Logos courtesy Chris Creamer's SportsLogos.net

With the 2008 baseball season coming to a close (a thankful close, if you've watched the O's play this month), I thought it'd be fun to look back on the AL East, baseball's strongest division, and no longer simply a two-horse race.

It doesn't exactly represent what went down in the AL East this season, with Tampa Bay claiming the title (knock on wood) in their first-ever winning season and Boston never being seriously challenged for second place and the wild card. With New York crumbling under the average age of their roster (rivaling the age of the stadium they've closed), and Toronto being Toronto, somewhere in the middle, and a general nuisance at best. But an All-American League East team seemed like a decent idea. Hey, why not? The Sun Belt Conference names an all-conference team.

STARTING PITCHER: ROY HALLADAY, TORONTO

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It would be impossible to argue anyone else in the division as a better starting pitcher in 2008 (or period, probably) than Roy Halladay. The closest comparison is Boston's Jon Lester -- not Beckett, not Kazmir, not Shields, not Wang, not Mussina. Jon Lester. Go figure.

Halladay is a Cy Young contender, at least relatively. Cliff Lee absolutely should win the award, and there's no question about that. But Halladay will get his share of Cy Young votes, and as good as he is year in and year out, he deserves it.

CATCHER: DIONER NAVARRO, TAMPA BAY

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It's not so much that Navarro had some great season, but the cupboard is pretty bare for good catchers within the division. Ramon Hernandez needed a solid second half to even claw back into "below average" territory, and his defense is so atrocious that he'd have had to significantly out-hit Navarro anyway. Varitek stunk, Posada got hurt, the Jays had the underwhelming Gregg Zaun (nephew of Rick Dempsey, if you had never heard) and Rod Barajas splitting time. All in all, a putrid year for AL East catchers.

Navarro wins on being solid. He hit for a nice average, kept his OBP fairly strong, and managed to sneak his slugging over .400. He also made his first All-Star team. Way to go, dude! You win!

FIRST BASE: KEVIN YOUKILIS, BOSTON

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An outstanding year for Youkilis, who sacrificed some walks and came away with a power bump, a risky move that paid off. Throw in the fact that he should win the Gold Glove hands down, and he's a runaway choice.

With David Ortiz hurting, Manny Ramirez traded, Mike Lowell regressing, and J.D. Drew doing his usual DL dance, it was Youkilis' power bat that carried the Boston lineup. Youkilis set career highs in doubles, homers, hits, average, slugging percentage, and sacrificed no on-base percentage thanks to the spike in his contact numbers. In a year where things could have gone very wrong for Boston, Youkilis was one of the guys that put the team on his back and carried them into the postseason.

SECOND BASE: DUSTIN PEDROIA, BOSTON

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All apologies to those of you that hate Pedroia, and an honorable mention to the admirable Brian Roberts, but let's not kid ourselves. Pedroia's a better player, and he had the much better year.

Pedroia isn't just some annoying "lil' sparkplug" middle infielder that slaps the ball around and plays overrated defense and "does the little things." Dude contended for a batting title, hit over 50 doubles, and came close to 20 homers. He was also near-perfect on stolen base attempts.

He is a hell of a good baseball player, and a guy anyone would love to have on their team. C'mon. Admit it.

THIRD BASE: ALEX RODRIGUEZ, NEW YORK

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The Yankees screw around all year, never get white-hot to overcome their here-and-there crappiness, and the player that gets booed is Alex Rodriguez.

See, usually I'd go, "What is wrong with you people?"

But I was giving this a good, solid think the other day, and the thing I do ignore when this topic enters my mind is that A-Rod is, well, kind of a d-bag, y'know? Slapping purses on the way to first base, announcing his free agency while baseball's focus should be on the playoffs, then wasting everyone's time by just staying in New York anyway with a sweetheart deal designed to get him a monument and some Ted Williams-style "later in life, we realized..." type of admiration from Yankee fans in the future.

So maybe booing this dork just speaks well of the taste of Yankee fans. Not everyone is meant to be liked. And by the way, this position wasn't close either. Never is with this dude around.

