The Phillies won the opener of the NLCS last night, as Chase Utley and then Pat Burrell connected for home runs off of Dodgers starter Derek Lowe in a three-run sixth inning.

While Citizen’s Bank Park is a hitter-friendly environment, Lowe hardly ever surrenders any long balls. And with a 2-0 lead headed into the sixth, it appeared as if the veteran right-hander and his club were going to cruise to a solid Game 1 win.

And, boy, that would have been huge for L.A. If they had beaten the Phils’ most effective starter, Cole Hamels, on the road, they would be in great shape right now.

But then Rafael Furcal made an uncharacteristic error, Utley and Burrell went yard and Hamels and the Phillies never looked back.

Inside The Box Score:

Phillies’ Side—

• The Phillies, as they have done consistently in the past, scored all of their runs in one inning. All runs came via the long ball as well.

• Burrell, catcher Carlos Ruiz and Utley combined for six of the Phillies’ seven hits. Hamels, who ripped a solid line shot into center field, had the other.

• Ruiz, who posted a line of .219/.320/.300 during the regular season, finished 2-for-3.

• Brad Lidge tossed a perfect ninth inning to pick up the save. Lidge, perhaps a sleeper Cy Young candidate, has now converted 44 saves in as many chances. It took him a while to overcome a hangover from the 2005 NLCS—when he gave up that monstrous shot to Albert Pujols while with the Astros—but he has reestablished himself as one of the most dominant closers in the game with Philadelphia. During the regular season, in fact, he was practically untouchable, limiting opposing hitters to an anemic line of .198/.295/.269 and .563 OPS while posting a 1.95 ERA in 72 appearances. If the Phils’ have the lead late in the game, Charlie Manuel can feel confident that his club is going to leave with a W.

• Hamels, by the way, was not too shabby on the mound on Thursday, either. The 24-year-old southpaw scattered two earned runs on six hits in seven solid innings, striking out eight. He threw 70 out of 105 pitches for strikes, though he did walk two batters.

Dodgers’ side—

• In case you had not heard, Manny Ramirez is a freakishly amazing, out-of-this-universe stud of a hitter. Ramirez picked up where he left of from the Division Series, driving a deep double to center field to score Andre Ethier in the first inning and stake the Dodgers an early lead. He finished 2-for-4, raising his postseason line to .500/.611/.1000. If you are scoring at home, that is a 1.611 OPS. Granted, the sample size is too small to get all worked up about, but this guy has been unbelievable since making the trip to the West Coast. As much pub as he gets, he kind of deserves it.

Tim McCarver can insult his behavior however he wants, but Ramirez has shown why he is arguably the best hitter in baseball when he is locked in. As a Dodger, he just does not make any outs, it seems. He blasted 17 bombs in 53 games after the trade, slugging .743 with a 1.232 OPS. In Citizen’s Bank Park, it might not be the in the Phillies’ best interest to throw him anything near the strike zone, unless they go up-and-in.

• While the Dodgers are certainly not happy about losing, there were some positives. This starts with the bullpen work, as three Dodger relievers combined to shut down the Phillies’ offense after Lowe was removed from the game with one out in the sixth inning.

• Chan #### Park—yes, that Chan #### Park is still pitching—retired two batters to get out of the frame with any more damage. Park, by the way, has provided a nice comeback story for baseball. While it is certainly not on the Ankiel/Hamilton level of overcoming the odds, it is quite amazing that he is back, and effective, in the majors at this point. He posted a 3.40 ERA in 54 games, including five starts, allowing 36 earned runs in 95.1 innings pitched. Sure, he pitched in ’07 with the Mets, but did anyone outside of Queens pick up on that?

• Well, now that the Chan #### tangent is out of the way, another unsuspecting reliever who pitched well was Greg Maddux. Maddux, one of the greatest starting pitchers of all time, tossed a scoreless seventh. His stuff is below-average now, but he still has excellent command and knows how to pitch. Still, though the inning of work may not seem significant in the loss, it does have other implications. This means that he will not make a start in the series, as Clayton Kershaw, who has tremendous stuff, will get the nod.

