Wild Card Wonderment
"Wild is the wind
Give me more than one caress, satisfy this hungriness
Let the wind blow through your heart
For wild is the wind, wild is the wind"
David Bowie, Wild Is The Wind

Through yesterday, 17 of the 30 teams in the Major Leagues were either:

a) leading their division
b) leading a Wild Card race
c) within 2 1/2 games of the Wild Card leader.

We're hitting Labor Day, the final sign post for the season and nothing like this has ever happened. To even get close, you have to go all the way back to the first year the wild card existed, 1995, to find that on Sept. 1, 1995, Houston and Colorado shared the NL Wild Card lead and six other clubs were as close as seven games back.

That was small potatoes in comparison.

Courtesy of MLB, a brief history of The Wildcard:


NL Wild Cards

Year Team Record Finish

2002 Giants 95-66 Lost to Angels in World Series, 4-3
2001 Cardinals 93-69* Lost to D-Backs in NLDS, 3-2
2000 Mets 94-68 Lost to Yankees in World Series, 4-1
1999 Mets 97-66 Lost to Braves in NLCS, 4-2
1998 Cubs 90-73 Lost to Braves in NLDS, 3-0
1997 Marlins 92-70 Beat Indians in World Series, 4-3
1996 Dodgers 90-72 Lost to Braves in NLDS, 3-0
1995 Rockies 77-67** Lost to Reds in NLDS, 3-0

* - Tied Houston with 93-69 record but lost head-to-head season series tiebreaker
** - Start of season delayed by labor issues

AL Wild Cards

Year Team Record Finish

2002 Angels 99-63 Beat Giants in World Series, 4-3
2001 A's 102-60 Lost to Yankees in ALDS, 3-2
2000 Mariners 91-71 Lost to Yankees in ALCS, 4-2
1999 Red Sox 94-68 Lost to Yankees in ALCS, 4-1
1998 Red Sox 92-70 Lost to Indians in ALDS, 3-1
1997 Yankees 96-66 Lost to Indians in ALDS, 3-2
1997 Yankees 96-66 Lost to Indians in ALDS, 3-2
1996 Orioles 88-74 Lost to Yankees in ALCS, 4-1
1995 Yankees 79-65** Lost to Mariners in ALDS, 3-2

** - Start of season delayed by labor issues

In the National League, the Phillies held a reasonably comfortable self-assurance that they were going to make it in as the wild card if they couldn't overtake the Atlanta Braves. Then, inch by inch, the Florida Marlins, red-hot after the All-Star break, began crawling closer to the Phillies and then, as both teams floundered on the road, other teams began sneaking up and suddenly, although the Phillies and the Marlins are still tied, there are six other teams all within two and a half games of the Phillies and Marlins. Of all of those possible wildcards, only the Cardinals, tied with the Astros for first place in the NL Central if don't make the wildcard, and the Dodgers, 11 games behind the NL West-leading San Fransisco Giants, have a winning record over their last ten games.

So who is going to come out on top? Will it end in a dead heat between a few teams requiring some sort of bizarre tie-breaking formula?

If you use a formula which considers won/loss percentage home and away multiplied by the number of home and away games, you come up with the Marlins and the Phillies still on top and still tied by seasons end with identical 87-75 records. Factor in Mike Lowell, Florida's top run producer all season now out with a fractured hand. Factor in the D-Train's 2-3 record with a 6.25 ERA in seven starts since the All-Star break. Factor in the Marlins and the Phillies facing each other 6 more times and the Marlins 9-4 record against the Phillies this season. Factor in the Marlins playing their last 6 games of the season, against the Mets and Phillies at home, where win at a .627 clip. Factor in Larry Bowa Manager versus Jack McKeon manager (the key, in my eyes) and I've got the Marlins winning the wild card still.

Use that same formula and you get the St. Louis Cardinals winning the National League Central, finally, second to last game of the season in Arizona, by one game over the Houston Astros, 86 wins to 85 with the Cubs ending with 84 wins.

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing, but hell, trying to figure out who can out-lose each other in this race is far more confusing.

For Those Who Doubted, From The Department of Predictable Jokes, It's True: Barry Bonds Does Have A Heart

"The emotions just went through me, I felt lightheaded and couldn't stop my heart rate from racing," Bonds said following his first homerun, a 403-foot homer into the right-field stands off of Randy Johnson, in his first game back since his father's death . "After the home run I couldn't breathe. I tried to stay in there as long as I could. That's never happened to me."

San Francisco trainer Stan Conte said Bonds' heart rate was between 150-160 beats per minute after the home run -- a normal adult heart rate ranges from 60-100 beats per minute.

Bonds has homered in 24 of his last 27 games dating to June 7. Bonds now has seven 40-homer seasons, one short of Hank Aaron's NL mark and four behind Babe Ruth's major league mark. 653rd of his career. He moved within seven homers of his godfather, Willie Mays, for third place on the all-time list. Will he surpass Willie Mays before Mike Piazza catches Fisk? Piazza who now has 346 home runs as a catcher, is five behind Carlton Fisk for the most all time by a catcher. Let's hope he hurries up and gets it so he can concentrate on fielding at first base.

