N.Y. Daily News: A-Rod says critics are off base

“One thing I learned from Joe Torre and Lou Piniella was that a manager will never get mad at you for playing the game right, hustling and making an aggressive mistake,” Rodriguez said before Wednesday night’s win over Toronto. “They’ll get mad at you if you don’t push the envelope.”

A-Rod’s hustle - or lack thereof - was a popular topic on sports radio Wednesday, as replays showed the third baseman pause before leaving the batter’s box. Rodriguez shot down the theory that he wasn’t going all-out, explaining his momentary hesitation.

“There was a delay because I didn’t know where the ball was,” Rodriguez said, adding that he initially thought it was a foul ball. “Usually when there’s a lack of hustle, it’s not in the ninth inning down by one. Whoever is saying that doesn’t know about baseball. That doesn’t bother me one bit.”

But I’m sure it bothers the dissolving liver snaps out of Gene Collier…

N.Y. Observer: Megdal: The Mets’ Last-Ditch Youth Movement

Lifting the Vail?

The most intriguing of the three young players is Daniel Murphy, and not just because he’s hitting .419/.510/.651 as a Met in his first 43 at-bats. (His RBI single in four at-bats Wednesday lowered his average to just .404.)

Murphy, who is learning left field on the fly just like Evans, has had similar ups and downs defensively. But not only has Murphy hit, he has hit for power—five of his 19 hits have been for extra bases, including a pair of home runs. He has exhibited uncommon patience, drawing eight walks, and has rarely been overmatched, striking out just six times.

The most intriguing part of Murphy, however, is his versatility. Clearly, he has no hope of unseating the incumbent at his natural position of third base. But in addition to playing some left field, he also played 15 games at second base for Binghamton, holding his own defensively. With Luis Castillo’s future with the Mets, long-term contract or no, uncertain, Murphy could provide a plus bat at a position where New York has few other alternatives.

If his lack of a platoon split at AA holds in the major leagues, it just adds another dimension to his ability to help the Mets down the road. (When asked about playing Murphy at second base in 2008, Jerry Manuel claimed he didn’t want to put Murphy at a new position during a pennant race—leaving unanswered, of course, why he plays him in left field.)

Heller: Nats’ casualties of woe could be Acta, Bowden

Heller: We Bombed in New Stadium.

One thing for sure: The Nats can’t continue this way if they’re ever to challenge the almighty Redskins for local sporting supremacy. Folks in this town will support a loser only so long, and the ballclub has more than exceeded its honeymoon period.

Earlier this season, teeth were gnashed and garments rent over TV ratings that showed only 9,000 households a game tuned in to the Nats in a metropolitan area of 5.3 million. By now, that number might be down to 900, especially with the Olympics flooding the airwaves. Why watch a team with no chance of playing a meaningful game and little chance of winning?

It’s a shame that our baseball renaissance has come to this. For 33 years, we endured summers without a major league team. Now we seem to be in that sad and sorry position again.

Japan Defeats US For Olympic Gold

A stunner in softball: The U.S. team, which has dominated the sport since its introduction to the Olympic in 1996, has lost the gold medal game to Japan, 3-1. With the IOC having voted to eliminate softball from the Olympic docket in 2012, it will be at least eight years --and maybe never—until the U.S. can attempt to avenge the loss.

Japan scored their insurance run with some assistance from the suddenly tight and indecisive U.S. defense. Megu Hirose led off the seventh with a sharp single to left and went to second when Masumi Mishina dropped a sacrifice bunt. Rather than taking the easier out at first, U.S. first baseman Tairia Flowers decided to throw to second to get the lead runner, but shortstop Natasha Watley dropped the throw (which may have been late anyway), and both runners were safe.

Two batters later, with runners on second and third, Motoko Fujimoto hit a comebacker to U.S. pitcher Monica Abbott, who tried to get the runner heading home. Her throw to catcher Stacey Nuveman was late, and Japan had pushed their lead to 3-1.

Is firstbaseman the preferred nomenclature?

Sox demote Buchholz after another pummeling

Proving, yet again, that throwing a no-hitter and looking like Kevin Bacon...can only go so far.

“That’s not good, [with] your expectations, to say, ‘Yeah, I think I’m going to get sent down,’ after each start,” Buchholz said. “But the last couple starts, it’s hard to think they can give me any more opportunities than they have in this stretch, especially with only a month and a half left in the season and the pennant race as close as it is now.

