It's late, very late...and I sit here thinking what it's going to be like when I say to my kid..."Man, Lou Piniella was too funny when he argued a call..."
He will probably say, "Who is that?" I will sigh and explain to him who this guy is.
Lou Piniella was an OF for 18 years in the big leagues. He spent most of his career as a Yankee, lucky him. However, that is not even close to what he will be remembered for. "Sweet Lou" will be remembered for the 23 years he spent as a manager.
He got his start with...none other than the New York Yankees. He didn't last long, and left after his third season. Piniella was hired by the Reds and won the World Series in his first season as manager. He became well-known for the fits he had when arguing; primarily kicking dirt, throwing his hat, and throwing a base.
Piniella only lasted three seasons in Cincinnati as well. He was then hired by Seattle where he last for 10 seasons, including: two Manager of the Year awards, tied the record for most wins in a single season (116), only manager to take Seattle to the playoffs.
Piniella was traded to the Rays in 2003 and spent another three seasons in Tampa Bay before heading to the "Windy City". He spent approximately three and a half seasons there, retiring in the middle of the 2010 season.
"Sweet Lou" will undoubtedly be remembered for his temper, as well as the shows he put on when arguing a call. However, we will definitely miss him.
Atlanta Braves: Behind one of the best pitching staffs in the league and rookie phenom Jason Heyward, the Braves look darn good.The middle of the lineup still doesn’t have as much punch as you’d like to see in a possible world series team, but Bobby Cox’s rotation is top to bottom one of the three best in the league.Who would be looking forward to facing Derek Lowe, Tim Hudson, and Tommy Hanson in the playoffs?No one, that’s who.If the lineup can keep up its timely hitting, Cox will have to do his best to not be ejected from a World Series game.
Philadelphia Phillies:This was not supposed to happen.The Phillies are a much better team than their record, but with a rotation that can’t seem to just get it’s finger on the right spot and a lineup that’s struggles have gone on for too long, they’ll be pushing for the wild-card/division heading into the last week of the season.Roy Halladay was still a great pickup, but the Phils must be kicking themselves for not keeping Cliff around to put them in a far more secure position.This is an underperforming ball-club that just needs to get a few hitters hot to make a run at the postseason.The wild-card looks like a dogfight.
New York Mets:Speaking of underperforming ball-club’s, this one was at least expected.The Mets consistently have a competitive team on paper, but this year, much like the last two, looks to end in early disappointment.Apart from Johan, the rotation is an absolute mess.David Wright has absolutely no supporting cast this season. The Mets should really suck it in and just accept this as a lost season at .500 baseball, but they’ll probably make ill advised trade runs before the deadline.Short of an Atlanta-esque Troy Glaus style turnaround, the Mets are sunk.
Florida Marlins:If a team can feel good about playing awful baseball, it’s the Marlins.After all, they’re only supposed to make World Series runs every seven years anyways.The great young rotation, highlighted by soon to be Cy Young award winner Josh Johnson, will be well in its prime by the time they have that seven year run ready for them.Dan Uggla is a beast, and it’s only a matter of time until the pieces fit around him.Two more years til the right crew gets to bring their talents to South beach.
Washington Nationals:This is the kind of team local fans love to get behind.They’re not ready yet, but when you watch them get together you can see it all taking shape.Jordan Zimmermann is going to be an absolute stud in that rotation, as he readies to return from injury after what started last season as a stellar career.He’d be an excellent number one in most big league rotations, but apparently he’s taking a back seat to some Strasburg kid.It’d be great for them to keep Adam Dunn around, as a tutor of the long ball to whoever comes in after him, but this is a team that wasn’t expected to do much but is slowly shaping up to be great.
NL Central
This division was always going to be won and lost on the first basemen, it just didn’t shape up the way some of us, namely me, predicted.
