-So Monmouth blew out Hampton 71-49 in the play in game tonight. Hampton had the worst RPI of any team with a winning record in the entire country and you can thank those conference tournaments for that. Now every year after this game ends the ESPN analyst has to talk about the school getting it's first ever NCAA tournament win, which always annoys me, and tonight was no different. Did Monmouth really win a tournamnet game? After all it is the "play in" game which by the wording of it seems to indicate that the winner of the game gets into the tournament. In my view Monmouth has now qualified for the tournament while Hampton has failed to do so. Monmouth will win its first real tournament game if it were to beat Villanova, which we know won't happen.
-The other postseason tournament started tonight, the NIT. I normally never pay attention to it but after a lackluster year Stanford finds themself in it, snapping their 11 year NCAA tournament streak. They beat Virginia 65-49 in their Opening Round game as UVA looked like a team that traveled 3000 miles for a game they didn't want to play which tends to happen in the NIT as motivation plays a big factor in how long a team lasts in it. Cardinal travel to play the biggest snub of the NCAA Tournament, Missouri State for their next game where they'll probably get slaughtered but hey for one night at least Stanford didn't look like mediocre team they are.
-Due to Stanford's lack of success they didn't have as many t.v. games as past years when they were a Top 10 team thus I paid a lot less attention to college basketball this year. This of course creates a problem filling out a bracket but sometimes less knowledge is a good thing. My typical formula is to look a trends for past tournaments. Things such as usually one 13, one 12, and one 11 seed will pull off a 1st round upset and at least one double digit seed will get into the Sweet 16. Of course this strategy is very hit and miss as it can really be a guessing game when it comes to picking true upset (#9 over #8, #10 over #7 aren't upsets). But I prefer doing this as I rarely play for money, including this year, so it makes it more interesting to try to have some low seed teams picked out that I can root for on the first couple of days. So here's my true upsets for the first round with very little actual research going into it:
Southern Illinois over West Virginia
Bradley over Kansas
Utah State over Washington
I then have Bradley beating Pittsburgh to become the 3rd #13 seed ever to get to the Sweet 16. Ya I've really lost it on that one. Northern Iowa is my #10 seed getting to the Sweet 16 after upsetting Ohio State. Other things of note is I having Syracuse beating Duke in the Sweet 16 which may just be my disgust for Duke but a #1 seed getting bumped for the Elite Eight is usually a strong bet. Everyone seems to be picking Tennessee to be an early exit so I put them into the Elite Eight before losing to UConn. I have Oklahoma reaching the Elite Eight which again I've probably lost it on that one. Then to finish it off I have Iowa getting all the way to the national championship game before losing to UConn.
-Annnnnnnnnnnd time to finish this off with some useless facts. Here's the biggest first round upset of every tournament since they expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
1985: #13 Navy 78, #4 LSU 55
1986: #14 Cleveland State 83, #3 Indiana 79
1987: #14 Austin Peay 68, #3 Illinois 67
1988: #14 Murray State 78, #3 N.C. State 75
1989: #14 Siena 80, #3 Stanford 78
1990: #14 Northern Iowa 74, #3 Missouri 71
1991: #15 Richmond 73, #2 Syracuse 69
1992: #14 East Tennessee State 87, #3 Arizona 80
1993: #15 Santa Clara 64, #2 Arizona 61
1994: #12 Wisconsin-Green Bay 61, #5 California 57
1995: #14 Weber State 79, #3 Michigan State 72
1996: #13 Princeton 43, #4 UCLA 41
1997: #15 Coppin State 78, #2 South Carolina 65
1998: #14 Richmond 62, #3 South Carolina 61
1999: #14 Weber State 76, #3 North Carolina 74
2000: #11 Pepperdine 77, #6 Indiana 57
2001: #15 Hampton 58, #2 Iowa State 57
2002: #13 UNC-Wilmington 93, #4 USC 89 OT
2003: #13 Tulsa 84, #4 Dayton 71
2004: #12 Manhattan 75, #5 Florida 60
2005: #14 Bucknell 64, # Kansas 63
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.
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
It's Christmas time for stat geeks as Hardball Times has released the first Win Shares of the 2006 season and thus I can now I start tracking the MVP candidates for the season. Of coursing being that we are just a little over six weeks into the season this can all be taken with a grain of salt but hey I need excuses for entries. So every Tuesday now I'll have an updated Top 10 list for each league.
I'll start with the National League as let's face it, the race is alredy over. Barring injury everyone is running for second place behind Albert Pujols this season. He just completely blows away the field and didn't give a thought to anyone else at the top spot. What you will notice is the high placement of a couple of pitchers which didn't surprise me as with the small sample of games the more impact an individual starting pitcher can have. Those two pitchers are the least likely candidates to still be in the Top 10 come September.
#10 Chase Utley, Phillies
.302/.372/.547, 25 RC, .277 EQA, 14.8 VORP, 8 Win Shares
#9 Bobby Abreu, Phillies
.257/.437/.459, 27 RC, .288 EQA, 7.9 VORP, 8 Win Shares
#8 Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks
167 ERA+, 5.71 K/BB, 1.18 WHIP, 22.1 VORP, 7 Win Shares
#7 Morgan Ensberg, Astros
.281/.401/.619, 30 RC, .291 EQA, 15.1 VORP, 8 Win Shares
#6 Carlos Delgado, Mets
.298/.394/.610, 34 RC, .291 EQA, 15.9 VORP, 7 Win Shares
#5 Carlos Lee, Brewers
.296/.392/.655, 34 RC, .296 EQA, 20.1 VORP, 8 Win Shares
#4 Bronson Arroyo, Reds
221 ERA+, 3.58 K/BB, 1.01 WHIP, 23.1 VORP, 7 Win Shares
#3 Lance Berkman, Astros
.319/.384/.652, 37 RC, .293 EQA, 18.0 VORP, 10 Win Shares
#2 Tom Glavine, Mets
189 ERA+, 2.64 K/BB, 1.03 WHIP, 20.2 VORP, 8 Win Shares
#1
.333/.469/.833, 49 RC, .327 EQA, 33.1 VORP, 14 Win Shares
Now for the American League which could be a wide open race all year. As of right now DH's (or DH types) are dominating the field with the likes of Giambi, Thome, Hafner, and Gomes. Ramon Hernandez, Alexis Rios, and Jose Contreras all won't be there at the end and Contreras' stock will drop dramtically pretty soon with him on the DL. The two big candidates from last year, Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz, are both off to relatively slow starts but figure both will make a push at some point.
#10 Ramon Hernandez, Orioles
.315/.385/.488, 29 RC, .280 EQA, 11.0 VORP, 8 Win Shares
#9 Nick Swisher, A's
.305/.405/.664, 28 RC, .294 EQA, 18.4 VORP, 7 Win Shares
#8 Alexis Rios, Blue Jays
.367/.386/.692, 30 RC, .294 EQA, 17.2 VORP, 7 Win Shares
#7 Vernon Wells, Blue Jays
.358/.407/.642, 33 RC, .294 EQA, 24.7 VORP, 7 Win Shares
#6 Travis Hafner, Indians
.314/.430/.628, 37 RC, .303 EQA, 21.6 VORP, 7 Win Shares
#5 Miguel Tejada, Orioles
.361/.402/.613, 30 RC, .295 EQA, 25.7 VORP, 7 Win Shares
#4 Jonny Gomes, Devil Rays
.288/.421/.648, 32 RC, .295 EQA, 18.7 VORP, 10 Win Shares
#3 Jason Giambi, Yankees
.269/.480/.654, 38 RC, .311 EQA, 19.9 VORP, 8 Win Shares
#2 Jose Contreras, White Sox
335 ERA+, 1.91 K/BB, 0.87 WHIP, 24.3 VORP, 8 Win Shares
#1
.290/.438/.694, 43 RC, .304 EQA, 23.0 VORP, 11 Win Shares
I'm personally not sold that Thome will keep this up all year but you never know.
Back by popular demand, add another "Worst" list with the worst pitcher seasons since 1961 using ERA+. Checking baseball-reference.com, unlike qualifications for the batting title, it appears the qualification for the ERA title has never changed. In order to qualify a pitcher must pitch at least one inning per team game. Now I could have gone back to 1901 then but again it would been littered with too many early 20th century pitchers that most us have never heard of. The worst ERA+ of all-time was Rube Bressler of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1915 who posted an ERA+ of 56. To put that into context, he had an 5.20 ERA while the league ERA that season was 2.93.
I elected to go with 1961 since that was the beginning of the expansion era of MLB when the Angels and Senators (ver 2.0) were added to the American League. Now on the player lists there were a lot of ties and there would have been a ton for the pitcher list so to make it slightly less cluttered I break the ties by who threw more innings (as in who sucked in a larger sample). And the top of the list is someone who we could never forget, nor can we ever forget his wife's huge tits.
