Junior Circuit, not Griffey Jr.

99 wins, 72 losses. That's the American League's interleague record after outplaying the National League again Monday night to the tune of a 4-1 mark. Only Arizona's narrow 2-1 win over Boston got the N.L. on the board. The A.L now owns a winning percentage of .579 or a record of 94-68 if the two sides played one another over 162 games.

Looking at those numbers, interleague records would be a much better way of awarding home-field advantage in the World Series than rewarding the All-Star game league winner. The American League is a much tougher group of teams, therefore the winner of that league deserves to have one more World Series game at home.

While the N.L. still has a shot to earn that extra home game, they are less-likely to have the better team of stars on the field at the start of the Midsummer Classic. Ken Griffey Junior is getting voted into the Senior Circuit's starting lineup along with his well-below-average .249 batting average. His inclusion is just another strike against this bumbling system. Here are several others.

Rockies rolled in KC

The Colorado Rockies scored four runs on just six hits Monday Night and still managed to leave 14 runners on base in an 8-4 loss at Kansas City. Matt Holliday did most of the damage for the visitors with two hits in three at bats, including his ninth home run.

The Royals went deep three times. Mark Teahen (8) and Jose Guillen (13) made it a miserable night for Rockies starter Jeff Francis (7 ER, 4 IP). Ross Gload hit his first after Francis (3-7) departed. Brian Bannister picks up his seventh win, giving up three runs (none earned) in seven innings.

What the Angels were Lacking

The Angels beat the Nationals tonight, 3-2. John Lackey, who sat out the better part of two months with an injury, worked 8 strong innings tonight while allowing just one earned run for his 5th win. Vlad Guerrero extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a single in the sixth.

Fantasy Impact: Lackey's bounced back from injury with relative ease. Guerrero is now Guerrero.

Holy Sheets!

Ben Sheets won his ninth game tonight, a 4-1 masterpiece against the Braves. Sheets struck out seven, going the complete game in just 106 pitches. He threw 73 for strikes. Mike Cameron supported Sheets with his 12th home run.

Fantasy Impact: Sheets is doing things he's never done before. He's stayed healthy (for the most part) this year, and he's just three wins shy of his season high of 12. Sheets also went over 100 innings for the year. He hasn't reached 200 since 2004.

Haren vs. Beckett

In a battle of aces in Boston, Dan Haren outduels Josh Beckett for a 2-1 win. Here are their lines:

DH: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
JB: 8 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K

While Haren did enough to earn the win, Beckett pitched very well himself going an extra inning and tallying three extra strikeouts.

Fantasy Impact: There's not much between these two, except for the fact that Haren won tonight. He faces alot more pitchers in the National League than Beckett does in interleague play, so expect Haren's ERA to remain lower the rest of the way.

Felix vs. Johan

Not only did Felix Hernandez hit the first grand slam by an American League pitcher in 37 years, he also hit the first home run in Mariners history. To top it all off, he hit the grand slam off the Mets' Johan Santana, sparking a 5-2 Mariners win at Shea Stadium.

Then Hernandez experienced the bad luck that is the Mariners these days, twisting his ankle on a play at home plate. Some outlets are calling it a sprain, but even ESPN's baseball tonight hesitated to call it more than an ankle injury at this time.

Santana gave up five runs, but just one of them was earned.

Fantasy Impact: Hernandez tried to stay in the game, but couldn't put much pressure on the left ankle, which is his plant leg. He looked to be in a ton of pain. Baseball tonight's analyst said he could be out up to two months, worst case. Sounds like Chien-Ming Wang territory.

Santana managed to go seven innings, giving up seven hits and striking out four in picking up the loss. He's still pitching well overall but at times looks a touch less than his usual dominance.

Ponson to pitch Friday

Newsday reports that Sidney Ponson is fine, even after going just four innings in his recent minor league start. Ponson is tentatively scheduled to pitch Friday for the Yankees.

Ponson, who signed a minor-league contract with the Yankees last week, made his debut for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Saturday. In four innings, he allowed two runs, one earned, three hits and three walks, striking out two.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Ponson's short outing was a result of pitch count, as he had not pitched in a game since June 4, when he went four innings for the Rangers. He pitched seven innings May 31.

