Kuzul

On Tuesday night, some friends and I went out to celebrate our friend Carrie’s birthday.

Actually, when we celebrate her birthday it’s usually a dual celebration. My birthday is the next day (yesterday), so the night always turns into a fun night.

During the night’s festivities, I was talking to Mark, our resident Brit and our friend Jen’s new husband. We started to get into a conversation about sports because the New York Mets and Florida Marlins game was on the big screen at the bar.

He was talking about soccer, rugby, cricket, and other sports myself and most other Americans could really care less about. Then we got to the topic of baseball.

He was having a hard time understanding what attracted people to the game because the pace is very slow and the action could be few and far between. My response is that there is action on every pitch, it just depends on what you as a fan appreciate more—offense or pitching.

Now, trying to explain the art of pitching to someone who doesn’t understand the game of baseball is a useless endeavor, though if we had sat down yesterday to watch some baseball, I could have shown him the beauty of baseball from two different perspectives.

Yesterday, we saw a slugfest in both San Francisco and Colorado and we saw a solid pitcher’s duel in Washington.

The Colorado Rockies overcame a nine-run deficit to beat the Atlanta Braves 12-10. It was an old-fashioned, straight from the mid-90s offensive explosion in Colorado.

Todd Helton (3-for-5), Seth Smith (2-for-4 with a HR), and Carlos Gonzalez (2-for-4 with a walk) led the comeback for the Rockies. And the Rockies by the way, are only four games back of the Wild Card race. Here they come again.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Ryan Dempster and Jason Marquis engaged in a solid pitcher’s duel in Washington.

For seven innings, Dempster and Marquis matched each other goose egg for goose egg.

The game had action, but in a different way.

The game featured two pitchers who don’t have overpowering stuff, but both were keeping hitters off balance and making solid pitches when it mattered most.

The Cubs eventually broke through in the eighth to beat the Nationals 4-0.

Yesterday was another great example of why people like me love baseball. Every game offers something different, but offers aspects that everyone can appreciate.

Once you can figure out what aspect of the game you want to appreciate, then you will fall in love with the game of baseball. Even if you are British.

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Last week, I sized up the American League and National League Rookie of the Year races, so this week I thought I would take a look at the AL and NL MVP races. In both leagues the award is wide open.

That’s kind of unusual because usually in one league someone runs away with the award. Not this year. There are at least three or four players in each league who have a legitimate shot at winning the MVP.

Here is how the AL MVP race sizes up for me…

Best of the Rest

Paul Konerko, Vladimir Guerrero, Adrian Beltre

The Contenders

Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays: .259/.373/.600 with 40 HR’s. It’s hard to give an MVP award to a guy batting .259 on a fourth-place team, but Bautista is having a tremendous season and should get votes based on his power numbers.

Bautista leads all of baseball in HR’s with 40, is third in SLG (.600) and fourth in OPS (.973).

Robinson Cano, New York Yankees: .323/.388/.563 with 25 HR’s. Cano has officially turned the corner in his career and is having a career year in 2010 for the Yankees. Cano ranks in the top-10 in the AL in seven offensive categories.

Unless a Yankee is having an all world season like Alex Rodriguez in 2007, then they have a tough time getting votes for this award. Most voters feel the player is a product of the lineup more than a product of their ability. It might not be the best logic in the world, but it is what it is.

Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers: .342/.436/.641 with 31 HR’s. Cabrera is fighting for the triple crown in 2010 as he is second in average, second in HR’s, and first in RBI. Those rankings alone with get Cabrera plenty of votes.

The issue Cabrera will have is that the Tigers have really fallen on their faces in the second half. The Tigers are a third-place team in a weak division. That can’t help Cabrera’s cause.

The Winner

Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers: .356/.406/.631 with 29 HR’s. Hamilton leads the AL in hits (170), avg. (.356), is second in OPS (1.037), and is first in WAR (7.1). He is having an unbelievable season in Texas.

Hamilton wins this award for me because he is the best player on a team that has the biggest lead of any division leader in baseball. If he can stay healthy in September, he will win this award.

Tomorrow, I will size up the NL MVP race.

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Back on June 2, I wondered if the Toronto Blue Jays could break the single season team home run record of 264 set by the 1997 Seattle Mariners. At the time of the post, the Blue Jays had hit 89 home runs in 53 games. That was a 1.68 home run per game pace which would put them at 272 home runs for the season.

