Kuzul

Here are my Penthouse Power Rankings for the first three months of the Major League Baseball Season.

The numbers to the left of their names indicate NL ranking. The numbers to the right of their name indicate their league ranking.

1. Atlanta Braves (4 )

I thought the Braves would be good this season, but they have exceeded my expectation thus far. They even played well through Chipper Jones’ possible retirement. I believe they will be the wild card team in NL by season’s end.

2. San Diego Padres (5 )

No one saw this team coming. Anyone who says they did is a liar and should be forced into a room with an angry Carlos Zambrano. They have some solid young players and should be in contention over the next couple of months. Ultimately, I believe they will fall short.

3. New York Mets (7 )

We know it’s going to happen, but the question is, when will the wheels fall off? The pitching staff has been top notch with the exception of Santana. If Santana gets rolling, watch out, Mets fans. You guys might actually make the playoffs. David Wright is an early season MVP candidate.

4. St. Louis Cardinals (8 )

They have one of the better pitching staffs in the NL. Albert Pujols leads the team in all major offensive categories except SB. Adam Wainwright looks like a Cy Young candidate so far.

5. Cincinnati Reds (10 )

I predicted the Reds would fight for the wild card this year, but they might actually get the division. Scott Rolen and Jonny Gomes have been better than expected. Youngster pitcher Mike Leake has been a nice surprise. Can’t depend on winning close games all year, though.

6. Los Angeles Dodgers (13 )

The divorce between the McCourts will be the team’s downfall this season. Kemp needs to focus less on his umbrella-ella-ella-ella and more on his production. The juice-less Ramirez has started to come around, but isn’t quite the same.

7. Philadelphia Phillies (15 )

Basically the same team as last year, but the addition of Roy Halladay had everyone screaming for a third straight World Series birth. There offense has been the biggest disappoint thus far to me. No one is really playing like they want to get into the “UMMM Hall of Fame”.

8. San Francisco Giants (16 )

Imagine if they had some hitters in the lineup other than Kung-Fu Panda. Offseason signing of Hillary Duff, sorry Aubrey Huff, big deal. Lincecum has been up and down, but ultimately no hitting means no playoffs.

9. Colorado Rockies (18 )

Jimenez has been outstanding this season. There’s even talk about him winning MVP . Troy Tulowitzki is injured and Todd Helton couldn’t hit a parked car. They will fall short when battling the other teams in the NL West.

10. Florida Marlins (20 )

Manager-less Marlins have some great young players who will probably be on other teams in the near future. The rumors have been about Bobby Valentine taking over. I’m sure Mets fans would love to see the guy who has helped them enjoy their most recent success coaching the Fish.

11. Milwaukee Brewers (21 )

They entered the season with high expectation and have held water like a cup with holes in it. Rickie Weeks has been surprisingly good this season, but he can’t pitch. They will most likely lose Prince Fielder this offseason and really have something to complain about.

12. Chicago Cubs (24 )

Sweet Lou looks like he’s auditioning for “Grumpy Old Men 3” and can’t wait for the season to end. Carlos Zambrano isn’t effective out of the pen or as a starter and acts like his teammates are the reason he’s serving up HRs like government bailouts. I wish Z would have punched Derek Lee, maybe Lee would start hitting. Cubs fans, you’ll get’em next year.

13. Washington Nationals (25 )

The Nationals finally have something to cheer about, but he can only pitch once every five days. They were competitive at the beginning of the season, but that is over. I have a theory about people who think Stephen Strasburg should be in the All-Star game. Only rich people think that you should get things without earning them.

14. Arizona Diamondbacks (26 )

The season was pretty much finished when they couldn’t close out games early on. Edwin Jackson throwing a 149 pitch no-hitter pretty much sums up what they think of their bullpen. The offense hits HRs, but doesn’t hit consistently.

15. Houston Astros (28 )

The Astros should be surrendering a short time after the All-Star break. They need to get what they can for Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman and start planning for next season.

16. Pittsburgh Pirates (29 )

They lead the league in dreadlocks and losing by the biggest margins. The Pirates will unfortunately not be competitive until there is a salary cap or they join a keg league.

