The doldrums are in the sea, places near the equator wherethere are seldom winds, and few ocean currents to carry a ship. The unfortunate ship which finds itself inthe doldrums might fall into ennui, and then starvation, casting about for somemovement, anything interesting, which might carry them back into theaction. This is one of those rareweekends in the sports world, where not much definitive seems to be going on. Baseball fittingly fills this type of hole in any SummerSeason. While High School and Collegeplayoffs reach their conclusions these days, Major League Baseball is barelygetting started. Nonetheless, the New YorkYankees are, predictably, at the top of the overall standings for both leaguesand all six divisions. They also leadthe Eastern Division of the American League, of course, but are just ahead ofthe Boston Red Sox, who have both a few more wins and losses, in both leaguesand their division. .679 is nothing tosneeze at. In the American League Central Division, the ClevelandIndians are the only team currently above .500, at .536. In the American League Western Division, 4 ofthe 5 teams are above .500, with the Houston Astros leading with .627, followedby the Seattle Mariners with .607, the California Angels with .534, and theOakland Athletics with .517. The National League presents a different picture. All teams except the Central Division's MilwaukeeBrewers are below .600. The Brewers aresitting pretty at .621, with the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals notfar behind. In the Eastern Division, the Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals,and Philadelphia Phillies all stand above .500. In the NL West, only the Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks currently rate above .500in the standings. Non North Americans may not know that Major League Baseballplayers play in a couple of hundred games a year. The percentages are based ontheir wins vs. losses on a particular day in the season. The Yankees, then, have won 36 games and lost17 games so far. In Australia, in Aussie Rules Football, the West Coast Eagles,currently in first place, will take onold favorites St. Kilda, who are havinga startlingly bad year, and are currently 16th out of 18th on the ladder. The Eagles, who are of course highly favored,and who have won all but one of their most recent meetings with St. Kilda, will host this night game at their home, theOptus Stadium in Perth. The stage could be set for a mauling when struggling St Kildareturns to Perth for the second time this season. West Coast reeled off aninth-straight victory with a grinding road win over Hawthorn last round andcan enter the mid-season bye a game clear on top of the ladder with victoryover the Saints. They are alsoapproaching a team record for win streaks, and want to break the oldrecord. Richmond and Port Adelaide, both strong teams, were easilydispatched by the Eagles at Optus Stadium over the last two weeks. It has become one of the AFL's mostformidable venue for opposition teams. St Kilda, which lost to Fremantle by fivegoals in round eight in Perth, showed some pluck against the Tigers at the MelbourneCricket Grounds, but it would take a massive lift for Alan Richardson's men toworry West Coast. The Saints are winless since round one and lack firepower. Anothernight game will feature the Essendon Bombers against the Richmond Tigers. So the Doldrums, and some action... -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "omnisport" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/omnisport. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
