Tigers striped

What's been a mess of a season for the Detroit Tigers just got a bit more messy. The Detroit Free Press says Joel Zumaya looks to be shutting it down for the rest of the year while Dontrelle Willis could end up pitching down the stretch.

If Detroit had any pitching, they'd be right there with the White Sox and the Twins. They don't have pitching, however, so they're right there by themselves.

Beckett gets good news

Considering he visited Dr. Andrews, this is probably the best news Josh Beckett and the Red Sox could've gotten. It looks like Beckett has a good chance of pitching again this season.

Go 'Cuse

Just wanted to point out that the Northwestern-Syracuse football opener is looking like a pretty good pitchers' duel. The Wildcats lead my alma mater, 3-2 in the second inning, er, quarter. Syracuse quarterback Andrew Robinson just threw the football across his endzone to nobody for a grounding penalty in the endzone. That's what gave NU its safety.

Update: Just saw the replay of the grounding call. Syracuse, backed up inside its own five, ran a single-receiver play off of play action. That left Robinson a single fly route to throw to. Somebody missed a block, and that was that. You wonder why Greg Robinson owns just seven wins over three seasons at the helm of the Orange.

Angels adding an infielder?

The injury woes the Angels have experienced in their middle infield corps this season is head-scratching. Maicer Izturis, Erick Aybar and Howie Kendrick visit the infirmary so often, they're all qualified as nurse practitioners.

LA is considering its options as the waiver trade deadline looms, and the Angels can use the help. Getting another option up the middle would be a good move considering Izturis is lost for the year, and can you really count on Kendrick lasting more than a month?

Bonds case heating up

It looks like the feds will go to any length to prosecute Barry Bonds. Greg Anderson may be forced to talk if his family is pressured. This is an interesting power-wrangling angle.

Phils step up, acquire Stairs

The Phillies acquisition of outfielder Matt Stairs is official, the Philadelphia Inquirer confirms. It sounds like he's a good fit in Philadelphia, and the Phillies gave up a 5'7" minor league pitcher to get him.

General manager Pat Gillick declined to comment yesterday, but it is easy to see why the club considered Stairs the best available option. While the 40-year-old, who is in his 16th major league season, might be near the end of his career, he hit 21 home runs in 357 at-bats last season. He has had tremendous success in limited action at Citizens Bank Park, hitting six home runs in 27 at-bats, while carrying a .444 career average there.

Stairs comes relatively cheap. The Phillies would owe him only a month's worth of his $2.5 million salary this season; his current 2-year contract calls for a $1 million salary next season.

Fantasy Impact: The Inquirer expects Stairs to be used as a pinch hitter. That means despite his good numbers, he'll be used too infrequently to make a serious play in fantasy.

Three hundreds

The Washington Nationals' four-game win streak has my prediction that the Nats would only win eleven more games in serious jeopardy. They have to go 5-22 to get it done.

Now I'm wondering if it's possible that the Nats actually manage to finish strong enough to avoid ending up with the worst record in baseball. Here's the relegation standings (I wish baseball would go English Soccer on the dogs of MLB sometimes):

Battle for MLB's worst record

Team---W---L---Pct.---GB
WSH---50---85--.370----
SEA----51---83--.381---1.5
SD-----51---82--.383---2

I don't see anyone else entering the race, quite honestly. My money is still on Washington, although all three of these teams could lose 100 games. This would be the first time three teams lose 100 games in the same season since 2002, when four teams turned the trick. That year Kansas City lost exactly 100. Tampa Bay, Detroit and Milwaukee all lost 106.

Not so artful Dodgers

The Dodgers continue to find ways to lose. Tonight it's a throwing error in the fifth by Nomar Garciaparra that allowed two unearned runs to score against Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda was on his way to a quality start, but instead only lasted through the fifth, leaving with his team behind, 4-2. Arizona has since opened things up to 8-3 in the eighth.

If LA loses this game, they'll have dropped eight straight heading into the final Sunday of August. They'll stand 4 1/2 games behind the first-place Diamondbacks having demoted 20-year-old savior starter Clayton Kershaw to the minors.

It's time to say these Dodgers are no longer on the playoff train. They just got hit by one in the desert.

Sox and Sox still sexy

While everyone loves the Angels and the Rays right now, something tells me the Red Sox-White Sox battle this weekend could be a preview of the American League Championship Series. Just a hunch.

Boston certainly handled its business in the first meeting between the two teams, whipping the White Sox 8-0. Daisuke Matsuzaka was nearly flawless against a sometimes potent, sometimes impotent Chicago offense, working eight innings and striking out seven while not allowing a run.

The Red Sox lineup produced perfectly. Leadoff man Jacoby Ellsbury scored a run even without a hit. Second and third hitters Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz combine for seven hits and five runs between them. Fourth and Fifth hitters Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay eached knocked in three RBI. Newly acquired Mark Kotsay batted sixth and tallied his first RBI. It was exactly how Terry Francona drew it up.

Boston might sit behind Tampa in the East. They might lose Josh Beckett for an extended period of time. Something tells me they're still the team to beat in the division. As for Chicago, the White Sox have Minnesota nipping at their heels just a game behind. I'm shocked the Twins are even in the running, honestly. I know they're a trendy pick, but like all fads, this one will fizzle before we hit the final week of the regular season.

