After experiencing stiffness in his arm on Monday, the Baltimore Orioles scheduled closer George Sherrill for an MRI exam.  The results of Tuesday’s MRI revealed left shouler inflammation and the team placed the 2008 All-Star on the 15-day disabled list.

Sherrill already set career highs in innings (50 1/3) and saves (31) this season and has been a big reason the Orioles are flirting with a .500 record.  The move is retroactive to August 16 and the team is hopeful they will have Sherrill back for September.

The team did not announce a replacement for Sherrill on the active roster yet.

—–

The New York Yankees activated Hideki Matsui from the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday and inserted him in the lineup as the DH against the Toronto Blue Jays.  The team sent Justin Christian to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to make room for Matsui.

Matsui, out since June 22, is hitting .323 with seven homers and 34 RBI in 69 games.  It is expected that Matsui will only be used in a DH role and is only available to play in the outfield in an extreme emergency.

Christian hit .250 with no home runs and six RBI in 24 games with the Yankees this season, the first Major League experience for the 28-year-old outfielder.

The New York Mets have lost Billy Wagner for an indefinite period of time as the closer experienced more pain and swelling in his left elbow.

The shaky Mets bullpen might be without Wagner for the rest of the season after an MRI exam on Tuesday revealed more inflammation in his left elbow.  The team hoped to activate Wagner on Monday but a simulated session on Saturday led to more elbow discomfort and a return to the doctor for further examination.

The Mets acquired reliever Luis Ayala earlier this week to help bolster the bullpen which coughed up another game on Monday to the Pirates.  The Mets’ bullpen has a 4.36 ERA in 2008, fourth worst in the Majors. 

Before the season started, the Atlanta Braves rotation penciled in the depth chart looked nothing like the current one.  On Tuesday, Atlanta recalled Jo-Jo Reyes to make his 16th start on Tuesday when the Braves face the Mets.  The 23-year-old Reyes made his first start in May after injuries elevated him to the rotation for his first stint of 2008.  Infielder Ruben Gotay was placed on the 15-day disabled list due to a strained left hamstring to make room for the return of Reyes.

The injury ravaged rotation of the Braves saw Reyes make 15 starts this season but he was sent to Triple-A Richmond after dropping five decisions in six starts.  During that stretch, Reyes’ ERA was 8.74.  On the season, Reyes is 3-9 with a 5.33 ERA.

Gotay has primarily been used as a pinch hitter this year for the Braves and is 13-for-52 (.250) with one home run and three RBI in the role.  In 73 games with the Braves, Gotay is hitting .225 with two homers and six RBI.

In Richmond, Reyes pitched 16 innings in three starts with a 3.94 ERA.  He also pitched for Richmond in April and is 1-1 with a 2.31 ERA in eight Minor League starts.

…According to a report on ESPN.com Hall Of Famer Carl Yastrzemski has been hospitalized with whats being called chest pains. Spokesman Dick Gordon was ask if this was serious, he replied “Any time you are in the hospital, it’s got to be pretty serious.” Yaz was the last player to win the Triple Crown in 1967.

…John Gall homered to help Team USA beat Taiwan 4-2, which will propel them into the Medal Round a shot at bringing home the Gold. This could be the last medals awarded in Baseball at the Olympics as the IOC voted out both Softball and Baseball for the 2012 Olympics in London. There is still one game to play in the Round Robin before medal play begins. Manager Davey Johnson plans to start Stephen Strasburg in the first round of medal play instead of starting him against Japan in the Round Robin Final. Travor Cahill will get the start against Team Japan.

…For those not paying attention, Matt LaPorta was beaned during a rough game between Team USA and Team China. He took a pitch off the coconut and was taken to the hospital, he’s still experiencing some dizziness and it’s unclear if he’ll be able to finish out the Olympics. As many know he was the key to the deal that sent CC Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers (Not to mention one of our own colleagues here at Baseball Digest Daily). The Cleveland Plain Dealer asked Indians GM Mark Shapiro if he was going to advise LaPorta not to play.

“I won’t speculate. I don’t know if I could have that kind of access to him.”

…Paul White of the USA Today is reporting that Major League Baseball is inching closer to having instant replay installed in all 30 major league ballparks - the goal is to have it all in place before the end of August.

The replay units being installed consist of a flat-screen television, a remote control and a telephone that will provide a direct link to an MLB command center, which will use TV feeds of games to provide various replay angles, slow motion and stop action as requested by the umpires.

Instruction already has begun for the umpires. One crew was shown the equipment and briefed Saturday at Nationals Park in Washington by Joe Garagiola Jr., MLB senior vice president of baseball operations.

Commissioner Bud Selig can order to begin replay when he’s ready. There are still negotiations going on between Major League Baseball and the World Umpires Association in regards to rules meetings and implementation.

…Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling is leaning towards retirement. Though he says he’ll wait until spring training to make the final decision. A while back he had said he’d like to pitch in the World Baseball Classic scheduled for March, and then thought better of it.

