• Barry Bonds. His stories pretty much write themselves.
• Miguel Cabrera. Anyone who gets scolded by Ozzie Guillen for being too fat is okay in my book.
• Fausto Carmona. One of the biggest surprises of 2007.
• Daisuke Matsuzaka. Not as good as the hype, but still pretty good.
• Gil Meche. Irresponsible spending almost got the Royals out of last place.
• Jake Peavy. Bounced back from poor (by his standards) ‘06 season.
• Carlos Pena. Where did that come from?
• Alex Rodriguez. Takes abuse from everyone, but still great.
• C.C. Sabathia. Out-Santana’d Santana.
• Barry Zito. Hey, at least the Giants only have 6 years left on his deal.

Stay tuned for Jamie’s full list…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

You had to figure the Indians were hosed when the series returned to Fenway. On the one hand, they’ve never lost a postseason series to a team from Boston — they swept the Red Sox in three games in ‘95 and beat the Braves in six in the ‘48 World Series. On the other, the Indians historically haven’t had a lot of success in New England.

Game 7 starts at 5 p.m. PT on Sunday. Jake Westbrook and Daisuke Matsuzaka hook up in one final game to determine which of these teams advances to the World Series. On behalf of everyone who doesn’t have unlimited resources at their disposal, here’s hoping it’s Cleveland.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Kenny Lofton provided the big blow in Game 3 with his two-out, two-run homer off Daisuke Matsuzaka in the second. Lofton apparently didn’t get the memo that it’s no longer 1995.

On the other side, Boston desperately needs someone other than Josh Beckett to pitch a good game. Tim Wakefield will be the latest to try.

The good news is that Wakefield won 17 games during the regular season. The bad news is that he wasn’t needed in the ALDS and hasn’t pitched since September 29. The knuckleball is a “feel pitch,” so it will be interesting to see how three weeks of rest affects Wakefield’s command.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

And in the evening game, Colorado looks to complete the sweep at Coors Field. Rookie Micah Owings starts for Arizona, while Franklin Morales gets the call for God’s team. First pitch is at 7 p.m. PT.

Sounds exciting, huh?

Post from: Knuckle Curve

• Yankees at Indians, 2:00 p.m. PT — Andy Pettitte has the postseason experience (18-6, 4.08 ERA over 34 starts), but Fausto Carmona has been a monster in ‘07. One relative weakness of Carmona is his record against left-handed batters. Granted, most pitchers would kill for a .275/.333/.377 line against anyone, but if you’re looking for something that the Yankees might be able to exploit, this is as good a bet as any. Pettitte, meanwhile, stumbled down the stretch, posting a 5.86 ERA over 35 1/3 innings in September.
• Angels at Red Sox, 5:30 p.m. PT — Kelvim Escobar faces Daisuke Matsuzaka in this one. Escobar was a serious Cy Young contender headed into the season’s final month before bonking hard. Matsuzaka didn’t fare much better toward the end. Both of these guys posted ERAs well north of 6.00 over their final seven starts. It’s a testament to their offense that the Red Sox can afford to run a complete non-entity at shortstop every day. The big question for the Angels is which Escobar shows up today. If it’s the guy who dominated AL batters for the first five months of the season, they should be in good shape. If not…

Happy watching!

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Another day, another poll. Today we’re looking at the American League Rookie of the Year, an award I haven’t talked too much about in this space. My preseason pick was Royals third baseman Alex Gordon, and although he finished with respectable numbers, he’s not my choice.

Neither is Tampa Bay’s Delmon Young. I expect him to win the award because of his big RBI numbers, but I’d go with Boston’s Dustin Pedroia. In addition to outhitting Young this year, Pedroia also plays second base.

Beyond Pedroia, you could make a decent case for Baltimore right-hander Jeremy Guthrie, although the fact that he managed just seven wins is probably a deal breaker in the voters’ eyes. Daisuke Matsuzaka? His season was better than he gets credit for, but with all the hype surrounding him, that’s just not good enough.

So. Who would get your vote?

