WEEK 10

The Outer Edge, by James Floto

INTERLEAGUE PLAY BEGINS: As Calvin Coolidge once said when asked about sin, "I'm agin' it." Most of you know the arguments about Interleague play. Pro: It gives the fans a chance to see players from both leagues. Against: They don't really get to see many players from both leagues, mostly just the same old ancient rivals year after year.

My personal beef is that it upsets the flow of the season. Here we have a great year, with exciting races in all divisions save for the runaway Mariners in the AL West and the intensity gets stopped. I suppose for folks from New York, Chicago and LA, where there are genuine inter-city rivalries, Interleague play can get the blood pumping. But do folks in Toronto really care about Florida (answer: yes, but only in January, when the temperature is below zero.) Arizona vs. Kansas City? Now there is an ancient rivalry. As for me, I particularly have a hard time when the Giants play the A's. While their is no love lost between the teams themselves, like many fans of Bay Area baseball, I love both teams. (Remember the 1989 Earthquake Series, when fans wore hats with SF on one side, and a big A on the other?) Both clubs hovering at the .500 level--how can I root for one over the other?

Then there is the whole issue of tradition. I am in the camp that feels ILP detracts from both the All Star Game and the World Series. However, last year's quiet abolition of both league offices shows that the trend towards consolidation, in baseball, as in the business world, is far from over. Much as I dislike ILP, unfortunately it is likely here to stay.

A LOOK AT THE STANDINGS: In spite of what is written above, I did like the weekend series between Boston and Philadelphia. Before '53-'54, the Boston Braves played the Philadelphia Phillies, the Red Sox fought the Athletics. The towns are similar. By US standards, old cities, rich in tradition, yet both vibrant, strong, modern cities. This year, both the Phils and Red Sox are in red hot pennant races. The Red Sox proved to be the strong foe this weekend, taking two of three, despite the surprising Saturday game when Pedro Martinez was chased in a four-run eighth inning, his worst outing of the year. There was some initial concern that his arm was injured, but early reports say he is ok.

Good for the Red Sox, because they lost catcher Jason Varitek for, who was hitting .292 and was doing a masterful job of handling the pitchers. He is out for two-three months. Replacement Scott Hattenberg is also a good defensive catcher, but much weaker at the bat. The Sox are weak up the middle, with a platoon at second, Nomar out at short and now a new catcher for the pitchers to learn to deal with.

AL EAST: Nonetheless, the Sox had a good week 10, as they won two of three from Detroit before the Philadelphia series. Their 4-2 record in Week 10 allowed them to gain a game on the Yankees, who they now lead by a game. The Yanks went 1-2 against the Mets, who are having a rotten season and enjoyed a measure of revenge for last year's World Series loss. Baltimore tripped up Montreal this weekend to remain just 3 games below .500 after a wretched start. ON the other hand, the Blue Jays who only a month ago were in the thick of it with the Yanks and Sox have fallen into a black hole. They started the season with a robust 17-10 record; since then, the Blue Jays have won only 12 games while dropping 23, a record worthy of the ALE tail-enders, the 18-44 (.290) Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

AL CENTRAL: The race in the Central continues to be tight. Cleveland threatened to break away by sweeping a three game series in the first 2001 meeting between the Indians and the Twins. But Cleveland lost two of three to their down-state rivals in Cincinnati this weekend, while the Twins took two of three from the Pirates to end the week only 1/2 game out. After Cleveland (39-21, .650) and Cincinnati (39-22, .639), there is a sharp drop off. The White Sox are on a roll, winning 4 of 6 this week after winning 9 of their previous 10. However, because of their calamitous beginning, they remain 5 below .500, 11 1/2 behind Cleveland. The Tigers, who had edged their way up to .500, have pulled in their claws and at 25-34 now trail the White Sox by two. The brightest news was on Friday, when they dropped Milwaukee, 9-4 and Damion Easley hit for the cycle, the 9th player in Tiger history to do so. Kansas City, with their bright young stars, just can't seem to get going, bringing up the rear of the division, already 18 games out.

