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We got problems John Donovan, SI.com
Everyone, at this time of year, has questions. Everyone has weaknesses.
You think the Atlanta Braves, just because they have baseball's best record, don't have a few nagging worries about the postseason? They're the Braves. The postseason petrifies them.
You think the New York Yankees don't have issues? The San Francisco Giants? Come on.
The entire Seattle Mariners team, in fact, has problems. Deep-seated, inner-child kind of problems. And they won't even be playing this postseason if they keep this up.
Every team, every pennant contender, every wild-card hopeful has weaknesses.
And we're here to point them out:
The New York Yankees: They just lost two of three to the Red Sox. And David Wells, bad back and all, had to be the stopper. Their bullpen is suspect: At 16-16 with a 4.38 ERA, it could become the first Yankees bullpen since 1971 to finish with a losing record. Plus, Jason Giambi is hurt, and Giambi (1-for-40), Bernie Williams (10-for-61) and Hideki Matsui (10-for-57) all are slumping badly.
The Boston Red Sox: Manny is Manny, Pedro is Pedro and the Red Sox are as much of a soap opera as the guys they're always chasing. The Sox have the hitting (though, away from Fenway, not so much). The uneasiness comes from the bullpen (4.95 ERA, better only than Kansas City) and a rotation that causes palpitations beyond Pedro Martinez. Derek Lowe, John Burkett and Tim Wakefield aren't scaring anyone, and Jeff Suppan is struggling (1-2, 5.67 ERA in seven starts) since his acquisition from Pittsburgh.
The AL Central: The loser is out of the postseason. The Minnesota Twins' Torii Hunter is hitting just .232 in the second half. Minnesota's Rick Reed has a bad back and the Twins' starting pitching, though it's been better in the second half, is 11th in the league in ERA (4.96). The White Sox have a solid front rotation and a decent bullpen, but they're hitting just .263, 11th in the AL. And Kansas City ... poor, poor Kansas City.
The Oakland A's: Barry Zito looks great one minute and lost the next. Mark Mulder is out. The A's are 13th in the AL in hitting (.253), better only than Detroit. Erubiel Durazo is hitting just .204 since the All-Star break, with a miserable .676 combined on-base and slugging percentage.
The Seattle Mariners: Ichiro Suzuki is slumping (12-for-80). And so is the rest of the team. In three games against Baltimore, the M's were 2-for-24 with runners in scoring position. Freddy Garcia has two wins in his last 14 starts. And Gil Meche, 10-5 with a 3.61 ERA before the All-Star break, is just 4-5 with a 4.99 ERA since.
The Atlanta Braves: John Smoltz's elbow still hurts. Andruw Jones, at the plate (110 strikeouts, only 50 walks), constantly hurts the Braves. Robert Fick has been awful, which makes first base a question. The bullpen, before Smoltz, is a pen by Ouija Board. And those Octobers past still haunt.
The Philadelphia Phillies: Larry Bowa could blow at any minute, and it's causing a lot of friction in the clubhouse. Pat Burrell hasn't hit all season (a whopping .243 since the break is moving up). All-Star Randy Wolf is just 3-5 with a 5.64 ERA since the break. Jose Mesa has been booted (deservedly) as closer.
The Florida Marlins: Mike Lowell is out. Alex Gonzalez is hitting only .195 since the break (.288 before) and never, almost ever, walks. What about Dontrelle Willis (2-5, 5.66 ERA since the break, 50 hits, 22 walks in 47 2/3 innings)?
The NL Central: The Astros lack depth in their rotation, but they get Roy Oswalt back Monday. Still, how healthy will he be? The Cubs have that fine starting pitching everyone raves about. But, you know, Kerry Wood is 2-5 with a 4.42 ERA since the break. Plus, the Cubs are notorious hackers at the plate. Only L.A. and the Mets walk less. As for the Cardinals, their bullpen is a mess. With a 4.93 ERA, only Pittsburgh's is worse.
The San Francisco Giants: Without Barry Bonds, this team sputters mightily. Jose Cruz is hitting only .212 since the break. Benito Santiago, who dislocated a finger and missed much of July, is hitting only .216 since the break. And Ray Durham, who has had a bum hamstring and missed most of August, is batting just .217 since the All-Star Game.
Everybody Else: The Dodgers have no offense and now there are questions about the health of their pitching. The Arizona Diamondbacks have some pitching, but the hitting has let them down. And the Montreal Expos are a .500 team beginning the long fade into wherever it is that they'll end up.
• David Wells is unhappy with the Yanks and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre. Note to Wells: Coaches are kind of like bosses. Live with it.
