Odd Thoughts

2003 Mariner Review

Another 93-win season, another October with an empty Safeco Field. Oh well, wait 'til next year, right? We'll have to. In light of the last two seasons though, I believe this team needs a significant overhaul before 2004 if we plan to compete. Sketching it roughly, I'd like to see Jeff Cirillo, Mark McLemore, and Mike Cameron gone, replaced by Aaron Boone at third, Kazuo Matsui at short (Carlos Guillen becomes the utility guy) and a power hitting outfielder (Randy Winn can be moved to center if need be). I suspect Freddy Garcia will be gone too, with Rafael Soriano stepping into the rotation. That would, of course, mean some changes in the bulpen, but that's not necessarily a bad thing either. We would probably benefit from moving Arther Rhodes, and I doubt Armando Benitez fits in our long term plans either. John Olerud is another likely candidate to leave, but if we can add Aaron Boone, Matsui and a power hitting outfielder, we could afford to keep his excellent defense even though his offensive production is sub-par for a first baseman.

It's still unclear as to whether we'll see Edgar Martinez next year. So I'll wait until Edgar makes an official decision before I give him a farewell here. I'm sure I speak for Mariner fans (and really, baseball fans) everywhere when I say, "We'd be delighted to have you back. No Mariner deserves success more than you."

The team did set a modern-day record by using only five starting pitchers all year. The feat had not been accomplished since 1966 when the Dodgers did it during the four-man rotation era. It had been done three other times before that, all in the three-man rotation era, and all before 1905. It takes a lot of luck and a lot of skill to do this, so congratulations to our boys.

We do have several guys worthy of recognition for their statistical accomplishments this year. At the head of the group is Jamie Moyer, who set a personal and team record with 21 wins, which was the 2nd highest total in the majors this year (Roy Halladay won 22). Moyer finished 6th in ERA (3.27) and 8th in innings pitched (215). Moyer is also in a great position to reach two milestones next year: He is 13 wins away from passing Randy Johnson as the Mariner's all-time win leader (129), and 15 wins away from 200 for his career. I don't know where other active players rank on that list, but provided Moyer is the next to do it, he would become the 100th pitcher to accomplish that feat.

Offensively, Ichiro had a another great year. Unfortunately, his season was marred by an August slump and a difficult standard to achieve (matching his 2001 season). Still, he had another 200-hit season (212). That gives him 662 in his first three seasons, which is not a record, but it certainly puts him in select company. He finished 5th in stolen bases with 34 and 6th in runs scored with 111. Bret Boone had another excellent season too. Boone hit 35 home runs (6th) with 117 RBI's (3rd), to go along with 111 runs scored, and a not-too-shaby 16 stolen bases from a guy that you don't expect to steal. With 96 home runs in the last three years, Boone tied Ryne Sandberg for most homers by a second baseman in a three year stretch. Obviously Ichiro and Boone both play excellent defense and stand a good chance to get their 3rd consecutive AL Gold Gloves. Cameron and Olerud are strong contenders for Gold Glove honors as well. As a team, the Mariners led both leagues with the fewest team errors (65) and the highest team fielding percentage (.989).

Finally, the Mariner of the Year (MOY) goes to Jamie Moyer. The top five: 1) Moyer, 2) Bret Boone, 3)Ichiro, 4) Shigetoshi Hasegawa, and 5) Edgar Martinez.

MLB Report

It sure would be nice to see a Red Sox/Cubs World Series.

Albums

Oh, how life has changed. I used to feel that getting a CD for Christmas was kind of lame, because anytime a CD came out that I wanted, I just went out and bought it. Now though, I practically never buy them. Ben Folds had an EP come out a month ago. Dave Matthews' solo album came out two days ago. Normally I would have bought both of those on the release date; I might have even pre-ordered them (I've got Christin's copy of Ben Folds here already, and I'll just have to borrow Meltons Dave Matthews when I get a chance). But now, I guess that 15-20 bucks means more to me than it did before. On top of that, I think getting a CD for Christmas would be great.

