August is the part of the season when the early 'pretenders' cease to be contenders and inherently talented teams begin to take control. What can be embarrassing, though, is watching some perennial losers just give up.
***NOT THE ORIOLES THOUGH***
Last night 3 Orioles were given the thumb in a losing effort. First, Ty Wiggington blew up because the first base umpire missed a call (No Ty, can't be). Then the pitching coach was booted for 'sarcastically clapping when the Twins scored a run because of the missed call. Out came the manager, flailing his arms, throwing his hat and asking when was the last eye test for the umpire. Oh, later the ump admitted he missed the call.
***AND THE NEXT UMPIRE STORY***
In the Yanks-Royals game, home plate ump, Eric Cooper, called a runner out as he was perfectly positioned behind Posada so he couldn't see the runner, the plate or the tag (?). Naturally, he blew the call, but did notice Posada's cute butt. Why else would he have stood there? Later, the third base ump blew a tag play in favor of the Royals to make up for it. Cooper also helped by calling balk on Sabathia for, I think, burping without stepping off the rubber. ...Okay, then you tell me why.
***MORE DRUG TESTING***
MLB will institute testing player for HGH (Human Growth Hormone) in a continued attack against performance enhancing drugs. Oh, wait. That's just in the Minor Leagues. The Major Leaguers can still use them until the Players Association can get more money from the owners before they will allow the player's privacy invaded. Didn't we go thru this 10 years ago with steroids? MLB saying they wanted to test but the MLBPA wouldn't allow it, while the MLBPA basically said, "you didn't argue hard enough."
***WHO'S HOT, WHO'S NOT***
AL EAST: NY & Tampa are hot, Boston slowly sinking between injuries & a pitching staff not performing as predicted.
AL CENTRAL: Chicago has suddenly gone crazy, while Detroit is falling off the pace. Meanwhile Minnesota's M & M boys are not living up to expectations.
AL WEST: If the Angels don't win the last 3 games of the series against Texas this weekend, the Rangers will take the division with out a fight.
NL EAST: The Braves are a surprise and Philly is suddenly developing a lot of holes in their pitching & hitting. The Mets have started their normal September swoon a month early.
NL CENTRAL: St Louis is starting to take command of the division and Cincy is coming back to earth. Milwaukee seems more concerned about whether or not to trade Fielder than winning ball games. As for the Cubs, well, it appears Piniella has seen enough - he's bolting.
NL WEST: Is there an NL West? San Diego is doing it with mirrors, San Fran can't hit and the Dodgers...I think Torre needs a cash incentive but the McCourts can't spend any money. He can't even shift the focus from himself by batting Manny 8th, because Manny's on the DL again. Maybe he should write another book.
***MORE BAD NEWS***
## Boston has shifted Wakefield to the bullpen. Good idea. In a tight situation, it's always smart to bring in a knuckleballer to throw a few past the catcher.
## Jamie Moyer may have elbow surgery. If he does, that may mean the end of a career for Vod's favorite player (after Jeter, of course)
## AJ Burnett's pitching tonight. (I hope I'm wrong about this one).
CP-
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