With a full slate of games, MLB tonight continued to confound us in one of the tipsy topsiest seasons I can ever remember. The Twins and White Sox lost...AGAIN. The Cardinals lost AGAIN as the Dodgers actually scored six runs tonight. Pujols went 0-5 in that game and has dropped thirty points on his average in the last week and a half. Meanwhile, the Cubbies finally won a game as Sammy Sosa hit another homer with three RBI.
To continue the madness, the Blue Jays, who a few weeks ago looked unbeatable, blew another lead. This time they were up 7-3 late in the game and lost 8-7. The Cincinnati Reds, who a few weeks ago looked ready to contend with the other three teams in their division continued a really poor losing streak and were down 6-0 before three outs in the first inning were recorded.
I will resume my call for Bob Boone's job in Cincinnati. I really believe that team could use a spark much like the spark that the Florida Marlins have received with their managerial change. It's time to try something different in Cincy. The only bright spot for Cincy was that Griffey hit a homer.
Well, the Fan is back from Florida after an eighteen day vacation. I miss the palm trees and the Atlantic Ocean, but I don't miss the constant smell of exhaust fumes and the moisture in the air. We arrived back in Maine today and it was a breezy 73 degrees with no humidity and fresh clean air. It's good to be home. I did a fair job of keeping the blog going while I was gone though I did miss about three days. Things will be more stable now.
I was very glad to see Geoff Jenkins get voted into the AllStar game. He really deserves it after working hard from a very ugly injury to play the way he is playing.
I saw an amazing stat tonight stating that Ichiro has had seven consecutive multi-hit games. That's a hot hitter! I was watching the highlight show and saw him jack a leadoff pitch for a very long homerun. He is so quick that he could probably do that forty times a year if he wanted to. His only weakness is a 95 MPH fastball up and in. But then again, he has plenty of company there.
Speaking of a fastball, I had a rare chance to watch Eric Gagne tonight and he is amazing. He dispatched of the hot Jim Edmonds and a dangerous, but slumping Albert Pujols. There are only a few relievers who can dominate the way he can: Rivera and Smoltz. That's it. Those three are in a class by themselves. You might think Billy Wagner belongs in there but he is a step down from the top three because his mighty fastball is pretty much straight without a lot of movement and he can be beat.
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
Monday, July 07, 2003
The Chicago Cubs and MLB suffered a major blow with the injury to Corey Patterson. Patterson tore up his ACL in his knee on a close play at first base yesterday. His injury will end his season.
Patterson blossomed into one of the brightest young stars in the league under Dusty Baker (who we'll discuss a bit later). Such blossomings are what makes baseball such a fun game to follow. Patterson was batting .298 at the time with 13 homer, 55 RBI with 16 stolen bases and was playing great defense. The Fan wishes the best for Corey and hopes that the injury can be overcome with hard work.
It's hard not to think of Jermaine Dye at a time like this. Dye just came into his own when he was traded to Oakland during the race a few years back. Dye helped the A's get to the playoffs and then in those playoffs horribly broke his leg. Dye has never been the same player since and now has a severely separated shoulder after a collision at the plate. Sad.
This has been a year marred by injuries to exciting players. Ken Griffey was poised after years of injuries to have a big year. He hit ten homers during Spring Training. A few games into the season and he separates his shoulder. He has struggled since and is currently batting .238. Sad.
Speaking of sad and the Cubs, it hasn't been a good month for the club with the Patterson injury topping the list. First you have Sammy Sosa's unfortunate problem with his bat. Next, you have all those blown saves with terrible relief pitching. Then you have Dusty Baker opening his mouth and inserting his foot. Basically, what Dusty said was that latino and black players are better suited to hot summer baseball than their white counterparts.
I remember that it wasn't too long ago that Al Campanis lost his baseball executive job after a wonderful career because he stated that blacks run better and are stronger than whites. While I'm not a fan of the politically correct, Baker's statements will result in a slap on the wrist because Dusty is African-American while Campanis was white. There is something wrong with that.
I don't have a problem with Baker having that opinion but in his position, he should have kept that opinion to himself. His statements are embarrassing to baseball in a time when baseball is in a position to aid in the end to blind and ignorant racism in America.
And one more Cubs sad comment before we call it a night (and I like the Cubs and want them to win). They have stated their disappointment in not being able to trade for Mike Lowell because they need a bat at third base. It seems to me that they had one Bill Mueller and let him go. He's only hitting .330 for the Red Sox this season.
Patterson blossomed into one of the brightest young stars in the league under Dusty Baker (who we'll discuss a bit later). Such blossomings are what makes baseball such a fun game to follow. Patterson was batting .298 at the time with 13 homer, 55 RBI with 16 stolen bases and was playing great defense. The Fan wishes the best for Corey and hopes that the injury can be overcome with hard work.
It's hard not to think of Jermaine Dye at a time like this. Dye just came into his own when he was traded to Oakland during the race a few years back. Dye helped the A's get to the playoffs and then in those playoffs horribly broke his leg. Dye has never been the same player since and now has a severely separated shoulder after a collision at the plate. Sad.
This has been a year marred by injuries to exciting players. Ken Griffey was poised after years of injuries to have a big year. He hit ten homers during Spring Training. A few games into the season and he separates his shoulder. He has struggled since and is currently batting .238. Sad.
Speaking of sad and the Cubs, it hasn't been a good month for the club with the Patterson injury topping the list. First you have Sammy Sosa's unfortunate problem with his bat. Next, you have all those blown saves with terrible relief pitching. Then you have Dusty Baker opening his mouth and inserting his foot. Basically, what Dusty said was that latino and black players are better suited to hot summer baseball than their white counterparts.
I remember that it wasn't too long ago that Al Campanis lost his baseball executive job after a wonderful career because he stated that blacks run better and are stronger than whites. While I'm not a fan of the politically correct, Baker's statements will result in a slap on the wrist because Dusty is African-American while Campanis was white. There is something wrong with that.
I don't have a problem with Baker having that opinion but in his position, he should have kept that opinion to himself. His statements are embarrassing to baseball in a time when baseball is in a position to aid in the end to blind and ignorant racism in America.
And one more Cubs sad comment before we call it a night (and I like the Cubs and want them to win). They have stated their disappointment in not being able to trade for Mike Lowell because they need a bat at third base. It seems to me that they had one Bill Mueller and let him go. He's only hitting .330 for the Red Sox this season.
Sunday, July 06, 2003
I wish that when the commissioner's office determines what is best for the fans, that he would ask us. I have been against the new format of the AllStar Game from the beginning and the voting today and the quotes from at least the AL Manager show that what is best for the fans is not what is going to happen.
The Flagrant Fan is a typical fan. True baseball fans love baseball and its great players past and present. True baseball fans could care less who wins the AllStar Game. What true fans want is to see the year's best players and a representation by the best active career players who are still performing well. To not have a chance to see Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa is terrible.
Let's first look at the obvious gaffes. Vernon Wells should be starting over the Yankee's Matsui. Matsui should be on the squad, but Wells is having the superior year. Nomar Garciaparra should definitely start over Alex Rodriguez. Don't get me wrong, Rodriguez is the best player in baseball, but Nomar is having a better year.
Kerry Woods should not be on the squad (barely over .500) and Dontrelle Willis should be. Jorge Posada is having a good power year but should not be starting over the Twins catcher or the Red Sox catcher. And the biggest gaffe of them all? Carl Everett should NOT be on the squad. He had a great start but has cooled off and is hitting only .270+ for the season. He should not get the nod over his own teammates, Frank Thomas and Maglio Ordonez nevermind the ten other players in the league who are having better years.
I also have a big problem with the amount of relief pitchers chosen over starting pitchers. Starting pitchers have a harder job, plain and simple. The top of the year's group should be on the squad along with two closers and maybe the best setup man.
The other gripe will be pressure for the teams' manager NOT to play everyone over trying to win the game. We're the fans. We want to see as many players as possible. We don't want to see the same players the whole game. That's not an AllStar game. The whole thing smells and maybe this fan will protest by not watching at all. Take that, Mr. Commissioner.
By the way, does anyone else but me see how much Bill Gates has come to resemble Bud Selig?
The Yankees did manage to win the third game of their Series with Boston. The Red Sox could have really made a statement with a sweep but were not able to do so. There are some positive signs for the Yankees. Soriano had a bit of a slump but is now back up to .300. Jeter was hitting in the .260's but is now back up to .297 and unbelievably, Hidecki Matsui is batting .311! Karim Garcia was a good pickup but I'm not sure of why they would want Curtis Pride, a .256 lifetime journeyman outfielder. That doesn't make sense. But Pride was called up from Columbus and will be a moot point when Bernie Williams comes back.
Now it's time to look at the Fan's favorite boxscore players and how they fared for the week:
- Rocco Baldelli. Rocco is still struggling and was only 5 for 21 (.238) last week with only one extra base hit and one RBI. His average for the year is down to .309. The upside is that he has over a hundred hits halfway through the season.
- Coco Crisp. Coco puffed up a bit this week as he batted .294 for the week with nine runs scored! He has raised his season average up to .225.
- Hank Blalock. Blalock keeps chugging along as he batted .308 for the week with two homers. His season average is still over .330. Go Hank go!
- Mark Teixeira. Teixeira batted .222 for the week and is still below .250 for the year. He did hit a homer this week though.
- Pat Burrell. No good things to report here. Poor Burrell still hasn't turned it around yet and only had 2 hits in 16 at bats this past week. Yeesh. He's hitting beneath the dreaded Mendoza line now.
- Miguel Cabrera. The young rookie had a great week batting .333 with eight hits, six of them for extra bases including three doubles and three homers, five RBI and six runs scored. Ten of his season's 14 hits are for extra bases. The kid looks good!
- Jose Reyes. The Mets phenom had a solid week as he played three games and had three RBI, batting .273. He is only batting .218 for the year but he has 18 RBI in 21 games.
- Bo Hart. Hart became human this week and only hit .250 but he did have four RBI and scored five runs. His season average "fell" to .390.
- Sean Burroughs. Burroughs had a great week batting .381 to raise his season average to an even .300. He also scored six runs. His On Base Average was .480 for the week!
The Flagrant Fan is a typical fan. True baseball fans love baseball and its great players past and present. True baseball fans could care less who wins the AllStar Game. What true fans want is to see the year's best players and a representation by the best active career players who are still performing well. To not have a chance to see Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa is terrible.
Let's first look at the obvious gaffes. Vernon Wells should be starting over the Yankee's Matsui. Matsui should be on the squad, but Wells is having the superior year. Nomar Garciaparra should definitely start over Alex Rodriguez. Don't get me wrong, Rodriguez is the best player in baseball, but Nomar is having a better year.
Kerry Woods should not be on the squad (barely over .500) and Dontrelle Willis should be. Jorge Posada is having a good power year but should not be starting over the Twins catcher or the Red Sox catcher. And the biggest gaffe of them all? Carl Everett should NOT be on the squad. He had a great start but has cooled off and is hitting only .270+ for the season. He should not get the nod over his own teammates, Frank Thomas and Maglio Ordonez nevermind the ten other players in the league who are having better years.
I also have a big problem with the amount of relief pitchers chosen over starting pitchers. Starting pitchers have a harder job, plain and simple. The top of the year's group should be on the squad along with two closers and maybe the best setup man.
The other gripe will be pressure for the teams' manager NOT to play everyone over trying to win the game. We're the fans. We want to see as many players as possible. We don't want to see the same players the whole game. That's not an AllStar game. The whole thing smells and maybe this fan will protest by not watching at all. Take that, Mr. Commissioner.
By the way, does anyone else but me see how much Bill Gates has come to resemble Bud Selig?
The Yankees did manage to win the third game of their Series with Boston. The Red Sox could have really made a statement with a sweep but were not able to do so. There are some positive signs for the Yankees. Soriano had a bit of a slump but is now back up to .300. Jeter was hitting in the .260's but is now back up to .297 and unbelievably, Hidecki Matsui is batting .311! Karim Garcia was a good pickup but I'm not sure of why they would want Curtis Pride, a .256 lifetime journeyman outfielder. That doesn't make sense. But Pride was called up from Columbus and will be a moot point when Bernie Williams comes back.
Now it's time to look at the Fan's favorite boxscore players and how they fared for the week:
- Rocco Baldelli. Rocco is still struggling and was only 5 for 21 (.238) last week with only one extra base hit and one RBI. His average for the year is down to .309. The upside is that he has over a hundred hits halfway through the season.
- Coco Crisp. Coco puffed up a bit this week as he batted .294 for the week with nine runs scored! He has raised his season average up to .225.
- Hank Blalock. Blalock keeps chugging along as he batted .308 for the week with two homers. His season average is still over .330. Go Hank go!
- Mark Teixeira. Teixeira batted .222 for the week and is still below .250 for the year. He did hit a homer this week though.
- Pat Burrell. No good things to report here. Poor Burrell still hasn't turned it around yet and only had 2 hits in 16 at bats this past week. Yeesh. He's hitting beneath the dreaded Mendoza line now.
- Miguel Cabrera. The young rookie had a great week batting .333 with eight hits, six of them for extra bases including three doubles and three homers, five RBI and six runs scored. Ten of his season's 14 hits are for extra bases. The kid looks good!
- Jose Reyes. The Mets phenom had a solid week as he played three games and had three RBI, batting .273. He is only batting .218 for the year but he has 18 RBI in 21 games.
- Bo Hart. Hart became human this week and only hit .250 but he did have four RBI and scored five runs. His season average "fell" to .390.
- Sean Burroughs. Burroughs had a great week batting .381 to raise his season average to an even .300. He also scored six runs. His On Base Average was .480 for the week!
Saturday, July 05, 2003
The Red Sox again destroyed the Yankees today defeating Clemens 10-2. The two straight laughers brought the Red Sox to within two games of the leader. Trot Nixon always wails on Clemens and hit another homer off him today. The Yankees will need to win tomorrow's game to keep the Red Sox from making a big statement at this point of the year. Those Red Sox sure can hit and it was really important for Mendoza to have a good outing today for the Sox.
Roberto Alomar has started strong for the White Sox hitting .364 in his first few games. The White Sox lost a big game last night though when the Devil Rays' Crawford hit a walk off three-run homer. Crawford only has two homers this year and both of them were of the walk off variety. At last look, the Sox were down to the same Devil Rays 1-0 in the fifth inning. Amazingly, the Royals are still leading that division by two games.
The hottest team in the last ten games in the Phillies but they had a big loss last night. Pat Burrell is now below the Mendoza Line. Ack!
Sammy Sosa is getting hot now for the Cubs as they defeated the Cardinals today. He has thirteen homers now and over forty RBI which is amazing considering how many games he has missed. The race in the NL Central is fantastic as three teams keep taking turns at the top. It's going to be a fun summer in the midwest!
The amazing thing about the NL West is that no team in that division has a record over .500 in the last ten games. None of the teams can really make a statement and pull ahead.
In the NL West, the Giants have answered the Diamondbacks and both have identical 7-3 records in the last ten games. Bonds is starting to pile up the homers again and remains the most amazing hitter in the world. The Dodgers finally snapped their losing streak today but if they don't get some hitting soon, it will be a two team race.
Four more days in sunny Florida and the Fan will have to go home to Maine. (sigh) I'll miss paradise...
Roberto Alomar has started strong for the White Sox hitting .364 in his first few games. The White Sox lost a big game last night though when the Devil Rays' Crawford hit a walk off three-run homer. Crawford only has two homers this year and both of them were of the walk off variety. At last look, the Sox were down to the same Devil Rays 1-0 in the fifth inning. Amazingly, the Royals are still leading that division by two games.
The hottest team in the last ten games in the Phillies but they had a big loss last night. Pat Burrell is now below the Mendoza Line. Ack!
Sammy Sosa is getting hot now for the Cubs as they defeated the Cardinals today. He has thirteen homers now and over forty RBI which is amazing considering how many games he has missed. The race in the NL Central is fantastic as three teams keep taking turns at the top. It's going to be a fun summer in the midwest!
The amazing thing about the NL West is that no team in that division has a record over .500 in the last ten games. None of the teams can really make a statement and pull ahead.
In the NL West, the Giants have answered the Diamondbacks and both have identical 7-3 records in the last ten games. Bonds is starting to pile up the homers again and remains the most amazing hitter in the world. The Dodgers finally snapped their losing streak today but if they don't get some hitting soon, it will be a two team race.
Four more days in sunny Florida and the Fan will have to go home to Maine. (sigh) I'll miss paradise...
Thursday, July 03, 2003
Now that we are heading into the AllStar break last week, let's look at the current contenders and see what they need to do to be successful in the second half and beyond.
American League East:
- Yankees: The Yankees are in great shape and have done much to improve themselves. They need to stay healthy, continue to get good performances for the revamped bullpen and have their old starting pitchers hold up along the way. In the meantime, Bernie Williams will be back and hopefully Norm Johnson as well. Johnson was a big loss as his defense and OBP meant that the bases were always clogged up.
- Red Sox: The Red Sox addressed their biggest need with Kim becoming the closer. That makes the rest of their bullpen better (despite today's meltdown against the Devil Rays). They certainly have the best hitting in the league. The starting staff has to perform well down the stretch.
- The Blue Jays need pitching, pitching, pitching. They can hit with the best, but besides Halliday, they don't have the guns they need to stay in the race.
American League Central:
- Twins: The Twins are really in trouble. They look bad lately and they need to start pitching and they need to start hitting. They have the players. Those players just need to perform. I think they will fall out of it.
- Royals: The Royals helped themselves with Leskanic but need one more starter and they need Mike Sweeney back. Sweeney is their heart and their big bat. He has a back injury which is a very scarey prospect if you remember what happened to Don Mattingly.
- White Sox: The White Sox really made a statement and their concern now remains in their relief pitching. Their bullpen has been suspect so far.
American League West:
- Mariners: The Mariners seem to be in charge and with Boone (argh!) and Ichiro leading the way will score often. Their major concern is closing as Nelson just isn't a closer. Suzuki won't be much help the rest of the way.
- Oakland: The A's defense is hurting them as their offense. We all know about their pitching, but they need a big bat.
- Angels: The Angels are over and out. They will not be a factor.
National League East:
- Braves: The Braves don't seem to have any holes except for starting pitching (who ever thought we'd ever say that!). The Braves offense is also inconsistent although it shouldn't be.
- Phillies: The Phillies look great and all they need is for Pat Burrell to become the force he is supposed to be in the middle of that lineup. I still say that Burrell should bat third and Thome fourth. Then Burrell will get his pitches and start mashing.
- Expos: The Expos need a home and they need Vlad back. They also need one more bat. I don't think they will be able to do much to help themselves to contend.
National League Central:
- Cardinals: This is a three team race and none of the three wants to take control. The Cards need to find enough starting pitching and if so, will pull off a streak and win this thing.
- Cubs: The Cubs need the pitchers behind Prior and Wood to step up. They also need Sosa to become a force again and they need to take the ball away from Alfonseca at the end of the game. The Cubs are the one team that can use Benitez from the Mets.
