The word out of the Bronx this week is that Randy Johnson will skip his last start of the regular season. Normally that isn't news, except the reason for the move is that the Big Unit has been bothered by back spasms. The New York Post reported Wednesday that Johnson's back has been an issue over the last three weeks, and "Torre admitted to some uncertainty about Johnson's eventual return." Currently Johnson is penned to start Game 3 of New York's first-round series on Friday, Oct. 6. The long layoff gives the big left-hander another week to improve, but back problems are difficult to predict and you have to wonder what the Yankees were thinking. After Boston's disastrous 9-21 performance in August, the Yankees enjoyed an eight-game edge in the American League East heading into the final month. The lead grew to 10 games by Sept. 9, yet Johnson has made three starts since then -- allowing five runs in each of them and never working more than six innings. Mike Mussina and Chien-Ming Wang have been New York's only two dependable starters all season, and going into the playoffs without Johnson could be a problem. Cory Lidle has been roughed up in three of his last five starts and has a 6.38 ERA in four September outings. The good news is, Jaret Wright has been pitching better of late. He's 6-2 since the All-Star break -- though with a 4.57 ERA -- but he has a 2.95 mark in three starts this month. Still, he's been touched for five home runs his last four times out and has walked seven in his last two outings. It's puzzling why the Yankees didn't allow Johnson to rest for much of September. There are enough young arms in the Yankees' system that could get a look, something that rarely is possible because of the annual pennant push. With Johnson ailing and the Yankees cruising into the playoffs, this year was the year.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Which American League team will finish with the best record during the regular season? After all, that team will have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, by virtue of the AL's victory in the All-Star Game. Currently the leader is Detroit (94-62, .603), followed by New York (93-62, .600) and Minnesota (92-63, .594). The importance of home-field advantage in October shouldn't be underestimated. Since 1982, the team with home-field advantage has won 19 of 23 World Series. The only clubs to overcome home-field advantage in this stretch are the 1984 Tigers, 1992 Jays, 1999 Yankees and 2003 Marlins. Clinching a World Series title on the road in a sixth or seventh game has been nearly impossible, with the home team posting an 18-3 record in Games 6 and 7 since 1982. No home team has lost a Game 7 since Pittsburgh came back from a 3-1 deficit and won the final two games at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium to claim the 1979 Fall Classic. Since then, the home team is 8-0 in Game 7. The schedule may favor the Tigers, who host Toronto and Kansas City to close out the season. They are 14-1 against the Royals and have taken two of three from the Jays this season. The Yankees finish a weekend set at Tampa Bay tonight before hosting Baltimore and Toronto. They are 10-6 against the Orioles and 9-6 against the Jays. The Twins also are home, with four against the Royals and three against the White Sox. They are 9-6 versus the Royals, 9-7 facing Chicago. Unless the Twins can build on their current 12-4 surge, which is possible in light of their impressive playoff push after a 25-33 start, it seems likely the Yankees and Tigers will vie for the top seed in the playoffs.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The two playoff teams to come out of the American League Central are likely the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins after they left the defending champion Chicago White Sox in their dust in September. The White Sox are 9-14 this month, and they lost two of three at home to the Tigers last week in a must-win series. Although the Tigers have gone 18-26 in their last 44 games, their performance in that key series with Chicago has helped spark them to seven wins in their last 10 games. They have held off the red-hot Twins to this point, but the winner of the AL Central crown remains undecided. First-place Detroit leads by 1.5 games going into the final week. The schedule seems to favor the Tigers, who host Toronto and Kansas City for three games each after Monday's off day. They are 16-2 against these two opponents, thanks to a 14-1 mark against the lowly Royals. The Twins host the Royals for four games beginning on Monday, but they are just 9-6 against them. Then Minnesota finishes against Chicago. It may not be a key series for Chicago if the White Sox can't muster a miracle comeback this week, but the Twins may be playing for first place. The Twins are on a 12-4 surge, but will need rookie starters Boof Bonser, Matt Garza and Scott Baker to maintain their recent success to jump over the Tigers in the final days of the season.