• Hong-Chih Kuo, who posted a 2.14 ERA, 96-to-21 K/W ratio and 1.01 WHIP in 42 regular season appearances, tossed a perfect ninth. Even without Saito, the Dodgers truly have an excellent bullpen, though some of the aforementioned stats were inflated by a friendly home pitching environment.

• Like Philadelphia, L.A. combined for seven hits. Man-Ram and Ethier combined for four of them, with Russell Martin, James Loney and Matt Kemp collecting the others.

Some other things that popped into my head.

• It is weird seeing Maddux in a relief role.

• Jeff Kent is old.

• Nomar belongs on the bench, even though Loney’s splits against lefties are far from impressive.

• This game featured two of the most exciting, fast leadoff-hitting shortstops in the game in Furcal and Jimmy Rollins. And they are both switch hitters, too. But neither player reached base, combining to go 0-for-8, and Furcal had the error. Still, it has to be nice to get him back in the lineup for L.A. He was a monster in April before his injury, posting a .357/.439/.573 slash stats line in 36 games overall.

Thinking about Game 2, it should be interesting to see which Brett Myers shows up. Myers was garbage in the first half, before being demoted to the minors. He returned to Philly rejuvenated, putting together a nice little string of quality starts together. He did struggle, however, in September.

Even with an effective Myers going for Philadelphia, L.A. has the edge in Chad Billingsley, who has excellent stuff and struck out 201 in 200.2 innings pitched during the regular season. Billingsley can shut any offense down on any given night, and was perhaps the most valuable arm on the Dodgers all year—16-10, 3.14 ERA, 1.34 WHIP. Anything can happen in one game, or a short series, which is why postseason baseball predictions are so ridiculous. Plus, the ballpark effect will play a factor, as the Coors Field of the East might play a role again. (Hey, if the game had been played in L.A. last night, Burrell and Utley would still be homerless for the series.) Still, I like the Dodgers in the second game.

Any thoughts on the series? 

I hate to go all Peter Griffin in this space, but do you know what really grinds my gears?

When ignorant baseball commentators make statements that are factually inaccurate.

Disclaimer: I am also about to do my best Fire Joe Morgan impersonation as well.

Let me start with the recent TBS coverage of the American League Division series between the Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays.

Right off the bat, Harold Reynolds—the man fired from ESPN for alleged sexual harassment, but for the most part a well-liked broadcaster—began discussing the Rays’ lineup by suggesting that Carl Crawford would be one of the best leadoff hitters in the game if he played for another team.

I am paraphrasing that, and it is not an exact quote. But, he then went on discussing how Crawford has been a great leadoff hitter in the past, ect...

Well, Harold—

A. Crawford has said, time and time again, that he hates batting in the leadoff spot.
B. Crawford has not hit leadoff in any game this year.
C. Crawford finished the season with a .319 on-base percentage.

Point C especially shows Reynolds’ severely flawed way of looking at baseball. He is stuck in the past, it seems. No player with a sub-.340 on-base percentage should ever sniff the leadoff spot. Ever.

Sure, CC is fast. He steals bases. Occasionally, he will even drop down a bunt for a base hit. Yes, he does a lot of the things that baseball fans associate with the traditional, typical leadoff man.

The most important thing a leadoff hitter can do, however, is get on base. Above all else. And, with his poor plate discipline, Crawford has shown that this is an issue for him.

Reynolds then went on with his usual tirade on small-ball tactics. Which is fine.

But this leads into my next example, regarding Chip Caray. Let me preface this by saying that Caray has excellent communication skills and is a fairly solid play-by-play man. But, as the following paragraphs will show, he should leave the whole analyst thing to people who, well, know what they are talking about.

Caray was a guest on XM's Baseball This Morning with Buck Martinez and Mark Patrick earlier today.

Shortly into his appearance, Caray, who will do color work for TBS during the upcoming ALCS, began to criticize Moneyball and the value of on-base percentage.

But to make his point—and this is the real kicker—he cited the Los Angeles Angels' first-round exit from the postseaon as an example of why the concepts of Moneyball do not work.

