With the Detroit Tigers reeling and its months-long grip on first place quickly dwindling, you would think that the Tigers’ players would be extra focused. 

More video work, more work in the cage, extra stretching…whatever each player needs to play at his best.

Certainly, as a fan or if I were a manager, I’d at least expect my team’s players to be well rested and, you know, not hungover and in jail until 8:00 on the morning of a huge game.

Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers, it seems, would not agree.

You may have seen the pictures of Miguel Cabrera’s scratched face, and you may have heard the rumors about Cabrera being out late drinking, then getting into a fight with his wife early on Saturday morning, and ending up in jail.

Turns out that Cabrera’s explanation for the scratches (”my dog did it!”) doesn’t quite jive with reality.

From the Detroit Free-Press:

Miguel Cabrera might be the Tigers’ first baseman on the field. But off the field early Saturday morning, he was one of the boys out too late with his buddies, according to the Birmingham Police.

The buddies were players from the Chicago White Sox, who Cabrera was partying with after Friday night’s game at Birmingham’s Townsend Hotel, Birmingham Police Chief Richard Patterson said.

But when he got home, his wife wasn’t happy he’d been out drinking so late, Patterson said. Roseann Cabrera called 911 at 6:05 a.m. to report the two were fighting, according to reports.

For some reason, the fact that Cabrera was out with White Sox players makes me laugh.

We’ve always known that Ozzie Guillen loves and admires the Twins; who knew that he’d send his players out for a late night carousing session with the Tigers’ best hitter on the even of their biggest games of the season!?

(For the record, because you never know how people will take things, don’t read the above statement too literally, as I’m sure Ozzie had nothing to do with it.)

But hey, at least Cabrera came through in the clutch for the Tigers this weekend. Needing to win two games to avoid having to play in a one-game playoff against the Twins, Cabrera led to the Tigers to just one victory with his sterling 0-11 performance.

Well done Miguel.

Your team is counting on its best hitter to have a good series, and your reeling city is counting on its sports teams to give it some sort of positive diversion. You decide to go out drinking, wind up in jail, and go 0-11.

If you’re going to be a clown, at least be one who gets a few hits and drives in a few runs.

Your teammates and city, I’m sure, are greatly appreciative of your efforts.

Update: For some good perspective on this story, our buddy J. Ellet Lambie over at Eye of the Tigers has an excellent post on the subject.

Update: The audio of the 911 call has been released (hat tip to The Big Lead). Keep in mind, Cabrera reportedly blew a .26 on a breathalyzer, the woman on the line is Cabrera’s wife, and this is at 6:00 am on the morning of one of the Tigers’ most important games since Cabrera signed his $100+ million contract. Jason at The Big Lead is right. This is sad. Miguel Cabrera may have more than just a weight problem.

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* – Miguel Cabrera photo credit: Julian H. Gonzalez – Detroit Free Press

You may have noticed that we haven’t been paying as much attention to baseball here at MSF lately. My personal excuse for that is two-fold: first, I’m a White Sox fan and they fell out of the race early in September; second, football season started.

Site-wide, the excuse is simple: we need more baseball writers. (So contact us if you want to cover baseball! We’d love to have you.)

But that dearth of baseball coverage is about to change because October is here, which means it’s playoff time. And just like last season, the playoffs kick off with a one-game playoff tie-breaker to decide the AL Central.

Say what you will about the overall level play in the AL Central, but it routinely gives us the most hotly contested division race in all of Major League Baseball. 

Last year it was the White Sox and Twins duking it out for a 163rd game. This year, it’s the Tigers and Twins. Here is everything you need to know:

Twins-Tigers One-Game Playoff Preview

• Twins-Tigers Date: Tuesday, October 6th
• Twins-Tigers Time: 5:07 ET
• Twins-Tigers TV: TBS
• Twins-Tigers Location: The Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Twins-Tigers Odds: Twins -1.5
• Twins-Tigers Over-Under: 8.5
• Twins-Tigers Pitching Matchup: Rick Porcello (14-9) v Scott Baker (15-9)
• StubHub: Twins-Tigers One Game Playoff Tie-breaker Tickets as low as $56
• RazorGator: Twins-Tigers One Game Playoff Tie-breaker Tickets as low as $63
• TicketsNow: Twins-Tigers One Game Playoff Tie-breaker Tickets as low as $59

Rick Porcello v the Twins

Tigers rookie Rick Porcello won’t turn 22 until December of this year, yet the young phenom is taking the mound for the Tigers’ most important game of the season. It’s been an up-and-down rookie year for Porcello, who was terrible in April, fantastic in May, terrible again in June and July, and then very solid in 12 starts during August and September.

Overall for the season, Porcello is 14-9 with a 4.04 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 81 Ks, and 50 BBs over 30 starts and 165 innings. Detroit has done a very good job of not wearing Porcello down in his first big league season, part of the reason why he came down the stretch with a strong 5-2 record and an ERA right around 3.20 during the season’s final two months.

Porcello has pitched decently well overall against Minnesota. He is only 1-2 in four starts, but his ERA against the Twins is a very solid 3.09. The peripheral numbers, however, aren’t quite as good (1.41 WHIP, .299 BAA) and Porcello did not fare well in his two starts in the Metrodome: 0-2, 6.30 ERA.

The Twins that have given Porcello the most trouble are Jason Kubel (8-11) and Delmon Young (4-9). Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau both hit .250 or worse against Porcello, but both have homered. Joe Mauer went only 1-9 against Porcello this season. The Twins did not steal a base off Porcello this year.

Scott Baker v the Tigers

Scott Baker, always one of my personal favorites from a fantasy perspective because of his low WHIP and solid K/BB numbers, started off the season terribly. In three April starts, Baker had an ERA of 9.82 and went 0-3. Over the next five months, Baker alternated between 4.00+ and 3.00+ ERAs and finished the season with decent numbers: 15-9, 4.36 ERA, 1.19 WHIP. 

Baker’s Achilles’ heel is the longball: he gave up 27 on the year.

Unfortunately for Twins fans, Detroit is one of the teams that rocked Baker the hardest this year. In four starts against the Tigers, Baker went 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA and a WHIP of 1.70. On a positive note though, he only gave up two home runs to the Tigers in 20 innings of work.

And Baker was pretty solid at home, with his 4.55 ERA not really jiving with lower peripheral numbers across the board (1.07 WHIP, .240 BAA, fewer home runs allowed). It looks like Baker was the victim of some bad luck in his home park.

The Tigers hitters that hit Baker the hardest this year were: Miguel Cabrera (4-11, HR); Magglio Ordonez (6-11); Marcus Thames (3-8, HR). Baker did do a nice job of keeping Curtis Granderson off the basepaths (1-11) and holding Brandon Inge in check (1-8).

Twins-Tigers Prediction

I can’t go in any direction but with the Twins.

I’ve long said that if I was not a White Sox fan, and could choose any other MLB team to root for, I’d choose Minnesota. I admire how they play, their scrappiness, and the fact that regardless of the circumstances they always seem to end up in the thick of the AL Central race.

The Twins are the team that comes into tomorrow’s game with the momentum and without either team having a significant edge in terms of starting pitching, I’m going with the team that does the best job of shutting the door at the end.