“You’ve got to send guys out there that . . . you believe they’re going to go out there and give you a win or give you six, seven innings, and I haven’t been doing that. So I hate to say it was the right decision, but I believe it was.”

..."You’re down there to develop and everybody knows that,” Buchholz said of pitching in the minors. “Up here you’re in a pennant race. I’ve never been one to say that pressure was too much for me, but I’ve felt like I’ve had a lot of weight on my shoulders, just trying to be perfect, trying to do everything as well as I could to help this team win, and it hasn’t been near good enough.

“The decision was coming. It had to be made soon. They had given me ample opportunity to help this team and to help myself out up here, and it just hasn’t worked out.”

Fleury gets last swing at dream

Theoren Fleury played more than 1,200 games during 16 seasons in the National Hockey League, but his professional baseball career is going to end after two games.

“He’s going to retire and we’re going to retire his No. 14 jersey next Thursday . . . at least, until someone asks for it,” revealed Calgary Vipers president and CEO Peter Young on Wednesday afternoon.

Baseball players eyeing shortcut to Olympic gold

Five Japanese baseball players, including ace pitcher Yu Darvish, have had close-cropped haircuts since arriving in Beijing.

The reason for the shorn locks is not to look cool, but to show each player’s desire to win the gold medal in the baseball competition.

According to Japanese custom, cropping one’s hair is a way of showing contrition or determination, and is especially common among athletes.
[...]
“I was ashamed of my performance [against Cuba], so I got my hair cut,” Darvish said.

Yes, but did he trim his sideburns?

N.Y. Sun: Goldman: These Yankees Need To Be Dismantled - Immediately

Muttmantled is more like it…

The Yankees also have their trio of 34-year-olds who, to paraphrase Casey Stengel, have a good chance of being 35 next year. Therein lies the problem. Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon have hit well when healthy, while Derek Jeter has had a season that has so far been disappointing by his own standards, while falling short of outright disaster given the general weakness of the shortstop position; AL shortstops are hitting just .264/.316/.371, so Jeter is still an offensive plus relative to the competition, even if he isn’t the MVP candidate of old. The problem is that another year older means an even greater likelihood of one, two, or all of these players disappointing due to age-induced decline, injury, or both. Just ask Jorge Posada, also under contract, about that. Nor will the defensive skills of these three players, which currently range from questionable (Damon) to tolerable (Jeter) to excused with a doctor’s note (Matsui), get any sharper. The Yankees and top-flight defense have been estranged for a long time, with the club currently ranking toward the bottom of the majors (tied for 24th) in turning balls in play into outs. There won’t be a reconciliation next year.

Olympic Baseball’s Two-Week Wake

As the end nears, there isn’t much joy at Wukesong Baseball Field. In the early rounds the atmosphere was sepulchral. One game, between South Korea and China, pulled in fewer than 1,000 fans. On Tuesday, about 6,000 showed up to watch the team from the place usually known as Taiwan (Chinese Taipei here) play the U.S. Paying customers were stuck in the outfield. Infield seats were reserved for the press and the “Olympic Family,” both in near-complete non-attendance.

The loudspeakers were loud enough, emitting the same seat-banging sound effects inescapable at U.S. ballparks. A blessing of baseball at past Olympics has been a commercial-free calm. But when the sound effects stop at Wukesong, the stands are sometimes struck dumb.

Doug Glanville - The Numbers Game (RR)

Because three-zero is a magic number hero…

The problem is, when you get traded, someone else on your new team probably already has your number. So you have to work it out. On the Sox, Nick Swisher was already wearing Griffey’s precious number “30.” To make matters worse, Nick had an entire fan club called “the Dirty 30.”

USA Today: 20-game winners climbing back into the picture

Remember when 20-game winners meant something...and then God went and invented Ron Bryant.

That’s what’s so impressive to me,” says Diamondbacks starter Dan Haren (13-6), “is seeing guys winning on teams below .500. Not to take anything away from a guy like (Mike) Mussina, but the Yankees score so many runs. Guys like Volquez, Lee, Cook and (Tim) Lincecum, aren’t getting the support, and they’re still winning.”

Lee (17-2) has the opportunity to have the highest winning percentage of any 20-game winner in baseball history. He has an .895 winning percentage, .002 higher than Ron Guidry (25-3, .893) for the 1978 New York Yankees. Boston starter Daisuke Matsuzaka (15-2, .882) is also threatening the record.

