UGLY LATE JUNE CAUSES TB RAYS TO SLIDE TO THIRD IN AL EAST

The Tampa Bay Rays were the darlings of baseball for the first two-plus months of the season as they sported the best record in the game. With their thrifty $70 million payroll they were leading the charge for underdogs and little guys everywhere, fighting the battle to take down took the hated, ugly powers in the Northeast, the Yankees and Red Sox.  Make no mistake about it, the Rays are a talented team, deep in starting pitching, very solid defensively, but their offense has unexpectedly taken the last half of June off, thus causing a swoon.
Back in April the Rays were ringing up runs like a pin-ball machine.  In the last two weeks of that month they posted a sparkling 10-2 record, scored 10 or more runs 4 times, and averaged a beefy 7.75 runs in that span of a dozen games.  June is coming to a close, and for the Rays, they look forward to turning the calendar to July because since June 13 Tampa Bay is 4-9.  What's worse is that in just 13 games they scored one or no runs in six of those contests.  In another, they mustered two scores.  So, two or less runs in seven of the last 13 games...whew! 

Adding salt to the wound, a Rays' pitching cast-off, Edwin Jackson of the Arizona Diamondbacks, came back to Tropicana field to throw a complete game no-hitter/shutout against his old teammates--he did this while issuing eight walks!  How do you not score when someone puts eight of your batters on base for free?

Barring any serious injuries the Rays should still be in the hunt all the way through September.  The marathon season has a lot of highs and lows, and it's so long that there is still plenty of time for things to change.  Remember when people were writing off the Red Sox because of their horrible April and early May?  Guess who is just 1.5 games off the pace of the Yankees now?  David Ortiz struggling, washed up?  Not any more.

It's been argued that the American League East has the three best teams in baseball.  A week or so ago the records supported that opinion.  So, we won't be too quick to judge who is in it for good, or out of it for good, until about early September.  But those two week benders that often haunt even the best teams is sure hard on the loyal fans, and it seems like all teams go through it.

KEEP THOSE TUMS IN THE DUGOUT

Try to visualize the television broadcast shots as they pan baseball dugouts--at least the older ones--where the clubhouse man would have the benched stocked with big containers of David Sunflowers Seeds, Bubble Gum, and Tums.


At home, the Yankees have everything they need, and more, in their plush one-year old surroundings. My guess is that they still have all of those necessary game materials, and when AJ Burnett is pitching there is nothing more important than the giant container of Tums. How else would Joe Girardi and staff make it through a game without their insides being overcome with intense stomach acid and heartburn?

Would you rather have Mr. Electric/Nasty Stuff out there causing you to ride the emotional roller-coaster of each pitch, just hoping he can string together a few consistent innings, or someone with decent stuff and from whom you know what to expect when he takes the mound? Forget the fact that he was so mentally in the tank last night vs. the Phillies that he forgot to cover first base on a ball hit to the right side of the infield. As a high-priced hired hand ($16.5 million this year) Burnett needs both a mental and physical adjustment to get to where he should be. In my book he is "Mr. I"--Mr. Inconsistency. Whether it's the manager, the pitching coach, the bullpen coach, the team's sports psychologist, or some combination thereof--Burnett needs correction.

His line last night was 3-1/3 innings, 87 pitches, 4 walks and his obligatory hit batsman, not to mention another adventurous night for the catcher trying to block balls bouncing in the dirt. No matter who the catcher is, the poor guy has little to no chance of throwing out runners with Burnett on the mound. Did I hear that the stealing percentage against Burnett is the highest in baseball? Raul Ibanez, at age 38, stealing? You've got to be kidding.

Yanks manager Girardi is a health freak in terms of workouts and diet, and he has not been around that long for his insides to have a lot of wear and tear. That's why you don't see the drawn face, nor do we feel the severe heartburn pain that Joe Torre wore on his face. When Joe rode the emotional roller-coaster through Yankees’ ups and downs in his day he sucked on his peach pit while staring blankly out on the field. I bet sometimes he may have had a cheek full of Tums instead.

Back to Burnett, if he stays healthy he is due to make about 18 more regulars season starts. For Girardi and staff, keep those Tums handy. It’s a long season.

LONGHORNS BROKER DEAL ALLOWING BIG 12 SHIP TO STAY AFLOAT

These past two weeks in college athletics have been a super-condensed equivalent of the volatile financial markets and world economy of the last two years—an emotional roller-coaster, rumors of break-ups, takeovers, distress, panic, uncertainty, the potential loss of things held dear for so many years that was earned through hard work, sweat and tears.

When the Big Ten Conference set out to acquire at least one more high profile team to give them an even dozen (despite the misnomer, they had 11 teams) and first pursued Notre Dame, then others, the wheels were set in motion for every other major conference, as well as the conference member schools, to look out for themselves. The dust has now settled and the world of college athletics is just slightly different than it was a short while ago, but not without a lot of anxiety and consternation.

The PAC-10 had hopes of beating others to the punch by creating a super-conference of 16 teams, which would certainly have caused a chain-reaction that would turn the conference world upside-down. In order to do so they poured their efforts into recruiting some heavyweights from the Big 12. AS recent as late last week it looked like that conference was dead man walking as Nebraska accepted the Big Ten’s offer to become their 12th team. Also, Colorado decided to join the PAC-10, giving them 11 schools, while the likes of Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State, were rumored to be headed west, too, with the lure of more money stemming from the prospects of a soon-to-be PAC-10 Conference television network, ala the Big Ten’s. The key to all of this happening was Texas.

Folks, there are a couple of famous sayings in the Lone Star State—“Don’t Mess with Texas” and another, “As Big as Texas.” After developments that leaked out Monday night, as Texas essentially saved the Big 12 Conference, we now have a better appreciation of those two expressions.