Comments

If you don't have comments, you don't have a blog - you have a diary.

A Few More Name Top 10's

Top 10 Smiths
10. Michael W. Smith (Christian Recording Legend)
9. Captain John Smith (of Jamestown)
8. Ft. Smith (Arkansas)
7. Lee Smith (All-Time Saves Leader)
6. Smith (& Wesson)
5. Adam Smith (Father of Modern Economics)
4. Will Smith (Gettin' Jiggy wit' It)
3. Elliot Smith (Folksy Singer/Songwriter)
2. Ozzie Smith (The Wizard)
1. Psmith (My favorite P.G. Wodehouse character)

Top 10 Johnsons
10. Johnson (Johnson & Johnson)
9. Ervin Johnson (Magic)
8. Robert Johnson (1930's Delta Blues Artist)
7. Samuel Johnson (17th Century British Writer)
6. Andrew Johnson (17th President)
5. Howard Johnson (Hotel/NY Mets Star of the 80's)
4. Jack Johnson (Singer/Songwriter)
3. Johnson (Johnson & Johnson)
2. Randy Johnson (The Big Unit)
1. Dwayne Johnson (The Rock)

Sophie Update

Sophie has now been with us on the outside for four months. I have enjoyed every day of it, and it seems to get better and better as the days go by. She rolls over, babbles, generally sleeps through the night, and smiles at most people that talk to her, especially me and Amy. Robert McBroom was talking to me a a few weeks ago about the delights of being a grandfather. He said that having the infants around is great, but when they finally say, "Poppy, I want to come to your house," your heart melts and it's hard to be apart. I can't wait for those days. I told my boss that it's hard to walk out the door to go to work when she lays there and smiles at me and the first time she tells me to stay home from work, I'll just have to quit.

Keeping up with the Joneses

The Top 10 Jonses
10. Andruw Jones (Atlanta Braves)
9. Jenny Jones (Talkshow Host/Niceville, FL resident)
8. Shirley Jones (Partridge Family, Oklahoma!)
7. George Jones (Country Music Legend)
6. Davey Jones (The Monkees/renowned locker)
5. Chipper Jones (also from the Atlanta Braves)
4. Norah Jones (Emmy winning vocalist)
3. Doug Jones (Chief Editor at Canon Press)
2. Casey Jones (record-setting train engineer)
1. Indiana Jones (no explanation required)

Mariner Report

I concede. I will be spending this October hoping for a quality post season, with long series, and plenty of excitement. After today's 12 to nothing drumming by the A's, I just have to sit around hoping for statistical acheivements by key Mariners. I'll come back in the next week or two with a Mariners season wrap up. No MOW this week; just moans.

MLB Report

The Yankees and the surprising Minnesota Twins should join the Braves and Giants with clinched playoff spots no later than Wednesday. Obviously, I was wrong about the Mariners being in the playoffs, but my gutsiest prediction, Minnesota, will come true. I told you all along that the White Sox were posers and the Royals were a sham. In fairness to the Royals, they had a great season - far better than anyone could have expected or predicted.

As for other playoff spots, the Red Sox and A's appear to be safe, while the NL Wildcard and NL Central Spots are still very much up for grabs. In the Central, the Astros still cling to a half-game lead, but the Cubs have an easier schedule. I think the Cubs can do it. The Wildcard is still too close to call, especially since the Phillies and Marlins still have one more series to play against each other. I wish you the best, Josh McInnis - at least one DFB guy can still have his team in the playoffs. Who would have thought it would be you?

Eric Gagne (still my favorite for NL Cy Young) saved his 53rd game tonight. The Dodgers have 8 games left and Gagne needs 4 saves to tie Bobby Thigpen's 1990 record of 57. Gagne has gotten the save in 65% of the Dodgers wins this year (53 out of 82).

