1. 7 for 7: Jered Weaver has been as good as you can ask any pitcher to be in his first seven starts this year: perfect. Weaver, who was called up from the minors earlier this year, has now won each of his first seven starts. He’s doing so in a dominant fashion too, with a 1.15 ERA and .79 WHIP. Those numbers, as well as Weaver’s .159 opponent’s batting average, would be the best among every starter if he had enough innings to qualify. Yesterday he took care of the Kansas City Royals by allowing just 3 hits and 1 run. Despite his outstanding performance so far, Weaver is just a dark horse candidate for Rookie of the Year with Jonathan Papelbon, Liriano, and Justin Verlander also in the running. But he might be the most talented of all those hurlers.
2. A Tale of Two Games: Jason Marquis just experienced perhaps the most up and down week of any player this season. Last Tuesday, Marquis allowed 12 earned runs in 5 innings against the Braves, the second-highest total of any pitcher this season (Marquis had 13 one game in June). But on Sunday Marquis showed why he is now the National League wins leader with 12. He pitched eight shutout innings while only surrendering 4 hits to the sinking Dodgers. Marquis’ out-of-nowhere performance means that he is now 12-7 on the year despite a horrendous 5.68 ERA. The Cardinals will really need him to be more consistent down the stretch if they want to make the NLCS for the third straight year. The 6-1 win gave St. Louis a season sweep of the Dodgers, the first time in 115 years that they have accomplished that.
3. Bounce Back Day: The top three teams in the AL Central–the Twins, White Sox, and Tigers, all suffered losses on Saturday. Interestingly, they each came back on Sunday with wins. Detroit finished their series with Oakland by defeating the A’s 8-4. Carlos Guillen fell a homer short of the cycle and drove in two runs, while Magglio Ordonez added to his team leading total with 68 RBIs. At 66-32, the Tigers are the only team in the majors with double the amount of wins to losses. Meanwhile, the White Sox beat the Rangers 5-0 to snap a four-game skid. Jon Garland pitched 8 shutout innings to record his 10th win, but manager Ozzie Guillen wasn’t completely happy with his performance. That’s because Garland failed to hit Ian Kinsler after White Sox catcher AJ Pierzynski was plunked earlier in the game. The Twins also were victorious with a 3-1 win over the Tribe. Francisco Liriano K’d 10 in only five innings to earn his 12th victory. Minnesota will battle Chicago next in a series that could see a new second place team in the Central if the Twins sweep it.
4. What’s going on out West?: The two worst divisions in baseball both happen to be west of the Mississippi. The AL West and NL West might be close, but neither features a dominant or threatening team to the other divisions. In the AL West, the first-place A’s are the favorites to win, even though they are last in the league in batting average and would be in fourth in either of the other two divisions. In second place are the Rangers, always the perennial teasers of that division. The underachieving Angels and hopeless Mariners round out those standings. The NL West doesn’t have a half-decent team either. While the Padres made the playoffs last year and will likely do so again this year, they really don’t scare anybody. And while the divisions’ other four teams are all in the top 7 in the Wild Card standings, each of those teams is way too inconsistent to make the playoffs. So each of the Western divisions will do nothing more this year than steal a playoff berth from a more deserving team.
5. Slammin’ Sammy coming back?: It seems like Sammy Sosa hasn’t been a major league player for years. His poor play and huge contract last year, in addition to the steroid allegations, flushed him out of Baltimore without an official retirement, almost like Rafael Palmeiro. But Sammy might not be done yet. The former MVP and slugger, who has 588 career homeruns and three seasons with 60 or more, href=http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2527930> might be headed back to the majors. Though even his agent said that it’s unlikely that Sosa will return, Sammy himself said that he wants to. “I’m not retired. I’m young and happy…[and] I’m getting ready to come back for the right offer.” Any team willing to sign him doesn’t have their heads on straight. Not only has he not played a game in almost a year, but he is also not good enough to produce right now. Last season he finished with a .221 average, and for the price he will command he will be hard-pressed to produce any better.