- Astros: The Astros need to get Biggio out of centerfield and to get their starters healthy. Their relief pitching is great but their arms are going to fall off the way they are going.
- Reds: If the other three teams keep messing around, the Reds could sneak in a winning streak. They hit well enough. Their pitching is their question mark.
National League West:
- Giants: The Giants look fine but I still am suspect of their lineup around Bonds. They could use one more big bat I think.
- Dodgers: Hitting, hitting, hitting. Shawn Green needs to get going and they need two more good hitters. Their pitching is fine.
- Diamondbacks: They need their young players to continue to perform as surprisingly well as they are. That's a tough task to ask. I think they will cool off soon.
American League East:
- Yankees: The Yankees are in great shape and have done much to improve themselves. They need to stay healthy, continue to get good performances for the revamped bullpen and have their old starting pitchers hold up along the way. In the meantime, Bernie Williams will be back and hopefully Norm Johnson as well. Johnson was a big loss as his defense and OBP meant that the bases were always clogged up.
- Red Sox: The Red Sox addressed their biggest need with Kim becoming the closer. That makes the rest of their bullpen better (despite today's meltdown against the Devil Rays). They certainly have the best hitting in the league. The starting staff has to perform well down the stretch.
- The Blue Jays need pitching, pitching, pitching. They can hit with the best, but besides Halliday, they don't have the guns they need to stay in the race.
American League Central:
- Twins: The Twins are really in trouble. They look bad lately and they need to start pitching and they need to start hitting. They have the players. Those players just need to perform. I think they will fall out of it.
- Royals: The Royals helped themselves with Leskanic but need one more starter and they need Mike Sweeney back. Sweeney is their heart and their big bat. He has a back injury which is a very scarey prospect if you remember what happened to Don Mattingly.
- White Sox: The White Sox really made a statement and their concern now remains in their relief pitching. Their bullpen has been suspect so far.
American League West:
- Mariners: The Mariners seem to be in charge and with Boone (argh!) and Ichiro leading the way will score often. Their major concern is closing as Nelson just isn't a closer. Suzuki won't be much help the rest of the way.
- Oakland: The A's defense is hurting them as their offense. We all know about their pitching, but they need a big bat.
- Angels: The Angels are over and out. They will not be a factor.
National League East:
- Braves: The Braves don't seem to have any holes except for starting pitching (who ever thought we'd ever say that!). The Braves offense is also inconsistent although it shouldn't be.
- Phillies: The Phillies look great and all they need is for Pat Burrell to become the force he is supposed to be in the middle of that lineup. I still say that Burrell should bat third and Thome fourth. Then Burrell will get his pitches and start mashing.
- Expos: The Expos need a home and they need Vlad back. They also need one more bat. I don't think they will be able to do much to help themselves to contend.
National League Central:
- Cardinals: This is a three team race and none of the three wants to take control. The Cards need to find enough starting pitching and if so, will pull off a streak and win this thing.
- Cubs: The Cubs need the pitchers behind Prior and Wood to step up. They also need Sosa to become a force again and they need to take the ball away from Alfonseca at the end of the game. The Cubs are the one team that can use Benitez from the Mets.
- Astros: The Astros need to get Biggio out of centerfield and to get their starters healthy. Their relief pitching is great but their arms are going to fall off the way they are going.
- Reds: If the other three teams keep messing around, the Reds could sneak in a winning streak. They hit well enough. Their pitching is their question mark.
National League West:
- Giants: The Giants look fine but I still am suspect of their lineup around Bonds. They could use one more big bat I think.
- Dodgers: Hitting, hitting, hitting. Shawn Green needs to get going and they need two more good hitters. Their pitching is fine.
- Diamondbacks: They need their young players to continue to perform as surprisingly well as they are. That's a tough task to ask. I think they will cool off soon.
Wednesday, July 02, 2003
The Chicago White Sox announced themselves as players yesterday by picking up Roberto Alomar and Carl Everett. The move can help them very much not only on offense but on defense. One of the big questions the White Sox had for contending was their team defense. Alomar is obviously one of the best ever and Everett, though he's now too slow for centerfield, can still be a good defender in left or right.
Everett has been a good citizen in Texas unlike the rest of his career and it will be interesting to see if the same holds true in Chicago. Manager Jerry Manual seems like the kind of manager that would be easy to play for, so we'll see.
Alomar's fall from superstardom while with the Mets is still puzzling. Alomar had been consistently great in his career until two years ago. I suspect Shea Stadium had something to do with it. I still remember Bobby Murcer going from superstar to warning track slugger when the Yankees moved to Shea during Yankee Stadium's remodeling in the 70's. Roberto's defense suffered as well with the horrible Shea infield surface and the lack of a good first baseman. I suspect that with the chance to play with his brother, Sandy, and having a fresh start, Roberto will be a force in the AL Central race.
The Fan missed last night's post as my wife and I met a friend for dinner and drinks. The Fan isn't a big drinker, but four beers later and there was no way a post was going to get written. Oh well. My apologies to those of you who checked.
Dontrelle Willis hooked up with a young Braves pitcher for a great pitching duel as the Marlins and Braves are tied going into the seventh inning 1 to 1. Willis is probably wishing the Marlins saved some of those 20 runs for him today.
Speaking of the Marlins, their front office announced that Mike Lowell was not going to be traded. That's wonderful news and a good reward for those Marlins fans who have stayed loyal to the team. Lowell was greatly relieved himself. Tonight, he's accounted for the Marlins only run with his 26th homer and 72nd RBI. Amazing.
I was reading Ken Kaiser's book, comically titled, "Planet of the Umps" and although the book is mildly entertaining, I find his statements and attitude appalling. An MLB umpire for more than twenty years before he got caught up in the umpire strike that broke the umpire union and lost his job. He admits, without any apology, to "palming" the real Gaylord Perry ball from Perry's 300th win. Kaiser gave Perry the wrong ball. How atrocious is that? What he doesn't say is what he did with the ball. Did he sell it? If so, that criminal.
Kaiser also mentions that he bluffed when he didn't know the call and that he knew he made mistakes but never lost sleep on it. His beliefs about the umpire's role in baseball and in baseball games only proves that there is something wrong with the way umpires function in MLB. They look for confrontation and they do not have the correct attitude towards the game. I'm appalled with what I'm reading and I'm glad he's out of baseball.
In one last postscript (pun intended), Dontrelle Willis will not get a decision tonight as the Braves and Marlins are still tied in the ninth inning. Willis pitched eight full innings giving up only one run allowing only seven baserunners and brought his season ERA down to 2.13. What a great story!
Everett has been a good citizen in Texas unlike the rest of his career and it will be interesting to see if the same holds true in Chicago. Manager Jerry Manual seems like the kind of manager that would be easy to play for, so we'll see.
Alomar's fall from superstardom while with the Mets is still puzzling. Alomar had been consistently great in his career until two years ago. I suspect Shea Stadium had something to do with it. I still remember Bobby Murcer going from superstar to warning track slugger when the Yankees moved to Shea during Yankee Stadium's remodeling in the 70's. Roberto's defense suffered as well with the horrible Shea infield surface and the lack of a good first baseman. I suspect that with the chance to play with his brother, Sandy, and having a fresh start, Roberto will be a force in the AL Central race.
The Fan missed last night's post as my wife and I met a friend for dinner and drinks. The Fan isn't a big drinker, but four beers later and there was no way a post was going to get written. Oh well. My apologies to those of you who checked.
Dontrelle Willis hooked up with a young Braves pitcher for a great pitching duel as the Marlins and Braves are tied going into the seventh inning 1 to 1. Willis is probably wishing the Marlins saved some of those 20 runs for him today.
Speaking of the Marlins, their front office announced that Mike Lowell was not going to be traded. That's wonderful news and a good reward for those Marlins fans who have stayed loyal to the team. Lowell was greatly relieved himself. Tonight, he's accounted for the Marlins only run with his 26th homer and 72nd RBI. Amazing.
I was reading Ken Kaiser's book, comically titled, "Planet of the Umps" and although the book is mildly entertaining, I find his statements and attitude appalling. An MLB umpire for more than twenty years before he got caught up in the umpire strike that broke the umpire union and lost his job. He admits, without any apology, to "palming" the real Gaylord Perry ball from Perry's 300th win. Kaiser gave Perry the wrong ball. How atrocious is that? What he doesn't say is what he did with the ball. Did he sell it? If so, that criminal.
Kaiser also mentions that he bluffed when he didn't know the call and that he knew he made mistakes but never lost sleep on it. His beliefs about the umpire's role in baseball and in baseball games only proves that there is something wrong with the way umpires function in MLB. They look for confrontation and they do not have the correct attitude towards the game. I'm appalled with what I'm reading and I'm glad he's out of baseball.
In one last postscript (pun intended), Dontrelle Willis will not get a decision tonight as the Braves and Marlins are still tied in the ninth inning. Willis pitched eight full innings giving up only one run allowing only seven baserunners and brought his season ERA down to 2.13. What a great story!
Monday, June 30, 2003
Mr. Jim Thome is carrying his Phillies on a run that has the Phillies in the top spot for the NL wildcard and only five and a half games behind the first place Braves. Thome has hit homer after homer lately and is now over 20 for the year. His homerun tonight won the game for the Phillies. Thome is such a fun guy to watch play. He seems to have a sense of wonder and plays like he's having fun which is the way it should be.
Yesterday I erroneously listed the Astros as the division leader in the NL Central. The Cardinals were actually on top. But the Fan can claim a mulligan as the teams in that division have been leap-frogging each other for quite a while. The Cards are getting beat tonight and the Phillies' opponent, the Cubbies, had a great chance to gain a game but Thome took care of that with one of his typical opposite field drives.
The Phillies look really good and if Pat Burrell can get going, they can streak the rest of the season. Burrell has shown signs of life lately but his efforts have been for not. In the typical if-something-can-go-wrong-it-will scenerio, just about every Web Gem on ESPN's "Baseball Tonight" show Burrell getting robbed: a home run robbed by Torii Hunter, a single robbed by the Cubs third baseman. Sooner or later, those will start to find holes.
The only thing that can hold back the Phillies is their manager, Larry Bowa. I just believe the guy is a loose wire and can hinder as well as help his team. I watched him in the dugout and if I was playing for him, he would drive me crazy. After all, Scott Rolen is one of the best third basemen in baseball and Bowa ran him out of town.
The Phillies chase of the Braves was helped tonight as Greg Maddux again pitched poorly and was beat by Florida. Maddux is going into the AllStar break with a losing record and he just doesn't appear to be the pitcher he was. Of course, that doesn't hurt the Fan's feelings very much. I still think the man is one of the most arrogant players to ever play the game. I do have to admit that all I have to go by on those feelings is my perceptions of his body language when he pitches. The body language seemed to me to be pretty obvious.
But then again, arrogance has been a problem for the Braves for quite a while. I'll never forget the Braves/Yankees World Series when the Braves were up and thought that they had the Series won. I forget what source I read at the time but I remember reading that the Braves were full of themselves and never believed the Yankees could beat them. The sign of greatness is KNOWING that any team can beat you. I will say that Bobby Cox has never gotten the credit he deserves as one of the best managers of all time.
Bobby Valentine had a great observation concerning Maddux insisting on using his "personal catcher" when he pitches. Apparently, there is bad history between him and Javy Lopez. Valentine's comments were that the Braves lose one of their best hitters because of the pitcher's silliness. I thought it was a great observation.
Yesterday I erroneously listed the Astros as the division leader in the NL Central. The Cardinals were actually on top. But the Fan can claim a mulligan as the teams in that division have been leap-frogging each other for quite a while. The Cards are getting beat tonight and the Phillies' opponent, the Cubbies, had a great chance to gain a game but Thome took care of that with one of his typical opposite field drives.
The Phillies look really good and if Pat Burrell can get going, they can streak the rest of the season. Burrell has shown signs of life lately but his efforts have been for not. In the typical if-something-can-go-wrong-it-will scenerio, just about every Web Gem on ESPN's "Baseball Tonight" show Burrell getting robbed: a home run robbed by Torii Hunter, a single robbed by the Cubs third baseman. Sooner or later, those will start to find holes.
The only thing that can hold back the Phillies is their manager, Larry Bowa. I just believe the guy is a loose wire and can hinder as well as help his team. I watched him in the dugout and if I was playing for him, he would drive me crazy. After all, Scott Rolen is one of the best third basemen in baseball and Bowa ran him out of town.
The Phillies chase of the Braves was helped tonight as Greg Maddux again pitched poorly and was beat by Florida. Maddux is going into the AllStar break with a losing record and he just doesn't appear to be the pitcher he was. Of course, that doesn't hurt the Fan's feelings very much. I still think the man is one of the most arrogant players to ever play the game. I do have to admit that all I have to go by on those feelings is my perceptions of his body language when he pitches. The body language seemed to me to be pretty obvious.
But then again, arrogance has been a problem for the Braves for quite a while. I'll never forget the Braves/Yankees World Series when the Braves were up and thought that they had the Series won. I forget what source I read at the time but I remember reading that the Braves were full of themselves and never believed the Yankees could beat them. The sign of greatness is KNOWING that any team can beat you. I will say that Bobby Cox has never gotten the credit he deserves as one of the best managers of all time.
Bobby Valentine had a great observation concerning Maddux insisting on using his "personal catcher" when he pitches. Apparently, there is bad history between him and Javy Lopez. Valentine's comments were that the Braves lose one of their best hitters because of the pitcher's silliness. I thought it was a great observation.
Sunday, June 29, 2003
Interleague play has mercifully ended (I know, the fans like it) and the weekend pretty much marks the mid-point of the season. If the second half went exactly the same as the first half that just ended:
- The Yankees, Twins, Mariners, Braves, Astros and Giants would win their divisions and the slammin' Red Sox and (gasp!) Philidelphia Phillies would be the wildcard winners.
- Carlos Delgado would end up with 52 homers and 178 RBI! He would easily win the MVP. His teammate, Vernon Wells would finish with 150 RBI!
- Barry Bonds would finish with 46 homers which would give him 660 for his career. We all know what that number means!
- Albert Pujols would finish with 148 runs scored, a 144 RBI, 46 homers, 58 doubles, 234 hits and easily win the NL MVP.
- 13 pitchers would have 20 wins with the most being 22.
- Kerry Wood (286) and Mark Prior (254) would end up 1-2 in the majors in strikeouts. Not quite Johnson/Schilling but good numbers.
- 41 year old Roger Clemens would end up 16-8 with 238 strikeouts good for fourth in the majors. He would finish his career with 309 wins.
- John Smoltz and Eric Gagne would finish with 58 saves each and finish two of the greatest seasons by relief pitchers ever.
- Dodger pitchers Nomo and Ishii will end up with 220 walks between them. That's a lot of free passes to overcome.
- Nomar Garciaparra would end up with 46 doubles, 24 triples (!) and 24 homers.
Speaking of the Red Sox, besides Urbina, have they made a bad roster move all year? In a little thought of transaction blip, the Red Sox signed Kapler to a minor league contract. Less than a week later, they added him to their team. All he's done in two games is go 7 for 9 with five of those seven hits going for extra bases. He also has seven RBI in those two games. Incredible. Welcome back to the majors, Gabe and you just became one of the Fan's boxscore favorites.
- The Yankees, Twins, Mariners, Braves, Astros and Giants would win their divisions and the slammin' Red Sox and (gasp!) Philidelphia Phillies would be the wildcard winners.
- Carlos Delgado would end up with 52 homers and 178 RBI! He would easily win the MVP. His teammate, Vernon Wells would finish with 150 RBI!
- Barry Bonds would finish with 46 homers which would give him 660 for his career. We all know what that number means!
- Albert Pujols would finish with 148 runs scored, a 144 RBI, 46 homers, 58 doubles, 234 hits and easily win the NL MVP.
- 13 pitchers would have 20 wins with the most being 22.
- Kerry Wood (286) and Mark Prior (254) would end up 1-2 in the majors in strikeouts. Not quite Johnson/Schilling but good numbers.
- 41 year old Roger Clemens would end up 16-8 with 238 strikeouts good for fourth in the majors. He would finish his career with 309 wins.
- John Smoltz and Eric Gagne would finish with 58 saves each and finish two of the greatest seasons by relief pitchers ever.
- Dodger pitchers Nomo and Ishii will end up with 220 walks between them. That's a lot of free passes to overcome.
- Nomar Garciaparra would end up with 46 doubles, 24 triples (!) and 24 homers.
Speaking of the Red Sox, besides Urbina, have they made a bad roster move all year? In a little thought of transaction blip, the Red Sox signed Kapler to a minor league contract. Less than a week later, they added him to their team. All he's done in two games is go 7 for 9 with five of those seven hits going for extra bases. He also has seven RBI in those two games. Incredible. Welcome back to the majors, Gabe and you just became one of the Fan's boxscore favorites.
Saturday, June 28, 2003
I'm not sure what to make of Lou Piniella's outburst about poor Ben Grieve. My first reaction is that it was a pretty classless act and that Lou should have taken that outburst privately to his office. I don't believe in berating players to the public. How is his player supposed to react? If I was Grieve, I'd be embarrassed and hurt. Then again, Grieve makes a lot of money and for a million or so, I'd be willing to take public abuse.
Grieve has been a puzzle since he's come into the league. He's never developed into the kind of player he was expected to become. He is one of those quiet guys who just don't seem to care. But I'm sure he must and I'm sure this is the first time in his life that it isn't coming easy to him. Some players adjust and some don't and it appears that Grieve won't or can't. Perhaps a move would help him but that is how he came to Tampa in the first place. Tampa scored nine runs today (last I checked and Grieve was one of the few on the team not to contribute. The poor guy will probably be released or traded soon. He even said in an interview yesterday that when he showed up at the ballpark, he wasn't sure if he still had a job. Poor guy.
The Yankees are having a big day against the defenseless Mets. Clemens won his 301st and Matsui--who has been on fire lately--hit his second grand slam of the season. Clemens pitched eight innings of six hit ball and is now 8-5. Put him on the AllStars!
In the second game, Soriano and Jeter started the Yankees off with back to back homers off of Tom Glavine of all people. The poor Mets always get the good players on their way downhill.
Speaking of downhill, the Cubbies have lost several heartbreakers lately with six-fingered Alfonseka (I know I'm not spelling his name correctly) blowing the save for the second night in a row. That has to be demoralizing. On the flip side, the doers of the damage, the White Sox, are now on fire and back from the dead. What a strange season. The teams I keep giving up for dead keep reviving. First the Reds, then the Blue Jays, then Arizona and now the White Sox. Maybe I'm a reverse jinx for teams going bad?
It's time to look at the last seven days for my favorite boxscore players:
- Hank Blalock. Blalock had another good week batting .348 with a homer, double and three RBI. He is still batting .335 for the year.
- Mark Teixeira. Teixeira batted .261 for the week with a homer, triple and a double accounting for four RBI. He is now batting .247 for the year.
- Pat Burrell. Oh man. Burrell is still scuffling big time. He only batted .107 last week and his average for the year is at .201. He came up 28 times and only had three hits. Hard to figure...real hard.
