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Sports nostalgia and useless facts

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Loser League: Loser Series

Oh ya I still need to complete this. The Loser League goes out with a whimper which should have been expected.   1988 Atlanta Braves def. 1988 Baltimore Orioles 4 games to 0   Game 1: Braves 5, ORIOLES 3 Game 2: Braves 11, ORIOLES 1 Game 3: BRAVES 5, Orioles 4 Game 4: BRAVES 5, Orioles 4 10 innings   The series ended on a Gerald Perry RBI single off of Tom Neidenfuer (man never count on this guy in the postseason) to complete the sweep and crown the 1988 Baltimore Orioles as the Worst Team of My Lifetime. Congratulations guys!  

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Top 100 MLB Players of My Lifetime: #40 - #21

Yes, Pujols is too low but again I was conservative with players who still have several years left in their career.   #40 Jeff Kent, 2B   #39 Will Clark, 1B   #38 Carlos Beltran, CF   #37 Vladimir Guerrero, RF   #36 John Smoltz, SP/RP   #35 Tom Glavine, SP   #34 Alan Trammell, SS   #33 Jim Edmonds, CF   #32 Curt Schilling, SP   #31 Ozzie Smith, SS   #30 Derek Jeter, SS   #29 Lou Whitaker, 2B   #28 Mike Mussina, SP   #27 Albert Pujols, 1B/LF   #26 Jim Thome, 1B/DH/3B   #25 Paul Molitor, DH/3B/2B   #24 Tim Raines, LF   #23 Craig Biggio, 2B   #22 Ryne Sandberg, 2B   #21 Ivan Rodriguez, C

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Loser League: League "Championship" Series

1982 Minnesota Twins def. 1988 Baltimore Orioles 4 games to 2   Game 1: Twins 6, ORIOLES 4 10 innings Game 2: Twins 3, ORIOLES 2 Game 3: TWINS 7, Orioles 1 Game 4: Orioles 7, TWINS 5 Game 5: Orioles 6, TWINS 2 Game 6: Twins 7, ORIOLES 2   After dropping their first six games of the postseason the '88 Orioles made a spirited comeback but all it meant was that they forced their fans to see another home game. Eddie Murray may be in the Hall of Fame but he takes Least Valuable Player honors in this series he scrapes together only 2 hits in 25 at bats.   1981 Chicago Cubs def. 1988 Atlanta Braves 4 games to 2   Game 1: BRAVES 7, Cubs 4 Game 2: Cubs 7, BRAVES 4 Game 3: Braves 5, CUBS 3 12 innings Game 4: CUBS 2, Braves 1 10 innings Game 5: CUBS 4, Braves 3 Game 6: Cubs 3, BRAVES 0   The Cubs once again can't even win the big one as they eliminate themselves from the Loser League setting an all 1988 match-up to crown the worst team of my lifetime. After hitting .480 against the Padres in the previous round, Ron Gant takes the LVP by hitting .115 and committing three errors which reminds you why he was moved to the outfield.

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Loser League: Division Series

It's playoff time for the Loser League and remember it will be loser advances. There's only one Losertober!   1979 Oakland A's def. 1988 Baltimore Orioles 3 games to 0   Game 1: A'S 24, Orioles 4 Game 2: A'S 11, Orioles 3 Game 3: A's 7, ORIOLES 3   That Game 1 score is not a misprint as this series reminds you why Baltimore lost 21 games to start the 1988 season. Baltimore's team ERA for the series was 14.40 as the A's hit .374 as a team. No word yet if Cal Ripken will request to pull himself out of the line up for the next series.   1979 Toronto Blue Jays def. 1982 Minnesota Twins 3 games to 1   Game 1: TWINS 6, Blue Jays 1 Game 2: Blue Jays 3, TWINS 0 Game 3: BLUE JAYS 7, Twins 6 Game 4: BLUE JAYS 5, Twins 4   Do you believe in miracles, eh? The '79 Blue Jays were the only team to top 100 losses in the Loser League and were the runaway favorite to take the title entering the postseason but they shock the world but beating the '82 Twins. The Jays mounted a five run 8th inning comeback in the deciding Game 4 to send the Twins to the Loser Championship Series and many of their players to suicide.   1998 Florida Marlins def. 1981 Chicago Cubs 3 games to 2   Game 1: Marlins 4, CUBS 1 Game 2: CUBS 10, Marlins 6 Game 3: MARLINS 5, Cubs 4 12 innings Game 4: Cubs 5, MARLINS 1 Game 5: Marlins 6, CUBS 4   Cubs' fans this might be your year! No team was happier that two months of the 1981 season was wiped out by a player's strike than the Cubs and it almost seems cruel to make them keep playing. I don't know if Bartman stole a foul ball from Steve Henderson in the deciding game.   1981 San Diego Padres def. 1988 Atlanta Braves 3 games to 2   Game 1: Braves 4, PADRES 2 Game 2: Braves 6, PADRES 4 11 innings Game 3: Padres 8, BRAVES 3 Game 4: Padres 4, BRAVES 2 Game 5: PADRES 9, Braves 8 18 innings   Go Braves! After dropping two at home the Padres make a remarkable comeback and in Game 5 defeated the Braves in an 18 inning classic or really 6 hours and 26 minutes of torture if you had watch these two teams play. The game ended on an Ozzie Smith RBI single off rookie Tom Glavine who was forced into the game as a pinch hitter and remained in the game to pitch after the Braves bench and bullpen had been used up. Here's the boxscore:   BOXSCORE: 1988 Atlanta Braves At 1981 San Diego Padres              10/6/2008   Braves             AB  R  H RBI AVG     Padres             AB  R  H RBI AVG   R.Gant 3B           7  1  2  1 .480     O.Smith SS          9  2  3  1 .278     D.James LF          9  2  3  2 .304     R.Jones CF          6  0  1  1 .167     G.Perry 1B          7  0  1  1 .167     J.Curtis P          0  0  0  0 ----     D.Murphy RF         7  1  1  2 .238   N-S.Swisher PH        1  0  0  0 .000     O.Virgil C          9  2  4  1 .348     S.Mura P            0  0  0  0 .000     A.Thomas SS         8  1  2  0 .120   P-D.Gwosdz PH         1  0  1  01.000     M.Lemke 2B          3  0  1  0 .357     C.Welsh P           0  0  0  0 .500   A-J.Blauser PH        1  0  1  1 .286     G.Richards LF       9  2  3  0 .261   B-L.Smith PR          0  1  0  0 .250     T.Kennedy C         8  1  4  2 .346   E-J.Royster 2B        5  0  1  0 .200     B.Perkins 1B        6  0  1  1 .125     T.Blocker CF        7  0  1  0 .222   K-J.Moreno 1B         2  1  1  0 .500     R.Mahler P          3  0  0  0 .000     J.Lefebvre RF       7  2  2  0 .188   C-P.Runge PH          0  0  0  0 ----     L.Salazar 3B        7  0  3  2 .476   D-A.Hall PH           0  0  0  0 .167     J.Bonilla 2B        5  0  2  1 .500     G.Jimenez P         0  0  0  0 ----   M-T.Flannery PH,2B    2  0  0  0 .200   F-B.Benedict PH       1  0  0  0 .000     J.Eichelberger P    3  0  0  0 .000     J.Alvarez P         0  0  0  0 ----     D.Boone P           0  0  0  0 ----   H-T.Simmons PH        1  0  0  0 .500     J.Urrea P           1  0  0  0 .000     C.Puleo P           0  0  0  0 ----     T.Lollar P          0  0  0  0 ----     P.Assenmacher P     0  0  0  0 ----   G-B.Evans PH          1  0  1  0 .385   L-J.Acker PH,P        1  0  1  01.000     J.Littlefield P     0  0  0  0 ----     B.Sutter P          0  0  0  0 ----     G.Lucas P           0  0  0  0 ----   O-T.Glavine PH,P      1  0  0  0 .000   I-R.Bass PH           0  0  0  0 .000                                           J-D.Edwards PH,CF     3  1  2  1 .308                        -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---                Totals      70  8 18  8                 Totals      71  9 24  9 A-Pinch Hit For Lemke In 8th Inning B-Pinch Ran For Blauser In 8th Inning C-Pinch Hit For Mahler In 8th Inning D-Pinch Hit For Runge In 8th Inning E-Subbed Defensively (2B) For Smith In 8th Inning F-Pinch Hit For Jimenez In 9th Inning G-Pinch Hit For Lollar In 11th Inning H-Pinch Hit For Alvarez In 12th Inning I-Pinch Hit For Lucas In 13th Inning J-Pinch Hit For Bass In 13th Inning K-Subbed Defensively (1B) For Perkins In 15th Inning L-Pinch Hit For Assenmacher In 15th Inning M-Pinch Hit For Bonilla In 15th Inning N-Pinch Hit For Curtis In 15th Inning O-Pinch Hit For Sutter In 17th Inning P-Pinch Hit For Mura In 17th Inning INJURY: Broderick Perkins INJURED (for 0 more games) in 14th inning Braves.......... 1 0 1  0 0 0  0 3 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  1 0 2  -  8 18  1 Padres.......... 1 1 2  0 1 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  1 0 3  -  9 24  2 Braves (2-3)             IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA R.Mahler                  7      12   5   4   0   3   0 109   3.75 G.Jimenez                 1       0   0   0   1   0   0  24   5.68 J.Alvarez                 3       1   0   0   2   3   0  48   4.00 C.Puleo                   1 1/3   1   0   0   0   0   0  20   5.40 P.Assenmache              1 2/3   1   0   0   2   2   0  38   0.00 J.Acker                   0 2/3   1   0   0   0   0   0  12   0.00 B.Sutter                  1 1/3   3   1   1   2   2   0  31   3.00 T.Glavine LOSS(0-1)       1 2/3   5   3   3   1   0   0  39   5.40 Totals                   17 2/3  24   9   8   8  10   0 Padres (3-2)             IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA J.Eichelberg              7       7   4   4   3   4   1 134   3.75 D.Boone HOLD(2nd)         0 1/3   1   1   1   0   1   0   8   3.86 J.Urrea BS(1st)           1 1/3   2   0   0   2   0   0  30   0.00 T.Lollar                  2 1/3   1   0   0   0   3   0  34   0.00 J.Littlefiel              0 1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   4   7.36 G.Lucas                   1 2/3   0   0   0   0   3   0  20   0.00 J.Curtis                  2       3   0   0   0   0   0  25   2.45 S.Mura                    2       1   1   1   0   1   1  33   4.91 C.Welsh WIN(1-0)          1       3   2   2   0   0   1  21   6.43 Totals                   18      18   8   8   5  12   3 ATTENDANCE- 24,996 DATE- Monday, October 6th 2008 TIME- Night WEATHER- Average T- 6:26 LEFT ON BASE- Braves:17  Padres:19 DOUBLE PLAYS- Braves: 0  Padres: 1 ERRORS- R.Mahler, O.Smith, L.Salazar DOUBLES- O.Virgil(2nd), O.Smith(1st), R.Jones(3rd), T.Kennedy(3rd),          J.Moreno(1st), J.Bonilla(3rd) TRIPLES- D.Edwards(1st) HOME RUNS- D.James(1st), D.Murphy(1st), O.Virgil(1st) STOLEN BASES- R.Gant-2(5th), D.James(2nd), G.Richards(1st), L.Salazar(1st),               D.Edwards(1st) CAUGHT STEALING- G.Richards, J.Bonilla SACRIFICE HITS- R.Gant, L.Salazar SACRIFICE FLIES- R.Gant, D.Murphy, T.Kennedy, L.Salazar WALKS- G.Perry-2, D.Murphy, A.Thomas, T.Blocker, O.Smith, R.Jones, B.Perkins,        J.Lefebvre-2, J.Bonilla, T.Flannery, D.Edwards HIT BY PITCH- A.Hall STRIKE OUTS- R.Gant-2, D.James, G.Perry, D.Murphy-2, O.Virgil-3, A.Thomas,              T.Blocker, R.Mahler, O.Smith, R.Jones, G.Richards, T.Kennedy,              J.Moreno, J.Lefebvre, L.Salazar, J.Eichelberger-2, D.Edwards GIDP- T.Blocker

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Top 100 MLB Players of My Lifetime: #60 - #41

Now we start to get to the meat of the list and I swear that's not a crack at the next player on the list.   #60 Andruw Jones, CF   #59 Bret Saberhagen, SP   #58 Kenny Lofton, CF   #57 Robin Ventura, 3B   #56 Albert Belle, LF   #55 Kevin Brown, SP   #54 Fred McGriff, 1B   #53 Sammy Sosa, RF   #52 Jorge Posada, C   #51 Jason Giambi, 1B   #50 Lance Berkman, OF/1B   #49 Larry Walker, RF   #48 Kirby Puckett, CF   #47 Brian Giles, OF   #46 Bobby Abreu, RF   #45 Mariano Rivera, RP   #44 Bernie Williams, CF   #43 Scott Rolen, 3B   #42 Edgar Martinez, DH   #41 Rafael Palmeiro, 1B

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Bored

 

Loser League: September

Ohhhhhhh what a finish! Okay not really as all races were decided before the last day of the season. But we did have a surprise as the '03 Tigers, losers of 119 games, will not advance to the postseason as they were beat out by the '88 Orioles for the Loser Card. All the division races went to those who have been "leading" most of the year. Here are your A.L. playoff match-ups.   '88 Orioles vs. '79 A's '79 Blue Jays vs. '82 Twins   And let's recognize those who were the best of the Loser League on the A.L. side.   C: Jeff Newman, '79 A's 1B: Eddie Murray, '88 Orioles 2B: Bobby Grich, '80 Angels 3B: Carney Lansford, '80 Angels SS: Cal Ripken, '88 Orioles LF: Albert Belle, '91 Indians CF: Roberto Kelly, '90 Yankees RF: Emil Brown, '05 Royals SP: Roger Clemens, '92 Red Sox RP: Mark Clear, '80 Angels   FINAL STANDINGS/LEADERS TEAM     WON LOST   BATTING AVERAGE     HOME RUNS           RUNS BATTED IN 1990 NYA  93  69    R.Carew   LAA .339  E.Murray  BAA   40  A.Belle   CLA  124 1992 BOA  87  75    E.Brown   KCA .337  A.Belle   CLA   38  E.Brown   KCA  116 2002 TBA  84  78    T.Long    KCA .334  K.Maas    NYA   36  E.Murray  BAA  114 1988 BAA  74  88    R.Kelly   NYA .334  K.Hrbek   MNA   35  C.Baerga  CLA  112 1979 TOA  59 103    K.Hrbek   MNA .332  C.Ripken  BAA   32  OTHERS TIED W  105 1989 CHA  86  76    WINS                SAVES               ERA 1991 CLA  82  80    R.Clemens BOA   19  T.Niedenf BAA   36  R.Clemens BOA 2.13 2005 KCA  81  81    F.Tanana  LAA   16  E.Yan     TBA   29  C.Hough   TEA 2.18 2003 DEA  75  87    C.Hough   TEA   15  B.Thigpen CHA   28  F.Viola   BOA 2.76 1982 MNA  69  93    G.Swindel CLA   15  G.Harris  TEA   27  D.Aase    LAA 2.89                     OTHERS TIED W   14  M.Macdoug KCA   24  F.Bannist SEA 2.95 1980 LAA 100  62 1985 TEA  83  79    CUR HIT STREAK      STOLEN BASES        STRIKEOUTS 1980 SEA  76  86    K.Witt    DEA   12  A.Sanchez DEA   65  R.Clemens BOA  226 1979 OAA  69  93    D.Slaught TEA    9  R.Kelly   NYA   63  T.Underwo TOA  201                     E.Murray  BAA    8  A.Cole    CLA   50  F.Bannist SEA  187                     M.Lewis   CLA    8  O.Guillen CHA   41  D.Darwin  BOA  170                     OTHERS TIED W    7  OTHERS TIED W   38  G.Swindel CLA  169   The '81 Cubs reversed the curse of the goat! Most of the season it was the '91 Astros and '85 Pirates fighting over the bottom of the N.L. Central but the Cubs blew past them with a clutch September record of 4-21 and ending the season on a 13 game losing streak! Truly remarkable. No surprises in the other races as the '98 Marlins did eventually pass up the '88 Braves for the league's worst record but as expected the Loser Card comes out of the East. Here are your N.L. playoff match-ups.   '88 Braves vs. '81 Padres '98 Marlins vs. '81 Cubs   Here's the All-NL Loser League team.   C: Craig Biggio, '91 Astros 1B: Eddie Murray, '93 Mets 2B: Jeff Kent, '93 Mets 3B: Scott Rolen, '00 Phillies SS: Jay Bell, '98 Diamondbacks LF: Bernard Gilkey, '95 Cardinals CF: Ray Lankford, '95 Cardinals RF: Bobby Bonilla, '93 Mets SP: Mike Krukow, '85 Giants RF: Gregg Olson, '98 Diamondbacks   FINAL STANDINGS/LEADERS TEAM     WON LOST   BATTING AVERAGE     HOME RUNS           RUNS BATTED IN 1993 NYN  94  68    A.Galarra CON .379  R.Lankfor SLN   39  S.Rolen   PHN  134 2008 WAN  90  72    J.Mabry   SLN .359  B.Bonilla NYN   38  R.Lankfor SLN  123 2000 PHN  88  74    C.Biggio  HON .336  E.Murray  NYN   33  D.Bichett CON  110 1988 ATN  66  96    B.Gilkey  SLN .325  S.Rolen   PHN   33  E.Karros  LAN  108 1998 FLN  63  99    C.Guzman  WAN .325  E.Karros  LAN   31  OTHERS TIED W  104 1995 SLN  99  63    WINS                SAVES               ERA 1982 CIN  89  73    M.Krukow  SFN   21  M.Dejean  MLN   45  M.Krukow  SFN 2.07 2002 MLN  85  77    G.Rusch   MLN   18  G.Olson   ARN   42  R.Reusche PIN 2.48 1991 HON  75  87    M.Soto    CIN   17  T.Henke   SLN   41  D.Gooden  NYN 2.48 1985 PIN  72  90    R.Reusche PIN   17  S.Garrelt SFN   33  R.Person  PHN 2.64 1981 CHN  67  95    OTHERS TIED W   16  D.Holmes  CON   31  O.Daal    ARN 2.75 1985 SFN  96  66    CUR HIT STREAK      STOLEN BASES        STRIKEOUTS 1992 LAN  88  74    D.James   ATN   14  B.Butler  LAN   61  M.Soto    CIN  278 1998 ARN  85  77    B.Jordan  SLN   11  V.Coleman NYN   58  D.Gooden  NYN  200 1993 CON  81  81    OTHERS TIED W    9  S.Finley  HON   56  B.Sheets  MLN  200 1981 SDN  74  88                        E.Young   MLN   55  P.Harnisc HON  198                                         E.Young   CON   51  B.Berenyi CIN  194    