“It’s fun admiring what these guys are doing right now,” says San Diego Padres ace Jake Peavy, last year’s NL Cy Young winner with 19 victories. “I hope they all do it, but it’s so tough to get wins.

“You can pitch as good as you want, but your team still needs to pick you up.”

The Baseball Analysts: Timmermann: The World of Catcher’s Interference

HE PREYS ON CATCHER’S INTERFERENCE! As only Bob T. had the guts to look into The Monster of Triandos Blancas!

The number of instances of catcher’s interference has gone up in recent years, which I think can be attributed to the increase in the number of games and better protective equipment for catchers that let them set up closer to the batter, even if it’s by a couple of inches. However, the number of occurrences isn’t exactly staggering, although it does happen more frequently than a complete game shutout now.

...The leader among active players in catcher’s interference calls is Darin Erstad of the Astros with 13. Craig Counsell of the Brewers is engaged in a neck and neck battle with Erstad with 12 CI calls. Erstad is the only player I’ve ever seen reach on CI in person, back on July 19, 1998 when Chris Hoiles of the Orioles knicked Erstad’s bat. Or at least that’s what I believe happened as I recall also that I had to stare into the sun most of the game, so pretty much anything that happened at home plate was just a rumor to me.

...In Boston, since the Curse of the Bambino has been lifted, it’s now time to talk about the Curse of Darren Lewis. Lewis reached first on catcher’s interference back on September 13, 1998 courtesy of Tigers catcher Paul Bako. And no Red Sox player has reached on catcher’s interference since then, the longest current drought for any franchise in the majors. How much longer will the people of Boston have to suffer? (My book proposal about this has gone nowhere which shows that there is a limit in the publishing world to the number of Red Sox-themed books there can be.)

Post-Gazette: Collier: Who jogs on bases key to playoff field

Personally...I’d like to see the results after the loafer’s revenge.

Show me a contender, and I’ll name you its notable loafer.

The Philadelphia Phillies?

Why it’s none other than defending National League Most Valuable Player Jimmy Rollins. Pulled from the lineup by manager Charlie Manuel for his leisurely trot toward first base June 5, Rollins’ egregious I’ll-get-there-when-I-get-there posture barely got him to the ballpark on time six weeks later. He was benched for that day game against the New York Mets, whom the Phillies are now pursuing with growing desperation in the good ol’ National League East.

The New York Mets?

Jose Reyes, ladies and gentleman. In parts acknowledged as the game’s most exciting player, Reyes had been sent to the dugout for not running hard to first by former manager Willie Randolph. The night Jerry Manuel arrived as Randolph’s successor, Reyes appeared to indicate an injury after another late arrival at first, and Manuel made him leave the game over the shortstop’s strenuous objections.

L.A. Times: Simers: There continue to be surprises from Dodgers’ Manny Ramirez (RR)

Come in Simers old boy
Take a seat, take the weight off your feet

So what about the reports from Boston that had him being moody and difficult?

“I don’t like to say much; I just like to play the game,” he says. “I talk, but when I talk in Spanish, I’m more comfortable.”

He likes to be comfortable, and says he never really was in Boston. “I couldn’t breathe there; it’s a small city and all on top of you. Here it’s spread out. I love it. I went out for sushi, sat back on a couch and no one cared. It’s like there’s 20 pounds less on my back here.”

And yet, here he is carrying the Dodgers, an air of excitement in the stadium again, and while the bitter folks in Boston might consider it fool’s gold, who are they kidding?

They’ve already seen the payoff.

Bordow: Dunn frees up D-Backs to be themselves

And how great is it to hear Daron Sutton just winging the praises of Adam Dunn and his OBP every game...(as the “get ‘em on, get ‘em over, get me a beer” Cincy crew gets what they wanted).

Everyone wants to talk about the statistical impact Dunn has had on the Diamondbacks’ offense. Arizona is averaging 6.7 runs per game since his arrival, and it’s become much more selective at the plate, drawing 6.2 walks per contest.

Are the rest of the D-Backs taking a cue from Dunn, whose on-base percentage is a ridiculous .513? Who knows.

But it can’t be a complete coincidence that a free-swinging team suddenly has discovered the joy of ball four.

“All I know is that I’m getting a heck of a lot more at-bats with runners on base,” third baseman Mark Reynolds said.

Mike Pelfrey’s first complete game leads Mets past Braves, 6-3

Mike has evolved into one of the bright young pitching stars in the National League, there’s no doubt about it,” Manuel said. “He’s been very impressive from where he came early in the season - we were questioning whether or not to have him on the staff, whether or not to keep him in the rotation. He’s been a huge part of the success we’ve had here.”

