Damon's Gaffe Costs The Yankees And Other Stories

• Blue Jays 2-Yankees 1:

There's an old axiom in baseball that when there's a weak defensive player somewhere on

the field, the ball somehow finds him. I doubt that's true statistically, but it just seems that way because their mistakes cost teams games and are therefore more prominent. The Yankees had to know that they were taking liberties defensively by putting Johnny Damon back in center field; they didn't have much of a choice given the struggles of Melky Cabrera and the return of Hideki Matsui, but it's a lack of fundamentals in Damon's game that should be of greater concern than one or two misplays.
Last Saturday against the Royals, Damon batted with runners on first and second in the bottom of the ninth inning of a tie game; logic dictates a bunt to move the runners over; manager Joe Girardi, citing Damon's lack of skill at bunting, allowed him to swing the bat and Damon struck out; Derek Jeter then grounded into a double play to end the inning. In the end, this didn't cost the Yankees in the standings because they won the game, but they had to play four more innings and use Mariano Rivera for two in what could have been a regulation game ending with the same result. Last night, Damon allowed two balls that hit his glove to bounce away and the second cost the Yankees the game.
While it's understandable that Damon no longer has the legs or arm to play center field on

a regular basis, this is still a player who has almost 1300 career games at the position; there must be a certain amount of savvy that he's accumulated to account for some of the physical deterioration, but he still played the position like an amateur, and that's a big problem. Damon got spun around on the play and may have been slightly out of whack because he's played the position so infrequently this season, but there's no excuse for a major league player not to hang onto a very catchable ball in that situation where the error cost his team a game that they couldn't afford to lose.
These circumstances don't have anything to do with Damon's weak arm, about which there's little that can be done; this is about basic fundamentals. The leadoff hitter has to be able to bunt when the situation calls for it; and the center fielder has to be able to catch the ball, period.

• AL Manager of the Year should be closer than it will be:

It's clear that Rays manager Joe Maddon is going to win the American League Manager of the Year and he's a deserving candidate, but it's somewhat unfair that the job Ron Gardenhire

has done with the Twins----this season and over his managerial career----has been so underappreciated. While Maddon's team has taken a tremendous leap from the netherworld that had been the Rays home for their entire existence, looks like a sure shot for the playoffs and might win 100 games, that doesn't account for the fact that his teams lost 100 and 96 games in his first two seasons as manager. Gardenhire has had solid teams, but maintains a consistent record of success in the standings despite losing stars due to payroll constraints and his teams execute fundamentally whether Johan Santana's on the mound, or Kevin Slowey's on the mound. There's something to be said for doling out awards due to a body-of-work and by that criteria, Gardenhire deserves the nod over Maddon partially because he's never gotten the recognition for being as good as he is.
Looking at the talent levels for both teams, they're very similar. Maddon has had to handle

shepherding young players like B.J. Upton and discipline them without alienating them. Gardenhire's discipline is instilled in his players from the time they join the Twins organization with the simple threat of playing time being slashed if they don't play the game correctly. Both teams had limited expectations before the season started and have launched themselves into surprising contention. Both are worthy candidates and Maddon is going to win because this is the first time the Rays have had any success and he is deserving, but Gardenhire shouldn't be ignored and is actually a more deserving candidate because he's been historically successful and his accomplishments in 2008 are as, if not more, impressive than those of Joe Maddon.

• If you're intent on throwing money down the toilet, give it to charity or, better yet,
  
  give it to me:

From today's New York Times----Christopher "Mad Dog/The Biggest Idiot In the World" Joins Sirius/XM Satellite Radio----let me say right here that this will not work.