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Los Angeles Dodgers better take the National League West title, because it's doubtful they are going to stay with the Philadelphia Phillies in the wild-card chase. The Phillies have won five in a row -- over the Cubs and Marlins -- and have been victorious in eight of their last nine games to take a half-game lead over Los Angeles for the wild-card spot. Runs have been plentiful in this stretch, and the Phillies are getting solid pitching from a rotation of Jon Lieber, Brett Myers, Randy Wolf Jamie Moyer and rookie Cole Hamels. The bullpen will need more from Ryan Madson and Rick White down the stretch and in the playoffs, but if the Phillies' offense keeps producing and the rotation continues to pitch well, watch out for this team in October. Philadelphia hosts playoff contender Houston in a makeup game Monday before playing at Washington and Florida to close out the season. The Dodgers, who are 9-12 since Sept. 3, better get the job done against the Rockies and Giants in the final week. It will take a terrific finish against their NL West rivals to overtake the Phillies.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Astros went 2-7 in the stretch of Sept. 10-19 and all but fell out of the playoff race. They are back in the National League Central mix with a five-game winning streak and a four-game sweep of the first-place Cardinals over the weekend. Houston is 3.5 games out of first place with seven to play, and four games back in the loss column to St. Louis. It will take a miraculous effort to catch the Redbirds. The Astros may need to win every game remaining, and they face that task on the road. They play a makeup game in Philadelphia Monday, before moving on to Pittsburgh and Atlanta for a pair of three-game series. Houston has lost four of five meetings with the Phillies, but is 10-3 against the Pirates and 3-1 against the Braves. Meanwhile, the Cardinals close at home against the Padres and Brewers. They have lost two of three this season against San Diego, and these are must-win games for the Padres. St. Louis closes the season with four home games against Milwaukee, against which they are 7-5 in 2006. If the Astros finish within a half-game of St. Louis on Sunday, the Cardinals will have to make up a game against San Francisco on the Monday after the season ends. The Astros face long odds, but will hinge their hopes on the likes of Clemens, Pettitte and Oswalt. If only Brad Lidge was the same guy who dominated hitters throughout 2004 and 2005. They might be that much closer to St. Louis, and have a better chance to pull out those tight must-wins in the final week of the season.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The hoopla generated by David Ortiz's recent statement that Derek Jeter didn't deserve MVP honors certainly drew attention to the East Coast candidates in Boston and New York. For years, numerous baseball fans in the middle of the country have maintained that the large-market teams on the two coasts tend to dominate the award categories at season's end, and this year's MVP race in the American League will test that notion. At least two serious contenders are playing on Midwest teams -- Jermaine Dye of the White Sox and Minnesota's Justin Morneau. Perhaps Dye's chances will suffer with Chicago's fade over the last couple of week, but Morneau looks as good as anyone. The slugging first baseman ranks in the top 10 among AL hitters in average (.325), home runs (33), RBIs (125), slugging (.576) and on-base-plus-slugging (.957). So does Dye, but his team's fate may hurt his chances. Ortiz ranks in the top five in five categories. He's the AL's home-run (50) and RBI (130) leader while also placing near the top in runs (108), slugging (.625) and OPS (1.030). Should Boston's crash and burn in August diminish his chances? Meanwhile, the Twins have salvaged what seemed to be a lost season, going 65-28 since June 8. They were 22-35 when this surge began, 11.5 games behind first-place Detroit. Now the Twins are a half-game back of the division leaders and are in line to claim at least the wild-card berth. Morneau is a .374 hitter in this stretch of 93 games, with 28 doubles, 22 homers, 87 RBIs and a 1.068 OPS. If his effect on his team's performance and success is the deciding factor, it might be hard to deny the 25-year-old Morneau. Since June 8, no one in the majors comes near his .374 average, and in the American League, only Ortiz (.299/.430/.673) can top Morneau's OBP (.425) and slugging (.643).

