I was just looking at the standings in the different divisions and in the Wild Card races, and it struck me that there are some really good teams out there (San Francisco, Atlanta), some really awful teams (Detroit, Tampa Bay) and a hell of a lot of teams somewhere in the middle. The point was brought home not so much when looking at the divisional standings, because they very much depend on divisional context - it's obvious that the Yankees are always going to be be 20+ games ahead of the Devil Rays and that the Giants juggernaut is going to have the same lead over the Padres - but rather when looking at the Wild Card races. The Wild Card - whether you like the idea of giving a playoff spot to the second-placed club in each league with the best record or not - at least allows us to look at the standings, take out the exceptional teams and then compare the teams that are left, not against the big boys (although Kansas City hardly qualifies as a big boy...), but against each other.

With around 55 games left to play, I don't know what would be a good cutoff point in the Wild Card races. If we say that a team could make up, say, an 8-game deficit on the Wild Card leader, then the National League Wild Card race has NINE teams (right down as far as the Pittsburgh Pirates, with their slightly-less-than-stunning 48-55 record) with a shot at that last precious postseason berth. Maybe 8 games is a little optimistic, but if we bring the number down to 5, there are still eight clubs in contention for the spot. What's interesting is that if we apply the same criteria to the American League, then there are only TWO clubs with a legitimate shot - the Red Sox and the A's. I guess this shows up both an imbalance in the two leagues and a certain mediocrity in the NL, where no team (except the Braves and Giants) has yet managed to prove it true superiority.

In a sense, the Wild Card race really benefits the teams chasing the runaway leaders such as San Francisco and Atlanta. So far, the Phillies - in second place in the NL East - have been making the most of a chance to join the Braves (who are 11 1/2 games ahead of them in the division) in the postseason, but they seem to be undergoing a mini-meltdown, and so now they have the Marlins (and all the others) breathing down their necks.

I've always said that I'll never really understand this game and all its complexities, so I'm not going to go out on a limb and make any rash predictions for the postseason. I will, however, draw up my postseason "wishlist", just like I do on Amazon.com - I know that I'll maybe never be able to afford all those country music CDs on there, but it's nice to see them all listed together.

So, here's my 'nonetheless within-the-realm-of-possibility' wishlist:

AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL Central: Kansas City Royals
AL West: Oakland A's
AL Wild Card: Seattle Mariners
NL East: Atlanta Braves
NL Central: Chicago Cubs
NL West: San Francisco Giants
NL Wild Card: Montreal Expos

Hey - a guy's allowed to dream, isn't he?

Here's a stat to ponder. I don't know what it means - if it means anything at all - but it's intriguing all the same: today, the Atlanta Braves had their third consecutive game against the Expos in which they had 17 hits or more, and yet they're 1-2 for the series. Maybe they should forego the traditional batting practice time before tomorrow's game and work on how to stop the opposing team scoring runs... All credit to the Expos, though, for not giving up on the games and coming back to win against the NL's hottest team.

There were some great defensive plays in ballparks around the country yesterday, but as a center fielder (not a very good one, but a center fielder nonetheless...), my favourite has to be the great grab that Brewers' Brady Clark made in Colorado. The day I manage to make a play like that, I'll head back into the dugout after the inning and tell our coach that I'm hanging up my spikes, because it really doesn't get any better than that. Oh yeah, and Clark went 4-for-5 at the plate as well, just for good measure. Talk about a good day at the ballpark!

What is it they say about a leopard never changing its spots?? Armando Benitez may have gone across the city from the Mets to the Yankees, but his inability to pitch in big-game situations has unfortunately gone with him. The Yankees managed to fight back from four runs down this afternoon against the Red Sox at Fenway, only for Benitez to blow the whole thing, giving up the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

The Red Sox look like they really mean business this time around - they keep winning games, and not only that, but they keep winning them in their last at-bat, which just goes to prove what Yogi Berra once said: "it ain't over 'til it's over". Keep an eye on the AL East...

What the world sees when it looks at me is a 33-year-old English guy with a job, an apartment and family responsibilities, but the truth is that I'm still a little kid at heart - I love firework displays, it still amazes me that a man one day walked on the moon, and the Internet, even after it has become almost a permanenet fixture in my life, remains a source of wonder to me. I love the fact that I can sit here on a rainy Saturday evening in Paris and watch the Yanks play the Red Sox at Fenway, grab a chicken salad sandwich, a couple of beers and some Cheese Doritos, then head on out to Safeco to see the Rangers play the Mariners and, if I'm feeling really courageous, head on down to Florida (some time after midnight, local time) to see how the Phillies make out against the Marlins.

Baseball overload?? You betcha...!!

