Jim Lange Lives

Open Letter to Matier & Ross:

(To my semi-loyal readers: This blog entry has nothing to do with baseball. Read it, don’t read it, it’s of course up to you. I was going to send M&R a private note, but then it occurred to me that I’ve got my own little publishing forum with 26 sort of faithful readers, so why not use it? Don’t worry, I’ll write more about Valverde later today.)

I read your column in today’s Chron about the shootout in the Wild West between Fiona Ma and Janet Reilly, or more accurately, the guys who support Fiona Ma and the guys who support Janet Reilly. As I was reading it, with CNBC on in the background, a commercial for Fiona Ma came on. Actually, I’m not sure her name was mentioned. It was really an ad against Janet Reilly, paid for by our friends at the Leaders for an Effective Government.

I actually have seen this commercial before, in fact, I’ve seen it about five times. It is a take off of the TV show Jeopardy, with Jim Lange playing the host. He reveals three answers for which the question is “Who is Janet Reilly?”

The first “answer” is something like “She’s rich and owns a fancy house in Seacliff.”

The second “answer” is something like “She says her number 1 priority is education, but sends her kids to fancy private schools.”

The third “answer” is something like “She says she is for better health care but has thousands invested in the stocks of big drug companies.”

The first time I saw this commercial, my head just about exploded. Now I couldn’t care a whit about Fiona Ma or Janet Reilly. I’m slightly familiar with them both, and frankly, there isn’t all that much different about them except for who supports them. But this commercial suggests that Janet Reilly is unfit for public office because she’s got a few bucks, lives in a nice house, chooses to send her children to Catholic school, and has enough money that she can invest some of it conservatively.

What nonsense. How dare they say those kinds of things.

Any PAC that’s not union formed that can afford to pay out over half a million dollars for a state assembly primary campaign must have been formed by people who live in nice houses and have enough money to invest. I imagine some of them send their kids to private schools, too. What hypocrites. People who live in big houses shouldn’t throw stones. And exactly what do they expect for spending that kind of money?

Now I’m not even close to being Catholic, and I don't have any children, so I’m not personally offended by the private school thing. But I have a business partner whose wife has been a teacher in the SF public school system for 30 years. She’s a fantastic teacher, and the school system would be truly great if we had hundreds more like her. But they sent their kids to St. Brendans and SI. Does that make her a hyprocrite who is not qualified to teach? All I know is, if I had kids in Catholic schools, I’d be furious.

And where is Ms. Ma on this? She may not be responsible for this blatant attack ad, but I haven’t heard her repudiate any of it. Does she live in a shack? Doesn’t she have any investment money, or if she does, how is it invested? I don’t know where her kids go to school, but does she agree that Janet Reilly is unfit because she chose to send her kids to Catholic schools? I’d like to hear her stand up and say what she thinks about this ad.

Why have these primaries gotten so ugly? The winner of the Ma-Reilly race is going to win, and win by a lot, because there are only about 22 Republicans registered in the 12th district. However, Angelides and Westly are going at it hammer and tong, calling each other unfit. The winner is going to get his ass kicked by Arnold, who is on the sidelines laughing. All he has to do is replay the loser’s commercials.

And speaking of Arnold, that same Leaders for an Effective Government sent out a hit piece that I received this week comparing our Governor with Janet Reilly. How are they similar? The mailer states that their campaign messages state that they want change. Hey, every challenger says they want change. Does that somehow make Janet Reilly an Arnold pawn? More nonsense, but another $25-50,000 spent to attack her.

This is exactly how George Bush got elected. Twice. He used outside political groups that Karl Rove “doesn’t control” to put together hit pieces on his opponents. Then, he refused to repudiate the message. That is politics at its ugliest.

Well, unless Fiona Ma repudiates the swift-boating of Janet Reilly by her supporters, I’m voting for Janet Reilly. Actually, I’m going to do it anyway, because I’ve seen that commercial 5 times now, and she’s been quiet as a mouse. And I hope the 26 people who read my blog (or the 8 of you who are still reading this piece) will consider doing the same.

I will say though, it's always nice to see Jim Lange.

6.00

That’s a WHIP, not an ERA. The ERA that goes with it is 32.40.

That’s Jose Valverde in the last 7 days.

Back in March before the BABI-NL auction, there was an interesting trade in which the Bums sent Chad Tracy (5-06) and Wily Mo Pena (1-06) to the Pounders for Jose Valverde (4-07). Three days later Pena was traded to the AL, which made deal Tracy for an incredibly cheap closer.

Kevin, how do you feel about that deal now? Maybe not so bad.

Arizona is very much in this divisional race, in fact, they’re in first place at 29-21 with the third best record in the NL. Valverde has blown his last two save opportunities, which is fine when you’re 16-34, but not when you’re in first. His season ERA is now at 5.85, his WHIP 1.65 and his batting average against is .272. He has a firmer grip on the closer role than Chris Reitsma, but not by much. With Brandon Medders’ season ERA down to 2.50, and his May ERA at 0.71, the clock is ticking loudly on Jose.

He does look scary out there, though.

My Boy Merkin

So Jonathan Sanchez actually pitched in a real major league game, not just in the Giants’ bullpen. Seventh inning Sunday, down 6-3, a semi-harmless moment. Three up, three down, three fly balls to the outfield.

I wasn’t there and haven’t seen it, but I have to trust Connie who was sitting in my seats for this second most historic moment of the game. She said he was 88-90, pitching high in the strike zone, and the hitters were swinging and lifting. Doesn’t sound like a pitcher you’d want in Colorado, but he could get away with it here at PacSBCAT&T Park.

Who knows if he’s going to be any good. OK, he doesn’t throw a sinker like Munter did, but that’s become a good thing, right? Clearly, he had a much better virgin outing that Merkin Valdez did a couple of years ago.

We don’t need to repeat any of the Merkin history. He didn’t just stink, he reeked. He’s got an ERA of 27 in the majors. And apparently despite practice at closing in AAA, he’s not ready for prime time even yet. He’s currently sporting a 5.21 ERA and a 1.95 WHIP for Fresno. Does he have a future here in San Francisco?

Ya got me. I will tell you what he does have. He’s got quite a name.

Do you boys out there (I don’t think there are many girls reading this, in fact, there aren’t too many boys reading it either) know what a “merkin” is? My Webster’s dictionary defines a merkin as “false hair for the female genitalia.”

A pussy toupee.

How do you name your kid Merkin? A male child? We’re talking about decades of therapists, I would think.

Of course, I don’t understand how someone could name their kid Richard and then nickname him “Dick.” I had a client once who worked for a company called “Richard Dick & Ass.” I’m not kidding, I saw the W-2. It’s hard to have a lot of respect for your boss while working there, I’d think.

There is a site called Merkin World where you can design your own merkin. Here is one of their merkins in the look of a target, which, of course, is pretty realistic since what’s underneath the merkin is kind of a target too.

And here’s a little link (click here) to a site that gives you way more information about merkins than you’ll ever need to be the toast of your next cocktail party. EEK, cocktail party! That’s a good one.

The Elite Power Hitters

Barry passed the Babe yesterday, and it got me thinking about real power surges. So let’s pose the following question:

Which player has the most home runs in a five consecutive year period?

I guessed it right. I have to write a few more lines while you’re thinking about it so you don’t see the answer while you’re thinking. I did a little digging on BR to identify those players who hit more than 200 home runs in a five year period. And I didn’t allow any of those overlap periods (he hit 222 homers from 1995 to 1999 and 227 homers from 1996 to 2000). No overlapping. So think about that list: it’s been done 20 times.

Back to question number one. Thought about it? Here’s the answer. It’s Sammy Sosa, who hit 292 homers from 1998-2002, an obscene average of 58.4 homers. Still think Sammy wasn’t doing steroids?

There was a time that I thought Sammy was going to be the one to break Aaron’s record. He was on an incredible pace, with three years over 60 homers, and not all that far behind Bonds, who is three years older. Now he looks done at 588, fifth on the all-time list. The price of his Upper Deck 1990 rookie card has plummeted, which suggests he’s done. Gee, not even 600. By the way, did you know Sammy had 30-30 twice?

Second on the list is Mark McGwire with 284 homers from 1995-1999. And third is Barry, with 258 from 2000-2004. Except for 2001 when he broke the record with 73 juiced homers, Barry has never hit more than 49 homers in a season. But that 5 year period averaged 51.6 because of the big year.

There are 5 more active players on the list. Ken Griffey, Jr. is fifth with 249 homers from 1996-2000. Alex Rodriguez is sixth with 239 homers from 1999-2003. Jim Thome, reborn this season, is tied for ninth with 227 from 2000-2004. Manny Ramirez is tied for 18th with 201 from 1998-2002.

And Big Al Pujols has a current streak of 201, tied with Ramirez. That number is going to increase, because his last 3 years total 130, and if he stays healthy and averages (conservatively) 45 this year and next, he’ll be at 220.

Three more current era players are up there. Raffy Palmiero, possibly active, probably not, had 219 from 1998-2002. His numbers were not just about lasting a long time. He could rake. And remember Albert Belle? The man who had a 50-50 season (doubles and homers) is 14th with 214 homers from 1995-1999. And just off the list Carlos Delgado, who hit 199 from 1999-2003.

That’s the current era players. There are a lot of questions about juicing on that list. Actually, a bunch of those guys were sitting and lying in front of Congress not too long ago.

Now for the old guys.

The Babe is an amazing case. He’s on the list twice with no overlap. He was 4th with 256 homers from 1926-1930, and he was 7th with 235 homers from 1920-1924. Holey moley. Imagine if he hadn’t wasted those years pitching.

Willie Mays was 11th with 226 from 1961-1965. Are you surprised that he’s ahead of Mickey Mantle? Mickey hit 201 from 1957-1961, tied for 18th. Mickey had too many injuries, and his two best years were exactly 6 years apart (52 in 56 and 54 in 61),

The most surprising name on the list is Ralph Kiner. He was a real phenom with a short career (only 10 years), but he is 8th on the list with 234 homers from 1947-1951. Kiner hit 369 homers in those ten years, and won 7 consecutive NL homer crowns from 1946-1952. He still made the Hall of Fame, sort of the Sandy Koufax of hitters. We’ll have to take a look at him in detail as a Hal Trosky type some day.

Of course, Jimmy Foxx made the list, tied with Thome for 9th (behind Kiner!) with 227 homers from 2000-2004. Harmon Killebrew is tied with Raffy for 11th with 219 from 1959-1963. Harmon is just unappreciated as a great power hitter, with 578 career homers (8th). He had to wait three years to make the Hall of Fame.