I broke down my case for Eric Gagne for NL Cy Young a few weeks ago, so I'll skip a long recap and go straight to the first ever Aaron Booth baseball awards. As a short recap, here’s my NL Cy Young top five: Gagne, Mark Prior (CHN), Jason Schmidt (SFG), Russ Ortiz (ATL), Hideo Nomo (LAD). Honorable mention goes out to Kevin Brown (LAD) and John Smoltz (ATL).

AL Cy Young

There's really no contest here. Roy Halladay of the Blue Jays has really been the best pitcher in both leagues. He's pitched 39 more innings than any other contender, currently has 21 wins with two more potential starts, a 3.18 ERA, and what in this day and age is an astounding 8 complete games. The top five: Halladay, Esteban Loaiza (CHA), Jamie Moyer (SEA), Andy Pettitte (NYA), Mike Mussina (NYA). Honorable mention goes out to Time Hudson (OAK) and Pedro Martinez (BOS).

NL MVP

I know people will argue that Albert Pujols is the MVP, and he has been great, but Barry Bonds is still the guy. No player in either league gets the kind of respect Bonds does. Who else gets intentionally walked in just about any situation? Bonds, despite dealing with personal tragedy, is still the best player in the NL. His team is running away with their division, thanks largely to Bonds' .340/44/88. Many will say that his RBI's are low, but teams just give him as few opportunities as they can to drive in runs. He's walked 147 times (compared to only 54 strikeouts), which has lead to 107 runs scored. All this despite the fact he's played 25 fewer games than the other contenders. He probably won't win the MVP from the Writer's Association, but really, is there any player more valuable than him? The top five: Bonds, Albert Pujols (STL), Gary Sheffield (ATL), Eric Gagne (LAD), Jeff Bagwell (HOU). Honorable mention goes out to Derek Lee (FLA) and Jim Thome (PHI).

AL MVP

I think this is the hardest award to give, but I shall do my best. Manny Ramirez of the Red Sox is the guy. Again, I don't feel like there is one strong guy, but Manny is the best out of the bunch. The three standard categories are all there (.323/35/100) in addition to the fact that he will be playing in October. A month ago Bret Boone was my guy. The top five: Ramirez, Boone (SEA), Alex Rodriguez (TEX), Vernon Wells (TOR), Derek Jeter (NYA). Honorable mention goes out to Jorge Posada (NYA), Roy Halladay (TOR), and Nomar Garciaparra (BOS). I'm still not comfortable with these picks.

AL/NL Rookies of the Year

The AL is a tough decision as there are several good choices and no runaway contestants. I have to go with Angel Berroa, the short stop of the Royals. Berroa is currently .292/16/17 plus 20 stolen bases at a premium position. The top four: Berroa, Hideki Matsui (NYA), Mark Teixeira (TEX), Rocco Baldelli (TBD).

The decision is not much easier in the NL, but I have to go with Dontrelle Willis. Willis is 13 and 6 for the surprisingly contending Marlins to go along with a 3.37 ERA and 133 strikeouts in 150 innings. The top four: Willis, Scott Podsednik (MIL), Jeriome Robertson (HOU), Marlon Byrd (PHI).

AL/NL Managers of the Year

Everybody has to be surprised by Tony Pena of the Royals. The A's Ken Macha did a great job, but the A's were supposed to win and the Royals weren't.

Dusty Baker has done a nice job making the Cubs contenders, but I'll use the Tony Pena factor again and pick Jack McKeon of the Marlins.

NL Comeback Player of the Year

The NL Comeback Player of the Year is Javy Lopez. All the best choices for this award seem to be Braves (Rafael Furcal, Vinny Castilla), but J-Lo is far and away the best. He followed up his .233/11/52 in 2002 with an astonishing .330/42/106. I really don't think there's a good case for many other players, but it would be a creime to not at least mention Kevin Brown of the Dodgers.

