Bring on the Cubans!

Alexei Ramirez kicked all kinds of ass the year playing second base for the Chicago White Sox and ended up finishing second in the ROY voting. Let's face it, the Sox weren't getting any younger with guys like Konerko, Pierzynski, Thome and Dye so watching a young guy flourish like that certainly gave me hope for the future of the franchise. He will most likely move to shortstop next season and up until this morning, it was unclear who would be playing to his right.


That fine young gentleman pictured above is Dayan Viciedo, a "19 year old" Cuban defector who is about to sign a 4 year deal to play on the South Side. And okay, I might be getting a little ahead of myself saying that he'll definitely start at third, but he'll certainly compete for the job with Josh Fields as the only player likely standing in his way. And reports are coming in that it was that opportunity to immediately fight for a starting job that swayed Viciedo to sign with Chicago. Plus the presence of Ramirez and Jose Contreras will only help Viciedo to get acclimated to America and to Major League Baseball. He was the youngest player to ever play in the top Cuban league's All-Star game and he can also play right field. However, critics of his play maintain that he is already overweight and unmotivated. Miguel Cabrera comes to mind. That could be good and bad.


Either way, this is the second step (the first was trading Swisher which I didn't touch on here at SPLP just because he was so woefully underperformed and Kenny Williams knew he was wrong in trading for him and cut his losses) in building upon a team that made it to the playoffs this past year. Center field is a big concern as well as another starter in the rotation (Clayton Richard?). Second base could be filled by rookie Chris Getz whose minor league numbers look pretty impressive. With all the talk about the Teixeiras and the Mannys, there are still plenty of free agents out there that could have major impacts on teams. And Williams isn't shy about making trades either. I love how it's not even Thanksgiving yet and I'm already talking looking forward to baseball again. Not to say I'm ignoring the NBA by any means. In fact, the Celtics' win last night was very, very impressive. People back home are saying that Boston's defense might actually be better than last year. Holy crap. I don't think Al Harrington and Cuttino Mobley know what they're in for. (And by the way Clippers fans, how excited are you about having Chris Kaman, Marcus Camby and Zach Randolph in the game at the same time? That was only semi-sarcastic too!)

Finally, there are six HUGE NFL games this weekend that James and AdamMan will cover in their picks post. It's do or die for a few teams with Titans/Jets and Giants/Cardinals standing as potential playoff matchups. Sooo glad I have DIRECTV. Have a good weekend everyone!

They got in, now what?

I'm going to keep this short and sweet. I originally wanted to rip off Bill Simmons and do a running diary of Sox/Rays Game 1, but I was on the phone with the new temp agency I'm "working" for during the first two innings, so yeah. There's already been three home runs in the first three innings with three lead changes. In an effort to torture the entire Chicago fan base, Ozzie Guillen started a pitcher he publicly stated he had no confidence in, good ol' Mr. Big Game himself, Javier Vazquez. I think John Danks would probably pitch better coming off of the 8 inning gem against the Twins on Tuesday. They seriously won 1 - 0. I wholeheartedly feel like Chicago can beat the Rays but can they make it to the World Series again? I'll keep TBS on lockdown with Don Orsillo and Harold Reynolds(!) announcing the action. If only there was a tv feature that let you mute only the commercials. Anyway, in retrospect, my earlier Choke post might have been a bit harsh. At least I'm not a Mets fan...

Oh yeah, with all this baseball playoff and NFL talk, I haven't mentioned that NBA training camps have started this week. The Celtics are down in lovely Newport, RI (the only good part of the state) at Salve Regina college. I'm pretty sure with Sam Cassell resigning, they now have 4,877 players on the roster. And don't think for a second that just because they won the championship last season that I'm going to take it easy on Doc if Leon doesn't get on the court. The season starts in four weeks!!!

I gots me a game to watch, but here's one for the ladies:

I ran out of clean socks. Someone love me...