Cards crashing

With both the Cubs and Brewers winning and the Cardinals losing, it appears St. Louis is fading away from contention in both the NL Central and the wild card race.

The Cubs earned their seventh straight victory, 3-2 over Philly, giving them eight wins in their last 10 games. Milwaukee's 3-1 win over the Pirates pulls the Brewers 5 1/2 games ahead of the third place Cardinals while St. Louis's 3-2 loss to Houston leaves the Redbirds a distant wild card hopeful still danger of slipping behind Philadelphia for second place in that race.

St. Louis better come up with something special in September, because it looks like slow death from here. The role players they've rotated into to the starting lineup appear an ill fit for postseason contention.

Twins lose a half-game

Oakland's Kurt Suzuki doubled in the walk-off run as Oakland beats Minnesota, 3-2. The Twins drop a half game in the standings, falling to 1 1/2 games behind the White Sox in the AL Central.

Still thinking the Twins have slide potential down the stretch. They're not a great offensive team, and their pitchers are young. The Sox can mash, even if they struggle to hit for average, and their veteran staff might help in September.

McCarthy mac daddy

Brandon McCarthy's second start for the Texas Rangers proves that much more impressive than his first. McCarthy's line against the Angels:

6 IP | 6 H | 2 R | 1 ER | 1 BB | 2 K | 1 HR | 1.80 ERA

That beats the four innings, four walks from his Saturday outing against Cleveland -- his first appearance since September, 2007.

Update: The Texas bullpen blows McCarthy's lead in the 8th, giving up 5 runs. Jamey Wright is credited with four of them as Texas falls, 7-5.

Fantasy Impact: Big things have been expected from McCarthy for years now. He might be able to give you a little boost down the stretch, if his bullpen can hold leads.

Postseason schedule

The MLB postseason schedule is out.

Oct. 1 (on TBS): Game 1 of both NL series; game 1 of Al series between two division champions
Oct. 2 (on TBS): Game 2 of both NL series; game 1 of Al series between division champion and wild-card team
Oct. 3 (on TBS): Game 2 of both AL series
Oct. 4 (on TBS): Game 3 of both NL series
Oct. 5 (on TBS/TNT): Game 4 of both NL series; Game 3 of both AL series
Oct. 6 (on TBS): Game 4 of both AL series
Oct. 7 (on TBS): Game 5 of both NL series
Oct 8 (on TBS): Game 5 of both AL series

Oct. 9: NLCS game 1 (on Fox)
Oct. 10: NLCS game 2 (on Fox); ALCS Game 1 (on TBS)
Oct. 11: ALCS Game 2 (on TBS)
Oct. 12: NLCS game 3 (on Fox)
Oct. 13: NLCS game 4 (on Fox); ALCS Game 3 (on TBS)
Oct. 14: ALCS Game 4 (on TBS)
Oct. 15: NLCS game 5 (on Fox)
Oct. 16: ALCS Game 5 (on TBS)
Oct. 17: NLCS game 6 (on Fox)
Oct. 18: NLCS game 7 (on Fox); ALCS Game 6 (on TBS)
Oct. 19: ALCS Game 7 (on TBS)

Oct. 22: World Series Game 1 (on Fox)
Oct. 23: World Series Game 2 (on Fox)
Oct. 25: World Series Game 3 (on Fox)
Oct. 26: World Series Game 4 (on Fox)
Oct. 27: World Series Game 5 (on Fox)
Oct. 29: World Series Game 6 (on Fox)
Oct. 30: World Series Game 7 (on Fox)

Here's wishing for some weekend World Series day games, and knowing that will probably never happen again.

Local Sports?

I'm writing this week from a hotel room in rain-soaked Orlando. Tropical Storm Fay is appropriately named. With the historic amounts of rain she's dumping on eastern and central Florida, Fay makes me think of the late Tammy Faye Bakker/Messner welling up and splashing her mascara all over her face.

What makes me want to cry tonight, or at least blog, is the nature of the local sports scene here in Orlando. The local TV guy on the NBC station (I didn't catch his name) just ran a ton of olympic highlights but didn't run a single play of baseball. The first-place Rays played the first-place Angels just a couple of hours down the interstate from here. Where was the coverage? Not even a couple of game highlights? I understand there's a tropical storm, but they still played baseball. You should get something out of St. Petersburg tonight. The Marlins, who are in the playoff hunt, were several innings into their game in San Francisco. No love for them, either. What gives? I get your station thinks the Olympics matter because they're an NBC affiliate, but I'm guessing local sports matter to the locals, too. Figure it out.

The unimportant milestone of the day brought to you by...

MLB.com! A story from baseball's website talks about Derek Jeter tying Roger Maris on the Yankees all-time home run list. Maris, who belted 61 in 1961 (conspiracy theorists never read into 61 in '61 - why not!?) to set a new Major League record, only ended up with 203 for his career. That's not very many. In fact, when Jeter was asked about tying Maris for 11th on the Yankees list, even he wasn't impressed.

