There are two no-hitters in the works as the Fan writes this. Both Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood have no-hitters into the sixth innings of their respective games. The Yankees haven't scored yet for Clemens but Sammy Sosa has hit his first homer in more than a month to put Wood up by three runs. The last time I wrote that two no-hitters were underway, the Astros no-hit the Yankees. So we'll see what happens.


The National League AllStar Pitchers should be:
- Kevin Brown. A no doubter as he is 10-1 with a 1.97 ERA. The NL is only batting .209 against him and he has only given up 76 hits in 100+ innings.
- Hideo Nomo. His record is only 7-6 but he has a 2.66 ERA and has only given up 74 hits in 109 innings! He has already thrown two shutouts and if it weren't for walks, the guy would be nearly perfect this season.
- Woody Williams. While his teammate, Morris, has been hurt by the homerun, Williams has only given up 5 homers and has a 2.66 ERA along with his 8-2 record.
- Jason Schmidt. Schmidt's record with the Giants is only 5-3 despite his 13 starts. His record and the quick hook they have in San Francisco is the best argument for Clemens being one of the last to win 300 games. Schmidt has struck out 100 in his 91 innings.
- Mark Prior. Prior and Kerry Wood have been dominant at times but Wood just can't seem to get away from that .500 record he always has. Prior on the other hand is 8-2 with a 2.77 ERA. Prior has struck out 106 in 96+ innings.
- Randy Wolf. Wolf has only pitched 90 innings in his 14 starts as Larry Bowa also has a quick hook. But in his 90 innings, Wolf has only given up 64 hits as the competition is only hitting .198 against him (the best for starters in the NL). His ERA is a little high at 3.30, but he is 8-3 and you can't beat success.
- Shawn Chacon. Chacon has an ERA of 4.21, but consider that stat is from pitching in Coors Field in Denver. He is 9-3 and is having a great season.

For my setup men and closers, I'm going to break my own rule stated in my post concerning the AL pitching Allstars. Two setup men and two closers are so clearly having overpowering and unbelievable years, all of them deserve to go. The set up men are both from the same team:
- Octavio Dotel. 6-2 with 2 saves, a 1.59 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 39 plus innings show you how dominant he has been.
- Brad Lidge. Right behind Dotel (or right in front!), Astros teammate Lidge is 4-0 with a save and a 1.49 ERA. He has only given up seven earned runs in 42 innings.

The two best closers in baseball are so far in front of everyone else, you have to take both:
- Eric Gagne. Gagne is having the most unbelievable season by a reliever. The season rivals one that Goose Gossage had years ago. Just 15 hits given up in 37 innings, a WHIP of 0.64 and 67 strikeouts in 37 innings are surreal numbers. They look more like stratomatic numbers.
- John Smoltz doesn't strike out as many (though more than one an inning). He is one save behind Gagne and has an ERA of 0.72. That number may not even make sense to you. Let me put it another way: Smoltz has given up only three runs in 37.2 innings. Unbelievable.

If the American League is behind going into the seventh inning, the game is over.


Clemens gave up his first hit in the eigth inning so the no-hit bid is over. The game is still scoreless and it looks like Clemens won't get #301. Wood's no-hit bid in Chicago just ended in the seventh inning. He is still leading the Reds, 4 to 1.

John Olerud notched his 2000th hit tonight. The hit got some play at the baseball sites. It wasn't big news and Olerud's career won't be considered big news either. He had one "career" season in 1993 when he flirted with .400 for a large part of the year and ended up hitting .363 with 54 doubles, 24 homeruns and a .476 OBP. The rest of his career (except for 1998 when he hit .354) has been what people would call, "steady." There would be little mention of him as a potential Hall of Famer.

But Olerud is one of those unsung players. A few stats can't tell the full picture. Sure, he has a lifetime batting average of .299 and a remarkable lifetime OBP of .403. You have to put all of his stats together to get the picture that Olerud has always done one simple thing: He's always made his team better.

One way he's done that is with his fielding. He doesn't make the highlight shows with flashy diving stops (though he'll make a few). What he does is make all of his infielding teammates better. Back in his Toronto days, when they had Tony Fernandez at shortstop, Fernandez was the whiz kid and a sensation. Olerud helped make that happen. I know as I watched nearly all of those games. Fernandez never duplicated those days, though he was a good player.

Olerud then went to the Mets and the last year that he was there, the Mets set a major league record for the fewest errors. Olerud somehow gives his infielders confidence that whatever they throw over there, he'll find a way to catch. The biggest telling factor for those Mets is how badly their infield defense collapsed when Olerud went to Seattle and Zeile took over as Mets first baseman (no knock on Zeile).

Now he is with Seattle and it's not an accident that the Mariners are touted for their first class, high powered defense. What a surprise that the defense is anchored by John Olerud at first base.


I'll give you my National League AllStar pitchers tomorrow. You can already mark down that Kevin Brown is going to be on my list.

I just finished reading Peter Gammans column on ESPN.com. The man just flat out can write baseball. Every time I read his stuff, I wonder why I'm playing around with this. I play and he performs. The funny thing is now that he has been on Baseball Tonight for a few years, when I read his column, I read it in his voice! Peter Gammans reads his column to me personally. Pretty cool stuff.


I have poured over the MLB stats and have come up with my AllStar pitchers. First of all, let me say that I totally disagree with recent year selections where Torre and Cox (or whomever is the National League manager) select four or five closers. Closers pitch an inning. They can throw as hard as they need to because they only throw an inning. The AllStars should be those starters who pitch six to eight innings better than most of their rivals. Then pick one closer (the one with the hottest hand) and one setup man.

Okay, now that I have blown that off, here is my list of American League pitchers (how many can I pick anyway??):

- Estaban Loaiza. What a great start now that he's 9-2 with a 2.24 ERA. Only Mike Mussina has a better WHIP (walks+hits per innings pitched).
- Kyle Lohse. He has the second lowest ERA in the AL and the third best WHIP.
- Jamie Moyer. 40 years old and 10-3 with the league's third best ERA.
- Mike Mussina. He's been a bit streaky, but he is 9-4 and leads all AL starters with a .99 WHIP aided by his lack of walking people. One of only four AL starters with an ERA under 3.00. He leads AL pitchers in strikeouts.
- Barry Zito. Leads AL starters with the AL hitters only batting .198 against him. Only walks keep his ERA and WHIP up a little and that might be more a result of umpires giving up on the curve more than any other reason.
- Tim Hudson. Zito's teammate is right behind him in most pitching stats. Okay...one more starter...
- Gil Meche. Meche would have made it with his 9-3 record but outpitching Greg Maddux and beating the Braves lands him on MY team!

We need a closer...and my winner is?
- Eddie Guardado. Surprise! But he shouldn't be. He leads the AL in saves, has a WHIP of an incredible 0.94 and has only walked four batters in 28 innings! Supurb.

My setup man is:
- Brendan Donnelly. The Anaheim Angel pitcher has been unbelievable and leads all relievers with a WHIP of 0.87. His ERA is 0.24 and he has struck out 41 batters in 34.2 innings! The league is batting a rediculous .153 against him.

And my emotional pick would be Roger Clemens. He isn't far from deserving it. The forty year old has struck out 97 batters in 89 innings. He has only pitched poorly in 2 of his 14 starts and his 3.73 ERA is greatly inflated by relief pitchers bringing in Clemens' inherited baserunners.

That's my American League pitching staff. I'll go through the National League tomorrow.

I've already decided that I made one AllStar vote mistake but I think I've covered my bases (pun intended) pretty well on the rest of my selections.

Starting in the National League, I went with Richie Sexson of the Brewers as my first baseman. There really wasn't anyone else to select. Bagwell has too few RBI. Thome has good power numbers but is batting .248. Helton is having a good year but I can't justify anyone who plays half their year in Colorado. Sexson has 21 homers and 47 RBI. Great numbers.

Second base goes to Jeff Kent. He makes the Astros better and has the most RBI of anyone at his position. The only other contender (and I hope he makes the team) is Aaron Boone (the non-arrogant Boone) who is having a very good year.

My pick at shortstop has been one of the best fielders for many years. Now he knows how to hit too. His name? Edgar Renteria. Renteria is among the NL leaders in batting and leads his position in RBI. Alex Gonzalez of the Marlins and Rafael Furcal of the Braves are both having good years but they come short of Renteria.

Mike Lowell is my easy choice for third base. He is having a tremendous year and gets the nod over Scott Rolen who is has good numbers too.

The NL catcher should be Javey Lopez who is having a career year and seems all the way back from his dark last couple of years. His only competition is Lo Duca of the Dodgers.

The NL outfield seems pretty easy to pick this year as Sheffield of the Braves, Pujols of the Cardinals and Andruw Jones of the Braves stand out against the rest of the league's outfielders. If I could have chosen five outfielders, I would have chosen Bonds--who is coming on fast--and Austin Kearns.

The American League is a little closer at several positions and is where I made my one mistake (No I will not vote twice--even if they let you). My first basement in the AL has to be Carlos Delgado. He already has a bazillion RBI and lifted that team up to great things. He is also the first legit contender for the triple crown baseball has seen for a long time.

Nomar Garciaparra easily surpasses Alex Rodriguez of the Rangers this year. The stats are no comparison. The worth to their respective teams is enormous, but Nomar is having an MVP year. Today alone, Garciaparra hit three doubles and a triple. He then laid down a sacrifice bunt that set up the winning run. I haven't seen him play lately. Is he still trying to pull everything? His average has risen sharply since I wrote that observation weeks ago.

Oh yes, second base. A tough call here. I took Boone over Soriano because he has more RBI and is a better fielder. But Boone is better this year and Soriano had the better year last year. Boone's RBI this year are also helped by him batting third whereas Soriano has batted first all year (except for three games). Boone's a jerk too so that certainly entered my thoughts as I was voting. Well, I gave it to Boone this one last time. Soriano will be there for the rest of his career.

Third base was easy for me and I went with Hank Blalock. He is still among the leaders in batting, has a lot of RBI and it would be exciting to see him at the AllStar game. He is going to be a great player for a long time.

My mistake, I think, was in selecting Jorge Posada at catcher. He leads all catchers in RBI and is having a better defensive season and I believe him to be one of the best clutch hitters in the game. But the Twins A.J. Pierzynski is having a great year and easily beats Posada in average while only being five RBI behind Posada. He is also one of the best defensive catchers in baseball. My bad. I made the wrong choice here.

