Rome is Burning, and so is Baseball

Baseball is heating up in so many different ways. After putting our Marathon of Milestones behind us we can focus on what is going on around the league.
Look at the division leads, with none greater then 5
AL East Red Sox 5 up on Yanks
AL Central Indians 1 up on Tigers
AL West Angels 3.5 up on Mariners
NL East Mets up 4 on Phillies
NL Central Brewers .5 up on Cubs
NL West Arizona 1.5 up on San Diego

It's Wednesday night and some of these leads are subject to change in the next few hours but you get the point. Baseball is usually good for a runaway division or two.
First the locals:
Yanks got waxed tonight, and Wang looked terrible but another series win and a 20-8 stretch puts them in great shape. Their next 17 games are series against Cleveland, Baltimore, Detroit, Angels, Detroit, Boston... yikes. Give me 10-7 and get me to August 31st against Tampa. Things to watch: Will Hughes be the real deal? Friday he starts in Cleveland. How much will Giambi play? Yanks have been hitting like crazy, do they dare throw Giambi in? Thats an expensive pinch hitter. How major a role will Jaba play? Will Torre pitch him back to back days?

The Mets and Wagner pulled a serious escape act tonight. Up 4-3, Wagner in to close, Braves had bases loaded no outs... and couldn't get the tying run home. Braves like in year's past have been the thron in the Mets side yet again. This was the Mets first win in a non Oliver Perez start. I think Alou getting back in the lineup will help things immensely. Known around these parts as the "rakeman" and "the assassin", Alou gives the lineup depth and protection in case Beltran continues his little girl impression. Pedro continues his rehab's, and will hopefully give the team a shot in the arm come September. Forget the Braves for a sec, despite losing Utley, the Phillies keep hitting and keep winning.

Red Sox are only 7-6 since their 5 game winning streak... but with Schilling back you still have to like them to hold off the Yanks in the AL East. At this point I still dont have faith in the Yankees starting pitching. Not one of them has been consistent enough to earn my confidence for a surge to a division title
Fortunately... the Tigers and Indians have been shaky. Tigers have lost 7 out of 10, and Indians have been reeling as well. White Sox have been showing signs of life and the Twinkies always seem to hang around, so that division will likely continue to beat each other up.

I'm not sure any division race in baseball bores me more than the AL West. Angels are there year after year. Seattle, Texas and Oakland just don't bring much spice for me as a fan. Sure you have Ichiro and the King... but when was the last time King Felix was even mentioned? Ichiro is taken for granted at this point, and what on earth is there to get excited about the Rangers and A's for?

I see the Brewers continue to slide and eventually even fall into a close race with the Cards who have a run in them. It's going to be an ugly race in the NL Central as the Cubs look to stay afloat without their catalyst Soriano. The arm of Zambrano and bats of Lee and Ramirez give the Cubs enough to win this.. as Cards without Carpenter, and Brew Crew without Sheets both battle without their aces.

I dont know what it is, but the Rockies just seem to always be pounding the ball and always winning, yet never leading the division. They are only 3.5 back and with that lineup and the offensive deficiencies of the Diamondbacks, Dodgers and Pads, who is to say they can't take this division. Holliday, Matsui, yes Kaz, Hawpe, Helton, Tulowitzki.. this is a deep and scary lineup. Helton did get hurt tonight and Taveras who is having an underrated great year has also been hurt recently... but I think the other guys will pick up the slack and make this a great 3 to 4 team race.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST Bonds:
every generation has had its issues- no black players, high mound, "greenies", steroids... this is just our's. I don't give him a pass by any means, he is merely the best player using them. I think what is never mentioned is how many of these pitcher's were using steroids. I really don't have any examples besides the guys who were caught, but I'd bet as high a percentage of pitchers were using as the hitters. You can't just make the conclusion that this balances out the playing field, but it does certainly make the advantage less then people might want to argue. Bonds had 3 MVP's before using. His 500+ steals were only hurt by steroids. He would prob even have 3000 hits by now, because of all the extra at bats he would have had instead of being walked. He was one of the greatest before and is still.

I vote him into the HOF. I vote in Mcguire.. .I don't vote in Palmero because he was not a HOF player. 500 homeruns should no longer be the benchmark.

What else is on my mind?
Why do the Cavs insist on not getting better?
Is Reggie Miller kidding himself?
Watch out for the Nets
Get Jermaine to the Lakers
Get Jermaine to the Nets for Jefferson and Collins not Jefferson and Kristic
Celtics over under 50 wins?

and finally over under 12 girls at Neal's party outside of relatives?