I wish this were a hypothetical question, but it isn't. The Padres have played seven weeks of brutal baseball and show no signs of improving. It's been a while since they were this bad, and I'm not sure what to do.

I might follow a second team — preferably in the American League — just to have a rooting interest for this season. Don't get me wrong, I love my Padres, but when you're looking up at San Francisco in the third week of May, it's probably not your year.

Any suggestions? Any teams that bear tracking in the AL? (Please, don't say Yankees or Red Sox. I have no interest in them.)

Help. Make this season meaningful for me…

Red Sox prospect Justin Masterson will make his second major league start tonight against the Kansas City Royals. After the start, he’ll likely be replaced by Bartolo Colon, who is due for a call up from Pawtucket.

The Mariners suspended top prospect and former Erik Bedard trade-bait Carlos Triunfel indefinitely for a violation of team rules.

The Mariners also promoted outfielder Jeremy Reed to take catcher Jeff Clement's roster spot.

Rangers rookie Doug Mathis makes his first major league start in place of the ailing Kevin Millwood. 

The Nationals promoted closer prospect Martin Beno to High-A Potomac.

Once again I have been invited to WMKT 1270 AM in Petoskey Michigan in order to discuss the Tigers’ fortunes. I’m pretty sure that they feel I’m a good luck charm since I first predicted that the Tigers were dangerous in spring, 2006. They had me on after their 0-7 start and the Tabbies went 14-8 and were 1.5 games out in the AL Central curled up in second place.

Well, again the Tigers have hit a rough patch having lost 12 of 15 and I have been summoned to discuss precisely what has happened to the club.

O.K. first … the basics:

OFF         BA   OBP   SLG   HR  RUNSTigers    .257  .334  .404   41   192Lg. avg.  .258  .328  .396   39   197

PIT         ERA (SP)  ERA  (RP)Tigers        5.50      3.90Lg. avg.      4.22      3.84

RK      BA   OBP   SLG   HR   R  ERA(SP)  ERA(RP)ALC    3rd   1st   2nd  2nd  2nd   5th      4thAL     7th   4th   6th  8th  7th  14th     10th 

SIT          BA   OBP   SLGRISP       .236  .329  .347RISP/2 out .220  .335  .312Ro3/2 out  .190  .326  .228Lt & Cl    .229  .286  .397

The lineup seems O.K. and is above average in the important OBP/SLG categories. They have one of the better offenses in the division although their situational hitting is currently poor with Miguel Cabrera, Ivan Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield and Curtis Granderson being the biggest culprits.

The biggest bugaboo is the starting rotation–currently last in the AL. They’re near or at the bottom in K/9 (5.39), K/BB (1.24)  and their BB/9 ratio of 4.34 is waaay above league average. Simply put, they’re allowing opposing teams far too many extra base runners. 

The bullpen is solid–among pitchers with at least nine innings pitched enjoys a 3.29 ERA yet that’s inflated by Zack Miner’s repeated arson attempts. Extract his flame-fanning ways and it drops down to 2.43. Overall though, they, like the starters are guilty of walking too many batters. Regardless, it’s a serviceable unit that should be adequate for a contending club.

There is good news in that while Rogers may be done the Tigers are getting solid work from Armando Galarraga and Justin Verlander will, barring injury, bounce back and Nate Robertson should round back into his league average form. Unfortunately, the Tigers blew most of their most promising minor league pitching in acquiring Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis all is not lost–27 year old Eddie Bonine (7-0, 2.98 ERA with a BB/9 of 1.12) and 25 year old Chris Lambert (5-1, 2.21 ERA) are doing solid work in Toledo plus Casey Fossum could be given a shot.     

Part of the problem is that the Tigers’ early schedule was very difficult (.526 opponent’s WP). Of their first 44 games, 19 were against teams that are 105-75 thus far. Another 11 have been against .500 teams and 14 versus clubs below .500. This has given the Tigers 30 games against the better teams in the AL. Probably the biggest difficulty the Tigers have having are in divisional games. They are 8-17 in the Central and 9-10 elsewhere; that 9-10 record isn’t as bad as you might think in that their opponents have been the Yankees, Diamondbacks, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Angels and Rangers.

The 0-6 record against the Royals is probably their biggest downfall–if the Tigers went 4-2 in those games they would be 21-25. It’s far from the end of the road for them. I’m sensing a very streaky team. They opened 0-7, followed that by winning 14 of 22 and are 3-12 since. The offense is the biggest culprit since they have scored three or fewer runs in 11 of 16 games this month. Overall, they have played 17 games where they have scored two or fewer runs and 16 games where they have scored six or more. The Tigers have been shut out seven times and scored 10 or more runs five times. 

