Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

I guess Cole Hamels is no Zach Duke... Juan Pierre may be the worst lead-off man in baseball. Sure he has 24 stolen bases but you can't steal first and with a .295 OBP - Pierre is starting off too many games with an out... Speaking of the Cubs - how bad are they this year? Tampa Bay has more wins (28 to 26)... I think it is safe to say that Francisco Liriano is the real deal. His win yesterday ran his record to 6-1 with a 2.16 ERA... Scott Podsednik continues to struggle (hitting just .250 for the season with a measley .366 SLG) and I think his new wife may be wearing him out. Can't say I'd blame him if that's the case... Nobody dislikes Alex Rodriguez more than me but the fact is so far this season A-Rod is hitting .343 with RISP and 2 outs and he's hitting a blistering .429 with the bases loaded...