Bored

The great teams don't always end up winning championships of course. That Indians' starting line-up was a modern day Murder's Row.

After starting to run thin on good subjects to redo MVP's for the next natural progression would be to move on to Cy Youngs. Now Culloden/Vern suggested 1969 & 1983 A.L. Cy Young's to me and then I decided I'd throw the 1982 A.L. Cy Young in there. But as I started doing them I realized that there was a common theme with the '82 and '83 redos and that was the underrated greatness of Dave Stieb. So I've expanded I decied to do four redos in one, examining the period from 1982 to 1985 when Steib was the most consistent and best overall pitcher in the game. 1982 The 1982 A.L. Cy Young is as good a place as any to start when it comes to Cy Young redos as it featured quite possibly the worst pitcher ever to win a Cy Young in the Brewers' Pete Vukovich. In '82 Vukovich benefitted from two things, playing in a pitcher's park and being supported by the far the best offense in the league. He finished the season with an 18-6 record and an unimpressive 3.34 ERA, the highest among all pitcher's who received votes. He was lucky to have such an ERA beyond playing a pitcher's park he had an atrocious K/BB ratio as he only struck out three more batters than he walked (105 to 102). He also posted an awful 1.50 WHIP, which I didn't bother to check but I'd be very surprised if any Cy Young award winner had one worse than that. But there was no 20 game winner in the A.L. and only one pitcher, Rick Sutcliffe, posted an ERA under 3 so with no standout pitcher the writer's made this incredibly bad choice. Now the writers were fairly split on the voting as four other pitchers received first place votes but Vukovich received 14 total. Stieb received five first place votes but only finished in 4th place as the poor hitting Blue Jays only helped him to a 17-14 record. In fact it's kinda surprising he received that much support as writers usually can't look past the win/loss record. This would be a good time to point out that I give zero consideration to win/loss record as a pitcher's single season win/loss record is much too deceiving. Actual Results 1) Pete Vukovich 2) Jim Palmer 3) Dan Quisenberry 4) Dave Stieb 5) Rick Sutcliffe 6) Geoff Zahn 7t) Bill Caudill 7t) Bob Stanley 9) Dan Petry #3 129 ERA+, 1.63 K/BB, 1.14 WHIP, 53.9 VORP, 20 Win Shares #2 159 ERA+, 3.83 K/BB, 1.01 WHIP, 38.6 VORP, 22 Win Shares #1 138 ERA+, 1.88 K/BB, 1.20 WHIP, 65.0 VORP, 25 Win Shares Now Stieb's numbers don't blow you away in '82 but in a weak year for candidates he was the best choice. I'm kind of surprised the writers didn't give Palmer a lifetime achievement Cy Young here but he only had 15 wins. Would have at least been a better choice than Vukovich. As you see with Quisenberry, unlike with the MVP I do believe closers can be viable candidates to win a Cy Young in certain years. 1983 This year features another not so glamerous Cy Young pick in the White Sox LaMarr Hoyt. Better known for his cocaine problems now, Hoyt holds the distinction of having the highest ERA ever for a Cy Young winner at 3.66. Now in fairness to Hoyt is peripheral numbers weren't bad, unlike with Vukovich, but he was definently a pitcher who won simply because of his win total as he won 24 games largely due to having the top offense in the league supporting him. Again though it was another year with a lot of strong candidates. Hoyt's main competition was Dan Quisenberry who received nine first place votes as he had then single season record