For that important job, the Twins get to call on Joe Nathan, perhaps one of the most under appreciated players in Major League Baseball over the last decade.

Here is the most important stat I could dig up about this game: in 50 lifetime appearances against Detroit, Joe Nathan is 2-1 with 30 saves, a 1.60 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, .147 BAA…and he has never blown a save against the Tigers.

I’m convinced.

I don’t think the Twins win by more than a run, as the spread indicates, but who cares? Nathan shuts the door in the 9th and the Twins move onto the playoffs.

Twins-Tigers one-game playoff pick: Minnesota Twins 4 | Detroit Tigers 3

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* – Joe Nathan photo credit: Eric Miller, Reuters via MinnPost.com

Sportsbook fans were eagerly awaiting Monday night’s Tigers-Twins game, which was supposed to open a four-game series that will arguably determine the AL Central winner.

Rain knocked the game back to Tuesday afternoon, meaning there’s still time to reevaluate the final three games of the series.

Detroit appears to be in great shape for those online betting matchups.

Date & Time: Tuesday, Sept. 29 @ 7:05 p.m. ET

TV: MLB Network

StubHub Tickets: Twins-Tigers tickets as low as $25.

Pitching Matchup: Brian Duensing (5-1, 3.33) vs. Justin Verlander (17-9, 3.41)

Verlander has rebounded from a poor 2008 campaign with a dominant performance. His 256 strikeouts dwarf his previous best of 183, and he’s coming off an 11K performance against Cleveland.

The Twins have been his kryptonite this year, however, as he’s 0-2 with a 5.49 ERA in three starts.

Duensing, a rookie, has been brilliant for Minnesota. He began the season as a reliever but, after becoming a starter, has been on fire. His 1.74 ERA in September is impressive. Even better? His 6.1 inning, four-hit shutout of Detroit a few weeks ago.

On paper this matchup seems to favor the rookie, but you’re still better off taking Verlander on your MLB picks—this is a pressure-packed game that makes youngsters crumble and vets excel.

———

Date & Time: Wednesday, Sept. 30 @ 7:05 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

StubHub Tickets: Twins-Tigers tickets as low as $6.

Pitching Matchup: Carl Pavano (13-11, 4.86) vs. Eddie Bonine (0-1, 4.60)

Part-time starter Bonine has been an adequate fill-in for Detroit. In his past two starts he’s allowed five runs (three earned) in 11.2 innings of work. He’s faced the Twins once is his brief career and it wasn’t pretty: 2.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 6.75 ERA.

Pavano, on the other hand, must be licking his chops for this matchup. He’s eaten Detroit’s soul to the tune of four wins and a 1.69 ERA in five starts. It doesn’t take betting software to figure out veteran experience plus a proven track record against Detroit makes Pavano the right call.

———-

Date & Time: Thursday, Oct. 1 @ 1:05 p.m. ET

TV: MLB Network

StubHub Tickets: Twins-Tigers tickets as low as $10.

Scott Baker (14-9, 4.48) vs. Nate Robertson (2-2, 5.56)

Robertson struggled in his last start, allowing four earned runs in 3.1 innings, though the Detroit lineup bailed him out. Besides that hiccup he’s had a fine month (3.86 ERA in four starts, five appearances), including a solid five-inning, two-run effort against the Twins a few weeks ago.

Twins starter Scott Baker can’t claim the same success. He’s been knocked around badly by the Tigers this season, going 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA in three starts. History says bet on Robertson and the Tigers.

THE PICK: Tigers sweep the final three games of this series

Every time we get a few games over .500, we can’t stand the prosperity and play like the Royals.

And then once the pendulum has swung back, and we’re under .500, and jackass bloggers like myself are acting like the sky is falling, we turn into the Yankees.

Case in point: the last four games.

After dropping what felt like 6,000 games in a row, and essentially falling out of the AL Central race, the White Sox have reeled off the following:

• Scoring four runs off of Twins closer Joe Nathan in the 9th inning to steal a win in the Metrodome.
• Shutting out the Cubs 5-0 in Wrigley Field in a makeup game from earlier this season. Perennial Cy Young candidate Carlos Torres pitched 7 shutout innings, striking out six Cubs.
• Dominating the Boston Red Sox at home, winning 12-1 on Friday and then 5-1 today powered by a Gavin Floyd gem for which the post game show was not canceled until two outs in the 6th inning.

So, in summation, the White Sox had fallen to 64-69 on Tuesday. Now here we sit on Saturday night with the White Sox one game under .500, 6.5 games out of first place, and playing like we all know this club is capable of playing.

Personally, I plan on enjoying it until we get to a few games over .500, and then the fear of an inevitable three- or four-game implosion will overshadow any optimism that builds up.  It’s just been one of those years.

If the White Sox finish anything other than 81-81 this year, I will be surprised. (And believe me, I hope to be surprised…positively.)

Here’s the thing, as bad as things have seemed this season, the White Sox are not out of it yet. If we just make up one game per week on the Tigers leading up to our final three game set with Detroit from September 25th-27th, we’ll be a home sweep away from being tied for the lead in the division.

A long shot? Sure. But for a veteran club that’s experienced in pressure, pennant-race baseball, it’s not completely outlandish. 

In other White Sox news, one thing that could make a late-season charge up the AL Central standings more difficult would be for Gordon Beckham to miss any time. The Sox sterling rookie left today’s game in the first inning with back tightness. Though it doesn’t sound serious, I’ve seen no updates on his status moving forward, and White Sox fans have been conditioned to be fearful about back tightness and our third baseman being mentioned in the same sentence.

Perhaps it was just time for a day off. Gordon has played in 81 straight games, counting today’s.

Also, a big congrats to Ozzie Guillen, who won his 500th game as a manager yesterday. Hopefully there are at least 500 more, and then 500 more after that, for Ozzie on the South Side.

Anyway, to close this post, I will just say that even though I’ve said previously that I have essentially given up hope on the White Sox making the playoffs this year, I’m starting to get pulled back in. Impressive four game streaks have a way of doing that.

If we can keep up the good play over the next four at home, and then defy historical trends by playing well out West on a six-game trip to LA and Seattle, I’ll really be excited.

Let’s go Sox. Championships are won in September, and there is still a whole lot of September left.

Please give me a moment, as I must collect myself — and navigate through the tricky emotional ocean of simultaneously wanted to laugh hysterically and cry plaintively — before I will be able to write anything coherent and worthy of your eyes.

…

Quick! While I’m composing myself, follow this link to purchase your very own 2009 White Sox playoff tickets!

…

Seriously? The only explanation I can come up with is that, for some reason, the White Sox are mad at their fans and lashing out. Maybe it’s the poor attendance? Who the hell knows.

But why else would this be the second image in the rotating melange front and center on the White Sox home page?

To go into complete cliche territory here for a second: Playoffs? Are you f%&*$n#g kidding me? Playoffs?

Not in 2009. No sir. Not anymore. No way, how how.

A couple of weeks ago, when the Sox were still hovering a few games over .500 and within a good weekend’s striking distance of Detroit, something like this would be understandable. Get your playoff tickets! Get excited for the stretch run everybody! Jake Peavy! Gordon Beckham! Jake Peavy! Gordon Beckham!

