Center Field Gate

With Orlando Hudson going to the Twinkies, the Nationals moved quickly to sign 34-year-old Adam Kennedy, solidifying their defense at second base — and all but guaranteeing that (barring a trade) Cristian Guzman will be the team’s starting shortstop when the season begins. While the announcement is not yet official, Kennedy has said he is pleased to be coming to Washington — because he likes the way the team is structuring its roster. The signing of Kennedy, and apparently for a bargain price, puts the finishing touches on the Nats’ off-season, though Mike Rizzo admits that the team would like to add another starting pitcher. Or, as MLB Network’s Harold Reynolds said on Friday night: “Right now the starting rotation is Marquis, Lannan and question, question, question.”

The signing of Kennedy was necessitated after the Nats’ front office remained adamant on what they were willing to pay for Hudson, who was undoubtedly the first choice to fill the void up the middle. Hudson accepted a one year $5 million deal to play in the cold confines of the new Target Field in Minneapolis. What that might mean for snow dates aside, the Twinkies now look as solid as any team in the AL Central — and have to be an early favorite to win the division title. Not so the Nats, though it seems clear that the team’s off-season additions have more than marginally strengthened the team: then too, Kennedy was a bargain for one year at a reported $1.25 million, with a club second option year. “It should be fun — everybody kind of blending in and ready for a good season,” Kennedy said of coming to the Nats.

In truth (and though it might sound like sour grapes), Kennedy matches up well with Hudson. If the stars line up right, this could be the one signing that team looks back on as Mike Rizzo’s best off-season move. Both Kennedy and Hudson have a reputation for hard play and good gloves, both have experience on playing for winning clubs — and both are ready to recover their careers after suffering through sometimes strange interludes of simply not showing up. Last year, Kennedy hit .289 with 11 home runs, 63 RBIs and 20 stolen bases in 129 games for the Athletics, but during the previous three seasons his presence and play were spotty – and only partly because he was slowed by injuries. His offensive numbers were mediocre. Maybe this was because in his last year in Anaheim (in 2004), Kennedy started swinging for the fences: his average plummeted, his on-field presence seemed an afterthought, and teams started losing interest. He tried to straighten that out last year: with positive results.

This is a good signing, and while a lot of Nats’ watchers might have preferred Hudson, Kennedy is a solid glove man at a good price. And honestly, if Hudson’s wrist acts up and if Kennedy can play more than the 129 games he logged last year, then this decision could turn into another Rizzo miracle.

The Colorado Rockies held off the rallying Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday to take the second game in their five game series, 5-4. The key for the Purples was an unlikely two run homer off the bat of catcher Yorvit Torrealba, who hadn’t had a four base knock since May. Torrealba’s knock was complemented by solid pitching from Rockies’ starter Aaron Cook and bullpen aces Jose Contreras, Matt Belisle, Rafael Betancourt, Franklin Morales and all-world closer Huston Street (above). The Heltons, who won during the regular season by counting on the bats of an unlikely mix of new heroes, depended on the bat of yet another unknown newcomer: in this case it was left fielder Carlos “Cargo” Gonzalez. Gonzalez — a former Showboat prospect and a throw-in in the off season Oakland-Colorado Matt Holliday-for-Huston Street trade — spent much of the last two seasons in triple-A, while Denver’s front office waited for him to pan out. Gonzalez got his chance this year, after a series of injuries made room for him in the Colorado outfield. On Thursday, the fleet Venezuelan went 3-5 to spark the otherwise sleepy Rockies’ line up.

When the Oakland A’s got Matt Holliday from the Colorado Rockies in the Huston Street trade back in November of 2008, they thought their search for a big bat was over: the Stillwater, Oklahoma native was a three time all star and three time silver slugger and he’d been named the 2007 World Series MVP. But Holliday didn’t seem to fit in in Oakland (he hit an otherwise anemic .286 with 11 home runs in 93 games), and on July 24, 2009 Oakland A’s guru Billy Beane swapped him to St. Louis for three top prospects: Brett Wallace, Clayton Mortensen and Shane Peterson. In St. Louis, Holliday tore the cover off the ball — hitting .353 with 13 home runs in just 63 games, and propelling the Redbirds into the post season. He was just what Tony La Russa ordered.