AL WEST: The Mariners are not only the big news here, but one of the biggest stories of the year. As of Monday, despite having their franchise record 15-game winning streak snapped on Saturday by the Padres. It was the longest streak in the majors since Atlanta won 15 straight in last year, and the AL's longest since Minnesota won 15 consecutive in '91. The all-time AL record is 19. The M's are tied with the 1907 Cubs and 1939 Yanks for the second best start after 60 games, 47-13. They beat the Padres again on Sunday, raising their record to 48-13, an eye-popping .787 percentage. They are 17 ahead of the Angels, who are playing good baseball themselves, having won 8 of 10 and displacing the A's for the dubious honor of being the second place team in a division where the race is pretty much over already. Oakland had started to gain ground but has split their past 16 games and remain a game below .500 (30-31). Texas, as most of us know from all the A-Rod publicity, is struggling. The answer is not to trade Ivan Rodriguez or say what a waste of time it was giving all that dough to A-Rod, but the same thing we have said all along: get some pitching. They lead the league in homers, yet still haven't learned, as the Mariners, Yankees and Twins have, that good pitching and defense have a lot to do with winning ball games.

NL EAST: The Phils are slipping, the Braves are climbing, fast. It's too bad, it was kind of nice seeing someone besides Atlanta atop this division, but the young Phils probably are a year away. Still, after 61 games they are still playing .600 ball (37-24, .607) and are going to make it tough on the Braves, even if they are chasing them a couple weeks from now. The Braves have won 12 of 16 and gained three games in Week 10 and now are only three out. The return of John Smoltz has been good for morale and he was strong in his last start. Maddux (6-5) has won 3 of 4 with an 0.84, and Glavine (6-4) continues his steady pace. They won two of three this weekend against the Yankees, with Maddux pitching a beaut vs. Mussina on Saturday.

Florida continues putting a solid season together and after a 4-2 week are only a game below .500. The Mets continue to struggle; they even lost two of three to Tampa Bay this week. Last year's World Series representatives are 27-36, 11 out. Montreal has not picked at all since the dismissal of Felipe Alou, remaining at the end of the division, 14 behind the Phils.

The NL CENTRAL is turning into as tight a race as their counterparts in the NL West. The Cubs, after a brief slump have won 13 of 16 and at 37-23 are 5 ahead of the Cards, who on paper still look like the best team in the division and have McGwire coming back soon; he may even DH this week. But the Cards dropped a couple behind the streaking Cubs this week. Houston has a strong, balanced club and are a game behind the Cards, while the slugging Brewers at 30-30 are 7 out. Any of the three teams trailing the Cubs are subject to get hot at any time. The Reds (25-36) are but an after thought this year and the Pirates (19-41) are one of only two teams, the other being Tampa, that have not won 20 games yet.

NL West: The Diamondbacks are starting to pull away from the pack. With Schilling and Johnson the best 2001 duo in the NL and Luis Gonzales continuing to wield a hot bat, Arizona is in good shape to take control of the division. Schilling became the first pitcher in either league to reach the 10-win mark Wednesday and the Big Unit is 7-4, 2.83, despite having terrible run support in most of his starts. Which is ironic, because besides Gonzo (.346, 26, 54), the Diamondbacks have three other players with more than 30 RBI: Reggie Sanders, 47 (along with 16 homers), Mark Grace, 38 (and a .324 BA), and Jay Bell (30).

However, the Dbacks only other starting pitcher having a good year is Robert Ellis (5-2), while the second place Dodgers (34-29) have much greater depth, with Kevin Brown (6-2, 2.60), Chan Ho Park (7-4, 2.75) and Luke Prokopec (6-2, 3.90), with the promising Darren Dreifort (3-5, 4.88), who has won 25 games the past two years and is in his walk year. With a bullpen of Herges, Fetters and Adams setting up for Jeff Shaw, their pitching is superior to Arizona's. Colorado (32-30) is having a comeback season, especially with newcomers Mike Hampton (9-2) and Neagle (5-2) joining Pedro Astacio (5-6). And say what you want about the Mile High effect, any team with a .304 batting average is a good hitting team: Larry Walker (.347), Todd Helton (.345), Neifi Perez (.330), Todd Walker (.322), sophomore Juan Pierre (.312), and Jeff Cirillo (.310) are all above the .300 mark.

