Hosts: Sonny, Ryan and Rich: This episode focused entirely on the National League Central. With Kosuke Fukudome now in Chicago, can the North Siders make it two division titles in a row? Or will the Milwaukee Brewers’ youth movement come to fruition with a division crown? Also, what can we expect from the talented youngsters in Cincinnati? Can they challenge for the crown this year? Or will Tony La Russa and Albert Pujols get back to the forefront of the division. All of this and more on the Sportable Spot.

Note: We’ve recorded our podcasts for the AL Central and AL East. They will be posted in a few days after we complete the NL West team previews.

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What Happened? The St. Louis Cardinals enter 2008 with a very different reputation than last April. No longer considered World Series contenders, the Cardinals seem stuck between a youth movement and a team full of washed up veterans. In a young, up-and-coming division, the Cardinals will need to find the right balance of talent quickly.

Bats. The fate of this club will start and end with the health of Albert Pujols. One of the game’s most feared hitters, Sir Albert was nagged by injuries throughout last season. His numbers, while impressive, were merely pedestrian for a player who we’ve come to expect greatness out of. Pujols hit .327 with 32 homers and 103 RBIs. Impressive? Yes. But for a guy who went .331-49-137 in 2006, last year was a letdown. He enters this year nagged by an elbow injury but if Opening Day is any indication, this injury may not affect his power as much as we think.

In the past glory years of the Cardinals, Pujols had protection in the form of Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds. With those two veterans now playing elsewhere, St. Louis is still looking for a guy to protect #5 in the batting order. They hope that a pair of all-or-nothing hitters can be the answer. 3rd baseman Troy Glaus arrived in exchange for Scott Rolen, a trade that I described as “shit for shit.” Both players are old, off steroids and largely ineffective at this point in their careers. Glaus may be able to provide 30 homers, but will strike out 125 times and hit less than .250. Expect Ankiel to put up similar numbers. A feel good story from 2007, Ankiel has a great power stroke, but probably won’t bring much in the average department. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m not sure whether or not it’s their lack of fire because they were at one point so far ahead in the division or that they’ve just hit a rough skid, but the Brewers have let the rest of the division back into the NL Central race. The Crew, which at one point this season had the best record in baseball and had a double digit lead over the rest of the division, are only four and a half games up on the resurgent Cubbies and only seven and a half games up on the once dismal but suddenly competitive World Champion Cardinals.

A weakness for the Crew? Hitting the road. The Brewers are a National League best 30-13 at their home digs of Miller Park, but just 19-26 on the road. The Cubs, meanwhile, are a much more balanced one game under .500 at home (20-21) and two games over .500 on the road (24-22). But shouldn’t we have expected some sort of charge from the Cubs? This is a team that spent a hell of a lot of money this off season to ensure that they would contend and, up until this point, they haven’t. Now that all-star caliber third baseman Aramis Ramirez has returned from the disabled list and Alfonso Soriano is starting to hit, we can finally see the Cubs team that GM Jim Hendry envisioned when he built this team. Combine that with the recent dominance of eccentric pitcher Carlos Zambrano and the rest of the pitching staff that has for the most part been underrated and you have a team that is giving the Crew a serious run.

Another team with an opportunity to sneak in? The Cardinals. After the all-star break, the Cardinals will have a month span in which they’ll see the Brewers seven times, including a four game set at Busch. Considering the Brewers also will be having to put up with the likes of the Mets and Phillies during that span while the Cardinals get teams such as the Marlins, Nationals, and Pirates, it’s easy to see where a run for the division could formulate. This is the same team that won the whole thing last year and, with a bat like Albert Pujols in the lineup, a team that can’t be discounted. Pujols can win games by himself. There are few players in the league who can say that.

In a race that I felt might be over by mid-June, the Cubs and Cardinals have decided to prove otherwise. It’s up to the Brewers youth movement to prove to me that they have the confidence and stability to hold it together and retain the division lead. This next month will be crucial in driving that point home.

On what appears to be a slow day (and one where we haven’t had much time to write), I bring you this video from Deadspin. This was taken a couple weeks back at what appears to be a St. Louis Cardinals game. I love how the guy has a huge buffer area to show off these skills.

Warning: If you’re an NL Central homer, this article (like the current standings in that division) probably will burn your eyes out.

For the past few seasons, the NL West has taken the dubious name of the worst division in baseball. Much to the West’s glee, that title has been passed on to the NL Central, a division that has the team that spent $136 million this off season, the defending World Series champions, and only one team (the Milwaukee Brewers) over .500. Remarkable.

Believe it or not, the Milwaukee Brewers had the best record in baseball at one point this year. It was too good to be true. Since that point, the Brewers have slid and only won 10 of their last 29 games. Welcome back to earth, Milwaukee. Yet, despite the Brewers struggles over the past month, the rest of the division has been just as bad, if not worse. It took a Zambrano sucker punch and a Piniella ejection to get the Cubs going again, but the big spending Cubs are still seven games under .500, though sitting in third place but only a half game back of the Cardinals. Alfonso Soriano has decided that he wants to hit, but with the money that the Cubs have invested in him I would imagine that they would have preferred he started swinging the bat in April like everyone else.

The World Champion St Louis Cardinals continued their former 2002 Anaheim Angels circle jerk the other day when they signed Troy Percival to a minor league deal. Percival, who was once lights out, won’t do much beyond helping that bullpen. The problem that the Cardinals face is that they can’t get a lead to the bullpen because their starting pitching is atrocious. So much for that Anthony Reyes experiment. Before his ass got sent down, he was 0-7 with an ERA over 7. Mark Mulder can’t come back fast enough. And how about the productivity lack of offense from Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen so far this year. Do these guys even care anymore? Read the rest of this entry »

As if the tragic death of Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock wasn’t enough, it looks like there could be a long legal scuffle as a result. Dean Hancock, Josh’s father, filed a suit yesterday towards Mike Shannon’s Restaurant, which allegedly served drinks to Hancock knowing he was already intoxicated.

“It’s understood that for the entire 3 1/2 hours that Josh Hancock was there that he was handed drinks,” Keith Kantack, a lawyer for Dean Hancock, said. “It’s our understanding that from the moment Josh Hancock entered Mike Shannon’s that night that he was never without a drink.”

Let’s take a look at the facts. Hancock was hammered and continued to get served drinks, meaning he continued to buy them. Prior to his death at 3 AM, Hancock was speeding, talking on his cell phone, and driving with marijuana in the car. The bartenders may have exercised poor judgment in serving Hancock but this is a lesson of personal responsibility. If you’re drinking for 3 1/2 hours straight, you’re not in the position to drive and should act accordingly.

Defendants in this case include Mike Shannon’s Restaurant, the manager of the restaurant, and the parties involved in the crash. Not only did Hancock ultimately end his life when he crashed, he put the life of tow truck driver Jacob Edward Hargrove and Justin Tolar, the driver of the stalled car, at risk. As tragic as Hancock’s death was, he was still driving impaired and put other lives at risk. Dean Hancock can sue all he wants but Hargrove’s lack of flairs on the road didn’t cause the accident. Hancock’s incredibly high BAC (nearly double the legal limit) did.

Is this the legacy that Hancock would like to leave behind? This tragic incident could somehow turn into a positive if the parties involved play it right. Couldn’t this time be better spent educating people on the dangers of substance abuse and driving impaired? Why not gather Hancock’s teammates and friends and start a foundation to battle drunk driving? I’d say that would make a larger impression than filing lawsuits against everyone.