Baseball is back, not a moment too soon. Through four days, here’s a few tidbits that have made an impression on me during the first week of the season.

It’s still only a game. I think I speak for everyone when I say that I was shocked to hear the news of Nick Adenhart’s death. It’s always a stark reminder of life’s fragility when an athlete passes. But for it to be a 22-year-old makes it even more tragic. Our prayers go out to Nick Adenhart’s family, friends, loved ones and fans. For God’s sake, please drive safe.

Just as advertised. It’s not September yet, so we can expect the Mets to play like a competent team. But you have to like what you’ve seen from the duo of JJ Putz and Francisco Rodriguez. I hate the cliche, but having to face those two really does shorten the game to seven innings. I still have some concerns about their rotation, but the Mets’ bullpen is in great hands.

Royals and Marlins! I hopped on the Royals’ bandwagon early in the offseason, but two of baseball’s smallest markets are looking like contenders. The Marlins swept the Natty Ices, while the Royals took two of three from the White Sox. Both teams have great pitching, so they won’t be going away anytime soon.

You probably haven’t heard much from good ole’ Elijah Dukes lately; playing in Washington has that kind of effect on players.  But just games before the conclusion of the regular season (and for Washington, the 2008 season), Dukes did what we’ve been waiting for him to do over the last few months.  Implode.

After crushing a second inning home run last night off Mets pitcher Mike Pelfrey, Dukes took offense to the first pitch he saw in the fourth.  Pelfrey threw it inside, about chest level, as a message to Dukes.  Instead of acting like a baseball player about it, Dukes immediately started walking towards the mound weilding his bat like a club.  After being restrained by the umpire, Dukes took it to the next level.  While the Mets faithful rained down a chorus of boo’s, Dukes stuck his tongue out, began to waive to the crowd, and blew kisses at them.  Classic.  Nothing quite like a bat shit crazy baseball player getting center stage in New York to do mature things such as sticking his tongue out.  What is this, third grade?

This incident coincdentally segways into an opinion I have about the lost art of the inside corner.  Batters getting bent about pitchers throwing inside is some of the dumbest crap I’ve ever heard.  Where are guys like Pedro Martinez vintage 1999 who weren’t afraid to kill it on the inside corner and, if a batter took offense, hand out a beat down too.  Even Roger Clemens used to grind it inside without much opposition.  Now, with all the prima dona’s in baseball, having a ball come anywhere close to the batter is worthy of a stare down and bench warnings.  If you ask me, that’s kinda gay.

If the Major League Baseball season continues to shake up like it has we could be in for a very special treat. Many Major League teams are adding to the excitement that we see night in and night out, but it remains to be seen what teams will have enough to withstand the tough month of September and stay alive. Let’s take a look at this year’s pretenders and contenders for the upcoming dramatic playoff race.

A.L. Pretenders:
Tampa Bay Rays- I feel really bad for putting the Rays in this spot, but I don’t see them making it out alive in the A.L. East. The Red Sox will find some way to make this thing close before September comes. If stud third baseman Evan Longoria and closer Troy Percival can get off the DL sooner rather than later the Rays could have a chance, but putting everything on Carlos Pena and Australian Grant Balfour is a tough thing to ask.

Minnesota Twins- Tip your hat to the Twins for staying in it this long. Losing Santana and Hunter gave the image of a losing year back in Spring Training, however the emergence of young pitchers such as Nick Blackburn and Kevin Slowey have kept the Twins floating. The main problem with the Twins lies with the lineup outside of All-Stars Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer. The Twins will take on the Mariners and Oakland this week in a 7 game west coast swing; games in which they need to play well in to stay on top of the division.

N.L. Pretenders:
Philadelphia Phillies- The Phillies leader in wins is Jamie Moyer. Ouch. This squad has no pitching outside Cole Hamels and Moyer. And please don’t sit here and tell me that fat ass Joe Blanton was the answer to the Phillies pitching problems. They made a weak push for Rich Harden and are quickly learning that Blanton’s cheese curd fastball can’t hold much to Harden’s dominance. Their lineup is stacked, but their rotation isn’t. Balanced teams make the playoffs. The blue collar working class of Philadelphia will once again have to hope the Mets collapse in a New York minute (or seven games in seventeen days like last year).

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Talk about a move that has been in the making for seemingly forever. Willie Randolph’s tenure as Mets manager has ended after a disappointing start to the 2008 season. While the Mets, who are floundering at 34-35 right now despite a payroll bigger than everyone in baseball not named the Yankees, Red Sox, or Dodgers, will have to press on with interim manager Jerry Manuel at the helm. You might remember Manuel from the one-dimensional White Sox teams he ran prior to Ozzie Guillen taking over. Then again, you might not.

What can we say about Randolph’s time as Mets manager that hasn’t been said about the Mets before. Underachievement will forever mark his time as manager after an epic collapse last year that can only be catergorized as hilarious. Compound last year’s disaster with the train wreck of a start to the 2008 season and you have the makings of a shit-canning.

Can we blame this whole thing on Randolph? Can we blame him for Carlos Delgado reverting back to playing like Pedro Serrano in the first half of the movie Major League instead of the Delgado that was one of the most feared left handed bats in the National League. Can we blame Randolph for Carlos Beltran not exactly living up to the five tool phenom that he was signed and promoted to be. Not entirely. It’s not his fault Pedro Martinez has all but kicked the bucket on his career. But thus is the tragedy in baseball; someone must take the fall.

Randolph will be missed in the media. Sure, he may not have rolled around the dugout with disguises on like previous managers, but he had his moments. I’d also like to note to GM Omar Minaya that, despite the illusion that I might not have the “experience” like Manuel, I’ll be awaiting a call for an interview for the job. What’s not to like about a resume that is chalked full of baseball video game strategy and a dabble of the Spanish language.

Hosts: Sonny, Ryan and Rich: This episode focused solely on the National League East. With Johan Santana now in the mix in New York, can the Mets rebound from last year’s epic September collapse? Or will the Philadelphia Phillies, led by their three MVP candidates, make it two titles in a row? Or…will the Atlanta Braves return to the postseason after a two year drought? All of this and more on this episode of the Sportable Spot.

Note: You may have noticed we haven’t recorded podcasts for the AL Central and AL East. Those will be posted in the next few days, we had a slight mishap with the order of divisions.

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Big expectations haunt the Big Apple’s other team. The 2007 New York Mets completed one of the most fantastic unbelievable collapses in baseball history, blowing a seven game lead over a seventeen day span. Rest assured, prodigies such as David Wright and Jose Reyes have taken note. No team, infinite payroll or not, should blow that big of a lead in such a short time span. With that said, the Mets appear to have no intentions of making the same mistake this season. They’ve reloaded, acquiring the prize of the off-season in Johan Santana and they’ve cleaned house, ushering out guys like Paul LoDuca who were cancers in the lineup as well as the clubhouse.

Bats. While it may not be the complete lineup that we saw a few years ago, the 2008 Mets lineup still has potency and big inning potential that makes it one of the league’s best. Third baseman David Wright is a bona fide MVP candidate before the season even begins and, in this being only his fourth season in the majors, has a limitless ceiling of potential. Wright’s numbers have steadily increased over the past few seasons with a trend that can only point towards a most valuable player award in his near future. Despite having his numbers dip last season, shortstop Jose Reyes still stakes claim to be one of the two best shortstops in the National League. Reyes stole 78 bases last year and has solidified himself as the leadoff hitter in the Mets lineup. The issue with Reyes is his consistency. During the final stretch run, Reyes failed to get a hit in five of the Mets last eight games. Consequently, the Mets only won two of those games. Read the rest of this entry »