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As all baseball fans know, they get to vote every year for the players they want represented to start in the Midsummer Classic.

Unfortunately, most fans get the selections wrong and many undeserving players are selected to start in the All-Star game.

My list for the 2010 NL All-Star starters is based on what these players did for their teams in the first half of the season and the stats that back up their claim.

Phillies fans might be disappointed with these selections…

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Interleague play is a strange beast.  For every full ballpark for the Mets vs. Yankees, and Cubs vs. White Sox showdowns, you have these strange, arbitrary matchups that don’t draw any additional interest, and only seem to detract from intraleague showdowns.

“Throw all the records out the window when the ORIOLES and PADRES get together!”

This concept, which clearly is one of Bud Selig’s better ideas from a dollars and cents standpoint, needs some revision from a scheduling point of view.  

Why have the Dodgers never played at Yankee Stadium?  As it pertains to us, why have our Reds never played at Camden Yards in Baltimore, and why did we play IN Toronto in consecutive years?

Furthermore, as it relates to the title of the article, why do we have to play the Cleveland Indians twice a year?  Is anyone out there extra fired up for this series?  Will there be a huge spike in ticket sales?  Does winning the “Ohio Cup” mean anything?

Thankfully, the Indians have hit a bit of a lull, but there have been years where we faced some powerhouse Indians squads, while the Cardinals got to feast on the Royals six times a year in their “natural” rivalry.  

How fair is that?  When teams have wildly contrasting schedules, I think that is a bit of a problem.

This gimmick needs to be reduced a bit, although there is great comedic value in watching American League pitchers have to bat. I would be happy with one series a year vs. the Indians, alternating the site. 

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The Yankees are back home, and not much has changed in regards to catching the Tampa Bay Rays , who have held onto first place in the AL East all season. The Yankees are still two games behind, but continue to keep themselves the wild card team.

As I predicted, the Toronto Blue Jays have fallen to behind the Red Sox to fourth place, and this is a trend that will continue for Toronto.

The Blue Jays don’t play small ball at all, which is what comes in handy when team is slumping. Hitting home runs alone isn’t enough, but the Blue Jays pitching has allowed them to look more dominant.

This weekend begins interleague play for all teams. Many feel it is unfair, as the American League has bullied the National League since these games were incorporated in 1997.

Why is the AL always better?

The AL is much more competitive because the designated hitter is a power bat, compared to having the pitchers bat.

NL pitchers almost get a break with every ninth batter being a pitcher, instead of facing the likes of a David Ortiz , Vladimir Guerrero , or Hideki Matsui.

Matsui was the World Series MVP as the Yankees DH last season, which clearly proves it is a significant position.

The two highest grossing teams in MLB are in the AL, the Red Sox and the Yankees. These two alone hog so much attention from fans, media, and anything baseball-related.

The NL has had less competitive teams overall for over a decade. This allows for the brutal beatings the NL takes in interleague play and the All-Star game.

Another weird observation is that the NL has mascots and fans who love to spin towels in the air, which drives me absolutely crazy.

Let’s be fair, the NL is home to the Philadelphia Phillies , who are about as good as a team can get. Also, viably the best player in baseball now and maybe ever is Albert Puljos, who has always been an NL player on the St. Louis Cardinals . Don’t forget the NL now has the best pitcher in baseball too, Roy Halladay , who moved from the Blue Jays to the Phillies.

My prediction is that the 2010 season is still owned by the American League, but not by much because the NL has been on the rise big time. I bet that in 2011 the National League will finally matchup.

Well, let the games begins, as interleague matchups start tonight.

Up in the Bronx, the Yankees host the Houston Astros for three games. Astros will be followed by the Phillies, Mets, Dodgers, and Diamondbacks, so this should be interesting to see how the Yankees fair against teams fans rarely get to see, but fans think it is a necessity to sweep the Dodgers! I think you know why…

What is your opinion on this subject?

Do you think both leagues should have the same rules regarding DH or no DH?

Why do you think the AL more competitive?

Please share your outlook in the comments box below.

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Bud Selig is reportedly “very comfortable” with his decision not to award Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga with a perfect game.

Glad we could get that out of the way, Bud.

Professional sports’ most aloof commissioner remains just that.  The other side of his aloofness (you know, aside from arrogance) is that he’s also utterly out of touch with fans.

You remember fans, Bud?  The ones who used to follow baseball before your lockout.  The ones who used to follow baseball before they found out all of their heroes were juicing. 

But, as with the use of performance enhancing drugs, Selig is going in entirely the wrong direction with regards to umpiring and the state of replay

Keep in mind it took an act of Congress, literally, to convince Selig to address PED use.

Now, in the midst of pitching’s recovery from the Steroids Era, we have an umpiring controversy.  And not just any controversy.  No, we’ve got a controversy in which, by Selig’s own admission, the pitcher, umpire, manager, team and fans handled it all in an extremely classy way.

The commissioner, sadly, did not follow suit.

Selig spoke at length in complimenting the way others handled Galarraga’s loss of a perfect game.  I’m certain that was very gracious of him.  Selig also stated his belief that “baseball people” are against the use of replay.

If he meant the same stodgy “baseball people” who wanted to sweep the Steroids Era under the rug or who wanted to keep African-Americans segregated from the majors for as long as possible, he would be right.

The rest of us checked our calendars and it was 2010. 

Selig’s reasoning for not updating the way games are called?  That’s right, people have been complaining about umpires since the 1950s.  He then extended that window to major league baseball’s beginnings in 1865. 

Based on that wonderful logic, I’d imagine the MLB office doen’t employ women.  I mean, why change for change’s sake?

For me, one of the dumbest things about Selig’s comments was that he acknowledged that people have been complaining about umpires for that length of time, but didn’t acknowledge, or even address, that the use of replay would result in a significant reduction in those complaints.

When initially responding to the Galarraga situation, Selig also cited that human error was part of the game.

As long as he is the commissioner, that would appear to be the case.

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The Colorado Rockies (25-22) faced division rival Arizona Diamondbacks (20-28) Thursday afternoon in the last game of a three-game series.

For the Rockies, everything was working Thursday as a multitude of pitchers and a barrage of batters led Colorado to a dominant 8-2 win and the team’s first sweep of the 2010 season.

Jason Hammel started the game and pitched well despite not having his best stuff. Through five innings Hammel didn’t give up a run and tallied a career-high tying eight Ks against the D-Backs.

But the sixth inning was his undoing.

With the Rockies up 3-0, Hammel walked Stephen Drew and Adam LaRoche. Mark Reynolds then singled to load the bases and Chris Young singled to score Drew. Then Hammel hit Chris Snyder to walk home Arizona’s second run of the game.

Hammel left the game after five and one third innings giving up seven hits and two earned runs while striking out eight.

After Hammel went to the dugout, Colorado’s bullpen was air tight and didn’t allow a single hit while striking out six more batters.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Rockies’ bats were cracking and created fireworks at one point.

Colorado jumped on Arizona’s ace Dan Haren early, scoring three runs in the first inning.

Carlos Gonzalez stayed hot and hit a leadoff single that he legged into a double, only to be knocked home by Ryan Spilborghs a few minutes later. Then, after a Jason Giambi strikeout, Troy Tulowitzki homered to stretch Colorado’s lead to three.

For Tulo, it was his fifth home run in seven games and he continued to grow his 11-game hitting streak.

But it was what the Rockies did after Hammel’s meltdown in the sixth that showed they were not going to lose this game.

After a Clint Barmes single in the seventh, Colorado made Coors look like the ballpark of old with big blasts. Seth Smith (8), Gonzalez (6), and Spilborghs (3) hit back-to-back-to-back home runs off of Haren, the first time the Rockies had done so since April 27, 2004.

The seventh inning fireworks secured Colorado’s 8-2 win and capped off an electrifying series against Arizona.

In a way, the game was a microcosm of the Rockies on this current win streak.

Since May 20, Colorado is 6-1 and averaging 5.4 runs per contest while only allowing 3.3 runs per.

Despite missing starter Jorge De La Rosa and closer Huston Street, the Rockies pitching has been special and led them through games.

Ubaldo Jimenez was Ubaldominent in wins eight and nine versus Houston (4-0) and Arizona Wednesday (7-3), allowing zero runs in each. Likewise, Jeff Francis was stellar in his second start versus Kansas City on May 22, going six and a third innings allowing five hits, two walks and striking out three.