Conclusion?

There’s a lot of baseball to be played yet. The Tabbies have plenty of talent on the roster and the bats will heat up with the weather (especially the situational hitting). The starting pitching is underachieving at the moment and if healthy will be at least league average. The club is better than it has shown to date and I’m predicting that come September they’ll be slugging it out with the Tribe for the AL Central.

Best Regards

John

According to the Associated Press, former All-Star catcher and future Hall-of-Famer Mike Piazza is retiring from baseball following a 19-season career in which he became one of the top-hitting catchers in history.

“After discussing my options with my wife, family and agent, I felt it is time to start a new chapter in my life,” he said in a statement released by his agent, Dan Lozano. “It has been an amazing journey.”

I had a chance to meet Mike at the 2005 All-Star game in Detroit, and all I have to say is that he was a real class guy. He answered every question thrown his way and was kind and considerate to those around him. Congratulations on a terrific career Mike!

…the problem is with the umpires and lack of oversight. They
have oversight all right, in that there are institutions and people above
them, but there may as well not be any. There is no motivation for an
umpire to put aside personal biases, forget about strained relationships with a
player or manager, and ignore his wish that a cold, rainy game would end as
quickly as possible. Umpires aren’t punished or fined for bad calls and it’s
rare that one will ever admit that he was wrong in making a judgment call (although
Bob Davidson admitted
fault after the recent Mets-Yankees series finale where he called a Delgado
line drive that hit the foul pole a foul ball).

Major League Baseball players are punished for bad play by
being benched, sent down to the Minor Leagues, or released. What happens to
umpires who routinely err in judgment? A phone call where they’re told to not
let it happen again? And when it happens again, they get another phone call and
told not to let it happen again?

While this
article claims that the umpires’ “accuracy rate is 99 percent for baseline
calls and 97 percent for balls and strikes,” that’s not good enough. I agree
with the notion that the use of instant replay would capture a couple of those
missing percentage points, but there is a lot of opposition to it. Jimmie Lee
Solomon, executive vice president for baseball operations in the commissioner’s
office, called the push
to institute the use of instant replay in baseball, “glacier-like movement.”

For an example of just how bad umpiring can be, take a look
at this video on YouTube
(courtesy the blog Pedro Feliz
Walks) of the rainy series finale between the Phillies and Blue Jays. The
game featured two rain delays totaling 2 hours and 43 minutes. Between the
delays, it was still lightly raining to go along with the relative coldness and
10 MPH winds. It wasn’t a pleasant day for baseball and evidently, home plate
umpire Laz Diaz wanted to get home as quickly as possible.

The video features Chase Utley’s at-bat to lead off the
bottom of the ninth inning with his team trailing 6-4. Closer B.J. Ryan’s 2-1
offering was a fastball clearly low and outside (yes, both) but Diaz
emphatically calls it a strike. Deservingly, Diaz gets chewed out by Jayson
Werth on the bench, so he takes off his mask and yells back at the Phillies’ dugout
because that’s what impartial judges are supposed to do, right?

Later in the inning, with two outs and the game close at
6-5, Diaz calls the first two pitches on Chris Coste strikes. The first pitch
was over the plate but clearly low. If you put Coste’s spikes over home plate,
the pitch might’ve hit them. The second pitch was also over the plate but even
lower than the pitch prior. It’s plainly obvious Diaz was trying to end the
game quickly.

David Ortiz said the same thing of Diaz after Wednesday’s
game against the Baltimore Orioles as Stephen
Krasner of the Providence Journal writes:

What did get Ortiz upset, though, was the
fact that he didn’t think he had gone around on the high-and-tight fastball
from George Sherrill. He also was steamed, as were the rest of the Sox, that
Diaz made the quick call himself and didn‘t check with third-base umpire Paul
Schrieber.

[…]

“All
I told Laz was that I was turning away from the pitching trying to get away,”
said Ortiz. “That’s why my bat went that way (a little across the plate). My
bat never left my shoulder. How can I hit a pitch that almost hit me? I’ve got
to get out of the way. I didn’t cuss. I didn’t even know he threw me out of the
game. I didn’t say anything wrong,” said Ortiz.

“The
thing is they’re trying to rush the game,” said Ortiz, presumably wondering why
Diaz didn’t take the time to check with Schrieber.

After either of the games, there was nothing said by Diaz of
his poor judgment and it’s almost a foregone conclusion that nothing will
happen to him. So, the next time he’s behind the plate and he’s getting antsy,
he won’t hesitate to make the same calls you see in the aforementioned video
because there’s really no oversight.