Again, I will paraphrase here. But he basically spewed out the typical Moneyball does not work in the postseason nonsense, saying, “No Moneyball team has made it to the World Series and eventually won it.”

Then Caray cited the Boston Red Sox and Rays as teams that are good because they know how to manufacture runs, or something along those lines.

Now, I do not know where to begin here. There is too much to criticize; this may take longer than I want to spend on this, in fact.

Using the Angels as a poster boy team for Moneyball is like saying, “Barack Obama is a proponent of Reaganomics.” In fact, the Angels, as well-run of an organization as they are, would do well to pay more attention to advanced statistical analysis.

That way, they might have avoided the whole Gary Matthews Jr. fiasco. After all, Matthews Jr. was perhaps the Least Valuable Player in the AL this year while earning enough money to make Barry Zito look underpaid, as he finished with a .675 OPS. If CC Sabathia, granted a pitcher who can absolutely mash, were to play everyday, he would have posted a higher number there.

Bogus contract aside, though, the Angels and Mike Scoscia are perhaps the poster child for incorporating small-ball tactics and manufacturing runs. And they could care less about OBP, one of the few teams left to.

How could Caray use them to make his case?

They actually finished ranked 18th in the majors on-base percentage, and the coaching staff preaches aggressiveness, but why let facts get in the way of an old-fashioned Moneyball bashing? Did Caray even watch their last series? The Angels hurt themselves by swinging at too many first pitches, seemingly hacking at everything. And Scoscia ran his team out of an inning with the whole squeeze bunt on a 2-0 pitch.

That really was such a ridiculous claim. But, more than that, it shows his ignorance about the Michael Lewis bestseller from 2002, which profiles the Oakland Athletics that season.

Moneyball is really not about on-base percentage or being cheap, as most people believe. Sure, OBP and valuing outs more than traditional baseball people have for generations is a major concept to be taken out of the book. However, too many people—especially those who have never read it (we are looking at you, Joe Morgan)—focus on these aspects as opposed to the real theme—finding inefficiencies in the market for baseball players.

Lewis, one of the most intelligent and respected business writers of this generation, wanted to answer one question by following around Billy Beane and the A’s: How could one team with such a low payroll consistently make the postseason, while other small-market teams could not?

The answer, of course, lies is Beane’s ability at exploiting inefficiencies. At the time, OBP was one such inefficiency. Traditional teams overpaid for stats—batting average, for instance—that actually did not have that much of a correlation between scoring runs and winning games as many people were led to believe.

Studies have show repeatedly that team on-base percentage goes hand-in-hand with how many runs a club will score over a full season.

Thus, at the time of the book OBP was a major inefficiency for Beane to exploit. Well, that is hardly the case today, as nearly every front office nowadays uses it as a major criterion—well, at the least the smart ones who do not do things like, say, offer huge contracts to Jose Guillen—for making personnel decisions. In fact, any general manager who still ignores the stat when evaluating talent and making roster decisions should be fired for incompetence. Today.

But, I digress.

One of those teams that values OBP—the Red Sox, who led the majors with a .358 clip.

In fact, Theo Epstein is one of the ultimate so-called Moneyball GMs today. And, guess what? Last time I checked, Mr. Caray, they have won two World Series championships in the past four years and are in a position to win a third. Boston, an organization that hired the father of sabermetrics, Bill James, as a senior advisor, is a so-called Moneyball team with money—a nearly unstoppable combination.

The key for any front office is to strike the right balance between traditional scouting and advanced statistical analysis—which does not work at the amateur level—to build a cost-efficient organization that can sustain its success.

Under Epstein, Boston has done exactly that, devoting the right financial resources into improving its farm system via excellent talent evaluation and the draft while making cost-efficient, intelligent decisions (for the most part) at the major league level.

The success of the other team that Caray mentioned, the Rays, is a direct result of the effective use of statistical analysis to make shrewd roster decisions and excellent trades. Andrew Friedman has shown the ability to find value anywhere, buying low and selling high. All of the talent acquired through low draft picks is beginning to prosper, but the Rays’ success is a result of more than that. Friedman built the rest of his roster by shopping at the equivalent of Wal-Mart for baseball players while locking up a great deal of that young talent before they were eligible for arbitration or free agency.

