Double Standards

Jason Giambi who clearly admitted he'd been on steroids in the past came away a free man from any form of punishment yesterday by Bud Selig. During the course of this entire saga, I've been a bit confused what the line of thinking has been concerning steroid policy for a player who did not test positive, but openly admitted (in good faith) he had done so in the past.

Giambi may be a special case. In 2004 he opened the season by apologizing to fans and then this year gave an interview admitting his past use in more detail. Immediately following this, the controversy was around whether Giambi should be punished and speak to the Mitchell Investigation, which he did.

The one thing I don't completely understand about all of this is why Giambi would possibly be punished in the first place. On the one hand, he did criticize baseball for the entire Steroid Era, but on the other hand, what's wrong with regretting your past and coming to terms with it? To me, all of this is was just politics to get Giambi to speak with Mitchell since that entire investigation seems to be going nowhere.

But would the same process occur if another player came forward and said they'd taken steroids in the past? What if Gary Sheffield, who's outspoken on everything from contracts to racism to steroids, came out and said, "yeah that clear stuff I took was 'roids"? I don't think he'd go through the same process. I think the process is a case-by-case basis.

In any event though, why aren't the players from the minors up to the majors who have been caught not talking with the Mitchell Investigation? The sport still has players taking enhancements and no one really understands why it happened and continues to. I know baseball's policy is "trying" to catch cheaters and make the sport cleaner, but why is it that someone who is caught doesn't have to be questioned about it?

Is it in the Cards again?

Having not paid a whole lot of attention to the standings besides the AL East, I took a look today to see that the NL Central is becoming a tight race. We wrote on here way back in May about the Milwaukee Brewers and how exciting it is to see a team who hasn't been good for quite some time seriously rebuild the last few years and put together some top young talent. In my midseason review, I stated that the Brewers would be able to hold their own--which is the equivalent of saying they had the division wrapped up. But now it's starting to look like I could be wrong.

For one, the Cubs have made a decent comeback. But the team that has me wondering is the Cardinals--the defending World Series Champions. A look back to the records of Milwaukee, Chicago, and St. Louis on May 31st and how they've done since then will show what I'm talking about:

Milwaukee 30-24, 32-34 since 5/31
Chicago 22-29, 38-30 since 5/31
St. Louis 22-29, 35-31 since 5/31

St. Louis hasn't been as good as the Cubs, but Milwaukee's sub-.500 record currently puts the Cards 3.5 games out of first place. Last year the NL Central followed a similar story where the Cardinals were hot out of the gate and then had a horrendous finish to the season. The caveat to it was the Houston Astros who on this date last year were 57-63 and 6.5 games out, but came within half a game on 9/28/06 of the first place Cardinals.

So my question is, are the Cardinals this years Houston Astros? And could they feasibly make a run at the NL Central title?

Scooter

Today is a sad day in Yankee land as Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto passed away this morning at the age of 89. While the link will provide details about his playing and broadcasting career, I wanted to offer my thoughts about Scooter.

There are three reasons why I became a Yankee fan: 1) I always loved baseball since I was a kid, 2) Don Mattingly, and 3) Phil Rizzuto. Before there was the YES Network Yankees games were featured on WPIX-NY, which was channel 11, and MSG Network, which was channel 10 (at least this was the case in NJ where I grew up). Phil Rizzuto broadcasted for WPIX-NY. I can remember from the time I was about age seven up into high school, I watched the Yankees on these channels and Phil Rizzuto was the first baseball broadcaster who connected with me even as a young fan.

Besides his "Holy Cow" cry anytime there was an exciting play, Phil Rizzuto was always a genuine broadcaster who loved the game and especially Yankees history--which he was a part of. Being so young and watching my firstYankees games, Scooter was always like a grandfather figure as a broadcaster to me, because he always had fun stories to tell about the Yankee greats, past dynasties, and the history of the team. Scooter embedded in me what it means to be a true Yankee fan even when the team at the time hardly resembled the great teams of the past.

Before his passing today, when I caught a Yankees game on the YES Network or even FOX I would sometimes think about Scooter and wish he'd broadcast just one more for us all. There was always something special about his approach in the booth and though I've missed it since he last called a game in 1996, I will miss it even more after today.

Hindsight and Foresight: Yankees Review August 6th to August 19th

Free at last! My conference is over and while I haven't been able to catch the Yankees of late, they are still the hottest team in baseball. We are now seeing an exciting AL East race where a little over a month ago no such thing existed. But it ain't over til it's over or at least until the fat lady sings and we still have seven weeks of baseball left. In regards to Doug's comments about Boston writers saying the Yankees were over back in May and June, he doesn't need to look any further than me who had serious doubts about the Yankees this year. But for the record, I never wrote them off saying at the All-Star break:

"Rather than trying to win the AL East this year, the Yankees need to set their sights on climbing up in the Wild Card standings if they want to push for the playoffs"

but also stated

"I'm not downplaying the possibility that the Yankees could come back and make the World Series this year. It's possible, but quite unlikely. I figured a season like this would happen one year or another where the Yankees are a team of superstars, many past their prime or entering the downturn in their careers, and suddenly a lot of them have off years, get injured, etc and it all shows in their record."

I'm definetely not going to take back what I said about my doubts. All that was going wrong can still come back and hurt their chances down the stretch. So while Boston writers and some fans wrote the Yankees off early on, we certainly can't write them into the playoffs just yet, because it's going to be very close and they have some tough teams ahead. That is not doubt talking, that is just reality.

Hindsight: August 6th to August 12th

The last time we saw A-Rod getting into it with someone was back in 2004 with V-Tek. Everyone knew that Toronto was going to bean A-Rod and A-Rod probably knew how he was going to react. Unfortunately the first throw at A-Rod missed him and went behind him, so they drilled him the next day instead. Bean wars are a part of the game, I don't condone them, but it's one of the few choices teams have to retaliate. Of course they cost players and managers games when they go too far, so Clemens will sit for five and Torre sat his one game. But the Yankees rolled through Toronto, though Wang and Co. got shelled on Wednesday and went into Cleveland where the Indians played poorly. Hughes pitched a brilliant game as did Mussina. Cleveland had a rally going late on Sunday, but fell short to Rivera who struggled early coming in but then struck out Cabrera and Sizemore. The nice addition to the Yankes this week was Joba Chamberlain who's really in a groove.

Weekly Stats

W-L: 5-1
RS/RA: 40/27
Offensive Numbers (BA/OBP/SLG): .338/.389/.572
Pitching Line (ERA/Whip/K per 9/BAA/SLG): 3.90/1.30/8.74/.260/.386

Who's Hot: Melky Cabrera, who's got a 17 game hitting streak and hit .440 this week.
Who's Not: Chien Ming Wang pitched his worst outting ever (I believe), just 2 2/3 IP and 8ERs.
My Yankee of the Week: Joba Chamberlain has been lights out. It was only four innings, but he struck out six in those innings with some heat and nice offspeed stuff. Fun stuff to watch!

Foresight: August 13th to August 19th
The Yankees start a homestand with three against the O's and then three against Detroit. Sheff will return to the Bronx on Friday and I'll be at the game Saturday to see how the reaction is to him. The Detroit series will also have the two leading candidates for MVP--A-Rod and Magglio Ordonez--go up against each other. So far this year the Yankees are 23-7 against the AL Central division (KC helped) and Detroit has been around .500 since the All-Star break, so they could make some upward movement in the standings (AL East and Wild Card). Going beyond the 19th though the Yankees face some tough teams through the end of August including the Angels and Red Sox. They should be glad for their hot start because they have the upperhand in the AL right now.