"I guess I'm a home run hitter now, right?" Jeter said with a smile. "No, I don't hit too many. They're few and far between."

This sort of thing deserves a blurb in the game notes, not a full story.

Dear Terry Francona,

It is time to remove Clay Buchholz from your rotation. He's terrible. At 2-9 it looks like he's pitching for the Washington Nationals, not the contending Boston Red Sox. Maybe Boston won't contend much longer if he continues to start.

Unlikely duel

The wind blew in from center, and Bronson Arroyo and Ted Lilly both took advantage. Both worked seven innings, but the Reds starter gave up just one run to Lilly's two in an unlikely pitchers duel at Wrigley. 2-1 the final.

Fantasy Impact: These are two of the most enigmatic fantasy pitchers around. They mix great and terrible starts, and their worst stuff can ruin your fantasy staff's entire week. Avoid them, unless you see a good match up.

Rare Jair

Jair Jurrjens continues to struggle to win games. Even when he pitches well the Braves rookie right-hander can't seem to do enough to win, but tonight he struggled mightily early. With five runs in the first, four of them earned, Jurrjens allowed the Mets to sprint by and never look back. Jurrjens pitched only five innings. He's now won once since July 25th.

On the others side Mike Pelfrey went the distance, allowing three runs. He's now 12-8. David Wright hit his 24th home run.

Swatting the Nats

I'm going on record as the first person to say the Washington Nationals will lose exactly 107 games this year. That's 55-107, or just 11 more wins the rest of the way. Just a hunch.

My, My, Myers

Brett Myers continues his impressive run. The Phillies resurgent starter goes a full nine innings, striking out nine, beating the Nationals 4-0. Yes, this is the Nationals. Yes, this is at home, but it's also impressive. After a loss at the Mets on June 23, Myers ERA was 5.82. Now, after five quality starts, it's down to 4.71.

Fantasy Impact: Myers was on the fantasy scrapheap in many leagues, which tells you how frustrating the talented pitcher has been this year. If he's still available, scoop him up. There's still a chance your league got tired of charting his poor performances and missed the recent brilliance.

Just another win

Manny Parra looked terrible, but he got the win. Rickie Weeks scored three runs in one official at bat. Bill Hall, in for the slow-to-heal Ryan Braun, struck out four times in four at bats. JJ Hardy hit home run number 19. Otherwise it was a pretty ho-hum day for the Brewers, who beat Houston, 5-2.

Fantasy Impact: You have to like Hardy at short. He runs hot and cold, but at a position where you don't expect a ton of production after the top three or four players, he's a pretty gifted player. Drop Bill Hall, and hope Braun is back to form in time for September.

Diamondbacks consider multiple moves

This article covers everything, including all the machinations of the potential D'backs moves, but here's the summary:

1. Juston Upton returns from the DL to play right field.
2. Adam Dunn moves from right field to lieft field.
3. Conor Jackson returns from left field to first base.
4. Chad Tracy crosses the diamond from first to third.
5. Mark Reynolds goes from third to second base for injured Orlando Hudson.

I'm exhausted. This might work.

Fantasy Impact: Considering Reynolds can hit tons of home runs, his value at second would make a big impact. That is, only if he can avoid one of his dramatic slumps.

Atlanta hot on Glavine

Tom Glavine not only doesn't have ligament damage in his injured elbow, he also wants to return next year. Glavine, however, only wants to return to Atlanta, and manager Bobby Cox is on board.

“We’ll see what happens afterward,” manager Bobby Cox said Wednesday. “I hope so. Before he got hurt he was pitching lights out.”

The only way I see Glavine back in Atlanta next year is if the Braves are rebuilding. He's really getting up there in age and can't be considered reliable anymore. Atlanta looks terrible right now, so maybe that's the case.

Umps jump on board

It sounds like the umpires got a chance to review how replay will work, and they liked it. That was fast.

Twins, Sox win

Chasing the White Sox by a game in the A.L. Central, Minnesota edged Oakland, 3-1 on Wednesday. The White Sox followed with a 15-3 pasting of Seattle.

There's been a lot made of the Twins' chances recently, but I must say I'm not of the opinion that they'll be hanging around much longer. Minnesota has no pop. They're near the bottom of the league in home runs and slugging, and although Francisco Liriano is back, their pitching staff is pretty average outside of closer Joe Nathan. I'll be surprised if they're within 4 games of the White Sox by season's end. They just can't keep the pace.

Giants awfully small at third

Now that the Giants have dealt Jose Castillo to Houston, here's a recent article addressing their potential options at the position. Good luck, San Francisco. This is a mess.

Fantasy Impact: No thank you on Giants third basemen until next year.

Castillo to Houston

The Astros make another underwhelming move, acquiring Jose Castillo from the Giants. With Ty Wigginton in the outfield, Castillo's got a shot to play third base.

Fantasy Impact: Castillo is unimpressive at the plate, especially for a corner infielder, but he's in a better lineup now, so keep an eye on him in case he warms a bit down the stretch. He can be a stopgap if he improves a bit.