Cincinnati Reds:Assuming he stays healthy, Joey Votto is the league MVP, and he’s needed every bit of this breakthrough season in order to keep the Reds fending off the Cardinals in this division.Scott Rolen has dipped into the fountain of youth just enough to give this team a shot at playoff glory, and Bronson Arroyo, Mike Leake, and Johnny Cueto have put together a surprisingly stable top of the rotation.IF they can hold of Phat Albert and the gang, this team can do damage.
St. Louis Cardinals:Albert Pujols is having an off year.Which is saying a lot when you realize that he’s still hitting .301 with a .962 OPS.Yeah, off year.Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter are pitching well, but this is just a really average team with one great player in a division with two of the worst clubs in baseball.If the Cards keep beating up on the little guys, they can keep making a push for the division.Look for this race to be decided with about four days to go in the season.
Milwaukee Brewers:Again, a very average team, much like the Cardinals (or really the Reds for that matter), but they can prey on the weak links in the division.Prince Fielder should be moved by the end of the trading deadline, and if not him than future all-star Corey Hart.This team has been meddling at .500 for what seems like an eternity.They should really take the opportunity to rebuild while they have meaningful pieces.
Chicago Cubs:Sweet Lou made the right decision in running away from this team.The Cubs have been backsliding for awhile now, and this season proves it.They have very few quality players, they’re just top to bottom not as awful as the Pirates or Astros.It’ll be some time until this team is a legitimate threat to do much in the division again, short of a lightning in a bottle season.
Houston Astros:Much like the Cubs, this team really has no talent on it.Roy Oswalt is a dish best served elsewhere, and would make a lot of sense in bolstering the Phillies rotation or maybe even the Nationals as a tutor for the young guns they have coming up.But more likely the Angels will make a gamble on Roy for a farm system that, in about three season, will make people pay attention to Houston.This club may not get a pitcher more than 11 wins all season, and even that would seem like a miracle with this lineup.Triple A club here, might as well build the farm.
Pittsburgh Pirates:I’m a big Zach Duke fan, but that doesn’t mean much.McCutchen is an animal and will continue to grow, but this club is, much like the previous two teams mentioned, just a triple A club at best.A team constantly in rebuild mode, they need a few good drafts to shape into a competitive team.
We have reached the midway point in the Major League Baseball season. The all-star break is approaching and every team has played about 80 or so games. The all-star lineups were listed today, but I will write another post on that closer to all-star weekend.
This post is for predictions the rest of the way.
AL EAST 1. New York (1 seed) 2. Boston / Tampa Bay (tiebreaker for 3 seed) 4. Toronto 5. Baltimore
AL CENTRAL 1. Minnesota (4 seed) 2. Detroit 3. Chicago 4. Kansas City 5. Cleveland
AL WEST 1. Texas (2 seed) 2. Los Angeles 3. Seattle 4. Oakland
NL EAST 1. New York (2 seed) 2. Atlanta (3 seed) 3. Philadelphia 4. Washington 5. Florida
NL CENTRAL 1. Cincinnati (4 seed) 2. St. Louis 3. Milwaukee 4. Chicago 5. Houston 6. Pittsburgh
NL WEST 1. Los Angeles (1 seed) 2. San Diego 3. San Francisco 4. Colorado 5. Arizona
Divisional Round New York (AL) over Minnesota Tampa Bay over Texas Los Angeles over Cincinnati New York (NL) over Atlanta
Championship Round New York (AL) over Tampa Bay Los Angeles over New York (NL)
World Series New York (AL) over Los Angeles ^Six game series in a rematch of the classic New York Yankee/Brooklyn Dodger series.
George Kenneth Griffey, Jr. is hanging up his very historic cleats. "The Kid" or "Junior", whichever you prefer, didn't show up to the ballpark today and informed the Mariners that he has decided to retire.
Griffey, one of the greatest players ever, could have held the all-time home run lead if not for devastating injuries in the middle to the end of his career. He played 22 seasons, however, 11 of those seasons he played less than 130 games and five with less than 100 games.
Even though Griffey had multiple hamstring and knee injuries which severely hurt his career numbers, his 630 home runs puts him in fifth on the all-time list. Many speculate that if he hadn't been injured so often players would be chasing him and not Barry Bonds for the all-time lead in home runs.
