Too Manny concerns with Ramirez
Breaking down this week's matchups (and mis-matchups).
1. The Best Matchup of the Week
Boston at New York: Friday through Sunday.
Who would you rather have as your left fielder, Manny Ramirez or Hideki Matsui? By any measure of statistical reality, Ramirez is the more productive player, but he is psychologically taxing whereas Matsui is reassuring. Why is this? Because Matsui looks like he was paying attention when he was taught the game and like he wants to be there when he is playing it. He approaches the game like most people want ballplayers to: with determination and fundamental soundness. On the other hand, Ramirez looks like someone who has about 10 other places he'd rather be, that bestowing his greatness on the world for two or three hours a day is a major inconvenience.
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Even though the smart fan knows that Ramirez helps a team more than Matsui does (he's fifth in the league in runs created per 27 outs while Matsui barely cracks the top 50), having to experience him on a day-to-day basis has got to be exasperating. This past weekend Ramirez missed the entire Yankee series with a soar throat. Here's something that should be written into the contract of every major-leaguer making more than $10 million per year: you are not allowed to use the same excuses to miss ballgames that kids use to skip school. It was like Manny's own remake of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" in that he reportedly showed up at a hotel bar on Saturday night before and after being unable to report for duty.
Look, maybe he was in too much pain to play; what do I know of another man's suffering? But if you're healthy enough to meet a buddy at a bar, you're healthy enough to show up at the ballpark and lend your teammates emotional support. If it hurts too much to cheer them on, make a banner or something. Let folks know you're doing everything you can to earn your $17 million a year.
What if Ramirez had Matsui's demeanor to go along with his own talent? What would we make of him then?
2. The State of the World Champions Matchup of the Week
Kansas City at Anaheim: Friday through Sunday.
The problem with baseball -- and all sports -- is that there is a morning after. Unlike movies (the ones without sequels, anyway), the resolution does not mark the end of the struggle. It must be rejoined almost immediately, often with disappointing results.
The Angels caught lightning in a bottle in 2002. The trouble is, they had to follow it up by playing again in 2003, a year in which -- apart from the play of Garret Anderson and Brendan Donnelly -- very little has gone well.
Why do the World Champions have to defend their title? Why can't they take the year off and savor their victory by touring and playing exhibitions, showing off their trophy? Why does their have to be this almost immediate anti-climax? I say give the Champs time to enjoy their status!
3. The Hype/No Hype Matchup of the Week
Oakland at Baltimore: Tuesday through Thursday.
If there is a sameness in the matchups this week to those of last, don't blame me. With that in mind, here's a copy of a letter I just wrote:
Dear Schedulemaker:
While I appreciate the fact that you have a very hard job, I would like you to consider my needs in the future. These home-and-home series on consecutive weeks are the bane of the Baker's Dozen's existence. For my purposes, there needs to be more variety on a week-to-week basis.
Yours truly, Jim
Can a team lose a pitcher the likes of Mark Mulder and still thrive? Yes, it can and we need look no further than the history of these two clubs for examples. The Orioles won divisional titles in three seasons in which Jim Palmer missed a significant number of starts. In 1969 he returned from a long battle with arm trouble to start only 23 games. Five years later, Palmer was limited to 26 starts and five years after that he started just 22 games. The O's won the American League East each time. In 1972, Vida Blue crashed hard after his spectacular rookie season and started just 23 games. His A's went on to win the World Championship.
Of course, the A's would like to get a little further than winning the division this time around, wouldn't they?
4. The Biggest Mismatchup of the Week
Atlanta at New York: Monday through Wednesday.
This much we know: it is a far, far better thing to have your team at .440 playing youngsters than it is to have them at .440 playing aging veterans. Except that the Mets aren't really all that young. While they have discarded Jeromy Burnitz and Roberto Alomar and lost Mo Vaughn to injury, what they have in their places is not all that young, really. Apart from kid phenom Jose Reyes, this is not quite the youth movement it appears to be. Rookies Ty Wigginton and Jason Phillips are 25 and 26, respectively. Center fielder Jeff Duncan is only 24, but his hitting will preclude him from being a part of any kind of movement, youth or otherwise. On the pitching side, Pedro Feliciano is 27, Dan Wheeler is 25, Jae Seo is 26, Jeremy Griffiths is 25. Only Aaron Heilman and Jaime Cerda are 24 and both have ERAs over 6.00.
5. The Let the Schizophrenic Behavior Continue Matchup of the Week
Montreal at Philadelphia: Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Phillies forgot to take their meds last week and, as a result, experienced the mountainous highs of sweeping the Mets and the canyonesque lows of getting swept by the Expos. Will this behavior continue? With so many contenders playing just on the good side of .500, one would assume that it will.
What if Phillies manager Larry Bowa were a kindergarten teacher? I think it would go a little something like this:
*"?crayons! Everywhere I $@*% look are crayons! When are you %@!$ kids going to start taking some $@!%* responsibility and start putting away your $@!%*? I know $@!%* preschoolers who police their areas better than you do! What the $@!%*? And what's with this nap time $@!%*? You're never going to get anywhere in life laid out on your $@!%* with your thumb in your $@!%* mouth and a blankee clutched in your hand! And what's with these drawings? I told you little $@!%* to make pictures of your houses and what do I get? Who the $@!%* knows what half this $@!%* is supposed to be? Maybe if we used the $@!%* glue for something other than eating we'd see some pictures that look like what the $@!%* they're supposed to be. Changes are coming around here, I'm warning you right $@!%* now."
6. The Throwback Matchup of the Week
Arizona at Kansas City: Thursday.
