The definitive guide to 103 HBP ... a few notable items:

• Seriously high leverage: 44 of the 103 HBP came on two-strike counts!
• The record was set despite Sizemore and Garko combining for 11 fewer HBP than they did in 2007.
• Verlander hit an Indian six times, twice as many as any other pitcher.
• The Tigers hit the Indians 21 times, next highest team only had 12. The Indians hit the Tigers only 7 times, and probably three of those were intentional. Five different Tigers delivered their first career HBP to an Indian this season.
• Out of 72 different pitchers plunking an Indian this season, not one was a former Indian, unless you count Foulke.

Cliff Lee also does nothing.

On the AL MVP: "If you're new here, my main criterion is value. And that's the second criterion, and the third one too."

On the AL Cy: "K-Rod was about 140 innings short of making my ballot."

On the NL Cy: "Lincecum got to face the lineups of the Rockies, Padres, and Diamondbacks -- three awful offensive teams -- repeatedly, while Santana has to contend with the Phillies, Marlins, and to a lesser degree the Braves."

On the NL MVP: "Also missing the cut [for the top 10] is Ryan Howard, who is getting MVP love but isn't even the most valuable player on the right side of the Phillies infield. The infatuation with boiling an MVP or Cy Young vote down to a single counting stat like home runs or pitcher wins is an ongoing failure of the awards process."

Just in case Hoynes was right and it really determines the PBTNL, "our guys" made it, just barely, and thanks to yet another historic choke from the Mets. Sabathia, pitching on short rest for the third straight game, went all nine innings and yielded just one unearned run. He finishes with a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts for Brewers. He averaged a staggering 7.69 innings per start and led the NL with seven complete games, all in less than three months. Should he win the NL Cy Young? Absolutely.

Pretty nice breakdown of the six games — Indians @ White Sox and Royals @ Twins — that will dictate who goes and who stays home. Well, these six games, and then maybe one more on Monday, and then maybe one on Tuesday.

No Clemens, no Torre, no Steinbrenner ... it's almost as though they were trying to pretend like the last seven years never happened.

Gee, you think he'll still try to get the Hall of Fame to enshrine him in a Yankees cap?

Come to think of it, I wonder why they Yankees didn't sign him again this season in June, announcing it from the owner's box and everything. Could have been just the shot in the ass the team needed this season.

VegasWatch compares twelve sets of preseason predictions with the current standings and comes up with the five best and worst calls of the year. PECOTA takes the top two spots, Steve Phillips the bottom two. What a shock.

Definitely worth a full read, and the author is an Indians fan who stops by here now and then.