| Second Half Kicks Off |
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 Jonathan Lee - AccuScore Analyst
The second half kicked off in baseball with the Mets winning their 10th straight game, and the Tigers finally getting their heads above water. New York is now tied for first place with the Phillies after a wild come from behind 10-8 win over the Reds in which they scored 4 runs in the ninth inning. Closer Billy Wagner issued a challenge to their Philadelphia rivals after the game stating that his team is better. He and his teammates will need to prove it after last season’s collapse, but the real season begins now. The Tigers beat the Orioles 6-5 Thursday to move one game above .500 and 6.5 games back of the White Sox. Like the Mets, Detroit was expected to win its division and be a World Series contender. That didn’t pan out very well for either team in the first half but now both are in position to compete for the playoffs. Detroit needs more consistent help in the bullpen and at the end of the rotation. Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya have not provided as big of a boost as expected, and Zach Miner – not Eddie Bonine – will throw on Monday meaning he is the fifth starter for now. AccuScore projects the Tigers to have just a 2.1 percent chance of making the postseason. The Mets are in much better shape as the NL East favorites at 46.5 percent. • The Phils-A’s trade leaves Joe Blanton pretty much where he started. He is moved to the much more favorable league, but moves from one of the best pitcher’s parks in Oakland to a hitter haven in Philadelphia. Luckily for Blanton, he is a strong groundball pitcher (1.38 GB/FB) which limits his homer-proneness (I highly doubt that is a word, but let’s roll with it – 0.82 HR/9 in his career). Blanton is certainly an upgrade over (likely) Adam Eaton for the Phillies, but the move doesn’t do much for fantasy. The move was highly necessary for Philly as the Mets have caught them in the standings and are threatening to leave them in the dust. • The Rangers will have a new third baseman Friday – their old one. Hank Blalock has not played since late April, and will be activated from the disabled list. During his rehad he switched to first base and anticipated playing there everyday. But now, rookie Chris Davis is providing power from first and to keep his bat in the lineup Blalock will be moved back to third. Ramon Vasquez and German Duran are the big losers here as they both will lose significant at-bats and become virtually worthless in fantasy. This is fairly big news to owners as Davis has already hit six home runs in just 58 at-bats. His average is just .259 but the power is real. He could easily hit 15 home runs the rest of the way. As for Blalock, I’m not optimistic about how he will perform in the second half, and he has been in decline for years. He’s serviceable as an injury replacement or in AL-only leagues but that’s about it. • Former fan favorite Hideo Nomo quietly retired from baseball Thursday. The Japanese pitcher broke in with the Dodgers in 1995 and instantly became a sensation. “Nomo-mania” quickly spread, and he went on to win the rookie of the year award and throw a no-hitter in both leagues. Nomo won 123 games in his major league career, and paved the way for Japanese players to come to the U.S. including Hideki Irabu, Kaz Sasaki, Ichiro, and Hideki Matsui. I even got to eat at discounted prices at Japanese restaurants around L.A. on days he pitched. Thanks for the memories Nomo. • Ubaldo Jimenez continued his recent progress walking just two batters and lasting seven innings to get his fifth win. He is now 5-9 on the season and his ERA (4.20) has dropped well over a full run since June. His strikeout rate isn’t bad at 7.35 K/9 so he is now probably ownable in standard mixed leagues. Trackback(0)
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