of 45 saves with a 1.94 ERA. He was though just as dominant as those numbers indicate and did it 139 innings pitched. Steib actually had a better record (17-12) and ERA (3.04) than the previous year but this time around he didn't receive a single vote which I'd attribute to having four 20 game winners instead of zero the previous year. Actual Results 1) LaMarr Hoyt 2) Dan Quisenberry 3) Jack Morris 4) Richard Dotson 5) Ron Guidry 6) Scott McGregor #3 117 ERA+, 2.80 K/BB, 1.16 WHIP, 61.4 VORP, 20 Win Shares #2 142 ERA+, 2.01 K/BB, 1.14 WHIP, 68.9 VORP, 24 Win Shares #1 210 ERA+, 4.36 K/BB, 0.93 WHIP, 48.5 VORP, 28 Win Shares Quis was never Mr. Photogenic. Even though he had a better season than '82, I couldn't pass on the dominance of Quisenberry this time around. 1984 Only going over this one briefly as I already kind of touched on it in the 1984 A.L. MVP Redo and if you remember I already gave the answer away to this one. Willie Hernandez won the award in a tight vote over Quisenberry. Would have been quite interesting if Herandez won the MVP but didn't win the Cy Young. Bert Blyleven and Mike Boddicker also received solid support. Steib went 16-8 with a 2.83 ERA but garnered only one 3rd place vote. Actual Results 1) Willie Hernandez 2) Dan Quisenberry 3) Bert Blyleven 4) Mike Boddicker 5) Dan Petry 6) Frank Viola 7t) Jack Morris 7t) Dave Stieb #3 132 ERA+, 2.36 K/BB, 1.14 WHIP, 60.6 VORP, 23 Win Shares #2 204 ERA+, 3.11 K/BB, 0.94 WHIP, 52.3 VORP, 24 Win Shares #1 145 ERA+, 2.25 K/BB, 1.14 WHIP, 75.4 VORP, 25 Win Shares This was Steib's best year and the year he most deserved to win the award yet he receives almost no support. 3rd place was tough as I gave considertion to Quisenberry, Boddicker, and Blyleven. 1985 Out of these four years this one was certainly the least controversial and in fact I don't think it's ever been disputed. Bret Saberhagen, in just in second season, went 20-6 with a 2.87 ERA with a near sweep of the first place votes. I wouldn't have even given this one a look if it weren't to see if possible that Steib a 3rd Cy Young redo. Ron Guidry was only the other pitcher to receive any real support as he won 22 games. Steib had to be the hard luck pitcher of all-time with this season as he won the ERA title with a 2.48 ERA and played on a team that won 99 games with a good offense. Despite that he finsihed with only a 14-13 record so to no surprise he received little support. One interesting vote was Bert Blyleven receiving a first place vote with a 17-16 record which is shocking but kudos to one writer in 1985 thinking outside the box even though it wasn't the right choice. Actual Results 1) Bret Saberhagen 2) Ron Guidry 3t) Bert Blyleven 3t) Dan Quisenberry 5) Charlie Liebrandt 6) Doyle Alexander 7t) Britt Burns 7t) Donnie Moore 7t) Dave Stieb 10) Mike Moore #3 135 ERA+, 2.75 K/BB, 1.15 WHIP, 64.9 VORP, 23 Win Shares #2 171 ERA+, 1.74 K/BB, 1.14 WHIP, 78.1 VORP, 24 Win Shares #1 145 ERA+, 4.16 K/BB, 1.06 WHIP, 68.2 VORP, 24 Win Shares It was close but I give Saberhagen the nod here. Hey baseball writers congrats on being right 25% of the time! So there you have it for a four year period Stieb was the 1st or 2nd best pitcher in the league and it's a crime that he didn't come away with at least one Cy Young. Injuries shortened his career and possible bid for the Hall of Fame although even then due his bad luck his low win total would kept him out. People who try to argue Jack Morris for the Hall always try to proclaim him as the 80's Pitcher of the Decade but that honor belongs to Stieb.

