With the ragged performances of the Mets bullpen in Billy Wagner's absence, I don't expect to hear the "experts" in the media----specifically on WFAN where Wagner is reviled because he's not Mariano Rivera----saying much of anything now that it's quickly being learned what life is like without any closer at all. Now that the pain in Wagner's forearm has moved to his elbow, where there's swelling and a question as to whether he's going to be able to return at all this year, the Mets have to do something. They have several options, none of which are very appetizing. Here they are:

• Hope that Brian Fuentes gets to them when the Rockies put him on waivers and make a deal:
  

    Fuentes isn't great, but he's adequate and experienced; as the season winds down, the Rockies fall out of contention and see that they're better off getting a more advanced prospect or two rather than the compensation draft picks they'll get when Fuentes leaves as a free agent, GM Dan O'Dowd will deal him. Number one, Omar Minaya isn't going to panic and give up a top tier prospect for a closer who may not be that much better than what the Mets have in their bullpen now; number two, it's hard to believe that any of the teams that will have to let Fuentes pass them by on waivers will risk allowing him to get to the Mets. The go-for-broke Phillies would claim Fuentes and give up far more than the Mets will be willing to, so it's unlikely that the Mets are even going to get the chance.

• Explore other options and outside the box acquisitions:

    The Orioles have no reason to trade George Sherrill unless someone knocks them over with an offer, plus Sherrill hasn't been that great lately anyway. People are convinced that there's something wrong with Huston Street and A's baseball czar Billy Beane doesn't deal players when their value is low unless he has no choice like with the oft-injured Rich Harden. The Mets supposedly inquired with the Mariners about J.J. Putz at the trading deadline and it was said that the Mariners were asking for the stars, sun and moon. If they're unwilling to trade Jarrod Washburn for Boof Bonser with Washburn's contract, then forget about getting Putz.
    Outside the box options could include Rafael Betancourt (who's been awful lately); or Trevor Hoffman, who'd probably be unwilling to end his career away from San Diego without some cajoling, and hasn't been very good either, but might be reinvigorated by a move to a new team in the big city with a shot at a ring; at least he's experienced and would probably get through to the Mets on waivers. New York fans would go into a frenzy at the tolling of the bell in the beginning of AC/DC's Hell's Bells signaling Hoffman's arrival.

• Use someone on their current roster:

    There was a caller on the soon-to-be-renamed Mike and the Mad Dog radio show on WFAN in which the caller suggested to host Mike Francesa that John Maine be moved into the role. Maine hasn't been able to get too far past five innings all season long, shoulder pain or not, so it's not all that bad an idea. Had Maine not been recently disabled with shoulder pain, the Mets might think about this more seriously and it would be worth a try, but that transition isn't easy to make for a healthy pitcher late in the season and there's no reason to risk Maine's longterm future out of desperation in a move that would be a tossup.
    As for their other starters, Oliver Perez can't be trusted to throw strikes; and Mike Pelfrey has been too good in the rotation. Here's an interesting thought: could Pedro Martinez do it? He wouldn't be bothered by the pressure; the adrenaline would light up his fastball; and he might get a kick out of it. Would he be healthy to do it three times in a week? They could ask him and it's not something to dismiss out of hand.
    They could continue down the road they're on with the mixing and matching of using Aaron Heilman, Pedro Feliciano, et, al. Duaner Sanchez would've been the logical choice at mid-season, but he's not 100% (or even 90%) either. The Mets don't have to worry about the division getting too far away from them because the Phillies haven't been playing well and as I've stated a couple of times, there's something wrong with that team; and the Marlins are going to fade down the stretch.
    None of these options are particularly enticing or realistic, but the Mets are in this situation and they have to figure something out because it doesn't look like they're going to have their closer, the former talk show target and prime example of observers not appreciating what they have until it's gone, Billy Wagner.

• Greg Maddux about to be traded to the Dodgers:

    Jayson Stark is reporting that the Padres, who, at the trading deadline, tried desperately to trade Greg Maddux to the only team the veteran was willing to join----the Dodgers----are close to completing a deal----ESPN Story. The big question with Maddux is what he has left for the Dodgers as they try to collect veterans for the stretch run to outlast the Diamondbacks.
    With the acquisitions of Manny Ramirez and Casey Blake; the resurgent veterans Nomar Garciaparra and Jeff Kent; and the young players Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp and James Loney maturing, the Dodgers have enough offense to operate. Their pitching has been injury-riddled and while Maddux isn't going to be an inspirational leader; nor is he going to provide much more than 85 pitches and six innings, he is a veteran starter that manager Joe Torre will be able to trust down the stretch.
    At this point in his career, Maddux's managers know relatively quickly what they're going to get out of him on a particular day, so if he's giving up rockets all over the field, he's not going to take it personally if he's yanked in the second inning. The Dodgers bullpen is deep enough that Maddux's penchant for taking himself out of games isn't going to be a detriment and one would hope that they're not giving up much of anything to get him (the story says it's two players to be named later).
    It's not easy to get a deal done when a player is only willing to go to one destination and with a team like the Padres, it's better to get a couple of bodies for Maddux. The Padres are getting something for a pitcher who's not going to help them in the future and the Dodgers are getting a veteran arm to augment their rotation and, they hope, the playoffs.

• Why is the impending return of Carl Pavano still entertained as anything but a sideshow?