EDIT: My sources down in Newport contacted me late last night informing me that nearly the entire team was out clubbing. Daps were exchanged. So you might be reading articles elsewhere saying how KG along with Pierce and Ray Allen were the first ones at the gym on Tuesday, but they are handling their B.I. in da clubz too.

Just Brutal.

Sadly, this isn't a book review. It isn't even a movie review. How much of a coincidence is it that on the day I go see the film version of probably my favorite novel of all time, the Chicago White Sox sit a half game back in a division that they led almost wire to wire? Doing their best Victor Mancini impression, the ChiSox went into Minnesota with a chance to finally put the Twins away and start preparing for the postseason, but left beaten, defeated and embarrassed. (Well I'm embarrassed anyway.) All they needed to do was not get swept...but they did.

Last night's game was especially brutal because they had a two run lead in the eighth inning and Bobby Jenks gave up a single and a triple allowing the Twins to tie the game and go on to win it in the 10th. It's his first loss of the entire year. For the series, they got out hit 36-22 and outscored 19-11. How did this happen? Well for starters, you know things probably aren't going to end well when Ozzie Guillen (rightfully) called out Javier Vazquez before Friday night's game and said that he has never been a big game pitcher. Sure, he gets a lot of strikeouts but ever since the All-Star break, Vazquez has been terrible, highlighted by his 4.94 September ERA. Which of course includes his stellar 4 IP, 7 H, 5 ER performance on Friday. Great, really set the tone there Javy.

Of course, Chicago's problems go a little deeper than Vazquez not being a clutch performer. (I guess this is around the time where anyone who is reading this will probably ask a) Who gives a rat's ass about the White Sox? and b)Didn't they just win the World Series in 2005?) Their bullpen has absolutely fallen apart. Scott Linebrink, one of their big free agent signings this year was phenomenal until he got hurt and missed all of August. Matt Thornton has been fairly consistent but guys like Boone Logan and Mike MacDougal have been awful. Octavio Dotel apparently forgot how to pitch over the last two months as well.

Oh yeah, having a potential American League MVP break his wrist down the stretch isn't going to help the cause. Carlos Quentin was having just a monster of a year before he got hit by one pitch too many. He hasn't played since September 1st. He still leads the AL in home runs. Yes, you read that correctly. Also, fun stuff like 100 RBIs and a .965 OPS. He carried the team on his back offensively for most of the year when Crede inevitably went down and Konerko looked like Jason Varitek at the plate. And the Griffey trade? Yikes. I know they didn't give up much for him but he hasn't done jack squat for the team besides look old.

You knew this picture was coming.

Anyway, the whole season, Minnesota never gave up and went on some nice winning streaks. But Chicago managed to stay ahead of them for the most part. Granted, both teams have looked pretty bad over the past few weeks, but looking at the schedule, I knew the division race would come down to this series. Maybe if it was John Danks' turn in the rotation, they could have gotten a win. Who knows. I do know that he's pitching tonight against the Indians in Chicago. If things go down to the wire, Chicago will have to play Detroit on Monday in a make up game, also in Chicago. Minnesota on the other hand hosts the Royals for their final three. (C'mon Gil Meche! Yes, this is what I've resorted to. Rooting for Gil Meche.)

I suppose I can look at all this in a positive light. I mean, every "expert" on the planet had Cleveland and Detroit on top of the Central. Minnesota just lost Johan and Toriiiii Hunter. The White Sox were coming off a dismal 2007 and didn't look like they did much to improve the team. Many of those same experts are claiming that the White Sox and Twins are simply overachieving. That could be the case. I mean, I'm obviously a huge Sox fan and I sure as hell didn't expect Quentin to have the year he's had. But Danks and Gavin Floyd have really stepped up and my boy Alexei Ramirez, .295 20 73 in 131 games, would definitely get Rookie of the Year honors if it weren't for Evan Longoria. Jermaine Dye is having another tremendous year as well.