Pumping umps

Umpires voiced their concerns over instant replay by not using their voice at all, ditching a conference call with MLB. Baseball needs an agreement with the union in order to implement replay. Umpires are upset with procedural issues.

"Major League Baseball needs to step up to the plate and iron out these issues."

Considering that other sports like football and basketball have been using replay for many years now, baseball's been hasty about implementing the system this year. It's not like they couldn't do this in the previous offseason, or even years before, and they better make sure everyone and everything is right before moving forward. It's a good thing that umps want to get things right before baseball saddles itself with a potential problem. Give umps credit for taking pause here.

Fire whom?

The Denver Posts asks Rockies' ownership to bring back management for one more year, and then, maybe, fire itself.

I understand that some sarcasm is used in this piece in order to convey that ownership is as much as fault for the Rockies' losing ways as management is, but I can't stand it when people say ownership should be fired. It's not funny. It's stupid. Shut up and saddle yourself with the fact that some people own the means of production, and you're not one of them. Ownership has control. They'll run the team as they see fit. It is their prerogative to do with their team what they will. Denver Post, you're on the sideline, commenting, and hoping even your lamest columns stick.

Oh, and stop campaigning for Mark Cuban, too.

A deep-pocketed owner with a thirst for winning, and even the spotlight, could be king in this market.

This sort of stuff is for callers on talk radio shows, not opinion columns in a printed newspaper.

Stretch Impact: steals

Now hitting .229 after a another 1-for day (he's gone 1-for something for the past five games - a vast improvement over going 0-for something the previous handful of games), Emilio Bonifacio should remain on your radar. While he hasn't stolen a base since August 7th, Bonifacio hasn't given himself many chances in the past 10 days.

All he needs is an offensive hot streak, and he'll be burning up the basepaths again. Just check out his minor league numbers to see what damage he can do.

Twinkies on tap

Not your typical fundraiser in Minneapolis. What do you tip a MLB-playing waiter, anyway? 15%? 20%?

Do they need a tip?

Honey vs. Pine Tar

If these guys use honey, could it possibly be better for grip than pine tar? Just wondering.

I've always wanted to do this

Which MLB team is tops in rotisserie play fantasy baseball? TSN's Eric Ferguson crunched the numbers and come up with the Cubs.

I think a head-to-head 162-game season between opponents would be more interesting. In a 5X5 (5 hitting and 5 pitching categories) league you might be able to come up with almost the exact standings as MLB by the end of the season.

Yankees rake

After starter Mike Mussina gives up three in the first, the Yankees explode for six of their own. That's followed up with four more in the second for a 10-3 lead on Kansas City.

A-Rod and Jason Giambi each hit three-run homers.

Lincecum OK, ready to go

After taking a line drive off his knee in his latest start, Tim Lincecum insists he'll make his next one.

Though his manager and teammates seemed thrilled the injury wasn't more serious, Lincecum said he never thought he sustained a fracture. He left the field upset because he couldn't pitch anymore. The 41/3-inning stint was his shortest start of the season.

"It's like hitting the funny bone," Lincecum said. "All your nerves go stupid. When I tried to step on it, it was a step on a non-existent leg."

The young pitching phenom has proved remarkably durable in his short career despite wild pitching mechanics. Now he's bouncing back from what was a scary injury. Start him in all leagues.

Dickerson coming along slowly

If you hoped Reds rookie Chris Dickerson would get a starting spot and run with it over te final two months of the season, not so fast. It looks like Cincinnati is going to slowly bring him along.

Dickerson has had some problems with lefties in the Minors," Baker said. "You have to try and protect him and his confidence and try to put him in a better possible situation to succeed."

On Tuesday, Dickerson went 1-for-4 with a double, a walk, a stolen base and a run scored.

"Dickerson will be back in there tomorrow against [Ian] Snell," Baker said.

The Reds dived right in with Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Johnny Cueto and Homer Bailey when those players came up. After mixed success rates, they'll go slower with Dickerson, who is not nearly as heralded as Cincinnati's top prospects. He still might earn a starting spot down the stretch, so keep an eye on him.

Diamond Brothers

Adam and Andy LaRoche, the prize brother corner infielding duo for the Pirates, are set to play together for this first time. Both have faced injuries. Both seem finally healthy enough to play the rest of the way.

Fantasy Impact: Adam, the first baseman, was finally heating up after a slow start (just like last year), when he was hurt. Andy, who suffered from two thumb injuries this season, is hitting under .200, but has major-league pop. Give him a whirl. You never know down the stretch.

MLB close to implement Instant Replay?

Instant Replay is close to becoming used for disputed home run calls.

It's not an action item on the agenda and a vote by the 30 clubs is not necessary for Selig to move forward and implement it, DuPuy said. Substantial time has been spent by baseball operations on developing the plan since the collective general managers endorsed it with a 25-5 vote at their annual meetings late last year.

"There's no vote, there won't be a vote," DuPuy said. "It's not a rule change. What is there to be voted on? In his role as chief executive, the Commissioner has the power of negotiating with the unions for the players and umpires to get it done. There's no opposition to it [from the owners]. At least I haven't heard of any.

"It is on the [Thursday] agenda and we continue to work on it and continue to discuss it."

