Charlie Manuel should be fired immediately. Not tomorrow, or the next day, but now. Taking away 130 innings from your second best pitcher was ludicrous in the first place, but the inherent injury risk of switching a pitcher’s role mid-season had to be considered at the time as well. Brett Myers had never spent time on the disabled list during his career before his recent shoulder troubles, and the cause here is quite obvious. Manuel asked Myers to throw 21 innings in the 36 games since he became a reliever - a 95-inning, 90 appearance pace for an entire season in the bullpen. Oh, and the game he left injured, Myers was pitching when the Phillies had a four-run lead.
It’s time to start considering Oliver Perez as an elite pitcher again. While he’s walked multiple batters in each of his past five starts, he has improved in that area, and he’s striking out 8.49 batters per nine innings. Rick Peterson deserves a lot of credit here, as Perez’s stuff still isn’t what it was in 2004. While he’s likely to throw in a couple of combustible outings from time to time, pitching for the powerful Mets’ team should lead to 17-20 wins. His last three starts have come against the Brewers, Yankees and Braves, so he’s getting it done against tough competition as well. Perez is back.
I’m going to be forced to hurt someone the next time Bruce Bochy pencils Rich Aurilia in front of Barry Bonds in the batting order. With a .280 on-base percentage, the best spot to hit in baseball is getting completely wasted. Imagine if he didn’t constantly see fastballs – Aurilia’s average would definitely be on the Interstate. I wonder why Bonds had zero RBI over the last 14 games before Sunday.
Jack Cust is the absolute king of baseball’s three true outcomes. Entering Sunday, Cust had eight homers, 22 walks and 28 strikeouts in 83 plate appearances – he’s leaving nothing up to chance a remarkable 70 percent of the time.
Rumors of a Carlos Zambrano shoulder injury continue to persist, and if the readings on the radar gun are any indication, they are valid as well. While he insists he’s healthy, there’s no denying his arm angle is lower than last year, and the results so far certainly won’t quiet suspicion. Regardless, Lou Piniella keeps leaving him out there for 125-pitch outings, which can probably be viewed as both a positive and a negative.
With 2 outs and runners in scoring position, Barry Bonds is 1-for-2 with a home run and 12 walks this season - good for a .929 OBP and 2.929 OPS.
Jason Kendall has two extra-base hits this season. One since Opening Day, and that was because the right fielder was basically playing a deep second base. At his current pace, he would take home the title of the weakest post-dead-ball-era hitter in the history of the game.
Ervin Santana’s home/road splits are truly amazing. For this season – 3-1, 2.33 ERA, 1.15 WHIP at home vs. 0-5, 9.30 ERA, 2.07 WHIP on the road. For his career – 22-6, 3.00 ERA, 1.14 WHIP at home vs. 9-16, 6.98 ERA, 1.63 WHIP on the road. In a way, this makes him even more valuable for fantasy purposes, at least for those in daily leagues. You know exactly what you are getting. Sure, he’s only going to provide about 120 innings opposed to 220, but those 120 are going to be top-10 starter type numbers. Of course, that’s assuming he doesn’t get demoted to the minors.
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