In the end, I still can't help but feel really disappointed about how the past three games turned out. I mean, Quentin might be ready for the playoffs and with a rotation of Danks, Mark Buehrle and Floyd, the team has a chance to make some noise in October. But their chances of getting in now are severly diminished. They still control their own fate by winning the last four games. Do they have anything left? Can Ozzie pull a rabbit out of the hat? Or will all that time they spent in first place this year be for naught because of a choke job in Minnesota? I don't know. I gotta go clear my head by seeing a movie about a sex addict who works in a colonial theme park.

EDIT: According to Phil Rogers at the Chicago Tribune, Chicago has been in first place for 145 days this season. Nice.

Yankees are F'd in the A and other baseball musings.

Joba Chamberlain is seeing Dr. James Andrews today to get his shoulder evaluated. Yankees fans are collectively pooping all up in their pants. With Chien-Ming Wang probably out the rest of the year and Phil Hughes (who has only started 6 games this year anyway) still rehabbing in Triple-A, the New York Yankees desperately needed Joba to be an ace for the rest of the year. Who would have thought that on August 6th, the only two Yankee pitchers who have started more than 20 games are Pettite and Mussina? Yikes. Darrell Rasner has flaked out, Ian Kennedy is mayor of Bust City and Sidney Ponson is actually on the mound every fifth day. (The other four days, that dude is rockin' the buffett in an ongoing eating competition with Andruw Jones.) In his games as a starter, Chamberlain has a 2.23 ERA and 69 K's in 60.2 IP. He will definitely miss his next start, but anytime an athlete is down in Birmingham visiting the Doc, things probably aren't good. Of course, I haven't even mentioned Posada and Matsui being out for the year. The Yankees are 3-7 in their last ten and are 6.5 games back behind the Rays in the East and 3.5 games back in the Wild Card race. If Chamberlain has to shut it down, the Yankees can start booking vacations for October.

Could the White Sox and the Twins both make the playoffs? After taking the above paragraph into account and with Boston only having an 8-9 record since the All Star break, it's perfectly conceivable that both Central teams could sneak into postseason play. I know you should never count Boston out and they do play Toronto and Baltimore in six more series combined, but Big Papi's health continues to be a concern and Jacoby Ellsbury still hasn't snapped out of his slump. They will need him back permanently in the leadoff spot to get the lineup going. Ortiz's wrist is bothering him again and he's not seeing the same pitches since the Manny trade.

Chicago had a HUGE comeback win last night in the 14th inning against the Tigers. They are still scoring all their runs by hitting the ball out of the park but Carlos Quentin shows no signs of slowing down. (Please, please don't make me regret typing that.) Granted, the pitching still looks pretty haggard but if the starters can right the ship, the bullpen looks to be a bit more solid especially when Linebrink comes back. The Twins finally called up Francisco Liriano and get better by subtraction with Livan Hernandez hitting the bricks. Liriano looked fantastic in his win the other day against the Indians. They've had to deal with some injuries as well but to be playing this well without Johan Santana and Torii Hunter is pretty amazing. Plus they have one of the best closers in baseball.


If the Arizona Diamondbacks make the playoffs, it will be a mirror image of their great 2001 run. I could legitimately see Webb and Haren start just about every game. Webb won his 16th game last night which accounts for more than a quarter of the teams total wins. They also resigned Haren through 2012 which is monumental. He is making my Cy Young prediction look good so far going 4-0 since the break. Arizona's only tough spots on the rest of their schedule are St. Louis, Florida and the Dodgers. They'll be fed a steady diet of San Fran, San Diego (man I feel sorry for Adrian Gonzalez being stuck on that team) and Colorado with a bit of the Reds and Astros thrown in for flavor. Their offense still blows but I sure as hell woudn't want to face them in the first round or any round for that matter.