If there's no need for a vote, they might as well push it through as soon as possible. Umpires already take a long time making up their minds on balls that wrap around the foul pole, etc. The instant replay process wouldn' take much, if any, longer.

A third of the scoring

After producing 36 runs on Tuesday night the Red Sox and Rangers came back to earth a bit. The two teams still produced 12 runs in an 8-4 BoSox victory at Fenway. After all of thoe three-run homers on took Boston to a 19-17 win on Tuesday, not a single Red Sox player hit one on Wednesday. Milton Bradley and Ian Kinsler both went deep for Texas. Bradley, suffering from nagging injuries of late, hit his 20th.

Kevin Youkilis stays hot for Boston with three hits, three runs and two RBI.

No mercy from Purcey

Blue Jays David Purcey had it purring against the Tigers. The Blue Jays rookie shutout what was supposed to be the best lineup in baseball for six innings, striking out four and giving up two hits in a 4-3 win. It's Purcey's second win in six starts.

David Eckstein produced three hits and scored a run. Vernon Wells knocked him in as part of a third inning grand clam.

Fantasy Impact: Purcey is intriguing. He produced pretty good minor league numbers but hasn't really put it together in MLB until now. He's going to have to show some consistency before he's worth picking up.

Eckstein is one of the worst fantasy middle infielders and likely available in most leagues. Wells has played well his year. It's too bad he's been injured so often that he's only produced 10 home runs.

10 in three

That's what the Mets did to Washington tonight. Through three innings, New York produced ten runs, including eight in the third.

In that inning, the Mets scored two run on walks and four more on hits. The Nationals had four hits all night in a 12-0 thumping in D.C. Daniel Murphy and Fernando Tatis combined for five hits in 11 at bats. They scored four runs and knocked in five.

Sox-cess

Javier Vazquez snapped back from his latest start to post 10 strikeouts in a 9-0 White Sox pasting of Kansas City. Now teammate Mark Buehrle KO's KC. Buehrle works seven innings, striking out five and scattering five hits as the Sox blank KC again, 4-0.

Fantas Impact: Buehrle has had a good season. He earns victory number 10 and drops his ERA to 3.77. Buehrle gets shelled once every few weeks, but if you pick your spots correctly, he's a solid middle- to back-end fantasy option.

Central of attention

The top five teams in the National League Central are all in the midst of winning streaks. That includes the Houston Astros, winners of seven straight with a 6-2 comeback victory in San Francisco.

The Cubs won two games today in Atlanta, temporarily pushing Milwaukee four games back in the standings. The Brewers, who have also won four straight, play San Diego tonight.

The only team in the Central on a losing streak is Cincinnati, which lost to division rival Pittsburgh, and was was coming off a win of its own.

Crawford out for year?

Carl Crawford will undergo surgery on his finger, which he hurt merely swinging a bat. This puts the rest of his season in serious jeopardy.

Fantasy Impact: He's likely your top source for speed, so it's time to go shopping for the remainder of the season. Crawford had a subpar season by his standards, and his value may be low enough to steal him outside of the top five rounds of a draft next year. Keep an eye on the waiver wire in case somebody makes the mistake of letting him go. He's good enough to keep, but not a high-round selection anymore.

Bigger than Big Papi

As great as David Ortiz's first inning was Wednesday night (two three-run homers in the first inning alone), it's still not the best single inning of baseball by a hitter.

Don't forget Fernando Tatis, who hit two grand slams in a single inning back on April 23, 1999.

And you thought you were die-hard

Stumbled on this little ditty in the Detroit Free Press. They credit Forbes.com with this list of "most loyal" and "least loyal" fan bases in baseball.

The five most loyal group of fans:

1. Texas Rangers
2. Boston Red Sox
3. Atlanta Braves
4. Chicago Cubs
5. Pittsburgh Pirates

The five least loyal group of fans:

1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
2. Detroit Tigers
3. Oakland A’s
4. Minnesota Twins
5. Philadelphia Phillies

There are certainly different ways of measuring loyalty, and you'll have to read the article to review Forbes' criteria. I'm just surprised that the Braves and Pirates showed up in the top five "most loyal" fan bases. Atlanta has a hard time selling out post season games.

Guillen likes Garcia to Tigers, but not to Sox

Freddy Garcia got picked up by the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday, even though his fastball was said to be topping out in the mid-80's.

I personally asked his former manager/uncle (by marriage) Ozzie Guillen, about Garcia's signing. Guillen said he's happy for his family member, and then said he thinks Garcia would've been a good pickup for the White Sox next year. "My daugther-in-law's got more money," Guillen said.

Fantasy Impact: I'd steer clear of Garcia. He's been hurting for a long time, and it took the Tigers a while to make a move on him. Like Guillen said, it looks like he's better suited to pitch at a high level next year.

Crawford out, Rocco returns

Rocco Baldelli is finally back from his chronic fatigue issues, but the precursor to his return is a DL stint for Carl Crawford. Crawford, who's battled leg issues, hits the disabled list with a hand problem.