I've been keeping an eye on the different player trades over the last few weeks, and last night it suddenly struck me that, despite being in a situation where following baseball is not easy (i.e. being English and living for 22 years in the UK, followed by 12 in France), I've managed to do just that for a long time. The thought came to me after reading that the Dodgers had taken a gamble on Rickey Henderson and that the Yankees had signed 46-year-old Jesse Orosco from the Padres. The first baseball I ever saw was highlights of the '86 World Series, where Orosco was on the mound for the final out against the Red Sox, and the next games I saw were during the '88 A's / Dodgers World Series, with Rickey on the field for the A's. It's amazing to think that these guys are still playing major league baseball 17 years on down the line, but it just goes to show you that, whatever your age, there can always be a spot for you in a lineup somewhere, if you can throw the ball over the plate or hit it over the fence.

The Yankees still have a four-game lead in the AL East, but the Red Sox refuse to give up the ghost - they hung on yesterday against the Blue Jays and won the game in the bottom of the 11th inning. There were some big hits in the game, but Boston's victory came largely thanks to a couple of key stolen bases - once again, a team shows the value of doing the fundamentals right...

Another team doing that is Kansas City - they're doing what it takes to maintain their lead at the top of the AL Central. I was looking at their stats this morning, and realised that the only player they have in the top five of any major offensive category is Carlos Beltran, whose total of 25 stolen bases is second-highest in the majors. Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but that seems to suggets that lots of the Royals' players are having good, but not great, years, and that the sum of these different parts adds up to a successful winning team. From what I've read and interviews I've heard, these guys have a good feeling about this season, and if you need proof that they're doing all they can to win ballgames, check out Beltran's amazing catch against Seattle yesterday, which robbed the Mariners' Dan Wilson of a home run and kept the Royals in the game (which they eventually won 5-1).

The Royals' pitching staff is also doing its thing, and spreading the workload (and win-load) around. They have 16 different pitchers with at least one win, and their two leading pitchers (Chris George and Jose "So Everyone Thought I Was Washed Up" Lima), have only 9 and 6 wins respectively - compare that with, say, the Yankees, who have 4 pitchers with more than nine wins each (Wells - 12, Pettitte - 11, Mussina - 10, Clemens - 9). Sure, the Yankees' stats reflect a team effort too, but maybe on a higher level and with a lot more cash to play with. The Royals are doing what they need to do to stay on top of their division, and I hope thy can continue that through to the end of the season. I like these guys, their attitude and the way they play, and it would be great to see some new faces in the postseason.

Has Yankees' GM Brian Cashman lost his mind or has he just been seating out in the bleachers for too long??? The Mets' Armando Benitez in pinstripes???? I don't care if he has converted 90% of his save opportunities over the last three seasons - as soon as he's on the mound in a big-game situation, he's a guaranteed meltdown (Game 1 of the 2000 World Series against the Yankees, anyone?). Sure, he doesn't have to face the Bronx Bombers anymore, but would you want this guy anywhere near the mound in a late September pennant-clincher against the Red Sox...?

The only positive thing that I can see is that he's not going to be the Yankees' closer, but the setup man for Mariano Rivera. Still, the Yankees had better start practicing those eighth and ninth inning comeback victories - I've a feeling they're going to need to pull one or two of them out of the hat between now and the end of September...

Watched a great game from Oakland last night - a fine pitchers' duel betwen the Orioles' Jason Johnson and he A's Barry Zito. Zito pitched 8 shutout innings, and I was finally able to get a long look at that amazing curveball of his. It really is a thing of beauty - it starts out way outside the strike zone, and then dips perfectly over the plate, leaving opposing batters to admire it as it crosses the plate (even AL batting-average leader Melvin Mora...). Zito was matched all the way by Johnson, who pitched 7 2/3 shutout innings, but Johnson didn't get the help he needed from the relievers, who entered the game in the 8th and 9th innings and proceeded to waste is great outing by giving up the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. The A's are now nicely set up for the second half of the season - 4 games behind Seattle in the AL West and just one game behind the Red Sox in the Wild Card race.

OK - so you CAN have too much of a good thing. There's a reason why this blog is called The Baseball Desert, and the reason is that I have no access whatsoever here to live baseball beyond what I can get on my 56k Web connection at home or my broadband connection at work (not that I would ever use my Internet access at work for personal purposes, of course...). So, when given the chance to see a few games, as I have had at a friend's place this weekend, I behave exactly like someone who has been wandering in the Sahara for days and who suddenly comes across an oasis - reason goes out of the window, and I gorge on whatever sustenance is to be found, until I make myself ill.

So, here's the rundown: since yesterday I've consumed 1 Phillies / Mets, 1 Yankees / Blue Jays, 1/2 Red Sox / Tigers, I'm currently working my way through a second Yankees / Blue Jays and thinking about an Orioles / A's finale for dessert. Oh yeah, and just to round things off, I spent about five hours watching my ballclub (the Montigny-le-Bretonneux Cougars, just in case you're wondering...) play a couple of games in the Paris suburbs.

