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• Paul Lukas has a piece up on Robert Griffin III becoming the first player to wear Roman numerals on his jersey. But in that piece he has some cool stuff on baseball players who wore nicknames on their jerseys. My favorite: One year, Johnnie LeMaster had been getting booed so much he wore "BOO" on the back of his jersey for a game.
• Johnette Howard has a nice piece on Rays outfielder Rich Thompson -- living the big league dream at age 33.
• Don't give up hope, Phillies fans! Bill Baer gives you some reasons for optimism.
• Catching up with Rusty Staub. The Mets have Staub bobblehead day this weekend.
• Here's an interview with new Red Sox director of player developoment Ben Crockett -- a former minor league pitcher who also happens to hold an economics degree from Harvard.
• Hey, I'm not the only one pumping up the Indians! ESPN Insider Ben Lindbergh writes why this season's Clevelanders will hold up better than the 2011 version. And FanGraphs' Dave Cameron says Cleveland is now the team to beat in the AL Central.
• Astros pitchers are getting the job done.
• Jim Tracy in a nutshell. Look, I expected the Rockies to be bad this year. But I don't think the Rockies expected to be bad. It may not be long before that leash snaps.
• ESPN Insider Kevin Goldstein explains how Scott Boras can exploit the draft this year.
• A Braves Q&A from Capitol Avenue Club.

My special co-host for Wednesday’s Baseball Today podcast was ESPN writer and former GM Jim Bowden, and let’s just say neither of us held back in what was an entertaining, honest and lively show.

1. The Red Sox are apparently cool with Adrian Gonzalez playing right field, but for how long? How easy will it be for the team to trade Kevin Youkilis? And should the Red Sox and Phillies be sellers?

2. Jim shares his thoughts on his players that will be traded before July 31, leading with a former Cy Young winner plying his trade for a team that can’t afford him.

3. Ah, here’s a topic we never get to: closers. Jim and I debate the human effect for fellows like Aroldis Chapman and Sean Marshall.

4. When Tampa’s Joe Maddon makes unconventional decisions, we praise him. Is that fair? What if a manager not known for his good moves would have led Carlos Pena off?

5. Finally, we look at Wednesday’s schedule, which includes Cole Hamels versus Bryce Harper. The Nationals are clearly getting the last laugh on their I-95 rivals.

So download and listen to a fun Baseball Today podcast, because it’s boring when everyone agrees. And on this show, that just wasn’t the case!

Back on May 20, 1984, Angels pitcher Ron Romanick defeated the Yankees with a three-hit shutout, blanking a lineup that included Omar Moreno, Dave Winfield, Don Mattingly, Steve Kemp, Butch Wynegar and Tim Foli. The same day, a Red Sox rookie named Roger Clemens made his second career start and pitched seven innings in Boston's 5-4 victory over Minnesota, earning his first major league victory.

The date was notable for something else, however: The Red Sox finished the day 17-23; Yankees 16-22. There were tied for last place in the American League East.

Twenty-eight years later, we're there again: The Yankees are 21-20 and the Red Sox 20-21 and the two teams are bringing up the rear of the AL East.

For all the blood, sweat and Internet space analyzing the travails of the Red Sox and their crazy manager and terrible bullpen and golf games, here they are, only one game behind the Yankees after a quarter of the season. I live in the cross-section of Red Sox fans and Yankees fans here in Connecticut and, not surprisingly, Yankees fans enjoyed the whole sloppy spectacle emanating from Fenway.

But, mirror, mirror on the wall: If the Red Sox are in trouble, don't we have to say the same thing about the Yankees?

In fact, right now you can argue the Red Sox have more positives on their ledger.

1. In the wake of the golf fiasco and his poor start against Cleveland on May 10, Josh Beckett delivered a second straight strong outing, throwing 7.2 innings to beat the Phillies 5-1 on Sunday. Yes, those two starts came against the Mariners and Phillies, but he's actually been pretty consistent all season. He had a disastrous first start against Detroit in which he allowed five home runs, but since then he's posted a 3.43 ERA, including the Indians game.

Against the Phillies, Beckett threw 48 of his 103 pitches down in the zone, according to Lee Singer of ESPN Stats & Information, which led to a season-high 10 ground-ball outs, including two double plays. Beckett was also efficient, as he went to just two three-ball counts among the 30 batters he faced, and relied on his offspeed stuff to put hitters away, throwing just seven fastballs among his 24 two-strike pitches. The Boston rotation is still a work in progress, but you're starting to see some positive signs.