Posted by Thom Henninger at 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am not a doctor and I don't play one on TV, but perhaps Twins phenom Francisco Liriano shouldn't be too shy about going under the knife during the offseason. He was shut down a week ago after a start was cut short by elbow pain, though this first start after a long rehab reportedly didn't worsen the mild tear in the ulnar collateral ligament -- the all-important ligament in the elbow. A third MRI exam administered by the Twins didn't reveal any significant structural damage or further harm to the ulnar collateral ligament. That may be good news, but Liriano continues to have elbow pain and my understanding is that ligaments don't repair themselves. Coming back from an offseason of rehab instead of surgery means the ligament could tear further in 2007 and still lead to Tommy John surgery. An examination and MRI test by renowned orthopedist Dr. James Andrews this week was no more conclusive than what the Twins already knew, so it remains uncertain if the 22-year-old southpaw will undergo reconstructive surgery, will opt for an arthroscopic procedure to study damage and possibly make small repairs, or bypass surgery altogether. Cleveland right-hander Paul Byrd battled elbow discomfort for most of his career before undergoing Tommy John surgery at age 32 in 2003. He regrets avoiding surgery at all costs for all those years. "You want my opinion?" Byrd told Gordon Wittenmyer of the St. Paul Pioneer Press recently. "The sooner the better. I wish I'd had it at 21. I'd have had a different career." Byrd also had inconclusive MRI exams, as a result of the tear running lengthwise rather than across the ligament as it typically does. A decision on Liriano probably will be made in the next 10 days after Andrews and the Twins consult again with Liriano. The Twins may be favoring an exploratory arthroscopic procedure, but no option has been ruled out. Getting the matter fully resolved seems critical. If that means Tommy John surgery to avoid a later injury that seems inevitable to this medical moron, so be it. Liriano, who turns 23 in October, would be back before he's 25 years old, an age when many pitching prospects are just surfacing in the majors. The results of reconstructive surgery are well documented. Reportedly pitchers come back with an elbow joint that is stronger than it was before the procedure. Whether that is true may be up for debate, but pitchers come back to have long and effective careers. There's no reason to fear the knife. More often than not, it extends careers rather than shortens them.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 3:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If the Chicago White Sox win eight of their final 12 games, they will finish 92-70. That would have been good enough to claim the American League Central crown, or a share of it, in 2001, 2003 and 2004. But for the defending World Series champions this season, 92 wins probably isn't even good enough to secure second place in the division. It may be good for nothing more than a good seat on the couch at home to watch the playoffs. A good postseason seat far from a dugout may await the White Sox after losing Monday's series opener to the Tigers, who opened a six-game bulge over the defending champs. Chicago trails Minnesota in the wild-card race by 4.5 games. In 12 seasons with the wild-card format, this will be the first time that two AL Central clubs will play in October. Is the AL Central so much better that Detroit, Minnesota and Chicago have three of the best five records in the league? Maybe so, considering the Tigers lead the AL in both lowest ERA (3.74) and lowest opponent batting average (.253), while the Twins are second in team ERA at 4.01. Pitching was the ticket for the White Sox in 2005, and it's significant that the 2006 staff has a 4.54 ERA that ranks ninth in the circuit. Or is it that the AL Central teams have inflated their records by beating up on the Royals and Indians? The Tigers are 11-1 against Kansas City and 13-6 against Cleveland for a 24-7 record. The Tigers, however, are the only contender that has benefited substantially by beating up on the division's also-rans. Minnesota is 20-14 against KC and Cleveland. Chicago is 18-17 and has gone 7-9 against the Tribe. Besides, Cleveland and KC have combined for 128 wins, six more than Baltimore and Tampa Bay have totaled at the bottom of the AL East. The Yankees, who have one more win than Detroit at 91-59, have gone 21-9 against the Orioles and Rays. The Red Sox, despite a 22-10 mark against Baltimore and Tampa Bay, have been unable to make a run for the wild card. With Detroit and Minnesota leading the league in ERA, the numbers suggest better pitching and better teams in the AL Central may cost the White Sox a chance to defend their title.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 9:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