But over our last 11 eleven games, the White Sox have managed to go 2-100. I’m not sure how it’s possible…I know the math doesn’t add up…but it’s true. 

We’ve lost 100 games in two weeks.

Or does it just feel that way?

If someone gave me truth serum, I would tell them that when I wrote this post six days ago I honestly had not totally given up on the team yet. Part of my motivation in writing it, with the season on the brink of slipping away, was a little reverse psychology. The White Sox always seem to tank whenever I praise them on MSF; I figured by publicly doubting them I could reverse that maddening trend. (I realize this is a ridiculous notion, but I’m obsessed with sports and the White Sox, okay? Give me a break.)

Instead, they’ve lost 75 games in the week since that post was published.

Wait…damnit, sorry…it just feels that way. I know it’s only been 50 losses in the past week.

Playoffs. You have got to be kidding me.

(And by the way, as I write this, Mark Buehrle is being outdueled 2-0 by perennial Sigh Young candidate Brian Duensing. The White Sox are teetering dangerously close to another sweep in the Metrodome.  Wait…Scott Linebrink just came in.  Expect a crooked number any second now.)

My apologies for the negativity. You know I don’t like to be this. You know I always look for the positives in everything. But these last two weeks of White Sox baseball easily rank in the top 10 letdowns of my life as a sports fan. It’s all about expectations, and I legitimately expected this team to make it to the playoffs and have a chance to make some noise.

I never expected that we’d be completely and utterly embarrassed like we have been.

Why am I wasting time ranting like this?  Oh yeah, because the White Sox decided to mock their own fans with their outlandish website claims of playoff tickets even being a remote possibility. And while I actually agree with the moves, based on the team’s performance of late, Ken Williams can gussy up the trades of Jim Thome and Jose Contreras however he wants: he waved the white flag.

Sadly, I don’t blame him. But maybe he should have informed the guy in charge of managing the website.

Damn you, White Sox web admin. Damn you.

Update: My strategy may be working!

Down 2-0 headed into the top of the 9th, the White Sox were facing certain death when Joe Nathan came in to close it out. But a funny, unexpected thing happened…the Sox exploded for two runs!!! Wait…just checked again…now three runs!!!  No, four! And we knocked Nathan out of the game!

Time for Bobby to come in and close this out.   Yeeessss!

Maybe my diabolical plot of reverse psychology will work after all.  So about those playoff tickets…

Update: Sox win! 4-2! Bobby shuts the door in the 9th.

A team-galvanizing win that could harken a turnaround…or just a momentary blip in a September of wasted opportunity? We shall see.

But it does, I’ll admit, feel good to get a comeback win at Minnesota.

But the White Sox stole one in the 9th last Tuesday against Seattle, when Alexei Ramirez cracked a three-run homer in the top of the 9th, so I guess you could say Sunday’s loss was just the road trip evening itself out.

What faces the White Sox this week is, on the surface, much less intimidating than last week’s West Coast swing and the impending road trip against Boston, New York, and Minnesota. The White Sox go back home for three against the cellar dwelling Royals, an off day, and then three more against the cellar dwelling Orioles. Sitting 2.5 games behind Detroit with 44 games left to play, this is a huge opportunity for the White Sox to quit flirting with .500 and get to six or seven games over.

Expecting anything more than a split next week is probably wishful thinking, so the White Sox need to take it upon themselves to string together some victories — and some breathing room — against teams that they should beat at home this week.

Mark Buehrle kicks off the home stand today against Brian Bannister, and Mr. Perfect needs to fulfill his role as staff ace and get us off on the right foot. 

With the most difficult stretch of the season beginning one week from today, the White Sox cannot afford to waste this opportunity.

 

Hope has been gone since mid-April for the Cleveland Indians, and clearly, it’s only getting worse as the Tribe is looking at a 100 loss season if they don’t play decently the rest of the way. This from a team considered by many to be the favorite in the AL Central and by some to be a pennant contender. Thanks, Eric Wedge. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out — in October.

 

The Cincinnati Reds limp into the break after a disastrous 2-5 east coast trip this week, which sent them fading into 5th place at 42-45. Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo need to continue pitching as well as they have recently, while Johnny Cueto needs to forget July for the Reds to compete the rest of the way.  

 

Though the loss of Jay Bruce – and the continued absence of Edinson Volquez — for an indeterminate amount of time with a wrist injury won’t help matters, Cincinnati is still just a few games behind first place St. Louis. So despite needing to leapfrog many clubs, there’s still hope in the Queen City for the first playoff games in Great American Ballpark’s history.

 

* – Indians fans photo credit: Clemson Girl Baseball

But it also means something else: it’s time to dole out some midseason awards.

Since our primary focus here at Midwest Sports Fans is, well, the Midwest, I am going to focus my award giving to just the Central divisions of the American and National League. Let’s get right to it.

NL Central 1st Half MVP: Albert Pujols, and I really don’t need to say anything else about it. His name itself is becoming hyperbole. I want to see a new version of “The Most Interesting Man in the World” commercials featuring Pujols. They could be called “The Most Dominating Presence in Baseball” and include lines like “he once struck out, just to see what it felt like” and “he’s seen less pitches than the World Cup, yet his goatee alone has hit more home runs than Ryan Ludwick.” Albert Pujols is amazing and is not just the NL Central MVP, but the MLB MVP for the first half of 2009.

AL Central 1st Half MVP: This one is not so clear cut. Let’s take a look at a few of the candidates (stats as of July 9th):

• Joe Mauer, Twins: 60 G, 224 AB, .388 BA, 15 HR, 47 RBI, 48 R, 1.118 OPS
• Justin Morneau, Twins: 84 G, 319 AB, .317 BA, 21 HR, 69 RBI, 56 R, .984 OPS
• Jermaine Dye, White Sox: 77 G, 276 AB, .297 BA, 20 HR, 54 RBI, 51 R, .940 OPS
• Zack Greinke, Kansas City Royals: 10-5, 2.12 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 129 K, 29 BB

Obviously I really want to say JD, or even Scott Podsednik, and I think there is an argument to be made for them as their value has been highlighted by the injury to Carlos Quentin, but I have a hard time giving it to anyone other than Justin Morneau or Joe Mauer with the impressive stats both have racked up.

It certainly isn’t Zack Greinke, whose team becomes more irrelevant with each passing week. If his ERA was still 1.00, then maybe. But he hasn’t been as lights-out recently, which is to be expected since he isn’t the greatest pitcher in the history of mankind and all beings, as some have suggested.

While everyone is salivating over Mauer, and don’t get me wrong — he has been great since returning from injury, Morneau has been producing at a high level for 24 more games and over the span of almost 100 more ABs than Mauer. Plus, batting average is an overrated stat, so Mauer gets no bonus points from me because he’s making everyone dream about .400. Both are great candidates, and by the end of the year such a difference in games won’t be so magnified, but right now I have to go with Morneau, who has been the most consistent run producer in the division over the course of the entire first half.

