Around The Horn
By
Val TsoutsouriS

TO BARTER MAKES
ONE SMARTER?

Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson’s temper tantrum directed at teammate Luis Gonzalez, one of the most popular players in baseball, looks like a cry for a trade from a guy looking to make the differences seem irreconcilable, and Mariners fans who remember The Big Unit’s behavior the first few months of 1998 know this all too well. Talk that the Astros would be willing to sell off Carlos Beltran and/or Roger Clemens seems ridiculous given that the Astros are hardly out of the wildcard race, but if they did, would that be a gross insult to Jeff Bagwell or Craig Biggio or what? That the White Sox outbid the Yankees for Freddy Garcia shows that the White Sox were going to sign Garcia no matter what. . .Any team that would consider trading for Expos shortstop Orlando Cabrera would need very strong assurances, if not a passed physical, that his back is well because it’s hard to imagine that his offensive drop-off from last year would be related to just a bad slump.

ALL-STAR LAME

Ken Griffey Jr.’s disabling hamstring injury goes to show that the only thing rarer than four active 500-home-run men is four healthy 500-home-run men…Mark Mulder and Kenny Rogers’ performances over the weekend should have sealed the All-Star starting in the American League to Mulder. That Alfonso Soriano received more All-Star votes than any other player in baseball not only reflects that Soriano was far and away the best second baseman in the American League but also that the Japanese voters remember him fondly from his days overseas…The average age at which the All-Star Game has its highest appeal seems to be about age 12; after that, it’s manufactured silliness.

PITCHING

While Mulder seems to be on his way to starting the All-Star Game, the AL pitcher I would least like to face at the present time is Twins lefty Johan Santana, a double-digit strikeout game waiting to happen. Mets pitcher Al Leiter still looks as if his pitching shoulder, which forced him to the disabled list in May, is bothering him, and if so, the Mets probably will not have the pitching depth to hang in the race.

Cardinals pitching coach/alchemist Dave Duncan has now pulled a pitching staff out of thin air twice in three years with distinctly different pitchers, and while Duncan’s ability to adjust on the fly received a greater test after Darryl Kile’s June 2002 death, his job performance this year is just as good. The most heartening news from the Angels this week is that John Lackey has made three straight strong starts since manager Mike Scioscia gave the team a pep talk. Meanwhile, Jarrod Washburn pitched a shutout against the White Sox at homer-happy U.S. Cellular Field. Given his 84 walks already, it’s hard to take Devil Rays pitcher Victor Zambrano seriously as an ace of a staff or a potential ace of a staff.

That Dodgers pitcher Jose Lima has given up 13 homers in 77 innings at cavernous Dodger Stadium leads one to believe that his success this year has been a fluke. Furious Orioles pitcher Rick Bauer said of team management, "They’re trying to get rid of me," upon his being relegated to the minors, but given that he’s done nothing to distinguish himself from other mediocrities, perhaps the Orioles should be trying to get rid of him.

WALK ON

Now that Frank Thomas is injured, look for Red Sox second baseman Mark Bellhorn to lead the American League in walks, strikeouts, and longest concession lines because Bellhorn’s at bats are so long, one can go back and get some food and drink and not miss much of the game. The Cubs do not have a single player in the top 35 in the National League in walks received.

And finally, no team may have had a bigger win this week than the White Sox did on Thursday, who rallied from a three-run deficit in the eighth inning against the Angels and Francisco Rodriguez and Brendan Donnelly while breaking a five-game losing streak. The Braves will win the NL East if Chipper Jones gets even a little hot in the second half of the season. Speaking of the Mariners, they designated Rich Aurilia for assignment Saturday, which led to the following Bob Melvin understatement: We’ve got a black cloud over us and we have to get out from under it. Meanwhile, just because owner Arte Moreno wants to change the team’s name to the Los Angeles Angels doesn’t necessarily mean that Dodgers-Angels is going to become a fierce rivalry, and upon further thought, it seems as if Moreno is just trying to subvert the human nature of the SoCal baseball fan.

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