The Belinski’s breeze into town and they’re probably the best team in baseball right now: better than than slugs (who just swept three from the Pale Hose, but got schooled by the Rays), better than the Bosox (who replayed the ‘67 Series with the Redbirds and did just alright), and certainly better than the D-backs, Marlins or A’s. The only other team that might come close are the Phillies (a team to be feared, in my estimation), but the Angels took them in three at Citizen’s Bank Park, 7-1, 6-2 and 3-2. The scores make it look closer than it really was. The Philadelphia press says the Phils are “skidding” — but that’s not true: the Belinskis are a buzz-saw.  

This is the franchise the Nats want to become: profitable, popular (they rank second in the AL in attendance!), successful — and winners. It wasn’t easy. After years of being up-and-down, the Halos set into a tradition of signing players developed by others: Reggie Jackson, Rod Carew and Don Sutton (to name just three). They were all great players to be sure, but not rooted in an Angel’s tradition. Because there wasn’t one. The result was that the Halos came close — but never quite got there. Sure they were good some years, even really good. But those good years were usually followed by a collapse. Or by just plain bad luck. 

Every team has their year of tragedy, with Bucky Dent homers and black cats. The Angels had theirs in 1986, when ace closer Donnie Moore came in in the ninth inning to close-out the Red Sox in the deciding play-off game. The Belinski’s were up three games to one. And they were one strike away from a World Series appearance against the New York Mets. With two out and two on in the ninth inning, Bosox Centerfielder Dave Henderson stroked one into the centerfield seats in Anaheim Stadium to give the Bosox a 6 to 5 lead. While the Angels later tied the game, a shocked and unsteady Donnie Moore gave up the winning run in the 11th. The series went back to Boston and the Red Sox (and Billy Buckner) went on to meet their date-with-destiny against the Mets.

Al Michaels made the call: “The pitch, deep to left, and Downing goes back. And it’s gone. Unbelievable. You’re looking at one for the ages here. Astonishing. Anaheim Stadium was one strike away from turning into Fantasyland. And now the Red Sox lead 6-5. The Red Sox get four runs in the ninth on a pair of homers by Don Baylor and Dave Henderson.”

The up-and-down history of the Angels changed in 1997, when they were bought by Disney. The mouses renovated Angel’s Stadium and infused the franchise with some badly needed cash. The Halos won it all in 2002, five years after being bought by Disney, four years after Angels Stadium was renovated and renamed, and three years after the corporate people running the franchise hired Mike Scioscia — the best move they ever made. 

But the biggest difference was that the Angels abandoned their bad habit of signing free agents developed by others and started plugging money into their own farm system — a tradition that has continued under new owner Arte Moreno, who bought the franchise in 2005. The result is that they now have the best starting five in baseball, three of whom are home grown: John Lackey (drafted second in 1999), Ervin Santana (signed as a free agent in 2000), and Joe Saunders (a 1st round pick in 2002). The Halos gave up a good shortstop to get Jon Garland, but the trade has been a draw — at worst. Francisco Rodriguez, meanwhile, owns a 1.80 ERA and has nine saves. Not bad. Anderson, Matthews, Guerrero, and Hunter man the outfield and DH and they’re all boppers. Guerrero has lost a step (it is said), and I can understand why people might be upset: over the last ten games he’s only hitting .410.

The Nats are due to face Lackey, Garland and Santana. Ugh.

Say Hey. A Read Writes: “Mark, you’re an idiot. You had a post arguing about whether Ted Williams or Stan Musial was the second-best player in baseball. What the hell is wrong with you? Haven’t you ever heard of Willie Mays? You have lost all credibility with me. No one can ever take you or your blog seriously again.”

Okay, well … yeah, you have a point. You have a really good point. And it’s not like I think you’re wrong. Willie Mays was the second best player who ever played the game. I saw him play and he was breathtaking. There is no question about that. And he is listed second on everyone’s list, right behind The Babe. But you have to remember my blind spot. He played for the Giants. I mean … the Giants. As Carl Furillo used to say: “We couldn’t even stand the sight of their uniforms.”

