On One Hand/On the Other

On one hand:
I was convinced the AL Central race was over on Sunday, after Detroit finished its cakewalks about negligible NL East opponents and we barely salvaged one game against the godawful Nationals. Detroit was looking too good, the overtake was overdue, hello wildcard race. Well, guess what? We've taken 3 of 4 from Oakland — always a June juggernaut, and the Rangers made the Tigers look decidedly mortal. What a difference three days make.

On the other:
We're still down a half-game, and I'd have preferred the Texas/Detroit game not be rained out yesterday. Better to play that game while the Tigers were reeling.

On one hand:
This is Franklin Gutierrez's time to shine, and he's doing it. After all this time, I have to say I'm a believer. Kelly Shoppach, too. Who knew he'd be the best player involved in the Coco Crisp trade?

On the other:
How far do we go with an outfield of Sizemore, Gutierrez, and Michaels? How do we get Kelly his ABs, given the logjam of Martinez, Shoppach, Hafner, and Garko out here in C/1B/DH-Land?

On one hand:
Things are looking up for Pronk. A couple of home runs, a rocket of a game-tying double on Tuesday night — and from what I'm hearing on the radio, a lot of hard-hit balls on which Oakland's fielders have just made great plays.

On the other:
Over the past six weeks we've seen more than a few false starts for Hafner. And the minute I declare he's out of his slump, he goes 0 for his next 10. And I'm starting to get suspicious re exactly how "loud" Pronk's outs really are. Hammy's an enthusiastic guy, and Hafner seems to have an awful lot of woulda coulda shoulda base hits, when Hamilton's doing the play-by-play.

On one hand:
CC has been absolutely dominating. Once Danny Haren regresses to the mean, Sabathia has to be the Cy Young candidate. I don't want to hear about Josh Beckett. These days it's a rare occasion when CC doesn't go nine.

On the other:
Heretofore reliable Paul Byrd's ERA has been climbing. And what in the name of all that's holy happened to Carmona last night? I worry — not so much about Byrd (though I've come to the realization that he's not going to return to sub-4.00-ERA form), but about Carmona: his shattered psyche was exposed for all the world to see last year. I don't want to see the blood-and-guts of it again. Hopefully the last two months have given him the confidence just to shake off this last performance. He has to know he has the stuff not only to win in the bigs, but to dominate.

On one hand:
Rafaels Betancourt and Perez. Can you dig it? Some kind of nickname is in order. Daffy Raffys? The Catast-Raffys?

On the other:
We need one more arm. Just one more arm in the 'pen. And please God, let it come from within the system. I couldn't stand to see us get in a bidding war for the likes of Akinori Otsuka — even if he does come with the double-bonus of Detroit not getting him.

That's all I've got.