Opinion

Decimated By Injuries, Poor Play and Lack Of Depth But Somehow Still Alive

Omar Minaya can continue to preach to the media about his club 'having the chips' to swing a major deal in the next few weeks to revive his fluttering franchise.

The reality is - he doesn't. The rest of baseball is awaiting his futile call. The price for any player worth his salt will be astronomical.  The reason?  Other teams know the Mets are in trouble and will bend them over a barrel in any type of trade.

What a week it was for the Chicago Cubs.

I've had so many Cubs-related notes that were all big stories that I've had to combine them all into one of my opening statements.

Can we start with this knucklehead Milton Bradley?

It feels like I could just write an entire article on Bradley every week. This guy never stops; is it any wonder he feels like a target? He does so many stupid things that it's impossible not to make him a target.

Derek Jeter is now back in the Yankees' lineup after missing two games due to fever, headache, and a cough.

The flu bug isn't out of the clubhouse, however. It has claimed another victiim—Johnny Damon.

Damon missed Saturday night's 5-0 win due to his symptoms, and looked sluggish again on Sunday.

Manager Joe Girardi said Saturday that several Yankees have been sick lately, including Melky Cabrera, pitchers Chieng-Ming Wang and Phil Hughes, and second baseman Robinson Cano, but everyone except for Damon has been available in the Yankees/Mets series.

NOTE: Stats and records updated thru Sunday afternoon, June 29.

1. Los Angeles Angels (40-32)

Out of the top five teams in the majors, (Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees, Angels, Tigers), the Angels are the hottest team, no doubt.

They are the only team to have won seven of their last ten games, and are currently on a four-game winning streak. They just took over the AL West lead by a half-game over the slumping Texas Rangers.  

With their tremendous winning streak of late, the Colorado Rockies have been generating a lot of discussion. Is this team as good as the 2007 club that rode a lucky streak into the World Series? Or are they destined to fade down the stretch?

Many pundits are inclined to believe the latter, and why shouldn't they? After all, this is the Rockies we're talking about, right? What reason do we have to believe they're going to be able to keep this up?

Friends, the Colorado Rockies are much better than you think they are.

As a lifelong baseball fan and supporter of the game (I make it to at least 10 games a year), I feel the only people that owe me an apology are the owners for providing crappy, overpriced food at the stadiums and charging $15 for parking (thank you Mr. McCourt).

From the start of Bob Geren's tenure as manager of the Oakland A's, he was doomed to fail.

The reason being is the style of managing he employs and it has nothing to do with the trades that Billy Beane has made during the time he's been manager.

The excuse of injuries as well isn't an easily bought excuse either because every team in baseball has to deal with injuries at some point during a season.

The difference is a good-to-great manager knows how to motivate and get the most from his players.

Well there's no doubt that this has been an up-and-down season for the Atlanta Braves. Where one facet of the game has been stellar, another area would breakdown.

Young phenom, Tommy Hanson is apparently immune to his team's struggles, however.

Hanson burst onto the scene in the Arizona Fall League this past off season when he won the hitting dominated league's MVP. He won five of seven starts, and had 28.2 innings pitched, 49 strikeouts, and a 0.63 ERA.

That came on the heels of throwing a no-hitter at AA-Mississippi last season.

The legend was born.

It was summer, in the late 1950s. I was a young kid about to enter the "Sandblasters", an intermediate baseball league, just a step below Little League.

My old hand-me-down ball glove was feeling it's age, so I was saving my money for a new one. The fact that all my friends were sporting new gloves may have fueled my motives as well...

Finally the day arrived when I had enough cash to plunk down $8.95 at the Montgomery Wards store and buy my very own mitt. I didn't care that it was a Hawthorne, Wards' economy "house brand".

It's a different Giants team and a different Giants organization since Barry Bonds has been gone. No longer are the Giants a team full of aging veterans past their prime like Omar Vizquel and Dave Roberts (if Roberts ever had a prime that is. I'm still wondering when it was).