So, again, they are a Moneyball team by definition, if people still use that ridiculous phrase to describe a team. Yet he used them as an example why teams should not value on-base percentage. Right?

So, to recap.

1. Chip Caray gets paid to talk about baseball.
2. Chip Caray has probably never read Moneyball, yet criticizes it constantly—just like Morgan, who admits that.
3. Chip Caray thinks that a team built on Moneyball principles will never win the World Series, even though the Red Sox have already won two.
4. Chip Caray hates on-base percentage.
5. Someone pays Chip Caray to talk about baseball.

You cannot make this stuff up.

David Price (AP)

Price, making his eighth Double-A start, stole the show from his teammates in the Montgomery Biscuits’ lopsided win over the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx.

Yet Again.

With a jump to the Tampa Bay Rays likely to happen before month's end, the former number one overall pick made perhaps his last home start for the Biscuits count, striking out 10 while scattering four hits in seven excellent innings of work. He allowed only one run, which came on a solo shot off the bat of Greg Halman in the sixth inning, throwing only 83 pitches without walking a batter.

The homer and a hit batsmen were the only blemishes of an otherwise great night for Price, who was given a big offensive cushion by his teammates and improved to a perfect 6-0 during his time in the Southern League.

The victory capped off an interesting week for the soon-to-be 23-year-old left-hander, who was recently the centerpiece of a feature story in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated. The weekly magazine even brought some new information to light on the Vanderbilt product who has a mid-90s heater, excellent command and the pitching sense of a crafty major league veteran.

With all that has been written about the kid, though, this information proved to be quite a surprise.

Price, who has the chance to make millions and millions of dollars during his career, nearly quit baseball during his freshman year.

The reason for his doubts—even though he was a standout two-sport star in high school and one of the most talented prep pitchers in the nation while at Blackman High School in Tennessee—is even more of a shocker.

Of all things, he nearly gave up on pitching and a top-notch education experience to work in the fast-food industry, selling fries and shakes at a Golden Arch location near his hometown. Lucky for everyone (excluding SEC hitters) and his especially his bank account—his signing bonus and future major league earnings would make McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner jealous—Vandy's head coach, Tim Corbin, talked some sense into the then-freshman. After all, he has already been drafted back in high school, was still a rarity as a 6-foot-6 lefty who threw in the 90s and had a bright future ahead of him.

Oh, the Tampa Bay organization benefited from the decision as well. After Price got over his rough intersquad outing that prompted the potential career change and came to his senses, he turned into the best collegiate pitcher in the nation, guiding the program to its best single-season finish in program history as a junior in 2007. That was just one of many accomplishments that he compiled on his resume during his time in Nashville.

Price led the nation in strikeouts during his final hurrah in the SEC, pitched for Team USA and won about every amateur baseball award imaginable—from the Golden Spikes trophy to the SEC Pitcher of the Year—during one of the best pitching careers in the history of Division I college baseball. As a junior, in fact, he turned in arguably the most impressive single-season performance in NCAA history, going 11-1 with a 2.63 ERA while breaking his own school record with 194 strikeouts. In doing so, he became perhaps the most famous baseball-related alum to step foot on the Vandy campus as a student, surpassing ESPN baseball scribe Buster Olney and Cleveland Indians starter and fellow southpaw Jeremy Sowers.

The biggest moment of his amateur days, though, came in June of ’07, when Tampa Bay selected Price with the top pick in the First-Year draft, its easiest choice of the day. He then took home a lucrative signing bonus before the August 15 deadline, emerging as one of the top pitching prospects in the minors without throwing a pitch. With the nice bonus, he also gained enough money to support his shoe fetish, an opportunity that would have certainly eluded him if Corbin did not get through to him and he was flipping burgers instead of making minor league hitting prospects look like Little Leaguers.

Price has gone on to exceed all expectations during his first professional season in 2008. Considering all of the hype, this is no small feat.

