DWilly’s piece yesterday about the Red Sox was right on the money: their age is showing. I’ve been looking for a word that describes their play since the All Star break and I’ve had a difficult time coming up with just the right moniker. Then, this morning, I read a piece in the New York Times on the Sox newest Japanese import Junichi Tazawa and there it was: “wheezing.”  Perfect. Their batting averages show it precisely. The Red Sox top four guys are hitting .297, .300, .292 and .308.  After that the averages fall off, with their eight- and nine-slotted guys (Varitek and Gonzalez) not hitting their weight — at .222 and .210 respectively. Combine that with a two man rotation and you get what you get.

It is a truism that this not the ’04 ball club. There is no “Cowboy Up” talk and no emotional sparkplug. There is no Kevin Millar. The oldest guy in the Sox lineup that year was third baseman Bill Mueller, who was 33.  Today Varitek is 37, third sacker Mike Lowell is 35 (both, shown below, in the ’07 series) and two other guys are 33. Not the geriatric ward but no spring chickens either. But there is one similarity with the ’04 club. Today the Sox are 70 – 52, 6.5 games behind the Yanks. On this day five years ago they were in a similar position: 70 – 53, 6.5 games behind the Empire. The Sox finished the ’04 campaign with 98 wins, which is .700 baseball.  But without a bottom half of the lineup and a beat up pitching staff it’ll be quite a feat to match their ’04 glory.

The Washington Nationals defeated the Florida Marlins 6-4 Tuesday night at Nationals Park. Adam Dunn hit the big blow in the six run eighth inning. The win was the Nats third in a row. Florida’s right-handed ace, Josh Johnson, dominated the Nats for seven innings, but the Nats’ half of the eighth opened with three straight hits. Willie Harris, Alberto Gonzalez and Wil Nieves led off the eighth with three straight singles. Pinch hitter Ronnie Belliard followed with a double, driving in two. Nyjer Morgan followed with a grounder to the right side, which scored Nieves. Cristian Guzman followed with a single that scored Nieves to tie the game. That’s when Dunn stepped to the plate and stroked an opposite field ball into the left field stands. Mike MacDougal closed out the game.

AD's two run HR wins it for Nats (AP/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

Down On Half Street: “Droog” D. Willy writes that he is blown away by Nats’ relief star Tyler Clippard. Clippard is emerging as the Nat’s stopper out of the bullpen. In Pittsburgh on Monday, Clippard worked out of a no-outs bases loaded jam, then turned in another two innings of no-hit two strikeout ball to give the Nats enough to sink the Ahoys, 8-4 . . . the Nats win tonight is not only their third in a row, each of them have been come-from behind wins . . . How good is the Nats bullpen? The change-over from the beginning of the season seems complete, and the results show it. The biggest change has come recently, with the addition of Sean Burnett and the new confidence shown by Logan Kensing.  Dave Sheinin writes: “The Nationals’ bullpen is a combined 5-1 with a 3.23 ERA and a .224 opponents’ batting average since the all-star break . . .”

Tomorrow afternoon NL East Chatter will feature CFG’s take on the trade deadline, the outlook for our Anacostia Boys, and what scares us about the Marlins. It took a couple of hours of thinking to find an answer that last question . . . Ryan Zimmerman sat out Tuesday’s game with a sore left shoulder, the result of being HBP by Jolly Roger pitcher Charlie Morton on Monday. Zim says he’ll be back, perhaps as early as tomorrow. That’s okay, if he doesn’t play third we can always use Belliard over there . . .  

Austin Kearns is headed to the DL with a sore right thumb. That’s too bad, we’ll miss his defense in right field. The Nats have called up Jorge Padilla from Syracuse to take his place. Originally a third round draft pick of the Phillies in 1998, Padilla is a veteran of the minor leagues, having ping-ponged his way from low single-A to Syracuse, while at the same time changing organizations. He was with the Phillies, Mets and Royals before coming to the Nats, in early 2008 . . . Our friend at Curse of Bonds writes to say that he believes that “Chester Cheese” (a Pierogi), could outrace any “racing president” — with the possible exception of Teddy. I will leave that to the experts over at Let Teddy Win . . . In the wake of our article on all of those moving parts the Neal “The Deal” Huntington has shipped away from the steel city, the disenchantment has only grown worse in the land of Lastings Milledge. This from Curse of Bonds:

I know that Mark is sorry to read about Carlos Zambrano – I know that I am, and I hope he’s okay. And I mean that sincerely. A Red Sox-Cubs World Series match-up will be that much better with a healthy Zambrano. But shouldn’t Mark be slapping himself now for the fact that the Baby Bears could have picked up Bartolo Colon? They passed. But I digress.

One of the wonderful things about Zambrano, and why it’s so much fun watching National League teams in general, is that he’s a good hitter. And a genuine home run threat. Another great pitcher who was also a home run threat was the legendary Don Drysdale.

Although best remembered for having broken Walter Johnson’s record of consecutive scoreless innings in 1968, Drysdale hold the National League record for the most home runs in a season — a feat that he accomplished twice (’58 and ’65). Only Warren Spahn hit more homers than Don Drysdale among pitchers in National League history. (Spahn hit 35 dingers in 22 seasons, Drysdale hit 29 in 14 seasons.)

The major league career (38) and season (nine in ’31) records belong to Wes Farrell.

One last note on Drysdale. One of the subplots in Emilio Estevez’s uneven, but often moving film, “Bobby” is whether a kitchen worker in the Ambassador Hotel will be able to go to the Dodgers’ game that day (June 4, 1968). Drysdale pitched his sixth consecutive shutout that day — a fact acknowledged by RFK in his victory speech that night.

Drysdale broke Walter Johnson’s consecutive scoreless inning record (which was set in 1913) four days later.

OK my friend – you’ve succeeded in provoking me. Here’s something for you to chew on – now that you’ve admitted that you’re at least smoking the right stuff.

 

And it must be good, cause it’s one thing to pick the Indians to win their division: But the Cubs?!? Sure, the Cubs could win their division. But that’s because they’re swimming in a sea of mediocrity. And I think you know that. Hell, you picked the Pirates to finish second. I could make a case for any of the six teams to win the NL Central – except maybe for the Cardinals, who seem to be unusually weak. But why bother? My prediction is that whoever wins the NL Central will lose in the first round of the playoffs.I don’t really want to spend much time thinking or writing about the National League. All the teams are flawed in one way or another. I do agree with you though that the Dodgers will win the West. In fact, I like the Dodgers to go to the World Series. I like their pitching – and replacing Grady oh-so-Little with the best manager in baseball has to help.

Let’s go back to the Indians. They’re a damn good team – second best in the majors last year, and second best again this year. The pitching staff has a lot to like. The middle relief is tremendous, although a Cleveland lead can be too easily wiped out by Borowski. The two guys at the top of the order (Sabathia and Carmona) are very good. Carmona is particularly nasty.But until these two erase the memories of last year’s playoff series with the Red Sox – who all-too-easily unnerved Fausto – they’re still playing second fiddle to the defending world champs. Many others have made the same point that I’m about to make – and the same prediction – so I won’t belabor it.

The Red Sox should be favored to repeat as World Champions because they have two essential components of any winning post-season formula — a proven, top-of-the-line ace in Josh Beckett and a lights-out closer in Jonathan Papelbon. And I don’t need to dwell on the strength of their line-up. Some teams have decent-enough line-ups and the potential to replicate the Red Sox winning ways.

Zambrano and Woods?

Santana and Wagner?

Penny and Saito?

Maybe. But until they demonstrate it, put your money on the Sawx.