“Baseball is 90% mental — the other half is physical.” – Yogi Berra. Tell that to Dontrelle Willis and Chien-Ming Wang. A few years ago they were two of the brightest young pitching stars in baseball. Now they are both struggling to even find the plate. As tough as it is, you always see one or two of these stories each year, and you have to wonder what happened to make them lose it. Did someone screw with their release? Did they lose faith in themselves? Or are they really injured? Time will tell…

Didn’t we see this in 2007? Are we going to fall for it again? The Colorado Rockies are on an 11 game tear that would certainly mean something if they weren’t 10 1/2 games out of 1st place and still below .500. Sure there is always the Wild Card, but trust me, they blew their load on this little streak. Prepare for that inevitable 7 game losing streak in early July.  D Note: In ‘07, I believe they ran off 17 straight wins to end the season and make the playoffs as the Wild Card.  A midseason streak is nice, but meaningless if they still finish out of the dance.

We’ve all made errors in our life, but this… If you’re Met second baseman Luis Castillo you still have to be reeling about this one. Not because it was the Yankees, or because it bailed out A-Rod, but because it was a win. What would only make this scenario perfect now is for the Mets miss the playoffs by one game… D Note: Worse than the drop was the throw to second base.  I’m sure he was staggered by the stupidity of the drop, but keep your head in the game – nobody’s going to second base man.  The winning run is rounding third, and you’re lobbing the ball to the cut-off man fifteen feet in front of you?

Still… anyone else see the humor in watching A-Rod shit himself one second then celebrate like a prisoner released from jail after 30 years? A-Rod=Always good for a laugh.  D Note: Agreed.  Completely.  Nothing beats his “GoddamnitIFuckedUpThisClutchHittingThingAgain… HolyShitWeMightWinThisThing… BetterNotGetPickedOffFirstBeforeTheWinningRunCrossesHomePlate” run of facial expressions as that play was unfolding.  Priceless.

And not to harp too much on it… Simply put, Boston owns New York right now, but do you really think it will continue into the fall? That’s when those wins or losses will really matter.  D Note: By all means, keep harping…

Corny, over-told, not funny joke of the day: No fair! The Indians had 1…2…3…4…5 extra guys on the field!

No overrated/underrated, but a few months into the season, let us give you our biggest surprises and failures.

Surprise Team: Trey: The San Francisco Giants. The team had no power in their lineup, a questionable staff after Lincecum, and was relying on a 40+ year old pitcher to shore up said rotation…right now they lead the NL Wild Card chase.  D: Dodgers.  Hands down – I think just about all of us expected them to take the division, barely.  I did not expect 20-games over .500 and a 7.5-game division lead halfway through June.

Failure: Trey: Arizona was supposed to at least contend, instead they have the 2nd worst record in baseball.  D: Oakland made all kinds of moves to get better immediately and contend against an aging Angels squad this year.  Instead they’re 27-35 and eight games out of the division lead (though only six behind the Angels, so there is a little positive…)

Surprise Player: Trey: Edwin Jackson. The Rays tried to get this guy to where his hype was at one point…The Tigers some how got him there…I guess it makes up for the Dontrelle Willis trade.  D: Chris Carpenter.  He was my personal “sleeper” fantasy guy this year, finally healthy for the first time in years.  But even I am impressed with the stat lines he’s been putting up.  Same goes for Trevor Hoffman – think the Padres would like to have him back and maybe be able to move him or Heath Bell for any kind of power bat?

Failure: Trey: Cleveland. They might want to start thinking. New Manager. Soon.  D: Washington.  A colossal failure of a franchise on epic Lions/Clippers proportions.  Just blow it up already. (Trey Note: Natsfan, didn’t you call for 70 wins?)

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