Yanks going home early, but Torre’s Dodgers are hanging around

The Joe Torre-less Yankees are not going to the playoffs for the first time since 1994 (when there was no postseason due to the players’ strike), and as a baseball fan, I feel like something will be missing from this year’s postseason.  Even I – a self-proclaimed Yankee-hater (but NOT a Sox fan) – am genuinely sorry to see the Red Sox reach October with more baseball to play while that team from New York is going home early.  While I’m thrilled that the Rays are playoff-bound, it does not seem right that there’s no chance of a Yankee-Red Sox showdown in 2008.

Speaking of both Torre and feeling a void, he should have been at the final game at Yankee Stadium – even if only by satellite or prerecorded video message.  After all, as the Bronx Bombers proved this year, even the mystique and aura ingrained in The House that Ruth Built could not catapult the team into the playoffs without the future Hall of Fame manager’s guidance.  Torre’s absence was downright Bad for Ball.

Surprise endings

I just looked at the standings and saw that the Cleveland Indians have a real good shot at finishing the year with a .500 record – a big accomplishment considering the way they struggled to begin the season (which led them to trade their ace CC Sabathia).  What truly surprised me, though, was that the Detroit Tigers are LAST in the A.L. Central – a half game behind the Kansas City Royals.  The team that made it to the World Series ago just two years ago and traded for Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis, and Edgar Renteria in the offseason was expected to make a return trip to the Fall Classic but got off to an awful start to the season and never looked like a championship team, but who would have ever predicted they’d be giving the Royals a run at the bottom of the division?

One explanation for this year’s power drought

Has anyone else noticed that the home run leaders in both leagues, barring a power surge during the last weekend of the season, will finish with significantly fewer long balls than in recent history?

N.L. – under 50 (Ryan Howard has 47; no one else has 40)

A.L. – under 40 (Miguel Cabrera and Carlos Quentin are tied with 36)

The last time either league’s home run leader hit fewer than 50 was 2005, when Alex Rodriguez led the A.L. with 48, and the last time NEITHER league’s home run leader hit 50 was 2004, when Adrian Beltre hit 48 in his last year in the Senior Circuit and Manny Ramirez finished with 43 to lead the A.L.  As for the last time either league’s home run leader hit fewer than 40, it was way back in 1992, when Fred McGriff led the N.L. with just 35 – half as many as Mark McGwire hit in 1998 when he broke Roger Maris’s then-record.  Any chance the drop-off in 2008 has something to do with drug testing and the decrease in performance-enhancing drug use?

O’s Notes

In the second game of Baltimore’s doubleheader against Tampa Bay on Tuesday night – in which the team’s pitching staff failed to protect a 5-1 lead – reliever Jamie Walker gave up four earned runs on three hits, a walk, and a wild pitch, while failing to record a single out and raising his Earned Run Average to 6.87.  My question is, how high does Walker’s (or anyone’s) E.R.A. have to get for him to be not be allowed to pitch in a close game?  While a big part of me was rooting for the Rays to complete the comeback, win the rest of their games, and finish the season with 100 wins, there’s only so much bad baseball a fan can watch his team play.