Holliday’s post season experience gave St. Louis the confidence they needed against L.A. With Albert Pujols and Holliday in the middle of their order and Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright their big guns as starters, St. Louis was set to head into L.A. to face Joe Torre’s big bats. L.A. took the first game, with a surprisingly shaky outing by Carpenter. But St. Louis came back to dominate the second game: and it looked like the Redbirds were set to even the series at one game apiece. But with two outs in the ninth ining and St. Louis leading, the otherwise sure-handed Holliday dropped a sinking liner off the bat of first sacker James Loney to give the Dodgers new life. Casey Blake then walked and former Nats Ronnie Belliard singled home the tying run, before Mark Loretta’s short centerfield single provided the 3-2 walk off win. “It’s tough to swallow,” Holliday said after the game. “Obviously, I feel terrible. But I just missed the ball. It hit my stomach. I think I can catch a ball hit right at me.” The Trolleys now lead the series, 2-0.

Our friends over at The Nationals Enquirer speculate that we may be seeing the last of Austin “Kentucky” Kearns — and I’m inclined to agree. Kearns will be the designated hitter for the Nats in Tampa (though he sat the bench last night), but it could be the former Redlegs (sometime) powerhitting rightfielder’s swan song with the Nationals. Kearns continues to struggle to break out of a two year slump. The Nats have clearly run out of patience. What is so surprising about the built-like-a-ballplayer Kearns is that, with the exception of 2006, Kearns never reached his potential. He plays a passable rightfield; in fact, he’s an excellent defensive player. But watching Kearns play rightfield is like watching that little dog with the tutu dancing on her hindlegs: it’s interesting, but what’s the point? The truth is, he never learned to hit major league pitching.

Kearns was “Mr. Baseball” in Kentucky, emerging as a dominant high school pitcher. He was offered a baseball scholarship to the University of Florida, but chose to sign with Cincinnati, and the close-to-home converted outfielder was considered an exceptional prospect. He was drafted #7 overall in the 1998 amateur draft and spent three years in the low minors, where he showed considerable patience at the plate — and a high on-base percentage. But he never hit for power, which bothered the Cincinnati brain-trust. Baseball Prospectus noted that his power blossomed in 2001, and he was soon headed to the majors. But when he showed up in Cincinnati, he started acting like that brilliant but under-achieving child: a kid with enormous talent, but little show for it. The kind of kid that teachers take into the hallway: “Austin, you have so much potential.” And the power disappeared.

But they loved him in Cincy. There’s even a blog of his baseball cards (of which the one above is a good example). He was the home-grown talent who was going to lead the Redlegs to the world series. The bloom came off that rose fast enough and Kearns ended up in Washington. The trade, a Jim Bowden special, was considered a steal at the time, but the Nats are mightily tired Kearns just now. This year, Kearns is hitting .206 with three home runs. There seems little prospect that he’ll somehow reach his potential. After awhile, some .206 hitters are just that: they’re not under-achievers, they’re .206 hitters. Austin’s reaching the end of the line.

