Blackout Interruption Edition

Well, not only did the Mets game get postponed on Thursday night, but without power or a transistor radio, I wasn't able to follow any of the pennant and wildcard races via television, radio or the internet. It wasn't until getting up at 5 in the morning Friday, going outside to survey the smoldering remnants from the previous night's bonfires and block parties and make it to a bodega that I was able to get ahold of some local newspapers and check the early editions for boxscores and highlights.

Alot happened in the interim.

The Cubs managed to overtake the Astros for first place in the NL Central, the Phillies nabbed a half-game lead over the Marlins for the NL Wildcard and the Red Sox are back ahead of the A's for the AL Wildcard.

Cubs in First Place in August? Enjoy the Anomaly While You Can

Apparently, I missed the merry-go-round. In the 30 hours my power was out, the NL Central went from the Astros being in first to the Cardinals and now, the Cubs. If 50 million can have their power knocked out, I suppose it's just as possible that the Cubs can be in first place in August. The last time the Cubs were in a playoff race this late in the season was probably 1998. Meanwhile, last night the Cubs moved into sole possession of first place in the National League Central thanks to their 2-1 victory over the Dodgers and losses by the Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals. The Astros and Cardinals now trail the Cubs by a half-game.

The Cubs are doing it with their revitalized starting pitching. Carlos Zambrano is one of the National League's hottest pitchers since the All-Star break, having gone 5-0 with a 1.43 ERA since then. Mark Prior, who got the victory last night after his seven-hitter, is 3-0 with a 0.75 earned-run average in the three games since coming off the disabled list. In fact, since August 1, Prior, Kerry Wood, Carlos Zambrano and Matt Clement are a combined 8-2 with a 1.63 earned-run average, allowing 6.3 hits per nine innings.

Having won four in a row at home, the Cubs have finally moved their record at Wrigley Field above .500 to 32-30. Only four times since the Cubs moved into Wrigley Field in 1916 have they produced a losing record at home and a winning record on the road - 1917 (35-42 home, 39-38 road), 1944 (35-42 home, 40-37 road), 1994 (20-39 home, 29-25 road) and 1995 (34-38 home, 39-33 road).

NL Wild Card Race

The Marlins were able to ease some of the tension of a tight four game series with the Dodgers that saw them rise into the lead for the NL wild card only to be knocked from that lead two days later, with a 10-0 blowout of the lowly San Diego Padres. It was also the Marlins' highest run total since July 26, when they hung 10 on the Phillies.

Bad Penny must be a vampire. Penny, who threw seven scoreless innings in the Marlins win last night, improved his record in night games to 11-3 with a 2.81 ERA. Pitching during the day, Penny is 0-6 with a 7.55 ERA.

Calling all Conspiracy Theorists: Jim Wolf, the brother of Phillies pitcher Randy Wolf, is an MLB umpire. "Coincidentally", he was the first base umpire in Thursday's Marlins game, one in which he was involved in three close plays that favored the Los Angeles Dodgers. After that game, Marlins pitcher Mark Redman never accused the umpire of favoritism but said the fact he's related to a player on a team the Marlins are battling for a wild-card playoff berth is something "that crosses every player's mind."

Phillies manager Larry Bowa acted outraged at the implication but really, what the hell is the brother of a Phillie doing umpiring a game that involves their closest competitors for the wild card spot?

In a game that had bearings on both the NL wild card race and the NL Central Division lead, Woody Williams, making a fourth try for his 15th win, allowed the Philadelphia Phillies five first-inning runs on six hits, starting the Cardinals on a 7-4 loss before 28,962 at Veterans Stadium and knocking the Cardinals from first place in the NL Central.

The Phillies spent $85 million over six years to sign Jim Thome and $17 million over four years for David Bell. Do you think they are getting their money's worth? Since the All-Star break, Thome is hitting a frail .234 albeit with 8 homers and 23 RBIs in 28 games. David Bell is on the 15-day disabled list with a lower back strain which is probably a good thing for the Phillies lineup. His last game was over a month ago, July 10th, at which time he was hitting lifeless .198 with 4 homers and 37 RBIs over 83 games. Combine that with Pat Burrell's .205 batting average and season-long struggles at the plate and you have to wonder how the Phillies are in this at all.