Although a minor arm injury set him back a few weeks in spring training, he began the year with a ####, touching 99 on the gun while impressing Alex Rodriguez, his teammates and the rest of those watching him mow down the New York Yankees during a Grapefruit League game on the YES Network. Even Michael Kay took notice.

Price then spent the next several weeks at the Rays' training complex in St. Petersburg, where he had the opportunity to face A-Rod again, drawing praise from the Future Hall of Famer during an extended spring training game.

When he was healthy enough to make his long-anticipated debut, Price made the move to the Florida State League, where he set the circuit on fire with his performance for the Vero Beach Devil Rays. In six starts there, he went 4-0 with a 1.82 ERA and a 37-to-7 K/W ratio in 34.2 innings pitched.

Price made it perfectly clear with his success that he was ready for the next step, forcing the organization to promote him to Montgomery. Although the competition has improved, someone forgot to give him the memo.

The flamethrowing Price has made the transition to facing advanced hitters with ease, hardly missing a beat. Following his latest session of dominance, he is now 6-0 for the Biscuits, with his ERA sitting at 2.08. He has also posted a 48-to-12 K/W ratio, surrendering less than a hit per inning in eight effective starts.

So, if you are scoring at home, the kid is 10-0 between the two stops.

Look out, American League.

Tampa Bay Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman, who did not incur the cost of any prospects for any brief rentals at the trade deadline, has a decision to make. Although he has an eye towards the future and an excellent vision for sustained success—and thus will want to handle Price accordingly—he has a chance to upgrade his pitching staff, whether in the bullpen or starting rotation, by calling up the stud prospect.

Either way, Price will be pitching in a Tampa Bay uniform soon enough.

With his performance, command and overpowering stuff, the Joba Chamberlain comparisons were inevitably bound to happen. They are now surfacing around St. Petersburg and the rest of the league in full force, getting thrown around more frequently than the ridiculous jokes about a certain rookie third baseman and an actress who shares the same last name.

Like Chamberlain did for the Yankees down the stretch in his run as an unstoppable link to closer Mariano Rivera, however, Price has a real chance to factor in the AL East race—perhaps more so than other additions in the division made before the deadline, including Xavier Nady and Ivan Rodriguez.

And, according to Friedman, a few tune-up starts at Triple-A Durham might not be necessary for Price, leaving room for a jump from Double-A straight to the majors to the delight of many Tampa Bay fans who were disappointed by the Rays' (justified) unwillingness to overpay and get ripped off by the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for nine months of Jason Bay.

Regardless of what happens in the immediate future, though, Price is going to be a very good pitcher for a very long time, with a chance to become the ace of the majors’ best starting rotation in the next decade.

The 2008 Rays are viewed by many as a great story that will likely fade. However, the winning party—with the best prospect in the game ready to make his debut and with a team-controlled pitching core consisting of Scott Kazmir, Matt Garza, James Shields, Wade Davis and several others— is just getting started at the Trop.

And the landscape in AL East division will likely never be the same again.

On Monday at 2:00, Tyler Hissey will host a live chat, similar to the trade deadline live blog on Thursday. Feel free to stop by and ask a question. Click here to access the chat.

To contact Tyler Hissey, send an email to TylerHissey@gmail.com.

The Boston Red Sox simply had to cut their ties with controversial slugger Manny Ramirez, who has become a major distraction for his team in recent weeks. While Ramirez has helped Boston to two World Series titles in four years and is among the most productive pure hitters in the game, Theo Epstein did not want to take the risk of having him dog it and take a mental vacation the rest of the way. With all of the negative talk back and forth and with the “Manny-Being-Manny” antics reaching a whole new level, it was clear that Epstein had to get rid of him somehow.

After the Florida Marlins got greedy and killed the initial possibility for it to happen, the Red Sox spent the afternoon trying to find another team to send him to while keeping the Pittsburgh Pirates in the loop. They were not going to get rid of such a key hitter without adding another impact bat, with their eye on Pirates outfielder Jason Bay.

Epstein found his match in the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are looking to win the lowly National League West. With Los Angeles on board, the three teams pulled off a last-second shocker, combining to form the third blockbuster trade in July.

