• Yankees at Red Sox, 4:05 p.m. PT — You’ll be watching this one whether you want to or not. It’s what pays the bills, eh? Chien-Ming Wang goes against Clay Buccholz.
• Angels at Mariners, 7:10 p.m. PT — Jered Weaver and Felix Hernandez… Vlad and Ichiro!… Monkeys and mooses (meese?)… This one’s got it all. Here’s your game of the day.
• Padres at Dodgers, 7:40 p.m. PT — Jake Peavy and Brad Penny hook up for the second time in a week. The big story — at least among people who don’t know much about baseball — is a mysterious substance that appeared on Peavy’s hand in their previous meeting. You’re better than that, though; you recognize that two of the game’s best pitchers will be battling tonight, and that’s what really matters.

Happy, happy…

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• Phillies at Reds, 9:35 a.m. PT — Fire up a pot of coffee and sidle on up to the Internet (really, I’d like to see that). Cole Hamels and Bronson Arroyo square off in Monday’s first game. Plus you get a chance to watch Jeff “Offensive Beast” Keppinger in action. Honestly, I always thought that guy could be useful if given the chance, but .435/.480/.826 through the first week? Man, I love small samples. They’ll show you just about anything you want to see.
• Mariners at Orioles, 12:05 p.m. PT — I don’t know that this will be a good game to watch, but it could be interesting. First off, you’ve got Carlos Silva hooking up against Daniel Cabrera on the mound. Are there two more different pitchers in the game today? Bob Tewksbury and Steve Dalkowski have retired, right? The other story line, of course, is Adam Jones facing his former team. I still can’t believe Baltimore had the smarts to make that deal.
• Braves at Rockies, 5:35 p.m. PT — Colorado has stumbled to a 1-5 start in ‘08. Maybe facing 42-year-old Tom Glavine in their home park will help. You know what else would help? Not hitting .209/.281/.333 as a team. You think?

Happy Monday, folks, and happy watching!

Post from: Knuckle Curve

At THT, I’ve gone with the popular pick except for AL West (I chose Mariners over Angels), AL Wild Card (Indians over Yankees), and NL Cy Young (Jake Peavy over Johan Santana — there’s my Padres bias kicking in because, hey, someone’s got to have a Padres bias).

I also have the Diamondbacks beating the Tigers in the World Series. We’ll see what happens…

How about you? Any predictions you’d care to share?

Post from: Knuckle Curve

• Jim at AZ Snakepit wonders about the Diamondbacks pitching staff.
• Eric at Philliesflow searches for hidden gems in right field.
• Harper at Oleanders and Morning Glories reacts to news of Paul LoDuca’s inclusion in the Mitchell Report.
• Kurt at Goat Riders of the Apocalypse muses on the nature of hypocrisy in sports, specifically as it relates to the current steroid flap.
• Lisa at Astros Dugout rejoices in the signing of right-hander Jack Cassel.
• Dave at U.S.S. Mariners fantasizes about how much better the world would be if he ran the Mariners.
• Eric at Rays Anatomy calls for Bud Selig’s resignation as puppet, er, MLB commissioner.
• Evan at Fire Brand of the American League is under the mistaken impression that the NL should adopt his favored league’s “DH experiment.”
• Lee at Tiger Tales examines his team’s starters and relievers.
• Aaron Gleeman discusses the Twins’ signing of Mike Lamb.

Okay, then. You’ve got some reading to do…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

I can’t imagine being unable to perform such a routine activity (and one so vital to my job) for 17 years. It’s great to hear that Sasser, who now is a community college coach (whose duties include throwing batting practice), is good to go again.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Larry on baseball writers:

I commend you for your restraint, Geoff. Baseball writers have been so wretched they shouldn’t have a say in ANY post-season awards OR the HOF.

Go to the HOF site and see what the writers have done since 1936. The first ballot was tough, with Cobb, Ruth, Honus Wagner, Hornsby and Walter Johnson on the ballot.

400-game winner Johnson got in, but 500-game winner Cy Young didn’t. He got in the next year, in 1937 – with 76%. Imagine, 24% of writers didn’t think Cy Young belonged in the Hall.

Honus Wagner and his 8 batting titles and .327 lifetime average got in, but Hornsby’s 7 NL titles and .358 average got less than half the vote. I guess they forgot about his three .400 seasons or his two triple crowns.

Hornsby not only didn’t get in, he was dropped from the ballot in ‘37. He got back on in ‘38 and got 19% of the vote. He was finally voted into the Hall in 1942, with 78% of the vote.

The writers have been stiffs since day one. You were much too kind, Geoff.