Five Things About Yesterday . . . fans of the appropriately named New York Chokes who are consigned to hell will be condemned to watch Luis Castillo’s dropped ninth inning pop fly against “The Empire” for eternity (”on no, not that, anything but that“) as penance for their sins. Don’t miss it. It’s priceless . . . There were three gems pitched last night out west and I tried to watch each of them, switching between games. You don’t get to see this kind of thing very often. In the first, Dan Heren pitched a complete game two-hitter against the Astros, throwing 112 pitches and facing 30 batters. The Showboats won, 8-1. Heren is so damn good it almost gives me cramps . . . in the second, Tim Lincecum pitched a seven hit shut-out against the White Elephants in Oakland. He threw 110 pitches, 76 for strikes and stroked a single with the bases loaded. The Giants won 3-zip. An unbelievable game . . . in the third, one of the game’s great underrated pitchers, Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez threw a 130-pitch complete game against the Mariners, beating them 6-4. Jimenez, who sometimes struggles with his control, is one of the best-kept secrets in the majors. If his arm doesn’t fall off, Jimenez could emerge as one of the game’s great pitchers . . . The Rockies (the Rockies!) have now won nine games in a row . . .  So that’s three complete games in one night in a division that, not counting the Trolleys, stinks . . . and one other thing. Out in Chicago, where Lou Piniella is popping bottles of Pepto Bismol, Milton “they’re picking on me” Bradley tossed an end-of-inning ball to his fans in the bleachers. The only problem was, of course, that it wasn’t an end of inning ball. It was only the second out. “I hadn’t seen that one before, I’ll be honest with you,” Lou said. Which is to say: Lou hasn’t been the manager of the Cubs for that long . . .

My friend and sometime CFG contributor DWilly (here he is) stood to applaud that Nats last night as the team high-fived each other after beating the Giants. “So that’s it for June,” he said. The comment was a corrective to the action on the field and in the stands, where the Nats win was greeted as confirmation that not only is anything possible, but evidence that the Nats can reel-off as impressive a streak in wins just as easily as they can reel-off losses. After all, the Nats had not only beaten the Giants, they had sullied the growing legend of Tim Lincecum: that the righthander just might be invincible. Last night he wasn’t.

The win came after a day of otherwise disheartening news: that Jesus Flores might be done for the season and that Randy St. Claire was being given his walking papers. The news on Flores was a blow to the Nats, who realize that they will now have to rely on the punchless bats of Josh Bard and Wil Nieves, while the St. Claire announcement seemed nominal evidence that the baseball adage (”you can’t fire the players”) just happens to be true. Commentators wondered how it was that St. Claire could be blamed for the performance of an underage and underdeveloped pitching staff. Then too, the challenges faced by St. Claire won’t change simply because his replacement, former Oakland A’s ace Steve McCatty, has taken his place.

Frank Rizzo said the reason that St. Claire was fired was because the pitching staff was not performing — a fairly predictable response. But Rizzo didn’t fully explain the hiring of Triple-A pitching coach McCatty to take St. Claire’s place. Presumably, he didn’t feel he had to: McCatty can coach young pitchers because he once was one himself. Well, maybe … but in truth, McCatty’s career was meteoric: it burned bright for a short if brilliant time, before sputtering out.

Langford, McCatty and Norris -- Oakland's Second Triumverate

Nats Win! Nats Win! Jordan Zimmermann came up from Triple-A just in time to save the Nats the humiliation of yet another loss, pitching a stellar six innings against the Tomohawks. Zimmermann may well be a “find,” though it’s clearly too soon to tell. Unlike the other Zimmerman, this one wasn’t expected to be an immediate star: he was drafted in the second round with the 67th pick in the 2007 draft. Before the Nats focused on him he hadn’t gained too much attention — pitching for Division III University of Wisconsin-Stephens Point.

This “Zim” (or perhaps it should be “Zimm”) is a four-pitch guy: fastball, curveball, change-up and slider. He threw his fastball at 95 last night and was low in the zone — a requirement for any NL fireballer. Nationals Farm Authority (which is indispensible) has quite a bit on Zimmermann. We note he was taken behind Detwiler, Smoker and Burgess in 2007.

Jordan Zimmermann pitched on the same day that Ryan Zimmerman was given a contract extension, which locks him up for five years for about the same amount given by the Orioles to Nick Markakis. Nats 320 has good coverage of this and I have little to add, except for the comment that those who say that “Zim” has yet to have a breakout season are absolutely right: but so what? My wife watched the Nats press conference and noted that Kasten and Lerner “look really worried.” Their same-day “roster shuffle” netted four new pitchers, including Kip Wells, who has kicked around since 1998 — pitching for the White Sox, Cardinals, Pirates, Rangers, Marlins and Rockies. Z and Z are the future: Kip Wells is not.

