Signor Baseball's Midseason Update

Repeat after me, "the balls are not juiced, the balls are not juiced, the balls are not juiced."

Feel better?

Apparently the powers that be have decided that what the fans really want is a season long episode of Home Run Derby.

So, anyway, as we race past the halfway mark of the MLB season, let us pause to ask the eternal questions: where the hell are we and what the hell is going on?

In the AL, several surprises surprise us. Minnesota is much better than anyone expected, and if the Indians don't get their asses in gear, their reign in the Central will be over. The Yankees are also out performing expectations, especially considering that they've been without their best starter and their two top power hitters practically all year. I still expect Boston to make a race out of it, but like  Cleveland, they better do it soon. Tampa is also a surprise, and has a good shot at a Wild Card berth.

In the West, Seattle has been the biggest disappointment and Texas the biggest surprise. But Houston is still the class of this division, and the best the Rangers and maybe the A's can hope for is one of the Wild Cards. The Angels have the best player in baseball in Mike Trout, a future Hall-of-Famer in Albert Pujols, and that Japanese cat, Ohtani, who is very, very good. This makes them wonderfully entertaining for a dozen or so at bats every game, but isn't quite enough to make them contenders.

Over in the National League East, the Phillies aren't nearly as good as expected, but the Braves don't look strong enough to run away from them, so expect that race to go down to the last week of the season. The Nationals starting pitching is still very strong, but they seem stuck right around .500, which won't win them anything.

In the Central, the Cubs haven't been able to separate themselves from Milwaukee. In fact the entire division is bunched together, as they all take turns beating each other. This should give some measure of hope to fans of the Reds and Pirates and especially the Cardinals, who've spent the first half of the season muddling along. On paper, Chicago is still the class of this division, but until they start playing like it...

Out West it's all Dodgers. Colorado, San Diego and, quelle surprise, Arizona, have taken turns being second. But it is a very distant second...I guess the question to ask is whether L.A. is that good, or is everybody else that mediocre? I'm leaning toward the latter.

By the way, while I was writing this 10 guys you've never heard of hit 450 foot homers.

Signor Baseball's "Down The Stretch They Come!" MLB Update

Let's see...where are we?

In the American League, the biggest surprises have been how good Oakland has been and how bad Baltimore and Kansas City have been.

In the AL East, New York is good, but Boston is better. So it looks like the Yankees will have to play the one game, winner take all, Wild Card game against probably Oakland. And the way their starting pitching has looked lately...well, they may be taking their 100 plus wins and all of those home runs home earlier than they'd like. What the hell happened to Baltimore? Jesus. It's one thing to go from good to average. That happens all the time in sports. But to go from good to tragic so quickly...that's the kind of thing that gets managers fired.

In the Central, the Indians have run away from a mediocre field. No other team in this division has a winning record, so it's kind of hard to know how good Cleveland really is. They do have strong pitching, though, and could cause some problems in the playoffs.

Out West, Seattle has been the biggest disappointment. So what else is new? Astros remain the class of this division, with Oakland a huge surprise. The Babe Ruth of Japan didn't quite pan out for the Angels, though he did show some flashes before the injury bug got him. And Texas is just plain bad.

So, let's take the A's over the Yankees in the Wild Card, and this is based entirely on how unpredictable New York's starting pitching has been. I suppose they could pull it together and make a run all the way to the Series, but...probably not. I wouldn't expect Oakland to go much farther than winning the Wild Card game. Cleveland is good, but not as good as Boston and Houston. Now that both of those teams are reasonably healthy, they should give us a very good AL Championship series. And whichever team wins will be the favorite in the World Series.

In the National League, the biggest surprises are Atlanta and Philadelphia. They were supposed to be a year or two away from contending, but with the Nationals mired in mediocrity, the Marlins being plain awful, and the Mets falling apart, those timetables got sped up.

So the East will come down to which team, the Braves or the Phillies, stands up to the pressure best. I suppose they could both stumble badly, and Washington could somehow sneak through, but that's a long, long shot. Slight chance for a wild card team from this division.

In the Central, the Cubs pulled away as expected, but the Brewers and the Cardinals still have a good chance at at least one of the Wild Cards.

And in the wild, wild West, Arizona, L.A., and Colorado should go down to the last weekend before anything is decided. None of these teams seems capable of pulling away from the others. The Dodgers, on paper, and when healthy, seem like the strongest team--but they sure haven't performed like the strongest team. Still, at this point I like them to win the West. The Diamondbacks and Rockies have a very good chance at one of the Wild Card slots, but getting both slots looks unlikely. So, flip a coin...

Diamondbacks vs Cardinals in the Wild Card. Cubs win the NL pennant. Cubs vs Red Sox in the Series. Wrigley Field and Fenway Park? Should be loads of fun!

Of course, I could be wrong about all of this....which is why I never, ever, bet on sports. Too many variables.

Pitching, Defense, and 3 Run Homers

Earl Weaver believed that baseball was "pitching, defense, and 3 run homers." This won him a lot of games, but might have cost him two World Series. A bunt here or there may have beaten the Pirates in 1971 and '79.

Because of a family connection (my mother was a first cousin of his, but she was 12 years older and there were a lot of Weavers, so they weren't particularly close), I met Weaver in 1969, just as the Orioles started their great run.

We would drive over to Anaheim for the Orioles' yearly visit to play the Angels. We stayed at the Grand Hotel, same as the team, and would often share a meal, usually breakfast, with Earl.

Coors and tomato juice. Cigarettes. And flirting with the waitress. Those are my most vivid memories of breakfast with Earl.

Then there was the evolution of his personal style. When I first met him, he sported what looked to be a suit from Sear's and a haircut from the corner barber shop. Fitting for a minor league "lifer". As the years passed, and the Orioles became the team in the AL, the suits became more tailored, the shoes sported exotic leathers, and, for awhile there in the 70's, I'm pretty sure the hair was permed.

Weaver was the first manager to rely on an in-depth statistical breakdown of every pitch thrown, every ball hit, every possible match-up, and how they might affect his strategy. He used this knowledge to put players in situations where they had the best chance to succeed.

Other managers platooned before him. Hell, Casey Stengel won a bunch of pennants with the Yankees by mixing an ever changing assortment of role players and spot starters with DiMaggio, Mantle, Berra and Ford. But if Stengel used any charts, they were all kept somewhere in that amazin' head of his.

Nowadays, every team has a room full of sabre metricians working around the clock to crunch numbers, looking for that edge, or that undervalued player. Every pitch and every swing are recorded, cataloged, and endlessly analyzed. Weaver's success paved the way for much of that.

Weaver, and his contemporary--and sometimes bitter rival--Billy Martin, were also two of the greatest umpire baiters in major league history. Thank God for You Tube, where some of Earl's best work in this field has been preserved for eternity.

Earl Weaver's Orioles played the game the right way. They seldom beat themselves. For 15 plus years they were always in the race. 6 division titles, 4 pennants, 1 World championship.

He probably wouldn't last nearly as long these days. The umpire baiting, the drinking, it would be too easy a target for these TMZ, 24 hour Sports Center, times. He'd spend his time apologizing or on probation.

Rest in peace Earl, the world is a duller place without you.