Ernie Banks is 15th with 207 from 1955-1959. And Larrupin’ Lou Gehrig, the Iron Man, snuck on the list at #16, with 202 from 1930-1934.

Finally, one more guy: the homer champ, Hank Aaron. Hank is tied with Gehrig for 16th with 202 from 1959-1963, and he just missed it a second time (no overlap) with 197 from 1967-1971.

That’s your 200+ list. Mike Schmidt just missed it with 199, and Eddie Matthews had 197. Hack Wilson? Reggie Jackson? Ted Williams? Willie McCovey? Mel Ott? Jose Canseco? Jay Buhner? (Buhner…private joke with The Doc. Anyone want to buy a couple of thousand Jay Buhner rookie cards?) Not really close. Averaging 40 homers for 5 years means you’re one of the greats, and/or one of the great steroid users. It’s a pretty exclusive list, and helps justify Ralph Kiner’s induction despite the short career. He was the best homer hitter in the major leagues in the period just after World War II, and that says something, because in 1947 Jackie Robinson ushered in the integration era.

One more name deserves an honorary addition to this list. Hank Greenberg hit 172 homers from 1937-1940, an average of 43 per year. He then left for the army after playing just 19 games in 1941. He returned after his service discharge in 1945 to play just 78 games in a partial season. He did hit 44 homers in 1946, his next complete season. Greenberg missed 4-1/2 seasons in the absolute prime of his career from age 30-34. He had hit 58 homers in 1938. There is no doubt that he would have been in the upper echelons of this list, but he thought fighting the Nazi’s was more important.

By the way, that is a great documentary I've pictured here, if you've never seen it. Highly, highly recommended, not just by me, but by the Colonel.

On this Memorial Day, let us recognize Hank Greenberg's sacrifice for our freedom and grace him with being part of this elite group. And check out the movie.

Better than 715

I gave up my tickets behind the first base dugout for Sunday’s game. My buddy Ray gave his tickets behind Larry Baer to his wife and her friend.

We missed 715. And we didn’t get the Omar Vizquel bobblehead.

We went to a sporting event that major league baseball can’t beat. We went down to Stanford to see the NCAA Tennis semi-finals.

Now I understand that isn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea, but it had everything I love in a sporting event. First, Ray and I are tennis players. That’s our sport. I really don’t do anything else. Ray sometimes goes for a run. We’re tennis nuts, and it is really fun for us to watch good tennis. The players that reach the semis of the NCAA’s can really play.

Second, give me college athletics, particularly the smaller sports where money isn’t such a big deal, any day over pro sports. Some day I’m going to Omaha for the College World Series. Give me the Sweet 16 over the NBA. I can even watch girls softball (ok, not really, but I’m trying to make a point). I’ll bet that NCAA rugby final between Cal and BYU was fantastic.

It was played in the Taube Tennis Center, which is a gigantic tennis setting, but still only seats maybe 3-4,000 looking out over 3 courts. We were in the 3rd to the top row, and it still felt intimate. Nice, refined crowd, with actual rules about not yelling negative things. You are supposed to only shout positive stuff (“You positively suck?”). There’s the occasional whining about line calls (the line callers do positively suck), but for the most part the players were polite.

And they can hit. This is a generation that plays mostly from the baseline, so the volleys aren’t crisp, which really shows in the doubles. But the guys, particularly, can just crush the ball, shot after shot. It was great entertainment, and a beautiful day.

So I missed Barry hit one to the guy standing in line at the BBQ stand in centerfield. Just another homer. It was on ESPN last night a million times, so I’ve seen it.

But you guys didn’t see that great 3 set victory by Virginia’s Somdev Devarrman over the big K.C. Corkery from Stanford. It’s always nice to see Stanford lose.

But I am missing out on that Omar bobblehead.

Linked

Another Giants-related baseball blog I’ve linked here is El Lefty Malo, which has been written by a fellow named Alex since September, 2003. Lefty’s Giants observations more than meet my criteria of good writing and humor. Here’s an example:

Watching Barry Bonds close-up (my seats are just beyond the left-field fence) is painful. The man looks statuesque in left field: I mean his mobility, not his physique. How long can Giant center fielders continue to cover for him? When considering how he doesn't need to hit home runs to help win ball games (see yesterday's post), it's important to remember his defense. How many balls need to fall in, or singles turn to doubles, before his offensive advantages start to erode?

Statuesque. Now that’s good writing.

I sent him an email with an attachment of the April New Yorker cover entitled “Bigger than the Game”, a picture of Barry in left field about 1000 times bigger than anyone else on the field. I’d put that picture here, but even though almost every picture I post is probably copyrighted, republishing something from a recent New Yorker feels like a law suit in the making. If anyone out there demands a picture to be removed from this site, all you have to do is ask nicely. This place, and the pictures herein, are all just for fun.

Anyway, that the drawing was from the perspective of his seats in the left field bleachers. I told Lefty I enjoyed his writing and would become a regular. And, as is now my modus operandi in baseball matters, I attached a link to Sour Grapes.

This morning, when I got to work, Connie told me I had been “Linked.” She was reading Lefty’s blog, and he added me to his list of “Gigantes” links. Hey, like I’m the real thing! I think I’ve got some funny stuff here, but it feels like joining a fraternity. And I didn’t have to wear my underwear on my head, or go running around the neighborhood naked. Anyway, gracias, Lefty, you made my day.

The Giants were busy yesterday despite the day off. Munter was indeed sent down along with “Oatmeal” Ortmeier, who was beyond horrible in the field Wednesday.

Speaking of Oaty, there was a pop fly to short right-center field. Oatmeal, Finley, Durham and Vizquel all converged on it at top speed. In the end, Oatmeal tried to make the play, but it bounced off his glove and the game proceeded to get out of hand. I was sitting in Connie’s seats in Club Section 232, and so I had a good angle to see that play. I’m sorry, but that was Finley’s ball all the way. Even though the right fielders shade into the gap, that was an awfully long run for a right fielder, particularly if that fielder isn’t Randy Winn.

Meanwhile, Winn would have gotten to it easily if he were playing center (he was in left, which I don’t understand at all). I like Steve Finley, and thank God the Giants traded him for Alfonso (on so many levels), but he’s not a gold glover out there, and he’s not as fast as you think. I don’t understand playing him in center when Bonds is in left and Winn in right. Finley just can’t cover ground like Winn, and with the “statuesque” Bonds (patent pending by Lefty), they need Randy to cover some serious ground in front of the bleachers.

The Giants brought up AA phenom Jonathan Sanchez instead of the rumored return of Merkin. There is a lot of debate out there about whether Sanchez is going to give us another ugly career start. He can’t be any worse than Munter has been so far this season, or for that matter, the bulk of the bullpen. Can we say it yet? The Giants’ bullpen is horrible, it’s going to kill their chances for the division, and they have to fix it. Maybe yes, maybe no on Sanchez, but the answer is probably not in their system if it’s not him. Hey, the answer is never in their system. Taschner and Valdez aren’t exactly tearing up the PCL; I don’t think I want them to face Big Al. Mark my words, Sabean is already calling every GM right now for a quick fix. Anyone but Felix, Brian.

Although the stats won’t hurt the Pickled Pecklers even though he’s on our team, Matt LeCroy was beyond horrible yesterday. Seven stolen bases through 6-1/3 innings and two throwing errors has got to be the catching equivalent of Rick Ankiel. Most amazing was the third toughest bad ass in major league history (after Ty Cobb and Bob Gibson), Frank Robinson, literally crying after the game because he had to embarrass LeCroy by taking him out in the middle of an inning. What the hell??? Hey, Frank, THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!

Michael Barrett got suspended for ten games. As his fantasy owner, I’d say it’s worth every minute.

Final question: could Barry have stolen a base off LeCroy yesterday? Imagine the following scenario: Barry tries to steal second, LeCroy throws it into centerfield, Damian Jackson charges the ball and throws Barry out still jogging into second for the classic 2-8-6 caught stealing putout.

The Other Guys

I’ve taken a more serious interest in this site during the past month as I think about what I’d eventually like it to become. In the process, I have been surfing other baseball websites and baseball blogs.

My God, there are hundreds and hundreds of baseball websites. There are dozens of websites just devoted just to the Giants. No one looks like they are actually making any money at it, so it’s a labor of love by guys who are either single, or whose wives yell at them a lot.

Some of them are way more than blogs with the occasional or daily or more than daily comments of their daddies. Some of them are news sites seemingly on the order of ESPN.com, but without the income stream or the multi-national owner. I don’t know how they do it. No way I have the energy for some of that.

What shocked me is how many of them are well written, with style and humor and correct grammar. I kind of thought Sour Grapes was the only place for that kind of high style in baseball. (There’s no high style in baseball!) Some of them go back more years than there have been blogs.

My interest was piqued when I saw a link to “Waiting for Boof.” It had to be, and sure enough it was: a reference to the newest major leaguer, Boof Bonser. “Waiting for Boof” was begun on January 25, 2003 by a fellow named Grant as a blog devoted to the Giants.

To put that time into perspective, he posted on January 30 the Giants’ Ten Top Prospects:

1. Jesse Foppert
2. Jerome Williams
3. Kurt Ainsworth
4. Todd Linden
5. Boof Bonser
6. Ryan Hannaman
7. Actually, he somehow skiped #7
8. Jesse English
9. Noah Lowry
10. Tony Torcato

That’s only three years ago, but that’s not exactly the list of prospects (or Giants current stars) anymore.

Anyway, “Waiting for Boof” morphed into The McCovey Chronicles, a fancy dancy website with a little advertising on it that is prettier, and still well written and funny.

I’ve added the links for Boof and McCovey to my side bar along with a couple of other sites that meet my new criteria: they’ve been around a while, they are active, or semi-active, they are incredibly well written, they are funny, and they relate to something here. In sum, they have to make me want to make Sour Grapes as good as their sites.

What I’ve learned: Sour Grapes is not unique. I feel like a relative novice despite this site being around for 16 months. I’m challenged to make it excellent, and seeing these other fine sites, there is a lot of work to do.

Comments

I’d like to make the following comment: I’d like your comments.

I’ve been wondering with all of the stuff I’ve been posting here why I suddenly wasn’t getting any comments. Am I that boring? Are the ten of you out there who read this not actually reading this? Is it all Winterlink’s fault?