Top 25 Worst Pitcher Seasons since 1961 (per ERA+)
1. Jose Lima, 2005 - Kansas City Royals 63 ERA+ (6.99 ERA in 168 2/3 IP)
2. Jack Lamabe, 1964 - Boston Red Sox 65
3. Eric Milton, 2005 - Cincinnati Reds 66 (186 1/3 IP)
4. Rick Wise, 1968 - Philadelphia Phillies 66 (182)
5. Mark Davis, 1984 - San Francisco Giants 66 (174 2/3)
6. Bob Knepper, 1989 - Houston Astros/San Francisco Giants 66 (165)
7. Jim Deshaies, 1994 - Minnesota Twins 66 (130 1/3)
8. Warren Spahn, 1964 - Milwaukee Braves 67
9. Matt Keough, 1982 - Oakland A's 68 (209 1/3)
10. Steve Arlin, 1973 - San Diego Padres 68 (180)
11. Phil Ortega, 1965 - Washington Senators 68 (179 2/3)
12. Javier Vazquez, 1998 - Montreal Expos 69
13. Vida Blue, 1979 - San Francisco Giants 70 (237)
14. Frank Baumann, 1961 - Chicago White Sox 70 (187 2/3)
15. Pete Broberg, 1972 - Texas Rangers 70 (176 1/3)
16. Joel Pineiro, 2006 - Seattle Mariners 70 (165 2/3)
17. Terry Mulholland, 1995 - San Francisco Giants 70 (149)
18. Dick Ruthven, 1981 - Philadelphia Phillies 70 (146 2/3)
19. Willie Fraser, 1988 - California Angels 71 (194 2/3)
20. Bob Walk, 1993 - Pittsburgh Pirates 71 (187)
21. Bill Singer, 1975 - California Angels 71 (175)
22. Brandon Duckworth, 2002 - Philadelphia Phillies 71 (163)
23. Terry Mulholland, 1994 - New York Yankees 71 (120)
24. Jack Fisher, 1967 - New York Mets 72 (220 1/3)
25. Joe Coleman, 1975 - Detroit Tigers 72 (201)
Time to take a brief break from the nostalgia. On Tuesday the first conference tournaments in college basketball will tip off and thus starts the two weeks of the season that render the regular season meaningless. The idea that with two weeks left in the season that almost every team in college basketball has a chance to qualify for the tournament is insane. The majority of conferences every team qualifies for their conference tournament. It is technically possible for a team to go winless in its conference yet qualify for the field of 65. What is this the Special Olympics? Everybody is a winner!
First starting with the major conferences…what is the point? Almost every winner in the conference tournament of a major conference was getting into the tournament anyways. Really why should beating a conference team on a neutral court (well depending on where tournament is being played which I’ll get to) matter in qualifying for the tournament? You likely won’t meet another conference team in the real tournament until the Elite Eight or Final Four and typically a team who’s chances of getting into the real tournament are depending on how they play in their conference tournament aren’t going to get that far. Also if a major conference team goes undefeated in conference play, like Duke at the moment, what do they have left to prove? Why should they risk injury in essentially meaningless games for them? For a team like Duke the ACC tournament is almost like an exhibition because they’ve already wrapped up a #1 seed. Can you imagine what would happen if J.J. Reddick were injured in a nothing ACC first round game? Okay that would be worth just to see Dick Vitale openly weep on live television.
Now with the smaller conferences it does a get little more tricky. Defenders of the conference tournaments will say this is the only exposure they get which is a valid point. But what really bothers me about conference tournaments for smaller conferences is a team can have their entire season wiped out by one bad game or a team that has absolutely no business getting into the tournament can have one hot week qualify four the tournament just to get annihilated by a #1 seed. These smaller conferences where they will only get one bid there is always a chance a team with a losing record or just hovering over .500 will get into the tournament just because they won three straight games in early March in their weak conference. By not including the best team from every conference they are just devaluing the overall strength of the real tournament. If you actually included the truly best teams from all these smaller conferences maybe every once in a while we’d get an interesting #1 vs. #16 game.
A glaring problem with conference tournaments is that many are played at the same venue every year thus some teams get home court advantages ever year. Duke and North Carolina will always have more fans in the ACC tournament as its played Greensboro, NC every year. UCLA and USC will always have home court in the Pac-10 tournament as it always played in Los Angeles. It’s ridiculous especially in a conference like the Pac-10 where there is an NBA arena in every region of the conference that would be perfectly capable of hosting the tournament on a rotating basis. Why is there this refusal in most conferences to rotate where the tournament hosted? Sure it’s all about ticket sales but you can’t tell me in each conference there is only one venue that can put a decent number of people in the seats for a tournament.
I’d personally like conference tournaments to go away. You win your regular season title, you should get an automatic bid. If there was a system in place where if there was a tie for a regular season title that they had a one game playoff between the top two teams then that would be perfectly fine. In fact why can’t there just be a conference title game for every conference between the 1st and 2nd place teams (or division winners in conferences like the SEC and Big XII) in every conference this time of year rather than this nonsense where the 11th place team gets to extend its season? For smaller conferences most of them only get their title game televised by ESPN anyways. To be honest I’m not even sure all these small conferences should get a bid but that’s for another entry. But they’re here to stay and ESPN can romanticize them all want but really they’re celebrating how pointless it was to watch the last four months of games.
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
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.
I had almost forgotten that the NBA Draft was only a week away. I used look forward to the draft before ESPN took over coverage of it from TNT. Now in the early days of my blog (waaaaaaaaay back four and a half months ago) I did an entry on the 1989 NBA Draft, ranking the players drafted using the basketball version of win shares. I decided that would be a better way to do a Draftback entry for the NBA rather than the usual listing of the first round making stupid comments.
I picked the 1993 draft because it ended up leading to the downfall of the Golden State Warriors franchise, not that they didn’t have the right idea at the time. They of course struck a blockbuster draft day with the Orlando Magic to acquire the draft rights to Chris Webber in exchange for the draft rights for Anfernee Hardaway and three future first round picks. The Warriors would win 50 games in the ’93-’94 season while Webber went on to win the Rookie of the Year. But a feud with head coach Don Nelson would lead to a holdout and then an eventual trade of Webber to Washington that would set the course for 12 years (and going) of futility. So even in a year where the Warriors ended getting arguably the best player to come out of the draft it blew up in their face.
1993 Draft Rankings per Career Win Shares
1. Chris Webber, Orlando/Golden State – 241 Win Shares (1st Pick)
2. Sam Cassell, Houston – 233 (24th)
3. Anfernee Hardaway, Golden State/Orlando – 189 (3rd pick)
4. Nick Van Exel, L.A. Lakers – 169 (37th)
5. Allan Houston, Detroit – 162 (11th)
6. Bryon Russell, Utah – 141 (45th)
7. Vin Baker, Milwaukee – 137 (8th)
8. Shawn Bradley, Philadelphia – 132 (2nd)
9. Jamal Mashburn, Dallas – 127 (4th)
10. Rodney Rogers, Denver – 114 (9th)
11. Ervin Johnson, Seattle – 110 (23rd)
12. Lindsey Hunter, Detroit – 101 (10th)
13. George Lynch, L.A. Lakers – 100 (12th)
14. Chris Mills, Cleveland – 97 (22nd)
15. Lucious Harris, Dallas – 77 (28th)
16. Calbert Cheaney, Washington – 67 (6th)
17. Isaiah Rider, Minnesota – 62 (5th)
18. Chris Whitney, San Antonio – 57 (47th)
19. Corie Blount, Chicago – 56 (25th)
20. Gheorge Muresan, Washington - 50 (30th)
21. Scott Burrell, Charlotte – 45 (20th)
22. Terry Dehere, L.A. Clippers – 21 (13th)
23. James Robinson, Portland – 20 (21st)
24. Rex Walters, New Jersey – 16 (16th)
25. Eric Riley, Dallas – 8 (33rd)
26t. Greg Graham, Charlotte – 6 (17th)
26t. Acie Earl, Boston – 6 (19th)
28. Bobbie Hurley, Sacramento – 7 (7th)
29. Mike Peplowski, Sacramento – 3 (52nd)
30t. Doug Edwards, Atlanta – 2 (15th)
30t. Josh Grant, Denver – 2 (43rd)
32t. Scott Haskin, Indiana – 1 (14th)
32t. Darnell Mee, Golden State – 1 (34th)
32t. Richard Petruska, Houston – 1 (46th)
The Zero Club
Luther Wright, Utah (18th)
Geert Hammink, Orlando (26th)
Malcolm Mackey, Phoenix (27th)
Evers Burns, Sacramento (31st)
Alphonso Ford, Philadelphia (32nd)
Ed Stokes, Miami (35th)
Rich Manning, Atlanta (40th)
Adonis Jordan, Seattle (42nd)
Kevin Thompson, Portland (48th)
Never Played in the NBA
Sherron Mills, Minnesota (29th)
John Best, New Jersey (36th)
Conrad McRae, Washington (38th)
Thomas Hill, Indiana (39th)
Anthony Reed, Chicago (41st)
Alex Holcombe, Sacramento (44th)
Mark Buford, Phoenix (49th)
Marcelo Nicola, Houston (50th)
Spencer Dunkley, Indiana (51st)
Leonard White, L.A. Clippers (53rd)
Bryon Wilson, Phoenix (54th)
Most Win Shares with the Team they were Drafted by
Note: Even though Hardaway wasn’t technically drafted by Orlando since he was acquired in a draft day trade he might as well have been drafted by them.
1. Anfernee Hardaway, 143
2. Bryon Russell, 121
3. Nick Van Exel, 94
4. Lindsey Hunter, 81 (two different stints)
5t. Vin Baker, 68
5t. Chris Mills, 68
7. Gheorge Muresan, 49
8. Calbert Cheaney, 43
9. Sam Cassell, 33
10. Allan Houston, 31
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.
