Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

The Cleveland Indians are 1.5 games ahead (behind?) the Orioles for the worst record in the American League. Who saw that coming? I know I saw some people picking the Indians to go to the World Series in their pre-season picks. I can't recall anyone picking them to contend to be the worst team in the league... For all the complaining that their are no races this year in baseball - only less than half of the teams in the league (14) are numerically eliminated... Of all the teams that will make the playoffs - the Detroit Tigers have by far the worst road record (33-44). They also have the worst overall record of any team who will probably make the post-season. Which means they probably win their first round match-up with the Yankees... Alex Rodriguez needs one more RBI for 1696 and to pass Cal Ripken for 23rd place on the All-Time RBI list. He also needs just 1 more run for 1677 and to pass Mickey Mantle to move into a tie with Bid McFee for 26th place on the all-time runs list. I'm guessing that privately both these milestones mean a lot to A-Rod... Speaking of milestones - did you know that Todd Helton was tied with Babe Ruth for 44th place on the all-time doubles list with 506? Helton needs 4 more doubles to catch Rickey Henderson. As impressive as Helton's record of hitting doubles has been - he's only 5th among active players for two-baggers - behind Garrett Anderson (515), Ken Griffey (522), Manny Ramirez (530) and Ivan Rodriguez (547)... Quietly Florida's Chris Coghlan has made a pretty good case for NL ROY. Coghlan is hitting .314 with a respectable .836 OPS. I think JA Happ of the Phillies has the nod for the NL ROY though with a 10-4 record and a 2.77 ERA. In the AL - I think Rick Porcello of the Tigers deserves the award with a 14-9 record with a 4.14 ERA... Today is Rafael Palmeiro's 45th birthday. Has anyone ever fallen off the grid as quickly as finger-wagging Palmeiro?