It was a quiet weekend in baseball – overshadowed on Saturday by a handful of interesting football games (Michigan vs. Notre Dame and USC vs. Ohio State) and a solid compliment of professional football games finishing with Chicago at Green Bay on Sunday night.  In fact, it was the type of weekend that doesn’t bode well for baseball getting many headlines between now and the playoffs…

There’s really only one division race (NL West), and really only two teams competing for the wild cards in each league (Colorado and either SF or Florida, each with holes, or Boston and Texas).  While a couple of career or season milestones are nice for a day or two (Jeter passing Gehrig, for example), there just won’t be enough day-to-day elements to carry MLB for three more weeks.

Of course, I’ll still be watching baseball, preparing for the fantasy playoffs and wondering why it took 50 years of The Tonight Show’s success to decide to try it an hour earlier…  And, I spent a few hours with a spreadsheet and the 1930 NL pitching and fielding data sheets.  I’ll write about that tomorrow, I guess.

So what’s news?

Tim Lincecum is about ready to test his tweaked lower back.  He’ll open for the Giants against the Rockies Monday night in a last gasp shot at closing the gap.  The Giants sweep, and we’ll have something to watch for the next several days.  [ESPN]

Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton’s back received two more shots, and the hope is that Hamilton will be able to play next weekend.  The Rangers are chasing Boston and the Angels and need all the available bodies on hand as possible.  [SI]

Meanwhile, teammate Kevin Millwood is doing extra work with his mechanics trying to get out of a slump.  He MAY miss a turn, as the Rangers open a series against the Angels (another good series to watch if you are a baseball fan).  [MLB]

Colorado may get two pitchers back soon.  Both Aaron Cook and Jose Contreras made bullpen sessions, and are a simulated game or so away from making a major league appearance. Cook has a sore shoulder, while Contreras has a quad injury – he can throw, but not field.  [MLB]

Finally, John Smoltz will miss a turn to rest a sore shoulder.  Smoltz expects to miss only the one start, then make his start against Chicago next week.  He added that if the playoffs were going on, he’d have figured out a way not to miss his turn.  [FoxSports]

Welcome Back! Sort of…  John Maine made a start Sunday for the Mets – but the Phillies pounded him around a piece…