How much of an impact will David Price have? Tampa Bay is on the verge of calling him up but some are saying that he'll be in the bullpen. Huh? I know he's only 22 but he's 6-0 with a 2.08 ERA in eight starts in Double-A, with 48 strikeouts and 12 walks in 52 innings. And for a team that didn't make any moves at the trade deadline, Price could be just the thing to put the Rays over the edge and win the AL East. He can bump Edwin Jackson or Andy Sonnanstine out of the rotation and get some big league experience in preparation for next year. Oh you mean when Scott Kazmir, James Shields, Matt Garza and David Price will all be pitching on the same team for the whole season? Holy Crap! The Rays have the fourth best ERA in MLB right now. Oh yeah, he can throw almost 100 mph. Just like to mention that...





And finally, what year is it? Nope, you weren't seeing things if you looked at the box scores from last night. Mike Hampton actually pitched seven innings for the Atlanta Braves and won his first game since 2005. For a guy who only had one really dominant year (1999 22-4 record) he's certainly mad an ass ton of money. Here's his combined salary from 2006 and 2007 when he didn't pitch a single inning of major league ball: $29,950,370. How depressing is that? Almost as depressing as the fact that he'll make $20,000,000 in 2009. He's 35. John Smoltz and Tom Glavine are also still on the Braves. Tim Hudson is having season ending elbow surgery. Folks down in Atlanta better hope Jair Jurrjens and Jorge Campillo stick around for a while.

All divisions except the AL West are still up for grabs and the Wild Card in both leagues are going to come down to the final week of the season. Good times. Makes me wish I had spent the scrilla for the MLB Extra Innings package on cable...

Insert Wizard of Oz pun here:

Disclaimer: This will be an subjective and biased look at the current manager of the Chicago White Sox, Ozzie Guillen. Enjoy.

For the first time since May 16th, the Chicago White Sox are not in first place in the American League Central. The collapse continued last night in a blowout loss to the Kansas City Royals in which three players and and both managers were ejected. With the bases loaded in the fifth inning, Sox pitcher D.J. Carrasco hit Miguel Olivo on the hand with the fourth pitch of the at bat. Olivo charged the mound. KC was already up 6-0. And while Mark Teahan tried bunting his way on earlier in the inning, Guillen says that he didn't order Carrasco to hit Olivo. On the previous three pitches, Carrasco was going inside to try and get a double play. After Olivo charged the mound, he and Carrasco were both tossed, then Ozzie was tossed after arguing the situation. However, crew chief Gary Cedarstrom, later apologized to the White Sox for Carrasco's ejection because a review of video from the game showed that the sequences of pitches were not thrown in an attempt to hit Olivo.

Now predictably, Ozzie had one of his many lengthy post game diatribes. But this one lacked the name calling and sometimes childish antics that normally punctuate his statements. The dude was cogently making points, even though it was something the MLB probably didn't want to hear. He admitted, out loud, that he has his pitchers hit opposing players. All teams obviously do it, but it's something the league wants to minimize and ultimately eliminate. But the Carrasco/Olivo situation was not one of those instances. You see, D.J. Carrasco isn't exactly a fireballer. When Ozzie wants guys to get plunked, he'll send in pitchers like Octavio Dotel and Matt Thornton who throw in the mid 90s. Plus...the bases were loaded. Now maybe, if Olivo took out someone in a double play with his spikes up earlier in the game, I could see there being a chance that Guillen would order the hit even if the bases were juiced. Ozzie is a firm believer in protecting his players and said out loud what all the 29 other managers practice silently.