Texas spurned the PAC-10’s offer and pledged their support to maintaining the remaining Big 12 because the PAC-10 would not allow Texas to keep their local television rights (Don’t mess with Texas). The Longhorns are now planning to have their own network (As Big as Texas), as well as share in what is promised to be more conference television revenue based upon the Big 12 negotiating a new lucrative contract among several suitors. The ‘Horns felt the Big 12 gave them a chance to have their cake and eat it, too. For that, the schools who were about to be orphaned—Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Missouri and Baylor—are thankful. Yet, they and the other member schools fully realize who calls the shots in the conference, and who will be poised to be the boss for years to come, on and off the field.

So, as it stands now, with Nebraska joining ranks the Big Ten has 12 teams. Minus the Cornhuskers and Colorado the Big 12 is down to 10. The PAC-10 has 11 and needs to recruit one more (hello, Utah) to get their twelfth, thus providing a conference championship game. OK now, anyone want to play the “Name That Conference Name Game”?

What had the potential to be, and was feared to be, a period in our lives that would bring total restructuring of the college football landscape—all because of the need to grow bigger conferences for TV revenues—has now passed, at least for the short term. Stay tuned, fans.

YANKS NEED SLUGGER IN THE 3-HOLE

A-Rod is obviously stumped by Tex's troubles, too.
Photo by Stephanie Quartaro

The Yankees need a slugger in the three-hole.  I am a Mark Teixeira fan, and want nothing more than for him to find his stroke.  But, until someone invents a GPS to track down such a thing, or hitting coach Kevin Long and Tex combine to find a solution, it's increasingly harder to watch what is happening with The Bronx Bombers’ third-place hitter.

I'm fully aware stats can be spun any way you like to make them work in support of an argument you are trying to make. Extreme example--if NY wanted to put their top two batting average guys in the lineup, strictly based on stats, they'd have pitcher CC Sabathia, who is hitting .500, and minor league/temp fill-in Greg Golson at .400.  Of course, that's ridiculous. So, please hang with me.

Shouldn't sluggers have a decent slugging percentage? Slugging percentage is a simple, yet meaningful stat, which takes the total numbers of bases and divides it by the number of official at-bats—in other words, how productive a hitter is per plate appearance.  As you might expect, Robinson Cano, who is 4th in the AL in slugging percentage, is leading the Yankees with a lofty .611 mark.  Citing stats for just the regular players, all of whom have 100+ at-bats, the following in order are: Jorge Posada (.542), Nick Swisher (.532), Alex Rodriguez (.491), Derek Jeter (.433), Brett Gardner (.421) and Curtis Granderson is at .420 before we finally get to Tex.

In putting a yellow highlighter through his .363 slugging percentage, Tex is just .013 ahead of Francisco Cervelli's .350....and Cervi has a bagel in the HR column!  How's that for a slugger?  You know what I am getting at. In all fairness, despite the extremely low batting average (.212), Tex has still managed to drive in 34 runs, which tie him with Yankee lead-off hitter, Derek Jeter.  Feel free to interpret that as you like...your lead-off man and #3 hitter with the same amount of RBI.

In the super long marathon of a baseball season there are still 95 games to go.  But for those residents of Pinstripe Land, the sooner the three-hole hitter gets those slugging and batting average numbers up, the better they’ll sleep at night.

WHERE IS WALDO? WHAT ABOUT UBALDO?

Everyone knows Waldo from the "Where Is" fame.  But, what about Ubaldo?

Ubaldo Jimenez is a 26-year old right-handed pitcher for the Colorado Rockies. Maybe that's why he doesn't sound familiar.  Well, start taking note because the talented hurler is putting up the most impressive pitching stats this side of Bob Gibson in the late 60's.  Early this season, in just his second start, Jimenez fired the first no-hitter of the 2010 season vs. Atlanta.  But that achievement just fits in nicely with the rest of the staggering numbers, evidence of his total dominance.

Coming into this season Ubaldo's career win-loss mark was a respectable 36-28.  Pitching in hitter friendly Denver can be most pitchers' nightmare, but this season the Dominican Republic product isn't buying that theory at all.  He has yielded only one home run.

Just like you should act when you are served your favorite delicious meal--take your time, chew slowly, enjoy and digest these delicious stats.  Games Started: 11. Record; 10-1. Earned Run Average: 0.78.  Innings Pitched: 80.1  Hits: 46. Opponent Batting Avg: .172.  Strikeouts: 70.  Walks: 26.  His WHIP, average of how many base-runners reach via walk or hit per inning, is a paltry 0.90.  Unheard of in this modern age.

If you don't know Ubaldo, get to know him.  He is one of the greatest stories of 2010.  Where is Ubaldo?  He's on the mound in Denver, CO.

YANKEE CAPTAIN INSPIRED BY SPORTS SAUSAGE

Derek Jeter was uncharacteristically bumbling around about 3 weeks ago and looked nothing like “The Captain” we had come to expect. Obviously, Jeter was inspired by the blog post below (Is Father Time Catching Up With Yankee Captain, May 13th) and has returned to form.



Jeter was striking out, dribbling weak ground balls to the infield, and hitting soft fly balls as he saw his average plummet from a healthy .330 at the end of April. As of May 13, after completing a very mediocre series at Detroit, Jeter was in the .260’s. But, the last three weeks Jeter has returned to driving the ball in the gaps, hitting it hard up the middle, and through the right side at about a .500 clip to raise his average back up and over the .300 mark.


We’re glad to know that the Sports Sausage is so widely read and that it helped serve as a catalyst to Jeter’s resurgence. If anyone else needs a kick-start out there, let us know and we’ll get it done.