Anyone else long for the day when Joba Chamberlain is just another starting pitcher in the major leagues? Whether he turns out to be the second coming of Nolan Ryan, Ryan Vogelsong or something in between, it will be nice to stop all of the discussion about how many innings, pitches and days a week he can pitch before turning into a pumpkin.
Alas, that day still hasn't arrived. The Yankees announced the latest change to the Joba rules on Friday. He'll now take a turn every fifth day, according to Peter Abraham of the Lohud Yankees Blog. No problem there, but there will be starts where he pitches less than five innings to ensure that he remains below his prescribed innings limit for the year.
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
Now that the hands are dealt -- expect for one or two more this month -- we can examine the pennant races to come.
There wasn't much point in assessing the races until after Friday's non-waiver trade deadline, when we know what we're dealing with. Some important pieces will change hands after they clear waivers this month, but they probably won't be difference-makers.
Before we get to the predictions, though, let's talk about one trade that didn't happen.
MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.
Big ups to Prez for taking the PR reigns over while I was off last week. But we're back in the saddle, fresh out of the All-Star break and ready to incite you with our rankings. Also, I should point out that this is, relatively speaking, the "home stretch." Where even the most minuscule of mini-streaks can change a team's fate. Or something like that. Anyway, let's go to the list, where we'll find out if an attack on Jack Nicholson by the Phanatic and the addition of Petey was enough to vault the Phillies into the top spot of the Week 16 MLB Power Rankings. Cue drumroll.
On Deck is FanHouse's look at the days most intriguing baseball matchups
Arizona Diamondbacks (58-48) vs. Atlanta Braves (54-41)-4:40PM Est.
The only thing more impressive than the Diamondbacks current 8-game win streak is the fact that they've won their last three in walk-off fashion. Eric Byrnes hit a walk-off home run on Thursday, Tony Clark followed him up on Friday night, and Conor Jackson singled home the winning run in the 10th inning last night. Now Arizona finds itself tied with the Dodgers for first in the NL West, trailing only by a few percentage points. A win today against the Braves would not only bump the win streak to nine games, but also give the Diamonbacks their first home sweep of the Braves in franchise history. Livan Hernandez starts for Arizona, and in his last start he picked up his first victory in his last ten starts. Tim Hudson gets the ball for the Braves, and not only is he pitching well lately, but he's dominated Arizona in his career. In five starts against Arizona, Hudson is 3-0 with a 1.91 ERA.
Scott Olsen has always had a short temper, and in case you missed it, he exploded this past weekend when (no joke) a button broke on his uniform. Yes, the wardrobe malfunction annoyed him so much he ended up getting into an altercation with teammate Sergio Mitre, who was trying to calm him down, and he was eventually suspended two games.
Olsen's transgressions, which date to last season and now include two dugout shoving matches with teammates and an obscene gesture to fans in Milwaukee, haven't helped his reputation. What some observers may not realize is outside of those episodes, Olsen is a pleasant person.
"He's not a jerk," Treanor said. "Everybody can be a jerk. It just so happens the times he's not likable it's in the middle of TV and the dugout. If something were going down, family or something serious, and he happened to be in the room, he's one of the first guys to help out. He's a good-hearted guy. He's very likable."
See, if you need something and he just happens to be around, he's totally there for you, man! As long as he doesn't have plans or anything, he'll drop everything for you!
PostmanR let you know yesterday that the Marlins had suspended pitcher Scott Olsen two games for "insubordination." Yet, the Marlins wouldn't elaborate on what exactly Olsen did to undermine the team or his manager's wishes.
Well, this is Scott Olsen. He gets into like 5 fights a day. Be it with opponents, teammates, fans, or the mailman. He just wants to hit somebody, and it's that desire to hit somebody that got him suspended.
Marlins pitcher Scott Olsen, who fought with teammates at least twice last season, has done it again.
