MLB Bullets Is In A Retiring Mood

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our MLB Bullets. Also, I know the Braves clinched the NL East. I just don't otherwise mention it because I figured you all know that already. If you don't, just read the last Cubs game recap.

• Mariano Rivera's number was retired in a ceremony at Yankee Stadium yesterday, complete with Metallica playing "Enter Sandman" live for the retiring closer. Of course, Rivera's number was already retired throughout baseball in honor of Jackie Robinson, but Rivera was the last active player grandfathered into the number. Unfortunately for the Yankees, they lost to the Giants, 2-1 in a game that is likely a fatal blow to their Wild Card hopes. They now trail Cleveland by four games for the second wild card spot with the Rangers and Royals between them and the Indians.
• The loss in that game went to Andy Pettitte, who was making his last Yankee Stadium start as he also announced his retirement on Friday. Pettitte and Rivera's retirement leaves Derek Jeter as the last remaining member of the 1996 Yankees team that started the run of four titles in five years. Although Ruben Rivera is still playing in Mexico if they want to bring him back.
• While no one argues against Mariano Rivera heading to Cooperstown, Pettitte's retirement has kicked off the debate on his credentials. Wallace Matthews thinks Pettitte would easily be qualified for the Hall of Fame except for his admitted HGH use, which he feels is an automatic disqualification. And he calls this a "tragedy."
• Jon Heyman pretty much agrees with Matthews and says that it's only fair that if Roger Clemens is kept out for his PED use, Pettitte should also be kept out.
• Jayson Stark, who sort of straddles the fence between the old-line sportswriters like Matthews and Heyman and the new-age sabermetrically-oriented writers, says "Not so fast." Pettitte falls just short of qualification for Cooperstown in Stark's eyes, PED use or no PED use. He compared him to Jack Morris, which probably isn't going to convince Matthews and Heyman that Pettitte's career isn't Cooperstown-worthy. But Stark actually votes for Morris for the Hall of Fame and says Pettitte is slightly inferior to Morris in every measurable way.
• Jay Jaffe, who's one of those new-age sabermetric-y guys and also an expert on the Hall of Fame, also makes the Jack Morris comparison and says Pettitte is not Hall-worthy. But he does have a nice long look back at Pettitte's career.
• Mike Bates writes in Sports on Earth that while Pettitte's regular season numbers are not worthy of Cooperstown, they're close enough that Pettitte's postseason record puts him over the top and makes his a worthy Hall-of-Famer. So Bates is pretty much the only one arguing that Pettitte belongs in Cooperstown.
• Somewhat related, David Lauria of FanGraphs asked 22 baseball writers to name the three best players eligible for the Hall of Fame who are not currently in there. Tim Raines wins the vote, with Mike Piazza close behind. But there are some real quirky choices by some of the writers.
• Sticking with the Yankees, Alex Rodriguez's grand slam on Friday was the 24th of his career, which passes Lou Gehrig for the all-time record. As Danny Knobler writes, like it or not.
• Ken Rosenthal thinks the Yankees (and the other teams in the AL East) are at an incredible disadvantage in the Wild Card race compared to the Indians, Royals or Rangers, who get to fatten up on the weaker AL Central and AL West fields.
• Arizona senator John McCain, because he obviously doesn't have anything better to be doing in Washington right about now, took to Twitter to call the Dodgers "overpaid, immature, arrogant, spoiled brats" for daring to take a dip at the pool at Chase Field. I don't think I can respond to that without taking sides, so I'll just direct you to Brian Wilson's response in the link above.
• The Dodgers credit team chemistry for their midseason turnaround and the NL West title. So I suppose Matthews and Heyman won't be voting for any of them for the Hall of Fame either. Oh. Not that kind of chemistry. Or at least we won't know one way or the other.
• The Oakland Athletics clinched their second straight AL West title on Sunday. David Schoenfield says that this title demonstrates that Billy Beane is truly the top GM in baseball. Only four A's make more than $5 million and no one makes more than Chris Young's $8.7 million did this year.
• Despite Billy Beane's famous comment about his stuff and the playoffs, Richard Justice says the A's are hot at the right time and could win it all this season.
• Dayn Perry writes that the secret to the Athletics success is their underrated offense.
• Or maybe it's that they gain strength from sewage. They can hope that's the case, because the O.co Coliseum backed up with sewage again on Saturday. And you can find it on sale at Overstock.com today!
• The Reds are also on fire at the right time to make a playoff push.
• I don't know that anyone can call Billy Hamilton the Reds "secret weapon" anymore since pretty much everyone knows about him by now, but he has been the sparkplug that re-ignited the Reds, writes John Perrotto.
• Several people around baseball have been complaining about how "unfair" the one-game Wild Card playoff game is. Jayson Stark agrees that it's unfair and that's precisely the point.
• Scott Boras wants to play the first two games of the World Series at a neutral site and turn it into an "event" akin to the Super Bowl. Boras argues that baseball has become too "regionalized" these days, which is something that has been mentioned on these pages before. Nick Cafardo ran the idea by some of the contacts in MLB and was told that it might be a good idea, but they've got bigger things to worry about right now.
• It's been mentioned around here already, but on Sunday, the Phillies signed Ryne Sandberg to a three-year contract to be their permanent manager.
• Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer says that hiring Sandberg was the right call, even if everyone thought that this was inevitable. Honestly, I don't think many people didn't think Sandberg was going to take over for Charlie Manuel one day from the moment Sandberg was hired to manage the Iron Pigs shortly after leaving the Cubs organization.
• Jim Salisbury points out the irony of Sandberg taking over the Phillies job and compares the way he was willing to pay his dues when Mike Schmidt wouldn't.
• Walt Weiss is expected to be back next season as Rockies manager. He was only signed to a one-year contract last offseason.
• Tigers manager Jim Leyland is "concerned" about the health of Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera did not play on Sunday.
• Colby Rasmus got hit in the face by an errant throw by Anthony Gose before Friday's game as he jogged out to center field to take his position. He was taken to the hospital and will miss the rest of the season with an injury to his left eye. I could make a crack about keeping your eye on the ball, but one, eye injuries are serious and I have some sympathy for Rasmus. I was once hit in the chest by an errant throw by Luis Valbuena between innings as I was writing down my notes from the previous inning. I wasn't hurt, but I guess I could have been.
• Attendance is up slightly in Kansas City this season, but TV ratings for Royals games are way up.
• Pirates GM Neal Huntington badly wants A.J. Burnett back next season. Burnett is a free agent at the end of the season and is considering retirement.
• The Giants will make qualifying offers to Tim Lincecum and Hunter Pence. Neither will accept as both are looking for multi-year deals. The Giants are interested in bringing both of them back.
• Ryan Vogelsong hopes the Giants will pick up his option for next season.
• Wendy Thurm thinks the Astros are on the right track. It's hard to keep hope alive after three straight 100 loss seasons, but I agree with her.
• Raul Ibanez hit his 300th home run and 29th of the season, which ties Ted Williams for the most home runs in a season by a 41 year old.
• Jon Shepherd points out that for all the talk of a "livelier ball" in Japan. Wladimir Balentien's home run record is legitimate. He notes that the "livelier ball" only returns offense in NPB back to 2009 levels. NPB had actually switched to a "dead" ball in 2010.
• Finally, one lifelong Indians fan decided he was tired of all the talk of the poor attendance in Cleveland and took matters in his own hands. He attendended an Indians game for the first time in his life. The kicker? Juan Jose Sanchez Bracamontes is also a resident of Mexico City who fell in love with the Indians as a six year old watching the 1995 playoffs on TV. For his troubles, he got to see the Indians sweep the Astros.