Bored

If it ain't Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park, Berman can't be bothered to call the game which is for the best.

My Picks AL MVP: Travis Hafner Cy Young: Johan Santana ROY: Francisco Liriano NL MVP: Albert Pujols Cy Young: Brandon Webb ROY: Dan Uggla See my blog for my a complete list.

First half awards, except Manager of the Year which I could careless about. The smart managers are usually smart every year and the dumb managers are usually dumb every year. The award itself is striclty based preseason predictions and who exceeds them. National League Starting with the MVP of course in my view it is still Albert Pujols' award to lose but in the view of the baseball writer's it appers to be David Wright's award to lose. If the Mets continue to blow away the rest of the N.L. and Wright continues to hit as his current pace he many win the award rather easiy. As you'll see I don't even consider Wright the best player on his team in the first half. Carlos Beltran is getting zero respect simply because he signed a huge contract and because he underachived last year. You'll hear Jose Reyes' name mentioned for MVP more than Beltran's. 10. Nick Johnson, Nationals .295/.421/.538, 65 RC, .319 EQA, 33.8 VORP, 16 Win Shares 9. Carlos Lee, Brewers .290/.353/.563, 69 RC, .297 EQA, 27.8 VORP, 17 Win Shares 8. Bobby Abreu, Phillies .293/.447/.467, 69 RC, .312 EQA, 27.8 VORP, 17 Win Shares 7. Jose Reyes, Mets .300/.357/.481, 71 RC, .285 EQA, 34.5 VORP, 17 Win Shares 6. Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks 183 ERA+, 4.90 K/BB, 1.11 WHIP, 51.2 VORP, 15 Win Shares 5. David Wright, Mets .316/.386/.575, 75 RC, .310 EQA, 36.8 VORP, 17 Win Shares 4. Miguel Cabrera, Marlins .334/.442/.566, 73 RC, .325 EQA, 42.2 VORP, 16 Win Shares 3. Lance Berkman, Astros .317/.405/.607, 77 RC, .320 EQA, 36.9 VORP, 19 Win Shares 2. Carlos Beltran, Mets .279/.388/.606, 69 RC, .315 EQA, 38.7 VORP, 20 Win Shares 1. Albert Pujols, Cardinals .316/.435/.703, 79 RC, .350 EQA, 46.4 VORP, 22 Win Shares For Cy Young this was a pretty easy choice of Brandon Webb as he's been a cut above the competition all year. Jason Schmidt is not getting any notice because of a 6-5 record but he's been dominant. For 3rd it was a toss up between Chris Capuano and Bronson Arroyo but I gave the nod to Capuano for his K/BB ratio. 3. Chris Capuano, Brewers 141 ERA+, 4.48 K/BB, 1.18 WHIP, 39.0 VORP, 13 Win Shares 2. Jason Schmidt, Giants 163 ERA+, 2.50 K/BB, 1.11 WHIP, 44.4 VORP, 12 Win Shares 1. Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks Rookie of the Year is another fairly easy choice of Dan Uggla although if I had to bet I think Ryan Zimmerman may end up emerging as the top rookie by the end of the year. Prince Fielder has only 8 Win Shares and a .320 OBP in case you were wondering where he is. 3. Hanley Ramirez, Marlins .271/.337/.413, 50 RC, .268 EQA, 19.1 VORP, 10 Win Shares 2. Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals .287/.350/.478, 58 RC, .278 EQA, 15.3 VORP, 13 Win Shares 1. Dan Uggla, Marlins .307/.366/.510, 61 RC, .292 EQA, 30.0 VORP, 13 Win Shares American League Travis Hafner I think deserves the crown as the most underrated player in baseball now. He's arguably been the best hitter in baseball not named Albert Pujols over the last two and a half years yet he still has yet to make an All-Star team. The race is wide open but Hafner doesn't have a prayer unless the Indians go on another second half run and even then it seems highly unlikely they'll get close enough to the Tigers and White Sox for anyone to really notice. Where's David Ortiz? This was actually the first time all year I even gave consideration to Ortiz but he ended about 12th for me. The writers love him because he's "clutch" yet he's hitting a modest .280 with RISP and of course because he leads the leauge in the almighty RBI. Manny Ramirez is besting him in AVG/OBP/SLG and has hit .303 with RISP. 10. Curtis Granderson, Tigers .278/.367/.462, 64 RC, .285 EQA, 23.1 VORP, 17 Win Shares 9. Carl Crawford, Devil Rays .319/.359/.521, 72 RC, .297 EQA, 28.9 VORP, 17 Win Shares 8. Jason Giambi, Yankees .260/.415/.611, 70 RC, .329 EQA, 33.5 VORP, 15 Win Shares 7. Johan Santana, Twins 155 ERA+, 5.75 K/BB, 1.00 WHIP, 42.9 VORP, 15 Win Shares 6. Derek Jeter, Yankees .345/.427/.462, 68 RC, .314 EQA, 42.0 VORP, 16 Win Shares 5. Jermaine Dye, White Sox .318/.397/.646, 66 RC, .326 EQA, 36.2 VORP, 16 Win Shares 4. Manny Ramirez, Red Sox .306/.434/.615, 70 RC, .335 EQA, 38.4 VORP, 17 Win Shares 3. Joe Mauer, Twins .378/.447/.535, 60 RC, .331 EQA, 44.2 VORP, 18 Win Shares 2. Jim Thome, White Sox .298/.414/.651, 80 RC, .334 EQA, 43.4 VORP, 18 Win Shares 1. Travis Hafner, Indians .322/.461/.650, 88 RC, .361 EQA, 55.8 VORP, 17 Win Shares For Cy Young there are three candidates that are head and shoulders above everyone else. I couldn't put Liriano over Santana and Halladay because Liriano has thrown 40+ fewer innings. If they were hitters he'd have about 120+ less plate appearances. That's tough to make up. 3. Francisco Liriano, Twins 250 ERA+, 4.43 K/BB, 0.97 WHIP, 41.9 VORP, 14 Win Shares 2. Roy Halladay, Blue Jays 164 ERA+, 4.50 K/BB, 1.03 WHIP, 44.0 VORP, 14 Win Shares 1. Johan Santana, Twins ROY was a pretty easy list to put together. Myself personally I think both Liriano and Papelbon will level off in the second half as there is no way two rookie pitcher's are going to be this unstoppable all year long. Papelbon's ERA+ is insane but he'll have some bad luck eventually that will shoot that ERA up. 3. Justin Verlander, Tigers 147 ERA+, 2.09 K/BB, 1.17 WHIP, 35.4 VORP, 12 Win Shares 2. Jonathan Papelbon, Red Sox 803 ERA+, 5.88 K/BB, 0.72 WHIP, 28.3 VORP, 12 Win Shares 1. Francisco Liriano, Twins