“But I just don’t think that’s in the cards,” he wrote in his blog Friday. “Next I started thinking about the original plan of pitching the 2nd half of next season. Thing is, that urgency just is not there. I miss some things I didn’t think I would, and don’t miss many things.”

…Jack Etkin of the Rockie Mountain News is reporting that Kip Wells who was recently released by the Rockies has signed a deal with the Kansas City Royals. He could get the chance to be part of the Royals rotation but right now will work out of the bullpen.

AL GAMES THAT MATTER
The White Sox moved back into first place as they beat-up the hapless Mariners 13-5 at U.S. Cellular Field, Seattle’s eighth loss in nine games. The Sox hit four homers, for the second straight day, including Carlos Quentin’s major-league-leading 35th. Nick Swisher, Alexei Ramirez, and Orlando Cabrera each homered. Chicago leads the AL in homers with 182. Jarrod Washburn gave up eight runs in 4-1/3 innings and in four starts since the July 31 trade deadline, Washburn is 0-4 with a 7.36 earned-run average. The Sox have won six of their last seven while Seattle has lost eight of nine and 20 of its last 28 games.

Cliff Floyd and Eric Hinske hit two-run homers for Tampa Bay, helping Andy Sonnanstine get his 13th win in a 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. The Rays improved to an MLB-best 46-17 at home this season. The Angels have the best road mark in baseball (39-24) but are 0-4 in the Rays’ ballpark this season. Troy Percival, Tampa Bay’s closer, opted not to have surgery on his injured right knee and hopes to resume throwing off a mound in four or five days.

There should be no discussion; Jon Lester is the ace of the Red Sox staff. He outpitched Jeremy Guthrie as Jason Bay homered twice and drove in four runs to help the Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-3. Lester (12-4) allowed one run, four hits and a walk in seven innings to improve to 5-0 lifetime against the Orioles and is 9-1 since May 25.Before May 31, Jon Lester had thrown over 100 pitches just three times in 12 starts. Since then, Lester has gone over 100 pitches 10 times in his 13 outings. In 16 games with the Red Sox, Bay is batting .348 with three homers and 16 RBIs. The Red Sox, who have won eight of 12. Boston is 7-15 against the AL East on the road, including 4-3 against Baltimore.

Kirk Saarloos pitched 3 2-3 shutout innings after Justin Duchscherer left with a hip injury and the A’s held on to defeat the Twins, 3-2. A’s right-hander Brad Ziegler surrendered an RBI triple to Joe Mauer in his first outing since his career opening scoreless streak of 39 innings was snapped. Ziegler tied a 59-year-old major league record for relievers with his streak. He also worked the 9th for his third save in as many chances. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for Minnesota. Oakland is now 6-23 since the All-Star break.

NL NEWS
The Pittsburgh Pirates stopped the New York’s six-game winning streak, 5-2.   The Buccos trailed 2-0 going to the bottom of the 6th, picked up their 29th comeback victory. Paul Maholm pitched at least six innings for the 19th straight start, the longest streak by a Pirates pitcher since Doug Drabek in 1992. Maholm gave up two runs and five hits in seven innings.

CC Sabathia struck out nine, walked two and gave up 11 hits in 130 pitches as the Brewers topped the Astros, 9-3. Milwaukee star Ryan Braun left in the 6th with tightness in his lower back after reaggravating it on a swing. Braun pinch-hit Saturday after the same injury kept him out of six games recently and returned to the starting lineup Sunday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He batted four times against the Astros on Monday, striking out twice.

After acquiring future Hall-of-Famer Manny Ramirez on July 31, the Dodgers are on the verge of acquiring future Hall-of-Famer Greg Maddux, today. It’s unclear what the Padres will receive in return for the 42-year-old Maddux. MLB.com reported on Monday night that the Padres would receive two players to be named later. A four-time Cy Young Award winner, Maddux has a full no-trade clause in his contract and agreed to waive it to join the Dodgers. He was signed by the Padres in 2007 and returned this season for a $10 million, one-year deal. Maddux has a 3.99 ERA this season but is only 6-9 for the last place Padres. The Dodgers are in a first-place tie with the Diamondbacks. This would be Maddux’s second traded to the Dodgers. The Cubs traded him to Los Angeles at the trade deadline in 2006 and he went 6-3 in the regular season for the Dodgers. Los Angeles lost to the Mets in the divisional series.

     
Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com (www.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. Autographed first editions are available by contacting, Bill@billy-ball.com or order directly from Acta Sports or from your favorite bookstore.

Last night, C.C. Sabathia improved to 8-0 as a Brewer and notched his fifth complete game in nine starts. What he’s done in Milwaukee between July 8 and August 18 is simply amazing: 73 IP, 13 ER (1.60 ERA), 60 H, 15 BB (1.03 WHIP; 1.9 BB/9), 69 K (8.5 K/9), and 4 HR (0.5 HR/9).

Expectedly, discussions have been heating up about his candidacy for the National League MVP and Cy Young awards. Nick Underhill of I’m Writing Sports asks, “Are you kidding?” when that subject is brought up. He states,

I don’t care if he wins the rest of his games, he shouldn’t even be in the discussion. As far as the voters are concerned, this guy put in half of a season.