After a successful, but frustrating, five-inning outing Sunday, sources said Olsen scuffled with fellow starter Sergio Mitre in a tunnel behind the Florida dugout during the bottom of the fifth.
And what set off this great confrontation? A faulty button of course. What else?
After Olsen came off the mound in the middle of the fifth inning, he tore off his jersey, threw it at a clubhouse attendant and demanded a new one.
Sources said Mitre admonished Olsen for his behavior. That led to the scuffle while third baseman Miguel Cabrera was at bat.
So while everyone else in the stadium was admiring the upper deck home run Miguel Cabrera had just hit, the Marlins were busy in the dugout trying to break up the fight.
I don't know if Scott Olsen's mom just didn't hug him enough as a child or what, but the guy has some serious issues. What I do know is that I don't think the Marlins are going to want to deal with it much longer. If Olsen doesn't grow the hell up, and soon, I wouldn't be surprised if he was spending his last days as a Florida Marlin.
On Tuesday, we saw the beginnings of hate between the Phillies and the Marlins. There was Scott Olsen yelling at Chase Utley, and there was Utley and Cole Hamels telling us how many people hated Olsen.
Wednesday night, act II, saw three Marlins get hit by pitches. And after Thursday night, the hate has been kicked up another notch, thanks to Dontrelle Willis and Jon Lieber.
In the first inning of Thursday's 85-minute rain-delayed game, Marlins catcher Miguel Olivo caught Abraham Nunez with a right to the jaw on the follow through of a throw to second base. Nunez swung and missed, and his momentum took him in front of the plate and in the path of Olivo's concussion-inducing haymaker.
In the second inning, Aaron Boone got hit by a pitch for the second straight game. Three batters later, Lieber inexplicably threw a pitch behind Willis that just missed his backside. "The guy hasn't hit anybody the whole year and he didn't hit anybody the rest of the game," Willis said. "I have to defend myself...I'm not going to sit down and back down from anything."
Willis returned the favor in the fourth, throwing a pitch well behind Lieber. After the inning ended, Willis began jawing at the Phillies dugout. Said Phillies catcher Rod Barajas: "There's no need for you to walk off the field and taunt the other dugout. It's something you don't do in this game and tempers are going to flare when that happens."
Both teams spilled onto the infield between home and third base, but it appeared the situation would defuse quickly. The more talking that went on, the closer the two groups got and some shoving ensued. Willis, Olsen and Mitre were among those who had to be restrained. Nobody was ejected and game resumed without further incident.
Usually, when an incident happens such as Olsen yelling at Utley, everyone expects something to happen the next game. Almost always, that next level of aggression never happens and everyone goes home disappointed. Well this time, not only did we get two straight games with tensions, we got three. And that makes this rivalry official. Will something else happen the next time these two rivals meet? Don't bet on it ... they'll have until August 7th to cool down for their next meeting.
It was a special kind of something for Jason Wood on Saturday night. Wood, who last homered on July 23rd, 1999 as a member of the Detroit Tigers, spent the last eight seasons toiling in the minors trying to come back to the show to hit another one. Wood, in his first start of the season, made it happen:
"The first of this century," Wood said. "It's been a while but it's nice to get after it. It's nice to come out on top and contribute like this."
Wood's first home run in almost eight seasons came as padding to a 9-3 Marlins victory over Washington, but it wasn't without it's cost as Anibal Sanchez left after five innings with an apparent injury:
He left the game before throwing a pitch in the top of the sixth because of cramping in his right hamstring. Matt Lindstrom and Randy Messenger combined for four scoreless innings of relief. "I felt my leg getting cramps and I couldn't push," Sanchez said. "I didn't want to hurt my team but if I can't push, I lose my command. I felt strong today and I was hoping to go seven or more innings."
This comes after injuries to starters Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, and most recently Sergio Mitre. The Marlins have to wonder who out there is diabolical and sick enough to stick pins in a Florida Marlin voodoo doll with all these injuries to their starting staff, not to mention Miguel Cabrera, who missed Saturday's game with an injury to his torso.