My 1987 A.L. MVP Redo helped me find my next “Where’d They Go?” subject as there was one team that year that had three players in my top 10, that being the Boston Red Sox. Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, and Dwight Evans all had great years and having three players of that caliber playing for the defending A.L. Champs you’d think that'd lead to a successful year. They finished 78-84. What happened? Obviously three stars can not lead a team of 25 to a championship. After you got past those three and Mike Greenwell the ’87 Sox were a terrible team. They spent just one day over .500 (8-7 on April 22nd) the entire season. The major problem was pitching as they posted 4.77 team ERA, only Baltimore and Cleveland were worse. The bullpen was particularly awful with an ERA of 5.42 and only 16 saves. Maybe the most glaring problem for the Red Sox was they were seemingly a completely different team on the road. They were a very strong 50-30 at home. They were a miserable 28-54 on the road. C: Marc Sullivan (.169/.198/.238, -14.7 VORP, 2 Win Shares) – 14 OPS+. 14! How is that even possible for a non-pitcher? Sullivan was part of a three headed non-hitting monster at catcher for the Sox along Rich Gedman and John Marzano. The previously reliable Gedman heldout the first month of the season and then had a thumb injury midseason. How in the world was Sullivan in the Majors you ask? His dad Haywood Sullivan was co-owner of the Red Sox at the time. Aww nepotism. This would be Sullivan’s last year in the bigs. 1B: Dwight Evans (.305/.417/.569, 57.7 VORP, 25 Win Shares) – Dewey was moved to first in July after they released Bill Buckner. Evans struggled badly at first and I’m not sure why they chose to move him to first instead of rookie Todd Benzinger who got the majority of time in right field the remainder of the year. I guess maybe the thinking was with Evans being 35 they wanted to attempt to extend his career by moving him to first. Stayed with the Red Sox thru 1990 and spent his final year in Baltimore. Deserved a lot more support for the Hall of Fame than he got, which was almost no support at all. 2B: Marty Barrett (.293/.351/.351, 18.1 VORP, 16 Win Shares) – Barrett had a decent year after his career year of ’86. In 1989 a knee injury cut his year, and eventually career, short and rookie Jody Reed took his job from there. Left the Sox after 1990 and had a brief stint in 1991 with the Padres before being released. 3B: Wade Boggs (.363/.461/.588, 90.1 VORP, 32 Win Shares) – Boggs was well into his peek here with another MVP caliber season winning his third of four straight batting titles. This was the one year that Boggs showed serious power as he hit 24 homeruns in an assumed juiced ball year. His production dipped severely in 1992 and after that year he signed as a free agent with the Yankees where rebounded with a great year in 1994 and won his only World Series ring in 1996. Closed out his career with the Devil Rays, retiring after 1999. He actually gave his HOF cap rights to the D-Rays as part of his contract but thankfully the HOF changed it’s rules and players no longer are able choose the cap they wear on their plaque. Inducted with a Red Sox cap last year. SS: Spike Owen (.259/.337/.343, 10.7 VORP, 9 Win Shares) – Owen sure made a career out of being a weak hitter and unspectacular defensive shortstop. Traded after 1988 to the Expos where he’d spend four years. Traded again after 1993 to the Yankees. In 1994 with the Angels he put up a shocking .310/.418/.422 line in 82 games but he went back to his usual numbers in ’95 which was his final season. LF: Jim Rice (.277/.357/.408, 9.9 VORP, 8 Win Shares) – This was the year where Rice seemed to age about five years as he was hobbled with knee problems. Moved to DH the following year but that failed to really extend his career and he retired after 1989. His HOF support is continuing to grow and though he’ll have no shot for 2007 with the Ripken/Gwynn ballot, I will not be surprised if he is elected on the 2008 ballot over the more deserving Tim Raines. CF: Ellis Burks (.272/.324/.441, 17.4 VORP, 15 Win Shares) – Solid rookie year for Burks who was just 22 at the time. Had his first of many injuries in 1989 when he was limited to 97 games due to a shoulder injury. In his 18 year career he only played more than 140 games in a season four times but when he was in the line up he was usually great. Signed with the White Sox in 1993 for one season and then signed with the Rockies. Traded in a deadline deal to the Giants in 1998 and played there thru 2000. Spent the next three years in Cleveland and made a return to the Red Sox in 2004 but only played in 11 games. OF: Mike Greenwell (.328/.386/.570, 41.9 VORP, 17 Win Shares) – This was Greenwell’s “rookie” year but he had played parts of the last two seasons and started 61 games in left, 28 games in right, and 15 games at DH. Really broke out the following year finishing in the Top 5 in the A.L. in average, OBP, SLG, hits, rbi, and a few other categories. He finished 2nd in the MVP voting but would never come close to match that year again. Would spend his entire MLB career in Boston, leaving after 1996 to play in Japan. DH: Don Baylor (.239/.355/.404, 9.7 VORP, 7 Win Shares) – Boston stats only as Baylor would be traded with a month left in the season to the Twins. He was playing on borrowed time at this point although he would have a great World Series. Played his final year in 1988 with Oakland. Rotation Roger Clemens (154 ERA+, 92.8 VORP, 28 Win Shares) – Who? Bruce Hurst (103 ERA+, 40.2 VORP, 15 Win Shares) – Hurst was the only other competent pitcher on the Sox, starters or bullpen, although this wasn’t a particularly good year for him. Oddly enough made the All-Star team but Clemens didn’t. Signed as a free agent with the Padres in 1989 and had arguably his best year posting a 2.69 ERA. Had three good years in San Diego but a shoulder problem hampered him in 1992 and he found out after the season he had a torn rotator cuff. Only would pitch 51 innings after that, traded to the Rockies midseason in 1993 and then spent 1994 with the Rangers. Al Nipper (84 ERA+, 4.5 VORP, 6 Win Shares) – Nipper was a junkballer who fooled some hitters a few years earlier when he first came up to the Majors but by this time he was figured out. Sox traded him and Calvin Schiraldi to the Cubs in an absolute fleecing to get Lee Smith. Nipper actually did pitch fairly well splitting time between starter and reliever in ’88. Was released right before the 1989 season and did not pitch in the Majors that year. Not sure if he was injured or in the minors. Pitched 24 innings for the Indians in 1990, his final year. Jeff Sellers (86 ERA+, 10.7 VORP, 6 Win Shares) – Supposedly had great stuff but apparently never knew where it was going. Traded after 1988 to Cincinnati in the Nick Esasky deal and never pitched in the Majors again. Bob Stanley (91 ERA+, 8.8 VORP, 5 Win Shares) – This was a forgettable return to starter for Stanley who’d only made two starts in the previous six years. The workhorse reliever was moved back to the bullpen the following season and had a good year but struggled in 1989, announcing his retirement at the end of the season. Closer: Wes Gardner (84 ERA+, 7.0 VORP, 4 Win Shares) – Red Sox didn’t really have a closer for their awful bullpen but Gardner picked up 10 of the 16 saves. Spent the following year as a long reliever/fifth starter and had his only productive year in the Majors. Traded to the Padres after 1990, splitting his final year with them and the Royals.

