Inside Baseball
Five of six divisions are still up for grabs
The calendar hits September on Monday and this should be one wacky final month. The Rays — yes, the don’t-call-us- Devil Rays! — and Brewers look like good bets to be in the playoffs while the Yankees sit home for the first time since 1993 and the Red Sox and Mets are far from sure things, either. Could both the White Sox and Twins get in? Can the Sox and Cubs make it an all-Chicago World Series? Can the Cubs even get there at all for the first time since 1945?
You get the picture. We have a lot of questions and not a lot of time left to find out the answers. Will the tears shed for the finales in Yankee Stadium (Sept. 21) and Shea Stadium (Sept. 28) be just for the ballparks or for the home sides’ lost seasons? Might CC Sabathia win back-to-back Cy Youngs in different leagues? Could happen. Will anyone finish over .500 in the NL West? Not a sure thing.
The only division that’s wrapped up is the AL West, where the Angels are making it a runaway. I’m just about ready to call the NL Central for the Cubs but the Brewers lurk.
Let’s look at what’s left in each division:
AL East: Josh Beckett’s lingering elbow trouble/arm tingling really puts the Rays in charge and puts Boston’s chances of a repeat appearance in the postseason, let alone a repeat title, in serious doubt. The Red Sox have six games left with the Rays (Sept. 8-10 in Fenway and Sept. 15-17 in Tampa). You can see them in Toronto Sept. 19-21. Their final three games are at home against the Yankees, who should be toast by that time but would love to spoil their rivals’ hopes of defending a World Series title. The Rays have too much pitching to choke at this point.
AL Central: The Twins have to survive the 15-game road trip they’re currently on because of the Republican National Convention. If they do, they should take the White Sox to the end for the division and Boston to the end for the wild card. The Twins have a tough stretch from Sept. 15-25 (three at Cleveland, four at Tampa Bay and three at home against the White Sox). Chicago, meanwhile, also has it tough with six September games against the charging Indians (including the last three of the season at home), three against the Angels and four in New York.
Don’t discount the Indians’ effect on things either. Their sudden hot streak makes them a huge spoiler threat. In addition to its games against Chicago, Cleveland hosts the Twins for three and plays a four-gamer in Boston Sept. 22-25, just before the Yankees hit Fenway.
AL West: It’s over. The Angels are going to the playoffs again. Francisco Rodriguez’s march to his record 58th save will be the focus of the month.
NL East: The Mets keep holding off the Phillies but their lack of a closer might be a fatal flaw. They finish the season with seven tough home games (four against the Cubs and three with the Marlins), and open the month with three in Milwaukee starting Monday and three at home against the Phillies beginning Friday. In between, however, New York plays 12 straight against the Nationals and Braves. Nine of the Phillies’ last 12 are against the Braves and Nats and this week’s series is their last chance with the Mets.
NL Central: The Brewers have 13 games left with three NL sad sacks (Padres, Reds, Pirates) that should be enough to get them the wild card. As for the division, Milwaukee plays three at Wrigley Sept. 16-18 in addition to hosting the Cubs in the season’s final three games. The Cubs, meanwhile, have six September games with the desperate Cardinals, whose only chance is to catch Milwaukee.
NL West: Don’t look now but the Diamondbacks and Dodgers are flopping terribly and the Rockies entered the weekend just six games out. After what happened last September, you can’t count Colorado out. The Diamondbacks and Dodgers meet just three more times, beginning Friday in Los Angeles. The Rockies, meanwhile, have six home games left with the two teams they’re chasing and finish the season with a three-gamer at Arizona.
Herd grapevine
• The majors and minors have pushed back the first official date to negotiate with new parent clubs from Sept. 16 to Sept. 18 so there’s no distraction from the Bricktown Showdown Triple-A championship game set for the 16th in Oklahoma City. Thus, I would imagine the Bisons’ decision to sign with the Blue Jays or Mets could come as soon as Sept. 19 and wouldn’t stretch much past Sept. 22.
• Despite a losing season full of rain delays and 4 p. m. downpours that dissuaded lots of folks from coming to the ballpark, the Bisons’ ticket sale average was down just 135 per game from last season. The per-game count had gone up slightly each of the last three years.
It’s not the days of a million tickets but the Bisons can pretty much count on sales of 600,000-plus every year, still on the high end of Triple-A. The players were impressed and even a little stunned by the big crowds actually in the park during the dog days of August.
Another third-place average attendance in the IL (behind Louisville and Pawtucket) is pretty impressive for a franchise that doesn’t have a new stadium as its drawing card. It will, however, be a challenge to keep that spot in 2009 with new parks coming in Columbus and Gwinnett County, Ga.
• Did it feel like there wasn’t much excitement at home this year? That 33-38 record was no mirage and these facts back up the feeling there wasn’t much drama: The Bisons didn’t hit a single grand slam or walk-off home run in the ballpark this season. It’s the first time since 1995 Buffalo was blanked in either category at home.
• Give a thought to Donald Palmer, better known in these parts as “the Butcher.” Now in his 40s, the former Bisons bat-boy and foul ball fetcher extraordinaire is in Kenmore Mercy Hospital after surgery but should be released this week.
Around the horn
• I have no clue what the Indians have been doing with sore-shouldered Travis Hafner in Buffalo. Is he ready or not? He can’t DH for a whole game? He can’t play back-to-back games? If he can’t handle everyday duty in Triple-A — when he doesn’t even play the field — what is he doing on the field?
• Jhonny Peralta has thrived in the cleanup slot for the Indians and has joined Woodie Held (1959-61) as the only Cleveland shortstops with three 20-home run seasons. Peralta also did it in 2005 and ’07.
• Carl Pavano’s two-game winning streak for the Yankees came in starts that were 502 days apart. And the New York Daily News wryly noted the Yankees surely drew up the plan that had Pavano with more wins this season than Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy combined.
• The Mets are offering season- ticket holders and then the general public the chance to buy their seats from Shea Stadium before the dump, er, ballpark is bulldozed after the season.
It’s pricey (check out the $869 a pair depictions at mets.com) but don’t you wish our humble hometown would have been doing that with the Aud about, oh, 11 years ago?