If you're looking for MVP candidates after you've chosen Barry Bonds to unanimously win the award in the National League, take a look at Frank Thomas in the American League. Sure, he's only hitting .265 in August, but with his team fighting for a pennant, he's also got 13 homers and 30 RBIs in August crunchtime. He ripped the heart out of Roger Clemens with a grand slam one night and while that isn't worth an MVP, it makes me happy and since I'm voting, that's all that matters. But beyond that, in all earnestness, he has delivered eight home runs in his last nine games and an impressive 10 in his last 12. His 13 home runs in August are second to Rodriguez's 14. His 18 home runs since the All-Star break lead the AL and his 30 RBIs in August lead A-Rod's 27.

Let's face it, there isn't good reason to give anyone on the Yankees an MVP award unless it goes to Steinbrenner's wallet. The Red Sox might get an MVP-By-Committee award but can you pick one guy, above all, who the Sox couldn't have finished second without? What about the Mariners or the A's? Ichiro, in another late-season nosedive, is hitting .259 in August. Bob Boone has faded. If he hadn't been invisible most of the season, an argument might be made for Miguel Tejada should the A's finish off the Mariners. And the AL Central? They don't name managers MVPs so the Royals' Tony Pena will have to settle for Manger of the Year, so logically perhaps, the AL MVP race will come down to Frank Thomas and Alex Rodriguez.

If you would be silly enough to make an argument for A-Rod consider that A-Rod's team hasn't been in the playoff hunt since the end of April so his August numbers are as meaningless as the games his team plays right now. As Branch Rickey told once told Ralph Kiner upon trading him, "We finished last with you, we can finish last just as easily without you." If your numbers, not your team, matter for the MVP, then A-Rod is as much the AL MVP as Carlos Delgado.

Armando Detritus

Joel Sherman astutely remarks:

"Has one player ever done more in more different uniforms to impact a playoff race than Armando Benitez? As a Met, he helped blow games against the Yanks. As a Yankee, he helped blow games against the Red Sox and A's. As a Mariner, he helped blow games against the Yanks and Red Sox. What an equal opportunity disappointment.

In his 10 appearances against the Yanks, Red Sox and A's, Benitez's teams are 2-8, and he has been a huge reason why. He has been charged with a run in eight of the 10 outings. In one of the games he was not scored on, Aug. 23 for Seattle against Boston, Benitez permitted the go-ahead hit for a run that was charged to Rafael Soriano. Overall, against the Yankees, Red Sox and A's, Benitez pitched 9 1/3 innings, allowing nine runs (seven earned), 13 hits and 12 walks.

Three teams from among the Yanks, Red Sox, A's and Mariners will make the playoffs. In his only game against Seattle (as a Met), Benitez pitched a scoreless ninth for a save. He is a Mariner now. Six of Seattle's final nine games this season are against Oakland. Perhaps Benitez will hurt Seattle the most."

Perhaps he will but that would require a dire situation, like Mariners' manager Bob Melvin experiencing a temporary loss of sanity and inserting Armando sometime when the game is on the line or when the game matters. Don't count on it.

Pedro and his Yankee-Itis

Do you think Pedro Martinez earns $15 million per year so he can pitch against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays? Your ace takes the mound against your arch-rivals and you're supposed to be able to rely upon him. Yesterday, Pedro blew it again.

In 23 regular-season starts against the Yanks, Martinez is 8-8, and 154-58 against everyone else. This season, he is 0-2 against the Yankees in four starts since his last triumph which was July 19 of last year. His apologists whine that he was still sick with pharyngitis, the same little sore throat that caused him call in sick for a vital game against the A's. That would be a wonderful excuse except for the fact that he dominated the Mariners six days ago. This isn't the flu, it's Yankee-Itis.

Must be those anti-Dominican racists causing all the trouble again, giving poor Pedro the flu, making him pitch like scared little kid against the Yankees. Yeahyeah, greatest pitcher of our era, blahblah. He's started three games against them so far this season, has pitched 17.2 innings, has given up 21 hits and 9 earned runs. Is this what $15 million is for? A 4.59 ERA against your arch-rivals? Maybe that $17.5 million he'll steal from the payroll in 2004 will be enough incentive to cure him of his Yankee-Itis.

So far since the end of last season, I've heard Pedro whine that he didn't win the Cy Young because Peter Gammons doesn't like that he isn't white, I've heard Pedro whine about Mike Piazza, second-guessing why he would attack fellow Dominican Guillermo Mota after getting hit by him again, I've heard Pedro cry racism about the legitimate media swarm following fellow Dominican Sammy Sosa's corked bat scandal and about the only thing I haven't heard him do yet is blame his pathetic outings against the Yankees lately on racism. I used to like Pedro but not only has he become a boorishly predictable whiner, unlike seasons past, he doesn't make you want to ignore what annoys you about him by pitching brilliantly against the Yankees.

He's still one of the league's best pitchers in the game but the combination of his incessant whining, delusional calls of racism and his recent failures to defeat the enemy Yankees makes him just another bitch in a circle of excuses.

Lastly, Please don't masturbate while watching the US Open.