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Bored

 

Loser League: August

With a month left in the season the '79 Blue Jays have an outside chance of losing more games in the Loser League than they did back in 1979. That would truly be an astonishing feat of futility. We finally had a "lead" change in the West as the '80 Mariners eeked by the '79 A's by one game setting up what should be a thrilling finish. The '03 Tigers still cling to the Loser Card by two games over the '88 Orioles.   TEAM     WON LOST   BATTING AVERAGE     HOME RUNS           RUNS BATTED IN 1990 NYA  79  58    R.Kelly   NYA .339  A.Belle   CLA   36  A.Belle   CLA  109 2002 TBA  75  61    E.Brown   KCA .339  E.Murray  BAA   33  E.Brown   KCA  109 1992 BOA  74  63    R.Carew   LAA .337  K.Maas    NYA   32  J.Barfiel NYA  100 1988 BAA  61  76    A.Huff    TBA .334  K.Hrbek   MNA   31  B.Grich   LAA   92 1979 TOA  47  90    J.Orsulak BAA .329  A.Huff    TBA   27  K.Hrbek   MNA   92 1989 CHA  74  62    WINS                SAVES               ERA 2005 KCA  69  68    F.Tanana  LAA   16  T.Niedenf BAA   30  C.Hough   TEA 2.16 1991 CLA  68  68    R.Clemens BOA   15  E.Yan     TBA   25  R.Clemens BOA 2.27 2003 DEA  59  78    F.Martine LAA   13  G.Harris  TEA   24  F.Martine LAA 2.64 1982 MNA  54  83    C.Hough   TEA   13  B.Thigpen CHA   24  F.Viola   BOA 2.87                     G.Swindel CLA   13  M.Macdoug KCA   22  D.Aase    LAA 2.88 1980 LAA  86  50 1985 TEA  70  68    CUR HIT STREAK      STOLEN BASES        STRIKEOUTS 1979 OAA  63  74    A.Sanchez DEA   18  A.Sanchez DEA   53  R.Clemens BOA  197 1980 SEA  62  74    M.Lewis   CLA   13  R.Kelly   NYA   48  T.Underwo TOA  172                     C.Baerga  CLA   12  A.Cole    CLA   45  F.Bannist SEA  160                     B.Higgins DEA   12  S.Sax     NYA   36  D.Darwin  BOA  146                     A.Berroa  KCA   11  OTHERS TIED W   33  M.Perez   CHA  144 YESTERDAY'S GAMES   TODAY'S SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE STARTERS CHA  4  at  BOA  5  BAA-Bautist(8-6, 3.24) at BOA-Hesketh(7-5, 3.83) SEA  3  at  CLA  6  CHA-King(9-8, 3.66) at CLA-Nagy(10-13, 5.22) KCA  3  at  DEA  8  SEA-Honeycu(9-12, 4.11) at TEA-Hooton(7-5, 5.32) TEA  2  at  LAA  8 TOA  3  at  NYA 12 MNA  3  at  OAA  4 BAA  1  at  TBA  8 YESTERDAY'S BEST PERFORMANCES BATTER         TM OPP AB  R  H RB BB Ks HR SB B.Higginson   DEA KCA  3  2  1  2  2  1  1  1 W.Morris      DEA KCA  5  2  3  3  0  0  1  0 J.Barfield    NYA TOA  5  1  3  3  0  2  1  0 O.Velez       TOA NYA  3  1  2  1  1  0  1  0 B.Grich       LAA TEA  5  2  2  2  0  2  1  0 PITCHER        TM OPP  INN  H  R ER BB Ks HR WLS D.Heaverlo    OAA MNA  4.0  1  0  0  0  2  0   S P.Quantrill   BOA CHA  3.1  1  0  0  0  2  0 W   T.Felton      MNA OAA  3.0  0  0  0  0  1  0     T.Phelps      TBA BAA  2.2  1  0  0  1  3  0   S D.Pall        CHA BOA  4.0  2  2  0  3  3  0     WHO'S HOT - BEST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS C.Pena        DEA .344 32 11  7  8  4  D.Schmidt     TEA  5  1  0  1  4  0 100 K.Maas        NYA .321 28  9  6  5  4  J.Bautista    BAA  9  3  0  1  4  0 100 G.Ward        MNA .462 39 18  7  3  4  B.Milacki     BAA  9  3  0  3 10  0 100 B.Higginson   DEA .371 35 13 10  8  2  D.Heaverlo    OAA 11  5  0  2  7  0 102 E.Brown       KCA .400 35 14 11  2  3  R.Langford    OAA 23 22  4  1 12  1 200 WHO'S NOT - WORST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS R.Velarde     NYA .148 27  4  1  0  0  M.Mason       TEA  6 11 12  7  1  1 010 M.Mendoza     SEA .143 35  5  1  1  0  Z.Greinke     KCA 12 25 15  3  4  5 010 S.Sax         NYA .160 25  4  0  1  0  R.Dressler    SEA 10 20  8  1  3  2 020 R.Washington  MNA .211 38  8  0  0  0  C.Knapp       LAA  7  9  7  4  5  1 010 L.Sheets      BAA .179 28  5  0  1  0  M.Norris      OAA  6  9  7  5  4  2 000 INJURY REPORT P.Stanicek, Baltimore - 4 more games D.Pasqua, Chicago (AL) - 3 more games J.Browne, Cleveland - 11 more games S.Sax, New York (AL) - 1 more games E.Munson, Detroit - 6 more games   We have a three dead horse race in the N.L. Central as the '91 Astros pulled ahead of the '85 Pirates but a half game with the '81 Cubs making a late season charge, sitting three games back. Surprising development in the East as the '88 Braves and '98 Marlins haven't complete sucked ass in the last couple of months where there's now a chance the Loser Card might not come out of the division. Could this be a major choke job? And in the West the '93 Rockies are chipping away at the '81 Padres lead, now within three games going into the final month.   TEAM     WON LOST   BATTING AVERAGE     HOME RUNS           RUNS BATTED IN 2000 PHN  79  58    A.Galarra CON .386  R.Lankfor SLN   36  S.Rolen   PHN  116 1993 NYN  77  60    J.Mabry   SLN .356  B.Bonilla NYN   30  R.Lankfor SLN  111 2008 WAN  71  66    B.Gilkey  SLN .340  S.Rolen   PHN   30  A.Galarra CON   96 1998 FLN  57  81    B.Buckner CHN .339  E.Karros  LAN   28  D.Bichett CON   96 1988 ATN  55  82    S.Rolen   PHN .329  E.Murray  NYN   27  E.Karros  LAN   94 1995 SLN  80  57    WINS                SAVES               ERA 1982 CIN  75  63    M.Krukow  SFN   18  G.Olson   ARN   36  M.Krukow  SFN 1.86 2002 MLN  70  66    R.Reusche PIN   16  M.Dejean  MLN   36  R.Reusche PIN 2.50 1981 CHN  63  74    M.Soto    CIN   15  T.Henke   SLN   33  R.Person  PHN 2.65 1985 PIN  60  76    O.Daal    PHN   14  S.Garrelt SFN   29  D.Gooden  NYN 2.67 1991 HON  60  77    B.Sheets  MLN   14  D.Holmes  CON   28  T.Candiot LAN 2.73 1985 SFN  81  55    CUR HIT STREAK      STOLEN BASES        STRIKEOUTS 1998 ARN  74  62    E.Karros  LAN   20  B.Butler  LAN   53  M.Soto    CIN  236 1992 LAN  73  64    S.Rolen   PHN   10  E.Young   MLN   51  P.Harnisc HON  178 1993 CON  70  68    B.Jordan  SLN    9  V.Coleman NYN   49  B.Sheets  MLN  173 1981 SDN  66  70    A.Cedeno  HON    8  S.Finley  HON   47  D.Gooden  NYN  168                     OTHERS TIED W    7  A.Sanchez MLN   43  OTHERS TIED W  160 YESTERDAY'S GAMES   TODAY'S SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE STARTERS LAN  2  at  ARN  3  SLN-Morgan(10-5, 3.66) at ARN-Sodowsk(7-3, 4.43) SFN  4  at  CIN  9  HON-Deshaie(6-12, 5.55) at CHN-Krukow(12-13, 3.55) NYN  2  at  FLN  3  SFN-Krukow(18-3, 1.86) at CON-Harris(11-11, 4.87) SLN  6  at  HON  0  ATN-Mahler(9-14, 4.56) at FLN-Larkin(3-6, 5.75) MLN  5  at  PIN  6  SDN-Wise(6-7, 3.11) at LAN-Hershis(10-9, 4.37) CON  3  at  SDN  2  NYN-Tanana(8-8, 4.68) at MLN-Quevedo(9-9, 5.43) ATN  4  at  WAN  3  PHN-Wolf(13-9, 4.04) at WAN-Perez(7-9, 3.79) PHN  5  at  CHN  4 YESTERDAY'S BEST PERFORMANCES BATTER         TM OPP AB  R  H RB BB Ks HR SB T.Pena        PIN MLN  5  2  4  4  0  1  1  1 A.Trevino     CIN SFN  4  2  2  4  0  0  1  0 L.Smith       ATN WAN  3  2  1  1  1  1  1  1 T.Kennedy     SDN CON  3  1  2  1  0  0  1  0 B.Brenly      SFN CIN  4  1  1  3  0  0  1  0 PITCHER        TM OPP  INN  H  R ER BB Ks HR WLS M.Petkovsek   SLN HON  9.0  3  0  0  0  5  0 W   T.Glavine     ATN WAN  7.0  3  1  0  2  4  0 W   L.Hernandez   FLN NYN  8.0  5  2  1  3  7  0 W   A.Holland     PIN MLN  3.0  2  0  0  0  2  0 W   D.Capilla     CHN PHN  2.0  0  0  0  1  2  0     WHO'S HOT - BEST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS T.Pena        PIN .375 32 12 11  3  4  M.Petkovsek   SLN 11  5  0  0  7  0 300 B.Jordan      SLN .300 30  9 10  3  4  R.Delucia     SLN  5  1  0  1  5  0 000 E.Karros      LAN .400 35 14 10  5  3  P.Byrd        PHN  8  4  0  1  8  0 100 D.Strawberry  LAN .500 24 12 10  2  1  V.Padilla     PHN  6  2  0  0  2  0 000 B.Gilkey      SLN .370 27 10  6  6  2  B.Anderson    ARN 13  8  1  0  2  0 100 WHO'S NOT - WORST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS K.Orie        FLN .057 35  2  0  0  0  B.Caudill     CHN  8 21 15  7  9  1 020 J.Clark       CON .214 28  6  0  0  0  J.Sanchez     FLN  8 13 11  7  5  1 020 L.Gonzalez    HON .143 35  5  2  2  0  J.Alvarez     ATN  8 14 12  3  7  2 010 O.Smith       SDN .222 36  8  2  0  0  J.Cabrera     MLN  5 11  7  1  2  2 011 D.Hansen      LAN .179 28  5  2  1  0  C.Puleo       ATN  7 14  9  3  5  0 000 INJURY REPORT T.Blackwell, Chicago (NL) - 3 more games R.Jones, San Diego - 3 more games B.Evans, San Diego - 1 more games E.Davis, Los Angeles - 1 more games C.Hayes, Colorado - 2 more games D.Sheaffer, St. Louis - 8 more games T.Pagnozzi, St. Louis - 5 more games G.Zaun, Florida - 3 more games M.Lieberthal, Philadelphia - 2 more games A.Sanchez, Milwaukee - 1 more games A.Kearns, Washington - 14 more games   Now granted the '88 Braves have scraped together some wins lately but they still are the Braves and they are featured in our boxscore of the month for August. They were drubbed by that juggernaut that was the '08 Nationals 18-2 on August 29th as the Nats banged out 24 hits.   BOXSCORE: 1988 Atlanta Braves At 2008 Washington Nationals          8/29/2008   Braves             AB  R  H RBI AVG     Nationals          AB  R  H RBI AVG   J.Morrison 3B       4  0  1  0 .138     W.Harris 2B         6  4  3  2 .260     D.James LF          4  0  1  0 .263     C.Guzman SS         6  4  5  1 .319     G.Perry 1B          4  1  0  0 .331     D.Young 1B          4  2  2  2 .270     D.Murphy RF         3  1  1  0 .241     L.Milledge CF       5  0  5  5 .286     A.Thomas SS         4  0  2  0 .261     A.Gonzalez 3B       6  0  0  1 .183     O.Virgil C          4  0  2  2 .294     J.Flores C          4  2  2  1 .275     A.Hall CF           3  0  0  0 .238     E.Bonifacio RF      4  3  3  0 .305     J.Blauser 2B        4  0  1  0 .243     R.Bernadina LF      5  1  2  2 .381     K.Coffman P         0  0  0  0 .143     T.Redding P         5  2  2  2 .107     C.Puleo P           1  0  0  0 .118     M.Estrada P         0  0  0  0 .000   A-P.Runge PH          1  0  0  0 .136                                             J.Alvarez P         0  0  0  0 .273                                           B-L.Smith PH          1  0  0  0 .248                                             R.Mahler P          0  0  0  0 .045                                           C-T.Simmons PH        1  0  0  0 .203                                                                -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---                Totals      34  2  8  2                 Totals      45 18 24 16 A-Pinch Hit For Puleo In 5th Inning B-Pinch Hit For Alvarez In 7th Inning C-Pinch Hit For Mahler In 9th Inning Braves.......... 0 0 0  1 0 0  0 0 1  -  2  8  0 Nationals....... 1 5 4  0 5 2  0 1    - 18 24  0 Braves (54-81)           IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA K.Coffman LOSS(5-4)       1 1/3   5   6   6   2   0   0  45   6.00 C.Puleo                   2 2/3   8   4   4   0   3   0  64   5.60 J.Alvarez                 2       9   7   7   1   2   1  71   4.52 R.Mahler                  2       2   1   1   1   1   0  38   4.56 Totals                    8      24  18  18   4   6   1 Nationals (70-65)        IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA T.Redding WIN(10-7)       8       8   2   2   1   2   0 122   2.88 M.Estrada                 1       0   0   0   0   0   0   5   3.12 Totals                    9       8   2   2   1   2   0 ATTENDANCE- 33,441 DATE- Friday, August 29th 2008 TIME- Night WEATHER- Bad T- 3:18 LEFT ON BASE- Braves: 7  Nationals: 8 DOUBLE PLAYS- Braves: 2  Nationals: 1 DOUBLES- D.Murphy(41st), C.Guzman(36th), L.Milledge(22nd), J.Flores(17th),          R.Bernadina(4th) HOME RUNS- W.Harris(17th) STOLEN BASES- W.Harris(17th) SACRIFICE FLIES- L.Milledge WALKS- A.Hall, D.Young-2, J.Flores, E.Bonifacio HIT BY PITCH- D.Murphy STRIKE OUTS- J.Morrison-2, J.Flores-2, R.Bernadina-2, T.Redding-2 GIDP- D.James, A.Gonzalez-2 WILD PITCHES- K.Coffman-2, J.Alvarez PASSED BALLS- O.Virgil, J.Flores WEB GEMS- Bot 4th: Jeff Blauser robbed Tim Redding of a base hit.