2. Mike Aviles hit his eighth home run and Jarrod Saltalamacchia his seventh on Sunday. Aviles is slugging .497 and Salty .583. Combined with Dustin Pedroia, this gives the Red Sox plenty of power up the middle. Only Orioles shortstops have hit more home runs and only Blue Jays catchers have hit more home runs. The Red Sox have outscored the Yankees by 32 runs -- that's 0.8 runs per game -- and the power from non-conventional positions has been key. While Jacoby Ellsbury's injury means the Red Sox have received little production from center field (the Red Sox are last in the AL in center field OPS), the Red Sox have covered the injuries to Kevin Youkilis and Carl Crawford. Meanwhile, Adrian Gonzalez is hitting just .272 with three home runs. If anything, there are reasons to suspect the Boston offense could get better from here.

3. Stability in the closer role. Alfredo Aceves had the early blown save against the Tigers and the five-run blow-up against the Yankees on April 21, but he has been solid otherwise with seven straight saves. The bullpen as a whole has been solid in May, following up April's 6.10 ERA with a 1.64 ERA.

This doesn't mean the Red Sox should start printing playoff tickets. They are still 13th in the AL in rotation ERA. But you know what? Yankees starters have been nearly just as bad, allowing just five fewer runs in one more inning. That's just one reason Yankees fans are suddenly very quiet.

1. Since the start of the 2010 season, Mark Teixeira is a .249 hitter. Yes, he's a notorious slow starter, but he's hitting .226/.281/.386. Look, that's what he his now: .250 hitter. There's no reason to expect him to return to the .292 hitter he was in 2009, when he finished second in the AL MVP voting. The low average is one thing, but the biggest concern is the big decline in his walk rate. He had an 11.1 percent walk rate last year, but that's down to 6.9 percent. His strikeout rate is also down, from 16.1 percent to 11.3 percent. Teixeira has been much more aggressive at the plate this year, with his pitches per plate appearances dropping from 4.12 to 3.64. That may not seem like much but that drops him third among first baseman to 20th. He's getting more balls in play, but it's causing a big drop in his OBP and isn't helping his batting average.

Yes, Yankees fans will point to the bronchial inflammation that has bothered him for more than a month (he didn't start Saturday or Sunday) and caused coughing fits and fatigue. That's fair, but doesn't explain the change in approach, unless he's too tired to stand in the batter's box for six pitches at a time. No, there are bigger issues going on here (much has been made about the shifts employed against Teixiera) and it could be that Teixeira is battling some of the same issues as Albert Pujols, figuring out how to compensate for a slower bat.

2. What is Alex Rodriguez these days? He's hitting .270/.368/.399 with just nine extra base-hits (four doubles, five home runs). The good news is he has missed just one game, but there are times when A-Rod looks slow and old. Look, he can still get on base and pop the long ball every now and then, but like Teixeira, it's clear he's not the player he once was. His OPS figures since 2007: 1.067, .965, .933, .847, .823, .767. Is really anything more right now than a $28 million Chase Headley?

3. New York's rotation isn't really in any better shape than Boston's. Ivan Nova, Hiroki Kuroda and Phil Hughes have combined to allow 29 home runs with a 5.14 ERA over 138.1 innings. Yankee fans may point out that each of those pitchers' xFIPs is lower than their actual ERA (Nova, 3.47 versus 5.69; Kuroda, 4.19 versus 4.50; Hughes, 4.42 versus 5.23) and thus might be expected to improve if their home run rates stabilize to more normal levels. On the other hand, what's happening with them isn't necessarily surprising. Many predicted Nova to regress from his rookie campaign, although his ERA is probably the most likely to drop since his strikeout rate has improved from 5.3 to 9.9.

While Nova may improve, it's also clear he's leaving too many pitches in the middle of the plate. All 10 of the home runs he has surrendered came on pitches in the middle of the strike zone and you can see from the heat map that he's had difficulty keeping the ball down.



Kuroda, meanwhile, went from pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium to Yankee Stadium and the American League. And Hughes just isn't that good; he has made 79 career starts and his ERA as a starter is 4.93. So while CC Sabathia remains as sturdy and steady as ever and Andy Pettitte looked good over the weekend in his second start, this is also a rotation with question marks.

We're only 25 percent through the season, so neither of these teams are out of it, of course. And they're certainly in better shape than 1984 -- that was the year the Tigers started 35-5, so the Yankees and Red Sox were already 16.5 games out of first place on May 20. The Yankees ended up that year at 87-75 and the Red Sox 86-76.

Which team is the better bet moving forward? I look at all the positives for the Yankees -- Derek Jeter's hot start, surprise production from Raul Ibanez (eight home runs), Curtis Granderson proving 2011's power surge wasn't a fluke -- combined with the negatives (Teixeira and A-Rod looking old, Mariano Rivera's injury, a starting rotation that may not improve), and I see a flawed team, certainly one as flawed as the Red Sox.

