The best seat in the house is the view from the couch

84 Games.

84 Wins.

84 Consecutive Saves.

Unbelievable.

Eric Gagne's streak of 84 consecutive saves just came to a screeching halt last night after a blown save against the Diamondbacks in a game that the Dodgers eventually won, 6-5 in 10 innings.

All-Star Game joking aside, Eric Gagne is obviously the most dominating closer in baseball; so much so that it is bigger news when he blows a save than when he records one. 84 games. Do you realize that a team that wins 84 games in a year is 3 games over .500? Eric Gagne saved 84 straight games before finally blowing one.

Since August 26, 2002, Gagne has been untouchable. It had been 677 days, 123 games, 132.3 innings pitched, a 1.36 ERA, and a ludicrous, stupefying K/BB ratio of 207-34. 207-34?!?!

He's the best in the game at what he does. He's probably going to go into the record books as the best closer since closers became commonplace, but let's leave that debate for 10 years from now. He's blown 5 saves in 3+ YEARS of closing (and three of them were vs. the D-Backs)

Now let's just see how he responds. Maybe he'll even wash his hat.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Happy 4th of July to everyone in the world other than Red Sox fans, since The Nation is in such a state of misery, a state of self pity and loathing, and a Nomar/Millar hating frenzy that no mere holiday can erase the memory of the current standings in both the divisional and wild card standings.

Back in April, I wrote that although I was excited about the Sox/Yanks series in early April, I knew they meant nothing. I believe my exact words were "get back to me in July when the standing are a bit clearer and the games are a LOT more important." Well, it's July, the standings are a lot clearer, (blindingly so), and the games are a LOT more important.

And the Red Sox are in the tank.

Hopefully, this is Rock Bottom, because otherwise, this is going to get a lot worse before it even begins to get better. They're in a tailspin, and the only way to get out of it is to get their heads on straight and play the baseball they're capable of playing.

Nomar's back (although most people in Boston aren't thrilled about that), Nixon's back, and now Bill Mueller is back, meaning that this is finally the offensive team that was supposed to be on the field all year long, playing their first games together this season.

My personal opinion is that Boston has one week - until the break - to turn it around. They are playing two teams that they trail for the wild card, Oakland and Texas, both at Fenway, during that week. If they don't take 4 of 6, (and preferably 2 of 3 from each team, if not outright sweeps), there will be some changes.

Stunningly, Terry Francona is on the hot seat. Yes, I predicted he'd be a top contender for AL Manager of the year, but next week I'll have my updated predictions for the All-Star Break, as well as a first-half recap.

Theo Epstein, A.K.A. "What I Want To Be When I Grow Up" (whenever that may be), has already said that he will consider making a trade just to make a trade, in order to shake things up. Only five people on this team are untouchable in trades - Manny, Schilling, Foulke, Ortiz, and (surprise) Pokey. Everyone else is openly available for the right offer.

Something needs to happen. Fans are restless. Management is restless. Players are dejected (Or in Nomar's case in game 3 of last weekend's Yankees' series, completely in another world. He gets his own column very soon). It's time to do something, because Boston won't get an opportunity to make a run for a couple more years, and the fans here just won't tolerate that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RUMORS AND LIES

OK, so we're another week close to the trade deadline. Carlos Beltran and Freddy Garcia are off the market (for now). The Cardinals are competing, so Matt Morris and Edgar Renteria are not going anywhere. Minnesota is competing, so Brad Radke isn't available... yet. There are more teams with serious playoff hopes this year than in any other that I can remember since the inception of the wild card. So what happens? Fewer teams are packing it in, less talent available.

As of last week, Pittsburgh was trying to ship Kris Benson and/or Kip Wells for whatever they could get in prospects. But now they're in the middle of a 10-game winning streak, and are still within reach of the NL wild card (8 games out).

Only 7 teams in baseball (Baltimore, Toronto, Seattle, Kansas City, Colorado, Arizona, and Montreal) are more than 10 games out of wild card contention, and therefore out of playoff contention in my mind. But what do those 7 teams have to offer in terms of available talent? Here's my take...

Baltimore - Nothing. They've got nobody that is of actual impact value to a contender. At least nobody that they'd actually consider trading. Obviously some teams would like Tejada, Lopez, Palmeiro, or Melvin Mora, but they're not going anywhere.

Toronto - Three players of value, and all of them are injured - Carlos Delgado, Vernon Wells, and Frank Catalanatto. If any or all of them get healthy in the next 3 weeks, look for a couple of deals here. If the Dodgers are still in the NL West race, they've got to find a way to get Delgado to really shore up their lineup.

Seattle - This is the paradox among non-contenders. They think they're still alive, yet they deal their best pitcher. They refuse to deal a 40-year-old starter because... why? Personally, I've been rolling a Boston/Seattle deal around my brain for a while involving Nomar and Kevin Youkiilis (Seattle needs a 3B, Spezio won't get it done) in exchange for Bret Boone and the salary dump of Rich Aurilia. Boston may even be able to get Shigetoshi Hasegawa as another bullpen arm, but that may be a stretch. This makes sense on both sides - Seattle gets a shortstop who wants to play on the West Coast and a 3B who can play and hit, and they dump two big contracts to the Red Sox who can bench Aurilia, put Pokey at short and Boone at second. I see a win-win.

Kansas City - Now that Beltran is gone, all KC might have to offer is either Joe Randa or Mike Sweeney, although Sweeney has a few years left and a lot of money due. Joe Randa, a solid all-around 3B who gets no press in KC, is out with an injury for the time being, but still may be attractive to a couple of teams needing a 3B for the short term.

Colorado - Preston Wilson, Larry Walker, even Todd Helton are being quietly offered for the right package. All of them have multiple years and big dollars left though, so don't look for any of them to move anytime soon (Although the Yankees could use another center fielder...)

Arizona - Another team who refuses to part with their only tradable commodity, Randy Johnson. Understand that Randy doesn't want to go anywhere, and as a 10/5 guy, he has the right to veto any deal. But that doesn't mean that he still won't get moved before July 31st.

Montreal - Since they're probably going to be in D.C. next year, they would be looking to keep any talent that they might have on their team, although SS Orlando Cabrera is a free agent after this year, and Livan Hernandez is going to get a lot of money in the next couple of years. They only have three tradable players, with those two and Brad Wilkerson as the third, but don't expect to see any of them move.

Otherwise, the only deals likely to happen are minor salary dumps between mid-level teams, deals involving team who tank in the next few weeks (Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, someone outside the NL Central), or deals just to get players out of town.

MOM'S QUOTE OF THE WEEK

OK, I spent the first two days of the 4th of July holiday in New Jersey reliving the good ol' college days with the crew. And while I have some great stories and a bunch of bruises on my hand and arm (thanks again Anna), I neglected to write down any quotes from a wild couple of days. Luckily, my mom was happy to oblige last night while watching the weather:

"See, this is why people in the desert and the south have it better with weather. It's still humid, but it's a dry humidity..."

Until next time…

posted by Big D @ 12:00 AM