The Week That Was
Remembering Jack Buck
The death of Jack Buck has left a void in all of baseball, but especially for St. Louis Cardinals fans. Besides being one of the best-known and best-loved broadcasters, Buck had a gracious personal touch that was evident in the several conversations I was privileged to have with him over the years.

I appreciated the time he took to answer my questions about broadcasting as I began my new post-playing career.

I also had the chance to work with his son, Joe Buck, in the mid-1990s. Joe was the play-by-play man while I did the color commentary when the Baseball Network paired a broadcaster from each team in the booth. Joe was proud of his father -- and it was a mutual feeling. You could see Jack's face light up when the subject of conversation was his son. Jack felt that his greatest achievement was raising a son who was not only an outstanding broadcaster but also a decent human being.

Clearly, Jack has left his legacy in good hands.

Twins Still Terrific

	Guzman

Last year, the Minnesota Twins had a tremendous first half, and they find themselves in a similar situation this year. The Twins had the second-best record at the All-Star break last season, but then collapsed in the second half. They learned from that experience -- I don't see a collapse occurring this season.

The Twins are fundamentally sound. They play terrific defense and don't often beat themselves. Except for the Seattle Mariners, the Twins have probably the best defensive infield in baseball: Corey Koskie at third, Cristian Guzman at short, Luis Rivas at second and Doug Mientkiewicz at first. And Torii Hunter is one of the top three center fielders in the game (with Andruw Jones and Jim Edmonds ... and add Ken Griffey Jr. to that short list when he's healthy).

Because the Twins don't play in a major market, it might surprise some fans that Hunter, Jacque Jones, A.J. Pierzynski and Dustan Mohr are all hitting better than .300 -- in Hunter's case, with power (16 home runs).

The bigger surprise so far has been the bullpen. The Twins started the season without an established closer, but Eddie Guardado (20 saves, 2.41 ERA) has excelled in the role. LaTroy Hawkins, who saved 28 games last year but hasn't closed this year, has pitched well (1.81 ERA) in various roles. Johan Santana is a promising young left-hander.

What's amazing is that the Twins are leading the AL Central by four games with a starting rotation that's ranked 29th in the majors in ERA. Joe Mays and Brad Radke, two of their top three starters, have been injured for most of the season.

In the long run, the Twins are built to a certain extent like last year's Mariners -- they won't win 116 games, but they're built more for the regular season than for the postseason. The starting pitchers will determine how far the Twins go. The starters need to rebound -- and they surely need a healthy Radke and Mays.

D-Backs Deliver on Offense, Defense

	Mantei

I'm surprised the Arizona Diamondbacks have just a one-game lead over the Dodgers in the NL West. A glance at the statistics shows that the D-Backs lead the NL in runs scored (371) and are tied for second in home runs (79). Their pitchers lead the majors in strikeouts (580) while allowing the fewest walks (169). Arizona also leads the majors in defense. There's a cause-and-effect relationship between the strikeouts and the defense (it's hard to make an error on a strikeout).

The D-Backs have gotten maximum mileage out of their talent while dealing with plenty of injuries. Matt Mantei, who can set up or close, hasn't thrown a pitch this season, and starter Todd Stottlemyre has been hurt. Third baseman Matt Williams, who hasn't played all season, is getting ready for a minor-league rehab stint. Erubiel Durazo missed a lot of time, and Jay Bell has been out. Danny Bautista hurt his left shoulder. But the D-Backs still find ways to win.

The injured player Arizona needs most right now is Mantei. Other than Byung-Hyun Kim, the bullpen is thin. So they need Mantei back as a reliable set-up guy for Kim.

Braves Boast a No-Name Bullpen
The Twins aren't the only team with an unheralded but successful bullpen. The Atlanta Braves have had some pleasant surprises, too.

Chris Hammond, who was out of baseball for two years, is 5-2 with a 1.72 ERA. Darren Holmes, out last year with a back injury, has a 1.76 ERA. Kevin Gryboski, who spent seven years in the minors, has a terrific sinker and a 1.30 ERA. Kerry Ligtenberg (2.08) and Mike Remlinger (1.56) have excelled in set-up roles.

Pitching coach Leo Mazzone has a great track record with Atlanta's staff. The Braves have been first or second in pitching throughout his tenure. But Leo quips that he'd become stupid pretty fast if Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine left. He deflects the praise, but he also deserves plenty of credit.

The Braves are a perfect example of why the single most important coach on a major-league club (aside from the manager) is the pitching coach. If pitching is 75 percent of the game, the importance of the pitching coach is self-evident.

Keep An Eye On...
Surprise! A's Surging

	Zito

Keep an eye on the Oakland Athletics. I'm glad for manager Art Howe and the A's, who started poorly but now sit just four games behind the Mariners in the AL West. Given the emergence of the Anaheim Angels, I didn't think the A's would be able to make a run. But they've proven me wrong -- which is fine with me, because the more teams in the race, the more interesting it gets.

The A's have won 20 of their past 25 games -- with Tim Hudson, Barry Zito and Mark Mulder going 11-0 during that streak. As Peter Gammons reminded viewers recently, Zito is 22-4 in his past 26 decisions. Until this streak, Zito had been the only A's starter pitching consistently.

For the A's to sustain a run at the Mariners, the Big Three are key. Not many would have predicted a three-team race in the AL West at the start of the season, but the Angels have surprised and now the A's are right back in it. Stay tuned.

Cubs Need Wood Resurgence
Keep an eye on Kerry Wood and the Chicago Cubs. If the Cubs can really get on a run, similar to the A's 20-5 streak, they might be able to get back in the NL Central or wild-card hunt. But the first goal is to get back to .500. They're 29-41 and 11 games out of first, so a 20-5 run would make them 49-46.

Among the Chicago Cubs' starters, Jon Lieber and Mark Prior are pitching well, and Jason Bere had an encouraging outing this week. But Wood (6-5, 4.00) has not been a No. 1-type pitcher this season. He has had some good games, but has been erratic in others. When a team puts together a winning streak, it means the starters are getting the job done. For the Cubs to go on a run, they need Wood pitching well.

Wood's most recent outing (against the White Sox) was rough, and he took responsibility for it -- he said that he was letting the team down. He's been an enigma. He's been trying to rework his breaking ball, because his old delivery on his nasty curve/slider was putting too much strain on his arm. His troubles are a combination of mechanics and the mental aspect -- the two go hand-in-hand, because when your mechanics go, it affects your confidence. He's a work-in-progress.

If I Were The Skipper...
The Question: Mark Prior's Pitch Count

	Prior

Mark Prior has had relatively high pitch counts in his three most recent starts (124, 118 and 107 in five innings Wednesday night vs. the Texas Rangers). If you were manager Don Baylor, how would you manage the game-to-game pitch count of your young pitching phenom so as to help the Cubs win and at the same time protect his arm?

Campbell's Call
Like Baylor, I was not a pitcher, so I would defer to the expertise of my pitching coach. I have a great deal of respect for Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild.

Numbers sometimes can be misleading. Did Prior labor to throw 124 pitches? A pitching coach will notice mechanics; a pitcher's body language tells a lot, too. Twenty years ago a pitch count of 124 was low. The game is different now, but I don't know if it's an improvement. Starters like Warren Spahn and Robin Roberts would routinely throw 300-plus innings each season in a four-man rotation -- and sometimes 160 to 170 pitches per game. Their arms were used to it, and they remained effective.

The pitch count is one of the great debates in baseball today. But as for Prior, I would defer to Rothschild.

Ballpark Focus: Turner Field, Atlanta
Turner Field was built as an Olympic Stadium and converted after the 1996 Atlanta Games. It's a bit of a cookie-cutter park in terms of the dimensions -- there are no real idiosyncrasies -- but it offers the amenities and total experience of the newer parks like Camden Yards, Jacobs Field and others.

Turner is a pitcher's park. There are no cheap home runs from left-center (380 feet) to right-center (390), and the center-field fence is 401 feet away. There's plenty of room for gifted center fielder Andruw Jones to roam and make plays.

Turner certainly suits Atlanta's pitching staff, which has been among baseball's best for a decade-plus ... although Braves pitchers excelled at the team's previous home, Fulton-County Stadium -- which was known as the Launching Pad.

The Braves did a tremendous job making Turner a fan-friendly park. Amenities and attractions include pitching and batting machines, a museum and a monument area (with statues of Hank Aaron, Phil Niekro and Ty Cobb). A trip to Turner is a great experience for fans.

Editor's Note: All statistics are through Thursday's games. Dave Campbell, who was an infielder for eight seasons in the major leagues (1967-74), is an analyst for Baseball Tonight and ESPN Radio.