Let’s take a look at the top 10 things we learned about baseball in the month of August…

10. Alex Rodriguez hits his 600th home run.

On August 4th (the date of my dad’s birthday, actually), New York Yankees' third baseman Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player ever to hit 600 home runs. He was 35 years and eight days old when he hit No. 600 off of Toronto Blue Jays’ starter Shawn Marcum.

Due to the fact that “A-Rod” used steroids, this great feat came and went with only fanfare by Yankee fans and ESPN. ESPN showed every A-Rod at-bat from homers No. 599 to 600 and nobody seemed to care.

A-Rod joins Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds, and Sammy Sosa as members of the 600 HR club. The fact that Sosa is mentioned with these players is comical.

Let’s stay in New York for a second…

9. Francisco Rodriguez loses his mind.

Another day, another black eye for the New York Mets. It’s always something with this organization.

Mets’ closer Francisco Rodriguez got into an altercation with the father of his girlfriend after a game against the Colorado Rockies on August 11th. Due to the incident, Rodriguez tore a ligament in his thumb and is done for the year.

It’s safe to say “K-Rod” has thrown his last pitch in a Mets uniform. The Mets will either release him or try to void his contract in the offseason. The latter is going to be tough, but it’s worth a try.

Sticking with the National League East…

8. The season ends early for Chipper Jones.

The Atlanta Braves suffered some really bad news when they learned that 3B Chipper Jones will miss the remainder of the season because of a torn ligament in his left knee. Jones hurt the knee fielding a ground ball in a game against the Houston Astros.

I actually watched the injury when it happened, and it looked ugly on TV. Jones backhanded a ball down the third-base line and attempted to make a leaping, Derek Jeter-like throw to first.

Jones pulled off the play with perfection, but landed awkwardly on his feet. It looked like his leg straightened out and he hyper-extended his knee. Jones went down immediately.

Unfortunately for the Braves and their fans, when Jones went down, he went down for the count. Jones tore his ACL and required surgery on that knee.

Jones plans on playing in 2011.

Jones is a sure-fire, first-ballot Hall of Famer. One guy who might be joining him in Cooperstown…

7. Lou Piniella retires.

Piniella announced in July that he was planning on retiring at the end of this season. However, wanting to take care of his mother, Piniella called it quits on August 22nd. In classic Chicago Cubs fashion, Piniella was sent out on a 16-5 loss.

Piniella retires with a 1,835–1,713 record and a World Series title he won with the 1990 Cincinnati Reds.

At least Piniella left on his own terms; another manager didn’t…

6. The Seattle Mariners can Don Wakamatsu.

The Mariners fired manager Don Wakamatsu, pitching coach Rick Adair, and bench coach Ty Van Burkleo early in August. Wakamatsu went 127-147 since getting Seattle’s job in November 2008. Daren Brown, the Mariners’ Triple-A manager, took over for Wakamatsu on an interim basis.

There were two main reasons for Wakamatsu’s firing.

1. He lost the clubhouse. When a manager doesn’t make it through the next year after going 85-77 the previous year, that tells me the players were just tired of his act.

Ken Griffey Jr. retired in the middle of the year because he was unhappy, and then Wakamatsu got into it with Chone Figgins back in June.

In the middle of the fifth inning in a game against the Boston Red Sox, Wakamatsu pulled Figgins after a perceived a lack of hustle from his second baseman on a play in the top half of the inning, when Figgins allowed a relay throw from left fielder Michael Saunders to roll through the infield. That allowed Boston’s Mike Cameron to advance to third after his double, but he did not score.

Wakamatsu and Figgins exchanged words in the dugout, and a short skirmish broke out involving several members of the team. TV replays showed Jose Lopez—with Figgins behind him—being restrained by Jack Wilson and Ryan Rowland-Smith while Russell Branyan was held back by multiple teammates.

The whole fracas was a real black eye for the entire Mariners organization.

A baseball manager is more of a relationship manager than a football or basketball coach, who are more concerned with implementing a system and then following through on the X’s and O’s of the sport. Once a baseball manager loses his relationships with his team, then he has nothing left.

2. He was a victim of unrealistic expectations. The Mariners were very active in the offseason adding Cliff Lee, Milton Bradley, and Chone Figgins. With those additions, many thought the Mariners would improve on their 85 wins from last year.

However, this team was doomed from the beginning. Seattle went into the season with two starting pitchers, a mediocre bullpen, and an Opening Day lineup that had Casey Kotchman batting third, Griffey Jr. batting fifth, and Rob Johnson and Jack Wilson batting eighth and ninth.

