With baseball’s playoffs merely two weeks away, here are
a few thoughts from an eventful 2006 season:
– What in the name of Roy Hobbs has caught hold
of Dan Uggla?! Is there anyone out there who saw this former University of
Memphis infielder making the All-Star Game and setting a home-run record (for
rookie second basemen) this season? Uggla had a fine 2005 season at Double-A
Tennessee (in the Diamondbacks’ system), hitting .297 with 21 dingers. A year
later, having leapfrogged the Triple-A level, Uggla has hit .293 with 25 home
runs and 102 runs scored through Sunday and is a viable candidate for the
National League’s Rookie of the Year award. Better yet, Uggla is a major reason
the Marlins became the first team in history to start a season 20 games under
.500 and manage to reach the break-even mark. Look out if this club reaches the
postseason.
– It’s a shame Germantown’s Matt Cain is
becoming a star as a San Francisco Giant, since most of his heroics are taking
place after Memphians are tucked away for a good night’s sleep. With 13 wins —
including his last four starts — Cain has been every bit as valuable as one
Barry Bonds in the Giants’ late-season return to playoff contention. Like Uggla,
he’ll receive some Rookie of the Year votes.
– It’s been a confounding year in Cardinal
Nation, and one school of thought has it that Tony LaRussa’s time has come and
gone. But if you consider the roster LaRussa’s been dealt, this may turn into
one of the future Hall of Famer’s finest managerial jobs. Among the players lost
from LaRussa’s lineup card are his number-two starting pitcher (Mark Mulder),
his Gold Glove centerfielder (Jim Edmonds), the franchise’s alltime saves leader
(Jason Isringhausen) and his shortstop/leadoff hitter (David Eckstein). Take the
same elements away from another contender — and put them in the American League
to make matters worse — and you’ve got the Boston Red Sox. Barring a collapse,
LaRussa’s Cardinals will play October baseball for the sixth time in seven
years.
– What about the season Philadelphia’s Ryan
Howard has had? (For those in Cardinal Nation pining for a return of the St.
Louis native, until the National League adopts the DH, there’s no room for
Howard on a team with Albert Pujols playing first base.) Should the Phillies’
sophomore slugger drill his 62nd homer of the season, there will be cries for a
new kind of asterisk in the record book, one to indicate the “juice-free
home-run king.” And you know what? Those cries should be heard.
– The watered-down National League is going to
be an ugly footnote to every postseason broadcast you watch next month. While a
team 20 games over .500 will be sitting home (only two clubs among Detroit,
Minnesota, and the White Sox can qualify from the American League Central),
you’ll see a team barely over .500 play as the NL wild card, with no greater
penalty than an extra road game should a series go the distance. Thank goodness
the AL rallied for that All-Star Game victory and home-field advantage in the
World Series. For the NL pennant winner to have such a luxury this season would
compound the insult of their playing in the first place.
– David Ortiz, Johan Santana, and Manny Ramirez
will get their share of MVP votes in the American League, but this is the season
the honor has to go to Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter. Beyond his stellar numbers
(.341, 93 RBIs, 107 runs through Sunday), Jeter is a season closer to gaining
that hallowed ground only Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Mantle occupy among the
pantheon of Bronx Bombers. Jeter’s been a winner since the day he took the field
at Yankee Stadium — 10 years ago! — and he happens to play one of the two
hardest positions on the diamond. Most valuable, indeed.
-Here are two names — from Cardinal days gone
by — I’d love to see on the search list for the Redbirds’ new managerial
vacancy: Tom Herr and Terry Pendleton. It’s time for the St. Louis brass to
consider grooming LaRussa’s successor.