Fantasy Impact: Baldelli can be a conributor immediately, and the Rays could use his right handed bat. Crawford's been a disappointment all year, and a hand injury is nothing to sneeze at. Sometimes those problems can linger long enough to foul up a couple months of a season or more. If that becomes the case here, that's his season.

Contreras done for year

Jose Contreras is a pretty tough guy. Rupturing his achilles tendon while trying to cover first base on an infield hit by Jacoby Ellsbury, Contreras looked to be in pain, but actually got up and walked himself off the field. He's done for the year, but the way he handled himself you almost had hope that he could pitch again this season. That's not happening.

Zambrano Glaused

The Cardinals are killing the Cubs at Wrigley after hitting four home runs off of Carlos Zambrano. Big Z looked erratic. He struggled to locate his pitches and served up two rocket shots to Cardinals third baseman Troy Glaus.

Fantasy Impact: Earlier this year, I wrote that Scott Rolen will be the more valuable player in the Cardinals-Blue Jays trade this off season. How badly I was mistaken. Troy Glaus is proving to be almost the player he was before his injury problems. Glaus now has 21 home runs, and has been a stalwart in the middle of the Cardinals' lineup.

Wainwright to help waning bullpen

The Cardinals are grooming Adam Wainwright for a return to the bullpen once he returns from a rehab assignment.

"They've pretty much told me that they are grooming me down here to pitch in the back end (of the game) up there," Wainwright said after 27 pitches and an uneven two-thirds of an inning at Autozone Park. "They've made it clear to me that I'm down here for a reason, and that's to get ready to get guys out in the last inning or two. That's what I'm doing.

"Until they call and tell me otherwise," the righthander continued, "mentally I'm preparing myself to be in the bullpen."

By the time he gets back with the team the Cardinals might be out of the race.

Fantasy Impact: Whenever he returns, Wainwright will be a candidate for an immdediate impact in saves. The Cardinals need someone to step in and own that position. It will be interesting to see if they keep him there heading into next season.

Todd Jones - on the radar

With the Detroit bullpen still looking messy at best, it sounds like Kyle Farnsworth is not even in the conversation for closing games at this point. The job is still Fernando Rodney's, and with Joel Zumaya potentially heading for instruction on his curveball, could Todd Jones be back in the picture soon? Jones says he wants the role back when he returns from the DL, and Jim Leyland's latest quote is very Jones-friendly.

"Todd Jones has taken a lot of heat -- and I'm not looking to pick an argument with fans or anybody else -- but it's always easy to see somebody have a good night and say, 'Close with that guy,' " Leyland said. "It doesn't work that way. We're finding that out. ... People realize how tough Todd Jones' job has been, and what a hell of a job that guy has done."

Spitting Seeds wouldn't be surprised if Jones re-inherits the role from Rodney by the end of August.

Field of Dreams: China

MLB will pull out all the stops to get baseball back in the olympics after 2008. Now they're looking forward to a foothold for the sport in China thanks to the Beijing games.

Dropped from the Summer Games program after Beijing, baseball may have struck out as an Olympic sport but MLB still believes it can hit a home run in China where it has already invested millions trying to tap into 1.3 billion potential baseball fans.

"The Yankees the Dodgers are among the teams who have already made investments here," said Bob Watson, Major League Baseball's vice-president of on field operations and Team USA general manager.

"Major League Baseball thinks this is an untapped market just like basketball has.

"When you have over a billion people there has to be some people here, who with the proper instruction and development, can play at the professional level.

"The television market is huge. There are more TVs here than there are people in the United States."

The article goes on to talk about baseball's rises and falls in China in the past. It's great that MLB wants to grow the game, but it's funny how much import is suddenly being paid to the olympics. While it's a great place to market the game to foreign countries, and especially China, few americans will even notice what the U.S. team does in Beijing. The olympics seem outdated to me. The amateur nature of the olympic games is no longer of interest to me, and I question most of the results due to the inability to screen for new performance-enhancing drugs.

Baseball in the olympics means we can check out a few minor league stars to see how they're coming along for the future, but how do we know how good the competition is? Is it a fair trial of their abilities given that they're playing halfway around the world against competition they've likely never seen before? Olympic baseball is a loose structure, and it's not worth the time of fully digesting. It goes away in a month, and it won't return perhaps forever. I'm a rabid baseball fan, but I won't be paying much attention to the sport in Beijing. Will you?

Bud selective

Bud Selig is choosing to investigate the Manny Ramirez trade.

Bud Selig has ordered an investigation into Manny Ramirez's split with the Boston Red Sox, according to a report in the Boston Globe.

The paper reports a source directly linked to the investigation says Bud Selig has directed Major League Baseball executive vice president Rob Manfred to contact everyone involved in the trade to the Dodgers for individual accounts of how the transaction unfolded.

What's to investigate? Doesn't the commissioner's office have to sign off on these deals in the first place? Selig looks more and more bungling each passing day.

Here comes... everyone!

Aaron Harang takes the proper steps to get back with the Reds.

Travis Hafner and Josh Barfield working to return.

V Mart is doing all he can to play again.

All three of these stories posted at MLB.com at the same moment. Odd.

