Traffic Jam For NL Wildcard
"I'm not the only soul who's accused of hit and run
Tire tracks all across your back
I can see you had your fun
But darlin' can't you see my signals turn from green to red
And with you I can see a traffic jam straight up ahead"
Jimi Hendrix - Crosstown Traffic


Florida 70-63 .526 ----
Houston 70-63 .526 ----
Montreal 71 64 .526 ----
Philly 70 63 .526 ----
St. Louis 70 63 .526 ----
Arizona 69 64 .519 1
Cubs 68 64 .515 1.5
LA 68 64 .515 1.5

It almost boggles the mind. There are endless scenarios and possibilies on how this NL Wildcard traffic jam will ultimately resolve itself but for the moment, it's either a statistician's nightmare or dream. In the meantime, at least seven teams in seven cities are well within spitting distance and another two or three have logical chances if you consider all the illogical events that has led to this tie-up in the first place.

Puerto Rican Playoffs

Let's address the first absurd possibility: that the NL Wildcard will be decided, in part, in Puerto Rico. The Montreal Expos will play seven of their next nine games in tiny Estadio Hiram Bithorn, which holds 17,000 fans. More evidence of the genius of Baboon Selig, ultimate baseball subversive and a lasting member of the All-Time Laughingstocks. In a sense though, it does cobble together a semblance of internationalism. Before each game there are three (count 'em, three) national anthems sung. First, the Canadian anthem, performed entirely in English, then the Puerto Rican anthem in Spanish, and finally, the American anthem in English. A few more national anthems and they could qualify for the International Song Festival before each game.

What's even more absurd is that the Expos will play more games the rest of the season in Puerto Rico than they will at home in Olympic Stadium, where the Expos have an inordinate amount of success. The sweep of the Phillies last night was the second straight four-game sweep at Olympic Stadium for the Expos, who are 36-17 at the Big O. Now they're going to embark upon a season finale that will see them play only 6 of their final 27 games at home. It would be nice to recall that the Expos record is 10-5 in Puerto Rico at this point but it ain't easy because of some misguided sense of despotic idiocy, Montreal games played in Puerto Rico are designated as "home" games, not as "neutral" games so ESPN makes no distinction when you try to decipher the Expos schedule on their uselessly chaotic multi-media jumble of counterproductive and dysfunctional information. (sorry, that mini-rant is the result of poring over 10 different useless google searches without an answer to the burning "Expos record in Puerto Rico" question...)

In any event, back in late May and June the Expos were away for 25 consecutive days, beginning that stretch 32-18, 14 games above .500 and only two games back of Atlanta, the leader in the NL East Division. When they returned to Montreal on July 7, after playing 32 of 38 games on the road, their record had fallen to 47-41, nine games back of the Braves. When the Expos returned from their second trip to Puerto Rico in June, they conceded that tiredness had played a role in their slump.

"There's no doubt about it," Montreal catcher Brian Schneider said. "It's a natural thing. When things get tough your body adjusts to it and you overcome things. I have no doubt that we'll be ready and won't be tired."

Bud Selig doesn't want the Montreal Expos in the Major Leagues. Perhaps this is just his way of saying farewell.

Cy Young Sewn Up?

Eric Gagne earned his 44th straight save this season, setting a major league record as he closed out the Los Angeles Dodgers' 6-3 win Thursday night over the Houston Astros. Gagne beat Tom Gordon's 1998 record of 43 in a row to begin a season. Gordon still holds the record for consecutive saves overall, with 54. It was Gagne's 52nd straight save, dating to last season. Gagne has saved nearly two-thirds of Los Angeles' 68 wins. In '98 when Gordon saved 46 the year 43 of them were in a row, he saved 50% of the Red Sox's 92 victories.

Javier Vazquez threw eight shutout innings to extend his scoreless streak to a National League high 26 innings He has 27 strikeouts over the 26-inning scoreless streak. He's now 6-2 with a 1.68 ERA since the All-Star break. But he's not even the hottest pitcher on the Expos. Livian Hernandez is 5-1 with a 1.38 ERA since the break. Is it any wonder the Expos are riding a wave to the NL Wildcard race? That's almost comparable to Mark Prior's 5-0 0.69 ERA since the All-Star break, or Russ Ortiz 6-1 3.71 and Nomo's 6-2 2.55.