The NL Breakthrough Player of the Year is another Brave, second baseman Marcus Giles. Still a relatively young player, Giles posted .321/20/68 in 2003 after two less than spectacular partial seasons in in 2001 and 2002.

The NL Unsung Hero is Reggie Sanders of the Pirates. This guy consistently puts up good numbers and yet nobody seems to give him a home for more than a year (he's the new Todd Zeile). But once again Sanders has had a very respectable season adding 15 stolen bases to .285/31/87. What's wrong with this guy?

AL Comeback Player of the Year

I'm actually giving out three different awards here with very little elaberation. The Comeback Player of the Year award is for a player that has at least five years of MLB experience, previously played at a high level of quality, and had a sub-par or injury plagued 2002. So, the AL Comeback Player of the Year is Frank Thomas of the White Sox. While Thomas is still far from his MVP-type seasons of the early/mid-90's, he did rebound from 2002's .252 average, 28 home runs and 92 RBI's with .262/41/100 in 2003.

The AL Breakthrough Player of the year goes to a player that has at least one year of MLB experience and played at a mediocre level in 2002 and has played excellently in 2003. There are a lot of good choices in the AL this year, but Red Sox third baseman Bill Mueller (pronounced Miller) is my hands down choice. Mueller's previos career highs were .292/10/59 all in different years, while in 2003 he's at .329/19/82. That .329 should be good enough for him to win the AL batting title.

The AL Unsung Hero Award really needs little explanation and is mostly just an excuse for me to bring Aubrey Huff of the Devil Rays to your attention. Huff has hit .306 with 31 homers and 102 RBI's in a largely anemic Tampa Bay offense. By the way, this is not Huff's first good year, and he plays three positions.

Mariner Report

We lost one game to the A's but gained some ground on the Red Sox. Yesterday was a killer though: Red Sox lose and we cough up a close game to the Angels, costing us a regained position atop the wildcard standings. And another no-offense performance behind a stellar outing for Ryan Franklin. Franklin is 0 and 2 in his last four starts. In those four starts, he's pitched 30.1 innings, and allowed only 6 earned runs, giving him a 1.78 ERA and no wins to show for it.

Obviously, hitting is problem, and it has really gotten bad. Amongst our regulars, only Randy Winn and Rey Sanchez are hitting over .300 for the last 30 days (.302 and .325 respectively). Meanwhile, the core guys, Bret Boone (.230), Edgar Martinez (.215), Ichiro (.161), and Cameron (.154), are just killing us. Olerud is hitting .284 and Carlos Gullien is hitting .253 in that span and it's a shame that they are some of the better hitters going for us these days.

It's funny how at the beginning of the season, I was more worried about the starters than the bullpen and the hitting, but for the last month, the starters have been the only strength. Moyer, Garcia and Franklin all have ERA's below 3.15 and only 6 wins to show for their 17 starts. Meche and Pineiro have been shakey, but both of them pitched well in their last outings. But in the bullpen, only mop-up man Julio Mateo could be said to be pitching well. Arthur Rhodes and Shigetoshi Hasegawa both have ERA's over 4.25. It's really time to start playing well. Our season could be over this week depending upon how we do against the A's over the weekend. We absolutely have to take 2 of 3 in that series for the next week to be meaningful. Obviously a sweep would be lovely.

Mariner of the Week: Randy Winn went 8 for 23 (.348), highlighted by an eighth inning grand slam aginst the Angels.

MLB Report

The playoff races are still tight. The Mariners inched up a bit against the Red Sox, The Marlins seem to be pulling away in the NL Wildcard race, and the Twins and White Sox are still tied atop the AL Central standings. In addition, the Braves and Giants should clinch their divisions this week. Unfortunately for some, we must bid a fond farewell to the Diamondbacks and the Cardinals. Arizona is now 7.5 out of the wildcard, which was their only hope, and the Cards just got swept by the Astros, putting them 5.5 behind Houston with the Cubs between them. It’s been fun guys.