The A's offense has a habit of making pitchers look good when you don't expect it.

With Justin Duchscherer going on the DL (it just keeps piling up), the A's have aquired Steve Karsay from the Indians for cash. Who knows if he has anything left. Ugh, Dan Haren gives up his 11th homerun of the season. He's K/BB ratio has been superb but he can't keep the ball in the park.

Okay little late on this but it works as the subject, Roger Clemens, did have a start on May 13, 1991 and he's very much in the news right now as he does his best Bret Favre impression on whether he'll play this year or not. Or was Favre doing a Clemens impression? We've dealing with Roger's retirement questions for three years now. Roger Clemens was off to a blistering start to the '91 season as he had won all six of his starts and at one point in early in the season had tossed 30 consecutive scoreless innings. Clemens' 1991 statistics coming into May 13th: 6-0, 0.73 ERA, 51 strikeouts, 8 walks Red Sox record going into May 13th: 18-10, 1st place in A.L. East, 1 game ahead of Toronto Clemens on May 13th, 1991: No decision, 8 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. Red Sox lose at home to the White Sox 4-3 in 10 innings. White Sox had an early 2-0 lead on two rbi hits by Robin Ventura. Red Sox took the lead with a three run 7th highlighted on a Steve Lyons single and Sammy Sosa error that led to two runs. Clemens was lifted after eight for closer Jeff Reardon but he blew the save on a two out, pinch hit homerun to Matt Merullo. White Sox win it in the 10th on a Ron Karkovice rbi single off of Jeff Gray. Other MLB action on May 13th, 1991: Angels' Luis Polonia has five hits in a 9-5 win over the Indians...Blue Jays' Todd Stottlemyre improves to 5-0 with 8 1/3 strong innings, beating the Royals 4-2...Brothers Tony & Chris Gwynn both homer, Tony off of David Cone in the Padres 5-2 over the Mets and Chris, pinch hitting, off of Bill Sampen in the Dodgers 8-3 win over the Expos...Phillies' closer Mitch Williams blows a 3-1 lead in San Francisco in the 9th giving up a homerun to Steve Decker and an rbi double to Matt Williams but John Kruk homers off of Rod Beck in the 11th to give Philadelphia a 3-2 win. Other sports action May 13th, 1991: Detroit Pistons beat the Boston Celtics 104-97 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semis, tying the series at 2-2...Nate Archibald and Dave Cowens are inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Fun With Google on May 13th, 1991: A discussion on whether or not Hal Morris could hit .400? Morris was hitting .402 thru May 12th. He'd go 0 for 5 on May 13th and never again get to .400. Google jinx!

Ya I'm really digging into the archives now. This one just stood out to me because Dick Groat won the MVP. Not Hank Aaron, not Willie Mays, but Dick Groat. For those who don't know Groat was a light hitting but excellent defensive shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He hit only 39 homeruns in his 14 year career with 2 of them coming in his MVP winning season. Now it certainly is possible for a non-power hitter to be a legit MVP candidate but probably only Ozzie Smith was good enough defensively to make up for a complete lack of power to be an MVP candidate. Groat also drew very few walks and was no threat at all on the basepaths as he had only 14 career steals. There are probably three reasons Groat won the MVP. 1) Won the batting title, 2) Played on the N.L. Champs, and 3) This cover of Sports Illustrated in August of that year that described Groat as the "Fiery Leader of the Pirates." See he's the leader of the best team in the league, how isn't he the MVP? I'm sure he was clutch and had intagibles also. Basically Dick Groat was overrated. Interesting enough his teammate Don Hoak finished 2nd in the voting and he also was not deserving of being voted that high. Hey maybe the writers disagreed on who was real leader of the Piartes? One other note on the voting was in the 5th place was Cardinals closer Lindy McDaniel. Hey who knew in 1960 writers were already overrating closers? I honestly don't even know if they were called closers back then. Actual results 1) Dick Groat 2) Don Hoak 3) Willie Mays 4) Ernie Banks 5) Lindy McDaniel 6t) Ken Boyer 6t) Vern Law 8) Roberto Clemente 9) Ernie Broglio 10) Eddie Mathews 11) Hank Aaron 12) Roy Face 13) Del Crandall 14) Warren Spahn 15) Norm Larker 16) Stan Musial 17) Maury Wills 18) Vada Pinson 19) Joe Adcock 20t) Smokey Burgess 20t) Frank Robinson 20t) Larry Sherry 23) Pancho Herrera #10 .297/.343/.497, 95 RC, 134 OPS+, .304 EQA, 32.3 VORP, 26 Win Shares #9 .298/.354/.500, 91 RC, 139 OPS+, .311 EQA, 36.4 VORP, 25 Win Shares #8 149 ERA+, 1.88 K/BB, 1.20 WHIP, 55.0 VORP, 24 Win Shares #7 .297/.407/.595, 111 RC, 169 OPS+, .339 EQA, 53.3 VORP, 23 Win Shares #6 140 ERA+, 3.42 K/BB, 1.06 WHIP, 62.1 VORP, 25 Win Shares #5 .304/.370/.562, 114 RC, 143 OPS+, .308 EQA, 51.7 VORP, 31 Win Shares #4 .271/.350/.554, 115 RC, 145 OPS+, .310 EQA, 63.2 VORP, 29 Win Shares #3 .292/.352/.566, 119 RC, 155 OPS+, .325 EQA, 52.6 VORP, 35 Win Shares #2 .319/.381/.555, 126 RC, 160 OPS+, .331 EQA, 62.2 VORP, 38 Win Shares #1 .277/.397/.551, 121 RC, 165 OPS+, .340 EQA, 59.6 VORP, 38 Win Shares Didn't these 1960 baseball writers know that Groat only had a .283 Equivalent Average? Idiots! No Pirates make the list as they were just a very good team without any true standout player. Not sure why Mathews and Aaron received so little support as the Braves finished 2nd to the Pirates.

