In the great tradition of Bill Simmons' Ramblings, Dalton Del Don's MLB Notes and Andy Rooney's daily existence, here's what's on my mind on a warm Thursday evening.
There's a time and place to boo in sports. If a player blatantly fails to hustle, and it costs his team, boo. If you want to tell management you'd like to see a player change jobs, boo. If Donald Sterling is anywhere in building, boo. New York fans are far more eager to unleash the raspberries, and frankly, it makes them look stupid. David Wright got booed at Citi Field at the start of the season--that's David Wright, one of the 10 best players in baseball, a career Met who never misses a game and rarely takes a play off. He's hitting .463/.560/.731 in May. I was at Yankee Stadium two weeks ago to witness four straight games of Mark Teixeira booing. In 12 games since then, he's hit six homers and driven in 16.
Ben Zobrist is the most fantasy-friendly utility guy I can remember in years. Zobrist slammed his third pinch-hit homer of the season (his fourth as a sub) earlier today, tying the game and setting up a dramatic Rays comeback win. He's got eight homers on the season, seven of those from the 6th inning on. He's hitting .285/.385/.652, he's got 22 RBI, and he qualifies at SS. Read on to learn the secret of The Zobrist Code.
Chris Carpenter returned with a flourish this week, tossing five shutout innings. He's sandwiched three starts around his injuries, with an ERA of 0.00 in 15 IP and just 12 baserunners allowed in 15 innings. The Cardinals might have to be extra-cautious with Carpenter to keep him upright all season. On a pitching staff that ranks 8th in MLB in ERA, shows surprising depth, and has a capable 6th starter in Mitch Boggs less than 300 miles away at Triple-A, it's highly doable. If St. Louis can squeeze even 125 innings out of Carpenter this season, they have to be considered a legitimate threat to win the NL Central.
I jumped into the Tigers-Rangers game today around the 5th inning and quickly found Edwin Jackson sawing through a tough Rangers lineup. Jackson has been a boon to the first-place Tigers (who are looking good as my only significant Over/Under bet this year at 83 wins +115), featuring a fastball that sneaks all the way up to 98 and a new, highly effective slider. But as Jason Beck's Tigers blog noted after the game, Jim Leyland ran out Jackson for 132 pitches today, the new high-water mark for any pitcher this season. He did so, basically, because he wanted to rest Joel Zumaya. My initial thought when I saw Jackson laboring in the 8th inning and Leyland refusing to take him out was, "Holy crap, Layland's going to blow the game!" Sure enough, a clearly gassed Jackson blew a 3-1 lead, and the Tigers needed some late-inning magic to pull out a 4-3 win. But of course the bigger issue is that the Tigers can't afford to overwork their young starting pitchers and risk injuries and/or ineffectiveness. If the Tigers' bullpen situation is so precarious that Leyland can't trust anyone other than Joel Zumaya in high-leverage, non-save situations, then Dave Dombrowski has to go find a reliever who'll earn the manager's trust. It's not even Memorial Day--you can't manage that way and get away with it for long.
Finally, a public service message for you homeowners out there: Interest rates are very low right now, and refinancing your house would seem to be a good idea. Don't bother. Wherever you live, it's a pretty sure bet that real estate values are atrocious all around you, so much so that your neighborhood comps are going to destroy any chance you might have of getting a decent appraisal price. I'd need to sell all my vital organs and rob a bank to raise enough capital to cover the gap between the appraiser's estimate and the desired loan amount. You're better off living with the 6|PERCENT| you're paying now. Save yourself the $325 you'd spend on for an appraiser's BS report and go out for a nice sushi dinner instead.