Quick Tidbits, Baseball Edition

Some things in baseball you can set your watch to...

...like the Oakland A’s always heating up around mid-June. The A’s have now won 10 in a row and have jumped into first place in the AL West.

...like the Reds fading when the weather gets hot. After taking first place from the Cardinals 10 days ago, the Reds have dropped 5½ games behind the Red Birds.

...like Kenny Rogers having another good 1st half. After notching his MLB-leading 10th win yesterday, The Gambler ran his career pre-All Star Game record to 118-75 with a 4.24 ERA over an 18 year career.

Some things in baseball you just can’t predict...

...like the Atlanta Braves being in last place in the NL East for the first time since 1990. Even the Marlins, with their minor league roster, are ahead of Atlanta. For those that can’t remember that far back, 1990 was the last season Atlanta didn’t qualify for the playoffs.

...like the Kansas City Royals having outscored the Chicago Cubs 268-267 this season. A healthy Derrek Lee would’ve changed all that for Chicago but it doesn’t provide enough of an excuse for the rest of the Cubs that are underperforming (most notably Juan Pierre and Aramis Ramirez).

...like Kenny Rogers being one of only nine active pitchers with 200 career victories. The other eight on the list – Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, David Wells, Pedro Martinez, and Curt Schilling – include three first-ballot Hall of Famers (Clemens, Maddux, Johnson) and two or three others that should make it in when it’s all said and done (Martinez, Glavine, Schilling). I never thought Kenny Rogers would be in such elite company.