Now, 73 games later, I thought it would be a good exercise to see if the Blue Jays were still at a pace to break the single season team home run record.

With two more home runs last night against the New York Yankees, the Blue Jays currently have 190 home runs in 126 games. That is a home run per game rate of 1.5 which is a slight drop from their 1.68 pace they set a couple of months ago.

At this rate, the Blue Jays would finish the season with 243 homers. That’s really good but not good enough to beat out the ’97 Mariners.

One guy that has tried to do everything he can to help the Blue Jays break this record is Jose Bautista. Bautista has clubbed 40 home runs and has exceeded everyone’s expectations.

While Bautista has done his part, it’s the other Blue Jay hitters that have slowed down. John Buck has only hit one HR in the last two months. Vernon Wells has four homers in the last two months.

The Blue Jays have also fallen off tremendously on the road. They have hit only 1.3 home runs on the road. The good news is that the Blue Jays have 11 more games at home than on the road to close out the season. They have hit 1.8 home runs at home.

So as the Blue Jays have fallen a little off their record pace, it doesn’t discount what they have done this year. They have become a very entertaining and fun team to watch.

And who knows? Maybe with some more home games, the Blue Jays can still break the Mariners’ record.

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It’s been a couple of months since we had a stadium review here at The Ghost of Moonlight Graham, so I thought today would be a good day to have one.

The stadium that will be covered today is Sun Life Stadium, home of the Florida Marlins. Sun Life Stadium is more known more for having 100 different names over the last 30 years than it is for the crowds they get at the ballpark.

My buddy Tom visited the stadium a couple of weeks ago and I will let him tell you about his experience. Take it away Tom…

Sun Life Stadium

My wife approached me and said it was time for a family vacation. She set guidelines, it must be hot, have a beach, and accessible only by plane. That last one is to keep me from taking her to Long Island.

What do I do? I check to see when and where the Cardinals are playing the Marlins. So the family headed to South Beach, actually Fort Lauderdale, for a little R&R, fun in the sun and some St. Louis Cardinals baseball.

Pros

The Stadium was a breeze to find. It’s conveniently located between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, so the options of where to stay are great. We choose Fort Lauderdale because it is considerably more kid friendly than South Beach.

The Stadium itself is nice enough, there are more bathrooms then fans with plenty of family rooms, which was very convenient. The concessions are standard but what impressed me most was the number of staff at each concession stand.

The game had a 20 minute rain delay but I was thrilled with the amount of activities they had for kids to participate in. They had batting cages, spin the wheel, and other free games that lead to prizes.

I was very pleased with the quality of the seat I was able to get for the money I was willing to spend. We were right off the field adjacent to the visitor’s bullpen.

Lastly, and this was pretty cool, apparently Saturday night games are followed by a fireworks show and on field performance. For our game it was a high flying circus troop.

Cons

I’m getting used to empty stadiums, so I’m not going to dwell on the lack of support for the Marlins. They had an unusual pregame ceremony with at least half a dozen people throwing out the first pitch. They had Miss something another, guys from the radio station, a local Pastor, two guys in spandex from the circus troop.

Eventually Chris Bosh, from the Miami Heat took the mound for what was the seventh or eighth first pitch. I think that’s an oxymoron?

Sun Life Stadium is about the fifth name the stadium has had. I remembered Pro-Player and Land Shark but I didn’t realize this is the same stadium as Joe Robbie and Dolphin Stadium. Then someone referred to it as the Orange Bowl Stadium and my head nearly exploded. How confusing.

They are scheduled to get a new stadium with a roof in 2012 and I hope they pick a name and stick with it.

But the roof brings me to my last point, it rains in Florida every day. How did they not take that into account when selecting the City and Stadium for a team? I don’t have the numbers for rain outs or even rain delays but they have to be at or near the top.

Overall Game Day Experience

Despite another Cardinals loss, my daughter and I enjoyed ourselves and would rank Sun Life Stadium (I hope that’s still the name) a seven out of 10

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For the second time in little over a week, a manger was faced with the decision of pulling a pitcher from a game in which he is tossing a no-hitter.

On August 15, Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire pulled Kevin Slowey after seven innings of no-hit ball, and last night Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington was faced with a similar decision.