I know that Ozzie is a bit more vocal than most skippers and on multiple occasions has really gotten into some serious shouting matches with umpires. He has said some things that most people don't agree with and some are even offended by. At the end of the day however, I think he is one of the best managers in baseball. In only his second year as manager, he won a World Series with a team that absolutely demolished the competition in the playoffs. This made him the first Latin born manager to win one. Last year's team was a complete disappointment especially considering the team's payroll. But the 2008 squad has pleasantly surprised most people who picked the Tigers and the Indians to finished atop the Central standings. When it looked as if the White Sox had a chance to really succeed earlier in the year but stumbled a bit, Ozzie lashed out claiming his offense was hot garbage and that GM Kenny Williams needed to make some changes. Guillen was particularly unhappy with the play of Nick Swisher and Orlando Cabrera, two new additions to the club made by Williams. (And of course there's the ongoing embarrasment that is Paul Konerko's .212 batting average and .665 OPS. Damn yo.) The team responded however by piling up the runs scored in the subsequent games and began to create some space between them and the other teams in the division. He seems to skillfully balance on that fine line between riling your players up and having them tune you out. Plus, he hates Jay Mariotti!

Happier times?

But now the pitching is really starting to falter. John Danks and Gavin Floyd have been the only remotely consistent guys in the rotation as veterans Javier Vazquez and Mark Buehrle continue to give up runs at an alarming rate. The team has given up 6.6 runs a game since the All-Star Break. That is NOT good. With Scott Linebrink on the DL the bullpen hasn't been great either. However, Guillen recently admitted after a loss that he didn't manage the bullpen well. He's always quick to jump on someone else who has made a mistake, but he'll also own up to his faults as well. It will interesting to see if he is able to manage the rotating CF/1B/DH nightmare between the newly arrived Ken Griffey Jr., Nick Swisher, Jim Thome and Konerko. He is also dealing with a void at third base with Joe Crede finally landing on the DL because of his back. Josh Fields and Juan Uribe have been splitting time there so far but if Crede stays out for an extended period (which as of today looks like it might be a possibility), Ozzie will have to make a choice. Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye continue to put the offense on their backs with terrific numbers, but when you're already down six runs in the sixth inning there's only so much they can do. These last two months will really show what Guillen is made of. He's been to the promised land before and he's been in the doldrums too. I think if the White Sox end up making the playoffs, Ozzie is going to have to pick his spots when lashing out or criticizing.

He's definitely not perfect, but hopefully people won't just brush these latest quotes aside because for all his eccentric outbursts, this one has validity. But he couldn't resist a parting shot. Later in the game last night, Zack Grienke hit Nick Swisher with a pitch and denied he did it intentionally. When asked about any future dust ups with the Royals, Guillen coyly said, "I signed a five-year deal with this organization, and we play Kansas City a lot." And you can bet D.J. Carrasco and his 82 mile an hour sinker won't be the one asked to get his hands dirty.

Griffey to the South Side?!?!

The Cincinnati Reds have agreed to trade Ken Griffey Jr. to the Chicago White Sox according to foxsports.com. No other players have been announced in the deal yet but I think Orlando Cabrera could be involved. Ken Williams has been shopping Cabrera (who he just traded for this past offseason) around in search of pitching. But the Reds only have Jeff Keppinger at short right now although Cabrera I'm not sure if they would want to take on his $10 million contract.

Griffey can block any trade because he's been in the league for more than ten years and has played five with the Reds. He's only hitting .245 with 15 homers and has an OPS of .787 which would rank sixth on the White Sox. He's obviously not getting any younger but I think he'd be able to contribute enough to make the deal worth it assuming the White Sox don't give up too much. The trade leads me to believe that Nick Swisher will move to first base permanently and Paul Konerko is on his way out. That way, Griffey could play a few games at DH if Thome or Swisher get an off day.

I realize it's not 1994, but an outfield of Carlos Quentin, Griffey and Jermaine Dye for a couple months certainly won't hurt Chicago's chances of holding onto the AL Central lead. Did I mention he hit his 608th career home run last night? Because he did.

UPDATE - Griffey approved the trade, now it goes to the MLB offices for the final go ahead. ESPN.com is reporting reliever Nick Massett and AAA infielder Danny Richar will be packing their bags for Cincy.