Bored

Bored

 

Top 100 MLB Players of My Lifetime: #80 - #61

See the first entry as to why certain players won't be on the list. And I think I should be commended for my courage in putting a certain someone on this list.   #80 Rat Piece of Shit, DH/RF   #79 Tony Phillips, 2B/LF/3B   #78 Matt Williams, 3B   #77 Mike Cameron, CF   #76 Tim Salmon, RF   #75 Lenny Dykstra, CF   #74 Johnny Damon, CF   #73 Miguel Tejada, SS   #72 Dave Stieb, SP   #71 Don Mattingly, 1B   #70 John Olerud, 1B   #69 Paul O'Neill, RF   #68 Brett Butler, CF   #67 Nomar Garciaparra, SS   #66 Moises Alou, LF   #65 Tony Fernandez, SS   #64 Ichiro Suzuki, RF   #63 Luis Gonzalez, LF   #62 David Cone, SP   #61 Carlos Delgado, 1B

Bored

Bored

 

Loser League: July

Not a whole lot of movement in the A.L. as the division "leaders" are still the '79 Blue Jays, '82 Twins, and '79 A's with the '03 Tigers holding down the Loser Card spot. Only in the Loser League could Emil Brown lead the league in RBI.   TEAM     WON LOST   BATTING AVERAGE     HOME RUNS           RUNS BATTED IN 1990 NYA  63  46    A.Huff    TBA .362  A.Belle   CLA   30  E.Brown   KCA   87 2002 TBA  56  52    E.Brown   KCA .343  E.Murray  BAA   26  A.Belle   CLA   83 1992 BOA  56  53    R.Kelly   NYA .342  A.Huff    TBA   24  A.Huff    TBA   82 1988 BAA  49  60    R.Carew   LAA .342  K.Hrbek   MNA   22  J.Barfiel NYA   80 1979 TOA  37  71    T.Long    KCA .329  K.Maas    NYA   22  B.Grich   LAA   77 1989 CHA  59  49    WINS                SAVES               ERA 2005 KCA  60  50    F.Tanana  LAA   14  T.Niedenf BAA   24  C.Hough   TEA 1.70 1991 CLA  51  57    C.Hough   TEA   13  G.Harris  TEA   19  R.Clemens BOA 2.39 2003 DEA  46  63    R.Clemens BOA   12  B.Thigpen CHA   19  G.Swindel CLA 2.96 1982 MNA  41  67    F.Martine LAA   11  E.Yan     TBA   19  F.Martine LAA 2.99                     T.Sturtze TBA   11  M.Macdoug KCA   19  R.Langfor OAA 3.04 1980 LAA  71  37 1985 TEA  56  53    CUR HIT STREAK      STOLEN BASES        STRIKEOUTS 1980 SEA  51  57    R.Kelly   NYA   19  R.Kelly   NYA   41  R.Clemens BOA  160 1979 OAA  47  60    C.Fisk    CHA   16  A.Sanchez DEA   41  F.Bannist SEA  135                     D.Young   DEA   12  A.Cole    CLA   32  T.Underwo TOA  133                     S.Sax     NYA    9  S.Sax     NYA   31  D.Darwin  BOA  117                     A.Sanchez DEA    9  J.Cruz    SEA   29  C.Hough   TEA  116 YESTERDAY'S GAMES   TODAY'S SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE STARTERS DEA  5  at  CLA  1  OAA-McCatty(5-7, 3.44) at BOA-Viola(9-9, 3.17) CHA 10  at  MNA  0  CHA-Hibbard(6-7, 4.15) at KCA-Greinke(7-7, 6.17) LAA  5  at  NYA  6  CLA-King(7-9, 4.71) at MNA-William(6-9, 6.13) SEA  3  at  TEA  4  LAA-Martine(11-0, 2.99) at NYA-Cary(3-7, 3.80)                     BAA-Ballard(6-6, 3.95) at SEA-Abbott(8-8, 3.45)                     DEA-Maroth(10-7, 5.32) at TBA-Sturtze(11-4, 4.28)                     TOA-Underwo(9-12, 4.28) at TEA-Hough(13-5, 1.70) YESTERDAY'S BEST PERFORMANCES BATTER         TM OPP AB  R  H RB BB Ks HR SB B.Bochte      SEA TEA  4  1  3  2  0  0  1  0 D.Gallagher   CHA MNA  0  2  0  0  4  0  0  0 B.Grich       LAA NYA  4  1  1  2  1  2  1  0 C.Fisk        CHA MNA  5  1  3  4  0  1  0  0 C.Monroe      DEA CLA  4  1  1  2  0  0  1  0 PITCHER        TM OPP  INN  H  R ER BB Ks HR WLS E.King        CHA MNA  9.0  7  0  0  2  4  0 W   E.Plunk       NYA LAA  4.0  1  0  0  3  7  0     D.Righetti    NYA LAA  0.2  0  0  0  0  2  0 W   M.Sarmiento   SEA TEA  2.0  1  0  0  1  3  0     D.Schmidt     TEA SEA  1.0  0  0  0  0  1  0   S WHO'S HOT - BEST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS T.Armas       OAA .281 32  9 10  3  4  A.Sisco       KCA  5  1  0  0  5  0 000 B.Grieve      TBA .343 35 12 11  6  3  G.Harris      TEA  5  0  0  3  8  0 101 C.Fisk        CHA .459 37 17 14  3  2  R.Clemens     BOA 18 10  1  5 16  0 200 S.Cox         TBA .429 21  9  6  4  1  G.Cadaret     NYA 15  5  1  6 12  0 201 R.Johnson     MNA .318 22  7  4  4  2  J.Kennedy     TBA 17 10  1  1  9  0 110 WHO'S NOT - WORST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS C.Wilkerson   TEA .114 35  4  2  1  0  R.Hernandez   KCA  9 14 14  6  3  6 020 J.Browne      CLA .120 25  3  2  1  0  B.Havens      MNA 12 25 16  2  8  2 020 G.Wright      TEA .167 30  5  0  3  0  J.Tibbs       BAA  6 11  9  5  6  0 020 O.Guillen     CHA .212 33  7  1  1  0  D.Carrasco    KCA  7 10  8  6  2  2 020 E.Williams    CHA .182 22  4  0  3  0  P.Huffman     TOA  6 16 10  5  5  0 110 INJURY REPORT D.Murphy, Oakland - 9 more games M.Edwards, Oakland - 3 more games B.Campaneris, California - 6 more games J.Cruz, Seattle - 6 more games J.Anderson, Seattle - 5 more games M.Tettleton, Baltimore - 5 more games S.Lyons, Chicago (AL) - 3 more games T.Hall, Tampa Bay - 3 more games C.Pena, Detroit - 2 more games B.Higginson, Detroit - 11 more games E.Kingsale, Detroit - 4 more games   In the N.L. the only change was the '98 Marlins finally wrestled away the bottom of the N.L. East away from the '88 Braves although still both are very much on their way to postseason. The '81 Padres are only five games under .500 yet have now built a six and a half game "lead" in the West over the '93 Rockies but if you are under .500 in this league you really do suck.   TEAM     WON LOST   BATTING AVERAGE     HOME RUNS           RUNS BATTED IN 2000 PHN  62  46    A.Galarra CON .386  R.Lankfor SLN   34  S.Rolen   PHN  100 1993 NYN  60  49    J.Mabry   SLN .367  S.Rolen   PHN   26  R.Lankfor SLN   95 2008 WAN  57  51    C.Biggio  HON .343  B.Bonilla NYN   25  D.Bichett CON   81 1988 ATN  42  66    B.Gilkey  SLN .341  E.Karros  LAN   24  C.Cedeno  CIN   75 1998 FLN  42  68    B.Butler  LAN .340  E.Murray  NYN   23  E.Karros  LAN   75 1995 SLN  61  50    WINS                SAVES               ERA 2002 MLN  59  50    B.Sheets  MLN   13  G.Olson   ARN   30  M.Krukow  SFN 1.65 1982 CIN  57  53    R.Reusche PIN   12  M.Dejean  MLN   30  D.Bird    CHN 2.45 1981 CHN  53  56    M.Krukow  SFN   12  T.Henke   SLN   25  J.Jones   HON 2.50 1991 HON  50  57    K.Gross   LAN   12  D.Holmes  CON   23  D.Gooden  NYN 2.51 1985 PIN  49  60    OTHERS TIED W   11  G.Lucas   SDN   22  R.Person  PHN 2.53 1985 SFN  65  42    CUR HIT STREAK      STOLEN BASES        STRIKEOUTS 1998 ARN  59  49    J.Ray     PIN   14  E.Young   MLN   42  M.Soto    CIN  174 1992 LAN  59  49    J.Clark   CON   13  V.Coleman NYN   41  P.Harnisc HON  151 1993 CON  59  51    L.Mazzill PIN   11  B.Butler  LAN   40  B.Sheets  MLN  149 1981 SDN  52  57    K.Caminit HON   11  A.Sanchez MLN   37  B.Berenyi CIN  129                     E.Murray  NYN   11  S.Finley  HON   35  D.Gooden  NYN  129 YESTERDAY'S GAMES   TODAY'S SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE STARTERS CHN  5  at  MLN  6  PIN-Rhoden(6-11, 5.53) at CHN-Bird(8-5, 2.45) SLN  9  at  ATN  0  MLN-Rusch(11-9, 4.30) at ATN-Smith(9-5, 2.72) CON  5  at  FLN  4  CON-Harris(10-8, 4.75) at FLN-Meadows(5-10, 5.17) ARN  5  at  LAN  4  NYN-Gooden(7-5, 2.51) at HON-Harnisc(10-8, 3.12) PHN  1  at  WAN  9  ARN-Anderso(9-7, 3.25) at LAN-Ojeda(4-6, 4.05)                     PHN-Wolf(11-5, 3.58) at SLN-Osborne(5-3, 3.54)                     SFN-Krukow(12-3, 1.65) at SDN-Eichelb(5-11, 4.98)                     CIN-Soto(11-9, 3.37) at WAN-Bergman(8-4, 3.82) YESTERDAY'S BEST PERFORMANCES BATTER         TM OPP AB  R  H RB BB Ks HR SB J.Flores      WAN PHN  3  2  2  4  1  0  1  0 T.Blackwell   CHN MLN  3  2  1  3  1  1  1  0 D.White       ARN LAN  4  2  2  1  0  0  1  0 T.Lee         ARN LAN  4  1  1  3  0  1  1  0 G.Zaun        FLN CON  3  1  1  2  0  1  1  0 PITCHER        TM OPP  INN  H  R ER BB Ks HR WLS T.Redding     WAN PHN  9.0  2  1  1  0  4  0 W   D.Holmes      CON FLN  3.0  1  0  0  1  5  0   S A.Watson      SLN ATN  8.2  6  0  0  1  1  0 W   C.Puleo       ATN SLN  2.0  0  0  0  1  3  0     A.Benes       ARN LAN  5.0  2  2  2  1  2  1 W   WHO'S HOT - BEST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS R.Lankford    SLN .325 40 13 15  6  5  C.Politte     PHN  9  2  0  2 14  0 000 T.Blackwell   CHN .286 21  6  5  6  2  M.Mantei      FLN  8  1  0  2  5  0 003 D.Driessen    CIN .323 31 10 11  4  3  J.Parrett     SLN  5  3  0  0  6  0 000 C.Cedeno      CIN .364 33 12 12  2  3  D.Tidrow      CHN  9  5  0  1  8  0 101 P.Householder CIN .310 29  9  8  4  3  J.Gott        SFN 18  8  1  7  9  0 200 WHO'S NOT - WORST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS J.Orsulak     NYN .156 32  5  1  1  0  K.Coffman     ATN  8  7  9 12  5  1 020 K.Reitz       CHN .208 24  5  0  1  0  M.Portugal    HON  8 19 12  6  7  2 110 M.Trillo      SFN .233 30  7  0  1  0  J.Deshaies    HON  5  7  7  9  1  0 010 K.Jordan      PHN .130 23  3  1  2  0  J.Smoltz      ATN 10 14 10  3  5  2 020 J.Leonard     SFN .171 35  6  3  1  0  O.Daal        PHN 10 14 11  5  9  1 020 INJURY REPORT T.Fernandez, New York (NL) - 2 more games T.Pagnozzi, St. Louis - 4 more games G.Pena, St. Louis - 2 more games M.Redmond, Florida - 5 more games D.Lee, Florida - 1 more games A.Boone, Washington - 2 more games C.Guzman, Washington - 1 more games   The boxscore of the month for July again features the '82 Twins getting lit up and it was appropriately on the 4th of July this time in a 16-3 drubbing at the hands of the '91 Indians. Starting pitcher John Pacella's line: 5 2/3 IP, 13 H, 13 R, 13 ER, 7 BB, 3 SO. On top of that he was left out there for 142 pitches! He must have fucked Twins manager Billy Gardner's wife or something to be made to suffer like that. Albert Belle hit three home runs for the Tribe.   BOXSCORE: 1991 Cleveland Indians At 1982 Minnesota Twins             7/4/2008   Indians            AB  R  H RBI AVG     Twins              AB  R  H RBI AVG   A.Cole CF           6  1  1  1 .268     M.Hatcher RF        5  1  2  2 .220     J.Browne 2B         5  3  3  2 .243     D.Engle LF          4  0  0  0 .288     C.Baerga 3B         6  3  4  3 .307     K.Hrbek 1B          4  0  3  0 .353     A.Belle LF          5  4  3  6 .326     T.Brunansky CF      4  0  0  0 .300     M.Whiten RF         4  1  0  0 .274     G.Gaetti 3B         3  0  1  0 .210     C.James DH          6  1  3  2 .257     J.Vega DH           4  0  0  0 .283     M.Aldrete 1B        4  0  2  0 .242     T.Laudner C         4  1  1  0 .265     J.Skinner C         4  2  1  1 .249     R.Washington SS     4  1  2  1 .308     F.Fermin SS         5  1  3  1 .282     J.Castino 2B        4  0  0  0 .275                        -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---                Totals      45 16 20 16                 Totals      36  3  9  3 Indians......... 2 0 2  2 1 6  2 1 0  - 16 20  0 Twins........... 0 0 0  0 2 1  0 0 0  -  3  9  0 Indians (39-48)          IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA G.Swindell WIN(7-5)       9       9   3   3   1   7   1 144   2.75 Totals                    9       9   3   3   1   7   1 Twins (33-53)            IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA J.Pacella LOSS(1-2)       5 1/3  13  13  13   7   3   3 142   7.16 P.Redfern                 1       3   2   2   0   0   1  19   4.69 P.Boris                   2 2/3   4   1   1   0   0   0  54   4.54 Totals                    9      20  16  16   7   3   4 ATTENDANCE- 11,478 DATE- Friday, July 4th 2008 TIME- Night T- 3:25 LEFT ON BASE- Indians: 9  Twins: 7 DOUBLE PLAYS- Indians: 0  Twins: 1 DOUBLES- A.Cole(8th), J.Skinner(15th), K.Hrbek(19th), T.Laudner(23rd) HOME RUNS- C.Baerga(11th), A.Belle-3(27th), M.Hatcher(2nd) STOLEN BASES- J.Browne(2nd) WALKS- J.Browne, A.Belle, M.Whiten-2, M.Aldrete-2, J.Skinner, G.Gaetti STRIKE OUTS- J.Browne, A.Belle, M.Whiten, K.Hrbek, G.Gaetti, T.Laudner-2,              R.Washington-2, J.Castino GIDP- A.Cole

Bored

Bored

 

Top 100 MLB Players of My Lifetime: #100 - #81

This is something I've wanted to do for a while and have tried a couple of similar lists before but ended abandoning them. I once had an almost completed list for the top 100 players since 1986, which I consider my sports lifetime, but I ran into problems when it came to evaluating players who may have had their peak occur after 1986 but had played several years before 1986. I also felt the list I had compiled was overly subjective and I just simply was not satisfied by my results.   Now of course trying to assemble a list of the top 100 players since 1979 was going to have the same problems. My intention was to only take into account what players have done since 1979 and nothing before. Tom Seaver for example is one of the greatest pitchers of all time but the majority of his career occurred before I was born so it wouldn't make sense to include him on this list. So I decided I would have to have a cut off year which would admittedly eliminate some players who if you considered on their career from 1979 on would warrant placement on this list. But I also want to be able to consider a player's whole career and not just a portion of it.   The cut off I decided on was I would only consider players who's official rookie year was no later than 1978 as I was born on the final scheduled day of the 1978 season (the day before the Bucky F'n Dent game). Now I emphasize their official rookie season as to include players who had cups of coffee in the Majors prior to '78. Now this obviously eliminates some great players who I did grow up watching as a kid but I had to put a cut off year in to real make this manageable. Because of this some of the players you will not see on this list are:   Mike Schmidt George Brett Dave Winfield Eddie Murray Robin Yount Dennis Eckersley Gary Carter   And that's just the Hall of Famers as there's also Andre Dawson, Dave Parker, Dale Murphy, Keith Hernandez, Dwight Evans, and Willie Randolph. I didn't put in a cut off debut year for active players but it ended up being 2001 by default because of 9/11....okay not really, it just kind of worked out that way. If I was just focusing on peak certainly someone like Chase Utley could appear on the list but since career is being considered Utley just wouldn't really fit on this list. That's important to keep in mind when it comes to active players and where they end up on the list. Albert Pujols on peak alone is one of the five best players of my lifetime without a doubt but we don't know if he'll have a serious decline at some point thus he won't be in the Top 5 on this list.   For the statistics I used, I went with Win Shares and Wins Above Replacement (WARP3). I went with them because both are good for career/peak evaluations and both take defense into account, although both have huge flaws when it comes to how they measure defense. To assemble a list of players to put under consideration I used career Win Shares with cut offs of 200 Win Shares for position players, 180 for starting pitchers, and 150 for relievers. I ended up with around 160 players to consider and I ranked them by the players primary position first, grouping designated hitters with first basemen and grouping left and right fielders together, before doing the main list. I will say I wouldn't completely rule that I accidentally left a deserving player off the consideration list who would have made the top 100, in fact I'd say the odds are pretty good.   As mentioned I mentioned part of the problem of prior lists I've tried to do is I felt they were too subjective. This time around though I decided that is almost impossible to not have subjectivity in a list like this. I could have put in several months of research to make this list completely objective but I'm not Bored enough to do that. In fact this list is probably too subjective when it comes down to it as for example I'm not a fan of career closers so don't be shocked but the dearth of closers on this list. I also say that my placement of pitchers in the list is a bit haphazard. I finished the list a few days ago and already thought about making changes but I said "fuck it" I'll just go with what I came up with originally, even if the final list sucks ass. In fact don't even bother looking at it.   Top 100 MLB Players from 1979 - 2008 (#100 - #81)   Disclaimer: If you didn't read anything above, cut off was 1978 rookies.   #100 Ellis Burks, CF   #99 Steve Finley, CF   #98 Bobby Bonilla, 3B/RF   #97 Juan Gonzalez, RF   #96 Lance Parrish, C   #95 Harold Baines, DH/RF   #94 Trevor Hoffman, RP   #93 David Justice, RF   #92 Mark Grace, 1B   #91 Cuck Finley, SP   #90 Eric Davis, CF   #89 Magglio Ordonez, RF   #88 Ken Caminiti, 3B   #87 Chuck Knoblauch, 2B   #86 Andy Pettitte, SP   #85 Andy Van Slyke, CF   #84 Darryl Strawberry, RF   #83 Pedro Guerrero, 1B/OF/3B   #82 Kevin Appier, SP   #81 Todd Helton, 1B