The outfield was difficult as more of the AL outfielders are bunched up. I ended up going with Manny Ramirez, Garrett Anderson and Vernon Wells. All three are solid picks and all of their stats are right up there with everyone else's.

Edgar Martinez is the easy pick for the DH, though it's weird that the AL gets this pick while the NL does not.

So there you have it: The Flagrant Fan's AllStars. I'll pick my AllStar pitchers tomorrow.

Much to my relief, amazement and joy, Roger Clemens finally won his 300th game (along with obtaining his 4000th strikeout) in grand style by striking out ten hitters against a great hitting team and holding the Cardinals to two runs. The relief pitchers did their job as did the Yankee hitters and it's finally over. Congratulations Roger. I know it was your personal victory and was an accomplishment performed from your hard work over the years. But it was my victory too as I have watched at least two hundred of those victories. You are one of the best ever and I am honored that I was able to watch you.

My prediction is that now that this milestone is finally met, the Yankees will go on a tear and today brought that out as they mauled the Cardinals' best pitcher and exploded for thirteen runs. Giambi is officially hot and is up to 17 homers and 46 RBI. Matsui is hot as well and is up to 44 RBI. Sierra has produced in his few games and Andy Petitte threw well today. Look out American League, the Yanks are past walking the tightrope and will be stridently walking your way soon.


In two of the best matchups in this interleague weekend, the Braves and Mariners have split two games in what is the battle of this year's two best teams. And the Cubs and Blue Jays have split two games as two of the better teams in the majors squared off. Mark Prior won again today and has looked really sharp his last two games.

Carlos Delgado and Adam Dunn both hit their MLB leading 22nd homers tonight. Dunn was involved in a major brawl last night against the Phillies after getting brushed back twice. It seems that the Phillies weren't too happy that Dunn crashed into Philly catcher, Mike Lieberthal with the Reds winning the game at the time 10-0. I understand that to degree, but as Tim McGarver aptly pointed out recently, these days, a 10-0 lead isn't safe and you have to score all the runs you can. Dunn is a football mentality anyway and a big man. I'm sure he was just playing hard. To his credit, Lieberthal didn't think it was a bad play on Dunn's part. I'm sure you will see lots of suspensions from that game.


It was quite ironic last night. I wanted to record my feelings for the Clemens milestone and was looking forward to writing my post. But I changed the hub on my network yesterday and couldn't get the network to recognize the cable from Road Runner. Finally, I went to bed giving up on it for the night. My wife got it working while I was sleeping. How is that for a good woman huh?


The Red Sox just came back to tie the Astros 2-2 in another great interleague matchup. The Red Sox are amazing in that they never give up and their hitters just expect to pull the games out at the end. You don't beat the Red Sox, they just run out of outs. Ramirez and Garciaparra are both up to .325


The Dodgers have won five straight and are now just two and a half games behind the Giants in the NL West. Ashby even won a game for them. They have great pitching and the league's best closer. I had thought for a while that the Giants were going to run away with it, but I no longer believe that.


It's a real shame that the Cubs have lost Sammy Sosa for seven games right after his coming back from injury. June has always been Sosa's get hot month and the season is getting to be a wash for him. His Pepsi commercial buddy, Junior Griffey, continues to pound the ball since his return which makes this fan a very happy guy.


I just filled out my AllStar ballot. I'll fill you in tomorrow!

Joe Torre must have given a good speech last night because the Yankees came from behind and won tonight for the first time all year. In a spectacularly poor statistic, they were 0-20 in games where they were behind after the sixth inning. That doesn't show a lot of fire and vinegar. But tonight was different and the same pitchers who made them look terrible last night in that six pitcher no hitter were spanked for the loss and blown save tonight.

Across town, the Mets fired General Manager Steve Phillips a half a year after they fired Bobby Valentine. It's hard to know how much blame to assign to a GM when a team fails. He just couldn't seem to catch these older players correctly. Robbie Alomar seemed like the best second baseman that ever lived until he became a Met. Now he doesn't seem any better than Horace Clarke. Jeremy Burnitz hit dozens of homers for the lowly Brewers and was one of the league's premier power hitters until he became a Met. Last year, he looked like Rich Gedman after he got all fouled up by the Charlie Lau swing.

It's hard to know which side of the career Tom Glavine was on. Was there a reason why Atlanta let him walk? Did they know something Phillips didn't? The statistics don't show any slippage in Glavine's performance from 2001 to 2002. He was typically great. Who would figure that this year he would be injured so often and so ineffective because of it.

It was easy to see that Piazza was slipping year to year. Every year his stats came down bit by bit. He will rank, if he moves to first or elsewhere, as the best hitting catcher ever. But his best years are gone. That wasn't Phillips fault. Mo Vaughan was his fault. Mo had slowed down by the time he hit Anaheim and then lost a year to injury. It is much easier for pitchers to miss that much time than it is for hitters. Mo was short for Molasses and that's how slow his swing was with the Mets.

The Mets just seemed off the last couple of years and every thing they tried just seemed to fall apart on them. I guess you can blame the GM or the manager before him. But I guess my blame would fall with the players. But I guess you can't fire a whole team.

Two no-hitters are underway tonight. The Yankees have been no-hit through six by four different Astros pitchers. Oswalt started, but had to leave early with a leg injury. A few years ago, the major leagues reconsidered what was a no-hitter and combined and short inning no hitters no longer count. I don't agree with that at all. Whether it's a team that does it or just one pitcher, a no hitter is a no hitter.

In the San Francisco/Chicago White Sox game, terrific rookie pitcher, Jesse Foppert, has no hit the White Sox through four innings while striking out six. Whether the no hitter stands or not, the White Sox are moribund and I believe that the Sox need to make a change at manager. He's had a long tenure there and things are getting worse instead of better. The players don't seem to have any fire and that is the manager's responsibility.

Coco Crisp has had a tough start for the Indians as he's gone 1 for 9 in his first two games. Mets rookie, Jose Reyas, went 2 for 4 in his first MLB game. He's 0 for 1 so far tonight.

Oops. The White Sox got a hit on Foppert, but only one and the Giants are up 8-0. Bonds hit another homer and is starting to catch fire. His is up to 17 homers and 39 RBI. Don't count out another 50 homer season.

Pedro Martinez pitched three innings of shutout ball in his first outing back from his injury. John Burkett has pitched very well in relief and that is a good sign for the Red Sox as they are up big over the Cardinals.

One of my favorite players in all of baseball went on the disabled list today. I've watched Ellis Burks since he broke in with the Red Sox as a hard swinging centerfielder. He could hit, throw, run and has been a solid player for a long time. I always thought his knees would end his career, but his career threatening injury is to his elbow as a pinched nerve is causing the muscles in his hand to atrophy.

Burks has 351 career homers and over 1200 runs scored and RBI during stints in Boston, Colorado, San Francisco and now Cleveland. He always seemed like a class act and his "act" was real as he has been credited with great leadership skills everywhere he has gone. The Fan knows he's been around a long time when players reach the end of their career and the Fan remembers the beginning. Age isn't any fun.

Burks was replaced on the Indian's roster with one of the great names in baseball history: Coco Crisp. Coco is currently 0 for 4 in his first game up. It looks like I have a new player to keep track of in the box scores!

Well...part of me feels vindicated and part of me feels badly tonight. Juan Acevado was released by the Yankees just three days after blowing Clemens bid for 300. The very next day, his throwing error gave the Cubs some extra runs that decided the game in the end. I feel bad because I hoped he would be released and now he is. It's not as bad as wishing someone dead, but it's close. I'm sure he'll end up somewhere and resume his career.

The Mets brought up their next great player (supposedly) tonight in the person of Jose Reyas. He'll play shortstop for two weeks while Ray Sanchez heals. He batted last in the Mets/Rangers game tonight and singled in his first major league at bat. How cool is that! Way to go, Jose, and welcome to MLB!

It's another one of those blah Monday's when virtually all of MLB has the night off. The only game scheduled is a late game between the Phillies and the Angels. The Phillies beat Oakland in two games of their double-header yesterday while the Seattle Mariners won both games of their double-header against the Mets. That's a four game swing in the standings and seems to state rather convincingly that Seattle is going wire to wire in the AL West.

Interleague play is where the Athletics have started their runs in recent years. Their great pitching led them to the best interleague record in the majors. But they are only 5-5 in their last ten interleague games while Seattle has had a 9-1 run. In fact, Seattle is one of only two teams in the entire American League that has a winning record in the last ten games of interleague play. The Angels are the other at 7-3. Oakland is now a half a game behind the Yankees for the wildcard as well.

I don't know if it is a sign of parity or just plain mediocrity, but nobody in the American League East or Central had a better than .500 record. It's like all the teams are just spinning around in some kind of crazy orbit waiting for something to break out.

The top division during interleague play has been the National League Central. Four teams (including Milwaukee!) are above .500 in the last ten games and the Astros are as hot as the Mariners with a 9-1 run. It's funny how the Astros look great and then terrible...then great...then terrible. I guess it's the old cliche' where they will be as good as their pitching takes them. Since they have a potentially great starting staff and arguably the best bullpen, pitching could take them a long way. The NL Central race is going to be a good one to watch all year, especially if Sammy Sosa ever gets going.

Speaking of the NL Central, I don't know if the Yankees are just that bad now, but the Cubs look really tough. Their pitchers aren't afraid of anything and they can bring it game after game after game.

Okay, I've been avoiding this topic, but a true fan has to admit that the Atlanta Braves are one amazing franchise. How in the world do you dismantle the best bullpen in the league from last year, ignore signing Glavine and Millwood and still end up tied for the best record in MLB? Every year us Braves haters wait like buzzards for them to fall as all empires must but they don't and won't. They even won the battle of the cable teams. In the early days of cable, you could watch every Braves game on TBS, every Cubs game on WGN and every Mets game on WOR. The Braves are the only one left. They are an amazing organization and as a fan, you have to give it to them.

