The First Place Pittsburgh Pirates

Yup.
It's after the All Star Game and the Pirates are in first place... tied with St. Louis yet with fewer losses.

They are contenders. If the playoffs started today, they'd be in a one game playoff with St. Louis. Actually with the Reds come from behind win and Jeff Karstens shutout of Houston, the National League Central has become wonderfully bunched together. 4 teams are within 3 games of first place.

But this is the latest the Pirates have had even a share of first since July 17, 1997. But even that deserves a little asterisk next to it. They were in first place because the 1997 NL Central was so lousy. They had a .500 record in mid July 1997 and still were tied for the top spot.

So this is the best Pirates team since 1992...
First step is first. Change the culture and have a winning season.
If they go 34-37 the rest of the way, they'll finish above .500.

But for right now, take a gander Pirates fans.
It's late in the season... It's 57% over.

And here's what the standings look like.
Savor it.

Brandon Phillips! The Reds and Cardinals rivalry is awesome!

Walk off homer for Brandon Phillips!

Pujols homers off of Chapman!

I'm telling you, Reds-Cardinals could be Red Sox-Yankees for the next decade!

Please take note, Baseball!

The Reds should be the next Super Power!

Tonight's game in Cincinnati should be the talk of baseball tonight.

Hey Roger... Settle

If Roger Clemens gets another trial, and I am using my intense and knowledgeable legal mind to say that he will, it will be in the fall.

You know, when the pennant races are going on and leading up to the playoffs.


Won't that make Bud Selig happy?

Now usually I am in favor of anything that angers Bud Selig (I'm not Bud's biggest fan.)

But I for one don't want to see this trial.

What is to gain by it?

Did Clemens lie?

Of course he did. Everyone on the planet Earth knows it.

Is it bad to lie to Congress? Sure, but they lie enough to US in return.

Does Congress have bigger fish to fry?

Sure. I'd like to see them talk to people who helped bankrupt the country, destroy the housing market and allow fecal matter to be served in fast food.

And I don't care how much you hate Clemens (I'm actually not a Clemens hater... I grew up a huge Clemens fan.) Do you REALLY want to see him in jail?

Is that the latest chapter you want written in baseball? Clemens in an orange jump suit?

Clemens' punishment is going to be banishment from the Hall of Fame. He's not getting in. I'd vote for him, but I'm a big softy. They'll be enough writers who will take him to the woodshed.

The Steroid Era is almost over. The remaining big juicers in the league are winding down (even A-Rod is breaking down now.) A new era and new stars are emerging.

You can end all of this Roger.

You got lucky. The prosecution was dumber than Grady Little and let you walk.

And the judge reminded everyone that jail time was on the line.

Take your good luck and strike a deal.

A plea bargain and all this will go away.

No trial.

No dragging ugliness into the court.

No public discussions of shooting lord knows what into your Hall of Fame ass.

We all know you are a tough competitor. But show some dignity.

Settle.

End this.

Bonds' trial ended and that will fade into oblivion.

Strike a deal.

Nobody wants this. And guess what? If you strike a deal now, it will go a long way to your rehabilitation.

If Pete Rose came clean in 1989, he'd be in the Hall of Fame right now. The whole gambling thing would be an embarrassing footnote to a great career.

Instead he dragged it out and made it worse by confessing only after he turned it into a pay day.

Settle now and maybe in 5, 6 or 7 years it will blow over.

People will realize you were a great player before you mysteriously ballooned up while hanging out with steroid distributors and Jose Canseco. People won't mind as much that Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch confirmed Brian McNamee's version of the story.

Settle now and by 2020 you will be a Hall of Famer. Sure you will dangle in the voting for a few years. Ask your old teammate Jim Rice how that felt. I bet he forgot, do you know why? BECAUSE HE'S IN THE HALL OF FAME!!!! He's an immortal. He's a Greek God now.

Settle... do the right thing for baseball and eventually your legacy.

Settle because this will only end badly if you don't.

The Pat Rockett 1978 Topps Card... A Sully Baseball Salute

I dug up this old card when I was at my parents place.

Pat Rockett. What an awesome baseball name. It's even better when you realize that he was a Texas high school football star. I assume he was a quarterback with a name like that.

He had, according to the card, one of the best infield arms in the minors. Of course he did.

It was a custom name for an announcer.

"Grounder to short... Pat's got to hurry... HE GOT HIM! A ROCKET FROM ROCKETT!"