Rain Delay on Seattle’s managerial situation:

The Mariners are under .500 with John Mclaren at the helm. You’d think all of the time as he spent as Lou’s bench coach he would’ve learned, something… heck anything…

I pray that he’s not hired on for 2008.

Sorry, bud; next time pray harder.

Vegas Watch on the Arizona Diamondbacks:

In looking back at various preseason predictions, I think it’s interesting that everybody was so wrong about the Diamondbacks, but ended up being right (if that makes sense).

As you said, the young hitters didn’t come through, as they’re third to last in the NL in R/G. The pitching ended up carrying them – third in the NL in ERA.

That adds up to about an average team, but of course they completely outperformed their Pythag record. I doubt there has ever been a team that has ended up being this different from people’s expectations, yet finishes (potentially) right where everybody expected.

Joe Ruiz on classic rock:

If I hear Foghat during the next commercial, I’m switching to Gameday Audio.

Derrick on Jimmy Rollins for MVP:

J-Roll has put up historical numbers from the lead off spot. He also should win the Gold Glove. Holliday is not a leader the way that Jimmy Rollins is. Nor is he the defensive player that Rollins is. The MVP is the single player that helps their own team to win and to hold that team together. J-Roll backs up what he says. Have you guys heard of Super Bowl III? Great players back it up on the field. No player in baseball has held a team together like Jimmy has this year.

BV on the AL Cy Young race:

Other than the fact that Josh Beckett has one more win than CC How can anyone build a legit case that Beckett deserves the CY… CC should win in a landslide…

And there you have it…

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Happy Monday, and welcome to our latest poll. Manager of the Year is always a tricky one for me. What criteria should we use to determine the winner? If we look only at total victories, we ignore factors such as improvement from one season to the next. If we consider improvement from one season to the next, but overlook the fact that management spent an obscene amount of money to put itself in that position, we still miss a big part of the picture.

I usually try to balance overall performance with what our expectations were of a given team coming into the season. For example, in the National League, even though the Cubs improved greatly from 2006 to 2007, it was hardly surprising given all the high-profile moves they made over the winter to help enhance their chances of reaching the postseason.

In the American League, I like Cleveland’s Eric Wedge. This is mostly due to the fact that I badly misjudged the Indians’ chances in ‘07. Many others expected them to do well, and perhaps I should have been one of them. Instead, I had them finishing fourth in the AL Central and they made the playoffs.

The rest of the pack is tough, because no-one really surprised me in a good way. As I’ve said before, if Mike Hargrove hadn’t left the Mariners, I think he’d deserve strong consideration. Beyond that, I’m not sure.

But enough about me. Who gets your vote, and why?

Post from: Knuckle Curve

American League

• Mariners at Yankees, 10:05 a.m. PT — Good thing folks in Seattle like coffee; this one’s kicking off good and early. The Mariners start the day two games back of New York in the AL wild card race. Felix Hernandez gets the start against a man twice his age, Roger Clemens. Hernandez was born three days before Clemens’ 37th big-league start. Interestingly, their age 21 seasons are kind of similar. Both got hit harder than you might expect for guys with such good stuff and both exhibited surprisingly good control.
• Indians at Twins, 11:10 a.m. PT — C.C. Sabathia vs Johan Santana. The Twins really need to move to the NL Central. Anyway, the last time these two pitchers hooked up, way back on August 29, Sabathia and the Indians came out on top, 4-3.

National League

• Mets at Reds, 10:15 a.m. PT — Pedro Martinez makes his 2007 debut for New York. Aaron Harang, meanwhile, continues to defy the odds by going 14-3 for a team that is 62-75. How does Brandon Phillips have 26 home runs this year? No, it’s not the park; he’s got 13 each at home and away. Weird.
• Padres at Diamondbacks, 1:40 p.m. PT — Two teams in a virtual tie for first place in the NL West with less than a month to go… A pitcher with 343 big-league victories under his belt… A decision made by some genius that this game shouldn’t be televised in San Diego…

One game? San Diego/Arizona if you can swing it; otherwise Cleveland/Minnesota. Happy watching!

Post from: Knuckle Curve

American League

• Red Sox at Yankees, 10:05 a.m. PT — This series doesn’t need any more hype. Either you love it or you don’t care. Watch (or don’t) accordingly.
• Mariners at Indians, 4:05 p.m. PT — Playoff implications in this one, plus a potentially volatile pitching matchup. Two finesse lefties — the execrable Horacio Ramirez and the too-unknown-to-have-an-unflattering-adjective-attached-to-the-front-of-his-name Aaron Laffey — hook up in this one. Philosophical question for the day: When does batting practice end and game begin?