Ramirez was sent to Los Angeles, which dealt prospects Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris to Pittsburgh.

The Pirates then shipped Bay to Boston, who will cover the remaining money left on Ramirez’s contract and also had to offer up Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss to the Bucs.

Interestingly enough, the deal seems to have worked for all parties involved, to a certain extent.

Pittsburgh, though, appears to be the short-term winner. They have finally put the necessary resources into player development, have a potential future All-Star outfielder, Andrew McCutchen, waiting in the wings in Triple-A, several other exciting young prospects and will add another impact bat if they can sign number two overall pick Pedro Alvarez before the August 15 deadline. Alvarez and his agent, Scott Boras, are reportedly not close to an agreement with the organization, however. They received a much better package than they were offered by the Tampa Bay Rays, who would not meet the Pirates' asking price for an “elite” pitching prospect.

Hansen has not lived up to the hype that surrounded him when he was taken in the first round after a standout career at St. John’s three years ago. While he has excellent stuff, he has major command issues and has yet to turn into an effective reliever at the major league level. He has struggled again in Boston this year, posting a 5.58 ERA and 25-to-23 K/W ratio in 30.2 innings pitched after starting the season in the minors. Still, at 24, Hansen is a nice arm to add and will benefit from playing in a smaller market.

LaRoche is an excellent third base prospect who was blocked by numerous obstacles in Los Angeles. Sure, he has not posted great numbers in his brief time at the highest level, hitting .217/.348/.316 with only three homers in 152 career at-bats. But that is too small of a sample size to justify overlooking LaRoche, who posted a .987 OPS with 18 homers before getting called up in 2007. For some reason, Ned Colletti, who has made some horrendous personnel decisions (Juan Pierre, anyone?) in the recent past, did not see him as a major player in the Dodgers’ future, and short-term, success.

One of the top infield prospects for some time, LaRoche should flourish by moving to another organization where he is fully appreciated. All he really needs is a chance, which he will finally get in Pittsburgh. Plus, he gets reunited with his brother, Adam, who is the Pirates' starting first baseman.

Morris, the Dodgers’ first-round pick back in 2006, is a solid addition and a nice long-term pitching prospect as well. He missed a year of development in ’07, undergoing Tommy John surgery after injuring his elbow during his short-season debut two years ago. The 21-year-old right-hander has been effective in a nice bounce back stint in the Midwest League so far, posting a 3.20 ERA and 72-to-31 K/W ratio in 17 starts for the Great Lakes Loons.

Moss has not received a great look in the majors with Boston's deep outfield, but has some solid tools and the ability to turn into an excellent fourth outfielder. Still only 24 himself, he has put together a nice campaign, batting .282/.346/.528 with eight home runs and 30 RBIs in 163 at-bats at Triple-A Pawtucket. He has also spent some time in the show, where he posted a .799 OPS in 78 at-bats. While he will never hit for a ton of power, he is another solid organizational player who is ready to contribute in the majors.

The Pirates not only received “quantity,” they received some “quality” as well, it seems, with a high-ceiling arm, a potential impact corner infielder and a few solid pieces to the puzzle.

On the Dodgers’ end, they had no need for LaRoche anymore after trading for Casey Blake. As good as he has the chance to become, it was simply not going to happen for him in Dodger blue. The club even put up with Blake DeWitt and his sub-.700 OPS for three months before giving him a shot. With Morris, his value was down because of the surgery.

For Ramirez, who will be motivated to produce now that the options on his contract are out of the equation, this was a price that they were willing to pay. Going for it right now, the controversial slugger will help L.A. in its attempt to unseat the Arizona Diamondbacks in the West, taking away at-bats from Andruw Jones and Pierre. This will improve the Dodgers’ offensive unit by default.

Boston needed to get rid of the Manny show, though. Things had a chance to go from bad to worse. While they had to pay a lot to essentially give him away, Bay will not be as much of downgrade offensively as some fans might think, anyway. In fact, Bay currently has an OPS in the same range as Ramirez and is a much better defender. Ramirez has the track record—after all, how many hitters have a career .999 OPS?— and can crush the ball when he is focused, but the gap between production between the two is only minimal at this point of his career, especially considering the defensive aspect.

