At the beginning of the season, I can honestly say I had no idea who this kid was. The tigers called him up in late April to replace an injured Carlos Guillen. He honestly wasn’t even supposed to replace Guillen, just take the roster spot open to him. Someone forgot to tell him that. He came up and played extremely well, still in the shadows of Austin Jackson’s strong first month in the league.

Jackson eventually took home the rookie of the month honours for April…while a strong start to Boesh’s career landed him an outfield and DH platoon eventually forcing the tigers to move Guillen to yet another position. He took home his own rookie of the month honours in May (or at least I believe I read that somewhere, but MLB.com only has April’s winners listed despite it being July). Just to make sure people were noticing, he did it again in the month of June (I know I read about that month).

How good has he been? So good that Jim Leyland decided to use him in the outfield for the duration of interleague play when the tigers were without a DH…meaning all star players like Magglio Ordonez and Johnny Damon were sitting before him.

He is second on the team in batting average behind league leader Miguel Cabrera. He is only 2 batting points behind him in fact, but is 25 at bats away from qualifying for the league batting title. He will catch up to that minimum at bat total soon enough with the playing time Leyland is rewarding him with.

Regardless, even if we add 25 at bats to qualify him for a batting title, he is still a .300 hitter…good for 4th on the team and 16th in the AL…which is assuming he goes 0 for that 25.

He is also 2nd to only Cabrera on the team in total bases, home runs, OBP, SLG and 3rd in RBI’s.

Before this season there was no indication that he would be able to hit for such a high average. When he was called up from AAA this season he was hitting .379 but his best season’s average before that was .291 in low A ball. He has received compliments on his swing from opponents like Mark Textiera, but how can you go from being an okay hitter in the minors to one of the best in the majors over 227 at bats?

With 2 rookie of the month honours in his only 2 full months in the bigs he is clearly the lead runner for the AL ROTY. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself. Pitchers have to start adjusting to him and in turn if he wants to remain a big league hitter he will need to make his own adjustments. It should be fun to watch how this turns out.

It has constantly confused me as to how a team which appeared so good on paper could be so bad from year to year. If all of the players mentioned above had their career years all in the same season, along with the Mets homegrown players Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Mike Pelfrey they would simply be unbeatable. The Mets have even had great supporting casts surround these star players as well. Either this is another case of an all-star style team not working or there is something else going on which might explain the Mets woes. Here are some possibilities…

-Media Pressure- As mentioned before, the Mets are constantly making headline news. Could pressure from the media be influencing the players on the field performance? We regularly hear about the pressure of playing for the Yankees, but I can only imagine what media pressure must be like when playing for the loosing team in the same city!

-Injuries- Not much explanation necessary here, they have had a bad case of the injury bug. Not just the supporting cast either; virtually everyone in that clubhouse has been exposed.

-Poor Management- The Mets go through managers as fast as anyone in baseball. However, bad management in this organization is not only on the field. The front office has been going through a severe overhaul for over a year now. To make matters worse, the Wilpon family’s view of the management seems to be cheap publicity. “At least they are talking about us.” (Not a direct quote, but I’d bet you could find one of them saying that)

-Inconsistent Catching- The catcher is the most important player on the field other than the pitcher. He is the only player who is directly involved in virtually every play throughout the game. Despite the many all-star caliber players they have been able to attract, they have had a carousel of catchers throughout the entire process and not one has been able to stick. Consistency behind the plate might do this team some good.

-Weak Farm System- Understandably, shopping for big ticket players on the trade market will without a doubt tax your farm system. In addition to trading away many prospects over the years, the Mets have also lost top of the draft pics due to signing Type A & B Free Agents. Considering this, they actually have to get an A for what they have done with their system, but the expectations couldn’t be set any lower for what they could produce.

It would be fair to place the blame on any single one of these sources. All, without much doubt play a role in this organization underperforming. At the time of writing, these same Mets are in the heat of a pennant race; only two games behind the first place Braves. They have been rumored to have interest in acquiring Cliff Lee as well. I need to give my opinion and say to the Mets organization… Omar if you are reading this: Do not jeopardize the future of this consistently inconsistent franchise for half a season of Cliff Lee. You are going to need all of the prospects you can get down the road. If this roster can’t make it without Lee, they can’t do it with him.