National League

• Mets at Phillies, 10:05 a.m. PT — We’re all anxious to know whether Philadelphia can reach the post-season with two guys named Kyle in the rotation. Orlando Hernandez goes for the Mets. Your grandkids will be telling you about him one day.
• Diamondbacks at Padres, 7:05 p.m. PT — The preview says that Livan Hernandez is pitching for Arizona, but he started on Monday; it’s actually left-hander Doug Davis. San Diego counters with Chris Young, who missed his previous start due to a bad back. These two teams find themselves in a virtual tie for first place in the NL West with a month to go. The Padres are one game up in the loss column.

As you know by now, I’m very biased, but I honestly believe that the NL West race is the most compelling in baseball right now. It certainly is the closest. If you have to choose one game to watch, I recommend Arizona vs San Diego, although the Mariners and Indians could be “interesting” — any chance they could get that game moved to Coors Field?

As always, happy watching…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

American League

• Mariners at Orioles, 4:05 p.m. PT — How are the Mariners doing it? Ichiro Suzuki, Adrian Beltre, and Jose Guillen all are having decent (not great) seasons on offense. The starting pitching has been okay. The relief pitching has been pretty darned good. They score about as many runs as they give up, and yet, they’re a game out of the AL wild card. Felix Hernandez starts tonight, which is always a good reason to watch. The Orioles, who as usual are going nowhere fast, counter with Jeremy Guthrie, one of the neater success stories of 2007. A former first-round pick of the Cleveland Indians, Guthrie never could stick with the big club, and Baltimore claimed the 27-year-old right-hander off waivers in January. Guthrie now ranks third in the AL in ERA.
• Yankees at Blue Jays, 4:07 p.m. PT — While nobody was paying attention, the Yankees became a serious player in the wild card race. They’re now a half-game back of Detroit. Chien-Ming Wang, who continues to succeed despite his inability to miss bats, starts for New York. A-Rod gets most of the ink out that way, but have you noticed how well Jorge Posada is doing this year (.340/.423/.546)? That’s unbelievable production from a 35-year-old catcher. (Mike Piazza hit .266/.362/.444 at the same age.) Right-hander Roy Halladay gets the call for Toronto.
• Red Sox at Angels, 7:05 p.m. PT — The teams with the two best records in the AL square off at Anaheim. The pitching matchup (Jon Lester vs Dustin Moseley) is pretty uninspiring, but still. I sometimes wonder just how good the Red Sox would be if they had a legitimate big-league shortstop. The Angels, meanwhile, are unbelievably consistent up and down the lineup. With the exception of Vlad Guerrero and the emerging Casey Kotchman, nobody here really stands out. Well, maybe Chone Figgins. Point is, they’re solid #1 through #9.

National League

• Brewers at Rockies, 12:05 p.m. PT — Two of the younger and more suprising teams in the NL hook up in this one. Top prospect Yovani Gallardo goes for the Brewers, who are clinging to a one-game lead over Chicago in the NL Central. Prince Fielder tops the Senior Circuit with 33 homers, while third baseman Ryan Braun has emerged as the front-runner for Rookie of the Year. Southpaw Jeff Franics gets the start for Colorado. Francis currently sports a 4.01 ERA, no small accomplishment for a guy who works half his games at Coors Field. In one of my more outlandish predictions for the season, I said that Francis would finish in the top 10 in ERA. Right now he’s at #24. In my defense, a lot more pitchers have sub-4.00 ERAs this year (23) than did last season (15).
• Braves at Mets, 4:10 p.m. PT — The top two teams in the NL East do battle in New York, and we’ve got a great pitching matchup. John Smoltz is a future Hall of Famer, while Orlando Hernandez is pitching as well as he has since his rookie season back in ‘98. The Braves are getting production out of some unexpected sources (Matt Diaz? Willie Harris?), which compensates for the fact that Andruw Jones has become the weak link in their outfield. The Mets? Oh, what I wouldn’t do to see that left side of the infield call San Diego home.
• Cubs at Astros, 5:05 p.m. PT — Carlos Zambrano is on fire. Not literally, of course, but he is 9-2 with a 1.43 ERA over his last 12 starts; Zambrano has lowered his season ERA from 5.38 to 3.42 during that stretch. Roy Oswalt? His usual troublesome self. He’s completely dominant at home (2.30 ERA over 14 starts; opponents are batting .239/.293/.339 against him there). For Chicago, one of their big three on offense (Alfonso Soriano) is out with a bad quad. The Astros, meanwhile, get to watch $100 million man Carlos Lee pad his personal stats for a team that is almost certainly out of contention, even in baseball’s weakest division.

If I had to pick one game to watch, it’d be the Braves and Mets. That’s your best combination of pennant race and pitching matchup. Enjoy!

Post from: Knuckle Curve