I didn't notice they had players and ESPN analysts take it. Unfortunently John Kruk didn't take it. Hey I scored better than Steve Phillips. Why am I not surprised?

I scored 36 out of 50. For the older stuff I mostly guessed. Many of the questions were pretty hard but I think they had to fill out 50 by throwing in a couple of softballs like most no hitters and single season record for stolen bases.

The A's go into the break dead last in the A.L. in runs scored and only the Cubs have a worse offense in all of baseball. Nick Swisher is the only regular that has exceeded expectations although he has leveled off quite a bit after a tremendous start. Frank Thomas has played more than I expected and overall has met expectations when he's been in the line up. Other than that every other player in the A's projected starting line up going into the season has been dissapointing. The biggest problem offensively comes at the top of line up. A's lead off hitters (primarily Mark Kotsay) are hitting at a pathetic .227/.300/.306 clip. I suppose they could make a run at Alfonso Soriano but two problems 1) Soriano has never been a true table setter with his hacking ways and 2) A's farm system is stretched pretty thin right now. The good news is they are in a pathetic division where 85 wins might be enough. Bad news is they didn't bury the Angels and they are right back in it now.

A's drop three in a row to the Angels and now they are only two games back. Just fucking great.

That probably won't be announced until Monday but I would assume Vernon Wells will get the nod.

Halladay needs to stay healthy and do it for several years. At this point he's only had two seasons where he's pitched over 200 innings.

