Who were the best team in the history of the St. Louis Browns? Most fans would assume the 1944 club. That team won the only league championship in the club's history. A better choice however would be the 1922 club. Contrary to what you might think, the Browns were not always non-contenders. In 1922, the Browns finished 93-61, a scant game behind the champion New York Yankees. The Yankees that season traded for Joe Dugan mid-season. That trade, coupled with the NY Giants' midseason trade for Hugh McQuillan, prompted protests that New York teams could buy their way to a pennant. Some things never change.
In addition to holding a better record, the 1922 team played in a tougher league than the '44 club. The 1944 Browns benefitted from World War II, which depleted Major League rosters. Not many fans would recognize Stan Spence, Nick Ettel or Johnny Lindell. Those players finished third, fourth and fifth in OPS in the AL. The leaders in OPS in 1922, by comparison, included Babe Ruth, Tris Speaker, George Sisler, Cy Williams and Harry Heilmann. Clearly more talent existed in the league in 1922. But what about that pennant? Honestly, would the 1944 Browns have won the pennant had they faced the 1922 Yankees? Vern Stephens was a superstar, but the rest just doesn't compare to Babe Ruth, Wally Pipp, and the Yanks' excellent pitching staff that year.
Talent wise, the Browns of 1922 had some excellent players. Hall of Famer George Sisler enjoyed his greatest season, hitting .420 with 42 doubles, 18 triples and 51 stolen bases. In the process Sisler struck out a scant 14 times. Young second baseman Marty McManus hit .312 with 11 home runs, and led American League second basemen in OPS. Outfielder Ken Williams slugged .627 with 39 home runs. The Browns led the league in runs scored. On the pitching side, ace Urban Shocker won 24 games. The Browns finished second in runs allowed, behind only the Yankees.
George Sisler missed the following season however, and the Browns never recovered. Urban Shocker and Pat Collins found their way to the Yankees' dynasty, and Hank Severeid was traded to the Washington Senators. Still, for a couple seasons in the '20s the Browns were one of the best teams in the league.
May 12, 2007
Chicago Cubs @ Philadelphia Phillies: Citizens Bank Park
-When it comes to geography, nothing beats Citizens Bank Park for an out-of-towner. PA Turnpike to I-95, and then north to the stadium. You go around Philadelphia rather than through it, and traffic is not bad at all. Compare that to New York City, where congestion begins about 30 miles away and gets progressively worse from there. Parking is expensive ($10) but convenient. The park is extremely easy to access from I-95.
-I brought along three friends, and all were impressed with the park. There is hardly a bad seat in the place. We sat 400-level but behind home plate with a great view of the field. There's a secret to attending baseball games. Your best option for viewing the action is anywhere between third and first base. You get better perspective there than sitting five rows past the outfield fence.
-Every time I see the Phils live they explode. 11 runs in this outing. They scored 10 when I saw them in 2006, and 12 the previous time in 2005.
-I left during the rain delay in the seventh. Delays get harder to wait out when you're making day trips from two hours out. The concourse however becomes absolutely impossible to navigate. It will take you a half hour to get around the stadium, at least.
-You honestly can not beat Citizens Bank Park when it comes to ambiance and amenities. Concessions are expensive but not outrageous. $11 will get you a BBQ pork sandwich, a diet coke, and an autograph from Greg "The Bull" Luzinski.
-One actual baseball note. Why teams will run on Shane Victorino I will never understand.
May 13, 2007
Columbus Clippers @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees: PNC Field
-The International League gives you the opportunity to see some fun players. Some are guys who should be in the majors (Colter Bean). Some are guys who could've made it with a bit of luck, but are still worth watching (Jim Rushford). And there are some who could not make it in the Majors. Chris Michalak is 36 years old. He's gotten 191 MLB innings, produced a 4.70 ERA (average for his run-scoring environments), but can never stick with a club. The reason is simple. He throws an 81 mph fastball. I love watching him pitch though. He's not masterful like Jamie Moyer. He just throws strikes that get hit right at guys. And he works fast. Hitters have trouble adjusting to his slow stuff and by the time they do, it's time for the flame throwing reliever. On this night he managed five shutout innings, leaving after 53 pitches. I figure his team didn't want to push him as he just returned from a quad injury. I get the feeling watching him that he could be Chris Hammond.
-One hour into the game, we were in the top of the fifth. The game lasted 2:50. That should give you an indication of the relative quality. Chris Booker pitched two innings for the save. Booker throws 95 mph but it's straight and he has no secondary pitch. It took Booker 54 or so pitches to get those last six outs. Compare that with Michalak. Both teams combined for 14 walks, and five errors. Just horrid, horrid baseball.