Eh, I gave him consideration but just couldn't pull the trigger on him being in the Top 10. This was one of the tougher lists to put together.

And now for your listening pleasure...Drunk Rick Sutcliffe. Warning you will have to deal with some "wacky" sports talk radio hosts before the actual clip of Sutcliffe but it's worth it.

Frank Thomas finally got hurt, left today's game with a "leg injury" according to Yahoo but I'd assume it's the foot. Biggest issue with this team coming into the year was they had several players with injury historys and the usual suspects (Harden, Bradley) have now all been hurt. Thankfully the A.L. West looks really, really bad this year or the A's would be in big trouble.

Well hey maybe Chacin's good rookie year was a fluke as well.

There was a popular opinion among statheads that Joe Blanton's strong rookie year was a fluke. Well he's doing a great job of proving them right. Six runs given up in the 1st to the Jays tonight and his ERA is now just a hair under 7.

He's the next Dave Kingman. Lots of power but can't draw a walk to save their life.

Yup although it will probably only be for Kendall's four game suspension which he's starting tonight.

Ryan Theriot's numbers at Iowa this season: .282/.328/.309. He's 25 too so certainly no prospect. Has five career homeruns in nearly 1700 at bats but does have 104 stolen bases. SMARTBALL~!

Here's the complete underrated/overrated lists. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/play...5/02/poll.0502/ The overrated list is interesting because it is primarily players with huge contracts and/or injury problems. So my take is that most players are jealous pricks who view any player with injury problems as being pussies.

Personally I think the Zito/Milledge rumor is completely made up (nothing in the Bay Area media about it) and I see zero chance of it happening. Before the season I'd do such a deal in a heartbeat but with the A's injury problems they wouldn't be able to depart with Zito at the moment.

New feature! Well I'm gonna burn out on redos eventually so decided to come up with a new idea. I'll take the subject from a Sports Illustrated cover from this date and look at what that person did on that date (if anything), what happened in their sport on that date, and what may have happened in other sports on that date. I definently won't be doing this everyday as it'll probably just be a once in a while thing. I think I'll focus on only covers from my lifetime and typically the main subject will be baseball as retrosheet.org makes researching a breeze. Also to get some perspective on what sports fans were thinking about the time I'll try to dig up threads from the Google message boards. Okay it will be really to find incredibly stupid opinions from sports fans. So the subject of the first one comes from May 7, 1990: Ken Griffey Jr. at the age of 20 was already becoming a superstar and was the rare commodity of a young player with an insane amount of hype actually living up to it. Griffey's 1990 numbers coming into May 7th, 1990: 26 games, .385/.425/.596, 5 homeruns, 18 rbi Mariners record going into May 7th, 1990: 12-14, 5th place in A.L. West, 7 games back Griffey on May 7th, 1990: Went 0-2 with two walks, two runs scored, and a stolen base. Mariners lose at home to the Red Sox 5-4. Boston scored four runs in the 3rd inning off of Mariners starter Erik Hanson on two, two run doubles by Tom Brunansky and Dwight Evans. Mariners manager Jim Lefebvre is ejected in the 4th inning for arguing balls and strikes. Other MLB action on May 7th, 1990: Detroit's Cecil Fielder hit his 11th homerun of the season in a 5-4 loss to the Brewers. Oakland's Jose Canseco homers twice in a 5-1 win over the Yankees. Atlanta's Jeff Blauser hits his first two homeruns of the season including a two run homer in the top of the 9th off Cubs' closer Mitch Williams as the Braves win 9-8. Montreal's Andres Galarraga hits a game winning double in the bottom of the 9th as the Expos beat the Giants 7-6 after the Giants had scored three in the top of the 9th to tie the game. N.Y. Mets' Frank Viola improves to 6-0 on the year in a 7-1 win over Houston. Other Sports action on May 7th, 1990: In the NBA the Chicago Bulls beat the Philadelphia 76ers 96-85 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. In the NHL the Boston Bruins beat the Washington Capitols 4-1 in Game 3 of the Wales Conference Finals, taking a 3-0 series lead. Fun with Google on May 7th, 1990: A brief thread on who was more valuble: Ryne Sandberg & Jose Oquendo? No really.

