Chico Harlan presents Lastings Milledge in his own words. Milledge is talking about the Mets here:

You know, there's always a thing where, Oh, rookies have to be here 2-1/2 or three hours before stretch. No. I'm not gonna be here three hours before stretch. If you're here and you get your work in, it shouldn't matter how early you're at the field. You know what you need to do. That's fine. You don't have to be at the park three, four hours before the park if you don't want. You don't see nobody clocking in three or four hours before they have to show up to work. So, I mean, some people feel like they have to get here to read the newspaper or do crossword puzzles or get their mind ready. I feel like I come to the park, I have 45 minutes of stuff I have to do to get prepared for practice and get ready for the game. Five minutes might be watching videos. Fifteen minutes might be going in the cage. And then getting whatever other work I need.

Basically, Milledge didn't want to go through the initiation of being a rookie. He may very well be right, but it didn't sit well with the veterans.

Anibal Sanchez won his arbitration case. The Marlins are so cheap they need to screw with service time for one of their players? In general, I like the way the organization tries to rebuild itself, but when they cheap out like this I find it very difficult to like this team. I would be very happy to see this ownership go. Is it too much to hope for that they have a Dominican Republic scandal brewing?

Pat Burrell took out ads in the Philadelphia newspapers thanking fans for their support. Given that he was not always treated kindly by the Philly fanatics, it's a very generous gesture.

Home Run Derby presents the All-13 team in honor of Friday the 13th.

A woman accused Bernie Williams of hitting her while she tried to take his picture. I hope this isn't true, Bernie always seemed like one of the good guys.

Cardinals Best News Links looks at the St. Louis players participating in the Winter Leagues.

So far so good for Jeff Francoeur this spring:

And there are the strikeouts, or lack thereof. He has four walks and no strikeouts in 22 at-bats in Grapefruit League games, and no strikeouts in 28 at-bats including games with Panama and Venezuela.

This from a guy who has 430 strikeouts with only 115 walks in 2,149 major league at-bats.

I'll be pleasantly surprised if he can walk four times for every 30 at bats during the regular season.

Michael Young is very good at hitting line drives. That's a good skill, as line drives tend to fall for hits.

Vlad Guerrero inadvertently revealed he is one year older than his age in the media guide:

In a morning interview session with reporters, Scioscia said Guerrero's October surgery to clean out scar tissue and repair cartilage damage in his right knee could "point to a guy maybe turning back the clock a couple of years."

Relayed that quote through an interpreter, Guerrero smiled and said, "I feel good. I can't say [like] 25, because, you know, I'm 34. But I feel a lot better. That's where I'm at right now."

The Angels list Guerrero's birth date as Feb. 9, 1976, which would make him 33. Guerrero admitted to a team executive later in the day that he was born on the same date in 1975, making him 34.

Readjust your databases and your projections for 2009. The revelation will make it more difficult for Vlad to land another lucrative contract. We saw little interest in teams this winter for older players.

The final session of the day looks at quantifying the value of superstars. Ray Allen of the Boston Celtics, Carla Christofferson, owner of the LA Sparks, Greg Via of the Gillette Company, and Brian Jennings, EVP of marketing for the NHL discuss the issue with Ric Bucher of ESPN the Magazine.

Update: Christofferson defines an icon player as someone people not even interested in the sport know. They help bring in new fans.

Update: Via says Gillette only uses players that have won the highest championship in their sport. They use three players globally, and 19 that are used locally.

Update: Via says they do extensive background checks of the athletes they hire. Bucher asks Allen if he's gone through that, and he says someone was sneaking around his house the other day. :-)

Update: Are icons born or made? Christofferson believes fans make the icon.

Update: Allen is asked if there is a conflict between an icon and the team concept of sports. Allen says a great player is the best teammate, and you need to have someone with a big ego, someone who is a little cocky.

Lone Star Ball looks at Andruw Jones awful spring and concludes:

All the armchair hitting coaches who were convinced when this signing came down that his inability to hit was somehow tied to his being fat last year might be wanting to re-think their positions.

Jones also compares well to a few players whose careers were over by their early 30s.

Joel Sherman posts on players the Yankees might try to acquire if they need to replace Alex Rodriguez long term at third base.

The more Alex Rodriguez talks, the more I think he should adopt the Steve Carlton approach to the media.

I find this a lame excuse:

Jose Reyes now has added incentive for the Dominican Republic to advance far in the World Baseball Classic. Jerry Manuel said Sunday that a lengthy absence from camp, such as reaching the March 23 finals at Dodger Stadium, wouldn't leave enough time to consider lineup alternatives such as Luis Castillo leading off and Reyes hitting third.

What exactly is Manuel going to learn about Jose batting third in spring training? Either his batting stats work there, or they don't. His play in exhibition games isn't likely to tell Manuel a thing.

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Brandon Phillips isn't getting a lot of love from the Reds Blogoshpere right now. Both Redleg Nation and Red Reporter pick up on this story:

"I don't believe that on-base percentage stuff. That's overrated to me. If you get hits, you'll be on base. That's what it's about."

As I said in the story, that will set the Sabermatics people off. I'm not surprised Phillips said it. My guess is half the players in the baseball wouldn't know what OPS. Batting average, homers and RBI are the numbers they look at it.

The good ones know what it is.

Nationals Journal gives us an early look at Sunday's Boswell column, focusing on Adam Dunn:

Baseball has Dunn backward. On the outside, he may have no image. "I wish I had one," he said. He's just jeans and semi-combed hair, a guy lying on the clubhouse floor because the stools are too small, joking with new teammates, looking like a beached sea mammal.

On the inside, he's a student of hitting, a man who plays hurt, averaging 158 games the last five years, and a Texan who's too proud to show he's hurt. His hitting statistics at age 29 resemble Reggie Jackson and Harmon Killebrew, surpass Mike Schmidt. But his words show how much the last few weeks have lit his fire.

"So far in my career, I have not even come remotely close to what I can do. I know I'm so much better than what I've done," Dunn said. "Between now and the end of my career, I have a lot of work to do."

The article continues with a comparison to Frank Howard, and notes Dunn's exquisite selectivity at the plate. I think Boz understands that Dunn can be a special hitter for Washington.

Joe Brescia runs down the players who lost significant weight this off-season.

Center Field posts a photo in which David Ortiz looks downright slender. He's not skinny, but fit and trim. That should scare the opposition a bit.

No team wanted to pick up Andy Marte, so Cleveland gets to keep him and send him back to the minors.

Furman Bisher speculates on what led Andruw Jones to the Rangers:

You have read, of course, of Jeff Francoeur's reconstructed batting form this spring. He has kept to himself about how he went about it, with whom he worked and how he went about the project with such confidence and secrecy. He had his personal reasons, all critical to reviving his career after the dismal season just completed. There is a hitting coach with the Rangers, Rudy Jaramillo, who has developed quite a colony of followers around the major leagues. Jaramillio is in his 19th season with the Rangers, and in his time he has been a factor in the development of Alex Rogriguez, Rafael Palmiero, Michael Young, Mark Teixeira and other major leaguers who have blossomed there.

My conclusion: Francoeur could have opened the door for Jones, put him on line with Jarmillo and thus, set him on the road to Surprise. Something along the line of magic has taken place. Both Jones and the Rangers are so pleased with developments that they have settled on a contract. Andruw has signed for a base salary of $500,000, with incentives that could lead to $1-million.

Andruw is still young enough to recover from his horrible 2008. Maybe this will be the steal of the winter.

The Brewers first round draft choice made the switch from catcher to second base. Milwaukee isn't trying to preserve his offense, Brett Lawrie asked for the switch so he could get to the majors quicker:

He has noted that there is a lot more preparation into making the big leagues as a catcher, and despite how much he loves the position, the 19-year-old Canadian sees a quicker jump to the "bigs" as an infielder.

With a few real good second basemen in the Brewers system, plus the struggles of Rickie Weeks, Lawrie sees this to be the easier competition than the likes of catchers Angel Salome and Jonathan Lucroy.

I don't really think the competition has anything to do with it though. Personally, I think this is the case of a young kid wanting to have as long of a career as possible, who sees more benefit in playing the infield than roughing up his knees behind home plate.

Weeks is pretty good for a player who struggles. Still if Lawrie can hit, he's very valuable either as a catcher or a second baseman. If he's that good, he'll either push someone out or end up in a trade to a team that needs his strengths at one of those positions.

The Boston Herald writes about Stephen Drew's great second half of 2008:

Getting it going last season took a while, but after the All-Star break, the left-handed batting Drew hit .313, mostly from the leadoff spot. The highlight came last Sept. 1, when he hit for the cycle against the St. Louis Cardinals.

For the season, Drew became the first shortstop since Robin Yount to hit 40 doubles (44), 10 triples (11) and 20 homers (21).

He credited his success to simply "seeing the ball well."

If second half success is any indicator, then Troy Tulowitzki and Jason Bartlett should have great 2009s, too.

Could the Washington Nationals be so bad that Odalis Perez doesn't want to play for them? He never showed up to camp, so the Nationals released him:

"He would not return our phone calls, and after talking internally with [Manager] Manny Acta and [pitching coach] Randy St. Claire and the organization, we all feel it's important that we want players here than want to be here and want to help us win, so we made that decision this morning," General manager Jim Bowden said, according to the Washington Post..

Perez has expressed his dissatisfaction with his contract since he gave his agent the OK to sign a non-guaranteed minor league deal with Washington on Feb. 5 that would pay him $850,000 if he makes the team, the same stipulation he faced last year.

Why bother with the contract in the first place? I also wonder if this makes him a free agent, or does not showing up preclude him from signing with other teams?

Tony Pena, Jr. took care of his eyes after a really poor season hitting in 2008:

Three days after the season ended, Pena had Lasik eye surgery.

"It helped a lot," Pena said Friday. "Sometimes I couldn't recognize pitches when I was at the plate. It's one of those little things that gives you a better feeling when you're up there.

"Playing with glasses felt a little uncomfortable so I just decided to do that and I heard it was good idea," he added. "I wasn't seeing the ball good, just being able to tell depth perception. It is something that I feel like I'm doing again, just recognizing everything."

Two and half weeks after the surgery, Pena starting playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic. In 46 games, he hit .275 with a .347 on-base percentage, drawing 18 walks. By contrast, he had walked only 16 times in 247 games with the Royals the previous two seasons.

Tony has no where to go but up.

Detect-O-Vision notes there are some situations in which it makes sense to start Griffey in leftfield instead of Endy Chavez.

Brad Wilkerson describes himself as estatic to be with the Red Sox. I thought Texas made a good deal to get him from Washington, but that certainly didn't turn out to be the case. The Red Sox, however, have a philosophy of recognizing a player's strengths and putting them into situations where they can succeed. The allowed David Ortiz to be a pull hitter again, and he flourished. While Brad won't ever come close to big Papi, if he can return to his Washington form, getting on base at a good clip, he'll help the Red Sox.

The Indians are thinking of playing Ryan Garko in the outfield:

Ryan Garko stepped on the scale Monday for his physical and weighed 226 pounds. That's 10 pounds lighter than he was last year. It's a good thing because Garko is going to have to be as streamlined as possible if manager Eric Wedge actually plays him in the outfield during the regular season.

Garko, built like the catcher he once was, made the transition to first base when he reached the big leagues. After driving in 90 runs last year, Garko has a lot of bench time staring him in the eye if Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner can stay healthy and reclaim their spots in the middle of the Indians lineup.

Martinez is going to be bouncing between first and catcher. If Hafner rediscovers his swing following October surgery on his right shoulder, he'll take the majority of the at-bats at DH.

So the outfield might be a welcome refuge for Garko.

Offensively, Garko would be an improvement over the 2008 Cleveland rightfielders. The Indians showed good range collectively in right, in 2008, however, so they may be trading offense for defense at that position.

They're planning on playing him in left, however, where the offense was closer to Garko's and defensively they were one of the best teams in the majors. That doesn't seem like such a good idea.

Getting Paid to Watch gives his thoughts on why A-Rod is disliked by teammates.

It turns out one of the gems of the Washington farm system used a phony name and is four years older than believed:

According to a report on SI.com from Melissa Seguar, the shortstop once known as Esmailyn "Smiley" Gonzalez has falsified his name and age. His true identity: Carlos Alvarez Daniel Lugo. His true age: 23, or four years older than the Nationals believed. According to current data, the Nationals list Gonzalez's birthday as Sept. 21, 1989.

Do the Nationals send him packing and ask for their money back? Or do they look at him as someone who might be ready to help them sooner than they thought?

Chico Harlan describes the negotiations going on between the Nationals and Ryan Zimmerman, as he fails to show up for camp early as he awaits a long-term contract or an arbitrtation hearing.

Alfonso Soriano says he's fine with moving out of the leadoff spot, but my guess is that he'll stay there. His skills are better lower in the order, but he seems to perform his best there. With lineups making little difference, the Cubs are better off maximizing Soriano's performance than losing some offense by moving him down in the lineup.

Mike Lowell talks about the possibility of the Red Sox signing Mark Teixeira:

"You feel hurt, but I think that's a normal human reaction that anyone would have. It just kind of shows you that sometimes this sport is really a business and you have to treat it that way and you go from there. It doesn't take away any excitement or how I like the guys who I play with on the field. I'm on a team that has a chance to win the World Series. I don't know too many people who can say that, even in the big leagues that each year you're on a team that has a chance to win the World Series. I'm still really excited about that, but it wasn't the greatest process in the world."