NL Central 1st Half Cy Young: I see two primary contenders: Adam Wainwright of St. Louis and Yovani Gallardo of Milwaukee. Here are the stats:

• Yovani Gallardo, Brewers: 8-6, 109.2 innings, 2.95 ERA, 120 K, 51 BB
• Adam Wainwright, Cardinals: 9-5, 122.1 innings, 3.09 ERA, 110 K, 45 BB

Pretty damn close based on the numbers (and you could probably throw Ryan Franklin in the mix here too, who has been great as the Cardinals’ closer). My first instinct when comparing Gallardo and Wainwright is to go with the guy pitching for the team in first place, but it’s hard to use team record as a tie-breaker considering the Cardinals are only one game up on the Brewers in the standings. Or is it? With two pitchers this close, sometimes it comes right down to head-to-head battles.

Thus far in 2009, Wainwright has absolutely dominated Milwaukee. He is 2-0 in two starts against the Brewers, going 15.1 innings and giving up just a single run while striking out 18. Gallardo, on the other hand, has struggled somewhat against his team’s primary competition for the division title. Despite having a better overall ERA and WHIP than Wainwright, Gallardo is 0-1 against St. Louis. Sure, he pitched 8 innings of shutout ball while only giving up 2 hits in the teams’ May 25th battle, so you can’t blame him for the no decision there, but that game was not head-to-head against Wainwright like the July 7th game was. In that battle, Gallardo lasted only five innings and gave up four runs in a 5-0 loss for the Brew Crew.

So maybe that one game difference for the Cardinals is the difference between Wainwright and Gallardo. I’m giving the 1st half Cy Young for the NL Central to Adam Wainwright.

AL Central 1st Half Cy Young: Lots of legit contenders here. Let’s list them out with stats:

• Mark Buehrle, White Sox: 9-2, 3.14 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 114.2 innings, 65 K, 25 BB
• Joe Nathan, Twins: 0-1, 1.13 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 33.1 innings, 22 saves, 43 K, 7 BB
• Justin Verlander, Tigers: 9-4, 3.59 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 115.1 innings, 141 K, 35 BB
• Edwin Jackson, Tigers: 6-4, 2.59 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 114.2 innings, 93 K, 33 BB
• Zack Greinke, Royals: 10-5, 2.12 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 127.1 innings, 129 K, 29 BB
• Fausto Carmona, Indians: 2-6, 7.42 ERA, 1.81 WHIP, 60.2 innings, 36 K, 41 BB

If we were giving this out to the pitcher who has been the most generous to opposing hitters and teams, Fausto Carmona would win in a landslide. And yes, this is the same Fausto Carmona that went 19-8 with a 3.06 ERA in 2007. But obviously I only listed Carmona here to throw more salt in the multitude of open wounds Cleveland’s start has given its fans. More on him later.

Back to the subject at hand. Zack Greinke obviously has the best numbers, but I just don’t believe in handing out awards to players whose teams are not in the playoff race. There is a different level of pressure when your team is expected to win and when games are meaningful. If the award were Most Outstanding Pitcher, it’s Greinke by a landslide. It’s not, and it clearly states in the fine print of my own personal Cy Young and MVP criteria that last place teams (Cleveland sucks so bad they don’t count anymore) cannot have Cy Young or MVP winners, so we’ll let Willy Wonka tell Zack Greinke what he’s won:

(By the way, credit goes to Hugging Harold Reynolds for tweeting that video yesterday. I hadn’t seen that in forever, but always loved Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Charlie Bucket is a golden god.)

Honestly, I can’t find a whole lot to separate Buehrle, Verlander, and Jackson. All three have had excellent seasons. I’d give the edge to Buehrle because he owns the Tigers and Verlander sucks against the White Sox, and both have more wins than Jackson, but it’s really splitting hairs between those three.

My 1st half AL Central Cy Young goes to Joe Nathan, who has just be out-of-this-world awesome. The Twins’ pitchers (other than Nick Blackburn, who is having a very good yet under-the-radar season) have struggled this season. Francisco Liriano, Scott Baker, and Kevin Slowey have all dealt with injuries and bouts of ineffectiveness. The one constant (throughout all the years Ray, has been baseball) has been Joe Nathan at the back end of the bullpen making sure that when the Twins do have a late lead, they do not surrender it.

I’m not a huge proponent of giving Cy Youngs to closers who typically pitch less than a third of the amount of innings a top-line starter does, but Joe Nathan has given up only 18 hits in 33.1 innings and is 22-24 in save opportunities. He has been beyond dominant and there is no way the Twins would be as close to first place as they are without him. It’s a competitive field, but Nathan is the choice.

NL Central Manager of the 1st Half: Tony LaRussa, and I don’t think it’s close. Ken Macha has done a nice job in Milwaukee keeping the Brewers in the race without C.C. Sabathia or Ben Sheets, but LaRussa has the Cardinals in first place with one legit hitter in his lineup. Yes, that hitter is the great Pujols, but look at the rest of the team’s offensive stats. Putrid. And it’s not like their pitching has been lights out. Ryan Franklin has been a revelation in the bullpen, and getting Chris Carpenter back has helped, but this is still a rotation that counts on guys like Kyle Lohse, Joel Piniero, and Todd Wellemeyer. That LaRussa has the Cardinals in first place is a testament to his managerial genius (and to Pujols’ utter dominance, of course).

AL Central Manager of the 1st Half: I really want to say Ozzie Guillen, and I think that he’s done a great job, but my vote goes to Jimmy Leyland of Detroit. It’s not just that the Tigers are in first place, it’s that they’ve been able to rebound from last season’s disappointment with a far less potent offensive attack and without the benefit of an above-average bullpen. Leyland has navigated his way through the struggles of Dontrelle Willis and Armando Gallarraga, plus had to deal with Magglio Ordonez’s sharp decline. Leyland essentially has a lineup with only three hitters who have been consistent producers (Miguel Cabrera, Brandon Inge, Curtis Granderson), yet there the Tigers sit, a couple games up and eight games over .500.

2009 has been an excellent rebound season for Detroit, and Leyland deserves credit as the man steering the ship. He also deserves credit for having one of the most hilarious old school baseball cards ever. The hat, the mustache, the sunburned face…I’m not sure if he’s at Spring Training, a train conductor, or working at a carnival.

And with that, let’s transition into a few “alternative” awards for the first half.

NL Central Least Valuable Player of the 1st Half: Milton Bradley wins this one. Signed in the offseason after putting up terrific numbers in Texas, The Angry One has only gotten 203 ABs so far this season and hasn’t done much with them. He’s hitting .236 and, even worse, is slugging only .374. Ouch. Plus, he is being his usual distracting self and getting into public pissing matches with his manager when he’s not forgetting how many outs there are in an inning. Like most things having to do with the Cubs, you just get the feeling that this is not going to end well.

AL Central Least Valuable Player of the 1st Half: Fausto Carmona of the Indians. We touched on his stats above, and they really say it all. This guy has just gone straight downhill since 2007 and the Indians have to be wondering if he’ll ever be able to recapture the ability that made him appear to be one of the bright young pitching stars in the big leagues. Despite a rough 2008, a lot was expected out of Carmona this year. Well, the Indians have gotten a lot out of him…it’s just all been bad.

AL/NL Central Worst Manager of the 1st Half: Hands down Eric Wedge. You need look no further than this site, where our very own AJ Kaufman calls for Wedge’s head in pretty much every article he writes. The Indians were expected to contend for the AL Central crown, yet they are 13.5 games out and 19 games under .500 already.

