This week Curt Schilling haters had a chance to take Schilling out in brutal hand-to-hand combat.

Schilling is a huge fan of the online role-playing game Everquest, and as part of a “Battle ALS” charity event a character bearing his likeness known as “Evil Curt” appeared in the online world of Everquest II this week. Each time a player killed Evil Curt, Sony Online Entertainment donated $5 to the ALS Association, which is Schilling’s favorite charity.

Somehow I feel like Schilling might get a bit more money if he used ARod’s likeness instead…

Who was the first pitcher to be elected to the Hall of Fame without ever having started a game in the Major Leagues?

ANSWER: Bruce Sutter

This is complete crap! As others before have noted, the Red Sox brass are a bunch of fuckwits when it comes to rain delays. The first game of today’s doubleheader was supposed to start at 1:20, with the second game getting underway at 8:05. The Red Sox continued to announce that the first game was “delayed” until about 3:30, when the updates stopped coming. Finally, shortly after 4 pm, they announced a start time of 5:15. But then, around 5:15, they said the game would start at 6:20.

Now, maybe I’m too dumb to understand. But once it’s 4 pm, why wouldn’t you just cancel the day game and say, “We’ll go ahead with the night game at 8, as planned.” Maybe it’s just me, but in this era when single-entry doubleheaders have gone the way of the woolly mammoth, I would rather have one game canceled and one game left alone than have both games fouled up. Now the 8 pm people are screwed, and the 1:20 people have been stuck at the park all day having $7 beers and $4 franks.

And I spent the period from 1:00 to 1:30 frantically channel-surfing and trying to figure out why the game wasn’t on TV down here in Newport. Me and Suz, my hostess down here in Rhody, then wandered from bar to bar searching–in vain!–for the Sox, because apparently Fox is too good to just keep a little “rain delay” tab at the bottom of the screen. All the bars we checked were showing the Yankee game instead, and for a chilling half-hour I thought that Newport had somehow seceded from New England and gone over to the Dark Side. Eventually, we found a bartender at the Mudville (right next to the Newport Gulls stadium) who knew that the game was delayed. Doubting him (he was more interested in the World Cup, despite the name and location of his establishment) I called Nick in a panic. Nick of course confirmed the hideous news. So Suz and I were ironically compelled by the perfidy of the Red Sox front office to watch the Yankees-A’s game AGAINST OUR WILL while waiting for the Red Sox to come on. The Yankees losing was some consolation, but not nearly enough. Not nearly enough, sportsfans.

For most of my lifetime, every single team in the major leagues carried 11 pitchers at all times - 5 starters and 6 relievers.  A little before my time, teams used to carry 10 pitchers, and way back in the day, they carried only 9 hurlers - those were the days when every team kept three catchers on the big club.

In recent years, as the Cult of the Pitch Count has spread and increasingly specialized relievers rarely if ever throw two innings, only throwing more than two in a complete emergency, teams have started routinely carrying 12 pitchers.

But in the last few years things have really started to get out of hand.

Last year two National League teams - the Brewers and the Giants - became the first teams not playing in Coors field to carry 13 pitchers for extended amounts of time.  This is somewhat loony.  Carrying 13 pitchers means that after your starting 8 position players, you only have four players on the bench at the start of the game.  Assuming one is a backup catcher you are loath to waste, that leaves only three position players for pinch hitting, double switching, and replacing injured players. God forbid the game goes to extra innings.

And at the same time, the increased number of pitchers throwing fewer innings means more pitching changes which require ever more pinch hitting and double switchery. Which you now have fewer players for, with the predictable result that we are seeing more and more at bats by relief pitchers who have no business batting, or that abomination - starting pitchers pinch-hitting for relievers on their off days.

But this season is when things got really crazy.

This year, several American League teams have been carrying 13 pitchers.  With the DH taking away a guy from the bench, this means an AL team starts the game with only 3 bench players.  Now granted, American League teams don’t really need pinch hitters or double switches much, but wow - only 3 players in the dugout…  What do we even need a manager for?

And what’s next? Are NL teams going to stand for this uppity behavior from the Junior Circuit? Or are they going to start carrying 14 pitchers to show who’s boss?

Those two way players like Brooks Kieschnick and Dave McCarty are starting to sound less like a novelty act and more like a good idea.