    Again we're hearing about a possible return to the mound for Carl Pavano, this time on Saturday. Is there anyone who thinks that this is anything to even be discussing seriously? Pavano, with a month remaining on his contract for which he has received a gift of $40 million for nothing, is rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and the Yankees are hoping to get some use out of him over the final month.
    Is this a joke? Pavano is like the guy who receives a scholarship to a great private high school, does nothing other than party for his first 3 3/4 years and then returns a month before graduation with stacks and stacks of make-up work trying to get a recommendation to college from the teachers whose only response to his arrival in class is, "who are you?" Is he thinking that there's any possibility that the Yankees are going to pick up his $13 million option for next year? Before scoffing, realize that this is Pavano and with all the nonsense that's gone on since he signed (the majority of it off the field and in doctor's offices), anything is possible.

• White Sox 13-Mariners 5:

     Is anyone with an idea about baseball holding the fort in Seattle until they hire a new GM? Jarrod Washburn has been mostly awful since signing a four-year, $37.5 million contract with the Mariners after the 2005 season; they're going nowhere this year and could use the money from Washburn's contract to bring in some better performers at more reasonable prices and slash some dead money. The Yankees were willing to take Washburn's contract off their hands, but didn't want to give up any prospects of note; the Mariners got greedy and backed off. They then put Washburn on waivers and for some unfathomable reason, the Twins claimed him; then they even offered a young pitcher with good stuff, but bad results, in Boof Bonser and the Mariners still turned it down. What do they want for Washburn? Joba Chamberlain?
    Getting Washburn's contract off the books would've been good enough for me, but the Mariners' delusions and greed almost worked out for them since Bonser is, at best, a mid-rotation starter and at worst, a functioning arm out of the bullpen. Now, after Washburn pitched well enough from May through July to even get those teams interested in the first place, he's back to what he's been throughout his time in Seattle----terrible----but luckily for the Mariners, they'll have him next year as well so they can go through this all over again. Only next time, they'll possibly have someone running the organization who knows to get out of Dodge when the opportunity presents itself.

• Mets 4-Pirates 0:

    It's easy to look at a stat like career-long performance in the first half vs the second half and scoff at the idea that there's any genuine difference; it's easy to deny the reality, but Johan Santana is again dominating and heating up in the second half of the season as he did during the majority of his time with the Twins and clearly there's something to the notion that he goes from a top tier, All Star pitcher in the first half to a Hall of Famer in the second half.
    The numbers are quite different; in the first half over his career he's won 51 and lost 34 with an ERA of 3.47; 719 hits allowed in 829 innings. In the second half, his record (so far) is 53-17 with (not counting yesterday's shutout) a 2.81 ERA, and 500 hits in 647 innings. It's clear that Santana is a pitcher who takes awhile to get heated up, but once he does is something to behold. After a bad start against the Reds coming out of the All Star break, Santana has pitched two complete games; pitched eight innings once and seven innings twice; and 6 1/3 in the other game; he's allowed three runs in one start and two or less in all the others. He's entered his comfort zone and is now pitching like the Cy Young Award winner the Mets paid for.
    That he's been able to overcome the ancillary factors of the big move to New York and maintain this career pattern is amazing as well. A somewhat shy, though charismatic Venezuelan coming from laid back Minnesota to "save" the Mets amid all the money and expectations; pitching much of the first half with a manager in Willie Randolph who had a guillotine hovering over his head like a comic book thought balloon; and the increasing disgust of impatient fans (who booed him, pretty much saying, "we want you to be great now"); and media incompetents who declared him "overrated" after every start that wasn't perfect; Santana's career pattern has proved him to be exactly what everyone thought he was and more because he's pitched two complete games in the past month as well, which was something he was criticized for not doing.
    He's only got five or six starts left in the regular season, so his win total isn't going to be gaudy; he's likely to end with 15 or 16 wins and barely over 200 strikeouts, but this was a transition year for him and he's been almost exactly what could reasonably have been expected; it's in the coming years where the in-his-prime Santana will show Mets fans and the rest of baseball why he's got two Cy Young Awards and will be in the running for more playing under that lucrative contract he signed to join and stay with the Mets; then we will no longer be hearing allegations that he's "overrated" anymore.

• Yankees 15-Royals 6:

    Can we now formulate a definitive assessment of Brian Bannister? There are some cases where it's best to trust one's eyes and not the stunning and unexpected results a player delivers and that looks to be what's happened with Bannister. A big league pitcher cannot allow ten runs, ten hits, three walks and three homers in 1+ inning if he expects to be in the big leagues very long. He's a streaky pitcher who happens to run together five or six good starts in a row; this makes people believe that his stuff is better than what it is even when he's getting pounded, which is the majority of the rest of the time.
    Ambiorix Burgos, acquired by the Mets in the ridiculed trade of Bannister, is pitching in the minors and closing in on a return to the big leagues after Tommy John surgery; if he helps the Mets short-handed bullpen in September, are we still going to hear about how bad a trade that was? It was an evaluation on the part of the Mets front office that is looking to be correct; Bannister is a journeyman whose hot streak made him look like one that got away; he wasn't one that got away; he was one that was dumped because he wasn't any good.

• Here's a 2009 solution for the San Diego Padres to at least make them interesting:

    If the Padres want to inject some life into their club and have a chance to compete with young, inexpensive players, they should (bleep)can the Moneyball adherence; fire manager Bud Black and replace him with Wally Backman. Backman would take almost no money for the opportunity; he's a Billy Martin-style manager----gifted on the field, flawed off----and he's not bothered about having to try to be innovative to win some games. Backman is currently managing the Joliet Jackhammers in the Northern League and their record of 36-46 isn't all that impressive, but they do some things that the Padres should appreciate with their obsession with being cheap and using the Moneyball system. The Jackhammers have a high team-wide on base percentage----stats----and Backman is a raving maniac who'll flip over food tables and bench stars to get his point across.
    They're not going to do it and if they truly intend to slash their payroll some $30+ million to end at around $40 million for next year, they're going to have built in excuses for being the worst team in baseball. They'll continue down the road they're on; pointing to stats as the reason for their player moves and the payroll constraints as to why they're so awful, lose close to 100 games and be somehow bulletproof from criticism by those who are themselves invested in sabermetrics above all else. Backman would probably be a short-term solution because he's a pretty good shot to pull another standard part in the Billy Martin package----the self-destruct lever, but it's something that may work and overcome a lack of talent, money and competence to mitigate the shortfalls in San Diego; at the very least, it would make them interesting.

• Blue Jays 4-Red Sox 1; a horse like Roy Halladay deserves a better cart:

    When a pitcher is so durable; so consistent; and so intent on pitching deeply and successfully into games, it's frustrating that there isn't a better supporting cast to ensure a better result in the standings. Year-after-year, Roy Halladay goes out to the mound for every start with it in his mind that he's going to pitch a complete game; in this era, there are many pitchers who don't have a similar mindset, yet are considered superstars. In pitching his eighth complete game in a 4-1 win over the Red Sox last night, Halladay extended his league lead in the almost defunct category to five. With a record of 14-9, he could have 17-18 wins if he had a bit better support; and the lack of support is the issue for a team with such an advantage every fifth day.
    The way the game is played today, even superstar pitchers usually require at least two relievers to get a win on most nights. Those pitchers----the Johan Santanas and Josh Becketts----will give their seven or so quality innings and hand a lead to the bullpen, which may or may not close the deal. Halladay tries to take matters out of the hands of the bullpen and get the job done himself; and he's not throwing an inordinate amount of pitches in his complete games to do it either; his high number this year is 130, but he's usually in the reasonable 110-115 range, and for a complete game pitcher, that's excellent. Halladay doesn't just stay in games by throwing strikes, he keeps the ball down and uses a heavy sinker to prevent home runs; he works fast to keep the fielders on their toes and, perhaps most importantly, he gives the bullpen a night off. He wants to be a horse at the top of the rotation and this is why it's so aggravating that the Blue Jays have never been able to mount a legitimate playoff run while Halladay's in his prime and performing like this.
    It is such a useful asset for a team to have a guy like Halladay; to have a guy who doesn't have to be asked to give the bullpen a night off because in every start, he doesn't want to have to trust his games to someone else. The Blue Jays have been the essence of mediocrity, not just this year, but throughout Halladay's entire career. To have a horse at the top of the rotation and to put such a dysfunctional, bizarrely constructed supporting cast behind him is bordering on incompetent. If Halladay starts 32 games in a season, that's at least 25 games that the manager isn't going to have to abuse his already beleaguered bullpen; 25 games that he's going to begin the night having it in his mind that he's going to get a high-quality performance; and if the pitcher doesn't have his great stuff, he'll gut his way through.
    The Blue Jays should have been able to put a good enough cast behind their ace that they wouldn't end each and every season with a maximum of 87 wins and ranging anywhere under that, but they haven't. They've had injuries to their other young pitchers in Shaun Marcum and Dustin McGowan; their lineup has been compromised due to the egregious and emotional personnel mistakes made by GM J.P. Ricciardi; and they've done it with what amounts to a golf or bowling-style handicap handed to them at the beginning of every season. That handicap is Halladay and what he provides is something that every other team would love to have and most would presumably be able to use to greater advantage than the Blue Jays have, who haven't done much of anything with it at all.

• Yankees 3-Royals 2:

    I don't find Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay to be particularly insightful as an analyst; nor do I think much of his baseball knowledge, but he had a point in questioning Joe Girardi's strategy of refusing to bunt with the leadoff batter on base in the bottom of the ninth inning. Ivan Rodriguez led off with a hit by pitch and rookie Brett Gardner tried to bunt and failed; the bunt was taken off with less than two strikes (*keep this in mind) and Gardner walked. Johnny Damon then batted and was swinging from the first pitch onward and eventually struck out. Derek Jeter then followed by grounding into a double play.
    Girardi's argument against the bunt with Damon was that he'd tried the strategy on Friday and it had failed, and Damon says he's not a good bunter. The guy's a leadoff hitter with occasional power and a history of making contact, but he can't bunt? What happened to Girardi's attention to fundamentals, which was one of the reasons he stayed in the majors as long as he did as a mediocre player and why he was hired to manage the transitioning Yankees? Unless Alex Rodriguez is at the plate, the batter has to bunt in that situation, case closed. It didn't cost the Yankees the game, but this failure to execute forced them to play four more innings, and use Mariano Rivera for two innings making him unlikely to be available for today's game.
    This reminded me of one of Girardi's rookie managerial mistakes in 2006 (which apparently wasn't a rookie mistake now that he continues managing this way), and I've gone on about it before in which Girardi had Hanley Ramirez bunting with two strikes against an imploding Billy Wagner and the Mets and essentially cost his team the game----Blog 8/2/2006. Ramirez was only a rookie at the time, but a blind, mentally-challenged monkey (or even Paul DePodesta) could see that the guy was going to be a megastar who hits for power; why would you have him bunting in the first place and then compound it by making him bunt with two strikes? Now this is the second time in a week that Girardi's strategies have been called into reasonable question; it was in Minnesota that Girardi decided to rest the same Damon even though the lineup was short and Damon was leading the league in hitting; he then got snippy when questioned about the decision, which is a bad sign.
    There's no question that Girardi is a smart guy; that he's going to be a solid manager; that the team is going to eventually have success under him; but what I don't think people anticipated when Girardi was selected over Don Mattingly to replace Joe Torre were the bizarre decisions he makes that seemingly make little sense. It may be that Girardi's one year in Florida didn't provide enough of a learning curve for him to be completely ready for this job and that while the Yankees started the season trying to gain experience and succeed with a bunch of young pitchers who were destined to have growing pains, they may not have realized that they were going to be doing the same thing with their manager as well.