AL/NL Central Manager with the most potential to give his kids truly awful awesome names: Eric Wedge. If he had any sense of humor he would name his kids Orange, Potato, and Cheese. No such luck though. As it is, he and his wife named their kids Ava and Dalton Cash. Oh well.

Come to think of it though, Dalton Cash Wedge is a pretty sweet and unique name. The kid is either going be a scrappy middle infielder/#2 hitter in the majors or the lead actor in his generation’s version of Dawson’s Creek. Well done Eric. (See, we don’t always criticize you on Midwest Sports Fans.)

AL/NL Central Quote of the 1st Half: This one is easy and goes to (who else?) Ozzie Guillen. And there were a few of them, all of which were gloriously derogatory towards the team from the North Side.

“But one thing about Wrigley Field, I puke every time I go there. That’s just to be honest. And if Cub fans don’t like the way I talk about Wrigley Field, it’s just Wrigley Field. I don’t say anything about the fans or anything now. But Wrigley Field, they got to respect my opinion. That’s the way I feel…I don’t care if they hate me. They don’t feed my kids. If they hate me, that’s cool.”

That’s just a great quote, although the part about Ozzie not talking about Cubs fans may not be entirely true. Ozzie also had this gem:

“…our fans are not stupid like Cubs fans.”

AL/NL Central Home Run Call of the Year: Hawk Harrelson, two days ago. Hell yeah!

That’s all I’ve got. Sorry for not even mentioning your teams Reds, Astros, and Pirates fans…they’ve all been pretty uninteresting so far this year, at least as far as I’m concerned. But feel free to add your own midseason awards in the comments.

The White Sox bring out the brooms again tonight, and then play the Twins in a pivotal pre-All Star Break series. As Hawk might say, I loooove baseball.

* – Jim Leyland baseball card image credit: Vinewood Sports Cards

* – Albert Pujols photo credit: Urban Shocker

And even though the sweep was against the lowly Indians, perhaps the worst team in baseball right now, it was still very important for the White Sox. Tonight’s 6-2 victory put the White Sox two games over .500 for the first time in what seems like forever, and has them only three games back of Detroit in the Central, tied with Minnesota.

I’ll have more on this in the morning (in fact, I’ve already got a draft started) but this picture demanded immediate posting.

Well done White Sox! You can put it on the board…YEEESSS!

It is that time of year on the South side of Chicago. I don’t know if I am just having deja vu, but after two months of not holding a solid lead (or any lead) in the AL Central, the Sox players are getting threatened with change by management more than the Democrats preached change while winning the 2008 election.

“Somebody has to change because if we don’t do what we’re supposed to do, I’ll take the blame because that’s my job,” Guillen said.

Ozzie Guillen was furious with his offensive production after the game one loss to the Tigers on Monday afternoon’s double dip.

Watching the White Sox inability to lay down bunts, sac fly a man home, and hit with runners in scoring position is excruciating pain for me. I can only imagine how this boils the blood of Ozzie’s spicy Latin temperament, especially if you remember the hard working, smart, aggressive player Guillen was when he played (1985-2000).

“If this was the 1980s, [none] of these guys would be in the big leagues right now, because if you hit .210-.230 and you can’t execute, I don’t think you should be out here,” Guillen said.

He’s right. This is not one of those “laugh out loud-Ozzie’s mad-here is some video and quotes” articles (which is not as bad as Jay Mariotti’s hater columns). This is to show Ozzie is right.

“When you can’t bunt, hit-and-run, squeeze and move the guy over, you better hit 40 home runs and drive in 140.”

Ozzie’s right because our offense is only capable of half of that: Home runs. That is bad news because nobody on this team is on pace for 40 dingers or pace for anything higher than 110 RBI’s, except maybe Jermaine Dye. And to win consistently you would still need more than one guy doing that.

Ozzie did not call out anyone individually but Josh Fields, and Alexei Ramirez could be put in that category.

Fields is getting less playing time with Gordon Beckham being called up and before the game Josh was openly questioning why management is so impatient with him. Fields responded with an 0-4 day and a costly error on a routine ground ball that eventually scored the Tigers’ game winning run in the 9th. Before that Chris Getz was on third after a 1-out triple and Fields grounded out to Brandon Inge at third and Getz had to hold and was left there stranded.

(Editor’s Note: Our friends over at Sox Machine have a great take on Josh Fields’ past, present, and future with the White Sox.)

Oh and Alexei? Simply put he can bunt for a hit but has to be the worst sacrifice bunting number 2 hitter in the majors right now. He missed a bunt attempt on a 1-0 pitch located in the left handed batter’s box across from him. WGN’s Hall of Fame director James Angio immediately cut to Guillen in the dugout slamming his fist and holding his head down in embarrassment.

“I wish I was home and had some fun,” Guillen said. “It’s not easy to walk to the park and play and hope you can win the game. I’m a competitor. I like to win. When you lose … I think I got spoiled in the past by winning. And I don’t like to lose.”

Things were going well last Monday entering a home stand after sweeping Greinke and the Royals in their awesome, newly renovated stadium. Today, the White Sox have already had nine straight at US Cellular in this stretch. This chart provides the cold hard numbers about the struggles to score runs.

Home Streak Stats

65 percent of your runs relying on home runs are bad news when you’re batting .090 (!!) with runners in scoring position and get shutout three times. If anything they are lucky to have three wins in nine games when you think about how good the pitching staffs of Oakland and Detroit are. On the same note, we scored 8 runs in three games against one of the worst staffs in baseball in Cleveland.

In the 80s Steve Perry said, “Don’t stop believing!”

White Sox broadcaster Hawk Harrelson has been saying, “This is a good team, playing really bad.”

Or you can go with Ozzie’s outlook, “Good teams don’t hold meetings, horse sh*t teams hold meetings. We have to have a lot of meetings right now.”

Right now, Ozzie is right but Steve Perry is always right. Then again, no Journey psych outs…please:

The White Sox left fielder was scratched from yesterday’s game against the Indians (finally a White Sox winner!) after informing Ozzie Guillen that a sore left heel has been bothering him for a few days. With an off day on Thursday followed by an important series against the Blue Jays, Quentin will rest today while his teammates try to take the rubber match from the worst team in baseball.

And with the best left-hander in the AL Central (Mark Buehrle) going up against the most fraudulent, flash-in-the-pan Cy Young winner (Cliff Lee) since…well, probably ever, I am hoping that Quentin will not be missed this afternoon. With Jim Thome providing his usual pop when playing at Jacobs Field, the Sox should be okay, at least in theory.

Anyway, the Quentin injury touched off a bit of controversy in the White Sox clubhouse as Ozzie Guillen seemed none too pleased that Quentin kept the injury from him. We all know that Quentin is tough as nails and defines the term “gamer”, but we also know that he is injury prone and that the White Sox are not built to withstand any major time lost from their budding star.

Here is Guillen’s quite, courtesy of Joe Cowley’s article from the Sun-Times on the heel injury of Carlos Quentin:

”I wish he would have said he was sore or I wish my players would be a little more open and say how they feel. Just because you have pain, you can’t think, ‘Oh, I want to play. It’s a big series.’ No, I don’t want my players to take it that way. If they don’t think they can be on the field, I would appreciate it if they would let me know. ”

I agree wholeheartedly with Ozzie.

