Last Week in Baseball! - Interleague Play Still Kicks Ass.

If you are like us, you grew up on Mel Allen and “This Week in Baseball.” Here at WCT, we have “Last Week in Baseball!” Please don't sue us Fox!

We still love interleague play. We think that it is one of the few good things that has changed in the game under, as Keith Olbermann used to call him, "Acting Commissioner For Life" Bud Selig. But lately there has been a lot of talk about the fact that interleague play causes teams to have unequal schedule strength and could effect playoff races. For example, Chipper Jones of the Braves complained about the fact that his team has to play the Red Sox six times, and the Indians three (.667 combined winning percentage) while the Mets play the Yankees six times, and the and A’s three (.467 combined winning percentage) both teams play the Twins and Tigers. This is true. But the unbalanced schedule that teams have within their leagues already creates larger inequities. Consider this: Lets say that the NL wild card race comes down to the Braves, and the Astros. The Braves have to play the Mets, Marlins, and Phillies, 18 or 19 times. All three of those clubs finished last year at or near .500. At the same time nearly half of the schedule of the Astros is made up of games against the Reds, the Cubs, the Pirates, and the Cardinals, none of whom are .500 clubs. The strength of a team’s schedule is determined in large part by the strength of that team’s division (particularly in the NL central which has six teams) and not by the strength of a team’s interleague opponents. If Jones and others want teams involved in playoff races to have equal schedules, they should be directing their ire at the unbalanced divisional schedules, not nine interleague games. In the meantime, we will continue to enjoy crosstown rivalries like Yankees-Mets, White Sox-Cubs, and Angels-Dodgers, and other matchups like Red Sox-Braves, and Tigers-Cardinals that we couldn't see otherwise.

Now, on to our LWIB notes!

Brewers Closer Fransisco Cordero is now 17 for 17 so far this year in save opportunities. (look for him to blow his next 17 now that we have mentioned that)

The New York Daily News called the 12 games the Yankees would play against the White Sox, Mets, Red Sox, and Angels as the 12 games that would define the Yankees season. We think that is overstating it a bit, but nevertheless, the Yanks have now lost four of the first six of those 12.

This has gone completely unnoticed because of the Yankee’s struggles, but Jorge Posada is absolutely raking at the plate. He is leading the majors with a .382 batting average has a 1058 OPS .

What the hell is going on with the St. Louis Cardinals?

Mets 3B David Wright is heating up. After going homer-less in April, he has seven so far in May (including two against the Yankees this past Saturday) and has raised his average from .244 to .282

Speaking of the Mets, who is this 2B that they have that has a 926 OPS and seven home runs in 28 ABs, and what did he do with the real Damion Easley?

* * * * *
Its our blog dammit, so we are going to talk about our team every week - Is anyone else noticing what Fausto Carmona is doing? He has been virtually untouchable since being converted from closer to starter in spring training. He threw a complete game shutout against the Twins on Thursday to complete the sweep of Minnesota. This is the guy the Indians have bouncing back-and-forth between AAA and the Majors in favor of stiffs like Jeremy Sowers and the injured Jake Westbrook.

* * * * *
How ‘bout tha... er, I mean, I'll be goddamned! - Somebody named Jesse Litsch pitched 8 2/3 innings, giving up four hits and one run for the win in his Major League debut for the Blue Jays on Tuesday night.