I don’t care how many runs the Mariners thought they were going to prevent; there was no way this team was going to be as good as they were last season. Those unrealistic expectations were the other reason Wakamatsu got the ax in Seattle.

Wakamatsu had the privilege of managing a young phenom named Felix Hernandez. Another phenom made his debut on the last day of August…

5. Aroldis Chapman makes his debut.

The Reds called up Chapman on August 31st, and he didn’t disappoint. Chapman made his debut against the Milwaukee Brewers and retired the side one-two-three on eight pitches. His fastball was clocked as high as 102 mph.

Chapman could be for the Reds down the stretch what the above-mentioned K-Rod was for the Angels in 2002.

Speaking of phenom pitchers…

4. Stephen Strasburg goes down.

In a game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Strasburg appeared to hurt himself on a 1-1 pitch that tailed low and away to fellow rookie Domonic Brown. He kept flexing his arm, and immediately the trainer came out to see what the issue was.

Strasburg left the game with what later was diagnosed as a strained tendon in his right forearm. He underwent an MRI and the results were not good. Strasburg was diagnosed with a tear in his ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. Strasburg underwent Tommy John surgery and will miss the 2011 season.

A couple of thoughts about this:

1. The Nationals are in no way, shape, or form to blame for this. They did everything they possibly could to protect Strasburg. Once again, this injury proves that pitching injuries have very little to do with pitch counts or innings pitched, but more to do with mechanics.

There is a reason why guys like Nolan Ryan, Greg Maddux, or Tom Glavine never got hurt.

2. Strasburg’s career isn’t over by any stretch of the imagination. Tommy John surgery is so common these days and the results of the procedure have been so successful that, a lot of the time, a pitcher will come back from the surgery better than ever.

The pitcher Strasburg can relate to in his case should be Josh Johnson. Johnson had Tommy John surgery at the age of 23 and is now better than ever and a legit Cy Young candidate.

Strasburg was the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft and was signed at the last minute. Now Part Two for the Nationals…

3. The Nationals sign Bryce Harper.

For the second year in a row, the Washington Nationals had the No. 1 overall pick in baseball’s June Draft, and for the second year in a row, the Nationals signed that pick to a record-setting deal.

Last year, the Nationals signed RHP Stephen Strasburg to a four-year, $15.1 million contract, which was the highest ever to a No.1 overall pick. This year, the Nationals signed No.1 overall pick Bryce Harper to a five-year, $9.9 million contract, which is the richest contract ever given to a position player in the draft.

The Nationals are handing out a lot of crispy lettuce to their No.1 picks, but as they have seen with Strasburg in 2010, it’s worth the money. The only way the Nationals will be able to compete on a year-in, year-out basis is if they build through the draft and restock their farm system. Signing guys like Strasburg, Harper, and Drew Storen (the other first-round pick from last year) is a good start.

While the Nationals are planning for the future, there were plenty of teams that were planning for today…

2. The trade winds were still blowing in August.

The waiver deadline was August 31st and we saw plenty of players change teams. Derrek Lee, Jim Edmonds, Jose Guillen, Mike Sweeney, Brian Fuentes, and Manny Ramirez changed uniforms in August.

The biggest difference maker of this group, of course, is Ramirez. The Chicago White Sox desperately needed a DH, and Ramirez fills that void to a tee.

And the No. 1 thing we learned about baseball in August was…

1. The pennant races are heating up.

The Yankees, Twins, Rangers, Braves, Reds, and Padres all had division leads on Sept. 1st. The Rays and the Phillies are holding down the Wild Card spots in their respective leagues. Which of these teams will hold on to make the playoffs and which of these teams will fold?

We’ll check back at the end of September to see who is going to the playoffs and who will be gearing up for a round of golf.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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The reason for the pilgrimage into Queens was to revisit our childhood by seeing "The Expendables," but to also eat at Darryl Strawberry’s new restaurant, conveniently called Strawberry’s.

Before I get to a review of Strawberry’s, let me just tell you "The Expendables" was terrible. There was no plot and the fight scenes were poorly constructed. You know it was bad when “Stone Cold” Steve Austin gave the best performance.

Now onto a review of Strawberry’s.

Location: B

If you take the Long Island Railroad from Douglaston, NY, then Strawberry’s is the place for you. It’s right next to the train station, so if you want to stop in and get a beer, it’s pretty convenient.