With two outs and a runner on first in the top of the seventh, and with Rich Harden working on a no-hitter against the Twins, Washington pulled Harden from the game.

I agreed with the decision Gardenhire made in Minnesota, and I 100 percent agree with the decision Washington made last night.

Harden was at 111 pitches when he was pulled. He is made of glass. He can barely stay healthy. This was a no-brainer.

In order for Harden to throw a no-hitter last night, he probably would have had to throw 140-plus pitches. If Harden threw 140 pitches, there would be a good chance his arm would literally fall off.

In all seriousness, the Rangers have much bigger fish to fry than Harden’s no-hitter. They are trying to win a World Series. A healthy Harden—whether in the bullpen or in the starting rotation—will only help.

If Harden can pitch down the stretch like he did last night, the Rangers will be even more dangerous in October. Though he can’t throw 95-97 anymore, his 91-92 mph fastball was just as effective last night.

Despite Harden walking five batters, I thought he had pretty solid control last night. A well-placed 91 mph is just as good as a 98 mph fastball right down the middle. He was hitting the corners pretty consistently against the Twin batters.

Could Harden have pitched to Jim Thome in the seventh? Sure he could have. But there was no reason to push him.

In that top of the seventh, Washington brought in Matt Harrison to face Thome, and the move worked out. Thome hit a rocket, but it was right at center fielder Julio Borbon.

Darren O’Day pitched a flawless eighth and set everything up for Neftali Feliz in the ninth. Feliz got Denard Span to fly out weakly to left, but then he walked Orlando Hudson.

Then he had to face Joe Mauer—probably not the guy the Rangers wanted up at the plate in that situation. On an 0-2 pitch, Mauer ripped a single up the middle to break up the no-hitter.

Mauer is such a good hitter, it’s ridiculous. The pitch he hit was a high and away fastball that the mere mortal would have popped up to third. Mauer takes that pitch and ropes it up the middle.

The game finished with the four Ranger pitchers combining for a one-hitter and a 4-0 victory. While Ranger fans, especially the ones that were at the game, would have loved to see a no-hitter, pulling Harden was the right call by Washington.

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Maybe a third times the charm for Florida Marlins’ OF Cameron Maybin?

With Cody Ross shipped off to San Francisco, the Marlins will call up the 23-year-old today to take Ross’ place on the roster. This will be the third time Maybin will be given a chance to win a starting job since coming over from the Detroit Tigers in 2007.

Maybin has been a huge disappointment since coming over to the Marlins in the Miguel Cabrera trade. As a matter of fact, if you look at that trade for the Marlins, it’s been a disaster so far. Neither Maybin nor Andrew Miller have been anything the Marlins thought they would be.

The Marlins gave Maybin the starting job at the beginning of the 2009 season and he managed to hit just .250 with a .318 OBP. He was sent down after 54 games.

In 2010, the Marlins gave Maybin his second shot at becoming the every day center fielder and once again, he failed. Maybin lasted just 51 games this time around as he hit .225 with a very weak .290 OBP before getting sent down to Triple-A.

So now the question is—can Maybin succeed this time around?

I think he can. I will base my reasoning on three factors:

1. He is still only 23-years-old. Maybe the worst thing that ever happened to Cameron was that he hit a home run off of Roger Clemens in his second major league game back in 2007. He hit that home run when he was 20 years old.

If I hit a home run off of Clemens when I was 20, my head would explode. Perhaps now, Maybin has had a chance to mature and understand that hitting in the major leagues isn’t easy.

Most kids Maybin’s age are just getting their first crack at the major leagues. For Maybin, this will be his fifth shot.

2. Maybin killed it in Triple-A. The Marlins sent Maybin down to Triple-A New Orleans and Maybin proceeded to tear the cover off the baseball. He put up a .338/.407/.508 hitting line with four HR’s in 130 AB’s.

Triple-A success obviously doesn’t always turn into major league success, but his performance has to have given him confidence that he can perform at the big show.

3. A better approach at the plate. If you watched Maybin at the beginning of this season, you would have seen the worst approach at the plate of any major league hitter. I know that is a harsh statement, but it’s true.

When Maybin came to the plate in April and May, he had no idea what he was doing. Pitchers had their way with him as his 30.8 K percentage indicates.