Upton benched for not hustling

Run out your grounders, kids. Not only might you eventually beat one out, you also might avoid getting benched, as B.J. Upton did Wednesday. Joe Maddon is the perfect manager for this young Tampa Bay Rays. He's tough, he's smart and he's committed.

In other Rays news, Dioner Navarro hit a home run for the second straight day. Those are his first two home runs since June 20th.

27 for 27

Brad Lidge closed out his 27th save in 27 chances in a 2-1 Phillies win in St. Louis. Lidge allowed a runner into scoring position, but got out of the jam with a strikeout of Rick Ankiel, Lidge's second of the inning.

Fantasy Impact: Brad Lidge is the second best closer in baseball after K-Rod. Who could've expected this after last year's debacle?

Brewers Bushed

The Brewers name Dave Bush their fifth starter for the rest of the season, demoting Seth McClung to the bullpen. This ends a home/road platoon between the two pitchers.

"I told them both I wanted to try this and if it wasn't good for either one of them that I would have to make a decision, so that's what we did," manager Ned Yost said. "It was kind of getting to both of them a little bit. I just think that it's better to do it this way."

Fantasy Impact: If you have space, keep McClung around, as Bush runs hot and cold. Bush's home ERA of 3.30 is 3.65 points better than his road mark. This move upgrades him from fringe starter to a number five or six in fantasy play.

Lilly out duels Maholm

Paul Maholm loses for just the second time sine May 20th as the Cubs play "small ball" to beat the Pirates, 5-1. Ted Lilly picks up win number 11, striking out five in 6 1/3 innings while allowing one earned run. Maholm gave up five runs in six innings, allowing 10 base runners.

Fantasy Impact: Lilly and Maholm are nice number four starters on good baseball teams. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, Maholm is the best they've got. Lilly settles in behind Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden and Ryan Dempster in Chicago. As for fantasy play, these two are no better than number five guys on a good team.

Postseason predictions

Now that the big deals are done, it is time to make a few guesses at how the rest of 2008 plays out. Here's Spitting Seeds' selections for the postseason.

American League

AL East: Boston Red Sox - Manny is gone, the staff is stronger than New York, and Tampa failed to get a right-handed bat in the outfield.

AL Central: Chicago White Sox - They have to keep hitting homers to get it done. Minnesota will pester them to the end.

AL West: Los Angeles Angels - Nobody in that division can catch them.

Wild Card: Tampa Bay Rays - Just enough pitching to hold off the Yankees, even if the BoSox catch them for the division.

National League

NL East: Philadelphia Phillies - The starting lineup, as powerful as they come, needs to stay healthy.

NL Central: Chicago Cubs - The Brewers lost four games to Chicago at home in a four-game sweep. They've got an outside chance, but aren't consistent enough.

NL West: Arizona Diamondbacks - The best pitching staff in the National League will be hard to catch, even if the Dodgers got Manny.

NL Wild Card: Milwaukee Brewers - Sheets and Sabathia are hard to beat. The Marlins, Mets and Cardinals might be able to scrap, but Milwaukee's too tough.

Gardenhire clipped a game

Ron Gardenhire earned a one-game suspesion after getting thrown out the other night arguing balls and strikes.

Royals scramble at second

Mark Grudzielanek hit the 15-day DL with a severly sprained ankle. The Royals called up infielder Jason Smith form Triple-A Omaha. He's hit 20 homers, but strikes out a lot (128 times in 423 at bats). His average is just .253.

Fantasy Impact: German offers stolen bases and not much more. Smith is a minor league journeyman. He's 31, and he's played eight straight seasons at Triple-A. Don't expect much from him, although he might earn playing time while Grudzielanek is out.

Pirates waste no time

Pittsburgh has three newcomers in the lineup today: pitcher Jeff Karstens (from Yankees), third baseman Andy LaRoche (Dodgers) and right fielder Brandon Moss (Red Sox).

Karstens got through the first inning without giving up a hit against the talented Cubs lineup. LaRoche singled up the middle off the glove of Ronny Cedeno and later scored. Moss struck out.

The Pirates got these guys right into the lineup, hoping to learn whether they can help reverse 15 straight seasons of losing baseball. With a record of 50-58, Pittsburgh's in danger of equaling an old Phillies team with the losingest stretch in major sports history, 16 consecutive seasons of losing.

Howling for strikeouts

Never knew this before, but Cubs TV announcer Len Kasper says MLB umpire Jim Wolf is pitcher Randy Wolf's brother. The must've made sure that Jim was rotated away from Padres games while Randy was with San Diego. I wonder how that impacted Jim's schedule when Randy was moved to Houston before the trade deadline.

Jim's howling balls and strikes today in Chicago for the Cubs-Pirates tilt at Wrigley. Actually, he has a silent strike call. Too bad.

Zito - good enough to throw BP

Barry Zito threw batting practice Thursday for the Giants, a day before his latest start.

In his unfortunately ceaseless quest to get things right, Barry Zito pitched what amounted to a simulated game against the Giants' hitters rather than throw a normal side session in the bullpen. This is old school. When teams had four-man rotations, pitchers usually threw full-speed batting practice.