Seriously players with awesome names who don't become stars seem somewhat tragic.

Rockett was drafted by the Braves in the first round of the 1973 Draft (10th over all.)

It was the same draft that featured David Clyde, whose career was ruined by the Rangers management.

Hall of Famers Dave Winfield and Robin Yount were picked ahead of him.

Hall of Famer Eddie Murray was picked after him.

So were Fred Lynn, Lamar Hoyt and Mike Flanagan. So there were MVPs and Cy Young winners left in that draft.

But he made the big leagues, which Glenn Tufts, Billy Taylor and Lew Olsen never did. They were all picked ahead of Rockett.

In the end Rockett played a little for the Braves in 1976, some more in 1977 and not so much in 1978 when this card was issued.

He's wearing the lower case a Atlanta hat and the blue sleeve uniform. Really only Hank Aaron looked good in that uniform. And of course this was that awful middle zone in Braves history... post Hank Aaron and before the rise of Dale Murphy and "America's Team."

It's a classic Topps "Fake mid swing pose" which I never understood why they were always taken AWAY from the batters box. He's in Candlestick (and I think you can see the shadow of the camera man in the picture.) And he has a great expression. Not QUITE the blank stares a lot of players have in these pics.

Rockett is envisioning it. He is seeing that imaginary hit go into center. I wonder if he hit it out in his mind.

His lone major league homer was hit on Septmber 28th, 1977 against the Astros' Mark Lemongello (another Topps favorite.)

Pat Rockett was eventually traded to the Blue Jays in a deal involving Chris Chambliss, but he never played a day in Toronto.

He finished his career in Syracuse in 1980 as a 25 year old. He was teammates with future Blue Jays stars Willie Upshaw and Lloyd Moseby as well as future Celtics legend Danny Ainge.

He never became a star, but his name was star worthy.

He gets a salute here from the staff at Sully Baseball.

I love throwback jerseys but...

I almost always love it when teams wear old uniforms.
Even the ugly ones.
The Pirates and A's wore some ugly threads in the 1970s and I LOVED it when they busted them out.

But Holy Crap the dark brown Padres uniforms were UGLY! And yes, they were worse than the yellow ones.

I like the brown and yellow "Kid from Left Field" hats... but holy cow these threads stink.

Then again, as of this writing, they have the World Champions down 1-0.

So who am I to criticize their fashion?

Good start for the Tribe

Everyone and their cow is expecting the Indians to fade from the race.
Everyone thinks that they will be overwhelmed by injuries and inexperience.
It is fashionable to point out that they had a great April but have been mediocre ever since.

So how do you stay in contention?
You beat teams you are SUPPOSED to beat.

The Indians are better than the Orioles.

BOOM!
8-4 win.

Pile up the wins against Baltimore and Kansas City and Oakland and Seattle.
These divisions are NOT lost in the head to head match ups with the best in the league but in the frustrating losses to lousy teams.

Stay focused Indians.
There is no superpower in the division.

Every Cleveland fan born since 1964 is counting on you.

Phew

It was a group effort of lousy pitching tonight in Toronto... and good news for the Red Sox.

Bartolo Colon was really awful in the first. Yeah, 5 of the first inning runs were unearned, but 3 earned runs in 2/3 of an inning is nothing to brag about.

That would be a 40.50 ERA stretched out to a season.
I don't care which stat you use. That sucks.

The Yankees got 6 wins and a decent ERA out of Colon through the All Star break, which is more than anyone could have expected.

As the second half comes along, and his medical records are in, and the fact that he hasn't thrown 100 innings in a season since his Cy Young season 6 years ago is sitting in front of us, and the fact that he missed the entire season last year and at a fat 38, even stem cells might not keep him healthy... the carriage could be turning into a pumpkin.

He's let up 8 earned runs in his last 2 starts (6 1/3 innings pitched combined in those starts.)

Now the Yankees nearly came all the way back but fortunately for the Blue Jays, Red Sox fans and Yankee haters everywhere, the bullpen sucked almost as much as Colon did.

Seriously, if I told you the Yankees scored 7 runs on 14 hits including 2 Andruw Jones homers and saw Jose Bautista leave the game with an injury, you'd assume the Blue Jays got squashed.

Thanks to Ayala, Noesi, Logan and Mitre, it ended a Jays blow out.

A bad game?
Or the Yankees pitching depth starting to get exposed?

Well find out.

All I know for the Red Sox?
THE MAGIC NUMBERS IS 72!