Ballpark Travel

Milwaukee Brewers vs. Philadelphia Phillies In this series I favor the Phillies, though not nearly as much as the rest of the country. The Brewers will still get two starts out of CC Sabathia in a five game series and the way that he has been pitching, that could mean that they just need one win in one of the other three games. Despite all of that, the Brewers have really pushed Sabathia about as far as any pitcher can go in the day of the pitch count and five-man rotation. I see this series going to 5 games with the Phillies getting it done against Sabathia. Pick: Phillies in 5 Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Chicago Cubs While I see Lou Pinella's strategy of benching his stars during the last week of the season, he runs the risk of having their bats cool down and not be ready to go. The Dodgers have been playing very good September baseball and have gotten healthy at the right time. Even with that said, the Cubs are just so deep and have been baseball's most consistent team all seaso...

While the Chicago White Sox tied the small-market Minnesota Twins this evening for the AL Central lead at the end of regulation play in 2008, there was one bright ray of sunshine for me as an Ozzie Guillen team took another breath for this season. The 2008 Kansas City Royals finished with a 75-87 record, beating the Detroit Tigers by one game for fourth place in the division. While playing their best baseball in September the Royals finished ahead of pre -season World Series favorite Detroit. This is a small victory that will most likely go unnoticed outside of the Kansas City clubhouse and this blog, but I think that is quite an amazing feat. Let's compare the lineups towards the end of the season: Kansas City: C - J. Buck; 1B - R. Shealy ; 2B - A. Callaspo ; 3B - A. Gordon; SS - M. Aviles ; LF - M. Teahen ; CF - D. DeJesus ; RF - J. Guillen ; DH - B. Butler Detroit: C - D. Ryan; 1B - M. Cabrera; 2B - P. Polanco ; 3B - C. Guillen ; SS - E. Renteria ; LF - M. Thames; CF - C. Gr...

Now that the trade deadline has come and gone, the big trades are done with and the media found the Red Sox waiver claim of Padres outfielder Brian Giles to be newsworthy this week. The Padres and Red Sox were working on a deal to send the former All-Star, Giles, to the Red Sox before the deal was quashed by the veteran slugger. Giles has a limited no-trade clause in his contract with Boston being one of the teams that he could not go to. I was more than just a little bit surprised to hear that Giles did not accept the trade because he did not want to play a limited role with the club. In his thirteen-year career, he has been in the postseason only once and with his power numbers on severe decline, it does not seem likely that he is fit for a starting role on many teams. Due another 3 or so million dollars for the rest of the 2008 season and a 3 million dollar buyout for the 2009 season, this trade would have cost the Red Sox quite a bit for an insurance policy and depth addition. ...

As usual, while watching the ESPN show 1st and 10 this afternoon, my mind started working off of the arguments between Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith. When the two weren't arguing their views based on their ethnic composition or when Smith didn't call out ESPN for being too gracious to Brett Favre (it's about time someone said it), they discussed the question as to whether or not the Brewers were the best team in the National League. I also want to talk about this question now too. To me there are three teams in the National League that should be in this conversation and they are all in the NL Central: the Brewers, Cubs and Cardinals. I also wish that the NL West would be disallowed of having a team in the postseason since these three are all so capable. 1.) The Chicago Cubs Cubs; 59-42 (Division Lead) The Cubs started off the 2008 season showing that they are a very strong team. With their strong start and unexpected contributions from Ryan Dempster , they had a v...

Uh-Oh! Here it is -- the end of July, and the Yankees are now just 3.5 games out of the AL East lead. It is scary to imagine that a team with Sidney Ponson in its rotation can be doing so well, but the Yankees are simply rolling their way up towards the top of the division. What has been a very inconsistent team throughout the season has started to show signs of consistency. Their offense should be set, even without Hideki Matsui. It is their pitching that worries me. Andy Pettite and Mike Mussina have been great so far this season, but they are both old and could be in for a hard end of the season given their age and recent history. Chien-Ming Wang is out until September and Joba Chamberlain has not recieved run support. It will be interesting to fololow this team. With their resources, it would be silly for them not to acquire a starting pitcher for the stretch run. There has been talk of Jarrod Washburn. If that is the best available starter, perhaps Sidney Ponson may work out just ...

Yesterday, July 22nd -- The Houston Astros traded Chad Reinke for Randy Wolf. This is a guy that has an ERA of 6.63 away from Petco Park and will now be pitching inside one of the most hitter-friendly parks in Major League Baseball. If that isn't bad enough, the Astros are playing in the same division as the three best teams in the National League (Brewers, Cubs, Cardinals) and are in last place in that division, twelve games out. What do the Astros think they are accomplishing by making this trade? Ed Wade must be desparate at this point to save the Astros from the bottom of the division. At best, Wolf is a .500 pitcher and has an ERA close to what it is presently at 4.74. Realistically, if Wolf doesn't get hurt first, he will struggle mightily pitching in the NL's strongest division and will be a wasted 2.5 million dollar investment. I can't see any positives from this trade for the Astros.

With the New York Mets defeat of the Colorado Rockies this evening, the non-mathematical first half of the 2008 Major League Baseball season is now over. With all of the hype that the All Star Game will bring the city of New York over the next couple of days, yet while this one does count, I am very excited to think about Thursday and the start to the 2 nd half of the season. To honor what promises to be an exciting end to the season, I would like to make some off the wall and bold predictions. BOLD The Red Sox will win the World Series The reason why I think that the Red Sox will become the first repeat World Series winner since the New York Yankees went for three in a row 1998-2000. The Red Sox just are dominant at home and have been able to roll with every injury that they have endured throughout the season. They play 16 of their final 25 games in September at home and because of their trip to Japan back in March, the Red Sox receive extra off days in September to re-work the ...