"It's always a great benefit throwing against hitters in game situations," said Zito, coming off a loss against Arizona in which he allowed six runs and five walks in five innings. "It's something I've done in the past in Oakland here or there. I've got 30 pitches on the side. Why not take advantage of the guys and get their feedback?"

Give the guy credit for trying everything and anything to get things right, but at this point nothing is working. Zito's lost 13 games this season, putting him in jeopardy of losing 20 before all is said and done.

Dump Dunc

The Cardinals release new information on once-slugging outfielder Chris Duncan. Duncan's been on the DL sine July 22nd with a bulging disc in his back. Now that's been downgraded to herniated disc.

Though Duncan's initial treatment has consisted of a series of injections, surgery is often required to address a herniated, or ruptured, disk, which is considered more serious than a bulging disk. A club source on Thursday suggested Duncan likely would require corrective surgery.

He's not coming back any time soon.

Fantasy Impact: At this point, little. Duncan did look like a nice fourth outfielder at the year's outset after he hit 22 and 21 homers the past two seasons. This year, however, he never got on track, hitting just six homers in 222 at bats. Leave him alone until next spring.

Brand new Nats

The Washington Nationals might have a brand new middle infield tonight against the Cincinnati Reds. The Nats dealt for Yankees reserve shortstop Alberto Gonzalez and then released Jose Lopez. Lopez had been starting for injured Cristian Guzman.

At second, look for Emilio Bonifacio (acquired in Jon Rauch trade with Arizona), who was recalled on Friday. Bonifacio is a speed demon and could unseat Ronnie Belliard for a starting job. The Nats have little to play for, so it could be audition time.

Pirates love Morris

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says scouts glow about pitcher Bryan Morris (acquired in the Jason Bay deal) and his upside.

"The sky could be the limit for this kid," said Danny Darwin, the former Pirates pitcher who is Great Lakes' pitching coach.
...
"This kid is definitely a big league prospect," Darwin said. "He just needs to refine what he has."

Morris, 6-3, 190, throws his fastball 96-97 mph "on a good day," Darwin said, adding that his curve and slider are "swing-and-miss" pitches.

The Pirates are also high on Brandon Moss, and it sounds like he'll get a shot to start in left field.

Nomar defends Manny

Manny Ramirez wasn't the first player to leave Boston in a huff, and former/current teammate Nomar Garciaparra in Los Angeles is the first to come to his defense.

"The Red Sox don't deserve a player like me," Ramirez told ESPN the other day. "During my years here, I've seen how they have mistreated other great players when they didn't want them, to try to turn the fans against them.

"The Red Sox did the same with guys like Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez, and now they do the same with me. Their goal is to paint me as the bad guy."

This could be Manny being Manny. Or this could be the Red Sox being the Red Sox.

"There's a lot of truth to what he said," Garciaparra said at his Dodger Stadium locker Thursday, two hours after the Dodgers acquired Ramirez. "I can definitely understand and relate. Maybe he'll be next to me [in an adjacent locker], and we can chat and laugh about it."

I actually had a friend covering the Red Sox when Garciaparra was traded away. There was a lot written, good and bad, about Nomar at that time, but I'll never forget what my buddy told me: "Nomar is a cancer."

Dinner and Dessert

There are two games of the day.

The early one has the Angels sending Ervin Santana (11-5) to the hill attempting to make it five straight wins over AL East stalwarts Boston and New York. They should. The Yankees counter with shaky Sidney Ponson (6-2). This is more of a test to see if LA can win a game they're supposed to win after doing the unthinkable in sweeping Boston at Fenway and out-hitting the Yankees in the Bronx.

The late one features The D'backs at the Dodgers. Arizona opened a two-game lead over Los Angeles with a win at Dodger Stadium, but now the reinforcements arrive. Manny Ramirez and Clayton Kershaw go up against Randy Johnson. That's 20-year-old power-lefty Kershaw (1-3) going up against 44-year-old power-lefty Johnson (8-7). What a matchup!

Honorable mention: The Phillies and Cole Hamels 9-6) visit the Cardinals and Kyle Lohse (12-3) in a battle of two teams who could end up fighting for the NL Wild Card.

Friday Debuts

Two pitchers make debuts tonight for their respective ball clubs.

Jeff Karstens, acquired in the Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte deal with the Yankees, starts for the Pirates against the Cubs at Wrigley. He owns a 3-5 record and 5.65 ERA in 15 MLB outings. He's made nine starts at the Major League level. Karsten's opponent is the Cubs' Jason Marquis

Raymond Thomas Hunter makes his MLB debut for the Rangers tonight against the Blue Jays Shaun Marcum. He goes by Tommy, so don't be confused. He's had some success in the minors, albeit modest success by prospect standards. In his most recent stop at Triple-A Oklahoma, Hunter went 2-2 in five starts with a 3.24 ERA. He's not a strikeout artist and says one tiny adjustment is the reason for his recent success in the minors.

"The only big difference is learning to keep the ball down, keep it in the bottom half of the strike zone instead of thigh high where it gets crushed. It really came from the first four starts when I was in Bakersfield. I had to learn quick (after posting a 5.14 ERA). That's one big part of being able to win in professional baseball, keep the ball down."

This might be a one-start opportunity for Hunter.