B r u s h b a c k

I think Wilson's penalty was four games for starting the fight and one game for poorly selecting the Fully Roided former Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Golden Stallion linebacker. Ok, they didn't have football at ABAC, Kyle says he was the starting linebacker for the Milton High Eagles in Alpharetta, Georgia, though. You could tell that Farnsworth was reliving his Friday Night Lights when Wilson charged the mound.

All Dontrelle, All The Time
We should just change the name of the blog to DontrelleIsCool.com

Today's tidbit from the Great Alan Schwarz:

Willis, more than most people know, realizes how quickly this all can end. About a week before spring training he was driving 65 mph on Highway 101 in Palo Alto, Calif., when a rear tire blew out. The car flipped a half-dozen times. Willis, strapped in by his seat belt, can still remember the view from inside, watching the windshield crash in on him and his world spinning about, while he wondered if he'd live to pitch in the majors at all. Miraculously, the car finally came to rest with Willis getting nary a scratch, and he climbed out through the crumpled back windshield.

"I was grounded before that happened," he sighs, "but it kind of put things in perspective."

Going tonight against the Mets. I'll be watching.

The problem has been that on-base percentage has been ignored by managers, general managers and baseball men for a long time. But the most important baseball statistic is batting average (if you don't count runs scored as a stat). It is the main ingredient in on-base, powers all of slugging, and is still the way (rightfully so) we measure baseball players. It shouldn't be the only thing we look at, but it's a good start.

Leg goes back, it's a balk. Stealing against lefties is easier than righties, if the umpire calls the balk correctly. But a lot of lefties cheat it and the umpires don't call a balk, so they get used to getting away with it. But the Angel Hernandez knew it was a balk. Ray Durham knew it was a balk. Odalis Perez knew it was a balk. And Jim Tracy knew it was a balk. Better get used to it, as it could get called a lot more if a memo gets handed down to call it more.

Miguel Cabrera has already hit for the cycle in his four games in the majors. Not in one game, but a single double, triple an home run sprinkled among all of them. He hit the crap out of the ball in Carolina, with an OPS well over 1.000. If he stayed in the minors, he would be a lock for minor league player of the year. Can anyone say Pujols?

Mike's Baseball Rants has a piece about Wilkerson hitting for the cycle in one game, and in sequential order.
Did you see Odalis Perez blow a head gasket last night?
Aaron Gleeman continues his posts of Anti All-Stars, this time covering the NL.

Los or Les Expos
Montreal apparently has swung a deal for Juan Gonzalez, pending his approval. Seeing that the native Puerto Rican would have a chance to play a homestand in his home land, you have to figure it'll be pretty tempting for Juan, although two homestands would seal the deal. Of course he could do the Expos a favor and turn the deal down. There is speculation that the Rangers would get Expos prospect Sueng Song and/or pitcher Josh Karp. If they do give away either of these guys to rent Gonzalez that will mean they have given away infielder Brandon Phillips, power outfielder Grady Sizemore, LHS Cliff Lee, and RHS Justin Wayne on top of those two.

That'd be a lot of talent for three half season rentals.

Making History
I dunno Jason, it's more than a longshot to think that teams like the Reds and the Marlins are going to come back to contend. In your list the only team that came back from below .500 to play above .625 was the 2001 A's. And I think you'll agree that it was almost a crime that a team with that kind of talent was only playing at a .449 clip on June 24. The team with the next worst record was the 2002 Cardinals, who if they posted the same 40-32 record as they did last year would lead the central by a full game. It's not impossible, but it would be historic to see the Reds or the Marlins in the playoffs.

NL Wild Card
This is a down year for the NL. There are a lot of decent teams, but all with flaws and all beating the crap out of each other. Since it is a down year and let's say either the Giants/Dodgers fade badly and it takes only 92 wins to get the Wild Card (average for the past season seasons has been 93.4 wins). Here's what each team would have to play in the second half to be second best in their division: Braves .494, Giants .540, Dodgers .552, Expos .581, Phillies .588, Cubs .590, Astros .593, Cardinals .602, D'Backs .609, Marlins .635, Reds .636. You can lop off anyone who needs to play better than .625. The Sankes and Cards have a shot as they'll be returning key players (although the Cards only are returning Izzy, so how much will that really help). Expect either the Cubs or Astros to get hot, but not both. Let's not even talk about the Braves falling that far. So you are really looking at in order of potential: Giants or Dodgers, Phillies or Expos, Cubs or Astros. Longshots: Cards and D'Backs. Crazy talk: Marlins and Reds.

While we're at it, I'd like your 45% through the championship schedule predictions:
AL East: Yankees
Steinbrenner will pay for whatever he needs.
AL Central: Twinkies
Applausal for the Royals, but the Twins might be the most complete team in the AL
AL West: Mariners
They just keep rolling.
AL Wild Card: A's
They will end up hitting a lot more than they have. And there's the pitching. Boston could have this if they had a bullpen.
NL East: Braves
Could this be their year?
NL Central: Cubs
Best pitching, worst offense. Sosa will turn it around. Could easily be Cards or Astros and maybe even Reds in closest division in baseball.
NL West: Dodgers
Jim Tracy for Governor!
NL Wild Card: Giants
A familiar spot. Will have problems in the playoffs with Foppert/Ainsworth/Williams starting