When in doubt, write a random notes column!

I know there's a ton of stuff going on in the sports world right now, but a lot of things have already been covered extensively both here and on other blogs (Favre, MLB second half, NBA players leaving to play in Europe, the Dark Knight rules the world) so I'm going to hit you with a few quick points and call it a day. Did I mention I get out of work at 2:00 on Fridays? Holla.




Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito will fight for the welterweight title tomorrow night. I have fairly limited boxing knowledge (shocking!), but have a group of friends who are super into the sport. When I watched the Pacquiao fight with them last month, they were all psyched for this fight. Besides the fact that both guys are really, really good, one is from Puerto Rico (Cotto) and the other is from Mexico (Margarito). Something you might not know: Puerto Ricans and Mexicans HATE each other. Okay, that might be a strong generalization, but both countries take their boxing very seriously. Lots of pride. There is a storied history between Puerto Rican fighters and Mexican fighters in brutal matches. Trinidad/De La Hoya comes to mind as the last one to have a huge impact. Margarito (right in photo) obviously has a height advantage, but experts say that Cotto's deliberate style and brutal body shots will prevail. I know in this age of youtube and such that paying to watch live boxing/MMA isn't as appealing as it used to be, but this will most likely be the best fight of the year.


Rooting for the White Sox and following the Red Sox because there really is no escaping them if you live in the Boston area, I noticed both teams have big weeks ahead. Boston has a huge series with the Yankees starting tonight at Fenway. David Ortiz makes his return tonight to try and keep the physically ailing Yankees from gaining any more ground in the East. Beckett vs. Joba, 7:05, catch it! Then on Monday, the Angels roll into town and the Sox get a chance to avenge that ugly sweep from last weekend.

• Just wanted to make a quick mention about how Dice-K (11-1) is having a fantastic second year. I still remember sitting in my car during a lunch break when it was announced that Boston posted the highest amount of any team (51.1 mil) to negotiate with Dice-K and the Seibu Lions. Most people were pretty skeptical about how well he would play, but his numbers this year are fantastic. He had one really awful game when he came back from the DL and although his WHIP is kinda gruesome, he has 83 Ks in 95 innings, his ERA is 2.63, and his BAA is .202.

As far as my ChiSox go, they are on the road in Detroit Fri-Sun, then in Minnesota Mon-Thu. They have a 2.5 game lead right now and could really make a statement by performing well and expanding that lead a bit. Rookie Clayton Richard made his debut in place of Jose Contreras yesterday and wasn't phenomenal, but Chicago pulled out a 10-8 win thanks to my man Carlos Quentin. While it may be a bit early to give Quentin a membership to the Grown Ass Man Club, he is first in the American League in game winning RBIs and first in HRs. The pitching staff has been giving up a lot of runs lately, so hopefully that will change.

Next member of the Grown Ass Man Club?

• You HAVE to watch this: http://withleather.uproxx.com/post.phtml?pk=6456. This is definitely a Web Gem of the Year nominee. The White Sox weren't even sure if Alexei Ramirez was going to make the team during Spring Training. Second base isn't even his natural position! And in addition to making plays like this, he is batting .307 and is the only guy with the last name Ramirez to hit a grand slam this year...

The Golden State Warriors just locked up 22 year old Monta Ellis with a 6 year, $66 million contract. I think this guy is legitimately the fastest player in the entire NBA but the team is shifting him over to point guard. Not sure if he's got the handle to run a team but he's a great scorer. He finished with 21 point and 4 assist averages this past season playing in 81 games. The Warriors also traded for Marcus Williams to back him up. I don't think Williams ever got a fair shake in New Jersey as I thought he was originally the heir apparent to Jason Kidd once he retired. Then, the Nets traded for Devin Harris and the former UConn Husky got pushed to the side. Golden State is now looking at a starting lineup of: Ellis, Stephen Jackson, Corey Maggette, Al Harrington and Ronny Turiaf.