In many ways, you have to wonder what's holding these Phillies together. Other than Vincent Padilla, who is 3-0 with a 3.96 ERA since the break, no one else on the pitching staff is going great guns. Staff "ace" Kevin Millwood is only 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA and Brandon Duckworth is 1-4 with a 5.68 ERA. Sometime closer Jose Mesa is 1-1 with 3 saves and an eye-gouging 14.09 ERA since the break. But the Phillies bullpen has otherwise been sterling. Dan Plesac hasn't given up a run since June 8th and has a 1.38 ERA for the season. Rheal Cormier has a 1.43 ERA in 49 appearances, Terry Adams has a 1.20 ERA over his last 16 appearances, my former favorite Met Turk Wendell has a sharp 1.95 ERA on the season and recently acquired Mike Williams hasn't given up a run in August yet. That is a very well-balanced and effective bullpen, despite the presence of Jose Mesa.

Red Sox Yo-Yo

The Red Sox got clobbered by the Mariners last night with Jeff Suppan starting. Suppan has been consistently lousy since coming to Boston: In three starts since coming over from Pittsburgh, Suppan has given up 20 hits in 16 1/3 innings, including a whopping 16 extra base hits. Although they've fallen behind the Yankees by four games, they retained their hard-fought one game lead over the Oakland A's when the A's lost to the Blue Jays last night.

Only two more games left on their dangerous road trip to Oakland and Seattle and they'll be back in the friendly confines of Fenway, where they are hitting .323 and outscoring their opponents by an average margin of two runs, to face both of them all over again. You have to marvel that if the Red Sox don't collapse completely in Seattle, or if the A's, gasping with three consecutive losses, continue their losing ways, by the time they get to Boston, the Red Sox might have a chance to fatten up their wild card advantage.

Pedro the Lion pitches against the Mariners today. Martinez has been dominant against the Mariners. Lifetime against Seattle, he is 10-0 with a 0.94 ERA. In 77 innings he's allowed 37 hits, 8 earned runs, and 19 walks with 110 strikeouts. At Safeco, his ERA is 0.68.

I know I was going to swear off Armando rants since he's finally out of New York but with some Armando Apologists still desperately clinging to the absurd notion that he isn't as bad as all we rabid fans in New York claim he is, and after having a good laugh watching him almost blowing another game out of control last night against the Red Sox, I will address:

Armando Sucks, Reasons #413 and #414

Last night, in the 8th inning, he allowed a double to Manny Ramirez and then walked the next three batters, which included walking in a run, before Seattle mangaer Bob Melvin came to his senses and pulled him out of the game before he somehow turned an 8-4 lead into a deficit. Certainly had he been left in there, you can be sure either Gabe Kapler or pinch-hitter Kevin Millar would have blasted one of Armando's pitches for a grand slam and a 9-8 lead. If it wasn't for Hasegawa coming in to save the day with his 12th save in 12 chances, where would the Mariners be this morning staring down the barrel of a disgusting loss, a classic Armando Meltdown and getting ready to face Pedro Martinez?

Meanwhile, Armandogeddon damage control continues with the theory that if you only let him pitch in meaningless games in the comforts of warm and fuzzy Safeco Field, he can really pad his stats and make the Seattle front office look like geniuses. Since being traded twice around to American League teams, he has faced the Red Sox three times. He's 0-1 with a 7.82 ERA while the Sox are hitting .364 against him. We already know he gags anytime he gets anywhere near New York City (a 9.00 ERA this season against the Yankees already) and in one appearance against the A's so far this year, he gave up a run in a mere third of an inning. That doesn't leave much as far as playoff opponents the Mariners can feel comfortable allowing Armando to pitch against.

So let's not hear any more cackling about how well Armando is going to do in Seattle, please. If he doesn't blow the season for the Mariners all by himself, they should consider themselves lucky.

AL Central Warfare

I was going to do a bit about the combined payrolls of Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins versus the payroll of the Chicago White Sox figuring that the White Sox far outspent both the Royals and the Twins but it isn't really accurate. True, the Royals have the 4th lowest payroll in the Major Leagues at $ 48,475,322 but the Twins, who are supposed to be one Bud Selig bobbing head doll from extinction because they don't have any money or the market to support a competetive team, are paying out $ 65,318,977 while the Twins are paying out $ 71,336,029, all as of July 15th figures. So the three teams fighting for the AL Central have a combined payroll of about $185.1 million.

