Thoughts of Various Natures

Now's as good as time as ever to spout out some random thoughts division by division. Let's start in everyone's least favorite division the AL East.

AL East - What? The Rays are in first place a month into the season? No way! Yes way, what I've always said is the most talented roster in the majors has finally put it all together and are just trying to hold off the Yankees in attempt to capture another division crown. I don't understand what makes the Yankees so good, but maybe it's when the nobodies step in when the stars go down or aren't producing. See Brett Gardner. The Red Sox are called a mess, but are still one game over .500 and not even 5 games out and the season's just over a month old, so they have plenty of time to catch up. Toronto's played well, but that won't be happening much longer. Nice to see Travis Snider coming along.

AL Central - I don't understand the Twins. They have Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and a bunch of other good but not great players. Jason Kubel's has to play better for them though. And Delmon Young is actually hitting above average for a corner outfielder, which I was beginning to think will never happen. Tigers are staying close, and Justin Verlander isn't even pitching well yet, not to mention Scherzer or Porcello pitching like they should have never graduated from High-A ball. And Kansas City is still bad, at least Mike Aviles is looking good for them, even if it looks like they've given up on Alex Gordon.

AL West - If I'm the Angels, and I'm 6 games under .500, I'm not still starting Brandon Wood. I don't know why he's not hitting, but he's not, and it's making me look stupid. For as you can remember from March 1st:

" 1.) Brandon Wood hits 18 home runs before the All-Star break, and make the world's best manager look foolish for never playing him regularly. "

Whoops! The Rangers are neck and neck with the Texas Rangers for first place. And Dallas Braden pitched a perfect game. Suck it A-Rod. No really though, to be frank, Braden doesn't know Rodriguez, so the attack on him being a bad teammate isn't fair, and he pitched a fit about something that's really not that big of a deal in baseball. No, you're not supposed to step on the mound, but it's not like it's one of the ten commandments of baseball. If you're really angry, throw at his head the next time he comes up, but trying to start this feud in the media is ridiculous. Kudos to Rodriguez for continually taking the high road.

NL East - No team is more than 4.5 games out of first. Every team except Washington has spent time in first place since April 7th, and even they have spent some time in 2nd, and if I'm right, are over .500 in May for the first time in a few years. I still got the Mets for first, although Carlos Beltran back before the All-Star break is looking less likely. By 2012, Ike Davis will be known as the best first-baseman in the NL East. Washington was just planning to bide some time until Strasburg showed up, and it looks like they're doing that. It'd be really crazy if they're still in it a month from now, and he swings the whole race.

NL Central - Cincinnati is tied for first with St. Louis, and that also corresponds with Joey Votto finally coming around. Not exactly a surprise. This team will hit, but more than likely their abysmal starting pitching will keep them out of it. The league's most boring division, there's really not much to say here.

NL West - The division standings are almost flip-flopped from what I thought they would be. But some things are apparent -- Dodgers just aren't that good, Arizona needs some pitching, and Webb to hurry back, Colorado refuses to play consistently, San Francisco can really pitch, and hits just a little better than last year, and San Diego's surprised me, because I don't' see a whole lot of talent on that roster, and this is after they traded Jake Peavy away. Maybe they should trade Adrian Gonzalez away too, it might turn them into a 95-win team. On second thought don't. But what this start means is that they're less likely to trade him away midseason.

Thoughts on one blog for September!

Guess who's been a crappy blogger since he got to college? Time to do better. I think I'll do better once playoffs start.

So here's some quick thoughts on baseball's happenings of late.

First, with Bobby Valentine returning to the USA, I'm going to rehash one of my favorite opinions: Bobby Valentine should be the manager of the Mets. He's a white Ozzie Guillen. He fits perfectly for them. He gives a team without any character some character. He should have never been fired for Steve Phillips' mistakes. The Wilpons love him, his players loved him, and he was a winner. Fire Jerry Manuel if, and only if, Bobby Valentine returns.

Second, it's about time Eric Wedge got fired. Seriously, that team's underachieved for the last 5 years.