If a trade was needed, the Red Sox would not have been able to move him until he proved to other clubs that he was healthy after the surgery, especially at his age. That means he would have had to arrive in camp with an unsettling feeling.

"I envisioned a very awkward scene with me and Youkilis taking ground balls at third," Lowell said. "I'm glad that was avoided."

The Red Sox trying to sign Teixeira also makes me wonder just what the Red Sox think of Lowell's ability to bounce back. Right now, I'm sure they're very supportive, but we'll see how long that will last. We'll also see who gets the opening day start at the position, since Lowell doesn't think he'll be ready.

Via BBTF, Albert Pujols is starting to make noises about leaving the Cardinals after the 2010 season:

"It's not about the money all the time," the first baseman said. "It's about being in a place to win and being in a position to win.

"If the Cardinals are willing to do that and put a team (on the field) every year like they have, I'm going to try to work everything out to stay in this town. But if they're not bringing championship caliber play every year, then it's time for me to go somewhere else that I can win."

It's almost always about the money. FanHouse wonders if Albert is making noise now because the Cardinals didn't sign Manny Ramirez.

What should the Cardinals do? Albert is one of the game's great players, but he will be 31 going into the 2011 season. That was the brilliant thing about his long term contract, it locked Pujols in through his prime years. It's likely a 31-year-old Albert is worth more than the great majority of 27 year olds, but for how long? If a player is trying to dictate to a team, maybe the money is better spent looking for his replacement.

The Cardinals have won a World Series, after all, and are playoff contenders nearly every season. Yes, they didn't go all out in 2008 and appear to have done little to improve the team in 2009. While they don't make a splash, they do get a lot of mileage out of marginal players. I suspect they're reloading, and Albert will likely want to be part of the 2011 team.

Barring a major injury, the Cardinals will find a way to keep Pujols around. Like Gwynn or Ripken or Yount or Brett with their career teams, Albert is the face of the Cardinals. I suspect they'll find a way for him to finish his career in St. Louis.

Hanley Ramirez added close to 25 pounds of muscle this off-season:

Ramirez stepped on a scale, calibrated his weight, and smiled.

''224,'' he said. ``Close.''

Ramirez, who was listed at 200 pounds in last season's media guide, dedicated himself to a strict conditioning program over the winter to help him feel and play stronger over the course of a 162-game schedule.

That meant spending at least an hour a day, five days a week, working out in a gym in the Dominican Republic and another hour at home swimming laps in his backyard pool.

The weight training added bulk and muscle to Ramirez's torso while the swimming program was designed to strengthen his weak left shoulder, which has caused him problems in the past.

''I don't feel heavy,'' Ramirez said. ``I feel good.''

Ramirez is a young man, but whenever I hear a story like this, I'm reminded of how it's impossible to gain 15 pounds of muscle in an off-season.

Jorge Posada's shoulder is holding up well so far:

Posada believes he will be ready to catch on April 6 in the Yankees' season opener in Baltimore. "I'll be there," Posada said Saturday after the team's pitchers and catchers had their first official workout of spring training. "Shoulder-wise, I know I'll be ready.

"I'm very happy, very positive. Every time I throw, I feel the improvement and I'm happy with the results."

Posada had surgery last July - he described it as "a major operation" - and has endured grueling rehab since. He feels no twinges when he throws, nor when he takes batting practice. Saturday, he made 90 throws during drills, he said, piggybacking for the first time on an intense session of 140 throws on Friday. "There were no restrictions on me throwing the 90," Posada said.

Posada's offense from behind the plate is what helps give the Yankees an edge. He makes it much more difficult for pitchers to find a break in the New York lineup.

LyfLines find a great example of how players value loyalty.

Both Brett Myers and Ryan Howard lost weight over the off season. There seems to be no resting on their laurels for the Phillies this year.

The last eight World Champions failed to defend their title. That's starting to approach the longest streaks. From 1979 to 1992 no team successfully defended a title, 14 seasons. There was a ten year streak from 1963 to 1972, an eight year streak from 1954 to 1961 (it only seemed like the Yankees won every year) and a ten year streak from 1940 to 1949. If the Phillies fail to repeat this season, we'll be tied for the third longest streak since the modern World Series was instituted in 1903.

Alex Rodriguez faced a crowd at the University of Miami last night, and according to this report, the crowd received him very well:

Despite Rodriguez's admission that his name was on a list of 104 players who tested positive for banned substances in 2003, everyone seemed in a forgiving mood at the dedication of the baseball stadium for which the Yankees third baseman donated $4 million.

"I think Alex Rodriguez should be in the Hall of Fame," said Jim Berlin, a Miami football and baseball season ticket-holder who paid $75 to attend the sold-out shindig. "He has done so much good that it outweighs the little bit of bad."

Confession seems to have been the right way to go for Alex. Of course, he hasn't had to deal with road crowds yet.

I wonder if A-Rod's PED confession is going to cut down on his ability to get two women at once? :-)

Hat tip, Deadspin.

Halos Heaven looks at the worst season Bobby Abreu might post for the Angels.

It's sort of sad, however, that he is making less money than Gary Matthews, Jr.

Roberto Alomar reponds to his former girlfriend's lawsuit at RobertoAlomar.com.

Not to be outdone by Ichiro, Akinori Iwamura can pitch, too.

Gaslamp Ball posts a very funny story about A-Rod's life coach.

Ichiro's awesome quotient just went up.

Pat Lackey discusses why the Red Sox have not offered Jason Bay a contract extension:

So what gives? There are likely a few factors at play. In the linked article, it's mentioned that Matt Holliday and Vladimir Guerrero will both be free agents next winter as well. As good as Bay was last year, he turned 30 before the end of last season and he's still only a year removed from an injury-induced .247/.327/.418 year. His basic skill set, power and a knack for getting on base, are widely referred to as "old player skills," which could be an indication that his peak may not last long enough for the Red Sox to justify signing him to an extension.

It's also hard to ignore that Bay is making $7.5 million this year while guys with similar skill sets, like Adam Dunn and Bobby Abreu, are having a hard time pulling down a number even with that in free agency. As strange as it sounds, there just may not be many benefits for Boston in locking Bay up to any sort of long-term deal right now.

The Red Sox would be paying for Bay's decline. Unless the player is coming off a very high peak, those deals are usually not worth it.

New York Baseball Hack Dan Graziano offers his take on A-Rod:

A-Rod is actually an interesting guy to talk to about baseball. He loves the game and works so hard at it that he has a great deal to offer in terms of analysis -- of his own game and other people's. I have had many one-on-one conversations with him about baseball, and they're almost always educational. We've discussed technical aspects of playing third base and of basestealing. We've talked about the perception of him as a poor "clutch" player, what he thinks of that and how he copes with it. When you ask him a good question about the game, he can help educate you about the game. The hardest part is finding him. Or getting him to take those stupid headphones off and talk to you.

Are we really surprised to hear, from Torre, that A-Rod "needs people to make a fuss over him?" This couldn't be more obvious to anybody who watches the guy. Every movement is measured, every ounce of attention absorbed. When all the Madonna stuff was going down last year in late June and early July, I talked to a person in the Yankees' clubhouse and asked how he was handling it. The answer: "Are you kidding? He loves this stuff. He loves being a big enough star to be on the cover of US Weekly. This isn't going to bother him one bit."

The sense I get is that A-Rod is trying to put on a front. If the real A-Rod needs attention all the time, isn't he better off not being himself?

South Side Sox relates optimistic reports about Josh Fields coming from the White Sox coaching staff.

The Royals will try Mark Teahen at second base. He started as a third baseman and played the outfield in 2008. This is an unusual move because it's to a tougher defensive position. At least the Royals are trying to think a bit outside the box here.

Joe Posnanski (in a post about Jeff Kent that's well worth the read) likes the move:

And so, I have to admit, I'm kind of excited that the Royals are going to try Teahen at second base. I mean, hey, I don't know how seriously they will try. And I don't know if it can work. But I think this is precisely the sort of risk-reward thinking the Royals should be doing right about now. Teahen doesn't really have a place on the Royals at the moment. He doesn't fit in the outfield. The Royals are overloaded with first basemen. Alex Gordon needs to be at third base every day -- he looks to me poised for a breakout season. And the Royals even have their super sub (hopefully) in Willie Ballgame, who plays seven positions, including all three outfield spots.

But second base -- hey, why not, right? Teahen's a good athlete. He has a good and accurate arm. He likes playing the infield. And -- this is just my opinion -- I've always felt like if the Royals would just give him a role and leave him alone and not expect him to be things he ain't, he could really emerge as a good offensive player.

So far, the offense he's generated in his career works better at second than at third or as a corner outfielder.

Kat O'Brien gets a look at the slimmer Robinson Cano:

Cano looked very trim for all of you concerned about him after a poor 2008. He said he's at about 208 pounds right now after playing last year at 213. He may have wound up at 213 last year but I would guess he began a good bit heavier. Anyway, he looks slim and said he's been working hard. Playing winter ball helped him, as did having Kevin Long down for a week to work on his hitting stance. He's also excited about playing for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic.

"I've just been working on my new stance," Cano said, "just getting ready mentally and physically. ... I know that I have to start in April, not in May or June."

Jeff Kent announces his retirement today. Kent starts his Hall of Fame clock, and presents good credentials for his induction:

Kent's 351 career home runs as a second baseman are 74 more than Ryne Sandberg's total.

Kent spent 17 years in the majors -- the last four with the Dodgers -- tying for 20th on baseball's all-time list with 560 doubles, while ranking 47th with 1,518 RBI and 62nd with 377 home runs.

When Kent's name first came up as a Hall of Famer, I was a bit surprised. A reason for that is Jeff's early career was good, but not overly impressive. Through seasonal age 29, the 1997 season, Kent's career OBA came in at .327 with a .450 slugging percentage. That was good for a second baseman, but not Hall of Fame numbers. Coming out of his peaks years, he didn't look like someone destined for enshrinement. The last eleven seasons were a different story, however.

The next year, 1998, saw about a 30 point jump over Kent's career OBA and an 80 point jump in his slugging percentage. He maintained that high level of performance for most of the rest of his career, with an OBA of .370 over his last 11 seasons and a .520 slugging percentage. For a second baseman, those should get the attention of voters.

This is a highly unusual career. There have been players who hit better in their 30s than their 20s, but most crossed that decade at a point where the game changed; think of Paul O'Neill turning 30 just as offense explodes in the majors. Kent's career pretty much covers the entire offensive explosion that started in 1993. I suppose this insulates Kent from charges of PED use:

Kent was known for his intense approach to the game and he endorsed improved testing, criticizing players who used performance-enhancing drugs.

So what happened? This article suggests it was maturity.

Kent--the oldest kid, the cop's son, the ultimate problem-solver--went to work on solving what was perhaps his most difficult problem: remaining calm. And once he conquered calm, the RBI just started coming.

"Jeff learned to control his temper," Baker says. "When the bases were loaded, Jeff tried to get all of them in with one swing. He changed his approach. He doesn't frustrate himself as much as he used to at the plate."

Kent is the first to admit that. In describing his emotional makeup in crucial plate appearances, Kent offers an answer that might seem surprising, given his intensity.

"I don't care," says Kent. "I don't care if I strand a runner. It doesn't phase me."

Meaning: Kent won't tear up a clubhouse anymore. He cares, but not so much now that he becomes unglued, making the poor, innocent water cooler a victim. "I wasn't as mature (in New York) as I am now," he says.

The other interesting thing about Kent's career stems from his similarity scores. He matches Hall of Famers, but Hall of Fame catchers. His top five comparisons are five of the great offensive catchers. Fisk, Berra and Bench are in the Hall of Fame and Ivan Rodriguez made a good case for himself. The only second baseman on the list, Ryne Sandberg, is ninth.

In a way, Kent doesn't fit the mold of a Hall of Fame second baseman. Hornsby, Morgan and Sandberg were as slick with their gloves as their bats. Kent was a good second baseman, but not an outstanding fielder like the three above.

Kent also wasn't afraid to take on his teammates. I don't make too much of that, as sometimes the large egos of great ballplayers do collide. However, Kent won't get points for lying about a motorcycle accident, or dissing Vin Scully.

Jeff was never boring. We'll see how his positives and negatives sit with the Hall voters. He may end up like Jim Rice, waiting for the sports writers of his day to get diluted by writers who just see the numbers.

Rocco Baldelli thanks the Tamps Bay fans for all their support.

The two Indian pitchers signed by the Pirates meet Barry Bonds to talk about Pirates City. I'm not sure if that's the spring training facility or Pittsburgh.

We going on computer and seeing many Pirate players. We learning Willie Stargell, Dave Parker, Roberto Clemente. We learning coaches.

We liking Barry Bonds best.

That's very cool that these players have an interest in the history of the team.

Kevin Youkilis and Mark Teixeira have something in common: each plays where his wife wants him!

Tim Sullivan wastes no time getting to the toughness of David Eckstein.

Though his arm is barely adequate, Eckstein was twice an All-Star shortstop in St. Louis. Though he has hit only 32 major-league home runs, he led both leagues with three grand slams in 2002. He has made a career out of making do, compensating for his physical limitations through competitiveness and craft, toughness and tenacity.