It makes you wonder: Maybe Red Sox fans will get the last laugh.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Tuesday night was an angry one for quite a few players, managers and umpires, but Mark Simon and I were in good moods to chronicle it all for Wednesday’s Baseball Today podcast!

1. Washington Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg had a miserable outing Tuesday, and then when his manager told the world what might have contributed, it got worse.

2. Toronto Blue Jays slugger Brett Lawrie lost his cool in the ninth inning Tuesday, and look for the Blue Jays to be without his services for a while. Mark says Lawrie needs help.

3. The Angels found a fall guy for the struggles of Albert Pujols, but is manager Mike Scioscia safe?

4. The Mets are in the news for David Wright being pulled from a game, and also a topic for an emailer, as well as Atlanta’s offense and success for certain days of the week.

5. Wednesday’s schedule features the ESPN matchup of Clay Buchholz and Jeremy Hellickson, a pair of right-handers that the metrics do not favor.

So download and listen to Wednesday’s Baseball Today podcast, because we’re never removed early for the fear of retaliation.

OK, let's be brutally honest here about Jon Lester's complete game 6-1 victory on Monday night: It came against the Seattle Mariners. A lot of pitchers look pretty good against Seattle.

Nonetheless, it was Boston's first nine-inning complete game of the season and first since Josh Beckett threw a shutout last June. In fact, Beckett's shutout was Boston's only nine-inning complete game in 2011.

So it was a good sign that Lester went the distance (he did pitch eight innings in a 3-1 loss to Toronto back in his second start). For a guy who has had difficulty keeping his pitch counts down, he threw 119 pitches. He didn't walk anybody, although he threw first-pitch strikes to just 15 of 34 hitters. He struck out six, which at least was an improvement over his past two starts when he put away just five batters in 11 innings. I don't think we suddenly say the Jon Lester of 2008 through August 2011 is back, but it's a small step forward.

Of course, the Red Sox need a big step forward. Remember the Lester mentioned as a leading Cy Young candidate heading into last season? They need that guy back, if he ever existed in the first place. Lester's career high in innings came back in 2008, his first full season in the majors, when he pitched 210.1 innings. Last season, that total dipped to 191.2. Staff aces need to go deep into games. Imagine what an extra 30 or 40 innings would do in saving innings for the bullpen.

The Red Sox, of course, began the day in last place in the American League East. The Angels and Phillies also began the day in last place in their divisions. All three teams are under .500 and looking for small positives. Lester throws well against the Mariners? Hey, that's a positive. Joe Blanton beats the Astros? That's a positive. Small steps.

It has me wondering: Which of these teams -- all World Series contenders back in March -- is the best bet to take the big steps and reach the postseason? Let's backtrack a bit first.

Here were the odds to win the World Series for the three teams at the start of the season, from a certain gambling website:

Red Sox: 10-1
Angels: 7-1
Phillies: 6-1

And the current odds:

Red Sox: 14-1
Angels: 12-1
Phillies: 10-1

I'm actually surprised those odds haven't fallen a bit more, but it's a reminder that we're not even at the quarter pole yet.

Here were the preseason odds to make the playoffs that ran on ESPN Insider, via Dan Szymborski's ZiPS system:

Red Sox: 61.1 percent
Angels: 68.1 percent
Phillies: 62.2 percent

ESPN's panel of baseball personnel was even more optimistic about the Angels and Phillies. Here were the playoff percentages from the 50-person voting panel back on Opening Day:

Red Sox: 32 percent
Angels: 92 percent
Phillies: 86 percent

Not only were the Angels an overwhelming pick to the make the playoffs, 18 of the 50 voters picked them to win the World Series. Interesting that while Dan's numbers-based projected rated the three teams' playoff odds pretty similarly, the Red Sox were viewed in much less regard by the human prognosticators.

And now, as each team sits under .500? The current playoff odds via Coolstandings.com that run on ESPN.com:

Red Sox: 29.8 percent
Angels: 17.8 percent
Phillies: 31.5 percent

Clay Davenport also calculates projected playoffs odds. His system still likes the Red Sox in particular (percentages entering Monday's games):

Red Sox: 65.9 percent
Angels: 20.8 percent
Phillies: 51.6 percent

Clay projects Boston winning 88 games. Maybe his system views Lester as a Cy Young contender.