However, the Douglaston stop on the LIRR is really in the middle of nowhere, so parking is not the best and they won’t get much walk-in traffic.

Decor: B-

As you could imagine, Strawberry’s was filled with New York Mets and New York Yankees memorabilia. There were a lot of tributes to the 1986 Mets team and of course, Strawberry himself. There were also plenty of TVs, so you could watch any game from any seat in the house.

Why I gave it a B- instead of a B+ is because of something I saw when we were leaving. Right when you walk in, there is a picture of all of Strawberry’s Sports Illustrated covers on the wall.

Strawberry appeared on the cover of SI a total of six times, but what killed me was that the magazines had someone else’s address on the cover. The magazines were addressed to a Don Smith or something. Very odd.

I would think Strawberry would be able to call SI and ask for the magazines he was on.

Menu: A-

I thought it was a pretty good menu. It had your classic pub fare along with some more upscale stuff like salmon. I also liked the fact that you could choose your bun when ordering a burger or sandwich.

Food: C

Remember the scene in "Tommy Boy" when Zolinsky was in the elevator and told Tommy that he went a little heavy on the pine-scented air freshener? Well, I think someone should tell Strawberry that he went a little heavy on the barbecue sauce.

They put BBQ sauce on nachos, quesadillas, you name it. There was even a HUGE bottle of BBQ sauce on the table just in case you didn’t get enough.

My buddy John ordered the macaroni and cheese and it was less than impressive. It was served in a cereal bowl and looked more like mac n’ cheese soup than anything else.

My friend Tom ordered the portabello mushroom sandwich, and when it first came out, it was just a small mushroom on a big bun. It was like White Castle-made portobello mushroom sandwiches.

The waiter came over and was in amazement of how feeble this thing looked. To his credit, the waiter did take it back and came out with a bigger portion meal. Of course, that bigger portion probably came out with some extra special sauce on it, but hey, what can you expect?

I had the lamb burger, which I thought was very good, to be honest. I had no complaints at all, and would order it again.

My other friend, Justin, had the BBQ chicken and didn’t think it was bad at all.

Overall: C

Overall, I think it was as good as we could have expected. Usually, these athlete restaurants are middle of the road and Strawberry’s was no exception.

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Not satisfied with their current setup man situation, the New York Yankees decided to bring in a closer to fill that need.

The Yankees traded for Cleveland Indians closer Kerry Wood on Saturday and sent a player to be named later and cash to the Indians. The Indians will also pick up $2.17 million of the $3.67 million left on Wood’s contract.

The reality is that Joba Chamberlain, Dave Robertson, and Chan Ho Park (no longer a Yankee) have been terrible for the Yankees this year. The Yankees needed someone to come in before Mariano Rivera and get the job done. Whether Wood will be that guy remains to be seen.

Wood has suffered through an injury plagued season posting a 6.30 ERA and a 1.60 WHIP in 20 unimpressive innings. His 8.1 K/9 is also the lowest of his career.

The key for Wood will obviously be health and adjusting to not being the closer. As we have seen before, closers who become eighth inning setup guy have struggled. Yes, I am talking to you Eric Gagne.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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What would a trade deadline be without the New York Yankees getting involved?

After kicking the tires on pitchers Cliff Lee and Dan Haren, the Yankees decided to go in a different direction on Friday by adding some offense. The Yankees on Friday acquired 1B Lance Berkman from the Houston Astros for Mark Melancon and Jimmy Paredes. Then they traded for OF Austin Kearns for the ever-so-popular player to be named later, or PTBNL, as all the cool kids say.

First, let’s talk about the Berkman move because that is the more significant move.

The last couple of days have had to been hard on Astros’ owner Drayton McLane. He has traded his two prized sons over the span of 48 hours. It’s good though that he has realized that the only way the Astros are going to get better in the future is trading their veterans who have value and getting younger.

Despite hitting .245, which is the lowest of his career, Berkman does have a .365 OBP and should fit in nicely into the Yankees’ lineup. He will serve as the primary DH, a spot in the Yankees’ lineup that has been a black hole ever since Nick Johnson went down with a wrist injury.

You have to figure that Berkman will DH against righties moving forward. He has an .874 OPS against righties this year, which is over 300 points higher than it is against lefties. It seems like the days of Berkman being a legit switch-hitter are over. Against a righty, here is what I think the Yankees’ lineup should look like…

1. Derek Jeter

2. Lance Berkman

3. Mark Teixeira

4. Alex Rodriguez

5. Robinson Cano

6. Jorge Posada

7. Curtis Granderson

8. Nick Swisher

9. Brett Gardner

It’s a good thing the Yankees don’t need an All-Star at every position. That lineup is lethal. If Berkman is DHing against righties, then perhaps Kearns will DH against left-handed pitching.