In recent years I have attended Braves games mostly with my Braves partner in crime, Chris Bartelski. Chris is full on dutch…. which means he’s incredibly loud with no inhabitions.  There have been many times when Chris and I were the only ones making noise or standing.  A couple of years back we’re at a game, Matt Diaz is up to bat, game tied up with a chance to take the lead, and some guy asks us to sit down so he could see.  This type of thing is common in Atlanta and it burns my mitt… especially when I watch a Red Sox game in April and everyone is standing in the 2nd inning.  Now, don’t get me wrong… there are some excitable Braves fans at games… but in general they are found in the cheap seats.

Two weeks ago pushed me over the edge as a Braves fans.  It was a lovely Saturday night.  I took my dad and brothers to see the Braves host the Royals.  I got the company hook up, so we were 12 rows behind home plate, sort of between home plate and the home dugout.  It was a huge treat to my dad for Fathers Day.  We’ve never been the kind of folks who would or could spend that sort of money on tickets, so it was special being that close.

It turned out to be a good game, with the Braves taking an early 4-1 lead.  Kris Medlen was pitching a jewel, and we were lighting up last year’s Cy Young Award winner, Zach Greinke.  Of course since Medlen was pitching great and only gave up 1 run, Bobby took him out in the 6th because of Communist pitch count regulations.  The bullpen ended up giving up 3 runs, so it was tied up 4-4 by the 9th inning.

Tied up, 4-4, bottom of the 9th inning, Troy Glaus is up to bat.  If anyone has a chance to knock one out to win the game, it was this guy.  My dad, my brother and me are standing, cheering, I look around, and we are literally the only ones standing.  The usher at the end of the aisle tells us to sit down so folks behind us could see, we slowly sit down. The second we sit, Glaus homers to win the game.  It was everything my dad could do to not kill this poor little usher and all the surrounding fans.  I usually reel my dad in, in situations like this, but I had to let it go. 

“It’s the freakin’ bottom of the 9th inning!  Tied up! And you’re telling me to sit down?!”, my dad yells in the usher’s face.  “I’m sorry sir.  I’m sorry…. people behind you could not see the game.  I’m just doing my job”, the usher replied.  “Well, they should have been standing up too!  It’s the bottom of the 9th inning!”

I’m not advocating standing up during the entire game… but bottom of the 9th, tied up, and getting told to sit down?  Seriously Atlanta?

There is now a new “home run king” in baseball.  A record that had stood for more than 50 years was finally broken.

On the night of June 27^th, 2010 at an “away” game in Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park with the Toronto Blue Jays in town, Jamie Moyer served up a two-run jack to Vernon Wells, and with that homerun, Moyer became the new “king.”  It was the 506^th homer served up during a 24-year career of the 47-year old southpaw, breaking the record held by Phillies Hall of Famer Robin Roberts.

On the surface, it may not sound like a good thing — 506 home runs is a lot of baseballs lost to the outfield seats.  Moyer has given up more home runs than most players will ever hit in their careers.  Only 25 batters have ever hit 500 homeruns, yet only two pitchers have ever given up 500 home runs

This record is a positive, though it may seem negative.  In order to serve up that many long balls, a pitcher has to not only survive in the major leagues for a long, long time, but must pitch well enough for a manager to hand him the ball every fifth day of the season.  Very few players play as long, and as well, as Moyer has throughout the years.

This is a record that should be celebrated, and Moyer should be happy to have his name attached to this.  Although there isn’t a single long ball he liked giving up, it’s part of the game.  Moyer has given up just 1.1 home runs per 9 innings through his career, a very solid ratio.  This record should be embraced, and people unfamiliar with Moyer and his career should take notice.  This is history.  With every start Moyer makes, it seems history is being made this season.  4,000 innings pitched.  276 (and counting) games won.  Complete games.  Record homers.  Fastballs that look like change ups.  Change ups that look like they’re in slow motion.  A wily veteran, feasting on players who weren’t even born when he started his career, and making them look silly more often than not.  Take notice, because this is rare.

On top of his new record, Moyer has quietly been enjoying one of the better seasons of his career.  A lefty who barely touches 82 mph on the radar gun, Moyer has lasted 6 or more innings in 13 of his 15 starts this season, putting up eight “quality starts” (six or more innings pitched, three or fewer earned runs given up), and hurling a phenomenal two hitter against the Braves on May 7^th.  He is 9-6 with a somewhat bloated 4.30 earned run average, has given up just 17 walks through 96.1 innings (1.6 BB/9), and has a phenomenal 1.048 WHIP this season.

If Moyer continues to pitch like this, there is no reason to believe he can’t continue to do what he’s done for another few years.  And if he does, he could push that newly acquired record of his way out of reach of any younger pitcher eyeing that stat.  And just maybe, if he gets a few more years worth of at bats, Moyer could even finally hit a home run of his own, seemingly the only thing he hasn’t done in his career.  After giving up so many, he deserves a slow trot around the bases for himself to see what it’s like, right?

