Our landlord recently told us that she’s not going to let us renew our lease, so Suz and I have had to find a new place to live. We found an apartment in a duplex right down the street and it’s great, but it’s a little smaller than the place we’re in now so we’re going to have to get rid of a few things. This morning we sold two end tables and a matching coffee table. Thank god for Craigslist, eh?

Suz and I are going to miss our spacious house and our lovely end tables, but there’s a feeling of freedom that comes with simplifying one’s life. It can be good to downsize, to divest oneself of excess baggage.

Rob Neyer agrees (subscription required). Today he blogs about some of the players he’d kick out of the baseball Hall of Fame. He says he’d boot about 25 percent of Hall members.

Neyer’s attitude is downright umpbumpian. This winter, Nick wrote two posts on the topic of “fixing the hall.” In the first, he talked about the players he wants to induct. In the second, he talked about the players he wants to kick out. Give them a read to see how Nick and Neyer match up.

Today, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick hands out some midseason awards and he names Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana the best 1-2 punch in baseball. I beg to differ.

Don’t get me wrong, Santana is the real deal, boasting 99 strikeouts and only 28 walks. And Saunders is on a heck of a run, to be sure. But I don’t think we can rank him among baseball’s elite starters just because he’s won a lot of games. He’s got 49 strikeouts, which doesn’t even place him among the top 100 on the leader board. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is a pedestrian 2:1. And, frankly, he’s been more lucky than good this first half, with a babip of .241. You think that’s gonna last? Me neither.

What about Dan Haren and Brandon Webb, who Crasnick awarded an honorable mention? Between them they have 175 Ks (Santana and Saunders have 148). Haren has a K/BB ratio of better than 5:1. Webb’s is nearly 4:1. If we’re going by wins, which is a terrible way to evaluate a pitcher, Santana and Saunders have a one win advantage. But that’s pretty much the only advantage they have.

I think Santana and Saunders have been great so far. But I think Haren and Webb have been a little better. And I think they’ll continue to be an elite 1-2 punch going forward.

Who’s going to win the award for best 1-2 punch when it’s handed out in September? I think the Angels pitchers are likely to keep the prize, but not the same Angels pitchers. Santana might just maintain his dominance, but look for John Lackey to supplant Saunders as the ace of the staff. Other candidates to win best 1-2 punch when it’s handed out in September: Roy Halladay and Shaun Marcum, Rich Harden and Justin Duchscherer, Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster, and Josh Beckett and Dice-K.