Holy smokes, have you heard the news?! The Atlanta Braves are playing .800 baseball! Trot Nixon is batting .556! Solomon Torres leads the majors with four saves! Arizona rookie Chris B. Young has more RBIs (9) than Former NL MVPs Barry Bonds (3), Albert Pujols (2), Sammy Sosa (3) and Chipper Jones (0) have combined! And don't forget that six starters are tied for the lead in ERA with 0.00! WOW!
Oh, baseball's opening week. When talk-radio phones blow up with fans calling for their manager's heads. With the Phillies now 1-6 and Jimmy Rollins making a crucial error, the onslaught of criticism can't be far behind. With only Kei Igawa making it past the crucial 4.2 innings pitched for Yankee starters, the back pages were somehow calling for A-Rod's demotion before he started his home run barrage with a bases-loaded bomb.
A week of exaggerations, overblown criticism and impatient enthusiasts makes for the most fun week of the season until those last few in September. Because in reality, Torres' Pirates won't be in first place much longer, and Fat Albert will wake up in a big way.
But with the focus on division battles like the annual one in the AL East, the four-horse race in the AL Central and the Braves' hopes of regaining their crown, what's lost is the possible Midwest collision course that is percolating in the NL Central.
The Cubs took two out of three at Miller Park from the Brewers, but it wasn't a simple series win. After the second game, Cy Young hopeful Carlos Zambrano, who aims to make Cubbie fans forget about Mark and Kerry, had some interesting remarks about the Brew Crew's sticks.
When asked about what he thought based off one start against both Cincinnati and Milwaukee, Mr. Zambrano thought it best to throw some logs into the fire.
""I think it's a different ball club,"" he said. ""I think Cincinnati has better hitters than Milwaukee. I'm not saying the Milwaukee Brewers are nothing, but the offense of the Cincinnati Reds is better and there's no room for mistakes.""
""When you pitch against Cincinnati, they have Adam Dunn, Ken Griffey and all those guys, and when you make a mistake ... you will pay for it,"" he continued. ""Sometimes you make a mistake here [against Milwaukee] and sometimes they miss, and that's good.""
Newly acquired Brewers catcher Johnny Estrada retorted by saying, ""You've seen his act out there. Why listen to anything that guy says?"" He was referring to Zambrano's exuberant reactions. Dark horse MVP candidate Bill Hall remarked simply by saying, ""We'll see what happens next time we face him.""
And Sunday, following the Cubs' ace's comments, the Brewers offense did the talking, knocking around Wade Miller in Miller Park and scoring nine runs. With three important games in Wrigley at the end of September, these teams are on a track to be battling the entire season. And not because they're so good, but because no other teams in the central even compare.
Let's take a look:
St. Louis Cardinals:
I'll sum it up for you real quick. The World Champions batted a career .238 hitter with 16 career homeruns in the No. 5 hole and their number three starter was a guy who hadn't started a game since A-ball over nine years ago. Yadier Molina, known for his fielding prowess and devastating homerun in Game 7 of last year's NLCS, and Braden Looper, known for being a mediocre reliever, should not be focal points of the Cardinals, despite the gem he tossed last night against the Pirates. And now that they are, it's going to be a long year for Pujols, David Eckstein and Chris Carpenter.
Cincinnati Reds
Aaron Harang looks like the real deal surprisingly enough, but it's not going to be enough. This team faded down the stretch fast and David Weathers as a closer simply won't cut it. The Josh Hamilton comeback story is terrific, but Adam Dunn can't carry this offense by himself.
Houston Astros
Losing Andy Pettite is going to hurt and Roger Clemens isn't going to comeback to a team with Dan Wheeler as its closer. The offense should be great with El Cabayo, but Jason Jennings and Woody Williams won't be enough to help out Roy Oswalt.
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates are essentially where the Brewers were a few years ago. The young talent is all together, with a bright young future in the rotation, but they need some years together to mature. Adam LaRoche and Freddy Sanchez make for a great right side with Jason Bay and Chris Duffy in the outfield. And Zach Duke, Ian Snell and Pat Maholm are about as good a young 1-2-3 in the league. But Xavier Nady is the only true veteran in this starting lineup, and that might not be enough when that first losing streak rolls around.
So that leaves the Crew and the Cubbies. The Cubs have to be favored, just because they're basing their hopeful success on prior results. They know what Derek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano and Michael Barrett can do. They even know what Zambrano and Ted Lilly can do.
The Brewers, on the other hand, are basing their hopeful success on hopeful progress. Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks must improve for a Central division crown to be in reach and Hall has to adjust to center field. Ben Sheets, when healthy, can contend with Zambrano and any pitcher in the league.
Circle that date... and the 15 other times the two clubs play. Because even though Carlos likes those mighty Reds, it's come down to the Brewers and Cubs for a trip to October.
Want to praise the Brewers along with Sam? Contact him at sepepper@wisc.edu.
