A Beautiful Monday Morning

That was quite a day the 1st place Pickled Pecklers had on Sunday. It seems impossible for a team to jump 10 points in one day, from 63 to 73 points, although it never seems impossible to fall that many. One thing it means is that we’re barely ahead of some teams in a variety of categories, and in all likelihood the volatility will continue for a while.

That said, on this Monday morning, it feels good. It was a lot easier to look at box scores this morning when our team had 3 homers (including 2 slams), 3 steals (2 by Lawton), 14 RBI’s, a cool .500 BA, and that 2 hit CG shutout by $3 Mike Hampton.

Matt Lawton had the kind of game we were hoping for when we topped Mr. Leaguer’s $27 bid at the auction. A slam and 2 steals makes for more than a pretty box score, it makes for a crawler notice on ESPN. And it exhibits one of my favorite all time statistics: a homer and a steal in the same game. I have long wondered who has the career record in that arcane category. Is it a fleet slugger like Barry or Willie? Is it a super-stealer with some power like Rickey? Or is it someone in between? I always thought if he hadn’t failed physically that Bo Jackson would have a shot at that kind of record.

I don’t think there is an answer to this trivia question out there, but I’d put my money on Rickey Henderson, who is just short of 300 homers, and who holds one of the unbreakable records (except, maybe by him) of 1406 career SB’s. That is some number. That’s 20 years of 70 steals, and change. Cy Young’s 511 wins was named by some “List” show last week as the ultimate unbreakable record, but this one has to rank up there. You also need to throw in Nolan Ryan’s 5,714 strikeouts. That’s 19 years of 300 strikeouts and change. I read this week that Pedro Martinez passed 2700 strikeouts, only the third pitcher of 33 years of age or less that had done that. But Pedro is only half way there, and he’s only had 2 years with more than 300 K’s. Randy Johnson is 41 and is still over 1500 short. These are ridiculous records.

Back to the BABI standings, the Lickers are now in 3rd place, though there is only 1.5 points separating 5 teams. Just behind them are last week’s leaders, Hobo, who have dropped 18 points this week. And I see the Falkuhns have risen like a Phoenix, up to 47 points despite only 6 hitting points. Of course, that’s 50% more hitting points than they had just a few days ago.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Busch Leaguers have dropped to a season low 35 points, only ½ point above the Cartel at the bottom of the standings. Gagne had a great rehab outing yesterday (nothing but strikeouts), but all that’s going to do is give Jeff another trading chip. If Gagne never allows a base runner, it’s not going to help his ERA and WHIP all that much. The fall of the Busch Leaguers is certainly the greatest shock of the season, even more amazing than the success of the Lickers. We look forward to chronicle Jeff’s attempts to fix his pitching, something the Pecklers, for themselves, consider impossible.

Having so many teams with good prospects for the season is a great thing for BABI. As the trading season heats up, and it’s not all about dump deals, it should bet mighty interesting. And we’re all looking for the same stuff: steals and saves. Maybe Larry really will get a whole bunch for Kolb. He says the sweepstakes have begun.