2006 Interleague a Joke

Beyond the complete thrashing delivered by the AL, there was no joy in Mudville. What was the point this year? While I'm a fan of rivalry games such as the Chicago Crosstown Classic or the NY Subway Series, the latest round of interleage did next to nothing for pennant races. The AL Central crushed to NL Central (Tigers, Sox, and Twins were 45-9 against the NL); the AL Central pennant race barely changed. The third place Twins gained ground on the second place Sox, but couldn't gain any ground on Detroit. Only two NL teams had a better than .500 record. Hopefully Oz can lead the AL to a win in the All-Star game to procure home field advantage in the World Series.

I haven't heard much more from the St. Louis Chumps that claimed the Sox were stealing pitching signs and that's why the Sox pummeled the Cards. You were pummeled because you suck. After you lose every series you played against AL teams (even the lowly Royals) over the past two weeks, your story seems less credible. Note the Sox have averaged 12 hits per game over the last 19 games. That includes home and away games. They averaged 13.6 hits in a three game set against the Cards. Theory of large numbers says "There's no crying in baseball."

The Cubs still stink. Saturday's game may have been the best Cub meltdown since Bartman tried to help out Alou in foul territory. With two outs and a one-run lead, the Cubs were one pitch away from getting a rare victory. What happened next? Gload singles. Dye walks. Then A.J. goes yard. Cubs fans lose their shit and their litter. After a delay and the hot-arm of Bobby Jenks, the Cubs were left to lick their wounds again. To their credit, we didn't see any father-son teams jump Harold Baines, and they were able to (barely) hold on for a home win on Sunday.
Now we can go back to concentrating on division races. Will Detroit cool off? I thought they would in mid-May, but they seem to keep getting better. The Sox have about 25 games remaining against the Twins & the Tigers. The rest of the summer should be very interesting.