During the press conference announcing Zimmerman’s new contract, Stan Kasten was damn-near eloquent: “This is a big thing today, I think,” he said. “We demonstrate our commitment to building this team the right way.”

So say we all.

White Elephants: One of the best games I saw pitched this year was between two no-names — A’s lefty Dallas Braden and Blue Jays newcomer Ricky Romero. (The Jays won 1-0.) That I would even mention this is saying alot; I don’t think anything north of Buffalo should even be in the league, particularly if the team is named after a bird and plays in a hotel. The only other Blue Jays game I watched “live” from the former Skydome featured a young couple out in the left field hotel suites overlooking the field; they were shagging their brains out, all in front of a national audience.

Braden and Romero are worth watching, but particularly Braden. His 2006 shoulder surgery doesn’t seem to have had an impact on his fastball, though it is clocked only in the high 80s. The key for Braden is location, and putting his slider on the inner half of the plate for righthanders. On Sunday, Braden gave up five hits in just over seven innings. But here’s the catch: he was outpitched by Romero, who is also a lefty — and also has had shoulder problems. A graduate of Cal State-Fullerton (a baseball assembly line), Romero was picked behind Matt Garza and Ryan Braun by that “baseball genius” J.P. Ricciardi. Ricciardi, who gave us Roy Halladay and Vernon Wells, was slammed for the pick in Toronto.

Romero and Braden are comers, it seems — the new breed of young lefthanders that could dominate in the junior circuit for the next decade.  Braden may well be a part of a new white elephant staff reminiscent of the Hudson-Zito-Mulder days. They’re not there yet: Sean Gallagher is struggling (an 8.10 ERA), as are Dana Eveland and Brett Anderson. But in the Sunday tilt, Braden threw 97 pitches, 59 for strikes. His outing against the Jays followed a similar effort against Jon Lester and the Red Sox, in which Braden threw 90 pitches, 60 for strikes. Trade him to the Nats.

Playing in the Playoffs: Dustin Pedroia came to the plate with the bases loaded in the Bosox game against the Belinski’s last night and TBS immediately told us that the second bagger was 13 for 28 with the bases loaded. “Wow,” I thought, “this kid is clutch.” The fact that Pedroia lined out did little to dampen that impression, but in the wake of the Halo’s loss to “the Nation” I started to wonder whether the stat was actually that useful. Going 13 for 28 with the bags bulging is red meat for sabermetricians, but the stat itself does little to actually explain why Pedroia is a great clutch hitter — while others aren’t. 

One recent study tells us that five of the top six clutch hitters since 1956 were, in order: Willie McCovey, Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Willie Stargell and George Brett. Fantastic: except that McCovey and company not only hit well with runners in scoring position, they hit well all the time. The ardor we thus enjoy from throwing the stat mafia out the window is dampened by hearing that the top clutch hitter of that era was Rusty Staub.

Staub was an excellent hitter, a phenomenal game-changer, an important baseball personality, but he’s not part of the McCovey-Mantle-Mays club; not even close. And I can’t think of any manager so dependent on stats that they would pinch hit Staub for, say, Jim Rice — who had a reputation of being lousy in the clutch. Rice’s reputation was well-earned; he led his league in grounding into double plays in four straight seasons. But why pinch hit for him? These were the seasons in which he 309, .305, .280 and .291.  

Even so, pointing to stats is not the same as pointing to explanations: saying that Rusty Staub was good in the clutch doesn’t really tell us anything except maybe that ”clutch hitting” is unquantifiable or (better yet) that any player’s performance in any given situation is, ultimately, unpredictable. To give credit where it’s due, Sabermetricians understand this as well as we do and have concluded that “clutch hitting” doesn’t really exist: “In clutch situations, few players vary much above or below their overall performance,” one stat hound wrote last July. That is to say, hitting well with runners in scoring position is probably as much a matter of confidence (or luck) as it is of actual tough-situation talent. Clutch performance variations decline as plate appearances increase: given another one hundred at-bats Rusty Staub would have hit what he had always hit — a very good, but not great, .279. When we see a hitter hit well over his average with runners in scoring position we shouldn’t say he’s a “clutch hitter,” we should say he’s “hot” — and understand what that means. It means that, inevitably, he’ll cool off.