Throwback to earlier in the summer, anyway. This was back when interleague play ruled the day. Thanks to a rainout, we have this mild form of anachronism in the post-Labor Day environment.
The Royals schedule this week is not a pleasant one. They fly in from Dallas late Wednesday night, face Randy Johnson (albeit in a reduced capacity) on Thursday afternoon and then leave for Anaheim. That sounds like a pretty intense 24 hours. Of course, it's not like they have to carry their own luggage or anything like that ?
Have you noticed something about the interleague play records this year? Everyone pretty much performed up to expectations. With a few minor exceptions, the plus-.500 teams won more than they lost against the other league and visa versa. There were no cases of what befell the Red Sox last year: going 5-13 in interleague play while playing over .600 against their own league. Nope, everybody behaved pretty normally in 2003.
7. The Break Up the Brewers Matchup of the Week
Cincinnati at Milwaukee: Friday through Sunday.
Cue announcer ...
"The Phillies, Pirates, Reds and Cubs have all felt their wrath in the past two weeks and now Cincinnati has come back for another taste of Brewer vengeance. Ten years of sub-.500 seasons have driven them all to near insanity and made them lust for the three V's: victory, vindication and vivisection of their opponents!"
The Brewers are going to have a lot to say about the outcome of their division, not to mention the wild-card race. Apart from this series and one against the Giants, the remainder of their schedule is heavy on the Astros and Cardinals with some Diamondbacks and Cubs thrown in, too.
Just who is Danny Kolb and why is he suddenly a fantasy league late-season Lothario? Kolb, who had one career save heading into this season and hadn't improved on that through July 18, now has 14 since becoming the Milwaukee closer.
8. The Worst Matchup of the Week
Cleveland at Detroit: Tuesday through Thursday.
I am of the opinion that a bad day at the ballpark beats a good day at work every time (unless you're a professional gambler which could mean that, on occasion, the two are mutually exclusive). With that in mind, I give you Thursday afternoon's game at Comerica Park. While the rest of the nation is hard at work, several thousand lucky folks will be there, watching these two teams. Let's not lose sight of one thing: in spite of a million jokes to the contrary, it's still major-league baseball and the participants are still among the very best in the world at what they do. So, consider that if you live within a couple hundred miles of Detroit and would rather spend a day at the ballpark on Thursday.
9. The Runmaker Showdown Matchup of the Week
Colorado at San Francisco:Tuesday and Wednesday.
Todd Helton of Colorado is currently second in the National League in Runs Created while Barry Bonds of San Francisco is third, meaning this short series will feature two of the biggest run producers in the league. Of course, Helton's number is greatly inflated by Coors Field and we are bound to see a more human Helton at Pac Bell Park.
As for Bonds, his slugging average overall is higher than Helton's is at Coors and that's going some because at altitude Helton is crazy. Bonds has widened his superiority over the rest of baseball over the last two months. Back in June when it was becoming apparent that the Most Valuable Player race was going to come down to Bonds and Albert Pujols of the Cardinals, their Runs Created per 27 Outs figures were pretty close. Since then, Pujols has dropped a bit (which is not meant as a damnation -- he's still the second-highest in the sport by a good margin). In the meantime, Bonds has pushed his up considerably to the point where he is, unquestionably, having the very best season in the majors once again.
I think it is pretty obvious that, on a per-game basis, Bonds is still the man to beat. The trouble is, he's played in only 108 of his team's 135 outings, meaning that Pujols' counting stats are right there with his. I am going to assume that, given the nature of why Bonds missed so many of those games, the MVP voters will not hold it against him. George Brett was the MVP in 1980 in spite of playing in only 117 games, so there precedent. Besides, if Bonds plays regularly here on out, he'll finish with over 130 appearances.
10. The As It Ever Was So It Shall Always Be Matchup of the Week
St. Louis at Chicago: Monday through Thursday.
Another week has gone by and what have we resolved in the National League Central race? That's right: nothing.
Continuing the Bonds vs. Pujols debate, it is an unfortunate byproduct of such a consideration that one ends up in the position of having to overly criticize a player having a great year in order to point out that his opponent in the race is having a better one. If you don't buy the argument that much separates them in that area, then what about the context in which they are playing? Since both teams are contenders, there is no tiebreaker in that regard. Let's consider this, though: quality of supporting cast. Pujols can claim two teammates having very good years in Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds. Nobody on Bonds' Giants is in their league this year (although Marquis Grissom is giving it a shot). In other words, there is a much bigger drop-off from Bonds to the Giants' next-best player than there is from Pujols to the next-best Cardinal.
Should that matter? Since I'm from the school of thought that believes the player having the best year should win the award I would have to say only as a tie breaker.
11. The Mystery Matchup of the Week
? vs. ?
Yes, Baker's Dozen is only 11 items long this week. Why? Well, it's Labor Day and I, like the rest of you, have a reduced schedule. Besides, I've always had a problem with the concept of the phrase "baker's dozen." Since the possessive is on "baker," one would assume that it would be an arrangement that would favor the baker, right? Logically, this would mean a reduced dozen, not an enlarged one? It's not "customer's dozen."
This weeks clue: These two teams took their names from previous major-league entries, although not necessarily in the same city in both cases. The names are variations on the previous names.
Last week's clue: The biggest tourist attraction in this team's town is near the ballpark while the biggest one in its opponent's area is built on the site of their old ballpark.
Right: Angels (Disneyland) vs. Twins (Mall of America, built on the site of Metropolitan Stadium.
Jim Baker writes Monday through Friday for ESPN Insider. He can be reached at jbakerespn@yahoo.com
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