I know that players want to tough injuries out and not seem like complainers, but it’s May. If you want to be a little less forthright come September and October, I can understand it. But for a player as important to his team as Quentin is to the White Sox, it makes much more sense to get whatever rest and treatment is necessary early in the season to ensure that the injury doesn’t linger.

By keeping quiet, Quentin is certainly being tough, but more importantly he is being myopic. No one’s going to question TCQ’s toughness or commitment if he asks out to rest and injury; and while I know he is probably sick of sitting in the dugout injured, at this point in the season it is in his team’s best interest; and at a minimum he needs to have honest communication with his manager.

Hopefully this is a lesson learned, Carlos comes back healthy, and we move on and up the AL Central standings.

Which brings me to my next point.

A few weeks back, I wrote an article proclaiming Carlos Quentin as the 2009 AL MVP after 12 games. (For the record, typing that sentence just now made me feel silly.) The article actually gained a little bit of national attention for MSF as Rob Neyer wrote an entire article in his ESPN blog about Quentin and my thoughts on his budding greatness.

Well, at the time I wrote the article, Carlos Quentin was hitting .302, slugging .814, and had hit 7 homers with 13 RBIs and 11 runs, coming on the heels of his excellent though injury-shortened 2008. If you have been following the White Sox over the last month, you know the pathetic numbers I’m about to cite next. Carlos Quentin is now hitting .237, slugging .482, and has 8 homers, 18 RBIs, and 18 runs.

Ouch.

I can’t take full blame for jinxing Carlos, as other articles were published around the web at that time lauding Quentin as a current and future superstar. And I certainly don’t think he’s been as bad as his numbers suggest. There is no question he has not looked quite as locked in at the plate, but he’s also hit some tough luck line drives right at people and had some solid shots come down right around the warning track. Still though, his precipitous drop in production is a little concerning for White Sox fans, who understand Quentin’s importance to the team.

It is no coincidence that the White Sox began to look like a very ordinary, if not below average, team right about three weeks ago. Without Quentin in the 3-hole doing his best Frank Thomas impression, the White Sox have a very mediocre lineup.

Hopefully when he comes back from the sore heel, Carlos Quentin can resume his MVP-like ways and get the White Sox rolling again. If he does, the White Sox can compete in the AL Central. If he doesn’t, we’re bound to continue looking like the Indians, as we have over the past few weeks; and that’s never a good comparison to have to make.

However, after five weeks, the team has the worst record in not only the AL, but all of baseball. We’ve already seen Arizona Diamondback skipper Bob Melvin removed for a slow start in Phoenix, so it would not be capricious for Indians GM Mark Shapiro to bounce Eric Wedge as early as today.

With Shapiro known for occasionally being knee-jerk, we can only hope.

However, since Shapiro also likes Wedge very much and made an absurdly “knee jerk” move during the summer of 2007 when he gave the then-39 year-old Wedge a generous contract extension, no one should count on anything.

In that 2007 season, the Tribe went on to cough up a 3-1 ALCS lead to Boston, and were a major disappointment in 2008, as they had been in 2006. This season has obviously continued the underachieving to put it mildly. There’s also little hope on the horizon. The central is somewhat suspect, but Cleveland is already seven back of surprising first place Kansas City and eight back in the loss column of archrival Detroit.

With the potential championship run of the neighbor Cavaliers, the Indians can also expect attendance to be dismal the next month or so. Depressing is a kind word.

I want to mention it’s tough for me to pen this column, as I like the laconic Wedge. His quick rise was admirable and impressive. In his press conferences and conversations, he’s to the point, optimistic and humble. The media hates him for that, but he is what he is.

And, like in 2005 when Cleveland won 93 games out of nowhere, Eric Wedge surprised them before. Shapiro has too, with incredible trades like acquiring Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore and Brandon Philips for Bartolo Colon in 2002. (Sizemore is one of the league’s best players, while Lee won the 2008 Cy Young and Brandon is a star in Cincy.)

Wedge’s players, like Victor Martinez (third in AL in hitting), back their skipper. But his pitching staff has a team ERA near six, no hurler has an ERA under four or more than two wins, and the bullpen has been brutal. The numbers don’t add up to much positive.

Wedge should go. Now is the time. It’s not getting any better. Make the move, Mark.

Without question, Zack Greinke’s meteoric rise into the pantheon of top pitchers in Major League Baseball has been one of the best stories this April.

Zack Greinke’s story — falling into the abyss of social anxiety disorder and coming back from it — deserves both respect and adulation. The following passage from the SI article paints the depressing picture perfectly:

During a dreadful 2005 season in which he would finish with a 5–17 record and a 5.80 ERA, Brian Anderson remembers Greinke once suddenly announcing in the dugout, “I’m going to throw a 50-mph curveball next inning.” That was all he said.

Next inning, Greinke threw a preposterously slow curve to Detroit’s Dmitri Young, the kind that made the whole crowd shout “Oooh.” Anderson stuck his head out of the dugout to get the reading. It was precisely 50 mph.

The incident says something about Greinke’s quirkiness and a virtuoso’s feel for pitching, but it reveals more than that, too. It shows that Greinke was in trouble. He hated pitching so much that he had to invent little games to keep himself from crumbling. Everything was falling apart. He feuded with his pitching coach, Guy Hansen, who wanted him to move five inches to the left on the rubber. Never close to his teammates, he became even more distant, occasionally hostile.

The SI story about Zack Greinke, from where the above passage is taken, is written by Joe Posnanski, one of the most consistently sublime sportswriters out there. If he says that Zack Greinke is the best pitcher in baseball, then Greinke has a pretty powerful and respectable source in his corner. (And, truth be told, Posnanski does only say that Greinke is the best pitcher in baseball “for the moment.”)

I have to say, it’s pretty hard to argue with Zack Greinke’s stat line thus far through his first four games in April:

• Record: 4-0
• ERA: 0.00
• WHIP: 0.86
• K/BB: 36/6
• Complete game shutouts: 2
• Consecutive starts without an earned run dating back to last season: 6

To say that those numbers are preposterously good would be an understatement. If I was playing a video game and had a pitcher with those kind of stats I would raise the difficulty level. So it is hard to dispute that at this very moment Zack Greinke is the best pitcher in baseball. He may even be, at this very moment right now, the best player in baseball — bar none (with apologies to Albert Pujols).

But is Zack Greinke really the best pitcher in baseball?

Off the top of my head I can think of a few guys that I would certainly consider to be on Greinke’s level who are far more proven over the long haul: C.C. Sabathia, Roy Halladay, and Jake Peavy. Tim Lincecum, while only in his third year, has already proven that he can be dominant over the course of an entire season, which is something that Greinke has yet to do.

I can’t say off-hand whether I would take any of these guys over Zack Greinke if I was the GM of an MLB team, but I do think they would all be worthy debates.

There is one pitcher, however, for whom there would be no debate: Johan Santana — the true best pitcher in baseball.

I know that Sports Illustrated wants to go out on a limb with their cover claim in an effort to sell more magazines, and that calling Johan Santana the best pitcher in baseball has become something of a cliche, but that’s because it is true. And if SI’s cover story is any indication of the general perception of baseball writers or baseball fans, then we are not truly appreciating the consistent greatness of Johan Santana.