It's time for me to look at my favorite players to check on a daily basis:
- Sean Burroughs of the Padres is hitting .409 in his last seven days and is now up to .293 for the season. Not much for power, but that will come in time.
- (sigh) Pat Burrell is still stuck in a terrible slump and only hit .176 for the week which leaves his season average below the Mendoza line at .199. Ugh!
- (more sighs) Shane Spencer has wore out his attempt to start in Cleveland and only played in two games the last seven days and went 1 for 8. His season average is down to .226.
- Ken Griffey hit .308 the last week and has his average up to .277. His Slugging percentage is up over .600 and his OPS is over 1.000! Yeah!
- Adam Dunn is beginning to look a lot like Dave Kingman with 20 homers for the season and a .211 batting average.
- Rocco Baldelli only hit .263 for the week which brought him down to .329 for the year. But he still has 80 hits already!
- The Devil Rays' other phenem, Jason Tyner, hit .500 for the week and is hitting .394 in limited action.
- My man, Hank Blalock chugs along, hitting .360 for the week with 7 more RBI (40 total) and is hitting .353 for the year.
- His young teammate, Mark Teixeira, hit .294 for the week and is up to .244.

Don't ask me why I am so interested in those players above. I don't know other than that some were old favorites and some just captured my imagination along the way.

Ugh! Road Runner went down last night for one of the few times in years of my memory. My apologies as I was unable to post. I'll see you folks tonight.

The Flagrant Fan is as flagrantly angry with a manager as he was with John McNamara back in 1986 when he single-handedly lost the Red Sox the World Series. As soon as I saw Joe Torre walking toward the mound in today's seventh inning game, I started screaming at my TV: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!" Talk about the dumbest move in the history of managing.

First of all, if Clemens cannot lose with the baserunners on base, that's fine, take him out IF he is gassed. But when the winning run is on base, at least give the guy a chance to win or lose his own damn game. Clemens had only thrown 84 pitches and had at least 30 more in him. Secondly, there is nobody in the Yankee bullpen who has as good or better stuff than Clemens. So who has the best chance of getting out of the inning other than Clemens? Next, Klesko looked stupid striking out against Clemens a few innings earlier. And the kicker was to bring in Juan ("Gasoline") Acevado.

I said to my wife as I was screaming at the TV: "You watch, the first pitch from this lousy pitcher and the game will be over." Sure enough, BOOM! Game over. Clemens gets the loss. Torre looks sad and glum. My fury is working up again as I write this. You over-managed Joe. You should have sat on your ass and let Clemens lose or win his own game. Stupid. Really, really stupid.

This Acevado guy has to go. He has an ERA of 7.99. The Yankees are struggling along at reliever and they finally made a move...they picked up a hitter with a long swing, Ruben Sierra. Well, he has a good arm. Maybe he can pitch.

What makes me so sick about this lost chance at a milestone is turning the computer on and having Explorer start on Yahoo (I'm old-fashioned) and the headline there reads, "Clemens Loses Bid for 300. I got news for you copywriters, that should read, "Torre and Acevado lose Clemens 300 bid."

Stupid.

The hammer came down on Sammy Sosa today as he was given an eight game suspension for his corked bat. All of his other bats were scanned and no cork was found which tends to lead credence to his statements that he grabbed the wrong bat. One of my colleagues at work mentioned that his bats in the Hall of Fame were also checked. I haven't seen confirmation of that but I would agree with my colleague who had a great thought: Why don't they check all of the bats in the Hall of Fame. Wouldn't that be an uproar if they found a tampered bat in the Hall of Fame! That almost seems as much fun as raising Jesse James' grave to see if it's really him.

I was looking at box scores tonight and saw that Toronto was pouncing on the Reds and the box score brought a couple of thoughts to mind. One was looking at Delgado with 64 RBI (in June!!) and Vernon Wells with 58. Those are amazing numbers. Delgado just didn't seem himself the last couple of years, but he's back in a mighty way and is a legit Triple Crown candidate. Wells came out of no where last year with a hundred RBI and it looks like it was not a fluke.

The boxscore also showed Adam Dunn for the Reds having a 2-2 night with a walk and a homerun. I checked below the boxes and saw that he now has 18 homers and 44 RBI and my first thought was: "Why would a guy with 18 homers and 44 RBI be leading off?" And then I remembered that those were the same numbers as Soriano. It's a weird time in baseball as shortstops are the best hitters on many teams and sluggers lead off.

Some MLB team should sign me up, don't you think? I told you that Matsui needed to get his hands back to start hitting. According to the broadcast last night, Jorge Posada told him just that and he got four hits last night.

Well...It's attempt number three for Roger Clemens on Saturday. I really hope he gets it. I really really really hope he gets it.

Seattle finally lost today to the Mets (of all people). I never thought they were going to lose again. They are going to run away with that division I think. The Braves are running away with theirs . The Red Sox are tied with Oakland for the wildcard race. Believe it or not, the Expos would be the wildcard if the year ended tonight.

The Mets, as stated earlier, beat Seattle 3-2. Jae Weong Seo started and won for the Mets. That gives him eleven quality starts out of eleven. Eleven quality starts and his record is only 3-2. He could easily be 11-0 and a candidate for the All-Star team. Cliff Floyd hit his 11th homer for the Mets and is finally having a good year again.

On the other side of that fence is Pat Burrell of the Phillies. Wow! What is going on there!? He mashed the ball last year but he's still hitting only .194 two months into the season. The Phillies and their fans gotta hope that Burrell snaps out of that soon. Giambi finally has as Jason is all the way up to the .230's now.

The Rangers Teixeira hit another homer today and has his average up to .247. I'm cheering! Hank Blalock is still above .350 and Tampa's Baldelli is still up to .336. This is fun isn't it? Oh! And another player I've been tracking is San Diego's Sean Burroughs who is now up to .291 with an OBP of .347. Burroughs, you might remember, was the number one draft pick a couple of years ago and got hurt last year after starting off the year batting .271. He had 52 hits when he got hurt. Yesterday, he was hit on the wrist with a pitch and is sitting out some games. Guess how many hits he has so far this year? That's right...52.

Good evening baseball fans. The Flagrant Fan takes Thursday nights off. Have a great night and I'll see you tomorrow.

The ESPN Wednesday Night Game was the Yankees and Reds and of course I watched and I again jinxed the Yankees. When I turned the television on, the Yanks were ahead 2-1 in the fourth inning. From that point on, of course, the Reds started pounding Mussina and the Yankees couldn't get another hit.

Anyway, on Wednesday nights, ESPN has begun a "legends" series where they bring back famous broadcasters to work the games. Curt Gowdy did the game last time (which I unfortunately missed) and tonight it was longtime Reds broadcaster, Marty Brennaman. First, it is odd and heartbreaking to a degree that he started 37 yearas ago and I was eight at the time so his career spans my life. I didn't express that well. What I mean is that these famous, longtime people started within my lifetime. Famous, longtime people used to start before my life started. I also note that I wasn't real impressed with Brennaman. But I did not grow up listening to him and I know the entire midwest lives and dies by the guy. It's probably a matter of style.

I will enjoy when they bring in Bob Uecker. I am not looking forward to Keith Jackson (I always considered him emotionless and therefore, non-entertaining). It's probably too bad that my favorite, Phil Rizzuto, is probably too old to do the broadcast. He was so much fun to listen to. I cherish those memories of him on Channel 11 in New York or on ABC radio on our transisters.

It looked like Griffey hurt himself again swinging the bat. I sure hope it's not serious. Man! He just got going again too.

I thought that Joe Morgan had a great observation about the Yankees Matsui not being able to hit a MLB fastball and the inside pitch. I have observed the same thing. What I wasn't aware of was Morgan's point that in Japan, they receive mostly breaking balls so he's never really dealt with live 90+ MPH fastballs. Ichiro adjusted easier because he can just slap at the pitch. Ichiro's stance also allows his swing to get through the hitting zone faster. Masui's hands are right in front of his chest and his bat is straight up and down. He needs to make a major league adjustment and bring his hands back and the bat more level to the ground. I am surprised that his hitting coach hasn't talked to him about that.

I am not going to comment further on the Sammy Sosa controversy. For one thing, it's all over the place now and what could I add to what's been written? To me, he said what he needed to say, he was contrite and apologetic. It's time to move on. It will be talked about until the next big story. But the talk about this tainting his career is rediculous. You still have to hit the ball to hit all those homers. Sheesh. I still said more than I intended.

Just one more strange note. Shea Hillenbrand had only seven walks with the Red Sox in 35 games. He as already walked twice in his first three games with his new team. Kim won for the Red Sox tonight so it looks like both teams are getting what they wanted.

The Yankees are playing like the Bad News Bears again as all of the Reds runs in the game are unearned. So far there have been two Soriano muffs that led to a run. There has been an overun of a base by Raul Mondesi that cost the Yankees a big inning. And just now, the Reds scored two runs and tied the game on two wild pitches and an error. Sheesh.

It is fun to watch the Reds though. The whole Cincinnati team seem like descendents of Goliath. Adam Dunn was on first next to Jason Giambi and Giambi isn't a small guy but he looked like a child next to Dunn. There is Dunn and Kearns and LaRue and Wily Mo Pena and on and on they come to the plate. It looks like an NFL softball team.

It is still easy to see how good Ken Griffey is. Remember when we played ball as kids and there was always one kid who stood out as being the best athlete. He walked different. He wasn't afraid of anything. He always seemed to be faster, hit the ball harder, throw the ball faster and do just about everything smoother and better than anyone else. It's clear that Griffey is the best player on the field. And right now, there seems to be no way to pitch to him. He hits the ball with authority wherever it's pitched.

Paul O'Neal, the former Yankee outfielder now lives in Cincinnati and was in the broadcast booth with the Yankee announcers. I was very surprised to hear how good he is at commentary and he seems to be a natural. As a player he always seemed to be so taciturn but in commentary he is loose and funny. The Yankees should sign him up!

I always check the Texas Rangers' boxscore now as they are such a fun team to follow. Juan Gonzalez hit his 18th homer and now has 40 RBI. Blalock is 1-3 and is still hitting in the .350's. Mark Teixeira is now up to .246 and tonight is 1-1 with two walks which means that he is very comfortable and knows what he is doing. He has 26 RBI. So much credit for how those two young players are doing has to go to their manager who has let them play despite the critics.

