Winning the Bullinger Prize

Even Noel, who hates the unsolicited email, loves those emails like the one I sent around this week for Ryan Madson:

1.0 IP 7 H 9 R 9 ER 4 BB 1 K

I referred to the outing as “Bullingeresque.” Our newest newcomer, Big Rick, emailed back “You mean ‘Brazletonesque.”

Nope. I mean Bullingeresque, as in Jim Bullinger. Boof Brittain will never let me forget what he did to our team one season.

In 1997 the Pickled Ones went into the draft among the favorites, with a great keeper list. The heart of the team was our starting staff. Right from the start of the season, it all turned to shit.

Al Leiter declined from 16 W, 2.93 ERA and 1.263 WHIP to 11-4.34-1.480. Hideo Nomo went from 16-3.19-1.161 to 14-4.25-1.375. They were the stars of the staff.

We purchased Steve Traschel for $10. Now before you all start laughing, Traschel was young then, and was coming off 13-3.03-1.185. We thought ten bucks was a bargain. We lost that illusion when he went 8-4.51-1.460.

Our star pickup, without doubt, was Jim Bullinger. Bullinger had a couple of nice seasons in 94 and 95, and then had some arm problems in 96. He was traded to the Expos for 97 and earned a spot in the rotation with a flawless spring. John Hunt started hyping the hell out of him in Baseball Weekly, and before the draft he made his first start, winning a beauty. He was on the Pecklers’ A list.

Near the end of the draft we threw him out for a buck, hoping we’d get him. Boof started to laugh, but Larry (he hadn’t become Larry Dot Net quite yet) took him off our hands by saying 2. The Pecklers were not to be denied, and we raised it to 3. At going twice, Larry said 4. Boof was in convulsions. This was the guy on our A list. We said 5, and he was ours. Boof was on the floor.

Jim Bullinger, Pickled Peckler.

7 wins, 5.56 ERA, 1.539 WHIP

And just to clarify how bad that was, he pitched 155 innings. Remember, this was in the days before open FAAB, so you couldn’t even get rid of him.

Pickled Pecklers, out of the money. Way out of the money.

About 6 weeks into the season the Cubs faced the Expos, and lo’ and behold, Traschel went up against Bullinger. I checked the box scores late in the day, and the final score was something like 15-13. Neither guy made it out of the 3rd inning. We were toast after that game. It’s moments like that when you start to realize just how long the baseball season is.

It’s like a knife in the back to see one of your starters serve up batting practice for a couple of innings. When a guy makes a habit out of it, well, you can never forgive him. Never. And of the long list of guys I can never forgive, Jim Bullinger is at the very top of that list.

And so in his honor, Sour Grapes will now award “Bullingers” to pitchers who put up very special pitching lines. Let us award the first one to Ryan Madson for that outing. Brazleton will just have to earn one like everyone else. The good news for Kenny 9 is he’s not on Any 9 any more.

Actually, Brazleton’s rotation replacement, the Peckler’s own Clay Hensley, is pitching as I write this. Uh oh. I’ve got a feeling one of those emails is coming my way.