People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.
--- Rogers Hornsby
Updated since originally posted!
Because my life is soooo complicated!
A changing of the guard in the AL East! Sitting atop the division, like a lame but dangerous colossus, for the first time since April 9... the New York Yankees? Who saw that coming? Didn't we write these bozos off, a long time ago? And several times since then? haven't they allowed more runs than any team in the American League except the Tampa Bay Devil Rays? What'sa going on?
It helps when everyone else in the division is reeling. The Red Sox have lost 6 of 7; the Blue Jays have lost 6 of 7. The Orioles lost 12 of 15 just before the All-Star Break. The Yankees have won 11 of their last 13, and while they give up lots and lots of runs, they score even more - more than any other team in the majors. Alex Rodriguez leads the league in slugging and HRs, is tied for the lead in On-Base Pct., and is third in RBI. Rodriguez leads the league in runs scored, Derek Jeter is second, and Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui are also in the top ten.
The schedule favours Boston, slightly. The Orioles and Yankees both have more remaining games on the road than at home.
Tomorrow, we may well be talking about the changing of the guard in the NL East. Washington's lead is down .5 game over the charging Atlanta Braves. Chipper Jones returned to the lineup yesterday, and promptly hit a home run. Rafael Furcal is suddenly on fire, hitting .341 over the last month.
That obscure object of desire, A.J. Burnett, will try to even his record at 6-6 unless the Marlins have traded him to Baltimore by the time you read this.
Today's schedule:
AL
Tampa Bay (Fossum 4-7, 4.02) at Boston (Arroyo 7-5, 4.14) 7:05
Kansas City (Greinke 2-11, 6.05) at Cleveland (Millwood 3-8, 3.38) 7:05
Seattle (Sele 6-9, 4.77) at Toronto (Lilly 7-9, 5.21) 7:07
Detroit (Bonderman 11-6, 4.23) at Chicago (Contreras 5-5, 3.99) 8:05
New York (Mussina 9-5, 4.15) at Texas (Park 8-4, 5.64) 8:05
Baltimore (Cabrera 8-7, 4.70) at Minnesota (Lohse 7-8, 4.42) 8:10
Oakland (Harden 6-4, 2.23) at Los Angeles (Washburn 6-4, 3.23) 10:05
NL
Houston (Astacio 0-4, 9.47 and Rodriguez 4-4, 7.25) at Pittsburgh (Redman 4-9, 4.01 and Snell 0-0, 7.00) 5:05 and 8:05
Colorado (Chacon 1-5, 4.30) at Washington (Patterson 3-2, 2.92) 7:05
Los Angeles (Penny 5-5, 3.33) at Philadelphia (Myers 7-5, 3.26) 7:05
Chicago (Prior 6-3, 3.07) at Cincinnati (Hudson 1-4, 9.85) 7:10
San Diego (Lawrence 5-9, 4.27) at New York (Benson 6-3, 3.57) 7:10
Milwaukee (Davis 9-7, 4.03) at St.Louis (Suppan 9-7, 4.21) 8:10
Florida (Burnett 5-6, 3.64) at Arizona (Vazquez 8-8, 4.25) 9:40
Atlanta (Ramirez 8-5, 4.60) at San Francisco (Schmidt 7-5, 4.80) 10:15
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050718173603387