Pelfrey has learned to go deeper in games as the season has progressed. He picked up some confidence with wins in June and has become much more economical. He went into the ninth having thrown only 97 pitches.

Pelfrey’s last 16 starts: 10-2, 3.17 ERA, 105 IP, 1.22 WHIP, 63/27 k/bb, 0.43 hr/9.

This from a guy who was absolutely blasted in spring training by the Cardinals B-team.

Umpires, MLB sign agreement on instant replay

Baseball umpires and management signed an agreement Wednesday that will allow the sport to start using instant replay to help determine calls on the field. Major League Baseball still hasn’t determined when the use of replays will start.

Installation of equipment has been going on at ballparks, and officials have said they hoped to start using replay in August. Replays will be limited to boundary calls, such as determining whether fly balls were fair or foul, or whether they went over fences.

“I told our members that it’s just another tool that we can use to get the play right, not to look at it as a negative, but a positive,” World Umpires Association president John Hirschbeck said. “As hard as you try, as much as you hustle, sometimes with just the landscape of the ballparks nowadays, it’s hard to tell. So if we can get it right, you know what, let’s use it as a tool to get it right.”

Royals: Mitch Maier beaned: 3 broken bones in face

Mitch Maier of the Kansas City Royals suffered three broken bones when hit in the face by a pitch from Cleveland Indians left-hander Zach Jackson in the fifth inning Wednesday night.

Maier was taken to a hospital for X-rays, which revealed the fractures below his right eye.

The 26-year-old returned to the Royals’ clubhouse after Kansas City’s 8-5 loss, his right eye swollen shut.

With runners on first and second and none out, Jackson threw a pitch up and in to Maier, who had squared around to bunt and could not get out of the way in time. The ball glanced off his ear flap before hitting his right cheek and nose, and Maier crumpled to the ground immediately.

“The pitch just got away,” Jackson said. “I was trying to throw a cutter down and away.”

A’s Nation: Blez: Rickey Henderson Coming Back to Oakland A’s in Non-Player Role?

One step closer to a ML roster…

Yes, folks, I sat down for a two-hour or so interview with A’s owner Lewis Wolff today at his Los Angeles office and he confirmed to me that he’s in negotiations to bring Rickey Henderson back to the Oakland Athletics, where the greatest player in Oakland history will be when he is eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2009.

Lew wasn’t specific with the capacity in which Henderson will be with the organization, but it won’t be as a player.  He hinted at a goodwill community ambassador-type of position but that they may also use him to tutor the young A’s.  I think they’re still developing what exactly that role will be.

It’s been far too long that Rickey has been away from Oakland and I’m happy to report that, as long as things go well between Wolff and Henderson in negotiations, that will not last much longer.  It’s only fitting that Rickey will be Rickey once again with the green and gold in the year that he’ll wind up being enshrined at Cooperstown.  Even if it isn’t as a player.

Times Union: McGuire: Bull Durham gets its due at the Hall of Fame

The Baseball Hall of Fame has reversed one of the most egregious decisions the institution ever made.

“Bull Durham,’‘ the best baseball movie ever made, is getting its day, as the Hall of Fame will salute the film Sept. 19 as part of its three-day Film Festival.

Five years ago, then-Hall of Fame President Dale Petroskey canceled a 15th anniversary celebration of the 1988 film. His shaky reasoning simply rooted itself in politics: Two of the movie’s stars, couple Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, were vocal opponents of the Iraq War.

The decision at the time rankled many in and outside of the Hall of Fame; I was among those who argued that baseball and politics should remain separate, that there are enough things that divide us as there is. (Robbins and Sarandon, both big baseball fans, had vowed not to use the appearance for political purposes.)

Petroskey, a former Republican official, said earlier this year he wish he could have had a do-over.

And Bruce M. points out the HOF Press Release.

Orlando Magazine: Duped! The Mark Pulliam Story

Whew!...Good thing he didn’t talk about his etching experiences in the Vietnam War!

If a story sounds too good to be true, it probably is. The story we ran on Winter Garden artist Mark Pulliam in our August issue (“The Natural”) certainly sounded like a good one, but much of it wasn’t true.

