I hate the current state of pitching in MLB. Specifically, the way the bullpens are used so much--which is necessitated by the fact that starters are treated like children. I think I threw more innings in my last year of majors in Little League than the average MLB starter now throws in a season.

So every team ends up with hopefully one guy who can get you those final three outs. If you're lucky enough to have that guy, you then need a few more guys who also for some reason can only seem to pitch one inning at a time, and never two days in a row. And that's where games come undone, because you need a lot of innings out of those guys, even when you have good starting pitching.

Therefore, whether you win or lose a game can be complete coincidence! If you have a shitty reliever who happens to pitch one inning without giving up a run, and then another guy does it, and another, and another, and then you get to you get to your closer, you can get a win with mostly shitty pitching. Know what I mean?

Last year, the Red Sox' short relievers were awesome in the first half. Then they weren't any more. This year, they're bed-shitting in April, but the point is, no matter how good or bad you are, if you can get three outs before giving up a run, and everyone does it more often than not, you win games.

So it pretty much comes down to talent, right? And we've got a shitload, so I think it all will come out in the prov. wash and we'll be battling for the div. in Sept.

Wakefield on the A-Rod-free Circle today.

(Note to AJM--I saw your comment re:bullpen, and yes, they crapped last night but were saved by me playing Scattergories and willing the game to end before the O's could tie it. But Blogger is giving an error message and I can't publish comments right now--they are being stupid lately, messing with my archives, having numbers show up wrong, not letting comments show up right away even when they do publish, etc....)