If this weekend's Dodgers-Padres series at Dodger Stadium is an indicator, the National League West may not be decided until the final days of the season. Maybe it will take an extra game on the Monday after the regular-season finale. Los Angeles took a game-and-a-half lead Friday night with a 3-1 victory, as Greg Maddux and two relievers combined on a two-hit effort. The Padres rebounded with a convincing 11-2 win Saturday, with Mike Cameron, Todd Walker and Adrian Gonzalez stroking two-run homers in an eight-run third inning. Sunday featured a nail-biter, a 2-1 Padres victory that bumped the Dodgers from the top spot. The difference was an RBI single by Terrmel Sledge in the ninth, as San Diego claimed its eighth win over Los Angeles in their last nine meetings. Their season series, which San Diego leads 13-4, concludes on Monday night with Jake Peavy facing Brad Penny. The San Diego series is the start of a 10-game homestand for the Dodgers, with Pittsburgh and Arizona coming to Chavez Ravine this week. The Padres also host the Pirates and Diamondbacks in reverse order over the next seven days. In the final week of the season, both NL West contenders play their last six games on the road. Here their opponents differ, as the Padres travel to St. Louis and Arizona and the Dodgers visit Colorado and San Francisco. San Diego's six games with the Diamondbacks present a challenge, as the Padres are 5-7 against them. The Dodgers must close against their top rival, the Giants, who still could be playing for a wild-card berth. The Dodgers have won 10 of 16 from the Giants this season. It's possible the loser in the NL West race will be the wild-card team, but that's not a certainty with Philadelphia having won five of its last six games and now trailing the Dodgers by a single game in the wild-card chase. So, who will it be in the NL West? The Dodgers, who are a much more productive team offensively than their rival. Or the Padres, who have a 3.92 team ERA that is the best in the league. Meanwhile, the Giants, who trail the first-place Padres by four games, are hoping their final three games of the season against the Dodgers could still be their ticket to the NL West crown.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 11:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's been a foregone conclusion for some time now, but it became official Tuesday night. When the New York Mets defeated the Florida Marlins by a 6-4 score, the Atlanta Braves' string of 14 straight division championships had come to an end. Even making the playoffs is a longshot, as the Braves, currently five games under .500, are five games behind wild-card leader San Diego with 19 games left in the season. This writer has predicted the demise of the Braves more than once over the last few seasons, but somehow Bobby Cox's team has continued to win despite the exodus of some key players in recent years. It could be easy to point to pitching coach Leo Mazzone's departure for the final downfall, but it would have been hard for first-year pitching coach Roger McDowell to do much with a bullpen populated with inexperienced young relievers and a few rookies who are no longer prospects. On top of that, the Braves have played much or all of the season without starters Mike Hampton, John Thomson and Horacio Ramirez. Can the Braves turn things around without a major rebuilding? There's certainly hope for a quick revival of the Braves, considering the strong 2006 performances of young players Brian McCann, Adam LaRoche, Jeff Francoeur and Matt Diaz. And the Braves always seem to have talent arriving from the minors. "The spirit of the organization isn't broken, nor is the mechanism that has built this grand run over 15 years broken," GM John Schuerholz said. "It just needs a tuneup." The Braves' feat is something that may never happen again. It rivals what the Yankees did in a couple of dynastic runs that go back 40-70 years.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The Detroit Tigers were 10 games up on the second-place Chicago White Sox when play began on Aug. 8. Beginning with a 4-2 loss to Minnesota that day, the Tigers lost five straight to the Twins and White Sox and went into a 10-22 tailspin. Today Detroit is 1.5 games ahead of Minnesota, three games up on Chicago. Do the Tigers have any chance of hanging on for their first playoff berth since 1987? Maybe they should take inspiration from the 2005 Sox. Chicago had ruled the American League Central all season and had a 9.5-game lead over Cleveland when games began on Sept. 8 a year ago, but the lead dwindled to 1.5 games on Sept. 22, after the Indians and Twins had beaten the White Sox on consecutive days. Yet, the Sox managed to win eight of their final 10 games to claim the AL Central crown by six games. The two teams have been quite similar. The 2005 White Sox finished in the middle of the AL pack in scoring runs, and that's where you'll find the 2006 Tigers. Both clubs have won with pitching. The one difference that stands out is the experience of that pitching. The Tigers are relying on some very younger starters. That doesn't seem to make much difference to this point. The Tigers are struggling to score runs during their 10-22 slide while the pitching staff has posted a solid 3.67 ERA in August and September. The staff has a 3.71 mark for the season. What may make a difference is how the young hurlers hold up under the heat of two division rivals beathing down their necks over the final three weeks of the season. They must handle the pressure of Detroit's first September pennant push since the Tigers challenged the Blue Jays for the AL East crown in 1991.