Mid-Season Award Winners

Here are my picks for the mid-season award winners:

• AL MVP: Ian Kinsler, Texas Rangers

I shook my head in confusion after seeing that Jayson Stark had selected Kinsler as his MVP considering the massive numbers that both Josh Hamilton and Milton Bradley have put

up, but in looking at the numbers, it's bizarre. Like previous Rangers players (Mark Teixeira, Hank Blalock), both Hamilton and Bradley have huge numbers at home and solid enough (but nowhere close to MVP) numbers on the road. Kinsler has far better power numbers on the road than at home; his batting average is .376 at home and .299 on the road. He's obviously benefiting from the cozy confines of Arlington and by having Bradley, Hamilton and Michael Young in the same lineup, but his production can't be denied especially since it's been so consistent at home and on the road.

• AL Cy Young Award: Cliff Lee, Cleveland Indians

Lee has been unappreciated for several years as a solid and consistent winner, but this year his fastball appeared to have picked up some life; combined with his control, he's been dominating on a struggling team with a shaky bullpen. He's been brilliant across the board, throwing strikes, not allowing homers and racking up wins.

• AL Rookie of the Year: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays
  

Longoria has 84 hits and 40 are for extra bases. An All Star as a rookie, a very good fielder and an emerging voice in his clubhouse simply by the professional way he carries himself.

• AL Manager of the Year: Ron Gardenhire, Minnesota Twins

Before the seven game losing streak to end the first half, it would have been Rays manager Joe Maddon, but a team with an eye on

making the playoffs cannot get swept in a four-game series by an Indians team that has pretty much thrown in the towel on the season. Because the Twins aren't in a playoff position and they're more of an under-the-radar story, many miss the fact that their roster is weaker and in many ways, less established than that of the Rays. Gardenhire is nursing a very young pitching staff to an over .500 record when they were expected to have a rebuilding year. This is also a body-of-work award because Gardenhire has been such an unappreciated top-tier manager for so long without recognition; Maddon is in his third year, let him pay some dues.

• NL MVP: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
  

Pujols is almost alone in that lineup which accounts for his league-leading (by a lot) 22 intentional walks. To be able to put up the numbers Pujols puts up while seeing maybe one or two pitches to hit a game is indicative of how great he is. Chase Utley was an early favorite, but has petered out in the past couple of months and if Pujols were in the Phillies lineup, he'd win the Triple Crown.

• NL Cy Young Award: Edinson Volquez, Cincinnati Reds

Many are picking Tim Lincecum because of his quirky personality

and motion; his diminutive size and interesting story, but Volquez has been better across the board. He's given up fewer hits, runs and homers (pitching in a far easier home park to hit in than Lincecum), has a lower ERA and a better strikeout/innings pitched ratio. If the Reds were in contention and Volquez hadn't had those extra few days in the big leagues while with the Rangers, he's have an argument for being the Cy Young winner, Rookie of the Year and the MVP.

• NL Rookie of the Year: Geovany Soto, Chicago Cubs
  

Cubs manager Lou Piniella is rough on his catchers and to have a rookie come in and perform as well as Soto has at and behind the plate is very difficult and implies a mental toughness that portends a great career.

• NL Manager of the Year: Lou Piniella, Chicago Cubs

Tony La Russa is the obvious choice because of his ability to do a lot with limited talent, but that thinking can distract from a manager

whose team also had question marks coming into the season. Piniella has the Cubs in first place with a rookie catcher (Soto); a closer in training (Kerry Wood); and a scrapheap pickup as his center fielder (Jim Edmonds); he's also been without Alfonso Soriano for a big chunk of the season and still managed to drag the Cubs into first place by sheer force of will just as he did last year. Managers are often rewarded not for winning, but for having their teams play above their heads with what was perceived to be a lack of talent. Results are what they are and Piniella has the results so far this year to get the nod over La Russa.

*Note: I do not care about the home run derby; I do not want to know about the home run derby; I think the home run derby is a colossal waste of time.