Third, the awards this year are easy. Pujols and Mauer should be MVP, Lincecum and Greinke are the Cy Youngs. Apologies to Felix Hernandez, Justin Verlander, and Prince Fielder.

Fourth, I'm not making playoff predictions right now. I want to see the matchups, I don't see clear-cut favorites that will beat whomever they play.

Thoughts on being a lazy blogger/recent happenings in baseball

So yeah, between finals, moving back to Irondequoit, and my column for the Michigan Daily, this blog has taken the backseat to the rest of my life. NO MORE! I'm recommitting myself to the random baseball thoughts blog.

Obviously, the biggest story in baseball the past few weeks is Manny Ramirez and his suspension. Yes Manny messed up. No he didn't test positive for steroids. Yes this drug has an association with steroids. But what exactly does this drug do? Restart testosterone. Which isn't exactly a PED (Performance Enhancing Drug). And it's not a mask for steroid use either, so that begs the question: why is it banned? I don't anticipate this affecting Manny's entry in the Hall of Fame, and it shouldn't. Serving his suspension is punishment enough, double jeopardy in this case is too much.

In other news:

BJ Upton was hitting something around .170 as of last night. Are you kidding me Upton? .170? In May? Really? You're killing your team (as well as my fantasy team). He's way too talented to be hitting this bad.

The Mets were on a 7 game win streak, but thanks to Jerry Manuel's awful bullpen handling, that's over. Another good start by Johan wasted. When will he learn that Pedro Feliciano can't get righties out?

Justin Verlander's been on fire. He looks like it's 2007 again. Took him long enough. Can't keep pitchers with filthy breaking balls and 100 mph heaters down too long.

This should be Randy Johnson's last season, he's been struggling all year.

It must be annoying playing the Blue Jays, every time you think they've lost all their pitching (except the always amazing/healthy Roy Halladay), they find more. They have to run out some time right? right?

Anyone see Texas in first place in the AL West part of the way into May? Anyone?

Boston's tied for first place in the AL East with the worst starting pitching ERA in the AL so far. And David Ortiz has 0 HR's. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?

But just like BAPIP, standings always seem to regress to the mean. Give it time I guess, because something's got to give with all these weird occurrences.

Thoughts after a couple days of baseball

The season's only 3 days old, but I think a few disturbing trends have already started. Some of these moves are absolute head-scratchers, and makes one wonder why some of these managers have jobs.

Starting in Colorado, where Clint Hurdle's splitting time at 2B between Clint Barmes and Ian Stewart. Ian Stewart's proven that he can hit and can play 2nd and 3rd. There is no excuse to why this solid hitter's not getting a full time players' worth of AB's. Barmes was a one-time flash in a pan and is never going to amount to more than a utility player.

Bobby Cox proves that the players on your team are more important than managers with every single move he makes. In the season opener, Derek Lowe is cruising through the Phillies, and has only 97 pitches, and also has a 4 run lead.And in the 8th, he retired the side 1-2-3. And then he has 3 hitters before he runs into the row of dangerous lefthanded batters in the Phillies lineup. Why not let him pitch to Bruntlett, Rollins and Werth, and if he runs into trouble, then call out the lefty closer to face the lefties Utley/Howard/Ibanez? He just wasted an outing of Mike Gonzolez he didn't necessarily need. Every time he does something like this, I remember why he had very little to do with that run of division titles, and that he was just John Schuerholz.

Way for the Mets to show off the brand new bullpen on opening day. Things looking up already for them.

Yankees aren't going to win if CC doesn't pitch like an ace. They can't afford more than a few outings of him like this.

The Rays seem flat without BJ Upton. He's a sparkplug for them, they need him back fast.

What does it say about your team when Dallas Braden is your opening day/most experienced starter?

The Blue Jays look like one of those teams with a lot of overall talent, but also have massive holes in essential places.

Tigers don't have a shot at the division title if Verlander pitches like he did yesterday, even if they score 1000 runs.

Bob Melvin looks equally incompetent as Bobby Cox. I understand the importance of matchups, but Justin Upton may be the most talented player on that team. Sit anyone other than him. Playing Tony Clark over Mark Reynolds for matchup reasons is probably a good move though.