Kearns was having a decent season in Cleveland, putting up a .272/.354/.419 hitting line with eight home runs in 301 AB’s. Kearns got off to a great start to the season, hitting .372 in April, but has really tailed off since. He has been around .250 consistently since his hot April.

Kearns could potentially serve as replacement for Curtis Granderson against lefties and, like I mentioned before, a right-handed DH to spell Berkman.

The two prospects the Yankees gave up are nothing special.

Melancon is a 25-year-old who had brief stints with the Yankees this year and last year. The right-hander had a 3.67 ERA in Triple-A this year with 9.3 K/9.  Baseball America ranked Melancon 15th among all Yankees prospects before the season, citing his closer’s mentality and strong makeup.

Paredes, 21, is a switch-hitting infielder who has played second, short, and third. He has stolen 36 bases in 46 attempts at A ball this year and has a .282/.312/.408 line.

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On Saturday, starting pitcher AJ Burnett was pulled after two innings because he suffered lacerations on both of his palms after he slammed a set of double doors in frustration after giving up a HR to Reid Brignac. Burnett originally said he “fell,” but the truth came out later.

The whole thing sounds like a bad Lifetime movie.

Burnett is scheduled to throw a bullpen session in a couple of days and should make his next start this week. Unfortunately for the Yankees, they don’t seem to be as fortunate with Andy Pettitte, who started Sunday’s game.

Pettitte was removed at the top of the third when he strained his left groin delivering a pitch to home plate. It’s expected that Pettitte will land on the DL and will miss anywhere from four to five weeks.

With the Rays just three games behind in the AL East, this could be a big blow to the Yankees. Pettitte is 11-2 with a 2.88 ERA for the Yankees and to be without him for a month, if not more, definitely will hurt.

The Yankees will replace Pettitte in the rotation with Sergio Mitre. I will call that a downgrade.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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Sadly for New York and baseball, one of its iconic figures passed away yesterday. George Steinbrenner, the owner of the New York Yankees since 1973, passed away at the age of 80 due to a heart attack. He passed away at Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa.

Everyone who reads my posts and knows me knows that I am not even remotely close to being a Yankee fan. I haven’t liked the Yankees since my childhood friend David and I used to argue who was a better player, Dave Winfield or George Brett. As you could imagine, I was on the Brett side.

But despite not liking certain teams, it doesn’t mean that I can’t respect the players on that team or the owner of the franchise. In this case, I have always had the utmost respect for Steinbrenner.

I am not going to get into whether or not he is the greatest owner in the history of sports, or whether or not he was good or bad for baseball. That is a debate which I choose not to get into.

What is not up for debate is that when it came to the business aspect of baseball, Steinbrenner was ahead of his time by at least 15 years. He bought the Yankees for $8.8 million in 1973, and between his marketing efforts, cable deal with the Madison Square Garden TV station, and creating the YES Network, Steinbrenner turned the Yankees into a $1.6 billion empire.

That is a business plan that any executive would follow.

Steinbrenner and the Yankees were even ahead of their time when they joined forces with the Dallas Cowboys and Goldman Sachs to form Legends Hospitality Management. The only thing that could make this partnership more obnoxious is if the Cowboys and Yankees included Notre Dame and the Lakers into the mix.

But in all seriousness, this idea should have been created years ago. Why pay a third party for food and catering when you just do it yourself and generate and, more importantly, keep the revenues? It’s a brilliant business decision and Steinbrenner was at the forefront of it.

Whether you love or hate the Yankees, there is one thing that you have to admit—Steinbrenner changed the landscape of baseball and the game will never be the same again.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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When it comes to the July 31st trade deadline, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are usually “in” on all the top trade candidates. This year should be no different. The Tampa Bay Rays will be active this trade season as well.

Here are the trade deadline needs of the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays…

New York Yankees

Record: 53-31, first place in AL East

Needs: Backup Infield, Starting Pitching

The Yankees are in a position where they really don’t “need” anything. However, there are a couple of areas where the Yankees feel they can approve on.

For instance, the Yankees could use a backup utility infielder. Right now, all the Yankees have is Ramiro Pena as a backup for Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, and Alex Rodriguez. That won’t cut it if one of those three goes down for a significant period of time.

