in MLB Articles
This Week in the MLB - Yankees Pitching Woes and More
by Charles Jay
YANKEES, MARLINS IN FIGHTS OF DIFFERENT KINDS
The Florida Marlins (+6500 to win the NL pennant at BetUS) are hanging in there in the wild card race, though they are probably not going to get there. Their battle with the Braves, Rockies and Giants are hardly anything to compare with the internal flareup they experienced recently.
Hanley Ramirez, the star shortstop who has a good chance to be the National League MVP runner-up behind Albert Pujols, took himself out of a Sept 2 game against the Atlanta Braves with a sore hamstring. Ramirez had been in a slump, going 0 for his previous 14 at-bats. Well, neither of those things seemed to be good enough for second baseman Dan Uggla, his double play partner, who lit into his teammate in the clubhouse for dogging it before the next game against the Atlanta Braves.
"Yeah, you got your $70 million," is what reporters from a local radio station heard him say. The fact is, Uggla did not believe Ramirez was hurt. But manager Freddie Gonzalez held him out of the lineup the next day.
Catcher John Baker said, "I think he (Ramirez) went through some stuff, been hit by pitches and been in the lineup every single day and battling for us through success and struggles."
Yet there are plenty of teammates who feel the same way as Uggla. They gave off-the-record comments to Miami Herald reporters days after the incident with Uggla. It seems more than one of them were a little suspicious that Ramirez cited an "injury" for staying out of last season's final game, because they suspect he was only concerned with ensuring that he would finish the season with a batting average over .300.
It is acknowledged within the Marlin organization that Ramirez's attitude sometimes needs adjustment. Last year the team brought in Luis Gonzalez, a grizzled veteran, to "babysit" him. All I can tell you, though, is that Ramirez is hitting .352 this season to lead the entire National League by 24 points going into Monday's games. He is 8th in the league in RBI's, third in on-base percentage and seventh in slugging, has 26 stolen bases to place seventh in the NL.
Meanwhile, Uggla leads the team with 29 homers but is hitting .240, has struck out 138 times, has no speed to contribute, and is generally regarded as one of the worst defensive second basemen in the majors.
With the Marlins slated to move into their brand new stadium in Little Havana in a couple of years, which one of those guys is most likely to be sent packing, and furthermore, which one deserves it more?
By the way, they should have clubhouse arguments more often, perhaps. The Marlins have gone 11-6 since the big blowup.
The Boston Red Sox (+500 to win the World Series at BetUS) have sent Nick Green to a doctor back in Boston because the shortstop has a "dead leg," whatever that is supposed to mean. Green had been in the unenviable position of having to step into the starting shortstop position, that is, before the team brought Alex Gonzalez back from the Reds. Green is batting .236 with six homers and 35 RBI's.
Dead arms might be a bigger issue, but the Red Sox are getting back to the point where they want to be. Through Sunday's games they had gone through a period of 13 consecutive contests where their starting pitcher had allowed three runs or less. Something they were hoping for but weren't really counting on was a comeback from Daisuke Matsuzaka, who has made two starts since coming off the disabled list and has allowed three runs and eleven hits in 11-1/3 innings. That doesn't really guarantee anything, of course, but he may turn out to be a guy who can chew up some innings come playoff time.
The New York Yankees (-120 to win the AL pennant at BetUS) may be forced to make a decision as to whether they will use Joba Chamberlain as a starter in the post-season or not. A lot depends on whether they think Andy Pettitte's arm, which has been bothering him, is going to be good to go. Chamberlain was destroyed in a Sunday start against the Seattle Mariners, allowing seven runs in three innings of work, and has an ERA of 8.25 since the beginning of August. he is 1-4 since then, and hasn't won since August 6. The Yankees are 5-4 in his last nine starts.
It appears as if Chamberlain is going to be left out if the Yankees have to go with a three-man rotation in a playoff series. The club has only four pitchers who have started ten or more games, and only one of them (CC Sabathia) has an ERA below the 4.00 mark. All of a sudden things look like they could be getting thin, and the Yankees are in the midst of a series against the Angles, with the Red Sox on deck.
It's no slam dunk in the post-season for the Yankees, and we may have a division race in the AL East after all.
