitching. In order to get better, Ryan Zimmerman must come back with a small vengeance and the pitching must continue to do well. Thus far, they have exceeded expectations, but eventually the Nats will approach their self-imposed innings limit on Stephen Strasburg, who is 6-1 with a 2.35 ERA. That decision will have huge consequences for this season.
When the trade deadline comes next month, I’d expect this team to either beef up on a rent-a-pitcher (Matt Garza of the Cubs) or a bat to provide some support to an anemic offense.
2.) Rangers only up 4.5
Remember a few weeks ago when I pronounced the AL West all sewn up? I may come to rue that prediction, since the Angels are only 4.5 games behind the Rangers for first place. Since starting 12-2, the Rangers are 20-20 (a record Boson would love to have but I digress) despite Josh Hamilton’s heroics. They just paid Roy Oswalt a large sum to go 10-10 the rest of the year so clearly questions abound in Texas as to the rotation. The bullpen, however, remains one of the best in baseball, especially if either Matt Harrison or Neftali Feliz moves from the atrting rotation.
On the flip side, the Angels will eventually come back to their true selves. Pitchere Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson are providing quality starts and I expect Dan Haren to shake his 3-6 record and pitch more consistently down the stretch. This team could also be in the market for a pitching boost as Ervin Santana is 2-6 with a 4.78 ERA (not very good). This team, an offensive juggernaut on paper, ranks low in all the major offensive categories but that should change soon given the massive amount of talent on the roster. Texas will need to get it in gear to win.
3.) The Tigers are under .500
Another surprise…the Detroit Tigers, saddled with a large salary and a large man in Prince Fielder, have not broken the .500 mark anytime recently. The Tigers, however, have been able to perform offensively, but their pitching cannot keep up. 2011 AL MVP Justin Verlander, a machine last season, has lost three straight in crucial games against the Yankees, Red Sox, and division opponent the Indians. Their bullpen ERA is not terribly good, either. The rest of the division could pose a threat, as the White Sox continue to fire on all cylinders and the Indians, surprisingly, continue to play well. In a year of two wildcards, I do expect the Tigers to ramp up in the second half and attain one of those extra spots, but to do so their pitching needs to be much, much better.
I love these examples though, since it’s good to hear salary doesn’t equate to wins.
4.) Pirates not just over .500…
…but ahead of the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals. It’s actually very impressive how the Pirates have stolen up the division leaderboard, currently on a 7-3 win streak without much acclaim. Much like the Nationals, however, the Pirates have done so without run support, scoring a league-low 162 runs this season. The Bucs are also 29th in batting average and 30th in on-base-percentage so don’t get your heart fluttering yet. In the NL Central the Cardinals and Brewers could easily make a run against the leading Cincinnati Reds, and the Pirates rely on the efforts of star Andrew McCutcheon, who leads the team in almost every offense category. Not likely to continue, but heartwarming all the same.
5.) AL East a tight race
I know this might not be a surprise but the parity currently in the AL East truly astounds me. For all the effort put into both the Yankees and Red Sox organizations, in addition to the young talent abounding in Toronto and Baltimore, it made sense to imagine the AL East this year being close.
But, three games separating the five teams? It’s truly amazing to consider Baltimore’s resurgence as a young team to the top of the division, but they are currently embroiled in a 2-8 slump, so I see them falling off the radar soon. Tamp Bay looks great to take control of this division, but it’s never too smart to bet against the powerhouses lower in the standings now. Toronto remains the only Canadian baseball team and receives attention as such (very little) but could make themselves a player if they can keep it going.
Did you notice the trend? I don’t expect all these occurrences to continue…and that’s the beauty of baseball. Things change in such a long season and change over the course of 10 or more games, a very different sensation than might be seen in any of the other major sports. We are a little over 50 games into the season, meaning we still have 110 more to go, so don’t get too excited or despondent for your team yet (unless you’re a Cubs fan in which case you’re screwed anyway). Still a long season.
Bit #1: Tiger is not back
Tiger’s flop shot on 16 yesterday looked, felt, and breathed mid-2000s Woods. That’s the kind of stuff you can only do in the video games, including 500+ yard drives and two holes in one per round. At one point, the rest of the PGA felt Tiger could do all those things, on any given day at any given tournament.
Likely, however, Tiger will not reach that peak again. He might rise to Number One in the world (then we can lose the cutesy game of Yankee Swap Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy are playing for the No. 1 ranking), but the man who won tons of tournaments likely won’t ever return. Even so, Woods’ wins in 2012 came at tournaments that he’d already won a combined 10 times. He loves those courses and plays well at them, so we should expect him to do well every year at both places. Once he shows he can compete very well on a course he traditionally does not dominate, I will become a believer. Until then, I continue to maintain he won’t be back until he loses the yardwork shoes and puts on a real set of golf shoes.
Bit #2: Might be time to blame Erik Spoelstra
Last night, the Miami Heat had two looks to win the game. Both went begging, and the Celtics have tied up the Eastern Conference Finals at 2-2. While Dwayne Wade’s three-pointer at the end of overtime was just a missed, the shot at the regulation by Udonis Haslem confused me. Erik Spoelstra has two of the best in the game and he wrote up a play for Udonis Haslem to take the last shot? Apparently, he tried to recreate a previous play which left James open for an open three, but what ensued at the end of the game looked fairly junior varsity to me.
I’ve long maintained Spoelstra might be the most overrated coach in the game. To his credit, he has a bench suitable for the neighborhood softball game, but his team still succeeds. Still, the Heat are now 0-for-10 on game tying or go-ahead (shots that give you the lead) shots with under 24 seconds left in the postseasons of the Big Three era. Mouthful of a stat, and obviously players have missed good shots, but at a certain point a coach needs to get the ball to his best players in good spots on the floor. I have not seen Spoelstra do that enough. He is not blameless in any of this, and deserves his fair share of criticism.
Bit #3: Officiating in NFL could be NBA-grade this season
To get this out of the way, I thought the officials in the Celtics-Heat series were overbearing towards the end last night, trying too hard to manage the contact. The double foul on Garnett, the subsequent personals on KG at one end and LeBron on the other were all bad calls. But, as I said last week, we should expect this by now.
Not so much in the NFL, but soon we might see lesser officiating there too. The NFL announced on Monday morning that it would begin to hire replacement refs as talks with the referees union stalled and the CBA expired. This step hasn’t been taken for over 10 years and while the replacements will be trained, the season begins in two and a half months. The replacement officials won’t come from the BCS conferences either, due to linkages between BCS and NFL officiating personnel (they are run by the same group), so we may very well see a Conference USA crew officiating the NFL next year. I hope this goes away for two reasons: (1) given expanded instant replay college refs would likely slow up the game even more and (2) it means we won’t be able to watch Ed Hochuli and say “how awesome would it be to be that ripped at age 55+”
Bit #4: June 2, 1935 – Babe Ruth announces retirement
Yes, 77 years ago arguably the best player ever retired from the game. He would continue to be a coach and manager for a few teams, but never hit the ball competitively again. The Sultan of Swat’s numbers still bring chills to the bone: all-time leader in home runs until the 70s, still tops in slugging percentage and OPS, second in RBI and third in runs scored. While the 1920s and 1930s undoubtedly represented a live ball era for baseball, Ruth’s dominance of the game sends waves to us today. Movies like The Sandlot find their origins in Ruth’s play, as did cultural traditions like the Curse of the Bambino in Boston. While it might be too simplistic to call him “The Greatest of All Time” I do not think any other player ever dominated the game like Babe Ruth. I would also say baseball’s cultural image owes a lot to Ruth as the man who brought the game tons of attention from the American public.
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