Now, this is where I pick which of these three teams will make the playoffs. Of course, all three could make it; not a big surprise if that happens. But if I had to pick one team, it's the Phillies. "Baseball Today" podcast host/KaraBlog author/SweetSpot contributor Eric Karabell says I can't do this; he says I've been bagging on the Phillies too much. He says I have to pick the Angels. I think Karabell is misremembering a few things. After all, I did have the Phillies to win the division and was one of just four of those ESPN folks to have the Angels missing the playoffs.

Look, the Red Sox can pound the old leather. My favorite stat: They have 100 doubles, 24 more than the Royals and at least 40 more than half the teams in baseball. The Angels have the advantage of playing the Mariners and A's 36 times this year, still have that great-on-paper rotation, and you know Albert Pujols will go on a tear at some point (although maybe we don't know that).

But I still see too many question marks on those teams. I need to see Lester and Beckett pitch several good games in a row. I need Vernon Wells and Erick Aybar and a few others hitting for the Angels. So here are five quick reasons I'm voting for the Phillies.

1. National League parity.

The Phillies, Brewers and Diamondbacks each won at least 94 games last season, but there's a high degree of possibility that no team will win that many in 2012. Heck, no team may win 90. This suggests the two wild cards may only have to win 85 or 86 games or so. Considering the mediocrity we've seen in the NL Central and NL West divisions outside the Cardinals and Dodgers, it seems like a good bet that two wild cards will come out of the NL East.

2. The Phillies' offense is bad ... but so is much pretty much every other team's offense in the NL.

The Phillies rank ninth in the NL in runs scored. They ranked seventh a year ago. Yes, Carlos Ruiz and Juan Pierre are leading the attack right now. The point isn't so much that this is suddenly going to turn into an offensive juggernaut once Ryan Howard and Chase Utley return and once Jimmy Rollins, Hunter Pence and Shane Victorino start hitting better, but merely to suggest that the Phillies' offense isn't a huge albatross when you compare it across the league.

3. They have Jonathan Papelbon.

OK, Charlie Manuel hasn't exactly done a good job of using him in high-leverage situations, but in a season where closers are falling prey to injuries and blown saves everywhere you look, Papelbon will still prove a small advantage over 162 games.

4. Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels.

I still wouldn't trade them for another trio in baseball.

5. Blanton and Vance Worley.

Blanton lowered his ERA to 2.96 with seven strong innings against Houston on Monday. He has a 35/7 strikeout/walk ratio and has allowed just two home runs in 48.2 innings. Worley is once again proving skeptics wrong, with a 3.07 ERA and 45/15 strikeout/walk ratio in 44 innings. The rotation is five-deep and that depth will slowly show up over 162 games.

What do you think? If you haven't, vote in the poll at the top of the page.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

First: Marco Scutaro drove in a run for the Rockies. That may not seem like a big deal, but it was his first baserunner plated since April 11 and just his second of the season. Before driving in Dexter Fowler, Scooter was the only big-league regular who had failed to drive in more than one teammate on the season; now he’s tied for the fewest “Others Batted In” (or OBI) with Dayan Viciedo of the White Sox … with two.

Second: Once upon a time, Scott Diamond was your prototypical Twins command/control lefty, the sort of guy who throws strikes with three different pitches but doesn’t overpower anybody. However, his first problem was that he was in the Braves organization, but the Twins corrected that problem by selecting him in the Rule 5 draft before 2010, and then dealing a semi-interesting relief arm, Billy Bullock, to retain the rights to Diamond.

That didn’t look so good when he didn’t impress in Rochester last season, or in a brief big-league cameo (losing all five starts he made), but on Sunday he shut down the Blue Jays to win his second game with his second seven-inning quality start in his second turn for the Twins as their in-season rotation replacement for top prospect Liam Hendriks. With all their other woes, there is at least this reflected Twin-kle of their past success with strike-throwers with this Diamond.

Third: Justin Masterson pegged three people at the plate during a blowout loss in Boston, including Daniel Nava twice (in the third after Will Middlebrooks’ home run then again in the sixth inning on his first pitch). His lack of command had a lot to do with it, home-plate ump Ron Kulpa didn’t issue a warning, nobody got tossed, nobody got hurt (beyond bruising), and the world did not end. It doesn’t appear Sox starter Daniel Bard felt any compunction to retaliate; get a dozen runs’ worth of support, and you can probably afford to be generous to a former teammate.

Home plate: The tweet of the night goes to Richard Justice for catching and conveying Josh Hamilton’s lamentations after the on-field death of the bat he’d had his four homer-game against the Orioles with:

Josh Hamilton cracked the bat he used for 8 of 9 HRs. Happened during7th-inning single. "She died a hero," he said. "She worked hard."