• All that outrage in Milwaukee can be bought off with a few Italian sausages? Smooth move, Randall Simon.
• Last year, Cy Young Award winner Barry Zito of the Oakland A's gave up 78 walks all season. He's already given up 79 this year.
• The people in Kansas City have to be bummed about the Royals' slide. Watch them get really bummed if the Royals, four games over .500, slip any deeper. Mike Sweeney, who can get out of his contract if K.C. finishes under .500 both this year and next, is watching.
• I don't know what all the fuss is about Manny Ramirez in Boston. It's pretty clear you don't have to be loud and obnoxious to be a prima donna.
This week, y'all sound off on the wild-card race, Barry Bonds, Bobby Cox and a couple of other things you've obviously had on your chest for quite some time ...
Here's a simple question. Why not contract Montreal? I just find it ridiculous that MLB manages to survive a financially faltering team while trying to contract another for an economic reason. I mean, why do they have to survive the Expos? -- Ken Anahara, Kanamachi, Japan
Owners decided last year, as part of the agreement with players that brought us all labor peace, that there would be no contraction, at least not until after this agreement. So, through the 2006 season, everyone's stuck with the Expos and all the questions that surround them. Those include where they should play, where they should move and how much money all the other owners need to put up to keep them afloat. It's a mess, Ken, you're right. And it will be for the foreseeable future.
As a dyed in the wool Giants fan, I would have to say that I enjoyed your article saying that the A's are finished. I just hope you are right and the Mariners come back from the dead. As for Bonds, no question that he is the MVP. This is especially true considering that he has done all of this with the stress of watching his beloved father die; not too many people could still function at that level with that hanging over their heads. The question is, will he get another one or will the writers feel that that six is too many? -- Brian Davenport, San Bruno
There will still be debate, but it looks like Bonds is again the front-runner for the NL MVP. He's landed five already. I don't think voting him No. 6 will be too big of a chore.
It's September. Am I surprised that the Mariners are in a funky slump? No, not at all. What is it with them this time of year, almost every year? -- David Small, Steilacoom, Wash.
What I find especially frustrating about the Mariners is that they made moves in the offseason to avoid this kind of second-half slump. They bolstered their bench, specifically, to keep everyone fresh down the stretch. Granted, some injuries have taken that bench edge away. And so now, the Mariners look just plain run down. They still have a couple of weeks to get better, though.
Do I dare say something bad about Bobby Cox? He is the main reason for the Braves' success over the last 12 years and also their failures! Every year about this time (happening now again), Bobby makes the worst decision. He decides to start resting players, giving them days off and subbing for them. The whole team dynamic is then lost and they begin to lose. So, what you have is a team that loses all cohesiveness right before the most critical time -- the playoffs! They also end up going into the playoffs on a bad note (losing many games) as opposed to a high note (momentum from winning many). He does this every year, and every year the same thing happens. It is funny, really. They build a large lead over the second-place team in their division and it comes back, basically, to hurt them. This, therefore, is the reason for the Braves' woes in the postseason and SOLELY the reason. -- John K., Canton, Ohio
It's a little early to open the Bobby Cox hunting season. That usually doesn't start until October. Right now, I don't know how you can fault the guy. He has taken a completely different team, one that is pretty much 180 degrees from what the Braves have always been under him, and done the same thing that he always does. That is, win. As far as his strategy, it's a difficult proposition. Regulars need the rest heading into October. But the team still needs to keep that edge. You're right, John, that the Braves sometimes seem to lose that drive. But when you win all those games and have that big of a lead in the division, it happens. The Braves have the best record in baseball. What do you want?
Would Barry be even a third of the way to the record if guys like Babe, Hank or even Mark wore as much armor as he does? Take away his Kevlar and make him stand in the batters box like the rest of the league, instead of on top of the inside half of the plate. My bet ... without the armor plating Bonds is a 20 HR a year guy at best. -- Paul Davis, Barstow, Calif.
Ahhh, no. I'm not buying that, Paul. I think that big old pillow on his elbow helps him cover all the plate, for sure. But, you know what? Bonds absolutely owns the inside part of the plate. His hands are so quick, any pitcher who comes in on him does so at his own risk. I think you need to face it, Paul. Inside, outside ... if it's on the plate, Bonds hammers it.