Well it was Winterlink’s fault relating to our email last night, but otherwise, I take full blame. Somehow I changed my comments setting to limit comments. I don’t remember doing it, but there it was in grey and white in my settings area. Comments limited to team members. That would be The Doc and me. And the Doc stopped reading the blog on draft day. Not even Max is a team member. So as much as you probably tried to challenge my bullshit, you were prevented.

All is well now. You may comment all you want. Go ahead: complain, criticize, disagree, whine, kvetch and kibbitz. I am the great and powerful Oz, and you shall be heard!

Of course, it is still possible that no one was interested in commenting, and that is more depressing than the looking at the Pickled Pecklers’ hitting stats every day.

Booooooooo!

I was at two of the Giants-Dodgers games last week. Every single time Jeff Kent came to the plate, he was booed roundly, on the scale of the boos that Barry got in Philadelphia.

I don’t get it.

Jeff Kent is quite a package: Cal grad, redneck, biker, blunt, power hitter. He played for the Giants for six years, six incredibly fine and consistent years. His final game in a Giants uniform was game 7 of the 2002 World Series, a season in which he hit .313 and a career high 37 home runs.

He left as a free agent at the age of 35, signing what was sure to be his last big contract when the Giants didn’t want to pay him. Houston offered him $17.5 million over two years. How could he say no?

Kent was acquired in the Matt Williams deal before the 1997 season, a deal that is considered Brian Sabean’s best deal. His Giants statistics during his six seasons were:

.297 Batting Average
175 Home Runs (29/year)
247 Doubles (41/year)
689 RBI’s (115/year, with the lowest being 101)
570 Runs (95/year)

He even had 57 stolen bases (9.5/year), which made him the top fantasy second baseman throughout that period. He won the 2000 MVP over Bonds, and made 3 all-star teams. The Giants made the playoffs 3 of those years, and were competitive and close in the other 3. He was a fine player.

Hey, he’s still pretty good. He drilled two homers over Barry’s head in left when he was in town last week.

He has a shot at the Hall of Fame. His career numbers through the end of 2005:

.289 lifetime batting average
331 Home Runs (82nd)
474 Doubles (62nd)
1312 RBI’s (83rd)
847 Extra Base Hits (63rd)

He only has 2070 hits, which will hurt him. But he did this at 2nd base, an injury prone position. These numbers are very high for second basemen. Joe Morgan, in on the first ballot, had the following numbers:

.271 lifetime batting average
268 Home Runs
449 Doubles (76th)
1133 RBI’s
813 Extra Base Hits (80th)
2517 Hits

Of course, Joe won back-to-back MVP’s, is 11th on the career steals list, was a much better fielder than Kent, made 10 all-star teams, and has two or three rings. But Kent isn’t done quite yet, and his numbers are already ahead of Morgan’s in the power categories. Personally, I say no to Kent, barely, and yes to Roberto Alomar, the other great 2nd baseman of this era, but I wouldn’t argue about Kent’s induction. He can rake.

So why the hell do they boo?

I’d say they’re booing because he’s on the Dodgers now, and Giants fans hate ex-Giants who become Dodgers. They booed Brett Butler, and Butler was popular while with the Giants. But they booed Kent in his two Houston years too, so it’s not the Dodger thing.

The booing is a sign of the provincial fans in the Bay Area. Jeff Kent chose to leave here. He rejected San Francisco. You don’t want us? Then screw you.

Of course, he made a hell of a lot more money going to Houston than the Giants were offering. Would he have stayed if the Giants were competitive? Well, they weren’t, but it’s not clear. You know he hated the special treatment Barry got, and maybe you remember the fight (grabbing, not punching) he got into with Barry in the dugout one night. On the other hand, he was the first guy there to greet and congratulate Barry the night Barry broke McGwire's record with homer #71.

In game 4 of the 1975 NBA finals, Mike Riordan sucker punched Rick Barry in the first quarter of the game with the Bullets up by about 15. He was trying to get Barry to retaliate and get thrown out of the game. Barry didn’t retaliate, but Al Attles did. Big mistake, and Riordan got away lucky. Al Attles has three special attributes: (1) he has the deepest bass voice in sports history, (2) he and Wilt scored 117 points one night in Hershey, PA, and (3) he was, pound for pound, the toughest, scariest fighter who ever played in the NBA (according to Bill Bradley, he was legendary). They just barely kept Attles from ripping Riordan’s head off, and he was sent to the locker room, where he watched the Warriors win the championship on the locker room TV.

Mike Riordan played a few more years. He was a solid, self-made player who had a nice career. But from that time on, whenever he played in Oakland, every single time he got the ball, fans would boo him. For years. Every single time. Believe me, it got tiresome. But Bay Area fans have a long memory. I think Latrelle got that treatment too, but by that time I had stopped going to Warriors games, so I’m not 100% sure.

Jeff Kent was a player. For a while, he hit behind Barry, and he drove in a hell of a lot of runs. Then for a while he hit in front of Barry, and he drove in a hell of a lot of runs. He has a career that is going to get Hall of Fame consideration, and the guts of that career were here in San Francisco. He even went to college here, and has been active raising money for womens’ sports there for many years.

And he got us to the World Series.

I wouldn’t have Kent over to my house for dinner, but I appreciate what a special player he was while he was here. I always berate the fans around me for booing. It’s stupid. It makes me embarrassed to be a Giants fan.

You know, Will Clark left the Giants of his own accord. And now he’s in the front office of the enemy, the Dbacks. But people still love him, and he got to throw out the first pitch on Opening Day a few years ago. In fact, Joe Montana left too, and Rick Barry. But we love these guys.

I don’t think Jeff Kent will ever get a chance to throw out the first pitch, or get a statue. But he’s a big part of the fabric of this franchise during the last decade, and he should be remembered for that.

So why do they boo? My theory: just to be an asshole.

Straight Flushed

It was a beautiful day to play hooky from work out at the ballpark this afternoon, at least until Yadier Molina punched a bases loaded single to clear the bases and lead the Cardinals to a 10-4 win. Noah Lowry was in trouble all day long, but the story was the Cardinals’ starter by committee approach when Chris Carpenter was a late scratch. Brad Thompson got the start, going two innings.

I got to see Adam Wainwright pitch for the first time, and after a rocky start, settled down to earn the win. On top of his pitching, he blasted a homer deep into the left field bleachers in his first ever at bat. He really clobbered it, and it wasn’t the only extra base hit for the Cardinal pitchers today. Jason Marquis, fresh off his win yesterday, actually pinch hit for Thompson in the third and hit a triple. And our own Braden Looper, another guy who doesn’t get to hit much, drove a double into the right field corner. Looper was overpowering during the last two innings, and anyone in BABI who was there should be on the phone trying to trade for him tomorrow.

It was a disappointing outing for Noah who gave up 10 hits and 3 walks in 6 innings. They really need to win most of his starts if this team is going anywhere. This lineup without Bonds and Alou certainly doesn’t scare anybody.

Scott Munter has got to be on the verge of heading to the minors. He gave up 4 runs on 2 hits and 3 walks while only getting one guy out. His ball is just not sinking and he doesn’t have good control over it.

Big Al Pujols blasted a line drive the opposite way off the right field brick wall that was hit so hard he only got a single. This guy is on fire the way Bonds was in 2001, and is on pace for about 200 RBI’s. So why don’t they walk him every single time he gets up? Why doesn’t he get the Bonds treatment?

Closer and closer:

Jose Valverde got another ugly save today. His ERA is up to 4.19. He hasn’t always been amazing as a closer, and maybe we’re starting to get a taste of that. We’ve got Lyon and Medders in the wings.

Brad Lidge came in during the eighth for Houston and got nobody out as the Astros gave up 4 in the inning. This guy was the hottest closer in the NL last year, but he just hasn’t been the same since Big Al clobbered that ball in the 2005 NLCS.

Izzy was not exactly stellar last night. He came in with 1 out in the 9th, up by 4, with 2 runners on. He walked the first two batters he faced, forcing in a run, before getting the last two Giants. Wainwright was actually warming up in the bullpen. It was exciting enough that we stopped the poker game temporarily to watch the bottom of the ninth. We also stopped every time Barry came up. Homers all. That’s us, not Barry last night.

Finally, let’s commemorate The Doc’s king high straight flush last night. As I told him, he’s got about 40 years left to top that hand. I’ll leave it to Kenny 9 to set the odds. In high low poker, though, I'll take a 5 high straight flush every time.

Meat League Draft, 2006

Last night we finally got around to holding the annual “Meat League” draft for the 2006 season. This is a lower budget league that the Doc and I participate in which is built around the neighborhood butcher shop that we patronize.

It’s made up of a bunch of local guys who have known each other for years, and the draft has been going on for quite a while. We joined it 5 years ago as we got friendly with the guys in the meatery. What will amaze our BABI friends is that we have been fairly dominant, winning twice, finishing second last year, third once and out of the money only once.

It’s informal enough that they always have a hard time agreeing on a date, which has caused the league to get smaller the last few years. Last night there were only 8 teams. The rules are quite different from standard fantasy baseball. Each team has a roster as follows:

Catcher, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF1, OF2, OF3, DH (any hitter), SP1, SP2, SP3 and Closer.

Each player is compared and ranked against only the other players at his position. So finding a player that dominates his position, even if his statistics aren’t incredible, is where the value is. The league includes AL and NL (ugh), so with only 8 teams, every team is a veritable all-star team. Matt Lacroy was not drafted last night. Hell, Carlos Beltran wasn't drafted!

The Doc is our AL guy, but he had tickets to see the Giants-Cards last night, so I was on my own. He didn’t even turn on his cell phone. He was kind enough to give me about 30 pages of player printouts which I used. Believe it or not, I actually did pick some AL guys.

We had the #3 draft slot. Big Al went #1, of course. Tejada, the dominant player at SS went #2. Believe it or not, I chose Chase Utley in the #3 spot. We believe he’s not the cream of the fantasy crop, but he is, by far, the cream of the 2nd baseman crop. I can’t say I’m in love with the pick, but no one there who understands the rules seemed to argue with the strategy. That may be, of course, because they were happy to have me waste the pick.