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Boston DH David Ortiz leads the American League in home runs (48) and RBIs (127), but fears he won't win the MVP Award because of his team's slide from playoff contention. If he doesn't win, Ortiz is quick to point out who else shouldn't walk away with MVP honors. "They're talking about (Derek) Jeter a lot, right?" Ortiz said. "He's done a great job, but Jeter is not a 40-homer hitter or an RBI guy." That mentality may prevail in an era that has been mostly about sluggers, but the best teams also have players who get on base for the big bats. Wasn't Rickey Henderson a legitimate MVP winner for an Oakland club that went all the way to the World Series in 1990? Henderson helped his MVP cause with a career-high 28 homers, but what may have made him most valuable to the A's were his 97 walks, which produced major league bests in on-base percentage (.439) and runs scored (119) in 136 games. He allowed Mark McGwire to knock in 108 runs, and teammate Jose Canseco drove in another 101. Willie McGee had a similar type of MVP season for St. Louis in 1985. Though he didn't draw nearly as many walks as Henderson, he led the National League in both batting (.353) and triples (18), while ranking near the top of the league in total bases, times on base and runs scored. He crossed the plate 114 times in 152 games to lead the Cardinals to the 1985 World Series. It just may be the year for someone other than a slugger to claim MVP honors. Perhaps Minnesota southpaw Johan Santana, the AL leader in wins (18), ERA (2.75), lowest opponent batting average (.212) and strikeouts (230) will claim the award if the Twins overtake the Tigers for the AL Central crown.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The New York Yankees always draw plenty of media attention this team of year, and the American League Central race also is front and center. Meanwhile, the Oakland Athletics have quietly posted the best second-half winning percentage in the majors with a 36-16 record. The A's are surging after going 45-43 before the All-Star break. Doesn't this sound all too familiar? This is the eighth straight season the A's have been better after the break, and they've been markedly better in six of those eight years. The most memorable year was 2001, when the A's posted a 58-17 second-half record after starting 44-43. They were 53-21 after the break in 2002. In the last eight years, Oakland is 364-207 after the All-Star Game, good for a .637 winning percentage. How does this happen? You can't credit a core of players for turning it on after the break. Only Eric Chavez and Barry Zito remain from the 2001 club that went on to win 102 games and claim the wild-card berth in the American League. The managers also have come and gone, so what is it about the organization that the team plays so much better down the stretch? Is it just coincidence or is there something at play here? General manager Billy Beane deserves a lot of credit for keeping this small-market franchise competing successfully year after year, but he couldn't have much to do with getting the most out of his team down the stretch.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Philadelphia first baseman Ryan Howard has a 14-game hitting streak. That won't get much mention because the Phillies' slugger has belted 10 home runs during his 14-game run. With four homers in his last three games, Howard is gaining fast on the 60-homer plateau with a major league-best 53. Another 60-homer season may have seemed unlikely with steroid testing in place, but the 26-year-old Howard looks certain to reach the mark in his first full season in the majors. Yahoo! Sports columnist Dan Wetzel suggests that Howard, upon reaching 62, should be declared "the single-season, 162-game home run champion." Wetzel's logic is that Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were "as juiced as a glass of squeezed oranges" and shouldn't be recognized for their "superior chemistry." He writes that fans, if not the record keepers of the game, should consider Roger Maris the record holder at 61 in 1961 until Howard or some other player tops the mark. Doesn't Wetzel exaggerate the end result of taking steroids? After all, the ability to center the bat on a 90-MPH fastball is the most important skill at work in hitting a home run, and clearly Bonds, McGwire and Sosa have done that as well as almost anyone who has played the game. If we assume all three players were juiced -- and there's still an "if" involved in that assumption -- can anyone document the specific effects of steroids in terms of how far balls will travel and how many homers they will help a player hit? Let's make the assumption for hypothetical purposes. Perhaps McGwire would have hit 64 homers without the juice instead of 70. Maybe Bonds still hits 66 instead of 73. Then one could say the number is tainted but the record is not. The other side of the argument, of course, is that if the player is tainted, then the record is tainted. That's how Roger Maris' son sees it. "If (Howard) breaks it, it's legit," Rich Maris told Yahoo! Sports. Sadly, the cost of MLB sticking its head in the sand on the steroid issue for most of the 1990s is ongoing suspicion. There has been buzz whether Howard is juiced, enough buzz that the home-run leader told the Philadelphia Daily News: "People are entitled to their opinions. . . I'm not doing it. If they want to test me, they can test me. If you're going to make those kinds of comments, have proof. Otherwise, you can ruin people's reputations."