To The Left Is The Abyss; To The Right Is The Promised Land

On May 31st, I wrote a blog comparing the Tampa Bay Rays to two other teams that had been woeful for what seemed like an eternity and suddenly parlayed a series of smart veteran

acquisitions along with the development of the high draft picks (one of the few perks of being so consistently bad) into an unexpected leap into contention----Comparing The Rays To Other Teams That Came From Nowhere. Those teams----the 1984 Mets and 1991 Braves----eventually fell short in their first year of realistic contention. The Mets faded out against a hot, veteran team in the Chicago Cubs; the Braves made it all the way to the World Series before losing to the Minnesota Twins. Now that the Rays have hit the skids heading into the All Star break, there's another way this could go for them and that is what happened to the 2001 Minnesota Twins.
Like the Rays, the Twins had been a franchise in constant rebuilding mode. With little money available to sign free agents, the organization instead relied on the coordination of

instruction instilled from GMs Andy MacPhail and Terry Ryan to manager Tom Kelly and permeating the entire system from top-to-bottom to develop young players. The team hadn't had a winning season since 1992 and annually finished either fourth or fifth in their division. When talk of contraction was at its apex, it was the Twins and the Expos that were the two teams most often discussed as being eliminated based on their apparent haplessness. Then something strange happened: in 2001 the Twins began winning.
All of the young players they'd developed or acquired began performing in the big leagues. With an average age of 27, those young players----A.J. Pierzynski, Cristian Guzman, Jacque Jones, Torii Hunter, David Ortiz (yes, that Big Papi before he became Big Papi), Johan Santana and J.C. Romero----led the Twins to an uprising that shocked the baseball world and vaulted them into

first place with a 56-32 record and a five game lead in their division over the powerhouse Cleveland Indians. Instead of a team that was forever being raided for their high-priced veteran stars like Chuck Knoblauch, the Twins were seen to be a team that was going to add veteran players and take their shot to win when they had the chance. Then, despite a veteran manager who'd won two World Series and had schooled his players in the correct way to play the game, the Twins slowly started falling apart. As attention to the young, unknown and unexpected contender grew, the youngsters, especially closer LaTroy Hawkins, wilted under the pressure.
As the slump began to build momentum, all of the positive attention that the Twins received for their sudden improvement turned into bewilderment of how far and how fast they'd fallen. Even with all of their experience, Kelly and his third base coach Ron Gardenhire were unable to stop the Twins from falling out of first place and from a high of 24 games over .500 on July 12th, to a record of 65-61 and 5 1/2 games out of first place by August 21st. The Twins eventually righted their ship enough to end the season with a record of 85-77, which would have been seen as an amazing jump from their previous years of 1993-2000 when they averaged 66 wins a year, but was still a disappointment considering how they looked like they were going to confound the experts with an unexpected playoff berth.
There are similarities with the Rays to both situations----that of the Mets and Braves and

that of the Twins. After years of justified ridicule, the Rays have been garnering positive attention that their young players and management have never experienced. Like the Twins of 2001, the Rays are being chased by two veteran, pennant race-tested teams who have the cash and prospects to make drastic improvements at mid-season. Like the Twins, the Rays have hit a slump at an inopportune time. Even with all of their veteran leadership, the Rays management is nowhere near as competent as that of the Twins; there's a potential for panic in Tampa that could rapidly unravel all the good work they've done.
On the bright side for the Twins, the 2001 season was a portent of the future as the team turned that experience into four division titles in five years and consistent contention despite payroll constraints. Kelly retired to the Twins front office after that season because his work was done; he'd turned the Twins youngsters into a well-schooled unit that won games not only because they were talented, but because they played the game correctly as well. (It's amazing how many games can be won by hitting cut-off men, taking the extra base, etc.) Gardenhire took over and has been one of the most unsung top managers in baseball.
The Rays are at the same crossroads that the Twins were; will they snap out of it and

become the 1991 Braves? Or will they collapse under the pressure and have to take solace in their improvement from laughingstock to a team on the rise and look toward the future with hope? The road is in front of them; which will it be?