• Cardinals 9-Reds 3:

    I've defended Reds manager Dusty Baker against charges of abusing his pitchers, but there's no way to defend how Aaron Harang has collapsed since that relief stint against the Padres on May 25th throwing 63 pitches; three days after his start against the same Padres in which he threw 103 pitches; and that he threw 73 pitches four days later. Harang went on the disabled list with a forearm strain in early July and has gotten pounded in his two starts since returning. Harang was an innings-eating horse (like Roy Halladay) and if there's something wrong with him, he needs to tell the team and they have to shut him down and take care of it.

• Yankees demote Cabrera, cut Sexson, then lose to the Royals:

    For a player who was only a moderate prospect in the minors, through sheer hard work and winning attitude Melky Cabrera became an everyday player on a team with designs on a championship year-after-year. Up until the brief time right before his recall in 2006, Cabrera's minor league numbers----minor league stats----never indicated that he'd be anything more than a defensively minded fourth outfielder who could run; but he made it to the big leagues and learned on the fly; he hustled, he played good defense, produced clutch hits.
    Looking like the type of player who seized his opportunity and would develop into a 15-20 homer man as he matured and got stronger, the Yankees had no reason to believe that there would be this kind of a regression at the plate and in the field. After an excellent start, Cabrera has provided little since early May. It's possible that it wasn't his hitting that prompted Cabrera's demotion to Triple A though; it may have been that he's playing as if he's in a fog. There have been the defensive lapses----the most egregious and youth-infused being that he misplayed a ball because he was waving to the fans in the bleachers as they did the Yankees lineup "roll call"----and other instances of his head not being where it should be that angered manager Joe Girardi and made the Yankees decide to send him down rather than bench him.
    The easiest thing to do now is to say that he wasn't that talented a player to begin with, but it's not that hard to recover what it was that made Cabrera into an everyday player at the age of 22 if he gets his head on straight; this demotion might be a version of a wake-up call to shock him into getting back to what it was that made people believe he was going to develop into a solid 15 homer, 85 RBI, basestealing, opportunistic, defensively minded center fielder. He's still only 23 and can once again regain what it was that made the Yankees think they could play him as their regular center fielder in the first place.
    The Richie Sexson signing was a low-cost gamble that didn't work. Sometimes a change of scenery works with a veteran player and it was worth a shot to bring Sexson into a better situation than what was going on in Seattle to see if it would wake up his bat. Sexson wasn't awful, but he wasn't contributing much of anything either and it makes sense to cut him now.
    After these moves, the Yankees then went out and lost to the Royals 4-3. For a staggering team trying to find some way to stay in contention and keep from falling out completely, the Yankees cannot have Mariano Rivera giving up the winning run on a wild pitch. To inject a little (more) urgency into their situation, it has to be noted that they're closer in the standings to the Blue Jays and Orioles than they are to the Red Sox and Rays. (Oh, and Joe Torre has won five in a row with the Dodgers, who are getting healthy and have some magic working.)

• Tom Glavine should retire:

    While it's completely understandable that Tom Glavine: A) didn't want to end his career with that embarrassing performance for the Mets on the last day of the regular season in 2007; B) wanted to pitch at home in Atlanta; and C) wouldn't want to end his Hall of Fame career due to injury, he should probably retire after this trip back to the DL.
    For a pitcher of Glavine's stature, it's more palatable to retire having to be dragged off the mound with injuries than to skulk away having given a performance that a high school kid could have replicated in his last start for the Mets. He's always been a quiet bulldog type on the mound stemming from his days as a hockey player in high school and it's fitting for him to walk away because he physically can't perform rather than because he's not any good anymore.
    He's got his 300 wins; he's won his World Series (including the MVP of that series); he's got two Cy Young Awards; he survived playing in New York; and in 2008, he's pretty much done the equivalent of a football player signing a one-day contract to retire with his preferred team. Does he really want to go through rehab and/or surgery for a rebuilding team that may not even want him back next year due to anything more than loyalty and a severance contract? It's up to him, but why go through all of that for no reason? He's got a big career in broadcasting ahead of him if he wants it and he should walk off the field now rather than hang on only to get hurt again.