ESPN is already doing the "Chasing Bonds" treatment for Albert Pujols but it really should be "Chasing Wagner." According to HardballTimes.com Pujols is on pace to tie Honus Wagner's single season record of 59 Win Shares set back in 1908. I am outraged the media is ignoring this potential historic event. Come on the homerun record has been broken twice in the last eight years, the Win Shares record hasn't been broken in 98 years! Don't you remember as a kid always wondering if someone would reach that magical #59?
Anyways no shock at all who's #1 in the N.L. still and I might as well give the entire Top 10 to Pujols. Not much else of note, two drop out and one of the "Most Overrated Players in Baseball" cracks to the Top 10.
Drop Outs: Carlos Delgado, Carlos Lee
#10 Bobby Abreu, Phillies
.276/.447/.503, 36 RC, .316 EQA, 13.8 VORP, 10 Win Shares
#9 Chase Utley, Phillies
.328/.406/.554, 35 RC, .298 EQA, 18.9 VORP, 10 Win Shares
#8 Bronson Arroyo, Reds
195 ERA+, 3.79 K/BB, 1.06 WHIP, 26.7 VORP, 8 Win Shares
#7 Carlos Beltran, Mets
.259/.382/.600, 32 RC, .324 EQA, 20.6 VORP, 9 Win Shares
#6 Morgan Ensberg, Astros
.272/.403/.627, 36 RC, .322 EQA, 20.8 VORP, 9 Win Shares
#5 Miguel Cabrera, Marlins
.335/.432/.599, 41 RC, .338 EQA, 25.4 VORP, 8 Win Shares
#4 Tom Glavine Mets
167 ERA+, 2.32 K/BB, 1.13 WHIP, 23.0 VORP, 9 Win Shares
#3 Lance Berkman, Astros
.296/.375/.605, 40 RC, .307 EQA, 17.1 VORP, 11 Win Shares
#2 Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks
191 ERA+, 6.00 K/BB, 1.10 WHIP, 28.1 VORP, 9 Win Shares
#1
.323/.450/.804, 58 RC, .365 EQA, 37.8 VORP, 17 Win Shares
On the A.L. side there's a lot of change with five players dropping out from last week with a couple of familiar faces jumping in including Baseball Jesus himself. But the #1 spot stays the same and even though Thome isn't blowing away the rest of the league like Pujols he definently has a comfortable edge right now. Of course a name you will not see anywhere on this list is the WORST PLAYER EVER, MR. UNCLUTCH A-FRAUD!!!!! God damn how is he not playing in Single-A now? How do the Yankees win any games with him dragging down the club?
Drop Outs: Jonny Gomes, Vernon Wells, Alexis Rios, Nick Swisher, Ramon Hernandez
#10 Jose Lopez, Mariners
.292/.322/.497, 40 RC, .284 EQA, 15.8 VORP, 10 Win Shares
#9 Jose Contreras, White Sox
250 ERA+, 2.73 K/BB, 0.87 WHIP, 25.9 VORP, 8 Win Shares
#8 Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox
.319/.432/.503, 36 RC, .318 EQA, 15.7 VORP, 9 Win Shares
#7 Miguel Tejada, Orioles
.333/.391/.587, 35 RC, .325 EQA, 27.6 VORP, 8 Win Shares
#6 Jason Giambi, Yankees
.260/.464/.583, 40 RC, .348 EQA, 19.6 VORP, 9 Win Shares
#5 Manny Ramirez, Red Sox
.314/.441/.577, 36 RC, .337 EQA, 20.5 VORP, 9 Win Shares
#4 Derek Jeter, Yankees
.348/.433/.519, 41 RC, .325 EQA, 27.6 VORP, 9 Win Shares
#3 Travis Hafner, Indians
.311/.443/.627, 46 RC, .353 EQA, 26.6 VORP, 9 Win Shares
#2 Scott Kazmir, Devil Rays
199 ERA+, 3.19 K/BB, 1.28 WHIP, 26.2 VORP, 11 Win Shares
#1
.304/.440/.684, 51 RC, .351 EQA, 28.7 VORP, 12 Win Shares
There's a new Sports Illustrated poll of 470 Major League players asking who are the most overrated and most underrated players in baseball. Stuff like this is incredibly subjective as someone may consider one player underrated while the other considers that same player overrated. My assumption is that the player's perspective would be how they feel the media and fans view the player and that will influence their opinion on whether or not they consider someone overrated or underrated. So here's the Top 10 for both lists with my comments on what I think of each player and I throw in a name at the end of who I considered the most overrated and most underrated players of last season.
Most Overrated
1. Derek Jeter - Too obvious but facts are he is overrated by New York media/fans and major media outlets like ESPN. I have said in the past though that I feel Jeter is almost slightly underrated by non-Yankee fans at this point. You can tell Jeter is overrated just by how the New York media and ESPN are all up in arms (well from what people are saying on the board) over him topping the list as some how it is inexcusible that Baseball Jesus is on the list at all.
2. Carlos Beltran - This seems a bit odd to me, I suppose probably because of the contract he signed and he had a bit of an off year last season. Coming into this season though I'd consider him underrated by how much criticism he was getting.
3. Alex Rodriguez - Truly laughable for him to be this high. One of the true elite players in the game yet he typically doesn't get the credit he deserves and any failure he has in the "clutch" his magnified ten fold. Sure no player deserves the contract he got but not his fault the Rangers were stupid enough to give it to him.
4. J.D. Drew - Again no reason for him to be on the list and he is almost certainly underrated. He's a great hitter but is always hurt and many discard anything good he has done due to his injury problems. He showed in 2004 the type of numbers he can put up in a full season.
5. Nomar Garciaparra - How can he be underrated when he's be the subject of ridicule due to his injury problems? What because he was once great and now isn't that makes him overrated? Really makes no sense.
6. A.J. Burnett - Have to agree on this one but he's a "victim" of starting pitchers being overrated in general.
7. Jason Kendall - A common theme seems to be obscene contracts and Kendall certainly isn't worth what he makes. I doubt many still view Kendall as a good player anymore so my guess is the general view of him currently is probably neither overrated or underrated. Trust me though A's fans know he sucks.
8. Kerry Wood - Man players are just cruel as at least according this poll any player with a history of injuries is overrated.
9. Josh Beckett - Interesting. Maybe a tad overrated because of the 2003 postseason which tends to happen to any player who has a strong postseason.
10. Johnny Damon - I'd agree to a certain extent though his last two years he really was good but this also comes from the contract he signed. Probably more overrated circa 2003 than he is now.
My 2005 Most Overrated Player: Scott Podsednik - Remember he tought the White Sox how to bunt so they won the World Series. We don't need those meaningless homeruns!
Most Underrated
1. Michael Young - See now this is a player who I could see being overrated a couple of years from now. Players who everyone says is underrated eventually go the other way.
2. Bobby Abreu - Certainly not nearly as underrated as he was two or three years ago. I'd say he's probably fits into neither category.
3. Garret Anderson - Now this what I was talking in term of Young as personally I view Garret Anderson as overrated now. A few years back I considered him underrated. He gets on base at a poor rate and he has below average power for a corner outfielder.
4. Mark Loretta - Probably true to a certain extent. His great 2004 season went largely unnoticed. He's on the Red Sox now so he'll probably be overrated by the end of the year.
5. David Eckstein - Okay very good 2005 season no doubt by the "scrappy" Eckstein is probably a bit overrated because he's "scrappy."
6. Bill Mueller - I'd say he doesn't fit either category.
7. Chone Figgins - I'd say neither tilting towards slightly overrated.
8. Vernon Wells - You know he really hasn't done a whole lot at the plate the last two seasons, although off to a great start this year. He does get his just due when it comes to his defense.
9. Raul Ibanez - What? He's had a couple of good years by far from a star. I don't know do most view him as a scrub or something? Very odd he's on the list.
10. Melvin Mora - I'd agree with this one although his numbers were down last year, still were pretty good and his name doesn't really come up often when talking about the better 3rd basemen in the league.
My 2005 Most Underrated Player: Brian Giles - I ranked him as the best right fielder in baseball last season but because he plays in a park that is death to hitters his counting numbers just didn't look impressive.
Don Mattingly - First Baseman
New York Yankees 1982-1995
7th year on the ballot
Past HOF Voting Results
2001: 28.16%
2002: 20.34%
2003: 13.71%
2004: 12.85%
2005: 11.43%
2006: 12.30%
Awards
1985 AL MVP
1985 AL Gold Glove - 1B
1985 AL Silver Slugger - 1B
1985 ML Sporting News Player of the Year
1986 AL Gold Glove - 1B
1986 AL Silver Slugger - 1B
1987 AL Gold Glove - 1B
1987 AL Silver Slugger - 1B
1988 AL Gold Glove - 1B
1989 AL Gold Glove - 1B
1991 AL Gold Glove - 1B
1992 AL Gold Glove - 1B
1993 AL Gold Glove - 1B
1994 AL Gold Glove - 1B
All-Star Selections: 6 (1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989)
League Leader
1984: Batting Average, Hits, Doubles, OPS+
1985: Doubles, RBI, Total Bases
1986: Hits, Doubles, Total Bases, Runs Created, Slugging %, OPS, OPS+
Career Ranks
Doubles: 86th
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink: Batting - 23 (84) (Average HOFer ≈ 27)
Gray Ink: Batting - 111 (185) (Average HOFer ≈ 144)
HOF Standards: Batting - 34.1 (211) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Batting - 133.5 (95) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Batters in HOF: 2 (Kirby Puckett, Jim Bottomley)
Other Similar Batters: Cecil Cooper, Garret Anderson, Wally Joyner, Hal McRae, Will Clark, Tony Oliva, Jeff Conine, Keith Hernandez
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)
1982: 0/0.1
1983: 7/1.3
1984: 29/11.7
1985: 32/11.7
1986: 34/12.7
1987: 27/9.1
1988: 24/6.4
1989: 26/7.4
1990: 7/2.1
1991: 14/4.0
1992: 20/7.3
1993: 20/6.0
1994: 15/6.0
1995: 8/4.7
Career Win Shares: 263
Career WARP3: 89.1
Would he get my vote?
