On the Lookout: MLB 2008 (Update 1)

Let's revisit my initial post from March...

1. Johan Santana's success in the NL
This is not coming as easily as expected. Johan's sporting am 8-7 record with a 3.10 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP with his National League squad. What's going on here? Is Santana about to have his worst career season in the Senior Circuit? Mets, what have you done with him?

2. The trials of the 2008 Minnesota Twins
Wait, Johan and Torii who? This young team has come together better than anyone could have expected. They're out of first by only 1.5 games, and including an 11-game win streak, they were arguable the hottest team over the past month or so. A Twins fan couldn't be happier. I suppose the next trial they have is the 15-game road trip, courtesy of the RNC. Damn you, Republicans...

3. Francisco Liriano
This is another Twins "who?" moment. With Baker, Slowey, BLACKBURN, and even Perkins throwing like champs, I haven't missed Liriano much. But despite a rocky beginning to a season, he's been tearing it up in the minors and may be ready to rejoin the team (read: replace Livan Hernandez THANK GOD) sometime very soon. If it becomes heated in the Central, he could be the deciding factor as he was two years ago.

4. Joe Girardi's handling of the Yankees
When Joe gets ejected the team rallies and wins (see: July 6th). But other than that, I can't help thinking that there's disconnect between the new Joe and his team. JoeG has high standards and wants to push these guys to do better, but the 2008 Yankees...*sigh*. The 2008 Yankees, as I've said before, are for once looking like a group of old superstars who couldn't care about winning with heart if you gave them anything their salaries couldn't buy. Perhaps a younger, more energetic team next year will yield better results.

As for some questions: Will the umps stop making miserable calls? No, in fact they've gotten worse. Will opposing pitchers stop drilling our batters? Nope! And will the Mike Scioscia's Angels finally forget our number? We don't know yet...

5. The Yankee Big Three
Ugh. Here's a topic that hurts to talk about. It was a gamble that we lost--the Big Three is now the Semi-big One. Joba was stellar as a reliever and has looked pretty good (but not stellar) as a starter. As for his peers? Kennedy and Hughes combined for a record of 0-7, and although I usually hate pitcher W/L, they earned all of them. The dominant guys we saw last season were no more, as they nibbled around the strike zone with the confidence of a mouse creeping past a hungry rattlesnake. What happened, guys? Both ended up on the DL: Ian's still in the minors until he earns his way back, says Joe, and Phil's still nursing his rib injury. Talk about a slap in the face.

6. Alex Rodriguez
Arod more or less opened the season on the DL, and he pretty much returned to form as soon as he came off of it. This is good. Unfortunately, he probably won't recreate 2007 because of his injury stint, and he may recreate 2006 with respect to his popularity. You see, with the team underachieving, his failures (not hitting HRs all the time) are remembered by the masses more than his successes. And then there's his personal life that the NYPost loves exploiting...meh.

7. The Detroit Tigers
Ok, so everyone knew that their amazingness was overrated (that's to YOU, Steve Phillips). But no one knew they'd be THIS much of a disaster. Starting the seaosn 0-7, they now are once again exactly at .500. Phew. Gee that sucks, doesn't it guys?

8. The AL Central
I figured the Indians and Tigers would be big players here, but they are not. Cleavland basically threw up the white flag by trading C.C. Sabathia last week, and I already spoke about Leyland's gang. Unless things get REALLY crazy, this division title will be a fight between Chicago and Minnesota (Oh, and I'll say "Royals" just so all teams are represented in this section.)

9. Cubs 2008
They're the best team in baseball. Can they keep this up to and through October? Rich Harden should definitely help...

10. The AL East
WHO ARE THE TAMPA BAY RAYS. I don't think anyone knows. But for awhile they were on a roll until they encountered major turbulence during the past 6 days. Will they be able to reclaim first place and hold onto it?

11. The AL West
The Angels have tied the Cubs for the best record in the game, the Rangers hit hard but have no pitching, the A's also threw up the white flag in trading Harden, and the Mariners were a supreme disappointment. The AL West isn't as exciting as I thought it would be.

12/13. The SF Giants/The LA Dodgers/The NL West
There's not much to say about a division that is all under .500. Just pathetic. Even the Dbacks, who started out 20-7, now find themselves 1-under. Ridiculous and embarrassing. But I guess we can laugh at how bad the Pads are and how last season was a fluke in Rox history. And hey, this may be the season where someone makes October with a losing record.

14. Steroid Fallout
This chapter looks to have been put to sleep for good. Thank god.

15. AL vs. NL
The AL dominated its senior counterpart in interleague once again. And despite it being long and drawn out, they won again in the ASG. Will the World Series winner also come from the Junior Circuit?

I'll also add to the list with the following:

16. Umpires
Instant replay for home run calls was bumped from being instated next year to early August. Does this mean the commissioner will speed up the process of implementing it for close calls at the plate? At bases? How about certain balls and strikes? Because to be honest, the umps this year have been incredibly subpar.

17. Yankee run
Everyone believes that the Yanks will go on a vicious rampage and take the AL East once again. That is, everyone except Yankees fans. Will they have it in them this season? Can they extend the lifetime of Yankee Stadium, or will they say their goodbyes from Fenway Park?

18. Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz
If these three all retire at the end of 2008, there could be an amazing HOF class in the near future. That would be a sight to see.

19. NL Central
The Cubs and Brewers made their moves. Will the Cards be able to keep up?

(Back to normal baseball tomorrow!)