The rest of my draft:

Round 2 – M. Cabrera 3B
Round 3 – Lance Berkman 1B
Round 4 – Felipe Lopez SS (shortstops were getting thin)
Round 5 – Carlos Lee (OF1 - good value)
Round 6 – Nick Swisher (OF2 - this may have been a reach)
Round 7 – Jorge Posada (I thought Capuano would last longer than the next pick)
Round 8 – Carlos Delgado DH
Round 9 – Jason Schmidt (SP1 - because I believe)
Round 10 – Jermaine Dye OF3
Round 11 – Carlos Zambrano (SP2 – late pick because of slow start)
Round 12 – F. Rodriguez – Closer (couldn’t take Valverde)
Round 13 – C.C. Sabathia (SP3 – last pitcher taken)

The holes are in pitching and outfield, but I think my guys will be pretty good. And there are 6 AL players. We’ll see if I can go both ways. I’m predicting another win in the Meat League, and that’s no bull.

Thanks to the the Iowa Beef Industry Council and the Beef Checkoff Program for the photo. They require a credit for the use of their art. By the way, for those interested, their website has a link to the "Beef Blog." I'm sure I'll be a regular on the site.

The Site

Lately I’ve been searching the web for blogs and sites of interest to get ideas for Sour Grapes. I’ve even added a site meter, which gives me some information about how many people actually look at this site. The answer is a little depressing, but interesting nonetheless.

One of these days I’m going to obtain my own domain and move the blog away from blogspot, a wonderful site with one real great redeeming value: it’s free. I don’t know if I’ll ever get away from blogger software, which is pretty easy to use (Kenny 9 can confirm this), but is somewhat limiting in a design sense. Unfortnately Time Warner owns “sourgrapes.com”, which they are using for absolutely nothing. So although I like my blog name and plan to keep it, I have to come up with a domain name for the site. I’m working on it.

I’ve added some site links today in the sidebar. “A Cunning Trap” is not in the least baseball related. It is the new, inconsistently written but consistently well-written blog of Rob Morse, a former columnist for the Ex and Chron. What I like about it is Rob is kind of a low-level celebrity now retired into non-celebrity status, who is doing this, like me, for fun. He is also, like me, working through what he wants his site to be for himself and his readers, to the extent that either of us have any readers.

I am reminded of something the Cool man, another professional writer, wrote to me last year, that publishing this kind of work is truly an act of ego. I don’t know if what I write has any value beyond a few inside jokes, but if I didn’t think so, I don’t think I could keep it up. Rob got his thoughts published 4x per week for many years, and actually got paid for it. Go check out his free stuff.

A link I did not add to the sidebar, but provide a link here, is GlennDickey.com. You all remember Glenn Dickey, right. He was the pompous sports columnist for the Chron for decades who was always right in his mind, and usually right for real. He continues to write a daily column for which he does not, apparently, get paid. I guess I’m glad he’s still alive and kicking. He once published something I sent him about Jose Canseco.

Since I’m not writing at this moment about baseball, let me add a note about Barbaro.

It’s not clear to me if it is humane to keep that horse alive or humane to put the horse down after his stunning breakdown in the Preakness Saturday. It is clear that the primary reason for keeping the horse alive at this time is money.

It certainly is a shame to see such a promising horse crash and burn, but it confirms once again, how incredibly difficult it is to win the Triple Crown.

I saw the last one live at Belmont Park 28 years ago along with my wife and my college buddies. We had also seen Secretariat do it in 1973, so it didn’t seem so special beyond that incredible nose to nose race between Affirmed and Alydar.

They are all gone now (the horses, not my college buds), and in the interim although a number have come close, we can still say we saw the last one. I always root against a Triple Crown, except a couple of years ago when that great gelding, Funny Cide, gave it a try.


OK, just a little baseball.

Interleague…too many box scores.

Here’s an interesting one: Scott Kazmir won yesterday for Tampa, pitching 4 hit ball over 8 shutout innings to raise his record to 7-2. He sports a 2.39 ERA. He was one hot prospect when he was in the NL last year. Tyler Walker wrapped it up with a 1-2-3 ninth for his 8th save. Everyone in BABI could have had him before the Giants dumped him. It now looks like they dumped him too soon, but it might be that he just needed a change of scenery. The DRays beat Dontrelle yesterday, who went the whole way and while losing, at least didn’t suck.

Al Pujols, 22 homers and 54 RBI’s in 44 games. We’re 3 games past one quarter of the season. Those numbers seem unsustainable, but good for him.

Bruce Chen…there’s an NL name from the past. He got beat to a pulp, apparently again yesterday, bringing his record to 0-5 and his ERA to 8.08. He did get a hit, and maintains his 1.000 batting average.

Chan Ho Ho Ho. Ten earned runs. It doesn’t matter how many innings you pitched when you give up ten earned runs. Nasty.

We’ve been dying with Brady Clark all season, but he’s finally gotten hot, raising his average to .264 with another couple of hits yesterday. The best news: he led off for the Brewskies. It’s definitely easier to hit in the #1 spot than the #8 spot.

Pierzynski hit one out yesterday to dead centerfield. He’s batting .344 right now. How did he stink so bad with the Giants? He sure can take a punch, and I hope he gets to prove it often in the future.

The A’s are in first in the AL West with a worse record than the NL West last place Giants. What the hell happened to the Angels, 17-27? Don’t they have one of those $150 million payrolls?

Adrian Beltre, .206. That was some contract year he had in 2004.

The last book I read in a foreign language was “Waiting for Godot” in my college French class. Reading it in French didn’t make it a better literary experience. Anyway, that’s how I feel waiting for Mark Prior to return. Of course, looking forward to any pitcher returning from the deep DL is precarious. As they say, be careful what you wish for, you might get it.

My-T-Fine

I’m quite proud of the Hal Trosky article from Friday. It’s a great story. I was telling a tennis pal of mine, Dale, today about it. He brought up his favorite, Willie “Puddin’ Head” Jones. Puddin' Head played from 1947-1961, mostly for a bunch of bad Phillies teams. I like the nickname, and plan on assigning it to one of you, all too soon.

Other notes:

Interleague play sucks. It takes me forever to look at all of those box scores in the morning. It’s nice to see some name of old, like Julio Lugo and Corey “$39” Patterson.

Mystery pitching line of the day: 6 innings, 5 hits, 3 walks, 1 run, 8 strikeouts. No decision. Answer below.

I took the over on Kenny 9’s over/under bet on Eric Reed’s return to the Marlins. The line is July 19. He was really bad.

Remember last season when the NL West looked like it might not have a team over .500? Right now the Giants are in last place, but are 2 games OVER .500. Is it suddenly the powerhouse division? Actually, there are only 5 teams under .500 right now, and that will be 4 if the Braves hold on to beat the DBacks (they’re up 2-0 in the 8th right now). So basically there are 4 horrible teams, the Cubs, Pirates, Nationals and Marlins.

The Cubs were doing fine until Derrick Lee went down. When are they going to trade for Ryan “$8” Sheely? Our closer, unfortunately, is their closer: Ryan Dempster. He’s pitched well, but they are so bad his save today was his first in about 3 weeks. We finally got our first “vulture” save of the season from Adam Wainright, who finished off 2-2/3 innings for the Cardinals a couple of days ago. COTF? The Doc says he’ll be a starter before the season is out.

Matt Cain took a week off and it really paid off for the Giants today when he threw a complete game one-hit shutout. Chad Hensley threw one of those last week, but got tagged for 9 hits and 6 runs yesterday for the Padres. We’ll see if Cain is a one day wonder, but he does have some seriously great stuff.

There were quite a few ugly pitching performances yesterday. The Brewers’ Ben Hendrickson started yesterday against the Twins and got nobody out, giving up 5 hits, a walk and 6 runs. The Brewers gave up 15 hits, 11 walks and 16 runs (only 15 were earned) in the game.

Billy Wagner did not blow the save yesterday for the Mets, but only because he came in to close in the ninth with a 4-0 lead. He got one out, giving up 4 runs on 2 hits and 3 walks. That was an ugly loss for the Mets.

Rich Hill got knocked around pretty hard, 5 hits, 5 walks and 7 earned runs in 4 innings as the Cubs got whitewashed. He was probably bothered by the Pecklers’ own Michael Barrett’s ejection for smashing AJ Pierzinski in the face yesterday. Three things to say on this: (1) that was a hell of a right hand he threw, (2) Pierzinski can really take a punch, and (3) how can anyone get thrown out of a game for hitting AJ Pierzinski? Barrett played today, by the way, but a 5 game suspension is just around the corner. It was worth it.

Andy Pettite gave up 12 hits and 5 walks over 6 innings. Now that is a WHIP buster outing.

Ian Snell is on the waiver wire, for you cheap teams, and he got the win for the Pirates yesterday. It wasn’t pretty, though: 5 innings, 4 hits, 5 walks and 5 runs, though only 2 were earned. Someone should certainly pick him up.

Florida had a blown save in the ninth yesterday, but it wasn’t Borowski, who didn’t come in at all. It was some guy named Logan Kensing, who has a career ERA of 9.88. I suspect if Travis Bowyer weren’t hurt, he’d be their closer right now. Meanwhile, in the Borkowski-Borowski competition, it’s not close.

Speaking of blown saves, Dave Weathers blew one yesterday for the Reds. The clock is ticking loudly on him.


Meanwhile, Anthony Reyes shutout the Royals on 4 hits for 5-2/3 innings yesterday in his long awaited season debut. Reyes may slow up Adam Wainright’s move to the rotation. Izzy got save #14, which leads the NL. Josh Beckett hit the first home run by a Red Sox pitcher yesterday since 1972. The team gave him the silent treatment in the dugout for about 20 seconds, and then everyone cracked up.

Mystery pitching line. That was Boof Bonser's major league debut for the Twins against the Brewers today. Yeah, he made it! His namesake, Boof Brittain, is so proud.

Oh yeah, Barry hit one yesterday. That was…what number was that again? At left is the front page of the New York Post. They love Barry in New York, can't you tell? The Shambino's ok with me, and I'm a fan of his TV show, too. I just wish I could remember when it's on.

Speaking of numbers, this is our 250th post.

Whodathunkit?

The Forgotten Pujols

There are several online historical stat sites that I have used to research the playing histories of players I’ve been reporting on. One of the best is Baseball-Reference.com, or as I will refer to it, BR.

BR has annual statistical breakdowns for virtually every player since Doubleday. Well, not Doubleday, since he really wasn’t a player, but it does have Al Spaulding who played in the 1870’s and went on to fame as the Levi Strauss of baseball. I particularly like the listing of appearances on annual and career leaderboards and awards (MVP, All-Star appearances, Cy Youngs, etc.).