No. He was unbelievable from 1984-1986, very good from 1987-1989, and then just very ordinary from 1990-1995. His peak was just too short and back problems took away his power as he hit over 20 homeruns only once in the final eight years of his career. He was an excellent defensive first baseman but there's only so much of a bonus you can give for first base defense.
Did this the last couple of years so might as well keep doing. This is just a conference-by-conference breakdown (plus Notre Dame) of where everyone stands when it comes to making bowl games.
I know last year you were all thinkg, "Hey they just aren't enough bowl games and I was outraged that 6-6 South Carolina didn't go to a bowl game last year." My friends, the NCAA and ESPN have listened to you and they added two more bowl games (Congressional and St. Petersburg Bowls) bringing the total number of bowl games to 34. That increases the odds even further this year that if you are 6-6 and play in a BCS conference, you will probably find a bowl bid some where. But for the sake of taking into account all possible scenarios I'm not going to consider all six win teams as locks just yet to make bowl games except in certain conferences which I'll get to.
Note Navy has already accepted a bid to the Congressional Bowl.
ACC
Bowl Tie-ins: BCS/Orange, Chick-Fil-A, Gator, Champs Sports, Music City, Meineke Car Care, Emerald, Humanitarian, Congressional
Locks: Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina
Bowl Eligible: Boston College, Maryland, Miami, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Bubble Teams: Clemson, Duke, N.C. State, Virginia
As usual the ACC is just one big entertaining, clusterfuck. Technically it is possible that all 12 teams will become bowl eligible as there just isn't a whole lot of difference in talent from 1 to 12 but the odds of that are very, very slim. The most important game among the bubble teams will be two weeks from now when Virginia hosts Clemson. Duke and N.C. State are both longshots.
Notre Dame
Bowl Tie-ins: Cotton, Gator, Sun
I'm going to mention the Irish before the Big East since what happens to them directly effects the Big East bids. With their loss last night the Irish's were officially eliminated from BCS consideration but if they run the table they could still get into the Cotton Bowl (note this would take away a bid from the SEC) although they'd have to win at USC to do so. 7-5 is more realistic but that also means beating Navy this week which isn't a given and if they do end up 7-5 they probably get an invite to the Gator Bowl or at worst the Sun Bowl, which if either happens the Big East loses a bid. At 6-6 it then gets a bit dicey for them as they then would need to rely on an open bid and hope they don't get gobbled up by 7-5 teams who don't have a bid. By rule any bowl that has a bid that couldn't be filled by one of their conference affiliations, they must invite an available 7+ win team over a 6 win team. If this happens and Notre Dame gets shutout of a bowl at 6-6, expect that rule to change.
Big East
Bowl Tie-ins: BCS, Gator/Sun, Meineke Car Care, International, Papajohns.com, St. Petersburg
Locks: Cincinnati, Pittsburgh
Bowl Eligible: Connecticut, South Florida, West Virginia
Bubble Teams: Louisville, Rutgers
Now that I've covered Notre Dame, it's very likely the Big East will have only five available bids instead of six so 7+ wins might be a must in this conference to go bowling. If everything goes to form, the Louisville/Rutgers game on 12/4 will be an elimination game for bowl eligibility. The Cardinals do have Cincinnati and West Virginia at home before then and its not out of the question they could spring an upset in one of those games.
Big Ten
Bowl Tie-ins: BCS/Rose (two bids?), Capital One, Outback, Alamo, Champs Sports, Insight, Motor City
Locks: Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State
Bowl Eligible: Iowa
Bubble Teams: Illinois, Wisconsin
As long as Ohio State avoids an upset in their final two games against Illinois and Michigan, they will give the conference a second team in a BCS bowl. Wisconsin has some bizarre scheduling this year as they finish the year against I-AA Cal Poly so you can put them down for win #6 there, if they don't do it this week against Minnesota. Illinois has much longer odds as they finish at home against Ohio State and then at Northwestern.
Big XII
Bowl Tie-ins: BCS/Fiesta (two bids?), Cotton, Holiday, Gator/Sun, Alamo, Insight, Independence, Texas
Locks: Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech
Bowl Eligible: Kansas, Nebraska
Bubble Teams: Colorado, Kansas State, Texas A&M
Unless something truly shocking happens, this conference will send two teams into the BCS. That also means that it doesn't look they'll fill the Texas Bowl bid and possibly not the Independence Bowl bid either. Kansas State has the easier road of the three bubble teams as they have Nebraska and Iowa State at home but a loss in either eliminates them.
Conference USA
Bowl Tie-ins: Liberty, GMAC, Texas, Armed Forces, New Orleans, St. Petersburg
Locks: Rice, Tulsa
Bowl Eligible: East Carolina
Bubble Teams: Houston, Marshall, Memphis, Southern Miss, UTEP
Outside chance that the conference won't fill the illustrious St. Petersburg Bowl bid as Marshall, Southern Miss, and UTEP all need two wins and they will all need to spring an upset to do so. Memphis is a near lock with only home dates against UCF and Tulane remaining.
MAC
Bowl Tie-ins: Motor City, GMAC, International
Locks: None
Bowl Eligible: BCS?, Ball State, Central Michigan, Western Michigan
Bubble Teams: Akron, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Northern Illinois, Temple
The MAC is kind of a poor man's Big XII this year because the three best teams in the conference all play in the same division, that being the West divison. Now you probably are wondering how the hell can I say Ball State isn't a lock? Yes they are undefeated and it is not impossible that they could sneak into the BCS if both Utah and Boise State lose. But the problem is, is that they still have to play CMU and WMU. If they were to lose both games and then say the East division champ were to upset the West division champ in the MAC title game then Ball State could find themselves without a MAC affiliated bowl game to go to, if both CMU and WMU were invited over them. The odds are strongly against this and they likely find an open bid somewhere but again have to take into account all possible scenarios, however unlikely. This is also why CMU and WMU are not locks either in case there is a huge upset in the title game.
Mountain West
Bowl Tie-ins: BCS?, Las Vegas, Poinsettia, Armed Forces, New Mexico
Locks: Air Force, BYU, TCU, Utah
Bubble Teams: Colorado State, UNLV, Wyoming
As we all know, Utah will be going to a BCS Bowl (likely the Fiesta) if they finish undefeated which would give the conference five bids. UNLV and Wyoming will play an elimination game this week. The Rebels will be in great shape if they win as they finish the season against lowly San Diego State. Since all three bubble teams are 4-6, it is possible that the New Mexico Bowl will become an open bid if Utah does end up in the BCS.
Pac-10
Bowl Tie-ins: BCS/Rose (two bids?), Holiday, Sun, Emerald, Las Vegas, Hawaii, Poinsettia
Locks: Arizona, California, Oregon, Oregon State, USC
Bubble Teams: Arizona State, Stanford, UCLA
The reason why all eligible teams are already locks in this conference is because UCLA and ASU play an elimination game on 11/28 thus there can be no more than seven eligible teams for the conference. There is an outside shot at the Pac-10 getting two teams in the BCS because if Oregon State wins out, they win the conference by tiebreak over USC and get the Rose Bowl bid. The odds are against this because the Beavers still have Cal, Arizona, and Oregon left to play but it's certainly not impossible. Also, STANFORD~ will beat Cal to become bowl eligible...or at least they better win.
SEC
Bowl Tie-ins: BCS/Sugar (two bids?), Capital One, Cotton, Outback, Chick-Fil-A, Music City, Liberty, Independence, Papajohns.com
Locks: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina
Bowl Eligible: Kentucky, LSU
Bubble Teams: Arkansas, Auburn, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt
Just like the Big XII, it would be a shocker if the SEC doesn't send two teams into the BCS so you can put them down for ten bids. Now they might not fill them all as Mississippi State for one will need pull off the upset of the year at Alabama this week just to stay alive and Auburn will have to upset Georgia or Alabama to become bowl eligible. Mississippi should pick up win #6 against UL Monroe this week.
Sun Belt
Bowl Tie-in: New Orleans
Locks: None
Bowl Eligible: Troy
Bubble Teams: Arkansas State, FIU, Florida Atlantic, UL Lafayette, Middle Tennessee
Barring something unforeseen, the conference title should come down to the ULL/Troy game on 11/22. The conference this year does now have contingency bids with the Congressional Bowl, Papajohns.com Bowl and the Independence Bowl where if those bids are not filled by the primary conference, a Sun Belt team will be taken although I think they have to be 7-5 or better but I could be wrong about that.
