The young Brewers are fading, possibly, and not only are the players feeling the heat, I have a feeling their young manager too feels some of the pressures.  Aside from having a ‘fight’ with catcher Johnny Estrada over the manager openly chastising one of the players for a mistake, the lineup changes, in part dictated by a devastating injury to utility man, Tony Graffanino, seem peculiar. This is a team with TALENT, and watching players like Cory Hart intimidate the opposition provokes me to wonder how you can take him out of the lineup at times and, on other occasions, place him deep in the order.  As a lead off hitter, he is intimidating at 6’6” with both speed and power.  The appearance of Ricky Weeks (.214) at the top of the order does not intimidate anyone.  Of course, the absence of reliable pitching is always a problem as Ben Sheets is still on the DL and Chris Capuano is 0-9 and pitching ineffectively, having just coughed up a 5-0 lead in a game the Brewers subsequently  lost.  Trailing the imperfect Cubbies by a game at this juncture of the season is not bad, but it is not like holding a lead in the division race and it will be a shame if they fold and disappear.

The Yankees continue to play well, and everyone is doing their part.  The pitching, bolstered by Joba Chamberlain, Edwar Ramirez, and Phil Hughes, youngsters recently promoted to the big club reveals the strategy that Brian Cashman had been banking on as the team struggled earlier in the season.  And their single deadline deal, obtaining Wilson Betemit, may prove to be crucial.  He had four rbis yesterday, and is proving to be a super sub, filling in at all positions in the infield. Yesterday he spelled Jeter at shortstop, and has appeared at 3b and 1b as well.  He has 2 hr and 12 rbis since joining the Yankees three weeks ago.   At four games behind the Red Sox, they are pressing for the division, but still trail the surprising Mariners in the Wild Card race.

The Mariners seem to be doing it with mirrors, but their pitching, especially their bull pen with JJ Putz at closer (36 saves with a 1.40 era), sporting numbers comparable to Papelbon in Boston, has been a revelation.  Still there is one big flaw in their lineup, Richie Sexon.  Sexson’s numbers are terrible with a .209 batting average and a .299 on base percentage.  Yes, he has 19 homeruns but only 58 rbis and strikes out too much, an old story for this very flawed player for whom the Mariners paid much too much in the free agent market.  Still they have some real players in their everyday lineup including Ichiro, Jose Guillen (.289, 17 hr, 77 rbi), Raul Ibanez (.276, 13 hr, 78 rbi), and Jose Vidro (.320 and a .385 on base %).   Their starting pitching as been just so-so, but the bull pen dominates and they continue to chase down the Angels (2 games off the pace in the AL West) and hold the Wild Card lead by a half game.

The Diamondbacks continue to lead the NL West, and surprisingly have the best record in the entire National League.  Better than the NY Mets, which is a real eye opener.  If anyone though they were not for real, think again.  They are.  Their talent is young and energetic, led by the veteran presence of  Eric Byrnes (age 31). While they are being outscored generally speaking as they get blown out often enough but win the close games.  Their pitching is fifth in the league in ERA and after that their numbers just do not add up to a division leader (12^th in runs scored, and 12^th in defense).  Clearly the sum of the parts is greater than the individuals on this team, the product of the nebulous element in all teams called “chemistry”.

The Bay Area teams are both languishing this year, the Giants for the fourth year in a row and the Oakland A’s as well.   Yesterday, Billy Beane, in an attempt to be more clever than even he is, decided that players like Marco Scutaro (arbitration eligible next year) should sit more and let the youngsters show what they have, including Donnie Murphy at SS (replacing the oft injured Bobby Crosby who finally is becoming an afterthought in the mind of management after his rookie of the year season) and Jack Hanrahan.  So what does Scutaro do in response to being slighted? 

He went 4 for 4, hitting a home run with 2 rbi and 2 runs scored.  The very idea that this guy does not get the respect he deserves from Beane is ludicrous.  He is a fan favorite for one very good reason – he hits in the clutch and has 9 game winning walk off hits in the past three years.  Why Beane is oblivious to his talents is a mystery to me, but Beane’s “genius” in evaluating his own talent is suspect, ie. retaining Eric Chavez over Miguel Tejada, trading Eric Byrnes for Joe Kennedy (since traded to Arizona and designated for assignment) and giving up on the very talented Milton Bradley (.355 batting average).

The Giants have their problems too, but no one has really doubted GM Brian Sabean on who he gave up on, just on who he has retained.  He did unload Matt Morris to Pittsburgh for an unknown utility outfielder, Rajai Davis, who has been a revelation.  The guy can run, catch, and throw, with the only question mark being can he hit like he has been these past three weeks (.308, with 9 stolen bases).  He appears to be the lead offman that any team needs, especially the slower, older Giants. 

He wastes no time when he wants to steal, often going on the first or second pitch, and he bunts for base hits or puts so much pressure on the defense due to his speed that errors are caused.   With the departure of Barry planned for next year (supposedly, I prefer to wait and see what they will do), it will be interesting to see how Sabean can re-work the roster to compete behind their very young and talented pitching staff.