- Coco Crisp. How can you not keep checking a guy with that kind of name? Well...I may not have to keep checking much longer as he only hit .250 last week and is now batting .206 for the year. Not a good start for the fast man.
- Sean Burroughs. Jeff's son had a rough week and only batted .186 for the week. He sits now at .289 but he has a pulled groin muscle.
- Miguel Cabrera. The pride of Marakay has started his big league career (seven games so far) with a .214 average but of his six hits, four have been extra bases and he has six RBI in those seven games. He's going to be great.
- Jose Reyes. The twenty year old hope of the Mets had a good week batting .316 to raise his season average to .222. The Mets have said recently that they have changed their mind and Reyes will stay at short for the rest of the year. That's great news!
- Albert Pujols. The .400 and triple crown watch is on. Pujols only batted .533 last week and is up to .387 for the season. He also has 21 homers and 69 RBI. 50 of his 113 hits have been for extra bases. This man has driven in 326 runs in his first 2.5 seasons. Amazing.
Grieve has been a puzzle since he's come into the league. He's never developed into the kind of player he was expected to become. He is one of those quiet guys who just don't seem to care. But I'm sure he must and I'm sure this is the first time in his life that it isn't coming easy to him. Some players adjust and some don't and it appears that Grieve won't or can't. Perhaps a move would help him but that is how he came to Tampa in the first place. Tampa scored nine runs today (last I checked and Grieve was one of the few on the team not to contribute. The poor guy will probably be released or traded soon. He even said in an interview yesterday that when he showed up at the ballpark, he wasn't sure if he still had a job. Poor guy.
The Yankees are having a big day against the defenseless Mets. Clemens won his 301st and Matsui--who has been on fire lately--hit his second grand slam of the season. Clemens pitched eight innings of six hit ball and is now 8-5. Put him on the AllStars!
In the second game, Soriano and Jeter started the Yankees off with back to back homers off of Tom Glavine of all people. The poor Mets always get the good players on their way downhill.
Speaking of downhill, the Cubbies have lost several heartbreakers lately with six-fingered Alfonseka (I know I'm not spelling his name correctly) blowing the save for the second night in a row. That has to be demoralizing. On the flip side, the doers of the damage, the White Sox, are now on fire and back from the dead. What a strange season. The teams I keep giving up for dead keep reviving. First the Reds, then the Blue Jays, then Arizona and now the White Sox. Maybe I'm a reverse jinx for teams going bad?
It's time to look at the last seven days for my favorite boxscore players:
- Hank Blalock. Blalock had another good week batting .348 with a homer, double and three RBI. He is still batting .335 for the year.
- Mark Teixeira. Teixeira batted .261 for the week with a homer, triple and a double accounting for four RBI. He is now batting .247 for the year.
- Pat Burrell. Oh man. Burrell is still scuffling big time. He only batted .107 last week and his average for the year is at .201. He came up 28 times and only had three hits. Hard to figure...real hard.
- Coco Crisp. How can you not keep checking a guy with that kind of name? Well...I may not have to keep checking much longer as he only hit .250 last week and is now batting .206 for the year. Not a good start for the fast man.
- Sean Burroughs. Jeff's son had a rough week and only batted .186 for the week. He sits now at .289 but he has a pulled groin muscle.
- Miguel Cabrera. The pride of Marakay has started his big league career (seven games so far) with a .214 average but of his six hits, four have been extra bases and he has six RBI in those seven games. He's going to be great.
- Jose Reyes. The twenty year old hope of the Mets had a good week batting .316 to raise his season average to .222. The Mets have said recently that they have changed their mind and Reyes will stay at short for the rest of the year. That's great news!
- Albert Pujols. The .400 and triple crown watch is on. Pujols only batted .533 last week and is up to .387 for the season. He also has 21 homers and 69 RBI. 50 of his 113 hits have been for extra bases. This man has driven in 326 runs in his first 2.5 seasons. Amazing.
Friday, June 27, 2003
A day after Dontrelle Willis, the great Florida rookie pitcher, won his seventh straight start against the Mets, the same Marlins gave up fourteen runs in the first inning to the Red Sox! Fourteen! For only the second time in 12 decades of MLB, a batter (Johnny Damon) had three hits in the same inning! Three! The score is now up to 18 to 1 as the auto-refresher on Yahoo keeps updating the score like some crazy jackpot night in a Las Vegas slot machine. Nomar is one of the few Boston batters that hasn't had an RBI. The timing looks ripe for a non-pitcher to pitch for the Marlins tonight. I told you Florida baseball is entertaining!
We started the second stage of our Florida trip yesterday as we moved from North Palm Beach to Ft. Lauderdale. It sure is a chore to have to be in paradise. The move was the reason for the lack of a post yesterday though the Fan usually takes Thursdays off anyway.
So far neither Bo Hart or Albert Pujols has a hit in the Cardinals/Kansas City game. The Cards still lead in the game 2 to 1 as Edmonds has hit his 22nd homer and Rolens has hit his 14th. Even Tino Martinez is hot for the Cardinals. I wouldn't want my team to be facing them right now. If Pujols keeps up his pace, there will be a .400 watch soon in the same path as the George Brett/Jon Olerud/Tony Gwynn efforts of the past.
The Boston/Florida score is now 19 to 5. Man, those umpires in that game are going to get tired.
Continuing my vacation reading, I'm currently reading the fascinating "October Men" by Roger Kahn. The book discusses the 1978 Yankee team and the history leading up to it. I remember that team and those times so clearly. I had just been married a year and as such became a New Hampshire resident after growing up in New Jersey. Thanks to Boston's Channel 38 (pre-cable days), we got to watch most of the Red Sox games. I was torn that year and for that playoff game. I was a lifelong Yankee fanatic but watching the Red Sox that whole year, I became the dreaded convert. I still loved the Yankees best, but I couldn't hate the Red Sox anymore.
As happy as I was for the Yankees to win the game and head to the playoffs, I was sad for the Red Sox. I was not, however, sad to have Yaz pop up to lose the final Red Sox chance. The book recounts all that history as well as the demise of Billy Martin and a lot of the underpinnings of that Yankee team. It's a great read and highly recommended.
We started the second stage of our Florida trip yesterday as we moved from North Palm Beach to Ft. Lauderdale. It sure is a chore to have to be in paradise. The move was the reason for the lack of a post yesterday though the Fan usually takes Thursdays off anyway.
So far neither Bo Hart or Albert Pujols has a hit in the Cardinals/Kansas City game. The Cards still lead in the game 2 to 1 as Edmonds has hit his 22nd homer and Rolens has hit his 14th. Even Tino Martinez is hot for the Cardinals. I wouldn't want my team to be facing them right now. If Pujols keeps up his pace, there will be a .400 watch soon in the same path as the George Brett/Jon Olerud/Tony Gwynn efforts of the past.
The Boston/Florida score is now 19 to 5. Man, those umpires in that game are going to get tired.
Continuing my vacation reading, I'm currently reading the fascinating "October Men" by Roger Kahn. The book discusses the 1978 Yankee team and the history leading up to it. I remember that team and those times so clearly. I had just been married a year and as such became a New Hampshire resident after growing up in New Jersey. Thanks to Boston's Channel 38 (pre-cable days), we got to watch most of the Red Sox games. I was torn that year and for that playoff game. I was a lifelong Yankee fanatic but watching the Red Sox that whole year, I became the dreaded convert. I still loved the Yankees best, but I couldn't hate the Red Sox anymore.
As happy as I was for the Yankees to win the game and head to the playoffs, I was sad for the Red Sox. I was not, however, sad to have Yaz pop up to lose the final Red Sox chance. The book recounts all that history as well as the demise of Billy Martin and a lot of the underpinnings of that Yankee team. It's a great read and highly recommended.
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
I really can't understand all the moralizing I hear going on about Juan Gonzalez exercising his no-trade clause and not wishing to go to the Expos. To the Fan's point of view, why would Texas agree to a no-trade clause in the first place? Basically, you're asking a guy not to take advantage of a negotiated perk in his contract. That isn't Juan Gone's moral problem but the team that signed that contract in the first place.
The same sort of moralizing happened two years ago when the Cubs traded for the Marlins' Fred McGriff. McGriff was made to look like the bad guy when he really wanted to keep his family in South Florida. Who knows how much of the pressure was put on him to accept the deal as it turned out he did. A year later, he is in Los Angeles. Gonzalez feels the most comfortable in Texas. His contract allows him to turn down a trade so that he can stay there. Too bad. Tough luck. It isn't like he hasn't produced for the Rangers because he has.
So the two guys who battled in the courts for Bonds 73rd homer only (!) got $450,000 in the auction. I wonder if that covered the court costs?
Albert Pujols looks unbelievable. He is now batting in the high .380's and has a great shot at .400 and the triple crown. His new teammate, Bo Hart, had three more hits tonight and is up to .500 for the start of his MLB career.
Speaking of hot hitters, there aren't too many hotter than Geoff Jenkins of the Brewers. He had four more RBI tonight as the Brewers whomped the Cubbies 12-6. Jenkins is now batting .290 with 18 homers and 57 RBI.
I remember a few years ago (maybe it was two years ago) when Jenkins was off to a really fast start and was on his way to a breakout year when he got hurt and couldn't get it back when he returned to playing. It looks like he is going to put a great year together this year.
Just when you think a team is dead, they run off a streak. The Diamondbacks, with everybody on the disabled list, have won nine in a row to climb back into the NL West. I'm VERY surprised by this turn of events. Another team back from the dead is the White Sox as they close in on the Twins and the first place Royals (another team back from the dead).
In one of the great stories of the year, the Brewers have a player who pitches and hits. No, I don't mean that he gets to hit when he pitches. I mean that he was hired to hit and to pitch. Tonight he hit a pinch hit homer (his third) and is batting .367. This two in one player is Brooks Kieschnick and he will be fun to follow.
The same sort of moralizing happened two years ago when the Cubs traded for the Marlins' Fred McGriff. McGriff was made to look like the bad guy when he really wanted to keep his family in South Florida. Who knows how much of the pressure was put on him to accept the deal as it turned out he did. A year later, he is in Los Angeles. Gonzalez feels the most comfortable in Texas. His contract allows him to turn down a trade so that he can stay there. Too bad. Tough luck. It isn't like he hasn't produced for the Rangers because he has.
So the two guys who battled in the courts for Bonds 73rd homer only (!) got $450,000 in the auction. I wonder if that covered the court costs?
Albert Pujols looks unbelievable. He is now batting in the high .380's and has a great shot at .400 and the triple crown. His new teammate, Bo Hart, had three more hits tonight and is up to .500 for the start of his MLB career.
Speaking of hot hitters, there aren't too many hotter than Geoff Jenkins of the Brewers. He had four more RBI tonight as the Brewers whomped the Cubbies 12-6. Jenkins is now batting .290 with 18 homers and 57 RBI.
I remember a few years ago (maybe it was two years ago) when Jenkins was off to a really fast start and was on his way to a breakout year when he got hurt and couldn't get it back when he returned to playing. It looks like he is going to put a great year together this year.
Just when you think a team is dead, they run off a streak. The Diamondbacks, with everybody on the disabled list, have won nine in a row to climb back into the NL West. I'm VERY surprised by this turn of events. Another team back from the dead is the White Sox as they close in on the Twins and the first place Royals (another team back from the dead).
In one of the great stories of the year, the Brewers have a player who pitches and hits. No, I don't mean that he gets to hit when he pitches. I mean that he was hired to hit and to pitch. Tonight he hit a pinch hit homer (his third) and is batting .367. This two in one player is Brooks Kieschnick and he will be fun to follow.
Tuesday, June 24, 2003
After another day of fun in the Florida sun, I turned on the Marlins/Mets game and I hear a familiar smarmy voice. "I know that voice," I said to myself. Then I had to know so I performed a Yahoo search for the Marlins announcers and sure enough, I see the name: Tommy Hutton. Oh my gosh, it's Tommy Hutton!
Hutton was the Blue Jays announcer I listened to all those years where I could only watch a bunch of their games from the Canadian stations. Through the Blue Jays championship seasons, Hutton's homish, gushing way of doing color for the Blue Jay telecasts would make me want to puke.
And here he is, announcing Marlins games the same way. I like the Marlins. They are fun to watch and I've been coming to South Florida for six years now and have been to several of their games. So my gagging at the TV is not because Hutton is announcing FOR the Marlins. I had often wondered if my reaction to him before was because I've always hated the Blue Jays. But today's broadcast tells me that it's Hutton and Hutton only. He makes my skin shrivel with his drivel.
Nomar Garciaparra went five for five tonight. That spectacular game comes two days after he went six for six. Nomar's average is now up to .344 and he is having the best season of any shortstop this season. He is also a strong candidate for MVP although if the vote was held today, the award would have to go to Carlos Delgado who is now up to 80 RBI!
Randy Johnson of the Diamondbacks was moved from the 15 day disabled list to the 60 day. That is much more time than was expected which is a big blow to Arizona's season and Johnson's career.
The transaction wire today listed that the Mets signed their second round draft choice, Beau Vaughan. I wonder if that name made the team's fans shudder.
Speaking of Beau...or Bo...Bo Hart has started really his MLB career with a bang as he is batting .450 in his first few games for the Cardinals. That must be exciting for their fans. Hart made a spectacular play against Griffey tonight too!
Speaking of rookies, the Mets/Marlins game featured Cabrera for the Marlins and Jose Reyas for the Mets. Reyas had a tough game but Cabrera went two for five and just missed a homer to left as it curved foul at the pole.
Hutton was the Blue Jays announcer I listened to all those years where I could only watch a bunch of their games from the Canadian stations. Through the Blue Jays championship seasons, Hutton's homish, gushing way of doing color for the Blue Jay telecasts would make me want to puke.
And here he is, announcing Marlins games the same way. I like the Marlins. They are fun to watch and I've been coming to South Florida for six years now and have been to several of their games. So my gagging at the TV is not because Hutton is announcing FOR the Marlins. I had often wondered if my reaction to him before was because I've always hated the Blue Jays. But today's broadcast tells me that it's Hutton and Hutton only. He makes my skin shrivel with his drivel.
Nomar Garciaparra went five for five tonight. That spectacular game comes two days after he went six for six. Nomar's average is now up to .344 and he is having the best season of any shortstop this season. He is also a strong candidate for MVP although if the vote was held today, the award would have to go to Carlos Delgado who is now up to 80 RBI!
Randy Johnson of the Diamondbacks was moved from the 15 day disabled list to the 60 day. That is much more time than was expected which is a big blow to Arizona's season and Johnson's career.
The transaction wire today listed that the Mets signed their second round draft choice, Beau Vaughan. I wonder if that name made the team's fans shudder.
Speaking of Beau...or Bo...Bo Hart has started really his MLB career with a bang as he is batting .450 in his first few games for the Cardinals. That must be exciting for their fans. Hart made a spectacular play against Griffey tonight too!
Speaking of rookies, the Mets/Marlins game featured Cabrera for the Marlins and Jose Reyas for the Mets. Reyas had a tough game but Cabrera went two for five and just missed a homer to left as it curved foul at the pole.
Monday, June 23, 2003
One thing is clear from my first few days in Florida: The state has two entertaining baseball teams.
The Marlins have Lowell and Willis and now they have Miguel Cabrera to go along with some good young pitchers. The Marlins will frustrate quite a few contenders for the rest of the season.
The Devil Rays first of all have Lou Piniella managing and add Baldelli and Huff and this pitcher who is pitching tonight: Zombrano. A Devil Ray named Roll (Samari?) has hit two homers against Clemens and Zombrano has outpitched Roger.
But then again, the Yankees look flat tonight which seems understandable since the won a long and emotional extra inning game last night and then had to travel to Tampa. You can tell a team is flat when several of its players swing at 57 foot sliders.
I think Torre is asleep too as a situation happened that cost the Yankees a run. The Yankees had aman on first and third and Matsui was up. At the time, the Yanks were two runs down. Matsui smashes a double to centerfield and it hopped over the fence for a ground rule double. One run scored and usually, the umpires make the runner from first stop at third. But there was a catch this time as the Yankees had the runner on first in motion when the ball was pitched. That being the case, the run should have counted. Torre didn't even question it and apparently, even his braintrust didn't wake him up about it.
I hate the kind of rules that are considered discretionary and the umpires take the lazy, easy way out and always make the call the same way. The rule is discretionary because if a ground rule double is hit and it appears the runner would have scored, then by gum, the runner should score!
I'm pretty fed up with umpires in MLB anyway. The Devil Rays broadcast mentioned that Tampa is one of the cities that is using the system to test umpires. The announcer mentioned that Dale Hirschbeck (sp?) was angered that the system showed that 30+ of his ball and strike calls were wrong. He discredited the system as being flawed. A real man would take the report seriously and look for patterns that can be improved upon. The real truth is that the strike zone is seriously flawed in MLB.
Another beef is umpires that look for confrontation instead of backing away from it. The best umpires I've ever seen will just ignore a player or manager who complains and usually the person making the complaint will back off if his arguments aren't getting anywhere. When will today's umpires learn that a great called game means that no one noticed the umpires at all.
I'm starting to worry about Buck Showalter down there in Texas as the Rangers have lost a ton of games the past thirty days. I don't think they've won five of their last thirty games. They have the batting but just not the pitching where it needs to be. I sure hope that Showalter won't be the scapegoat.
The Blue Jays scored over eleven runs again today. They are unbelievable lately. It will be interesting to see if the Jays can stay in the race all summer. With the mashers that team has, I find it hard to believe they will have much of a slump as a team.
I'd like to thank Steve W. and his family today for their hospitality after I had some lunch over there today. I showed Steve's great kids all about blogging and I think they were excited enough to want to start something themselves. I hope they have as much fun as I'm having.
The Marlins have Lowell and Willis and now they have Miguel Cabrera to go along with some good young pitchers. The Marlins will frustrate quite a few contenders for the rest of the season.
The Devil Rays first of all have Lou Piniella managing and add Baldelli and Huff and this pitcher who is pitching tonight: Zombrano. A Devil Ray named Roll (Samari?) has hit two homers against Clemens and Zombrano has outpitched Roger.
But then again, the Yankees look flat tonight which seems understandable since the won a long and emotional extra inning game last night and then had to travel to Tampa. You can tell a team is flat when several of its players swing at 57 foot sliders.
I think Torre is asleep too as a situation happened that cost the Yankees a run. The Yankees had aman on first and third and Matsui was up. At the time, the Yanks were two runs down. Matsui smashes a double to centerfield and it hopped over the fence for a ground rule double. One run scored and usually, the umpires make the runner from first stop at third. But there was a catch this time as the Yankees had the runner on first in motion when the ball was pitched. That being the case, the run should have counted. Torre didn't even question it and apparently, even his braintrust didn't wake him up about it.
I hate the kind of rules that are considered discretionary and the umpires take the lazy, easy way out and always make the call the same way. The rule is discretionary because if a ground rule double is hit and it appears the runner would have scored, then by gum, the runner should score!