In Triple-A, Maybin seems to have found himself. Maybin’s K percent of 18.5 percent was the lowest of his career at any level. Some of that can be attributed to facing lower level pitching, but I think some of it is Maybin having a better understanding of the strike zone and a better approach at the plate.

The next 30 games or so will be very big for Maybin’s career. If he fails again, he might not get another chance in a Marlins’ uniform.

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Last week I wrote about Jair Jurrjens, the home warrior. I thought it would be fitting to write this week about a guy who has truly been a road warrior this season.

With no disrespect to Animal or the late Hawk, Florida Marlins pitcher Ricky Nolasco was a true road warrior this season. Despite his season ending prematurely (he wants to pitch, but that would be a dumb idea) because of a torn meniscus in his right knee, Nolasco really was a stud on the road this season.

Nolasco was rock solid on the road this year

Overall on the season, Nolasco is 14-8 with a 4.22 ERA, a 1.23 WHIP, and averaging 8.5 K/9. It has been a solid season for Nolasco considering he was sent down to the minors last season.

On the road, however Nolasco really shined. In 14 starts, Nolasco was 10-2 with a 3.35 ERA, a 1.17 WHIP, and averaged 8.3 K/9.

The biggest difference for Nolasco on the road versus at home is that he kept the ball in the ballpark.

At home, Nolasco was giving up 1.8 HR’s/9 and on the road he only gave up 0.9 HR’s/9. What’s interesting about Nolasco’s splits is that this flyball percentage is about the same (41 percent) on the road versus at home, and he is the complete opposite of the Marlins’ pitching staff as a whole.

The Marlins’ pitching staff has a lower ERA at home than on the road (3.77 to 4.13) and gives up less HR’s/9 at home (0.67) than on the road (0.89). Perhaps Ricky should do the opposite and go from tuna on toast, coleslaw, and a cup of coffee to chicken salad on rye, not toasted, and a cup of tea in order to fit in with the rest of his staff.

Why Nolasco struggled at home this year, while the other Marlin pitchers enjoyed success is beyond me. But what I do know is that Nolasco really had one heck of a season on the road and was a true road warrior.

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Apparently the San Francisco Giants are trying to set the record for most outfielders acquired in one season.

In the last three months, they have brought in Pat Burrell and Jose Guillen, and now they have brought in Cody Ross from the Florida Marlins.

The Giants claimed Ross off waivers on Friday, and he was awarded to the Giants yesterday. Ross was batting .263/.315/.404 with 11 HRs in 119 games for the Marlins in 2010.

Where Ross will fit in with the Giants is unclear at this point, but the Giants didn’t get him because they really wanted him. They got him to keep him away from the San Diego Padres, who needed a center fielder thanks to an injury suffered by Tony Gwynn Jr.

In college, we used to a call this a “Blank a-doodle-doo” block. If the Giants did indeed try to blank a-doodle-doo block the Padres, then I dig it. Ross won’t hurt the Giants, and as a matter of fact, he is an upgrade over Guillen in right.

What’s funny about all these offensive acquisitions is that it’s not the Giants’ offense that has been the problem lately. It’s been the starting pitching that’s been the problem for San Francisco. Giants starters have a 4.69 ERA in August.

Perhaps the Giants should spend more time figuring out how to get Tim Lincecum right than worrying about getting more outfielders.

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The great thing about the sport of baseball is that you can debate the players, stats, teams, and anything else you can think of until you are blue in the face.

That is what makes baseball fun. No other sport can stir up the debates that baseball can.

However, one thing in baseball is not debatable is that the San Diego Padres have baseball’s best bullpen so far in 2010. From day one they have been dealing, and they haven’t slowed down since.

Padre relievers lead all of baseball in bullpen ERA (2.81), BAA (.214), OPS against (.606), WHIP (1.07), and K/9 (9.7). That, my friends, is called getting it done.

What is more fascinating than how the Padres’ bullpen is dominating hitters is how they came together. The Padres’ bullpen came together as a bunch of throw-ins and cast-offs.

Let’s take a closer look at how the Padres’ 2010 bullpen came to be…

Heath Bell: Traded by the New York Mets in November of 2006 with Royce Ring to the San Diego Padres for Jon Adkins and Ben Johnson. Bell has a 2.56 ERA and 81 saves in four years in a Padres uniform.