SHORTSTOP: DEREK JETER, NEW YORK

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Congratulations, Derek! You're still the best shortstop in the division!

Like Navarro, this is more that no one else was worth a crap than it is some spectacular season from Jeter. It's been Jeter's worst season since 1997, when he was in his second full year. It's also the first time in his career that he's missing the playoffs, so I'm sure he'd categorize this as the worst, bar none.

His batting average dip isn't the real problem -- it's power and patience. Jeter's OBP and SLG slides (.388/.452 in 2007, and .417/.483 in 2006) are very real, and should be a huge concern for the Yankees. He also still stinks in the field. When the competition is the likes of David Eckstein, Julio Lugo, Jason Bartlett and the Unholy Union of Baltimore Shortstops, though, Jeter looks like Honus Wagner.

OUTFIELD: NICK MARKAKIS, BALTIMORE

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This is no jive, no bias, and no favoritism: Nick Markakis is the best outfielder in the American League East.

He does it all, frankly. Hits for average, has fine power, gets on base like a demon all of a sudden, cannon arm, great glove. He trumps them all, though a full season of Bay or Ramirez would have beaten him, and a full season of Drew may have, too. Still, we take what we can get here in Birdland. Nick Markakis! Best outfielder in the division! Suck it!

OUTFIELD: BOBBY ABREU, NEW YORK

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OK, so Abreu has lost a couple steps and he's always been a lousy right fielder. He's still a valuable player. Like the next fella that'll make the team, the asterisk exists. With Manny or Bay in a full season or Drew not getting hurt, there's a good chance they don't make this team. They probably don't, in fact.

Injuries, man.

OUTFIELD: JOHNNY DAMON, NEW YORK

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Here we are. 2008, and Johnny Damon is making the All-AL East team. You know what? I can't take it. I can't stomach it. Terrible. The worst.

But he did have a nice season and did about all you could expect and probably then some.

DESIGNATED HITTER: AUBREY HUFF, BALTIMORE

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Aubrey Huff, man. Who'da thunk it prior to this season? Aging, fading, plus, let's be serious, an Oriole. Aging, fading Orioles don't generally put up huge seasons when no one's expecting it.

This would have been a unanimous vote for David Ortiz in the preseason, but even without his injuries I'm not sure he beats Huff out. Aubrey was really good this year, and even won over the Baltimore fans he so righteously angered in the offseason.

CLOSER: MARIANO RIVERA, NEW YORK

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Are you kidding me? This guy could probably close and close like an All-Star until he's 50 if feels like it. He shows no signs of wear and tear and no signs of slowing down. As good as Jonathan Papelbon was in 2008, he wasn't on Rivera's planet.

What does this guy eat?

RELIEF PITCHER: J.P. HOWELL, TAMPA BAY

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I thought there needed to be a position for the guys who bridge the gap between the starters and the closers, and J.P. Howell has done that better than anyone in the divison, throwing neary 100 innings and dominating. The handful of times I got to see him this year, he reminded me of B.J. Ryan except smaller -- a lefty that can flat-out smoke the hitter and get it done daily.

I'm sure someone has some qualms, so let's hear 'em.

The Orioles are 63-70 on this off day, 18 games out of first place. In the last ten, they're the only AL East squad with a losing record, going 3-7. The rest of the division has won six of the last ten.

The Orioles are 50-45 in night games this season, and just 13-25 in day games. Good thing we don't have a Cubs schedule.

The Orioles are 20-23 in one-run games, a massive improvement on the 13-31 mark from 2007, which was by far the worst in Major League Baseball.