Bored

Bored

 

Loser League: June

Unrelated to the Loser League, I did finish my Top 100 MLB players of my lifetime list and it will be coming to a blog (this one) soon!   The '79 Blue Jays continue to be in a class of their own in the A.L. East as they now have a 10 1/2 game "lead" over the '88 Orioles and might as well start printing their postseason tickets to Exhibition Stadium. The losers of the month though in the A.L. were the '82 Twins who went a stomach turning 5-22 to move ahead/behind the '03 Tigers in the Central by two games.   TEAM     WON LOST   BATTING AVERAGE     HOME RUNS           RUNS BATTED IN 1990 NYA  46  39    A.Huff    TBA .365  A.Belle   CLA   23  E.Brown   KCA   67 2002 TBA  43  40    E.Brown   KCA .359  E.Murray  BAA   21  A.Huff    TBA   66 1992 BOA  41  44    R.Carew   LAA .353  K.Hrbek   MNA   19  J.Barfiel NYA   65 1988 BAA  39  44    K.Hrbek   MNA .347  K.Maas    NYA   19  B.Grich   LAA   64 1979 TOA  29  55    R.Kelly   NYA .332  A.Huff    TBA   19  A.Belle   CLA   58 2005 KCA  49  35    WINS                SAVES               ERA 1989 CHA  47  36    F.Tanana  LAA   11  T.Niedenf BAA   18  C.Hough   TEA 1.77 1991 CLA  38  46    C.Hough   TEA   10  M.Macdoug KCA   16  A.Hawkins NYA 2.50 2003 DEA  34  49    F.Martine LAA    8  G.Harris  TEA   15  J.Bautist BAA 2.57 1982 MNA  32  51    R.Clemens BOA    8  E.Yan     TBA   15  R.Clemens BOA 2.69                     F.Viola   BOA    8  OTHERS TIED W   13  G.Swindel CLA 2.74 1980 LAA  56  27 1985 TEA  43  41    CUR HIT STREAK      STOLEN BASES        STRIKEOUTS 1980 SEA  37  45    R.Kelly   NYA   13  A.Sanchez DEA   34  R.Clemens BOA  123 1979 OAA  34  48    D.Slaught TEA    9  R.Kelly   NYA   33  T.Underwo TOA  106                     D.Gallagh CHA    9  J.Cruz    SEA   26  F.Bannist SEA  104                     B.Bochte  SEA    8  O.Guillen CHA   23  M.Perez   CHA   98                     T.Harrah  TEA    8  A.Cole    CLA   23  D.Darwin  BOA   91 YESTERDAY'S GAMES   TODAY'S SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE STARTERS KCA 13  at  BAA  1  KCA-Howell(1-2, 4.14) at BAA-Ballard(4-5, 3.57) CLA  5  at  CHA  6  CLA-Swindel(6-5, 2.74) at CHA-Dotson(7-4, 4.25) OAA 11  at  LAA 10  OAA-Keough(1-10, 6.03) at LAA-Tanana(11-1, 2.96) DEA 12  at  MNA  7  DEA-Bonderm(1-7, 6.52) at MNA-Havens(4-6, 4.81) TEA  4  at  NYA  2  TEA-Mason(6-9, 5.51) at NYA-Lapoint(7-3, 3.35) TOA  6  at  SEA  9  TOA-Huffman(3-10, 6.46) at SEA-Bannist(7-7, 3.10) BOA  7  at  TBA  4  BOA-Viola(8-7, 2.86) at TBA-Kennedy(6-5, 3.43) YESTERDAY'S BEST PERFORMANCES BATTER         TM OPP AB  R  H RB BB Ks HR SB J.Rudi        LAA OAA  5  2  2  4  0  0  2  0 D.Revering    OAA LAA  5  3  2  3  0  0  1  0 G.Gaetti      MNA DEA  5  1  3  4  0  0  1  0 A.Berroa      KCA BAA  5  2  2  4  0  0  1  0 T.Long        KCA BAA  5  3  4  1  0  0  1  0 PITCHER        TM OPP  INN  H  R ER BB Ks HR WLS C.Hough       TEA NYA  8.0  3  1  1  0  5  1 W   B.Thigpen     CHA CLA  1.0  0  0  0  0  1  0 W   G.Harris      BOA TBA  2.0  1  0  0  0  2  0   S V.Zambrano    TBA BOA  3.0  1  1  1  0  2  0     D.Carrasco    KCA BAA  8.0  5  1  1  3  0  1 W   WHO'S HOT - BEST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS K.Maas        NYA .385 26 10 12  5  5  D.Stieb       TOA  9  2  0  0  2  0 100 E.Brown       KCA .382 34 13 10  5  3  D.Bautista    KCA  9  4  0  1  9  0 100 B.Higginson   DEA .421 38 16 10  2  4  G.Harris      BOA  5  2  0  0  4  0 002 T.Paciorek    SEA .300 30  9  8  1  4  C.Hough       TEA 22 10  2  2 17  1 110 J.Barfield    NYA .324 34 11  9  9  2  T.McCarthy    CHA  5  1  0  1  2  0 100 WHO'S NOT - WORST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS T.Donohue     LAA .121 33  4  1  1  0  M.Mason       TEA  5 15 10  1  4  1 030 R.Santiago    DEA .100 30  3  2  2  0  J.Montague    LAA  6 13 10  4  0  1 021 R.Picciolo    OAA .172 29  5  2  0  0  T.Harper      TBA  6 13  8  1  4  4 020 M.Lewis       CLA .219 32  7  1  0  0  M.Roney       DEA  8 10  8  2  3  2 030 L.Cox         SEA .115 26  3  0  4  0  M.Young       BOA  7 15  9  2  7  1 010 INJURY REPORT W.Gross, Oakland - 3 more games F.Patek, California - 9 more games L.Roberts, Seattle - 6 more games S.Sax, New York (AL) - 3 more games T.Naehring, Boston - 4 more games E.Munson, Detroit - 2 more games   The losers of the month in the N.L. were the '91 Astros who after going 8-18 in June have charged to the bottom of the Central with a four game lead over the '85 Pirates. The '88 Braves and '98 Marlins continue to be the "class" of the league as it is almost a lock that the Loser Card will come out of the East.   TEAM     WON LOST   BATTING AVERAGE     HOME RUNS           RUNS BATTED IN 2000 PHN  49  34    A.Galarra CON .413  R.Lankfor SLN   26  S.Rolen   PHN   82 2008 WAN  47  37    J.Mabry   SLN .381  B.Bonilla NYN   21  R.Lankfor SLN   71 1993 NYN  44  39    B.Gilkey  SLN .354  S.Rolen   PHN   20  D.Bichett CON   61 1998 FLN  31  52    C.Biggio  HON .342  E.Murray  NYN   18  A.Galarra CON   58 1988 ATN  29  54    B.Butler  LAN .341  OTHERS TIED W   17  J.Bell    ARN   57 2002 MLN  47  35    WINS                SAVES               ERA 1995 SLN  45  39    M.Krukow  SFN   12  M.Dejean  MLN   22  M.Krukow  SFN 1.51 1982 CIN  45  40    R.Reusche PIN   11  G.Olson   ARN   21  D.Bird    CHN 1.91 1981 CHN  41  42    O.Daal    PHN   11  S.Garrelt SFN   18  R.Reusche PIN 2.21 1985 PIN  41  43    T.Candiot LAN   10  T.Henke   SLN   18  K.Gross   LAN 2.40 1991 HON  36  47    B.Sheets  MLN   10  G.Lucas   SDN   17  O.Daal    ARN 2.63 1985 SFN  51  32    CUR HIT STREAK      STOLEN BASES        STRIKEOUTS 1992 LAN  49  33    E.Young   MLN   14  B.Butler  LAN   36  M.Soto    CIN  135 1998 ARN  46  37    C.Biggio  HON   13  E.Young   MLN   34  P.Harnisc HON  127 1993 CON  42  41    L.Mazzill PIN   10  V.Coleman NYN   32  B.Sheets  MLN  113 1981 SDN  39  45    R.Reynold PIN   10  S.Finley  HON   31  D.Gooden  NYN  106                     OTHERS TIED W    9  E.Young   CON   27  A.Benes   ARN  100 YESTERDAY'S GAMES   TODAY'S SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE STARTERS MLN  5  at  ARN  3  MLN-Sheets(10-4, 3.99) at ARN-Telemac(8-3, 4.15) PIN  5  at  CIN  4  PHN-Wolf(8-5, 3.54) at ATN-Mahler(4-11, 4.63) SDN  9  at  CON  7  PIN-Tunnell(3-3, 3.89) at CIN-Soto(8-8, 3.16) WAN  3  at  FLN  2  SDN-Eichelb(5-8, 4.89) at CON-Harris(6-7, 4.97) LAN  7  at  HON  3  WAN-Baleste(6-3, 3.26) at FLN-Hernand(5-8, 3.54) NYN  3  at  SLN  7  LAN-Hershis(7-4, 4.36) at HON-Kile(3-4, 3.47) CHN  2  at  SFN  1  NYN-Hillman(7-2, 3.93) at SLN-Morgan(4-4, 3.74)                     CHN-Martz(2-7, 5.08) at SFN-Gott(4-3, 3.63) YESTERDAY'S BEST PERFORMANCES BATTER         TM OPP AB  R  H RB BB Ks HR SB S.Bream       PIN CIN  1  1  1  3  0  0  1  0 M.Kotsay      FLN WAN  3  2  2  1  0  0  1  1 R.Sexson      MLN ARN  4  2  2  1  2  0  1  0 R.Bass        SDN CON  4  1  1  3  0  1  1  0 S.Hemond      SLN NYN  4  1  1  3  0  0  1  0 PITCHER        TM OPP  INN  H  R ER BB Ks HR WLS J.Gott        LAN HON  4.0  0  0  0  0  4  0   S M.Krukow      SFN CHN  8.0  5  1  1  1  8  0     R.Reuschel    CHN SFN  7.0  4  1  0  1  3  0     J.Candelaria  PIN CIN  2.0  0  0  0  1  1  0 W   V.De Los SantoMLN ARN  2.0  0  0  0  0  1  0 W   WHO'S HOT - BEST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS E.Murray      NYN .500 26 13  7  2  4  B.Chen        PHN  8  2  0  0  8  0 002 J.Hernandez   MLN .407 27 11  9  6  3  F.Williams    SFN  6  1  0  1  6  0 000 W.Harris      WAN .304 23  7  5  4  3  M.Krukow      SFN 17  8  1  2 17  0 100 D.Bichette    CON .379 29 11 10  2  3  L.Smith       CHN  8  3  0  2  8  0 100 R.Lankford    SLN .361 36 13  9  3  4  J.Gott        LAN  7  3  0  1  6  0 001 WHO'S NOT - WORST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS R.Adams       SFN .040 25  1  0  0  0  T.Urbani      SLN  6  9  9  3  5  1 110 R.Gant        ATN .063 32  2  1  2  0  J.Deleon      PIN 13 23 15  7 17  4 010 C.Davis       SFN .156 32  5  0  1  0  R.Rhoden      PIN 14 27 14  5 10  1 020 J.Uribe       SFN .161 31  5  1  0  0  G.Harris      CON 13 19 13  6 13  2 020 A.Hall        ATN .138 29  4  2  1  0  D.Nied        CON  8 12  8  6  4  2 010 INJURY REPORT B.Bonds, Chicago (NL) - 1 more games A.Trevino, Cincinnati - 4 more games E.Davis, Los Angeles - 6 more games N.Liriano, Colorado - 6 more games E.Young, Colorado - 15 more games J.Burnitz, New York (NL) - 3 more games H.Johnson, New York (NL) - 2 more games A.Arias, Philadelphia - 4 more games M.Lieberthal, Philadelphia - 5 more games J.Fabregas, Milwaukee - 8 more games J.Hernandez, Milwaukee - 7 more games A.Kearns, Washington - 2 more games   The featured boxscore for June was a 20 inning interleague tilt between the '85 Rangers and '93 Mets where some how 42,000+ fans showed up. Must have been a bobblehead day. The infamous Anthony Young surrendered five runs in the final frame.   BOXSCORE: 1985 Texas Rangers At 1993 New York (NL) Mets             6/15/2008   Rangers            AB  R  H RBI AVG     Mets               AB  R  H RBI AVG   D.Walker RF         5  0  1  0 .200     V.Coleman LF        8  0  1  0 .274   G-A.Bannister PH,LF   4  0  0  0 .262     J.Orsulak CF,1B     6  1  2  0 .283     T.Harrah 2B         7  2  3  0 .265     E.Murray 1B         4  0  1  0 .305     P.O'Brien 1B        7  2  2  0 .233   B-R.Thompson PR,CF    2  1  0  0 .211     G.Ward CF           9  1  3  3 .305     J.Franco P          0  0  0  0 .000     D.Slaught C         5  0  0  0 .295   I-C.O'Brien PH        1  0  0  0 .353   D-G.Brummer C         3  1  1  0 .429     E.Hillman P         0  0  0  0 .000     S.Buechele 3B       8  1  1  3 .199   K-T.Fernandez PH      1  0  1  0 .231     C.Wilkerson SS      8  1  2  0 .230     A.Young P           0  0  0  0 .000     B.Jones LF,RF       8  0  2  1 .255   M-J.McKnight PH       1  0  0  0 .213     J.Russell P         3  0  0  0 .000     B.Bonilla RF        8  0  1  1 .282     R.Surhoff P         0  0  0  0 ----     H.Johnson 3B        5  1  1  2 .201     D.Rozema P          0  0  0  0 ----     J.Kent SS           8  0  3  0 .283   C-O.McDowell PH       1  0  0  0 .230     T.Hundley C         8  0  0  0 .225     D.Schmidt P         0  0  0  0 ----     C.Walker 2B         8  0  0  0 .192     B.Hooton P          0  0  0  0 ----     D.Gooden P          2  0  0  0 .152   E-L.Parrish PH        1  0  0  0 .287   A-D.Gallagher PH      1  0  0  0 .282     D.Stewart P         0  0  0  0 ----     M.Maddux P          1  0  0  0 .000   H-W.Tolleson PH       1  0  0  0 .348     J.Innis P           0  0  0  0 ----     C.Welsh P           0  0  0  0 ----   F-J.Burnitz PH,CF     3  0  1  0 .181   J-N.Capra PH          1  0  1  01.000                                             M.Mason P           0  0  0  0 .000                                           L-T.Dunbar PH         1  0  0  0 .167                                             C.Hough P           0  0  0  0 .500                                                                -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---                Totals      72  8 16  7                 Totals      67  3 11  3 A-Pinch Hit For Gooden In 7th Inning B-Pinch Ran For Murray In 8th Inning C-Pinch Hit For Rozema In 10th Inning D-Subbed Defensively (C ) For Slaught In 11th Inning E-Pinch Hit For Hooton In 12th Inning F-Pinch Hit For Innis In 12th Inning G-Pinch Hit For Walker In 13th Inning H-Pinch Hit For Stewart In 14th Inning I-Pinch Hit For Franco In 15th Inning J-Pinch Hit For Welsh In 17th Inning K-Pinch Hit For Hillman In 18th Inning L-Pinch Hit For Mason In 19th Inning M-Pinch Hit For Young In 20th Inning INJURY: Don Slaught INJURED (for 2 more games) in 11th inning Rangers......... 1 1 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  0 1 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  0 5 -  8 16  0 Mets............ 0 0 0  0 0 0  0 2 0  0 1 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 -  3 11  0 Rangers (39-32)          IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA J.Russell                 7 1/3   3   1   1   5   5   0 123   5.95 R.Surhoff                 0       2   1   1   0   0   0  11   7.71 D.Rozema BS(2nd)          1 2/3   0   0   0   0   2   0  23   2.95 D.Schmidt                 1 1/3   1   1   1   0   1   1  22   1.62 B.Hooton                  0 2/3   1   0   0   0   0   0  13   5.22 D.Stewart                 2       1   0   0   1   3   0  34   3.35 C.Welsh                   3       1   0   0   0   2   0  49   5.36 M.Mason                   2       1   0   0   1   2   0  38   4.88 C.Hough WIN(9-3)          2       1   0   0   2   0   0  34   1.84 [1]Totals                   20      11   3   3   9  15   1 Mets (37-33)             IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA D.Gooden                  7       4   2   2   2   5   0  95   2.76 M.Maddux                  3 2/3   4   1   1   1   4   0  71   3.89 J.Innis                   1 1/3   1   0   0   0   2   0  20   6.03 J.Franco                  3       1   0   0   2   0   0  48   7.36 E.Hillman                 3       2   0   0   1   1   0  52   3.70 A.Young LOSS(5-4)         2       4   5   5   2   3   0  49   3.17 [1]Totals                   20      16   8   8   8  15   0 ATTENDANCE- 42,141 DATE- Sunday, June 15th 2008 TIME- Day WEATHER- Average T- 6:17 LEFT ON BASE- Rangers:12  Mets:14 DOUBLE PLAYS- Rangers: 2  Mets: 2 DOUBLES- D.Walker(1st), G.Ward(10th), G.Brummer(2nd), N.Capra(1st),          J.Kent(19th) TRIPLES- S.Buechele(4th) HOME RUNS- H.Johnson(9th) STOLEN BASES- T.Harrah(4th), G.Ward(11th), C.Wilkerson-4(13th), V.Coleman(28th),               J.Burnitz(1st) CAUGHT STEALING- P.O'Brien, S.Buechele, J.Orsulak SACRIFICE FLIES- H.Johnson WALKS- T.Harrah-2, P.O'Brien-2, G.Brummer, S.Buechele, C.Wilkerson, B.Jones,        V.Coleman, J.Orsulak-3, B.Bonilla, H.Johnson-3, J.Burnitz STRIKE OUTS- D.Walker-2, T.Harrah, G.Ward, G.Brummer, S.Buechele, C.Wilkerson-4,              B.Jones-2, J.Russell-3, V.Coleman-2, R.Thompson, C.O'Brien,              B.Bonilla-2, H.Johnson, J.Kent-3, T.Hundley, C.Walker, D.Gooden,              M.Maddux, J.Burnitz GIDP- P.O'Brien, T.Dunbar, H.Johnson, J.Kent BALKS- A.Young