One of me droogs really gave it to me at poker last night, saying a friend of his looked for a good explanation of the Elijah Dukes-Manny Acta dust-up on these pages, but without finding it. “He had to go to the Washington Times blog,” he said. So today I checked out what Mark Zuckerman had to say about the incident at PNC and it was pretty much along the lines of what we said — with some added speculation. Still, what Zuckerman has to say is more than passably interesting: 

“Close observers of the Nationals note at least three suspect situations involved Dukes in the last month alone. On May 12 at Shea Stadium, he started up the infamous dugout chant that had Mets pitcher Nelson Figueroa referring to the Nationals as ’softball girls.’ Last week at Nationals Park, he gestured toward plate umpire Doug Eddings upon hitting a game-winning homer, a move that upset both Eddings and uniformed personnel (including Acta). Zuckerman says, a little further down in the story:

“His image within the Washington clubhouse has to come into question, too. Though Dukes does have a group of supporters among his teammates and coaches, a sizeable number of uniformed personnel have soured on him and question whether the player with the checkered past really has turned his life around at all.”

So, having heard the explanation from Mark Zuckerman (and wanting to close the book on this angry exchange) we put our crackerjack staff on this story. Their conclusion probably tells it best: Manny and Elijah are like oil and water, from different backgrounds and different experiences and the friction between them finally boiled over in Pittsburgh. The differences between the two are not likely to be resolved anytime soon. The question is, can they learn to get along, or does Elijah get shipped down — or (more likely) out. For now they’ll try to coexist and maybe things will get better. The reason for that, as Ray Knight said on the Nats broadcast from Pittsburgh, is that “between the white lines,” Elijah Dukes’ talent is undeniable.

Between the white lines.

The Test In Seattle: The three game tilt that begins tonight when the Nats sail into Seattle should be interesting. The Mariners are sinking fast, with manager John McLaren’s neck on the line. The guy I respect the most on the bench is former Cubs manager Jim Riggleman, who might get a shot when (not if) McLaren goes. My guess is the Mariners will try to run themselves out of their current troubles, with Ichiro testing Jesus Flores’ arm every chance he gets. If Nick and Ryan were healthy, these three games might not be much of a contest.

The great hope of the Mariners this season was Eric Bedard, the off-season acquisition who was supposed to vault them into contention with the Belinski’s. Bedard is 4-4 and his last game he couldn’t get into the sixth inning. The rumors in Seattle is that it’ll take one more losing streak — and McLaren’s ouster — before a mid-summer firesale strips Seattle of Bedard, Johjima, and Sexson. What the Mariners’ would get for any of them is anyone’s guess. There will be takers for Bedard, Johjima is a heck of a player (in my humble opinion), but Richie is probably done.

Homage to Carl Furillo: Last night one of me droogs asked who played right field for the Dodgers in the 1950s. One of our number (a real Dodger fan — and now a Mets partisan, with all that implies) knew the answer instantly. “It was Carl Furillo.” The questioner was non-plussed. He said that he did not follow the game anymore, since he had “grown out of it.” Not me buddy boy. I’m still the kid I was back when Carl Furillo was playing the caroms off of the wall in Ebbets Field.

Furillo is one of baseball’s forgotten talents, a player who had a very good career, seemed never to be injured, and was a heckofa clutch hitter. His final numbers are pretty impressive: a .299 career batting average, with 192 home runs. He hit .344 in 1953, and in 1955 he hit 26 home runs. He had a gun in right field — hence his nickname, “the Reading Rifle,” which he assumed in the minor leagues.

Furillo was one of Roger Kahn’s famous Boys of Summer. Kahn caught up to him after he left baseball and he was working on installing elevators in the World Trade Center. Kahn got the impression that Furillo was embittered. He had reason to be: he was released by the Dodgers just before he qualified for a pension, because he tore his calf muscle. He later sued the team and was awarded back pay. But he was also embittered because he thought that no one in baseball really remembered or honored him or his career — that the Dodgers might be remembered by their fans, but he wasn’t.

That certainly didn’t seem to be true last night. Furillo died in 1989 at the age of 66.

Pale Hose’d: The White Sox have stuck Josh Fields at Triple-A — and he’s playing like a major leaguer. I remember when Joe Crede went down with an injury last year I thought “oh, oh,” and then Fields knocked the hell out of the ball. Okay, so he didn’t knock the hell out of the ball, but he proved he belonged in the majors. So when Crede came back this year, what did the Pale Hose do? … they demoted Fields. He’s at Charlotte, where he’s hitting .292 with three home runs. Listen, if the White Sox don’t want him …

The Very Junior Circuit: If you sit here in the National League on the East Coast you focus on … well, you focus on the National League on the East Coast. For us, a team like the Texas Rangers hardly seems to exist. So in reading through the Hardball Times this week I learned that the Rangers have the fourth best minor league system in baseball. I believe it, but so … ? This team is lost … maybe Nolan, the new Ranger president (who, presumably, knows something about this game), can help.