I've been trying for a while to figure out some sort reoccurring entry for what's become my favorite sport to watch on television in the last several years and that's college football. But I haven't been able to come up with anything to this point so I figured I'd post some memories and some useless facts which is what this blog was created for. As I've said before my "sports life" began in 1986 but it wasn't until 1991 that I took a true interest in college football. Really two things stuck out and that was Desmond Howard and that Stanford had a good team for the first time in a while. Howard was the hyped player that seemed to deliver every week. I will never forget watching that Michigan/Ohio State game when he struck the Heisman pose after a punt return for a touchdown. There was this sense from the announcers and the crowd that right before the punt that he was going to do something big. Him striking that pose in perfect unison with Keith Jackson's "Hello Heisman" call is I think one of the truly cool moments sports history. Now since I had started following sports with a rabid interest Stanford had been lackluster in football, except in 1986 when they played in the Gator Bowl but again I wasn't into college football at the time. The year before they had pulled off a shocking upset of then #1 Notre Dame in South Bend but need nothing of note after that. In '91 they had an early season upset of Colorado but were only 2-3 after five games. Starting quarterback Jason Polumbus was knocked with a shoulder injury and back up Steve Stenstrom took over, leading the Cardinal to six straight victories and just their second bowl bid in 13 years. I still have on tape and watch at least once a year their 38-21 ass kicking of then #6 Cal in the Big Game that year with "Touchdown" Tommy Vardell scoring three td's. Now on to the useless facts. 1991 may have been as reponsible as any year for the creation of the BCS because it ended with a split national champ between two undefeated schools who could not play each other in the bowls, Miami and Washington. Miami was ranked higher in the preseason poll so they ended up higher than Washington at the end of the season although it was near upset against a weak Boston College team (week after Wide Right I) that cost Miami the top spot in the Coaches' Poll. Preseason AP Top 25 1. Florida State 2. Michigan 3. Miami 4. Washington 5. Florida 6. Notre Dame 7. Penn State 8. Georgia Tech 9. Clemson 10. Oklahoma 11. Tennessee 12. Houston 13. Colorado 14. Texas 15. Nebraska 16. USC 17. Auburn 18. Iowa 19. BYU 20. Michigan State 21. Texas A&M 22. Alabama 23. Ohio State 24. UCLA 25. Syracuse Top 25 Regular Season Match-ups Week 1 #7 Penn State 34, #8 Georgia Tech 22 #1 Florida State 44, #19 BYU 28 Week 2 #23 UCLA 27, #25 BYU 23 Week 3 #2 Miami 40, #10 Houston 10 #3 Michigan 24, #7 Notre Dame 14 #6 Florida 35, #16 Alabama 0 #11 Tennessee 30, #21 UCLA 16 #23 Baylor 16, #12 Colorado 14 Week 4 #4 Washington 36, #9 Nebraska 21 #18 Syracuse 38, #5 Florida 21 #6 Tennessee 26, #23 Mississippi State 24 Week 5 #1 Florida State 51, #3 Michigan 31 #5 Tennessee 30, #13 Auburn 21 #7 Clemson 9, #19 Georgia Tech 7 #14 Florida 29, #21 Mississippi State 7 #16 Nebraska 18, #24 Arizona State 9 Week 6 #1 Florida State 46, #10 Syracuse 14 #7 Michigan 43, #9 Iowa 24 #18 California 27, #24 UCLA 24 #19 N.C. State 28, #21 Georgia Tech 21 Week 7 #2 Miami 26, #9 Penn State 20 #10 Florida 35, #4 Tennessee 18 #7 Notre Dame 42, #12 Pittsburgh 7 #20 Illinois 10, #11 Ohio State 7 #22 Georgia 37, #23 Mississippi State 17 Week 8 #3 Washington 24, #7 California 17 #14 Alabama 24, #8 Tennessee 19 #22 Colorado 34, #12 Oklahoma 17 #15 Iowa 24, #13 Illinois 21 #19 Texas A&M 34, #16 Baylor 12 #24 Syracuse 31, #20 Pittsburgh 27 Week 9 #19 Clemson 29, #12 N.C. State 19 #20 East Carolina 24, #23 Pittsburgh 23 Week 10 #9 Nebraska 19, #15 Colorado 19 tie #11 Iowa 16, #13 Ohio State 9 #21 Baylor 9, #24 Arkansas 5 Week 11 #13 Tennessee 35, #5 Notre Dame 34 #6 Florida 45, #23 Georgia 13 #10 Iowa 38, #25 Indiana 21 #24 Virginia 42, #18 N.C. State 10 Week 12 #2 Miami 17, #1 Florida State 16 #4 Michigan 20, #25 Illinois 0 #8 Penn State 35, #12 Notre Dame 13 Week 13 #4 Michigan 31, #18 Ohio State 3 #21 Stanford 38, #6 California 21 Week 14 #5 Florida 14, #3 Florida State 9 #11 Nebraska 19, #19 Oklahoma 14 Bowl Games California: Bowling Green 28, Fresno State 21 (MVP, Mark Szlachcic) Aloha: Georgia Tech 18, #17 Stanford 17 (MVP, Shawn Jones) Blockbuster: #8 Alabama 30, #15 Colorado 25 (MVP, David Palmer) Liberty: Air Force 38, Mississippi State 15 (MVP, Rob Perez) Independence: #24 Georgia 24, Arkansas 15 (MVP, Andre Hastings) Gator: #20 Oklahoma 48, Virginia 14 (MVP, Cale Gundy) Holiday: BYU 13, #7 Iowa 13 tie (MVP, Ty Detmer) Freedom: #23 Tulsa 28, San Diego Sate 17 (MVP, Ron Jackson) Copper: Indiana 24, Baylor 0 (MVP, Vaughn Dunbar) Sun: #22 UCLA 6, Illinois 3 (MVP, Arnold Ale) Citrus: #14 California 37, #13 Clemson 13 (MVP, Mike Pawlawski) Peach: #12 East Carolina 37, #21 N.C. State 34 (MVP, Jeff Blake) Cotton: #5 Florida State 10, #9 Texas A&M 2 (MVP, Sean Jackson) Orange: #1 Miami 22, #11 Nebraska 0 (MVP, Larry Jones) Fiesta: #6 Penn State 42, #10 Tennessee 17 (MVP, O.J. McDuffie) Hall of Fame: #16 Syracuse 24, #25 Ohio State 17 (MVP, Marvin Graves) Rose: #2 Washington 34, #4 Michigan 14 (MVP, Steve Emtman) Sugar: #18 Notre Dame 39, #3 Florida 28 (MVP, Jerome Bettis) Final AP Top 25 1. Miami 2. Washington 3. Penn State 4. Florida State 5. Alabama 6. Michigan 7. Florida 8. California 9. East Carolina 10. Iowa 11. Syracuse 12. Texas A&M 13. Notre Dame 14. Tennessee 15. Nebraska 16. Oklahoma 17. Georgia 18. Clemson 19. UCLA 20. Colorado 21. Tulsa 22. Stanford 23. BYU 24. N.C. State 25. Air Force All-Americans QB Ty Detmer, BYU Casey Weldon, Florida State RB Vaughn Dunbar, Indiana Trevor Cobb, Rice Russell White, California Amp Lee, Florida State Marshall Faulk, San Diego State WR Desmond Howard, Michigan Mario Bailey, Washington Carl Pickens, Tennessee TE Kelly Blackwell, TCU Derek Brown, Notre Dame Mark Chmura, Boston College OL Greg Skrepenak, Michigan Bob Whitfield, Stanford Jeb Flesch, Clemson Jerry Ostroski, Tulsa Mirko Jurkovic, Notre Dame Jay Leeuwenburg, Colorado Eugene Chung, Virginia Tech Leon Searcy, Miami Troy Auzenne, California Ray Roberts, Virginia Tim Simpson, Illinois DL Steve Emtman, Washington Santana Dotson, Baylor Brad Culpepper, Florida Leroy Smith, Iowa Joel Steed, Colorado Shane Dronett, Texas Rob Bodine, Clemson Robert Stewart, Alabama LB Robert Jones, East Carolina Marvin Jones, Florida State Levon Kirkland, Colorado Marco Coleman, Georgia Tech David Hoffman, Washington Steve Tovar, Ohio State Joe Bowden, Oklahoma Darrin Smith, Miami Erick Anderson, Michigan DB Terrell Buckely, Florida State Dale Carter, Tennessee Kevin Smith, Texas A&M Darryl Williams, Miami Darren Perry, Penn State Troy Vincent, Wisconsin K Carlos Huerta, Miami Jason Hanson, Washington State P Mark Bounds, Texas Tech KR Qadry Ismail, Syrcause PR Kevin Williams, Miami

That was funny, like Lou couldn't get a new hat. Irish blew a 31-7 lead in the '91 game.

No, he could still make good contact so I'm sure other teams would have signed him but some players in the past would cut deals with new teams they signed with to agree to wear their cap into the Hall of Fame to get a little more money out of the contract. Roger Clemens did it with the Yankees as well. But again the Hall changed the rule in 2003 to prevent deals like this.

Zombie Frank Thomas hits a walk off homerun to beat the Angels 7-5.

There are a lot of people in the world who need to be punched in face right now.

So what if it's still another 56 days away...national t.v. schedule for the opening weekend is set. Go Vols. Thursday, August 31 Boston College at Central Michigan, ESPN2 South Carolina at Mississippi State, ESPN Friday, September 1 Nevada at Fresno State, ESPN2 Saturday, September 2 North Texas at Texas, FSN Northern Illinois at Ohio State, ABC* Rutgers at North Carolina, ABC* Stanford at Oregon, ABC* Akron at Penn State, ESPN2 Louisiana Tech at Nebraska, FSN California at Tennessee, ESPN UAB at Oklahoma, TBS Notre Dame at Georgia Tech, ABC Utah at UCLA, FSN Washington State at Auburn, ESPN2 USC at Arkansas, ESPN BYU at Arizona, TBS Sunday, September 3 Memphis at Mississippi, ESPN TCU at Baylor, FSN Kentucky at Louisville, ESPN Monday, September 4 Florida State at Miami, ESPN

Okay I've redone all the 80's MVPs but this was one that I kind of have been wanting to do an entry for. The main reason is because 1987 was the year that my favorite player of all-time Mark McGwire burst on to the scene by completely obliterating the rookie homerun record with 49 homeruns. It's really one of those records that it's hard to imagine it ever being broken as Mike Piazza's 35 in 1993 is the most by a rookie since. In the Summer of '87 everyone was going out of their way to buy up as many of McGwire's Olympic card from the 1985 Topps set as they could. Now I know McGwire wasn't the MVP but I had always had it my head that he had a better year than the winner of the MVP that year. The writer's pick for A.L. MVP was George Bell as he won it in a tight race over Alan Trammell, receiving 16 first place votes to Trammell's 12. Now when it comes to awards voting most writers submit their ballots before the season ends and that could have made a difference here. After dropping three out of four in Toronto on the next to last weekend of the season the Tigers sat two and a half games out of first place behind the Blue Jays. It's quite possible that series won the MVP for Bell over Trammell as Bell played a big role in the series win going 8 for 18. But the in the final weekend of the season the Tigers would sweep the Jays in Detroit to take the A.L. East title. Who knows how many writer's submitted their ballots right after the series in Toronto? Also if Trammell had won the MVP in '87 maybe he'd get a little more support in the Hall of Fame voting. I've always had the Shiny Object Theory when it comes to HOF voting where writer's will almost always give more support to a player who won a major award in their career than someone who didn't. Just look at Bruce Sutter (Cy Young in 1979) being elected to the HOF this year instead of Goose Gossage (never won a Cy Young). Actual Results 1) George Bell 2) Alan Trammell 3) Kirby Puckett 4) Dwight Evans 5) Paul Molitor 6) Mark McGwire 7) Don Mattingly 8) Tony Fernandez 9) Wade Boggs 10) Gary Gaetti 11) Jeff Reardon 12) Darrell Evans 13t) Doyle Alexander 13t) Tom Henke 13t) Wally Joyner 16) Kent Hrbek 17) Danny Tartabull 18) Robin Yount 19) Roger Clemens 20t) Jack Morris 20t) Kevin Seitzer 20t) Ruben Sierra 23) Jose Canseco 24) Matt Nokes #10 .309/.390/.541, 123 RC, 142 OPS+, .318 EQA, 54.4 VORP, 24 Win Shares #9 .305/.417/.569, 129 RC, 156 OPS+, .332 EQA, 57.7 VORP, 25 Win Shares #8 .327/.378/.559, 122 RC, 146 OPS+, .319 EQA, 50.4 VORP, 27 Win Shares #7 .332/.367/.534, 121 RC, 132 OPS+, .304 EQA, 55.1 VORP, 29 Win Shares #6 .308/.352/.605, 129 RC, 146 OPS+, .318 EQA, 60.6 VORP, 26 Win Shares #5 154 ERA+, 3.09 K/BB, 1.18 WHIP, 92.8 VORP, 28 Win Shares #4 .289/.370/.618, 127 RC, 164 OPS+, .335 EQA, 60.7 VORP, 30 Win Shares #3 .353/.438/.566, 115 RC, 161 OPS+, .344 EQA, 74.8 VORP, 29 Win Shares #2 .363/.461/.588, 151 RC, 173 OPS+, .358 EQA, 90.1 VORP, 32 Win Shares #1 .343/.402/.551, 133 RC, 155 OPS+, .334 EQA, 96.6 VORP, 35 Win Shares So Bell wasn't a terrible choice but not a particularly good one either. Boggs plays bride's maid again in my redos just like he did with the 1986 one. What happened with the Red Sox in '87? Defending A.L. Champs and three of the Top 10 players in the league on their team yet they finish six games under .500. Sounds like a "Where'd They Go?" team.