Now that the Cardinals seem to be out of the playoff picture, I must regretfully announce that I will not be having my first ever 8 for 8 year on playoff predictions. My seven other selections are still in contention, and while I did say the Phillies had a strong wildcard shot, I did ultimately pick the Cardinals to win the wildcard. As for another shot at 8 for 8, I guess there’s always next year.

And now for some facts you may not have known: from 1998 through this very day, the top 10 winningest pitchers are Randy Johnson (106), Greg Maddux (103), Pedro Martinez (99), Tom Glavine (98), Bartolo Colon (95), Andy Pettitte (95), Roger Clemens (94), Mike Mussina (94), Jamie Moyer (93), and Curt Schilling (93). I would have to say I’m surprised to see Colon and Moyer on that list.

Now, Taking that same group of 10 pitchers, here’s how they rank in strikeouts (the order of this list should come as no surprise): Johnson (1,869), Martinez (1,437), Schilling (1,413), Clemens (1,207), Mussina (1,137), Colon (1,045), Maddux (939), Pettitte (819), Moyer (777), and Glavine (768).

Again, the same group; this time winning percentage: Martinez (.780), Johnson (.697), Clemens (.691), Moyer (.660), Maddux (.652), Colon (.638), Pettitte (.638), Schilling (.637), Glavine (.632), and Mussina (.610).

Finally, here’s how these guys stack up in ERA for that same time period: Martinez (2.28), Johnson (2.75), Maddux (3.07), Schilling (3.33), Glavine (3.46), Mussina (3.53), Colon (3.72), Clemens (3.77), Moyer (3.78), and Pettitte (4.19). I guess Pettitte’s ERA shows that there are distinct advantages to pitching for the Yankees. I didn’t have any real reason to research these stats. It got started when I began wondering where Moyer ranked amongst the best pitchers of the last several years. I arbitrarily chose 1998 as my starting point. After doing the research, I thought you fellows might like to know. By the way, Kevin Brown had 86 wins since 1998 despite his significant injuries in ’01 and ’02. Tim Hudson had 79 wins even though he did not even make his major league debut until the middle of the 1999 season.

Ritter & Cash

I'm sure you all know by now that John Ritter of Three's Company fame and country legend Johnny Cash died today. I was never a big Three's Company fan, but my favorite one was that one when they had some kind of misunderstanding. As for Cash, I'm sure many of you are familiar with one of his biggest hits, A Boy Named Sue. But did you know that song was written by the late poet Shel Silverstein?

Harry Potter

I think enough time has passed that we can now talk about this book freely. I enjoyed the book and feel that it would be an excellent tool to get people to leave the government schools - especially if you could get people to read it while listening to Pink Floyd's The Wall.

I tried to find out anything I could regarding the 6th book. There's really very few hard facts out there. Defenitely no title. I found a lot of roumor sites, and I'm sure there are some more reliable ones out there, but the best one I found said:

"So what about the 6th book? Well we know for sure that its not going to come out for at least another year, or two, or three. J. K. Rowlings has told publishers and editors according to a recent news article that she does not have a deadline for the next two books, nor does she want one. Writing another great chapter into the life of Harry Potter is a process that takes time, and Rowling knows all about this."

The page also includes a list of roumors and who the roumors were posted by. Some of them seem reasonable, some seem silly, but none of them seem that much better than anything we could come up with. Here's a few to tease you with:

Fawkes may carry the spirit of Dumbledore, and only when this phoenix is destroyed can Dumbledore be killed.
Hagrid goes back to school.
Rowling has said that said that someone important dies and someone switches houses. Rowling has also indicated that Harry might date in the 6th book, possibly someone new to Hogwarts.
Ron and Hermione will hook up, and Lupin will take over godfather duties for Harry. Perhaps Sirius is not in fact dead, and must be rescued from the veil, or maybe Dumbledore will turn out to be Harry's Grandfather.