— Richard Justice (@richardjustice) May 14, 2012

Christina Kahrl covers baseball for ESPN.com. You can follow her on Twitter.

We ended a fine week of Baseball Today podcasts with Mark Simon and I talking about what happened the night before and previewing the weekend, and there was lots in between.

1. Josh Beckett didn’t make a lot of friends -- with his performance Thursday night or his comments afterward -- but what is his future with the Red Sox?

2. Staying in the AL East, the Toronto Blue Jays added a designated hitter to the fold, but can Vladimir Guerrero really make a difference? We might surprise you.

3. Our Simon Says segment discusses the viability of Bryan LaHair, and focuses on the defensive leaderboard.

4. Emailers want to know about pitching the eighth inning versus the ninth, the most common game scores, and Eduardo Nunez’s ability to play defense.

5. It’s a big weekend for the Angels as they face the Rangers, but we’ve also got our collective eyes on the big AL East battle for first place, and why number 8,000 is significant for an NL East team.

So download and listen to Friday’s Baseball Today podcast, and please have a great weekend!

We drown in numbers and statistics these days, but here's one that sums up the crumbling state of the Boston Red Sox quite eloquently: Following Josh Beckett's implosion on Thursday night, Red Sox starters have now allowed five-plus runs in 14 starts; Nationals starters have done so once.

Here's another way. Fifty-three American League starting pitchers are qualified for the AL ERA title. Here's where Boston's five starters rank:

32. Jon Lester (4.29)
38. Daniel Bard (4.83)
46. Felix Doubront (5.29)
51. Josh Beckett (5.97)
53. Clay Buchholz (9.09)

OK, ERA can be a little misleading early in the season. Here's where those five guys rank among AL starters in strikeout/walk ratio:

27. Beckett
32. Doubront
41. Lester
48. Bard
51. Buchholz

The Red Sox are 12-19 for a lot of reasons: injuries to Jacoby Ellsbury, Kevin Youkilis, Carl Crawford and Andrew Bailey; a slow start from Adrian Gonzalez; a couple bullpen implosions; Bobby Valentine using outfielder Darnell McDonald to pitch in a tie game.

Those are all factors, but despite the injuries on offense, the Red Sox are still second in the AL in runs scored; the bullpen has five losses, but 14 teams have more; and Valentine is more lightning rod than explanation.

No, the responsibility rests with the starting rotation. Bard and Doubront have perhaps predictably been mediocre, but they've actually been improvements over Tim Wakefield and John Lackey, so the blame falls on the supposed big three of Beckett, Lester and Buchholz.

Beckett started in Fenway against Cleveland on Thursday, his first start since April 29 and first since the infamous "he cares more about golfing than pitching" story leaked to the media. Beckett actually had pitched pretty well since his five-homer disaster in his first start, posting a 2.93 ERA over his next four starts. While I'm happy to report that I didn't see any greasy fried chicken stains on his jersey, his evening was yet another May disaster for the Sox.

In the top of the second, with one run already in, Jack Hannahan hit a 2-2 changeup to right field for a two-out home run. Not surprisingly, the Fenway faithful let go with more than a few loud boos. In third inning, Jason Kipnis crushed a 3-2 cutter over the bullpen in right-center. After Asdrubal Cabrera singled, Beckett got ahead of Travis Hafner with two strikes but then threw four consecutive balls. Shin-Soo Choo doubled to right on a 2-0, four-seam fastball to score Cabrera. Michael Brantley fell behind two strikes, then lined a double into the gap in left-center on a 1-2 curveball, scoring two more runs and knocking Beckett from the bump in what would be an 8-3 Indians victory.

You can see the issues here: Even when he got ahead of batters, Beckett was unable to put them away. He used the whole tool box -- changeups, four-seamers, cutters, curveballs; the Indians hit them all. Six of the seven hits off Beckett went for extra bases.

I blurted out on Thursday's Baseball Today podcast that Beckett is the most overrated pitcher of the past decade. That's probably unfair to a pitcher who has been good for a lot of years, a guy who had dominant postseason runs in 2003 and 2007 in leading the Marlins and Red Sox to World Series titles. Those playoff performances did inflate his reputation a bit, as his regular-season performances haven't been consistently at that level. He has received Cy Young votes just twice in his career (finishing second in 2007 and ninth in 2011). He hasn't exactly been CC Sabathia when it comes to durability, reaching 200 innings just three times and never topping 215. With the Red Sox, he's had two seasons of ERAs over 5.00.

Maybe 2012 is going to be one of those down years; Red Sox fans who saw Beckett and Lester collapse down the stretch expected leadership from Beckett, not reports on his golf swing.