We need strict oversight on umpires because utilizing
instant replay on balls and strikes – generally speaking, 300 pitches – is too
time consuming. Many complain that baseball games are already too long; using
replay on balls and strikes risks alienating the huge group of fans that can’t
stand watching 4-hour games. Instant replay on home runs and plays in the field
are fine but those reviews will be few and far between.

To
you, is it movement or is it action?
Is it contact or just reaction?
And you…revolution or just resistance?
Is it living, or just existence?
Yeah, you! it takes a little more persistence
To get up and go the distance

Rush, “The Enemy Within”

Check out my recent appearance on the Drunk Jays Fan podcast
by clicking
here. I come in a bit past the halfway point.

I wonder why…

Bill Chuck, a respected baseball writer and colleague here
at Baseball Digest Daily recently
asserted that he had finally crossed over to the dark side. That is, Chuck
feels as if baseball finally needs to
implement instant replay, “I hate to say this but baseball needs to allow
umpires access to video replays. I do mean to create a controversy with this,
but we have come to point were replay is needed for calls of fact, not
judgment.”

For anyone who saw the Yankees-Mets game on Sunday Night
Baseball this past weekend, you can understand where Chuck is coming from. In
an obvious home run by Carlos Delgado
that was originally called a home run and was eventually overturned (based on
what, no one knows).

Chuck writes, “[The umpires] do a terrific job making
split-second decisions. Occasionally they make a mistake, but every now and
then a player makes an error.” Let us keep this in mind as we consider the
instant replay debate.

In defence of the old
school Chuck does present points to suggest why MLB should not implement
instant replay, asserting the ‘time factor’, citing instances when watching an
NFL game that he would switch the channel during an instant reply situation.
Additionally, Chuck questions how far instant replay will go. For now it may be
to determine home runs, foul balls, etc, but how long before balls and strikes
are ‘challengeable’? Furthermore, Chuck questions how long before these calls
are being challenged from a satellite review location? However he does believe
that the umpire’s should have the first and final say, and that managers
shouldn’t be allowed to ‘ask’ for a replay.

I then question the merits of instant replay? While the
umpires currently will convene to make the best
and presumably correct call, wouldn’t an umpire going to instant replay suggest
that they do not know? If they cannot make a decision on a home run, foul ball,
or something of that sort, how can they be trusted to call a ball or strike
when there are fewer eyes on it (simply the home plate umpire) and the margin
for error is so slim?

Recently, MLB General Managers voted in favor
of adding instant replay in a reported 25 to 5 vote. This was the first
time that the vote went through, and will be formally sent to Commissioner Bud
Selig, who has been openly against instant replay. Although this sentiment may
change as Selig has never had to veto what the MLB GM’s would prefer in this
scenario.

“I don't like instant replay because I don't like all the
delays,” Selig said. “I think it sometimes creates as many problems
or more than it solves. But I am willing to say we'll at least talk about this
if people want to talk about it. I'm going to let the general managers discuss
it, let them come back and make recommendations. No, I'm not a big advocate of
instant replay.”

The vote however was to be based on home run calls alone.
That is, according to MLB.com, the GM’s voted to “explore the possibility of
using the video technology to help decide disputed home run calls: fair or
foul, in or out of the ballpark.”

Personally, I do not see the need for instant replay. Out of
the 2430 games played during the regular season, how many are decided by a
missed home run call? Consider that
according to ESPN’s analysis of QuesTec computer system in 2005, the home
plate umpire is making the right call on balls and strikes 94% of the time. If
this is true for an instant reaction call where there are only two eyes on the
ball, what is the percent of home runs that are not called correctly?

What is your opinion on this? Should MLB implement instant
replay? And to what extent? And if you are adventurous (or bored), why?

Jacque Jones returns to the Marlins with a minor
league contract (emjsmith/flickr)

Boston    

Hideki Okajima - Left wrist injury, day-to-day.
    
Chicago Cubs    

Jose Ascanio - Recalled from Iowa (AAA).
Chad Fox - Ulnar nerve injury, 15-day DL.
    
Cleveland    

Oneli Perez - Claimed off waivers from the Chicago White Sox and optioned to Buffalo (AAA).
    
Florida    

Jacque Jones - Signed by the Florida Marlins to a minor league contract.
    
Kansas City    

Matt Tupman - Optioned to Omaha (AAA).
John Buck - Reinstated from bereavement list.
    
Los Angeles    

Andruw Jones - Right knee injury, day-to-day.
    
NY Mets    

Abraham O. Nunez - Signed by the New York Mets to a minor league contract and assigned to New Orleans (AAA).
    
Oakland    

Dallas Braden - Recalled from Sacramento (AAA).
Donnie Murphy - Right elbow inflammation, 15-day DL (retroactive to May 18).
    
