Mike Hargrove, the Mariners' manager since 2005, suddenly quit on Sunday. He wasn't entirely happy. He said he couldn't give it his all. There may have been other reasons, too, maybe some we'll never know. But the result, in the end, was this: Hargrove quit.
Nobody around baseball quite understands this kind of thinking, of course. Hargrove, in remarks to reporters after his last game on Sunday, said he didn't quite get it, either. Some will call his actions cowardly, or worse. They'll say he's abandoning his team, bagging his responsibilities, running away. I'm sure Hargrove weighed all the possible criticism in the last couple of weeks as he wrestled with the decision. It's only natural for a man who's been around the game for more than 30 years.
But Hargrove bucked baseball group thought anyway and left, midseason. He didn't wait around to be yanked away, like the Reds' Jerry Narron was on Sunday, or Baltimore's Sam Perlozzo was a couple of weeks ago, or like hundreds of managers have been over the years. Hargrove quit with his team on one of its best rolls in years, on an eight-game winning streak.
The constant pressures of managing can't be easy to go through. They have to be especially hard when you realize that you don't have to go through it. So the 57-year-old Hargrove quit, went home to his wife and will probably never, he said, manage again. You can call him a quitter. I'll call him a man firmly, and solely, in charge of his life.
Here are this week's Power Rankings ...
| MLB Power Rankings |
| 1 |
1 |
 |
One measure of how good the Angels are this season: Even when they screw up -- and how else can you describe a sweep by the Royals? -- they recover (winning two of three at Baltimore). They reached the halfway mark with the best record in franchise history (50-31), they have a four-game cushion and they have three All-Stars (Guerrero, Lackey, Rodriguez). Still good, despite the hiccup. |
| 2 |
4 |
 |
For whatever it's worth, Jim Leyland, C.C. Sabathia pitches against your Tigers on Thursday in Detroit. With regular rest ... let's see ... he could pitch, say, Tuesday. In a little game you're managing in San Francisco? There are a few worthy pitchers who could start the All-Star Game. Cleveland's big lefty, 4-1 with a 2.23 ERA in June, with three walks and 41 strikeouts while averaging more than eight innings a start, is one of 'em. |
| 3 |
3 |
 |
No one can call All-Star manager Jim Leyland a homer. He didn't pick one of his players for the big game next Tuesday. Of course, five made it anyway, and another (Jeremy Bonderman) could be voted in as the last man on the AL team. With a little bullpen help -- the Tigers traded for hard-throwing righty Jose Capellan of the Brewers last week -- this should be the team to watch in the second half. |
| 4 |
2 |
 |
I guess it's hard to maintain a decent level of interest when nobody else in the division -- nope, not even the Bronx Busts -- are inclined to make things interesting. The Sox roll into July with a 10 1/2-game lead in the East, the biggest margin in baseball, even after a lackluster week in which they went 1-5 against the Mariners and Rangers. Someone wake these guys when September gets here. |
| 5 |
6 |
 |
A streak of five straight wins over the rival Dodgers ended on Sunday, but the Padres continue to pitch the heck out of the ball (a 3.03 ERA, best in baseball by a half-run) and play well enough to lead the West. With a little more offense (Milton Bradley?) and a little more luck in one-run games -- they're 14-16 -- the Padres might even pull away in arguably the best division in the NL. |
| 6 |
7 |
 |
That early June stumble behind them, the Mets are 8-2 in their past 10 games, punctuated by a convincing three-out-of-four smackdown against the upstart Phillies. Center fielder Carlos Beltran was a fan choice to start in the All-Star Game despite some mediocre first-half numbers. Like his team, though, Beltran may just be starting to heat up. He had back-to-back two-homer games last weekend. |
| 7 |
8 |
 |
Four All-Stars, the best record at the halfway point in team history (47-34), a 6 1/2-game lead in the Central ... what's not to like about where the Brewers are? They just dropped two of three to the second-place Cubs, granted, but that was their first series loss after five straight series wins, including big ones over the Tigers and Twins. This team's biggest hurdle may now be behind them. |
| 8 |
10 |
 |
An 18-9 June and a current eight-game win streak has pushed the Mariners to the brink of postseason territory -- if, of course, they can keep this up through the second half. Well, can they? There's not a harder club in baseball to figure out than this one. I mean, they can hit some, but they can't pitch much. And, still, they're about four games better than the formulas say they should be. |
| 9 |
9 |
 |
If Tony La Russa makes just one move in next week's All-Star Game -- and, of course, the Cardinals' manager will be forced to make so many moves even he'll get dizzy -- he should let baseball fans get a gander at 37-year-old closer Takashi Saito. He has a WHIP below 1.00, a 1.34 ERA and opponents are hitting just .175 against him (righties just .107). He's funky, too. And fun to watch. |
| 10 |
5 |
 |
You can't consider yourself a legitimate contender if you lose to the rest of your division. It's almost mathematically impossible. The Diamondbacks were KO'd in three of four games by the Dodgers, then beaten in two of three by the Giants last week. Arizona is just 12-12 against the worst in the division, the Rockies and Giants, and 3-7 against the Dodgers. That's a quick way to get nowhere. |
|
|