Speaking of Lester, what has happened to the dominant left-hander of a few seasons ago? In 2009, he averaged 10.0 strikeout per nine innings, but that figure has dipped to 6.0 this season. His walks are up more than one per nine innings since 2009. His velocity is still fine; as Curt Schilling has pointed out, his command isn't, with Lester especially struggling in pitching to the outside corner against right-handed batters. Going back to his final 11 starts of 2011, Lester has a 4.16 ERA and a poor strikeout/walk ratio of 86/50. The stuff is still there, but we're going on 18 starts now of mediocre pitching.

Buchholz is an even bigger disaster, the worst starter in the majors so far. Unable to get the ball down in the zone, Buchholz has been pounded like a punching bag. Opponents are hitting .343 and slugging .613 off him. Essentially, the average hitter against Buchholz is David Ortiz. The Red Sox can't afford to keep sending him out there; he probably has one more start before a demotion to Triple-A or stint on the disabled list is necessary.

Eric Karabell made a good argument on the podcast: the Red Sox were 14-17 a year ago and only a historical collapse prevented them from reaching the playoffs. They're only two games worse now, he would suggest, so rationally they're far from out of it. Eric could also point out that Detroit and Arizona were both 14-17 after 31 games a year ago and won 95 and 94 games, respectively.

Eric is right, of course. The Red Sox aren't dead.

But with a 1-8 record in May and a starting rotation in shambles, they certainly look it.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Eric Karabell and I discuss the last-place Red Sox, Angels and Phillies. Which of these three teams will be in the playoffs at season's end?

SweetSpot blogger Dave Schoenfield and I argued so much on Thursday’s Baseball Today podcast that fisticuffs nearly ensued! OK, that last part isn’t true, but it was fun!

1. David Robertson blows up in the ninth inning Wednesday, which some say means he can only pitch in a setup role. We can’t begin to describe how ridiculous that is.

2. Meanwhile, Josh Beckett is out playing golf, eating chicken and drinking beer. Talk about a story that isn’t a story ... until Dave calls him the most overrated pitcher of the past decade. True or false?

3. Jake Peavy is pitching like a star and Tim Lincecum is not. Which right-hander would you choose for the rest of the season?

4. Our emailers have thoughts about ripping the surprising starts for the Baltimores and Clevelands of baseball, as well as schedule strength for the last-place Red Sox and Phillies.

5. On Thursday’s schedule we’ll get an exciting matchup in the Bronx as well as Nationals stud Stephen Strasburg on the hill, but there’s a certain AL Central pitcher that really needs to step up!

So download and listen to Thursday’s energetic Baseball Today podcast, and learn why you never leave a baseball game early. Ever.

First base: Donnie Buntball. The situation: The Giants lead the Dodgers 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth, no outs, runners at first and second, Mark Ellis up, Matt Kemp on deck. What do you do? Don Mattingly had Ellis bunt. The Giants of course put Kemp on and brought in lefty killer Javier Lopez to face Andre Ethier, who grounded into a double play to snuff the rally. As Dodger Thoughts author Jon Weisman headlined, "That's why you don't bunt with Matt Kemp on deck." There were three main problems with bunting here: (1) You already had the tying run in scoring position and with two runners on and nobody out, you were set up for a potential big inning; (2) Ellis isn't exactly Chone Figgins, as he has a .377 OBP this season; maybe he would have drawn a walk against a tiring Ryan Vogelsong or gotten a hit himself; (3) Most importantly, you knew the Giants would walk Kemp and bring in a lefty to face Ethier. While Ethier has been decent versus left-handers this season (.286/.352/.449), he's been terrible in the past (.220 with 40 strikeouts in 151 PAs in 2011) and Lopez held lefties to a .163 average in 2011. I'm guessing Mattingly won't be employing that bunt again anytime soon.

Second base: Rockies call up Friedrich. After dominating Class A ball in 2009, Rockies left-hander Christian Friedrich was one of the top pitching prospects in the game. Keith Law ranked him No. 36 on his top 100 list entering 2010. But after struggling for two years in Double-A and battling some arm problems, Friedrich spent a few days over the winter working out with Cliff Lee. Friedrich told MLB.com that Lee reinforced the importance of downhill plane. He also talked with Jamie Moyer during spring training. The results in Triple-A were positive: 30 innings, 23 hits, four walks and 27 strikeouts. He makes his debut today in San Diego, looking to end the Rockies' five-game skid.

Third base: Dempster's bad luck. Cubs starter Ryan Dempster is averaging seven innings per start in his five outings and has allowed six runs, has a 36/10 strikeout/walk ratio and 1.02 ERA. He's 0-1, drawing a no-decision on Tuesday after allowing one run in seven innings in the Cubs' 3-1 loss to the Braves. And then there's Clay Buchholz, the worst starter in baseball so far. He's allowed 34 runs in 32.2 innings, including 10 home runs, and has a 9.09 ERA. He 3-1.