Associate editor Jay Boyar’s profile of Pulliam described the artist as living a Zelig-like life, replete with celebrity encounters and a brief stint with the New York Yankees. Boyar’s story was based totally on Pulliam’s accounts and sources who knew him only as an artist or friend. Beyond verifying that he is a full-time artist, we did not independently corroborate many factual details in the story, a lapse in judgment that extends through the editing chain of command and ends with me.

After the story was published, a reader alerted us that he believed Mark Pulliam, 48, hadn’t played Major League Baseball. A baseball encyclopedia did not list Pulliam’s name, this reader wrote in an e-mail to me. I immediately called the Yankees and the colleges Pulliam claimed to have attended as a student athlete.

As the Pulliam story quickly unraveled, another person’s story emerged. Pulliam melded an embellished version of an aspiring baseball player’s short career into his own personal narrative. Confronted at his studio with the information that refuted his claims, Pulliam offered no firm rebuttals.

“I don’t know what to say,” Pulliam kept repeating as he stared down at the documents that contradicted his baseball claims. “I’ve bumped into this more than once, because . . .,” he said, his voice trailing off. He said little else.

Cusack Faces Backlash Over Baseball Article

Being George Metkovich?

Actor John Cusack is facing a backlash over an article he wrote for Huffington Post Chicago after readers accused the star of a string of embarrassing mistakes.

...The column, written while the actor was working in Bangkok, focuses on Cusack’s memories of the area and his love of the local baseball teams, the Cubs and the White Sox.

But readers have accused Cusack of misspelling the names of three Cubs players, as well as famed playwright Eugene O’Neill, and making a variety of factual errors.

Cusack also described in the piece how he took the “express train” to Wrigley Field, the Cubs’ stadium, even though there has never been an express train service to the ground. The star goes on to describe the poverty of his childhood, insisting he had to “scrape together $2.50” to go to a baseball game. But a source tells New York Post gossip column Page Six, “Cusack grew up in a massive house on Sheridan Road.

“It’s slightly disingenuous to say he had to ‘scrape’ together $2.50. I’m thinking that wasn’t an issue.”*

*Correction...That last quote is taken directly from the The Beachwood Reporter piece.

Thanks to Steve R.

ajc: Glavine will not require ligament transplant surgery (RR)

HA!  Back in your hole, you pathetic Mickey Welch Fan Club members!

Tom Glavine got the news he was looking for Wednesday. He needs surgery to repair the torn flexor tendon in his elbow, but he does not need ligament transplant surgery.

That means with a four-to-five month rehabilitation, he’ll at least have a chance to return to pitch next season, if the Braves are open to the idea.

“Happy about the diagnosis,” Tom Glavine said in a text message to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Still not sure about next year but this will give me a chance.”

Glavine has said he would not pitch anywhere other than Atlanta next season.

SABR: Daly: The Baseball Biography Project: Evar Swanson

The Archdeacon of Doom is back! As Jon Daly does a bang-up job on speedster Evar Swanson.

On Sunday, September 15, 1929, there was a field day held at Crosley Field between games of a Reds-Braves doubleheader. The club offered $100 if anyone could circle the bases from a standing start in less than 13.8 seconds and beat Hans Lobert’s 19-year-old major league record. Among the participants were Swanson and outfield mate Ethan Allen. Like his teammate, Allen was a sprinter in college. Swanson was able to circumnavigate the bases in full uniform in 13.4 seconds. This tied a record that Maurice Archdeacon set eight years earlier at Rochester in the International League. (Marty Hogan of Indianapolis in the Western League was credited by some sources for circling the bases in 13.2 seconds in 1898. Ben Morgan of the National Association may have disputed that claim when doing a study of field day records.)

A sore shoulder shortened Swanson’s 1930 season. He missed much of spring training and part of the season and only appeared in 95 games. But he was picked up in November by Columbus of the American Association to be their center fielder in 1931. While in Columbus he was involved in another field day on September 21st at Neil Park in the Ohio capital. This time he circled the bases in 13.2 seconds. To this day that record stands, although there is an unverified claim that Cool Papa Bell broke the 13-second barrier during his career. Over the years some players have come close. Maury Wills circled the bases in 13.4 seconds in 1953. George Case and Cliff McClain did it in 13.5. But no one has bested Swanson’s record.

SNY: Salfino: By the Numbers: Hidden values

“Bill James Online is the place to “hang” with Bill James.” And that’s just what Salfino has done. Sorta.