Bay, 29, is also under control for next year, at a reasonable price. This will free up Epstein to improve his roster in other ways while receiving, similar, cost-effective production. The Canadian, a former Rookie of the Year, has been one of the most productive performers in the NL for the past five years—excluding his injury-plagued ’07 campaign in which he posted a .745 OPS. He is batting .282/.375/.519—right around his career line—with 22 home runs and 64 RBIs already, and will improve by moving into a nice place to hit for right-handed hitters, Fenway Park. Considering all of the factors, including the off-the-field issues, Boston did not lose as much as advertised.

Ramirez had to be moved, was replaced by a solid-hitting outfielder and his sideshow is now Joe Torre’s problem. Boston will certainly miss his production, but his time in the city was nearing its end, regardless, and Hansen and Moss were never going to play a major role for the club. And if the Red Sox—who did not miss a beat in the absence of David Ortiz, now back in the lineup—fail to make the playoffs with the surging New York Yankees and Rays each vying for spots, it will most likely be because of other issues, not the loss of Ramirez. Plus, they will improve in 2009, as they were not going to bring back the Future Hall of Famer, who would have had to be replaced with an expensive free agent addition. So the remaining money on his contract, which Boston will pick up, is not that big of a deal, either, given the savings that they will gain with Bay filling the need on the cheap.

It was certainly an interesting day.

To reach Tyler Hissey, send an email to TylerHissey@gmail.com.

C.C. Sabathia

C.C. Sabathia will face the Colorado Rockies tonight in his first start for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Milwaukee officially added the larger-than-life left-hander to its starting rotation on Thursday, sending three prospects—slugging minor league outfielder Matt LaPorta highlights the group—to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for Sabathia. Thus, it is evident that the Brewers are making a run at this thing right now.

In the weaker league, anything is possible, and Milwaukee strongly increased its chances of reaching the postseason by adding a front-line starter to join Ben Sheets at the top of its pitching staff. Headed into Sabathia’s debut, the Brewers are 49-40, four games back in the NL Central. Their +10 run differential, however, indicates that they have been lucky at times so far this year, causing me to label the club as a pretender in a recent second-half prediction article.

While many are skeptical of the impact that a single pitcher can have on a team, there is no question that the addition of Sabathia, entering the inferior league, dramatically improves the Brewers’ postseason chances.

The Chicago Cubs—the club responded to the Sabathia trade by acquiring Rich Harden, the oft-injured Oakland Athletics starter—are still the favorite in the division. With the best record and run differential (+112) in the league, the Cubs’ playoff chances remain strong.

The St. Louis Cardinals are in the mix as well. St. Louis is 50-40, despite a +10 run differential and the absence of ace Chris Carpenter and a recent injury to slugger Albert Pujols, who is enjoying another MVP-caliber season. Dave Duncan, it seems, has done it again, turning pitchers such as Kyle Loshe and Todd Wellemeyer into effective options in the Cardinals’ starting rotation. Ryan Ludwick has been a nice surprise as well, earning an invitation to the All-Star game next week after a monster first two months. Ludwick has posted a .944 OPS, batting .290/.367/.577 with 17 home runs and 58 RBIs entering Tuesday night. He has struggled recently, however, and his high batting average on balls in play points toward regression for him in the second half.

While St. Louis still has a strong chance—as every team in the West currently boasts a sub-.500 record—to take home the Wild Card, its odds of reaching the playoffs for the first time since the Cards surprised us all to win the 2006 World Series undoubtedly took a hit with the Brewers’ acquisition of Sabathia.

Also boding well for Milwaukee and St. Louis, the Florida Marlins and New York Mets appear to be pretenders. This means that is more than likely that the Wild Card ticket will be punched from the Midwest.

Sheets has been a true ace for the Brewers to this point, going 10-2 with a 2.77 ERA, 97-to-26 K/W ratio, 1.11 WHIP and an opponents’ line of .235/.275/.388. However, the risk of injury has always been an issue with Sheets, who, like Sabathia, will bolt for free agency once the season ends.