Come on. Speculate, people!

National Write Your Congressman

I've been working in the field now for almost three weeks. So far I've really enjoyed it. Basically I get to go around and talk politics all day. It's really amazing what you find out there. For instance, I found out that Louisiana business owners have to pay a 2% tax on every thing their business owns every year. That is, if you own an end-table for ten years, you pay a 2% tax on its value every year. No wonder businesses don't want to come here. I've also found that while most small business owners are conservative and they want the government out of their particular business, they have no problem advocating government control in other areas. I have run across a few folks who really seem to get it, but most of them just don't.

MLB Report

Leaving the playoff discussion behind, I do have four players to highlight. First, Albert Pujols has vaulted himself back into Triple Crown contention, by hitting two home runs tonight, giving him 41 on the season, and a 1-homer lead on the slumping Barry Bonds. I still feel that a Triple Crown is unlikely, but I'd love to see him do it.

Greg Maddux needs only one more win to extend his streak to 16 consecutive seasons with 15 or more wins. With his streak currently at 15 he is one of only two players to ever do that; the other is Cy Young. He would be the only pitcher to do it 16 times. Maddux currently has 287 career wins, which is second among active players (behind Clemens) and ties him with Bert Blyleven for 24th on the all-time list.

Also in the consecutive season streak category, Rafael Palmeiro became only the second player in history to have nine straight seasons with at least 30 home runs and 100 RBI's (Jimmie Foxx is the other - he did it 12 straight years). Raffy needs two more homers to make it a 35/100 streak for nine years. He currently has 523 career homers, which is 12th on the list. The next person ahead of him is Foxx, who had 534.

Finally, Eric Gagne set a record by saving 55 consecutive games without a blown save. The streak is still active and should continue as long as Deacon's fantasy team needs it. I do feel that Gagne is the runaway NL Cy Young Award winner for this season due to his stellar performance and the lack of a strong contender to throw against him. Here's my breakdown: Russ Ortiz currently has 19 wins and will likely lead the NL in that category, but his 3.82 ERA is nothing special. His win total is high because he pitches in front of the big bats of the Braves. Jason Schmidt of the Giants and Mark Prior of the Cubs have both had outstanding seasons, but at 14 and 15 wins respectively, their remarkable ERAs and strikeout totals are likely to be ignored by the writers. Dennis Eckersley was the last reliever to win the Cy Young when he did so in 1992 with a record of 7 and 1, 51 saves, 93 strikeouts in 80 innings, and a 1.91 ERA. Eck was also the AL MVP that year. Gagne is 2 and 3 with 50 saves, a 1.32 ERA, and an astounding 126 strikeouts in only 74 innings. Mariano Rivera has been great in the recent past, but I don't think we've seen a closer in since Goose Gossage that has been (at least the last two years) as phenomenal as Gagne.

With Singspiration in Mind. . .

You might be interested to know that the correct phrase is "I COULDN'T care less," not "I COULD care less." If you could care less, that means that you care some, and that your current degree of caring could be reduced. But when you couldn't care less you have indicated that your apathy for the subject at hand has reached its lowest, which is generally what people mean when they say "I could care less."

Odd Laws

You've probably come across folks or e-mails that tell you about odd laws that have remained on the books in various ones of these United States. Here are some real winners:

Nicholas County, WV: No Clergy shall tell a joke from the pulpit.

Lake Charles, LA: It's illegal to let a rain puddle remain in your front yard more than 12 hours.

Zion, IL: It is illegal for anyone to give lighted cigars to dogs, cats, and other domesticated animals kept as pets.

Minnesota: Residents may not put male and female underwear next to each other on the clothesline.

Lots of the laws I found had to do with specific "Blue Laws" on things that we 21st century Americans couldn't imagine being prohibited on Sunday. But the best part about those listed above, and many others, it that there had to be an incident that caused the local legislators to make laws to prohibit the questionable activities.