Dusty Baker has proven year after year that you can't count the Giants out. The irony is that this year, many people finally realized how great the Giants have been the past half-decade and chose them to take the division, if not the league. Bonds is still going crazy, with 32 homers in the first 60 games and Rich Aurilia is still leading the league (.365), although Moises Alou (.361) is closing in. Jeff Kent is having a fine season; his .276 average isn't going to win him another MVP, but he already has 47 RBI. Although the Dodgers are 4 out, the Rockies 5 1/2 and the Giants 7, all of these teams, like the chasers in the NL Central, could get hot any time and erase the few games that separate them from the top. The Padres have lost 13 of their last 16 and are 29-34, 9 out, but only three weeks ago were right in the middle of it.

INDIVIDUAL STATS:

We're at the 60-game mark and the stats are starting to mean something. For those of you who don't know, OPS (On Base Percentage plus Slugging Average) is becoming more and more recognized as one of the important, standard statistics. Unlike many esoteric, often silly, stats that have come out of the sabremetric movement, this one makes a lot of sense. First of all, even though I look first at batting average just like most people, I have long pushed the idea that OBP is actually as much, and probably, more accurate than the batting average. From Little League on, we were taught that a walk is as good as a base it. Actually hitting the ball is more exciting than walking or getting hit by a pitch, but the most important thing is getting on base. Slugging Average tells us how far the batter was able to move himself and/or runners along towards the plate.

Likewise, I have always maintained that runs scored are just as valuable as RBI and yes, here, too, I still look at runs batted in before runs scored when I check the stats. But scoring the run is just as important as driving it in; we are just programmed to think that somehow RBIs are more active, while being driven in is somehow passive.

This week, then, we present the leaders in OPS, OBP, SA, R and RBI.

OPS. AL: Ramirez, Bos, 1.172; Giambi, Oak, 1.165; A. Rodriguez, Tex, 1.082; J. Gonzales, Clev., 1.023; Thome, Clev., 1.008.

NL: Bonds, SF, 1.371; Helton, Col, 1.174; L. Gonzales, Az, 1.163; L. Walker, Col, 1.138; Drew, St. L, 1.118.

OBP: The all-time record is Ted Williams' .551 in 1941; the modern NL record is Roger Hornsby's .507 in 1924.

AL: Giambi, Oak, .489; Ramirez, Bos, .461; E. Martinez, Sea, .455; Olerud, Sea, .444; A. Rodriguez, Tex, .427

NL: Bonds, SF, .480; Helton, Col., .458; Berkman, Hou, .456; L. Walker, Hou, .448; L. Gonzales, Az, .434.

Slugging Average: We know that Bonds is on track to beat McGwire's home run record. Were you aware that he is slugging far above Babe Ruth's all-time single season slugging record, .847 in 1920. Hornsby also has the all-time NL record, .756 in 1925.

NL: Ramirez, Bos, .711; Giambi, Oak, .676; A. Rodriguez, Tex, .655; J. Gonazles, Clev, .631; Thome, Clev., .609

AL: Bonds, SF, .891; L. Gonzales, Az., .729; Helton, Col., .716; Drew, St. L, .697; L. Walker, Col .690

Runs AL: A. Rodriguez, Tex, 59; Sukuzi, Sea, 57; Mondesi, Tor, 48; Sweeney, KC, 46; J. Gonzales, Clev, 45; Delgado, Tor, 45.

RBI AL: B.Boone, Sea, 66; Ramirez, Bos, 64; A. Rodriguez, Tex, 54; J. Gonzales, Clev., 53; E. Martinez, Sea., 52.

NL: Helton, Col, 68; Bonds, SF, 60; Pujols, St. L, 59; L. Walker, Col, 58; Sosa, Chi, 56