By David Young, Special to SI.com

"Hit me with your best shot..."
--Pat Benatar

Gophers and Taters

While there has been lots of talk about the lack of power this year (I'll revisit my numbers after the All-Star break to see where we are), none of it has concerned Eric Milton. Uncle Milty has given up 22 homers in 14 starts, putting him on pace for 53 homers if he makes 34 starts (the amount he has made in past seasons when healthy). That would not only be a personal best, but a major league record.

The current record holder is Bert Blyleven, who gave up 50 in 1986. While Milton beating that record would be incredible, Blyleven's season is still worthy of notice. Comparing the two pitchers' seasons, and extrapolating Milton's stats to 34 starts:

The thing that stands out is that in spite of giving up a half-century in HR, Blyleven had a pretty good year in 1986. I would definitely take him (a 1.18 WHIP would classify him as an ace on my team), and any real team manager would face the wrath of the press and fans if they sat him. On the other hand, there wouldn't be the same outcry if Milton were sat down, sent to the DL under some pretense, or put in the bullpen. In fact, at his current pace, there's no way Milton gets to keep starting.

The other thing to notice (thanks, Matt D.), is that Blyleven pitched over 270 innings, and usually made it into the eighth inning in any given start. Nowadays, if a pitcher not named Livan put up those sort of numbers, many in the media (including myself) would write whole columns about pitcher abuse. With Milton only getting into the sixth inning, one could say he is doing more with less.

The other pitchers this year that are giving up the homers by the bunches are:

19 -- Jon Lieber (PHI)
18 -- Brad Radke (MIN)
17 -- Jose Lima (KC), Oliver Perez (PIT)
15 -- Jeff Weaver (LAD)

Incidentally, the highest-ranked Rockies pitcher this year is Joe Kennedy with 10 homers, which ties him for 43rd. Also, looking at the top 100 pitchers for most HR in a single season, the only Rockies pitcher to make the top 100 was Pedro Astacio who is on the list twice: T#22 (1998, 39), and T#29 (1999, 38). I suppose if they give up too many homers, they are sent back to Colorado Springs.

Cork and Beans

Last week we got to see the AL pitchers bat, which was kind of like watching Jerry Lewis conducting surgery. You know, it was actually a lot like that. Some guys did well, and others, well, did. I'll hold off handing out the Silver Slugger award until they get through the last weekend of interleague in NL parks, but there was something else worth watching.

Pitchers in the AL have the luxury of not having to bat (unless of course the DH is changed in a game -- but you knew that), so they do not fear retaliation if they pitch inside. Way inside. I wondered if interleague at NL parks would affect their thinking and if there would be less hit batsmen. The short answer was no.

For the intraleague games this season, AL pitchers hit batters at a rate of 0.395 per nine innings. For the interleague games, that figure increased to 0.460. With one more weekend of interleague games in NL parks, we'll see if that rate decreases. Every AL team hit at least one opposing batter, while Tampa Bay and Boston each hit five.

For the Devil Rays, one would think that was just control problems. For the Sox, it seems there was some bad blood left over from the World Series, as all five were against the Cardinals. In fact, in case he didn't get the message, Larry Walker was hit three times by three different pitchers, and in one game, the Cards' Al Reyes and the Sox's Matt Mantei both got ejected for hitting two batters each. Perhaps the reason the Sox felt the need to hit so many batters was to better the Yankees who had hit the Cards once during their previous series. Regardless, we'll keep an eye on those last interleague series next weekend.

And incidentally, not one AL pitcher this year has been beaned. Yet.