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Kosuke Fukudome of the Chunichi Dragons has been getting a fair amount of play as a potential impact outfielder should he cross the pond. Jackson compares him to Bob Abreu, with the caveats that Fukudome recently underwent elbow surgery and that some of his power could be lost in translation on moving to MLB (sometimes you get Hideki Matsui, sometimes you get Kazuo Matsui).

The pitching side is less clear. As Akinori Otsuka, Shingo Takatsu, Takashi Saito, and Hideki Okajima have shown in recent years, Japan can be a virtual gold mine in terms of finding good, cheap relievers. With all the fuss over someone like Daisuke Matsuzaka, this fact often gets overlooked.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

American League

• Red Sox at Orioles, 4:05 p.m. PT — Not that the Red Sox need my help in the hype department, but a battle between Daisuke Matsuzaka and Erik Bedard could be a lot of fun to watch. Bedard has emerged in a big way this season. He’s fourth in the American League in ERA, first in H/9, first in K/9 (11.20!), and first in strikeouts. With all due respect to perennial favorite Johan Santana, Bedard and Oakland’s Dan Haren have to be the front-runners for this year’s Cy Young Award. Of course, we’ve still got plenty of baseball yet to play…
• Yankees at Indians, 4:05 p.m. PT — Two playoff contenders, two up-and-coming young pitchers; what’s not to like? Philip Hughes got knocked around by the Royals last week in his return from an extended stint on the DL. Fausto Carmona, meanwhile, has been one of the bigger surprises in the AL. His low strikeout rate suggests perhaps another Jake Westbrook, so who knows how long this level of success will last. Still, might as well enjoy it. Cleveland has some terrific hitters; the Indians are getting nothing out of second base or right field, but guys like Victor Martinez, Ryan Garko, Grady Sizemore, and Travis Hafner create serious problems for the opposition.
• Twins at Angels, 7:05 pm. PT — I forgot Kelvim Escobar. He could make a run for the Cy Young Award, too. There are a lot of worthy candidates this year. The Twins need to move over to the NL Central. What are they going to do without Torii Hunter next season?

National League

• Braves at Phillies, 4:35 p.m. PT — Speaking of Cy Young, he’s not there yet, but Cole Hamels will be a serious candidate possibly as early as next year. Chuck James is no slouch himself, although he’s up against a ridiculously deep lineup. Do folks in Philadelphia really think Pat Burrell stinks?
• Cubs at Rockies, 6:05 p.m. PT — Meaningful games at Coors Field in August — what’s up with that? The Cubs and Rockies have identical records (59-55) headed into this one, although the Rox play in a much tougher division. According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the Cubs had an Opening Day payroll of just under $100 million, while the Rockies check in at about $54 million. Brad Hawpe and Matt Holliday are young studs, and Todd Helton has done a nice job reinventing himself as a productive hitter despite the power outage; the pitching staff, meanwhile, owns a 4.46 ERA (including 4.58 at home) as of this writing. Someone deserves a medal for that.

Got time for just one? Toss-up between Orioles/Red Sox and Braves/Phillies. The former offers a slightly better pitching matchup, while the latter has more far-reaching playoff implications.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Wait, he sings?

Well, not quite. The CD, called Music from the Mound, “features a compilation of Matsuzaka’s favorite and inspirational songs from various American, English and Japanese recording artists.” One original song — “Gyro Ball” — includes guest performances by former members of the J. Geils Band and Extreme.

Yeah, if anything will give a CD credibility in the 21st century, it’s the folks who brought us “Freeze Frame” and “More Than Words.” Rock on…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Boston Red Sox right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka struggled again on Thursday night against the Mariners. The problem? According to manager Terry Francona, it’s a matter of command:

They didn’t knock him all over the ballpark. It goes down for me to command. When he commands, he will go very deep into a game. And right now it’s a little bit of a battle for him.

It could be a simple tweak, or it could be something that requires a little more work. Who knows? The important thing to remember is that this guy has a tremendous track record over in Japan. I have no idea what the prevailing thought in Boston is right now, but I hope that nobody is pushing the panic button.

Matsuzaka is off to a shaky start, that’s all. He’ll get over it. How soon? Hard to say, but probably faster than you can say “Hideki Irabu.” Assuming you say it real slow…

Post from: Knuckle Curve