• Mike Hargrove's pronouncement lends credence to the stories of the Ichiro-force out:

     Former Mariners, Orioles and Indians manager Mike Hargrove, who resigned last season from the Mariners as the team was in the middle of an eight game win streak and had leapt into surprising contention after years of mediocrity, has said he wants to manage in the big leagues again----ESPN Story. While all parties deny it, it's clear that there was something to the Ichiro contract situation and that he was less likely to return to the Mariners if Hargrove were still the manager. (That's worked out great for Ichiro's bank account; less so everywhere else.)
    Hargrove may have mistaken "losing his passion" for the game for exhaustion at dealing with a prima donna like Ichiro and wanted a break or a different situation where the team wasn't going to hinge on the whims of one overrated player. Hargrove's silence or deflection of blame in the Mariners situation is indicative of his personality of the strong, silent, cowboy type who you probably don't want to mess around with. There have been managers and coaches who felt burned out and walked away from their respective games----Dick Vermeil, Hubie Brown----only to come back and have success; Hargrove is a competent manager and, in the right situation, deserves another opportunity without having the statement that he "lost his passion" haunt him.

• Alyssa's "Plan":

    I didn't read the posting, but the promo for Alyssa Milano's blog on the front page is leaving itself wide open for rampant speculation. Take a look:

Actress and TOUCH designer Alyssa Milano is a Dodgers season ticket-holder and MLBlogger.

Manny Ramirez has been on a tear since his trade to LA and Alyssa Milano has a plan to keep him in Dodger blue for years to come. Leave Alyssa a comment and start blogging with her!

    Hmmm. This "plan" could veer off into several directions, some of which aren't appropriate for the family-friendly nature of my blog, but might actually be the most effective options at keeping Manny's monetary price down to keep him in LA.

• The draft slotting system:

    I'm not sure why many teams even entertain the idea of having the league tell them, without any firm repercussions, what they should be paying potential employees; it seems to be a mandate to follow league orders when there's no salary cap and the only punishment is an angry phone call. It is a bad sign when one of the architects of the system, Frank Coonelly, is named president of the team with the second pick in the draft in the Pittsburgh Pirates, then the Pirates draft Pedro Alvarez, who's represented by Scott Boras. Coonelly and Boras are in a stare-down and neither is going to blink unless Alvarez tells his agent to get a deal done, which is hard to see happening because these players should be smart enough to know what hiring Boras entails. All this slotting system does is try to hold down the money drafted players make and it's going to come to two conclusions: teams are just going to ignore the system; or they're going to draft players who are less likely to hold out----players who have exhausted their amateur eligibility and won't want to risk their livelihoods playing in independent leagues. They should just dispatch this slotting system once and for all because it's a decent idea that's not working.

• Diamondbacks 6-Rockies 2:

     It may be time for the Rockies to throw in the towel. The Dodgers are getting their traction with their acquisitions and returning players from injury and the Diamondbacks will be there until the end of the season; the Rockies are 14 games under .500 and eight games out of first place. It's a valid argument that since the hot streak late last season to vault them into the World Series was such a stunning development, then they deserved at least a chance to repeat the feat this year, but there are major differences between the two; not the least being that the team last year at this time the team was five games over .500 and five games out of first place. They should give it another week and GM Dan O'Dowd should deal their veterans and bag the season.

• Rays 7-Athletics 6; Ziegler gives up a run:

    I'm kind of glad that Brad Ziegler finally allowed a run because I wasn't looking forward to the back-and-forth arguments of the worthiness of a starter's scoreless inning streak (Orel Hershiser) vs a reliever's scoreless inning streak. I said the other day that there's no way to compare them and that the starter's accomplishment is much more impressive; there would have been arguments the other way as well and it would've gone on forever.

• Hank Steinbrenner's perceived towel-toss and the fallout:

    There's been a strong reaction to the perception that Hank Steinbrenner is, at the very least, giving his players an excuse for not making the playoffs. I said yesterday that I don't think it was an attempt by the Hank to give his players an alibi as much it was to give himself an alibi. Even as his father becomes less lucid and aware of the state of his team, there will always be the spectre of the demanding George M. Steinbrenner III hovering, barking, challenging and belittling his sons to win, win, win. If they don't, there has to be an reason even if it's absurd and nonsensical. They need it for themselves more than anyone else.
    Mike Francesa went into it in depth during Mike and the Mad Dog implying that Hank was telling the players that it was okay if they didn't make the playoffs this year----Thoughts On Hank. I don't see it the way Francesa does in that I don't believe the players pay much attention to Hank one way or the other. If it were a predominately young corps of players, then maybe they'd think it was acceptable to let up a bit because if the owner isn't going to be angry about the team not making the playoffs, then what's the big deal if they fall short? But the Yankees have guys like Derek Jeter, and Mariano Rivera who have never, ever missed the playoffs in their entire big league careers; and Andy Pettitte who only missed the playoffs once, and that was with the Astros; there are veterans like Mike Mussina who wouldn't see it as acceptable if one of his last chances to win a World Series was ruined by such an attitude as well.
    The idea that the owner making such statements compromises the chance for a comeback by planting the seed into the heads of the players is hard to reconcile because there are very few owners who are so open with their feelings as Hank is. How many owners are even visible enough to say something like this? There are owners who people know like Fred Wilpon, Tom Hicks, Jerry Reinsdorf and Frank McCourt, but none make the type of off-the-wall proclamations that Hank does and he hasn't yet followed through on his threats; he says things, is assuaged and they sort of disappear without frantic reaction from Brian Cashman and his staff.
    While it may not have been the smartest thing in the world for Hank to say these things, it isn't going to be a deciding factor for the Yankees making or not making the playoffs; no one pays him much attention anyway because he doesn't know what he's talking about and his bloviating is just a way to let off steam and quiet that voice that must be entrenched in his ear asking why the team is faltering.