Bored

Bored

 

Loser League: May

The '79 Blue Jays followed up an awful April with an even worse May and now have a commanding nine game "lead" in the cellar of the A.L. East. Their year-mates the '79 A's had a brutal May as well and have committed a league worst 74 errors in 56 games.   TEAM     WON LOST   BATTING AVERAGE     HOME RUNS           RUNS BATTED IN 2002 TBA  32  25    K.Hrbek   MNA .404  E.Murray  BAA   16  A.Huff    TBA   54 1990 NYA  29  28    J.Orsulak BAA .363  K.Hrbek   MNA   15  B.Grich   LAA   49 1988 BAA  27  29    A.Huff    TBA .356  A.Belle   CLA   14  E.Murray  BAA   42 1992 BOA  27  31    E.Brown   KCA .355  A.Huff    TBA   14  E.Brown   KCA   42 1979 TOA  18  40    T.Long    KCA .347  OTHERS TIED W   13  OTHERS TIED W   41 2005 KCA  34  23    WINS                SAVES               ERA 1989 CHA  29  28    F.Tanana  LAA    9  M.Macdoug KCA   12  C.Hough   TEA 1.91 1991 CLA  28  28    F.Martine LAA    6  T.Niedenf BAA   11  G.Swindel CLA 2.55 1982 MNA  27  29    C.Hough   TEA    6  E.Yan     TBA   11  R.Clemens BOA 2.57 2003 DEA  23  33    R.Clemens BOA    6  OTHERS TIED W    9  F.Tanana  LAA 2.61                     T.Sturtze TBA    6                      F.Martine LAA 2.75 1980 LAA  40  17 1985 TEA  31  26    CUR HIT STREAK      STOLEN BASES        STRIKEOUTS 1980 SEA  26  30    R.Bosetti TOA    9  A.Sanchez DEA   24  R.Clemens BOA   89 1979 OAA  23  33    C.Martine CHA    9  R.Kelly   NYA   20  F.Bannist SEA   79                     T.Paciore SEA    8  J.Cruz    SEA   19  T.Underwo TOA   71                     S.Fletche CHA    8  O.Guillen CHA   16  M.Perez   CHA   70                     OTHERS TIED W    6  OTHERS TIED W   14  F.Viola   BOA   65 YESTERDAY'S GAMES   TODAY'S SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE STARTERS DEA  2  at  SEA 13  BOA-Hesketh(2-2, 5.13) at BAA-Ballard(3-3, 3.51) BOA  2  at  BAA  1  CLA-King(3-5, 4.70) at KCA-Hernand(5-1, 3.82) CLA  6  at  KCA  1  TOA-Underwo(4-7, 3.93) at LAA-Martine(6-0, 2.75) TOA  1  at  LAA  3  NYA-Hawkins(4-3, 2.08) at MNA-William(4-4, 5.89) NYA  4  at  MNA  9  DEA-Maroth(3-5, 7.24) at SEA-Abbott(3-6, 3.62) CHA  3  at  TBA  0  CHA-Perez(3-3, 4.26) at TBA-Sturtze(6-2, 3.35) OAA  6  at  TEA  7  OAA-Keough(1-6, 5.43) at TEA-Hough(6-2, 1.91) YESTERDAY'S BEST PERFORMANCES BATTER         TM OPP AB  R  H RB BB Ks HR SB T.Brunansky   MNA NYA  3  2  2  3  1  0  1  0 A.Belle       CLA KCA  5  2  3  2  0  1  1  1 P.Plantier    BOA BAA  3  1  2  2  1  0  1  0 O.McDowell    TEA OAA  7  3  3  1  1  0  1  1 R.Kittle      CHA TBA  4  1  2  2  0  0  1  0 PITCHER        TM OPP  INN  H  R ER BB Ks HR WLS G.Hibbard     CHA TBA  8.0  4  0  0  1  4  0 W   F.Viola       BOA BAA  8.0  2  1  1  2  3  1 W   R.Honeycutt   SEA DEA  9.0  3  2  2  4  4  2 W   M.Clear       LAA TOA  2.0  0  0  0  2  3  0   S B.Hooton      TEA OAA  1.0  0  0  0  0  0  0 W   WHO'S HOT - BEST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS T.Brunansky   MNA .429 21  9  7  5  2  A.Hassler     LAA  8  2  0  1  9  0 101 T.Paciorek    SEA .542 24 13  5  1  2  J.Orosco      CLA  6  2  0  0  4  0 000 B.Grich       LAA .297 37 11 15  3  3  F.Tanana      LAA 17  9  0  1  9  0 200 A.Huff        TBA .382 34 13 11  1  3  F.Viola       BOA 17  5  1  4  6  1 200 E.Murray      BAA .278 36 10  9  3  4  R.Davis       MNA  5  2  0  1  4  0 102 WHO'S NOT - WORST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS R.Picciolo    OAA .080 25  2  1  0  0  V.Zambrano    TBA  6 16 17  7  4  3 020 S.Cooper      BOA .167 30  5  1  1  0  M.Maroth      DEA  9 18 14  5  8  5 030 T.Cox         SEA .192 26  5  0  2  0  M.Williamson  BAA  7 11 10  7  7  3 020 G.Wright      TEA .133 30  4  2  2  0  M.Perez       CHA  9 19 12  6  8  2 010 J.Browne      CLA .158 38  6  2  2  0  B.Kingman     OAA  7 16  9  0  2  1 010 INJURY REPORT M.Heath, Oakland - 6 more games R.Howell, Toronto - 7 more games J.Rudi, California - 3 more games J.Castino, Minnesota - 3 more games F.Viola, Minnesota - 6 more games T.Harrah, Texas - 2 more games R.Schu, Baltimore - 1 more games   In the N.L. we have what is shaping up to be a fantastic race for the bottom in the East as the '88 Braves and '98 Marlins are not only distancing themselves from the rest of the division but the entire league. The '85 Pirates posted a 8-20 mark in May to grab the that bottom of the Central division.   TEAM     WON LOST   BATTING AVERAGE     HOME RUNS           RUNS BATTED IN 1993 NYN  33  23    J.Mabry   SLN .406  R.Lankfor SLN   15  S.Rolen   PHN   60 2008 WAN  33  24    A.Galarra CON .396  B.Bonilla NYN   14  R.Lankfor SLN   46 2000 PHN  31  26    B.Gilkey  SLN .374  S.Rolen   PHN   14  E.Karros  LAN   45 1998 FLN  19  36    D.Bichett CON .356  E.Karros  LAN   13  A.Galarra CON   41 1988 ATN  17  40    B.Buckner CHN .347  OTHERS TIED W   12  OTHERS TIED W   40 1981 CHN  31  25    WINS                SAVES               ERA 1995 SLN  30  27    M.Krukow  CHN    9  M.Dejean  MLN   16  J.Jones   HON 1.37 2002 MLN  28  28    M.Krukow  SFN    8  S.Garrelt SFN   15  M.Krukow  SFN 1.72 1991 HON  28  29    OTHERS TIED W    7  D.Holmes  CON   13  K.Gross   LAN 1.91 1982 CIN  27  30                        T.Henke   SLN   11  R.Reusche PIN 2.16 1985 PIN  26  30                        G.Olson   ARN   11  D.Osborne SLN 2.26 1985 SFN  34  22    CUR HIT STREAK      STOLEN BASES        STRIKEOUTS 1993 CON  34  23    R.Gant    ATN   18  S.Finley  HON   26  M.Soto    CIN   98 1998 ARN  31  25    J.Mabry   SLN   16  V.Coleman NYN   23  A.Benes   ARN   81 1992 LAN  29  26    D.Bichett CON   13  E.Young   MLN   23  P.Harnisc HON   80 1981 SDN  23  34    C.Guzman  WAN   10  O.Smith   SDN   20  D.Gooden  NYN   78                     OTHERS TIED W    9  OTHERS TIED W   19  T.Candiot LAN   71 YESTERDAY'S GAMES   TODAY'S SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE STARTERS CON  0  at  CHN  2  WAN-Perez(3-5, 4.87) at ARN-Daal(4-3, 2.49) ATN  4  at  CIN  3  CON-Harris(6-4, 3.75) at CHN-Martz(1-4, 4.77) LAN  4  at  NYN  5  ATN-Mahler(3-8, 4.81) at CIN-Soto(4-7, 2.55) SDN  2  at  SFN  1  HON-Portuga(1-4, 3.39) at MLN-Sheets(6-4, 5.08) WAN  6  at  ARN  3  FLN-Hernand(3-7, 3.30) at PHN-Person(4-3, 3.22) HON  6  at  MLN  4  PIN-Rhoden(3-6, 4.99) at SLN-Petkovs(4-2, 3.14) FLN  6  at  PHN  1  SDN-Mura(4-8, 5.14) at SFN-Hammake(3-4, 4.37) PIN  6  at  SLN  9  LAN-Hershis(5-3, 4.54) at NYN-Saberha(4-2, 3.05) YESTERDAY'S BEST PERFORMANCES BATTER         TM OPP AB  R  H RB BB Ks HR SB R.Lankford    SLN PIN  4  2  3  3  0  0  1  1 J.Mabry       SLN PIN  4  2  3  3  0  0  1  0 D.Driessen    CIN ATN  4  2  3  1  2  0  1  0 E.Anthony     HON MLN  4  1  1  4  0  2  1  0 S.Cooper      SLN PIN  4  1  1  2  0  1  1  0 PITCHER        TM OPP  INN  H  R ER BB Ks HR WLS J.Sanchez     FLN PHN  9.0  4  1  1  0  6  0 W   J.Habyan      SLN PIN  4.1  0  0  0  0  4  0 W   M.Krukow      CHN CON  6.1  2  0  0  4  6  0 W   J.EichelbergerSDN SFN  7.0  3  1  1  2  4  0 W   D.Lapoint     SFN SDN  7.1  4  1  1  0  4  0     WHO'S HOT - BEST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS D.Driessen    CIN .526 19 10  2 10  1  J.Price       CIN  5  1  0  0  5  0 100 D.Bichette    CON .441 34 15 10  1  4  R.Reuschel    PIN 10  1  0  2  8  0 100 R.Gant        ATN .500 22 11  5  3  2  A.Young       NYN 15  3  0  3 14  0 200 B.Abreu       PHN .500 30 15  6 11  1  R.Person      PHN  8  2  0  2  8  0 100 R.Belliard    WAN .417 24 10 11  2  1  G.Lucas       SDN  8  4  0  2 12  0 101 WHO'S NOT - WORST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS M.Kotsay      FLN .158 38  6  0  0  0  J.Deleon      PIN  6 11  9  9  6  0 010 T.Pagnozzi    SLN .160 25  4  0  0  0  T.Glavine     ATN  9 18  9  1  5  2 020 M.Trillo      SFN .152 33  5  0  2  0  C.Brock       PHN  7 13  8  2  4  5 011 G.Richards    SDN .065 31  2  0  5  0  T.Redding     WAN  6  7  6  2  5  1 010 T.Cromer      SLN .143 35  5  2  1  0  C.Puleo       ATN  6 10  8  1  7  2 000 INJURY REPORT M.Tyson, Chicago (NL) - 4 more games J.Bonilla, San Diego - 3 more games S.Kemp, Pittsburgh - 2 more games R.Roenicke, San Francisco - 2 more games B.Bonilla, New York (NL) - 6 more games C.O'Brien, New York (NL) - 3 more games B.Gilkey, St. Louis - 13 more games E.Dukes, Washington - 1 more games R.Zimmerman, Washington - 7 more games T.Redding, Washington - 2 more games   And our featured boxscore for the month of May showcases the '82 Twins who gave up 22 runs to the '03 Tigers, yes the Tigers team that lost 119 games, on May 3rd. The sacrificial lamb was reliever Don Cooper who gave up 10 runs in 2 2/3 innings pitched. Da Meat Hook had 8 RBI for Detroit.   BOXSCORE: 2003 Detroit Tigers At 1982 Minnesota Twins                5/3/2008   Tigers             AB  R  H RBI AVG     Twins              AB  R  H RBI AVG   A.Sanchez CF        6  4  3  3 .278     B.Mitchell CF       4  0  0  0 .222     S.Halter 2B         6  3  4  2 .291   A-R.Johnson CF        1  0  1  0 .389     B.Higginson RF      6  3  3  2 .267     G.Ward LF           4  1  1  0 .325     D.Young DH          5  3  4  8 .321     K.Hrbek 1B          5  2  2  4 .444     C.Monroe LF         7  1  2  1 .255     T.Brunansky RF      3  1  1  0 .257     C.Pena 1B           6  1  1  1 .282     G.Gaetti SS         4  1  1  2 .211     B.Inge C            5  2  3  1 .226     J.Vega DH           3  1  0  0 .278     E.Munson 3B         6  2  3  3 .179     T.Laudner C         3  2  2  2 .374     R.Santiago SS       5  3  3  1 .229     J.Castino 2B        4  0  1  1 .348                                             M.Hatcher 3B        4  1  1  0 .224                        -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---                Totals      52 22 26 22                 Totals      35  9 10  9 A-Subbed Defensively (CF) For Mitchell In 8th Inning INJURY: Bobby Mitchell INJURED (for 2 more games) in 7th inning Tigers.......... 1 111  0 5 0  1 0 3  - 22 26  0 Twins........... 0 2 0  0 0 4  3 0 0  -  9 10  0 Tigers (13-18)           IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA M.Maroth WIN(2-2)         5 1/3   5   5   5   3   0   2 110   5.44 F.German                  1       3   3   3   0   0   1  28  13.94 M.Anderson                2 2/3   2   1   1   2   0   1  50   3.37 Totals                    9      10   9   9   5   0   4 Twins (11-19)            IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA B.Havens LOSS(1-4)        2       7   6   6   1   2   3  57   6.00 D.Cooper                  2 2/3  10  10  10   4   1   0  99  29.70 P.Redfern                 1 2/3   7   3   3   1   2   0  51   4.97 P.Boris                   2 2/3   2   3   3   1   4   1  48   3.18 Totals                    9      26  22  22   7   9   4 ATTENDANCE- 15,676 DATE- Saturday, May 3rd 2008 TIME- Night T- 3:58 LEFT ON BASE- Tigers:10  Twins: 4 DOUBLE PLAYS- Tigers: 2  Twins: 0 DOUBLES- A.Sanchez-2(10th), S.Halter(3rd), C.Pena(5th), B.Inge(5th),          E.Munson(2nd), R.Johnson(7th), T.Laudner(16th), M.Hatcher(2nd) TRIPLES- R.Santiago(1st) HOME RUNS- B.Higginson(4th), D.Young-2(7th), C.Monroe(5th), K.Hrbek-2(9th),            G.Gaetti(6th), T.Laudner(5th) STOLEN BASES- A.Sanchez(9th), B.Inge(2nd) WALKS- A.Sanchez, S.Halter, B.Higginson, D.Young-2, B.Inge, R.Santiago, G.Ward,        T.Brunansky-2, J.Vega, T.Laudner STRIKE OUTS- S.Halter, B.Higginson, D.Young, C.Monroe-2, C.Pena-3, B.Inge GIDP- G.Gaetti, J.Castino PASSED BALLS- T.Laudner WEB GEMS- Top 9th: Paul Boris robbed Alex Sanchez of a base hit.  

