Afternoon Baseball

I write this moments after the Astros hit a 3-run homer to likely end the Cardinals' season. But earlier, Larry Walker came to the plate with runners on. They mentioned his .291 batting average with runners in scoring position -- a respectable average. Turns out it led the National League!
As great and talented as Dontrelle Willis, Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, Roy Oswalt, Andy Pettitte, Chris Carpenter, John Smoltz, and the others are, they pitch in a league that for years now has had a very small number of great, legendary hitters, the best in the game...and then a league of mediocre batters. The All-Star game the past 5-6 years has shown that, for sure.

On the other hand, without the DH, maybe that's bound to happen. And the National League has split the last four World Series. I think, lack of clutch hitting and lack of depth notwithstanding, the National League is much closer to baseball the way the game should be played. The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, with tons of 10-8 games but little or no good pitching, atrocious defense and baserunning, and nothing of quality but the power hitting, is not the best baseball can offer. And as those teams have rapidly aged this year, you can see that it's not a team philosophy that can survive without tons of veterans and excess cash -- both of which need near-constant reinforcement.