I love Eckstein since we share a name and height, but at this point, he's just not that good.

Red Reporter does a nice graphical breakdown of Jay Bruce's swings and power.

Michael Young accepts the move to third base:

While the 32-year-old Young said Thursday he doesn't think it's the right time in his career to switch positions again, he said he's ready to focus on preparing for next season and he didn't want the pending switch to be a distraction to him or the team.

"After some careful consideration over the last month or so and in an effort not to let this thing drag out," Young said during a conference call, "I decided to put an end to this and start bearing down on playing third base."

That's good. When someone is being paid millions of dollars, they should be very willing to make moves like this. As much as I dislike Pete Rose, he played anywhere the Red decided to place him. If he were in the lineup, it didn't matter what glove Pete wore. More players should be that open to these types of moves.

Jamey Newberg offers a thoughtful take on the Michael Young situation.

Lone Star Ball pens an excellent column on how the Rangers treated Michael Young differently than most of their players:

And from Young's standpoint, I have to think that part of the frustration is that he doesn't understand why now, all of the sudden, after everything that's gone on historically with this franchise, he's the one they draw the line in the sand with.

I'm sure he remembers when he first was coming up, and had to move from shortstop to second base because of the Alex Rodriguez signing. He remembers when Mark Teixeira came up, and had to DH because Rafael Palmeiro was here and wanted to be the first baseman. He remembers how the Rangers wooed Carlos Delgado, promising that if he'd sign with Texas, the organization would make Teixeira go back to DHing again. He remembers how Alfonso Soriano threw a fit over moving to shortstop, and how he defused the Soriano situation by volunteering instead. And how the organization went ahead and simply traded Soriano two years later, rather than force the situation by making him change positions. And how the organization seemingly decided that, since Jarrod Saltalamacchia didn't like playing first base, they weren't going to make him play first base anymore, but would just let him catch.

I'm sure he looks at this past season, and sees Milton Bradley, who played when he felt like it, didn't play when he didn't feel physically up to it, but refused to go on the d.l. and forced the team to play short-handed, sees a guy who was here only one season that the manager catered to. I'm sure he looks at Vicente Padilla, and sees a guy who couldn't be counted on to go take the mound every fifth day, whose neck was hurting or who had a twinge or who otherwise couldn't be counted on, but who again was catered to and not put on the d.l.

I'm sure he sees this organization as historically, during the time he's been here, bending over backwards to cater to and coddle players, particularly (but not always) veterans. And I'm sure he's now wondering why it is that, all of the sudden, they decide to take a hard-line position with him, the guy who has sacrificed and done all the right things and played hurt and played hard and done everything the team wanted.

Alex Rodriguez is now dating Kate Hudson.

Ben's reaction: "Dammit. I want to date Kate Hudson." Mike's reaction: "You know, i never (thought) that she was all that hot." I'm definitely siding with Ben on this one.

I'm more in Mike's corner here. Kate and Gwyneth Paltrow are both pale comparisons to their mothers.

Bobby Tolan's son Robbie was shot by police at the end of 2008, for no good reason:

Tolan happens to be the son of a former major league baseball player, and is in the early stages of his own pro baseball career. The police department initially denied racial profiling played a role, but has now stopped talking about the case publicly, saying only that "they're investigating how the officers on the scene mistakenly determined that the SUV Tolan and his cousin were driving had been stolen."

Even if there had been an SUV reported stolen that night that looked like the one Tolan's cousin was driving, you first have to wonder why the cops wouldn't run the plates before ordering everyone out of the truck at gunpoint. And that's before you start looking at the shooting, and the confrontation with Tolan's mother.

If there wasn't an SUV reported stolen that resembled the one Tolan was in, this is going to get really, really ugly.

That goes along with this shooting of a handcuffed suspect in Oakland the same night. What is going on?

Chipper Jones is a bit miffed at the Braves over John Smoltz leaving:

Q. Fans are questioning why the Braves didn't offer Smoltz more money when this is an offseason when the Braves have said they had money to spend. Do you agree?

A. For Smoltzy! That's what I don't understand. That's what's frustrating. I'm trying to be as diplomatic and as upbeat as I can possibly be and it is being made very hard on me to be that way. John Smoltz has been one of the faces of this franchise for 20 years. There's no reason for him at 41 years old to be playing anywhere but here.

Q. How was he when you talked to him last night?

A. He was upset, as well he should be. You can liken it to a breakup. This organization is all we have ever known. We all have these dreams of playing our last game in this uniform and it goes back to what I've said all along. Every dog has his day. And everybody's got that day that's coming when a shot of reality sets in. The business of baseball goes on, and no matter how loyal you are as a player, no matter how much you sacrificed as a player for a particular organization, there comes a time when that organization wants to go a different direction. And that time is now for Smoltzy, and I would imagine that my time is not too far off in the distant future.

Chipper has the realities of the game down.

Kat O'Brien attended Mark Teixeira's news conference and liked what she saw:

Mark's extremely well-spoken. I knew that from Texas, but seeing it at a big press conference is reassuring that he can continue that in a larger media market. He's not going to embarrass anybody. Brought much of his family, including wife Leigh, parents John and Margie, and sister Liz and her husband (who live in Hoboken). I think it's going to be a good fit. Mark wanted to be here, is an excellent offensive player and a superb defensive player, a positive force in the clubhouse and will turn 29 in April. As for how he comes across to the media and through the media to the fans, I'd say it's some combination of Derek Jeter, David Wright and Andy Pettitte. Not controversial, available to talk, rational and articulate thoughts, and very clean-cut.

Thinks keep getting worse for Andruw Jones as he's asked to leave winter ball. Hat tip, Sabernomics, who thinks Andruw may have something left.

Players with three years of service can file for arbitration starting today. The Phillies have quite a few who are likely to get big raises this season:

Players can file for arbitration starting today, and seven Phillies are eligible to make more in 2009 through this process (Eric Bruntlett and Clay Condrey have already agreed to extensions). The heavy seven are Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, Shane Victorino, Jayson Werth, Ryan Madson, Greg Dobbs, Joe Blanton and Chad Durbin. And each of the seven can write his case on why he deserves the money he seeks.

Luckily, the Phillies are now a successful team, putting plenty of fans in the ballpark. Now's the time to control their costs by buying out arbitration and a year of free agency as much as they can.

Matthew Carruth notes the Phillies are getting good value out of Ryan Howard, but also thinks a long-term deal is a bad idea:

This is not to say that a long-term contract for Howard would be a good idea; the Phillies have an incredible opportunity thanks to Howard's advanced age at premier to squeeze most, if not all, of his fruitful years out while under team control and then let him become some poorly-run team's mistake during his mid 30s. This is, however, to provide yet another illustration of just how valuable getting team-controlled players is.

I think there is an impression that Howard is a young player because he hasn't been on the scene that long. He's the same age as Albert Pujols, however. Albert came up three years earlier than Howard, and played another full season before Howard won the Rookie of the Year. For Albert, a long term contract was a no-brainer, because he would have become a free agent in his prime. That's not the case for Ryan. A four-year deal last season would have been fine for the Phillies first baseman, but now the Phillies are just fine playing out the arbitration game.

It appears the Dodgers will pay Andruw Jones all the money he is owed, just over a longer period of time.

The agreement will allow Jones a fresh start elsewhere after a nightmare of a first season and provide the Dodgers with additional payroll flexibility that could be used to re-sign free-agent outfielder Manny Ramirez.

The Major League Baseball Players Association approved the unusual agreement because Jones will receive his entire salary, as well as the possible benefit of free agency should he be released.

So what team is going to take a chance on Jones? I would not pay him much, as the Dodgers are being more than generous.

The LA Times reports that the Dodgers are working on a deal to unload Andruw Jones, possibly by buying out his contract. I don't see how that is possible. A player's contract is guaranteed, so the Dodgers owe him what the contract says. Remember how the union nixed the A-Rod to Boston deal because Alex would make less money than guaranteed? They won't let this happen to Andruw, either.

SportingNews.com interviews Chipper Jones. He criticizes both the Mets and Phillies for their trash talk:

We won for 14 consecutive years, and you never, ever saw any bulletin board material. And now that these two teams are on top of the division, they can't keep their mouths shut. Just go play baseball. It's Cole Hamels now. It was Jimmy Rollins and Carlos Beltran the past couple of springs. These two teams are constantly going at each other verbally. You know, win with class, lose with class. Just keep your mouth shut and go play your game.

For 14 years, Atlanta was the most boring champion around. When I was at the World Series in 1999, the Yankees fans at Turner Field, greatly outnumbered, still managed to be louder than the Braves fans. Let the Mets and Phillies talk trash, and let them go down to the wire every year. Fans love this.

Sox Machine notes A.J. Pierzynski's better hitting against lefties the last two years, and wonders if that would allow the White Sox to carry another left-handed hitting catcher.

The million dollar arms post video of them eating at the food court. I'm really enjoying their blog, by the way. It will be fun to watch their English improve with time.

Peter Abraham notes some encouraging numbers from Robinson Cano:

Robinson Cano has driven in 15 runs in 17 games in the Dominican and has nine extra-base hits. He actually has more walks (seven) than strikeouts (five). Considering he walked 26 times in 634 plate appearances all last season, that's a good sign.

Indeed, if he can do that against major league pitching.

Raul Ibanez knows about statistical fielding models:

"I have to say a number of things,'' he said. "Number one, with sabermetrics in general, it's a statistical probability thing,'' he said. "And the way they come up with the defensive measurements, or ratings, is flawed. It's as flawed as the Gold Gloves. One of the reasons is, they don't consider things like ballpark factors, defensive positioning or allignement for certain hitters.''

Actually, PMR builds the park right into the model. In addition, if a player positions himself well, that helps his score. Still, it's nice to know Raul gets the gist of the idea.

Hat tip, Bleeding Blue and Teal, which has much more.

There are talks going on between Kevin Youkilis and the Boston Red Sox on a long term contract. Kevin's agent has the right attitude:

Youkilis, Bick said, would be comfortable repeating what he did last offseason: avoid arbitration and sign a one-year contract. Youkilis, who will turn 30 in March, has a little more than four years of major league service time, meaning he will be able to file for free agency for the first time after the 2010 season.

"Kevin is perfectly content to do it one year at a time," Bick said. "There's no urgency whatsoever. If we are presented with a multiyear deal, he's fine with it either way. We're all pretty confident that Kevin is going to remain an outstanding player. He is not the kind of guy that is going to be antsy if he has to do a one-year contract."

Would the Red Sox pull an Arroyo and sign Kevin to a long term deal at a good price in order to trade him? Kevin doesn't have much service time, but that doesn't make him young. He's a better pickup for another team if his salary is fixed for a while.

Geoff Young on Joey Gathright:

I've got nothing against Joey Gathright; it's just that, well, he adds no value to a baseball team. He'll be 28 in April and his career line is .263/.328/.304 in nearly 1300 big-league plate appearances. That's a 68 OPS+. That's Juan Pierre without the batting average or power.

Curtis thinks about the situation when he's batting, not the spot in the order he occupies.

One of my favorite players was released by the Marlins. Craig at FishStripes also bemoans the loss of Matt Treanor:

One of the joys to me about watching the game is seeing a good defensive catcher perform his craft. There is something special about having a catcher quietly move behind the plate, lookup and see if the hitter is trying to gain an advantage by checking the catcher's location and then blocking a ball in the dirt that by all rights should be headed back for the screen. Treanor did all of that and more. He was the go to guy in the clubhouse when the young players had questions about darn near anyhing. He was great with the fans and genuinely just loved playing the game.

He'll a great back up for some team.

Cardboard Gods remembers Frank White:

All I know for sure is that Frank White was, as this 1980 baseball card reports, an All-Star. In my mind he was as constant a presence in that annual game as anyone from his era, and since he was not a magnetic superstar such as Pete Rose or Reggie Jackson there was something even more solid about his presence in the midsummer classic than other more well-known perennial all-stars.

One of my favorite All-Star games was the 1986 contest at the Astrodome. Roger Clemens pitched three perfect innings and the American League picked up a win, 3-2. The three AL runs came on two home runs, one by starting second baseman Lou Whitaker and one by substitute second baseman Frank White. Both were good power hitters for their positions, and I thought it cool that the only long balls in the game, in a park known for knocking down home runs, came off the bats of second basemen.

Peter Gammons posts an excellent column comparing players more concerned with their inner scorecards than their outer scorecards:

Someday another Shakespeare will come along and pierce through the insecurities that caused Barry Bonds to need to be more than Barry Bonds, Clemens to need to be more than Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez to need to be more than one of the greatest baseball players who ever lived. Someone will paint their human conflicts between their inner and outer scorecards.

Which leads to an interesting thought; will the tragic players live in history, while the good guys like Sizemore and Mauer survive mostly in the memories of baseball researchers?

Tim Sullivan analyzes Khalil Greene:

Keenly intelligent, diligent and detailed, yet flagrantly flawed, Khalil Greene does not play baseball so much as he labors at it, sharpening his reflexes through draining repetition, practicing plays he might never encounter, preparing himself for every contingency except failure.

For a second there I thought I was reading another A-Rod story.