As insanely good as Zack Greinke’s start has been, is anyone noticing the incredible four-game start of Santana this season?

• Record: 3-1 (and his one loss was a 13K gem in which he went 7 innings while giving up only 3 hits and no earned runs)
• ERA: 0.70
• WHIP: 0.90
• K/BB: 37/6

Clearly, Greinke’s start has been better. But let’s compare their numbers from last season:

• ERA: Santana – 2.53 | Greinke – 3.47
• WHIP: Santana – 1.15 | Greinke – 1.28
• Ks: Santana – 206 | Greinke – 183
• IP: Santana – 234.1 | Greinke – 202.1

Greinke was good last year, and certainly my hat is off to him for overcoming what he has overcome to rebound from his awful 2005 season, but I think SI is jumping the gun just a bit by proclaiming him the best pitcher in baseball. Johan Santana is only 3 1/2 years older than Greinke and has been producing at a high level in the majors since 2002. Greinke finally started coming into his own last season, and has followed that success up with a ridiculous start to this season, but just look at the year-by-year career stats of Johan Santana compared with the year-by-year career stats of Zack Greinke.

There really is no comparison.

If the claim was “best pitcher in baseball over the last 6 starts,” then yes Zack Greinke is your choice. But we all know that high atop the list of important characteristics for a pitcher is the ability to produce consistently over the long haul, season after season. Zack Greinke may yet prove that he can be this type of pitcher, but no one, not even the great Roy Halladay, can compete with Johan Santana in this area right now.

Besides, just by putting Zack Greinke on their cover and subjecting him to the infamous jinx, Sports Illustrated may be ensuring that he will not continue to be the “best pitcher in baseball.” Maybe from that perspective Johan Santana is happy they did not choose him. Of course, Santana has been on the SI cover before and it hasn’t seemed to bother him much.

(Update: And the SI cover jinx may have already begun. In his first start since the new SI was issued, earlier tonight against Toronto, Greinke gave up his first earned runs of the year. It wasn’t a complete jinx though, as he improved to 5-0 and struck out 8 over 7 innings. Johan Santana also pitched tonight, going 7 innings, giving up two earned, and striking out 7.)

If I was starting a team today, and I could choose any pitcher in baseball to start it with, I’m choosing Johan Santana without even a split second thought. And when I think of the best pitcher in baseball, Johan Santana is the first and only pitcher who comes to mind.

Sports Illustrated picked a great pitcher to profile, and Joe Posnanski was his usual proselific* self, but Zack Greinke still has a ways to go before I would even consider him as the best pitcher in baseball. Considering his personal backstory, and the underdog nature of his team, I wouldn’t mind seeing him get there though.

Kudos to Zack Greinke for beginning to fulfill his immense potential, but best pitcher in baseball is a torch that will have to be passed by Johan Santana, rather than handed out by the SI headline writers.

What do you think?

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* – Just made that one up while typing. Pretty apt word to describe Joe Posnanski, don’t you think?

Seeing as how it is Monday, and my beloved Chicago White Sox are currently riding a three game winning streak that has them back in their rightful spot atop the AL Central standings with K.C., allow me to indulge in a little bit of my own Overreaction Monday. But first, allow me to set the stage.

I hate the Cleveland Indians.

Not a little bit, but a lot.

You see, during my formative years as a Chicago White Sox fan, the mid- to late-90s, the Cleveland Indians were unbelievably good. They had guys like Kenny Lofton, Carlos Baerga, Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle, and Jim Thome, and they dominated the White Sox seemingly every season. At that time a guy that my dad worked with was also a big Indians fan, and an annoying one at that. (My apologies for being redundant.) The Indians’ on-field superiority over the White Sox the majority of that time, combined guys like Paul Sorrento, and mixed in with my dad’s co-worker’s complete arrogance all coalesced to form a severe hatred for all things Cleveland Indians that continues to this day.

To put it into perspective, I don’t hate them as much as the Cubs — but it’s close.

So it is with great joy that I look at the current AL Central standings and see the Cleveland Indians, many experts’ preseason AL Central favorite, sitting at 1-5. The White Sox, last year’s AL Central champion and a World Series champion this decade, got no love heading into this season. The Indians, however, a franchise that consistently underperforms expectations and that has proven itself incapable of winning a championship, was fawned over all offseason as an up and coming AL contender.

If the Indians end up losing tonight and fall to 1-6 (currently they are down 4-0 to the Royals as I write this) you can stick a fork in them. I know it’s early and that there are still over 150 games left and blah blah blah. Cleveland may very well win a bunch of games again in August and September when they already have a double-digit deficit in the standings to get close to .500 (sound familiar?), but the odds say they won’t be sniffing the playoffs.

With all of this being said, this post is about to take a decidedly depressing turn for me.

You see, as much as I cheer against the Indians, that is how hard I cheer for the Cleveland Browns. And as much as it pains me to relive the awful memories of last season, I am about to delve into a comparison of the eerily similar 2008 Cleveland Browns and 2009 Cleveland Indians. In fact, you may have noticed that up and to your right in the sidebar we have begun a 16-game countdown to see if the Indians can outperform the Browns’ putrid 4-12 season from a year ago. So far, as bad as the Browns were in 2008, the Indians have been worse.

Call them the anti-Cavs. Seriously, what would Cleveland do without LeBron and the Cavaliers?

Anyway, let’s go through some of the reasons why the 2009 Indians are much more like the 2008 Browns than they would ever want to be.

Follow the link to find great deals on MLB Baseball Tickets including tickets to Indians games. Be there when the Indians lose another one!

Lofty Preseason Expectations that Came Crashing Down Immediately

The Browns were a trendy pick to compete with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North heading into 2008, on the heels of a surprising 10-6 2007 season that finished on the doorstep of the playoffs. However, the Browns opened up the season with a trouncing at the hands of the Cowboys, then lost a close, disgusting game to the Steelers, and then got absolutely dominated by the Baltimore Ravens. Not even four weeks into the season and the Browns were already doomed to playing an unwinnable game of catch-up for the entire season.

The Indians were a trendy pick to compete with the White Sox, Indians, and Twins in the AL Central heading into 2009, on the heels of a strong second half in 2008 that saw them reach the .500 mark after a horrible start. However, the Indians opened up the season losing 9-1, 8-5, and 12-8 in a three game sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers, one of the worst teams in baseball for the last half of this decade. Then the Indians laid a 13-7 egg in their home opener against Toronto, followed up by a 5-4 loss to fall to 0-5. Not even a full week into the season and the Indians were already doomed to playing an unwinnable game of catch-up for the entire season.

Cliff Lee is Derek Anderson

Derek Anderson entered the 2007 season for the Cleveland Browns as a lightly regarded former Ravens cast-off who had a strong arm but a future as a back up QB at best. After Charlie Frye looked like Soliel Moon Fry in the Browns’ first game of the season, and then was subsequently traded, Derek Anderson stepped in and proceeded to author one of the most unexpected Pro Bowl stories in the history of the NFL. For all of his efforts though, he faded a bit down the stretch and the Browns fell short of the playoffs.