Fantasy Impact: The moment he was signed by the Yankees, Ponson's value improved. He's not going to guarantee fantasy owners much in 5X5 stat categories, but he will be in line for a few wins thanks to that New York lineup.

O's turn to Cintron

Alex Cintron couldn't make the Cubs out of spring training. Now he's the starting shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles. When the Orioles designated fellow former Cub Freddie Bynum for assignment, Cintron inherited the job for the interim.

Fantasy Impact: Hard to say, as Cintron really hasn't held a starting job for the majority of his eight-year career. He did hit .317 with 13 home runs in 448 at bats back in 2003, but the very next year he dropped down to .262 with 4 homers in 564 at bats and hasn't held a starting job since. His career average is .278, which is probably more accurate for projecting him out this year. He won't provide much pop or stolen bases.

A plaque for Omar

When the San Francisco Giants visit Cleveland on Tuesday, it will mark Omar Vizquel's first visit to the Jake in four years. Vizquel is certainly in the latter stages of a very good career, but how good is the question.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer welcomes Omar back to town with a poll asking whether Vizquel is Hall of Fame worthy. As of right now, that poll is a 95% 'yes' vote. Add your vote here.

Vizquel's consideration for the Hall of Fame is based almost entirely on defense. He's hit just .273 with 73 career homers. His range factor of 4.40 is above average (4.10) for a shortstop during his era, and his .984 fielding clip is .012 better than the average player from 1989 through 2008. By comparison, Ozzie Smith fielded with a range factor of 5.05, markedly better than the 4.10 of his day. Smith's fielding percentage is .978 -- that's worse than Vizquel -- but also .012 better than the shortstops of his day. Vizquel has won 11 Gold Gloves and made three All-Star appearances in 20 MLB seasons. Smith won 13 Gold Gloves and made 15 All-Star teams, even with a career batting average of just .262 in his 19 seasons.

Not many shortstops can compare favorably with Smith defensively over their career, and although Vizquel comes up short against the Wizard statistically, it would appear he has a good shot at the HOF.

George Carlin on baseball vs. football

The late George Carlin, in an expletive-free musing on baseball and football.

We want a pitcher

The Houston Chronicle says Shawn Chacon, who's struggled miserably of late, is out of the starting rotation in favor of Runelvys Hernandez.

Fantasy Impact: The only reason this didn't happen sooner is probably because the Astros have nothing in terms of pitching. Hernandez is a veteran who spent all of 2007 in the minors. Stay away.

Loyal Leyland

Another article from Detroit today with good insight on Edgar Renteria's future with the Tigers. Detroit has an $11 million option on a guy who is 33 and hitting .269. Jim Leyland's loyalty may keep Renteria around, but with Pudge Rodriguez, Placido Polanco and Renteria up the middle, can you really afford to keep so many aging players around -- especially when you're not playing to expectations as a team?

Tigers pitching in, not out

A Detroit Free Press article says the Detroit Tigers, who are 12-3 in their last 15 games and just 5 games out of first in the A.L. Central, are more likely to look within the organization than they are to look outside for pitching help.

Arizona's case of the Mondays

Only five games tonight around the Majors, and the game of the day is a no-brainer. Dan Haren attempts to drag a slumping Diamondback team away from the Minnesota Mongoose-egg and into Fenway Park for a showdown with the best team in the American League. Just when the Diamondbacks hit the wall, they hit the Green Monster. The Snakes not only get Boston in Beantown, but they also have to face Sox ace Josh Beckett in the opener.

At 7-4 Beckett's beatable, but not at home this year. He carries a 4-0 home record into play Monday night even though his ERA is a full run higher at Fenway. Haren has yet to win on the road this year, and while his record is just 1-3 against Boston, his ERA is still impressive at 3.26.

Helton is Graceful

That's not a good thing. By graceful, we mean he's full to the brim -- head-to-toe full -- of Mark Grace. Todd Helton doesn't just embody Mark Grace. He is Mark Grace, and when you're making $16 million that's not enough, no matter how full of Grace you are.

