Baseball is British

That is, according to these people. Who cares?

Rays for real? Please.

Is this the best ESPN can offer? The Rays beat the Red Sox in Fenway, so now they've arrived? Last I checked, Tampa's been right there all year. If ESPN is going to boring journalism on us now with Tampa made a statement, they're going to do it all over again in the postseason. Give us something to read, please!

Mets met with further challenges

With the Mets pulling out a wild one over the Nats, and the Phillies getting beat by the Marlins, New York builds a 3 1/2 game lead with only 17 to play. That sounds good, but New York led by seven with 17 to play last year, and the Phillies caught them.

Odd

This is odd.

Penny pushed to the 'pen

In what's become a trend this season with pitchers like Chris Carpenter and Joba Chamberlain, among others, returning from injury to throw in the pen, Brad Penny is next in line to do so.

It's a creative move by the Dodgers, who've gotten good pitching from a number of different sources. Using Penny in the 'pen makes Los Angeles that much tougher late in games.

Angels in the playoffs

Did you see the Angels celebration after they clinched the first playoff spot today? It will be hard to out-do that party if they win it all!

Red Sox socked

Tampa delivered another blow to the Red Sox, winning for the second straight night, this time 4-2 in 14 innings. The Rays pitching staff outperformed Boston, allowing just eight hits.

Boston now stands 2 1/2 back in the AL East.

Percival goes down again

Troy Percival exited tonight's marathon between Boston and Tampa in the 14th inning due to injury. He's already spent time on the DL this season, and this latest setback could mean opportunities for others to close down the stretch. Keep your eyes on Dan Wheeler and Grant Balfour. Manager Joe Maddon seems more likely to use Wheeler, but Balfour numbers jump out.

Too closer for comfort

Both the first-place Cubs and the first-place White Sox got scares late in their wins over wild card challengers. The Cubs, up 4-1 in the ninth, saw Kerry Wood serve up a two-run homer to Ryan Ludwick, cutting the lead to 4-3. Wood still got out of the jam.

The White Sox entered the nith with a 6-2 lead, but only prevailed by one thanks to a three-run frame from Bobby Jenks.

Both were close shaves, but Wood gets a save and Jenks preserves the win. Both teams remain in first place. It's nice to still come away with a win, even when your closer throws a clunker.

A dozen doesn't work

Scott Lewis becomes the Indians 12th different starter in 2008 when he makes his MLB debut tonight. Cleveland's used 26 pitchers this season. That's not a recipe for success, and the Indians are not going to the postseason.

Still swinging

Baseball's maple bat advisory committee continues to investigate the many shattered bats this season. I love this beauty of a quote from Bud Selig:

"They're analyzing all the bats," Selig said last month. "There's a lot of work going on right now. My concerns are the same. Every game I watch there's bats splintering. I'm sensitive about it."

I never thought of Bud as sensitive.

Konerko concerns

Paul Konerko's knee injury, originally diagnosed as a mildly sprained MCL, gets further attention today with an MRI. While Konerko hasn't hit well until recently, the Sox can't afford to lose their emotional leader along with a right-handed bat after Carlos Quentin is already lost for an extended period of time with his broken wrist.

Chicago can slide Nick Swisher to first, move Ken Griffey into Swisher's outfield spot and platoon several contributors in center until Konerko is back. Brian Anderson would appear most likely to make a fantasy impact in center if this is the case, although Jerry Owens is finally up and healthy. The Sox originally pegged Owens as their starting center fielder. He can make an impact with steals.

Back at it

After a short hiatus due to a busy August/early September, Spitting Seeds is back on the baseball beat.

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.