Bored

Bored

 

Loser League: April

The Loser League is underway! See the orignal entry on how the league will work. I'll do entries for each completed month.   Through April the '79 Blue Jays are bringing up the rear in the A.L. East as they rank dead last in runs scored, highlighted by Danny Ainge who's hitting .186/.208/.229 in 70 at bats.   NEWSPAPER STYLE RECAP FOR 2008 American League                 Date: 5/1/2008 TEAM     WON LOST   BATTING AVERAGE     HOME RUNS           RUNS BATTED IN 2002 TBA  18  10    T.Long    KCA .404  A.Huff    TBA   10  A.Huff    TBA   28 1992 BOA  15  14    R.Johnson MNA .380  J.Rudi    LAA    9  J.Rudi    LAA   24 1988 BAA  15  14    W.Boggs   BOA .357  K.Hrbek   MNA    7  T.Brunans MNA   23 1990 NYA  13  16    T.Laudner MNA .355  T.Brunans MNA    7  W.Boggs   BOA   23 1979 TOA   9  19    A.Huff    TBA .351  A.Belle   CLA    7  A.Berroa  KCA   23 2005 KCA  16  11    WINS                SAVES               ERA 1989 CHA  16  12    F.Tanana  LAA    5  E.Yan     TBA    7  R.Dressle SEA 1.42 1991 CLA  15  13    C.Hough   TEA    4  M.Macdoug KCA    7  R.Langfor OAA 1.64 2003 DEA  12  16    G.Harris  BOA    4  OTHERS TIED W    5  F.Martine LAA 1.91 1982 MNA  10  18    T.Sturtze TBA    4                      C.Hough   TEA 1.97                     OTHERS TIED W    3                      M.Roney   DEA 2.27 1980 LAA  21   8 1985 TEA  15  13    CUR HIT STREAK      STOLEN BASES        STRIKEOUTS 1979 OAA  13  16    R.Bosetti TOA   12  J.Cruz    SEA   12  R.Clemens BOA   44 1980 SEA  10  18    K.Witt    DEA   12  A.Cole    CLA   11  F.Bannist SEA   41                     L.Parrish TEA    9  R.Kelly   NYA    9  T.Underwo TOA   38                     T.Long    KCA    9  R.Henders OAA    8  M.Perez   CHA   38                     OTHERS TIED W    8  A.Sanchez DEA    8  OTHERS TIED W   34 YESTERDAY'S GAMES   TODAY'S SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE STARTERS CHA  8  at  MNA  7  TBA-Sturtze(4-0, 2.95) at BAA-Tibbs(2-0, 3.90) TBA 10  at  BAA  2  KCA-Hernand(2-0, 3.00) at TEA-Mason(2-2, 3.73) TOA  1  at  BOA  3  TOA-Stieb(1-2, 4.18) at BOA-Viola(1-5, 2.70) SEA  0  at  CLA  1  SEA-Abbott(1-3, 4.78) at CLA-Otto(0-2, 6.20) OAA  1  at  LAA  2  OAA-Langfor(2-1, 1.64) at LAA-Tanana(5-0, 3.77) DEA  7  at  NYA  3  DEA-Maroth(1-2, 5.00) at NYA-Leary(1-1, 3.27) KCA  4  at  TEA  5 YESTERDAY'S BEST PERFORMANCES BATTER         TM OPP AB  R  H RB BB Ks HR SB J.Sandberg    TBA BAA  4  1  3  4  1  1  1  0 M.Stairs      KCA TEA  4  1  3  3  0  0  1  0 T.Brunansky   MNA CHA  5  2  2  2  0  0  1  0 C.Ripken      BAA TBA  3  1  1  2  0  0  1  0 B.Higginson   DEA NYA  5  1  3  2  0  1  1  0 PITCHER        TM OPP  INN  H  R ER BB Ks HR WLS C.Knapp       LAA OAA  7.2  3  1  0  1  9  0     C.Cary        NYA DEA  5.1  1  1  0  1  6  0     M.Norris      OAA LAA  5.0  2  1  1  3 10  1     S.Hillegas    CLA SEA  3.2  0  0  0  0  5  0     R.Rupe        TBA BAA  8.0  3  2  2  2  4  1 W   WHO'S HOT - BEST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS A.Huff        TBA .286 21  6 10  5  3  S.Hillegas    CLA  9  4  0  1 11  0 200 J.Castino     MNA .500 28 14  6  1  3  R.Clemens     BOA  9  4  1  1 10  0 100 J.Rudi        LAA .353 34 12  9  2  4  C.Cary        NYA 13  5  1  3 10  0 100 L.Sheets      BAA .304 23  7  5  4  2  K.Patterson   CHA  6  1  0  2  5  0 001 M.Stairs      KCA .304 23  7  6  7  1  G.Harris      TEA 14  8  1  5 16  0 202 WHO'S NOT - WORST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS T.Donohue     LAA .111 27  3  0  0  0  G.Cadaret     NYA  6 11  8  4  7  1 020 T.Hall        TBA .148 27  4  1  0  0  D.Otto        CLA  8 16 10  4  8  1 020 R.Schu        BAA .120 25  3  1  2  0  D.Sisk        BAA  6 17  8  3  2  0 010 C.Martinez    CLA .179 28  5  2  0  0  J.Bonderman   DEA  6 14  9  2  5  1 011 G.Gaetti      MNA .231 26  6  1  0  0  M.Young       BOA  6 11  7  2  7  0 010 INJURY REPORT L.Milbourne, Seattle - 1 more games C.Wilkerson, Texas - 2 more games B.Anderson, Baltimore - 2 more games T.Pena, Boston - 5 more games E.Wedge, Boston - 7 more games C.Gomez, Tampa Bay - 10 more games E.Munson, Detroit - 1 more games R.Gotay, Kansas City - 1 more games M.Sweeney, Kansas City - 1 more games   In the National League, the '82 Reds and '88 Braves are dead locked for the worst record. The Reds are hitting a dreadful .236 as a team while the Braves are last in team ERA by a wide margin at 5.23.   NEWSPAPER STYLE RECAP FOR 2008 National League                 Date: 5/1/2008 TEAM     WON LOST   BATTING AVERAGE     HOME RUNS           RUNS BATTED IN 2008 WAN  18  10    A.Galarra CON .441  C.Hayes   CON    8  S.Rolen   PHN   28 2000 PHN  17  11    G.Perry   ATN .387  J.Leonard SFN    7  R.Zimmerm WAN   26 1993 NYN  16  12    J.Girardi CON .373  S.Rolen   PHN    7  E.Karros  LAN   25 1998 FLN   9  18    B.Gilkey  SLN .365  OTHERS TIED W    6  J.Leonard SFN   23 1988 ATN   9  20    J.Mabry   SLN .356                      T.Cromer  SLN   23 1985 PIN  18  10    WINS                SAVES               ERA 1981 CHN  14  13    R.Reusche PIN    5  S.Garrelt SFN    8  R.Wolf    PHN 1.09 1995 SLN  14  15    M.Krukow  SFN    5  M.Dejean  MLN    8  J.Jones   HON 1.13 1991 HON  14  15    R.Wolf    PHN    5  D.Holmes  CON    7  M.Krukow  SFN 1.28 2002 MLN  13  14    OTHERS TIED W    4  OTHERS TIED W    5  D.Bird    CHN 1.53 1982 CIN   9  20                                            K.Gross   LAN 1.57 1993 CON  18  11    CUR HIT STREAK      STOLEN BASES        STRIKEOUTS 1985 SFN  18  11    L.Harris  LAN    9  S.Finley  HON   16  M.Soto    CIN   47 1992 LAN  14  13    B.Gilkey  SLN    9  G.Perry   ATN   13  D.Gooden  NYN   40 1998 ARN  13  15    J.Morriso PIN    8  O.Smith   SDN   11  T.Candiot LAN   39 1981 SDN  11  17    Y.Benitez ARN    8  V.Coleman NYN   11  OTHERS TIED W   36                     A.Fox     ARN    8  C.Floyd   FLN   10 YESTERDAY'S GAMES   TODAY'S SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE STARTERS HON  5  at  ARN  2  MLN-Sheets(2-3, 6.37) at CHN-Martz(1-2, 4.50) PIN  8  at  NYN  0  LAN-Hershis(3-2, 3.60) at FLN-Larkin(0-1, 6.61) CIN  3  at  SLN  4  SDN-Eichelb(1-2, 4.38) at PHN-Person(2-3, 2.67) CON  2  at  SFN  6  PIN-Rhoden(2-2, 5.13) at WAN-Bergman(2-1, 5.52) ATN  3  at  WAN  6 MLN  0  at  CHN  1 LAN  5  at  FLN  6 SDN  0  at  PHN  4 YESTERDAY'S BEST PERFORMANCES BATTER         TM OPP AB  R  H RB BB Ks HR SB T.Pena        PIN NYN  4  2  2  3  0  0  1  1 J.Leonard     SFN CON  4  2  2  1  0  2  1  0 E.Davis       LAN FLN  5  1  2  2  0  1  1  1 M.Webster     LAN FLN  5  2  1  2  1  2  1  1 T.Lee         ARN HON  4  1  1  2  0  0  1  0 PITCHER        TM OPP  INN  H  R ER BB Ks HR WLS D.Bird        CHN MLN  9.0  1  0  0  1  5  0 W   M.Krukow      SFN CON  9.0  4  2  0  1  7  1 W   R.Wolf        PHN SDN  7.0  5  0  0  0  6  0 W   J.Hanrahan    WAN ATN  3.0  0  0  0  0  0  0   S A.Osuna       HON ARN  1.0  0  0  0  0  2  0   S WHO'S HOT - BEST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS T.Lee         ARN .286 28  8 10  5  4  D.Bird        CHN  9  1  0  1  5  0 100 B.Almon       PIN .321 28  9  6  4  3  T.Candiotti   LAN  9  4  0  2 13  0 100 L.Smith       ATN .435 23 10  5  2  2  M.Krukow      SFN 17 11  1  2 13  1 200 P.Burrell     PHN .286 28  8  4  5  3  O.Daal        ARN 10  6  1  1 12  0 011 R.Lankford    SLN .351 37 13  6 10  2  R.Reuschel    PIN 16 11  3  3  8  0 200 WHO'S NOT - WORST IN LAST 10 DAYS BATTER         TM  AVG AB  H RB BB HR  PITCHER        TM IP  H ER BB Ks HR WLS J.Uribe       SFN .114 35  4  1  1  0  T.Lollar      SDN  7 14 11  9  6  2 000 R.Belliard    MLN .138 29  4  0  1  0  S.Mura        SDN 11 16 10  3 11  5 030 M.Trillo      SFN .135 37  5  0  3  0  G.Harris      CIN  6  8  8  7  5  1 000 G.Richards    SDN .160 25  4  0  2  0  J.EichelbergerSDN  9 10  8  6  4  1 020 T.Hundley     NYN .120 25  3  2  1  0  G.Minton      SFN  6 11  6  3  3  3 000 INJURY REPORT L.Salazar, San Diego - 6 more games B.Evans, San Diego - 5 more games C.Cedeno, Cincinnati - 8 more games D.Gladden, San Francisco - 1 more games M.Trillo, San Francisco - 5 more games C.Jones, Colorado - 14 more games T.Hundley, New York (NL) - 1 more games T.Dunwoody, Florida - 3 more games G.Zaun, Florida - 7 more games K.Jordan, Philadelphia - 1 more games M.Lieberthal, Philadelphia - 1 more games A.Sanchez, Milwaukee - 4 more games R.Machado, Milwaukee - 4 more games   And finally I'll post a selected boxscore from each month this one featuring the before mentioned, offensively challenged '82 Reds being no hit by Doug Bid of the '81 Cubs on April 17th. 6,799 lucky fans witnessed history at Wrigley!   BOXSCORE: 1982 Cincinnati Reds At 1981 Chicago (NL) Cubs            4/17/2008   Reds               AB  R  H RBI AVG     Cubs               AB  R  H RBI AVG   E.Milner LF         3  0  0  0 .262     I.Dejesus SS        4  0  0  0 .204     R.Oester 2B         4  0  0  0 .250     J.Morales RF        3  0  1  0 .205     L.Biittner 1B       2  0  0  0 .150     B.Buckner 1B        4  1  3  1 .321     D.Walker RF         3  0  0  0 .111     B.Bonds CF          4  0  0  0 .156     W.Krenchicki 3B     3  0  0  0 .154     S.Henderson LF      4  1  0  0 .259     D.Concepcion SS     3  0  0  0 .073     T.Blackwell C       2  0  1  1 .379     P.Householder CF    3  0  0  0 .184     M.Tyson 2B          4  1  2  0 .306     A.Trevino C         3  0  0  0 .250     K.Reitz 3B          3  1  1  2 .255     B.Berenyi P         1  0  0  0 .200     D.Bird P            3  0  0  0 .000   A-M.Vail PH           1  0  0  0 .429                                             G.Harris P          0  0  0  0 ----                                           B-M.O'Berry PH        1  0  0  0 .000                                                                -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---                Totals      27  0  0  0                 Totals      31  4  8  4 A-Pinch Hit For Berenyi In 6th Inning B-Pinch Hit For Harris In 9th Inning Reds............ 0 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  -  0  0  1 Cubs............ 1 0 0  3 0 0  0 0    -  4  8  0 Reds (4-12)              IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA B.Berenyi LOSS(0-5)       5       6   4   3   1   3   2 103   9.38 G.Harris                  3       2   0   0   1   1   0  39   0.69 Totals                    8       8   4   3   2   4   2 Cubs (7-8)               IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA D.Bird WIN(1-2)           9       0   0   0   1   6   0 118   2.21 Totals                    9       0   0   0   1   6   0 ATTENDANCE- 6,799 DATE- Thursday, April 17th 2008 TIME- Day WEATHER- Average T- 2:19 LEFT ON BASE- Reds: 2  Cubs: 6 DOUBLE PLAYS- Reds: 1  Cubs: 0 ERRORS- A.Trevino HOME RUNS- B.Buckner(2nd), K.Reitz(1st) STOLEN BASES- E.Milner(3rd) SACRIFICE FLIES- T.Blackwell WALKS- E.Milner, J.Morales, T.Blackwell HIT BY PITCH- L.Biittner STRIKE OUTS- R.Oester, D.Walker, W.Krenchicki, P.Householder, M.Vail, M.O'Berry,              B.Bonds-2, K.Reitz, D.Bird GIDP- K.Reitz WILD PITCHES- B.Berenyi-2  

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Team USA 2009

Quicky entry here. First off I'm currently working on a list of the 100 greatest baseball players of my lifetime. Whether I actually finish it is another story as I've tried to do similar lists like this before and always ended up chucking the whole thing.   Hey it's World Baseball Classic time and for this entry just going to very quickly put together my own Team USA. I did this a for 2006 (LOLZ Dontrelle Willis) so might as well do it for 2009 since I need an excuse for an entry. This time around though I'm going construct a roster based on a more standard baseball roster rather than the extreme reliever heavy WBC rosters. This is totally based if no one was injured and if Alex Rodriguez wasn't a TRAITOR TO OUR COUNTRY!   Starters C.C. Sabathia Brandon Webb Tim Lincecum Roy Halladay   Relievers Joe Nathan Jonathan Papelbon Brian Fuentes Brad Lidge Heath Bell David Price   C: Joe Mauer 1B: Mark Texeira 2B: Chase Utley 3B: David Wright SS: Alex Rodriguez LF: Matt Holliday CF: Grady Sizemore RF: Nick Markakis DH: Chipper Jones   Bench Brian McCann Lance Berkman Dustin Pedroia Jimmy Rollins Evan Longoria Curtis Granderson

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Roy Oswalt Tests Positive for Hyperbole

Roy Oswalt is mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore!   Okay first off this is just silly. You're an active player and a very good one at that. A-Rod hasn't cost you a spot in the Majors, hell he's not even a pitcher!   So why did God let these heathens have their performance enhancing drugs? Jesus didn't need steroids to hit a curveball!   Hmm, interesting considering they've never even played in the same league together but they have faced off in three games in interleague play so let's go to the video tape! Or let's go to baseball-reference.   June 8, 2001 Oswalt failed to retire Rodriguez in three plate appearances as he doubled, walked, and doubled. Obviously those doubles would have been infield pop outs without steroids. Oswalt also gave up home runs to Ivan Rodriguez and Rusty Greer and I now demand both have their records removed the books as obviously Oswalt's God given gifts would not surrender home runs to clean players. Oswalt got a no decision but the Astros won, but who cares because A-ROD COULD HAVE COST HIM MONEY!!!   June 28, 2002 In this game Oswalt did get the better of Rodriguez in two of his at bats but in the 4th inning A-Fraud hit a home run off our hero and if I were Roy I would demand that MLB lower his ERA for the 2002 season immediately! But our hero did win the game but hey he could have also lost it which means A-ROD COULD HAVE COST HIM MONEY!!!   June 15, 2008 Rodriguez reached base only once against Oswalt on a walk. But with these new fangled PEDs they keep coming up with who knows they might actually give players telekinesis. I think A-Fraud may have caused Roy's pitches to land out of the strikezone with his mind! Oswalt lost this game and this certainly means that A-ROD COST HIM MONEY!!!   For those scoring at home Roy Oswalt has made $46,950,000 in his career and his current contract will guarantee him another $45 million over the next three seasons. And you know what he deserves it, he's a fantastic pitcher and I'm just having some fun here. He has a right to be pissed that there will be a cloud over all players who played in the last 15 years. But he really comes off like a sanctimonious crybaby in this and does anyone really want to hear a millionaire whine about possibly being cost money? Also if Roger Clemens is ever "proven" to have used PEDs in his career, I hope Roy has the same conviction that he has with A-Rod and demand the Astros be stripped of their 2005 National League Championship.