Obviously they have too many baserunners then. You can't score runs with guys clogging up the bases!

In my 1989 A.L. MVP redo, I made reference the Orioles surprise run at the A.L. East title that year after their miserable 1988 season and that gave me my next subject for a Where'd They Go? entry. Pretty much can sum up the Orioles '88 season by looking back at their first 21 games of the season. April 4: Brewers 12, Orioles 0 April 6: Brewers 3, Orioles 1 April 8: Indians 3, Orioles 0 April 9: Indians 12, Orioles 1 April 10: Indians 6, Orioles 3 April 11: Indians 7, Orioles 2 April 12: Royals 6, Orioles 1 April 13: Royals 9, Orioles 3 April 14: Royals 4, Orioles 3 April 15: Indians 3, Orioles 2 April 16: Indians 1, Orioles 0 April 17: Indians 4, Orioles 1 April 19: Brewers 9, Orioles 5 April 20: Brewers 8, Orioles 6 April 21: Brewers 7, Orioles 1 April 22: Royals 13, Orioles 1 April 23: Royals 4, Orioles 3 April 24: Royals 3, Orioles 1 April 26: Twins 4, Orioles 2 April 27: Twins 7, Orioles 6 April 28: Twins 4, Orioles 2 It finally ended on April 29th in Chicago with a 9-0 win over the White Sox and their rookie starter Jack McDowell. Six of the 21 losses came against the Royals who Baltimore would go 0-12 against in 1988. Hey but after an 0-21 start you have no where to go but up but "up" for the Orioles was playing 32 games under .500 the rest of the season, ending up with 107 losses. Here's a look bacK at the team who epitomized losing for me as a kid. C: Mickey Tettleton (.261/.330/.424, 15.8 VORP, 9 Win Shares) - Released by the A's right before the start of the season, in limited playing time Tettleton showed some of the power he'd display in future years, breaking out the following season with 26 homeruns. Traded to the Tigers after the 1990 season he'd play their four years and then three years in Texas, his career over after 1997. 1B: Eddie Murray (.284/.361/.474, 46.0 VORP, 21 Win Shares) - Once Cal Ripken is inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007, this Orioles team will be one of three teams from the 1988 season with more than one Hall of Famer on it's roster. Murray was still very productive into his 30's but this would be his last full season in Baltimore as he was traded to the Dodgers during the offseason for Juan Bell, Brian Holton, and Ken Howell (ehhhh). Tested the free agent waters mutliple times going for L.A. to the Mets after 1991 and then to Cleveland after 1993. He would make a return visit to the Orioles in 1996 via trade to hit his 500th homerun. Split time between the Angels and Dodgers in 1997, his final season. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003. 2B: Billy Ripken (.207/.260/.258, -16.3 VORP, 4 Win Shares) - I have to imagine having Billy play the full season with brother Cal was a publicity stunt as there was no way Billy should have been playing a full season with Major League team, even one as bad as the Orioles, circa 1988. Outside of a decent 1990 season the younger Ripken never developed. Left Baltimore after 1992 he bounced around the Majors to Texas, Cleveland, Detroit, with even a return visit to the Orioles in 1996 mixed in. 3B: Rick Schu (.256/.316/.363, 4.4 VORP, 5 Win Shares) - Rene Gonzales played more games at 3rd but Schu made more starts, not that it really mattered. Originally pegged as the guy to the replace Mike Schmidt in Philadelphia as the Phillies actually moved Schmidt to 1st base in 1985 but he never lived up to the hype. Out of organized baseball from 1992 to 1995 made a brief appearance with the Expos in 1996. SS: Cal Ripken (.264/.372/.431, 55.7 VORP, 25 Win Shares) - Had an off year in '87, Ripken bounced back to have a nice season in the Orioles terrible year. No need to go into the details of his career and will be a first ballot HOF selection next year. LF: Pete Stanicek (.230/.313/.310, -3.6 VORP, 3 Win Shares) - Orioles had no set outfield all season long with Stanicek making just 46 starts in left but that was the most on the team. This was the only significant playing time he had in the Majors and his baseball career was over quickly after. CF: Fred Lynn (.252/.312/.482, 16.1 VORP, 6 Win Shares) - Actually didn't finish the season in Baltimore as he was traded at the waiver deadline to Detroit for Chris Hoiles to make way for Brady Anderson. Could still hit for power at this point but it was obvious his career was starting to wide down. Finished his career in 1990 with San Diego. RF: Joe Orsulak (.288/.331/.422, 12.2 VORP, 9 Win Shares) - Orsulak made a career out of being a servicable, platoon outfielder. First year in Baltimore he'd play there thru 1992 and the join the Mets. Was actually part of a deal in 1997 between the Marlins and Expos that sent Cliff Floyd to Florida and that would be his last season. DH: Larry Sheets (.230/.302/.343, -7.1 VORP, 6 Win Shares) - Yup not a good sign when your DH puts up those numbers although Eddie Murray actually made the most starts at DH. Sheets was living off his 31 homeruns in the previous year in the homerun explosion of '87. Out of baseball after 1993. Starting Rotation Jose Bautista (91 ERA+, 16.5 VORP, 7 Win Shares) - Had put up some fairly impressive numbers in the minors but Bautista's low K rate showed that he wasn't going to be effective in the Majors. Managed to have a couple of decent years with the Cubs as a reliever in 1992/93. Bounced around mutliple teams and orginzations, last appearing in the Majors in 1997 with St. Louis. Jeff Ballard (89 ERA+, 8.3 VORP, 6 Win Shares) - Tied for the team lead in wins with a grand total of eight he was another young pitcher the Orioles were counting on but had a sub 3.0 K/9 ratio. Some how managed to win 18 games the following year despite awful peripherals. Played a couple of seasons in Pittsburgh, his career over after 1994. Jay Tibbs (72 ERA+, -10.4 VORP, 1 Win Share) - When you throw almost 160 innings and end up with a single Win Share you know you were bad. Win/Loss record is always deceiving but in the case of Tibbs' 4-15 record it wasn't. Hell how'd he manage to win four games? Actually went 5-0 with a 2.84 ERA the following year in only eight starts but I couldn't find out if he got hurt. Finished career with Pirates in 1990. Despite a short career was involved in four different trades. Mike Boddicker (101 ERA+, 15.1 VORP, 7 Win Shares) - Another veteran who did not finish the season with the team, he was dealt to the Red Sox at the trade deadline for prospects Brady Anderson and Curt Schilling in a trade that would be scrutinized by Sox fans for several years although he was very effective during his time in Boston. Left Boston as a free agent after 1990 for Kansas City, finishing up his career in 1993 in Milwaukee. Closer: Tom Niedenfuer (111 ERA+, 10.9 VORP, 7 Win Shares) - Always to be remembered for his two game winning homeruns given up to Ozzie Smith and Jack Clark in the 1985 NLCS. By this point Niedenfuer was no longer the strikeout artist he was but still effective. Signed with Seattle after the season where had an awful year, then finished up his career with a decent year in St. Louis.