The Florida Marlins drew their largest crowd in two seasons on Friday night for their '07 home opener (perhaps in large part due to the Marlins cheerleader outfits ... an improvement from three years ago when they wore Dolphins cheerleader outfits with a small Marlin patch sewn on), but disappointed the crowd of 40,397 in a listless 8-2 loss to the formerly struggling Philadelphia Phillies, who now have their first win of the season.
"This will probably be the largest crowd we have all year," second baseman Dan Uggla said. "We wanted to play better for them."
What would have constituted playing better? Perhaps Miguel Olivo (the catcher) not running through a stop sign and going for an inside-the-park home run in the second inning would have helped. Or perhaps better defense ... errors by Miguel Cabrera and Mike Jacobs led to four unearned Phillies runs (Sergio Mitre deserved a better fate). Hanley Ramirez had a home run for Florida, but also left six men on base.
The Phillies sent 44-year-old Jamie Moyer to the mound in hopes of turning the tide from a heartbreaking opening series at home against Atlanta. Predictably, all the Phillies really needed was to get away from a hostile Philadelphia crowd.
"I knew we were going to win sooner or later," Moyer said.
Pat Burrell benefitted most from getting out of Philly, which makes sense because he's the one that gets booed the loudest. Burrell had four RBI's including a three run homer off Ricky Nolasco.
As teams finalize their rosters in preparation for Opening Day, here's a quick look around the division to see what i's have been dotted and what t's have been crossed today:
Mets: In addition to Chan Ho Park being happily sent to the minors, they've given Lastings Milledge another shot with the big club to start 2007. The combination of Milledge maturing over the off-season and Shawn Green's batting woes made this happen. Reliever Ambiorix Burgos also makes the team as a result of Park going down, which means I'm going to have to commit the spelling of "Ambiorix" to memory.
Braves: Kyle Davies and Martin Prado have been sent down to Richmond. Davies has shown some inconsistency while the Braves have enough confidence that Lance Cormier's shoulder has improved to the point where he could be the fifth starter. Prado had a good spring, but the second base job has always been Kelly Johnson's to lose, and the Braves have Pete Orr and Chris Woodward to back up.
Marlins: Sergio Mitre, after missing most of the '06 season, will start the Marlins home opener while Ricky Nolasco will start the season in the bullpen. It's a temporary arrangement, but the original plan was reversed to start the season ... both will eventually be starters. Also, 37-year-old Jason Wood, with 81 career major league at bats (as opposed to 6,434 minor league at-bats), has made the team as a utility infielder.
Anyone else long for the day when Joba Chamberlain is just another starting pitcher in the major leagues? Whether he turns out to be the second coming of Nolan Ryan, Ryan Vogelsong or something in between, it will be nice to stop all of the discussion about how many innings, pitches and days a week he can pitch before turning into a pumpkin. 
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in 
Scott Olsen
PostmanR
On Tuesday, we saw the beginnings of hate between the Phillies and the Marlins. There was Scott Olsen yelling at Chase Utley, and there was Utley and Cole Hamels telling us how many people 
It was a special kind of something for Jason Wood on Saturday night. Wood, who last homered on July 23rd, 1999 as a member of the Detroit Tigers, spent the last eight seasons toiling in the minors trying to come back to the show to hit another one. Wood, in his first start of the season, 
The Florida Marlins drew their largest crowd in two seasons on Friday night for their '07 home opener (perhaps in large part due to the Marlins cheerleader outfits ... an improvement from three years ago when they wore Dolphins cheerleader outfits with a small Marlin patch sewn on), but disappointed the crowd of 40,397 in a listless 
As teams finalize their rosters in preparation for Opening Day, here's a quick look around the division to see what i's have been dotted and what t's have been crossed today:
