Five Up, Five Down

III. Micah Owings' bat: On the hill, Diamondbacks rookie pitcher Micah Owings has experienced an up-and-down season, with a 6-7 record and 4.51 ERA. At the plate, though, Owings has enjoyed unbelievable success. The sweet-swinging 24-year-old is hitting .280 with four homers, two doubles, a triple, 12 RBIs and a .902 OPS. Against the Braves earlier this month, Owings went 4-for-5 with two jacks, a double and six RBIs. And these weren't cheap homers, either; the first one landed 20 rows up the left-field pavilion and the second one traveled an estimated 446 feet.

This shouldn't come as much of a surprise, though; Owings hit .382 last year in the minors and smacked 69 homers during his high school career -- one shy of the national record. Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin even acknowledged that the D'backs have thought about playing the 6-foot-5, 220-pounder in the field during his off days. "If that's something that next year we feel like [doing] ... there's no doubt in my mind he could probably play a position," Melvin told MLB.com

IV. Yunel Escobar: Former Cuban defector Yunel Escobar has accomplished great things since making his debut for the Braves on June 2 -- batting .333 with two game-winning hits, fielding three infield positions with admirable success and possibly turning Edgar Renteria into Wally Pipp.

Renteria was in the midst of a fine offensive season before he badly sprained an ankle and basically missed all of August. In his absence, Escobar manned shortstop full-time, hitting .359 in the month. Now there is talk that Escobar's success has made Renteria expendable and could lead to an offseason trade. Granted, this is Internet fodder and nothing more, but would the Braves be wise to sell high on their 32-year-old shortstop?

V. Papa Grande: I have a confession to make: For most of the season, I've been sullying the good name of Jose "Papa Grande" Valverde to just about anyone who will listen; forewarning the masses of a spectacular collapse by the Arizona closer. But we're at September's doorstep, and Valverde's major league-leading 41 saves, 2.77 ERA and 1.03 WHIP are staring me in the face. Bottom line, Papa Grande has proven that my season-long disparagement was unfounded. As an act of penance, I reveal to you an e-mail I received last week entitled "Constructive Criticism:"

"You are an atrocious hack of a sports columnist. My advice to you would be take some more writing classes, stop trying to meld pop culture into your work, and pay your dues as a beat writer following minor league lacrosse for a few years."

I. The curse of Polanco: Although Placido Polanco recently set the major league record for consecutive errorless games by a second baseman, his actions in the field have cost Detroit dearly over the last two seasons. Hang with me, here.

Let's go back to Aug. 15 of last year ... On that day, Detroit edged Boston and increased its division lead to 6 1/2 games. But the victory proved costly, as Polanco dislocated his shoulder making a diving catch. Over the ensuing 35 games (which Polanco spent on the DL), Detroit stumbled to a 14-21 record, and the Tigers went on to lose the AL Central to Minnesota by a game.

Now, fast forward to July 21 of this season ... On that day, an extra-innings victory over Kansas City gave Detroit a two-game division lead, but the win was marred by a nasty collision between Polanco and Gary Sheffield in which Sheffield injured his shoulder. Although he tried to play through the pain, Sheffield was highly ineffective and eventually landed on the DL, where he currently resides. Since the collision, Detroit has managed just a 13-25 mark, leaving it 4 1/2 games behind Cleveland in the division race.

Polanco may be one of the best defensive second basemen in the game today, but his injury hex in the field has done catastrophic damage to the Tigers over the last couple seasons.