Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

A fatigued right groin? Really? Let me remind you of my prediction for Roger Clemens as a Yankee this season - 19 starts, 8-6 record with a 4.75 ERA... In addition to Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz - who should be voted in by the fans - the Red Sox could also send Kevin Youkilis (.350 BA and yet to make an error as a 1st baseman in 47 games), Mike Lowell (.337 BA, 11 HR and 45 RBI - besides A-Rod nobody in the AL is close to his numbers), Jonathan Papelbon (13 saves and a 1.77 ERA) and Josh Beckett should be the starter in the game (JIm Leyland has said as much). That's potentially six players - all of them deserving (Manny deserves it for past accomplishments at least)... Just saying but yesterday's crowd at Fenway was 36,294 or 100.5% of capacity. Isn't everything over 100% technically a fire code violation?... Is it just me or is Hunter Pence of the Astros giving off a Joe Charboneau in 1980 type vibe? I'm at the point where I'm wondering if Pence can open beer bottles with his eye socket... Honey I can't mow the grass right now. I have a fatigued groin... Not sure if they are talking about yesterday's game or the whole season in general... I guess the silver lining for Yankee fans is that now a least they are 1 game ahead of the Devil Rays... Don't look now but the Mariners are just 2.5 games back in the AL Wildcard race... OK - I'll ask. Is there something wrong with Dontrelle Willis? Since going 22-10 with a 2.63 ERA in 2005 he has been pretty pedestrian. His ERA has gone from 2.63 in 2005 to 3.87 last year to 4.83 so far this year. His WHIP (1.13 in 2005, 1.42 in 2006 and 1.51 in 2007) and BAA (.243 in 2005, .274 in 2006 and .275 in 2007) have also increased year over year. The trends have to worry you if you are a Dontrelle fan. Maybe this guy just needs to get out of South Beach? Willis is 5-1 with a 3.66 ERA in six road starts in 2007 - that type of performance is much closer to his 2005 form... If you wanted to see what that blonde stripper A-Rod was hangng around with in Toronto looks like naked - here you go (NSFW)...