Lebron James will most likely miss the USA Olympic team's exhibition game tonight against Canada. Not a huge deal or anything, but the team can't really afford any more injuries. Lebron's ankle, Dwight Howard's chest, and now it looks like Tyson Chandler might not be the alternate due to an injured toe. Kevin Durant will most likely go in his place. Interesting... Anyway, this will be the only exhibition game that the USA team will play on American soil.

So there are some things to chew on heading into the weekend. I plan on writing a review of the Celtics' Championship DVD either Sunday or Monday. A special viewing might be in order and High Life may be prominently involved. Don't forget to see Step Brothers if the weather is lousy where you live. This will be the best Will Ferrell movie since Anchorman!

P.S. Have I mentioned they're making a sequel to Anchorman?!?!?!

Now things get interesting

Man did this weekend get away from me. Anywho, we are now firmly entrenched in the second half of the 2008 Major League Baseball season. Some major deals have already been made (Sabathia and Harden) with a few more surely to take place before the July 31st deadline. Certain teams are still trying to figure out if they are buyers or sellers while others know that they stink and have no chance at making the playoffs. When looking towards October, we can safely eliminate: Toronto, Baltimore, Kansas City, Cleveland, Seattle, Washington, Cincinnati, Houston, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and San Diego. I suppose I could rip off Bill Simmons (10 week vaca to finish his book, nice) and do some sort of Dark Knight awards type deal but I'm still trying to process everything and it's two and a half days later. So we'll stick with a more conventional approach. Enjoy.

AL East:Boston Red Sox

While it'd be great to break up the monotony and have the Rays win this division, the Sox just have too many weapons. They have multiple MVP candidates (more on that later) and that doesn't even count David Ortiz because he's missed so much time with the wrist injury. Papelbon has shown blips of inconsistency but I think he'll be fine down the stretch. The young guys continue to impress and I think they need to keep Lowrie up on the big league club for good. Catcher and the bullpen are their only two week spots in my opinion and you can be sure Theo Epstein will make some kind of move that hopefully won't turn into another Gagne debacle. Tampa Bay and New York will certainly make things interesting though.

AL Central:Chicago White Sox

So you knew this was coming. It'll be a three team race for the rest of the year with Detroit finally waking up. It seems that the Chisox and the Twins have done this with basically smoke and mirrors all year. Up until yesterday, Chicago had all five starters in their rotation make every single start. They have either been first or second in quality starts. That is huge in today's game. But now Contreras is on the 15 Day DL and Vazquez has been strangely inconsistent. Their bullpen is very solid but Jenks is still a little banged up. Quentin, Dye and Crede all need to keep their production up and it wouldn't hurt if Konerko did anything. Anything at all. A HUGE factor in the Central race will be when Francisco Liriano gets called back up and how effective he will be. Seemingly 100% healthy, he has been dominating AAA ball but the Twins have come up with some garbage line that their is no room in their rotation for him right now. What?!?! Hey, keep him down there. You won't hear Ozzie Guillen or Jim Leyland complaining...

AL West:California Angels

This is the only division in baseball that looks like it's a wrap already. (And yeah, I know they're not called the California Angels anymore but their name now is so dumb that I refuse to acknowledge it.) Top to bottom, a great baseball team. Their rotation is filthy and K-Rod is a man possessed. No seriously, I think he needs an exorcism. Someone get John Constatine on the horn because no one should be celebrating that much after a save in July. Their lineup doesn't exactly set the world on fire, but Mike Scioscia will get the most out of his players. Oakland continues to amaze by playing above .500 with a cast of unknowns and Texas has some great young offensive players, but the Angels are just too far ahead and know how to hold a divisional lead.