The big news of the night is that Sammy Sosa was thrown out of his game tonight for having a corked bat. This situation will get a lot of play and I'm sure Sosa will be suspended. Since Sosa is such an icon, his image will get tarnished a bit. But he is just another in a long line of players who have tried to get a little edge. There have been spit pitches and sandpaper on the pitching side and cork and other things on the hitting side. It wasn't long ago when Albert Belle (one of the best hitters of his time) was caught doing the same thing as Sammy. The difference is that Belle was already a hated player and considered a bad apple so this was one more nod of the head to his badness. But Sammy has been a symbol for what is right with the game and this will hurt him for sure.

I hope he learns from history and just admits what he's done and takes responsibility. How many times in our recent history have we been disappointed in the character of those we admired because they just couldn't admit they did something wrong. If Sosa does so and says that he just started doing so, perhaps most will just wink and give Sosa the pass. But if he's been doing this for a long time and if he gets defensive about what has happened, his good image is going to be tarnished for a long time and his records will be looked at with a blemished eye. Sad.

Does blogging take over your life or does the hope that you are writing for a semi-loyal following convince you to slog on (or is that blog on?) day after day writing post after post. Well, I'll tell you how important my few loyal readers are to me: I bought a laptop today to take with me on vacation so that I could continue to post while I was gone. It's all your fault!

Tonight is one of those nights that baseball fans hate. There are only three games on the schedule and even Baseball Tonight wouldn't be worth watching. I don't like the schedules as they are currently and prefer what was available a few years ago. While I agree that division rivals should play each other often, nineteen times or whatever it is, gets a bit daft. And I don't like interleague games at all (I'm beginning to sound like Grouchy Smurf).

The argument can be made that rivals in a division should not only play each other often, but they should play the same schedule. What I mean by that is that it's not really fair for one team to get to play Milwaukee in the interleague games while another team gets the Braves. What if those same teams are division rivals and one of those rivals loses the division by two games because their interleague schedule was harder.

But then again, schedules have never been equal and this debate is much older than I am. My reasons for disliking interleague play have to do with the two leagues playing a different game. Pitchers in the National League, who look bad enough, are now looking great in comparison to pitchers in the American League whom are now asked to swing the bat in a pansy-fashion and make fools of themselves. Plus, interleague play gives the feeling or impression of Spring Training games instead of MLB games.

And then how balanced is a balanced schedule when American League West teams only have to play division rivals 57 times instead of 76 because there are only four teams in that division and National League Central teams have to play 95 division rival games because that division has six teams instead of five. That hardly seems balanced to me.

All I know is that I'm glad I don't have to make the schedules because with all those teams and all those games and with all those days off mandated by contract and flight times and pack up and tear down and all that goes with MLB, I would be a crazy mess.

I must be a jinx. The Yankees were flying high at the top of the division with a record of 20-5 when I purchased the right from MLB.com to watch the Yankees every day (a great deal by the way). Ever since, they have played like the Tigers. So I'm watching the Red Sox today on NESN and they are winning big against hated Toronto (If the Yankees don't win this thing--and it doesn't look like they will--the last team I want in there is the Blue Jays!). Somehow, the Red Sox blow up and the Blue Jays get a million dinks and it's 8-6!

I hear that the Yankees have gone up 7-1 on the Tigers and I figure I'll go to the computer to watch history and it's the bottom of the fifth. The first batter gets a hit and some guy from Aruba hits his first homerun of the year. No big deal. Now it's only 7-3. Then another single. No problem. Suddenly the Bad News Bears show up and take over for the Yankee infield and Jeter throws one away and then Soriano throws one away and before I can get a clear picture, it's 7-6. Okay, that was bad, but they can still win. I can still watch history.

Ziele then hits an opposite field homerun and Clemens is again up by two. He pitches a perfect sixth inning and waves his hat to the fans. Oh boy, it's time for the Yankee bullpen. I can't bear to watch after all and go downstairs and practice my karaoke (Yes, I can sing, "New York, New York"). I sing for a couple of hours and figure it should be safe to go upstairs and finish watching history.

Somehow it's the bottom of the tenth inning and it's a tie game 8-8! Oh man! What happened. I switch over to Yahoo to look at the box score and sure enough, Sterling Hitchcock, who has pitched well backing Clemens up in other wins this season blew the lead. Crap. It's over. Another chance wasted and still we go on waiting for history. I cannot believe that a bunch of pros can't raise the level of their game and get this done. Errors in the field and relief pitchers blowing the game...sheesh...if the team can't take the pressure of this type of situation, what are they going to do if they make the playoffs. This isn't the same team without O'Neal and Tino and those guys. This is a team that has no real backbone. The Flagrant Fan is steaming!


Taking a deep breath...at least I'm not a Diamondback fan. They get Hildenbrand to bolster their hitting attack and instead of sticking him at first, they release Matt Williams? What? Williams is the kind of hitter that can get hot and put ten over the fence in a hurry. He was fourth on the team in RBI and now they lose that production. You get a player like Hildenbrand to bolster your offense and then you release a guy with 378 career homeruns and end up losing more ground. I don't get it.


The Red Sox moving Johnny Damon to ninth in the order is a good move. Mueller is hot and his batting average is higher than Damon's OBP! But I don't agree with the Sox demoting Bruce Chen and keeping Rudy Seanez. For one thing, it would have been great for Kim to have Chen around for companionship and second, you can never have too many left arms on your team.

The Red Sox post game show is on in the background and it's sad when a pretty good player struggles. Again it's the no mercy thing. The fans are calling in and blasting Grady Little (who was a genius last week) for using Jeremy Giambi when he is struggling at .178. But I watched the game and Giambi looks great but has been unlucky. His first time up, he put the Blue Jays centerfielder on the warning track with a drive. He just didn't pull it enough. In the Red Sox big inning when they hit five doubles, it should have been six doubles. Giambi smoked one down the line but hit the bad and went right to Delgado for the out. That's bad luck.

Today was a game you don't see very often: The Chicago Cubs defeated the Houston Astros 1-0 after 16 innings! Not only is that great pitching on both sides but it also shows a steely determination to win. Most people think games are exciting when both teams score a bunch of runs. Those kinds of games can get boring with all the pitching changes, high counts, throws to first and so on. A 1-0 game is a thriller, especially when at the ballpark. To have a 16 inning 1-0 game had to be very, very exciting especially when the box score says that they played those 16 innings in two hours and twenty-two minutes!

The game was Sammy Sosa's second game back from his toe problem that kept him out of so many games this year. Last night against Wade Miller, he struck out the first three at bats and then popped out to the catcher on the fourth. Tonight, he struck out five of his first six at bats. And so I would have been pessimistic if I had been a Cubs fan when Sosa came up in the 16th as the Cubs had mounted a rally. After all, he had struck out eight times in ten at bats. To make matters worse, Sosa's entire team had struck out twenty-three times already in the game, which is a franchise record.

So Sosa comes up with a man on first and third. Jimy (why does he only have one "m" in his name?) Williams brings Craig Biggio in from the outfied to give Sosa five infielders to look at. Sosa did hit the ball at an infielder, but it bounced out of Jeff Kent's glove and the Cubbies got the win. Moises Alou had saved the game in the ninth inning when he threw out Lance Berkman at home with a perfect throw.

The most exciting 1-0 game that I witnessed live was at Yankee Stadium on Bat Day with 55,000+ fans in attendance. I can't remember now who pitched for the Yankees or who pitched for the other team or even who the other team was (I think it was Oakland). Craig Nettles won the game in the eigth inning with a homerun. That was the best game I ever saw live.

Speaking of Craig Nettles, it is remarkable how similar his lifetime stats are to Brooks Robinson. They both played 22 seasons. They both had over 1300 RBI. Robinson hit for a higher average but Nettles hit a hundred and twenty more homers. Robinson had 70 more total extra base hits. Robinson's lifetime fielding percentage was .971 and Nettles .961. I watched them both as a kid as the Orioles played the Yankees a lot and those were the Orioles glory years. Robinson's fielding in the World Series against the Reds was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen...until I saw Craig Nettles' amazing performance in his World Series against the Dodgers in 1977 and 1978. If Robinson is a Hall of Famer, which he is, Nettles just misses.


I'm still unhappy about the Kim/Hildenbrand trade between the Red Sox and the Diamondbacks. I think it was a bad trade for the Sox. I'm not surprised that they have lost four in a row after playing so well. Whenever you mess up what you are doing successfully, you aren't doing a smart thing.

But it does give us one more chance to talk about how international this game has gotten (and no, I'm not against that). Today, Korean pitcher Seo stifled the Braves as the Mets won 4-2. Shinjo, from Japan, had a key RBI in that game. Ichiro hit a homerun today and his teammate Suzuki got the save. Choi didn't do much for the Cubs today in that long game against the Astros. Matsui, of the Yankees, took the collar today against the Tigers. Ichiro is still the only superstar.

I read Peter Gammons column today at ESPN.com. The man is an amazing writer and my half hour reading his column is still one of the most entertaining times of my week. I miss him on Baseball Tonight though...

Roger Clemens goes for 300 again tomorrow. Let's hope tomorrow does it! Come on, Yankees! Score him a bunch of runs and get this milestone out of the way!

The Flagrant Fan has taken a night off. I'll see you all tomorrow night. Thank you and if this is your first visit, I'm sorry I missed you but I hope you read past posts and enjoy the reading.

Yahoo Sports announced tonight that a deal is almost done where the Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher, Byung-Hyung Kim would go to the Red Sox for Shea Hillenbrand. This trade doesn't make any sense to me. I have watched the Red Sox the last three nights and their lineup is probably the best Red Sox lineup ever. There are no easy outs and Hillenbrand, Mueller, Millar and Giambi make for a very effective and versatile combination. Hillenbrand is also a great clutch hitter who seems fearless in all that he does.

So why would you want to give up a guy like that especially when he only makes $400,000 and change? The officially stated answer is because of his on-base percentage. Excuse me, Hillenbrand's OBP is currently at .335 which is higher than 70% of MLB lead off hitters these days. He doesn't walk much. Okay. But he keeps the ball in play and he fouls off what he can't handle until he gets what he can handle. And he kills the Yankees.

Again...why would you want to get rid of that kind of guy. Kim has some value as a closer. But he doesn't want to close anymore. I am not convinced that he has what it takes to be a starter. He is currently 1-5 which isn't a fair method to rate him as the Diamondbacks can't hit and haven't scored for him.