Today I found another extremely cool feature at the bottom. It takes a player’s career statistics and lists other players, active and retired with similar lifetime statistics. It also lists players with similar statistics through his age at this time. And finally it lists the player who had the most similar career statistics at every age of the player.

I was researching a few players I’m going to write about shortly when I found this. Of course, I immediately went to check out the comparable players to Big Al Pujols. The most similar player to Pujols’ annual career numbers for each year of his age were:

Age 21 – Joe DiMaggio
Age 22 – Joe DiMaggio
Age 23 – Joe DiMaggio
Age 24 – Joe DiMaggio
Age 25 – Joe DiMaggio

Now that is impressive. I think Ted Williams is closer in statistics by year of service, but because after 4 years at age 24 he took a 3 year break in service for WWII, the comparison doesn’t work at age 25. Anyway, being compared to Joe D ain’t too bad.

What is more interesting was the list of 10 players who had the most similar stats to Big Al at age 25. After Joe D, it’s another list of the all-time greats:

Frank Robinson
Jimmie Foxx
Hank Aaron
Hal Trosky
Vladimir Guerrero
Orlando Cepeda
Ken Griffey
Mickey Mantle
Joe Medwick

So that top ten includes 7 hall of famers, 2 of the great active players and…

Wait a minute.

Hal Trosky???? Who the hell is Hal Trosky????

Now there is probably somebody reading this who knows the answer to this, somebody who probably grew up in Ohio, or more likely whose father grew up in Ohio, or maybe whose grandfather grew up in Ohio, where Trosky was a star. A big star.

When I started this, I had never heard of him. Hal Trosky was Big Hal in 1938, the Big Al Pujols of the Depression Era.

He was strictly a midwestern boy, the son of immigrants from Bohemia, John and Mary Ann Troyovesky (no, he wasn't Russian). He was born November 1, 1912, and played for Cleveland for most of his career. Here are some of his figures from BR:

..Yr....Age...AB.....H.....D....HR..RBI....BA
1933…20..…44..…13..…1...…1...…8….295
1934…21...625...206...45...35...142….330... ROY
1935…22...632...171…33...26....113….271
1936…23...629...216…45...42...162….343... 3rd Place, AL MVP
1937…24...601...179…36...32...128….298
1938…25...554...185…40...19...110….334

That’s your Age 25 scan, your Pujols scan. The totals at this point:

970 Hits
200 Doubles
663 RBI’s
155 Homers
.314 Batting Average

Oh, that Hal Trosky.

Those are some serious numbers. So what happened?

His playing line stopped in 1941. Then some games in 1944 and some more in 1946. That was it.

World War II, maybe? That’s what I assumed, but that wasn’t it. Hal Trosky suffered from constant, debilitating migrane headaches. He had another good year in 1939, but missed some time, an ok year in 1940, and part-time year with decent stats in 1941. And he quit. He couldn’t take it any more. He was one of the best players in baseball, but the headaches were starting to impair his vision.

He was 4F during World War II, which he spent on his farm in Iowa. The White Sox enticed him to give it a try in 1944, but he was pretty bad, and that was really bad considering the quality of the players in the major leagues in 1944, including the guy with one arm. He gave it one more shot in 1946, but only played part time and hung them up, done at the age of 33.

His career stats:

1561 Hits
331 Doubles
228 Homers
1012 RBIs
.302 Batting Average

Late in life he found out by accident that dairy products caused the headaches. He grew up on a farm and was a milk drinker and butter eater. He stopped the dairy and 2 days later his headaches ceased forever. You wonder what might have been had he discovered it earlier.

Despite all those great seasons, Hal Trosky was never on a single all-star team, a great personal regret. The reason? He was only the 4th best 1st baseman in the American League, behind Gehrig, Foxx and Greenberg. Can you imagine a time when a guy who had 162 RBI's and 42 homers (1936) couldn't even make the all-star team? BTW, those RBI's were the Cleveland club record until Manny Ramirez broke it 1999 with 165. Want to know how American League-phobic I am? I had no idea until today that Manny once had 165 RBI's, which is a titanic number in this day and age.

Trosky's son, Harold Jr. had a cup of coffee with the White Sox in 1957, pitching 3 innings and winning one game. A better career than Archibald "Moonlight" Graham, I guess, but not even as good as Dave Debusschere.

I got most of this information in an article not readily available called “Not Tolstoy, Not Trotsky, But Harold “Hal” Trosky", by Jim Odenkirk. Thanks to him, the University of Nebraska Press and the USF library.

Finally, for conspiracy nuts like my wife and Larry Dot Net, there is an article at corpse.com (follow this link) which suggests that Hal Trosky was actually Leon Trotsky, the great Russian revolutionary. It’s probably true, but since the site is sponsored by the Diebold Corporation, I don’t completely trust it.

Morning Cuppa Joe

There was no ballgame last night. The Giants got their first day off in a while, and all of the NL teams played during the day. It completely changed my TV viewing.

Instead of jumping around the dial checking out the Giants (and other stuff during the ads), I watched the last episode of Will and Grace. I've only seen a few episodes over the years, and now I know why. It wasn't that funny, it wasn't that poignent, and the over-acting was over the top. Nice to see it...leave.

Meanwhile, although there are virtually no public comments lately, I suddenly have received some emails from the boys. I started writing a little about fantasy baseball and BABI in particular, and suddenly I'm wrong, stupid, and slow. That all may be true, but there is only one thing I can say to you all: Bite Me.

First, from the hinterlands. I know George reads Sour Grapes, but he's always quiet until I touch a nerve. Usually that nerve (or lack thereof last season) relates to his constant insecurity about his team and his awe of the Leaguers. Here is what he said about my comments yesterday on the state of the Leaguer Franchise:

You might be counting Jeff out a little early...

At this time last year, Jeff was thinking about "next year". Remember what happened after that?

Of course, one difference was that last year, he had Pujols, along with a few other studs. His team truly stinks right now. But as you also pointed out, he has possible studs that are
underachieving right now.

And don't bet on Borowski losing his closer role before June, as some _____ did a couple seasons ago...

It's all true, but sorry, I don't see it. But the reason I don't see it is I'm just not as good as Mr. Leaguer at this. He probably does have an overall plan to get back into the thick of it, but I'm just not smart enough to devine how he's going to do it, so I assume he can't. George doesn't know how he's going to do it, but he's sure he will. That makes one of us a half-full glass guy and the other a half-empty glass guy, but I'm not sure who is which.

I was sure I was going to hear from Noel after I wrote about Larry Dot Net's competition. Sure enough...

I did have a mild spit-up over .net site, but the big news could be Coffey getting his first save. That trade may whip-saw the Old Rips faster than a speeding bullet. Heaven forbid Wagner has any of his annual arm problems.

I think the big fact in the Cartel trade is how much it is going to hurt his batting average. He had a huge lead, and has already dropped a point. Check his batting average since the trade. I think that is going to hurt the most.

I noticed Coffey's save. What was interesting was that Weathers pitched the 7th and 8th, so this had to be by design. Has the mantle been passed in Cincinnati already? If so, to quote Howard Baker during the Watergate investigation, what did Kevin know and when did he know it? If Coffey is the closer, this is a MONSTER trade for the Pounders, possibly the greatest since Pujols went to the Leaguers.

As for the BA thing, it's why I've never been on the Adam Dunn bandwagon. He hits for BA just long enough to think he's found the answer, and suddenly he's down there in the Dave Kingman area. We in the Pickle Jar tend to overlook BA too. It cost us severely last season. I hope the Cartel didn't make that same mistake.

Quick...who is leading the major league in doubles? You have to look at the other side of the box score page for this one...

It's Mike Lowell.

Remember last year how Larry Dot Net kept trying to sell Lowell based on how many doubles he was hitting? He finished last season at 8-58-4-.236 in addition to his 36 doubles. This season hitting in the middle of the Red Sox lineup he's at 4-23-1-.317 plus his major league leading 20 doubles. Diebold is probably doing the doubles counting.

I have a couple of ideas to write about this week that are NOT directly about BABI. I imagine the only emails I'll be getting are from Boof Brittain asking if Carlos Lee is available yet. He is, Boof. I want Utley and Coffey. The offer will probably something like Mike Cameron and Dan Wheeler.

Touchy, Touchy

Mr. Cartel is a little sensitive about my analysis of his trade. I didn't say it was a bad trade. I just said that so far, it hasn't worked out, but it probably will. And then I speculated that he might have gotten more for those guys he gave up.

He wrote (privately, but buddy, you've been outed):

Regarding the analysis of my trade with Any 9… a couple of thoughts running through my mind at the time: Howard was not hitting left-handers and his power numbers were modest… at that time; Weeks was coming off a wrist injury, and although he was structurally sound (no damaged-goods) the speculation I read was that he had developed bad habits during his rehab from that injury; Drew is definitely a stud, but he hasn’t put up any MLB numbers yet and his brother was just as touted and has become a good, not great, player. Burke is still stymied for playing time in Houston. I think that each of these players has a big up-side, and I think Ken got a great deal, but I’m playing for this year… and my judgement at that time was to go with veterans who had done it before.

I understand playing for this year. We did it last year, and look at us teams at the bottom struggling this year. And I like the idea of making a bold move with a lot of season left. This deal will probably work out. Hey, you're doing such a great job as Secretary, I hope you win (or come in second to us).

But Howard and Drew....whew!

Larry Dot Net Has Competition

I was surfing baseball blogs today. Comparison shopping. And I found Larry Dot Net's dream sight. Click on this:

Baseball Crank

His slogan: Give Victory A Chance: Baseball, War, Politics, Law and More!

I especially like the exclamation point!

I was disappointed, though. I did a page find on the front page. There was no match to "Diebold".

Check it Out!

P.S. I bet when Noel reads this one, he blows his chocolate milk out his nose.

The Colonel

I subscribe to Fantistics during the season. I get a daily email, which usually has most of what I need. It’s readable. I’m not a huge believer in their statistical stuff, which is usually not very readable. Anyway, I saw a couple of interesting points about our guys.

First, Col. Luis Gonzalez:

According to the Denver Post, "An innocent question spawned an interesting answer from manager Clint Hurdle. With Jason Smith in the lineup, Hurdle was asked, "Exactly who is the Rockies' starting second baseman?" "I don't know. I guess the guy who is playing that day," Hurdle said. "I still like to believe Luis (Gonzalez) is going to recapture his stroke. I am still holding on to that." Gonzalez started 20 games but has yet to regain the offensive form that made him a career .292 hitter after his first two seasons. That doesn't mean Gonzalez wasn't able to contribute. With Eli Marrero sick and Danny Ardoin in the bullpen, Gonzalez warmed up closer Brian Fuentes in the ninth inning."

Who knows – he could end up qualifying at catcher soon.

As for Jae Seo:

The Los Angeles Daily News reports that "Little said right-hander Jae Seo will have his next scheduled start pushed back two days to Monday against Colorado because the club is off today. Little wants to keep Brett Tomko and Derek Lowe on their normal routine of pitching every fifth day, so those two will go Saturday and Sunday, respectively, against the Angels."

That’s enough to give you the creeps. I checked. The game will be in Los Angeles.

Juan Cruz earned a Super Bullinger yesterday when he didn’t survive the first inning against the Padres. His numbers: 0.2 Innings, 5 hits, 9 ER, 3 Walks. Whoa. Throw in Bronson Arroyo’s stinker and that might account for the Falkuhns dropping about 4 points yesterday.

We got bailed out on a Bullinger yesterday. We picked up Scott Cassidy as a safe middle reliever and he gave up 5 hits and 6 runs in 2/3 of an inning. Only 1 run was earned despite giving up 2 homers. But he wouldn’t have gotten an award even if they were all earned: he didn’t walk anyone. Nice to see he’s still got his control. I think they call that batting practice.

Reggie Abercrombie threw a guy out at the plate yesterday. But the big news is his 1 for 5 lowered his BA. That wasn’t the case not too long ago.

The Bleacher Bums are up to 55 points and 5th place. We never gave up. Now, however, it’s a long way up to the next team.

The Cartel slid under 70 points for the first time since I lost a bet on them to Kenny 9 about them being in first place after the first week. They missed it by half a point, and I got something like 12-1 odds.

I haven’t commented yet on the trade in April between the Cartel and the Nine. To remind you all it was:

To the Cartel: Dunn, Burrell, Biggio, Damien Jackson and Josh Anderson (F)
To Any 9: Howard, Weeks, an injured Burke, a bum and Stephen Drew (F)

I didn’t like this trade for the Cartel at the time, but I felt he got more than he gave up for this year. But he gave up his best 2 trading pieces in one deal, Ryan Howard who is an absolute monster and Stephen Drew, who could be even better. The Doc and I agreed that he should have shopped these guys longer, and he would have gotten more than this. It was a great dump deal for Any 9.

Unfortunately, so far the trade is an unmitigated disaster. Check out the stats since the trade:

Dunn 1-9-1-.140
Burrell 2-6-0-.225
Biggio 1-3-0-.241
Jackson – waived and reclaimed by Any 9

Howard 7-18-0-.302
Weeks 2-2-5-.327
Burke – starting his rehab
Stephen Drew – scary good

I’m sure it will even out over the long term, but the Cartel gave up on some guys that would really have helped this year and were very, very, very, very tradable. The guys he got? Not tradable unless you’re dumping.

Hump Day

The game on Sunday was ugly enough that I haven’t written here in 3 days. I was at 3 games in 4 days last week and, in general, the Giants stunk. Now after 2 days in Houston, all is well, with the offense banging in 24 runs.

Meanwhile, Barry got plunked yesterday by Russ Springer. It was clearly intentional. Everyone seems confused. Can someone explain? Meanwhile, Barry had 2 singles, both balls hit hard and pulled hard. Barry’s inability to pull makes me wonder why any team is still putting on a shift defense, but maybe he’s working his way through the problem.

Classic fantasy moment: I’m rooting for the Giants on Sunday, but Dodger’s starter Jae Seo is also a Pickled Peckler. So I’ve got that strange dilemma of what to root for. Seo gave up a run in the first, but settled down, and left the game after 6 innings with a 2-1 lead. Odallis Perez, newly banished to middle relief, came in and immediately gave up the tying run. The Dodgers then scored the winning runs in the top of the eighth, so Perez stole Seo’s win. The combination of Seo pitching well but not getting the win when the Dodgers did just sucks. If the Dodgers were going to win, the Pecklers might as well have benefited.

Random Pickled Notes:

J.J. Hardy is headed to the DL with a bad ankle. Bill Hall will become the starting shortstop for the Brewers, and one would think Brady Clark will start playing every day, and possibly hit higher in the order. Clark is currently the biggest disappointment on our team. One homer, no steals, 8 RBI’s, and a crappy BA. Last year he hit .306 in 599 AB’s with 13 homers and 10 steals. He’ll come around, and we’ll move back toward the middle of the steals pack.

Reggie Abercrombie went 3 for 4 yesterday with 2 steals, bringing his BA over .250. The Doc was skeptical when I said $8 on Abercrombie, but I figured a young starting outfielder with power and some speed who had beaten out a major prospect in Eric Reed had to be worth a single digit bid.

Tom Glavine, $11, 6-2, sub-3 ERA, was the last solid starter available in the draft. If we end up playing for next year (we’re not, by the way), you’ve got to figure he’ll end up on another BABI team.

Mark Prior is throwing. It looks like early June. If he comes back like Mark Prior, it will be a major additional both to our staff and our team. It will give us a 5th starter with good numbers, and making one of our starters available for trade. Our 5 starters are all cheap and keepable. It’s actually part of the overall plan.

Cesar Izturis is close enough to returning to spark a debate about where he will play. Raffy Furcal sucks at short, and Izturis has a gold glove. There’s a possibility one of them will move to 3rd in Bill Meuller’s absence, and there is talk of the outfield too. It’s not clear what Izturis’ future is, but I’ve always liked him. He can hit, he’s fast, and he can field. Getting him for $2 was an absolute bargain for this year. And if he stays in the National League, he’ll be remembered as one of the real bargains in the BABI draft this year.

Kenny 9 purchased Damian Jackson, who we were targeting in the auction as a cheap source of steals along with Hector Luna. He then traded him in that deal with the Cartel, who waived him a week ago. We were tied for 11th on Monday, but technically 10th on tie breakers, ahead of Kenny 9 and the Pounders. Kenny claimed him back ahead of our claim. He’s not doing all that much, but we figure he was worth more than Jose Hernandez, who no longer has the respect of the Pounders.

We’ve got both backup catchers in Washington, yet neither has played since Wiki was brought up. Why? If we end up selling, we want flexibility to trade Michael Barrett. Lecroy and Fick are both really 1st basemen who qualify at catcher.

I saw the end of the Dbacks-Padres last night on INHD. I got to see Medders, Lyon and Valverde shut down the Padres on 24 pitches in 3 innings. The only hit was a soft opposite field single in the 8th off Lyon. This trio, along with Luis Vizcaino, give the Dbacks a formidable bullpen, one the Giants can only dream of. And I still think Valverde is an injury waiting to happen with his jerky throwing motion. Meanwhile, Shawn Green is leading the NL in batting, but has completely lost all of his power. Steroids? It’s not obvious from his body, but I’d be suspicious. Maybe the same for Private Luis Gonzalez. How did that guy hit 56 homers?

Boof Brittain is after Carlos Lee and Ryan Dempster. We’re still playing. And they are both keepers, so they’ll cost you, or any of you.

As for his trade with the Pounders (Utley and Coffey for Wagner and P. Wilson), it looks on the surface like a dump deal, but here’s what I see. Kevin got one of the top keepers for next season in Utley, a true 4 category player. He got a young guy in Coffey who is pitching lights out and could be a $6 closer at any moment. Meanwhile, his numbers are pristine. He gave up one of the league’s premier closers and an overpriced guy who hasn’t been right in 3 years, who is striking out 1 in 3 AB’s. He improved his hitting, gave up a closer he doesn’t need, and got the premier closer of the future in the NL. Nice trade by Kevin. Boof, meanwhile, wanted that closer in Wagner so he can try to trade the much maligned Brad Lidge. That could work out, but will depend on who bites on Lidge. Wouldn't it be funny if he ended up back with the Leaguers? Or with the team that originally drafted him at $3 (that would be us)?

Speaking of the Astros, how ‘bout that pen last night?

Eight BABI teams are now at 49 points or higher. I said early on not to count out the Bums (now in 6th place). But with Gagne and Bonds costing $61, I don’t know how Dot Net is doing it.

John Rodriguez, down to .410. Bum.

Brandon Webb has allowed 7 walks in 64 innings. He used to be a WHIP wrecker. What happened? Looks like a sure candidate for contract extension.

Hobo is fading a bit. What’s the chance they finish the season with both Capuano and Carpenter?

Busch Leaguers, 38 points. Is it fixable? Floyd $25 is hitting .205 with 3 homers. Abreu was kept at $40, but only has 4 homers and 5 steals. Who the hell is Joe Borchard? And Joe Borowski, $17. Ouch. Get in line for Mr. Leaguer’s 06 contract guys.

Gotta Go - Game On

I’ll be heading out to the park in a few minutes for the third time this week to see Barry’s endless pursuit of that fat f***, as Mickey Mantle described the Babe in the movie 61*. Yesterdays attempt fell flat again, and so did the Giants until Barry was taken out of the game.

Down 5-2 to the mastery of Aaron Sele, the Giants scored four in the 9th to beat Danys Baez and the Dodgers. It was great to watch the unhearalded and the slumping pull it off, with clutch hitting by Niekro, Greene, Dan Ortmeier (something special to remember when he heads back to Fresno) and Omar Vizquel. The Giants can reach .500 again and get out of last place with a win in the rubber game this afternoon.

I’m on a short clock here, so just a few random notes:

The Vargas boys have had an interesting, Bullinger-style weekend. Friday the Marlins’ Jason came in to replace starter Sergio Mitre who came out after 3 pitches and headed straight to the DL. Chalk up 3-1/3 innings, 6 hits, 7 earned runs and 3 walks. Amazingly, he didn’t get the loss.

Cousin Claudio did earn the loss for the DBacks against the Cards, pitching 3 innings even and giving up 8 hits, 8 earned runs and 3 walks. So the Vargas boys totaled 6-1/3 IP, 14 hits, 15 earned runs and 6 walks.

Give ‘em each a Bullinger.

Claudio gave up #19 for Big Al Pujols, whose average is back to .341. This guy is sick.

Hanley Ramirez – ROY?

Aaron Rowand – my hero. ROY? Definitely Web Gem of the Year.

Gotta go. Barry, let’s get it over with.

Dinner at the Ballpark

I'm heading out to the park soon where I'll be looking for #714. I'm going straight from work, so it will be dinner at the ballpark tonight. It reminds me about something I saw this week.