WAC
Bowl Tie-ins: BCS, Humanitarian, Hawaii, New Mexico
Locks: Boise State
Bowl Eligible: San Jose State
Bubble Teams: Fresno State, Hawaii, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, New Mexico State
Boise State will be huge BYU fans on 11/22 as they need Utah to lose that game to get into the BCS, otherwise they play another glorified home game against a 6-6 ACC team in the Humanitarian Bowl. Now the conference does have a contingency bid with the Poinsettia Bowl if the Pac-10 doesn't fill it and popular speculation is that they will invite the Broncos to play BYU. Not sure that is much of a consolation prize though. The rest of this conference is a complete mess and I'm not even going to attempt to figure out how it will shakeout.
To not turn this into solely a blog about the Oakland A's (although I'll probably just go back to them for my next entry) I figured I'd pull out something random. So here is a look back at the 1989 NBA Draft using Win Shares.
I picked the '89 Draft because for quite the lack of talent that came out of it as there is not a future Hall of Famer in the class, it featured it's 2nd pick overall Danny Ferry pitching a fit after being selected by the Clippers and sitting out the '89-'90 season, and it was the first year that the draft was shrunk to two rounds. As you'll see they couldn't fit nearly a full round of decent NBA talent. In addition only Clifford Robinson is still active from the '89 Draft so you can realistically evaluate a draft when almost every player is no longer in the league rather than those who try to evalute only a few years after a draft. Robinson incidently enough was the best value pick of the draft as he was not selected until 36th overall.
Now for Win Shares, everyone thinks of them for baseball but at Basketball-Reference.com they came up with a version for basketball. I don't know how reliable the stat is but seems useful to compare the success of players who were drafted the same year.
1989 NBA Draft Rankings by Career Win Shares
1. Glenn Rice, Miami - 270 Win Shares (4th pick)
2. Vlade Divac, L.A. Lakers - 269 (26th)
3. Clifford Robinson, Portland - 258 (36th)
4. Tim Hardaway, Golden State - 252 (14th)
5. Shawn Kemp, Seattle - 237 (17th)
6. Mookie Blalock, New Jersey - 203 (12th)
7. Sean Elliott, San Antonio - 174 (3rd)
8. Nick Anderson, Orlando - 161 (11th)
9. B.J. Armstrong, Chicago - 138 (18th)
10. Dana Barros, Seattle - 133 (16th)
11t. Danny Ferry, L.A. Clippers - 103 (2nd)
11t. Sherman Douglas, Miami - 103 (28th)
13. George McCloud, Indiana - 80 (7th)
14t. J.R. Reid, Charlotte - 70 (5th)
14t. Pooh Richardson, Minnesota - 70 (10th)
14t. Blue Edwards, Utah - 70 (21st)
17. Chucky Brown, Cleveland - 58 (43rd)
18t. Pervis Ellison, Sacramento - 52 (1st)
18t. Doug West, Minnesota - 52 (38th)
20. Tom Hammonds, Denver - 45 (9th)
21. Stacey King, Chicago - 40 (6th)
22. Dino Radja, Boston - 38 (40th)
23. Haywoode Workman, Atlanta - 31 (49th)
24. Todd Lichti, Denver - 17 (15th)
25. Michael Ansley, Orlando - 16 (37th)
26. Randy White, Dallas - 14 (8th)
27. Greg Grant, Phoenix - 10 (52nd)
28. Kenny Battle, Detroit - 9 (27th)
29. Jeff Martin, L.A. Clippers - 8 (31st)
30. Byron Irvin, Portland - 7 (22nd)
31. John Morton, Cleveland - 6 (25th)
32. Michael Smith, Boston - 5 (13th)
33. Brian Quinnett, New York - 4 (50th)
34t. Pat Durham, Dallas - 3 (35th)
34t. Kenny Payne, Philadelphia - 3 (19th)
36t. Jeff Sanders, Chicago - 2 (20th)
36t. Anthony Cook, Phoenix - 2 (24th)
36t. Frank Kornet, Milwaukee - 2 (30th)
39t. Ed Horton, Washington - 1 (39th)
39t. Doug Roth, Washigton - 1 (41st)
39t. Scott Haffner, Miami - 1 (45th)
The Zero Club
Roy Marble, Atlanta (23rd)
Dyron Nix, Charlotte (29th)
Stlaney Brundy, New Jersey (32nd)
Jay Edwards, L.A. Clippers (33rd)
Gary Leonard, Minnesota (34th)
Ricky Blanton, Phoenix (46th)
Mike Morrison, Phoenix (51st)
Never Played
Michael Cutright, Denver (42nd)
Reggie Cross, Philadelphia (44th)
Reggie Turner, Denver (47th)
Junie Lewis, Utah (48th)
Jeff Hodge, Dallas (53rd)
Toney Mack, Philadelphia (54th)
Here's one more list, as we know just because a player had a good career didn't necessarily make him a good draft pick for the team that drafted him. So here's the Top 10 in career Win Shares for the team they were drafted by.
1. Shawn Kemp 180
2. Sean Elliott 169
3. Nick Anderson 151
4. Clifford Robinson 137
5. Vlade Divac 120
6. Tim Hardaway 115
7. Glenn Rice 109
8. B.J. Armstrong 102
9. Doug West 50
10. Dino Radja 38
Yikes quite the drop off after Armstrong.
In the ongoing debate in college football of playoffs vs. bowls I certainly come on the side of playoffs. I personally think the bowls have out lived their usefulness and that any tradition left in the system was pissed away when the Big Ten and Pac-10 agreed to join the BCS a few years back thus no longer guaranteeing that those two conference’s champions would meet in the Rose Bowl. Since the creation of the BCS in 1998 it has only avoided controversy twice, in 2002 and 2005 simply because they lucked out by having two major conference, unbeaten teams left at the end of the year. Not surprisingly those are the only two years that the BCS title game hasn’t been terrible. It is only in years like 2002 and 2005 where the BCS “works” but if you look at college football’s history there are several years with scenarios where such a system would have been incapable of solving any controversy. One of those years was 1993.
After many near misses at a national title Bobby Bowden and Florida State came into 1993 the run away favorites to win the title. Led by the eventual Heisman trophy winner Charlie Ward, the Seminoles destroyed every team in their path. I had forgotten how dominate they were, just look at their jaw dropping results from that year.
8/28 vs. Kansas 42-0
9/4 at Duke 45-7
9/11 vs. Clemson 57-0
9/18 at North Carolina 33-7
10/2 vs. Georgia Tech 51-0
10/9 vs. Miami 28-10
10/16 vs. Virginia 40-14
10/30 vs. Wake Forest 54-0
11/6 at Maryland 49-20
Not even their tormenters from Miami could give them a real challenge. Then came a trip to South Bend. The Irish were also undefeated and came in at #2 in both polls. The Noles fell behind 24-7 but made a furious comeback to pull the game to 31-24. They had the ball on the Irish 14 for one final play but Ward could not connect in the endzone and it looked like FSU’s national title hopes had been dashed but a late season loss yet again. Now going into that weekend Nebraska was undefeated and #3 in the Coaches’ Poll and #4 in the AP Poll (Miami was #3). The Cornhuskers had not been nearly as dominate as the Seminoles and Irish, with one point wins over UCLA and Kansas. The coaches would move Nebraska to #2 ahead of FSU but the media would leave the Seminoles ahead of the Huskers.
Things then of course got really interesting the following week as after their triumph over Florida State and now with strangle hold on the #1 ranking in both polls, the Irish were stunned at home by Boston College in another classic on a last second field goal 41-39. FSU that weekend slaughtered another ACC foe, N.C. State 62-3, and in the media poll reclaimed the #1 spot while Nebraska grabbed the #1 spot in the coaches poll. The Irish dropped all the way to #4 in both polls behind two different interesting stories. In the coaches poll at #3 was a surprising West Virginia team had upset Miami that week to improve to 10-0 which finally earned them some serious respect, but they were #5 in the media poll. #3 in that poll was Auburn. Auburn was on probation and ineligible for postseason, they concluded their regular season undefeated but nothing to show for it. The final weekend of the regular season would play out with FSU and Nebraska disposing of their rivals, Florida and Oklahoma, while West Virginia edged Boston College 17-14 and thus ending the season with a serious poll controversy. Here’s how the regular season concluded in the polls.
AP
1. Florida State 11-1
2. Nebraska 11-0
3. West Virginia 11-0
4. Auburn 11-0
5. Notre Dame 10-1
Coaches
1. Nebraska 11-0
2. West Virginia 11-0
3. Florida State 11-1
4. Notre Dame 10-1
5. Auburn 11-0
This is was a complete nightmare. The coaches felt the right thing to do was put Nebraska and West Virginia at the top two spots but many didn’t think either was on the level of Florida State and Notre Dame. Of course the media poll was ripped to shreds as how could you have FSU at #1 and the Irish at #5, let alone have West Virginia below FSU when they beat Boston College, who beat Notre Dame, who beat Florida State. This was the type of scenario that only a playoff could have solved. Interestingly enough there was one poll left after the SEC title game, which with Auburn ineligible didn’t have much meaning on the national scene, the media bumped the Irish past Auburn even though neither played.
