Seeing as I have some extra time at work and taking cues from espn.com and foxsports.com here are some questions we are waiting to see answered in the second half.
1) Will the Rays make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history?
This is a debate bros at arms has been having for several weeks now. The Rays are talented, but young and their pitching still has some long-term questions. Scott Kazmir is the only member of the staff to throw 200 innings in a season. So how will the young arms produce in August and September in the late summer heat? Also, will management have the stones to go spend some dough at the trade deadline? The Rays would be scary good if they could land AJ Burnett or Joe Blanton. Matt Holiday would fit in well with the young environment in Tampa. (As a Sox fan I really hope that doesn't happen.) Right now, the Rays have a 2 1/2 game lead over the Twins 4 1/2 over the A's and 5 1/2 over the Yanks. If these 3 teams fail to make a run in the second half I could see the Rays in the playoffs and no one in the AL wants them in the first round.
2) Who will win the NL Central?
This division is going to turn into a brawl. The Brewers, with the recent addition of CC, and the Cubs with Rich Harden off the DL and a solid rotation clearly have the advantage. The Cards could be spoilers. If Chris Carpenter can give them 10 starts they could be trouble. I see the Cubs winning the division and the Brewers getting the wildcard. All three teams really should make the playoffs and the entire NL West should be religated to AA. That division is full of bums, the whole lot of 'em.
3) Can K-rod break the saves record?
This is one question I am pretty sure the of the answer. Yes. The guy is dominating he already has 38 saves in 41 attempts. Plus this is his contract year and when those baseball players see $$$ they go nuts. (I am looking at you Mike Lowell.) An added factor in this chase for 57 is that the Angels offense is anemic to say the least. So good pitching+bad hitting= lots of close games. Lots of close games= 60 saves for K-rod in 2008.
4) Will the Cubs finally win a World Series?
The Cubs are sick of loosing and are not messing around. With the aquisition of Dan Haren the Cubs made a statement, "This is the year to get it done." They have all the pieces in place and I would be surprised if they didn't get to the world series. (Unless they meet the aforementioned Brewers in the NLCS and CC and Ben Sheets throw 4-5 times in the series. Then who knows?) The question is what will the Cubbies do when they get to the series? With hardly any world series experience on the roster (with the exception of Jim Edmonds) what will they do when the pressure is on? And this is not normal world series pressure this is, God oh God I will jump on the L tracks if the Cubbies don't win it all this year. I know Bud Selig and the rest of baseball are hoping for a Sox/Cubs series and so am I.
Enjoy the second half of the season.
4 comments:
What is the historical significance of the saves record? I'm not sure how much I value the save as a statistic. Every pitcher should be able to get three outs at any given time, and yet they can't. I waffle on how much I think a save means. Think of it this way, is or has Trevor Hoffman ever been better than Mariano Rivera? It's not even close.
Hey, lay off the NL West! We have plenty of talent, it is just all on the pitching staffs. And Hoffman has been just about automatic in the 9th inning for over twelve years now. The only reason you say it isn't close is because Rivera has been on a far better team, and conversely done it in the playoffs.
As for saves, being a closer is kind of like being a number 1 starter. It is all mental.
It is all mental. That's why Rivera thrives time after time in big moments and Hoffman doesn't. Rivera gets more chances in those moments, but look at what Hoffman did with the playoffs on the line last season.
You were just writing two days ago that you are in bed by 9:30 every night, when Padres' games don't even start until 10:15 and Hoffman doesn't appear until after midnight east coast time.
I'm not saying Hoffman is better than Rivera, I am just saying it is a difficult argument to have when most people have seen Rivera pitch every other night for the past ten years and have seen Hoffman pitch maybe 2 innings over the same period.
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