So Tom Glavine wins his 300^th game, with his family in attendance, at Wrigley Field on the ESPN Sunday night game, amid speculation that he will be “the last 300 game winner” in all of baseball, forever.  Seems to be just an angle on a story that the journalists who cover everything in our culture need to fabricate in order to be clever, original, controversial, or (you fill in the blank).  There are pitchers out there who have a chance, given their talent, but the wild card is always health oriented or, in the case of the overpaid ball players of today, desire to continue.   Who would have imagined Clemens with 350 wins or his exact opposite, Greg Maddux, with 340 wins.  

CC Sabathia is 27 years old and has 95 wins (and counting, but his body type is suspect over the long haul), Carlos Zambrano is 26 and has 78 wins and Tim Hudson is 32 with 131 victories.  Johann Santana is 28 and has 89 wins and given his track record of the past few years (injury free) and his perennial Cy Young status, he has a real chance. And then there is Justin Verlander, with 28 wins at age 24, while Glavine had 23 wins at a similar age.  So it seems very premature to discount the careers of these other pitchers at this point in time, except if one wishes to speculate for the purpose of taking up column space on a website or newspaper to show how clever you are.

Vladimir Guerreo broke out of his home run drought (homerless in July) to hit three in two days in Oakland.  Despite the absence of anyone to protect him in the lineup, he has been and will continue to produce and drive his team towards the playoffs.   The team is balanced, fifth in the league in pitching (era) and fifth in batting  (runs scored, and on base percentage), and seventh in fielding (errors).  And they have one of the very best managers in all of baseball, Mike Scioscia. 

While the Mariners threaten them and keep it interesting, it is more interesting within the context of the Wild Card race, rather than the AL West title.  The Angels will win, because they are better than the Mariners, in all aspects of the game, but especially in the pitching category as the Seattle team ranks 10^th in ERA.

The Milwaukee Brewers continue to hang on to precariously thin lead in the NL Central, one game ahead of the surging Cubs who now have to deal with the absence of Alfonso Soriano from their lineup, the lead off hitter who also leads the team in home runs (18). 

The Cubs pitch well, 3^rd in the league with a 3.89 ERA (the Brewers have a 4.27 ERA 8^th in the league), but their offense is not quite as powerful as the Brewers (540 runs scored compared to the Cubs 513).  But the Brewers do not catch the ball as well with 80 errors compared to the Cubs’ 66 errors.  It should be an interesting race down to the wire, but I am guessing the depth of the Brewers offense may prevail in the end.

The Bonds watch continues, it goes on and on, and on.  It is ludicrous to believe Bonds has choreographed his slump to coincide with a homestand where he may set the record.  He hit .168 in July, and his numbers across the board suggest this should be his final season.  (Please, Barry.. say it is so!!  Enough already of this media freak show.)  It will be interesting to see how he does hit in the final month and half of the season after he breaks the record.  And to think he was on a pace to accomplish this feat by mid June, and here it is, mid August.  

The acquisition of Rajai Davis from the Pirates was greeted in SF with wonder and joy, that is how bad a season it has really been for the local nine. Davis can run like the wind, has no power at all, and has a cannon for an arm from the outfield, which he displayed against the hated Dodgers, throwing out a runner

attempting to stretch at single into a double by ten feet.  Giants 2b Ray Durham turned around to apply the tag and had to wait for the runner to arrive; he was as surprised as anyone who was watching the game.  Durham finds himself batting .233 and finally has been demoted to hitting sixth rather than his customary 3 position in the lineup, traditionally reserved for the best hitter on the team.  It still seems peculiar to me that Bonds does not hit third, to assure him of an at bat in the first inning and force the hand of opposing managers early in the game should there be someone on base at that time.  But the entire lineup for the Giants is constantly in flux mirroring the inconsistent offense, attempting to mix and and match with whoever seems to be ‘hot’ at the time, be it catcher Bengie Molina protecting Bonds in the lineup, Durham or the recently hot Pedro Feliz.

The Yankees are surging, having dominated a part of the schedule that they had to dominate in order to get  back into the race.  Playing teams with sub .500 records, they have now climbed within six games of the Red Sox, which must make Boston fans worry, as they remember last year and the August collapse. 

A-Rod finally his his 500^th homerun, with everyone in attendance and watching with interest.  Everyone, that is, but his wife, who arrived late at the game.  She has been in the news lately, as has A-Rod and his appearance in public with another woman.  But that’s what keeps the NY tabloids in business, and they would have it no other way!