San Diego    

Jake Peavy - Sore right elbow, day-to-day.
    
Seattle    

Tracy Thorpe - Claimed off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays.
Jeremy Reed - Recalled from Tacoma (AAA).
    
Tampa Bay    

Jason Bartlett - Missed 1 game (flu).
    
Toronto    

Jorge Velandia - Refused an outright assignment and decided to become a free agent.
    
Washington    

Shawn Hill - Right elbow inflammation, day-to-day.
Ronnie Belliard - Strained left calf, 15-day DL.

Contributed by Bill Chuck

Last night, Boston Red Sox lefty Jon Lester threw a no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals. The Sox won 7-0.

Here are 29 facts about the no-hitter (one for each batter Lester faced:

1. Lester struck out 9 and walked just two.
2. This is his first shutout and first career complete game.
3. First no-hitter by a Red Sox lefty since Mel Parnell on July 14, 1956.
4. At 24 years and 133 days, Lester is the youngest lefty to throw a no-hitter since the Cardinals’ Bud Smith no-hit the Padres on Sept. 3, 2001. Smith was 21 years and 315 days.
5. The Royals are batting .285 against lefties.
6. It was the 18th Red Sox no-hitter of all-time.
7. Lester threw 130 pitches, 4.5 per batter.
8. He threw 20 of 29 first-pitch strikes including 9 of the last 11 batters.
9. On 1-1 counts, Lester threw strikes 9-of-15 times.
10. Lester struck out Alberto Callaspo to end the game on a high and outside 1-2 fastball.
11. He only had two strikeouts through the first four innings.
12. Jason Varitek is the second catcher to catch four no hitters – Hideo Nomo, Derek Lowe, Clay Buchholtz and now Lester. Ray Schalk of the White Sox also caught four.
13. Varitek said. “I didn’t really know he had a no-hitter until the eighth. I looked up in the seventh and saw that he was around 100 pitches, and he did his job. I glanced in the bullpen and saw nobody warming up, and thought that was weird. I looked back and saw. It was good.”
14. Boston's last no-hitter was pitched by Clay Buchholz, against the Baltimore Orioles in just his second major league start last Sept. 1.
15. The no-hitters by Lester and Buchholz marks the first time pitchers on the same team have posted no-hitters in a span without a pitcher from another team doing it since Nolan Ryan tossed no-hitters for the Angels against the Twins on Sept. 28, 1974, and the Orioles on June 1, 1975.
16. Nolan Ryan is the only other pitcher to no-hit the Royals in their franchise history. Ryan was with the California Angels when he threw the first of his seven no-hitters on May 15, 1973, at Kauffman Stadium.
17. “Any time you’re in a class with Nolan Ryan, it’s pretty special,” said Lester. “He’s probably the greatest pitcher of all time. It’s unbelievable the longevity he had, seven no-hitters. It’s something that’s very special.”
18. The one great fielding play was a diving catch by Jacoby Ellsbury in the 4^th. All the other plays were routine.
19. “I’m just thinking, ‘Go get it,’” Ellsbury said. “(Right fielder) J.D. (Drew), I knew he was backing me up on there, so in that situation I can lay out and go for it knowing that he’s going to back me up. And now I look back at it I’m really happy I made that catch.”
20. Lester's record is now 3-2
21. Lester and Jonathan Papelbon combined to one-hit the Royals on July 18, 2006.?
22. Manager Terry Francona, whose said graduated earlier in the day from Penn, said, “I feel like my son graduated and my son threw a no-hitter.”
23. Lester on Francona’s words to him after the game: “He just said he was proud of me,” Lester said. “I've been through a lot the past couple of years, and he's been like a second dad to me, it's just a special moment right there.”
24. “Jon has lived a full life at age 24 for what he's endured, overcome and experienced,” pitching coach John Farrell told Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com. “And he has such a bright future. When you look at his attributes, both physically and mentally, you can envision him being a premium starter in the big leagues for a long, long time.”
25. On May 4, 1989, Rob Neyer reminds us, Farrell, pitching for the Cleveland Indians held the Royals without a hit for 8 1/3 innings.
26. Lester was diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma in August 2006 and he battled back from cancer last season.
27. Lester picked up the victory in Game 4 at Colorado to complete the Red Sox sweep in the 2007 World Series.
28. Lester was the centerpiece of the offseason trade talks to bring Johan Santana to Boston.
29. The Red Sox,Yankees, and Marlins have the most no-hitters since 1993 with four.

Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com and, with Jim Kaplan, is the author of the book, “Walk-Offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs – Baseball’s Grand (and not so Grand) Finales,” with a Foreword by Jon Miller, published by ACTA Sports, and available worldwide.