Perhaps the most exciting phrase in sports is uttered at the Kentucky Derby each May.

Down the stretch they come!

Baseball got it right when they set the final week of the schedule matching the teams in the division races.

The A’s have the advantage on the Angels and Rangers with their final seven games in Oakland beginning Monday night.

The Rangers hit the ball. They knocked the A’s starting pitching around for two weeks. Who do they think they are the Red Sox? If the season had 14 games to go instead of ten, then the Rangers win going away.

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If your favorite team is in the mood to spend some dough this winter there are free agents ready and willing to open new bank accounts.

Some may actually make a difference with their new teams.

You can’t win without pitching and the smart GM’s build their pitching staffs from the back forward. The way the game is played today, the key pitchers in the pen are the set up men.

Here’s some thoughts on this winter’s potential free agents.

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With all eyes trained on the A’s offense which continues to bail out the team with come from behind victories, that is until Boston rolled into town, the real story going on in Oakland is what happened to the starting pitching?

Beginning on August 26th, the A’s have played 13 games, most against the overmatched Orioles, Devil Rays, White Sox, and Blue Jays. The starting pitchers have given up 4 or more runs in 11 of those games, yet the A’s are 8-5, including the losses to Boston.

In 2 of the games, the A’s climbed back from 5-1 deficits to win 8-7 and 9-5.

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That hissing noise you heard coming from the East was the air coming out of the pennant balloons of the Angels and the Twins.

Both teams were swept in three game series, while Oakland took two of three from the fading, dispirited White Sox.

All is not over in the AL West, but it could be by the time division play starts on Monday Sept. 13th.

The A’s play Toronto this weekend, while Anaheim meets heavy hitting Cleveland for three. Texas takes its slacking offense and questionable pitching into Fenway Park for a challenging three game series.

The results of next week’s action will tell the story of whether or not September’s division games will have drama.

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Like clockwork every season, the pretenders drop from the pennant races as the calendar turns from August to September.

Some teams gave their fans thrills over the summer, while others never got out of the gate.

If you are playing .500 heading in to September, you still are a contender in my book. Under .500 and in the American league and you are the subject of today’s column. [Read more →]

Batter Up August 14th

Like hurricanes in the Caribbean, great baseball races are spawned during the dog days of August. 2004 is no exception.

As millions of Floridians flee the storms battering the west coast of Florida this weekend, the Cleveland Indians are trying to fit into Cinderella’s glass slipper as this year’s surprise team.

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Talk about making an error in a crucial situation, the Arizona Diamondbacks were left holding onto Randy Johnson and his 23 million dollar contract as the trading deadline expired on July 31st.

Arizona sent its scouts all over the landscape looking at minor league prospects. Arizona’s demands for Johnson were so far beyond what the market would bear for the soon to be 41 year old pitcher, they couldn’t make a deal and now are stuck with Johnson, barring some waiver miracle, until next winter.

You tell me why the worst team in baseball still has the burden of paying this aging pitcher when his hefty contract could have been unloaded to New York, Anaheim, or Los Angeles for live bodies?

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The A’s and Giants are right on schedule as to where they should be in the 2004 pennant race.

Good pitching and tight defense are still the two most important attributes a winning ball club must have.

When the A’s turned the corner in 1999, the front office reluctantly realized that to win the division the team had to catch and pitch the ball effectively and not just rely on whacking the ball to win games.

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With Jermaine Dye hitting home runs in addition to fielding his position like the gold glove right fielder he was before his last two injury plagued seasons, it’s time for the club to consider resigning him before he hits the free agent market this winter.

The A’s and Dye have all sorts of mutual options and buyouts complicating the situation. All that should be put aside and a deal should be put on the table right now.

Just consider what the A’s offense will look like next year without Dye. Replacing his power won’t be easy. Bobby Crosby and Eric Chavez will eventually hit three-four in the lineup. Until that happens there is no one on the club now or in the high minors ready to hit clean up for the team.

The Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Cubs, Royals and Red Sox will pursue Dye if the A’s don’t step up and try to get something done before the free agent feeding frenzy starts in November.

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Some years the race for the home crown, ala Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa ’98, sparks the interest of baseball over the summer. Not this year. 2004 will be remembered as the summer that 22 of 30 teams had a realistic shot at the playoffs heading into the second half of play.

With so many teams in contention, and13 weeks left to play, a team needs one well placed 7 game winning streak, and boom, smiles all over. This year if you play .500 by September 1st, you are in decent shape for the stretch run.

Which teams will be buyers as the trade deadline approaches? Tough decisions will have to be made with 60 days remaining in the season. After July 31st, teams making trades will need to slip the players involved past the teams below them in the standings.

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