In the bowl selection process the Orange Bowl held all the cards as who they picked would likely decide that national title. Nebraska had the automatic invite with winning the Big 8 so after that they had the choice of Florida State, West Virginia, and Notre Dame. The would choose the Seminoles, Notre Dame would head to the Cotton Bowl against Texas A&M, and West Virginia to the Sugar Bowl against Florida. In the afternoon of January 1st the Irish edged A&M 24-21. West Virginia would prove their doubters right as they would get murdered by the Gators 41-7 and potentially helping the pollsters quite a bit. If Nebraska could beat Florida State they would get an undefeated and relatively undisputed national champion. They took a 16-15 lead with a little over a minute to go but Charlie Ward would march the Seminoles down the field in a drive that included a fourth down conversion and very controversial personal foul penalty for a field goal and an 18-16 lead with 21 seconds left. A celebration penalty though gave Nebraska life and get in field goal range but kicker Byron Bennett badly hooked the 45 yard attempt. Everyone waited for the polls the next day to see if Notre Dame jumped Florida State due to the way everything shook out but the Irish’s unconvincing win over the Aggies left them at #2 and Bobby Bowden with his long awaited first national title, despite losing to the team who was at #2.
Preseason AP Top 25
1. Florida State
2. Alabama
3. Michigan
4. Texas A&M
5. Miami
6. Syracuse
7. Notre Dame
8. Nebraska
9. Florida
10. Tennessee
11. Colorado
12. Washington
13. Gerogia
14. Arizona
15. Stanford
16. Penn State
17. Ohio State
18. USC
19. BYU
20. North Carolina
21. Boston College
22. Oklahoma
23. Clemson
24. Mississippi State
25. N.C. State
Top 25 Regular Season Match-ups
Week 1
#20 North Carolina 31, #18 USC 9
Week 2
#3 Miami 23, #20 Boston College 7
Week 3
#1 Florida State 57, #21 Clemson 0
#11 Notre Dame 27, #3 Michigan 23
#17 Oklahoma 44, #5 Texas A&M 14
#8 Tennessee 38, #22 Georgia 6
#10 Colorado 45, #24 Baylor 21
#16 Ohio State 21, #12 Washington 12
Week 4
#1 Florida State 33, #13 North Carolina 7
#9 Florida 41, #5 Tennessee 34
#20 Stanford 41, #7 Colorado 37
Week 5
#3 Miami 35, #13 Colorado 29
#18 North Carolina 35, #19 N.C. State 14
Week 6
None
Week 7
#1 Florida State 28, #3 Miami 10
#13 Washington 24, #16 California 23
#25 UCLA 68, #19 BYU 14
Week 8
#1 Florida State 40, #15 Virginia 14
#2 Alabama 17, #10 Tennessee 17 tie
#19 Auburn 38, #4 Florida 35
#5 Ohio State 28, #25 Michigan State 21
#18 Michigan 21, #7 Penn State 13
#20 Colorado 27, #9 Oklahoma 10
#22 UCLA 39, #12 Washington 25
Week 9
#6 Miami 49, #23 Syracuse 0
#7 Arizona 9, #25 Washington State 6
#21 Virginia 17, #12 North Carolina 10
Week 10
#3 Ohio State 24, #12 Penn State 6
#6 Nebraska 21, #20 Colorado 17
#15 UCLA 37, #7 Arizona 17
#25 Kansas State 21, #14 Oklahoma 14
#24 Michigan 13, #21 Wisconsin 21
Week 11
#3 Ohio State 14, #15 Wisconsin 14 tie
#7 Tennessee 45, #13 Louisville 10
#19 Penn State 38, #17 Indiana 31
Week 12
#2 Notre Dame 31, #1 Florida State 24
#5 Ohio State 23, #19 Indiana 17
#11 Texas A&M 42, #20 Louisville 7
Week 13
#17 Boston College 41, #1 Notre Dame 39
#9 West Virginia 17, #4 Miami 14
#6 Auburn 22, #11 Alabama 14
#16 UCLA 27, #22 USC 21
#25 Virginia Tech 20, #23 Virginia 17
Week 14
#1 Florida State 33, #7 Florida 21
#2 Nebraska 21, #16 Oklahoma 7
#5 West Virginia 17, #11 Boston College 14
#14 Penn State 38, #25 Michigan State 37
Week 15
#9 Florida 28, #16 Alabama 13 (SEC Title)
#10 Wisconsin 41, #25 Michigan State 20
Bowl Results (MVP)
Las Vegas: Utah State 42, Ball State 33 (Anthony Calvillo)
Sun: #19 Oklahoma 41, Texas Tech 10 (Jerald Moore)
Aloha: #17 Colorado 41, #25 Fresno State 30 (Rashaan Salaam)
Liberty: Louisville 18, Michigan State 7 (Jeff Brohm)
Copper: #20 Kansas State 52, Wyoming 17 (Andre Coleman)
Holiday: #11 Ohio State 28, BYU 21 (Raymont Harris)
Freedom: USC 28, Utah 21 (Johnnie Morton)
Gator: #18 Alabama 24, #12 North Carolina 10 (Brian Burgdorf)
Alamo: California 37, Iowa 3 (Dave Barr)
Peach: #24 Clemson 14, Kentucky 13 (Brentson Buckner)
Independence: #22 Virginia Tech 45, #21 Indiana 20 (Maurice DeShazo)
Fiesta: #16 Arizona 29, #10 Miami 0 (Chuck Levy)
Carquest: #15 Boston College 31, Virginia 13 (Glenn Foley)
Hall of Fame: #23 Michigan 42, N.C. State 7 (Tyrone Wheatley)
Cotton: #4 Notre Dame 24, #7 Texas A&M 21 (Lee Becton)
Citrus: #13 Penn State 31, #6 Tennessee 13 (Bobby Engram)
Rose: #9 Wisconsin 21, #14 UCLA 16 (Brent Moss)
Sugar: #8 Florida 41, #3 West Virginia 7 (Errict Rhett)
Orange: #1 Florida State 18, #2 Nebraska 16 (Charlie Ward)
Final AP Top 25
1. Florida State
2. Notre Dame
3. Nebraska
4. Auburn
5. Florida
6. Wisconsin
7. West Virginia
8. Penn State
9. Texas A&M
10. Arizona
11. Ohio State
12. Tennessee
13. Boston College
14. Alabama
15. Miami
16. Colorado
17. Oklahoma
18. UCLA
19. North Carolina
20. Kansas State
21. Michigan
22. Virginia Tech
23. Clemson
24. Louisville
25. California
All-Americans
QB
Charlie Ward, Florida State
RB
Marshall Faulk, San Diego State
LeShon Johnson, Northern Illinois
Errict Rhett, Florida
WR
J.J. Stokes, UCLA
Johnnie Morton, USC
Ryan Yarborough, Wyoming
TE
Carlester Crumpler, East Carolina
Pete Mitchell, Boston College
OL
Mark Dixon, Virginia
Stacy Seegars, Clemson
Aaron Taylor, Notre Dame
Wayne Gandy, Auburn
Jim Pyne, Virginia Tech
Korey Stringer, Ohio State
Marcus Spears, Northwestern State
Rich Braham, West Virginia
Todd Steussie, California
Bernard Williams, Georgia
DL
Rob Waldrop, Arizona
Dan Wilkinson, Ohio State
Sam Adams, Texas A&M
Lou Benfatti, Penn State
Derrick Alexander, Florida State
Shante Carver, Arizona
Kevin Patrick, Miami
Bryant Young, Notre Dame
LB
Trev Alberts, Nebraska
Derrick Brooks, Florida State
Jamir Miller, UCLA
Barron Wortham, UTEP
Dana Howard, Illinois
DB
Antonio Langham, Alabama
Aaron Glenn, Texas A&M
Jeff Burris, Notre Dame
Corey Sawyer, Florida State
Bobby Taylor, Notre Dame
Bracey Walker, North Carolina
Jaime Mendez, Kansas State
K
Bjorn Merten, UCLA
John Becksvoort, Tennessee
John Stewart, SMU
P
Terry Daniel, Auburn
KR
David Palmer, Alabama
Hey its entry #200! Ya I had nothing special thought out. I've tried putting together a list of the Top 50 Oakland A's of All-Time but am never satisfied with the list when I put it together. I also tried putting together a list of the Top 100 baseball players of my baseball lifetime but that became too difficult and eventually too subjective as I made adjustments to it. So as a total cop out I decided to list the Top 50 most replied to threads in the Sports forum here at TSM which is pretty much the only forum I post in for the most part. I'd pull quotes from these threads but not even I'm not Bored enough to go through threads with thousands of posts to find something remotely funny although feel free to do it for me.
1. One & Only MLB playoff discussion thread 3616 replies
Sarted September 27, 2003 by KingPK
Most Posts: Choken One - 612
2. English Football 3483
Started June 22, 2003 by welshjerichomark
Most Posts: TheFranchise - 893
3. The Official MLB Offseason Topic 2396
Started November 9, 2003 by Bored
Most Posts: alkeiper - 448
4. Fantasy NBA League? 2264
Started October 1, 2003 by MarvinisaLunatic
Most Posts: Lightning Flik - 415
5. The OAO NBA Playoffs/Finals Thread 2145
Started April 10, 2004 by Dangerous A
Most Posts: Choken One - 203
6. And So it Begins 2132
Started October 28, 2004 by Bruiser Chong
Most Posts: alkeiper - 238
7. The one and only NHL playoffs thread 1989
Started October 6, 2003 by Urban Warfare
Most Posts: ???