GnatsNation: Tyler Clippard and Collin Balester continue to tear up Triple-A, while Mat and Sean continue to get torn up in the majors … Paul LoDuca is still out, but it seems not to have made a difference. Wil Nieves’ walk-off home run on Friday night sailed into the bullpen, giving him one more homer than the former Met … So now, after the Nat’s win, a sweep is out of the question … I hate to say it, but the one-time great hope for the Cubs in centerfield might be done (see below). Dubois is hitting .174 at Columbus; even Langerhans is doing better. Oleanders and Morning Glories has a good dit in on the Mets — which I missed and Just A Nat’s Fan has a good piece (”We All Scream for Ice Cream”) on what it’s like to cheer for the Anacostia Boys when your heart is still on the North Side. I hear ya …

When I was a kid I spent an inordinate amount of time each Spring assessing the relative worth of each team and its players and making predictions for the coming summer. It was easier then: there were only eight teams in each league — and only one league really mattered. Even so, my predictions were uncannily the same, year after year. This team always finished first. Now that I’m older (and here, by the way, is what I look like) …

… anyway, now that I’m older I’m more mature in my picks. That is to say, no matter what, I always pick these guys last. Why? Because after I assess VORP values and OBPs, and walks per inning, I come down to the same thing: I hate ‘em. And I mean, I really hate em. But it’s a mature hate: if it weren’t for this showboat I’d probably think the Arizona Assholes (and so, they will always be) are just alright.

Which is to say (as I told me droogs last week when we had our first organizational meeting — er, well, as I forgot to tell them), we should all take some time to make our predictions and then (because it’s really fun) see how we do at the end of the year. But we’ve decided to add a wrinkle. This year in addition to me and me droogs making predictions, we’re going to add another wholly fictional picker (we’ll call him Ernie, after this guy) who will make predictions at random — from a hat. And we’ll see who’s better: the three of us brilliant analysts, or Joe Shit the Ragman.

So I’ll start with the junior circuit, because it’s the junior circuit: it’s not really baseball over there (they have the DH), one of its franchises is call the Texas Rangers (I mean, who really gives a damn) and it doesn’t have your Washington Nationals as one of its premier teams. Now, you can follow along at home and make your own predictions, and because we have a comment box here, you can write in to tell me just how full of beans I am. Oh, and in case you think there’s no accountability here, you should know that there’s a column beside each team that gives the reason “why” the prediction was made as is — ooooohhhhhh.

So, as a bow to Igor hisself, here’s my annual Rite of Spring, for the American League:

American League West

American League Central

American League East

My sage comments?

This is pretty simple: the premier league in baseball is no more. After Boston, the Angels, Indians and Tigers, the rest of the league is either in a free-fall (like the White Sox) rebuilding (like the Royals), or still two pitchers away from contending (like Tampa Bay). The Mariners may squeeze into the top tier, but not by much — and they’re an injury (to this guy) from last place. That said, the Cleveland Indians are still the class of the league, if they can get over their PTSD from last year’s playoff collapse to the Red Sox. I just don’t see how anyone gets pass “C.C.” and Carmona — and then there’s Westbrook and a strong bullpen. I know, I know: Manny and Dave and Jacoby and that unbelievable line-up. Yeah, you’re right. You’re absolutely right. The Red Sox are a fricking hitting machine. But they’d better be, because their rotation is a mess. It’s Beckett and Dice-K and a prayer — and Beckett’s not healthy. And even with Dice-K it’s a prayer.

So, knowing this — why didn’t the Indians improve over the winter. Here’s my answer: they didn’t need to. If it weren’t for Vlad, the best player in the junior circuit might be Grady Sizemore, who could hit 40 home runs, easy. And Travis Hafner is no Jacoby Ellsbury: he’s better. A lot better. Hell, Travis hit 24 dingers last year and everyone was disappointed in his “off year.” Yeah? Trade him to the Nats. We’ll give ya Ryan Langerhans and a player to be named.

What about the Tigers? Well, what about them? Dontrelle can’t hit the strike zone, Ordonez has seen his best years, Bonderman is jittery, and Leland is a walk-with-the-bases-loaded away from a stroke. I love Polanco, the great untold story of the team, but he’s not a Jimmy Rollins and once you get past him and Granderson and a 280 pound (headed to about 340) very rich Miguel Cabrera you have a second place team. Even with Verlander. Hmmm. Still (granted) who wouldn’t want to have a second place team with the likes of these guys? As for the Yanks: these are not your Granddaddy’s Yanks, hell they’re not even your daddy’s Yanks. So that’s it: Vlad is the MVP, Gil Meche wins the Cy Young, and this time the Indians go to the Series — after sweeping the Red Sox.