Home plate: Tweet of the day.

Asked #Braves Chipper about #Rangers Josh Hamilton's swings on 4 HRs. He looked up from crossword puzzle and said: "He's a bad man."

— David O'Brien (@ajcbraves) May 9, 2012

Keith Law returned from vacation to join me for a fun Tuesday edition of the Baseball Today podcast!

1. Cole Hamels remains in the news not so much for actions, but words. We discuss his foolishness, a meaningless suspension and Washington's silly response.

2. Speaking of the Nationals, are they really legit now? What about their beltway partners in Baltimore?

3. Chris Sale and his sore elbow are headed to closing rather than starting. Um, should he be on the DL? We talk risk/reward.

4. Our emailers also want to know about roster spots for hitters that do pitch and the Cubs' catching depth.

5. Tuesday's schedule features interesting pitchers, and we discuss why Matt Kemp is playing and what's in store for Will Middlebrooks.

So download and listen to Tuesday's Baseball Today podcast and return Wednesday for top 100 prospect talk!

After a wild and wacky weekend around baseball, Mark Simon and I gathered to record Monday’s Baseball Today podcast , with hitters pitching, Power Rankings and ridiculous emails as our backdrop!

1. Chris Davis bests Darnell McDonald in a crazy and lengthy extra-inning affair at Fenway Park. Should hitters be pitching at all? And what does our able producer think about the struggling Red Sox and their manager?

2. The Washington Nationals needed a big weekend against the rival Phillies, and they got it, though the news from the outfield was a bit mixed.

3. It’s a Battle of the Beltway! Which team posted the better spot in the Power Rankings between the Orioles and Nationals? Also, why do Mark and I differ so much on the Rays?

4. Our Simon Says segment focuses on the weekly leaderboard and other players struggling worse than Albert Pujols. By the way, didja know he finally homered?

5. Our emailers have thoughts about the All-animal lineup and rotation, and the most common final score!

So download and listen to Monday’s Baseball Today podcast, as we tell you who is most likely to throw a no-hitter today, and why a certain Phillies pitcher will have many eyes watching him.

One play doesn't make a season. Logically, we understand this. But you know, it's a lot more fun to throw logic out the window and turn to the emotion of a moment sometimes, the emotion of one important victory and believe, "Maybe ... just maybe, the Baltimore Orioles are a team of destiny."

We're allowed to think like this, right? Put the history and preseason predictions aside, focus on the Orioles' hot start, focus on their big week and focus on how they completed a sweep of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway: With infielder Chris Davis pitching two innings to get the win in a 17-inning, 9-6 victory, one I would call implausible except the Orioles forged ahead against another position player, Darnell McDonald.

Davis, who pitched in high school, retired the first two hitters in the bottom of the 16th, including a strikeout of Jarrod Saltalamacchia on a pretty 83-mph changeup that showed some nice vertical drop. But third baseman Wilson Betemit booted Marlon Byrd's routine grounder and Mike Aviles lined a double into left-center that rolled to the Green Monster. Then, the play, one that could go down in Orioles history if this season builds into the unthinkable: Adam Jones to J.J. Hardy to Matt Wieters, who tagged out a piano-on-his-back Byrd. A perfect relay by Jones, a perfect missile by Hardy, a perfect block of the plate by Wieters to send the game to the 17th inning.

The Red Sox had also churned through their bullpen by now and turned to outfielder McDonald, but Jones deposited a three-run homer into the Green Monster seats. With two runners on in the bottom of the frame, Davis struck out the slumping Adrian Gonzalez (0-for-8 this game) on another changeup and then, on his 23rd pitch and 570th of the game, induced McDonald to ground into a 6-4-3 double play.

Some of the crazy factoids: It was the first time two position players pitched in the same game since 1925, when Ty Cobb and George Sisler pitched in the second game of a doubleheader on the season's final day; Wilson Valdez won a game last season for the Phillies, but Davis became the first American League position player to record a win since Rocky Colavito of the Yankees in 1968; Davis also went 0-for-8 and struck out five times to record the season's first platinum sombrero (he was also the only position player to strike out five times in 2011); it was the Orioles' first sweep in Boston since June of 1994.

The game left the Orioles ecstatic and the Red Sox despondent.

"I was like 'Sweet! I get to try something different today -- because hitting ain't working,'" Davis said.

