Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

Everybody is talking about A-Rod getting to 14 HR so fast and what has gotten lost in the shuffle is the fact that if the Yankees lose tonight against the Devil Rays then they will be in LAST PLACE in the AL East... For what its worth - the Braves are a game ahead of the Padres for the NL Wildcard... Frank Thomas hit his 490th career HR last night against the Red Sox. He needs just 3 more to tie Fred McGriff and Lou Gehrig for 21st place on the all time list... Happy 35th birthday to Chipper Jones who is having a pretty good season so far (6 HR, .319 BA, 1.090 OPS)... There are many reasons why Jeff Francoeur has become a fan favorite in Atlanta but I'm guessing the fact that this season he's hitting .538 with RISP and 2 outs has to be near the top (15 of Francoeur's 22 RBI have come with 2 out)... Henry Owens is listed as the Marlins closer but he has just 1 save - the same number as three other Marlin relievers... On the Mets - Ramon Castro has played in 8 fewer games than Paul Lo Duca but yet Castro has 2 more HR and 2 more RBI than the 35-year old Lo Duca. Just saying but Lo Duca has a history of starting out fast and tiring late in the season (career .238 BA and .643 OPS in September games) - maybe age has caught with Lo Duca? I wouldn't be surprised to see a catching controversy by the All-Star break in the Big Apple... The Washington Nationals are 6-13. My question is - how did they win 6 games?... For those of you out there thinking that there is no way the Yankees lose a 5th game in a row and fall into last place - please note that you'd be risking $168 to win $100 on a road team that is facing Scott Kazmir who pitches very well in Tropicana Field (career 3.12 ERA in 30 home starts). I'm not trying to talk you out of it - just giving you the facts...