In yesterday's post, I mentioned something about the Cubs being flawed. I mean, I know what I'm going to hear..."C'mon, Jared...the Cubs have the best record in baseball; what more do you want? Well, the last few days have shown me that the Cubs are a careless and sloppy team. Two of the wins this past week saw the Cubs sweat out blown leads, before hanging on. Good character, but why put yourself in that position? Carlos Zambrano in his last two outings have shown why he is so maddening; he did win Monday while looking bad; Saturday he gave up a career high 13 hits. The team defense is sloppy at best...Derrick Lee and Aramis Rameriez are slumping...the starting pitching lacks decent depth beyond their top two starters. The bullpen is okay, but getting to Kerry Wood can be an adventure. Luckily, the other teams in their division have more issues than they do; I wouldn't mind seeing the Cubs evaluate their situation and act accordingly.
As mentioned in earlier posts last week, baseball had two ugly brawls. In one of the brawls, Matt Kemp scuffled with a Colorado Rockies catcher. Those of you who saw it probably would agree that the players involved deserved their punishments. (Kemp received a 4 game suspension). And yet, even admitting that he overreacted, Kemp still filed an appeal. Why? Because Kemp is an immature jackass ands doesn't know better. I just don't understand why players cannot accept responsibility in these cases.....
For Flopper extraordinaire Detroit, the news gets worse for them when it was reported that pitcher Jeremy Bonderman might miss the rest of the season with a blood clot in his pitching shoulder. That's a darn shame; I know I was seeing some reports indicating that when Detroit put up the white flag for the season, Bonderman might be looked at as possible trade bait. Not anymore.....
The leaderboard in the division races remain interesting, but looks like the cream is rising to the top. Will they stay there? The AL has Boston, Chicago and SoCal in first. I think the ChiSox are maybe the shakiest leader, but they could be there for the long haul due to a weak division. In the NL, Philadelphia, Chicago and Arizona lead. Arizona has been bad lately, but I see all three right now staying in first for the long haul. Philly looks like they can hold off the Mets whenever the Mets decide to wake up....
I've mentioned Chipper Jones recently and I think it's amazing to see him where he's at. I don't think he will finish near .400, but it will be fun seeing him try.
And the Hunter Flops! No Perfect Ten's here...just a smorgasbord of underachievement:
Teams:
NY Yankees: I still put them here because they are still technically in last place, although they are now at .500. They are still within striking distance, so I don't see them on this list for long.
Seattle: You know the the season is over when the manager has a tantrum. This team is putrid. what went wrong??
Detroit: The season was over before it started
NY Mets: Still a mystery at 30-31. Will Pedro truly help out this mess?
San Diego: Jared Jinx in place.
Colorado: There's always next year...
Players:
Nick Swisher: At .215, I'm sure the White Sox were expecting much more....
Ryan Howard: Has 15 HR, but .206 is pretty well hidden considering the Phillies are in first place
Paul Konerko/Jim Thome: Both are at .211. Note: how is it that with these two and Swisher that the White Sox are in first place??
Vladamir Guerrero: .251 and only 7 HR. Way under par for Vlad. Is it at all possible before this year, he might have been on something??
Roy Oswalt: 4-6 and 5.38 ERA. Off year for Oswalt, which isn't really costing the Astros. Yet.
Ted Lilly: 5-5 and 5.23 ERA. Compared to last year for the Cubs, not very good.
Justin Verlander: 2-9 and 5.05 ERA. Major step backward.
CC Sabathia: 3-8 and 4.81 ERA. Would you really trade for Sabahia (or Verlander)??
Next Week: We'll start talking All Stars and Awards Candidates
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