MLB: “the Winners;” Colorado Rockies, Now & Up Ahead // Tennis: Wimbledon .
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MLB --- All Star week is 10 days away, a sort of half time period for professional baseball without the beautiful Beyonce and her entourage---maybe! The All Star execs want to bulk up the TV ratings. Given the increasing spectacle-plank of the All Star period, one may wonder which side Beyonce would want to bat and field for? Our preference, Halle Berry
In the National league, leading are the NL Central’s 52-32 Pittsburgh Pirates, American League the 53-34 Boston Red Sox, the latter now the top winning team within both leagues.
Second in the NL are the NL Central’s 50-34 St. Louis Cardinals. Third, but tied, are the NL Central’s 49-36 Cincinnati Reds and the NL East’s 49-36 Atlanta Braves.
Second within the AL
Of course, the above-cited teams are leading their divisions, but only two among MLB’s six division leading clubs have a stretch of wins that can keep them in their numero uno slots well past All Star week, the Braves being ahead of the NL East’s second place team, the 43-42 Washington Nationals, by six games, and the Red Sox leading the AL East’s 48-38 Baltimore Orioles, by five games.
The remaining four division leading teams have edges that can be overturned in a matter of days, to wit: the Oakland A’s are just one game ahead of the AL West’s Rangers, and the NL West’s leading team, the 44-41 Arizona Diamondbacks, are two up on second place club, the 42-44 Colorado Rockies.
Of the six division leading franchises, the Diamondbacks have the weakest record, barely above the line that separates winning from losing clubs---.518. Today, the Diamondbacks and the Rockies begin a three-game series, after which the Rockies could be leading the NL West, though also barely above .500 (the Rockies are now at .488).
Within the NL Central, the Cardinals are only two games back of the Pirates. Inside the AL Central, the 46-38 Detroit
A month ago, only one of the six leading MLB clubs reflected other than conditions for leadership---the NL Central’s then 35-23 Pittsburgh Pirates. On June 4, the Pirates were in third place, behind the Cards and also then second place team, the Reds. All other June 4 division leading clubs were the same leading clubs of today. Another surprising ascent since June 4 involves the AL Central’s now 40-42 Kansas City Royals, moving from last to third place.
The majority of surprises in the past month have been descents or continuums rather than ascents, e.g., the NL West’s 39-45 San Francisco Giants having fallen from second to last within the NL West, the AL Central’s now 34-48 Chicago White Sox having dropped from fourth to last place, and the AL East’s 46-39 New York Yankees still in third place.
If the current standings remain mostly a constant, late September post-season contention can be as follows: NL West, Diamondbacks versus the Rockies; NL Central, Pittsburgh vs. the Cards; NL East, Braves vs. the Nationals; AL West, A’s vs. the Rangers; AL Central, Tigers against the Indians; AL East, Red Sox battling the Orioles.
If there are dark knights rising fast now, it’s probably NL West’s third place team, the 40-44 Los Angeles Dodgers moving up from last place a month ago, now three games back of first place.
Were the Rockies suddenly inside the NL Central, they’d be in fourth place of that division, a playoff slot for them unlikely, and in the NL East the Rockies would be in third position, just one game ahead of the 41-45 Philadelphia Phillies.
That the Rockies reside within the NL West today is a boost toward the team entering the post-season, for the NL West is a very tight division, the difference between last and first place being just four wins. For the Rockies , then, every win from today on can be the win that says yes to a playoff-billet, though precariously.
Surely the road ahead for the Rockies couldn’t qualify as smooth all the way, it’s mostly uphill, bumpy and filled with potholes, in that not only have the Rockies undergone necessary changes that are uncertain with regard to the effectiveness that wins ball games, the competition has also undergone such changes, e.g., Rockies shortstop/super batter, Troy Tulowitzki, still out of play due to injury, plus reliance on new rotation acquisition, Cy Young award winning RH pitcher, Roy Oswalt.
Between now and the All Star break, the Rockies will be facing three NL West teams “away from home.” This will include three games versus the NL West’s leading club, the 44-41 Arizona Diamondbacks, followed by three against the 40-46 San Diego Padres, then four vs. the 40-44 Los Angeles Dodgers, the latter a team that just took a home-stand series away from the Rockies.
Yet some Rockies relief against losses could obtain from wins during a follow-on home-stand (July 19 – July 28) pitting the Rockies against clubs now in fourth or last place within their respective divisions---the NL Central’s 36-47 Chicago Cubs and the 34-50 Milwaukee Brewers, and the NL East’s 32-52 Miami Marlins.
Then will arrive the big guns of dwindling July and August, when the Rockies complete a series vs. the NL East’s number one team, the 49-36 Atlanta Braves, followed by three games vs. the NL Central’s top club, the 53-32 Pittsburgh Pirates, now leading the NL while second within both MLB leagues.
This much is certain: not just for the most part but unmistakably throughout the rest of July and August the Rockies will NOT be a laid back/layabout ball club. Win or lose, the Rockies will deliver exceptional baseball—relatedly, fans and analysts won’t be forgetting the June and July Michael Cuddyer 27 game hitting streak, those home runs blasted by Carlos Gonzalez, the amazing picks by Nolan Arenado at third base and his clutch RBI hits, the sacrifice hits off of Todd Helton’s bat, the near-shutouts thrown by Jhoulys Chacin---there will be more of this.
Wimbledon --- The rivalry-lite that is a Germany-France mainstay will get a boost on Saturday as Germany ’s Sabine Lisicki and France ’s Marion Bartoli compete at the Wimbledon women’s finals, “unexpectedly,” for this will be the second time in more than 40 years that two women will be competing for Wimbledon ’s best-among-women trophy without ever having won a Grand Slam event.
Also a near-shocker is that Lisicki beat last year’s winner and 17 Grand Slam winner, America ’s Serena Williams, in an early Wimbledon round. Too, both Lisicki and Bartoli were seeded quite low for Wimbledon, second in Wimbledon history re. low-seeded women players making the finals at the U.K-held event.
And, no-one expected French Open winner for the eighth time, Spain ’s Rafael Nadal, to be out of this year’s Wimbledon competition early on.
Furthermore, Switzerland ’s Roger Federer hasn’t looked like the Federer of old, a winner of Wimbledon events seven times, surpassing the six Wimbledon events won by America
This could be the year, then, that a British male player can win at Wimbledon , Andy Murray, a first since 1936. Possibly in the way of that happening is the extraordinary Serb, Novak Djokovich, rising toward the Finals, today defeating Argentine, Juan Martin del Porto, in an incredibly long match---four hours, 43 minutes.
There hasn’t been a slew of top U.S.
END/ml
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