Also consider that Kim has a history with the Yankees that isn't very positive and doesn't bode well for a team that wants to use him against their archrivals. This trade doesn't make sense for anyone but Hillenbrand since he comes from Arizona and would be able to go home. What is Arizona going to do, sit Matt Williams (granted that he hasn't had a good year since 1999)?


I would have never guessed who was on top of the American League for batting average. Would you have guessed Melvin Mora of the Baltimore Orioles? I wouldn't have. He is currently batting above .350. He batted in the .230's last year. I've always pictured Mora as a spectacular fielder and a good prospect. But Mora is 31 years old! It just took him a long time to get a chance. He is consistently on Baseball Tonight's highlights for fielding but now he is hitting too. You just never know in this game.

Sometimes managers out think themselves. Both managers in the Yankees/Red Sox game did so tonight in a game the Yankees were fortunate to win and the Red Sox were unfortunate to lose. Let's break down the two decisions.

First you have the top half of the ninth inning. Mike Mussina has pitched a heck of a game and is up 5-1. He's only thrown 102 pitches at this point. Okay. If you want to use your closer, Mariano Rivera, the time to bring him in is at the start of the inning. Who cares if it's a save situation! You want to win the game. These closers are a rare breed and I've watched hundreds of games pitched by closers. These guys are much more effective if they start the inning and nobody is on base. When you bring them in with base runners, you're asking for trouble.

Mussina, to his detriment, starts off the inning with a walk. Mussina never walks anyone. It was just one of those fluky things that should have had nothing to do with him being tired. The next batter gets a single and you now have first and second. The unspoken rule in baseball is that you only leave your starter in the game late until there is no way for him to lose. Mussina had two more base runners before he was in that situation. If you were going to start Mussina in the inning, you could have gone two more batters before you yanked him and then go with matchups (lefty-lefty).

Instead, Mussina gets yanked and Rivera comes into a situation that is uncomfortable for him and the inning blows up. The Yankees are very fortunate for the athletic ability of both Jeter (to snag a line drive and get an out) and Soriano who had the presence of mind to stop a ricochet with his bare hand and then throw the runner out at home to keep it a tie game. Now a 5-1 win is a 5-5 tie all because Torre out-thought himself.

Now it's Grady Little's turn. The Red Sox closer, Lyon, is still in the game and easily gets Jeter to start the inning on a ground out. The next batter is Matsui who lines one over Manny Ramirez' head. Manny, who is usually a good fielder, must have gotten turned around picking up the ball because he threw the ball in where nobody could catch it and Matsui ended up on third. The Yankees now have the winning run on third with one out and Soriano up next.

This is where Little out-thought himself. First, he walks Soriano. Good call. The man has been the Yankees best hitter and is very dangerous. Giambi has called himself the "designated out" most of this season and he's pretty much correct. He is slow and has pounded an awful lot of balls to second base. The play here is to keep the corners in and keep the middle going for the double play.

But Little walks Giambi too to load the bases! Gosh! That's asking an awful lot of your young closer. Why do that? I can see it on the one hand because Soriano can steal second and there goes your double play. But you can at least try it. What have you got to lose? Even if Soriano steals second, face Giambi, who hasn't hit anything, and see if you can get a popup or something. Then you have two outs and can play it straight for the third out.

Instead, you have bases loaded with a very patient batter at the plate who has been in pressure situations his whole career. The count goes 2-2 with a couple of fouls. There is a close fastball inside that is called ball three. The Red Sox thought that pitch cost them the game and the post game NESN announcers were outright indignant that the ump robbed the Sox. The pitch looked inside to me. But none of it matters. Grady Little should never have loaded the bases to force this issue and it never would have happened. In a comeback, exciting game, you should never put yourself in the position to lose the game with a walk.

Of course, the Red Sox Nation will curse their bad luck and bad umpiring and bad karma and the special treatment that the Yankees receive by the umpires but the truth here is that the Yankees almost blundered into a loss because of Torre's decisions and then lost because of Grady Little's decisions. The game sure is easy from the comfort of a rocking chair isn't it?

No mercy. That's what has struck me about the last couple of nights watching the Red Sox/Yankee series. Last night, there was no mercy for Roger Clemens going for his 300th win. Tonight, a pitcher named Matt White was making his major league debut for the Red Sox and the Yankees banged him around for six runs. No mercy. And I guess that's the way it should be.

I remember a long time ago when Denny McLain supposedly gave Mickey Mantle a grooved pitch to hit at the end of Mantle's career because McLain had always been a fan. Now this shows my weakness, but I thought it was a nice thing to do. But McLain got tarred and feathered by baseball writers and his peers at the time as there is no place for mercy in baseball.

The only way I have experienced that in my life was when I was bowling competitively. Oh man, I'm going to tarnish my image forever telling you that! Anyway, I was very good back in the 80's and had a 198 average and won most of the tournaments for a period of time in New Hampshire. Usually, whatever I'm playing, I'm happier to lose because that makes the other person happier and I like making people happy. But not in bowling. In bowling, it was about winning because winning meant money and I wanted it. I played mind games, I pyched my enemies out. I did all I could to stomp on the other person. So a part of me understands this no mercy concept.

But think of this poor Matt White's family. Their son/brother/wife/whatever is finally going to fulfil a lifelong dream and pitch in the major leagues. The time finally comes and he is from Massachusetts and NESN is carrying the game. They most certainly were all watching. The kid comes in the game and the whole family is whooping and hollering and as each hit gets pushed past the infield, their hearts are sinking a little more and a little more until by the end of the inning, they are all wondering to themselves just what they are going to say to the poor kid the next time they talk to him. No mercy in baseball. None at all.


Wow...Denny McLain. I haven't thought about him in a long time. Denny McLain, for those of you who were born in the post baby boomer era, is the major leagues last 30 game winner. You never hear about that do you? You heard about Roger Maris until McGwire came about. You heard about Ted Williams as the last .400 hitter. But you never heard about the last 30 game winner did you? You may wonder why you never heard about that. The answer is that McLain was the Darryl Strawberry of his time. He was the great talent that squandered it away and ended up in jail and broke...disgraced and dropped by baseball like hamburger from a mad cow.

Consider that for a five year period, McLain was one of the best pitchers of the last fifty years. From 1965 to 1969, McLain won 108 games and lost 51. In 1968, he was a big reason that the Tigers had one of their best years in franchise history as he won 31 games while only losing six. He pitched 336 innings and gave up just over 300 baserunners (walks plus hits). His ERA that season was 1.96. McLain won the Cy Young award and the MVP award that year. To me, the most amazing stat from those two years is that he started 82 games in those two years (wow!) and 51 of them were complete games!

The season following 1968, he won 24 games while only losing 9. Yes, that's a record of 55-15 in two years! He was that good. McLain was a good-ole boy who liked to have a good time. Those good times ended up catching up with him after the 1969 season. He was found to be associating with the wrong people and was suspended for a good chunk of time. It was a very big scandal at the time. Today it would have been a blip on the radar screen. But back then, it was big news.

He was never the same after that and became a parody of himself by losing 22 games for the Washington Senators in 1971 (that club that year is another great story that maybe I'll tell tomorrow). A year later he was out of baseball and it wasn't long after that and McLain was in jail. For a great history lesson (and life lesson), I recommend the following Web page: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/20030228armour.shtml

Denny McLain...no mercy. None needed.


Hold your head up, Matt White. There will be another chance. And if not, you still beat the odds.

Oh man. What a crappy day to be a Yankee fan. And I am, after all, a fan. Today I wanted Clemens to get his 300th probably as much as he wanted it. And little things happened to add to a big loss. Mondesi hitting the ball on the ground with the bases loaded and one out with the Yankees only down by two. Rivera not making a good throw to third when Marabelli ran to third on the hit and run. A good throw makes the third out and no runs for Clemens that inning. It all just sucked.

The worst part was having to watch the game on NESN. ESPN was carrying the game nationally, but since NESN reaches up to this area, and since NESN was carrying the game, ESPN was blacked out up here in Maine. Jerry Remy is one of NESN's announcers and a former Red Sox second baseman. Normally, I like his work and his acerbic wit. But he must have some sort of grudge towards Clemens because he took absolute glee in watching Clemens labor and lose. That made it doubly bad. Sure, you are a home announcer and want your home town team to win, but he should also have had more respect and acknowledged what Clemens had done for the Red Sox and what his career has accomplished. It was a very low-ball, uncouth and unprofessional broadcast.

Remember that I am also a Red Sox fan and have no problem with this being the Red Sox year. Hell, they deserve it to be their year. But I sure wanted Roger to get that 300th in style and against the team that he did so much for. Remy has no legs to stand on. Clemens didn't give up on the Red Sox. The Red Sox gave up on him.

NESN was promoting a contest where you could win a trip to the "Grand Old Parks of Baseball." If you won, you would be able to go to Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field and...umm...Camden Yards. Huh? Since when is Camden Yards a great old park? But that does point out that there are no more grand old parks besides those three. I hope adding the extra seats to Fenway saves it for a few more years. Fenway Park is baseball at its best.

Oh well, Roger. I was living and dying for you there. Maybe next time...

I wasn't a fan of Bobby Valentine as a manager and I certainly wasn't in favor of him becoming part of Baseball Tonight (on ESPN) once he was fired as the Mets manager, but I have become a fan of his honesty and by what he says on the shows.

Maybe it's because I agree with him so often that I like him in an egotistical way which is ironic since part of the reason I never liked him was because of what I perceived was his big ego. But no matter, if you have the courage to tell it like it is, then I'm right there with you.

Tonight's honest tirade from Bobby Vee was his answer to the clips showing Greg Maddux and Curt Schilling upset about not getting strike calls. Valentine's answer was to say to both pitchers: "If you want strike calls, throw strikes just like rookie pitchers have to throw." I almost stood and cheered the man.

The strike zone in MLB has been a joke for a long time now and every fan who watches the games with today's centerfield cameras know it. For those who say there isn't a problem, just the fact that the powers that be in baseball are calling for a better strike zone standard speaks volumes that there is a problem. Those of you who know the Flagrant Fan knows that I am not a fan of the Atlanta Braves. In fact, you know that I am an anti-Braves fan. Glavine, Smoltz and Maddux have been great pitchers (the Fan says through his teeth) but part of their greatness has been to exploit the bizarre state of the major league strike zone.