Which brings me to my point: what holds true for “clutch hitters” probably holds true for teams. ”Clutch” performances are as overrated as “chokes.” This is no more obvious than in the current post-season. There is no question that both the Halo’s and North Siders have stunk in the post-season and that, therefore, we might conclude that they’re not “clutch performers.” The view is reinforced by the fact that the Angels have ponied up zeroes in their last nine post-season performances, while the Cubs are a pathetic 0 and 8. Even so, I would still maintain (as I have all year) that the Angels and Cubs are still the two best teams in baseball — and will remain so until they are eliminated.

So . . . what’s the problem?

The problem is that some teams get hot and that you best not play them when they are. The problem is not with the Halos and North Siders, the problem is with the Bosox and Dodgers. They’re “hot.” But teams that are hot can suddenly go cold. It’s happened before. In 1985, the Cardinals were one game away from a clinch in their series against the Royals and seemed dominant in every aspect of the game. George Brett was undeterred: “We have them right where we want them,” he said. The Royals went on to win their next three games, embarrassing the Redbirds 11-0 in game seven. In 2003, the A’s led the Red Sox 2-0 in the American League Division Series, but the A’s went on to get swept by the Bosox in the next three games. Were the Royals and Red Sox “clutch” performers? I doubt it. Rather, I view both “clutch” performances and “chokes” as anamolies: very good teams get beaten in short series while mediocre teams (like last year’s Rockies, or the galactically lucky Marlins) end up grabbing the brass ring. That’s the way it goes.  

Of course, this may all be hogwash. That a team’s performance is inherently unpredictable in any given situation says as much about the game as “clutch” hitting does about hitting. Which is to say: it says nothing. Teams win and lose because they’re either good or they’re not (or they’re hot or they’re not) and the belief that things even out over time is simply not true. I’m sure that the Cubs will win the series at some point in the next thousand years (if even by sheer accident), but the problem is I won’t be here to see it.  Which is why I continue to scream at the television (”oh for God’s sakes, Ryan, will you please, please, please throw a strike“) and wonder when Alfonso Soriano is going to decide that it’s time to start playing. 

Or maybe (maybe!) the Dodgers and Red Sox are just better.

That announcer Howard Cosell could bring bile to a mammal’s mouth was proved during the 1977 World Series. Cosell became semi-famous for coining the phrase “the bronx is burning” when, during the second game of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers, a blimp-mounted camera looked down on an elementary school set accidentally ablaze and burning out of control. Cosell made the most of the moment, linking the fire at the school (which he conveniently misidentified as an abandoned tenement) with New York’s crime-ridden “Son of Sam” summer.

The term became the title of a so-so ESPN special on the machinations between the Evil Empire’s Senator Palpatine (George Steinbrenner) and Billy “Luke Skywalker” Martin. That Cosell could lower America’s gag reflex is not in doubt (he remains, in death, a controversial — and largely loathed — figure), but what I remember most is his constant reference to Billy Martin as a “pepperpot.” He sprinkled his every reference to Martin with the term, using the term reverently as a description of the “embattled” but “feisty” Yankee skipper. “Here he comes again, that little pepperpot.” It was enough to make you vomit.

While Keith Jackson nearly literally rolled his eyes every time Cosell used the term (which was ridiculously often), I thought he might be on to something, and over the years I’ve been unofficially tracking baseball’s post-season “pepperpots” — a distinctive class of players who rise to the challenge of the World Series and provide surprising leadership. They are not great players (Martin was not), but are all, without exception, fascinating characters: they are invariably undersized and obnoxious with good gloves and outsized egos, which they hide with a liberal dose of false modesty.  