However, with Manny Parra, Jeff Suppan—recently sent to the disabled list—Dave Bush and Seth McClung—the former Tampa Bay Rays starter who has struggled in a relief role—the Brewers have some decent arms at the back of the pitching staff as well. Parra has limited hitters to a .743 OPS, going 7-2 in 18 starts. While his 3.65 ERA is a bit misleading, he is a solid piece to the Brewers’ rotation, and will need to pitch effectively down the stretch. McClung is unlikely to remain effective, and could be moved back into the bullpen when Suppan returns.

Therefore, the Brewers’ staff will now ride the back of Sabathia, who immediately becomes one of the strongest starting pitchers on the Senior Circuit—perhaps outside of Johan Santana. If he can remain healthy enough to make around 16 starts, he could really make a save the Brewers from giving up a lot of runs, as he will now have the luxury of facing the pitcher every nine hitters.

Along with Fausto Carmona, Sabathia pushed Cleveland into the postseason in 2007, going 19-7 with a 3.21 ERA and 65.2 VORP to edge out Josh Beckett and his teammate for the American League Cy Young Award.

After a poor April, Sabathia has returned to his dominant self recently, lowering his ERA to 3.83. His 6-8 record is misleading, too, as he has posted a stellar 123-to-34 K/W ratio in 122.1 innings for the Indians, who have now thrown in the towel for this season.

Sabathia is only one pitcher, though, and it is easy for some skeptics to point towards Santana, who has been the Mets’ strongest pitcher but has not dominated the National League in the fashion in which many expected he would. Sabathia and Sheets will not be with the Brewers next year, so the summer is crucial for Milwaukee, which has not reached the postseason since the Paul Molitor and Robin Yount era. While the playoffs are certainly not a sure thing, Milwaukee has officially improved upon its pretender status with the addition of Sabathia, who will now get to swing the bat as well. Considering he nearly hit a ball out of Dodger Stadium a few weeks ago, perhaps he will give Micah Owings a run for his money as the best slugging pitcher in the game.

The Brewers also have a strong core of offensive stars—led by Prince Fielder and last year’s Rookie of the Year, Ryan Braun—and will not struggle to score runs. Not to mention, Milwaukee is catching the ball better than ever before, as they has improved defensively as a team as well. Moving Braun, a butcher at third base, to the outfield has helped alot, especially in the infield. Milwaukee, in fact, now ranks 11th out of 30 teams in defensive efficiency—the rate at which balls put into play are converted into outs.

Indians' Side:

The centerpiece for Cleveland is Laporta, the seventh overall pick of the 2007 draft out of the University of Florida. Some scouts compare him to a right-hander version of Travis Hafner—one of the reason’s for the Indians’ inability to score runs—in his prime. At the time of the deal, he was among Double-A leaders with a .978 OPS, batting .288/.402/.576 with 20 home runs and 66 RBIs in the Southern League. Moving to Cleveland, he will get to switch back to the infield, and he has the skills to turn into a plus defensive first baseman. He has strong enough arm strength—he was once clocked at 88 MPH in the Cape Cod League All-Star game a few summers ago—to remain in the outfield, but will hit enough to remain at first base. Look for him in the Futures Game next week at Yankee Stadium, as he is one of the strongest bats on the USA squad’s roster.

Even with surprise dominance of Cliff Lee— my mid-season pick as the Cy Young in the American League—the Indians have struggled to score runs, posting a -6 run differential as of Tuesday afternoon. At the time of the trade, the Indians had posted a 37-41 record, 14 games back in the Central. Slugging catcher Victor Martinez, yet to hit a home run, has been hurt, an unhealthy Hafner, with a .677 OPS, appears to be on the decline and Grady Sizemore is the only regular with an OPS above .900. Sizemore, though, has been one of the premier outfielders yet again so far, hitting .269/.372/.541 with 22 home runs from the leadoff spot—do not get me started on this, he should be batting third—while playing his usual excellent defense in center field.

To reach Tyler Hissey, send an email to TylerHissey@gmail.com.