• Brewers 7-Padres 1:
  

     C.C. Sabathia wins his seventh game for the Brewers without a loss. Cha-ching!

• Rockies 6-Diamondbacks 5; Dodgers 7-Phillies 6:

    The Diamondbacks have done everything they could possibly do to wake the team from the slumber that has dropped them from a high of 21-9 after 30 games, and 40-50 since. They were having trouble in the bullpen, they acquired Jon Rauch for far less than one would think required to get such an established and versatile reliever; they needed power bats and, while whiffing on Manny Ramirez and Mark Teixeira, acquired the respected Tony Clark and a pure slugger in Adam Dunn; and they're still stumbling along. Other than unfairly firing manager Bob Melvin to try and wake the team up, I can't think of anything else for them to do, but with the way they're playing and the way they're going for it this year, they might have to consider the drastic action to try and save the season.
    The Dodgers on the other hand have been allowed to hang around and the Joe Torre late-season magic is beginning to work. The additions of Casey Blake and Manny Ramirez have helped of course, as will the return from injury of the likes of Brad Penny and possibly Takashi Saito, but the Dodgers have a better feel than the Diamondbacks do at the moment and part of that is due to the resume and cachet carried by their manager. The Diamondbacks have let the Dodgers stay within striking distance and more when they could have buried them; with each passing day the Dodgers get healthy, improve and gain momentum and the Diamondbacks continue rotating on the treadmill like a hamster.
     One note about the Phillies: as I mentioned the other day, there's a bad vibe about them that's hard to pinpoint, but they, like the Diamondbacks, have made a series of deals that have gutted the farm system and they're not working; the Mets have pretty much stood pat and are getting feel-good stories from the likes of Fernando Tatis. It's always a bad idea not to bury a team when the opportunity is presented and I'm getting the idea that Brad Lidge is in worse shape than is being let on.

• Cardinals 6-Marlins 4; desperation yields a closer?

    Just when it looked as if Cardinals manager Tony La Russa was coming close to calling Rick Ankiel in from center field to try and close games in a return to the mound (that's a joke), desperation and the repeated failures of his veterans has led him to using 22-year-old Chris Perez in the role and he's getting job done. Perez is a little wild, but he strikes out a batter an inning and a save is a save is a save; after watching Ryan Franklin, Jason Isringhausen, et al blow game-after-game, at least they've got someone doing to job for the moment.

    I've heard this music during MSNBC commercials and now during the following Volkswagen Passat ad and if anyone knows the title, I'd appreciate the help.

• Hank Steinbrenner prepares the alibis:

    In what can only be seen as a psychological attempt to prepare himself for the sheer possibility that his team won't make the playoffs in his first season as Yankees "Boss", Hank Steinbrenner affected a melancholy and resigned tone in his statements regarding the rest of this season and 2009----ESPN Story. Among other things, Steinbrenner praises the efforts of his players and adds the caveat that "they're not supermen"; he compares his team's injury struggles with the plight of the Red Sox, saying pitching is "70% of the game" (I'm not a stat-guy but I find these capricious percentages pulled out of one's butt absurd), and claiming that the Red Sox would be in a similar position as the Yankees had they lost Josh Beckett and Jon Lester. Last time I checked, the Red Sox had to deal with the Manny Ramirez mess; an injury to David Ortiz that can recur and put him out for the season at any time; lost Curt Schilling for the year before the season even started; and have Tim Wakefield on the DL. Every team has their problems.
    There have been nostalgic fantasies of a return to the days of George Steinbrenner; when money was no object; when there wasn't a tirade too nonsensical; when there wasn't someone to fire; when there wasn't a prospect to trade for a fading veteran; but those that are dreaming of a return to the days of George are only remembering the years of 1996-2007, when even winning wasn't enough and there was still a potential crisis and everyone's job was in jeopardy. They forget the days of shuttling Dave LaPoint and Andy Hawkins out to the mound; of trading Willie McGee for Bob Sykes, and Fred McGriff and Mike Morgan for Dale Murray; of firing and hiring at random after a bad week; of, like his son, saying things that even a casual baseball fan would frown and say, "What is he talking about?"
    It's also conveniently forgotten that the late 90s dynasty in which the baseball world relived the era of Yankee dominance was largely built while George was suspended and unable to interfere with Gene Michael's development of the young players that formed the nucleus of those championship years. Had George been able to run interference, would Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera among others, been around to anchor those championship teams?
    If anything, Hank has proven himself to be more bark than bite and that's a positive thing for the future of the Yankees even if they don't make the playoffs this year; Brian Cashman has not seen himself undermined in his contract year and forced to do things he doesn't want to do, which makes it likely that he'll want to return; the team still has money to spend and won't make some desperate trades to appease an angry fan base based on the owner's ranting and raving. He may order a ton of money to be spent, but that's better than trading youth for fading veterans and so far he's kept his hands to himself and bellowed when angry; that's better than taking a pitcher like Ian Kennedy and saying, "get him out of my sight", leaving the GM no choice and seeing the pitcher traded for the likes of Paul Byrd to try and win two or three extra games in what might be a hopeless cause.
    Even as Yankee fans are probably angry that the Yankees are fading out, they can be happy that the new owner isn't revisiting the days of the early 70s and all of the 80s in which it was clear that the father----who is being feted now and is a likely and worthy entrant into the Hall of Fame----didn't know much more about baseball than his son does and demanded that his judgment be acquiesced to even when his baseball people advised him against some of his impetuous, bullying, rage-fueled reactions if things didn't go as he expected them immediately. Having an owner who screams, shouts and explodes, but then calms himself down and doesn't make demands that won't work is better than having one that does the same thing and insists on his mandates being followed whatever the cost. The one thing about the Yankees this year, win or lose, is that they haven't panicked; Hank deserves some credit for that even if the rest of the organization has had to talk him down from the ledge numerous times to keep the raving dictator that is the father from infecting the son, driving him to make similar mistakes that have faded into memory.