8. The ALCS: New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox 1902
Started October 9, 2004 by The Dames
Most Posts: Anglesault - 246
9. NFL Discussion Forumtable 1870
Started November 14, 2006 by Agent of Oblivion
Most Posts: Porter - 144
10. Smartmarks Fake Baseball League 1714
Started October 18, 2003 by Evolution
Most Posts: Evolution - 553
11. Another reason why ESPN sucks 1681
Started April 13, 2006 by KingPK
Mosts Posts: Leena - 156
12. 2006-7 MLB Offseason Thread 1593
Started October 2, 2006 by Mik
Most Posts: cheech13 - 182
13. 2006 NFL Off-Season 1558
Started January 3, 2006 by FFMS
Most Posts: Carlito Brigante - 203
14. The OaO 2003-2004 NBA Thread! 1369
Started October 23, 2003 by Just J
Most Posts: alfdogg - 167
15. The 2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs thread 1317
Started April 4, 2004 by CanadianChris
Most Posts: Lightning Flik - 99
16. The Official 2003 NBA Playoffs Thread 1246
Started April 16, 2003 by Crazy Dan
Mosts Posts: ???
17. Official College Football thread 1229
Started September 2, 2003 by Vern Gagne
Most Posts: Bored - 216
18. The NFL Offseason/Pre-Draft Thread 1177
Started January 22, 2005 by MrRant
Most Posts: Vitamin X - 158
19. TSM Fantasy Baseball 2007 1150
Started January 12, 2007 by MJ Styles
Most Posts: MJ Styles - 179
20. TSM 2006 NBA Playoffs thread 1140
Started April 17, 2006 by Dangerous A
Most Posts: alfdogg - 105
21. The One & Only 2003 NFL Draft Thread 1126
Started April 25, 2003 by Flyboy
Most Posts: ???
22. The Rose Bowl Thread 1112
Started December 3, 2005 by Bored
Most Posts: Damaramu - 236
23. NBA Offseason Thread 1109
Started May 8, 2006 by Kingofthe909
Most Posts: alfdogg - 143
24. NBA Offseason News and Moves 1104
Started June 17, 2004 by NaturalBornThriller4:20
Most Posts: alfdogg - 106
25. 2006-07 MLB Offseason Thread (Part II) 1095
Started December 11, 2006 by alkeiper
Most Posts: cheech13 - 154
26. NHL 2006 Playoffs thread... 1087
Started April 17, 2006 by Carlito Brigante
Most Posts: CanadianChris - 165
27. NBA Roundtable Discussion 1056
Started December 7, 2006 by alfdogg
Most Posts: Ripper - 145
28. Head 2 Head Fantasy Baseball 2005 1026
Started February 21, 2005 by Lightning Flik
Most Posts: Lightning Flik - 205
29. NHL 2006 Off-Season... 1012
Started June 19, 2006 by Carlito Brigante
Most Posts: Kingofthe909 - 134
30. NCAA Basketball Tournament Thread 1006
Started March 17, 2005 by Slayer
Mosts Posts: Damaramu - 131
31. The OAO NHL 2003-2004 Season Thread 1003
Started December 2, 2003 by CanadianChris
Most Posts: CanadianChris - 118
32. Super Bowl XL 996
Started January 22, 2006 by CanadianChris
Most Posts: Hawk 34 - 67
33. NBA Offseason Stuff 953
Started May 31, 2005 by alfdogg
Most Posts: alfdogg - 128
34. The One and Only Divisional Playoffs thread 917
Started January 10, 2004 by CanadianChris
Most Posts: FrigidSoul - 102
35. College Hoops: NCAA Tournament Rounds 1 and 2 913
Started March 13, 2006 by SilverPhoenix
Most Posts: Leena - 100
36. 2005-2006 MLB Offseason thread 891
Started October 19, 2005 by Mik
Most Posts: FFMS - 138
37. Fantasy Football 871
Started July 7, 2003 by razazteca
Most Posts: Lightning Flik - 162
38. The Official SmartMarks Fantasy Football Thread 869
Started July 28, 2002 by The Man in Blak
Most Posts: ???
39. NBA Playoffs 2006: Conference Semifinals 867
Started May 6, 2006 by alfdogg
Most Posts: naiwf - 89
40. TSM Head-to-head FantasyBaseball League~! 841
Started February 18, 2004 by Lightning Flik
Most Posts: Lightning Flik - 216
41. TOAO NFL Week 2 Thread 813
Started September 13, 2003 by bps21
Most Post: tpww - 144
42t. Anyone up for Fantasy Football? 808
Started July 3, 2004 by LaParkaMarka
Most Posts: Lightning Flik - 151
42t. 2005-06 MLB Offseason Thread (Part II) 808
Started Decmeber 11, 2005 by alkeiper
Most Posts: alkeiper - 114
44. OAO 2004 MLB Games Thread 800
Started April 4, 2004 by HarleyQuinn
Most Posts: Anglesault - 165
45. Yankees/Twins ALDS Thread 799
Started October 5, 2004 by alkeiper
Most Posts: mike546 - 131
46. The ONE and ONLY World Series Thread 795
Started October 16, 2003 by alkeiper
Most Posts: Mik - 179
47. The 2006 NFL Draft Thread 766
Started April 28, 2006 by Gert T
Most Posts: teke184 - 100
48. World Cup 2006 in Germany 753
Started May 10, 2006 by CurryMan
Most Posts: Kingofthe909 - 75
49. The 2004 NFL Draft 749
Started April 15, 2004 by JackBauer
Most Posts: bps21 - 102
50. NBA Playoffs 722
Started April 17, 2005 by alfdogg
Most Posts: The Electrifyer - 59
A week ago on the wonderful baseball stat geek site Hardball Times there was this article about the 1994 Montreal Expos. The article is titled "Where Are They Now?" but it more or less only tells you were they went rather than where they are now, not that I was needing to find out where Freddie Benavides was nowadays. So I figured I'd do the same for another team from the past but have a more approriate title for it. Now for picking the team I was going to go with 1989 Oakland A's or the 1997 Florida Marlins but figured I'd go for something more obscure for the first one so I picked the 1985 New York Yankees. The 80's were considered the dark days for the Yankees, at least by their fan base, but they actually had some very good teams that decade just with no World Series ring to show for it. The best Yankee team of the '80s was the 1985 team which won 97 games but came up two games shy of the Blue Jays for the A.L. East title.
Catcher: Butch Wynegar (.223./.356/.320, 10.9 VORP, 10 Win Shares) - After putting up solid offensive numbers the previous three years, Wynegar hit the catcher wall in '85. He'd spend one more year with the Yankees and then be traded to the Angels where'd he finish out his career.
First Base: Don Mattingly (.324/.371/.567, 78.9 VORP, 32 Win Shares) - Donny Baseball might be a tad overrated by Yankee fans of the 80's but you can kind of understand why when you look at his numbers during the mid-80's. He would of course spend his whole career with the Yankees, retiring after 1995. He won the MVP in '85 but he actually wasn't the best player on his own team.
Second Base: Willie Randolph (.276/.382/.356, 32.9 VORP, 20 Win Shares) - Very consistent, solid performer in the 80's for the Yankees. He'd leave after 1988 as a free agent to the Dodgers. From there he'd be traded the A's during the 1990 season and get to play in his fourth World Series. He'd finish up with one year stops with the Brewers and Mets before retiring after 1992.
Third Base: Mike Pagliarulo (.239/.324/.442, 19.4 VORP, 13 Win Shares) - Aww one of my favorite "names" when I was a kid. Good power but couldn't hit for average or draw walks. He'd flame out pretty quick being traded to the Padres in 1989, ended up with Twins in 1991 and picked up a World Series ring, finshing up with the Orioles and Rangers.
Shortstop: Bob Meacham (.218/.302/.266, 2.7 VORP, 11 Win Shares) - Egads is that an ugly line. If the Yankees had a competent shortstop in '85 maybe they win the East. Maybe Baseball Jesus, The Jeter, will discover time travel and lead the '85 Yankees to World Series title. *fist pump*
Left Field: Ken Griffey (.274/.331/.425, 19.2 VORP, 14 Win Shares) - At 35, Junior's dad was still an okay player. He'd be traded to the Braves for another aging outfielder in Claudell Washington in 1986. He'd make a nostalgic trip back to the Reds at the end of the decade before being released during the World Series run of 1990. Then five days later he'd be picked up by the Mariners in a marketing ploy by having father and son play together.
Center Field: Rickey Henderson (.314/.419/.516, 94.1 VORP, 38 Win Shares) - The man, the myth, the legend, and the real 1985 A.L. MVP. This would be Rickey's best year until he topped it and finally won the MVP in 1990. Of course that was with the A's as he was traded midseason back to Oakland in a trade that still has to have Yankee fans gritting their teeth. The booty for Rickey: Luis Polonia, Greg Cadaret, and Erick Plunk. Woof. Rickey would get his first World Series ring in '89, while Polonia would lead the league having sex with 14 year olds. Running thru where Rickey went:
Oakland
Toronto
Oakland
San Diego
Anaheim
Oakland
N.Y. Mets
Seattle
San Diego
Boston
Los Angeles
Newark
Right Field: Dave Winfield (.275/.328/.471, 38.0 VORP, 21 Win Shares) - Hey look George Steinbrenner's favorite player. '85 was actually the start of a bit of down time in Winfield's career (for him) before he swung back up the bell curve in 1988. Traded to the Angels for Mike Witt in 1990, would win a World Series with the Blue Jays in 1991, make the late career hometown visit with the Twins for a couple of years, then finish up with the Indians in 1995.