The other night I was watching the Giants-Cubs on the tube (the ugly game they lost to Zambrano) and Kruk and Kuip got into banter about eating and condiments that I was going to write up, but never quite got around to. Somebody at the SJ Mercury News was equally entertained and wrote it up today.

It all started with the camera focusing on a cute young family of four: mom, dad, boy and girl, with the kids maybe 5 and 3, dressed in full Giants gear. Cute little kids. They showed the kids late in the game gnawing on churros. There’s nothing like a late-inning churro that the vendor has been waiving around for 7 innings.

Anyway, mom was working on what looked like a monster Phily cheesesteak sandwich. I mean, that thing was really a two hander, and you’d better be wearing an apron. Krukow said something like “It looks like she spent a lot of time at the condiment table.”

Kruk and Kuip started chatting about condiments, and mustard in particurlar. This is where the Merc picks up the story:

Kuip: “Do the one-month clean out the condiments in our refrigerator deal. It grows.”

Kruk: “There’s something about mustard that excites my wife at the grocery store because there’s like 11 jars of mustard in our refrigerator right now. I think it hurts Jennifer to throw out a mustard jar. We’ve got mustard in our refrigerator from the year we were married.”

Kuip: “It’s just the opposite in our house because I’ll go back in the garbage and fish that out. ‘Hey, I like that!’”

At this point the camera picks up from just behind a guy holding a cardboard carrier tray with a couple of cups of french fries, a cup of ketchup and a cup of mayo. He’s taken several of those little salt holders and emptied them into the bottom of the cardboard tray. He had no idea he was being watched. The camera showed him grabbing a fry, rubbing it in the salt in the tray, dipping it in the ketchup, then in the mayo, and then gobbling it down. Kruk and Kuip started laughing, and Kruk calls his shot:

Kruk: “He’s getting salt off the bottom of the cardboard. He’s using it all. There’s nothing wasted on that guy’s plate.”

Kuip: “That is awesome.”

Kruk: “And you know what, when he’s done with the french fries, he’s gonna be using his finger.”

At this point, as if on cue, the guy takes his index finger, shoves it in the mayo, and comes out with a big dollop, which he then shoves in his mouth.

Kruk: “There he goes! Woohoo!”

Kuip (laughing audibly): “On the ground to Vizquel, and that ends the inning, and I have seen it all!”

Dueling Bullingers

I got an email from Boof Brittain last night as follows:

Subject: Bullinger
Message: So who gets it? Marshall, Willis or both?

Easy question.

Here are Dontrelle’s numbers:

2-2/3 Innings, 10 Hits, 7 Earned Runs, 2 Walks

That’s an ERA of 23.33 and a WHIP of 4.44. That WHIP number is not even a good ERA.

Dontrelle’s supposed to be one of the premier pitchers in the NL, a centerpiece keeper for the Falkuhns, and a primary reason (along with the non-performing Gagne and the semi-performing Barry) the Falkuhns are a lot closer to the Pecklers in the standings than the Cartel. He was the runner up for the Cy Young award last season with 11 first place votes. He’s not supposed to be a Bullinger, but YTD he’s 6.22 ERA and 1.576 WHIP. Congratulations, you’ve won yourself a Bullinger.

I got to witness Sean Marshall’s performance first hand yesterday. He gave up 5 in the first, and got the final out of the inning with the bases full. He snuck through the second after having 2 get on base with one out. The Giants finished him off in the fourth, as Dusty left him in to give up 9 earned runs. On top of that ridiculous number, we particularly like the 5 walks he gave up. Final figures:

3-2/3 Innings, 9 Hits, 9 Earned Runs, 5 Walks.

That’s a 22.09 ERA and 3.78 WHIP. Those are slightly lower than Dontrelle, but more raw numbers. Ugly. The Lickers picked this promising rookie up off the scrap heap, and their faith won them a Bullinger.


As for yesterday’s game, it was a picture perfect day on the bay, and except for Barry, the Giants were swinging. Randy Winn and Steve Finley look locked in. Finley laced a triple with the bases loaded, #7 on the season. Niekro is swinging better (it wouldn’t take much) and even Mike Matheny is hitting the ball in the clutch a bit. This better continue, because Moises is out until July, which is letting opposing pitchers pitch around Barry.

Jamey Wright looked pretty good yesterday, better than I’ve been giving him credit for. The only runs he gave up were when he was tiring in the 8th. The bullpen has gotten some needed rest this week. Tonight it’s Matt Morris, who we need to pitch better. Hopefully he’ll follow the cues of Lowry and Schmidt and get back on track for the Dodgers.

Final note: Juan Pierre is the coolest looking player in the majors. Lots of guys wear the high socks, but his pants are baggy and he’s got thin legs which give him the look of those speedster Negro Leagues players from the 30’s. You look at him and you imagine some guy with a name like “Speedway Jones.” Bully for him. (Sorry, I've been all over the web looking for a picture of him in a Cubs uniform that does him justice. If you see one, email it to me and I'll put it here.)

Waiting for Barry

It’s Wednesday afternoon, and I’m sitting at home waiting for Comcast to fix my TV messes and hopefully install a high definition DVR. This will allow me to record the latest episode of American Idol while watching the Giants.

The past two days may be the key turning point days of the season for the Giants. Monday night they returned from their ugly road trip simultaneously with the return of Noah Lowry from the DL. He pitched a fine game, coupled with timely hitting by a Barry-less offense to beat the Astros.


Last night Jason Schmidt pitched his second consecutive complete game, a five hitter over the hapless Cubbies, who dropped their 8th straight. It would have been his second straight complete game shutout, except for one bad pitch to Pickled Catcher Mike Barrett, who launched one 20 rows up above the Chevron car in left.

These solid (Lowry) and superb (Schmidt) outings by the two guys who are supposed to anchor the staff are critical if the Giants are going to right the ship. It’s not all they need, but they are nowhere without these two guys.

Of course, it should be 3 guys, but Matt Morris has been headed down a black diamond slope since his first two starts. His last five outings were painful, literally and figuratively. 24 Innings, 33 Hits, 11 Walks, 4 Homers and 22 Earned Runs. That makes for and ERA of 8.25 and a WHIP of 1.833, not exactly all-star caliber numbers. If he can step it up, then maybe they can fake there way through the rest of the staff, fix up the bullpen (finally, Fassero is history), and compete against the weak western division.

Schmidt looked like the Schmidt of old last night. He was throwing 95 in the 9th inning, and he has good movement, placement, and variety. He only threw 112 pitches last week and 95 last night. It’s not all about speed with him anymore, and he looks like he has finally matured as a pitcher. Just in time.

Meanwhile, last night’s game was all about Barry and Babe. Barry got good wood on 3 balls last night, lofting one just a little high, then being robbed of #714 by Pierre above the centerfield fence (nice catch, but not one of the all time great ones), and then a rope into left center for a single that would have been a double for most players. Every at bat is an event, and he really looks like he’s starting to groove his swing. Pulling the inside pitch does appear to be history. It’s all about center field and left center now.

The crowd was really into every moment of every at bat. I’ve been to games when he hit or was trying to hit significant homers. I saw his game winning #500, as well as #’s 71, 72 and 73. I saw #599 and #601, though I did see him try for #600. At the night games, the camera flashes around the ball park are intense, and you would think it is distracting to the batter. Some of the Giants are ready for the hoopla to be over, but Schmidt was quoted yesterday as saying the quasi-playoff atmosphere charges up the team.

I saw last week’s Bonds on Bonds, or most of it. It was great, and I was shocked. I’m going to Tivo the rest of them, if I can figure out what time it is on. It’s certainly better than the 14th repeat of the 2nd day of the 2003 World Series of Poker. Anyway, I’ve got tickets on Thursday, Friday and Sunday this week. It hasn’t been too hard finding people who want to be there this week, with the exception of getting people to blow off Mother’s Day on Sunday. Geez, get over it. This is history.

A few fantasy notes. I had a dreadful feeling all day yesterday, with Hensley and Seo pitching. As it turned out, the dread was justified. They both got knocked around yesterday, with Seo almost earning a Bullinger. When you base your strategy around ERA and WHIP, days like yesterday are beyond painful. We can only hope Glavine and Webb continue their pristine pitching tonight to fix the mess that was left.

Combined with that horrid pitching performance, we got one of our best hitting days of the season. We had 4 homers, including one by Matt Lecroy. We picked him up because he qualifies at catcher, which might come in handy later this season. Meanwhile, Bigbie came back last night, finally, but he didn’t improve his batting average. I see his competition, John Rodriguez, is 1 for 3 so far today, dropping his average to .396.

We all expect Izzy to go down somewhere along the way this season. We grabbed Looper as his backup and successor in the future. Kenny 9 purchased Brad Thompson for the same reason. Both of them have been pretty good. But I’m ready to put my money on another St. Louis closer of the future: Adam Wainwright. So far 16-2/3 innings, 7 hits, 3 walks, 1 Earned Run, 15 strikeouts. A pretty impressive start. He was their 1st round pick in 2000, and will turn 25 in August. We’ve got him…it was all the Doc. I had no idea who he was.

It just occurred to me that not only do we have 3 Brandons, but we’ve got a Braden. We’ve got to make Looper an honorary Brandon.

Final note: I’m glad we didn’t extend Col. Luis Gonzalez. We like the Colonel, but this season, he psucks.

Sour Grapes of Wrath

(Note: I changed the title of this blog entry. Originally it was "The Drapes of Roth," from an Allen Sherman song "Glory, Glory Harry Lewis." Noel emailed me this much more obvious and fitting title. I give Noel my ultimate compliment: I wish I had thought of it myself.)

One of the greatest lines in movie history is delivered by John Carradine (daddy of Grasshopper David Carradine) in the all time great flick “The Grapes of Wrath.” The family has loaded up the truck to move to Beverlee from the Okie dust bowl. Carradine, playing the preacher is standing on the ground and is asked “Don’t you want to come along?”

His answer: “There’s something goin’ on out there in the west, and I’d kinda like to see what it is, if you’ve got the room.”

That’s still true today.

The Giants were swept by the Phillies and have bounced at the bottom of the NL West standings. The problem is their pitching, which, for the most part, stinks. Noah Lowry is coming off the DL today, and Schmidt looked like the Schmidt of old in his last start. Morris, Wright and Cain are pitching worse with each outing, though Hennessey has pitched well since being brought up as has Correia, who has yet to start.

What was supposed to be a strength, the relief staff, is pretty unbearable. Munter, Worrell and Fassero are all over 6.00 in ERA. Benitez has yet to give up an earned run, but he’s only pitched 5 innings. Interestingly, a number of these guys are in BABI, including the entire starting staff.

What I find amazing is the first place Colorado Rockies. And the reason that they are in first is their pitching hasn’t fallen apart. They have a team ERA of 4.11, way better than the Giants at 5.30. It’s also better than 6 of the 12 teams in BABI. Their WHIP of 1.40, while not terribly attractive, is better than 5 BABI teams.

If we limit the staff to 10 players (as in BABI), check out these numbers for this 10 man staff comprised of 4 starters, 5 relievers and a closer:

Starers: Byung-Hyun Kim, Aaron Cook, Jeff Francis and Jason Jennings
Middle: Ramon Ramirez, David Cortez, Scott Dohmann and Ray King
Setup: Jose Mesa
Closer: Brian Fuentes

Fuentes was kept, but he would have gone for say 26 in the auction. Everyone else would have been a buck (I don’t think any of them were drafted). A $35 pitching staff. Here are there numbers:

Wins – 14 (8th, 5 points)
Saves – 9 (9th, 4 points)
ERA – 3.11 (2nd, 11 points)
WHIP – 1.260 (4th, 9 points)

The wins are only 5 out of first place, and the saves are only 2 out of fourth. We have a total of 29 points for a $35 staff. That’s good for 4th in pitching points in BABI WITH NO KEEPERS! Presumably spending $245 on hitting, and assuming a few decent keepers would make this a contending team.

Now nobody actually believes this is going to continue. But here is a team with only one expensive player on it (Helton), a bunch of young guys in the lineup, a bunch of pitchers with horrible career stats, and Jose Mesa, for cryin’ out loud, looking down at the Giants and laughing their asses off. It’s a great story, and could prove to be a model for rebuilding.

Or, of course, they might just turn out to be the Rockies. But there’s something goin’ on out here in the west.

The Grand Tetons

I planned to write about something else today, and maybe I still will, but in a classic blogging moment, I must write about something I saw on TV which seems to have blossomed.

Several years ago we got one of those Sonicare toothbrushes, which shuts off after 2 minutes. For those of you who still use those old fashioned manual toothbrushes, I’ve got to tell you, 2 minutes is a long time. I just can’t make myself stand in front of the sink and hold that thing in my mouth for that long, just like I can’t watch commercials. So I have this habit of walking with the toothbrush into the next room and flipping on the TV.

This morning, I started brushing, and I flipped on the television, and saw that the Mets-Braves were on TBS, or TNT, or whichever of those Turner stations broadcasts the Braves games. The game was at Shea and it was the top of the second, one out, Brian McCann on second. That’s when I first saw who was pitching for the Mets.

I was at the game at Telephone Park when Brian Bannister pulled his hammy rounding third to score for the Mets last week. Yesterday the Mets’ starting pitching got thinner when Victor Zambrano left the game in the 2nd. I figured Aaron Heilman would be in the rotation, but with a second injury, I was wondering who else might be filling in.

So I looked at the screen, and I saw my grandpa. At least, I thought so. He looked about 60 years old, with yellow hair coming out of his cap like Bozo the Clown. And then I realized just how desperate the Mets are: it was Jose Lima.

He was throwing absolute garbage up to the plate. I don’t think he can throw 85 anymore. Every pitch has some sweep to it. Feel free to pick him up if you think you need some extra quality innings.

Ryan Langerhans hit a ball into the hole between the 1st and 2nd basemen. Kaz Matsui made a fine diving stop of the ball, but dropped it making the switch to his right hand as he got off the shallow right field grass, and Langerhans, running hard to first, was safe with a single, McCann moving to third. That’s when it got strange.

On the first pitch, John Smoltz missed the suicide squeeze sign. McCann was flying down the third base line. Smoltz realized he had screwed up and took a hurried swing, just barely brushing the ball, which went a few feet up the third base line. Loduca ran after the ball, picked it up and reached out to tag McCann on the hip. It was hard to tell if he got him as McCann tried to avoid the tag by leaning away from Loduca. But on the replay it was pretty clear that as he followed through with the ball, he got him on the heel as he went by.

Safe. Loduca went ballistic. He actually threw the ball down hard at the ground and started screaming at the umpire. The ump threw him out of the game immediately. But then Bobby Cox, never at a loss for words, started screaming at the umpire that Smoltz should have been awarded second base because by the time Loduca had thrown the ball, he had passed first base. So Cox got tossed. When was the last time a player on one team and the manager of the other team got thrown out of the game at the same time when there wasn’t a fight?

It got a little uglier for Lima. He just finished the 4th, and is down 3-1, having given up 5 hits and 4 walks. He has somehow struck out 4, with stuff not much better than mine.

It made me take a look at Jose’s history on the web. First, the most amazing stat: he’s only 34 years old. Didn’t you all think he was up there with Terry Mullholland and Julio Franco? Lifetime, he’s 89-98 with a 5.21 ERA. He’s struck out 968 batters in 1550 innings. His saving grace is that he’s only walked 383 batters. In 2004 he went 13-5 for the division winning Dodgers. Last season he was 5-16 for the Royals.

But we need to go behind the numbers. I was looking for a photo that resembled what I saw on the tube today, where he looked a bit like Walter Brennan as Amos McCoy in the Real McCoys. (“Luke, Luke, the barn!”) And in the process I found out about him singing the National Anthem for the Dodgers in 2004. The picture above is Lima singing that day.

But that’s not the whole story. I found a website (click here to be magically transported there - make sure to check out the signatures there) which identifies a serious conspiracy by Major League Baseball to cover up the whole story. It appears that the picture above has been cropped. In the original photo, below, Jose’s wife was standing next to him:


Nice picture of the Lima family.

That website has a petition that I hope you all will sign, complaining to the MLB about the picture cropping. The original picture is pure Americana. Let me quote:

“We, the undersigned, are shocked and appalled at the actions of Major League Baseball. Mrs. Lima's winnebagos are as much a national treasure as the Grand Tetons, and deserve to be held up as a symbol of the greatness of our land of milk and honey. Those boobs at Major League Baseball must think that all fans care about is whether a player gets to second base. They fail to recognize that, deep within its bosom, baseball is a family sport. Baseball is more than just grabbing a bat off the rack and taking your licks at the plate-- it's about playing catch with your Dad, and sucking down a cup of beer at the park with Mom. With the ballooning attendance figures of the 1980s a distant memory, baseball needs to remember what the game is all about: family.”

Sour Grapes formally endorses the petition poster, Farky McFarker. Farky’s the man. You go, boy. And, based on that picture, so do you, Jose.

The National Pasttime.

Three Bags Full

I started watching the 1993 movie “Rookie of the Year” this morning. I had never seen it before. It’s not exactly a documentary. It’s about a 12 year old boy who has a freak accident that causes him to be able to throw a baseball over 100 MPH and he becomes a pitcher on the Cubs.

Not a particularly good movie.

Anyway at one point early in his “career” they show him striking out Bobby Bonilla and Pedro Guerrero (I think it was Pedro, but really I’m just assuming since I didn’t recognize him). And then, the kid strikes out, as credited at the end, Barry L. Bonds.

Bonds was wearing his Pittsburgh uniform. I wasn’t sure it was him. I Tivoed it back a few times to confirm it. He was skinny as a rail. I thought it might be an actor playing him, but he got full credit at the end. I don’t recommend the movie, but it’s worth seeing Bonds for those 3 seconds.

This morning, there was a little item in the paper listing the top 5 players with career extra base hits. Barry just passed the Babe this week. The list was:

Aaron 1477
Musial 1377
Bonds 1358
Ruth 1356
Mays 1323

They broke it down by doubles, triples and homers. Look at the list and think about the following question: List those 5 players in order of number of triples.

Got it?

Here is the list:
Musial 177 (19th all-time)
Mays 140 (#64)
Ruth 136 (#71)
Aaron 98
Bonds 77


Surprised? Weren’t you sure Bonds or Mays would be at the top? Aren’t you shocked that the Babe had almost as many as Willie and almost twice as many as Barry? And isn’t Musial’s number amazing? I always thought triples was about speed, but apparently not.

Stan the Man wasn’t exactly known for his speed. He had 725 doubles, third all time behind Tris Speaker and Pete Rose. All of the guys ahead of him on that triples list played in that earlier era when nobody hit homers and they had parks like the Polo Grounds where it was 485 feet to the centerfield wall. Yet Stan the Man, despite his 3630 hits and 1599 walks only stole 78 bases, a figure Rickey Henderson topped 6 times in single seasons. There must be something different required to hit triples besides speed. Maybe it helped him that he is the only guy on that top five extra base hit list below 660 homers (he only had 475).

By the way, 500 doubles is a tie for 43rd on the list between Goose Goslin and a guy who will surprise you – John Olerud. It’s a pretty impressive list of names, most of whom are in the Hall of Fame. There are only three active players over 500 doubles: Barry (569), Biggio (617, 10th all time and coming up on Aaron) and Luis Gonzalez (not Col. Gonzalez), who has 506, tied with the Babe at #38, Oh yeah, technically there is another active player, Raffy Palmiero, #14 with 585. There is a pretty good chance that’s where he’s going to finish.

I got this info on the MLB site. It’s sortable. I just ran a sort on total bases. Stan the Man is #2 on that list behind Hank. Barry’s #7. Willie’s third and the Babe is #5. It’s a list of the all-time greats. Palmiero is #10.

That list is nothing but Hall of Famers, with a few notable exeptions. At #24 is Andre Dawson. I don’t for the life of me understand why that guy isn’t in. On this list he’s ahead of Yount (#25), Hornsby, Banks, Henderson, Mantle, Clemente, Schmidt, Matthews and Gwynn, among many others. The guy was a stud, at the plate, on the bases, and in the field. What am I missing?

Anyway, getting back to Barry, I just can’t explain that triples number. He’s got 506 stolen bases. The Babe was fatter than me, and even pitched for a few years. It’s been a bad year for the Babe and his “non-records”. But he can rest in peace knowing that Barry’s never, ever, going to pass him in triples.

PS. If you want a better movie about a young kid in baseball, try "Little Big League" if only for a great line by Jason Robards. He plays a super rich guy who owns the Minnesota Twins, which he leaves to his junior high school grandson when he dies. One of his grandson's friends asked him if he was richer than Jed Clampett. He answered, "I piss on Jed Clampett."