Yes it was Scully. Here's Randall Cunningham's signature play, 1988 MNF vs. Giants

I've finished watching Game 2 of all three series so here are some of my notes. 1975 World Series Game 2 - Reds 3, Red Sox 2 (boxscore and play account) -This game is incomplete on the disk. Apparantly the top of the 2nd is missing from the film archives. Thankfully it was just a 1-2-3 inning for the Reds. -OBP gets it's first notice I think in all three of the series here although it's referred to as "on base average" as they have a graphic when Joe Morgan is up mentioning that he led the league in that category although the announcers don't mention it. -They hype several times during the game a feature Sunday Night special NFL game between the Raiders and Chiefs that was following the game. Chiefs beat the Raiders 42-10 that night. -Morgan continues his whining from Game 1 here and even tries to fake getting hit by a pitch in the 6th by claiming the ball grazed his jersey and then pitched a fit when they wouldn't give him the base. Replays show it didn't hit him. Two games of watching him and I'm already hating him as a player. I took joy in him getting thrown out trying to steal in the 7th right after Tony Kubek said he probably shouldn't be stealing with Johnny Bench up. SMARTBALL~! -Speaking of SMARTBALL~ this game ended up being decided on what Joe would refer to as "manufacturing runs" but was really more luck than anything. With the Red Sox up 2-1 going into the 9th, Bench led off with a double. Tony Perez would hit a soft ground ball to short which allowed Bench to move to 3rd which I'm sure Perez was trying to do. George Foster would pop up to left, which was not deep enough to score Bench. Then with two outs Dave Concepcion hits a slow chopper up the middle that Red Sox second baseman Denny Doyle has to eat and allows Bench to score the tying run. Ken Griffey would double next to give the Reds the lead. Just think if Concepcion hits a line drive right at Doyle, the Red Sox would have been up 2-0, maybe won the series, and saved the world from being subjected to Fever Pitch. 1979 World Series Game 2 - Pirates 3, Orioles 2 (boxscore and play account) -The graphics are missing from the footage of this game. -I forgot to mention this in the Game 1 notes but sitting right directly behind home plate in both games is that John 3:16 guy who wore a rainbow colored wig. Never holds up any John 3:16 sign here though. What's funny here is that ABC puts a camerman right directly in front of him during this game to try obstruct the view of him. You never once see a shot from the behind homeplate so clearly the camera wasn't turned on. -ABC thankfully cut back on the number of player's wive shots in this game but they do show Ken Singleton's wife for the first time and she knocks out Doug DeCinces' wife for the hottest wife of the series. -Several Pirates have stars on their caps that were given by Willie Stargell during the season which were called "Stargell's Stars." Bert Blyleven, who started this game, had none. Man fuck Willie. Even by his peers Blyleven was undervalued. They'd play an interview with Blyleven before the game and it's brought up how baseball writers didn't think he could win a big game. -The announce during the game that J.R. Richard had signed a four-year contract to stay in Houston rather than test the free agent market. It would be that following year when he'd have his stroke. -Sorta like game Game 2 of '75 this game ends up being won on some fortunate bounces. Game was tied 2-2 going into the 9th, with two out Pirates catcher Ed Ott hit a groundball to 2nd which takes a bad hop right before Billy Smith can field it and it bounces away from him. Phil Garner would walk and then Manny Sanguillen hit a pinch hit single that would be the game winner. 1986 World Series Game 2 - Red Sox 9, Mets 3 (boxscore and play account) -I can't even imagine the hype that when into this game as it was a match-up of Roger Clemens vs. Dwight Gooden which was about as epic of a pitching match-up you could get in 1986. As you can tell just looking by the score it didn't live up to the hype although they did have to follow up a 1-0 game. Neither pitcher had much of anything going for them in this one. -Howard Johnson started at 3rd for this game in place of a slumping Ray Knight which ironically enough Dickhead Knight would end up being the World Series MVP. -The Mets were just crushing Clemens but every deep flyball they hit seemed to die at the track. You knew it wasn't their night by what happened in the 4th and 5th. Dave Henderson led off the 4th with a homerun for the Sox. Then in the bottom of the inning Darryl Strawberry and Howard Johnson both hit balls that looked like and sounded like homeruns when they left at the bat but both barely stayed in the park. Davey Johnson then decideds not to pinch hit in the inning for Gooden, who was already looking bad at that point, and then top of the 5th he gives up a two run shot to Dwight Evans. -It's kind of tough to tell in the screencap but in the bottom of the 6th some fan threw a ball at Jim Rice while he was catching a flyball. -Strawberry struck out twice in each of the first eight postseason games. -Everytime I here Scully say "a little roller up along first" I expect the next words to be "BEHIND THE BAG! IT GETS THROUGH BUCKNER!" -Interesting to note that in this series and the '75 Series not once has the word "curse" come up yet. I really wonder if the "curse" nonsense didn't really pick up steam until after this series. Forgetting what happened in Game 6 it's amazing when you think about that the previous year the Royals became the first team ever to lose the first two games in the World Seires at home and comeback to win the series. What were the odds that the same thing would happen two years in a row after never happening before? The Red Sox had to feel good about themselves at this point and this particular game wasn't even as close as the score indicated.