• Is it luck or is it numbers?

     Rob Neyer credits luck with the Twins sudden leap into contention with their amazing clutch hitting and .312 batting average with runners in scoring position. I don't know how lucky or unlucky they've been; I just find it fascinating when the stats-obsessed see that the numbers don't add up and attribute the result to luck. Just last year, the same thing happened as no one was able to explain the Diamondbacks division title with such a weak record under the Pygmalion Win Theorem; now it's being done with the Twins. Attention to fundamentals could be seen as just as much of a contributor to the Twins leap into first place as luck has been. Some teams----the Angels and Twins----make their own luck by schooling their players from the time they join the organization on the correct way to play. Pitchers throwing strikes; catching the ball; hitting cut-off men and situational hitting may be part of the equation as well even if the numbers don't fit. The following words uttered by a manager or coach: "play the game right or you're not gonna play" may be just as effective as being lucky, but that's my non-mathematical mind at work.

• Red Sox 19-Rangers 17:

    Al Del Greco missed a 48-yard field goal with time running out to save the win for the Red Sox.

• Brewers 5-Padres 2:

    While it probably has just as much, if not more, to do with playing the Reds, Nationals and Padres, is it lost on anyone that the Brewers have won every game since Prince Fielder almost shoved Manny Parra through the dugout wall?
     Speaking of the Padres, with the talk that owner John Moores's divorce may require the Padres to scale their payroll down to the $40 million range, what's the difference going to be in the team's results next year? They're going to lose close to 100 games this year and likely the same next year if that story's true. At least they'll have a chance to be better without some of the dead weight they're carrying this year; and I don't want to hear any comparisons to the Marlins tear-down and leap into contention because the Marlins have something the Padres don't----competent scouting and management.

• White Sox 9-Royals 0:

     Although I wavered during his yearlong string of excellent pitching, can we now admit that Brian Bannister has settled into what the eyes of many (me, the Mets front office) saw when we watched him in 2006? He's a mediocre journeyman and (at best) a back of the rotation starter who's lucky to be in the big leagues. Period.

• Astros 12-Giants 4:

     The Astros have gotten blazing hot since owner Drayton McLane ordered the series of bewildering moves to bring veterans Randy Wolf and LaTroy Hawkins to a non-contending team, but those moves had little to do with this hot streak. A team like the Astros, built on a powerful lineup, has these types of hot streaks because they run into bad pitching and hitting is contagious. Even with that, it has to be said that if the Wild Card or the NL Central were to require 85 or so wins, the Astros would be right back in the thick of things. With this string of good play, they've gained virtually no ground in the division and have no chance of getting back into Wild Card contention, so it's pretty much wasted effort except to validate McLane's meddling and saving the jobs of GM Ed Wade and manager Cecil Cooper, who deserves a better fate than being ridiculed after waiting such a long time to get the chance to manage.
    I mentioned luck earlier and am starting to believe it's as important to be lucky as it is to be good and/or smart. McLane made his money in grocery distribution continuing his father's business and made a fortune. Part of that is due to being smart, but part of it must be due to being lucky; it appears he's running his baseball team the same way and with the failures of the more "thoughtful" teams and the overall success of McLane's team since he purchased it despite the criticisms, he may be onto something in terms of luck and not giving up no matter the circumstances.

• Athletics 2-Rays 1:

    The scoreless inning run that Brad Ziegler is on is amazing and a great accomplishment, but there's no way to compare what Ziegler's doing to what Orel Hershiser did in compiling his 59-straight scoreless inning streak in 1988 as he almost singlehandedly carried the Dodgers to the World Series title. It's way harder for a starter to compile a streak of this kind and if Ziegler approaches the record, that has to be put into proper context.