In the PCL last night, New Orleans beat Nashville 5-4 in 24 innings tying the league record. Here's the boxscore.

Maybe Schu should have considered becoming a replacement player. If I had bothered to look at his transaction history I would have seen that he was definently with the Rangers organization in 1995 so my mistake. Now that I that I searched a littler further Schu played in Japan in 1993 and 1994.

Before I got side tracked with my entry on The Baseball Network, I'd put together a redo for the 1995 A.L. MVP. This particular vote was one of the best examples of writer bias and how character plays a part in players winning awards. In an incredibly tight vote Mo Vaughn beat out Albert Belle receiving one more first place vote than Belle. To say this was a joke is an understatement. You don't need EQA, VORP, or Win Shares to tell you that Vaughn was in no way better the Belle in 1995. Let's just look at the standard numbers: G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG TB Vaughn 140 550 98 165 28 3 39 126 11 4 68 150 .300 .388 .575 316 Belle 143 546 121 173 52 1 50 126 5 2 73 80 .317 .401 .690 377 Edit: Fuck, it of course previewed perfectly fine and it comes out like this. Oh well. How could anyone look at those numbers and pick Vaughn over Belle? Maybe the writers were just blown away that a man as fat as Vaughn could steal 11 bases. Seriously how the hell did that happen? A guy with a 50-50 doubles/homeruns season with a near .700 slugging and playing on the best team in the league would seem like a slam dunk for the writers. Belle led the league in Slugging, Runs, Total Bases, Doubles, Homeruns, and RBI (tied with Vaughn). His resume that year screams MVP. But Albert Belle was perceived as a bad guy, which was true, and Mo Vaughn was perceived as a good guy, which was partially true. There is no other logical explination for it. The writers liked Vaughn and hated Belle. To add to the case against Vaughn he was arguably not even the best player on his own team as John Valentin had a huge breakout season for the Sox. A quick look at the rest of the voting, Edgar Martinez finished 3rd with four first place votes as the Mariners won their first division title ever. Then there was 4th place...Jose Mesa. The man has since become a walking punchline in recent years but at one point he was a very good closer. Again the closer argument doesn't have to be made again but someone actually gave Mesa a first place vote. Somebody actually thought that Jose Mesa was the MVP of the league playing on a team that had Belle, Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Carlos Baerga, and Kenny Lofton. It's vote like that that should get your voting privledges revoked. Other name of note was Tim Salmon who finished 7th who may have made a much more serious run at the MVP if it weren't for the Angels last season collapse. Actual Results 1) Mo Vaughn 2) Albert Belle 3) Edgar Martinez 4) Jose Mesa 5) Jay Buhner 6) Randy Johnson 7) Tim Salmon 8) Frank Thomas 9) John Valentin 10) Gary Gaetti 11) Rafael Palmeiro 12) Manny Ramirez 13) Tim Wakefield 14) Jim Edmonds 15) Paul O'Neill 16) Mark McGwire 17t) Wade Boggs 17t) Chuck Knoblauch 19t) Gary DiSarcina 19t) Cal Ripken 21) Kirby Puckett #10 .300/.388/.575, 119 RC, 145 OPS+, .319 EQA, 52.3 VORP, 24 Win Shares #9 .308/.402/.558, 108 RC, 148 OPS+, .323 EQA, 46.9 VORP, 25 Win Shares #8 .333/.424/.487, 109 RC, 138 OPS+, .319 EQA, 72.3 VORP, 27 Win Shares #7 196 ERA+, 4.52 K/BB, 1.05 WHIP, 87.5 VORP, 22 Win Shares #6 .314/.438/.558, 110 RC, 158 OPS+, .341 EQA, 61.5 VORP, 24 Win Shares #5 .298/.399/.533, 109 RC, 139 OPS+, .317 EQA, 74.4 VORP, 29 Win Shares #4 .330/.429/.594, 136 RC, 164 OPS+, .342 EQA, 70.6 VORP, 29 Win Shares #3 .308/.454/.606, 137 RC, 178 OPS+, .364 EQA, 76.4 VORP, 28 Win Shares #2 .317/.401/.690, 150 RC, 178 OPS+, .351 EQA, 85.6 VORP, 30 Win Sahres #1 .356/.479/.628, 153 RC, 183 OPS+, .372 EQA, 91.0 VORP, 32 Win Shares Whaaaaaaaaa? I fully expected for Belle to come out on top but I completely forgot about Martinez. When I put it all on paper Edgar was the easy choice and he emerged as the Mariners premier hitter with Ken Griffey Jr. missing half the season due to a broken wrist. As you see Vaughn was indeed not even the best player on his own team. I nearly left him off the list as he came down between him and Mark McGwire who had ridiculous rate numbers (200 OPS+, .370 EQA) but missed 40 games due to injury so I gave the nod to Vaughn.