Fans watched for years and years as pitches thrown five to ten inches outside were called strike routinely, especially for pitchers of high stature. No pitch above the belt was considered a strike. The inside strike did not exist. A couple of years ago, MLB acknowledged the problem and asked the umpires to call the strike zone as the rules state it to be. An effort has been made to call more high strikes and to stop giving the outside pitch such a wide zone.

Has it worked? Let us say that it's a start. The great curve ball pitchers of the last couple of years have been a benefit of the effort to get back to the rules. Pitchers like Glavine and Maddux that don't have the great fastballs and lived by guile and the generous outside strike zone have struggled as they should. Power pitchers have the high strikeout pitch back.

But it has to go further. The high and outside strike is now there, but the high and inside strike is still not called. Umpires are still too inconsistent and still revert back to calling pitchers outside the strike zone a strike late in the game. Far too many umpires give up on the curveball and are almost as fooled by them as the batters are. I still watch way too many games and shake my head at the strike zones of the umps behind the plate.

Valentine wasn't done tonight and strengthened his argument by stating that umpires in Japan practice during batting practice. What a simple and great idea. The umps not behind the plate that day could do that so that the one crouching all game doesn't have extra duty. Why not have baseball officials working with the umpires during the practice to work with them on their strike zones.

In my mind, NBA basketball has been ruined by a softening of the rules. Watching players take three and four steps--traveling at will while there is no such thing as a pivot foot or up and down just ruined the game so that it's not a sport anymore. It's a dunking circus. MLB of all games promotes tradition and history. Fine then. Don't go down the NBA route and call the game the way it is written to be called.

And I'll use harsher words than Bobby Valentine. Those pitchers who have lived by a bad strike zone for years should take it like men when the game reverts back to the way it should be called. Just shut up and pitch.

"Oh woe is me," says the Flagrant Fan. Another loss for the Yankees. Now they are a game an a half behind the Red Sox and they look terrible. I told you that the loss of Nick Johnson was going to be a major loss. Bernie Williams is an important loss too. The Yankee attack is woeful. Giambi is still stuck in goo. Matsui is down in the .250's. Jeter is doing okay since he got back and Soriano is still Soriano, but this club isn't working right now and it's hard to know if it's a temporary lag or if this is the shape of the season to come.

The Red Sox really seem to have a chip on their shoulder and their attitude could take them to the show just the same way that it did for the Angels. It's amazing how far this team has come spiritually since Grady Little took over as manager. He has a team full of scrappers and they have gotten rid of all the malcontents (no matter how good they are doing in Texas). Now, if Lowe can figure it out on the road and Fossum could steady out the rest of the season, this is a powerful and deep team.

Mueller and Todd Walker and Kevin Millar have been huge pickups for the Red Sox and eventually, Ortiz and Jeremy Giambi will hit as they have in their history. Who would you rather throw in a game to give a starter a day off, Kevin Millar or Enrique Wilson?

Eric Gagne has become an amazing closer. He, Wagner in Houston and Smoltz in Atlanta are the best in the National League and may be the best in baseball (along with Rivera). Gagne has saved 18 games already (tied with Smoltz) and has struck out 45 batters in 25 innings! The league is batting .120 against him and he is averaging .64 baserunners per inning. Those are fantastic numbers.

Smoltz, who also has 18 saves has an even better ERA than Gagne (1.05! vs 1.88) but other than ERA, Gagne has Smoltz in every other pitching category. And Gagne has better stats in every category than Billy Wagner, who is having a great season. Probably the most unbelievable stat so far for Gagne is that his strikeout to walk ratio is 9 to 1. Wow!

Gagne is from Montreal and his name is mispronounced wherever he goes. Announcers anglo his name to "Gag-knee" but in french, the name is closer to "Gone-yay." Montreal is about six hours from here and I can't imagine how any player from up there can make the major leagues. Heck, it doesn't warm up until after school is out!


Mike Lowell is having a monster year in Florida. While the team has struggled and Lowell will probably end up getting traded (which is terrible for that franchise), he already has fifteen homers and thirty-nine RBI. What makes those numbers look so good is that his average hasn't changed. He's still hitting his normal high .270. He has carried that offense along with Louis Castillo and Alex Gonzalez while Ivan Rodriguez hasn't really gotten started yet.

I hope Lowell doesn't get traded. Owners like to blame cities for not supporting their teams but what happens when the emotional link between the fans and the team is constantly broken when the team trades it's most identifiable players? Oakland will eventually pay for the same thing as they lost Giambi and now have already said they will lose Tejada. The Twins also went through years like that.

I'm a fan and I know what fans like. We like to pick a player we can identify with and root that player on loyally for a long time. I still remember when the Yankees traded Bobby Murcer and I never got over it. The Marlins want to do that every time they unload the latest good, but high priced player. They give their fans a punch on the kisser. No wonder the fans would rather go to the beach.

Lowell's fast power numbers could mean that he has fully recovered from his bout with cancer. It was unbelievable what he was able to do considering that he went through chemotherapy at the same time.

Good for you, Mike Lowell. The Flagrant Fan is rooting for you.

The National League East is far from over. I know that sounds like wishful thinking because you know how much I hate the Braves. But the Expos are playing fantastic and the Phillies really haven't started to hit yet.

The Expos pitching has been terrific. Javier Vazquez is leads the staff with a 4-2 record and he has been very dominating. Vazquez has avoided injury to this point and has struck out 75 in 62 innings! His strikeout to walk ratio is 7.5 to 1. That's amazing!

The Expos aren't hitting that great though Vlad and Vidro are tearing it up as usual.

Hmm...I'm sitting at my desk and I am falling asleep. I guess since I usually take Thursday off and since I wrote a blog last night, I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight and sweet dreams!

The following are the top six homerun hitters in the National League:

Adam Dunn - 17
Richie Sexton - 15
Mike Lowell - 14
Austin Kearns - 13
Albert Pujols - 13
Aaron Boone - 13

For the first time in many years, there isn't a Bonds, McGwire or Sosa in the group. Of course, Bonds could change that as he has twelve homers at the moment. But the point is that the guard is changing. Dunn, Sexton, Pujols and Kearns are among the top young hitters in the game. Boone is a surprise as is Lowell and those two would be a surprise to stay there.

The possibilities of the Cincinnati Reds outfield are amazing. Dunn, Kearns and Griffey is an unbelievable outfield and could be for years to come. Kearns looks like the best hitter of the three with Dunn the Dudley DoRight of the three. It's great to see Griffey ranging freely out in centerfield again. I still hope he has a great year.

And now with Aaron Boone having a great year, the Reds are suddenly in the middle of the NL Central race. That race has become really exciting as the Cubs are still in front by a game and a half and Houston, Cincinnati and St. Louis are all tied for second place. Each team has pros and cons. The Cubs have great pitching but an up and down lineup (especially without Sammy). Houston is having injury problems in their starting pitching, but have a great bullpen and hit well. The Reds can mash and play good defense but have trouble with pitching. The Cardinals are hitting really well but are having trouble with their pitching. This is a fun race worth watching.

If you want something really different, let's look at the top five in the National League in hits:

Rafael Furcal - 65
Edgar Rentaria - 61
Jimmy Rollins - 58
Juan Pierre - 58
Luis Castillo - 58

The only non-surprise on that list is Luis Castillo, who has shown glimpses of hitting production in the past (long hitting streaks, etc.). The big surprise is Rentaria who is batting .357 with 32 RBI a quarter of the way through the season. Furcal is finally playing to the potential that everyone predicted for him. Rollins' stat is misleading as he leads off for the Phillies but is batting only .293. His OBP is only .346 which is barely adequate for a leadoff hitter. Juan Pierre is similar to Rollins in that they both have burning speed but can't get on base enough to really qualify for the leadoff position.


It will be interesting to see what the Yankees do to get through Bernie Williams' four to six week injury. It would be great if Juan Rivera could get the shot to play every day for the Yankees like Almonte did at short when Jeter was out. The Yankees found out that Almonte has shortcomings that will not make him a major leaguer but Rivera looked good last year in a brief September call up. Most likely, the Yankees will make a trade for someone like Shannon Stewart.

Number 299 is in the book. It wasn't the prettiest win Roger Clemens has ever pitched. There aren't many times in Clemens' career where he has given up more hits than innings pitched (tonight 9 hits in six innings). But he hung in there and only gave up two runs and he did strike out seven in his six innings. He pitched damn well for a guy going against a very good...well...they're great...hitting team in the Red Sox.

I have watched Clemens for his entire career. I was in New Hampshire when he broke in with the Red Sox and watched the games on affiliates of Channel 38 out of Boston. I moved to Maine by the time he went to Toronto and was able to watch his games there on Canada's Channel 6 (CBC). And now, through the power of the Internet, I can watch him pitch for the Yankees. In all the times that I have ever watched him pitch, I have never once seen him look comfortable doing so.

I watch other great pitchers: Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson, and they always look comfortable and in control. They look like pitchers that know what they are doing. Clemens fidgits and tugs at places and hitches and pulls at his uniform and sniffs and makes faces. He just has never looked like he enjoyed pitching or looked like he was in control. And yet, he is one of the best ever. Who knows, maybe it hasn't made the batters too comfortable to see him so uncomfortable.

One more win. Just one more and I think this will become a more balanced place to read about baseball. I'm wrapped up in this story and I can't let it go until Clemens' conclusion to his odyssey as a player is the same as mine as a fan.

I just finished watching American Idol on Fox. I know. I know. Some of you are going to roll your eyes. Some others are going to wonder what that has to do with a baseball blog. On American Idol, I just watched two guys who have dreamed since they were little kids of entertaining people and singing for a living. Now they've been through all the challenges and tonight, the audience is going to choose which one wins. And no matter how it comes out, their dreams have come true. That is what is so compelling about the show and the competition...people riding their talent as far as it will take them.

You're still wondering what that has to do with a baseball blog. If I am the typical American and in many ways I am, I grew up with baseball all around my me. I played it. I watched it. I traveled to Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium to watch it live. I played simulation games when I couldn't get baseball any other way. And you know what? I dreamed and wished that I had the talent to do what I loved more than anything else.