That's more than the ENTIRE budget of Dijbouti, which has a $182 million budget, Burundi with a $176 million budget and even more than the ever-popular Liberia, who spent $ 90.5 million last year to starve their people and fund a civil war. It just goes to show you that Major League Baseball is not going to have a franchise in Africa any time soon. And that's just too bad because I'd like to see someone like Raul Mondesi standing around in right field in some dirt town in the third world trying to catch a fly ball with gazelles, zebras and giraffes wandering all around him. It would seem somehow appropriate.

But since that has nothing to do with the AL Central race, what does matter is that Royals brief starting pitcher phenom Jimmy Gobble gave up 5 runs in three innings of "work", if you want to call it that, against the rival Minnesota Twins. With notorious Kenny Rogers limiting Kansas City to two singles through his eight-inning stint, the Twins rolled to a 9-2 victory and closed to within three games of the Royals in the American League Central. Kansas City, 64-56, maintained a two-game lead over the second-place White Sox, who lost to the Rangers.

Kenny Rogers was the pre-21st century version of Armandogeddon, if you recall. Back in 1999, in the 11th inning of the NLCS against the Atlanta Braves, pitching for the Mets who had foolishly made a late season trade for him, he walked three straight after a leadoff double and Braves finally finished off the Mets and the NLCS. Prior to that, he'd been a big disappointment for the Yankees. His postseason record, all coming with either the Yankees or the Mets, is 0-3 with a 9.47 ERA. Before August, when he has now pitched well the past two times out, his ERA season has gotten progressively worse. In April, his ERA was 3.77, in May, 4.83, in June, 6.12 and in July 6.23. Perfect, you think to yourself. If Kenny Rogers is pitching badly, the Twins have a chance for the playoffs.

But if Kenny Rogers is pitching well this late in the season for Minnesota, it must now mean they don't have a chance for the postseason.

It's all up to the White Sox to help themselves. But they stubbornly refuse to. With two games still to go, the White Sox have lost 4 of 5 games on this road trip. In that stretch, the three tenors, Colon, Buehrle and Loiaza have gone a collective 0-3 and surrendered 28 hits over 19 innings with 6.63 ERA. But they're nearing the promised land. In two days, they'll be back home where they are 37-22 this season. Meanwhile, after fighting it out with the Twins, the Royals have to face the music in Yankee Stadium after humiliating them in Kansas City earlier this week.

Blackout Redux

Back in 1977 on a sweltering night on July 13th, with Lenny Randle at the plate for the Mets in the sixth inning and the Cubs leading, 2-1, the lights went out and nine million people were left without electricity for up to 25 hours. Major League Baseball's site recalls it.

The lights were literally going out on the Mets. World Series winners in 1969 and then bridesmaids in 1973, they were breaking it all up in the blackout days. Dave Kingman had been traded away on the same day as Seaver. And Jerry Koosman was symbolic of the decline, in a remarkable way -- going from a career-high 21 wins in 1976 to a career-high 20 losses in 1977.

"Kooz" was the Mets' starter on that blackout day, and he would get the 5-3 loss to a first-place Cubs team when this game would be made up in September.

As a city shuddered in fear, the Mets and their fans tried to make the best of the situation. Bob Mandt is now a vice president and consultant for the club, and he has been with the team since its inception in 1961. He was the ticket manager on that July 13, and he remembers that blackout well. They didn't play the next afternoon, either, because the power was still out.
"The scoreboard wouldn't work, we had to worry about the food stuff because of the refrigeration," Mandt said. "The pumps wouldn't work to keep the plumbing going so there were health concerns.

"But the night the lights went out, it was fairly bright. We had all the emergency lighting on. And I remember Bud Harrelson and a bunch of other guys went and pulled their cars through the center-field fence and shined the headlights on the field. They pantomimed the game for a while to keep the people calm but there was really no need. There was no panic."

Those actions of the Mets provided some much-needed comfort at the time, a small example of baseball's ability to help in chaotic times. Consider this excerpt from a Newsweek article on July 25, 1977:

"At Shea Stadium, the blackout caught the Mets trailing the Cubs, 2-1, in the sixth inning. The PA somehow survived; the organist struck up 'Jingle Bells' and 'White Christmas,' and 22,000 fans made for the exits singing Yuletide carols in July. In the commonwealth of darkness, New Yorkers rediscovered their kinship with one another, and celebrated it."