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The Loser League

Another day, another OMG BASEBALL IS DEAD story. But I'm here to help the healing begin with a distraction. It's time to decide who was the worst team of my lifetime!   In a desperate need for content for this blog I've decided to run a simulation using Strat-O-Matic to crown the worst team of last 30 years. Each MLB franchise will be represented with their worst team from the last 30 seasons. I'll be using the 2008 MLB schedule as a guideline for the league as no way I'm going to take the time to create my own schedule and Strat's computer generated schedules aren't particularly good. It will be a couple of weeks before I actually begin the simulation as the 2008 rosters won't be shipping for another week and the '08 Nationals are the Montreal/Washington rep.   Now to truly decide who is the worst team of the last 30 years, the standings will be turned upside down. Last place teams in the six divisions and the worst next to last teams in each league will qualify for the playoffs. The playoffs will be just like the current playoff format but loser of each series will be the one who advances.   Start making your predictions now!   AL East 1979 Toronto Blue Jays (53-109) 1988 Baltimore Orioles (54-107) 1990 New York Yankees (67-95) 1992 Boston Red Sox (73-89) 2002 Tampa Bay Devil Rays (55-106)   AL Central 1982 Minnesota Twins (60-102) 1989 Chicago White Sox (69-92) 1991 Cleveland Indians (57-105) 2003 Detroit Tigers (43-119) 2005 Kansas City Royals (56-106)   AL West 1979 Oakland Athletics (54-108) 1980 California Angles (65-95) 1980 Seattle Mariners (59-103) 1985 Texas Rangers (62-99)   NL East 1988 Atlanta Braves (54-106) 1993 New York Mets (59-103) 1998 Florida Marlins (54-108) 2000 Philadelphia Phillies (65-97) 2008 Washington Nationals (59-102)   NL Central 1981 Chicago Cubs (38-65) 1982 Cincinnati Reds (61-101) 1985 Pittsburgh Pirates (57-104) 1991 Houston Astros (65-97) 1995 St. Louis Cardinals (62-81) 2002 Milwaukee Brewers (56-106)   NL West 1981 San Diego Padres (41-69) 1985 San Francisco Giants (62-100) 1992 Los Angeles Dodgers (63-99) 1993 Colorado Rockies (67-95) 1998 Arizona Diamondbacks (65-97)

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Steelers DVDs: Super Bowl IX

As I've mentioned previously I love original televised footage of classic games and I recently added two more DVD sets to my collection one for the Pittsburgh Steelers and one for Oklahoma Sooners football. First off regarding the Oklahoma set, I probably should have actually looked up the scores to the games on the set before purchasing it as only one of the five games was decided by single digits (1976 Orange Bowl), but oh well. There is a bonus feature "The Best of the Barry Switzer Show" which might actually be worth an entry if I ever get around to watching it.   The Steelers set has all five of their Super Bowl victories. Well it was supposed to have all five Super Bowls but my set showed up with no Super Bowl XL disk. Bang up job their NFL! If it had been any of the 70's Super Bowls I would have mailed it back. Since I had no intention re-watching that boring, horribly officiated, Jerome Bettis lovefest I decided not to bother with the hassle of returning it. And also NFL, get off your ass and release a 49ers Super Bowls set already.   Now Super Bowl X and XIII annually make All-Time Great Super Bowl lists and Super Bowl XIV might be one of the most underrated Super Bowls of all-time. But anyone can watch the good games, so I decided to watch Super Bowl IX which is just 60 minutes of the Steel Curtain destroying the Vikings' offensive line.   January 12, 1975 - Super Bowl IX: Pittsburgh Steelers (12-3-1) vs. Minnesota Vikings (12-4)   -There were several poor reviews for the set on Amazon due to the video quality of this game and Super Bowl X. The video quality ended up not being quite as bad as some the reviews painted it but it's not very good either.   -Sadly there are no player introductions on the disk and no postgame. Announcers for the game are Curt Gowdy, Al DeRogatis, and Don Meredith.   STEELERS OFFENSE LT: Jon Kolb LG: Jim Clack C: Ray Mansfield RG: Gerry Mullins RT: Gordon Gravelle TE: Larry Brown WR: Frank Lewis WR: Ron Shanklin QB: Terry Bradshaw RB: Franco Harris RB: Rocky Bleier   VIKINGS DEFENSE LE: Carl Eller LT: Alan Page RT: Doug Sutherland RE: Jim Marshall LLB: Roy Winston MLB: Jeff Siemon RLB: Wally Hilgenberg LCB: Jackie Wallace RCB: Nate Wright SS: Jeff Wright FS: Paul Krause   VIKINGS OFFENSE LT: Charles Goodrum LG: Andy Maurer C: Mick Tingelhoff RG: Ed White RT: Ron Yary TE: Stu Voight WR: Jim Lash WR: John Gilliam QB: Fran Tarkenton RB: Chuck Foreman RB: Dave Osborn   STEELERS DEFENSE LE: L.C. Greenwood LT: Joe Greene RT: Ernie Holmes RE: Dwight White LLB: Jack Ham MLB: Jack Lambert RLB: Andy Russell LCB: J.T. Thomas RCB: Mel Blount SS: Mike Wagner FS: Glen Edwards   FIRST QUARTER   -Vikings use a 14 man defensive huddle where they would run off three defenders after the Steelers break their huddle, a practice that is of course no longer permitted in today's game.   -On the Vikings first play on offense, Tarkenton completes a pass to John Gilliam on the sideline and as Gilliam is knocked out of bounds he runs over a cameraman who I'm pretty sure was Steve Sabol.   -Steelers would blow two scoring chances in the quarter after getting the ball on the Vikings' 44 and on their own 47. Roy Gerella missed an relatively easy field goal attempt and then the holder bobbled a second attempt.   -Curt Gowdy makes only one mention of Rocky Bleier being a Vietnam vet, playing with shrapnel in his body. I can only imagine how many times a modern announcer would make mention of fact like that during a game if an active player was a veteran. Good thing Tim Tebow isn't a Gulf War II vet.   -Gowdy also brings up the story Terry Bradshaw being pissed during the week because the media kept bringing up how he was viewed as a dumb player. Hasn't he pretty made a career out of this?   SECOND QUARTER   -Lynn Swan and John Stallworth were both in their rookie year and were not starters but they take almost every snap at wideout from the second quarter on.   -Vikings get their first opportunity to score after Bleier fumbles and the Vikings recover on the Steelers 24. But as would be the case through the much of the game, the Vikings could not move the ball and settle for a field goal attempt but kicker Fred Cox hits it wide right.   -After the Steelers were forced to punt on the ensuing possession, Vikings punt return Sam McCullum would field the punt on a hop inside his own 10. Al DeRogatis thinks it was a bad decision but there were two Steelers near by when he fielded the punt and I think they probably would have downed it inside the 5 anyways. Nevertheless this does lead to the first score of the game when what appears to be miscommunication between Tarkenton and fullback Dave Osborn as Tarkenton pitches it but Osborn doesn't even attempt to grab it. The ball gets kicked back, Tarkenton reaches the ball just before the goal line but slides into endzone where he is touched down by Dwight White for a safety.   -On the Vikings next possession, they put together their best drive of the game reaching the Steelers 25. But on a Tarkenton pass over the middle to Gilliam at the Steelers 5, Gilliam attempts to making a leaping grab but he is immediately nailed by Glen Edwards and the ball pops up in their air and is intercepted by Mel Blount. Game heads to the half with a 2-0 score.   THIRD QUARTER   -Huge break for the Steelers on the second half kick. Gerela slips just as he kicks the ball and it ends up being an accidental squib kick. One of the upbacks Bill Brown doesn't field it cleanly and the Steelers would recover on the Vikings 30. Three Franco Harris runs later and it was 9-0.   -There's a bizarre moment on the Vikings next possession. It was 4th and inches on their own 38 and lined up like they were going to run the play but are just trying to draw the Steelers offsides. As Tarkenton tries to draw them offsides a couple of Steelers players start pointing that one of the Vikings lineman flinched, although on the replay it doesn't appear anyone moved, and then the Steelers run across the line. The refs of course blow the play dead but none of them threw a flag. After a quick discussion, there's no false start on the Vikings, no offsides on the Steelers, no timeout was called by the Vikings, and essentially no play. It was like the refs all forgot to throw a flag and when then decided to just say "fuck it, no play." Vikings end up punting.   -Probably the most infamous play of the game happens on the Vikings next possession. L.C. Greenwood deflected a Tarkenton pass, which happened quite a bit in this game, that went right back to Tarkenton who catches it and then throws another pass to a wide open Gilliam for a huge gain into Steelers territory but that's of course that's a penalty. Gowdy doesn't appear to know the rule as he calls it like it's a huge play for the Vikings, all the while Don Meredith tries to correct him during the play. But considering a 14 year veteran in Tarkenton apparently didn't know you couldn't throw two passes on the same play, I guess Gowdy deserves a pass.   -Even though it's only 9-0 after three, the game already felt like a blowout.   FOURTH QUARTER   -Oh but the Vikings actually do have a glimmer of hope. Early in the quarter the Vikings recover a Harris fumble on the Steelers 47 and a pass interference penalty sets them up with a first a goal on the 5. But Chuck Foreman promptly fumbles the ball right back to the Steelers.   -Steelers can't move the ball and Matt Blair would block the punt which the Vikings recover in the endzone for a touchdown. But the Vikings can't do something good without screwing something else up so the kicker Cox shanks the PAT to keep it a three point game.   -The things we take for granted watching football today like knowing how much time is left in a quarter. We don't get a camera shot of the clock here until there is 9:52 left in the game. Although there's no plays missing from the disk, there are several times during the game where the time between a play is edited out so this made it very difficult to figure keep track of how long was left in a quarter.   -The Steelers would put the game away with what was really the only sustained drive of the game by either offense on a 11 play, 66 yard march that at up 7:02 of the clock that ends on a Bradshaw touchdown pass to tight end Larry Brown. There was some mild controversy earlier in the drive on a 30 yard completion to Brown where he appeared to fumble and it was initially ruled the Vikings had recovered but another ref ran in and changed the call. Replay shows that he was clearly down before the ball came loose though.   -Late in the game it's noted that L.C. Greenwood had signed with the Birmingham Vulcans of the short lived World Football League. He ended up changing his mind.   -As the game goes off the air, Gowdy notes that the Steelers were only going to get better. Okay announcers say that almost every time after a team wins a championship but guess one deserves credit when they actually are right in making that proclamation.

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The 30+ Years of Misery Club

In a couple of weeks we have the chance to witness something none of us have seen before (I assume we have no one in their 60's on this board) and that is see the Cardinals as champions of the NFL. This got me to wonder about how many franchises in the four major North American professional sports leagues have never won their league's championship in my lifetime. I also wanted to know who would replace the Cardinals as the most moribund franchise in the NFL (I know you will all be shocked!) and who in the NBA and NHL have the longest run since their last championship.   In total there are 47 teams who have failed to win a single "world" championship in the last 30 years, of course that does not include expansion franchises who have come into existence since. Note I do count championships won in the AFL, ABA, and WHA for those franchises who were grandfathered in to their current leagues. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Phoenix Coyotes (won the last ever Avco Cup in the WHA as the Winnipeg Jets in 1979) are set to join this list after this year. The Seattle Supersonics would have also joined the list if they hadn't had their franchise stolen away.   1. Chicago Cubs - 100 years 1908 World Series Champions Misery Fun Fact: Have not played in a World Series since 1945 which is a longer drought for playing for a championship than any other franchise has gone without winning a championship (current streak).   2. Arizona Cardinals (Chicago/St. Louis) - 61 years 1947 NFL Champions Misery Fun Fact: Before this year had won one playoff game since last championship.   3. Cleveland Indians - 60 years 1948 World Series Champions Misery Fun Fact: Had a 41 year World Series drought between 1954 and 1995.   4. Sacramento Kings (Rochester Royals/Cincinnati Royals/Kansas City) - 57 years 1951 NBA Champions Misery Fun Fact: Haven't played in a NBA Finals since '51 championship.   5. San Francisco Giants (New York) - 54 years 1954 World Series Champions Misery Fun Fact: Haven't won a championship since moving to San Francisco in 1958 and hopefully never will.   6. Detroit Lions - 51 years 1957 NFL Champions Misery Fun Fact: One playoff win since last championship.   7. Atlanta Hawks (St. Louis) - 50 years 1958 NBA Champions Misery Fun Fact: Last conference/division finals appearance was in 1970.   8. Philadelphia Eagles - 48 years 1960 NFL Champions Misery Fun Fact: Have now lost four conference championship games this decade.   9t. Chicago Blackhawks - 47 years 1961 Stanley Cup Champions Misery Fun Fact: Only one playoff appearance in last 11 years, although that will change this year.   9t. Minnesota Vikings - 47 years Misery Fun Fact: 0-4 in Super Bowls and 0-4 in conference championship games since their last Super Bowl in 1976.   9t. Tennessee Titans (Houston Oilers) - 47 Years 1961 AFL Champions Misery Fun Fact: 1-4 in conference championship games.   9t. Texas Rangers (Washington Senators) - 47 years Misery Fun Fact: Oldest franchise in the Big Four leagues to never reach the championship round of it's sport. Zero playoff series wins.   13. Houston Astros - 46 years Misery Fun Fact: Took 43 years win their only NL pennant.   14. San Diego Chargers - 45 years 1963 AFL Champions Misery Fun Fact: 1-5 in AFL/AFC Championship games since '63.   15. Cleveland Browns - 44 years 1964 NFL Champions Misery Fun Fact: 0-6 in NFL/AFC Championship games since '64.   16. Buffalo Bills - 43 years 1965 AFL Champions Misery Fun Fact: Only franchise in the Big Four to lose in the championship round of it's sport in four consecutive years.   17. Atlanta Falcons - 42 years Misery Fun Fact: Advanced past divisional round of playoffs only twice.   18t. New Orleans Saints - 41 years Misery Fun Fact: Did not win a playoff game in their first 33 years of existence.   18t. Toronto Maple Leafs - 41 years 1967 Stanley Cup Champions Misery Fun Fact: Haven't played in a Cup Final since '67 championship.   20t. Cincinnati Bengals - 40 years Misery Fun Fact: One playoff appearance in last 18 years.   20t. Denver Nuggets - 40 years Misery Fun Fact: Have yet to reach the NBA Finals since merger in '76-'77.   20t. Los Angeles Kings - 40 years Misery Fun Fact: Reached Cup Finals only once.   20t. New York Jets - 40 years Misery Fun Fact: If Brett Favre couldn't bring them a Super Bowl, who can????   20t. St. Louis Blues - 40 years Misery Fun Fact: Last Cup Finals appearance was in 1970.   25t. Kansas City Chiefs - 39 years Super Bowl IV Champions Misery Fun Fact: Have only reached conference championship game once since Super Bowl IV win.   25t. Milwaukee Brewers (Seattle Pilots) - 39 years Misery Fun Fact: Won only two division championships.   25t. Phoenix Suns - 39 years Misery Fun Fact: Despite a .559 all-time winning pct., only reached NBA Finals twice.   25t. San Diego Padres - 39 years Misery Fun Fact: 1-8 in World Series games.   25t. Washington Nationals (Montreal Expos) - 39 years Misery Fun Fact: Only playoff appearance was in the bizarre '81 split season.   30t. Buffalo Sabers - 37 years Misery Fun Fact: Only two Stanley Cup Finals appearances.   30t. Cleveland Cavaliers - 37 years Misery Fun Fact: 35 year wait for their only NBA Finals appearance.   30t. Los Angeles Clippers (Buffalo Braves/San Diego) - 37 years Misery Fun Fact: .364 all-time winning percentage and never reached a conference final.   30t. Milwaukee Bucks - 37 years 1971 NBA Champions Misery Fun Fact: Advanced past first around of playoffs only once in last 19 years.   30t. Vancouver Canucks - 37 years Misery Fun Fact: Their two Stanley Cup Finals appearances are the only two years they've reached the conference finals.   35. Boston Bruins - 36 years 1972 Stanley Cup Champions Misery Fun Fact: Only one playoff series win since 1995.   36t. Indiana Pacers - 35 years 1973 ABA Champions Misery Fun Fact: 1-5 in Eastern Conference finals series.   36t. Miami Dolphins - 35 years Super Bowl VIII Champions Misery Fun Fact: Best all-time winning pct. of any active NFL franchise (.583) but haven't played in a Super Bowl in 24 years.   36t. New York Knicks - 35 years 1973 NBA Champions Misery Fun Fact: Seven straight losing seasons.   39t. Golden State Warriors - 33 years 1975 NBA Champions Misery Fun Fact: Haven't reached conference finals in 32 years.   39t. Philadelphia Flyers - 33 years 1975 Stanley Cup Champions Misery Fun Fact: 0-5 in Stanley Finals series since '75 championship.   39t. Utah Jazz (New Orleans) - 33 years Misery Fun Fact: Only one losing in last 25 years but only two NBA Finals appearances to show for it.   39t. Washington Capitals - 33 years Misery Fun Fact: Reached conference finals only once.   43t. New Jersey Nets (New York) - 32 years 1976 ABA Champions Misery Fun Fact: Only advanced past first round of playoffs six times since NBA merger.   43t. Seattle Seahawks - 32 years Misery Fun Fact: Just two conference championship game appearances.   45t. Portland Trail Blazers - 31 years 1977 NBA Champions Misery Fun Fact: 8-17 in first round playoff series since '77 championship.   45t. Seattle Mariners - 31 years Misery Fun Fact: 14 straight losing seasons at their inception and played in the ALCS only twice.   47. Washington Wizards (Bullets) - 30 years 1978 NBA Champions Miser Fun Fact: Advanced past first round of playoffs only three time since '78 championship.