And when starters come out, Colorado’s bullpen has held together lately.

In the last seven games Matt Belisle has pitched on four occasions for a combined four innings, allowing two hits and sitting down seven on strikes. Similarly, Joe Beimel has been throwing well as his ERA has dropped to 0.52 and Manuel Corpas is up to four saves in relief of the ailing Street.

And while pitching has been hot, the Rox’ bats have been hotter.

Tulo“hit”zki’s 11-game hitting streak has ballooned his average to .314, just edging out Gonzalez (.313) for the team lead. Tulo also leads the team in runs (34), hits (54), and doubles (15) as he’s leading by example as the Rockies’ biggest current star.

Colorado’s fifth outfielder, Seth Smith, had three homers in the Rockies’ last two games even though he’s been sick with the flu, and their sixth outfielder Spilborghs went 3-4 with a double and a home run as he was the player of the game Thursday.

So, everything is coming together for the Rockies, and it couldn’t be happening at a better time. After sweeping Arizona, Colorado plays Los Angeles (26-21) for three games at home starting Friday, then flies to San Francisco (24-22) Monday as Tim Lincecum and Jimenez get set to see who is the best pitcher in the NL. The Rockies finish this 12-game divisional stretch with three games (June 4-6) in Arizona against the Diamondbacks.

So as they sit now, the Rockies are third in the NL West and three and a half games back of West leader San Diego and one back of LA. Come Monday, if Colorado can continue playing these winning ways, they could be sitting solely in second place at the one-third point of the season.

The Rockies have already battled tough through injuries and slumping bats for most of the season. Now they are hitting their stride as a run to the playoffs for the third time in four years seems possible if not probable at this point.

In the grueling 162-game MLB season there’s still lots of baseball to be played, but Colorado is starting to look like a contender as we approach Memorial Day.

So Denver, get out and support your Rockies—especially when Ubaldo “Cy Young” Jimenez is out on the mound (he only had around 25,000 fans on Wednesday)—because your Rockies are a special baseball team.

Rich Kurtzman is a Colorado State University Alumnus and freelance sports journalist. Along with being the Denver Nuggets Featured Columnist here on B/R, Kurtzman is the Denver Broncos FC for NFLTouchdown.com, the CSU Rams Examiner for examiner.com and the Colorado/Utah Regional Correspondent for stadiumjourney.com.

Follow Rich on twitter and/or facebook!

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With baseball a full two months in the books, teams are starting to make their runs toward the All-Star break.

With so much parity in MLB, teams with nearly identical records are separated by a few spots, sometimes more.

There are still many teams in realistic contention for their division title, but I will narrow it down to five teams right now that we could see playing in late October.

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A Fit Full of Tasers : MLB Enjoying A Week of Hearty Storylines

It usually happens like this. Everything is going great, there’s no drama, no over-excited story that garners far more national attention than it deserves, and all of a sudden the stories hit like a thunderstorm in a Michigan summer.

Of course, we’re talking about the 2010 major league baseball season here.

A number of stories have begun to compound upon one another over the last week. From Milton Bradley’s emotional collapse to a 17-year-old Tasered in the middle of the Citizen Bank outfield grass, there is no shortage of storylines in major league baseball right now.

Umpires May Want to Taser Milton Bradley, but Listen, He Really Does Have Feelings

When it comes to Milton Bradley, the criticism seems to be easily justified.

Here we have a talented athlete, seemingly wasting away his career, a style of living most can only dream of, and a life that could be so much better if he just learned to control his emotions, something an average teen-ager should be able to do.

I think it’s rightly justified that we fume when those who are given the opportunity to flourish, flat out fail.

It seems that Bradley falls into this category.

But I beg a counter argument here, that, while surprising to myself that I actually feel this way, makes sense when you really think about it.

His history is shaky; he has flipped off countless fans, managers, players, and umpires in his 10 years and eight stops in the major leagues.

His longest tenure for one club was from 2001-2003 with the Cleveland Indians. He is a clubhouse cancer, an infectious disease.