Griffey spent most of his career, 13 seasons, with the Seattle Mariners; the team that drafted him number one overall in the 1987 draft. He also spent eight and a half seasons with his father's old team, the Cincinnati Reds. The other half of the 2008 season he spent with the Chicago White Sox. Griffey was then brought back to Seattle for the 2009 season and then resigned for 2010.
He was a 13-time all-star and a 10-time gold glove recipient. He was also awarded the 1997 AL MVP (56 HR 147 RBI).
One of the greatest players that I've ever had the pleasure of seeing, and one of the all-time greats is calling it quits. I had the pleasure of seeing him play once because I was in Arizona and my father and I decided to go to a Diamondbacks game before we left. They happen to be playing the Reds that night, and I was given the great opportunity to witness one of his many home runs. This guy was awesome and I hope he stays in the game some way or another.
A weekly feature on the good, the bad, and the ugly happening around the diamond.
Single: A nice little win streak, mostly the sweep of the Rays, have the Red Sox dreaming of a turnaround.Yes, they’re better than .500.But no, they’re not good enough to sweep the Rays all year round.Look for a regress to the norm, but way to stave off selling the farm boys!
Double: The Cincinnati Reds are in sole possession of first place.This is not a misprint.The loveable losers (sorry, not you Cubs fans), are atop the NL Central podium for what feels like the first time in years, and they’re celebrating.And why not?It’s been 20 years since a World Series ring and they haven’t made the playoffs since ’95.With Phat Albert doing his best disappearing act (and still hitting over .300), the big boy at first has torn things up.The Central is going to be won on sheer power, and with Pujols struggling, there’s no power outage for the Reds.
Triple: Even though he can’t leg ‘em out anymore, and he was considered a wash-up and the odd man out in a very crowded outfield, Vlad The Impaler is back and doing what he does best for the not surprisingly AL West front running Rangers: raking.Leading baseball in RBI’s and amongst the leaders in homers, Vlad is taking a nice little victory lap in Arlington, giving the league a friendly reminder of why he’s so, so good.
Home Run: Ozzie Guillen, no matter what you do in your career as a manager (now that you have that ring, of course), you will always be quotable and entertaining.This little tirade following your ejection just goes to show your passion, drive, and really, just how funny it is to watch you blow up.No matter how relevant the state of your team, you, Mr. Guillen, will always hold a place in our hearts.
Strikin’ them out: Josh Johnson, the unheralded pitcher on the we-only-win-every-7-years Florida Marlins, is trying to bring some peace to the OTHER team from the sunshine state.Sitting pretty at 5-1 with an ERA under 2.50, Johnson is reminding us all of why the Marlins are able to go on the little tears that they do.With the Phillies recent struggles, the NL East is more open then ever (the Marlins are in LAST and still above .500 and down in the standings by under 5 games).If the fish are going to make a swim for the division title, look for JJ to be reelin’ um in (ok, I get it, too many fish jokes).
Popping Up: It’s not shocking that the Toronto Blue Jays are having trouble keeping pace in the 3-legged race that is the AL East.They’re still clobbering the ball like nobody’s business, leading the league in team homers, but the average is tinkering near the bottom.It was a nice little run from our Canadian friends, but without a truly stable pitching rotation and so many free swingers at the plate, it’ll take a bat and another arm for them to stay within striking distance as summer rolls in.
Caught Looking: If you missed baseball’s night games this week, you’re hardly at fault.With series finales of great shows like Lost and 24, there was plenty going on to excuse yourself.I mean, that’s what the Cubs did.Just a few days after celebrating the anniversary of the night time baseball game, the folks at Wrigley reminded us of why we couldn’t do so in the first place, treating us to a lovely blackout on the ivy.Of course, Wrigley wasn’t at fault, but this may be the most exciting thing to happen to the Cubs all year.
won the World Series in his first season as manager. He became well-known for the fits he had when arguing; primarily kicking dirt, throwing his hat, and throwing a base.
