Baseball begins 2nd half
Barry Bonds likely will take down the Hammer’s home run record soon. The fates of the surprising Milwaukee Brewers, the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees are far murkier.
With baseball still buzzing about Ichiro Suzuki’s sprint around the All-Star bases, the talk turned to the dash to October.
“Now the fun starts,” San Diego Padres outfielder Brian Giles said.
Can Alfonso Soriano and Lou Piniella lead the Chicago Cubs into the playoffs? Will Jake Peavy and the Padres emerge from the packed National League West? Are David Ortiz and the Boston Red Sox going to breeze the rest of the way?
Some things are fairly certain. Surely some trades are on deck before the July 31 deadline – Ken Griffey Jr., anyone?
The second half opens today with Bonds five homers shy of breaking Hank Aaron’s career record of 755. The only question seems to be whether Commissioner Bud Selig will be there to see it.
Tom Glavine will start this week going for win No. 298. Alex Rodriguez is six home runs short of joining the 500 club – Frank Thomas already made it this year. And the Philadelphia Phillies will reach a much bigger and more dubious mark: Their next loss will make them the first team in major league history to drop 10,000 games.
The race for records will soon give way to the chase for playoff spots. Almost half the teams are within 5 1/2 games of a postseason berth, including clubs in two hard-luck cities.
There is joy in Seattle, where the Mariners are 2 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Angels after finishing last in the American League West for three straight seasons. Fans there may get some other good news, too: Ichiro, MVP of the A.L.’s 5-4 win Tuesday night, is close to signing a long-term contract extension.
The summer also is a lot brighter in Milwaukee, where Prince Fielder and the Brewers lead the N.L. Central by 4 1/2 games over the Chicago Cubs – buoyed by their major league-best 30-13 home mark.
Milwaukee has not finished a season better than .500 since 1992 – when it played in the A.L.
Even for teams like Texas, Cincinnati and Kansas City that seem to be out of contention, the trading deadline could bring hope for the future.
The Texas Rangers, with slugger Mark Teixeira and relievers Eric Gagne and Akinori Otsuka, could be major players. The Cincinnati Reds are bound to get a few calls, with Adam Dunn among those available for contenders looking for a boost.
The Yankees could be buyers or sellers with their string of nine straight division titles in trouble.
Despite the considerable efforts of Rodriguez – the major league leader with 30 homers and 86 RBIs – New York (42-43) was 10 games back of A.L. East-leading Boston and worse than .500 at the break for the first time since 1995.
The Yankees haven’t missed the playoffs since 1994 – when the postseason was wiped out by a strike.
Consistency has eluded the Cardinals, 7 1/2 games behind the Brewers in the Central. Detroit leads the A.L. Central, regarded by many as the best division in the majors, and second-place Cleveland is in front for the wild card. Minnesota, which charged to the division title last year, is eight back of the Tigers.
Aces C.C. Sabathia of Cleveland, Justin Verlander of Detroit and Johan Santana of Minnesota also are contenders for the Cy Young Award.
“We treaded water pretty good,” said Tigers manager Jim Leyland, whose team could get a boost when injured relievers Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya return. “We need to get some things ironed out in the second half. They went through a lot in the first half, but this stuff is just revving up now.”
All three races in the N.L. are tight, with 7 1/2 games total separating the first two teams in each division. The West features four teams all within 5 1/2 games of the top, with Giles and the Padres leading the Los Angeles Dodgers by one game.
“We’ve got a tough division. Everybody’s beating up on everybody, so it’s really tough for people to distance themselves. But it’s nothing new, the past couple of years, so we’ll be ready to go,” Giles said.
The Mets, who ran away with the N.L. East last year, have weathered some early season struggles to take a slim two-game lead over Atlanta at the break. They could get a lift from the return of Pedro Martinez, who had rotator cuff surgery last fall and is just two strikeouts shy of 3,000 for his career.
Several hitters are eyeing big numbers, too.
Griffey will get to 600 homers with 14 in the second half. Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez also could get to 500 with big second halves.
Then there’s Bonds, batting .295 with 17 homers and on the brink of baseball’s most revered record.
“His numbers at 42 are pretty impressive,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy.