What is up with Jose Bautista?

Apparently a lot of baseballs are up, up, way up for Bautista. The surprising Major League home run leader is hitting the ball in the air 53% of the time compared to a career 44%. He is also hitting those fly balls out of the park at almost twice the rate of his career average. This all suggests a drop to come but it may not be as drastic as many are expecting. He is striking out at a slightly lower rate and walking more often. He is seeing the ball better than ever before in his career and this is translating to a more confident swing. ZiPS predicts a drop off but still projects him for more than 30 HR. 35 is a realistic number for this season and 25-30 seems like a reasonable number for the following few seasons.

Yunel Escobar looking more golden than silver

Coming into this season Yunel Escobar was one of the National League's top hitting shortstops. In 2010 it is unlikely he will be nominated for a Silver Slugger while struggling at the plate with a .224 AVG and 0 HR. Early in the year it has been his glove that has been doing much of the damage. Watching him the past couple of days I have seen him make a number of Gold Glove worthy plays. Somewhat surprisingly his glovework has gone generally unnoticed despite leading all SS with 22 Total Zone runs last season. His high error totals are the only thing keeping him from Gold Glove consideration. The low numbers at the plate won't help his odds of bringing home some hardware but his bat is coming around hitting .390 over his last 9 games (13-33). Injuries have slowed him so far in 2010 but a healthy Escobar could get some buzz come award season.

Too late for Galarraga, still time for John Lindsey

With fans everywhere calling for the Jim Joyce call to be reversed, the question begs whether it's too late. In my mind the moment Joyce called Jason Donald safe it was too late to reverse the call. Selig and co. are likely to agree no matter what the masses think. Galarraga knows he threw a perfect game, Joyce knows, the whole world knows so what's the point in undercutting the game and its tradition? It may not be right but it's the way things go in baseball.

While it's too late for an umpire's call to be reversed it's still not too late for a ball player's big league dreams. John Lindsey is a minor league veteran of 17 years and has yet to step foot in a major league batters box. It's not for a lack of talent either. Lindsey has been a talented hitter for some time now but for various reasons has yet to reach his goal of a big league at-bat. Through 46 games in the AAA Pacific Coast League he leads all players with a .411 AVG and ranks second with a 1.162 OPS.

His path to the Dodgers is blocked by James Loney and a promotion seems unlikely even with a Loney injury. It would be nice to see the 33 year old's dream come true and maybe it's time for the Dodgers to trade him to a team willing to give him a chance. Sure he may not become an All-Star but with the production he has sustained over his lengthy minor league career he is likely to prove valuable on a big league roster somewhere.

Chris Capuano making return to big league

A story that has flown under the radar is the return of the once promising Chris Capuano who broke out with an 18 win campaign in 2005. However, after pitching 440.1 in two seasons, he developed elbow problems. After 2 Tommy John surgeries a return to Rookie Ball and a strong showing in AAA this year, Capuano is making his return to the biggest stage. While a return to old form is unlikely it's nice to see a guy I once cheered for take the mound.

Nobody's Perfect

With 2 outs and a perfect game on the line Jim Joyce made one of the worst missed calls in baseball history. Replays showed Jason Donald was clearly out on what should have been the 27th out but Joyce called him safe. Armando Galarraga and his Tigers teammates could not believe the call.

Internet forums quickly flooded with people calling for Joyce's dismissal. While the call was bad it is still a bit harsh to fire him over it. A part of the game is human error and umpires miss calls from time to time. Just because the mistake was made during such an important moment does not make it a reason for his career to end. Had the call been made during a slugfest no one would have said a thing and internet fools would have to find another topic to flex their lack of rationality on.

Others are saying the MLB should reverse the call and reward Galarraga with the perfect game. This is unlikely to happen and quite frankly would be quite disappointing if they did. This would be a blow to the integrity of the game. As stated above, human error is a part of the game and always has been. What is to say this wasn't the first time a call was blown during what would have been a perfect game? It happened, it sucks, get over it. Armando Galarraga's name is sure to be mentioned during any perfect game discussion anyway.

Bring on the instant replay debate.

Dangerous Dan Haren pitches gem for D-Backs as well as fantasy owners

He may not have thrown a perfect game, or complete game, or even record the win for that matter, but Dan Haren still pitched one of the season's best games tonight. Throwing 8 shut out innings, he made 126 pitches in a thrilling pitcher's duel. 84 of Haren's pitches went for strikes and the majority of his 42 balls were just off the plate.

John Ely pitched brilliantly opposite Haren going 7 innings allowing 2 hits.

As if the pitching duel wasn't enough, legendary broadcaster it was Vin Scully calling the game.

Haren went 8 innings thanks in part to his skills with the bat. Being as Scully called him "undoubtedly the best hitting pitcher in the National League" he was kept in the game when batting in the bottom of the 7th.

This ability with the bat adds another dimension to his fantasy value. Keep this in mind on draft day if looking for innings. Innings often lead to more wins and the boost in strikeouts is also a nice touch.