• Reds trade Adam Dunn to the Diamondbacks for three minor leaguers:

    Critics can say what they want about Adam Dunn for what he isn't, but that shouldn't detract from what he is. Dunn is said not to hit in the clutch, but his numbers in the clutch aren't that far off from what they are in other situations; they say he strikes out too much, but he also walks nearly as many times as he strikes out; they say he's a bad outfielder, but he's got a great arm and he's better out there than he's given credit for.
    Dunn hits lefties well-enough to not be a platoon player. That he has such bad numbers with two outs and runners in scoring position can be accouted for by his increased on base percentage in those situations----teams don't want to pitch to him under those circumstances; he sees fewer pitches to hit; and the ones he swings at aren't good pitches, so he doesn't get hits on anything other than mistakes. The guy is a useful player who's capable of hitting ten homers in a week if he gets hot, and that's what the Diamondbacks need----a guy that can singlehandedly produce some runs. They won't do it, but I'd bat him leadoff; let him get up there to start the game, either homer, walk or strikeout and move on from there.
    The Diamondbacks gave up three minor leaguers to the Reds to get him and two are to be named later; one, Dallas Buck, doesn't have overwhelming minor league numbers in Single A. The thing about the Diamondbacks that would concern me is not only that they're gutting their farm system to get these veteran players like Dan Haren, Jon Rauch and Dunn, but that their results haven't been there no matter what they've done and even in retrospect four or five years from now, it's going to be very difficult to quibble with the deals that they've made for veteran help.
    Early in the year, they looked like they were going to run away and hide in the NL West, but haven't been able to get any traction since even with the best 1-2 punch in baseball with Brandon Webb and Haren; one would think that since Randy Johnson has been enjoying a renaissance lately that they would've gone on a hot streak, but they haven't. Are they missing Eric Byrnes that much that they can't win consistently without him?    
    Discounting their record, they have enough firepower in the offense even without Dunn or Byrnes to score enough runs for that pitching staff to work with. The back end of their rotation isn't great, but neither is anyone else's; Brandon Lyon isn't an ideal closer, but they have two other options in Rauch and Chad Qualls if it gets to the point that they have to try someone else. Their problem is hard to pinpoint and there's been speculation that perhaps manager Bob Melvin is it, but he won Manager of the Year last year and went to the NLCS with a very young team for whom everything broke right. Maybe the absence of Byrnes, with his fiery temper and kamikaze attitude is what's missing. Changing the manager to someone who's going to start flipping over food spreads probably isn't going to do any good now.
    If I were the Diamondbacks, my greatest concern would be that they haven't been able to take control of the division despite it's weakness; that they're letting the Dodgers hang around, get healthy, make bigger acquisitions in Manny Ramirez and Casey Blake and use Joe Torre's experience and reputation as a manager whose teams enjoy late season surges to stay within striking distance of first place. As things wind down, Torre isn't going to make the same mistake as Padres manager Bud Black did last season in using Jake Peavy to start on short rest because of his success against the Diamondbacks and make them angry enough to provide a fuse for an explosion; Byrnes was there with the match last September and whipped the entire team into a frenzy at the sheer audacity of the slight; now, without him, it looks like the team is taking on the personality of their laid back manager, and if that's the case, they're going to have to motivate themselves which, thus far, they've failed to do. They're running out of player moves that they can make; it's time to wake up and win some games.

• Gary Sheffield says something stupid? Gary Sheffield?!?

    I've defended Gary Sheffield in the past because I truly believe that front office people have used Sheffield's reputation as a loose cannon to lie to him and try to make him look foolish with some of his off-the-wall statements, but now that he's playing for a manager in Jim Leyland who has done nothing but defend him as a great player and a good guy, one has to question how much Sheffield thinks before he says some of the things he says.
    Sheffield is complaining about his perceived role as a platoon player and that he doesn't feel comfortable DH-ing full time----ESPN Story. Leyland and Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski appear puzzled by the allegations; Dombrowski probably halfway expected some kind of Sheffield blowup when he acquired him no matter how much money he was paid or how well he was treated; but Leyland values reciprocal honesty and loyalty above all with his players and is probably more offended than anything else at Sheffield's rant. For a guy who has defended Sheffield since he first managed him with the Marlins in 1997, Leyland must see this as borderline spitting in his face.
    It can't come as a shock to those who have watched Gary Sheffield----a Hall of Fame player who's playing on his seventh team partially because of his mouth----as he begins the process of a divorce from another organization; but as his skills decline and his injuries mount, one has to wonder who's going to take a chance on Sheffield if the Tigers try to dump him, as they most certainly will, after the season. Because he'll still be able to hit and hit for power if he's healthy, he'll be able to play for someone who needs a right-handed bat prone to hot streaks in which no one can get him out; but Sheffield isn't likely to accept a reduced role or that the new team isn't going to give him a new, long-term contract; or he may agree to accept it, as he did with the Tigers and change his mind or conveniently forget about it when the issue starts nagging away at him and the seed is placed into his perception that the agreement is somehow unfair. It may be that Gary Sheffield just sees things through a prism that only he and his surrounding enablers see as reality and, even as he ages and his career comes to a close, that's never going to change no matter whom he's playing for and how much they defend him.
    Just as "Manny being Manny" has become part of the baseball lexicon and was seen as a term of endearment for Manny Ramirez until "Manny being Manny" became too much of a case of diminishing returns for the Red Sox to keep him around, teammates, managers and GMs held a similar view of Gary Sheffield with the lesser known appellation of "Sheff being Sheff" with the same head shake and shrug, it's possible that he too is going to wear out his welcome in another venue; but his production isn't going to make it worthwhile for the majority of teams to put up with "Sheff being Sheff" as he turns 40; then maybe he'll realize his mistake. He'll never admit it, but he'll know that he probably alienated some people who truly had his interests in mind and the giant chip he carries on his shoulder is becoming heavier and heavier by the day; too heavy for a player at his age and with the wear on his body to lug somewhere else and get away with it.