Take Martin: he probably saved the 1952 World Series for the Yankees when he made a lunging catch on a Jackie Robinson infield pop-up during the seventh inning of the seventh game. The bases were loaded. It was a single, simple play, but it made the difference in the world championship. In 1953, Martin was the Series MVP, playing unbelievable defense — even for him. But Martin couldn’t stick with the Empire because he was always in trouble, mouthing off and getting in fistfights. Nor was his the stuff of the Hall of Fame. He was a fairly average hitter: his personal high for homers was fifteen — in 1956. It wasn’t enough to keep Stengel from approving his trade to the Yanks’ farm team, the Kansas City A’s, in 1957. But Martin knew baseball, perhaps the most unique quality of “pepperpots.”

Pepperpots have always been a part of the game, ever since Miller Huggins seemed to define the term. Like Martin, “Mighty Mite” was scrawny, tough, vain and a good on-base man. He finished his career with more than 300 stolen bases and a much better player than Martin (unlike most “pepperpots” he’s in the Hall of Fame, a tenuous honor, if you ask me). Mighty Mite’s real genius was in managing, which he proved after he took over the reins of the Empire in 1918. Huggins built the then-laughing stock of the junior circuit into a powerhouse, leading them to six pennants and three World Series titles.

I can think of four recent “pepperpots” in the mold of Huggins — most of them veterans of the Oakland A’s. Dick Green is the first: the brawling A’s of the 1970s were symbolized by Green, whose good glove, feisy attitude and post-season heroics during the ‘74 Series won him a Babe Ruth MVP trophy, this despite the fact that he barely grazed the ball with his bat during the series. Instead, his claim to fame in the Series was his Game 5 relay throw to Sal Bando to squelch a Los Angeles rally — the same kind of play that saw Billy Martin save the Empire in their showdown with the Dodger’s two decades before. The other notorious White Elephant Pepperpot is Walt Weiss, whose 1988 and 1989 World Series glovework (he only hit .133 in the ‘89 series) helped the A’s become a temporary dynasty.

More recent “pepperpots” are more legion. The World Series seems to follow Craig Counsell around. The light-hitting (.255 batting average in thirteen seasons) second baseman (there’s a pattern here somewhere), held down the second-sack for the World Champ Marlins in 1997. The Marlins regular second baseman that year was Luis Castillo, but only after Counsell arrived in a mid-season trade did the fish seem to start playing (he hit .299 in 51 games). While Counsell did not hit well in the post-season he, like his predecessors, continued to turn stellar plays up the middle. Counsell ended up in Arizona in 2001, where he homered in game one. Counsell, fast and tough and of only medium height and build for his era (six feet, 180 pounds) is now with the Brewers — the only evidence available that they have a chance at the Series. Counsell, an otherwise average player, wears two rings. At 38, Counsell is on his way out of baseball. If they were smart, the Brewers would hire him as his manager — but then, they’re the Brewers …

The other two nominees in this category are Mark Lemke and Phil Garner. Lemke might well be the quintessential “pepperpot.” An anemic looking second baseman with stick hands, Lemke played like Dimaggio in the post-season. In the 1991 Series, he hit three triples and batted .417. His extra-inning walk-off single in Game 3 is still memorable for me because Braves fans were, at the time, engaging in that incessantly insulting tomahawk chop. A never-amounted-to-much second baseman who flirted with the bench throughout his career, Lemke was the talk of baseball.

Like Martin, Phil Garner is remembered more for his managerial prowess than his on-the-field heroics. But Garner, like the “pepperpots” before him (he was nicknamed “scrap iron”), was known for his nearly unconscious post-season glove and (like Lemke) for his post-season bat. He hit .500 for “the family” in the ‘79 Series, where his teammates began to call him “Yosemite Sam.” Currently unemployed (he once managed the Crew, before they brought in the now dearly departed curse) the Brewers should bring him back: Garner’s teams are always built on speed and defense.