Reyes Is The Kings

"Reyes" is a Spanish for "kings," as though there were more than. Does this mean that we are seeing double? Jose must be. Last night he homered from both sides of the plate against the Atlanta Braves. The 20-year-old phenom also became the youngest player in major-league history to do so. Oh yeah, the second homerun of the night was a decisive two-out, two-run jack in the ninth as Kings Reyes drove in every run in the Mets' 3-1 victory over the Braves last night.

Reyes didn't even begin switch-hitting until after starting to play professional ball in 2000 and had never homered from both sides in the minors. He is batting .313 with 5 home runs and 32 runs batted in through 66 games. His 13 steals lead the Mets. Since the All-Star Game break, Reyes has the most multiple-hit games (21) in the league, and he had a 17-game hitting streak, the longest by a rookie this season.

Wow, that's alot of good news for Mets fans.

In the field, Reyes also made a spectacular backhand play to force out Robert Fick at second for the first out of the ninth. He has 21 multi-hit games since the All-Star break, most in the NL.

With the D-Train derailed, I think a very good argument can begun to be made for Jose Reyes as NL Rookie of the Year.

In the meantime, the Mets are "only" 10 games out of the wild card with 30 games to go. With the way things have gone lately and with the way teams in the NL Wildcard race just seem to lose, over and over and over again, as though no one wants to make it to the postseason, why couldn't the Mets make a run?

"We won't have psychologists calling us. We'll have hospitals with straitjackets," Al Leiter said of the possibility. "We're playing all these teams. If nothing else, we could make it miserable for them."

They can start with the phree-phalling Phillies whom they open a series at Shea Stadium against with Kevin Millwood facing Steve Trachsel, who goes for his team-high 14th win and fifth straight. Philadelphia roughed him up (1 2/3 innings pitched, seven earned runs, eight hits) the last time they met at Shea.

The Philly Inquirer reported that following last night's sweep at the hands of the Expos, Larry Bowa's emotions finally boiled over into a tirade behind clubhouse doors that one veteran player described as an all-timer, one of the worst explosions he has ever seen from the manager. The clubhouse became an even uglier scene several minutes later when pitcher Brett Myers and pitching coach Joe Kerrigan became involved in a heated, obscenity-laden argument in which angry demands for more respect were made.

Phillies have dropped to 1-9 on this four-city, 13-game road trip. If the Mets were able to sweep them, the Phillies could become the Seattle Mariners of the National League and we might witness some sort of frothing on-field cataclysm from Bowa, who must have his players wrapped tighter than Joan Rivers'face by now.

From Hero To...Rapist?

Earlier this month, Marlins backup catcher Ramon Castro, hit a game-winning home run Aug. 12 against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 13th inning. Yesterday, he was arrested, jailed and charged with four counts of sexual misconduct after a 28-year-old woman told police she was raped by the player in the team's hotel early Thursday morning. Castro, who is married and has two young daughters, cooperated with police during their daylong investigation.

The Cardinals hope a similar fate doesn't await their new hero, Kerry Robinson. The Cards are back in a first-place tie with Houston in the National League Central race after Robinson's bottom-of-the-ninth homerun gave the Cards a 3-2 victory. The 384-foot blast off lefthander Mike Remlinger (5-5) was Kerry Robinson's first since May 29, 2002, and occurred five pitches after he showed bunt on Remlinger's first offering. The victory comes on a quasi-heroic effort by Matt Morris who, just one start removed from the disabled list and battling on a gippy left ankle allowed only four hits, walked one in seven excellent innings that can give Cardinals fans even more hope.

And because Mark Prior and Kerry Wood can't throw 150 pitches a game, the Cubs' chances with a distressing and pitiable bullpen, are fading fast.

The Cubs arguably held the edge in each game's pitching matchup against the Cardinals, but each night their bullpen imploded. They allowed three runs in the ninth inning of their 7-4 win Tuesday, four runs in the eighth inning of Wednesday's 4-2 loss and Robinson's blast Thursday.

Then again, the Cubs have lost 42 of their last 54 games in Busch Stadium, so maybe these implosions of failure were to be expected.

Keep Your Eye On The Ball, JERKijan

Now all I need is for someone to explain to me why, in the middle of the most confusing and stimulating playoff races in years, ESPN's Tim Kurkijan, as though living on another planet, in another time zone, stumbling through life like a somnambulist, is wondering about which teams are going to make it in 2004.

What's the matter, is he afraid someone is going to get the jump on him? Who cares?

Tim Kurkijan, soothsayer, fortunes told for cheap. Tell us Timmy, in your infinite knowledge of the future, WHO is going to win THIS year?

What an idiot.