Making his professional debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates in front of a sellout crowd in the nation’s capital, Strasburg lived up to the hype – at least in his first game.  Strasburg needed just 94 pitches (65 thrown for strikes) to blow through seven innings while recording an astounding 14 strikeouts.

Strasburg’s first pitch, a fastball obviously inside to Andrew McCutchen, was booed by the crowd as it was called a ball.  Of course, the crowd can’t be blamed too much, as many of them had likely never attended a Nationals game before the hype surrounding Strasburg took hold.  Strasburg started several hitters 2-0, but didn’t walk a single batter, showing good command.

Strasburg’s 14 strikeouts tied Max Scherzer for the league high this season, and were also good enough to place him behind only J.R. Richard and Karl Spooner (who had 15 K’s each) for the most strikeouts in a major league debut.

It appeared Strasburg got stronger as he went on, ringing up the final seven batters he faced.  Although it looked as though he could continue into the 8^th inning, it was reported before the game that he would be on a 75 to 95 pitch count, and Washington stuck firmly to it.

The only blemish of the night for the 21-year old was a changeup to Delwyn Young, which was swatted into the first row of the right field seats, giving Pittsburgh a 2-1 advantage.  What could have been a historic souvenir for one fan was promptly (and idiotically) thrown back onto the field, however.

A solid seven innings, just four hits, no walks, an incredible 14 strikeouts, three shaving cream pies to the face, and one silver Elvis wig – quite the impressive debut for the young Stephen Strasburg.  As high as the expectations were before his first major league start, they will continue to grow with each dominant start he puts together.

And with each dominant start by Strasburg, the legend itself will grow.  Or at least it will until Bryce Harper is ready to make his major league debut.

The 6 foot 3 inch Harper is widely regarded as the “LeBron James of baseball,” gaining national attention when he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated at age 16.  Harper dropped out of high school in 2009 and obtained his GED, making him eligible for this years draft.

Harper enrolled in a community college, the College of Southern Nevada, and batted .442, with a .542 OBP and an absurd .986 slugging percentage.  Harper also smashed the school record of homeruns (12) by swatting 31 this past season.

Although Harper is currently a catcher, there is thought of him switching positions.  If Harper transitions to a corner outfield position, many believe he could reach the Majors within 3 years.  However, Harper will be most valuable to the Nationals as a catcher because of his incredible bat and there is still a possibility that he may remain a catcher because of this reason.

The Pittsburgh Pirates took 6 foot 7 inch right hander Jameson Tallion with the second overall pick.  The 18-year old pitcher attended The Woodlands High School in Texas, the same school that produced former Phillies first round pick and current Blue Jays prospect Kyle Drabek.  Tallion is raw, but has tremendous upside, with a fastball that tops out at 99 miles per hour and a plus-curveball.

The rest of the first round of the draft looked like this:

3. Baltimore Orioles — Manny Machado
4. Kansas City Royals — Christian Colon
5. Cleveland Indians — Drew Pomeranz
6. Arizona Diamondbacks — Barret Loux
7. New York Mets — Matt Harvey
8. Houston Astros — Delino DeShields Jr.
9. San Diego Padres — Karsten Whitson
10. Oakland Athletics — Michael Choice
11. Toronto Blue Jays — Deck McGuire
12. Cincinnati Reds — Yasmani Grandal
13. Chicago White Sox — Chris Sale
14. Milwaukee Brewers — Dylan Covey
15. Texas Rangers — Jake Skole
16. Chicago Cubs — Hayden Simpson
17. Tampa Bay Rays — Josh Sale
18. Anaheim Angels — Kaleb Cowart
19. Houston Astros — Mike Foltynewicz
20. Boston Red Sox — Kolbrin Vitek
21. Minnesota Twins — Alex Wimmers
22. Texas Rangers — Kellin DeGlan
23. Florida Marlins — Christian Yelich
24. San Francisco Giants — Gary Brown
25. St. Louis Cardinals — Zach Cox
26. Colorado Rockies — Kyle Parker
27. Philadelphia Phillies — Jesse Biddle
28. Los Angeles Dodgers — Zach Lee
29. Anaheim Angels — Cam Bedrosian
30. Anaheim Angels — Chevy Clarke
31. Tampa Bay Rays — Justin O’Conner
32. New York Yankees — Cito Culver

While there were several solid picks, the St. Louis Cardinals might come out of the day as the biggest winners.  With the 25^th pick, St. Louis nabbed Zach Cox.  The Arkansas third baseman was projected much higher in the draft and was linked to the Mets at the 8^th pick, but scared many away by his high contract demands.  Cox is currently batting .427 for Arkansas, with 64 runs and 48 RBIs.  If St. Louis can manage to sign Cox to a reasonable contract, this was a great pick.  If not, Cox can return to school and the Cardinals will receive a compensatory pick in next years draft.