May 14, 2007
Same teams, same field.
-Same game really except the Yankees won a blowout. The lack of competition made the slow pace more painful. This game took three hours, ending at 10pm. When you get out and hit road construction right off, gah! Especially when your schedule has you out the door at 7am the next morning.
-Mike Bacsik pitched for Columbus. Around the twelfth batter I noticed he had thrown first-pitch strikes to two batters. That's a recipe for disaster. Sure enough, Bacsik surrendered three home runs in the fourth. Bacsik is a good pitcher, throws strikes and flyballs. Sometimes that will get you killed though, as it did this night. Honestly, the Clippers are the Washington Nationals' farm team. If these guys can't make the Nats, how good can they be?
-Two years ago (May 12, 2005), I saw the Reds and Phillies play. Dave Miley was the Reds' manager and D'Angelo Jimenez their starting second baseman. Fast-forward, Miley is managing Scranton and Jimenez is playing for Columbus. During a break in the action Miley (coaching third) and Jimenez (playing third) were seen conversing. It's good to see some old partnerships come up again.
The buzz around Scranton is that Roger Clemens is scheduled to start on Memorial Day. Whether that is for the AAA club or the big club is yet to be seen. I don't have that game, so not seeing Rodge won't bother me. In fact, it would be fun to see Clemens skip Scranton just because of the hype he's received.
Next game is Sunday, Reading against Portland. Ryan Madson is pitching rehab.
I don't know if there is a good way to sum up an event like this. I probably should not even try. A lot of things have gone through my head as to what to write, and suffice to say I'm not a terribly poetic writer. I got to watch quite a few of the Phillies' players come through the minors, including Chase Utley, Cole Hamels and Ryan Howard.
Frankly, I am shocked it came about so easily. The only other year the Phillies won the World Series was 1980. In that season, the Phils won the division by one game, coming back from behind to win three times in the last week, including the clincher. They won a best of five series 3-2 against the Astros, trailing all three times before they won, and seeing four of those five games go extra innings. They won the World Series 4-2 against the Royals, and they came from behind to win three times. Twice they had to beat Dan Quisenberry to do it. The only game they won in the playoffs but never trailed was the clincher, game six. This time they went 11-3 in the postseason. They were never a loss away from elimination. The only game the Rays even led at any point was their game two victory.
Cole Hamels established himself as a Phillies postseason legend, going 4-0 with a 1.80 ERA in five starts. Brad Lidge rocketed up the postseason saves list. He has now saved more postseason games than all but two pitchers, Dennis Eckersley and Mariano Rivera. Ryan Howard hit three home runs. I think credit is due to the Rays though, who enjoyed a fine season. They lost fighting, with the tying run at second base and losing out only when a line drive stayed in the air too long. Baseball is truly a game of inches, hits turning into outs and vice versa by the smallest of margins. A couple of breaks and the championship easily could have gone the other way.
Was it a boring postseason? More or less, yes. I was thankful for that from a Phillies' perspective but disappointed in the other series. The game five ALCS comeback from the Red Sox will live as a classic. Game five of the World Series was very good as a whole (it will hopefully live in one piece on the dvd), as was game three. Little was memorable about the Fall Classic though. I think we can lay blame on Fox, the weather, MLB as much as we want. The fact remains however that if the games are lacking, there is little you can do to dress them up. Baseball needs exciting games, and then needs to market them properly.
It bears repeating. If you long for the days that your children could enjoy baseball, take them to a minor league game. The lower, the better. You get cheaper tickets, cheaper parking, cheaper concessions, and the players are much more accessable.
It amazes me how much merchandise MLB will attempt to sell in the wake of a World's championship. Within an hour, the Phillies' website proudly displayed a couple hundred items for sale, all proclaiming the Phillies "2008 World Champions." Hats, shirts and dvd sets are customary. Here are some other fun items you might purchase.
* Wincraft Philadelphia Phillies 2008 World Series Champions Galvanized Pail ($29.99)
* Seven different 2008 World Series Bobbleheads, including the Phillie Phanatic, all holding the trophy ($24.99 each)
* Mr. Potato Head, Complete with Phillies hat and trophy ($19.99)
* 2008 World Champions Snow Globe ($34.99)
* Cole Hamels Autographed World Series Baseball ($217.99)
I can just imagine someone in the process of redecorating their den.
A final note on the parade. Chase Utley has raised a bit of a stir by declaring the Phillies, "World F'n Champions!" That is not the most distressing thing on its face, but it is a bit disheartening how this type of language has seemingly become acceptable at Philadelphia sporting events. It makes it difficult to introduce non-fans into the sport or to a sporting venue. Winning is not a ticket to act like a jackass.