I'm pretty fed up with umpires in MLB anyway. The Devil Rays broadcast mentioned that Tampa is one of the cities that is using the system to test umpires. The announcer mentioned that Dale Hirschbeck (sp?) was angered that the system showed that 30+ of his ball and strike calls were wrong. He discredited the system as being flawed. A real man would take the report seriously and look for patterns that can be improved upon. The real truth is that the strike zone is seriously flawed in MLB.
Another beef is umpires that look for confrontation instead of backing away from it. The best umpires I've ever seen will just ignore a player or manager who complains and usually the person making the complaint will back off if his arguments aren't getting anywhere. When will today's umpires learn that a great called game means that no one noticed the umpires at all.
I'm starting to worry about Buck Showalter down there in Texas as the Rangers have lost a ton of games the past thirty days. I don't think they've won five of their last thirty games. They have the batting but just not the pitching where it needs to be. I sure hope that Showalter won't be the scapegoat.
The Blue Jays scored over eleven runs again today. They are unbelievable lately. It will be interesting to see if the Jays can stay in the race all summer. With the mashers that team has, I find it hard to believe they will have much of a slump as a team.
I'd like to thank Steve W. and his family today for their hospitality after I had some lunch over there today. I showed Steve's great kids all about blogging and I think they were excited enough to want to start something themselves. I hope they have as much fun as I'm having.
Sunday, June 22, 2003
It's a typical day in paradise. We had a sunny morning and I alternated with swimming in the pool to reading the Florida papers about the Marlins' latest five inning win.
The rain shortened win is another example of the trouble with Florida baseball. To really make MLB viable down here, you will need to have a domed stadium. You can't ask the fans to shoot dice to determine if they will get wet watching the game or whether they will get to watch a game at all.
In any case, the Marlins won again and so did Willis, the young pitcher from the Fan's post yesterday. He really seems like the real deal and is now 7-1.
After I was done reading the paper and the boxscores, I was able to turn to my other reading. Vacations have always been a time for me to catch up on reading, one of the true pleasures in life. My days at the Jersey shore in the summer were always times to read and I have a fairly ecclectic selection of tastes. Even then I would read anything from Tolkien to Mickey Spillane.
And there was always a sports book thrown in that mix. I liked biographies especially which earlier in my life were of the heroic variety. Books about Connie Mack or Lou Gehrig were typical. Later, the books got grittier and more gossip-like. "Ball Four" of course, was the big breakthrough of that ilk. Bouton's book captured my imagination when I was in junior high and gave me a new appreciation for baseball players.
The funny thing was that he was vilified because it was thought that his honest look at baseball and its players would eat away at the reverence fans had for players. But that wasn't the case for me and Mantle was my idol too. Bouton's book actually made Mantle more appealing and approachable as an idol.
One funny memory of that book was a execration that impressed my juvenile mind as the coolest I'd ever heard. If you've read the book, Bouton had a manager who often said, "horseshit." I remember trying to find the right circumstance to use what I had learned.
The occasion came later at a junior high basketball game I attended and watched with interest. One of the refs in the game made a call I totally disagreed with and I shouted my newly learned swear phrase at the top of my lungs. I was unnerved when all action stopped and the entire population in the gym were staring at me. I quickly learned that the results weren't as cool as I had hoped.
Another great read was the series of books written by Ron Luciano, the clownish umpire. Luciano's books were hilarious and if you can find copies on Ebay or someplace, I recommend them highly.
So far, on this trip, I have read a book by Mike Shannon called "Tales From The BallPark." At first I had thought that Shannon was the same one who played for the Cardinals back in the 60's and 70's. Shannon was one of my favorite Stratomatic players of that time. "Tales" is somewhat entertaining as Shannon gives 225 pages of one page snippets of true things that happened in MLB. I was somewhat disappointed by the books lack of depth but it was an okay read.
Now I am reading a very engaging history of ESPN written by Michael Freeman. A rags to riches story, ESPN is not without its blemishes, particularly sexual harrassment, throughout its fascinating history.
Of course, that kind of thing needs to be examined so that it doesn't repeat itself but the book also fairly represents ESPN's affect on American sports culture. Sports fans never had it so good.
The book mentions Fox Sports as being an able rival and Keith Olbermann as being the best reporter there is (a form ESPN star). That's crap as nearly all of the ESPN achors are more entertaining and more likeable. I'll never switch.
I'll be very interested to read about Chris Berman as he's always been my favorite. I wonder what dirt we'll learn about him! It won't matter of course, which goes back to the point made during my discussion of Bouton's book. He's still great and you know what? I'm not perfect either.
See you down by the pool.
The rain shortened win is another example of the trouble with Florida baseball. To really make MLB viable down here, you will need to have a domed stadium. You can't ask the fans to shoot dice to determine if they will get wet watching the game or whether they will get to watch a game at all.
In any case, the Marlins won again and so did Willis, the young pitcher from the Fan's post yesterday. He really seems like the real deal and is now 7-1.
After I was done reading the paper and the boxscores, I was able to turn to my other reading. Vacations have always been a time for me to catch up on reading, one of the true pleasures in life. My days at the Jersey shore in the summer were always times to read and I have a fairly ecclectic selection of tastes. Even then I would read anything from Tolkien to Mickey Spillane.
And there was always a sports book thrown in that mix. I liked biographies especially which earlier in my life were of the heroic variety. Books about Connie Mack or Lou Gehrig were typical. Later, the books got grittier and more gossip-like. "Ball Four" of course, was the big breakthrough of that ilk. Bouton's book captured my imagination when I was in junior high and gave me a new appreciation for baseball players.
The funny thing was that he was vilified because it was thought that his honest look at baseball and its players would eat away at the reverence fans had for players. But that wasn't the case for me and Mantle was my idol too. Bouton's book actually made Mantle more appealing and approachable as an idol.
One funny memory of that book was a execration that impressed my juvenile mind as the coolest I'd ever heard. If you've read the book, Bouton had a manager who often said, "horseshit." I remember trying to find the right circumstance to use what I had learned.
The occasion came later at a junior high basketball game I attended and watched with interest. One of the refs in the game made a call I totally disagreed with and I shouted my newly learned swear phrase at the top of my lungs. I was unnerved when all action stopped and the entire population in the gym were staring at me. I quickly learned that the results weren't as cool as I had hoped.
Another great read was the series of books written by Ron Luciano, the clownish umpire. Luciano's books were hilarious and if you can find copies on Ebay or someplace, I recommend them highly.
So far, on this trip, I have read a book by Mike Shannon called "Tales From The BallPark." At first I had thought that Shannon was the same one who played for the Cardinals back in the 60's and 70's. Shannon was one of my favorite Stratomatic players of that time. "Tales" is somewhat entertaining as Shannon gives 225 pages of one page snippets of true things that happened in MLB. I was somewhat disappointed by the books lack of depth but it was an okay read.
Now I am reading a very engaging history of ESPN written by Michael Freeman. A rags to riches story, ESPN is not without its blemishes, particularly sexual harrassment, throughout its fascinating history.
Of course, that kind of thing needs to be examined so that it doesn't repeat itself but the book also fairly represents ESPN's affect on American sports culture. Sports fans never had it so good.
The book mentions Fox Sports as being an able rival and Keith Olbermann as being the best reporter there is (a form ESPN star). That's crap as nearly all of the ESPN achors are more entertaining and more likeable. I'll never switch.
I'll be very interested to read about Chris Berman as he's always been my favorite. I wonder what dirt we'll learn about him! It won't matter of course, which goes back to the point made during my discussion of Bouton's book. He's still great and you know what? I'm not perfect either.
See you down by the pool.
Saturday, June 21, 2003
The Flagrant Fan is in sunny Florida. I don't know why I do everything the opposite of everyone else. I go to Florida in the summer and freeze to death in Maine in the winter. Strange. To top it off, I'm at my mom's place for a week and she's 76 with an old Gateway with Windows 95 and a dialup modem. I feel like I've gone back twenty years. It's funny how spoiled we get.
The big news in Florida is the debut of Miguel Cabrera, the Marlins' 20 year old phenom whose first hit was a walk off homerun against the Devil Rays last night. Granted, he was only 1 for 5 on the night, but still, what a way to start your career.
Cabrera is the Marlins' best prospect and was hitting .365 in the minors. He is also a third baseman which leads all the Florida papers down here to speculate that Cabrera will take over for Mike Lowell when Lowell is traded. Cabrera played left field last night and played it flawlessly.
I would hate to see Lowell traded. He is the franchise player and it would be similar to Kansas City trading Mike Sweeney. Both are fan favorites and in cities struggling to recover their fan base, it seems stupid to trade them away.
The Marlins have already done that once when they traded Jeff Conine to Baltimore. Conine was a fixture down here and a big fan favorite. He has proved to be the same in Baltimore. It hurts a franchise beyond repair when such moves are made for the money element. It says to the fans that the owners don't care about the fans and who they like to root for.
Lowell has been an inspirational story from the beginning with his testicular cancer and the battle he won just playing in the major leagues. Now he is a star with 21 homers and 60 RBI. The Marlins should keep him and continue to play Cabrera in Left.
The other big story down here is Dontrelle Willis, their rookie Vida Blue-like pitcher. Willis is now 6-1 with a 2.65 ERA along with 51 strikeouts in 51 plus innings.
The Vida Blue comparison comes from the fact that the throws from the left side and has the same high leg kick that Blue was famous for. In a nice story, Blue, who works for Giants, said he's like to meet Willis and Willis is very excited about that prospect.
Willis seems to be a great kid and also seems to have a great future ahead of him.
That's all from Florida. I have to...umm...go swim in a pool now. What a bummer huh?
The big news in Florida is the debut of Miguel Cabrera, the Marlins' 20 year old phenom whose first hit was a walk off homerun against the Devil Rays last night. Granted, he was only 1 for 5 on the night, but still, what a way to start your career.
Cabrera is the Marlins' best prospect and was hitting .365 in the minors. He is also a third baseman which leads all the Florida papers down here to speculate that Cabrera will take over for Mike Lowell when Lowell is traded. Cabrera played left field last night and played it flawlessly.
I would hate to see Lowell traded. He is the franchise player and it would be similar to Kansas City trading Mike Sweeney. Both are fan favorites and in cities struggling to recover their fan base, it seems stupid to trade them away.
The Marlins have already done that once when they traded Jeff Conine to Baltimore. Conine was a fixture down here and a big fan favorite. He has proved to be the same in Baltimore. It hurts a franchise beyond repair when such moves are made for the money element. It says to the fans that the owners don't care about the fans and who they like to root for.
Lowell has been an inspirational story from the beginning with his testicular cancer and the battle he won just playing in the major leagues. Now he is a star with 21 homers and 60 RBI. The Marlins should keep him and continue to play Cabrera in Left.
The other big story down here is Dontrelle Willis, their rookie Vida Blue-like pitcher. Willis is now 6-1 with a 2.65 ERA along with 51 strikeouts in 51 plus innings.
The Vida Blue comparison comes from the fact that the throws from the left side and has the same high leg kick that Blue was famous for. In a nice story, Blue, who works for Giants, said he's like to meet Willis and Willis is very excited about that prospect.
Willis seems to be a great kid and also seems to have a great future ahead of him.
That's all from Florida. I have to...umm...go swim in a pool now. What a bummer huh?
Thursday, June 19, 2003
Baseball fights are fun. There I said it and I admit it. As much as we admire Star Trek, we haven't yet become as civilized as we'd like to think. We gawk at accidents. We watch hockey hoping the gloves will come off. We shout when a big hit happens in football. And yes, we are very interested when baseball players fight. This time the fight involved two pitchers. Now that is very cool. Don't let the little leaguers hear that, but pitchers fighting is almost as much fun as when Brent Favre starts mixing it up with a 320 pound defensive lineman.
In the Red second fight of the week (putting them high on the uncivilized-yet-fun list), pitcher Paul Wilson was trying to bunt. Kyle Farnsworth, who throws 200 MPH, threw his fastball up around Wilson's chest. Wilson apparently didn't like that because he whirled around and shouted at Farnsworth. Farnsworth, who must not like hearing that his mother wears army boots, actually rushed towards home to take on Wilson. Wilson took up the gauntlet and threw his bat down and met Farnsworth a quarter of the way to the mound. That was his big mistake as Farnsworth piledrived him into the turf with his shoulder. Wilson was seen leaving the field with a busted up nose and blood spatter on his jersey.
Can you say, "Suspension"? The only question is whether the Red players who brawled in two games will all serve their suspensions together.
It's time to look at the Flagrant Fan's favorite boxscore players and their last seven days:
- Hank Blalock. It's not been a good week for Blalock as he hit .227 for the week with only one homer and two RBI. His average has dropped from the .350s down to .333.
- Mark Teixeira. Blalock's teammate hasn't done better as he hit .208 for the week with a homer and three RBI. Teixeira is now batting .234.
- Sean Burroughs. Jeff's son had a good week as he batted .321 with a couple of RBI. Burroughs' average for the year is up to .297 and though the power is not there yet, it will be.
- Rocco Baldelli. Rocco also didn't fare well this week as he only batted .250 with no homers or RBI. He did walk three times which in one week gave him a quarter of his yearly total. That stat makes you wonder if he has started listening to his critics who complain that he is too much of a free swinger. It's funny that no one has every criticized Vladimir Guerrero for that. Guerrero's OBP improved every year and Baldelli's will too. Just have fun, Rocco. It will be cool.
- Pat Burrell. Burrell, who is still down in the .209 range for the year (ugh!) is starting to hit a little. He batted .333 for the week though with no power. Personally, I think Abreu should bat third, Burrell in cleanup and Thome in the five slot. Then Burrell will get more fastballs.
- Turk Wendell. The crazy ex-Met didn't give up any runs this week and so his ERA is down to .076!
- Alfonso Soriano. Soriano has had a poor week, only hitting .194 for the week. But he did bloop the winning hit in the 12 inning, 1-0 win.
- Mike Lowell. Mike only hit .234 for the week for the Marlins. But he did hit three homers to lift is amazing yearly total to 21. He also had six RBI to raise his yearly total to 57.
- Ken Griffey. Junior sat out a game or two with soreness in his right shoulder but apppears to be fine. He did manage to get three hits in twelve at bats with two RBI.
- Adam Dunn is still doing the Dave Kingman thing as he is batted .150 for the week. But two of this three hits were homers so now he has 22 homers to go with his flashy .202 batting average.
- Larry Walker. I've always loved Walker and his personality. He's starting to hit now and batted .333 for the week with a homer and four RBI. He's up to .282 for the year.
- Shane Spencer. Spencer only batted six times but did get three hits to bat .500 for the week.
- Coco Crisp. My new favorite batted .238 for the week but is OBP wasn't too bad at .333. He did score four runs and stole two bases.
Some quick thoughts:
The infield of Eric Chavez and Miguel Tejada are batting .249 and .221 respectively for the year and both were under .200 for the past week. There is no way the A's are going to make the playoffs this year unless the Red Sox and Toronto both fold.
Greg Maddux is still only 5-6 with a 4.44 ERA. That doesn't look very good for $14 million dollars.
Speaking of the Braves, in what seems like reality warping, Mike Hampton pitched his second great game in a row and Smoltz blew the save and lost the game!
In the Red second fight of the week (putting them high on the uncivilized-yet-fun list), pitcher Paul Wilson was trying to bunt. Kyle Farnsworth, who throws 200 MPH, threw his fastball up around Wilson's chest. Wilson apparently didn't like that because he whirled around and shouted at Farnsworth. Farnsworth, who must not like hearing that his mother wears army boots, actually rushed towards home to take on Wilson. Wilson took up the gauntlet and threw his bat down and met Farnsworth a quarter of the way to the mound. That was his big mistake as Farnsworth piledrived him into the turf with his shoulder. Wilson was seen leaving the field with a busted up nose and blood spatter on his jersey.
Can you say, "Suspension"? The only question is whether the Red players who brawled in two games will all serve their suspensions together.
It's time to look at the Flagrant Fan's favorite boxscore players and their last seven days:
- Hank Blalock. It's not been a good week for Blalock as he hit .227 for the week with only one homer and two RBI. His average has dropped from the .350s down to .333.
- Mark Teixeira. Blalock's teammate hasn't done better as he hit .208 for the week with a homer and three RBI. Teixeira is now batting .234.
- Sean Burroughs. Jeff's son had a good week as he batted .321 with a couple of RBI. Burroughs' average for the year is up to .297 and though the power is not there yet, it will be.
- Rocco Baldelli. Rocco also didn't fare well this week as he only batted .250 with no homers or RBI. He did walk three times which in one week gave him a quarter of his yearly total. That stat makes you wonder if he has started listening to his critics who complain that he is too much of a free swinger. It's funny that no one has every criticized Vladimir Guerrero for that. Guerrero's OBP improved every year and Baldelli's will too. Just have fun, Rocco. It will be cool.
- Pat Burrell. Burrell, who is still down in the .209 range for the year (ugh!) is starting to hit a little. He batted .333 for the week though with no power. Personally, I think Abreu should bat third, Burrell in cleanup and Thome in the five slot. Then Burrell will get more fastballs.
- Turk Wendell. The crazy ex-Met didn't give up any runs this week and so his ERA is down to .076!
- Alfonso Soriano. Soriano has had a poor week, only hitting .194 for the week. But he did bloop the winning hit in the 12 inning, 1-0 win.
- Mike Lowell. Mike only hit .234 for the week for the Marlins. But he did hit three homers to lift is amazing yearly total to 21. He also had six RBI to raise his yearly total to 57.
- Ken Griffey. Junior sat out a game or two with soreness in his right shoulder but apppears to be fine. He did manage to get three hits in twelve at bats with two RBI.
- Adam Dunn is still doing the Dave Kingman thing as he is batted .150 for the week. But two of this three hits were homers so now he has 22 homers to go with his flashy .202 batting average.
- Larry Walker. I've always loved Walker and his personality. He's starting to hit now and batted .333 for the week with a homer and four RBI. He's up to .282 for the year.
- Shane Spencer. Spencer only batted six times but did get three hits to bat .500 for the week.
- Coco Crisp. My new favorite batted .238 for the week but is OBP wasn't too bad at .333. He did score four runs and stole two bases.
Some quick thoughts:
The infield of Eric Chavez and Miguel Tejada are batting .249 and .221 respectively for the year and both were under .200 for the past week. There is no way the A's are going to make the playoffs this year unless the Red Sox and Toronto both fold.
Greg Maddux is still only 5-6 with a 4.44 ERA. That doesn't look very good for $14 million dollars.
Speaking of the Braves, in what seems like reality warping, Mike Hampton pitched his second great game in a row and Smoltz blew the save and lost the game!
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
There are two no-hitters in the works as the Fan writes this. Both Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood have no-hitters into the sixth innings of their respective games. The Yankees haven't scored yet for Clemens but Sammy Sosa has hit his first homer in more than a month to put Wood up by three runs. The last time I wrote that two no-hitters were underway, the Astros no-hit the Yankees. So we'll see what happens.
The National League AllStar Pitchers should be:
- Kevin Brown. A no doubter as he is 10-1 with a 1.97 ERA. The NL is only batting .209 against him and he has only given up 76 hits in 100+ innings.
- Hideo Nomo. His record is only 7-6 but he has a 2.66 ERA and has only given up 74 hits in 109 innings! He has already thrown two shutouts and if it weren't for walks, the guy would be nearly perfect this season.
- Woody Williams. While his teammate, Morris, has been hurt by the homerun, Williams has only given up 5 homers and has a 2.66 ERA along with his 8-2 record.
- Jason Schmidt. Schmidt's record with the Giants is only 5-3 despite his 13 starts. His record and the quick hook they have in San Francisco is the best argument for Clemens being one of the last to win 300 games. Schmidt has struck out 100 in his 91 innings.
- Mark Prior. Prior and Kerry Wood have been dominant at times but Wood just can't seem to get away from that .500 record he always has. Prior on the other hand is 8-2 with a 2.77 ERA. Prior has struck out 106 in 96+ innings.
- Randy Wolf. Wolf has only pitched 90 innings in his 14 starts as Larry Bowa also has a quick hook. But in his 90 innings, Wolf has only given up 64 hits as the competition is only hitting .198 against him (the best for starters in the NL). His ERA is a little high at 3.30, but he is 8-3 and you can't beat success.
- Shawn Chacon. Chacon has an ERA of 4.21, but consider that stat is from pitching in Coors Field in Denver. He is 9-3 and is having a great season.
For my setup men and closers, I'm going to break my own rule stated in my post concerning the AL pitching Allstars. Two setup men and two closers are so clearly having overpowering and unbelievable years, all of them deserve to go. The set up men are both from the same team:
- Octavio Dotel. 6-2 with 2 saves, a 1.59 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 39 plus innings show you how dominant he has been.
- Brad Lidge. Right behind Dotel (or right in front!), Astros teammate Lidge is 4-0 with a save and a 1.49 ERA. He has only given up seven earned runs in 42 innings.
The two best closers in baseball are so far in front of everyone else, you have to take both:
- Eric Gagne. Gagne is having the most unbelievable season by a reliever. The season rivals one that Goose Gossage had years ago. Just 15 hits given up in 37 innings, a WHIP of 0.64 and 67 strikeouts in 37 innings are surreal numbers. They look more like stratomatic numbers.
- John Smoltz doesn't strike out as many (though more than one an inning). He is one save behind Gagne and has an ERA of 0.72. That number may not even make sense to you. Let me put it another way: Smoltz has given up only three runs in 37.2 innings. Unbelievable.
If the American League is behind going into the seventh inning, the game is over.
Clemens gave up his first hit in the eigth inning so the no-hit bid is over. The game is still scoreless and it looks like Clemens won't get #301. Wood's no-hit bid in Chicago just ended in the seventh inning. He is still leading the Reds, 4 to 1.
The National League AllStar Pitchers should be:
- Kevin Brown. A no doubter as he is 10-1 with a 1.97 ERA. The NL is only batting .209 against him and he has only given up 76 hits in 100+ innings.
- Hideo Nomo. His record is only 7-6 but he has a 2.66 ERA and has only given up 74 hits in 109 innings! He has already thrown two shutouts and if it weren't for walks, the guy would be nearly perfect this season.
- Woody Williams. While his teammate, Morris, has been hurt by the homerun, Williams has only given up 5 homers and has a 2.66 ERA along with his 8-2 record.
- Jason Schmidt. Schmidt's record with the Giants is only 5-3 despite his 13 starts. His record and the quick hook they have in San Francisco is the best argument for Clemens being one of the last to win 300 games. Schmidt has struck out 100 in his 91 innings.
- Mark Prior. Prior and Kerry Wood have been dominant at times but Wood just can't seem to get away from that .500 record he always has. Prior on the other hand is 8-2 with a 2.77 ERA. Prior has struck out 106 in 96+ innings.
- Randy Wolf. Wolf has only pitched 90 innings in his 14 starts as Larry Bowa also has a quick hook. But in his 90 innings, Wolf has only given up 64 hits as the competition is only hitting .198 against him (the best for starters in the NL). His ERA is a little high at 3.30, but he is 8-3 and you can't beat success.
- Shawn Chacon. Chacon has an ERA of 4.21, but consider that stat is from pitching in Coors Field in Denver. He is 9-3 and is having a great season.
For my setup men and closers, I'm going to break my own rule stated in my post concerning the AL pitching Allstars. Two setup men and two closers are so clearly having overpowering and unbelievable years, all of them deserve to go. The set up men are both from the same team:
- Octavio Dotel. 6-2 with 2 saves, a 1.59 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 39 plus innings show you how dominant he has been.
- Brad Lidge. Right behind Dotel (or right in front!), Astros teammate Lidge is 4-0 with a save and a 1.49 ERA. He has only given up seven earned runs in 42 innings.
The two best closers in baseball are so far in front of everyone else, you have to take both:
- Eric Gagne. Gagne is having the most unbelievable season by a reliever. The season rivals one that Goose Gossage had years ago. Just 15 hits given up in 37 innings, a WHIP of 0.64 and 67 strikeouts in 37 innings are surreal numbers. They look more like stratomatic numbers.
- John Smoltz doesn't strike out as many (though more than one an inning). He is one save behind Gagne and has an ERA of 0.72. That number may not even make sense to you. Let me put it another way: Smoltz has given up only three runs in 37.2 innings. Unbelievable.
If the American League is behind going into the seventh inning, the game is over.
Clemens gave up his first hit in the eigth inning so the no-hit bid is over. The game is still scoreless and it looks like Clemens won't get #301. Wood's no-hit bid in Chicago just ended in the seventh inning. He is still leading the Reds, 4 to 1.
Tuesday, June 17, 2003
John Olerud notched his 2000th hit tonight. The hit got some play at the baseball sites. It wasn't big news and Olerud's career won't be considered big news either. He had one "career" season in 1993 when he flirted with .400 for a large part of the year and ended up hitting .363 with 54 doubles, 24 homeruns and a .476 OBP. The rest of his career (except for 1998 when he hit .354) has been what people would call, "steady." There would be little mention of him as a potential Hall of Famer.
But Olerud is one of those unsung players. A few stats can't tell the full picture. Sure, he has a lifetime batting average of .299 and a remarkable lifetime OBP of .403. You have to put all of his stats together to get the picture that Olerud has always done one simple thing: He's always made his team better.
One way he's done that is with his fielding. He doesn't make the highlight shows with flashy diving stops (though he'll make a few). What he does is make all of his infielding teammates better. Back in his Toronto days, when they had Tony Fernandez at shortstop, Fernandez was the whiz kid and a sensation. Olerud helped make that happen. I know as I watched nearly all of those games. Fernandez never duplicated those days, though he was a good player.
Olerud then went to the Mets and the last year that he was there, the Mets set a major league record for the fewest errors. Olerud somehow gives his infielders confidence that whatever they throw over there, he'll find a way to catch. The biggest telling factor for those Mets is how badly their infield defense collapsed when Olerud went to Seattle and Zeile took over as Mets first baseman (no knock on Zeile).
Now he is with Seattle and it's not an accident that the Mariners are touted for their first class, high powered defense. What a surprise that the defense is anchored by John Olerud at first base.
I'll give you my National League AllStar pitchers tomorrow. You can already mark down that Kevin Brown is going to be on my list.
But Olerud is one of those unsung players. A few stats can't tell the full picture. Sure, he has a lifetime batting average of .299 and a remarkable lifetime OBP of .403. You have to put all of his stats together to get the picture that Olerud has always done one simple thing: He's always made his team better.
One way he's done that is with his fielding. He doesn't make the highlight shows with flashy diving stops (though he'll make a few). What he does is make all of his infielding teammates better. Back in his Toronto days, when they had Tony Fernandez at shortstop, Fernandez was the whiz kid and a sensation. Olerud helped make that happen. I know as I watched nearly all of those games. Fernandez never duplicated those days, though he was a good player.
Olerud then went to the Mets and the last year that he was there, the Mets set a major league record for the fewest errors. Olerud somehow gives his infielders confidence that whatever they throw over there, he'll find a way to catch. The biggest telling factor for those Mets is how badly their infield defense collapsed when Olerud went to Seattle and Zeile took over as Mets first baseman (no knock on Zeile).
Now he is with Seattle and it's not an accident that the Mariners are touted for their first class, high powered defense. What a surprise that the defense is anchored by John Olerud at first base.
I'll give you my National League AllStar pitchers tomorrow. You can already mark down that Kevin Brown is going to be on my list.
Monday, June 16, 2003
I just finished reading Peter Gammans column on ESPN.com. The man just flat out can write baseball. Every time I read his stuff, I wonder why I'm playing around with this. I play and he performs. The funny thing is now that he has been on Baseball Tonight for a few years, when I read his column, I read it in his voice! Peter Gammans reads his column to me personally. Pretty cool stuff.
I have poured over the MLB stats and have come up with my AllStar pitchers. First of all, let me say that I totally disagree with recent year selections where Torre and Cox (or whomever is the National League manager) select four or five closers. Closers pitch an inning. They can throw as hard as they need to because they only throw an inning. The AllStars should be those starters who pitch six to eight innings better than most of their rivals. Then pick one closer (the one with the hottest hand) and one setup man.
Okay, now that I have blown that off, here is my list of American League pitchers (how many can I pick anyway??):
- Estaban Loaiza. What a great start now that he's 9-2 with a 2.24 ERA. Only Mike Mussina has a better WHIP (walks+hits per innings pitched).
- Kyle Lohse. He has the second lowest ERA in the AL and the third best WHIP.
- Jamie Moyer. 40 years old and 10-3 with the league's third best ERA.
- Mike Mussina. He's been a bit streaky, but he is 9-4 and leads all AL starters with a .99 WHIP aided by his lack of walking people. One of only four AL starters with an ERA under 3.00. He leads AL pitchers in strikeouts.
- Barry Zito. Leads AL starters with the AL hitters only batting .198 against him. Only walks keep his ERA and WHIP up a little and that might be more a result of umpires giving up on the curve more than any other reason.
- Tim Hudson. Zito's teammate is right behind him in most pitching stats. Okay...one more starter...
- Gil Meche. Meche would have made it with his 9-3 record but outpitching Greg Maddux and beating the Braves lands him on MY team!
We need a closer...and my winner is?
- Eddie Guardado. Surprise! But he shouldn't be. He leads the AL in saves, has a WHIP of an incredible 0.94 and has only walked four batters in 28 innings! Supurb.
My setup man is:
- Brendan Donnelly. The Anaheim Angel pitcher has been unbelievable and leads all relievers with a WHIP of 0.87. His ERA is 0.24 and he has struck out 41 batters in 34.2 innings! The league is batting a rediculous .153 against him.
And my emotional pick would be Roger Clemens. He isn't far from deserving it. The forty year old has struck out 97 batters in 89 innings. He has only pitched poorly in 2 of his 14 starts and his 3.73 ERA is greatly inflated by relief pitchers bringing in Clemens' inherited baserunners.
That's my American League pitching staff. I'll go through the National League tomorrow.
I have poured over the MLB stats and have come up with my AllStar pitchers. First of all, let me say that I totally disagree with recent year selections where Torre and Cox (or whomever is the National League manager) select four or five closers. Closers pitch an inning. They can throw as hard as they need to because they only throw an inning. The AllStars should be those starters who pitch six to eight innings better than most of their rivals. Then pick one closer (the one with the hottest hand) and one setup man.
Okay, now that I have blown that off, here is my list of American League pitchers (how many can I pick anyway??):
- Estaban Loaiza. What a great start now that he's 9-2 with a 2.24 ERA. Only Mike Mussina has a better WHIP (walks+hits per innings pitched).
- Kyle Lohse. He has the second lowest ERA in the AL and the third best WHIP.
- Jamie Moyer. 40 years old and 10-3 with the league's third best ERA.
- Mike Mussina. He's been a bit streaky, but he is 9-4 and leads all AL starters with a .99 WHIP aided by his lack of walking people. One of only four AL starters with an ERA under 3.00. He leads AL pitchers in strikeouts.
- Barry Zito. Leads AL starters with the AL hitters only batting .198 against him. Only walks keep his ERA and WHIP up a little and that might be more a result of umpires giving up on the curve more than any other reason.
- Tim Hudson. Zito's teammate is right behind him in most pitching stats. Okay...one more starter...
- Gil Meche. Meche would have made it with his 9-3 record but outpitching Greg Maddux and beating the Braves lands him on MY team!
We need a closer...and my winner is?
- Eddie Guardado. Surprise! But he shouldn't be. He leads the AL in saves, has a WHIP of an incredible 0.94 and has only walked four batters in 28 innings! Supurb.
My setup man is:
- Brendan Donnelly. The Anaheim Angel pitcher has been unbelievable and leads all relievers with a WHIP of 0.87. His ERA is 0.24 and he has struck out 41 batters in 34.2 innings! The league is batting a rediculous .153 against him.
And my emotional pick would be Roger Clemens. He isn't far from deserving it. The forty year old has struck out 97 batters in 89 innings. He has only pitched poorly in 2 of his 14 starts and his 3.73 ERA is greatly inflated by relief pitchers bringing in Clemens' inherited baserunners.
That's my American League pitching staff. I'll go through the National League tomorrow.
Sunday, June 15, 2003
I've already decided that I made one AllStar vote mistake but I think I've covered my bases (pun intended) pretty well on the rest of my selections.
Starting in the National League, I went with Richie Sexson of the Brewers as my first baseman. There really wasn't anyone else to select. Bagwell has too few RBI. Thome has good power numbers but is batting .248. Helton is having a good year but I can't justify anyone who plays half their year in Colorado. Sexson has 21 homers and 47 RBI. Great numbers.
Second base goes to Jeff Kent. He makes the Astros better and has the most RBI of anyone at his position. The only other contender (and I hope he makes the team) is Aaron Boone (the non-arrogant Boone) who is having a very good year.
My pick at shortstop has been one of the best fielders for many years. Now he knows how to hit too. His name? Edgar Renteria. Renteria is among the NL leaders in batting and leads his position in RBI. Alex Gonzalez of the Marlins and Rafael Furcal of the Braves are both having good years but they come short of Renteria.
Mike Lowell is my easy choice for third base. He is having a tremendous year and gets the nod over Scott Rolen who is has good numbers too.
The NL catcher should be Javey Lopez who is having a career year and seems all the way back from his dark last couple of years. His only competition is Lo Duca of the Dodgers.
The NL outfield seems pretty easy to pick this year as Sheffield of the Braves, Pujols of the Cardinals and Andruw Jones of the Braves stand out against the rest of the league's outfielders. If I could have chosen five outfielders, I would have chosen Bonds--who is coming on fast--and Austin Kearns.
The American League is a little closer at several positions and is where I made my one mistake (No I will not vote twice--even if they let you). My first basement in the AL has to be Carlos Delgado. He already has a bazillion RBI and lifted that team up to great things. He is also the first legit contender for the triple crown baseball has seen for a long time.
Nomar Garciaparra easily surpasses Alex Rodriguez of the Rangers this year. The stats are no comparison. The worth to their respective teams is enormous, but Nomar is having an MVP year. Today alone, Garciaparra hit three doubles and a triple. He then laid down a sacrifice bunt that set up the winning run. I haven't seen him play lately. Is he still trying to pull everything? His average has risen sharply since I wrote that observation weeks ago.
Oh yes, second base. A tough call here. I took Boone over Soriano because he has more RBI and is a better fielder. But Boone is better this year and Soriano had the better year last year. Boone's RBI this year are also helped by him batting third whereas Soriano has batted first all year (except for three games). Boone's a jerk too so that certainly entered my thoughts as I was voting. Well, I gave it to Boone this one last time. Soriano will be there for the rest of his career.
Third base was easy for me and I went with Hank Blalock. He is still among the leaders in batting, has a lot of RBI and it would be exciting to see him at the AllStar game. He is going to be a great player for a long time.
My mistake, I think, was in selecting Jorge Posada at catcher. He leads all catchers in RBI and is having a better defensive season and I believe him to be one of the best clutch hitters in the game. But the Twins A.J. Pierzynski is having a great year and easily beats Posada in average while only being five RBI behind Posada. He is also one of the best defensive catchers in baseball. My bad. I made the wrong choice here.
The outfield was difficult as more of the AL outfielders are bunched up. I ended up going with Manny Ramirez, Garrett Anderson and Vernon Wells. All three are solid picks and all of their stats are right up there with everyone else's.
Edgar Martinez is the easy pick for the DH, though it's weird that the AL gets this pick while the NL does not.
So there you have it: The Flagrant Fan's AllStars. I'll pick my AllStar pitchers tomorrow.
Starting in the National League, I went with Richie Sexson of the Brewers as my first baseman. There really wasn't anyone else to select. Bagwell has too few RBI. Thome has good power numbers but is batting .248. Helton is having a good year but I can't justify anyone who plays half their year in Colorado. Sexson has 21 homers and 47 RBI. Great numbers.
Second base goes to Jeff Kent. He makes the Astros better and has the most RBI of anyone at his position. The only other contender (and I hope he makes the team) is Aaron Boone (the non-arrogant Boone) who is having a very good year.
My pick at shortstop has been one of the best fielders for many years. Now he knows how to hit too. His name? Edgar Renteria. Renteria is among the NL leaders in batting and leads his position in RBI. Alex Gonzalez of the Marlins and Rafael Furcal of the Braves are both having good years but they come short of Renteria.
Mike Lowell is my easy choice for third base. He is having a tremendous year and gets the nod over Scott Rolen who is has good numbers too.
The NL catcher should be Javey Lopez who is having a career year and seems all the way back from his dark last couple of years. His only competition is Lo Duca of the Dodgers.
The NL outfield seems pretty easy to pick this year as Sheffield of the Braves, Pujols of the Cardinals and Andruw Jones of the Braves stand out against the rest of the league's outfielders. If I could have chosen five outfielders, I would have chosen Bonds--who is coming on fast--and Austin Kearns.
The American League is a little closer at several positions and is where I made my one mistake (No I will not vote twice--even if they let you). My first basement in the AL has to be Carlos Delgado. He already has a bazillion RBI and lifted that team up to great things. He is also the first legit contender for the triple crown baseball has seen for a long time.
Nomar Garciaparra easily surpasses Alex Rodriguez of the Rangers this year. The stats are no comparison. The worth to their respective teams is enormous, but Nomar is having an MVP year. Today alone, Garciaparra hit three doubles and a triple. He then laid down a sacrifice bunt that set up the winning run. I haven't seen him play lately. Is he still trying to pull everything? His average has risen sharply since I wrote that observation weeks ago.
Oh yes, second base. A tough call here. I took Boone over Soriano because he has more RBI and is a better fielder. But Boone is better this year and Soriano had the better year last year. Boone's RBI this year are also helped by him batting third whereas Soriano has batted first all year (except for three games). Boone's a jerk too so that certainly entered my thoughts as I was voting. Well, I gave it to Boone this one last time. Soriano will be there for the rest of his career.
Third base was easy for me and I went with Hank Blalock. He is still among the leaders in batting, has a lot of RBI and it would be exciting to see him at the AllStar game. He is going to be a great player for a long time.
My mistake, I think, was in selecting Jorge Posada at catcher. He leads all catchers in RBI and is having a better defensive season and I believe him to be one of the best clutch hitters in the game. But the Twins A.J. Pierzynski is having a great year and easily beats Posada in average while only being five RBI behind Posada. He is also one of the best defensive catchers in baseball. My bad. I made the wrong choice here.
The outfield was difficult as more of the AL outfielders are bunched up. I ended up going with Manny Ramirez, Garrett Anderson and Vernon Wells. All three are solid picks and all of their stats are right up there with everyone else's.
Edgar Martinez is the easy pick for the DH, though it's weird that the AL gets this pick while the NL does not.
So there you have it: The Flagrant Fan's AllStars. I'll pick my AllStar pitchers tomorrow.
Saturday, June 14, 2003
Much to my relief, amazement and joy, Roger Clemens finally won his 300th game (along with obtaining his 4000th strikeout) in grand style by striking out ten hitters against a great hitting team and holding the Cardinals to two runs. The relief pitchers did their job as did the Yankee hitters and it's finally over. Congratulations Roger. I know it was your personal victory and was an accomplishment performed from your hard work over the years. But it was my victory too as I have watched at least two hundred of those victories. You are one of the best ever and I am honored that I was able to watch you.
My prediction is that now that this milestone is finally met, the Yankees will go on a tear and today brought that out as they mauled the Cardinals' best pitcher and exploded for thirteen runs. Giambi is officially hot and is up to 17 homers and 46 RBI. Matsui is hot as well and is up to 44 RBI. Sierra has produced in his few games and Andy Petitte threw well today. Look out American League, the Yanks are past walking the tightrope and will be stridently walking your way soon.
In two of the best matchups in this interleague weekend, the Braves and Mariners have split two games in what is the battle of this year's two best teams. And the Cubs and Blue Jays have split two games as two of the better teams in the majors squared off. Mark Prior won again today and has looked really sharp his last two games.
Carlos Delgado and Adam Dunn both hit their MLB leading 22nd homers tonight. Dunn was involved in a major brawl last night against the Phillies after getting brushed back twice. It seems that the Phillies weren't too happy that Dunn crashed into Philly catcher, Mike Lieberthal with the Reds winning the game at the time 10-0. I understand that to degree, but as Tim McGarver aptly pointed out recently, these days, a 10-0 lead isn't safe and you have to score all the runs you can. Dunn is a football mentality anyway and a big man. I'm sure he was just playing hard. To his credit, Lieberthal didn't think it was a bad play on Dunn's part. I'm sure you will see lots of suspensions from that game.
It was quite ironic last night. I wanted to record my feelings for the Clemens milestone and was looking forward to writing my post. But I changed the hub on my network yesterday and couldn't get the network to recognize the cable from Road Runner. Finally, I went to bed giving up on it for the night. My wife got it working while I was sleeping. How is that for a good woman huh?
The Red Sox just came back to tie the Astros 2-2 in another great interleague matchup. The Red Sox are amazing in that they never give up and their hitters just expect to pull the games out at the end. You don't beat the Red Sox, they just run out of outs. Ramirez and Garciaparra are both up to .325
The Dodgers have won five straight and are now just two and a half games behind the Giants in the NL West. Ashby even won a game for them. They have great pitching and the league's best closer. I had thought for a while that the Giants were going to run away with it, but I no longer believe that.
It's a real shame that the Cubs have lost Sammy Sosa for seven games right after his coming back from injury. June has always been Sosa's get hot month and the season is getting to be a wash for him. His Pepsi commercial buddy, Junior Griffey, continues to pound the ball since his return which makes this fan a very happy guy.
I just filled out my AllStar ballot. I'll fill you in tomorrow!
My prediction is that now that this milestone is finally met, the Yankees will go on a tear and today brought that out as they mauled the Cardinals' best pitcher and exploded for thirteen runs. Giambi is officially hot and is up to 17 homers and 46 RBI. Matsui is hot as well and is up to 44 RBI. Sierra has produced in his few games and Andy Petitte threw well today. Look out American League, the Yanks are past walking the tightrope and will be stridently walking your way soon.
In two of the best matchups in this interleague weekend, the Braves and Mariners have split two games in what is the battle of this year's two best teams. And the Cubs and Blue Jays have split two games as two of the better teams in the majors squared off. Mark Prior won again today and has looked really sharp his last two games.
Carlos Delgado and Adam Dunn both hit their MLB leading 22nd homers tonight. Dunn was involved in a major brawl last night against the Phillies after getting brushed back twice. It seems that the Phillies weren't too happy that Dunn crashed into Philly catcher, Mike Lieberthal with the Reds winning the game at the time 10-0. I understand that to degree, but as Tim McGarver aptly pointed out recently, these days, a 10-0 lead isn't safe and you have to score all the runs you can. Dunn is a football mentality anyway and a big man. I'm sure he was just playing hard. To his credit, Lieberthal didn't think it was a bad play on Dunn's part. I'm sure you will see lots of suspensions from that game.
It was quite ironic last night. I wanted to record my feelings for the Clemens milestone and was looking forward to writing my post. But I changed the hub on my network yesterday and couldn't get the network to recognize the cable from Road Runner. Finally, I went to bed giving up on it for the night. My wife got it working while I was sleeping. How is that for a good woman huh?
The Red Sox just came back to tie the Astros 2-2 in another great interleague matchup. The Red Sox are amazing in that they never give up and their hitters just expect to pull the games out at the end. You don't beat the Red Sox, they just run out of outs. Ramirez and Garciaparra are both up to .325
The Dodgers have won five straight and are now just two and a half games behind the Giants in the NL West. Ashby even won a game for them. They have great pitching and the league's best closer. I had thought for a while that the Giants were going to run away with it, but I no longer believe that.
It's a real shame that the Cubs have lost Sammy Sosa for seven games right after his coming back from injury. June has always been Sosa's get hot month and the season is getting to be a wash for him. His Pepsi commercial buddy, Junior Griffey, continues to pound the ball since his return which makes this fan a very happy guy.
I just filled out my AllStar ballot. I'll fill you in tomorrow!
Thursday, June 12, 2003
Joe Torre must have given a good speech last night because the Yankees came from behind and won tonight for the first time all year. In a spectacularly poor statistic, they were 0-20 in games where they were behind after the sixth inning. That doesn't show a lot of fire and vinegar. But tonight was different and the same pitchers who made them look terrible last night in that six pitcher no hitter were spanked for the loss and blown save tonight.
Across town, the Mets fired General Manager Steve Phillips a half a year after they fired Bobby Valentine. It's hard to know how much blame to assign to a GM when a team fails. He just couldn't seem to catch these older players correctly. Robbie Alomar seemed like the best second baseman that ever lived until he became a Met. Now he doesn't seem any better than Horace Clarke. Jeremy Burnitz hit dozens of homers for the lowly Brewers and was one of the league's premier power hitters until he became a Met. Last year, he looked like Rich Gedman after he got all fouled up by the Charlie Lau swing.
It's hard to know which side of the career Tom Glavine was on. Was there a reason why Atlanta let him walk? Did they know something Phillips didn't? The statistics don't show any slippage in Glavine's performance from 2001 to 2002. He was typically great. Who would figure that this year he would be injured so often and so ineffective because of it.
It was easy to see that Piazza was slipping year to year. Every year his stats came down bit by bit. He will rank, if he moves to first or elsewhere, as the best hitting catcher ever. But his best years are gone. That wasn't Phillips fault. Mo Vaughan was his fault. Mo had slowed down by the time he hit Anaheim and then lost a year to injury. It is much easier for pitchers to miss that much time than it is for hitters. Mo was short for Molasses and that's how slow his swing was with the Mets.
The Mets just seemed off the last couple of years and every thing they tried just seemed to fall apart on them. I guess you can blame the GM or the manager before him. But I guess my blame would fall with the players. But I guess you can't fire a whole team.
Across town, the Mets fired General Manager Steve Phillips a half a year after they fired Bobby Valentine. It's hard to know how much blame to assign to a GM when a team fails. He just couldn't seem to catch these older players correctly. Robbie Alomar seemed like the best second baseman that ever lived until he became a Met. Now he doesn't seem any better than Horace Clarke. Jeremy Burnitz hit dozens of homers for the lowly Brewers and was one of the league's premier power hitters until he became a Met. Last year, he looked like Rich Gedman after he got all fouled up by the Charlie Lau swing.
It's hard to know which side of the career Tom Glavine was on. Was there a reason why Atlanta let him walk? Did they know something Phillips didn't? The statistics don't show any slippage in Glavine's performance from 2001 to 2002. He was typically great. Who would figure that this year he would be injured so often and so ineffective because of it.
It was easy to see that Piazza was slipping year to year. Every year his stats came down bit by bit. He will rank, if he moves to first or elsewhere, as the best hitting catcher ever. But his best years are gone. That wasn't Phillips fault. Mo Vaughan was his fault. Mo had slowed down by the time he hit Anaheim and then lost a year to injury. It is much easier for pitchers to miss that much time than it is for hitters. Mo was short for Molasses and that's how slow his swing was with the Mets.
The Mets just seemed off the last couple of years and every thing they tried just seemed to fall apart on them. I guess you can blame the GM or the manager before him. But I guess my blame would fall with the players. But I guess you can't fire a whole team.
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Two no-hitters are underway tonight. The Yankees have been no-hit through six by four different Astros pitchers. Oswalt started, but had to leave early with a leg injury. A few years ago, the major leagues reconsidered what was a no-hitter and combined and short inning no hitters no longer count. I don't agree with that at all. Whether it's a team that does it or just one pitcher, a no hitter is a no hitter.
In the San Francisco/Chicago White Sox game, terrific rookie pitcher, Jesse Foppert, has no hit the White Sox through four innings while striking out six. Whether the no hitter stands or not, the White Sox are moribund and I believe that the Sox need to make a change at manager. He's had a long tenure there and things are getting worse instead of better. The players don't seem to have any fire and that is the manager's responsibility.
Coco Crisp has had a tough start for the Indians as he's gone 1 for 9 in his first two games. Mets rookie, Jose Reyas, went 2 for 4 in his first MLB game. He's 0 for 1 so far tonight.
Oops. The White Sox got a hit on Foppert, but only one and the Giants are up 8-0. Bonds hit another homer and is starting to catch fire. His is up to 17 homers and 39 RBI. Don't count out another 50 homer season.
Pedro Martinez pitched three innings of shutout ball in his first outing back from his injury. John Burkett has pitched very well in relief and that is a good sign for the Red Sox as they are up big over the Cardinals.
In the San Francisco/Chicago White Sox game, terrific rookie pitcher, Jesse Foppert, has no hit the White Sox through four innings while striking out six. Whether the no hitter stands or not, the White Sox are moribund and I believe that the Sox need to make a change at manager. He's had a long tenure there and things are getting worse instead of better. The players don't seem to have any fire and that is the manager's responsibility.
Coco Crisp has had a tough start for the Indians as he's gone 1 for 9 in his first two games. Mets rookie, Jose Reyas, went 2 for 4 in his first MLB game. He's 0 for 1 so far tonight.
Oops. The White Sox got a hit on Foppert, but only one and the Giants are up 8-0. Bonds hit another homer and is starting to catch fire. His is up to 17 homers and 39 RBI. Don't count out another 50 homer season.
Pedro Martinez pitched three innings of shutout ball in his first outing back from his injury. John Burkett has pitched very well in relief and that is a good sign for the Red Sox as they are up big over the Cardinals.
Tuesday, June 10, 2003
One of my favorite players in all of baseball went on the disabled list today. I've watched Ellis Burks since he broke in with the Red Sox as a hard swinging centerfielder. He could hit, throw, run and has been a solid player for a long time. I always thought his knees would end his career, but his career threatening injury is to his elbow as a pinched nerve is causing the muscles in his hand to atrophy.
Burks has 351 career homers and over 1200 runs scored and RBI during stints in Boston, Colorado, San Francisco and now Cleveland. He always seemed like a class act and his "act" was real as he has been credited with great leadership skills everywhere he has gone. The Fan knows he's been around a long time when players reach the end of their career and the Fan remembers the beginning. Age isn't any fun.
Burks was replaced on the Indian's roster with one of the great names in baseball history: Coco Crisp. Coco is currently 0 for 4 in his first game up. It looks like I have a new player to keep track of in the box scores!
Well...part of me feels vindicated and part of me feels badly tonight. Juan Acevado was released by the Yankees just three days after blowing Clemens bid for 300. The very next day, his throwing error gave the Cubs some extra runs that decided the game in the end. I feel bad because I hoped he would be released and now he is. It's not as bad as wishing someone dead, but it's close. I'm sure he'll end up somewhere and resume his career.
The Mets brought up their next great player (supposedly) tonight in the person of Jose Reyas. He'll play shortstop for two weeks while Ray Sanchez heals. He batted last in the Mets/Rangers game tonight and singled in his first major league at bat. How cool is that! Way to go, Jose, and welcome to MLB!
Burks has 351 career homers and over 1200 runs scored and RBI during stints in Boston, Colorado, San Francisco and now Cleveland. He always seemed like a class act and his "act" was real as he has been credited with great leadership skills everywhere he has gone. The Fan knows he's been around a long time when players reach the end of their career and the Fan remembers the beginning. Age isn't any fun.
Burks was replaced on the Indian's roster with one of the great names in baseball history: Coco Crisp. Coco is currently 0 for 4 in his first game up. It looks like I have a new player to keep track of in the box scores!
Well...part of me feels vindicated and part of me feels badly tonight. Juan Acevado was released by the Yankees just three days after blowing Clemens bid for 300. The very next day, his throwing error gave the Cubs some extra runs that decided the game in the end. I feel bad because I hoped he would be released and now he is. It's not as bad as wishing someone dead, but it's close. I'm sure he'll end up somewhere and resume his career.
The Mets brought up their next great player (supposedly) tonight in the person of Jose Reyas. He'll play shortstop for two weeks while Ray Sanchez heals. He batted last in the Mets/Rangers game tonight and singled in his first major league at bat. How cool is that! Way to go, Jose, and welcome to MLB!
Monday, June 09, 2003
It's another one of those blah Monday's when virtually all of MLB has the night off. The only game scheduled is a late game between the Phillies and the Angels. The Phillies beat Oakland in two games of their double-header yesterday while the Seattle Mariners won both games of their double-header against the Mets. That's a four game swing in the standings and seems to state rather convincingly that Seattle is going wire to wire in the AL West.
Interleague play is where the Athletics have started their runs in recent years. Their great pitching led them to the best interleague record in the majors. But they are only 5-5 in their last ten interleague games while Seattle has had a 9-1 run. In fact, Seattle is one of only two teams in the entire American League that has a winning record in the last ten games of interleague play. The Angels are the other at 7-3. Oakland is now a half a game behind the Yankees for the wildcard as well.
I don't know if it is a sign of parity or just plain mediocrity, but nobody in the American League East or Central had a better than .500 record. It's like all the teams are just spinning around in some kind of crazy orbit waiting for something to break out.
The top division during interleague play has been the National League Central. Four teams (including Milwaukee!) are above .500 in the last ten games and the Astros are as hot as the Mariners with a 9-1 run. It's funny how the Astros look great and then terrible...then great...then terrible. I guess it's the old cliche' where they will be as good as their pitching takes them. Since they have a potentially great starting staff and arguably the best bullpen, pitching could take them a long way. The NL Central race is going to be a good one to watch all year, especially if Sammy Sosa ever gets going.
Speaking of the NL Central, I don't know if the Yankees are just that bad now, but the Cubs look really tough. Their pitchers aren't afraid of anything and they can bring it game after game after game.
Okay, I've been avoiding this topic, but a true fan has to admit that the Atlanta Braves are one amazing franchise. How in the world do you dismantle the best bullpen in the league from last year, ignore signing Glavine and Millwood and still end up tied for the best record in MLB? Every year us Braves haters wait like buzzards for them to fall as all empires must but they don't and won't. They even won the battle of the cable teams. In the early days of cable, you could watch every Braves game on TBS, every Cubs game on WGN and every Mets game on WOR. The Braves are the only one left. They are an amazing organization and as a fan, you have to give it to them.
It's time for me to look at my favorite players to check on a daily basis:
- Sean Burroughs of the Padres is hitting .409 in his last seven days and is now up to .293 for the season. Not much for power, but that will come in time.
- (sigh) Pat Burrell is still stuck in a terrible slump and only hit .176 for the week which leaves his season average below the Mendoza line at .199. Ugh!
- (more sighs) Shane Spencer has wore out his attempt to start in Cleveland and only played in two games the last seven days and went 1 for 8. His season average is down to .226.
- Ken Griffey hit .308 the last week and has his average up to .277. His Slugging percentage is up over .600 and his OPS is over 1.000! Yeah!
- Adam Dunn is beginning to look a lot like Dave Kingman with 20 homers for the season and a .211 batting average.
- Rocco Baldelli only hit .263 for the week which brought him down to .329 for the year. But he still has 80 hits already!
- The Devil Rays' other phenem, Jason Tyner, hit .500 for the week and is hitting .394 in limited action.
- My man, Hank Blalock chugs along, hitting .360 for the week with 7 more RBI (40 total) and is hitting .353 for the year.
- His young teammate, Mark Teixeira, hit .294 for the week and is up to .244.
Don't ask me why I am so interested in those players above. I don't know other than that some were old favorites and some just captured my imagination along the way.
Interleague play is where the Athletics have started their runs in recent years. Their great pitching led them to the best interleague record in the majors. But they are only 5-5 in their last ten interleague games while Seattle has had a 9-1 run. In fact, Seattle is one of only two teams in the entire American League that has a winning record in the last ten games of interleague play. The Angels are the other at 7-3. Oakland is now a half a game behind the Yankees for the wildcard as well.
I don't know if it is a sign of parity or just plain mediocrity, but nobody in the American League East or Central had a better than .500 record. It's like all the teams are just spinning around in some kind of crazy orbit waiting for something to break out.
The top division during interleague play has been the National League Central. Four teams (including Milwaukee!) are above .500 in the last ten games and the Astros are as hot as the Mariners with a 9-1 run. It's funny how the Astros look great and then terrible...then great...then terrible. I guess it's the old cliche' where they will be as good as their pitching takes them. Since they have a potentially great starting staff and arguably the best bullpen, pitching could take them a long way. The NL Central race is going to be a good one to watch all year, especially if Sammy Sosa ever gets going.
Speaking of the NL Central, I don't know if the Yankees are just that bad now, but the Cubs look really tough. Their pitchers aren't afraid of anything and they can bring it game after game after game.
Okay, I've been avoiding this topic, but a true fan has to admit that the Atlanta Braves are one amazing franchise. How in the world do you dismantle the best bullpen in the league from last year, ignore signing Glavine and Millwood and still end up tied for the best record in MLB? Every year us Braves haters wait like buzzards for them to fall as all empires must but they don't and won't. They even won the battle of the cable teams. In the early days of cable, you could watch every Braves game on TBS, every Cubs game on WGN and every Mets game on WOR. The Braves are the only one left. They are an amazing organization and as a fan, you have to give it to them.
It's time for me to look at my favorite players to check on a daily basis:
- Sean Burroughs of the Padres is hitting .409 in his last seven days and is now up to .293 for the season. Not much for power, but that will come in time.
- (sigh) Pat Burrell is still stuck in a terrible slump and only hit .176 for the week which leaves his season average below the Mendoza line at .199. Ugh!
- (more sighs) Shane Spencer has wore out his attempt to start in Cleveland and only played in two games the last seven days and went 1 for 8. His season average is down to .226.
- Ken Griffey hit .308 the last week and has his average up to .277. His Slugging percentage is up over .600 and his OPS is over 1.000! Yeah!
- Adam Dunn is beginning to look a lot like Dave Kingman with 20 homers for the season and a .211 batting average.
- Rocco Baldelli only hit .263 for the week which brought him down to .329 for the year. But he still has 80 hits already!
- The Devil Rays' other phenem, Jason Tyner, hit .500 for the week and is hitting .394 in limited action.
- My man, Hank Blalock chugs along, hitting .360 for the week with 7 more RBI (40 total) and is hitting .353 for the year.
- His young teammate, Mark Teixeira, hit .294 for the week and is up to .244.
Don't ask me why I am so interested in those players above. I don't know other than that some were old favorites and some just captured my imagination along the way.
Saturday, June 07, 2003
The Flagrant Fan is as flagrantly angry with a manager as he was with John McNamara back in 1986 when he single-handedly lost the Red Sox the World Series. As soon as I saw Joe Torre walking toward the mound in today's seventh inning game, I started screaming at my TV: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!" Talk about the dumbest move in the history of managing.
First of all, if Clemens cannot lose with the baserunners on base, that's fine, take him out IF he is gassed. But when the winning run is on base, at least give the guy a chance to win or lose his own damn game. Clemens had only thrown 84 pitches and had at least 30 more in him. Secondly, there is nobody in the Yankee bullpen who has as good or better stuff than Clemens. So who has the best chance of getting out of the inning other than Clemens? Next, Klesko looked stupid striking out against Clemens a few innings earlier. And the kicker was to bring in Juan ("Gasoline") Acevado.
I said to my wife as I was screaming at the TV: "You watch, the first pitch from this lousy pitcher and the game will be over." Sure enough, BOOM! Game over. Clemens gets the loss. Torre looks sad and glum. My fury is working up again as I write this. You over-managed Joe. You should have sat on your ass and let Clemens lose or win his own game. Stupid. Really, really stupid.
This Acevado guy has to go. He has an ERA of 7.99. The Yankees are struggling along at reliever and they finally made a move...they picked up a hitter with a long swing, Ruben Sierra. Well, he has a good arm. Maybe he can pitch.
What makes me so sick about this lost chance at a milestone is turning the computer on and having Explorer start on Yahoo (I'm old-fashioned) and the headline there reads, "Clemens Loses Bid for 300. I got news for you copywriters, that should read, "Torre and Acevado lose Clemens 300 bid."
Stupid.
First of all, if Clemens cannot lose with the baserunners on base, that's fine, take him out IF he is gassed. But when the winning run is on base, at least give the guy a chance to win or lose his own damn game. Clemens had only thrown 84 pitches and had at least 30 more in him. Secondly, there is nobody in the Yankee bullpen who has as good or better stuff than Clemens. So who has the best chance of getting out of the inning other than Clemens? Next, Klesko looked stupid striking out against Clemens a few innings earlier. And the kicker was to bring in Juan ("Gasoline") Acevado.
I said to my wife as I was screaming at the TV: "You watch, the first pitch from this lousy pitcher and the game will be over." Sure enough, BOOM! Game over. Clemens gets the loss. Torre looks sad and glum. My fury is working up again as I write this. You over-managed Joe. You should have sat on your ass and let Clemens lose or win his own game. Stupid. Really, really stupid.
This Acevado guy has to go. He has an ERA of 7.99. The Yankees are struggling along at reliever and they finally made a move...they picked up a hitter with a long swing, Ruben Sierra. Well, he has a good arm. Maybe he can pitch.
What makes me so sick about this lost chance at a milestone is turning the computer on and having Explorer start on Yahoo (I'm old-fashioned) and the headline there reads, "Clemens Loses Bid for 300. I got news for you copywriters, that should read, "Torre and Acevado lose Clemens 300 bid."
Stupid.
Friday, June 06, 2003
The hammer came down on Sammy Sosa today as he was given an eight game suspension for his corked bat. All of his other bats were scanned and no cork was found which tends to lead credence to his statements that he grabbed the wrong bat. One of my colleagues at work mentioned that his bats in the Hall of Fame were also checked. I haven't seen confirmation of that but I would agree with my colleague who had a great thought: Why don't they check all of the bats in the Hall of Fame. Wouldn't that be an uproar if they found a tampered bat in the Hall of Fame! That almost seems as much fun as raising Jesse James' grave to see if it's really him.
I was looking at box scores tonight and saw that Toronto was pouncing on the Reds and the box score brought a couple of thoughts to mind. One was looking at Delgado with 64 RBI (in June!!) and Vernon Wells with 58. Those are amazing numbers. Delgado just didn't seem himself the last couple of years, but he's back in a mighty way and is a legit Triple Crown candidate. Wells came out of no where last year with a hundred RBI and it looks like it was not a fluke.
The boxscore also showed Adam Dunn for the Reds having a 2-2 night with a walk and a homerun. I checked below the boxes and saw that he now has 18 homers and 44 RBI and my first thought was: "Why would a guy with 18 homers and 44 RBI be leading off?" And then I remembered that those were the same numbers as Soriano. It's a weird time in baseball as shortstops are the best hitters on many teams and sluggers lead off.
Some MLB team should sign me up, don't you think? I told you that Matsui needed to get his hands back to start hitting. According to the broadcast last night, Jorge Posada told him just that and he got four hits last night.
Well...It's attempt number three for Roger Clemens on Saturday. I really hope he gets it. I really really really hope he gets it.
Seattle finally lost today to the Mets (of all people). I never thought they were going to lose again. They are going to run away with that division I think. The Braves are running away with theirs. The Red Sox are tied with Oakland for the wildcard race. Believe it or not, the Expos would be the wildcard if the year ended tonight.
The Mets, as stated earlier, beat Seattle 3-2. Jae Weong Seo started and won for the Mets. That gives him eleven quality starts out of eleven. Eleven quality starts and his record is only 3-2. He could easily be 11-0 and a candidate for the All-Star team. Cliff Floyd hit his 11th homer for the Mets and is finally having a good year again.
On the other side of that fence is Pat Burrell of the Phillies. Wow! What is going on there!? He mashed the ball last year but he's still hitting only .194 two months into the season. The Phillies and their fans gotta hope that Burrell snaps out of that soon. Giambi finally has as Jason is all the way up to the .230's now.
The Rangers Teixeira hit another homer today and has his average up to .247. I'm cheering! Hank Blalock is still above .350 and Tampa's Baldelli is still up to .336. This is fun isn't it? Oh! And another player I've been tracking is San Diego's Sean Burroughs who is now up to .291 with an OBP of .347. Burroughs, you might remember, was the number one draft pick a couple of years ago and got hurt last year after starting off the year batting .271. He had 52 hits when he got hurt. Yesterday, he was hit on the wrist with a pitch and is sitting out some games. Guess how many hits he has so far this year? That's right...52.
I was looking at box scores tonight and saw that Toronto was pouncing on the Reds and the box score brought a couple of thoughts to mind. One was looking at Delgado with 64 RBI (in June!!) and Vernon Wells with 58. Those are amazing numbers. Delgado just didn't seem himself the last couple of years, but he's back in a mighty way and is a legit Triple Crown candidate. Wells came out of no where last year with a hundred RBI and it looks like it was not a fluke.
The boxscore also showed Adam Dunn for the Reds having a 2-2 night with a walk and a homerun. I checked below the boxes and saw that he now has 18 homers and 44 RBI and my first thought was: "Why would a guy with 18 homers and 44 RBI be leading off?" And then I remembered that those were the same numbers as Soriano. It's a weird time in baseball as shortstops are the best hitters on many teams and sluggers lead off.
Some MLB team should sign me up, don't you think? I told you that Matsui needed to get his hands back to start hitting. According to the broadcast last night, Jorge Posada told him just that and he got four hits last night.
Well...It's attempt number three for Roger Clemens on Saturday. I really hope he gets it. I really really really hope he gets it.
Seattle finally lost today to the Mets (of all people). I never thought they were going to lose again. They are going to run away with that division I think. The Braves are running away with theirs
The Mets, as stated earlier, beat Seattle 3-2. Jae Weong Seo started and won for the Mets. That gives him eleven quality starts out of eleven. Eleven quality starts and his record is only 3-2. He could easily be 11-0 and a candidate for the All-Star team. Cliff Floyd hit his 11th homer for the Mets and is finally having a good year again.
On the other side of that fence is Pat Burrell of the Phillies. Wow! What is going on there!? He mashed the ball last year but he's still hitting only .194 two months into the season. The Phillies and their fans gotta hope that Burrell snaps out of that soon. Giambi finally has as Jason is all the way up to the .230's now.
The Rangers Teixeira hit another homer today and has his average up to .247. I'm cheering! Hank Blalock is still above .350 and Tampa's Baldelli is still up to .336. This is fun isn't it? Oh! And another player I've been tracking is San Diego's Sean Burroughs who is now up to .291 with an OBP of .347. Burroughs, you might remember, was the number one draft pick a couple of years ago and got hurt last year after starting off the year batting .271. He had 52 hits when he got hurt. Yesterday, he was hit on the wrist with a pitch and is sitting out some games. Guess how many hits he has so far this year? That's right...52.
Thursday, June 05, 2003
Wednesday, June 04, 2003
The ESPN Wednesday Night Game was the Yankees and Reds and of course I watched and I again jinxed the Yankees. When I turned the television on, the Yanks were ahead 2-1 in the fourth inning. From that point on, of course, the Reds started pounding Mussina and the Yankees couldn't get another hit.
Anyway, on Wednesday nights, ESPN has begun a "legends" series where they bring back famous broadcasters to work the games. Curt Gowdy did the game last time (which I unfortunately missed) and tonight it was longtime Reds broadcaster, Marty Brennaman. First, it is odd and heartbreaking to a degree that he started 37 yearas ago and I was eight at the time so his career spans my life. I didn't express that well. What I mean is that these famous, longtime people started within my lifetime. Famous, longtime people used to start before my life started. I also note that I wasn't real impressed with Brennaman. But I did not grow up listening to him and I know the entire midwest lives and dies by the guy. It's probably a matter of style.
I will enjoy when they bring in Bob Uecker. I am not looking forward to Keith Jackson (I always considered him emotionless and therefore, non-entertaining). It's probably too bad that my favorite, Phil Rizzuto, is probably too old to do the broadcast. He was so much fun to listen to. I cherish those memories of him on Channel 11 in New York or on ABC radio on our transisters.
It looked like Griffey hurt himself again swinging the bat. I sure hope it's not serious. Man! He just got going again too.
I thought that Joe Morgan had a great observation about the Yankees Matsui not being able to hit a MLB fastball and the inside pitch. I have observed the same thing. What I wasn't aware of was Morgan's point that in Japan, they receive mostly breaking balls so he's never really dealt with live 90+ MPH fastballs. Ichiro adjusted easier because he can just slap at the pitch. Ichiro's stance also allows his swing to get through the hitting zone faster. Masui's hands are right in front of his chest and his bat is straight up and down. He needs to make a major league adjustment and bring his hands back and the bat more level to the ground. I am surprised that his hitting coach hasn't talked to him about that.
I am not going to comment further on the Sammy Sosa controversy. For one thing, it's all over the place now and what could I add to what's been written? To me, he said what he needed to say, he was contrite and apologetic. It's time to move on. It will be talked about until the next big story. But the talk about this tainting his career is rediculous. You still have to hit the ball to hit all those homers. Sheesh. I still said more than I intended.
Just one more strange note. Shea Hillenbrand had only seven walks with the Red Sox in 35 games. He as already walked twice in his first three games with his new team. Kim won for the Red Sox tonight so it looks like both teams are getting what they wanted.
Anyway, on Wednesday nights, ESPN has begun a "legends" series where they bring back famous broadcasters to work the games. Curt Gowdy did the game last time (which I unfortunately missed) and tonight it was longtime Reds broadcaster, Marty Brennaman. First, it is odd and heartbreaking to a degree that he started 37 yearas ago and I was eight at the time so his career spans my life. I didn't express that well. What I mean is that these famous, longtime people started within my lifetime. Famous, longtime people used to start before my life started. I also note that I wasn't real impressed with Brennaman. But I did not grow up listening to him and I know the entire midwest lives and dies by the guy. It's probably a matter of style.
I will enjoy when they bring in Bob Uecker. I am not looking forward to Keith Jackson (I always considered him emotionless and therefore, non-entertaining). It's probably too bad that my favorite, Phil Rizzuto, is probably too old to do the broadcast. He was so much fun to listen to. I cherish those memories of him on Channel 11 in New York or on ABC radio on our transisters.
It looked like Griffey hurt himself again swinging the bat. I sure hope it's not serious. Man! He just got going again too.
I thought that Joe Morgan had a great observation about the Yankees Matsui not being able to hit a MLB fastball and the inside pitch. I have observed the same thing. What I wasn't aware of was Morgan's point that in Japan, they receive mostly breaking balls so he's never really dealt with live 90+ MPH fastballs. Ichiro adjusted easier because he can just slap at the pitch. Ichiro's stance also allows his swing to get through the hitting zone faster. Masui's hands are right in front of his chest and his bat is straight up and down. He needs to make a major league adjustment and bring his hands back and the bat more level to the ground. I am surprised that his hitting coach hasn't talked to him about that.
I am not going to comment further on the Sammy Sosa controversy. For one thing, it's all over the place now and what could I add to what's been written? To me, he said what he needed to say, he was contrite and apologetic. It's time to move on. It will be talked about until the next big story. But the talk about this tainting his career is rediculous. You still have to hit the ball to hit all those homers. Sheesh. I still said more than I intended.
Just one more strange note. Shea Hillenbrand had only seven walks with the Red Sox in 35 games. He as already walked twice in his first three games with his new team. Kim won for the Red Sox tonight so it looks like both teams are getting what they wanted.
Tuesday, June 03, 2003
The Yankees are playing like the Bad News Bears again as all of the Reds runs in the game are unearned. So far there have been two Soriano muffs that led to a run. There has been an overun of a base by Raul Mondesi that cost the Yankees a big inning. And just now, the Reds scored two runs and tied the game on two wild pitches and an error. Sheesh.
It is fun to watch the Reds though. The whole Cincinnati team seem like descendents of Goliath. Adam Dunn was on first next to Jason Giambi and Giambi isn't a small guy but he looked like a child next to Dunn. There is Dunn and Kearns and LaRue and Wily Mo Pena and on and on they come to the plate. It looks like an NFL softball team.
It is still easy to see how good Ken Griffey is. Remember when we played ball as kids and there was always one kid who stood out as being the best athlete. He walked different. He wasn't afraid of anything. He always seemed to be faster, hit the ball harder, throw the ball faster and do just about everything smoother and better than anyone else. It's clear that Griffey is the best player on the field. And right now, there seems to be no way to pitch to him. He hits the ball with authority wherever it's pitched.
Paul O'Neal, the former Yankee outfielder now lives in Cincinnati and was in the broadcast booth with the Yankee announcers. I was very surprised to hear how good he is at commentary and he seems to be a natural. As a player he always seemed to be so taciturn but in commentary he is loose and funny. The Yankees should sign him up!
I always check the Texas Rangers' boxscore now as they are such a fun team to follow. Juan Gonzalez hit his 18th homer and now has 40 RBI. Blalock is 1-3 and is still hitting in the .350's. Mark Teixeira is now up to .246 and tonight is 1-1 with two walks which means that he is very comfortable and knows what he is doing. He has 26 RBI. So much credit for how those two young players are doing has to go to their manager who has let them play despite the critics.
The big news of the night is that Sammy Sosa was thrown out of his game tonight for having a corked bat. This situation will get a lot of play and I'm sure Sosa will be suspended. Since Sosa is such an icon, his image will get tarnished a bit. But he is just another in a long line of players who have tried to get a little edge. There have been spit pitches and sandpaper on the pitching side and cork and other things on the hitting side. It wasn't long ago when Albert Belle (one of the best hitters of his time) was caught doing the same thing as Sammy. The difference is that Belle was already a hated player and considered a bad apple so this was one more nod of the head to his badness. But Sammy has been a symbol for what is right with the game and this will hurt him for sure.
I hope he learns from history and just admits what he's done and takes responsibility. How many times in our recent history have we been disappointed in the character of those we admired because they just couldn't admit they did something wrong. If Sosa does so and says that he just started doing so, perhaps most will just wink and give Sosa the pass. But if he's been doing this for a long time and if he gets defensive about what has happened, his good image is going to be tarnished for a long time and his records will be looked at with a blemished eye. Sad.
It is fun to watch the Reds though. The whole Cincinnati team seem like descendents of Goliath. Adam Dunn was on first next to Jason Giambi and Giambi isn't a small guy but he looked like a child next to Dunn. There is Dunn and Kearns and LaRue and Wily Mo Pena and on and on they come to the plate. It looks like an NFL softball team.
It is still easy to see how good Ken Griffey is. Remember when we played ball as kids and there was always one kid who stood out as being the best athlete. He walked different. He wasn't afraid of anything. He always seemed to be faster, hit the ball harder, throw the ball faster and do just about everything smoother and better than anyone else. It's clear that Griffey is the best player on the field. And right now, there seems to be no way to pitch to him. He hits the ball with authority wherever it's pitched.
Paul O'Neal, the former Yankee outfielder now lives in Cincinnati and was in the broadcast booth with the Yankee announcers. I was very surprised to hear how good he is at commentary and he seems to be a natural. As a player he always seemed to be so taciturn but in commentary he is loose and funny. The Yankees should sign him up!
I always check the Texas Rangers' boxscore now as they are such a fun team to follow. Juan Gonzalez hit his 18th homer and now has 40 RBI. Blalock is 1-3 and is still hitting in the .350's. Mark Teixeira is now up to .246 and tonight is 1-1 with two walks which means that he is very comfortable and knows what he is doing. He has 26 RBI. So much credit for how those two young players are doing has to go to their manager who has let them play despite the critics.
The big news of the night is that Sammy Sosa was thrown out of his game tonight for having a corked bat. This situation will get a lot of play and I'm sure Sosa will be suspended. Since Sosa is such an icon, his image will get tarnished a bit. But he is just another in a long line of players who have tried to get a little edge. There have been spit pitches and sandpaper on the pitching side and cork and other things on the hitting side. It wasn't long ago when Albert Belle (one of the best hitters of his time) was caught doing the same thing as Sammy. The difference is that Belle was already a hated player and considered a bad apple so this was one more nod of the head to his badness. But Sammy has been a symbol for what is right with the game and this will hurt him for sure.
I hope he learns from history and just admits what he's done and takes responsibility. How many times in our recent history have we been disappointed in the character of those we admired because they just couldn't admit they did something wrong. If Sosa does so and says that he just started doing so, perhaps most will just wink and give Sosa the pass. But if he's been doing this for a long time and if he gets defensive about what has happened, his good image is going to be tarnished for a long time and his records will be looked at with a blemished eye. Sad.
Monday, June 02, 2003
Does blogging take over your life or does the hope that you are writing for a semi-loyal following convince you to slog on (or is that blog on?) day after day writing post after post. Well, I'll tell you how important my few loyal readers are to me: I bought a laptop today to take with me on vacation so that I could continue to post while I was gone. It's all your fault!
Tonight is one of those nights that baseball fans hate. There are only three games on the schedule and even Baseball Tonight wouldn't be worth watching. I don't like the schedules as they are currently and prefer what was available a few years ago. While I agree that division rivals should play each other often, nineteen times or whatever it is, gets a bit daft. And I don't like interleague games at all (I'm beginning to sound like Grouchy Smurf).
The argument can be made that rivals in a division should not only play each other often, but they should play the same schedule. What I mean by that is that it's not really fair for one team to get to play Milwaukee in the interleague games while another team gets the Braves. What if those same teams are division rivals and one of those rivals loses the division by two games because their interleague schedule was harder.
But then again, schedules have never been equal and this debate is much older than I am. My reasons for disliking interleague play have to do with the two leagues playing a different game. Pitchers in the National League, who look bad enough, are now looking great in comparison to pitchers in the American League whom are now asked to swing the bat in a pansy-fashion and make fools of themselves. Plus, interleague play gives the feeling or impression of Spring Training games instead of MLB games.
And then how balanced is a balanced schedule when American League West teams only have to play division rivals 57 times instead of 76 because there are only four teams in that division and National League Central teams have to play 95 division rival games because that division has six teams instead of five. That hardly seems balanced to me.
All I know is that I'm glad I don't have to make the schedules because with all those teams and all those games and with all those days off mandated by contract and flight times and pack up and tear down and all that goes with MLB, I would be a crazy mess.
Tonight is one of those nights that baseball fans hate. There are only three games on the schedule and even Baseball Tonight wouldn't be worth watching. I don't like the schedules as they are currently and prefer what was available a few years ago. While I agree that division rivals should play each other often, nineteen times or whatever it is, gets a bit daft. And I don't like interleague games at all (I'm beginning to sound like Grouchy Smurf).
The argument can be made that rivals in a division should not only play each other often, but they should play the same schedule. What I mean by that is that it's not really fair for one team to get to play Milwaukee in the interleague games while another team gets the Braves. What if those same teams are division rivals and one of those rivals loses the division by two games because their interleague schedule was harder.
But then again, schedules have never been equal and this debate is much older than I am. My reasons for disliking interleague play have to do with the two leagues playing a different game. Pitchers in the National League, who look bad enough, are now looking great in comparison to pitchers in the American League whom are now asked to swing the bat in a pansy-fashion and make fools of themselves. Plus, interleague play gives the feeling or impression of Spring Training games instead of MLB games.
And then how balanced is a balanced schedule when American League West teams only have to play division rivals 57 times instead of 76 because there are only four teams in that division and National League Central teams have to play 95 division rival games because that division has six teams instead of five. That hardly seems balanced to me.
All I know is that I'm glad I don't have to make the schedules because with all those teams and all those games and with all those days off mandated by contract and flight times and pack up and tear down and all that goes with MLB, I would be a crazy mess.
Sunday, June 01, 2003
I must be a jinx. The Yankees were flying high at the top of the division with a record of 20-5 when I purchased the right from MLB.com to watch the Yankees every day (a great deal by the way). Ever since, they have played like the Tigers. So I'm watching the Red Sox today on NESN and they are winning big against hated Toronto (If the Yankees don't win this thing--and it doesn't look like they will--the last team I want in there is the Blue Jays!). Somehow, the Red Sox blow up and the Blue Jays get a million dinks and it's 8-6!
I hear that the Yankees have gone up 7-1 on the Tigers and I figure I'll go to the computer to watch history and it's the bottom of the fifth. The first batter gets a hit and some guy from Aruba hits his first homerun of the year. No big deal. Now it's only 7-3. Then another single. No problem. Suddenly the Bad News Bears show up and take over for the Yankee infield and Jeter throws one away and then Soriano throws one away and before I can get a clear picture, it's 7-6. Okay, that was bad, but they can still win. I can still watch history.
Ziele then hits an opposite field homerun and Clemens is again up by two. He pitches a perfect sixth inning and waves his hat to the fans. Oh boy, it's time for the Yankee bullpen. I can't bear to watch after all and go downstairs and practice my karaoke (Yes, I can sing, "New York, New York"). I sing for a couple of hours and figure it should be safe to go upstairs and finish watching history.
Somehow it's the bottom of the tenth inning and it's a tie game 8-8! Oh man! What happened. I switch over to Yahoo to look at the box score and sure enough, Sterling Hitchcock, who has pitched well backing Clemens up in other wins this season blew the lead. Crap. It's over. Another chance wasted and still we go on waiting for history. I cannot believe that a bunch of pros can't raise the level of their game and get this done. Errors in the field and relief pitchers blowing the game...sheesh...if the team can't take the pressure of this type of situation, what are they going to do if they make the playoffs. This isn't the same team without O'Neal and Tino and those guys. This is a team that has no real backbone. The Flagrant Fan is steaming!
Taking a deep breath...at least I'm not a Diamondback fan. They get Hildenbrand to bolster their hitting attack and instead of sticking him at first, they release Matt Williams? What? Williams is the kind of hitter that can get hot and put ten over the fence in a hurry. He was fourth on the team in RBI and now they lose that production. You get a player like Hildenbrand to bolster your offense and then you release a guy with 378 career homeruns and end up losing more ground. I don't get it.
The Red Sox moving Johnny Damon to ninth in the order is a good move. Mueller is hot and his batting average is higher than Damon's OBP! But I don't agree with the Sox demoting Bruce Chen and keeping Rudy Seanez. For one thing, it would have been great for Kim to have Chen around for companionship and second, you can never have too many left arms on your team.
The Red Sox post game show is on in the background and it's sad when a pretty good player struggles. Again it's the no mercy thing. The fans are calling in and blasting Grady Little (who was a genius last week) for using Jeremy Giambi when he is struggling at .178. But I watched the game and Giambi looks great but has been unlucky. His first time up, he put the Blue Jays centerfielder on the warning track with a drive. He just didn't pull it enough. In the Red Sox big inning when they hit five doubles, it should have been six doubles. Giambi smoked one down the line but hit the bad and went right to Delgado for the out. That's bad luck.
I hear that the Yankees have gone up 7-1 on the Tigers and I figure I'll go to the computer to watch history and it's the bottom of the fifth. The first batter gets a hit and some guy from Aruba hits his first homerun of the year. No big deal. Now it's only 7-3. Then another single. No problem. Suddenly the Bad News Bears show up and take over for the Yankee infield and Jeter throws one away and then Soriano throws one away and before I can get a clear picture, it's 7-6. Okay, that was bad, but they can still win. I can still watch history.
Ziele then hits an opposite field homerun and Clemens is again up by two. He pitches a perfect sixth inning and waves his hat to the fans. Oh boy, it's time for the Yankee bullpen. I can't bear to watch after all and go downstairs and practice my karaoke (Yes, I can sing, "New York, New York"). I sing for a couple of hours and figure it should be safe to go upstairs and finish watching history.
Somehow it's the bottom of the tenth inning and it's a tie game 8-8! Oh man! What happened. I switch over to Yahoo to look at the box score and sure enough, Sterling Hitchcock, who has pitched well backing Clemens up in other wins this season blew the lead. Crap. It's over. Another chance wasted and still we go on waiting for history. I cannot believe that a bunch of pros can't raise the level of their game and get this done. Errors in the field and relief pitchers blowing the game...sheesh...if the team can't take the pressure of this type of situation, what are they going to do if they make the playoffs. This isn't the same team without O'Neal and Tino and those guys. This is a team that has no real backbone. The Flagrant Fan is steaming!
Taking a deep breath...at least I'm not a Diamondback fan. They get Hildenbrand to bolster their hitting attack and instead of sticking him at first, they release Matt Williams? What? Williams is the kind of hitter that can get hot and put ten over the fence in a hurry. He was fourth on the team in RBI and now they lose that production. You get a player like Hildenbrand to bolster your offense and then you release a guy with 378 career homeruns and end up losing more ground. I don't get it.
The Red Sox moving Johnny Damon to ninth in the order is a good move. Mueller is hot and his batting average is higher than Damon's OBP! But I don't agree with the Sox demoting Bruce Chen and keeping Rudy Seanez. For one thing, it would have been great for Kim to have Chen around for companionship and second, you can never have too many left arms on your team.
The Red Sox post game show is on in the background and it's sad when a pretty good player struggles. Again it's the no mercy thing. The fans are calling in and blasting Grady Little (who was a genius last week) for using Jeremy Giambi when he is struggling at .178. But I watched the game and Giambi looks great but has been unlucky. His first time up, he put the Blue Jays centerfielder on the warning track with a drive. He just didn't pull it enough. In the Red Sox big inning when they hit five doubles, it should have been six doubles. Giambi smoked one down the line but hit the bad and went right to Delgado for the out. That's bad luck.
Saturday, May 31, 2003
Today was a game you don't see very often: The Chicago Cubs defeated the Houston Astros 1-0 after 16 innings! Not only is that great pitching on both sides but it also shows a steely determination to win. Most people think games are exciting when both teams score a bunch of runs. Those kinds of games can get boring with all the pitching changes, high counts, throws to first and so on. A 1-0 game is a thriller, especially when at the ballpark. To have a 16 inning 1-0 game had to be very, very exciting especially when the box score says that they played those 16 innings in two hours and twenty-two minutes!
The game was Sammy Sosa's second game back from his toe problem that kept him out of so many games this year. Last night against Wade Miller, he struck out the first three at bats and then popped out to the catcher on the fourth. Tonight, he struck out five of his first six at bats. And so I would have been pessimistic if I had been a Cubs fan when Sosa came up in the 16th as the Cubs had mounted a rally. After all, he had struck out eight times in ten at bats. To make matters worse, Sosa's entire team had struck out twenty-three times already in the game, which is a franchise record.
So Sosa comes up with a man on first and third. Jimy (why does he only have one "m" in his name?) Williams brings Craig Biggio in from the outfied to give Sosa five infielders to look at. Sosa did hit the ball at an infielder, but it bounced out of Jeff Kent's glove and the Cubbies got the win. Moises Alou had saved the game in the ninth inning when he threw out Lance Berkman at home with a perfect throw.
The most exciting 1-0 game that I witnessed live was at Yankee Stadium on Bat Day with 55,000+ fans in attendance. I can't remember now who pitched for the Yankees or who pitched for the other team or even who the other team was (I think it was Oakland). Craig Nettles won the game in the eigth inning with a homerun. That was the best game I ever saw live.
Speaking of Craig Nettles, it is remarkable how similar his lifetime stats are to Brooks Robinson. They both played 22 seasons. They both had over 1300 RBI. Robinson hit for a higher average but Nettles hit a hundred and twenty more homers. Robinson had 70 more total extra base hits. Robinson's lifetime fielding percentage was .971 and Nettles .961. I watched them both as a kid as the Orioles played the Yankees a lot and those were the Orioles glory years. Robinson's fielding in the World Series against the Reds was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen...until I saw Craig Nettles' amazing performance in his World Series against the Dodgers in 1977 and 1978. If Robinson is a Hall of Famer, which he is, Nettles just misses.
I'm still unhappy about the Kim/Hildenbrand trade between the Red Sox and the Diamondbacks. I think it was a bad trade for the Sox. I'm not surprised that they have lost four in a row after playing so well. Whenever you mess up what you are doing successfully, you aren't doing a smart thing.
But it does give us one more chance to talk about how international this game has gotten (and no, I'm not against that). Today, Korean pitcher Seo stifled the Braves as the Mets won 4-2. Shinjo, from Japan, had a key RBI in that game. Ichiro hit a homerun today and his teammate Suzuki got the save. Choi didn't do much for the Cubs today in that long game against the Astros. Matsui, of the Yankees, took the collar today against the Tigers. Ichiro is still the only superstar.
I read Peter Gammons column today at ESPN.com. The man is an amazing writer and my half hour reading his column is still one of the most entertaining times of my week. I miss him on Baseball Tonight though...
Roger Clemens goes for 300 again tomorrow. Let's hope tomorrow does it! Come on, Yankees! Score him a bunch of runs and get this milestone out of the way!
The game was Sammy Sosa's second game back from his toe problem that kept him out of so many games this year. Last night against Wade Miller, he struck out the first three at bats and then popped out to the catcher on the fourth. Tonight, he struck out five of his first six at bats. And so I would have been pessimistic if I had been a Cubs fan when Sosa came up in the 16th as the Cubs had mounted a rally. After all, he had struck out eight times in ten at bats. To make matters worse, Sosa's entire team had struck out twenty-three times already in the game, which is a franchise record.
So Sosa comes up with a man on first and third. Jimy (why does he only have one "m" in his name?) Williams brings Craig Biggio in from the outfied to give Sosa five infielders to look at. Sosa did hit the ball at an infielder, but it bounced out of Jeff Kent's glove and the Cubbies got the win. Moises Alou had saved the game in the ninth inning when he threw out Lance Berkman at home with a perfect throw.
The most exciting 1-0 game that I witnessed live was at Yankee Stadium on Bat Day with 55,000+ fans in attendance. I can't remember now who pitched for the Yankees or who pitched for the other team or even who the other team was (I think it was Oakland). Craig Nettles won the game in the eigth inning with a homerun. That was the best game I ever saw live.
Speaking of Craig Nettles, it is remarkable how similar his lifetime stats are to Brooks Robinson. They both played 22 seasons. They both had over 1300 RBI. Robinson hit for a higher average but Nettles hit a hundred and twenty more homers. Robinson had 70 more total extra base hits. Robinson's lifetime fielding percentage was .971 and Nettles .961. I watched them both as a kid as the Orioles played the Yankees a lot and those were the Orioles glory years. Robinson's fielding in the World Series against the Reds was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen...until I saw Craig Nettles' amazing performance in his World Series against the Dodgers in 1977 and 1978. If Robinson is a Hall of Famer, which he is, Nettles just misses.
I'm still unhappy about the Kim/Hildenbrand trade between the Red Sox and the Diamondbacks. I think it was a bad trade for the Sox. I'm not surprised that they have lost four in a row after playing so well. Whenever you mess up what you are doing successfully, you aren't doing a smart thing.
But it does give us one more chance to talk about how international this game has gotten (and no, I'm not against that). Today, Korean pitcher Seo stifled the Braves as the Mets won 4-2. Shinjo, from Japan, had a key RBI in that game. Ichiro hit a homerun today and his teammate Suzuki got the save. Choi didn't do much for the Cubs today in that long game against the Astros. Matsui, of the Yankees, took the collar today against the Tigers. Ichiro is still the only superstar.
I read Peter Gammons column today at ESPN.com. The man is an amazing writer and my half hour reading his column is still one of the most entertaining times of my week. I miss him on Baseball Tonight though...
Roger Clemens goes for 300 again tomorrow. Let's hope tomorrow does it! Come on, Yankees! Score him a bunch of runs and get this milestone out of the way!
Friday, May 30, 2003
Thursday, May 29, 2003
Yahoo Sports announced tonight that a deal is almost done where the Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher, Byung-Hyung Kim would go to the Red Sox for Shea Hillenbrand. This trade doesn't make any sense to me. I have watched the Red Sox the last three nights and their lineup is probably the best Red Sox lineup ever. There are no easy outs and Hillenbrand, Mueller, Millar and Giambi make for a very effective and versatile combination. Hillenbrand is also a great clutch hitter who seems fearless in all that he does.
So why would you want to give up a guy like that especially when he only makes $400,000 and change? The officially stated answer is because of his on-base percentage. Excuse me, Hillenbrand's OBP is currently at .335 which is higher than 70% of MLB lead off hitters these days. He doesn't walk much. Okay. But he keeps the ball in play and he fouls off what he can't handle until he gets what he can handle. And he kills the Yankees.
Again...why would you want to get rid of that kind of guy. Kim has some value as a closer. But he doesn't want to close anymore. I am not convinced that he has what it takes to be a starter. He is currently 1-5 which isn't a fair method to rate him as the Diamondbacks can't hit and haven't scored for him.
Also consider that Kim has a history with the Yankees that isn't very positive and doesn't bode well for a team that wants to use him against their archrivals. This trade doesn't make sense for anyone but Hillenbrand since he comes from Arizona and would be able to go home. What is Arizona going to do, sit Matt Williams (granted that he hasn't had a good year since 1999)?
I would have never guessed who was on top of the American League for batting average. Would you have guessed Melvin Mora of the Baltimore Orioles? I wouldn't have. He is currently batting above .350. He batted in the .230's last year. I've always pictured Mora as a spectacular fielder and a good prospect. But Mora is 31 years old! It just took him a long time to get a chance. He is consistently on Baseball Tonight's highlights for fielding but now he is hitting too. You just never know in this game.
So why would you want to give up a guy like that especially when he only makes $400,000 and change? The officially stated answer is because of his on-base percentage. Excuse me, Hillenbrand's OBP is currently at .335 which is higher than 70% of MLB lead off hitters these days. He doesn't walk much. Okay. But he keeps the ball in play and he fouls off what he can't handle until he gets what he can handle. And he kills the Yankees.
Again...why would you want to get rid of that kind of guy. Kim has some value as a closer. But he doesn't want to close anymore. I am not convinced that he has what it takes to be a starter. He is currently 1-5 which isn't a fair method to rate him as the Diamondbacks can't hit and haven't scored for him.
Also consider that Kim has a history with the Yankees that isn't very positive and doesn't bode well for a team that wants to use him against their archrivals. This trade doesn't make sense for anyone but Hillenbrand since he comes from Arizona and would be able to go home. What is Arizona going to do, sit Matt Williams (granted that he hasn't had a good year since 1999)?
I would have never guessed who was on top of the American League for batting average. Would you have guessed Melvin Mora of the Baltimore Orioles? I wouldn't have. He is currently batting above .350. He batted in the .230's last year. I've always pictured Mora as a spectacular fielder and a good prospect. But Mora is 31 years old! It just took him a long time to get a chance. He is consistently on Baseball Tonight's highlights for fielding but now he is hitting too. You just never know in this game.
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