Rob Neyer defends Jeter against Steve Goldman, but agrees Derek shouldn't move to second base. I've thought for a while that the right move for Derek is to centerfield. The question gets more moot as time goes on, however. The only way Jeter moves to another position is if he volunteers to do so, and I don't think that's going to happen. As Neyer closes his post:

Do you think the Steinbrothers will have the courage to let him become less and less valuable for some other team?

No, but it's not a question of courage. Jeter is going to go into Yankees history like Gehrig and Mantle, playing only for the Bronx Bombers. If that means a few years while Jeter drags the team down, so be it. I suspect, however, that Jeter will at least get on base enough to be useful through age 40.

Ian Kennedy and Robinson Cano continue to perform well in winter ball.

Bruce Markusen explores John Ellis's 1972 In Action card. Ellis shares the card with Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew. The card looked familar, and 1972 was one of the few years I bought cards. I looked through the pile, and sure enough there's not only the In Action card, but John Ellis's regular card as well. Thanks for the memory!

Nick and Nick wonder why Justin Morneau gets so much more MVP respect than Joe Mauer.

Arn Tellem issues this statement on Mussina:

Mike will be making a decision on his intentions shortly. Given the significance of this to Mike, I would hope you can respect his desire to be the author of any such announcement consistent with his own time table. A decision of this magnitude should not be the subject of unconfirmed rumors and speculation. Accordingly, I am not going to make any further comment until Mike has made his final decision.

Ken Rosenthal reports Mike Mussina will retire later this week. I'll wait for the official word.

Will the Boston Red Sox sign Dustin Pedroia to a long term deal?

Pedroia's agent certainly can go into any negotiations with a bit more confidence, but the Sox will go about their business the same way. They aren't against long-term deals for young, controllable players as long as the numbers make sense to them.

In other words, they'd do it if the long-term numbers wind up favoring the team - just as Evan Longoria's potential nine-year deal with Tampa Bay (which includes three option years) favors the Rays. But the Sox aren't afraid to go year to year with the probability they'll have to pay out more money just before free agency if they decide they want to keep the player.

The long term deals save money in two ways. They tend to understate salary inflation, and they save the cost of arbitration. These contracts also make players more tradable, since if the future value is really lower than salary inflation, teams can get a good deal in a trade. With economic conditions uncertain, however, the Red Sox may be better off going year-to-year with Dustin.

YFSF notes a rumor that Tim Wakefield may retire due to pain in his shoulder.

If true, that leaves the Red Sox with a big hole -- you cannot replace a starter who consistently posts a 100-115 ERA+ over 200 innings with a salary of just $4 million. On the other hand, it would eliminate the need for a specialized Wakefield-only catcher, making perhaps more possible a Varitek-Saltalamacchia semiplatoon as the one passes his baton to the other.

Luckily, his replacement is in Japan!

It appears the Red Sox came very close to suspending Manny Ramirez late in July.

According to multiple sources, Boston management had drafted an official letter of suspension for Ramirez, and delivered it to him at Fenway Park at around 11 p.m. on Friday night, July 25. For the second straight game, Ramirez had refused to play that evening, and the Red Sox lost 1-0 to the rival New York Yankees in front of a boisterous and sold-out home crowd. The letter informed Ramirez that the suspension was to go into effect the next day, Saturday, July 26. It said Ramirez was being suspended without pay for being unwilling to play. Copies of the letter were also sent to Major League Baseball, the MLB Players Association and Ramirez's agent, Scott Boras.

Suspensions in baseball are not unusual for players who test positive for performance-enhancing drugs or who are involved in fights during a game. It is extremely rare for a player to be suspended, or threatened with such a suspension, for refusing to play.
Within two hours after Ramirez received the letter of suspension, the Red Sox received two calls, according to sources. The first call was from one of Ramirez's teammates. He told a member of Boston's front office that Ramirez would play in Saturday afternoon's game against the Yankees. Within minutes, the second call came in from Ramirez himself, who confirmed that he would be available for Saturday's game.

If the story is correct, the threat appeared to work.

It appears the Upton brothers make a good impression:

You begin to tire of it, really, all the marketing people whispering in your ear about how accommodating B.J. and Justin Upton are.

"They always show up on time."

"I'm not used to athletes being this polite."

"Not one complaint while they've been here. Not one."

It's sad that it's special when people do the right thing. Shouldn't punctuality and politeness be the norm? I sometimes get complimented when someone finds out I've been married for a long time, but that's normal for me. My parents and all their brothers and sisters were or are married forever. It shouldn't be special to be married a long time, or polite and helpful to people, or just plain civil. I'm glad the Uptons act this way, but I also hope we get to the day when that's not news.

We've Got Heart brings us the latest in their Women in Baseball series. This week they profile Cheryl Zimmerman, mother of Washington third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. Cheryl suffers from MS.

Sean Kirst gets Rachel Robinson's reaction to the Obama victory.

Elmer Smith writes on why Chase Utley's obscenity was so surprising.

Jon Weisman ruminates on the turnaround of Willy Aybar.

Brian Heman explores Bernie Williams's new life as a music student, composer and performer.

Joe Maddon credits B.J. Upton's post-season success to fewer batting practice swings:

"We've cut back on the number of swings at batting practice and I think that's helped. You've got a stronger guy right now getting the bat out a lot better," said Maddon, whose viewpoint carries a lot of weight since he's seen Upton play on a daily basis and knows a tender shoulder was plaguing the 24-year-old righthanded hitter.

"The first half of the season, most of the balls [Upton hit] were heading over to the right side of second base. Now, you're starting to see the ball in the left-center gap, which is what he did last year when he hit all those home runs."

This makes sense if the injury causes Upton's shoulder to fatigue faster.

ESPN the Magazine traces the origin and development of the phrase "Manny being Manny."

It's nice to see B.J. Upton fulfilling his baseball potential. It looked like he put things together in 2007, hitting .300 with a high OBA and a slugging percentage over .500. The Rays decided he wasn't a shortstop and moved him to the outfield, and the result was a powerful offensive player at an important defensive position. Although a shoulder injury dropped his slugging percentage 107 points this year, the time off he received in September appears to have healed that, as he's slugging .794 this post season with five home runs. If you are wondering about the future of the Rays, note that the seasonal ages for Upton and Longoria are 23 and 22 respectively. They're two or three years away from the peak periods of their careers and already seem like polished power hitters.

Lookout Landing compares the stats and ages of Jacoby Ellsbury and Adam Jones and concludes Jones holds the better upside. He's also a bit upset the Mariners traded away the young outfielder.

Adam Kilgore notes Jason Bay's excellent post-season stats, and Bay's reaction to those:

"I mean, so far, so good," Bay said.

Bay also compares playing in Pittsburgh and Boston, and talks about how taking over for Manny Ramirez helped prepare him for the pressure of the playoffs.

Jeff Conine complete the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii. I'm even more impressed that David Samson completed the course two years agao.

Mike Jensen charts the unusual path to the majors for some of the Phillies.

Sam Donnellon writes about the hate-love relationship the fans in leftfield at CBP share with Pat Burrell:

And so there they were again last night, as Burrell trotted to his spot after his sixth-inning laser of a home run into those very seats provided the winning run in the Phillies' 3-2 victory over the Dodgers in Game 1. Some were cheering. Some were downright worshipping. The guy 12 rows back was probably doing what he always does, cracking funny.

"You see that?'' asked Jimmy Rollins, laughing. "They've been doing that for a while. They get the Pat Burrell standing ovation going every time he does something spectacular. But at the same time when he isn't doing something spectacular, I turn around. Because some of the things they say make me laugh.''

"And he's just sitting there putting his hands up like, 'What can I do?' ''

]

Right now Pat is feeling the love, right at the time his contract is up. Does he go out on a high note? Or does he stay around, hoping a great post-season earns him enough good will to carry him through the declining phase of his career?

This is very funny.

One hit does not bust a slump.

Manager Terry Francona pointed out that, given Pedroia's regular season, pitchers had begun to work him differently. There weren't quite the same opportunities, nor was he seeing the same pitches he had seen in the season. Pedroia agreed with his manager, to a degree. Not that he thinks it should stop him.

"A little bit," Pedroia said. "I'm walking a little bit more. I'm making my adjustment. I'll find a way to get it done. I don't really care what I hit in the postseason, as long as we win. That's the biggest thing."

So the opposition found a way to get Pedroia out. I suspect Dustin and the Boston staff will figure out the new pitching pattern at some point. We'll see if Joe Maddon and the Rays have something different in store for Pedroia as well. I suspect Joe still has friends in the Angels organization that might let him in on Dustin's weaknesses.

Dustin Pedroia, in two division series, now stands at 2 for 26 with three walks. That's an A-Rod like performance for a potential MVP. Of course, Alex is a career .258 in the LDS, so Dustin has a way to go to catch up. :-)

In the mail, Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back. Josh Hamilton tells his story of failure and redemption to Tim Keown.

The Soxaholix on Manny's interview about his time in Boston:

TAKE YOUR STINKING PAWS OFF ME YOU DAMN DIRTY FANS!

ESPN posted a new application that allows you to listen to the theme songs for major league players.

The Marlins are off to a 3-0 lead over the Reds in the second inning. Cameron Maybin just picked up his 11th hit in 22 at bats this year. He's still waiting for his first extra-base hit, however.

Patrick Reusse sings the praises of Joe Mauer:

Mauer has started 128 games at catcher, and Sunday's game was his fourth as DH. Consider this:

• He has reached base with a hit or walk in 42 of his past 43 starts. The game in which he didn't reach base -- Sept. 9 vs. the Royals -- he drove in two runs.

• He has reached base with a hit or walk in 123 of the 132 games he has started. The only back-to-back starts in which he did not reach base were April 11-12 against Kansas City.

Mauer is an excellent MVP candidate. He doesn't offer the power of some of the other candidates, but his great OBA and his excellent defensive skills should push him near the top of the voting.

Jack Cust will work on improving his vision this winter to cut down on his strikeouts:

"I'll dedicate part of my offseason to training my eyes," Cust said. "You train your body and everything else, but you really don't train your eyes. Hopefully, this will help. I feel I swing and miss pitches I should be hitting. My eyes aren't telling my brain the right location to go to.

"I'll be working on correcting some of my deficiencies I've had as far as depth perception. My swing is my swing. I've been doing it for 25 years. Mostly, it's just seeing the ball."

He'll be working with an optometrist who praised Barry Bonds's eyes as the best he's ever seen.

Then again, maybe Cust should just choke up on the bat with two strikes. :-)

Colby Cosh notes a bit of trivia about the catchers drafted by the Montreal Expos in 1995. They've all had pretty good careers.

Jon Shields is not jumping on the Yuniesky Betancourt bandwagon:

Yuni put up a vital line of .279/.289/.405 over the first 70 games of the season under the tutelage of hitting coaches Jeff Pentland and Lee Elia. In the 74 games since Castro arrived on the scene Yuni has put up a line of .261/.290/.348. What improvement?

Betancourt is showing more plate discipline but not hitting the ball as hard. One would hope that if his plate discipline continues to improve, the power will come from swinging at batter pitches.

Manny Ramirez's batting average stands at .404 since his trade to the Dodgers. Statistics are reported for each league separately, so if Manny maintains that level, he'll hold most league at bats for a .400 average since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941:

League .400 Hitters, 1942-2007

Player	Season	League	AB	Hits	BA
Bob Hazle	1957	NL	134	54	0.403
Ted Williams	1953	AL	91	37	0.407
Mike Davis	1982	AL	75	30	0.400
Todd Haney	1995	NL	73	30	0.411
Phil Clark	1992	AL	54	22	0.407

Manny accumulated 171 at bats with the Dodgers so far. Manny should have about 25 at bats left. That would give him 196 at bats in the National League. He'll need 79 hits total to hit .400 with that number of at bats,so he needs to go 10 for 25. Given that he's a .314 career hitter, he has about a 23% chance of making it.

The Tigers and Indians brawled last night after a throw to first base:

Shortly after Cabrera hit his second home run, starter Fausto Carmona pegged Gary Sheffield on the left elbow with a fastball. Sheffield glared at Carmona as he walked to first base, bat in hand.

Once Brandon Inge stepped to the plate, Sheffield took a modest lead at first base. Carmona threw over. Sheffield barked at Carmona for a moment, then started toward the mound, igniting the most ferocious in-game confrontation during Jim Leyland's three seasons as manager.

Usually these fights get the emotion out of the players' systems, but not in the case of Sheffield:

Carmona also hit Sheffield with a pitch April 17. Sheffield said he believes Carmona has hit him a total of three times.

"Three strikes, you out," he said. "And if there's a fourth, it gets more violent. Trust me."

After the pickoff throw, Sheffield said he told Carmona, "Throw the ball to home plate." Then he said Carmona gestured toward him.

"He called me out," Sheffield said. "I answered the call. If you call me out, I come. That's the way it is."

Of course, given Sheffield's poor performance this year, it's not clear how much he'll get to play in 2009.

Joe Koshansky homered for the Rockies to produce the only run of the game through six innings. He now has five hits on the season, four for extra bases, including three home runs. He's hitting .172 with a .517 slugging percentage. That's isolated power.

Update: That's the final. Seems 1-0 games are suddenly common at Coors. This is the third one this season and the second in less than a week. The Rockies won all three.