It's a public holiday here in France tomorrow, so I guess I'll have a bit of time to get over my severe case of baseball indigestion and fatigue, and as a bonus, the All-Star break is just around the corner, which gives me a couple of days' additional rest - I think I need a few days off more than those major-leaguers do...

It was a weekend of surprises - the Red Sox totally proved me wrong by taking two games out of three from the Yankees over the weekend, and they could win the series tonight if Pedro Martinez gets the better of Mike Mussina. The Mets, on the other hand, actually started winning, and even managed a sweep of the Reds in Cincinnati. Even my cap magic [see June 9 post] seems to be no longer working - I had my Phillies cap on over the weekend, and they've now lost four of their last five games... There's a reason why I'm an English language consultant here in Paris and not a full-time ESPN baseball analyst, and that is: I'll never really understand this damn game as long as I live!!!

A simple bit of arithmetic: the Red Sox are 4 games behind the Yankees in the AL East, and they play a four-game series against New York over the 4th of July weekend, so by Monday night they could be tied with the Yankees for first place.

Well, it's possible, on paper, but as my Dad likes to say, "they're not playing on paper - they're playing on grass"... Not only that, but to get those four precious wins, the Red Sox have to go through the Yankees' formidable quartet of starters: David Wells, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina. I know - not one of these guys is under thirty (Pettitte, at 31, is the baby of the bunch), but their combined total of 825 career wins speaks for itself: these guys win ballgames. It might be a holiday weekend for everyone else, but Boston is going to have a long four days in the Bronx.

If you're a baseball fan - I mean a fan of the game, like me, rather than a fan of any one particular team - the best city to be in right now seems to be Chicago. The Dusty-Baker-inspired, Sosa / Clement / Wood-driven Cubs are in a three-way tie for first place in the NL Central, along with Houston and St. Louis (and not forgetting the Reds, who are only 2 1/2 games behind the three league leaders...). Meanwhile, on the South Side, the White Sox have a nice three-game winning streak going, and are only three games behind the Kansas City Royals in the AL Central, having beaten division rivals the Minnesota Twins last night on Frank Thomas' twelfth-inning, two-out walk-off home run. Not only that, but the Sox also seem to be making trades that indicate how serious they are about trying to win their division: on Tuesday, they acquired OF Carl Everett from Texas, and 2B Roberto Alomar from the Mets. Overnight, both players moved from last place in their divisions (22 and 16 1/2 games out of first place, respectively) to find themselves slap bang in the middle of a pennant race. Alomar failed to deliver the goods in New York, but this could give him a new lease of life. Don't be surprised if he has a great second half of the season...

Chicago fever has even grabbed me, 4,000 miles away. It's too late to worry about the interleague games between the two clubs this year, but it's not too late to take a close look at the schedules and see if I couldn't fit in a long weekend of baseball at Wrigley Field / U.S. Cellular Field before the season is out. OK, so maybe I'm dreaming, but that kind of dream is enough to get me right through to the weekend - what more could you want?

Despite my anal-retentive-fan personality, I have to confess that I am not familiar with all 750 players on the major league rosters, so it's always a great pleasure to come across a new and interesting name in the big leagues. Today, The Baseball Desert is proud to present the world's only baseball-playing breakfast cereal: ladies and gentlemen, I give you Cleveland Indians outfielder... Coco Crisp !!!

I haven't posted on here for a couple of days, and there's been too much baseball in that period for me be able to comment on it all, so I thought I would just share my personal baseball moment from the past weekend. Our club hosted the equivalent of the French national Junior Little League playoffs, and in the final - between Montpellier and Nice - one of the Montpellier players came to bat with the bases loaded. This guy was the smallest player on either of the teams, and I was sat in the stands wondering how the pitcher was ever going to get a ball into the very small strike zone. The batter watched three balls go by way outside the strike zone and then, on the fourth pitch, by some kind of miracle, the pitcher managed to get one over the plate at a hittable height, and the little guy took a whack at it. The ball sailed over second base, bounced in front of and over the charging center-fielder and rolled all the way to the wall, for an inside-the-park grand-slam! The batter raced around the bases and came home to a standing ovation from the crowd and hugs and high-fives from his teammates.

There were only about 200 people watching the game (it doesn't sound like much, but believe me, in France, 200 is a huge baseball crowd), so maybe it lacked some of the excitement and noise of, say, Kirk Gibson's walkoff home run in Game 1 of the '88 Series against Oakland, or Tino Martinez' two-out, bottom-of-the-ninth, game-tying home run in Game 4 of the 2001 World Series against the Diamondbacks, but it was a moment that instantly entered my All-Time Top 5 Baseball Moments. It doesn't matter whether you're playing in front of 50 or 50,000 - that kind of moment brings the same kind of smile to everyone's faces and reminds us just what a great game this is...