In summation, this is really the first championship win I was alive to witness. I don't think anything in the future will measure to this. Thank you Phillies!
Since I am ordering the show tonight, I thought I might as well give some pre-match thoughts and projections.
Royal Rumble Match
Always a good show. I am a bit wary though on the HHH show. I find his character stale and his matches generally dull. It is not that he is not a good wrestler, but he is terribly methodical. Every time he wrestles a big gimmick match you know it is going 20+ minutes. HHH/Orton at Wrestlemania does not interest me in the slightest. The only thing that might make it watchable is an Evolution Fatal Four-way. In this match though, you have either HHH or the Undertaker, unless WWE throws a major curveball. Other storylines heading in are the Hornswaggle/Finlay saga, and that's about it. We'll see.
Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton
You know the IWC are still marks at heart. Everyone wants WWE to put Jeff over in this match although it really doesn't make good long-term booking sense. It would devalue Orton as champion even if they gave him the belt back, and Jeff as champion would not have a ready opponent apart from the Orton rematch. I'd love to see a title change though, because we're all marks at heart. Jeff has become one of WWE's better talents, and it will be a great moment when he does win the title, here or in the future.
Edge vs. Rey Mysterio
No one really believes Mysterio has a shot here.
MVP vs. Ric Flair
Again, everyone buys Flair coming out on top, possibly thanks to Matt Hardy. This Rumble card is really devoid of suspense, which makes me believe that they might try a surprise on at least one of the matches.
JBL vs. Chris Jericho
I think there might be money in a gimmick match down the road, though they would be crazy to try a blood feud blowoff on the same card as an elimination chamber, and I do not know if they can drag this out until Wrestlemania. This match honestly though gives Jericho his best shot at a great match in two years. Hopefully he can deliver.
With the preponderance of baseball statistics on the internet, you might question the need for an annual statistics book. Certainly, baseball-reference.com provides a plethora of statistics along with sorting options and statistical splits that a printed version simply can not match. In this environment, a publisher needs to add a few bells and whistles to entice paying customers.
First off, if you feel the need for a print stat book of any kind, stop now and buy the book. That said, here are a few other features. The book offers a look at the first version of the "Fielding Bible" awards. The publishers chose a panel of ten voters, ranging from Bill James and Rob Neyer to the Tangotiger online fan poll. Honestly, this strikes me a bit elitist. It is one thing to say you can improve the process. It is another to assume you are a better voting group because you disagree with the results. The awards are improved by the nature of the process, each voter submits a weighted ballot rather than choosing a single player. If they selected candidates the same way the actual gold glove awards do, three of the picks would change.
You get the usual chapters you expect. Park factors, managers' records, platoon splits, etc. The manager index demonstrates how many lineups a manager used, how many pinch-hitters and runners used, and more than a dozen other categories. Some other records are compiled. Particularly useful are baserunning statistics, chronicling how often a player went from first to third on a single, or scored from second on a single, or scored from first on a double. The best baserunner in 2007 of course was Jose Reyes. The best baserunning team suprisingly was the Kansas City Royals.
Much has been made of the Young Talent Inventory. That James produced a list based solely on 2007 statistics seems quite sloppy. I believe it is an example of the commerce aspect of the book, needing to attach names and essays to the book in the interest of sales. The player comments however are interesting. Player projections are covered (only for established players), as well as win shares. I wish the publishers would simply list the win shares in the career register.
Amazon currently lists this book around $15. For that price, it's a solid purchase.
My friends regard me as a baseball nut, and for the most part that is true. Name any year, and I can tell you who played in that World Series off the top of my head. Further along however, I fall flat. Ask me who won the National League West in 1979, and I might not remember. Major League Baseball expanded its playoff format in 1969, adding a League Championship series. Most of us remember the great World Series, as they are prevailent, produced on dvd. The LCS however sometimes fades into oblivion. Unless your local team was involved in a memorable series, you may not ever hear about it. Certainly, ESPN Classic's insistance on never showing complete baseball games means some absolute classics are forgotten. Hopefully, this will begin a series of articles about those series. I intend to relive those series, as well as the losing teams involved.
1980 National League Championship Series
Best of Five
1980 Houston Astros
The Houston Astros (then known as the Colt 45s) began as an expansion team in the 1962 season. The 'Stros amased a fine collection of talent over the years such as Joe Morgan, Jimmy Wynn, Larry Dierker and Don Wilson, but could not quite make it to the top of the National League West. Sharing a division with the Big Red Machine will do that. The Astros of course played their home games in the Houston Astrodome. Fans know about the dome and artificial turf, but relatively few fans realize how tough a hitters' park the Dome was. Astros' hitters were perenially underrated, and some pitchers were overrated. The Astros finally broke through in 1980, as we will see.
