Cards, I-Rod

My St. Louis Cards reached .500 (for a day anyway). Not bad for a team 8 games under earlier this month. Now Pujols is playing like the monster he is, the pitching is decent, and Rick Ankiel's comeback as a position player after flunking out as a wild pitcher is inspiring. It helps, too, that they play in the weakest division in the majors!

Ivan Rodriquez doesn't get the attention he deserves. At age 35, Pudge is already the all-time leader in doubles among catchers with 498, having passed Ted Simmons earlier this year. He should have about 2500 hits by the end of the year, which gives him a pretty decent shot at being the first catcher ever to achieve 3000 hits. Cooperstown should be awaiting his arrival whether he makes that milestone or not.

Reyes' SB's

Another note: Jose Reyes, with 70 Stolen Bases and over a month left in the season, is on pace to become the first 80+ base stealer since 1988, when some guy named Rickey Henderson (ha!) had 93. In fact, SB individual totals took a precipitous drop in those years--after 6 100+ seasons in the 1980's (3 each by Henderson and by Vince Coleman), no one had more than 78 in the 1990's, and 70 was tops through 2006 this decade.

I'm Back: Granderson's Triples, A-Rod's HR's

Hey, if anyone out there has been noticing the absence of blog entries--sorry, we've been in transition with packing, moving, intermittent access to the internet and starting grad school. Don't know how regular this will be the rest of the way...

Anyway, how about that Curtis Granderson? He has 21 triples with over a month left in the season--and he missed getting number 22 by failing to stop at third and continuing on for an inside-the-park home run today. (I wonder if any others of his 17 HR's this year were "extended triples.") The last time anyone had more than 21 triples was 58 years ago, 1949, when Dale Mitchell had 23. (Willie Wilson in '85 and Lance Johnson in '96 each had 21). If Granderson should get as many as 24, that would be the most since Kiki Cuyler had 26 in 1925!

Meanwhile, the doublers have slowed down considerably. Whereas earlier it looked like we might have the first 60+ doubles season since 1936, that ain't gonna happen with Magglio Ordonez and Matt Holliday tied for the major league lead with 43 each.

And, finally, I must agree with those who say Bonds' homer record won't last a generation--A-Rod is way ahead of the pace with 507, having just turned 32 last month. To put that in perspective--Frank Thomas, a renowned slugger and future Hall-of-Famer, is over seven years older and has exactly one more homer (A-Rod will pass him any time now for 20th place). Put another way, every other active player with 375+ homers (just 3/4's of the way to 500) is 35 or older!