The American League has answered a casting call for Nellie Oleson of “Little House on the Prairie.” So many teams are capable of playing the schoolyard bully. The defending champion Chicago White Sox have a trio of sluggers in Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko with more home runs than the Kansas City Royals. And pitching is the White Sox’s strength. The Detroit Tigers, reconstructed around blowtorch pitchers Justin Verlander and Joel Zumaya, won more games in the first half of this season than their 1984 championship team.
Let’s not forget the Boston Red Sox. A team forever built to play pong off the Green Monster has committed the fewest errors in baseball. If anyone can make good defense stand up, it’s the one-two counterpunch of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz.
“In the American League, you have to be able to score runs,” says Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Roy Halladay. “You have to be ready every night. It doesn’t seem like there are any easy games.”
Fists will fly for 2 1/2 months, with the winner the clear favorite to once again leave the National League a bag of lumps in the World Series. What’s happened in the AL, and what’s next:
AL WEST
BIGGEST SURPRISE
Uniform mediocrity
This division served as a magnet for spring training attention. The World Series champion, for those brave enough to look beyond colored Sox and New York Yankees, resided in Oakland. This was going to be the year the Athletics finally broke their recent first-round playoff curse, steamrolling teams with Rich Harden, Barry Zito and Dan Haren. Instead, they have been leveled by health problems and sputtering offense. The Angels, another sexy pick to play deep into October, can’t field. Their frying-pan hands have led the league in unearned runs for months, hardly the trait of a Mike Scioscia-run team.
The Texas Rangers lead the division despite forming three-fifths of their rotation just days before the season began. As individual players go, Texas’ Gary Matthews has been a revelation in center field and made the season’s best catch, doing the equivalent of a 360-degree slam dunk as he robbed the Houston Astros’ Mike Lamb of a home run.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
Rich Harden, Athletics
Harden being hurt is becoming a baseball cliché. When he pitches, jaws drop and radar guns melt. The problem is that he spends more time off the mound than on it. In the past two years, his stardom has been painfully interrupted by oblique, shoulder, back and elbow injuries. He has made just six starts this season, going 3-0 with a 3.86 ERA. He must make 10 starts in the second half for the Athletics to fend off the Angels for the division crown.
BEST HITTER
Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners
Suzuki has a swing your Little League coach warned you about. Weight shifting forward, feet moving. “It’s not something you would ever teach,” Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. Neither is Picasso’s style. That’s what makes Ichiro special. He does what others can’t. As terrific as Joe Mauer has been for the Minnesota Twins, catching figures to wear him down, leaving Ichiro in position to win another batting title.
BEST PITCHER
John Lackey, Angels
Since pitching in the 2002 World Series, Lackey has slipped into the shadows. When everyone thinks of young, big Texans with fastballs, Josh Beckett comes to mind. Lackey has been better. He is only 7-5 this year, but has a 2.88 ERA. He has allowed just three home runs to left-handers, and right-handers are hitting a comical .190 against him. With Bartolo Colon’s fastball mysteriously sitting around 87 mph, the Angels need Lackey to turn in a Cy Young Award-worthy performance in the second half.
TRADE FRONT
The Angels have all the ingredients needed to cook a monster deal. Their farm system is loaded, leaving them able to dangle Dallas McPherson, Casey Kotchman and Jeff Mathis, and owner Arte Moreno isn’t afraid to add payroll. Don’t rule them out landing the Washington Nationals’ Alfonso Soriano.
WHAT TO WATCH IN SECOND HALF
Rich Harden’s recovery will go a long way in determining how the A’s season plays out. If Mark Teixeira doesn’t wake up and start hitting, Texas has no chance. The Mariners are as maddening as they are intriguing. All signs point toward the Angels winning this division if they can catch the ball.
AL CENTRAL
BIGGEST SURPRISE
Detroit Tigers
Had the Tigers had just a winning record at this point, they would have qualified for the league’s most pleasant surprise. Instead, they have baseball’s best record, fueled by the reincarnations of Magglio Ordoñez, Carlos Guillen and Ivan Rodriguez. Don’t underestimate manager Jim Leyland’s influence on the trio.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
Cleveland Indians
This was the season the Indians were going to take that next step. They did – off a cliff. Cleveland woke up on opening day and forgot how to catch. The Indians’ defense has been frightening, dragged down by rapidly aging Aaron Boone and puzzling Jhonny Peralta.