Jeremy Guthrie is tied for sixth in the American League in ERA (3.28). The top ten, with W-L records thrown in, looks like this:

Cliff Lee, CLE (2.43, 19-2) ... Justin Duchscherer, OAK (2.54, 10-8) ... Roy Halladay, TOR (2.69, 16-9) ... John Lackey, LAA (2.95, 11-2) ... Armando Galarraga, DET (3.20, 12-4) ... Guthrie, BAL (3.28, 10-10) ... Felix Hernandez, SEA (3.28, 8-8) ... John Danks, CWS (3.30, 10-7) ... Ervin Santana, LAA (3.41, 13-5) ... Mike Mussina, NYY (3.45, 16-7)

Looking over those records and ERAs, I think you have to really be somewhat in awe of how good Cliff Lee has been. Halladay has thrown more innings, but Lee has been so dominant that he's managed to go 19-2 on a team that is two games under .500. He's credited for nearly one-third of their wins.

The O's have scored 5.13 runs per game, good for fourth in the American League behind Texas (5.54), Boston (5.21) and Chicago (5.17). At Camden Yards, the Birds score 5.31 runs per game, and on the road, 4.96. Last year, the team scored 4.67 runs per game, ninth in the AL.

The O's have allowed 5.14 runs per game, which is second-worst in the American League, ahead of only the deplorable Rangers (a staggering 5.99). The O's team ERA is 4.88. Last year, the Birds allowed 5.36 RPG with a 5.17 ERA, so it is an improvement. Not much one of, but an improvement.

In these respects, I think the "improvement" of this year's team is to some degree a smoke-and-mirrors act. The pitching is still God awful and that desperately needs to be rectified. No matter how many runs you score, it's tough to win when you routinely give up just as many. We know this, right? Pitching has to be considered priority No. 1 as far as any potential offseason moves go. Guthrie can't do this all by himself.

Frankly, this year's O's squad -- the competitive! team -- has had one of the worst starting rotations we've seen yet. Outside of Guthrie, they are all terrible. Look at these numbers:

 

Pitcher	IP	ERA	WHIP	ERA+
Daniel Cabrera	171.2	5.24	1.55	83
Garrett Olson	108.2	6.38	1.71	69
Brian Burres	112.0	5.79	1.66	76
Radhames Liz	57.0	6.95	1.79	63
Steve Trachsel	39.2	8.39	2.02	52
Chris Waters	28.2	4.71	1.43	93
Adam Loewen	21.1	8.02	2.02	55

And yes, this means that Daniel Cabrera still sucks, and that he's just as bad as he was last season. This "useful back-end starter" thing is not really very true. He's really, really bad.

This one truly warms my heart: Nick Markakis is fourth in the American League in on-base percentage at .403. He trails Milton Bradley (.446), Joe Mauer (.410) and J.D. Drew (.408). Markakis is fourth in the league in walks (84).

Aubrey Huff is sixth in the American League in slugging percentage (.566), fifth in OPS (.932), third in doubles (40), first in total bases (286), tied for fourth in home runs (29), sixth in RBI (94), fifth in adjusted OPS+ (143), third in runs created (107), fifth in adjusted batting runs (31), fifth in batting wins (2.9), first in extra-base hits (71), seventh in offensive win percentage (.701), and has a VORP of 53.9, by far the best on the team.

In other words, Aubrey Huff is the balls.

Brian Roberts leads the league in doubles (46), is third in triples (8), tied for tenth in walks (68), fifth in stolen bases (33), and third in times on base (226).

You know who's first in times on base? Markakis, with 240.

Melvin Mora has 97 RBI, and is having his best season since 2004, which is almost entirely thanks to a hot July and an unimaginably scorching August. Let's not forget the Melvin Mora of the first half, though. He hit .232/.300/.385. He was freaking awful. Awful, awful, awful, terrible, bad. He was so bad that they should have given up on the old fart and tried strugglin' Mike Costanzo or Scott Moore or my cat or anyone. He was hideous.

But in July he hit .311/.373/.533 with five homers, and this month he's been postively Herculean, going ape bananas at .427/.463/.781 with eight home runs.

More on Melvin: in seven games against the Tigers, Mora has hit .571/.618/1.393 with six home runs and 17 RBI. In 12 games against the Red Sox, Melvin has decided to take a nap to the tune of .111/.222/.200 with two extra-base hits (a homer and a double).