Posted by Thom Henninger at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

MInnesota's Joe Mauer is in a 2-for-22 slide since Aug. 26. He posted a .276 batting average in August, his lowest mark of any month this season, which supplanted his monthly low of .293 in July. The Twins' catcher was batting .381 when play began on July 24, but he has dipped to .346 for the season. Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter trails Mauer for the American League batting title by just two points at .344, the same average he had on July 24. There's a reason an AL catcher has never won a batting title: the position he plays. It appears the grind of working behind the plate may keep Mauer from accomplishing what no backstop has ever done in the 105-year history of the league. August and September have been Mauer's least productive months in his brief big league career, so it will take a special effort to hold on for the batting title. It takes a special player to win a batting title, and perhaps this budding star will put on a final surge and defy the conventional wisdom that says he can't get it done.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Trevor Hoffman worked the ninth inning and recorded the final three outs of San Diego's 2-1 win over Cincinnati on Sunday, picking up his National League-best 36th save and the 472nd of his big league career. The Padres' closer is just seven saves shy of passing the all-time saves leader, Lee Smith. There are 20 pitchers who have collected at least 300 saves over their careers, including newest Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter, who finished with exactly 300. Among this elite group of 20, only three pitchers have fewer blown saves than Hoffman, though none approach his career save total.

Fewest Blown Saves Among Pitchers with 300 Career Saves

Saves, Blown Saves
Billy Wagner 318, 50
Troy Percival 324, 53
Robb Nen 314, 54
Trevor Hoffman 472, 55
Mariano Rivera 412, 55
Tom Henke 311, 55

OK, closers over the last 10 years mostly work the ninth inning, often protecting three-run leads and seldom having to work the seventh or eighth innings as Smith and Tom Henke once did. Still, it's impressive that Hoffman has accumulated the save total he has with so few blown saves. Even Mariano Rivera can't match his career save percentage. Is it conceivable that Hoffman is the top closer of all time?

Posted by Thom Henninger at 12:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)

David Wells has spent most of the 2006 season on the disabled list with a knee injury. He's 43 years old and prone to back problems, but the possibilities outweighed the potential liabilities for the San Diego Padres, who traded catching prospect George Kottaras for the veteran left-hander on the final day of August. Reportedly the Padres were equally motivated by the possibility of Wells being dealt to the Dodgers, who wouldn't give up any of their advanced prospects for him. So, whether Wells pitches effectively, struggles or is sidelined by another injury, the end result has implications for both the Padres and Dodgers. After the Dodgers lost to Milwaukee and the Padres defeated Colorado on Monday, Los Angeles is leading San Diego by two games in the National League West, while the Padres hold a 1.5-game edge over Philadelphia for the NL wild-card berth. Wells enjoyed an impressive return to his hometown team Sunday, working six strong innings and allowing a single a run in the Padres' 2-1 win over Cincinnati. Wells didn't figure in the decision, but he could figure significantly in the pennant race. He struggled in his first two starts coming off the DL on July 31, but he's worked quality outings and allowed no more than two runs in four of his last five starts. Wells has a reputation as a big-game pitcher and he's 36-23 lifetime in September. The only question is: will his back and body hold up until the Padres' season comes to an end?

Posted by Thom Henninger at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Boston Red Sox were 9-21 in August, the worst record in the majors last month. The last time Boston even posted a losing record was June 2004 (11-14), and the club hasn't lost 20 games in a single month since going 8-21 in August 1985. So, went wrong? There's little doubt it's the pitching that failed the Red Sox. They ranked in the middle of the big league pack in August runs scored, but posted the worst August ERA in the majors at 5.81, and their .314 opponent batting average was the only team OBA worse than .300 for the month. Boston GM Theo Epstein has taken a fair share of criticism for not bolstering his team's pitching at the trade deadline, at a time when the Yankees added right-hander Cory Lidle and right fielder Bobby Abreu from the Phillies. Undoubtedly the Red Sox could have used an extra arm or two, but how far should they have gone to counter the injuries to David Wells, Tim Wakefield and Matt Clement? Do you compromise future seasons in an attempt to overcome a run of injuries that suggest it's just not the Red Sox's year? With Jason Varitek, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez also sidelined, Friday's bad news that lefty starter Jon Lester will undergo treatment for lymphoma further supports the notion that it just wasn't meant to be in 2006. Dealing away young talent probably wouldn't have had a payoff anyway.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 9:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)