Designated Hitter: Don Baylor (.231/.330/.430, 26.6 VORP, 12 Win Shares) - Baylor was definently a product of the DH extending a player's career. Couldn't pay the field anymore but could still hit a decent number of homeruns so he stayed in the line-up. As mentioned before he'd make a tour of the next three A.L. Champions in the Red Sox, Twins (World Champs), and A's before retiring.
Pitchers
Ron Guidry - (123 ERA+, 58.4 VORP, 18 Win Shares) - This would be Guidry's last good year and he finished 2nd to Bret Saberhagen in the '85 Cy Young voting. He played his entire career with the Yankees, retiring after 1988.
Phil Niekro - (98 ERA+, 27.9 VORP, 10 Win Shares) - If I ever have a son he's gonna learn how to throw a knuckleball so he can earn a Major League salary into his late 40's and support me since I'll have no Social Security.
Ed Whitson - (83 ERA+, -0.5 VORP, 4 Win Shares) - Okay maybe if the Yankees didn't have Ed Whitson making 30 starts in 1985 they win the East. Whitson had a weird career as he did absolutlely nothing of note for 12 seasons then suddenly at age 34 with the Padres he pitches like a stud for two seasons in '89 and '90 then falls off a cliff in '91 and was out of the league after that. OMG HE WAS ON THE JUICE!!!!
Joe Cowley - (102 ERA+, 25.0 VORP, 9 Win Shares) - I really don't know whole lot about Cowley. He'd be traded to the White Sox after the '85 season, pitched decently in '86, traded to the Phillies right before the '87 season where he'd meltdown and was out of baseball soon after.
Closer: Dave Rigehtti - (145 ERA+, 30.0 VORP, 15 Win Shares) - Absolute beast of a closer during the mid-80's. Started to tail off by the end of the decade and the Yankees let him leave as a free agent after 1990. Spent three years with the Giants then made brief stops with the A's, Blue Jays, and White Sox before retiring after 1995.
Draftback...ain't I clever? The NFL Draft is later this month and the point of this blog is a lot of nostalgia so might as well look back at some old drafts, plus I've done no football content to this point. Pretty much picked in 1990 at random and because at first glance the 1st round looks rather uninspiring. I will only be looking back at the first round picks as to hell with going over the whole thing. Don't expect any real insight as unlike baseball there isn't much in terms of statisical analyst to do when it comes to football. There is Football Outsiders but their data only goes back five or six years.
1. Indianapolis - Jeff George, QB, Illinois
The Colts traded up to make this controversial choice at the time as it surprised many that he left Illinois early and some weren't even sure he was worth a 1st round pick, let alone the #1 choice overall. All things considered George didn't have that bad of a career but his habit of being a jackass kind of always painted him a bad light. Didn't help that he never made it to a Pro Bowl either.
2. N.Y. Jets - Blair Thomas, RB, Penn State
An overhyped Penn State running back who is a bust in the NFL? GET OUT! Actually showed signs of being a good NFL back in his rookie year but bad knees did him in.
3. Seattle - Cortez Kennedy, DT, Miami
Seven time Pro Bowl selection who would spend his entire 11-year career with the Seahawks. Definently a good pick here.
4. Tampa Bay - Keith McCants, LB, Alabama
Was rated #1 overall by many but he was a huge bust. Last I thing heard on him was he stole a car last year. Ya life didn't turn out to well for him.
5. San Diego - Junior Seau, LB, USC
No brainer here, 11 Pro Bowl selections and a future spot in Canton.
6. Chicago - Mark Carrier, DB, USC
Good NFL career as he burst on the scene his rookie year with a 10 interceptions on his way to Defensive Rookie of the Year. Selected to three Pro Bowls.
7. Detroit - Andre Ware, QB, Houston
Hands down the #1 rated QB coming into the draft and everyone thought he'd be star because he was drafted by a team that had the run and shoot offense. Hey how'd that turn out?
8. New England - Chris Singleton, LB, Arizona
Lasted seven years...um ya that's all I got.
9. Miami - Richmond Webb, T, Texas A&M
Another good pick here, made it to seven Pro Bowls, playing 11 of his 13 years in Miami.
10. New England - Ray Agnew, DE, N.C. State
Halfway decent player who hung around forever it seemed.
11. L.A. Raiders - Anthony Smith, DE, Arizona
Pass rushing specialist who was an absolute beast his first few years in the league.
12. Cincinnati - James Francis, LB, Baylor
Solid player who played nine seasons with the Bengals.
13. Kansas City - Percy Snow, LB, Michigan State
The only thing I remember about Snow was I had one of the "behind the scenes" NFL tapes and one segment was on the Chief's war room before the '90 Draft and they were pretty excited about Snow. He ended lasting a whole three years.
14. New Orleans - Renaldo Turnbull, DE, West Virginia
Part of those scary good Saints' linebacker cores from the early 90's. Decent career with his best year coming in 1993 when he had 13 sacks.
15. Houston - Lamar Lathon, LB, Houston
You can see this was a very deep linebacker draft. Solid career.
16. Buffalo - James Williams, DB, Fresno State
With a common name like that you think I'll actually know anything about the guy?
17. Dallas - Emmitt Smith, RB, Florida
Safe to say everyone except maybe San Diego regretted not taking him.
18. Green Bay - Tony Bennett, LB, Mississippi
Yet another linebacker who had a solid career.
19. Green Bay - Darrell Thompson, RB, Minnesota
1641 yards rushing, 3.5 YPC, 7 career touchdowns, gone after 1994. Ya not a good pick
20. Atlanta - Steve Broussard, RB, Washington State
You know it would have been kind of interesting to see what Broussard would have done in a standard offense rather than the run and shoot. Okay maybe not that interesting but might have given a not so non-descript career.
21. Pittsburgh - Eric Green, TE, Liberty
Pretty good tight end who made it to two Pro Bowls.
22. Philadelphia - Ben Smith, DB, Georgia
Played six years and really who noticed?
23. L.A. Rams - Bern Brostek, C, Washington
I don't think I paid as much attention to the NFL as I thought (and I don't pay that much attention today) I did. The guy played for the Rams so being a 49er fan you think I'd remember the guy with them playing each other twice a year but I don't.
24. N.Y Giants - Rodney Hampton, RB, Georgia
Good career, had five consecutive 1000 yard seasons from '91 to '95.
25. San Francisco - Dexter Carter, RB, Florida State
49ers had the right idea drafting a running back as they would end up being correct in their concerns about Roger Craig lasting much longer (he didn't) but Carter wasn't the guy to replace him. Actually led the 49ers in rushing his rookie year but that just tells you had bad their running game was.
Jesse Orosco, Relief Pitcher
New York Mets 1979-1987
Los Angeles Dodgers 1988, 2001-2002
Cleveland Indians 1989-1991
Milwaukee Brewers 1992-1994
Baltimore Orioles 1995-1999
St. Louis Cardinals 2000
San Diego Padres 2003
New York Yankees 2003
Minnesota Twins 2003
Awards
None
All-Star Selections: 2 (1983, 1984)
League Leader
Games: 1995
Career Ranks
Games: 1st
Saves: 69th
ERA+: 62nd
K/9: 23rd
H/9: 24th
Best Performance
October 27, 1986 - Boston at New York (N)
In Game 7 of the '86 World Series, comes in the 8th inning with none out after a Dwight Evans' two-run double off Roger McDowell pulls the Red Sox with a run. Orosco strands the tying run at 2nd by retiring Rich Gedman, Dave Henderson, and Don Baylor in order and then pitches a perfect 9th to clinch the championship for the Mets.
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink: Pitching - 1 (822) (Average HOFer ≈ 40)
Gray Ink: Pitching - 17 (1143) (Average HOFer ≈ 185)
HOF Standards: Pitching - 13.0 (589) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Pitching - 62.0 (199) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Pitchers in HOF: None
Top 10 Similar Pitchers: Tug McGraw, Don McMahon, Gary Lavelle, John Hiller, Dan Plesac, Kent Tekulve, Darold Knowles, Mike Timlin, Mike Stanton, Ron Perranoski
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)
1979: 0/0.4
1981: 2/0.9
1982: 9/4.5
1983: 20/8.0
1984: 17/6.3
1985: 10/4.5
1986: 13/5.4
1987: 5/2.3
1988: 6/2.0
1989: 10/4.1
1990: 3/1.8
1991: 3/1.4
1992: 3/1.4
1993: 7/3.4
1994: 2/1.0
1995: 6/2.9
1996: 6/2.3
1997: 7/3.5
1998: 7/2.9
1999: 1/0.6
2000: 0/0.0
2001: 1/0.5
2002: 3/1.0
2003: 0/-0.2
Career Win Shares: 141
Career WARP3: 60.9
My Stupid Opinion
I have to say it's remarkable a player from the 19th century is a first time nominee on the writer's ballot. Okay not quite, but Orosco and Rickey Henderson will be the last players to make their MLB debut in the 1970s and be a first timer on the ballot. Orosco is purely on the ballot due to his longevity and his career games pitched record might stand for a while but obviously he's not a HOF.
