Baseball Top Three

Baseball Top Three will be a recurring blog on TJB's Sports Universe that chronicles three of the top stories in Major League Baseball.

1. Lou Piniella and Milton Bradley: A Battle of Two Hotheads

It has been yet another stressful season in Cubbieville, and while the 35-36 Cubs are only 3.5 games back of the Cardinals and Brewers in the NL Central, they show absolutely no sign of being able to end that notorious 100 year World Series title drought. Friday, on the South Side of Chicago in Game 1 of the Windy City showdown against the White Sox, all the frustration that had been simmering under the surface finally reached a boiling point. Following a strikeout, Milton Bradley went inside the Cubs dugout and allegedly threw his bat and batting helmet and hit the water cooler. For a player with a long history of anger outbursts, this came as no surprise. What did come as a surprise was what unfolded next. Manager Lou Piniella ordered Bradley to take a shower and go home. Player and manager then exchanged some fiery words, and Piniella ripped Bradley in the post-game press conference.

This incident will probably blow over fairly soon, but it is notable simply because of its irony. I'm not going to defend Milton Bradley----he's been a troublemaker throughout his entire career----but I think it's a little hypocritical of Piniella to condemn the kind of behavior that he himself routinely practices. Piniella is a great manager, but he has always had a reputation of being a hothead. Piniella made a mistake here. He should have simply let Bradley express his frustration. By calling him out on it, Piniella not only escalated the situation, but he also made himself look bad.

2. Can Joe Mauer hit .400?

This is the question posed in the latest edition of Sports Illustrated. Mauer, the all-star catcher for the Minnesota Twins, enters Sunday's action batting a staggering .394. He is looking to become the first .400 hitter since the great Ted Williams. Mauer certainly has the talent to make a legitimate run at this astonishing accomplishment, but I remain skeptical of his chances. In the daily grind of Major League Baseball, slumps are a frequent occurrence at the plate, and it is hard to imagine Mauer sustaining such a red-hot batting average for an entire season. The pitching in the AL Central is another factor going against Mauer. In this division, Mauer will have to face Zack Greinke, Justin Verlander, Mark Buehrle, and Cliff Lee on numerous occasions. Even a phenomenal hitter like Joe Mauer is bound to cool off a little when facing such venerable pitching.

Nonetheless, I hope he reaches this milestone. It would be an awesome feat that would put Mauer in the conversation with the likes of Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Pete Rose, Albert Pujols, and Barry Bonds.

3. Subway Mauling

The Subway Series has always been fun to watch, and the games are usually fiercely competitive. This has not been the case over the weekend. Joe Girardi's Yankees have waltzed into Citi Field and dominated eighteen innings of baseball. In the last three games between these cross-city rivals, the Yankees have outscored the Mets by a stunning 29-1. Ouch! The Bronx Bombers look to bring out the brooms tonight on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. Their strong play means that the Yankees are finally hitting their stride, especially on the offensive side of things. A-Rod seems to have found his stroke at the plate, and everybody, even youngster Francisco Cervelli, is contributing. On the flipside, this series has exposed some major problems for Jerry Manuel's Mets. Offensively, they have been just plain stagnant in this series. Even in the absence of injured stars Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, and Carlos Beltran, the Mets' inability to score runs has been surprising. But the most disappointing aspect of the Mets' play over the weekend has been their shoddy defense. Three errors for the Mets on Friday night helped the Yankees break the game wide open, and in a lineup as daunting as the Yankees have, you cannot afford to make multiple gaffes in the field. The defensive missteps on Friday night conjured memories of Luis Castillo's dropped fly ball to give the Yankees the win at Yankee Stadium a couple of weeks ago.

I am rooting for a Mets victory tonight, and a win would go a long way in bringing the Mets some much-needed confidence. After all, there is nothing worse than getting pounded by your cross-town foes.