I'm no different than millions of others. That same exact wish and dream has touched countless people. And some 600+ of them at a time have that dream come true. As we watch them perform, we are aware of how they got there. We went through part of it ourselves. We might have seen some of them. They were the pitchers who were too fast for us to hit in Pony League. They were the ones who always seemed to have the big hit in the tournaments we played in. We identify with them. They have reached the dream that we had for most of our lives.

Oh sure some of them get really really successful and rise to the top like the A-Rods and the Jeters and Garciaparras and then they get the money that we'll never see in our lifetimes and we take pleasure in finding out their weaknesses and their follies. America likes to build up the dreamer and then knock them off the pedestal. But for those rookies...the new players who are just reaching their dreams, we root for them. It's always a sweet thing when a new player gets their first MLB base hit or win or save. We all smile and feel like a part of that story. We just witnessed the culmination of what we were a part of until we realized we weren't going to get there and got real jobs.

Yeah. American Idol has a lot in common with rookies in baseball. Sure, they have more talent than the ordinary joes among us. But they didn't out-dream us or out-wish us. They just reached a place that we wanted to go. And so we root for them and we cheer them on because they were once like us and we want what they are now receiving. A dream come true is always a compelling story whether it's Hank Blalock, Rocco Baldelli or Rueben Studdard and Clay Aiken. And we are cheering for you and for us.

You'll have to forgive the Flagrant Fan as this is holy week. The Yankees are playing the Red Sox and a MLB fan just has to watch a series like that. So this won't be the usual post tonight.

Two moments in the game stand out to me and make me wonder if I am smarter than those who manage and play or if I just get lucky with my guesses. That sounds egocentric but it's not really. Let me explain:

I'm watching the game and David Wells (who just throws strikes and gets more outs than he gives up hits) pitch against Nomar Garciaparra. It's getting late in the game and one more out for Wells will give the Yankee pen a perfect hold/save setup for the eigth and ninth innings. The first pitch is a great change up down and away and Nomar wasn't even close to hitting it. The second was a fastball up and in and it looked like Nomar guessed wrong. In my thinking, Nomar is set up perfectly for another down and away change up. Instead, Posada calls a curve and Wells delivers the pitch that Nomar seemed to be looking for and crushes a single to left. The curve was definitely the wrong call and it got Wells the hook.

A similar situation developed between the Red Sox reliever and Derek Jeter with the bases loaded. I can't remember the kid pitcher's name (Price?). Anyway, the kid throws Jeter 1-0 fastball that the umpire called a strike (it was definitely low and away). At 1-1, the kid throws a terrific slider that bends out of the strike zone and Jeter can't hold himself up. Now it's 1-2. A high fastball and Jeter fouls it off. I know from watching Jeter for years that with two strikes, he fights off inside and covers outside to right field. I would have busted Jeter inside and hard in that situation (especially with the just healed left wing). But Mirabelli, the Sox catcher, and the kid try another slider down and away and Jeter spanks it to right field.

The two sequences above really show how smart pitchers like Maddux and Pedro Martinez are. They always out think and out plan the batter. The only time they get beat is if the batter hits a terrific pitch or if Maddux or Martinez miss over the plate.


A look at the top hitters in the American League show Blalock at number one and Baldelli at number two. Both are still hitting over .350...which again goes to show why this is the greatest of all games and always the most entertaining. And Peter Gammons is still the best at entertaining in his baseball writing. Check out his latest columns on ESPN.com!

Game two tomorrow with Pedro on the mound. I'll concede that one to the Sox...

The Texas Rangers' pitching staff continued to look like the best in the game as the Rangers swept the Yankees at home. Ouch. Mr. Steinbrenner must be restless somewhere. In the meantime, the Red Sox won and are now tied for first as the two teams get ready for their big series. I mentioned here early that when Jeter came back, it could mess up what was a good fluid lineup and I also mentioned here that losing Nick Johnson would hurt the Yankees hitting attack tremendously.

You cannot overestimate the affect a high on base hitter has on a team. I still believe that Barry Bonds 198 walks were the number one reason why the Giants came in first last year. And the managers who kept walking him never got it. I think they have this year as he is ot walking nearly as much. That's why the Yankees miss Nick Johnson so much.

Jason Giambi needs to get going. His slow start is becoming very painful as it is not just the start anymore. I also think that Juan Acevado shouldn't pitch again until he is sent to the minors to figure out why he is throwing beach balls right now. Can you imagine if the Yankees still had Jeff Nelson?

In what was a lot of fun to watch tonight, Pat Burrell hit a long fly up the hill in the centerfield configuration of Minute Maid (formerly Enron) Park in Houston. Biggio was chasing it, hit the hill and crashed to the ground like a train wreck. Very funny to watch.

Speaking of that hill in Houston, the biggest difference in baseball from my youth to now is the change in MLB stadiums. You still have (and hopefully always will have) classics like Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. But the new parks are such a big improvement over the ones that were built when I was young. There was the non-golden era when the Pirates, the Reds and the Phillies all built horrible ball parks all with identical dimensions, astroturf and functional-boring decor. Then you had the awful Olympic Stadium built in Montreal and the hideous dome in Minneapolis. Just as we have a whole generation that can't write, spell or compose a sentence, that must have been a bad era for architects.

Since then we've had wonderfully different parks being built all over baseball. The ballpark in Houston is so distinctive that you can close your eyes and picture the hill in centerfield and the train track in left. Camdon Yarks started the trend and is still a beautiful example of what you should do in building a stadium. San Francisco's park is probably the best of them all with McCovey Cove and how you can walk around the park and watch the game.

Super Stadiums are all over the country: Cincinnati, Houston, Seattle, Milwaukee, Baltimore and Detroit are just a few that have been built with their own identity and quirks and that's great. The biggest change to an old park was the installation of seats to the Green Monster at Fenway. What a great idea! And it wasn't detrimental to the team or the stadium. I'd love to be one of those people who spent a summer visiting all the ballparks in baseball. What a cool idea and a great thing to do. Maybe someday...

It's funny how a team can get totally wiped out like the Rangers were by the Red Sox during the week only to have the Rangers turn around and look like World Series champs a few days later against the Yankees. Valdez comes off the disabled list after not being able to get anyone out early in the year and mows the Yanks down. The Texas relievers, who haven't pitched well all year and are the worst in the league, don't give up any runs against the Yanks in ten innings of relief so far this series. I know, I'm bordering on whining here so I'll move on.

One great thing about the series was to get a chance to watch Blalock play. I don't see any holes in his offensive game at all. He's a pure hitter who knows what he is doing at a young age. He is taking the game by storm much as Albert Pujols did a couple of years ago. Pujols is going to be a Hall of Famer some day too.

In the feeling good category, the Brewers had a walk off homerun today. That doesn't happen very often!

In the feel bad category, Mike Piazza went down today with severe muscle pull and will be out for a while. Hasn't it been sad to see the ends of the careers for Piazza, Mo and Alomar? They look cooked and there doesn't seem to be any turning back for them.

In the whoops category, Trot Nixon, a very sound fundamental baseball guy and a really hard working player caught what he thought was the last out today and threw the ball in the stands. The only trouble was that it wasn't the last out and runners were on base. That has to be embarrassing! That is the equivalent of a football player running the wrong way, a basketball player shooting at the wrong basket or a hockey player rapping the puck in his own net. In baseball, Nixon will never hear the end of it from his teammates, the fans nor the other team. I hope he can just laugh about it but he always seems so intense I wonder.


Looking at the standings today, all three AL divisions have good races going as does the NL East and Central. The only blowout might be the Giants although they haven't been playing well lately either. As I started this column saying, it turns fast so lookout all you teams going well right now!

The Cubbies are playing extremely well especially with Sosa out. Their pitching is the key and Prior, Woods and friends have been lights out. Pitching doesn't slump nearly as much as batting does. As big a Yankee fan as I am, a Red Sox/Cubs World Series would be awesome. One of the teams would break their long cursed spell.

Well...I was hoping for a good night at the Stadium tonight as the struggling Rangers were next on Roger Clemens list. But he's down 4-1 and the young kid he is facing seems right on top of his game.

The Yankees got what I think is a big blow today as Nick Johnson will be out four to six weeks with a fractured hand. Johnson isn't the Yankees' best player but he is leading the majors in walks with 33. That's a lot of clogging the bases that certainly propels the offense. I think the Yankees are going through a really tough stretch that will test them for the kind of year they are going to have.

The Red Sox on the other hand are playing really good baseball. Nomar Garciaparra is getting hot and Trot Nixon is having a good year. Pedro is where he needs to be and Wakefield is pitching well. If the Sox can get Derek Lowe going, they will be dangerous.

Hank Blalock is an amazing young hitter. With the bases loaded against Clemens, Blalock took Clemens offering to the opposite field and missed a grand slam by inches. You can easily see why the young player is hitting .380+. Another great young Ranger player is Young whose name describes his age but not his discipline at the plate. He's had two great at bats against Clemens tonight and turned them both into singles.

And yes, ::grumble::: badass Carl Everett is having a great year. He seems impossible to get out these days and as a leadoff hitter is one or two away from leading the league in RBI. If this Ranger team could only get some pitching.

Buck Showalter managed a good Yankee team and was fired in 1996. The Yanks that year went on to win the World Series. Showalter then went on to the Diamondbacks and did a great job there, was fired and the Diamondbacks won the World Series. I don't believe there is a coincidence there. The guy gets his players to play good fundementals and disciplined baseball. Watch him do the same thing for this Ranger team. I still believe the Rangers will finish at the bottom of their division. But they will be fun to watch.

Speaking of the Diamondbacks and the bottom of the division. that's where the Arizona team will end up...at the bottom. They are old, they lost too much pitching and they don't hit. That's a formula for failure.

Man...Clemens has great stuff...eight strikeouts in four innings, but he's walked five and given up five runs. Tonight is just not going to be his night. Maybe 299 will come in Boston instead of 300.

The Flagrant Fan takes one night of rest on Thursday nights. See you all tomorrow!

I just have to laugh when I read a story like that. On the MLB sports page of Yahoo.com is a story about Jose Guillen and his demand to be traded from the Cincinnati Reds because Griffey is back and that puts Guillen on the pines. Yeah, he's a guy I'd want on MY team. Uh huh!

