American League pennant races heating up

With seven of its 14 teams fighting tooth and nail for the final playoff berths in the American League, there is no short supply of intense, riveting games as we trudge through September. With less than a month remaining, the fine line between contenders and pretenders will become more defined.

As far as teams losing their juice late in the season is concerned, public enemy number one are the Kansas City Royals. From the early stages of their hot start this season, we have been hearing the skeptics explain to us how this small market club cannot possibly compete until the end. And now those skeptics appear to be correct. In the end, it comes down to pitching.

This team can acquire all the Kevin Appiers and Graeme Lloyds it wants, but in today's big league baseball, a team needs at least three All-Star caliber guys to stay in it for the long haul. If the Royals somehow squeeze into the playoffs, Tony Pena should still be up for Manager of the Year.

Another squad that is slowly allowing their season to slip away is the often forgotten but never imitated Seattle Mariners. Since the All-Star break, the M's have seen their dominance slowly recede to mere solid baseball. In their last eleven games, they have been facing the cupcakes in their schedule (the Orioles and the Devil Rays in home and home series). Their 6-5 record in these games is hardly anything to marvel at.

There have been some glaring factors that have contributed to Seattle's recent mediocrity. Ichiro, once an MVP candidate, has cooled off considerably as of late. He has dropped from the top of the league batting leaders to fifth, and his decline has shown no signs of letting up. John Olerud has been off his game as well, with an average (.274) well below his career mark. Edgar Martinez (.296) has appeared rather human as well.

While 40-year old starting pitcher Jamie Moyer is still chugging along (17-7, 3.55 ERA), one-time studs Gil Meche, Joel Pineiro and Ryan Franklin have seen their good fortune go the other way as of late. This, combined with a bullpen that lost Jeff Nelson and didn't gain anyone else of any value, leaves question marks across the board.

But this past weekend, the only subplot in the AL races that held much water was the New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox series in the Bronx. With New Englanders still feeling the hangover from the Patriots' Lawyer Milloy decision, the Red Sox' winning ways were a welcome sight. For once, the Sox are not the ones completely breaking Boston fans' collective hearts. But let's not jump to any conclusions.

As much turmoil as there has been around Manny's antics and Pedro's love for crying over spilled milk, the rest of this Sox team contains enough character guys (Kevin Millar, Bill Mueller, David Ortiz) who have been able to have career years while also boosting club morale. Last year, there were too many "clubhouse/character" guys who couldn't produce consistently (Tony Clark, Carlos Baerga, Rey Sanchez).

With the Yankees supposedly swirling (at least according to their owner), there is no better time than now for our hometown team to put the ghosts of September's past behind them and treat this as a new year.

While the Sox have the lineup, the fact that their bullpen has shown up lately has been a tremendous boost. The most promising part has been that they have finally been able to protect the leads Pedro has left them with.

Pedro is making a case for himself for the Cy Young Award with the manner he has been going about his business. To lead the league in ERA (2.48) and strikeouts (178) is no small task, especially considering he missed five starts midseason. His pouty yet competitive attitude aside, the spark he lights under a ball club is unparalleled in the big leagues.