Class is boring so I had the idea of talking about teams that are doing better or worse than I expected. So let’s start with teams that are doing worse.
Worse Than Expected
The New York Yankees – As much as everyone in the world hates the Yankees (I think even Gandhi would hate them), we all have to admit that they should be a good team. 200 million dollars doesn’t buy the easy season it used to. I’ll give them the bad luck argument.. If there was an all Disabled List team, like an All Star team, I think Yankee players would make up the team. Obviously, their biggest problem has been pitching, but a lot of hitters have underachieved..I won’t name names but they rhyme with Schmabreu and Schmiambi. I expected another Red Sox-Yankee showdown in the AL East this year, but so far, this isn’t the case. The Devil Rays-Yankee rivalry is the new hot ticket in town.
The Texas Rangers - As sad as this makes Tony, the Rangers are not doing as well as we had thought. I like their core group of players and I thought that the pitching would be improved this year. Guys like Michael Young, Ian Kinsler, and Hank Blalock are good players to build around. The outfield needs some help, but the bullpen is solid (the opposite of the Indians, so maybe there is a trade somewhere in there..? COUGHakiCOUGH). For some reason, the starting pitching, even proven pitchers like Millwood, always struggles. I’m sure the ERAs for some of these guys will have to come down eventually..it’s Newton’s Law of Rangers Pitchers..what goes up, must come down. I like Ron Washington too. He seems nice and looks like Richard Pryor. Maybe the Rangers need to hire a coach that looks like Gene Wilder.
The Chicago Cubs - With the money they spent this year, I thought they would compete in a pretty weak division. Supposedly, Lou Piniella was going to be the savior of this team. I guess taking a team with high expectations and mixing it with a manager who doesn’t like to be disappointed..there is a lot of pressure there. The team’s chances aren’t shot since they are in the NL Central, but I thought they could run away with the division and..clearly….I was wrong.
The St. Louis Cardinals - Poor St. Louis.. they win a World Series and the whole city is on top of the world, then the team comes back next year and acts like “well..we won one championship, there’s no rush to win another one.” The season started off bad with bad pitching, then the death of Josh Hancock made things worse for the team. It’s a sad state of affairs over in St. Louis town..but they’ll always have Pujols vs Lidge in 05.
The Philadelphia Phillies - Granted, they aren’t in the cellar, but if Jimmy Rollins says they are “the team to beat” then they better play like a team to beat. Apparently, other teams accepted the statement, taking it quite literally to mean “The Phillies: A team for everyone to beat.” They aren’t that bad, though..around .500 right now. Ryan Howard started off slow, so maybe when he’s completely back to Ryan Howard status, they can compete for the wild card.
Better Than Expected
The Boston Red Sox - I expected them to be good, but not this good. Who knew Beckett was going to dominate? I didn’t. The scary thing is that some of the hitters haven’t come around yet (Lugo, Ortiz). Both Tony and I agree, though, that DiceK has a bit of..arrogance to him, which we don’t like. It’s hard to root for a player that is making more money than the state of Iowa has (which is why nobody likes the Yankees). Overall though, they’re pitching has been a lot better than I thought it would be.
The Cleveland Indians - Even as a fan, I was still expecting a slow start this year. I thought they’d be maybe four games over .500 at this point, not 14. Needless to say, I’m happy about their start..I can only hope they keep it up. My main reason for concern, and it still is concerning, is the bullpen. Going in, I thought “all right, we have Joe Borowski, Keith Foulke, and Roberto Hernandez..guys who have all been closers in the past..no problem.” But then Foulke announced his retirement and reality set in that Hernandez is a Civil War veteran. So it came down to a group of Borowski, Hernandez, Rafael Betancourt, Tom Mastny, Fernando Cabrera, Jason Davis, and Aaron Fultz. I was not excited. So far, they have done enough to win most games, but the real reason the team has done so well is Fausto Carmona and Paul Byrd having surprisingly good seasons (even though Jeremy Sowers and Cliff Lee are having surprisingly bad seasons and Jake Westbrook is injured). One part of me thinks..guys like Carmona, Byrd, Jhonny Peralta, and Ryan Garko will have to come back down a little, but then another part of me thinks that Sowers, Lee, Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner have to pick it up..so maybe it will all balance out.
The Seattle Mariners - Don’t act like you didn’t think they’d be horrible again. Maybe I’m bitter because of the game they cost the Indians earlier this season. Paul Byrd had a shutout going in a snowy game..just one strike away and Mike Hargrove (who I USED to like) stalls and the game gets canceled. Players like Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson are poster boys for underachieving. They get paid more money than I will make in a lifetime and don’t live up to it. With a guy like Felix Hernandez though, I guess your team can’t be HORRIBLE.
The Atlanta Braves - I didn’t expect them to compete in the NL East this year. After missing the playoffs last year for the first time since some teenagers have been alive, I thought they might enter a rebuilding mode and play for the future. They got a lot of bullpen help, like Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez (even though he is injured right now). Some younger players are standing out, so they have been able to stay competitive in a fairly tough division…so……good job, Braves.
This season has had a lot of unexpecteds. Who would have thought..A-Rod making Yankee fans happy but the Yankees keep losing.. But, as they say, a baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint, so we’ll see what happens in the next 100 games.
Cory