Why does the wild-card race have to have teams 25 games over .500 to be considered a "real" race? Certainly the level of play by the Cardinals, Astros, Cubs, Dodgers, et al is more than adequate to provide quality games. Your assessment implies that only the Braves and Giants would even qualify for a "real" race. What can be more exciting for a fan when the Cards/Cubs play a double header and Sammy Sosa provides a walkoff in the 15th followed by a resurgent Matt Morris shutting out the Cubbies in the nightcap? When Eric Gagne sets a MLB record for consecutive saves in the heat of the playoff race and the Phillies score four in the eighth to lose in the ninth ... what more do you want? A good race must have DRAMA and that's what we're getting every night. To hell with the records! -- Jeffrey Boyd, Pittsburgh
Yeah, Jeffrey, I heard from others like you, too. Read on.
Wait a moment. Now we are complaining that too many teams are competitive? Wasn't just this spring when people were bemoaning that baseball is bad because too FEW teams are competitive? I guess baseball just can't win. And before you say that these teams can't win the World Series, I just have two words for you: California Angels. -- John Hutton Sacramento, Calif.
Wild cards can win. They have won. The (excuse me) Anaheim Angels, as you point out, last year. But there are just so many ...
Gee, John, I'm really sorry that the NL wild card is sooooooo confusing for you. If you need to take some time off because your head hurts from trying to figure it all out, we would all understand. -- Steven Deeley, South Pasadena, Calif.
I love understanding readers. Thanks.
So ... the wild card is bad because the NL still has seven teams in the race on Sept. 1? What are you, nuts? Do you really think it's better to have only 1/3 of the teams with any hope by the All-Star break? Or is it, just maybe, better for the game (and its fans) to have more teams that still have a glimmer of hope for the playoffs as we fire up the grill for that long, first weekend in September. And, yes, I am a long-suffering Cubs fan. -- Shari Benscoter, Omaha, Neb.
I like the wild card. I really do. Having the three division winners and one more team makes perfect sense to me. It's just that ...
What gives? A couple of weeks ago you were praising the wild-card race and mocking purists who enjoy a good old fashioned winner-actually-wins-something pennant fight. Now, after suffering through the NL Central and its wild-card cousins, you're realizing what a godawful mess realignment and wild-card play has been. It has become the enabler of mediocrity and un-ambitious play. It robs the pennant race of its manly vigor and invites the scrubs to sit at the grownups' table. It should be scrapped, period, before any of us have to suffer through another whocareswhowinsthere'salwaysthewildcard pennant race. It's good to see you admit the folly of your ways and all, but you're still hedging your bets. The AL's no better, chum, or have you so soon forgotten the Anaheim Angels? -- Cheater O'Toole, Columbia, S.C.
OK. OK. Back off now, people. I haven't done a flip-flop, Cheater. I like the wild card. But, for sure, when you have so many teams -- and so many mediocre teams -- vying for it, things do start to look a little bad. Here's a fact: There are a half-dozen teams in the races that, really, don't look like postseason material. But that means there are at least a few, like last year's Angels, that are deserving (they did win 99, Cheater). One more point to make, for Cheater: No way do teams think "there's always the wild card." Not all of them, anyway. You think anyone in the AL is thinking that? Boston? Seattle? No way. Anyone in the AL Central? No. True, that's what the Phils and Marlins and all the teams in the NL West are thinking. But when you have two superior teams like the Braves and Giants, that'll happen. OK, I'm done.
Regarding your "hero", Barry Bonds. While I concede that losing your father is a terrible thing, MANY people suffer similar losses, often without the support or potential excuses that Mr. Bonds would be afforded. When my son died, I was back at work later that week, and nobody would have forgiven me if I had not been "up to" treating a patient correctly during the ensuing days. Mr. Bonds is trying to play a game, albeit in the limelight, under trying circumstances; many others must continue more important under the same circumstances. An unfortunate man, yes; a hero, no. -- David Charney, Dayton, Ohio
I did not use the word lightly, David. Though Bonds is not a hero in the same sense that a soldier or a firefighter or a policeman or a doctor can be, what he has done -- perform at a level like no one else in his profession, during a personal crisis, while under the unforgiving spotlight of public attention -- is heroic. That is to say, it exhibits courage and daring. For those that can do the same ... congratulations. That, to me, is heroic.
What do you say about this Manny situation? Is the Boston media making a bigger deal out of it? Should/can/will the Sox trade him in the offseason? Under any circumstances should/could he be dealt to the Yankees? -- Buddi Osco, Boston
Everything that has to do with the Red Sox in Boston is a big deal, Buddi. You know that. Ramirez, as near as I can figure, was just being Manny. He's a good guy, his teammates like him, but he can be a little ... out there. His contract makes him a little difficult to move, but the fact is, he's hugely important to the Red Sox. I'd expect this to blow over and Manny to be in Beantown next season.
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