I know everyone thought I would write a Posey artucle today but that’s not in the cards. Good job James, you found someone to guarantee that fourth year. Danny didn’t want to fuck up the salary cap so my good job is also to Danny. Now find us a sixth man again. If you read this article, you’ll feel much better about Posey not coming back.

On to the mid season report card. Now if you can remember back to March when I gave you the American League and National League previews. Now it’s the All Star break and time to check in on my picks and see how bad I’m doing.
Let’s start with the National League which I know nothing about. I picked Philly in the East followed by NY, Atlanta, Florida and Washington. Thanks to a recent 9 game winning streak by the Mets, the standings are almost exact. The only thing different is a flip flop of the Braves and surprising Marlins. I did pick NY to win the Wild Card and as it stands right now they’d be out thanks to an impressive Central bolstered by recent trades.
I picked Milwaukee to win the Central and if the season ended today I’d be wrong. The Brewers are actually in third behind the Cubbies and surprising St Louis. So I had the top three right, just in the wrong order. I had the rest of the mess dead on Reds, Pirates, and lowly Astros rounding out the cellar.
In the West I picked the Dodgers, in fact in my 2008 prediction column I picked them to win the National League pennant. My huge mistake was liking the Padres so much with no hitting. The West is a two horse race between AZ and L.A. followed by the Giants (holy crap), surprisingly struggling Rockies and the lowly Pads rounding it out.
Overall the NL isn’t too bad on the prediction front. I still could pull out the NY Wild Card depending on how the streak continues after the break. Johan for Cy Young doesn’t look like it’ll happen. Ryan Howard for MVP could happen (he leads the league in HR’s and RBI’s) but he’ll get a run from Chipper Jones. Fukudome as rookie of the year, well he was an All Star. Finally Joe Torre for manager of the year, if the Dodgers pull out the West it could be a lock.
Now onto the AL something which I’m a little more educated.
AL East was picked Sox, Yanks, Jays, Rays, O’s. Who on Earth would have thought the Rays would be in second place? Well my picks could still fall into place especially if the Rays keep dropping road games. They’ve lost their closer and need to make a deal for a bat, if they do that, I’ll be wrong in my predictions.
Now the central which I butchered, so much for “being educated”. I had the Tigers followed by Cleveland, Chicago, KC, and the Twinkies. The White Sox are leading the pack and the Twinkies are only a game and a half out. My pick of the Tigers? They’re floating at .500. KC in fourth I got right, but no one had the Indians in the cellar. So much for Cleveland winning the Wild Card.
In the West I caught a lot of shit from people for not picking Seattle after the Bedard trade. After John Lackey went down for the Angles, I was really worried. Well the Angles have the best record in baseball and the Mariners are in last place. Eat it! The A’s and Texas are both playing above .500. The A’s doing it with pitching, the Rangers with hitting.
With the AL I would really like to see the Rays take the Wild Card. That’s just the baseball fan in me. I think it’d be good for them, but we’ll wait and see. It’d be even better if the Sox win the East and the Wild Card comes from somewhere else.
Now the funny. I picked Beckett for Cy Young (whoops, looks like Cliff Lee), Jacoby for rookie of the year (who would have thought Longoria from Tampa would be that good?), Leyland as Manager of the Year (Rays skip Joe Madden walks away with it even if they don’t make the playoffs) and Vlad Guerrero as the MVP (which I guess could happen considering his team has the best record and he leads his team in every offensive category).
The best news in all this? The Red Sox are back in action but not till tomorrow. The bad news? They’re on the West Coast and you have to stay up till 1AM to watch the games. But it’s the weekend, so enjoy.