Baseball Notes, 7/8/10

1) Has anybody looked at the baseball standings lately? If the playoffs started today, this is how the National League would shape up:

Braves
Padres
Reds
Mets (wild card)

Yawn.

Last year three of those teams finished in 4th place and the other in 3rd place in their divisions.

2) In case you missed it, the Colorado Rockies came back to win on Tuesday after trailing the Cardinals by 6 runs in the bottom of the 9th. With one out, two on base, one run in, Ryan Franklin came in and allowed 3 singles, a double, and 2 home runs, allowing the Rockies to put up an improbable 9 runs in the 9th inning.

The next day, the Rockies made another colossal comeback against the Cardinals after trailing 7-4 in the 8th inning. You can't blame Coach Tony La Russa for abandoning his closer this time. In the 8th inning, La Russa brought in a new reliever to start the 8th, gave up a double and a groundout. New reliever: walk. New reliever: three-run homer. Brings a new reliever out for the 9th inning, first batter: game winning home run.

That sounds like La Russa's Cardinals from April. This is why St Louis is not the playoffs right now.

3) Not to pour salt on my friend's wounds, but the Red Sox' injury report is turning into a full-length novel. Right now the disabled list includes: Clay Buchholz, Josh Beckett, Dusin Pedroia, Victor Martinez, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jeremy Hermida, Mike Lowell, Jason Varitek, and reliever Manny Delcarmen. This does not include Daisuke Matsuzaka who just came off the DL and Kevin Youkilis who is hurt but not allowed to join the DL. They managed to squeak by for a while but the recent sweep in Tampa Bay is a hit of reality to Beantown. It doesn't help that they are in the same division as the two best teams in baseball.

4) Time to can the Home Run Derby. Due to people dropping out or declining the invitation, this year's group drops from 8 contestants to 6, including Vernon Wells, Corey Hart, Matt Holliday, Miguel Cabrera and an over-the-hill David Ortiz. Yawn. Pujols declined, Howard declined, ARod never does it, Cano pulled out due to a "sore back", nobody's coach wants them to participate, etc. Is there any reason to watch? The steroids scandal has practically eliminated the appeal of the long ball. I'm still interested in some kind of skills competition that could alternate with the Derby to highlight the other stars in the league, like a race around the bases, long distance target shooting, precision/target batting, etc. Like the NBA's slam dunk contest, the home run derby isn't worth staying up for.