Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the Braves have their longest winning streak of the year.
OK, it's only four games. But before Thursday night, Atlanta was the only team that had not won four straight at some point this season.
And where has it gotten the Braves? Not out of fourth place in the NL East – yet within two games of the first-place Phillies, their victims the past three games.
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
"This concludes our test of the emergency attendance enhancement system. We now return to the regularly scheduled season."
Yes, the 13th season of interleague play wraps up Sunday, except for a Cubs-White Sox makeup game. We have survived six San Diego-Seattle games (that's more zeroes than an A-Rod paycheck).
We didn't learn much we didn't already know: the system has inherent flaws and the American League rules.
For the sixth straight year, the AL has had** the better record in interleague play – 129-108 going into today.
Take out Cleveland and Oakland, and the AL is 119-84.
"It probably is" as big a gap between leagues as in past years, one AL team official said, "until you get to the World Series. Then it doesn't matter."
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the Phillies are grateful to be in the NL East.
The division got out-scored 37-7 on Friday as the AL East swept in interleague play. And it's only the rest of the division's mediocrity keeping Philadelphia in first by a half-game.
After their 11th loss in 13 games, 6-1 to the Blue Jays as Ricky Romero didn't allow a hit in the first six innings, the Phillies held a team meeting.
NEW YORK -- Down by two in the sixth inning Thursday night, the Phillies had the Mets right where they wanted them.
"There's always a confidence," said Raul Ibañez, who wound up winning the game, and the series, with a three-run homer in the 10th inning. "You can always feel it in the dugout. Not an arrogance. A confidence. And it's a tough team.
"It's as if every time somebody goes up there, you feel like that person's going to be the guy. It's really neat to be a part of."
With Brett Myers possibly lost for the season thanks to hip surgery, the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies are now looking for some pitching to help them defend their title this season. As teams who are looking for pitching are prone to do these days, that means they're wondering if Jake Peavy would be a possibility for them. Coincidentally, Peavy and the Padres are hosting Philadelphia tonight and Jake will be taking the ball for San Diego.
So would Peavy be interested in a trade to the Phillies? You'd think so because the Phillies are a contender this season, are set up to contend for a while and they play in the National League. All of those are requirements Peavy is looking for so you'd think he'd be cool with it, but he's not going to say until after he pitches there tonight.
NEW YORK – Jimmy Rollins swears he isn't obsessed with teams from New York. He doesn't spend late nights worrying about whether the Mets might finally shake the choke collars from around their necks, doesn't wake up thinking the Yankees just might be built for October.
So why does it seem Rollins is forever talking about the Mets and the Yankees? Two seasons ago he made a remark that proved to be pretty prophetic, saying his Philadelphia Phillies were the team to beat in the NL East, and Mets fans reacted as if Rollins personally removed the frontal lobe from Jose Reyes' brain. Now from Rollins' crystal ball comes this enticing prediction: the Phillies will play the Yankees in the World Series this October.
I'd say the photo collection above accurately sums up David Ortiz's season so far. It hit rock bottom on Thursday as the Red Sox slugger (?) went 0-for-7 with three strikeouts, and left ... wait for it ... 12 men on base (Update: Ortiz was benched Friday night against the Mariners). On the Big Papi scale, this is a slump of appalling proportions. He's homer-less in his last 144 at-bats, one shy of his career-worst drought between 1998 and 2000. Is it time for fantasy owners to cut their losses with Ortiz?
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Remember when Rickie Weeks was a hot new prospect whose quick bat drew comparisons to Gary Sheffield? Yeah, turns out that was four years ago.
Following season after season of frustration for hopeful fantasy owners, Weeks is finally coming through. The speed isn't there, but he's homered in three straight games to give him nine total in only 140 at-bats. By comparison, he only hit 14 in 475 at-bats last year. So has our man-crush of yesteryear suddenly transformed into the new Dan Uggla, or is this impressive power display just another tease?
NEW YORK – Charlie Manuel was Manny Ramirez's manager in 1993 in Triple-A, Ramirez's hitting coach with Cleveland in 1994-99 and Ramirez's manager again with the 2000 Indians.
And Manuel's reaction to Ramirez's 50-game suspension was neither shock nor outrage. Just sadness.
"I'm kind of sad for him, because he's a good player," Manuel, now manager of the Phillies, said Thursday.
"When I had him as a player and I managed him and I also had him as a hitter and I used to do a lot of work with him as a hitter. I know how good he was. And I think when something like that comes up, I probably think the same thing about him that I think about anybody else: That's too bad. That's sad."
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
June was quite a month. On the field, Randy Johnson earned his 300th win, and the Rockies caught fire after promoting Jim Tracy to manager. Off the field, Donald Fehr stepped down as executive director of the Player's Association, the Nationals drafted super-prospect Stephen Strasburg, and it was learned that everyone in the entire universe has been using steroids.
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
NEW YORK -- Down by two in the sixth inning Thursday night, the Phillies had the Mets right where they wanted them.
With Brett Myers possibly lost for the season thanks to hip surgery, the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies are now looking for some pitching to help them defend their title this season. As teams who are looking for pitching are prone to do these days, that means they're wondering if Jake Peavy would be a possibility for them. Coincidentally, Peavy and the Padres are hosting Philadelphia tonight and Jake will be taking the ball for San Diego.
NEW YORK – Jimmy Rollins swears he isn't obsessed with teams from New York. He doesn't spend late nights worrying about whether the Mets might finally shake the choke collars from around their necks, doesn't wake up thinking the Yankees just might be built for October.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
NEW YORK – Charlie Manuel was Manny Ramirez's manager in 1993 in Triple-A, Ramirez's hitting coach with Cleveland in 1994-99 and Ramirez's manager again with the 2000 Indians.