Mr. Guillen, let's take a look at the facts here. You are having a fine season. You are batting .327 with seven homeruns and 21 RBI in 98 at bats. Good stats as is your .622 Slugging Percentage. But let's take a closer look around you. Austin (Powers) Kearns has 13 homers and 35 RBI, a .629 Slugging Percentage and an OPS of 1.051. Oh yeah, and his On Base Percentage sits at .423 compared to your .362. There is no dice there, sir.

Okay, let's look the other way. At first glance, you might feel the nod over Adam Dunn. After all, Dunn is only hitting .240 and his OBP is only .338. He does have 13 homers and 28 RBI. But in his last seven games, Dunn is batting .368 and his OBP is .429 with four homers and nine RBI! Excuse me, but you're only hitting .292 in your last seven games. If I was your manager, I'd sit down your hottest player in favor of you too.

Oh, and you're most upset because Junior Griffey is back from the disabled list and is going to play over you. Who is he to take your place? He may have hit 469 homers in his career, but what has he done for anyone lately? His seven seasons over forty or more homers is old news. Let's forget about his 1300 RBI by the age of 31. You're a better player than him, right?

Mr. Guillen is a part of the entitlement generation. I am who I am so I am entitled to be a starting player. I spilled coffee on my leg and I'm entitled to a hundred million dollars. I developed a bad back in the army so I'm entitled to receive 50% disability the rest of my life. I've worked here a year so I'm entitled to a two dollar raise even though I haven't grown any in my ability or energy level. The entitlement generation believes that other people are just a hindrance to what is MINE, what *I* deserve, what *I'M* entitled to.

Jose Guillen is a part of this generation who doesn't see that his team has come back from the dead to be just two games out of the lead in the NL Central and is surrounded by some of the most amazing talent in the league. Shut up, stupid, and sit on the bench and root for your teammates and be ready when your number is called. If that isn't good enough for you, I have a $9 an hour job answering tech support phone calls for you.

Okay, I got that out of my system...


Curt Schilling pitched his second consecutive shutout today in the Diamondback's game with the Phillies. He only gave up two hits and has a 1.97 ERA in his last three starts with a 3-0 record. Not a bad rebound from getting his appendix out eh? He seems to be a man with a heart as big as his talent.


The Yankees lost again to the Angels, 5-3. The team's great attack has fizzled of late and as I mentioned yesterday, getting Jeter back is great, but moving some in the lineup changes things and not necessarily for the better. ESPN.com predicted a run for the Yanks now that Jeter is back, but I don't see it and fear just the opposite.

The big stories tonight are Jeter and Griffey's return and that MLB is investigating the Florida Marlins for hiring McKean. Jeter and Griffey's returns are great for baseball and for them as they both went down hard with similar injuries. We all feared the worst, but it's great that we didn't get the worst.

The Florida Marlins story is part of life, folks. Get used to it. I totally agree that baseball needs to do all it can to make sure all people have access and chances for leadership positions in baseball. I have no argument there, especially if the managerial or front office decisions are being made in the off-season. But when you are in a mid-season situation and you need a quick fix or shot in the arm, shouldn't a team have the ability to choose someone they had in mind from the start? Now what happens to that quick fix? The quick fix gets thrown in limbo as controversy surrounds the move. It's a shame we are not yet quite as enlightened as we will be.

I still think that moving Nick Johnson to the bottom of the lineup with the return of Jeter is a big mistake. I think it changes the threat of having people on base in front of the big guys. My thought is that you would keep Johnson up in the second spot, you bat Jeter sixth and mollify him for now that he is working his way back to shape. Once Jeter is firing again on regular gas, then move him to third. I believe that Matsui is struggling and should move down in the order and Mondesi moves up. My Yankee lineup looks like this: Soriana, Johnson, Williams, Giambi, Posada, Jeter, Ventura, Mondesi, Matsui. Hmm...looking over my creation. Yes. I like it. Right, left, switch, left, switch, right, left, right, left. Perfect. How do I know the current idea is wrong? On their first game with the new lineup, they are no hit for six innings.

In the Cincinnati/St. Louis game tonight, Pujols, Kearns and Dunn have homers. Are those three of the brightest young stars in the league right now? They are at least up there with the brightest. Speaking of bright, Hank Blalock is batting .380 and hit a homerun tonight. What a great story. And Teixeira is up to .238. Texas is going to be a force if they ever find some pitching.

The Rockies are falling like a rock. What a landslide as they have lost eight of their last ten. They have the worst road record in baseball (yes, even worse than the Tigers). The Rockies are 11-4 at home and 6-16 on the road. They will never be contenders until they figure out how to play down the difference of home versus the road.

The White Sox look comatose too. Can you blame Frank Thomas? I think you can. The guy always seems to stir a bunch of emotions. David Wells was dead wrong a couple of years ago for mouthing off about Thomas not playing. Thomas was later learned to have a serious arm injury. But the point never made at the time was that those kinds of comments don't start if the whispers hadn't already been there. Reports are that Thomas' bat speed has slowed tremendously. The White Sox should have cut their losses and let him walk at the end of the last season.

I have to be honest here. I wrote off the Reds for dead a couple of weeks ago. They are certainly alive and have have won seven of ten to pull to .500 baseball. They are only two and a half games behind the Cubbies.

Wasn't that a great story the other night when Steve Avery pitched a scoreless inning for the Tigers the other night? It was his first MLB appearance since 1999. That's hard work and the refusal to lie down and die. Good for him!

Derek Jeter comes back tomorrow night for the Yankees and they immediately become a better team. But what do they do about the lineup? Johnson has become one of the best number two hitters in the game since Jeter was out. Do you bat Jeter third and move everyone else down one? What a lineup that would be! Do you bat Jeter at the top and move Soriano and his power to third? Johnson hitting second makes it happen because he takes so many pitches and has an on base percentage well over .400.

Well, I was right about Jeff Torborg although I don't feel good about it. It really is an organizational problem but a change in managers can change a team's outlook. For proof of that, look no further than Tony Pena in Kansas City. McKean is a stand up guy and the players there should play for him. Lord knows, it can't get much worse.

The Cubs look strong even without Sosa and that is a very good sign. What isn't a good sign is that though they are winning tonight, Prior is getting cuffed around a little bit by the Brewers. Fortunately for the Cubs and unfortunately for the Brewers, Milwaukee's pitching is so bad, they make Prior's bad night look spectacular.

This makes me sick to admit it, but the Braves look suddenly unstoppable. I don't see them getting caught any time soon. The good news for the rest of the National League East is that with the dogfight in the NL Central and the weakness of the NL West (with the exception of the Giants), it looks like the runner up to the Braves should get the wildcard.

Thirty-six years ago on Mothers Day, 1967, my Mom took "her kids" to the Emerson Restaurant in Bergen County, New Jersey. The Emerson was always "our" place and our only place to go out to eat. They had the best slice steak sandwiches and my Mom always made sure she gave me half of hers. Moms do those kinds of things and my Mom wasn't any different. It was an especially tough time since my father had died the previous year. We had to leave our beloved house for a crummy apartment. My mom had to work and was struggling along to make ends meet and we had my poor sister taking care of us two boys.

A source of comfort and survival was baseball. We played it, we watched it, we lived it. As I mentioned earlier, the Yankees were awful by then and between Mel Stottlemyre and a hobbled, broken down Mickey Mantle, there wasn't much else to root for. For many reasons that have already been covered by Billy Crystal, Mantle was every kid's ideal. Of course we all know now that Mantle wasn't perfect but that doesn't matter, he was our hero.

On this Mothers Day in 1967, Mantle was stuck on 499 career homeruns. It looked like it took an act of will for him to even step on the field at that point and so we wondered how long it would take. So we were at the Emerson and I heard someone say that Mantle was going to be up next and I could hear the game on in the bar section of the building. I asked my Mom if I could go and watch him bat. Now she could have been strict and told me to sit down and eat my dinner, but she didn't and told me to come right back after.

So I walked to the bar section and ignored all the cigarette smoke and looked up at the TV to see Mantle walking up to the plate. For some reason, I just knew it was the moment and everyone else in the bar must have too because it was eerily quiet in there. And then he hit it and the bar erupted and people were shaking hands. Some guy grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me in his happiness. I just stood there and smiled from ear to ear as Mickey ran around the bases with that charming limping gait. My hero had finished his quest.

I don't remember anything much else about that dinner but I'll always remember watching that homerun and I feel so fortunate to have done so since there wasn't any such thing as Baseball Tonight back then.

The point of this whole discussion is that here we are in the year 2003 and on another Mothers Day, Rafael Palmeiro hit his 500th homerun and I saw his mother watching and I felt good. But I was also taken back to that other Mothers Day so many years ago. The homer was typical of his career. It wasn't a perfect pitch to hit as it was inside and a little bit up. But he's been so steady the last ten years and he's just plain learned what to do with those kinds of pitches and he got just enough of it to put the ball in about the tenth row of the right field bleachers.

I am in a constant state of disbelief at those who have been writing or spewing on TV that Palmeiro doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame. What are they crazy? The man has hit 38 or more homers for eight straight years. Nobody has ever done that before. Don't give me that crap about his playing in the age that we live in. Is Rafael Furcal going to hit 500 homeruns? I hardly think so. Players of Palmeiro's ability and steadiness don't come around very often.

The argument is that he wasn't the best player of his generation. Was Billy Williams? Was Willie McCovey? Was Yogi Berra? Was Harmon Killebrew? Was Eddie Matthews? No. No. No. No. And no. That is a stupid argument. Let me use the following analogy:

As a young adult, I worked in a tannery, which is where they get raw hides and turn them into leather for shoes and handbags. The job I worked was piecework and I always made the most money in the factory. Nobody could figure it out because it never looked like I was working hard. There were others doing my job who were flashier and faster...for a while. But my secret was in my steadiness. I never stopped. I never quit. I never took breaks. I just worked at a steady pace for a long period of time. And because of that, I came out on top even though nobody would have ever voted me as the hardest worker in the place.

In just the same way, Palmeiro is a Hall of Famer. He has been steady and sure for a long time and that is what it takes to get the job done. He got the job done and deserves the honor. Well done Rafael Palmeiro and congratulations.