Folks that say Jay Payton has done a super duper job this season live on a different planet than I do. I respect his capability to fill in in center field with AJ out and I haven't once been truly annoyed by the dude this year as I was last year, but he's getting a lot of compliments like he's been some sort of genuine positive to the team. There are a lot of fourth/fifth outfielders that could hit .256/.300/.363. He's just as bad as he was last year, but there's been a lot less of him.

I said around the All-Star break that I thought Ramon Hernandez would bounce back in the second half because he'd been incredibly unlucky in the first half. This was no grand statement or amazing guesstimate, but he's done pretty well, hitting .288/.344/.492 since the break. I'd take those numbers out of a catcher any day. Of course I'd also prefer one that wasn't as lazy as he is behind the plate. He has also regressed back to stinking in August (.253/.292/.361).

Left-handed batters are hitting .324 with seven homers against Jamie Walker. Ummm, not cool, bro. I still love Jamie Jam Walker, but he's had a terrible season.

Since coming to the Orioles, Juan Castro has hit .214/.248/.276. He's 36 years old. He's never been any good at all. And this is the guy that wins shortstop for the season. Unbelievable.

Luke Scott has been our version of Trot Nixon, and will probably have roughly the same shelf life. He really needs a lefty-mashing platoon partner (.762 OPS v. LHP is not horrible, though). In this regard, I'll give Payton a little credit: he has bopped lefties at a .551 slugging clip. All six of his homers have come against left-handed pitchers.

Lou Montanez has been fun to watch. No numbers.

This really should be the last season for Kevin Millar as an Oriole. I say that with respect for the guy, too. It's just that his OPS has dropped every season as an Oriole -- .811 in 2006, .785 in 2007, .755 this season. He's already pretty well below standard for a first baseman, and pushing him any further as a starter would probably be a really bad idea. He does get credit for making the team fun again, and giving them some much-needed personality. And he hasn't killed us as a player or anything. But any further down the ladder, and he will. He's not getting younger.

8:05 on FOX, y'all. Let's take this stupid, pointless day as a chance to talk a lot of B.S. about players that have no real bearing on our team. Rock and roll, hoochie koo.

	Today's Starting Pitchers	GS	IP	ERA	WHIP	BAA	HR	BB	K	W-L
	Ben Sheets - RH - Brewers	18	123.0	2.85	1.11	.235	13	28	108	10-3
	Cliff Lee - LH - Indians	18	124.2	2.31	1.03	.234	5	20	106	12-2

	National League	AB	AVG	OBP	HR	RBI
1	Hanley Ramirez - SS - Marlins	373	.311	.391	23	45
2	Chase Utley - 2B - Phillies	364	.291	.372	25	69
3	Lance Berkman - 1B - Astros	334	.347	.443	22	73
4	Albert Pujols - DH - Cardinals	286	.350	.466	18	50
5	Chipper Jones - 3B - Braves	298	.376	.472	18	51
6	Matt Holliday - RF - Rockies	309	.337	.421	14	51
7	Ryan Braun - LF - Brewers	377	.286	.324	23	66
8	Kosuke Fukudome - CF - Cubs	326	.279	.383	7	36
9	Geovany Soto - C - Cubs	316	.288	.369	16	56

	American League	AB	AVG	OBP	HR	RBI
1	Ichiro - RF - Mariners	391	.304	.366	3	21
2	Derek Jeter - SS - Yankees	352	.284	.345	5	42
3	Josh Hamilton - CF - Rangers	377	.310	.367	21	95
4	Alex Rodriguez - 3B - Yankees	279	.312	.392	19	53
5	Manny Ramirez - LF - Red Sox	328	.293	.389	18	60
6	Milton Bradley - DH - Rangers	269	.316	.440	19	57
7	Kevin Youkilis - 1B - Red Sox	328	.314	.381	15	63
8	Joe Mauer - C - Twins	301	.322	.418	5	41
9	Dustin Pedroia - 2B - Red Sox	395	.314	.357	9	47