Continuing our survey of division leaders around baseball, let us turn to the National League…

NL East: New York Mets

The Mets are showing many of the classic signs of an early season fluke; they have had some really good luck with several come-from-behind walk-off wins, they have a ridiculous 17-7 record in one run games, and their win-loss total is higher than their run differential would predect according to the pythagorean expected wins formula.  However, the Mets’ record in one run games and their come-from-behind wins, while certainly involving some luck, are also both indicators of their fantastic bullpen - one of the best in baseball - which keeps them in close games and gives them a chance to come back.  Meanwhile, the Mets have moved to fix their most glaring weakness - the black holes that have been their 4th and 5th starter spots after injuries felled Brian Bannister and Victory Zambrano - by bringing in Orlando Hernandez and Alay Soler to hold the fort until Bannister returns.  With arguably the best everyday lineup in the National League and their nearest rival the Phillies still 4.5 games back and also sporting a win-loss record better than their run differential would predict, the Mets look like a good bet to make the dance in October.  Verdict: For Real

NL Central: Cincinnati Reds

Many observers have been picking the Reds as a fluke this year.  Like the Mets, the Reds have had a tremendous record in one-run games at 13-5, and after all, the thinking goes, the Reds pitching staff has been so awful for so many years that it will have to eventually come down to earth, right? But unnoticed by many, the Reds have significantly improved their pitching staff this year, first by trading for Bronson Arroyo, and then by dumping Dave Williams and calling up Elizardo Ramirez.  Whereas the Reds were last in the National League in ERA last season, this year they have improved to a respectable 7th. Even if Arroyo is not able to maintain his Cy-Young-like numbers all season, the Reds have the more reliable starting five they have had in years.  It is certainly not a great staff by any stretch, but with an already strong hitting attack made even stronger by the emergence of youngsters Felipe Lopez, Brandon Phillips, and David Ross, the offense has been able to cover for the occasional pitching lapse, posting the highest team OPS in the NL.  The Cardinals weakened themselves greatly in the offseason, and although Albert Pujols was able to singlehandedly cancel out the offseason losses for two months, his injury is causing these losses to become more apparent.  The Reds, who have already shown they can play with the big boys by going 6-2 vs. the Cardinals so far, should be able to take advantage and stay in contention all year.  Verdict: For Real

NL West: Arizona Diamondbacks

The Diamond backs have made a strong showing out west this year.  They just might have the best pitcher on the planet with the astonishingly good sinkerballer Brandon Webb, and their wins and losses exactly matching their expected record of 34-26 and their average 10-11 record in one-run games point to a team that has not been extraordinarily lucky so far.  However, their closest competition, the Dodgers, have been rather unlucky, sporting a run differential significantly better than the that of the Diamondbacks and an expected win-loss of 36-24.  The Dodgers have also suffered through a horrendous amount of injuries to virtually every established player on their team, yet are still only one game behind Arizona.  Meanwhile, an uninspiring Arizona lineup that is 11th in the NL in homers and 12th in walks will find it tough to hang with the rest of the league when it comes to scoring runs.  As the Dodgers get some of their injured stars back into the lineup, they should be able to make a move for control of the division, and San Francisco, Colorado, and San Diego all are within striking range, less than 5 games back, making things tough for a very mediocre Arizona team.  Verdict: Fluke

Big Thanks go out to Paul, who spent his lunchbreak researching Chris Mihlfeld and his career as a major league trainer. Here it is:

1998 - Albert Pujols enrolls in Maple Woods Community College, a junior college in Kansas City and plays for Chris Mihlfeld, who is the head coach. June 1998 - Mihlfeld is hired for the summer as head strength and conditioning coach for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ Class A organization in the Gulf Coast League. (The first person suspended for steroids in MLB, Alex Sanchez, played for this team in 1998.)

January 1999 - Mihlfeld resigns from Maple Woods to become the minor league strength and conditioning coordinator for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

2003 - Mihlfeld joins the Kansas City Royals as the strength and conditioning coordinator, leaving his job as the minor league strength and conditioning coordinator for the Dodgers.

October 4, 2004: The Kansas City Royals announce the resignation of Chris Mihlfeld, strength and conditioning coordinator. Andy Kettler assumes the role upon Mihlfeld’s departure.

January 20, 2005: In an article in the Kansas City Star, Mike Sweeney discusses his decision to stay in Kansas City and not attend the team’s mini-camp in Arizona. Instead, Sweeney chooses to work on his bad back with Chris Mihlfeld, who had already left the organization a few months earlier to start his own independent training and fitness facility in Pleasant Valley, MO, called Millhouse AEP.

January, 2006: Both Mike Sweeney and Albert Pujols hold clinics on separate occasions at Millhouse AEP.

