Kalling All Keppels

Although the pitching rage in the Mets farm system for most is wunderkind Scott Kazmir, the 6-5 204 pound righty Bob Keppel is turning heads quickly. Last Saturday night he tossed a no-hitter against the Portland Sea Dogs, the first in the franchise's 42 year history. He's been building up to it. I watched him pitch a 1 hit shutout three weeks ago in the opening game of a doubleheader against the New Haven Ravens where the lone hit was an infield chopper that barely eluded Keppel's grasp, otherwise, Saturday would have been his second no-no of the season.

Since being called up to AA Binghampton, Keppel has started 12 games, thrown 2 complete game shutouts, and has allowed 58 hits in 73.2 innings. The only caveat is a lack of sensation for a guy that size. He's got good command of his pitches but he doesn't get alot of strikeouts: a 34-18 k/bb ration. He was the supplementary first round selection in the 2000 by the Mets. The Mets received this pick as compensation for the Mariners signing John Olerud.

Now if only they could find Sidd Finch, the 2005 rotation would be all set.

*****

Sox Pinch Royals, Shrink Lead to Two

After four innings last night, Sox "ace" Esteban Loiaza, had already thrown 94 pitches as the Sox snapped their three-game losing streak and shrunk the Royals' lead in the American League Central to two games before a sellout paid crowd of 38,973 that didn't include 9,000 complimentary tickets the Sox distributed, mostly as the result of a blood drive. Loiaza "gutted through" six innings to improve to 14-5. In other words, His American League-leading earned-run average took a small step up to 2.30. Kelly Wunsch came in after Loiaza had thrown 121 pitches and mowed down all five Royals he faced. He struck out Carlos Beltran and Ibanez to open the eighth.

Reliever Billy Koch, the Armando Benitez of Chicago, came in to fierce booing to pitch to right-handed-hitting Ryan Harvey who promptly hit a double off Magglio Ordonez's glove, but Damaso Marte got the final out in the inning after walking Desi Relaford. Koch was in, ostensibly, because manager Jerry Manuel had burned reliever Tom Gordon, in for 44 pitches over two innings in the series opener.

While 10 different players had the Sox' 10 hits Tuesday, Thomas had the only one for extra bases. He picked up his 2,000th hit Monday with a home run and added a two-run shot Tuesday in a five-run second inning.

Thomas now has 27 home runs and is within sight of American League leader Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees, who hit his 32nd Tuesday night.

This marked the eighth time in the last 10 games that the Kansas City starter allowed at least five earned runs.

In Loaiza, Colon and Buehrle, Manuel has his front end enviably aligned. Despite Buehrle's little nine-game losing streak, that trio is 32-25 with a 3.56 earned-run average for the season. KC, on the other hand, has Hernandez, May and Snyder—12-15 for the season with a 4.20 ERA. They are 6-4 with a 4.65 ERA since July 1.

But maybe help is on the way. As expected, Kevin Appier cleared waivers at noon Monday and became a free agent. He and the Royals are now awaiting the results of a magnetic resonance imaging test to determine the amount of tendinitis in his right elbow. Appier, 35, was 7-7 with a 5.63 ERA in 18 starts for Anaheim before being placed on waivers. He is 168-134 with a 3.72 in 15 career seasons, including 114-89 and 3.46 for the Royals from 1989-99. The Royals, or any team, can sign Appier for the rest of the season for about $90,000 -- a pro-rated amount of the major-league minimum salary of $300,000 while the Angels remain responsible for the rest of the $15.67 million on a contract that runs through next season. Appier last pitched July 29, when he lasted just two-thirds of an inning in Anaheim's 6-2 loss to the Yankees. If he signs today or Wednesday, he could start for the Royals as soon as Friday at Tampa Bay.

These two teams don't see each again until late September, when they play seven of their final 10 games against each other, so unless one of the two suffers an indescribable collapse, this race will go down to the wire.

Marlins Keep Pace With Phillies

Marlins pitcher Brad Penny's habit of glancing up at his clockings has so annoyed Marlins coaches that surreptitiously they have ordered the display at Pro Player Stadium turned off for his starts. They think it's a distraction, and point to his two most recent home outings (only one earned run allowed over 15 innings) as proof their behavior-modification plan works.

Penny's fastballs -- aside from the unfathomable 111 mph offering that even he knew was ''not possible'' -- were consistently hitting 97 and 98 on the radar gun scattered only four hits in his 100th start for the Marlins and survived his only scare when Scott Rolen's long blast to left-center with two runners on in the fourth inning was caught on the warning track by Miguel Cabrera. Had the ball gone over the fence for a home run, it would have tied the score.

But it didn't, and the Marlins won 4-0, The outcome was an ominous beginning to an important stretch in which the Cardinals play 12 of 19 games against the top three teams in the National League East Division. The Cardinals dipped to four games over .500 (58-54) and have lost their last two home games by shutout, going 18 innings without a home-cooked run.

Instead, the Marlins record their second road shutout of 2003 and win for the eighth time in 12 away games.

Meanwhile, with the Mets unexpectedly slashed the Astros, 10-1. While this had no meaning for the Cardinals, the Cubs used the opportunity to defeat the Fathers and move within 2 1/2 games of the division leading Astros.

According to Joe Strauss of the Post-Dispatch, "with 50 games remaining, the Cardinals and the division-leading Houston Astros might be headed toward a close finish with the Chicago Cubs poised to make the next two months a three-team chase. Each of the contenders has what Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty describes as "warts." None of the three has led the division by more than four games or trailed by more than 4 1/2. No other division can claim such a level playing field.

The Astros and Cardinals have trouble with their starting rotations.

The Cardinals and Cubs have had bullpen issues.

The Astros are graying and thought to be marginal defensively."

Interesting fact: The NL Central is the only division never to send a team to the World Series

*****

After last night's victory over the Astros, the Mets (46-66) are 32-59 when Leiter doesn't pitch and 14-7 when he starts. What this means is that if Leiter could pitch every game for the Mets, instead of being in last place with a 46-66 record, they would be 75-37 and leading the NL East by 2 games. Tja. If only.