Helton's primary numbers this year vs. Mark Grace circa 1998 (when both players are 34 years old):

TH: 267 AB, .277 AVG/.401 OBP/.404 SLG | 35 R/ 7 HR/ 37 RBI
MG: 595 AB, .309 AVG/.401 OBP/.471 SLG | 92 R/ 17 HR/ 89 RBI

Scratch that. Helton is actually under-performing and shouldn't be compared to Grace at 34, he should be compared to Grace at 36, his last year in Chicago, or maybe even Grace at 37 when he declined even further with the Diamondbacks.

Fantasy Impact: The point is, Todd Helton is a shell of his former self. For a guy who used to hit or approach 35-40 home runs routinely, the face of the franchise in Colorado doesn't look like the guy in the mirror anymore. He looks like Mark Grace, a decent offensive player who never hit more than 17 home runs.

J.P. Ricciardi would trade for Joey Votto

Joey Votto is a self-made baseball addict. Something tells me Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi would be more impressed with Votto than Votto's teammate, Adam Dunn.

Fantasy Impact: It's a good thing Votto's hard work paid off. He's a poor man's Ryan Braun in his first season in the big leagues, which is saying a lot.

Hold on to your (BP) balls

In Monday's Miami Herald the fan who caught Ken Griffey's 600th home run -- known simply to this point as "Joe" -- is finally revealed. Joe Scherer caught two baseballs at Dolphin Stadium that day, but who knew that the first one, the one he nabbed in batting practice, would end up being so valuable.

'It turned out that as I stood up to catch the home run ball, my foot inadvertently nudged the batting practice ball, rolling to my left, the direction I was going,'' Scherer said in the statement. ``When I caught the home run ball, I looked down, saw the batting practice ball and immediately tapped it with my foot into the row of seats below my row. This caused a mad scramble for the batting practice ball and allowed me to climb one row above and head for stadium security without getting mobbed.''

The Herald says there's no word on what he'll do with his second ball. Hang on to your BP balls, kids.

The subtle nature of a rivalry

Just noticed that both the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Chicago Tribune have baseball power rankings out for Monday. The Cubs and Red Sox are fairly obvious choices for the top two teams in baseball after the Cubs swept the White Sox and Boston dropped two of three to the Cardinals at Fenway. Guess which paper still puts the Reds Sox on top.

St. Louis
Chicago

The Zambrano argument is a fair one, but the loss of Soriano hasn't taken much punch out of the Cubs. After the beating the Cardinals themselves gave Daisuke Matsuzaka on Saturday you'd think the Cubs would have to occupy the top spot. Not in St. Louis.

No movement, no baseball

First Brandon Webb loses the movement on his fastball. Now his teammate loses a fly ball leading to a five-run Twins rally for a 5-3 Sunday loss at the Metrodome.

The Arizona Republic reports that Conor Jackson's first trip to Minneapolis will be forgettable, only because it's happened so many times before.

Jackson became the latest in a long line of outfielders to lose a fly ball in the Metrodome's tan-colored roof, and the mistake led directly to the Twins' latest big inning against the Diamondbacks. They scored five times in the fifth, enough to come away with a 5-3 victory and complete a three-game sweep of the slumping Diamondbacks.

The loss drops Webb to 11-4, and his ERA is on a steady climb now at 3.40.

Fantasy Impact: No more worries about that dome roof for the D-backs this year, but after the sweep Arizona is just 39-37. Webb doesn't seem like himself. In his last three starts he's gone 15.1 innings with 14 earned runs and just 11 strikeouts. Something is not quite right.

Mark Mulder lives

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Mark Mulder is one minor league start away from returning to the big leagues. It's been a long, slow process for Mulder. He went "Mark Prior" for 2006 and 2007, not pitching much or effectively for two seasons. In his last full season Mulder went 16-8 with a 3.64 ERA for the Cardinals back in 2005, his first year in St. Louis after coming over from Oakland. Mulder will pitch Monday for Triple-A Memphis and if all goes well a call-up for a start against Kansas City over the weekend would follow.

Fantasy Impact: None until he gets through his Monday "tune up." From there it's a very measured evaluation process to discern how effective Mulder can be. After all that he's been through (two rotator cuff surgeries) Mulder is like a brand new pitcher -- brand new, but with a lengthy injury history, that is. If things don't go well, there's already been talk of retirement.