A few weeks ago, Matt Kemp was the Most Valuable Player in the National League. Sort of like last year, except he didn't win an actual trophy because his team wasn't real good. This year his team was real good and, if the balloting had happened a few weeks ago, Kemp would have been the MVP. Unanimously.

Then he hurt his hamstring and went on the Disabled List. And somehow his Dodgers just kept on winning without him, going 9-5 in Kemp's absence.

Well, now it looks like they'll have another chance to shine without their biggest star. Wednesday night, in just his second game after coming off the DL, Kemp re-injured his hamstring while scoring a run against the Brewers in the first inning, and immediately exited the proceedings, though not before snapping a bat over his knee in abject frustration.

There's no word yet on Kemp's immediate future. But with Bobby Abreu ensconced in left field (at least against right-handed pitchers) and Andre Ethier having a great season in right, Tony Gwynn Jr. will slide back into center field until Kemp's healthy.

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Wednesday night, 45-year-old Omar Vizquel stole a base.

This is less impressive than you might think. When Pete Rose was 45, he stole three bases.

When Julio Franco was forty-seven he stole six bases.

Man. It's like Vizquel isn't even trying.

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Jeff Pearlman's got an entertaining piece today about "the Rocker story". As a writer who's annoyed by editors (except when I'm editing), my favorite bit is about what Pearlman didn't like in the published story ...

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Lars Anderson used to be a great prospect. Three years ago, he was the Red Sox's First Baseman of the Future.

That didn't really work out. But Tuesday night in Pawtuckett, Anderson did this:

(Details via Aaron Goldsmith)

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Is Lawrie the greatest fielder in the world?

If you believe the Defensive Runs Saved statistic, then yes he probably is.

But he's probably not.

For more on Lawrie and the complications of measuring defense with all the crazy shifts we're seeing these days, check out Colin Wyers' great piece at Baseball Prospectus.

For everything that's gone wrong for the Minnesota Twins this season, all the miscalculations and misapprehensions and mysterious starting pitchers, one thing has gone oh, so right ...

Josh Willingham

And Willingham's never been so right as Tuesday night, when he unloaded a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the A's ... for whom he played last season, but didn't hit nearly as well.

Because nobody hits well for the A's.

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No other national writer follows the Philadelphia Phillies like Jayson Stark follows the Philadelphia Phillies, so I took special notice when I saw that he'd written something about how that club will be affected by the loss -- for somewhere in the neighborhood of two months -- of Roy Halladay.

Stark (via ESPN.com):

So what was their formula for running off the kind of mid- or late-season winning streaks they've patented in recent years -- like the 49-19 blitz they closed with in 2010? The formula was to get their aces on a roll and ride that wave. That's what. But how does that happen now?

Which means this is a team that will be forced to keep treading water for weeks -- until Utley, Howard and Halladay return. And by then, said one scout, "Washington might run away with that division."

The counter-argument, of course, is that Halladay wasn't himself for most of this year, anyway. Since winning his first three starts of the year, he was 1-5 with a 5.29 ERA, had all but given up on throwing his fastball, and couldn't finish his curve or cutter with any consistency. And still. the Phillies were tough enough to hang in the race, and even to run off 11 wins in their past 16 games.

It's hard to figure how a team without Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Roy Halladay and Vance Worley is going to stay close in the standings and eventually make one of those great closing runs.

But what if this team was with Utley, Howard, Halladay and Worley? In 2010, they began that 49-19 blitz on the 22nd of July. Utley and Howard are supposedly progressing in their rehabs. Worley's expected to rejoin the Phillies' rotation next week. And with Halladay expected to miss six to eight weeks, he should be back by ... well, right around the 22nd of July.

Which isn't to suggest the Phillies will put together another run like that one. Or that when all these guys are healthy, other guys won't be injured. With Halladay out for maybe two months, the Phillies are obviously in bigger trouble than they were already in. But it's not over yet, not by a long shot. The Nationals are overachieving, the Braves suddenly can't pitch, and the Marlins and Mets -- their 27-22 records aside -- have been outscored this season.

The Phillies aren't the favorites any more, because they're in fifth place and they've got big holes. But it's far too early to count them out.

Jon Heyman doesn't seem particularly enthused about Roy Oswalt joining the Texas Rangers. Heyman:

Oswalt has had a terrific career. But as one scout said, "He wasn't great last year.'' He was, in fact, 9-10 with a 3.69 ERA, and that was in the National League. He allowed 153 hits in 139 innings.

A switch, at age 34, to the American League, seems like a gamble at best. It's nice that he'll be near home and with his buddy Ryan, who understandably has a hold over a lot of pitchers.

After all these months, Oswalt made a call to go to a great team in a desired location run by a friend. But I have to wonder whether he would have been better off going back to the Phillies, who treated him great, or even the Dodgers or Cardinals.

The location was important to Oswalt. But the new location in the American League may prove to be a risky spot for a talented pitcher on the downside.

No, he wasn't great last year. But you don't have to be great to be worth $5 million over the course of three months (or four, if you think the Rangers have a good shot at the World Series). He did allow 153 hits in 139 innings, but that's partially because he gave up a .321 batting average on balls in play; his career mark is .301, and he's likely to come in around that mark this season.

Oswalt missed July last season, for various reasons. After returning to the Phillies' rotation, he struck out three times more batters than he walked, and gave up only four home runs in 68 innings. He wasn't great, but he was real good. And real good is worth $5 million.

Of course, there's no guarantee that Oswalt will be real good this year. Presumably the Rangers took a good look, and their doctors took a good look, and if he's healthy there's no reason to think he won't be good. Or even real good.

Yes, maybe he wouldn't have better off with the Phillies, or the Dodgers or the Cardinals. But if he didn't want to pitch for those teams, how well would he have pitched for them?

It's been a rough few days for phenomenal starting pitchers. Sunday, Roy Halladay went down (and now he's going to be out for a while). Monday, Jered Weaver lasted only 10 pitches against the Yankees before exiting with a back injury.

Now the test results are back, and Weaver's going to miss some time:

Jered Weaver has been placed on the 15-day D.L. with a lower back strain with spasms. Garrett Richards has been called up.

— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) May 29, 2012

No prognosis yet, and of course back injuries are notoriously difficult to predict. Like Halladay, Weaver's been particularly durable in recent seasons, and maybe this is merely a quick 15-day blip. Or maybe he'll ... well, let's not speculate about terrible things that might happen.

Garrett Richards struggled during both his short stints with the Angels last season, and his star has fallen somewhat. Once considered a top prospect, Richards has a 4.31 ERA this spring in his first exposure to Class AAA hitters, with an uninspiring 1.7 strikeout-to-walk ratio. But with no other potential starters on the Angels' 25-man roster, it sure looks like Richards will fill Weaver's slot for a while.

Sunday, Phillies ace Roy Halladay left his start against St. Louis after just two innings and 36 pitches.

The reason? Shoulder soreness.

Tuesday, we've learned the soreness was actually caused by a strain. From the Phillies:

Phillies place Roy Halladay on 15-day DL (retroactive to May 28) with right latissimus dorsi strain.

— Phillies (@Phillies) May 29, 2012

The latissimus dorsi, if you're wondering, is a muscle behind the shoulder. Or a character on Game of Thrones. Or, ideally, both.

The Phillies haven't announced a timetable, but Jon Heyman says Halladay will miss 6-8 weeks.

The good news is that Cliff Lee's back in the rotation after a DL stint, and the Phillies do have five four legitimate starting pitchers, if you count Kyle Kendrick. Or five, if you count Dave Bush, who's been pitching well in Class AAA. The bad news is that Ryan Howard and Chase Utley are still out of action, and Jimmy Rollins still isn't hitting.

The Phillies are still only four games out of first place, and they might be heartened by the Braves' eight-game (and counting) losing streak. But their margin for error just got a little thinner. And considering Halladay had thrown at least 220 innings in each of the last six seasons, it was hard to see this one coming.