Don't you think we'd be

Don't you think we'd be better off without words like Singspiration and frappuccino?

Mariner Report

The Mariners seem to have come out of their slide, going 4/3 this weeks (4/2 when you take out Monday’s loss to Pedro, which I had accounted for when I did my last report). I think that sweeping the Orioles was a big thing for the boys to do, especially since we didn’t start playing well again until the bottom of the 9th inning in Friday’s game. We will face the Devil Rays and Orioles again this week, but this time we’ll be on the road. I still think we can win the division. The A’s can’t stay this hot (they’ve won 9 in a row, but I’m not expecting another 20-gamer like they had last year), and losing Mark Mulder will catch up to them sooner or later. They’re using John Halama in the open rotation spot, and I hope that Halama will do for the A’s what he usually did for the Mariners. If so, we’ll be in luck. The offense has been the biggest problem. Ichiro and Bret Boone are batting a combined .256 in the last 30 days. We cannot win without production from those two guys. In addition, the AL MVP race is wide open and both would be contenders if they can put together strong Septembers.

Mariner of the Week: This one is not really that hard. Jamie Moyer won both of his starts this week. He temporarily stopped the bleeding against the Devil Rays and then threw 7+ shutout innings against the Orioles. Moyer now has 17 wins and could tie or pass his career high of 20 set in 2001. I’m almost certain he’d be the oldest guy to win 20 games in a season. If the rotation goes normally, he’ll get five more starts. However, by following the rotation normally, he’d be scheduled to start the last game of the season against Oakland. In that case he’d be in a tough spot to turn around and start a playoff series. As a result, I expect they’ll skip him at some point so that he would be available for a game 1 or game 2 in the playoffs. Unless, of course, the final game of the season is meaningful for our postseason hopes. Anyway, it’s all very complicated and there are obviously a lot of variables that could change things. I really want him to win 20 this year, but it’s not a lock. Moyer’s stats for the week: 2-0, 14.2 innings, 3 earned runs (1.84), and 10 strikeouts.

MLB Report

The MLB Report will largely be about the playoff chase for these last four weeks of the season. Over in the National League, a wildcard race that I felt was really only between two teams now includes nine. I saw a graphic on ESPN today that showed the records of the teams in the hunt over the last twelve games. Only the Dodgers had a record over .500 in that span (7-5). That is to say, none of the teams involved have decided to really grab hold and run away with it. I am not a fan of the wildcard system, but I realize that it does accomplish what the MLB brass wants it to. Namely, meaningful games for more teams in September. With few exceptions, every NL game for the next few weeks will be meaningful to at least one of the teams involved. I have no real preference here - I guess I'm rooting for underdogs like Montreal and Florida - the teams that weren't supposed to be here at all.

With the loss of his father last week, Barry Bonds has missed some time, but he still plays his A-game when he is in the lineup. He's missed 9 or 10 of his last 14 games. Of the 4 or 5 games he has played in the last two weeks he has 3 home runs. That puts him at 653 for his career, 7 shy of tying Willie Mays for third on the all-time list. There's now even talk of Barry winning his seventh MVP award and second consecutive over Albert Pujols. I seriously doubt it will happen, but it seems clear that no player affects his team more than Barry Bonds.

For a short time there, the Brewers were the hottest team in baseball. The strung together 10 straight wins. They've also won 4 consecutive series for the first time since 1996.

The central division races in both leagues, like the NL wildcard race, are just too close to call. It does seem that the Twins in the AL and the Cubs in the NL are having the hardest time even getting to first place, while the Cardinals and Astros in the NL and Royals and White Sox in the AL seem to trade two or three times a week. I do feel that the NL Central champion is still a legitimate contender for the NL championship, while the AL central champ will be making just a cameo appearance. As always, time will tell.