It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.
---Gore Vidal

News, Rumours, Random Stuff...

With Chien-Ming Wang on the DL (and there are whispers that he could be out for quite a while), the Yankees have called up Tim Redding, who came over in the Paul Quantrill trade, to start against the Red Sox tonight. Redding started the year in the San Diego rotation, lost all five decisions, and went on the DL for almost two months with shoulder problems.

Rich Harden's two-hit shutout of Texas checked in with a Game Score of 91, second best in the AL this year, behind Doc's two-hitter against the Twins in May. Chris Carpenter's one-hitter against the Jays (GS 94) still scores as the best start of the season.

So far, Paul Quantrill likes San Diego. He's given them 6.2 scoreless innings, allowing 5 hits and 0 walks. Just like the old Q...

Rafael Palmeiro got hit number 2,999 with a single off Aaron Sele. Raffy is 6-20 (.300) lifetime against Joel Pineiro, tonight's starter for the Mariners.

A few thoughts about the other league...

I know Washington has a 2.5 game lead, and a fabulous record in their own park. I don't believe in them, and I don't think they can maintain this pace. I think they're a .500 club that's had a run of good luck in close games. Granted, some of this luck can be attributed to their fine bullpen, but that pen has also been worked pretty hard. I think they're coming back to the pack.

Meanwhile, Atlanta will soon be adding a couple of guys named Tim Hudson (on Saturday) and Mike Hampton (on Sunday) to their rotation, and Chipper Jones (on Monday) to their batting order. I guarantee nobody else is adding that kind of talent to their team this month.

The other three teams in the division all seem to think they're still in contention. If they are, they're almost certainly competing for the Wild Card, along with Washington. Furthermore, both the Phillies and Marlins seem just as likely to be trading away talent this month- A.J. Burnettt and Billy Wagner are the two names repeatedly mentioned as likely to be on the move.

The Mets need a bat, preferably one who can play first base, as Mientkiewicz has been an utter disaster.

St.Louis will win the Central Division. (In other news, Generalissimo Franco is still dead.) They're just trying to make it through the next couple of months without anyone getting hurt, or bored.

Houston is the hottest team in the league, but they desperately need some hitting. Lance Berkman rediscovering his power stroke would help a lot.

Despite all their issues, the Cubs have hung around - now Prior and Wood are back, and Nomar Garciaparra is actually on the horizon, possibly as early as late July. He will provide more offense than Neifi Perez. From all reports, Corey Patterson has gone to AAA with a good attitude, intent on remaking his swing - there's a lot of raw talent in that young man, and I expect to see him back in Chicago in a few weeks. I would not be at all surprised if this year's NL Wild Card comes down to a Houston-Chicago battle, again. These two teams play each other 7 times in the final 10 days, wrapping it up with four games in Houston.

San Diego will win the West, because they have the only half-decent team in the division. And they are only half-decent. This is a pretty weak group.

The Dodgers have a lot of talent, and almost all of it is on the DL. I think I may want to compare what they've gone through this year with the Blue Jays own Season From Hell.

The Giants are in much of the same position - a lot of talent, almost all of on the DL. In the case of the Giants, we're mainly talking about one guy who's on the DL. But the Giants whole modus operandi consists of hitching the wagon to Barry. He's not around, and that wagon isn't going anywhere.

Arizona has been a surprise, maybe even to themselves - still their slow descent to below .500 is exactly what I expect to see happening soon in Washington. The D'Backs were never quite as good as their won-loss record said they were. (That last sentence makes me cringe, by the way.)

Colorado has been both bad and unlucky, which is never a good combination.

Today's games - lots of teams adjusted their plans after the All-Star Game, but I think I've got 'em right this time:

AL
New York (Redding 0-5, 9.10) at Boston (Wells 6-5, 5.00) 7:05
Chicago (Garcia 8-3, 3.53) at Cleveland (Sabathia 6-5, 4.50) 7:05
Kansas City (Hernandez 6-9, 4.53) at Detroit (Douglass 2-0, 2.65) 7:05
Tampa Bay (Nomo 5-7, 6.80) at Toronto (Chacin 7-5, 3.57) 7:07
Los Angeles (Byrd 8-5, 3.73) at Minnesota (Radke 6-8, 4.15) 8:10
Texas (Wasdin 0-0, 3.29) at Oakland (Zito 6-8, 3.91) 10:05
Baltimore (Lopez 8-5, 4.47) at Seattle (Piniero 3-4, 5.44) 10:05

NL
Pittsburgh (Fogg 4-4, 4.30) at Chicago (Wood 2-2, 4.80) 2:20
Florida (Moehler 4-6, 3.27) at Philadelphia (Lidle 8-6, 3.65) 7:05
Colorado (Jennings 5-8, 5.24) at Cincinnati (Harang 4-8, 4.12) 7:10
Atlanta (Smoltz 9-5, 2.81) at New York (Glavine 6-7, 4.94) 7:10
Washington (Loaiza 5-5, 3.57) at Milwaukee (Sheets 5-6, 3.41) 8:05
Houston (Pettitte 6-7, 3.09) at St.Louis (Mulder 10-5, 4.34) 8:10
Arizona (Webb 8-6, 3.57) at San Diego (Lawrence 5-9, 4.27) 10:05
San Francisco (Lowry 5-9, 5.07) at Los Angeles (Lowe 5-9, 3.99) 10:40