Luke Gregerson: Sent by the St. Louis Cardinals to the San Diego Padres in March of 2009 to complete an earlier deal made on December 4, 2008. The St. Louis Cardinals sent a player to be named later and Mark Worrell to the San Diego Padres for Khalil Greene.

Gregerson has a 3.01 ERA with 11 K’s/9 in two seasons in a Padres uniform. I think the Cardinals would love to have him back.

Mike Adams: Traded by the Cleveland Indians in July of 2006 to the San Diego Padres for Brian Sikorski. Adams was once released by the Padres in 2007 and no team picked him up, so San Diego picked him back up. Since then he has a 1.84 ERA in 152 innings.

Joe Thatcher: Traded by the Milwaukee Brewers in July of 2007 with Steve Garrison (minors) and Will Inman (minors) to the San Diego Padres for Scott Linebrink. The only lefty in the Padres’ pen, Thatcher has a 1.33 ERA in 2010 and has a 3.41 ERA with a 9.4 K/9 ratio in four seasons in San Diego.

Edward Mujica: Sent to the San Diego Padres in April of 2009 by the Cleveland Indians as part of a conditional deal. Mujica has been very solid in a San Diego uniform in two seasons since coming over from the Indians. He is having his best season in 2010 with a 3.31 ERA and 0.85 WHIP.

Ryan Webb: Traded by the Oakland Athletics in July of 2009 with a player to be named later and Craig Italiano (minors) to the San Diego Padres for Scott Hairston. The Oakland Athletics sent Sean Gallagher (July 28, 2009) to the San Diego Padres to complete the trade.

Webb has been perhaps the most inconsistent Padres reliever, giving up 48 hits and 14 walks in 46.1 IP, which is why he was optioned down to Triple-A on Saturday. He did, however, sport a 3.30 ERA.

Tim Stauffer: Drafted by the San Diego Padres in the first round (fourth pick) of the 2003 draft. Clearly has never lived up to his fourth overall draft selection but has carved out a nice niche for himself in the Padres’ bullpen.

He has been their “swing man” this year and has posted a remarkable 1.17 ERA in 38.1 IP.

So to recap, that’s seven relievers; six were traded for, and one was drafted. Those are some unbelievable acquisitions by former GM Kevin Towers and current GM Jed Hoyer.

Obviously the GMs got lucky with some of these acquisitions like Gregerson or Adams. Nine times out of 10, guys who are the “Player to be Named Later” don’t have all-world seasons like Gregerson is having in 2010.

While the Padres might have gotten lucky in some cases, they have proved that spending big money on relievers is not a valuable use of resources. The Padres have proved that a team can build a bullpen through smart trades and low-priced talent.

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I sat down to watch the Washington Nationals—Philadelphia Phillies game early Saturday night and once again, I was impressed with what I saw out of phenom Stephen Strasburg for the first 4.1 innings.

Strasburg was rolling through the Phillies’ lineup, allowing just two hits and one run while striking out six. His fastball was touching the high 90s and he was mixing in his curve and his change to really dominate the Philly lineup.

Then the fifth inning happened.

On a 1-1 pitch to fellow rookie Domonic Brown, Strasburg threw a ball that tailed low and away to Brown, but Strasburg appeared to be hurt on the pitch. He kept flexing his arm and immediately the trainer came out to see what the issue was.

Strasburg left the game with what later was diagnosed as a strained tendon in his right forearm. Strasburg underwent an MRI on Sunday, but the results of that test are still not known.

I don’t know what the MRI will show, but if a strained tendon in his forearm is all that happened, then the Nationals are darn lucky. With Strasburg’s reaction, I thought he had blown out is elbow.

Regardless of what the MRI shows, Strasburg’s 2010 season should be over. The Nationals are going nowhere the rest of the season and there is no point in pushing Strasburg.

The Nationals have too much invested in Strasburg and they can’t be that desperate for a gate that they would threaten his career by sending him back out there.

For those who want to already want to compare him to Mark Prior—pump the breaks. Prior suffered injuries and had surgeries that prematurely ended his career. Strasburg hasn’t even landed on the DL yet.

I am not going to come close to putting Strasburg in the Prior category just yet.

As soon as the results of Strasburg’s MRI are announced, I will have an update on this post.

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