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Random A's Highlights

While I'm still trying to figure out what to do next with this blog, King Kamala's post about the A's 20th straight win in 2002 in offseason thread reminded me that I recently tripped upon some old A's highlights. This past season was the A's 40th year in Oakland and they had some Top 40 Moments poll, which I didn't even realize until after the season, but I guess on MLB.com at one point they posted a ton of old A's clips. I think they've been taken down off the A's site since then but by accident I found them with a url to the Cubs website of all places.   Almost all the clips from the 70's and 80's were old MLB home video footage but there were some cool 90's and 2000's clips in there with many of them having the radio call by the legendary Bill King. Here are the more choice ones that I found, or were at least the ones that were still working. I was disappointed that the clip to Ramon Hernandez's game winning bunt single in Game 1 of the '03 ALDS was not working.   October 18, 1988 vs. Los Angeles - Mark McGwire's forgotten walk off in Game 3 of the '88 World Series   June 29, 1990 at Toronto - Final out of Dave Stewart's no hitter   August 15, 1990 vs. Boston - Mark McGwire walk off grand slam   October 1, 2000 vs. Texas - Final out of division clinching win -Was at this game and it was my birthday too.   August 12, 2001 vs. New York - Jason Giambi walk off to sweep the Yankees   September 1, 2002 vs. Minnesota - Miguel Tejada walk off for 18th straight win   September 4, 2002 vs. Kansas City - Scott Hatteberg walk off for record 20th straight win -Covered this game in a prior entry.

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HOF Profile: Rickey Henderson

Rickey Henderson, Left Fielder   Oakland Athletics 1979-1984, 1989-1993, 1994-1995, 1998 New York Yankees 1985-1989 Toronto Blue Jays 1993 San Diego Padres 1996-1997, 2001 Anaheim Angels 1997 New York Mets 1999-2000 Seattle Mariners 2000 Boston Red Sox 2002 Los Angeles Dodgers 2003   Awards 1981 AL Gold Glove - OF 1981 AL Silver Slugger - OF 1985 AL Silver Slugger - OF 1989 ALCS MVP 1990 AL MVP 1990 AL Silver Slugger - OF   League Leader 1980: Stolen Bases 1981: Runs, Hits, Stolen Bases 1982: Walks, Stolen Bases 1983: Walks, Stolen Bases 1984: Stolen Bases 1985: Runs, Stolen Bases 1986: Runs, Stolen Bases 1988: Stolen Bases 1989: Runs, Walks, Stolen Bases 1990: OBP, Runs, Stolen Bases, OPS, OPS+, Runs Created 1991: Stolen Bases 1998: Walks, Stolen Bases   Career Ranks OBP: 56th Games: 4th AB: 10th PA: 4th Runs: 1st Hits: 21st TB: 35th BB: 2nd SB: 1st RC: 10th   Best Performance October 5, 1991 - Oakland at Texas 4 for 4, three runs, three rbi, two doubles, home run, two walks, four stolen bases. Total domination.   Hall of Fame Stats Black Ink: Batting - 50 (26) (Average HOFer ≈ 27) Gray Ink: Batting - 143 (105) (Average HOFer ≈ 144) HOF Standards: Batting - 52.6 (62) (Average HOFer ≈ 50) HOF Monitor: Batting - 183.5 (52) (Likely HOFer > 100)   Similar Batters in HOF: 5 (Paul Molitor, Lou Brock, Joe Morgan, Robin Yount, Al Kaline) Other Similar Batters: Craig Biggio, Rusty Staub, Steve Finley, Tim Raines, Vada Pinson   Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)   1979: 10/1.3 1980: 34/10.7 1981: 27/12.1 1982: 28/8.0 1983: 30/10.0 1984: 28/9.0 1985: 38/13.2 1986: 26/10.6 1987: 20/7.0 1988: 28/9.3 1989: 30/11.1 1990: 39/15.3 1991: 25/9.7 1992: 25/9.6 1993: 25/10.0 1994: 11/6.4 1995: 19/5.8 1996: 16/6.0 1997: 15/4.6 1998: 20/7.2 1999: 16/5.9 2000: 8/3.7 2001: 12/1.9 2002: 4/1.3 2003: 1/0.1   Career Win Shares: 535 Career WARP3: 189.8   Bored's Stupid Opinion   Bored knows that Lou Brock was overrated and that RICKEY~ is the greatest of all-time.

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HOF Profile: Mark Grace

Mark Grace, First Baseman   Chicago Cubs 1988-2000 Arizona Diamondbacks 2001-2003   Awards 1992 NL Gold Glove - 1B 1993 NL Gold Glove - 1B 1995 NL Gold Glove - 1B 1996 NL Gold Glove - 1B   All-Star Selections: 3 (1993, 1995, 1997)   League Leader 1995: Doubles   Career Ranks Doubles: 39th Walks: 79th Runs Created: 98th   Best Performance July 7, 1989 - San Diego at Chicago Goes 4 for 4 with three doubles and a home run.   Hall of Fame Stats Black Ink: Batting - 3 (507) (Average HOFer ≈ 27) Gray Ink: Batting - 86 (265) (Average HOFer ≈ 144) HOF Standards: Batting - 38.0 (165) (Average HOFer ≈ 50) HOF Monitor: Batting - 60.5 (309) (Likely HOFer > 100)   Similar Batters in HOF: 1 (Enos Slaughter) Other Similar Batters: Keith Hernandez, Mickey Vernon, John Olerud, Hal McRae, Wally Joyner, Bill Buckner, Al Oliver, Joe Judge, Joe Kuhel   Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)   1988: 16/4.3 1989: 25/7.6 1990: 22/6.4 1991: 17/5.4 1992: 25/8.0 1993: 23/7.6 1994: 12/4.3 1995: 23/6.9 1996: 20/5.7 1997: 20/6.8 1998: 27/6.4 1999: 21/5.2 2000: 18/4.8 2001: 16/4.8 2002: 8/2.0 2003: 1/-0.1   Career Win Shares: 294 Career WARP: 86.2   My Stupid Opinion   Grace always hit for a good average (Top 10 in N.L. batting average nine times), get on base at a good rate (Top 10 in OBP seven times), and was a superb defensive first baseman. Problem with him though is that he had very little power and the standards for HOF first basemen are higher than any other position and he just doesn't really have much of a case. Among first basemen who had a minimum of 3000 plate appearances between 1988 and 2003 (when Grace was active), he ranks only 17th in OPS+

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HOF Profile: Jay Bell

Jay Bell, Shortstop   Cleveland Indians 1986-1988 Pittsburgh Pirates 1989-1996 Kansas City Royals 1997 Arizona Diamondbacks 1998-2002 New York Mets 2003   Awards 1993 NL Gold Glove - SS 1993 NL Silver Slugger - SS   All-Star Selections: 2 (1993, 1999)   League Leader None   Career Ranks None of note   Best Performance July 27, 1991 - Pittsburgh at Houston Goes 4 for 5 with two home runs, four runs scored, and four rbi.   Hall of Fame Stats Gray Ink: Batting - 32 (727) (Average HOFer ≈ 144) HOF Standards: Batting - 26.9 (352) (Average HOFer ≈ 50) HOF Monitor: Batting - 30.5 (576) (Likely HOFer > 100)   Similar Batters in HOF: None Top 10 Similar Batters: Toby Harrah, Ray Durham, Bobby Grich, Benito Santiago, Devon White, Alan Trammell, Frank White, Edgar Renteria, Alvin Dark, Amos Otis   Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)   1986: 1/0.3 1987: 1/0.3 1988: 2/0.0 1989: 8/2.5 1990: 17/8.1 1991: 22/9.0 1992: 24/8.0 1993: 26/10.6 1994: 19/6.8 1995: 13/4.6 1996: 15/4.0 1997: 21/11.1 1998: 20/7.6 1999: 23/6.9 2000: 19/5.5 2001: 12/3.8 2002: 1/-0.1 2003: 1/-0.2   Career Win Shares: 245 Career WARP3: 88.8   My Stupid Opinion   Certainly not a HOFer but a much better player than the average fan probably remembers. Good hitting shortstop with good defense, at least early in his career, who was very durable as from 1990-2000 he never missed more than 13 games in a season. Fun Fact: Only player in MLB history to ever have 30+ sacrifice hits in a season (39 in 1990 and 30 in 1991) and also have a 30+ home run season (38 in 1999) in their career.

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HOF Profile: Matt Williams

Matt Williams, Third Baseman   San Francisco Giants 1987-1996 Cleveland Indians 1997 Arizona Diamondbacks 1998-2003   Awards 1990 NL Silver Slugger - 3B 1991 NL Gold Glove - 3B 1993 NL Gold Golve - 3B 1993 NL Silver Slugger - 3B 1994 NL Gold Glove - 3B 1994 NL Silver Slugger - 3B 1997 AL Gold Glove - 3B 1997 AL Silver Slugger - 3B   All-Star Selections: 5 (1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999)   League Leader 1990: RBI 1994: Home Runs   Career Ranks Home Runs: 61st AB/HR: 79th   Best Performance April 18, 1993 - Atlanta at San Francisco Goes 4 for 6 with two home runs, including a walk off in the 11th inning.   Hall of Fame Stats Black Ink: Batting - 8 (272) (Average HOFer ≈ 27) Gray Ink: Batting - 58 (426) (Average HOFer ≈ 144) HOF Standards: Batting - 29.4 (286) (Average HOFer ≈ 50) HOF Monitor: Batting - 70.0 (258) (Likely HOFer > 100)   Similar Batters in HOF: 1 (Johnny Bench) Other Similar Batters: Vinny Castilla, Andruw Jones, George Foster, Rocky Colavito, Ron Cey, Robin Ventura, Frank Howard, Gil Hodges, Jack Clark   Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)   1987: 5/2.1 1988: 2/1.6 1989: 7/3.4 1990: 28/8.3 1991: 22/8.8 1992: 11/4.0 1993: 28/10.0 1994: 18/9.5 1995: 20/6.9 1996: 18/6.1 1997: 18/6.5 1998: 12/5.9 1999: 26/9.1 2000: 7/2.5 2001: 10/3.5 2002: 6/2.0 2003: 3/0.9   Career Win Shares: 241 Career WARP3: 91.2   My Stupid Opinion   Most famous for being "on pace" to tie Roger Maris' then single season record of 61 home runs (OMG STILL NON-STEROID RECORD!!!) in 1994 before the strike killed that opportunity. He was the best third baseman in baseball from 1993-1995, though it was in '95 where he started to have injury problems. Had a lot of power and played a very good third base but also a big time hacker who posted only a .317 career OBP. Overall just not impressive enough to warrant serious consideration for the HOF.

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HOF Profile: Ron Gant

Ron Gant, Left Fielder   Atlanta Braves 1987-1993 Cincinnati Reds 1995 St. Louis Cardinals 1996-1998 Philadelphia Phillies 1999-2000 Anaheim Angels 2000 Colorado Rockies 2001 Oakland Athletics 2001, 2003 San Diego Padres 2002   Awards 1991 NL Silver Slugger - OF   All-Star Selections: 2 (1992, 1995)   League Leader None   Career Ranks Home Runs: 96th   Best Performance July 5, 1990 - New York at Atlanta Easy pick as he matches he career high in hits (four), home runs (two), RBI (six), and total bases (eleven) in the same game.   Hall of Fame Stats Gray Ink: Batting - 52 (477) (Average HOFer ≈ 144) HOF Standards: Batting - 26.0 (377) (Average HOFer ≈ 50) HOF Monitor: Batting - 41.5 (441) (Likely HOFer > 100)   Similar Batters in HOF: None Top 10 Similar Batters: Reggie Sanders, Jeromy Burnitz, Jimmy Wynn, Andruw Jones, Bobby Bonds, Roy Sievers, Greg Vaughn, Darryl Strawberry, Bobby Thomson, Frank J. Thomas   Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)   1987: 1/0.4 1988: 16/5.3 1989: 1/0.1 1990: 21/7.4 1991: 25/8.6 1992: 17/3.8 1993: 25/6.0 1995: 21/6.1 1996: 18/5.8 1997: 11/3.3 1998: 11/2.5 1999: 16/5.3 2000: 7/3.9 2001: 4/1.4 2002: 12/3.3 2003: 0/-0.4   Career Win Shares: 206 Career WARP3: 62.9   My Stupid Opinion   Had a nice combination of power and speed in his prime but was never among the best players in the game in any particular year. Don't think the dirt bike accident he had in '94 where he broke his leg, costing him the entire season and a contract with the Braves that he just signed a week before (oops!), hurt him too much as he followed that up with of his best seasons in '95. His #1 comp of Reggie Sanders is one of the more apt comparisons I've seen with the Similar Batters tool.

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HOF Profile: David Cone

David Cone, Starting Pitcher   Kansas City Royals 1986, 1993-1994 New York Mets 1987-1992, 2003 Toronto Blue Jays 1992, 1995 New York Yankees 1995-2000 Boston Red Sox 2001   Awards 1994 AL Cy Young   All-Star Selections: 5 (1988, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1999)   League Leader 1988: W/L Pct. 1990: Strikeouts, K/9, K/BB 1991: Strikeouts, K/9 1992: Shutouts, K/9 1995: Innings 1998: Wins   Career Ranks Strikeouts: 22nd Games Started: 99th W/L Pct: 95th H/9: 62nd K/9: 20th   Best Performance July 18, 1999 - Montreal at New York (A) Throws only 88 pitches in tossing the 15th perfect game in MLB history.   Hall of Fame Stats Black Ink: Pitching - 19 (101) (Average HOFer ≈ 40) Gray Ink: Pitching - 165 (76) (Average HOFer ≈ 185) HOF Standards: Pitching - 39.0 (73) (Average HOFer ≈ 50) HOF Monitor: Pitching - 103.0 (90) (Likely HOFer > 100)   Similar Pitchers in HOF: 2 (Dazzy Vance, Bob Lemon) Other Similar Pitchers: Dwight Gooden, Tommy Bridges, Bob Welch, Orel Hershiser, Dave Stieb, Kevin Brown, Jack Stivetts, Dave McNally   Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)   1986: 0/0.2 1987: 5/1.9 1988: 19/7.2 1989: 11/4.4 1990: 13/6.9 1991: 15/7.0 1992: 18/7.5 1993: 21/9.0 1994: 20/10.8 1995: 19/9.7 1996: 8/3.7 1997: 16/7.7 1998: 17/6.7 1999: 15/6.6 2000: 0/1.0 2001: 8/3.6 2003: 0/0.1   Career Win Shares: 205 Career WARP3: 94.2   My Stupid Opinion   You know there are crazier cases to be made than trumpeting David Cone as a HOF, although I'm not going to do it. The 1994-95 strike very likely cost him a shot at 200 wins as it occurred in the prime of his career and he had 10 to 11 potential starts wiped out in the middle of his Cy Young season of '94. But that being said he was definitely a notch below the elite pitchers of his era. Would be worthy of staying on the ballot but I think he has less than a 50/50 chance of getting the necessary 5% of the vote.

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