"Basically, that was my first thought." Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "Just when you think you've seen it all, some days you come out here and just assume the position. That was fun. It was a long day, but you like to get something good out of it."

Bobby Valentine, looking in his postgame news conference like he was ready to break into tears at any moment, oddly stated that Gonzalez wanted to pitch. "And for the record, I didn't put him out there," he said. You do wonder, once Showalter had gone to Davis in the bottom of the 16th, why Valentine didn't try to eke at least one more inning from veteran reliever Scott Atchison, who had thrown 23 pitches over two innings. Yes, Atchison had thrown 35 pitches on Saturday and three on Friday, but it would seem the value of one more inning would have been huge. Who knows how Davis would have responded pitching in a tie game, for example, rather than with a three-run lead.

It all leaves the Orioles at 19-9. First place by a half game over the Tampa Bay Rays, four games ahead of the New York Yankees and 7.5 games ahead of the Red Sox.

At the start of the week, we said this would be an important week for the Orioles. They entered 14-8 but had three games in New York and three in Boston. This stretch would reveal the real Baltimore Orioles. And by "real" we meant "a team playing over its head." But they went 5-1 as they held the Yankees to three runs and took extra-inning games against the Red Sox. They outscored their AL East rivals 36 to 15. There was nothing flukey about the week. They hit, they pitched and they fielded.

On Sunday, the bullpen (including Davis) allowed just one run in 12.2 innings, lowering their season ERA to 1.41 (no other team is below 2.00). Closer Jim Johnson hasn't allowed a run, Luis Ayala and Matt Lindstrom have yet to allow an earned run and Darren O'Day has allowed just one run. It should be noted that the latter three are new to the club, new additions brought on to improve a pen that ranked 13th in the AL in ERA. Much like the 2011 Diamondbacks improved from 65 to 94 in part by revamping one of the worst bullpens in baseball, so hope the Orioles. The starting pitching has also been solid, and Baltimore's 2.78 ERA ranks second in the majors. Not bad for a team that has ranked 29th or 30th in ERA in five of the past six seasons.

Look, playing in the AL East, it's not going to get easier for the Orioles, so they'll need this bullpen to continue pitching lights-out baseball. Their next 32 games: Four against the Rangers, three against the Rays, two against the Yankees, two at the Royals, three at the Nationals, three against the Red Sox, three against the Royals, three at the Blue Jays, three at the Rays, three at the Red Sox, three against the Phillies. Whew.

For a franchise with the long stink of losing, it's a fun start. Check out, however, their records after 28 games the past 10 seasons. Check, in particular, 2005 (Orioles fans may wish to stop reading now):

2012: 19-9, +0.5
2011: 13-15, -4.5
2010: 7-21, -13.5
2009: 11-18, -8
2008: 16-12, -0.5
2007: 12-16, -6
2006: 14-14, -4
2005: 19-9, +2.5
2004: 16-12, -1.5
2003: 15-13, -6.5

Yep, that same 19-9 record. That team blazed out of the gate thanks to a strong offense. The club hit .302 in April and was still hitting .287 with a .483 slugging percentage through June 19 ... when the Orioles were 41-27 and still in first place.

And then the bottom dropped out. They hung in the race through mid-July, but then went on a 2-16 stretch, during which manager Lee Mazzilli was fired. They'd finish 74-88, just another in a long string of losing seasons.

Now, there is one big difference between those 2005 Orioles and these 2012. That team had a mostly aging lineup -- Rafael Palmeiro (in his final, steroid-tainted season), B.J. Surhoff, Sammy Sosa, Javy Lopez, Melvin Mora and Miguel Tejada were all 31 or older. The rotation of Rodrigo Lopez, Erik Bedard, Bruce Chen, Daniel Cabrera and Sidney Ponson eventually wilted in the summer heat. The bullpen was thin behind B.J. Ryan.

This team, however, is young. At 30, Betemit is the oldest regular in the lineup, although 34-year-old Endy Chavez is playing right now with Nolan Reimold on the disabled list. At 29, Jason Hammel is the old man in the rotation.

Being young perhaps means this team could eventually collapse under the relentless pressure of games against the Yankees, Rays, Blue Jays and Red Sox. But it could also signify a team on the rise.

Or, maybe, a team of destiny.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Eric Karabell and I have a new segment we're calling SweetSpot Stock Watch, where we rationally discuss and occasionally argue about a few players. Today's edition: Red Sox prospect Will Middlebrooks, Cardinals starters Lance Lynn and Kyle Lohse, red-hot Bryan LaHair and Orioles pitcher Jake Arrieta, coming off his dominant effort against the Yankees on Thursday night. And don't forget to check out Eric's fantasy baseball blog on ESPN Insider!