While the first overall pick came as no surprise, nothing was set in stone beyond that before Monday night.  It will be several years before this draft class can be properly evaluated, but Washington and St. Louis appear to have taken the two best offensive players as of now, while Pittsburgh added an incredibly talented, young pitcher to their organization.  If Cox can be signed and reaches the level many believe he can, he’ll make many fans in St. Louis extremely happy.  For the second straight year, Washington has added the top prospect in the country, and could become a force in the National League East should these kids reach their incredibly high expectations.  Only time will tell how these highly-touted prospects pan out, but as of now, fans of Washington, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis have many reasons to be excited.

This draft has shaped up very nicely for the Cardinals (thanks, Cubs!) and now they get the best pure hitter in the draft at #25. Sign-ability is an issue, as Cox is a sophomore. I don’t think he’ll be able to do better in the stacked 2011 draft, so he’d be wise to sign, and I have to think the Cardinals will do what it takes to get it done. I wonder about his overall power potential, but at #25, this is absolutely tremendous.

The follow is the scouting report from Kieth Law:

Cox is a draft-eligible sophomore and one of the most advanced college bats in this year’s draft. He’s very strong, including strong hands and wrists, and is very short to the ball, hitting line drives to all fields, but with the ability to drive a ball on the inner half.

He was criticized after his freshman year for his strikeout total and cut down his swing to make more contact, with more walks than strikeouts this year. At third base, he has an above-average arm but heavy legs, although he makes up for the latter with good instincts and an aggressive style of play.

The fact that Cox could make such a significant adjustment at the plate in one year is impressive, and we’ve now seen him hit for power and for average and show the ability to get on base; when he puts all of that together in one season, he’ll be an All-Star.

And some additional scouting reports:

Cox is the best pure hitter and top sophomore-eligible player in the draft. He hit just .266 as a freshman on Arkansas’ College World Series team a year ago, but improved as the season went on and adjusted his pull-happy approach when he arrived in the Cape Cod League. He hit .344 with wood bats and ranked as the top position prospect in the summer circuit, setting the stage for a breakout spring in which he was hitting .446/.532/.631 through mid-May. Cox has very good hands, a short, lefty stroke and nice command of the strike zone. He has an uncanny ability to hit the ball with authority to the opposite field. There’s some debate as to how much power he’ll have in the major leagues, but he has the bat speed to do damage once he adds more loft to his swing. He has plenty of strength, as evidenced by a titanic shot he blasted off the top of a 90-foot-tall scoreboard at the 2009 Southeastern Conference tournament. Six feet and 215 pounds, Cox is a decent athlete with fringy speed and range at third base. Not all scouts are sold on his defensive ability. He does have a strong arm—he threw in the low 90s as a reliever a year ago—and will put in the work to improve his reactions at third base. He also has seen time at second base, and one scout said his actions looked better there, but his athleticism is more suited for the hot corner. Cox turned down an $800,000 offer as a Dodgers 20th-round pick out of high school, and he’s in line to make two or three times as much as a top 10 choice this June.

Now personally, I was puzzled at this pick as I was hoping/expecting a power arm. But at second glance this really does seem like a great pick, again if the Cardinals can get him signed. Hopefully he’s not a deadline guy after all, can sign early and maybe start getting some work in at 2B and be ready to take over for Skip in a few years. Or none of that could happen as the MLB is such as, pardon the colloquial, crapshoot. If the right trade comes along it seems as though he can already be considered a blue chip or he could forgo signing as he’s done before and end up somewhere else. Time will tell.

I frequently get harassed at work for being a baseball fan.  Most of the insults are thrown by football fans.  They love to argue how football is better, and they say things like, “There are too many games in baseball” and, “who cares about a sport where every game doesn’t matter?”  I usually reply by giving a couple of “come from behind wins in the 9th” examples and insults to their mothers.

Here are some reasons why I love baseball over football.

