Phil Watch: Less Interesting Interestingness

And we're back.

Ever have an acquaintance that keeps saying the same things over and over again?

For example, anytime a certain topic comes up, he/she just belches out the same opinion/fact/statistic/anecdote to bolster his/her already dopey argument.

Sometimes, in the course of discourse, you just sit back and wait for said person to get to it. You know it's coming and, if the conversation is dull (and it usually is), you make a game for yourself to see how they're going to find some nebulous way to insert their little nugget into the conversation.

As an aside, this game works for narcissists as well. Sit back and see how every conversation works back to some boring-ass tidbit about their personal life.

Well, we know Phil fits the former mold and this week, he doesn't disappoint.

And today, we will take what Phil offers and simply insert a more interesting offering that can be found on these internets in less than 4.000003333084575763 seconds.

Let's get started.

Root, root, rooting for the home team is especially rewarding this season.

In one of those trends that defy explanation, home-field advantage is a big factor in the major leagues this season—a really big factor, in fact. Just ask the Cubs or the Red Sox, the Braves or the Diamondbacks.

Home teams entered the weekend with a .577 winning percentage, with only seven of the 30 teams under .500 in their home park. That percentage was in the .550-.555 range in each of the last three seasons, and was barely .530 in 2004.

What gives?

First, do you have to ask the question? How about offering a few possible reasons.

Like...

Parity. The mantra of nearly every sportswriter this season has been the fact that no team or select group of teams are head-and-shoulders above the rest. Why? Many established stars got suspiciously old and old quickly (see the own boring-ass example of Travis Hafner who just went on the DL with a 'shoulder' issue).

Include the fact that many historically bad teams have injected gobs of superior young talent into their lineups/pitching staffs over the last two years and you have a recipe for parity alla milanese with a glorious garlic gremolata.

With this season being even closer to 'all things being equal', home-field advantage means superlatively more. I'm not going to get into why home field matters, like Phil does, because it's like asking if you get a better night's sleep in your own bed or the trunk of your car.

But a more interesting fact: In May, adding up the month's records of every team brings a combined record of 256-157, a .620 winning percentage.

That's a more interesting fact. See. More interesting. And would bolster Phil's argument even more. But, well, it took me about ten minutes to do some addition and subtraction with a pen and paper. So, you know.

Oh, BTW, the D'backs are 9-9 at home in May. So I won't be 'asking them'.

May Breakdown:

AL East: 50-15 (TB: 13-3, BOS: 12-0, TOR: 10-3)

AL Central: 34-33 (CWS: 6-3, CLE: 8-7, everyone else .500 or worse)

AL West: 33-23 (LAA and OAK: 9-6)

NL East: 46-26 (FLA: 11-4, ATL: 14-3)

NL Central: 60-22 (CHI: 14-2, CIN: 12-2)

NL West: 33-38 (Padres only team over .500 at 7-6, SFG: 3-9)

According to sources, Tampa Bay will select either Vanderbilt third baseman Pedro Alvarez or Georgia high school shortstop Tim Beckham with the first pick in Thursday's draft.

That narrows it down.

More interesting: The age (24) and play of Dioner Navarro going back to late last year have pushed the Rays off taking a catcher with the first pick, allowing them to look at other needs and possibly take a bigger chance in this year's draft.

Following a crapload of filler chronicling Pedro Martinez's opinion on David Price chockablock with quotes culled from MLB.com's Minor League site (I'm beginning to think Phil takes the same amount of time to write his columns as I do mocking him), we are offered this:

"That club over there is playing with more confidence, and they are a little tougher than we are now." — Indians manager Eric Wedge on the White Sox, who won five of six over Cleveland in May, dealing the Indians a serious blow.

Beat another fucking drum!

This is the fourth time Phil's mentioned this in the last two weeks!

Let's go to Phil's whispers. Ear to the ground, my friends.

Carlos Zambrano's 130-pitch start on Wednesday matched the total in Jon Lester's no-hitter, the highest in the majors this season. Five teams (Oakland, Washington, Arizona, Tampa Bay and Toronto) hadn't allowed a pitcher to throw even 115 in an outing entering the weekend. Eyebrows were raised when the Giants let Tim Lincecum throw 119 on Tuesday, but his next-to-last pitch was clocked at 97 m.p.h.

First, good little nugget here. I didn't know the specifics of that. Thanks, Phil.

But. Just because a hard-throwing starter is still throwing 97 late in the game doesn't mean everything's peachy. Pitch counts are watched because of the resulting wear and tear on arms revealed in days after a start and over the days, weeks and months of the season.

See the gazillions of hard throwers derailed by stupid managers (see Dusty) overusing young, hard throwing arms (see Prior and Wood). You know, an example that took place about four miles from Phil's cubicle. But hey, Prior was still throwing hard in the eighth. Let's let him throw a few dozen more pitches in a game in early May.

What would C.C. Sabathia bring at the trade deadline? The Indians are going to have to consider that question if they don't get turned around. The Brewers might likewise have to swallow hard and deal Ben Sheets. Both will be free agents.

More previously-stated filler. I'm beginning to think Phil is resigned to the fact that he doesn't have regular readers or thinks his regular readers are falling asleep in the course of reading.

Tickets for the All-Star Game have increased from a top price of $285 in San Francisco last year to $725 at Yankee Stadium. It will be interesting to see what they are dialed back to when the event moves to St. Louis in 2009 and Anaheim in 2010.

Or not interesting. Either/or.

With the Brewers 12th in the NL in scoring, manager Ned Yost decided it was time to abandon his experiment of batting the pitcher eighth and catcher Jason Kendall ninth. The other plan was making it easy to pitch around No. 7 hitter J.J. Hardy, who was hitting .146 with men in scoring position.

Thank God this dopey-ass little gimmick is starting to go away. What?! The no. 7 hitter's pitch selection was affected? The hell you say! Who da thunk it? Sticking the pitcher between the two worst hitters in the lineup makes a difference, effectively creating an even crappier bottom three than you previously had? Who could have expected that outcome?

Dodgers manager Joe Torre loves what he has seen from 20-year-old lefty Clayton Kershaw, who joined the Dodgers' rotation last weekend. "He's the real deal," Torre said.

Well I'm sold. What do you think of his 12-6 curveball? "He's the real deal." How do you plan to use him once Jason Schmidt returns? "He's the real deal." Must have been the only quote Phil could find on MLB.com.

It's possible Mets manager Willie Randolph will outlast first baseman Carlos Delgado at Shea Stadium. Minaya has been making calls about available first basemen, left fielders and right-handed relief pitchers and some believe he's sufficiently down on Delgado to swallow what's left on his $16 million salary.

Some? My mom? Ronnie Woo-Woo?

The Mets aren't going to swallow Delgado's contract one-third into the season. They're not going to swallow over $10 million yet. C'mon.

Deadline deal, maybe, nay probably. With serious cash considerations.

AND HOLY CRAP!!!!

We can take Phil Rogers' name off this offering about Uggla and Utley.

Why? Because it's the same exact offering from a columnist at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that Phil vaguely cites as a source. Same quotes. Same structure. Same everything!

Really! What's the fucking point?

Somebody please explain to me why this is allowed at the Trib? I need an answer.