Juan Of God: A guy I really liked to watch play (and always thought was impressive and underrated),  was the St. Louis Cardinals Juan Encarnacion – or, more properly, Juan De Dios Encarnacion. I realize now, in looking at his stats, that I may be one of the few guys that ever believed he could be more than a stand-in in the outfield: while the GM for whatever team he played for looked around for someone better.

The former Tiger, Red, Dodger, Marlin and (finally) Cardinal had a high strike-out ratio, but was exciting to watch. I suppose I enjoyed watching him because he seemed such a natural athlete, and I cringed every time he came to the plate against the Cubs. He was one of those Cubs-slayers, like what’s-his-name with the Astros: oh yeah, Luke Scott. Luke Scott looked like Stan Musial against the Cubs (see below). And so it was that I was watching Encarnacion closely on August 31 last summer when a foul ball off the bat of Aaron Miles crushed his left eye socket. The Cards were thereafter careful about what they said about De Dios, but it was clear that prognosis was not good. And two days ago the Cardinals General Manager said his career might be over. Too bad, he was a good ballplayer and — at 30 — had his most productive years ahead of him.

The Debate: I went through my daily-weekly-monthly debate (really, it’s more like picking a fight), with some baseball friends, arguing that the second-best all-time player in baseball is not Ted Williams, but Stan Musial. Stan The Man is virtually ignored in talk of “the greats” (no, really, he is) while everyone talks about Dimaggio, Gehrig, Mays, Aaron and Mantle. It’s easy to get lost in that crowd, I know, but Musial’s lifetime numbers continue to blow me away: .331 batting average, .417 OBP, .559 SLG, 475 home runs, seven batting titles (Williams had six) and three MVPs (Williams had two).

Okay, okay, okay. I lost the argument. Williams lifetime numbers of breathtaking: .344 batting average, .482 OBP, .634 SLG, and 521 home runs. Of course, he played in an easier league.

Gnats Notes: You have to wonder whether Ronnie Belliard has an attitude problem. He came up as a pinch-hitter late in the first game against the Stro’s in Minute Maid and he looked like hell, striking out on three pitches. He took the first two and swung through the third and as I watched I kept thinking, “this guy doesn’t look like he wants to be there.” On Ronnie’s behalf we might add that the renaissance of Felipe has put Ronnie solidly on the bench — which isn’t the first time that has happened to him in his career. He played 54 games in the Cards World Series season, holding down the second base job late in the season and playing his heart out (he hit .462 in the last 50-plus games for the Cards): and his reward was that Walt Jocketty couldn’t wait to get rid of him. So we shouldn’t be surprised if Ronnie is thinking that maybe, someday, someone will notice that he’s a heck of a ballplayer and (having decided that) will stick him at second base and keep him there … no matter what his start.

So now the Nats are hitting better, or so the reasoning goes — though Zimmerman and Kearns are mired in the 220s and Nick’s power numbers are way down. The key of course is to hit on all cylinders, which is the key for everyone. And while the sports wogs continue to talk about how loaded the Nats are with pitching in the minors, no one is bragging about their power hitters at Columbus, Harrisburg or Potomac. I have a sinking feeling that the reason is that they’re not there. Justin Maxwell, meanwhile, is hitting a torrid .222 at Harrisburg. Ugh.

Who The Hell Is Casey Kotchman? Baseball Tonight’s commentators talk endlessly about “it’s not nasty, it’s filthy” — or some such — and have lately been singing the praises of the Angels’ starting rotation. They have a point. Even without John Lackey, Garland, Santana, Saunders and even Jared Weaver look like the real deal and the outfield powerhouses of Matthews, Hunter and Guerrero (who was actually benched for a game for not hitting, if you can imagine that) should be enough to carry the Halos into the divisional playoffs. But the one guy I’ve been watching (because no one talks about him much) is Casey Kotchman. He’s hitting .333 with six home runs and 21 RBIs, and quietly but decisively proving himself as a future star. He’s what? 25? 26? How can you not notice?