He has never, ever, admitted that anything he ever did was, in fact, wrong.

Until Tuesday night.

Sometime after he struck out looking with the bases loaded but with several innings still left to play, an upset Milton Bradley left Safeco Field and went home.

Sometime after that, he decided that he needed help.

On Wednesday morning he called manager Don Wakamatsu and general manager Jack Zduriencik and asked if he could speak with them in person.

When he did so, he told them he is dealing with personal problems and asked the club for its help.

Pause.

He asked management for help.

After his meeting, he went to a Seattle elementary school as part of the Mariners annual education day and spoke emotionally about his mother’s financial struggles while raising him. He then went to Safeco Field and spoke to his teammates and asked them for their support at a team meeting.

Pause.

He asked his teammates for support.

Then, he willingly sat out the first of an unspecified number of games while the struggling Mariners give him time to get himself together.

See, here’s the thing, folks.

You can say all you want about how athletes make too much money to be allowed to screw up.

Go ahead, I’ve said it in the past, and while I don’t really believe it, it’s a stereotype and admit that I’ve copped out to please my audience.

But, the beauty of us, as human beings is that we all screw up.

We all have our faults and it doesn’t matter if we are presidents, athletes, judges, plumbers, pastors, or zookeepers.

We all screw up.

When those who have found incredible success do it, those who are honest with themselves can find a sense of understanding, a sense of likeness with that and a realization that these guys aren’t that much different than you and I are.

And guess what, Milton Bradley asked for help.

Let’s see you or I put aside our pride and admit that we are wrong every once in a while, forget about admitting we have major character issues.

MLB Players Apparently Want to Pack Tasers Themselves, the Way They Talk

So, this story got so big that I don’t even need to introduce it with an explanation.  

On Monday of this week (the day before Bradley’s situation), Steve Consalvi and his youthful idea made national headlines that night and prompted major league baseball and local police from each city to investigate the appropriate way to deal with fans on the field.

While some believe that the use of a Taser Gun is a little extreme, what do you honestly expect in the society we live in today?

I’ve been to dozens upon dozens of games.

The rush of running onto the field does not outweigh a misdemeanor charge.

From a player’s perspective, when a strange fan is darting toward you, like an animal charging you at a zoo, what do you think his natural reaction will be?

I don’t want anyone ever to run at me acting like a total moron, and neither do you.

Phillies right fielder Jayson Werth was prepared to strike the fan with his glove as he approached him, but once the fan realized Werth considered him hostile, he said, “No! I love you!” and ran in a different direction.

“You’re just kind of programmed to know that if somebody comes on the field, they’re fair game, because you just don’t know what they’re going to do,” Werth said. “History could repeat itself.”

The recent history?

Two fans ran onto the field and pummeled former Royals first-base coach Tom Gamboa in Chicago in 2002. A folded up pocket knife fell out of one of the fan’s pockets.

Nelson Figueroa perhaps sums it up best:

“We don’t know if this guy has a weapon on him. We don’t know if this guy is on drugs or alcohol. We didn’t even know how old he was. You don’t know what his mind-set is. This guy is obviously not happy.

“You never know. I’ve played all around the world. The Dominican, Mexico, China. You’ve got fans who get very animated at games, and at times, they throw bottles and rocks and they want to come down on the field and fight the players. “In the best interest of the player you try to have security there and whatever means necessary to keep us safe. Hopefully, it was an example and set a precedent where people realize they’re not playing.

“He was corralled. He was surrounded. It might not have been the best, most fit, youngest force we had out there to take him down. But he realized he was wrong and he knew when he started circling, the gentlemen were winded and they went to the next level. Once he tried to make a run for it and got Tasered in the back, he stopped.”

Chuckle slightly to yourself.

Think about it.

And finally, think about Honoring the Greats

Ernie Harwell (1918-2010)

Robin Roberts (1926-2010)

Joshua David Worn  is an editor, journalist, and sportswriter who spends way too much of his time studying major league baseball box scores. He has been published or linked on The San Francisco Chronicle, CBS Sports, and the Bleacher Report, among others. He publishes The Most Interesting Column in Sports  on his personal website. Contact him at thebaseballglutton@comcast.net .

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