Unfortunately for Anderson and Browns fans, 2008 had to start. In 2008, Anderson looked like a shell of the player we all saw in 2007 and ultimately lost his job to Brady Quinn after being booed off the field in his home stadium. From rags to riches and back to rags, and now he enters the 2009 season locked in a QB battle with Brady Quinn that very few Browns fans hope he wins.

Cliff Lee entered the 2008 season coming off of a 5-8 season in 2007 in which his ERA was 6.29 and he spent time in the minors. Yes, Lee had won 14 games or more for 3 straight years (including a very solid 2005 campaign in which he went 18-5), but many in Cleveland were ready to write off Lee’s future as a front end of the rotation starter. Then, out of nowhere, Cliff Lee put together a 22-3, 2.54 ERA season, authoring one of the most unlikely Cy Young stories in the history of Major League Baseball.

Unfortunately for Lee and Indians fans, 2009 had to start. In his first two outings of this season, Cliff Lee is 0-2 with a 9.90 ERA and looks a hell of a lot more like Derek Anderson circa 2008 than he looks like Cliff Lee circa 2008. Lee certainly has a chance to turn things around, and very likely will. But let’s remember that Derek Anderson’s worst start of the year was his third, against the Ravens. How will Lee’s third start go? Indians fans better hope it’s a lot better.

Grady Sizemore is Braylon Edwards

This one is sure to piss off all of the Indians fans.

Braylon Edwards was one of the 20 or 30 best players in the NFL in 2007. After steadily improving from his rookie to sophomore campaign, Edwards exploded with 80 catches and 16 TDs in 2007. Then in 2008, inexplicably, Edwards turned into…

***We interrupt this post for a special bulletin. At this very moment, as I write this, Joakim Soria just struck out Jhonny Peralta looking to close out a 4-2 Royals victory over the Indians, dropping Cleveland to 1-6 on the season. Be right back. Time to go update the sidebar.***

…Travis Hafner circa 2008. (You remember Travis Hafner right? The guy who hit .308 with 42 HRs in 2006 and then hit .197 with 5 HRs in 2008?)

Entering 2008, Braylon Edwards was a can’t-miss future superstar who had supposedly only scratched the surface of his potential in 2007. He was being talked about in the class of WRs just below Randy Moss and Larry Fitzgerald. He was a sure-fire Pro Bowler and a rock for the Browns to build upon for the future. Now, after 2008, the Browns seem to be just waiting for the best offer before unloading Edwards and his massive ego and stone hands.

What a difference a year makes, huh?

So all of the Indians fans are now wondering how exactly their beloved pretty boy Grady Sizemore is like Braylon Edwards. Well, have you seen Grady Sizemore’s stats so far this year? He is hitting .207 with 12 Ks and an OBP of .324, which is far less than his career OBP of .370.

Hmm…Grady Sizemore is a 26-year old, can’t-miss, sure-fire superstar. Braylon Edwards is a 26-year old, can’t-miss, sure-fire superstar. Edwards was pathetic (by his own standards) in 2008, especially at the start of the season, and his team severely underachieved. Sizemore has been pathetic (by his own standards) in 2009 at the start of the season and his team is severely underachieving. Notice a trend?

In all actuality, I don’t think Grady Sizemore is anything like Braylon Edwards. I hate Grady Sizemore because he’s an Indian, but I respect his ability and would take him on my team any day. Braylon Edwards? Not so much. He is certainly talented, but with far too big an ego for so little professional achievement. (Truthfully, the more apt comparison for Braylon Edwards would have been Travis Hafner, but he’s actually having a halfway decent start to this season…and it’s more fun to piss off Indians fans by going after the Golden Boy.)

I am sure there are probably more comparisons I could make between the 2008 Browns and 2009 Indians that might get Cleveland fans riled up, but what’s the point? The purpose of this exercise was to create a long and drawn out way to say that the Indians suck and appear poised to follow the 2008 Browns in woefully underperforming expectations, and I think I accomplished that. (And, for what it’s worth, my next comparison was actually going to be a positive one for the Indians: Shin-Soo Choo is Jerome Harrison — get this guy at bats! — and I don’t feel like being positive about the Indians. They suck, are diminishing the reputation of the AL Central, and made me think about the 2008 Browns season. Screw the Indians.)

The question now becomes can the 2009 Indians win more games in their first 16 than the 2008 Browns won in their 16-game slate? And after that, can the Indians actually make a run to get back in the playoff race? I don’t know the stats on 1-6 teams making the playoffs, but they can’t be good. You can say it’s early in the season, and you’d be right. You would also be saying the same thing that Browns fans were saying early last year, and the Browns actually battled back to be 3-4 after 7 games. 1-6 sucks no matter how you want to rationalize it.

All I know is that I can’t wait for May 11-13. Sandwiched between a tough home series against the mighty Texas and a road tilt against AL East stalwart Toronto are four off days for the White Sox players to get a little rest, recovery, and relaxation; and, on three of the days, a little record and stat-padding.

Ah yes, that first series against the Indians will be nice.

Thoughts?

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Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Grady Sizemore photo credit: Joshua Gunter/The Plain Dealer

MLB odds have the Tigers at +125, and Detroit had no problems scoring runs last year, finishing fifth in the majors with an attack powered by Miguel Cabrera’s 37 HR and 127 RBI.

However, Detroit allowed 857 runs, fourth-worst in all of baseball, and Justin Verlander must return to his 2007 form for the Tigers to have a chance. Jeremy Bonderman missed most of last season with a blood clot, and he has to show he’s healthy if the Tigers are to get out of the Central basement.

Cleveland is next with MLB odds of +175 to win the Central, and the Indians were inconsistent all season before ending with a .500 mark.

Cliff Lee proved a fine replacement for the traded C.C. Sabathia, winning the AL Cy Young award, but it’s also essential for Fausto Carmona, who suffered through a hip ailment in 2008, to emerge as the No.2 pitcher. Grady Sizemore is back to spearhead a potent attack that was seventh in the majors in runs scored, while Jhonny Peralta is one of the best hitting shortstops in the league.

Minnesota was on the losing end of the playoff loss to the White Sox in 2008, and the Twins have MLB odds of +240 this season.

Minnesota quietly built one of the strongest offenses in the majors, as Justin Morneau led the way with 23 HR and 129 RBI. The Twins’ pitching soldiered on without Johan Santana, coming in 16th in runs allowed, and after an 11-4 record, 27-year-old Scott Baker could be the next pitching star in the American League.

The defending champions have MLB odds of +600, and they’ll have to replace Javier Vazquez in the starting rotation. The White Sox finished right behind the Tigers in runs scored, and Carlos Quentin will be eager to come back from a freak broken wrist after being a favorite for the AL MVP for a good part of the season.

Kansas City brings up the rear with MLB odds of +800, and the Royals acquired Coco Crisp from Boston in the offseason for their outfield. The Royals were sixth-worst in runs scored and ninth-worst in runs allowed, but they should be better this year, based on a better performance in the second half.

14.5 games separated first from last in the AL Central last year, and it should be another closely contested season. On paper, Detroit should run away with it, but their pitching is a huge question mark. Minnesota is probably the most consistent, but if Lee has another Cy Young season, the Indians will be right there as well. If you’re looking for a good value pick, take Minnesota and their MLB odds.

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