Milton Bradley's a gamer all right, only he's playing Halo right now, but baseball, after getting him and his teammate whacked.

Everyone in the media right now is tripping all over themselves to talk about how the Rockies are now in the race, as if they had been asleep all season and woke up just in time for the last week. Well, I hate to break it to everyone who is just barely talking about the Rockies now but we have been doing it for a while now. For example, in the July 22 edition of A Look Ahead, where we said the Dodgers/Rockies series could be significant, as the Rockies had played their way into the hunt. Funny, while everyone else was sleeping, we were wide awake.

 With the Padres loss yesterday, the Rockies now trail in the Wild Card by just one game, while the Phillies are tied with the Padres. Of course, the Phillies have their sights set on bigger and better, with the Mets within just two games. In the Central, the Cubs have a little more breathing room, with a three game lead, but that is not yet a done deal, and the Brewers are certainly not going to concede anything.

No matter what, the National League is going to make sure that we have an exciting final week of baseball.

In the American League, the teams are settled – well, barring the Tigers winning their next six and the Yankees losing their next six – but who they will play and who has home field advantage throughout are still up for play. As a result, no matter how much the Yankees or Red Sox or Angels or Indians might say they only care of making the playoffs, those teams will be going all out this week. This means that if Manny Ramirez can play, he will play. Players that might have been rested will not be. Anyone saying that home field does not matter is being disingenuous at best.

With the playoff race news out of the way, here are some non-October Bullet Points for you…

• The Pittsburgh Pirates have announced the hiring of their new General Manager, bringing in Neal Huntington, who has been with the Cleveland Indians and, before that, the Montreal Expos. With the Indians, Huntington has served in player development, including at one point under former Pirates’ player development director, and current acting General Manager, Brian Graham. Graham is expected to stay on as assistant General Manager. Both have solid ideas on player development, something those in the General Manager’s seat in Pittsburgh have lacked for a while. Drafts have been sorely mismanaged, trades for prospects have been bungled, and there are a few occasions where prospects were traded away – how one can explain that in this market is beyond me. Look for this to become a very conservative organization over the next two to three years, with the few stud players more than likely on the way out, like the Indians did when Mark Shapiro took over in Cleveland. Jason Bay will likely be on the block soon, maybe this year but if not definitely by next, with the goal being to fetch a Bartolo Colon-like bounty. When the Indians moved Colon, all they acquired for him was Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips, and, oh yeah, Grady Sizemore. Jack Wilson will almost certainly move on too, as he is the next best tradable commodity here. Beyond that, there is little that can actually bring back any value, making the rebuilding here so much longer and harder. The fact that Dave Littlefield made one bad first round pick after another certainly will not ease the transition anyway.

• On the managerial front, Jim Tracy has lost 90 or more games for three straight seasons, the last two with the Pirates. Do not expect him to be back, and the Pirates are probably already looking at other candidates. Joe Girardi is of course on everyone’s list, but is this a job he would really want? One person that Pittsburgh should interview is Boston Red Sox third base coach DeMarlo Hale, who had previously interviewed for the Red Sox managerial position before Terry Francona was hired. Not only is Hale a highly qualified candidate, but also he would fit with baseball’s desire to bring more minority managers into the game.

• The Padres chances this week are not looking good, as they lose not one but two outfielders to Milton Bradley. First, on a ball hit in to the outfield on Sunday, Bradley stepped on Mike Cameron, leading to an inside-the-park home run for Garrett Atkins and a partially torn ligament in Cameron’s thumb. Later on, the idiocy of Bradley in his argument at first base would lead to his getting thrown to the ground by manager Bud Black, resulting in a torn ACL that will cost him all of the postseason, if the Padres even make it there now, and part of next season. Nice job by the Gamer – it is now Game Over for the Padres.

En Fuego

• Josh Fields is going out of his way to end the season on a high note, to ensure a starting spot for him next year. Over the last two weeks, Fields hit .424 in 33 at-bats with four home runs and a .970 slugging percentage, tops in the league during this period.

• While the White Sox might have been out of the race for a while, not only do they have the hottest hitter over the last two weeks but they also have the hottest pitcher. Over the same period, Javier Vazquez is 3-0 with a 2.11 ERA, and his 33 strikeouts were eight more than the next closest and thirteen more than the third-best pitcher.

• Sure, he seems like an obvious name, but Matt Holliday and his nine home runs and eighteen RBI over the last two weeks need mention here. His 1.047 slugging percentage is also best in the league, and he has to be considered one of the favorites for MVP if the Rockies pull it off this week and make the playoffs.

• The Brewers might have plenty of issues with their pitching, but Yovani Gallardo is certainly not one of them. Gallardo finally gave up some runs in his last outing – two – as he held the Braves to three hits and two walks while striking out seven in seven innings. Gallardo has pitched five straight quality starts and he is 4-0 in that stretch.

En Hielo

• Matt Stairs had been enjoying a solid season with the Blue Jays, but things are not ending well for him. Over the last two weeks, Stairs hit just .159 in 44 at-bats.

• Things went from bad to worse for Shaun Marcum, as he would be lit up, rebound in his next start, and then leave that start with a knee injury which would just happen to be a torn meniscus. Now that is a rough week.

• It feels cruel picking on the Padres here, but they were not hitting even before Milton Bradley took out the outfield. Over the last two weeks, Brian Giles was hitting just .120 with Cameron not much better than .156.

• For some reason, the Dodgers thought that Esteban Loaiza might somehow be the answer to their pitching problems despite a long and lengthy career of Loaiza not being the answer to anyone’s problems. Over the last fourteen days, Loaiza is 0-3 with a 11.25 ERA. If the Dodgers are smart, they will purge their front office and managers – signings like this one are the reason why they are not in the playoffs. The system developed by the previous regime did their job.

The Games to Watch

It is all about the races – the Sox take on the A’s in the Fens, while the Yankees head down to St. Pete to face the Devil Rays. That might not be as easy as it sounds for the Yankees, as the Rays have always played the Bronx Bombers tough, and are hovering around .500 against the Yanks.

In the National League, the games that matter are:

• Nats/Mets – props to the Nats for saying that playing to win against contenders means more than auditioning the rooks

• Cub/Marlins – unfortunately for the Brew Crew, the Marlins are not the Nats

• Braves/Phillies – technically, both are still alive and not just the Phillies

• Diamondbacks/Pirates – if the Diamondbacks do not clinch the division in this series, they deserve to stay home in October

• Cardinals/Brewers – it is do or die for the Brewers

• And, lastly, Rockies/Dodgers – the team in this game you thought would be in the race is not, and the one you thought was out is in.

That what ups BP for the regular season – see you next time in the playoffs!
Questions and comments may be sent to markhaverty@sportsgrumblings.com