Horsehide Chronicles

The 2012 Major League Baseball season has been yet another great year for pitchers, but the good times haven't been enjoyed by all.

At one end of the spectrum, there are some really, really good starting pitchers out there this year. Justin Verlander and David Price are having excellent seasons in the American League, and Gio Gonzalez and R.A. Dickey are having excellent seasons in the National League. Felix Hernandez and Matt Cain have thrown perfect games, and several other pitchers have thrown no-hitters.

Has the race for the National League Rookie of the Year Award essentially been decided with two weeks remaining in the 2012 season? 

It's beginning to look that way, as Todd Frazier's September slide has created some distance between him and Wade Miley for front-runner status in our weekly rankings. What looked like a two-man competition might now be Miley's race to lose. 

The New York Yankees were supposed to see a familiar face out on the mound on Tuesday night for the first time in a couple of months, but Mother Nature had other plans.

As recently as a couple weeks ago, nobody could touch Seattle Mariners ace righty Felix Hernandez. In 12 starts between the end of June and the end of August, King Felix compiled a 1.42 ERA and pitched five complete-game shutouts. One of those, of course, was the 23rd perfect game in MLB history.

When August turned into September, King Felix looked like he was a shoo-in for his second AL Cy Young Award in the last three years. All he had to do was keep doing what he had been. Not exactly a whole lot to task given his track record.

Most free agents who sign with the New York Yankees arrive in the Bronx to find a red carpet and a troupe of trumpeters awaiting them. Those who forsake their old teams in favor of pinstripes tend to be treated as royalty.

Five years ago on Aug. 7, Barry Bonds hit home run No. 756 for his career, taking over baseball's all-time home run record from Hank Aaron. 

Last season, there was little question that Justin Verlander was going to win the AL Cy Young Award. He won the AL pitching Triple Crown, leading the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts. Pitchers who do that tend to walk away with the hardware.

Verlander is once again in the middle of a tremendous season, but the AL Cy Young race isn't nearly as cut-and-dry as it was last year; Verlander has some serious competition.

Los Angeles Angels super-rookie Mike Trout is officially 21 years old on Tuesday, meaning he can go out and grab a celebratory beer if he feels so inclined (quick, somebody ask him if he's going to do that).

With CC Sabathia as the ace, Hideki Kuroda as a strong No. 2 and Andy Pettitte set to come back in September, do the New York Yankees have a starting rotation good enough to make it to the World Series?

Are the Yankees too dependent on Pettitte's comeback? If he doesn't return, is Freddy Garcia a suitable replacement? Should general manager Brian Cashman have traded for a starting pitcher at the July 31 trade deadline?

One doesn't tend to think of the rivalry between the Los Angeles Angels and the Los Angeles Dodgers as being one of the great rivalries in baseball. It's certainly not Red Sox-Yankees, nor does it come close to Dodgers-Giants.

Among interleague rivalries, Angels-Dodgers isn't even close to Mets-Yankees or Cubs-White Sox. It's a territorial rivalry, to be sure, but there's not a whole lot of bad blood between the two teams themselves. 

Instead, what exists between the Angels and Dodgers is more like indifference.