Let’s focus on the two defensive positions that get the most action, shortstop and center field. James looks at a player’s plus/minus number, which is how many plays they have netted relative to those an average fielder at his position would make. There’s no formula involved here; instead, each play is reviewed by the Baseball Information Solutions video scouts.

The Braves’ Yunel Escobar leads the shortstops at plus-27, followed by J.J. Hardy (Brewers, plus-16), Jack Wilson (Pirates, plus-13), Mike Aviles (Royals, plus-11), Omar Vizquel (Giants, plus-10) and Jimmy Rollins (Phillies, plus-9).

Gold Glover Derek Jeter is minus-7, a big improvement over last year (minus-34). But he still struggles moving to his right (minus-15 on balls that direction this year).

Toronto Sun: Canada’s team? No way Jays

Ricciardi’s roster shenanigans with pitcher Scott Richmond really toast the backbacon of columnist Bob Elliotti—er, Elliott.

The Jays recalled the 28-year-old, one start before Olympic rosters had to be filed, had him start twice more and then demoted him to triple-A Syracuse on Friday.

Jays management appeared surprised when some Canadians reacted angrily to Canada going into the Olympics without its best starter.

Only arrogance or a failure to understand this country, or both, would allow management to not know they were walking into a sandstorm, or whatever it is Mr. Lahey and Randy say every 10 minutes on the Trailer Park Boys.

When the Colorado Rockies didn’t allow Jeff Francis to pitch in the 2004 Olympics how many people in Denver cared? Canadians cared about the loss of Richmond.

Of course, it could have all been avoided had the Jays allowed Richmond to pitch for Canada and recalled him when needed next month.

Besides the thrill of it all, Canada would have had a better product.

Hindman: Debunking the Myth of Money: A Manifesto on Pitching (RR)

Your professional print and broadcast bloviators have brainwashed too many of you into believing that the answer to all of the Rangers pitching problems is for Tom Hicks to “open up his wallet” and pay for it. Sounds good. And most of you seem to believe it.

The only problem is that it isn’t true. Going out and spending money on free agent starters hasn’t worked here, and generally doesn’t work anywhere else.

...The truth is that there really aren’t any shortcuts.  You draft it, you sign it out of the Caribbean, you develop it, you grow it, and then you milk it for all it’s worth while it’s young and under your control.  And then if after spending all of those years getting to know everything there is to know about the guy, if you want to keep him, you sign him to stay home before he he hits the free agent market.  If you can’t get that done, you trade him away for more kids.  That’s the formula.  That’s what Jon Daniels seems to be working towards. 

Here’s hoping that Nolan Ryan doesn’t succeed in getting Tom Hicks to “open up his wallet and get some pitching in here” because the truth is, it probably won’t work.

Thanks to Frank Bertaina Rules the Waves!

Simers: Jeff Kent tries to remove foot from his cheek (RR)

Submitted without comment, other than to say that someone may as well post the follow up to the piece from the other day.

I apologize.

I got so rattled after hearing Jeff Kent criticize Vin Scully, I had Kent batting ahead of Manny Ramirez in paragraph one and behind him in paragraph two in Sunday’s column…

snip

“I said it to you—because I knew you’d write it tongue in cheek,” Kent said. “But as I’ve said, a lot of people don’t get your humor. They take something you write and make it more serious and bigger than it really is.

“People think you and I hate each other,” he said, a shock, I must say, to learn we don’t. “As you get on me to make adjustments—you’re over the top for some people, too.”

RosenBlog: No Cubs for MVP? So what? (RR)

Looking down the lists of leaders, the only Cub in the top 20 in homers is Alfonso Soriano with 22. Yeah, he’s missed two months, and yeah, his projected total tells you he would be right there with Howard and Adam Dunn for the league lead, but tough. You get hurt, you lose at-bats. Happens. Sure, he carried the team for a while earlier in the season, but he also carried his Cubbie Blue Cross/Cubbie Blue Shield card for a reason.

Meanwhile, in the less sexy but more important category of runs driven in, Aramis Ramirez is eighth in the league in RBIs with 84, 20 behind Howard. Hard to believe in the rallying cry of “He’s No. 8,” isn’t it?

With a pitching staff this good, I could mount an argument for catcher Geovany Soto, who also hits and runs the bases better than a lot of veteran players, but that argument would end quickly.

So, let me ask you, Cubs fans, where do you go with this campaign? Who’s your guy? Who’s the best candidate for MVP from the team that is killing every other team?

Thanks to Barnald for the “RosenBlog not RosenThal.”