Hey! Still Plenty Of Reasons To Watch The Baseball

By Rob Neyer - National Baseball Editor

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Sep 26, 2011 - What's that? Your team's out of the running and you're sad?

Spare me, please. My team hasn't been in the running in late September since 1989. Which I believe trumps every other team in the major leagues of baseball.

Fortunately, if you're reading this you're probably a fan of baseball rather than just one baseball team.

Just as fortunately, there's still plenty of baseball to enjoy, even if you're not emotionally invested in either of the (shockingly) thrilling Wild Card races.

Below, five (more) good reasons to watch ...

1. Will Stephen Strasburg finish with a perfect season?
Okay, so it's not much of a season. But upon his return from Tommy John surgery and the attendant rehab, Strasburg has started four games, in which he's winless but has struck out 14 hitters without issuing a single walk. Which makes his strikeout-to-walk ratio rather impressive (if also rather imaginary) ...

I'll be impressed with Baseball-Reference.com when they figure out a way to code that one into their little statistical tables. I'll be more impressed with Strasburg if he continues this streak in his final start of the season, Wednesday against the Marlins. Considering that hitters tend to swing at a lot of first pitches in their last game of the season, I would say Strasburg's got a pretty good shot.

2. Will the Minnesota Twins lose 100 games?
Of course, the Houston Astros have lost 104 games, already this season. Which marks the first time in their 50-season history that they've reached the century mark. Would you believe the Twins have a worse run differential than the Astros?

They do. They have lost 100 games before. Once. In 1982, the Twins went 60-102. That's the only 100-loss season for the franchise since it moved from Washington, D.C. in 1961. The Twins currently have 98 losses, and they close out their season by hosting the up-and-coming Kansas City Royals in a three-game set.

3. Will Matt Kemp get the hits he needs?
This would have been Item No. 1, except the answer is so obviously, "No, he almost certainly will not get the hits he will need to win the National League batting title, and perhaps the Triple Crown."

Mind you, nobody's won a Triple Crown since 1967, and nobody's won a Triple Crown in the National League since Joe Medwick in nineteen hundred and thirty seven.

Kemp does lead the NL in both home runs and RBI, and has a good shot maintaining those positions. But he's nine points behind Ryan Braun and seven points behind Jose Reyes in the batting race, and it's just real hard to make up that much ground in three days. Particularly considering that Braun probably will take some time off.

Still, it's highly fun to think about.

4. Will Papa Grande finish with a perfect season?
We already know he won't, because he's lost four games this season.

But José Valverde hasn't blown a save all season; he's 47 for 47.

He's not going to break the single-season record for perfection; in 2003, Eric Gagne converted all 55 of his save opportunities. And counting 2002 and '4, Gagne converted 84 straight save chances.

Still, Valverde's been phenomenal this season, and is only seven saves from tying Tom Gordon's American League for consecutive saves (over different seasons). And the best part is that Valverde's doing all this with lower strikeout and higher walk rates than his career norms.

Wanna bet he blows one in October? I don't know. I predicted Lidge would blow a postseason save after his perfect 2008, but he didn't and the Phillies won the World Series.

5. Will Eugenio Velez ever get another hit? Ever?
Now a Dodgers utility player, Vélez finished the 2010 season with nine straight hitless at-bats.

In 2011, he's hitless in 36 at-bats. Those 45 straight at-bats match the single-season feats of Craig Counsell and Bill Bergen, which you might recall from the breathless news reports earlier this season.

The "record" only counts if do it within a single season, so Vélez is safe (just never at first base, hahaha). But Vélez is working on a record of his own; the single-season record for hitless at-bats in a season -- Non-Pitcher Division -- is held by Hal Finney, who went 0 for 35 in 1936.

Hey, Hal Finney's still alive! C'mon, Dodgers! I know the budget's tight, but how's about flying Hal Finney to Phoenix, where the Dodgers are visiting the Diamondbacks this week. Eugene Vélez needs all the fans he can get.

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