The Lineup
C: Alan Ashby (.256/.319/.347, 93 OPS+)
1B: Art Howe (.283/.350/.445, 129 OPS+)
2B: Joe Morgan (.243/.367/.373, 115 OPS+)
SS: Craig Reynolds (.226/.262/.304, 64 OPS+)
3B: Enos Cabell (.276/.305/.351, 90 OPS+)
LF: Jose Cruz Sr. (.302/.360/.426, 128 OPS+)
CF: Cesar Cedeno (.309/.389/.465, 147 OPS+)
RF: Terry Puhl (.282/.357/.419, 124 OPS+)
A few interesting players here. Any of the three outfielders could play center, and Terry Puhl in fact did play 30 games in center that season. Jose Cruz is perhaps one of the most underrated players in baseball history. Cruz hit 106 home runs on the road, but only 59 at home. Playing in the Astrodome most of his career cost him perhaps 50 home runs over the years. Cruz certainly deserved more than two All-Star nods. He is not quite a Hall of Fame caliber player, but he's better than Jim Rice, for example.
Cesar Cedeno could be a Hall of Famer. He was a better player than many center fielders currently in the Hall, and might well have been had he not decended rapidly after age 30. Cedeno still played over 2,000 games thanks to an early start, and finished his career with 550 stolen bases.
Joe Morgan left the Cincinnati Reds after the 1979 season, returning to the team that originally drafted him. Morgan remained one of the most disciplined hitters in the game, drawing 93 walks and stealing 24 bases in 1980. Despite a .243 batting average he was one of the more productive second basemen in the league, even at the age of 36.
Enos Cabell on the other hand rated as the player most often criticized by young baseball author Bill James. Cabell hit .276 on the season, at a glimpse an acceptable average. But then you dig in the stat sheet and see a meager 26 walks, almost no power, and he was caught stealing 13 times against 21 successes.
Craig Reynolds' hitting stats are appaling, but it was common for teams in that era to play unproductive hitters at short, preferring defense. Frank Taveras (Mets, 80 OPS+), Larry Bowa (Phillies, 70 OPS+), Tim Foli (Pirates, 73 OPS+), Luis Gomez (Braves, 26 OPS+), Johnnie LeMaster (Giants, 59 OPS+), and Ozzie Smith (Padres, 71 OPS+) comprised some of the league's starting shortstops. When you remember the Padres' trade of Ozzie to the Cardinals for Garry Templeton, consider that Templeton was the only starting shortstop in the league to hit above the league average in 1980.
Ashby of course starred as an announcer for the Astros for several years, and Art Howe went on to become a successful manager in the majors.
The Rotation
Joe Niekro (20-12, 3.55 ERA, 92 ERA+)
Nolan Ryan (11-10, 3.35 ERA, 98 ERA+)
Ken Forsch (12-13, 3.20 ERA, 103 ERA+)
Vern Ruhle (12-4, 2.37 ERA, 138 ERA+)
J.R. Richard (10-4, 1.90 ERA, 173 ERA+)
Joaquin Andujar (3-8, 3.91 ERA, 84 ERA+)
Joe Niekro was in the midst of a late career surge, posting his second consecutive 20 win season. Given his stellar record and the fact that he was a knuckleballer, I think Niekro's mediocre ERA is the result of staying in games longer than most pitchers when his team had a big lead. That's just a guess. Niekro's son Lance currently plays for the San Francisco Giants.
Nolan Ryan remains the game's most overrated pitcher. For all the flack Bert Blyleven receives about not being a winning pitcher, the same tag could be applied to Nolan Ryan, who had a worse win percentage and lower ERA+. Ryan in 1980 had 14 no decisions, of which his team won 11. He did pitch a large number of innings, as did Niekro.
Vern Ruhle's season was entirely a fluke. He never again won more than nine games in a season, and finished his career with a below average ERA. He did however become a successful pitching coach, first with the Phillies and then with the Astros.
J.R. Richard is one of baseball's most tragic cases. Beginning in 1976, Richard ranked among baseball's best pitchers. Despite surrendering over 100 walks a season, he won 72 games from 1976-79. He found his control in 1979 and posted yet another career year. Richard's first half performance in 1980 netted him his first All-Star appearance, a starting assignment to boot. Unfortunately, Richard suffered a series of bizzare ailments that year. Many fans and reporters thought Richard was a lazy player, and that he was loafing. On July 30, Richard suffered a major stroke, requiring emergency surgery. Richard never pitched in the majors again.