My tentative conclusion from all of this is that any successful post-season team needs a Martin, Huggins, Green, Weiss, Counsell, Lemke, or Garner — almost more than they need a “Mr. October.” Exhibit A was last year’s Bosox wunderkind Dustin (our lord and savior) Pedroia (Peter Gammons, fan club president, presiding). Pedroia remains the firmest evidence that defense and speed are at a premium in the post-season, where the nod goes to tough-guys who can win in an abbreviated series. It should be no different this year — where fast, defensive-minded infielders could make a difference. I’m not talking about a brilliant big-bat player (which Padroia has become) or Chase (say hello to my little friend) Utley, but rather a guy like the Angels’ Erick Aybar, the Pale Hose’s Alexei Ramirez, the Cubs Mike Fontenot or the Dodgers’ Angel Berroa.

By this barometer, where defense and speed are emphasized (as they are in the playoffs), it will be the Angels vs. White Sox in the AL, and the Cubs and Dodgers in the NL. And the MVP in both of those playoffs (and the World Series to follow) will not come down to a walk-off Mazeroski, but to a lazy infield pop-up that needs to be caught, or a relay throw that guns down a runner at third, or a deftly turned double-play. 

Down On Half Street: Let us now dispense forever with the tiresome: “Houston you have a problem” signs and simply note that while the cynics say that it was only a matter of time before the Nats’ bats were loosed against the likes of the lowly Astros, it was damned good to see. From where I sat, the first Belliard home run looked like it was going foul, so the explosion of fandom was all that much sweeter.

It was good to see Kentucky’s bat come to life and you have to feel good for Tim Redding, who finally notched a win after throwing his standard very good game for six innings. But while we’re focused on the bats and Timmy, let’s note that reliever Steven Shell looks like the (proverbial) real deal. Note to Jim Bowden: perhaps you should trade Shell to another team for some prospects! Oh wait, Shell is a prospect. Hey, I have an idea, let’s keep him.

Me Droogs: In an unprecedented show of friendship, the three writers of this blog met for an evening of baseball. We actually sat together during the Nats loss to the Tracy’s — an 11 inning 7-5 affair that the Nats should have won, and would have won, were it not for (in my humble opinion) a late game non-interference call by umpire Angel Hernandez. Every umpire misses a call, but Hernandez’s missed calls are famous — as are his temper tantrums. In 2001 he threw football player Steve McMichael out of Wrigley Field after McMichael (who sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame), had the temerity of questioning his competence. In another incident, Hernandez threw Dodger first base coach Mariano Duncan’s hat into the stands after Duncan threw it to the ground in arguing a call.

No kidding.

In any event, it was great to see the Droogs who, in the midst of the Thursday night loss, received news that Ryan Langerhans was being called up from Columbus and would soon be rejoining the club. We were thrilled. 

Buyer’s Remorse: The first assessment is in on who got the better of the Rich Harden to Chicago for Sean Gallagher, Matt Murton, Eric Patterson and Double-A catcher Josh Donaldson trade– and the nod goes to Billy Beane and the A’s. The common notion is that Gallagher was the key to the trade for Oakland, with early reports suggesting that outfielder Matt Murton would head to Sacramento, Oakland’s triple-A affiliate. But Murton has always been underestimated and it’s no secret that Lou Piniella never really took to him. So when Murton arrived in Oakland, they told him he would start in left field. A very smart decision. I always thought Murton would look good in a Nats uniform: he has a career .294 batting average, a .362 OBP and .448 slugging.

Yesterday, both Gallagher and Murton shined in the Connie Mack’s 9-2 drubbing of the Angels and over at Thunder Matt’s Saloon (named for the now-departed), fans of the Baby Bears were suffering buyer’s remorse. They weren’t the only ones: the Trib’s Fred Mitchell noted that 44 years ago the Cubs made a transaction that sent future Hall of Famer Lou Brock to St. Louis – a trade against which ”all other major Cubs transactions are measured.”  And just who did the Cubs get for Brock? This guy:

The Nation: Everything seems to be clicking in Boston, where Dustin Pedroia’s bat has come to life. The second sacker (and starting All Star) is hitting .311 and sending the Bosox faithful into paragons of ecstacy. There’s no question about it. He’s simply the best baseball player who ever lived. (And he will be …  until, that is, the day that the Evil Empire signs him for $140 million.) I know — let’s talk about Duston Pedroia on Baseball Tonight!