It's tough to read it on the card but it is the "Christie Brinkley Collection." Apparantly Pinnacle thought card collectors were desperately needing a supermodel to take pictures of baseball players including one of Carlos Baerga showing his half naked chest. Click here if you dare.

A's are getting humiliated by the Indians tonight at home. From 2001 to August 11, 2005 the A's were 253-129 (.662) at the Oakland Coliseum. On that date the A's beat the Angels on the infamous play where Francisco Rodriguez missed the the throw back from the catcher and Jason Kendall ran home and scored the winning run. Since that game the A's are 13-25 (.324) at home. OMG it's the curse of K-Rod!

As I'm sure anyone who follows sports knows that the Los Angeles Clippers won a playoff series for the first time in 30 years and the first time ever since they've been the Clippers. Outside of a very brief glimmer of hope in the early the 90's they have been the model of futility in professional sports. Since I root for the New Clippers (YOUR Golden State Warriors) I figured I might as well jump on their bandwagon. I do have reservations though what with the gratuitous shots of Billy Crystal that will only increase with them into the next round and Donald Sterling getting credit for anything. Now for a "tribute" to the Clippers I present the Top 10 best individual seasons by Clippers players since they became the Clippers in 1978 using the basketball version of Win Shares. Again I preface as always I have no idea how reliable this stat is. What this list does show is that Elton Brand has already become the franchise's greatest player, not that this franchise has been full of great players. In fact this past season Brand had the best season ever by a Clippers player. What other blog will you find Swen Nater content? 1. Elton Brand, '05-'06, 41 Win Shares 24.7 PTS, 10.0 REB, 2.6 AST, 1.0 STL, 2.5 BLK, 2.2 TO 2. Elton Brand, '01-'02, 36 Win Shares 18.2 PTS, 11.6 REB, 2.4 AST, 1.0 STL, 2.0 BLK, 2.2 TO (couldn't find an image of a Clippers card) 3. World B Free, '78-'79, 33 Win Shares 28.8 PTS, 3.9 REB, 4.4 AST, 1.4 STL, 0.4 BLK, 3.8 TO 4. Danny Manning, '91-'92, 29 Win Shares 19.3 PTS, 6.9 REB, 3.5 AST, 1.6 STL, 1.5 BLK, 2.6 TO 5. Elton Brand, '04-'05, 28 Win Shares 20.0 PTS, 9.5 REB, 2.6 AST, 0.8 STL, 2.1 BLK, 2.3 TO 6. Elton Brand, '03-'04, 26 Win Shares 20.0 PTS, 10.3 REB, 3.3 AST, 0.9 STL, 2.2 BLK, 2.8 TO 7. World B Free, '79-'80, 25 Win Shares 30.2 PTS, 3.5 REB, 4.2 AST, 1.2 STL, 0.5 BLK, 3.4 TO 8. Swen Nater, '80-'81, 24 Win Shares 15.6 PTS, 12.4 REB, 2.4 AST, 0.6 STL, 0.6 BLK, 2.6 TO 9. Mark Jackson, '92-'93, 24 Win Shares 15.2 PTS, 5.0 REB, 9.3 AST, 1.7 STL, 0.2 BLK, 2.8 TO 10. Corey Maggette, '03-'04, 23 Win Shares 20.7 PTS, 5.9 REB, 3.1 AST, 0.9 STL, 0.2 BLK, 2.8 TO