As blatently obvious and downright easy it’s been to single out the horrific season the Seattle Mariners are having ( as my previous post on the M’s states), I would be remissed to leave the Mariners out on the island by themselves. They’ve been bad, sure. But they’re not alone. And as the old saying goes, misery loves company. And these teams and players are plenty company for the Mariners…
Washington Nationals. Another year, but it’s the same old story in the nation’s capital. And you can find the Nationals in a familiar place: at the bottom. Their 36-61 record qualifies them as the worst team in the NL and the majors. They’re the worst hitting team in baseball, thanks to their .239 average and league-low 772 hits. Washington is 7-19 since June 17th and 3-10 in July. Not to kick them when they’re already down, but their 3-10 against the NL West is the fewest wins against a division in the bigs.
Atlanta Braves road record. Only the Cubs (37) have more wins at home amongst NL teams than the Braves, who have 31 home victories. But on the road, good gracious, the Braves have been putrid. Atlanta is 15-32 away from Turner Field; only the Rockies and Padres have fewer road wins (14 apiece). Not good for a team that had visions of returning to the top of the heap in the NL East.
NL West. Remember when the Arizona Diamondbacks started out the first month of the year 20-8 and seemed to running away with things? Yea, me either. All five teams are under .500, with four of the five teams ranking in the bottom half of the NL in hitting; Arizona 11th, L.A. 13th, San Francisco 14th and San Diego 15th. I don’t expect in September that whoever wins this division will have a .500 record or better, and you shouldn’t either.
Brett Myers. Well it’s safe to say his move from closer to starter has bombed in Philly. Myers is 3-9 with a 5.84 ERA this season and he’s given up a league worst 24 home runs. He hasn’t been as terrible as his numbers suggest, but he hasn’t been able to avoid that one big inning this year. After an 8-7 loss to Texas in which Myers lasted just two innings while giving up five runs, he was sent down to the minors to Triple A Lehigh Valley. He’s scheduled to return to the rotation on July 23rd. Here’s hoping to all Phillies fans that Myers has fixed his delivery and confidence problems. If not, Philadelphia will have an $8.58 million dollar problem on their hands.
Barry Zito. Boy $126 million just doesn’t seem to go as far as it used to. The San Francisco Giants signed Zito to the largest pitching contract in baseball history, signing him to a seven-year, $126 million deal. And what have they gotten in return? Sure as hell not the guy who won 23 games and the AL Cy Young for the Oakland A’s in 2002. Or the guy who averaged nearly 16 wins a season for the A’s between 2001-2006. In his first two years in a Giants uniform, Zito has lost a combined 25 games to date. His 11 wins last year were his fewest since 2004 and his 4.53 ERA was a career worst. What’s he done for an encore in 2008? Zito has gone 4-12 with an ERA of 5.62, and his 12 losses are the most in the league. Zito has been one of the worst pitchers over the past two years in the bigs, coupled with GM Brian Sabien making one of the worst investments in recent history.
Cleveland Indians. It’s hard to put them on this list as one of the worst stories in baseball’s first half, but for a team that was one win shy from making the World Series a year ago to last place in the AL Central this season, that qualifies as disappointment. The Tribe sit 41-53, looking up at everyone else in the Central, including the Royals. Injuries and poor performances have doomed the Indians in ‘08. Or what is the announcement of Paul Byrd’s link to HGH before Game 7 of the ALCS last year? Anyway, Cleveland has starters Fausto Carmona and Jake Westbrook to injuries, as well as Victor Martinez, Travis Hafner and Josh Barfield. That’s two starting pitchers and three starting position players that have been lost. Martinez has appeared in just 54 games and Hafter in only 46. Hafner’s production has dropped off the face of the Earth. He’s hitting .217 with only four homers and 22 rbis. Closer Joe Borowski has only six saves in 18 appearances, a year removed from leading the AL with 45 saves. Cliff Lee has revived his career with a 12-2 first half that found him on the mound starting the All Star Game for the American League. No other Cleveland starters have more than five wins. Sinking further and further in the Central, the Indians dealt ace lefthander C.C. Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers. Sabathia won 100 games and the 2007 AL Cy Young while playing for the Indians, but GM Mark Shapiro chose to move Sabathia now and get something for him in return rather than see him walk away in free agency this winter and be left with nothing. The Indians will playing for 2009 in the second half of 2008, with all signs and certainties that Cleveland will be going on 60 years since their last World Series title.
New York Mets’ firing of Willie Randolph. I don’t disagree why they did it, but how they did it was disgraceful. Last year, they blew a seven-game lead over second place Philadelphia with 17 games to play and lost the NL East Division to the Phillies. This year they struggled through the first two and a half months. Fans and management grew restless and impatient, and the Mets finally fired Randolph on June 17th when the team was in Los Angeles to play the Angels. GM Omar Minaya’s gutless firing of Randolph came at 3 AM back in New York, on the other side of the country. Instead of making a change after a 3-3 homestand against Arizona and Texas, Minaya and the Mets bigwigs let Randolph get on a plane and cross the country, never to return as Mets manager. It was clear that Randolph’s words had fallen on deaf ears in the clubhouse and whether the players tuned him out or gave up playing for him, a change was needed. Unless the Mets came out of the gate taking names and kicking ass and advanced, if not won, the World Series under Randolph, Willie probably wasn’t going to be back in 2009. That’s all fine with me, I have problem with going another way. But to embarrass your manager, your employee by flying him across the country to California and then two days later, you fire him through press release in the middle of the night, now that’s a piss poor, gutless way to do things.