Some other intriguing players on the Astros that season included current Padres' manager Bruce Bochy and long time closer Dave Smith, making his debut season.
The Astros ended the regular season in a tie with the Los Angeles Dodgers, necessitating the first regular season playoff in the National League since 1962. (Oddly, of the seven regular season playoffs in N.L. history, the Dodgers have been in five of them). The Astros had held a three game lead over the Dodgers with three to go. However, those three games happened to be against the Dodgers, in Dodger Stadium. The Astros lost all three games to force the playoff. However, the Astros won the playoff easily, 7-1 behind the pitching of staff ace Joe Niekro.
The NLCS
The first two games took place at Veterans Stadium. The Phillies won game one 3-1, thanks to Greg Luzinski's two run home run in the sixth. Game Two saw the Astros and Phillies go into extra innings tied 3-3. The Astros scored four in the tenth, including Dave Bergman's two run triple. The Phillies had a chance to score a run in the ninth, but Lee Elia held Bake McBride at third base.
Games three through five would be played at the Houston Astrodome. Game Three saw the Astros and Phillies trade zeros through ten innings. Joe Niekro pitched ten scoreless innings, striking out two and walking one. Denny Walling's sacrifice fly scored Rafael Landestoy, winning the game for the 'Stros. Game Four saw the Astros take a 2-0 lead into the eighth inning, but the Phils scored three runs. The Astros tied the game in the ninth, leading the game into extra innings for the third straight time. In the top of the tenth, Pete Rose scored on Greg Luzinski's RBI double, and the Phillies went on to win. Rose famously scored on a close play at the plate, knocking down catcher Bruce Bochy. Rose was widely praised for his aggressiveness. What's forgotten is that Manny Trillo followed up with a double that would've scored Rose anyway. But there were two outs, and no tomorrow.
Game five saw the Astros again take a 5-2 lead into the eighth inning. Phillies down three against Nolan Ryan. In the eighth, Rafael Landestoy replaced Joe Morgan at second base, a defensive manuever the Astros made all series. Larry Bowa led off the inning with a base hit to center field. Bob Boone followed with a hard grounder off Ryan's glove, runners at first and second. Greg Gross reached on a bunt down the third base line, loading the bases. Pete Rose followed with a walk, forcing in a run. At this point, Astros' manager Bill Verdon replaced Ryan with Joe Sambito.
If the Astros made a mistake in the series, this is it. Bowa's hit was the hardest hit ball of the inning. Boone and Gross's hits were both infield shots. Rose walked on a full count. The pitch before ball four, which Bowa fouled out, was clocked at 99 mph. I honestly think Ryan came out too soon. Sambito came in to pitch to left handed Bake McBride, who was pulled for Keith Moreland, a righty. There goes the platoon split. Moreland grounded to second, forcing out Rose but scoring a run. 5-4 Astros, first and third for the Phillies, one out.
Ken Forsch came in to replace Sambito. Mike Schmidt struck out in a key spot, leaving two outs. Del Unser bailed out Schmidt and the team, hitting a single to right that scored the tying run. With runners on first and second, Manny Trillo tripled to left, scoring two runs and giving the Phillies a 7-5 lead.
Bottom of the eighth, the Phils attempted to lock down the game by bringing in Tug McGraw. McGraw however, running on fumes, could not get the job done. Two consecutive RBI singles by Rafael Landestoy and Jose Cruz tied the game yet again.
Top of the tenth, Del Unser doubled and Garry Maddox hit a two out double to plate Unser, giving the Phils the lead. Maddox's double was a simple base hit, but Puhl had to dive for it knowing that if it fell in, the Phils would take the lead. The Astros went in order in the bottom of the tenth to give the Phillies the pennant. Noteable about that last half of the inning was Enos Cabell swinging at ball four and flying out to center field for his trouble.
In that five game series, four game went into extra innings. If you watch the Phillies' broadcast, you note Tim McCarver laughing hysterically as the Phillies win the pennant on Maddox's catch. It was an extremely hard fought series, and the Phillies really felt like they simply survived that game, not just won it. In my mind, it rates as the greatest game in Phillies' history, due to its combination of excitement and importance. The Phils would go on to defeat the Kansas City Royals in six games for their first and only World Series championship.
The Astros again reached the postseason the following season. After taking the first two games from the Dodgers, they lost the next three and the series. They lost to the New York Mets in the 1986 NLCS, puncuated by a 16 inning classic game six. Division series appearances in 1997, '98, '99 and 2001 all resulted in losses, giving the Astros seven consecutive playoff series losses. They finally broke that streak in 2004, and won their first National League pennant in 2005.
