Interleague play: It's an all-American (League) tradition

Boy, are National League teams glad that interleague play has ended!

Once again, the American League dominated the NL, 137-114, in the 251 interleague games this season.

Just look what interleague did for some teams:

The Anaheim Angels, with an interleague-best record of 14-4, moved 2 ½ games ahead of the Texas Rangers (9-9 in interleague) in the AL West.

The Tampa Bay Rays were 13-5 in interleague, jumping back into the AL East race.

Toronto was only 7-11, thus falling one game behind Tampa Bay in the East.

The only other AL teams with losing records – Cleveland and Oakland (5-13 each) and Kansas City (8-10) – are virtually out of the pennant races.

In the NL, the Colorado Rockies were an interleague-high of 11-4, getting back into the NL West (and wild card) races.

The Los Angeles Dodgers only went 9-9, but they’re so far out front in the West that nobody’s going to catch them.

Florida (10-8) and San Francisco and St. Louis (both 9-6) were the lone other NL teams with winning records.

On the other end, it’s no surprise that the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks were each 5-10 … but a bigger surprise that Milwaukee and the New York Mets were also 5-10.

All in all, it’s just nice that teams will be playing within their own leagues from now on.

Padres need to cut ties with Giles, Floyd

The San Diego Padres need to get on with their youth movement and cut ties with Brian Giles and Cliff Floyd.

Without a doubt, Floyd will be the easier choice.

He was brought in at a salary of $750,000 to be a designated hitter at American League parks. The Padres finish interleague play June 28 at the Texas Rangers, so getting rid of Floyd after then should be a no-brainer … unless the team wants to keep a guy batting .125 with no extra base hits who is incapable of running the bases.

Giles will be a much tougher decision.

First of all, he’s making $9 million this year. The Padres would have to eat well more than $5 million of that to cut him now. (And, yes, they could have bought him out in the offseason for $3 million.)

But who knew he would be batting .191 on June 19 with two home runs … not to mention the fact his arm is now well below-average for a right fielder?

Giles may be declining because of age. Or his descent could be due to the mentor factor of going through an ugly lawsuit with his ex-girlfriend where all sorts of woman-beating accusations have come out against Giles.

The Padres need to find out if Drew Macias can be their right fielder for the future.

In a small sampling earlier this season, Macias was leading the team with a .435 on-base percentage. Additionally, all five of his hits (four doubles, one home run) were for extra bases.

Sure, they are bringing up spring training sensation Kyle Blanks this weekend. Sadly, they will probably discover that they are rushing him … especially as a true first baseman playing the outfield.

The Padres will likely finish last with or without Giles and Floyd. It’s high time they discover what the future holds with players such as Macias.

Felix Hernandez: Best young pitcher in MLB?

If you needed a pitcher to win one game for you with everything on the line, my pick would be Roy Halladay of the Toronto Blue Jays.

But what if you could have a pitcher to build your staff around for the next 10 years?

The surprise pick here is Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners.

Hernandez, 23, doesn’t get much attention because he plays for a mediocre team in the far away Pacific Northwest.

But when you look at the numbers, it’s hard to argue with someone who is 7-3 with a 2.77 ERA, a 96 mph fastball and some nasty stuff to go with it.

Furthermore, Hernandez has allowed only three earned runs over 35 innings in his last five starts. (And remember, he is facing better hitters in the American League.)

Wow!

For a duo, you can’t beat Tim Lincecum, 25, and Matt Cain, 24, of the San Francisco Giants.

Lincecum, last year’s NL Cy Young winner, is already 6-1 with a 2.66 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 88 innings. Cain, who looks like he may win the Cy Young this year, is 9-1 with a 2.39 ERA.

As for other young pitchers on the rise, how about Zack Greinke of the Kansas City Royals or even Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers?

Greinke, 25, is 8-2 with a 1.72 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 94 1/3 innings.

But he has “slipped” in his last three starts, allowing 11 earned runs in 19 1/3 innings.

Kershaw, 21, may be the most intriguing of all. He doesn’t have the stats at 3-5 with a 4.13 ERA, but he has the stuff to at least be compared to Dodger great Sandy Koufax at the same age.

When Koufax was 21, he was also all over the place with his pitches like Kershaw. As time progresses, we’ll see whether lefty Kershaw progresses to a point where he can be compared to left-hander Koufax in his prime.

Hernandez. The San Francisco duo. Greinke. Kershaw. You probably can’t go wrong with any of them over the long haul.

Why are A Rod, Manny potential 2009 All Stars?

Alex Rodriguez is third in the American League All-Star voting at third base.

Manny Ramirez is fourth among National League outfielders in the voting.

So much for whether a person’s drug usage has an impact on how the fans feel ... at least when they vote.

There’s more reason than drug history not to vote for either player.

A Rod did not even begin his season with the New York Yankees until May 10 due to hip surgery in March.

Ramirez has not played for the Los Angeles Dodgers since May 6 because he is serving his 50-game suspension for taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Apparently, a guy (A Rod) can play 2 ½ weeks after an offseason plagued by questions about past drug involvement, yet still be considered an “All-Star.”

Or a guy (Manny) – who won’t even be eligible to come back till 11 days before the All-Star game – is still considered a “star” by many. (And considering Manager Joe Torre will send him to the minors for at least a week upon his return, Manny may not even be in the majors at the All-Star break.)

What keeps fans voting for these two guys?

Either they don’t know any better … or that’s the way it goes in New York and Los Angeles.

Interleague play has worn out its welcome

Interleague play needs to go.

So says New York Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner; so says us.

Steinbrenner says so because his best pitcher got hurt running the bases, National League style.

We say so because interleague play is unfair and unbalanced (sorry Fox News) with the American League teams being so superior.

Here’s what Steinbrenner had to say this week when ace pitcher Chien-Ming Wang hurt himself on the basepaths and will probably be out until September:

“The National League needs to join the 21st century. They need to grow up and join the 21st century. I’ve got my pitchers running the bases, and one of them gets hurt. He’s going to be out. I don’t like that, and it’s about time they address it. That was a rule from the 1800s.”

Well, making pitchers run the bases wasn’t outdated 200 years ago and Steinbrenner’s selfish comments don’t make much sense. But getting rid of interleague play would.

Take the Padres, for instance. They are just 2-7 against the superior AL, following getting swept three games by the Yankees.

Now they come back for a nine-game homestand against the Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins and Seattle Mariners. Even though none of those teams are setting the world on fire, don’t be surprised if the Padres have a losing homestand against teams from a better league.

The Los Angeles Dodgers got it right with the schedule-maker this week. They just swept three games from the Cincinnati Reds in a NL vs. NL series.

From now on, too bad all series can’t be intraleague until the World Series.

As injuries get worse, Padres get better

Remember not so long ago when the Padres had the worst record in Major League Baseball?

Then starting pitchers Jake Peavy, Chris Young and Shawn Estes were injured.

Catcher Josh Bard also went down; ditto with second baseman Tadahito Iguchi.

So, with this many people sidelined, what happens?

The Padres are on a five-game winning streak, their longest of the season.

With a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers this Tuesday-Thursday, the Padres could conceivably move into a tie for second place in the NL West.

How do you explain this?

You don’t.

It seems the more Padre players have fallen; the more the Padres make their opponents fall.

When everybody finally comes back (hopefully by the All-Star break), the Padres could be in contention because of their substitutes. More likely, they could have a very difficult time when they begin 15 games of interleague play Friday against the much stronger American League.

During a 162-game season, every team gets hot at some point. It’s interesting that the Padres’ hot streak has come when you would least expect it.