(a seperated shoulder has rendered Placido Polanco gone, gone, gone for the AL Central leading Tigers)
The only sight this week more surprising that Bobby Abreu laying down a sac bunt Monday night (his first in 8 years) was I-Rod playing 2nd base for the Tigers late in their 3-2 win over Boston Tuesday. The only sight on Tuesday TV more familiar than Denis Leary turning his Bill Hicks ripoff routine into dramatic fodder was the Mets falling behind early to the Phillies. A person unfamiliar with Monday’s debacle and the strain already placed on the Mets’ pen might’ve thought Willie Randolph had something personal against Orlando Hernandez.
There’s an answering machine message from Bill Giles. He doesn’t think El Duque was beaten up too badly.
There’s nothing wrong with Rick Peterson’s starters that couldn’t be solved, by say, making John Maine pitch on 2 days’ rest between now and the end of the year.
Jose Reyes hit 3 HR’s last night, and a Mr. A. Rodriguez of the Bronx would like to point out, they all count, even when you’re losing by a lopsided margin. Along with scoring a ton of runs and leading the NL in stolen bases, Reyes is on pace to drive in 82 runs…as a lead-off hitter. A tad more plate discipline (and admittedly, he’s made greater strides in this area than I’d ever have dared hope for) and he’s right up there with Wright and Beltran in the MVP sweepstakes.
I’ve been flipping back and forth between a pair of extra inning affairs ; the Cubs and Astros are tied at 6 in the 13th (Chicago somehow survived a bases loaded/one-out situation in the bottom of the 10th when Aubrey Huff hit into a 3-2-3 double play) and the Snakes and Rockies deadlocked at 1 in the bottom of the 11th at Humidor Field.
Billy Beane’s shit might not work in the playoffs (as the saying goes), but the A’s remain a sure thing in the month of August.
While the Bonderman/Schilling matchup was Tuesday’s glamour duel, Anibal Sanchez vs. Chad Billingsley has been the superior battle thus far. The latter has held the Fish to just 3 hits, as the Dodgers — due to lose at least once between now and October — are ahead, 2-0 in the 7th.
I am very sorry to hear of Placido Polanco being injured. Polanco is in my opinion is one of the most effective under-the-radar players in baseball.
re: Jose Reyes… Mets fans, consider Reyes 3 HRs not as a fluke or an A-Rod display of hitting in a nought cause but as a continuance of the thorough menacing Reyes has done to the Phillies all year long. Delgado and Beltran doesnt get my back up against a wall when they step to the plate, Reyes and Chavez do.
What farthling of signifigance is to be gleaned in a defeat where the loser’s leadoff hitter (!) homers 3 times, El Dookie rings up the occassional who-gives- a- fuck late season battering (quite a familiar sight to Yanks fans) while the Mets hold a 13 game lead over their closest opponent, the Phillies (described as “resilent if not threatening ” nonetheless, though similar reasoning might apply to the Orioles?) Apparently, the NY Times — in an attempt to raise some drama surrounding the Mets cakewalk to the division championship. I don’t blame Mets fans for bugging over Pedro’s predicatable late season breakdown. If Willie doesn’t skip him in the rotation at least once while they skip unopposed to the playoffs, then I can’t wait for the recriminations when Pedro (Zimmer willing) falters in the playoffs. Where’s Mickey Rivers when Mets fans need him? Willie needs to loosen the fuck up.