My latest column at SportingNews.com looks at why the Carlos Quentin projections were so far off two years in a row.

Derek Jeter passes Lou Gehrig for the most hits at Yankee Stadium. He does it in the first inning, with more one career at bat than Columbia Lou.

Taylor Teagarden knocked out two more hits Monday night, including a grand slam home run for five RBI. That gives him 17 RBI in just 12 big league games. It's not difficult to see why. Ten of his 13 hits went for extra bases, including six home runs.

With Teagarden at catcher, Michael Young and Ian Kinsler in the middle infield and Josh Hamilton in center, the Rangers are looking very strong up the middle for 2009. All they need to do then, is put competent hitters at the corners to have a great offense. The trick for Texas, as always, is finding a pitching staff that can hold the opposition to four runs.

Via Peter Abraham, Joba Chamberlain's mother tells her story to the Journal Star. It doesn't quite mesh with the stories we've heard about his family.

Purple Row examines Troy Tulowitzki's first losing season. Can he post a Jeter like BABIP for his career?

With one swing, Alex Rodriguez scored and drove in his 100th run. He hit a grand slam in the bottom of the first, taking both his run and RBI total to the magical 100 level. That gives A-Rod 13 straight seasons of at least 100 runs and 11 straight seasons of at least 100 RBI. Over the eleven year streak of 100 of both, Alex leads the majors in runs scored and has scored over 100 more runs than Derek Jeter. He also leads in RBI with about 30 more than Manny Ramirez.

South Side Sox says Crede's Chicago career crumbled.

The Tampa Bay Rays call up David Price for the stretch run. He'll be used out of the bullpen but might start in a double header in Baltimore. He's had a very rapid rise, and excellent minor league numbers.

YanksFan on Robinson Cano:

The bigger problem, of course, is that he simply does not get on base. Steven Hawking walks more often.

It reminds me of the way we used to end our ragging on the opposing goalie at hockey games, "You're not a black hole, you just suck!"

Brian Giles reached base three times Monday night and scored twice as the Padres downed the Dodger 4-0. Looking at Giles career, it's clear he's posted a great one. Twenty years ago a .404 OBA and .510 slugging percentage would make him a hall of famer. In the mid 1980s, there were only a handful of players with career slugging percentages over .500. Now, as in the case of Bobby Abreu, it's a nice career.

Giles career also shows the advantage of being multi-talented offensively. At his peak, he hit for average, drew walks and hit for power. When the power faded, he remained a valuable player by remaining good at the other tasks. If power were his only tool, he likely would have been done two years ago. Instead, At age 37, he still has some playing time in front of him.

On the night of a big milestone home run, Mark Saccomanno makes his major league debut pinch hitting for Alberto Arias of the Astros and connects for a home run. The solo shot gives Houston a 1-0 lead over Pittsburgh, and the Astros go on to add a second run in the inning. Saccomanno showed decent home run power in the minors, but not great power overall.

The Yankees lose to the Mariners today, falling behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the standings. So Alex Rodriguez makes is asked something about Toronto, and says this:

"Toronto's playing really well," he said. "I'll tell you what, a lot of people should be happy they're not in the playoff race, because they'd be the scariest team, with the 1-2 punch they've got over there with Halladay and Burnett."

So reporters follow up:

But, Alex, if the Blue Jays are ahead of your team, and they're not in the playoff mix, what does that mean about your chances to make the playoffs?

Said A-Rod: "I'm too tired to answer that; you confused me."

When the question was repeated, pointing out that the .Yankees can't be in the playoff race if the Blue Jays -- ahead of them in the standings -- are not, A-Rod tried to backtrack. "What I'm saying is if Toronto was to get in the playoffs, they would be the scariest team to face, by far, with those two," he said. "I'm not saying anything else."

The Yankees were out of the race once they failed to sweep Boston. If losing two out of three to the Mariners doesn't drive that point home, nothing does. Is the media really going to vilify Alex for failing to put up a good front in a lost cause?

Mark Teixeira picked up two more hits today, including a double as the Angels down the Tigers 7-1. The two LA teams made great moves at the deadline, with the Teixeira trade greatly improving LAnaeheim at first base. He first played for the Angels on 7/30. Before that, Angels first basemen batted .282/.325/.436. Teixeira's line is now .380/.469/.645. The Angels are 19-14 with him in the lineup, however, a bit down from their .612 overall winning percentage.

Hanley Ramirez hit home run number 29 this afternoon, temporarily giving the Marlins a 1-0 lead. That equals his total of 2007, so his next will set a new career high. Only Grady Sizemore hit more out of the leadoff slot in 2008.

Hunter Pence stands a home run short of the cycle with the Astros and Cubs tied at seven in the eighth inning. The Cubs out-homered the Astros so far 4-0, all solo shots. Zambrano pitched decently in a short outing, going five innings and allowing three runs.

This whole Dustin Pedroia in the clean-up slot is getting ridiculous. Kevin Youkilis couldn't play due to a bad back, so Dustin took the clean-up mantle again. He collected three hits, a single, double and home run, driving in five runs. In the four slot this season Pedroia is 9 for 14 with two doubles, a home run, and six RBI. He also drew two walks.

I think he needs a theme song:

Victor Martinez finally hits his first home run of the season. This is his fourth game back after not playing since June 11th. He averaged 21 home runs the last four years, but came into the game with 207 AB without a dinger. The Indians lead the White Sox 4-0 in the fifth.

My latest column at SportingNews.com looks at what Dustin Pedroia's height means for his career. The data that surprised me most in the article is how height determines batting order.

The Tampa Bay Rays extended their AL East lead to 5 1/2 games with a 10-4 win over the Orioles. Rocco Baldelli went 3 for 3 with two doubles. I don't know what kind of treatment he received for his mitochondrial disease, but it seems to be working. Baldelli's averages now stand at .351/.442/.622 in 37 at bats. He's more than replaced Carl Crawford's offense.

Jason Bartlett came into the game with no home runs in 366 at bats this season. That was second only to Chone Figgins with 385 at bats. Bartlett let Juan Pierre take over second place as he hit his first home run in over a year. I guess he hits one very August if he needs to or not.

Despite the injuries (including Dioner Navarro), the Rays posted their best month ever, 21-8.

Update: The Angels lost to the Rangers 4-3, extending the Rays lead for home field advantage as well. Chone Figgins went 0 for 4 and now has no home runs in 389 at bats.

Jayson Werth did more damage against the Cubs today:

Werth hit a two-run double in the first and a solo drive in the fifth for his 21st homer of the season. Werth, who went deep twice and drove in four runs in Philly's 5-2 win Saturday, is 11-for-21 with four homers and 10 RBIs against the Cubs this season.

It's unlikely the Phillies would play the Cubs in the first round. Philadelphia is more likely to win the NL East than the Wild Card, so they would probably have the second best record among the division champions. If the teams did meet in the NLCS, I wonder if Charlie Manuel would play Werth more against the Cubs than he would normally?

Cristian Guzman picked up two more hits Sunday afternoon as the Natoinals extended their winning streak to six games, downing the Braves 8-4. Guzman delivered his six straight multi-hit game and leads the Nationals with 16 hits during the winning streak.

Washington only has to go 11-14 the rest of the way to prevent a 100 loss season.

Miguel Cabrera drove in all four Detroit runs today as the Tigers came back to defeat the Royals 4-2. That gives Cabrera 104 RBI on the season and a good chance of topping his career high of 119 set in 2007. However, Cabrera has only scored 66 runs this season. In his four full seasons he scored between 91 and 112 runs. His drop in OBA this year makes him a less useful player. Before, he could start or finish a rally. Now, he much better at the end than at the beginning.

While his slugging percentage improved as the season progressed, his OBA hasn't. We'll see if this is a one-year aberration or if this trend continues.

Last night, Adrian Beltre helped the Mariners win a game with his body, this afternoon he did it with his bat. Beltre knocked out two home runs and a single, driving in three runs as Seattle beats the Indians 6-4. With 23 home runs going into September, he has a good chance of topping his Seattle high of 26.

Willy Aybar hit a home run as part of a three-hit effort as the Rays down the Jays 3-2. That puts them at 81 wins, guaranteeing their first .500 season in their eleven year history.

In the three weeks since Longoria went down, Aybar is batting .306 with a .569 slugging percentage. It's the luck of the Rays this season. Their best hitter goes down with an injury, and his replacement produces a great stretch of hitting. The Rays now lead the Red Sox by 4 1/2 games, five in the loss column.

Ty Wigginton hit two solo home runs today, including the game winner, as the Astros defeated the Reds 3-2. At age 30, Ty is having the best season of his career. He's always been okay. His career .331 OBA and .459 SPCT are useful, but not outstanding. This year, however, Ty is putting up number not so easy to replace. After his two for four afternoon, Ty's OBA stands at .364 and his slugging percentage is a healthy .551. He's five short of his career high in home runs. Despite being around since 2002, Ty will still need another season before he's eligible for free agency. The way he hit this season, he'll certainly make a good deal of money in arbitration, and if he can repeat the season, lock up a nice piece of change in free agency.

Correction: I meant OBA and slugging percentage.

Waiting for next year notes that Cleveland's Kelly Shoppach is the best hitting catcher in the majors since the All-Star break.

Damion Easley is three for three for the Mets tonight with a single, triple and home run. He just needs a double for the cycle, and with the Mets lead 7-3 in the fifth inning, he should get two chances to at the two bagger. He came into the game with a .344 slugging percentage, making him an unlikely candidate for a cycle.

Update: Easley gets a single in the sixth. The Phillies cut the lead to 7-5 before being retired in the fifth.

Jim Thome sandwiches himself between Foxx and Mantle with his 535th career home run. That give him eight for the month of August. It's his best of the year so far in terms of home runs, but with a 1 for 4 tonight, he's only batting .239 on the month. Eleven of his 17 hits have gone for extra so far, so he's doing damage. His shot proved to be the game winner as the Orioles fell 4-3 in the regularly scheduled game.

After getting off to a good start with the Cubs, Jim Edmonds was 0 for 17 over his last seven games. That ended tonight with three long hits, two doubles and a triple. He scored two and drove in one.

Kosuke Fukudome was just 2 for his last 18, but picked up three hits as well against the Pirates. He drove in four as the Cubs easily defeated Pittsburgh 12-3.

Robinson Cano went four for five this afternoon to help the Yankees to an 8-7 victory over the Orioles. Lately, the Yankees fortunes seem to be following Cano's hitting.

Dates	Cano BA	Yankees Record
July 18-26	.514	8-0
July 27-Aug. 13	.210	5-12
Aug. 13-24	.351	6-3

Pat Burrell picked up three hits and drove in five runs this afternoon as the Phillies defeated the Dodgers 9-2. His 30th home run gives the team three players at the level as he joins Howard and Utley. A good argument can be made that Pat is the MVP among those three. He leads Utley by 18 points in OBA, while Chase has Pat by six in slugging percentage. Utley, however, drives in and scores more runs and plays a tougher defensive position. If Pat carries the Phillies down the stretch, however, his bat might be enough to get him some votes.

Cody Ransom came in as a late inning defensive replacement for Jason Giambi. With the Yankees knocking around the Orioles bullpen, Ransom came to bat in the ninth with two on and two out, and delivered a three-run homer to make the score 8-4 New York. Xaiver Nady hit the next pitch out of the park for the final run of the game.

For Ransom, it was his second time to the plate this season. He homered in his other appearance. That gives Cody a perfect 1.000/1.000/4.000 batting line. He should quit the season now so he can see how much his 5.000 OPS can bring in a contract. :-)

Rocco Baldelli hits a home run over the leftfield fence to extend the Rays lead of the White Sox to 4-2 in the eighth. It's Rocco's first home run since returning from his illness. It was also his first extra base hit, having gone 4 for 16 coming into this game.

Update: A double later Ben Zobrist goes deep to give the Rays a four-run cushion.

Congratulations to Derek Jeter on his 2500th hit. If Jeter can play six more seasons, through age 40, he needs to average 150 hits a season to reach 3400. He needs 3315 to tie Eddie Collins and join the top ten of all time.

The Braves place Casey Kotchman on the bereavement list to attend to his ailing mother. My best wishes go out to Kotchman and hope his mom gets well soon.

My latest SportingNews.com column looks at Denard Span's success in the majors.

Josh Hamilton has been promoted to the status of Jim Rice and Barry Bonds. The Rays, up 7-3 in the ninth, loaded the bases with two out. According to the STATS play by play, they intentionally walked Hamilton to prevent him from hitting a grand slam. It pays off, and Byrd strikes out to end the inning and the Rays win 7-4. As if Marlon Byrd was incapable of hitting a grand slam to win the game.

Grant Balfour causes most of the trouble for Tampa Bay living up to his name by walking three of the four batters he faced. Dan Wheeler comes on to get the final out. The Rays lead in the AL East goes to 4 1/2 games over the Red Sox.

Update: According to the comments at ESPN, Jim Rice was not walked intentionally with the bases loaded.

Update: I just looked through the Day by Day Database at Rice's games against the Brewers. The only one he drew an intentional walk and had an RBI was on 7/27/1977, and it was not with the bases loaded.

