Enemy Lines

Two advance scouts, one from each league, reflect on what they saw and heard last week:

The Red Sox are in chaos. In the middle of a division race they handed the managing job to someone [ Joe Kerrigan] with no managerial experience at any level, and he's already cost them games with bad pitching moves and poor decisions about sending base runners....

Jermaine Dye has brought balance to the Oakland lineup. With him the A's are as good as Seattle. And their rotation, with three guys who can shut out any team on any given night, will be scary in the playoffs....

The Blue Jays are playing better now that it doesn't count. That club has a lot of selfish players and needs to be blown up....

The Indians' young pitchers are impressive. Lefthander C.C. Sabathia [14-4, 4.42 ERA] is making a believer out of me, and the kid they called up last Saturday, righthander Ryan Drese, might have the best stuff I've seen in the minor leagues this year. He throws 92 to 95 mph and has a good hard slider and curve—the weapons to be a top-of-the-rotation guy....

The Mariners' bats have gone cold, and they're not playing all that well. I expect they'll turn it back up as the playoffs approach, but there are still some doubts about them. They're an old club, one injury from being in trouble....

The Rockies are showing a breath of life. Their kids up the middle, shortstop Juan Uribe and second baseman Jose Ortiz, are playing well, and outfielder Alex Ochoa has brought energy to the team since coming over from the Reds. Add three young starters who have pitched well [righthanders Shawn Chacon, Jason Jennings and John Thomson], and there's cause for at least some optimism in Colorado about next year.