Time. Baseball games are not restricted to time.  There is no running out the clock.  There are 9 innings, and anything can happen.  Two weeks ago, the  Braves came back from a 9-2 deficit in the 9th inning to win the game.  In football, if a team is winning 30-10 in the beginning of the 4th quarter, you already have a pretty good idea of who’s going to win.  Now, I have seen some football games with surprising comebacks and finishes, but they aren’t common.  Also, take away all of the time-outs, the time between plays, the time between quarters, and half times, and you’re looking at about 12-20 minutes of actual football.

The season. Baseball season crushes football season.  16 games?  Seriously?  Okay, I admit that a game of football takes a big toll on the body, and of course it’s more physical than baseball.  However, I would argue that a 182-game baseball season is just as physically grueling as a physically demanding 16-game football season.  But 16 games in 17 weeks?  Don’t blink or you’ll miss football season.  A classic football fan will argue that the reason football has so few games is because of the extreme toll it has on the body.  Here’s my answer to that: HOCKEY, 82 games a season.  Booyah.

Challenges and Official Reviews. To me, this takes some of the fun out of football.  Baseball has recently adopted the home run review… if a home run is questionable the umps are allowed to review it.  I’m okay with the home run review, but any other reviews would be crazy.  No challenges and reviews make the game fun.  If we had a bunch of challenges and reviews, then what’s the point of having good ole’ blue umpiring the games?  We could just have little computerized robots calling the shots.

Jimmy Dugan. Tom Hanks’ character, Jimmy Dugan, in A League Of Their Own, automatically makes baseball better than football.  While Rudy is a great flick, Jimmy Dugan prevails.

For the record, I actually do like football.  College football, in fact, and my reason for the season is the Georgia Bulldogs.  I just felt the need to represent America’s pastime in this article and put some folks in their place.  Don’t stop the chop.

For example, they could look for a good closer stuck on a poor team such as David Aardsma of the Seattle Mariners, who converted 38 out of 42 save opportunities last year and is 8 out of 10 so far this year. However, Aardsma has had only one successful season as a closer and has only 46 career saves. This may not be the best option for the Phillies if they want to win. Plus, Aardsma has never taken the ball in the ninth inning of a  playoff game or any game of true importance.

Joakim Soria is single handedly keeping the Kansas City Royals bullpen together and would fit very well as the Phillies closer. For example Soria has only one more blown save(12) in his four year career than Brad Lidge had all of last season. Soria has a career ERA at 2.21 and has had more than one solid year as closer in the majors(42 saves in 2008, 30 in 2009). Soria is also 8 out of 10 this year and would thrive in a bullpen that could give him a lead to hold in the 9th inning.

The Phillies could also think about an in house solution that is a better option than Contreras like Sergio Escalona in Reading (AA). Escalona has saved 5 games this year and has a 2.92 ERA. Escalona also saved 12 games last year and pitched briefly in the Majors.

Scott Mathieson is a hard throwing right hander from Vancouver,BC and has saved 5 game in AAA Lehigh Valley. Mathieson underwent Tommy John Surgery in 2006 but is slowly coming back to shape. Mathieson has allowed only one run in 16.2 innings this season and could be up to the Major League as soon as Jose Contreras fails to get the job done. However, the thought of an injury ridden rookie taking the 9th inning of a playoff is not an idea Manager Charlie Manuel is going to want to go with.

The Phillies have a team that has already shown they are capable to go deep into the playoffs without a closer. If they can make Contreras or another in house solution such as Escalona or Mathieson work and not have to sacrifice any players to get a closer from another team, they will be the best team in baseball.

Known mostly as a Philadelphia Phillie, Roberts spent his first 14 seasons with the Phillies, before brief stints in Baltimore, Houston, and Chicago towards the end of his career.  During his career, Roberts hurled an incredible 305 complete games, pitching 300 or more innings per season in six consecutive years, winning 20 or more games in each of those seasons.

One of the last true “workhorses,” Roberts remained a devout Phillies fan, even watching last night’s Philadelphia game against the Cardinals.

From the Phillies press release:

“Dad didn’t miss a Phillies game on television, including last night. He really loved this team and was so thrilled that he was included in the World Series festivities the last two years,” said his son, Jim. “He’d sit there and would comment, ‘Did you see Jimmy make that play… Chase can really play this game… My man Jayson is some kind of an athlete… Did you see that change-up from Cole… How strong is Ryan… Roy makes pitching look so easy and it isn’t… I wish I had Brad’s slider… “Shane can fly, can’t he?.’”

The Phillies will wear special #36 patches on their jerseys to pay tribute to possibly the greatest right hander that the franchise has ever see.  Roberts is survived by his five children and seven grandchildren.