AL Wild Card:Tampa Bay Rays

Now you may have noticed that these "predictions" are just the current standings. I realize I'm not going out on any kind of limb here. The Rays won't be able to fend of Boston but will keep New York, Minnesota, Oakland and Texas at bay with their youth, their impressive 1-2-3 of Kazmir, Shields and Garza and an attitude to prove to everyone that they aren't a flash in the pan. Troy Percival is still a ginoromous question mark especially since the Twins have Nathan and the Yanks have Mariano. Still, the Rays would make the postseason for the first time in the club's history.

So that means we're looking at:

Angels vs. Rays

Boston vs. Chicago

I'll let you draw your own conclusions as to who will represent the American League in the World Series. It sure is looking like another Red Sox/Angels showdown. Gotta love that home field advantage though.

Of course we can't forget the four postseason awards.

Rookie of the Year:Evan Longoria, TB

It might be overstating it slightly to say that he could even be considered an MVP candidate, but Longoria currently leads the Rays in home runs and RBIs. He plays a solid third base with only 7 errors so far this season and is fifth in the entire league in fielding % for third basemen. He was an All-Star and will be the face of the franchise longer than Kevin Costner will continue to star in awful movies. (Okay, maybe not that long. Swing Vote? Really?) Just one of the many young Rays who have turned a team that has been a laughing stock for a decade, into a title contender. Which leads me to:

Manager of the Year:Joe Madden, TB

Not a lot of people expected the White Sox to be where they are but NO ONE expected the Rays to be in first place on July 21st. He's really instilled in his players that they really have a chance to win. He realizes that he's got a group of talented young kids and they have the tools to succeed now, rather than two or three years from now. If they don't end up making the playoffs, I could see the award going to Sciosia or maybe Gardenhire/Girardi depending on who wins the Wild Card.

Cy Young:Roy Halladay, Tor

This was a tough one. There are two pitchers at the top of almost every category in the AL right now, but I don't see either of them having the success they had in the first half. Justin Duchscherer and Cliff Lee have been essentially lights out so far, but Lee in particular I see fading fast. And Duchscherer isn't even in the top 30 in K's. Ervin Santana should be considered too as he is having an outstanding year. He's in the top five in wins, strikeouts and WHIP right now. But his ERA is too high and I don't know if he'll start coasting in August due to his team's large lead. Now the Cy Young is a bit different than MVP because it's based waaay more on stats than playing for a contender. That's why Halladay will ultimately win. Losses aren't a great indicater of a starter's skill, and while he will have a few more than the other top pitchers, his other stats will completely overshadow them. This is all assuming that he stays healthy mind you. And while it is a shame that he pitches for the Blue Jays, he is the one true dominant pitcher in the American League. Dude has seven complete games! James Shields is next with three. It'd be great to see "Doc" pitch in the playoffs some day.

Most Valuable Player:Manny Ramirez, Bos

Mainly because I don't want to give JD Drew any kind of credit. There are a bunch of guys in the upper echelon here and no one truly stands out. I don't know if Carlos Quentin and Josh Hamilton will be able to keep up their paces in their first full years as pros. Ian Kinsler's home run and RBI totals are too low even though the stolen bases make up for it. I love my man Youk but he's a notorious poor second half player. A-Rod is always in the discussion even though he missed some time due to injury. Jermaine Dye (top ten in .OPS, average and HRs) is someone I could see vying for the title if he stays healthy. Of course as I write this, I see he left yesterday's game after getting hit in the knee with a pitch. Damn it! So Manny has the same kind of numbers as these other guys but he's the most consistent. And, I think when Ortiz comes back, he'll be more protected in the lineup. Plus with all the contract/options talk, you know Manny will try and put up the best numbers possible. Also heavily factored into this decision were the catch/high five/double play and cell phone call from inside the Monster. Just awesome.

So there's the American League for ya. I admit I don't follow the NL quite as closely but I'll be back at some point today (read: tomorrow) to give my thoughts that may or may not deal with excluding any NL West teams from the playoffs...