BEST HITTER
Jim Thome, White Sox
It says something about Thome that he deserves this honor over Travis Hafner, who clubbed five grand slams in the first half. Thome showed up in Tucson, fit and happy to be unshackled from the drama in Philadelphia. It will be a surprise if he doesn’t finish with 50 home runs. His power also gives him the nod over Minnesota star Joe Mauer, who is single-handedly introducing an entire state to the joy of sideburns.
BEST PITCHER
Francisco Liriano, Twins
The idea that anyone would supplant Johan Santana as the division’s top pitcher seems ridiculous. Liriano doesn’t possess Santana’s changeup, but he throws harder – he can reach 98 mph when he needs to – and has a nastier breaking ball. It doesn’t take much imagination to see Liriano (10-1, 1.83 ERA) winning rookie of the year and the Cy Young Award.
TRADE FRONT
White Sox general manager Kenny Williams is adept at flying below the radar and coming up with the next big deal. He likes San Francisco’s Jason Schmidt, but that trade doesn’t seem to fit. Chicago will continue looking for bullpen depth. The Tigers could use a left-handed bat. The Royals, a speed bag for division heavyweights, could be a sleeper in several division races if they trade away veteran outfielder Reggie Sanders – and Elmer Dessens and Jeremy Affeldt, pitchers the Rockies have always liked.
WHAT TO WATCH IN SECOND HALF
Because the Tigers are built around pitching, no one believes they are a fluke. But there’s a question hanging in the air as Detroit pushes toward the playoffs. Will manager Jim Leyland make an exception to his loyalty to a veteran (Todd Jones) and make Joel Zumaya the closer in September?
AL EAST
BIGGEST SURPRISE
Toronto Blue Jays
At first glance, this doesn’t make much sense. The Blue Jays maxed out the credit card over the winter. They were expected to contend, and they are. But how they have hung around really is shocking. They are five games behind the division-leading Red Sox, despite basically getting no meaningful contribution from pitchers A.J. Burnett and Gustavo Chacin. If Burnett answers questions about his maturity and morphs into a second-half force, the East will host one heck of a race.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
New York Yankees
Most would rather save their Kleenex and tear ducts for more worthy causes. The Yankees, at right, never, ever will get sympathy. But they have endured a difficult season, losing corner outfielders Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield to injuries until September. Randy Johnson is finally showing his age and Carl Pavano is scheduled to be featured on this week’s “Without a Trace,” having gone missing now for 18 months.
BEST HITTER
David Ortiz, Red Sox
Ortiz didn’t invent the walk-off home run, it only seems like it. There’s no one more clutch than Ortiz. He hits for power and seemingly every RBI attached to his name means something. Ortiz is hitting .302 with runners on base, which explains why most pitchers would rather swallow razors than face him.
BEST PITCHER
Curt Schilling, Red Sox
Schilling, 10-3 with a 3.60 ERA, can be annoying, wandering into the spotlight with his opinion on everything from the presidential race to Jose Canseco’s “Juiced.” But if you have one game to win, the line form behinds him. His sock no longer bloody, his ankle strong, Schilling is an ace again, changing eye levels and firing darts. Schilling edges out fantastic rookie closer Jonathan Papelbon.
TRADE FRONT
The Red Sox’s new front-office policy regarding leaks is working. Boston hardly is attached to nary a trade rumor. The Yankees were in on Tampa Bay’s Aubrey Huff before he was dealt to Houston. The Red Sox are expected to chase the Nationals’ Alfonso Soriano and the Phillies’ Bobby Abreu. Even they would be better off with another starting pitcher. Toronto has flirted with getting the Rockies’ Ryan Shealy and the Angels’ Adam Kennedy. Baltimore figures to be a key player in a seller’s market, with reliever LaTroy Hawkins and starter Rodrigo Lopez likely to be dealt.
WHAT TO WATCH IN SECOND HALF
Yankees star Alex Rodriguez said the wild card is coming from the Central Division, “period.” That leaves three teams in a mad scramble for first. If the Yankees are unable to pull off a big deal, the Red Sox will prove too much – with Jonathan Papelbon pulling the curtain and turning out the lights.