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In the Roger Clemens perjury trial, the Justice Department has finally, mercifully, rested its case:

The government called the last of its 24 witnesses Tuesday, concluding 19 days of testimony. The last witness was a toxicologist from the FBI who testified about the various forms of vitamin B12.

Including jury selection, the trial is now in its seventh week. It was originally expected to take four to six weeks.

Clemens' lawyers say they will need about two weeks to call their witnesses.

Here's what I want to know ... Who's the genius who was doing the original expecting? Because that dude was way, way off.

Maybe that same guy can estimate how much money our government's going to spend on this trial. Once we've got that figure, we can add 50 percent and we'll probably have a good idea.

People ask me why all the fuss. Well, there should be some penalty for lying to Congress, and perhaps a big trial like this one will serve as a deterrent. Especially if Clemens loses.

Of course, we'd all be better served by a system that penalized Congressmen for lying. But that's too much to hope for.

Two years ago, A's outfielder Sean Doolittle was coming off an injury-plagued season with triple-A Sacramento and Baseball America wrote, "Nevertheless, he looks like a safe bet to be a solid big league hitter, and he could develop more power."

That was then. Now Doolittle's a left-handed relief pitcher, just promoted to Sacramento after striking out 40 batters and walking six in 21⅓ innings this spring between Class A and AA. And if he keeps pitching like that, he'll be with the big club soon enough.

Over at Baseball Musings, David Pinto writes:

The only way to make high strikeout batters less effective is to take away the home run. Then, all those fly balls turn into outs, and the Brett Gardners of the world take over. Major League Baseball tried this for the first 40 years of its existence. Babe Ruth taught them there was a better way.

--snip--

While it might be fun to watch a league where Brett Butler, Juan Pierre, and Coco Crisp are extremely valuable players, I think I prefer to see the ball crushed, and batters get crushed by the likes of Justin Verlander along the way.

Well, then we've simply got a difference of opinion. I like home runs and strikeouts, too; I simply like them less than David Pinto likes them. But my point wasn't that the current levels of strikeouts and home runs are undesirable; my point is that the trends are clear and don't show any signs of letting up, and that in a few years even David Pinto might think there are too many strikeouts.

I'm also not sure I buy his premise, that fewer strikeouts necessarily means fewer home runs. If you dropped the mound by one inch, you would certainly have fewer strikeouts and more home runs. Also, more singles and doubles and triples.

I wouldn't necessarily prescribe a lowering of the mound. But the mound is one of the elements in the equation, along with the baseball and the strike zone and the bats. And lest anyone think that some or all of those elements are sacred, I will mention that all have undergone significant changes over the years.

You want sacred? I'll give you 90 feet between the bases, and 60 feet, 60 inches from the rubber to the plate. All the rest, I think, should be open for negotiation.

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Press release from Major League Baseball:

The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced today that Miami Marlins pitcher Juan Carlos Oviedo has received a suspension of eight weeks for engaging in age and identity fraud.

The suspension of Oviedo, which is effective beginning today, shall be served through Sunday, July 22^nd. Oviedo is eligible to participate in extended Spring Training during the period of his suspension. In addition, during the period of the suspension, Oviedo will be eligible for one rehabilitation assignment to a Minor League affiliate not to exceed 16 days.

This just makes the unofficial, official, as it's been previously reported that Oviedo would draw a two-month suspension. Of course, he used to be Leo Nuñez, the Marlins' closer from 2009 through '11. Oviedo/Nuñez has never been great but he's usually been good, and might ultimately be a closing option for Ozzie Guillen if Heath Bell continues his consistent inconsistency in that role.

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Philadelphia starters have thrown two shutouts this season.

Neither of them were thrown by Roy Halladay. Or Cliff Lee. Or Cole Hamels.

A few weeks ago, Joe Blanton threw his first shutout since 2007. And Saturday night in St. Louis, Kyle Kendrick threw his first shutout since Little League.

Well, probably not since Little League. But Kendrick's seven-hitter against the Cardinals was his first whitewash in the majors, and it came in his 104th start.