That got me to thinking that the debate of whether or not Sabathia should be even considered for the awards is irrelevant; the real debate lies in if and how we should change the awards. Granted, a lot of people don’t care about them too much anymore and that might be as good a reason as any to find a new line of thinking.

Gold Glove awards, for example, don’t tell you anything about a fielder. Sure, Ozzie Smith was the greatest defensive player we have ever seen and he won thirteen (all consecutively from 1980-1992). However, in 1999, Rafael Palmeiro won a Gold Glove award despite playing only 28 games at first base and 135 as a DH. The GG is based on reputation more than anything, which explains Derek Jeter’s three.

The MVP awards spark a lot of debate as well, and while you can make arguments about who did or didn’t deserve the awards, it’s not like David Eckstein has been winning them: great players having great seasons have been getting the awards. The debates usually lie in the ambiguous and subjective definitions of “valuable.” Some think that “value” is tangible, others think it’s intangible, still others think it’s a combination of the two. Given how arbitrary the criteria is, it’s no wonder debates pop up around this time every year and last well into the off-season.

The Cy Young Award probably has the least wrong with it, but something is askew if Sabathia can’t win it this year despite eight complete games (tied with Roy Halladay) and four CG shut-outs to go along with his 145 ERA+ and 1.16 WHIP, comparable to the 143 ERA+ and 1.14 WHIP of last season, when he did win the Cy Young. Considering that there is only one other pitcher in baseball (Halladay) that has his ability to go nine innings every start, that in and of itself has some value as well, considering the decreased strain put on the bullpen.

Instead of having league-divided awards, we should just have one MLB-wide winner for each award with the criteria spelled out explicitly. Call ‘em whatever you want to call ‘em (Most Awesomest Best Player Award, or you can name them after legends as the NHL does), but the criteria will be based on characteristics that are tangible. Derek Jeter may be a “leader,” and “clutch,” and “know how to win,” and “hustle,” and “isn’t afraid to get his uniform dirty,” but any of that that can’t be proven any more than the existence of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

The MVP award will be changed to a hitter’s award (which means designated hitters can win it!) since the Cy Young is a pitcher’s award. The Cy Young award will stay and Gold Glove awards will be MLB-wide.

What the criteria should be is up for debate. While I have my personal feelings on the matter, it would be fair if it was a democratically-reached decision.

Speaking of democracy, there’s the issue of who is doing the voting. Currently, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) gets to vote on the matters, and a lot of them are of one mindset (okay, two: “bloggers are losers who write in their underpants and take potshots while Cheeto dust flies everywhere,” and “statistics are phooey”). As we’ve seen with the All-Star Games of recent memory, the fans, generally speaking, can’t be trusted with making educated votes either. So, the privilege of voting on the awards should be handed over to the players, coaches, and front office personnel of Major League Baseball.

It’s fairly simple: they can’t vote for members of their own team, and they can cast first- through tenth-place votes for players in not just their league, but all of Major League Baseball. Actually, ten might be too much — let’s change it to five (see how easy this is?).

If the season ended today, here’s what the awards might look like (note that these aren’t my actual picks, they’re based on a very quick look at some statistics):

Barry Bonds Award (Offense)

1. Albert Pujols, STL
2. Lance Berkman, HOU
3. Alex Rodriguez, NYY
4. Hanley Ramirez, FLA
5. Matt Holliday, COL

Roger Clemens Award (Pitching)

1. C.C. Sabathia, MIL
2. Roy Halladay, TOR
3. Tim Lincecum, SFG
4. Brandon Webb, ARI
5. Cliff Lee, CLE

Ozzie Smith Award (Defense)

C: Jason Kendall, MIL
1B: Albert Pujols, STL
2B: Mark Ellis, OAK
3B: Scott Rolen, TOR
SS: Miguel Tejada, HOU
OF: Adam Jones, BAL
OF: Chris Young, ARI
OF: Matt Holliday, COL
P: Roy Halladay, TOR

I’m sure some of my ideas are flawed as well, but I think it’s better than our current system. If you have any ideas of your own, or if you’d like to criticize mine, feel free to do so in the comments.

Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler went on the 15-day disabled list on Monday due to a sports hernia suffered during Sunday’s game with the Tampa Bay Rays.  Kinsler was replaced by infielder Joaquin Arias who was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma.  Now, the question is, will Kinsler’s All-Star 2008 season end due to the injury?

Kinsler noticed the injury in the first inning when he felt discomfort in his left groin while fielding a grounder and later felt the same sensation while running out a groundout in the seventh.  Kinsler was removed after the second injury and had an MRI on Monday which revealed the sports hernia. 

Now, Kinsler will have a second opinion from a recommended specialist to see if surgery is necessary.  If Kinsler needs surgery his ‘08 campaign is likely over.  There is still a possibility Kinsler may not have a sports hernia and could recover with rehabilitation but based on the initial diagnosis surgery is more likely.

With Kinsler out of the lineup, the Rangers expect to use Arias against left-handed pitching and Ramon Vazquez against right-handed pitching at second.