Derek Jeter, Derek Jeter, Derek Jeter, Derek Jeter

It appears they were a subset in Leaf cards during the mid-80's. I had posted one before of Mark Eichhorn when I did an entry on the 1986 Rookies.

MONDAY Phillies (Lidle) at Red Sox (Wakefield) Braves (Hudson) at Yankees (So Very Old) Astros (Rodriguez) at Tigers (Miner) Devil Rays (Shields) at Marlins (Johnson) Brewers (Capuano) at Cubs (Maddux) Indians (Lee) at Cardinals (A John Kruk Cy Young candidate I'm sure) Dodgers (Billingsley) at Twins (Silva) Rockies (Jennings) at Angels (Lackey) TUESDAY Phillies (Hamels) at Orioles (Bedard) Manufacture Runs (Buehrle) at Pirates (Snell) Devil Rays (Kazmir) at Marlins (Nolasco) Mets (Soler) at Red Sox (Lester) Braves (Ramirez) at Yankees (Wright) Clemens at Tigers (Robertson) Nationals (Ortiz) at Blue Jays (Dreifort...I mean Burnett) Royals (Wood) at Reds (Milton) Brewers (Jackson) at Cubs (Zambrano) Dodgers (Lowe) at Twins (Brian Sabean is an idiot) Indians (Sabathia) at Cardinals (Reyes) Mariners (Washburn) at Diamondbacks (Webb) Rockies (Cook) at Angels (Bad Weaver) A's (Zito) at Padres (Young) Rangers (Millwood) at AARP (Morris) WEEKEND Giants/Padres White Sox/Cubs Mets/Yankees Devil Rays/Nationals Tigers/Pirates Phillies/Blue Jays Indians/Reds Red Sox/Marlins Orioles/Braves Royals/Cardinals Brewers/Twins Astros/Rangers Dodgers/Angels Rockies/Mariners Diamondbacks/A's

Players voting results, showing they are as "smart" as Steve Phillips when it comes to who's the best starting pitcher in the A.L. The players sure hate A-Rod too as Chavez's season has gone in the tank due to injuries yet he still beat him out.

Final Vote A.L. Travis Hafner Ramon Hernandez Francisco Liriano A.J. Pierzynski Justin Verlander N.L. Bobby Abreu Chris Capuano Nomar Garciaparra Billy Wagner Chris Young

Giambi isn't on the team. Hafner is the MVP of the league. Did they really need two back up second basemen?