Update: In looking at that game again, Rice did walk with the bases loaded, however, it's not listed as the intentional walk. My guess is that either:

• Some one, in compling the play by play, thought the events were confused and assigned the IBB to the more likely scenario.
• A sports writer at the time confused the two events and reported that Rice was intentionally walked.

I don't know how Retrosheet put together the play by play for that game. It's possible they had a fan score sheet that didn't distinguish which was the intentional walk, so they assigned it to the fifth inning when first base was open. I remember hearing the story told by the Milwaukee manager of why he walked Rice with the bases loaded. Of course, I've misremembered enough things in my life to not trust that.

Melvin Mora remains on a multi-hit game tear. He collected five hits in six at bats today, including two home runs and two doubles. He just needed the triple for the cycle. That helped the Orioles to a 16-8 drubbing of the Tigers.

Over his last 23 games, Mora has 15 multi-hit games, including a streak of six in a row and 11 of his last 12. He's hitting .434 with nine doubles, six homers and 34 RBI. Despite his hot hitting, the Orioles are just 12-12 over the stretch.

Albert Pujols hit two home runs in the Cardinals 9-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds. That gives Albert 308 home runs for his career. At age 28, he's nine home runs away from entering the top 100 of all time. (George Brett currently holds 100th place with 317.)

His consistent greatness impresses on most about Albert Pujols. In his eighth season in the majors, he's never hit below .300. Only once has his OBA dipped below .400, and only twice has his slugging percentage dipped below .600. During his sophomore slump in 2002, his average line came in at .314/.394/.561. He scored 118 runs and drove in 127 that season. He's never failed to drive in 100 runs, and 2007 was the only year he missed 100 runs scored. He scored 99. With 328 doubles (more than 40 per season) he's well on his way to 600 for his career. How many great all-around hitters go through their careers without a major down years? Ted Williams comes to mind. I always thought Frank Thomas would be the right-handed Teddy Ballgame, but it looks like Albert will take that title.

Alex Rodriguez just struck out with the bases loaded and no one out. Giambi follows with a double play grounder to keep the team off the score board. Damon had second base stolen at one point, but Jeter interfered with the catcher, which sent Johnny back to first. The two singles that followed loaded the bases instead of plating a run.

A-Rod's strikeout was his 54th with men on base:

Alex Rodriguez, 2008, through his second AB on 8/16

Stat	None on	Men on
At Bats	188	192
Strikeouts	29	54
K Pct	15.4	28.1

That table makes me understand why fans are so frustrated with Alex. He's not even giving the runners a chance to advance 1/4 of the time. The Royals lead 1-0 in the fifth inning.

Not only is Jason Varitek not hitting in the final year of his contract, he's also getting divorced:

Jason Varitek had nothing to say today, at least to us, about his divorce. And there are few details in the documents filed in Gwinnett County, Ga. Seems the Sox catcher and his wife, Karen, split June 7 and are living separately. In his complaint, filed at the end of July, the team captain contends the marriage is "irretrievably broken" and there are "no prospects for a reconciliation."

I have a friend who Varitek tried to pick up a few years ago, despite the fact she was on a date with her future husband. Sometime after that encounter she saw Varitek's wife on TV and realized they looked alike. Seems Tek used the Roger Clemens MO of dating women who looked like his wife so people who just glanced at the couple would think that indeed was his spouse.

Chris Dickerson, a 26-year-old rookie, takes Adam Dunn's place in leftfield for the Reds, and so far he's making the fans forget Adam. Chris collected three hits in five at bats tonight, two doubles and a home run. In his two games he's banged out four hits, all for extra bases. That gives him a slugging percentage of 1.000.

The Red defeat the Pirates 3-1.

Gary Sheffield cleared waivers and can be traded to any team. I wonder why no one blocked him? Do teams really not want to take a chance on the slugger? His stats are pretty poor this season.

Update: Commenters point out that Sheffield is owed a large amount of money for next year.

Jim Edmonds collected two more hits for the Cubs this afternoon, a double and a home run. That raises his Cubs batting average to .279 and his slugging percentage to .620. I heard on the Sunday Night Baseball broadcast that Edmonds stopped taking drugs for the concussions he's suffered. I hope he's not sacrificing his long term health to hit better, but so far the results are great.

Geovany Soto follows up two walks with a double to drive in both runners. That gives him 65 RBI on the season and raises his slugging percentage to .494. I'm a little surprised Soto doesn't have more RBI given the Cubs ability to get on base, but most of the catcher's power comes with the bases empty.

Jeff Passan lists his 25 least probable success stories in major league baseball.

There were stories today that Gary Sheffield was placed on waivers. It's August, however, and everyone gets placed on waivers. Sheffield upped his trade value tonight, hitting two home runs against the Blue Jays. That wasn't enough as Toronto wins the game 6-4. The Tigers waste a good performance by Zach Miner. He allowed just one run over six innings. The bullpen allowed six walks after Miner allowed just one, leading to five runs.

After providing the catalyst for the Indians 2007 surge that took them to the division title, Asdrubal Cabrera's had a disappointing 2008. It looks like he's doing better lately, however. His three for four tonight gives him eight hits in his last fourteen at bats with two doubles and a home run. The Indians won all four games, including a 7-5 victory over Baltimore tonight.

Adam Dunn strikes out in his first plate appearance with the Diamondbacks. The broadcast showed a graphic that Arizona now has three of the top five batters with the most strikeouts in the National League.

While strikeouts for an individual batter don't matter that much, strikeouts for an offense probably do. It takes away opportunities to get hits because so many batters are striking out so often.

South Side Sox decides that Ken Griffey, Jr. can't play centerfield.

Bob Melvin penciled in Dunn to start in right tonight, but that won't last with Upton returning to the majors soon.

It's unlikely that the Diamondbacks would leave Dunn in right field once Upton is healthy. They could put Dunn in left and move Conor Jackson back to first base or put Dunn at first base. Either of those scenarios would involve Chad Tracy moving to the bench.

A more complicated maneuver: Dunn to left, Jackson to first, Tracy to third and Mark Reynolds to second base to take the place of the injured Orlando Hudson.

Melvin wouldn't rule out moving Reynolds to second, but added, "At this point right now, he's playing third base."

Dunn's defense hurts the least at first base. Chad Tracy had his chance to hit his way into the job, but continued to show declining power as he entered his prime years. Putting Dunn at first is probably the best combination of increasing scoring without doing too much damage on the runs allowed side of the equation.

Manny Ramirez came home to Dodger Stadium with his dredlocks intact. He just doubled with the bases loaded to drive in the first two runs of the game in the bottom of the third, so maybe Joe Torre will continue to cut him some slack. :-)

Update: The Dodgers end up with six runs in the inning. Blake hit his 14th home run of the season to cap the inning.

Chase Utley hits his 29th home run and makes it count as it gives the Phillies a 5-3 lead over the Pirates and Philadelphia goes on to a 6-3 win. Chase is now three homers behind the leaders Dun and Howard. Utley hit 19 home runs in the first two months of the season, but only ten since. He's off to a better start in August with two so far. He hit four in each of June and July.

Troy Glaus went 0 for 5 this afternoon against the Cubs. That brings him to 0 for 29 on the season against Chicago. He's headed for a record if he doesn't get a hit soon.

Most AB against an opponent in a season without a hit, 1957-2008

Batter	Opponent	Season	At Bats
John Lowenstein	TEX	1974	35
Andruw Jones	PHI	1998	33
Troy Glaus	CHN	2008	29
Marty Cordova	OAK	1998	29
Jerry Kenney	CAL	1970	27
Jose Cardenal	NYN	1971	27
Mike Ryan	SFN	1968	27

The Cardinals still have eight games to play against the Cubs. I can't imagine Glaus going hitless in all of those games. The probability of a .267 going 0 for 32 (four at bats a game in the remaining games) is .000048. Still it will be fun to see how long he goes before he gets a hit against the Chicago this season.

Miguel Cabrera helps the Tigers to an 8-3 win over the Chicago White Sox as the Tigers try to stay alive in the hunt for a playoff spot. With a three for three night and a home run, Cabrera is now batting .353 with a .612 slugging percentage since the All-Star break. It looks like Miguel is starting to meet the Tigers expectations.

The Dodgers defeat the Cardinals this afternoon 4-1 behind the pitching of Clayton Kershaw and the hitting of Jeff Kent and Manny Ramirez. Kent went three for four and scored twice, while Manny hit his fourth home run since joining the Dodgers, driving in two more runs. Manny now has a .615 OBA and a 1.130 slugging percentage. If he had gotten off to that kind of start with the Red Sox, maybe the whole ugly series of incidents leading to the trade doesn't happen.

Denard Span hit well again today, driving in four runs with three hits, including a triple. He was part of an eleven hit attack that ended in the Twins winning 7-3 over the Mariners. The bullpen was back to it's fine form, too, pitching three scoreless innings, although they didn't strike out a batter.

Lyflines looks at the history of David Ortiz batting with and without Manny in the lineup and finds a result the opposite of the common wisdom.

Jason Bay keeps up his hot hitting, going 4 for 5 with two doubles tonight as the Red Sox beat the Royals 8-2. The doubles bring Bay's full season total to 25, equally his level of 2007. Bay holds a .520 OBA and a .762 slugging percentage since joining Boston.

J.D. Drew batted leadoff. He doubled and drew two walks, but did not score a run. Still, I like that move as Drew's ability to get on base works well as long as Ortiz, Youkilis and Bay form a powerful heart of the order.

Prince Fielder apologies for his attack on Manny Parra:

"It's not like we hate each other," Fielder said. "I don't. It's just a little disagreement. I apologize for the way it went down, but I don't apologize for the passion and intensity. I definitely could have handled it a little better, but just at that moment, that's how it went down. I can't take it back. The way I handled it probably could have been dealt with better."

Jason Giambi shaved his upper lip, and picked up hits in his first two at bats. His RBI single in the first and Giambi's solo home run in the fourth plate the only two runs in the game.

Via Extra Bases, Joe Torre did tell Manny Ramirez to cut his hair. Now T.J. Simers has a bet with Joe it won't happen:

If Ramirez returns to Dodger Stadium a week from today to open the team's next home stand with all his hair, Torre said he would make a donation to Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA.

As part of the deal, Torre agrees he will say nothing more to Ramirez about his hair, believing Ramirez heard him the first time they talked.

If Ramirez shows up to Dodger Stadium without the dreads, Page 2 will make a donation to the Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation.

As part of the deal, of course, I will say nothing more to Ramirez about his hair.

As Simers notes, there's not financial incentive, since the Red Sox, not the Dodgers are paying Manny. If Torre pushes this, he's likely to trigger the evil Manny the Red Sox were so anxious to trade.

Jason Giambi shaved his moustache.

Manny Ramirez is 3 for 3 this afternoon with a single, double and home run. He's driven in three runs and the Dodgers lead 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth. His homer in this inning got back the run Stephen Drew scored on a homer in the top of the inning.

Update: Neither Manny, nor anyone named Ramirez, has ever hit for the cycle.

Update: Ramirez hits an infield single in the eighth to go 4 for 5 on the game. Pablo Ozuna follows with the triple Manny needed, hittng the ball over Chris Young's head to straight away center. The Dodgers lead 9-3.

The trade for Xavier Nady looks good for the Yankees right now. He drives in five with a double and a home run as New York comes back from a 5-0 deficit to take an 8-5 lead.

Edwar Ramirez comes in to hold the lead after the Yankees score four in the seventh. He loads the bases with two out and then gives up a grand slam to Mark Teixeira. It's his first home run for the Angels. They grab back the lead 9-8.

The Royals are up 6-0 on the White Sox after three innings. Mike Aviles is 2 for 2 with a homer and two RBI. It seems every time I look at a positive Royals boxscore, Aviles seems to be doing something good. They Royals come into this game 27-24 when Aviles plays, 24-36 otherwise.

The pitch by Mariano Rivera that earned Mike Lowell an ejection was indeed a ball, according to QuesTec.

Jason Bay continues his good start for Boston with a home run off the Volvo billboard above the Green Monster. He's two for four with seven total bases for a 1.750 slugging percentage with the Red Sox. Eveland hasn't recorded an out as the Red Sox turn a 2-0 deficit into a 5-2 lead.

Jason Bay and Manny Ramirez had their first games with their new teams end very differently Friday night. After walking twice and reaching on a hit by pitch, Bay came up with two out in the twelfth and tripled, scoring the winning run on a Jed Lowrie infield single.

Manny started his game by grounding out to shortstop, but busted down the line, something not usually seen in Fenway. He picked up two singles before coming up in the bottom of the ninth in a 2-1 game with none out. He grounded into a double play and the Dodgers lose 2-1.

Randy Johnson pitched a strong six innings for the win. He walked none and struck out six, earning a short shutout. Johnson is benefiting from the Baseball Musings reverse jinx that helped Jose Reyes and Justin Morneau so much in 2006. Since writing this post, Randy is 5-0 with a 1.39 ERA. He's walked two and struck out 25. I should start selling "X is done" posts to hitters and pitchers in major slumps.

Jason Bay walks and scores in the second inning, a good start to his Red Sox career. Boston leads 1-0 after a Drew single and a Lowrie sacrifice fly.

Game On offers the top five replacements for Manny Ramirez. I'm surprised they didn't include Ted Williams's severed head.