I put starting pitching as a need, but they really don’t need a starting pitcher. They will be in the Cliff Lee hunt, but I am not sure how serious of a contender they will be. Why give up prospects now when they can just sign him in the offseason?

Potential Targets: Cliff Lee, Ty Wigginton, Jeff Keppinger, Willie Bloomquist, John McDonald, Adam Kennedy

Tampa Bay Rays

Record: 51-33, second place in AL East. First in Wild Card

Needs: Power Bat, Starting Pitching

Despite being fourth in the AL in runs scored, the Rays could use another bat in their lineup. They really could use a more productive DH. Pat Burrell didn’t work out and neither did Hank Blalock.

Maybe Matt Joyce could be the answer, but someone like Adam Dunn would be more of a sure thing for the Rays to target.

Jose Guillen could be another option at DH.

The Rays have been kicking the tires on Lee and they might have a great trade chip in BJ Upton. The Rays could trade Upton to make room for Desmond Jennings.

Potential Targets: Cliff Lee, Adam Dunn, Jose Guillen, Josh Willingham

Boston Red Sox

Record: 49-36, third place in AL East. Second in Wild Card

Needs: Bullpen, Healthy Bodies

Where do I even begin with the Red Sox? They currently have 10 players on the DL and when you have that many players hurt, it’s hard to predict needs. The one need the Red Sox have regardless of health is in the bullpen.

The only reliable arms Terry Francona has are Daniel Bard and closer Jonathan Papelbon. Other than those two, it’s a crapshoot out there. Hideki Okajima is not what he used to be and Ramon Ramirez hasn’t been reliable since the first half of last year.

I think if Theo Epstein does go out and acquire a position player, it will be for a veteran outfielder.

Potential Targets: Scott Downs, Jason Frasor, David Aardsma, Kerry Wood, Will Ohman, Kyle Farnsworth (that would be a disaster of epic proportions), Joel Hanrahan, Willie Bloomquist, Xavier Nady, Jason Michaels

Tomorrow, we will have a double dip, as we will cover the AL Central and the AL West.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @theghostofmlg

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The first pitcher to be replaced is Boston Red Sox RHP Clay Buchholz. Buchholz was placed on the 15-day DL yesterday and will not be able to pitch in the game. He will be replaced by the New York Yankees’ LHP Andy Pettitte.

When I made my American League All-Star team, I had Pettite on the roster. Pettitte is 10-2 with a 2.82 ERA on the season and is well deserving of a spot.

With CC Sabathia and Trevor Cahill scheduled to pitch on Sunday, it looks like we will have replacements for them as well.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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You might have even thought it was Mariano Rivera.

But on June 9, it’s none of those Yankee pitchers. The pitcher that is having a Cy Young caliber season is Phil Hughes.

Hughes won his eighth game last night in a 12-7 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Hughes only gave up three of those runs while walking none and striking out four in six innings of work.

Hughes is now 8-1 on the season and leads the American League in wins. He is also in the top-1o in these categories:

ERA – 2.71 (6th)

WHIP – 1.09 (6th)

H/9 – 7.23 (6th)

K/9 – 8.79 (6th)

David Price, Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester, Cliff Lee and Jeff Niemann have emerged as the early favorites for the AL Cy Young award. Outside of Lester and Lee, none of these pitchers have proven they can be successful over a full year.

Hughes has just as good of a chance to win the award as any of them.

So why has Hughes been so successful this year? It’s a real simple answer, first pitch strikes. Hughes is throwing an astounding 66 percent of his first pitches for strikes, which ranks fifth amongst starters in all of baseball.

He's getting ahead of the batters, and in turn, is getting hitters to swing at his pitches. Hughes is second in baseball in O-Swing Percentage (35.1 percent), which is swings and misses outside the strike zone.

As a pitcher, if you can get hitters to constantly swing at your pitches, pitches that usually aren’t strikes, but since you are ahead in the count, the hitter is in a defensive mode and has to swing, you are going to be successful.

That philosophy was true 100 years ago and it will be true 100 years from now.

Right now Hughes is pitching as well as anyone in the American League. If he keeps this up, he could very well find himself as the Cy Young award winner.

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Posada DH’d last night, which might be a good thing for his fantasy owners. Francisco Cervelli is clearly a better defensive catcher than Posada at this point in his career. Posada at DH the majority of the time will preserve his bat and health for the rest of the season.

Posada is hitting .326 with six home runs on the season. Hitting sixth in the Yankees’ lineup, Posada should see plenty of RBI opportunities.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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