The Bosox are now the class of the AL, and godonlyknows just how good they can be when the get a little from the bullpen. Even so, I can’t help noting that “Red Sox Nation” has been notably silent on the one transaction they once trumpeted — the signing of this guy to a “no lose” minor league deal:

We here at the Dogz have recently learned that Bartolo is either on the DL or that he is the unknown in that song about “the man who never returned.” My bet? He is lost forever ‘neath the streets of Boston.

Rays and Reds: One of the salutory things about being a father is that, from time to time, you get to schlepp your children’s . . . stuff . . . around the country when they decide to move. So it was that I was able to visit Boston at the same time the Bosox visited Tampa Bay. While that eliminated any chance I had to visit Fenway, it yielded a late night foray to a Framingham bar, where a television larger than I have ever seen showed the Bosox taking on the Tampa Bay Rays in a Tuesday tilt at Tropicana. And it gave me a chance to rub shoulders with a group of baseball-savvy Bosox fans who, when not drinking, were yelling epithets at Terry Francona and Jason Varitek.

The Tuesday night Rays-Sox contest was one of the best television games I had seen in some time and convincing evidence that — unless the rest of the AL comes armed and ready – they are likely to get schooled by the rejuvenated Rays. The Rays swept the Sox in three (much as they had earlier swept the Cubs), and now sit atop the AL East. The world is turned upside down. “They’re good,” one Sox fan told me, “they’re the next Big Red Machine.” Well, probably not: but their bullpen is solid and with Evan Longoria and a rehabbed Carlos Pena at first (he had 46 home runs last year), the Rays are among the best teams in the game. But the key to their success (of course) is pitching.

On the night I watched, Matt Garza – who came over from Minnesota — shut down the Bosox for seven innings, before giving way to J.P. Howell and Grant Balfour. Howell looked unhittable, and when he set down Varitek the Bosox catcher looked absolutely baffled. It reminded me of the look Joe Morgan gave to Catfish Hunter during the second game of the 1972 World Series. Morgan could never solve Hunter, and the Reds (at the beginning of the Big Red Machine era) hit a combined .209 against the ”Swingin’ A’s.”

“The Big Blue Machine” is, in fact, nothing like the 1972 Reds. But it’s a lot like the “Swingin’ A’s,” who were grounded by strong pitching and punch-and-judy hitters. Hunter, Odom, Holtzman, Fingers and Blue stifled the Reds “machine” of Bench, Rose, Concepcion, Morgan, Geronimo, and Foster — exhibit A of how good pitching always beats good hitting. So it was in the Rays-Bosox series: as Kazmir, Garza, Shields, Wheeler, Howell and Percival held the Sawx to ten earned runs in three games. ”They’re the next big Red Machine,” a Red Sox fan told me, shaking his head after Grant Balfour shut down the B’s in game two. I disagree: if anything, the Tampa Bay Rays of 2008 are more like the “Swingin’ A’s.”

Speaking of which: Our beloved Nats are in Cincinnati for a four game set at the Great American Ballpark — where, after just one game and one inning, Junior has already hit number 304.

The Reds are Major League Baseball’s oldest franchise, and one of its most storied. But, since last winning a world series (in 1990), the “Redlegs” have fallen on hard times and are now rebuilding. The Dusty Baker 9 now features a great aging star, some sometime hitters, and a bevy of young throwers — all of whom (if Dusty’s legacy is an indication), will soon be on their way to the Mayo Clinic, for Tommy John surgery. These are not your daddy’s Reds: Brandon Phillips is their best ballplayer, Jay Bruce is one of their “emerging 8’s,” and Cueto and Volquez may well anchor a great pitching staff in the future. But the future seems a long ways away for those who decide to take in a game at the Great American Ballpark.