Carl Crawford at age 27 is having a poor season at the plate. Both his OBA and slugging percentage are not only below his career averages, but poor for a corner outfielder. Crawford continues to excel at one stat, however. He tripled in the first inning to put the Rays up 1-0. It was the ninth triple of the season for Carl and the 83rd of his career. Since he started playing in the 2002 season, Crawford collected 10 more triples than any other player in the game (if Rollins doesn't triple today).

The Cardinals keep pace in the NL Central with an 8-3 win over the drained of talent Braves. Albert Pujols homers and doubles, driving in one and scoring three times. After a long home run drought, Albert has three dingers and two doubles in his last four games, bringing his slugging percentage back over .600.

Chase Utley hit his first home run in 15 games. His fourteen game home run slump was more than just a power outage. His OBA was just .306 and his slugging percentage was even lower at .304. Philadelphia leads Washington 2-0 in the fourth.

I notice Ken Griffey, Jr. isn't in the Reds lineup tonight. Is he just getting a night off, or is he on the move? I don't see any stories on the net.

Don't I write this post every year? Jose Guillen is not happy with his situation:

Left fielder Jose Guillen wants out of Kansas City pronto, according to a source who spoke to ESPNdeportes.com on condition of anonymity.

Guillen feels the Royals have not kept the promises made when he signed for three years and $36 million during the offseason, said the source. But the main reason he is in "living hell in Kansas City" is a foul relationship with manager Trey Hillman.

"Guillen and Hillman are not on speaking terms, they don't talk," said the source. "Guillen is definitely not happy, he's not comfortable and he would do anything he can in economic terms to ease his way out of Kansas City."

Would either side do Jose Guillen for Manny Ramirez straight up?

JA Happ seems to be the center of the Phillies trade speculation right now. He is going somewhere, either to the major league roster or away in a trade. We just don't know where yet. Happ owns great K and HR numbers in the minor leagues.

The Pirates defeat the Rockies 8-4, helped by a 3 for 5 night by Doug Mientkiewicz. That raises his OBA to .388 and even though he offers no power, he's having his best offensive season since 2003. He's seeing righties almost exclusively, but he's also posting a .370 OBA against lefties.

Mike Aviles hit his fifth home run for the Royals today, part of a 6-1 win over the Rays. Since the start of the 2007 season, Kansas City has 10 home runs from their shortstops, four of them from Aviles in 41 games.

Texas takes another game from the reeling Athletics, 9-4. Josh Hamilton drives in three more runs with his 24th home run, bringing his RBI total to 103 in 104 Rangers games.

Damaso Marte makes his Yankees debut, coming in to face David Ortiz with men on first and second. New York was up 7-3. Marte strikes out Ortiz, doing his job as a LOOGY.

On a separate note, did David Ortiz lose weight? He seems to be a less big Papi.

It seems the members of Red Sox Nation are upset with Manny taking himself out of he lineup in what turned out to be a 1-0 loss. He's in the lineup today and wasn't welcomed fondly by the crowd. He's 0 for 2 but did drive in a run. The Yankees lead 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth.

J.C. Bradbury posts his thoughts on Mark Teixeira.

Correction: Fixed the link.

Gordon Edes points out that the Boston offense performed just as well with David Ortiz on the DL as they performed before Ortiz's injury:

Consider the numbers, before and after Ortiz's injury:

Batting average: .280 before; .279 after.

Runs per game: 5 before; a hair over 5 after.

Home runs per game: 1.05 before; 1.15 after.

On-base percentage: .353 before; .360 after.

Slugging percentage: .441 before; .450 after.

Boston designated hitters posted a .308/.425/.496 line during David's time on the disabled list. That's not quite vintage Ortiz in power, but they obviously didn't lose much. Of course, a lot of that come from giving Manny most of his at bats at DH during that time. With Manny moving to left (if he knee allows it) and Ortiz returning, I suspect the Red Sox offense will get better but the defense might get a little worse.

Jimmy Rollins was benched Thursday for showing up late to the game.
Still, the pattern troubles - and it is a pattern now. On June 5, manager Charlie Manuel benched Rollins in the middle of a game for failing to run out a fly ball. This past weekend, there was concern about another base-running lapse on a play where Rollins should have scored but didn't. Now, this.

The word "leadership" gets tossed around all the time in sports, and Rollins has had it tossed into his lap plenty. He has accepted it. He has to understand what it means, and that the last thing this struggling team needs right now is drama, especially leadership drama.

Of course, it's easier to be a leader when you are having a good season. Rollins BA slipped 30 points, and his slugging percentage slipped 100 points from last year. That, more than his attitude, is what needs to be corrected.

Adam Dunn knocked out two hits this afternoon, including a grand slam as he drove in five of the Reds nine runs in a 9-5 victory over the Padres. Dunn continues a great month. He's now 18 for 59 in July, a .305 BA. With nine home runs, he's tied Ryan Howard for the major league lead and is slugging .780. Of course, the Blue Jays couldn't use that kind of performance.

This is priceless.

Adam Jones went 2 for 4 Monday night in an 8-3 Orioles win over the Blue Jays. The acquisition from Seattle got off to a rough start. Through the end of May he was hitting just .245 with an OBA below .300 and an OBA in the mid .300s. Since, however, he's hit much better. With tonight's game, he's batting .327 with an OBA over .360 and a slugging percentage in the .480s. The Orioles are starting to get the value they hoped for in the young player.

Austin Kearns is batting cleanup for the Nationals tonight. His slugging percentage is lower than his OBA, and his OBA is just .314.

Chris Iannetta singled and homered for the Rockies tonight, driving in three runs in a 5-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. He now owns a .380 OBA and a .544 slugging percentage. Is his defense so bad that the Rockies can't afford to have his bat in the lineup every day?

Manny Ramirez isn't exactly endearing himself to the Red Sox front office:

"I want to know what's my situation." Ramirez told Bradford, which is a little puzzling when you consider even casual Sox fans know his situation. The club holds two one-year options on Manny's contract, each of which, if exercised, amount to $20 million. If the Red Sox exercise the option for 2009, Ramirez remains in Boston for at least one more season. If they do not, Ramirez is free to sign with a new team.

It's just Manny's situation being Manny's situation.

"I want no more (expletive) where they tell you one thing and behind your back they do another thing," Ramirez said. "I think I've earned that respect for a team to sit down with me and tell me this is what they want, this is what they want to do."

John Henry's response is here.

Manny is still a very good hitter, but he's no longer a .600 slugger. Despite the big off-season workout regimen, Manny's averages are very similar to 2007, an off-year for Ramirez. Given the inflation in salaries recently, a .390 OBA/.500 slugging could very well be worth $20 million a year, but if would be a lot easier to exercise the option if Manny wasn't accumulating some negatives.

David Ortiz playing in Pawtucket may be the biggest thing ever at McCoy Stadium:

David Ortiz will be in Pawtucket for the next four days, and Joe McDonald reports: "Nothing can compare to [it]." Says PawSox vice-president Bill Wanless: "As soon as the news began to filter out, the buzz grew and the momentum kept building. We've had some big ones, but this one ranks up there as the biggest." Which is really saying something.

All four games of the series are sold out, even though all of them will be televised -- the first three on Cox Cable in Rhode Island, Sunday afternoon's on NESN -- and only a limited number of standing-room tickets are available for each game. Can't get there? Don't have Cox? Check in right here. We'll be blogging live from McCoy.

This should be a big weekend for the Providence Journal's Projo Sox Blog, one of the best in the business.

Anthony Witrado details the trials and tribulations of Prince Fielder's season. I thought this was an amusing turn of a phrase:

"Things" like distractions swirled around Fielder to this point in the season. The first came when he announced he had become a vegetarian starting in February. He was hounded with interview requests all of spring training and through the first month of the season because of it.

Then came the contract beef.

Reminds me of this:

Aunt Voula: What do you mean he don't eat no meat?

[the entire room stops, in shock]

Aunt Voula: Oh, that's okay. I make lamb.

Alyssa Milano will no longer date baseball players:

ALYSSA MILANO has sworn off dating baseball players, because they are too childish.

The actress admits she is a huge fan of the sport, and even dreams of being a star slugger.

But, after dating Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny and Atlanta Braves star Tom Glavine, she's determined to court more mature men, like her current mystery beau, known only as "David".

All I can say is she has good taste in first names.

Bugs and Cranks wonders why there are no more Dicks in baseball. Interestingly, the dirty version of the name goes back well over 100 years.

Chipper Jones loves Shea Stadium and would like a piece of the place:

"I was like, 'You've got to hook me up - whether it's a seat, whether it's a sign, something that I can put in Shea's room,'" Jones said. "I'm going to try to get him up here this summer and walk him around before they tear it down.

"I hit my first major-league homer there," he continued, referring to a blast 13 years ago off Josias Manzanillo. "The Mets and the Braves have had so many epic battles over the years. It's just been a special place. It's been a place where I've really enjoyed playing. It just made sense. I love the name."

I guess the success makes up for the constant chants of, "Larry!"

Kevin Youkilis is batting 6th tonight, his most common spot in the Red Sox lineup. He took advantage of all the batters on base in front of him to drive in six so far this evening. He collected a grand slam, a single and a sacrifice fly to plate the runs. The Red Sox are all over the Orioles tonight, 12-1 in the top of the ninth.

Hanley Ramirez capped a five-hit night with a home run to defeat the Dodgers 5-4 in eleven innings.

Ramirez, the starting shortstop for the NL in next Tuesday's All-Star game, was 5-for-6 and raised his average to .317. The Marlins' leadoff hitter singled his first three times up and doubled in his next at-bat. His 23rd homer of the season came off Brian Falkenborg (1-2)

I still wonder if the Ramriez trade was the right move for Boston. Beckett's had one great year. Lowell's been terrific, but would Youkilis at third have been so bad? Hanley is likely to be smacking the ball around long after Lowell's career is over. Given the results in Boston, no Red Sox fan is going to complain I can imagine a Boston roster with Ramirez being just as potent and possibly a bit less expensive.

Update: The Marlins have to be happy with Josh Johnson as well. In his first start in a year, he pitched five innings, walking none and striking out six.

It seems Jorge Posada and Joe Girardi disagree on how much Jorge should be catching:

Posada said that Girardi knows how he feels about playing behind the plate, but it seems that when the Yankees play speedy teams such as Boston or Tampa Bay, the manager's preference is to keep Molina's arm on the field. Asked if he thought he would get the nod behind the plate based on the opponent, Posada barked: "I don't know. Ask him. I have no idea."

Presented with the same question, Girardi was non-committal about his plans.

"It's more how he's continuing to improve, then you look at matchups and that's how you make up your lineup," Girardi said. "When you want to get both righthanded bats in the lineup, you're not going to DH Molina or put Molina at first. You would probably go the other way. You look at everything involved and then you make your decision."

This same thing happened when Posada was young and Girardi was the defensive catcher. Torre often started Girardi's glove instead of Posada's bat. For example, Girardi started games 3 and 4 of the World Series in 1998, despite the Yankees losing the designated hitter in San Deigo. During the season, Posada caught the bulk of the games.

Do you know what I love about the picture of Manny on his cellphone in the Green Monster? He's framed by the word "LOST."

Another non-denial of interest in Bonds turns into interest in Bonds.

Oakland recently called up Wes Bankston to play first base. He went 2 for 3 Monday night including his first major league home run. The shot tied the game at three as the Athletics went on to a 4-3 win over the Mariners. Bankston is 9 for 23 in his six games with four extra-base hits. So far, his major league career has been much more impressive than his minor league career.

With three players going on the disabled list for the Braves, Jeff Francoeur is back from the minors. He had seven hits in his three games in the minors. I guess the demotion was the wake-up call he needed.

Joe Posnanski notes the Rays don't like useless stats much. While the Rays hold a run the bases day, they show baseball cartoons on the big screen. One of them have super hero Rays chasing down Dr. Stat:

But, believe it or not, that's not the hilarious part. No, the hilarious part is this: The villain they were trying to catch was someone named "Dr. Stat." No, really. It seems that Dr. Stat -- and I'm quoting from the cartoon now -- wants to "use his knowledge of useless statistics to destroy the game."

Yes, I'm completely serious here -- I saw the thing twice. This Dr. Stat them appears on the Superfriends monitor, and he asks them who was the highest paid umpire in 1888. The Rays, of course, don't know, and they make it clear to him that it is a stupid and pointless question. Dr. Stat then says, "Wrong answer," and he says as punishment he will point his stat ray direction at Tropicana Field in order to make it impossible for people to enjoy the games.

OK, timeout here -- what is a stat ray? How would that work? I should ask the guys at Baseball Prospectus if they have one. A stat ray. How great is that? I wonder what would happen if we would point the stat ray at some of my baseball writing friends. I'd love to aim it at my buddy Rick Morrissey up in Chicago, just to see what happened. Would he explode? Would he start talking about VORP and Eqa? I need to get me one of them.

Anyway, the cartoon Joe Maddon, realizing that this stat ray could destroy what the game stands for, started burning copies of the book Moneyball. No, wait, that's not right. No, what he did was turn his Rays into superheroes and send them after Dr. Stat. They landed in Dr. Stat's lair, and Dr. Stat being a fairly uncreative and unimaginative villain type sent some robots after them. I have no idea why he thought this would work, nor do I know what robots (and I mean they were the most boring looking robots you ever saw) had to do with his love of meaningless baseballs statistics. Maybe if they were, like, robots who invented new run matrixes, that would have made sense. But, in all honestly, wouldn't it have been more realistic if Dr. Stat had sent, I don't know, Pete Palmer and Voros McRacken after the heroes? The Rays would try to come after them, but they would be helpless against the power of linear weights and DIPS.