Finally, here’s a graf from a May 26, 2006 article that appeared in The Sporting News, which includes a quote from Mihlfeld on Pujols’ dedication to proper nutrition:

With the 2006 season just over a third complete, the wheat begins to separate from the chaff and it starts to become clearer which teams might be legitimate playoff contenders and which teams might just be flukes.  So without further ado, let’s have a look at the six current division leaders with an eye towards which teams might still be around in mid October.

AL East: New York Yankees

The Yankees have big pitching problems with the decline of Randy Johnson, the collapse of Aaron Smalls, injuries to Shawn Chacon, Carl Pavano, and Jaret Wright, and one of the weakest bullpens they have ever assembled behind Mariano Rivera.  In addition, serious injuries to Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui have depleted the best lineup in either league. But the bottom line is, the Yankees lineup was so ridiculously strong to start the year that it has been able to absorb the losses of Sheffield and Matsui and still continue to make up for the occasional pitching meltdown.  Meanwhile, the Yankees have both outscored and allowed fewer runs than the Red Sox.  Although the Yankees are definitely not a lock to win the division, they will certainly stick around to the very end.  Verdict: For Real

AL Central: Detroit Tigers

The Tigers have certainly made a strong impression in the first two months, surprising everyone by posting the best record in the Major Leagues as well as the best team ERA.  A few weeks ago, it would have been tempting to say the Tigers were for real. However, the Tigers had built up their amazing numbers by playing almost entirely against teams with losing records. The last 10 games, in which they have gone 3-7 against their main playoff competition in the Yankees, Red Sox, and White Sox, has been a wake-up call, and has shown that the tigers have a ways to go before they can be considered legit.  At this point, to win 95 games, the Tigers would have to go 57-45 the rest of the way, which seems like a pretty tall order with several games left to play against the Yanks, Soxes, and Blue Jays.  Verdict: Fluke

AL West: Texas Rangers

The Rangers have surprised a lot of people by pulling ahead in a division many thought would be dominated by the A’s and Angels.  The Rangers have always had a powerful lineup, but this year there have been some pleasant surprises from the pitching staff, including some nice outings by rookies Kameron Loe and John Koronka, and three dazzling starts by recent call-up John Rheinecker. But on the whole, pitching continues to be the achilles heel of the Rangers. Offseason acquisitions Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla have been busts, and the Rangers certainly regret trading Chris Young, who has blossomed in San Diego, for Adam Eaton, who has yet to pitch an inning. Meanwhile the lineup, although solid, has definitely been missing the big bat and sparkplug play of Alfonso Soriano (even if not missing his defense at second), and things are going to get a lot tougher once the A’s begin to mount their usual late-season charge and the Angels wake up and remember they are the Angels.  Verdict: Fluke

The Jason Grimsley saga is about to get very interesting. We know that Grimsley named names – people who he knew to be using and distributing steroids, amphetamines, and human growth hormone – and now we have our first clues as to who those people are, thanks in large part to the folks at the Smoking Gun and Deadspin.com. How do we know? IRS documents say that Grimsley says a former fitness trainer referred him to an amphetamine source and that this source later became his source for steroids and HGH.

Deadspin says the “former fitness trainer” is a guy named Chris Mihlfeld, who used to work for the Kansas City Royals. Grimsley mentions Mihlfeld in a first-person narrative that he wrote for MLB.com. In that article, Grimsley tells how a twin-engine plane crashed into his house and changed his outlook on his recovery from Tommy John surgery:

That new outlook had a positive effect on the rehabilitation process. It relaxed me. It made me realize that anything that happens from here on in my baseball career is a bonus. I knew I’d been given another chance. So I told my doctor, Timothy Kremchek, and my trainer, Chris Mihlfeld, that my arm felt good and I wanted to step on the gas. I told them, “I want to push it and see if my arm will break. I’m not afraid because I don’t have anything to lose.

Here’s where it gets really, REALLY interesting. Mihlfeld is also the trainer for…wait for it…Albert Pujols. Here’s a blurb from a story in the Kansas City-based Capital Journal about how Pujols went from a 13^th round selection to a baseball GOD:

There were other concerns about [Pujols’] defensive ability and where Pujols would fit on a Major League team.

Consequently, a frustrated Albert Pujols — after spending a year at Kansas City’s Maple Woods Community College, where he met strength and conditioning guru Chris Mihlfeld and started the process of building an Adonis-like upper body– waited 13 rounds before getting the call from the Cardinals.

How long will it be before we see Pujols in front of a grand jury? Stay tuned.

Name one of the three Yankees voted to the All-Star game in 1994.

ANSWER: Jimmy Key, Wade Boggs and Paul O’Neill.