Some of those useless stats predicted the Rays would have a pretty good year.

The other half of the column notes that Grady Sizemore is no longer a leadoff hitter. His ability to both get on base and hit for power make him more of a number three hitter. With both Martinez and Hafner injured, moving Grady down in the lineup might help the team.

No, here's what we are saying: Eric Wedge doesn't seem to adjust very well. He seems to think that Grady is still the player he was two years ago. He seems to care a lot about keeping his players comfortable. He seems content to keep things as they are even when they are not all that sensible. I have absolutely no idea if the Indians would score more runs, fewer runs or precisely the same amount of runs to the 10th decimal point if Grady hit third (or second or fourth or whatever). I don't know, and as mentioned a time or two, I don't care. I just care that the Indians have a manager whose team came within one game of the World Series and is now buried in last lace, a manager who is hitting the American League home run leader leadoff and Ben Francisco third.

I put the lineup used by the Indians on Sunday into the Lineup Analysis Tool, and it has Sizemore batting second. That makes sense as his high OBA does best at the top of the order, but his power needs to be behind some others who get on base. However, the difference between the best lineup and the Sunday lineup is just 0.12 runs.

My guess is the best Indians lineups have Sizemore batting ahead of a slugging Hafner and Martinez. Unlike Soriano, Sizemore does a great job of getting on base. As long as there are slugger behind him, he's fine at the top of the order. Right now, however, Joe is right. Grady should be at least moved down to the two hole.

A-Rod's wife is going to sue for divorce:

Cynthia Rodriguez, 35, who wed the Miami-bred slugger in 2002, claims the marriage is over because of Rodriguez's extramarital affairs. The couple own a waterfront home in Coral Gables.

So it's not just Madonna. I would have thought the stripper in Toronto would have been enough.

Chipper Jones homered and tripled today to give him 1/2 a cycle. Like Pedroia the other day, he looks like he's going for the reverse cycle as he homered, then tripled. The two for two brought his batting average up to .389.

Despite the hits, the Astros lead 5-3 in the fifth.

The Daily News is having lots of fun with the A-Rod/Madonna story, but I thought this quote from the comments was priceless.

Maybe she could use the kabbullsh1tt on him to hit with runners in scoring position

Jeff Francoeur returned to the minor leagues after being booed by Braves fans:

Francoeur was booed at home Thursday night when he went 0-for-4. He hit .206 in June and is 1-for-12 in three games this month.

"It seems I can't catch a break, or when I feel I start to roll I just can't get things to keep rolling my way," Francoeur said.

The Braves hope Francoeur can relax at Double-A Mississippi and sharpen his mechanics. The plan is for Francoeur to rejoin the team following the All-Star break.

Francoeur has always been an out machine, with a career OBA of .313. He's only drawn 96 walks in 1884 career at bats. In 2007, it looked like he made progress, drawing 42 free passes. With both his batting average and power abandoning him this season, the few walks he draws don't help much. I really wonder if pitchers finally figured out how to exploit Jeff's tendency to swing at pitches. Why throw a strike to a batter who doesn't care to take a ball?

It's on the gossip page, not the sports page. A-Rod and his wife are breaking up.

I was watching the Red Sox/Rays game while doing my radio show. Pedroia hit a home run in the first, then I noticed him triple, and he just doubled. If he singles in his next at bat, he'll have accomplished the cycle in reverse. That would be pretty cool.

The Red Sox lead 4-1 in the top of the fifth, so Dustin should have a couple of chances to get the single.

Update: Pedroia flied out in his fourth at bat.

Where would the Dodgers be without Russell Martin? He's three for three tonight with a walk, picking up a double and a homer. The Dodgers lead Houston 6-4, and Russell either scored or drove in five of the runs. Of the starters in the lineup tonight, Martin has both the highest OBA and the highest slugging percentage. He just needs a triple for the cycle.

Update: Furcal may not be coming back any time soon.

Chipper Jones is back manning third base for the Braves tonight. He's 0 for 1 so far.

The Padres find a second baseman who can hit, and he's a 30-year-old rookie. Edgar V. Gonzalez put up good minor league numbers for a long time. It's amazing no one found a place for him sooner. Kudos to the Padres for realizing he might be useful after five organizations failed to call him up.

John Delcos discusses Jose Reyes's antics on the LoHud Mets Blog:

He does these things because the Mets let him. He loses focus because the Mets don't do anything about it when he does.

Some players have said Willie Randolph wanted to lean on him harder, but the front office wouldn't let him.

He's 25 now and time is running out on reeling in his behavior.

John is talking refering to this:

With two outs in the seventh inning, Melky Cabrera sent an easy grounder to Reyes, who threw high toward first, pulling Carlos Delgado off the bag. It seemed Delgado would be able to catch the ball and tag Cabrera, but the ball glanced off the tip of his glove and then bounded into the Mets' dugout, giving Cabrera second base. Reyes was charged with the error. What followed was a Little League-like temper tantrum.

As the next batter, Jose Molina, was flying out to right field to end the inning, Reyes threw his glove and sunglasses to the ground, letting everyone at Shea witness his lack of self-control.

I was watching the Yankees broadcast, and David Cone excused the actions because Reyes is young. Ken Singleton called him on that, pointing out that Jose spent five years in the majors (he's actually in his sixth season), and if he's not grown up by now, when is it going to happen?

Reyes has posted good numbers the last three years, but they aren't superstar numbers. When he starts posting .400 OBAs and .500 slugging percentages, then he can act like a spoiled diva.

The Mariners spanked the Padres this afternoon, taking the game 9-2 for a sweep of the team from the opposite end of the west coast. Ichiro Suzuki knocked out five hits. That brings his total for the season to 100, right as the Mariners reach 81 games, the halfway point of the season. Ichiro cracked 200 hits in each of his first seven seasons, his lowest total being 206 in 2005. He's halfway to an eighth straight 200 hit season.

Jermaine Dye will wind up with a good June as his 2 for 3 this afternoon raises his BA for the month to .330. He's 32 for 97 with nine home runs and 26 RBI in 25 games. Half of Dye's home runs came in this month.

The White Sox win a squeaker 6-5.

Evan Longoria picked up four hits in five at bats tonight to lead the Rays to a 10-5 victory over the Pirates. He drove in three runs and scored three with two singles, a double and a home run. In his last five games, Evan is 12 for 23 with five doubles, four home runs and 11 RBI. He's making that long term contract look like a very good deal.

J.C. Bradbury joins Joe Posnanski in wanting a team to give Barry Bonds a job. Sabernomics pulls for the Braves to take a flier on Barry.

The ruling comes down on Coco Crisp's suspension. Coco will miss five games, but:

Crisp will begin serving the suspension Saturday, and thus will miss all three games of the Sox' series in Tampa Bay next week.

It's almost like the commissioner's office waited so they could keep Coco out of Tampa Bay.

Derek Jeter picked up his 400th double in the bottom of the third today. That puts him alone in 152nd on the all-time list. There are three players with 401 doubles and three players with 399, but Jeter is it at 400. He needs 40 more to crack the top 100.

Update: The double starts a three-run inning and the Yankees take a 4-3 lead over the Mets.

Joe Posnanski wants the Royals to sign Barry Bonds:

You know what? I think they should do it Why not? They tried to trade for Milton Bradley last year. They signed Jose Guillen in the offseason. They've shown they're not afraid to take on a little attitude. Take away the emotions and steroid talk, and Barry Bonds is one of the three or four best players in the history of the game, he's on Mount Rushmoreno. I'm not saying he really WOULD come to Kansas City for the minimum (and give the money to kids for tickets!). I suspect that if it is Kansas City making the offer, he may suddenly have a lot of excuses ("Oh, I'd love to, but there's the spider web in the corner of my garage, and I've just GOT to get rid of that thing").

But if he's serious, I'd do it. Absolutely. Yes, the commissioner's office would howl behind the scenes (I suspect there is no way that Royals owner David Glass would ever do this ... he's close with Bud Selig). Other teams would grumble about the collusion that is really, really not happening. But I wouldn't care. Baseball has kicked the Royals in the teeth for about 20 years now. I would sign Barry Bonds. I would kick back.

I agree. As Joe says earlier in the article, Kansas City can use a circus.

Alexei Ramirez collected two hits today and a GWRBI as the Dodgers fell to the White Sox 2-0. The Cuban defector started slowly, but he's doing a good job of picking up the Major League game:

Alexei Ramirez, 2008, Through June 26

Stat	Through April	May	June
Batting Avg.	.121	.295	.366
On-Base Avg.	.147	.312	.395
Slugging Pct.	.182	.433	.512

A few more months like June and he might get some MVP consideration.

Bugs and Cranks notes that Shawn Chacon's antics left the great state of Alaska without a major league player.

The Minnesota Twins extended their winning streak to eight games, defeating the San Diego Padres Wednesday night 9-3. They're rolling through Cy Young award winners:

Randy Johnson. Brandon Webb. Jake Peavy. Greg Maddux.

When it comes to National League pitching, that's Mount Rushmore.

Between them, they've won 11 Cy Young Awards. But in a span of five games, the Twins have handled all four, without taking a loss.

One reason for the Twins surge is the play of Brian Buscher. The veteran minor leaguer started playing regularly on June 14, and posted excellent numbers since. He's turned an offensive hole at third base into a positive:

Twins Third Basemen, 2008

Stat	All Twins 3B	Buscher as 3B
Batting Average	.273	.405
On-Base Average	.307	.415
Slugging Percentage	.369	.541

It's a very small sample size for Buscher, but his recent years in the minors show a big upturn in his OBA numbers. If he does nothing else but put up an above average OBA the rest of the season, that will be a big boost to the Twins offense. He scored three runs last night, and ten in eight games since being recalled. Overall for 2008, Minnesota is 9-3 when Buscher plays.

Jerry Manuel gave David Wright Tuesday night off, and he responded with two home runs this evening as the Mets downed the Mariners 8-2. Wright drove in three of the runs, and Reyes added a three-run shot of his own. Maine and three relievers held the Mariners to six hits, all of them singles.

Thanks to Joe Posnanski for linking to the Lineup Analysis Tool in this blog entry. He uses it to look at what might be the best Kansas City lineup.

He also notes Jose Guillen's walkless streak and how amazing it is:

The second point, though, is that I would suggest that Jose Guillen is doing something that is probably pretty close to unprecedented -- he is about as hot as you can possibly be and at the exact same time he has now gone 156 plate appearances without walking. I mean, that's just flat incredible. Over that time, he's hitting .359/.365/.634. But he has not walked even once. He's had Miguel Olivo, Mark Teahen and Mark Grudzielanek hitting behind him. And he has still not walked. It's an amazing streak, much more amazing than other great non-walk streaks like Tony Pena Jr.s' or Mark Quinn's or Pudge Rodriguez or whoever. There is absolutely NO REASON for pitchers to pitch to Jose Guillen. And they still can't walk him.

I could imagine Joe Carter or Kirby Puckett having such a streak. (Carter did not draw a walk until his fortieth game.) Here's a pretty good 98 AB streak by Joe Carter in 1985. I don't think Joe had much behind him in that lineups, either.

Casey Kotchmann has never hit like a first baseman. Through 2007, his .267/.341/.415 line just wasn't impressive. In 2008, his .299/.349/.448 is an improvement, but still not the kind of power you'd expect from that defensive position.

The improvement this season comes from his play on the road. In the past, Kotchman played better in Anaheim, but in 2008, he's actually hitting like a first baseman away from his home park. With his home run today that proved the winning margin in a 3-2 game, Kotchman's road line this season stands at .326/.387/.519. That's how a first baseman should hit.

Jose Reyes tripled against the Rockies this afternoon, his 8th of the season. It's also the 60th of his career. That ties him with Ichiro for 10th on the active triples list. Johnny Damon leads active players with 90, but Rollins is still young enough to gain on Johnny. Jimmy has 82 for his career.

The Royals picked up a victory tonight, defeating the Giants 5-3. Shortstop Mike Aviles picked up three hits, raising his batting average to .339 in his short major league career. Eleven of his twenty hits went for extra bases, including a double tonight.

The Royals have received very little from shortstop this season, so the offensive pop from Aviles is quite welcome. It's taken him a while to get here. He hit AAA in 2006 and hit poorly. He improved some in 2007 with his power coming back, and hit very well this season in Omaha.

He's 27, however. That's peak age for most players. It could just be that the Royals are simply taking advantage of a player at his best. I don't expect him to be a great player, but it's certainly possible that he could have a great year.

Aviles thinks all the time at AAA helped him as a hitter:

"You get your guys that go up and down, up and down and you play against a lot of veteran guys, a lot of guys that know how to pitch," Aviles said.

"And, honestly, I think playing the two-plus years in Omaha really helped me become a better hitter in the sense that I kind of learned more about what a pitcher wants to do to try and get me out instead of just going up there and swinging. ... You watch how they pitch and understand the concept of what they're trying to do to you."

So far the lessons are paying off.