Bored

Ever since the McGwire/Sosa homerun chase ESPN constantly teases the viewer into thinking that a particular player did something big (like showing a clip of them hitting a homerun from a different game) but then show the actual highlights and turns out they didn't do anything of note.

I was at Game 4 of the ALCS that year which was two days after kkk's story. I'll see if I'm Bored enough for an entry on that game as it was one of the most memorable LCS games ever but only problem is my team came out on the wrong end of it.

The Spring Training might get side tracked so I figured this get it's own thread. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2358236 So anyhoo the two San Francisco Chronicle writers who first broke the BALCO story have finally released their book documenting Bonds steroids use. Have at it kids. My two very eloquent thoughts are, 1) If you still think Barry Bonds didn't take steroids you're a fucking idiot, 2) If you think Barry Bonds should be kept out of the Hall of Fame you're a fucking idiot.

Wait, they cancelled Classic Now from a station called ESPNCLASSIC??? That makes no sense, absolutely no sense. What? Does the Bonds show get to air on CLASSIC now because they are running out of airtime? Considering they don't even air classic games anymore on any sort of a regular basis (pool, bowling, and poker don't count) it shouldn't come as a surprise. I never watched Classic Now though as I couldn't stand the host in the ads so I never gave it a chance. I'm expecting ESPN Classic to just dissapear eventually as it's clear the network just doesn't care about it.

Fremont is about 25 miles south of Oakland, it's closer to San Jose. If I had to guess if the move happens they'd probably end up being the California A's. It's been a hot topic for about a month but I've gotten so tired of A's moving stories I've never bothered bringing it up here. I'd prefer they stay in Oakland, and long term I don't see at all how moving to a suburb is going to help the franchise, but as long as they stay in the Bay Area I'll support the team and Fremont is actually closer to where I live at the moment.

Installment two of my whoever knows how long part series where I give very little insight to past NFL Drafts. The '93 draft had a lot intrigue going as it was your classic draft where the top two picks were expected to be quarterbacks but it was only a question of who the New England Patriots would select, Rick Mirer or Drew Bledsoe, and who the Seattle Seahawks would end up with. 1. New England - Drew Bledsoe, QB, Washington State Okay so he isn't going to be a Hall of Famer but Bledsoe has put together a pretty good career that just peeked early. At least New England did pick the correct quarterback here. 2. Seattle - Rick Mirer, QB, Notre Dame Boy Bill Walsh really took a hit in the "genius" department when he proclaimed Mirer was the next Joe Montana. He had a decent rookie year but it was all downhill from there. 3. Phoenix - Garrison Hearst, RB, Georgia His first four years in the league were plagued with knee injuries and he was looking like a bust but turned his career around in San Francisco. Ended up with just under 8,000 career rushing yards. 4. N.Y. Jets - Marvin Jones, LB, Florida State Jones was probably the #1 rated player going into the draft. Decent player but never became star everyone projected him to be. 5. Cincinnati - John Copeland, DT, Alabama Just decent. 6. Tampa Bay - Eric Curry, DE, Alabama Bust. Only 12 sacks in his seven year career. 7. Chicago - Curtis Conway, WR, USC Decent career. More than 8,000 yards receiving and over 50 touchdowns is nothing to be ashamed of. 8. New Orleans - Willie Roaf, T, Louisiana Tech Arguably has had the best career of any player from this draft and pretty much a lock for the Hall of Fame. 9. Atlanta - Lincoln Kennedy, T, Washington Forgot he played for the Falcons. Was rated even with Roaf going into the draft, obviously didn't have the career of Roaf but was still a pretty good lineman. 10. L.A. Rams - Jerome Bettis, RB, Notre Dame ESPN killed any love I could have for Bettis and they do that for a lot athletes for me. Anyways good pick for the Rams, too bad for them they didn't hang on to him. 11. Denver - Dan Williams, DE, Toledo Workout wonder who moved up the board but was nothing special. Hey that never happens. 12. L.A. Raiders - Patrick Bates, S, Texas A&M Bust. Lasted only three years, left the Raiders before the 1995 season without notice, lots of off the field problems. 13. Houston - Brad Hopkins, T, Illinois Been a rock at tackle for the Oilers/Titans franchise, good pick. 14. Cleveland - Steve Everitt, C, Michigan Pretty good but only lasted seven years. 15. Green Bay - Wayne Simmons, LB, Clemson Showed flashes of brilliance early in his career but never reached his full potential. Was killed in a car accident a few years ago. 16. Indianapolis - Sean Dawkins, WR, California Made a career out of being a second or third option but not what you want out of a 1st round pick. 17. Washington - Tom Carter, CB, Notre Dame Average at best who cashed in on a big money deal with the Bears in 1997 who waived him two years later. 18. Phoenix - Ernest Dye, T, South Carolina Injury riddled, short career that was spent primarily as a back up. 19. Philadelphia - Lester Holmes, G, Jackson State Nothing special, started for three teams. 20. New Orleans - Irv Smith, TE, Notre Dame I don't know why but I always thought he'd up being good. He wasn't. 21. Minnesota - Robert Smith, RB, Ohio State Like Hearst injuries hampered him early in his career but he turned it around. Not your typical pro football personality as he had his best year in 2000 and then promptly retired. 22. San Diego - Darrien Gordon, CB, Stanford Average corner but an excellent punt returner. 23. Pittsburgh - Deon Figures, CB, Colorado Just another average corner. 24. Philadelphia - Leonard Renfro, DT, Colorado Lasted two years, yup that's a bust. 25. Miami - O.J. McDuffie, WR, Penn State Had a few decent years but lacked the size to become a great NFL wideout. 26. San Francisco - Dana Stubblefield, DT, Kansas Maybe remembered more now for being a big contract bust for the Redskins but was a great pick for the 49ers. 27. San Francisco - Todd Kelly, LB, Tennessee I remember my friends all thinking Kelly was going to be great and that we thought Stubblefield was a bad pick. Probably had to do with Kelly having a much easier name to say. Nothing career. 28. Buffalo - Thomas Smith, CB, North Carolina Solid cover corner. 29. Green Bay - George Teague, S, Alabama Decent player who's best known for being the guy who hit Terrell Owens when he posed on the Dallas Cowboys' star. Other Players of Note 37. Cincinnati - Tony McGee, TE, Michigan 40. N.Y. Giants - Michael Strahan, DE, Texas Southern 52. Minnesota - Qadry Ismail, WR, Syracuse 70. Denver - Jason Elam, K, Hawaii 74. Kansas City - Will Shields, G, Nebraska 79. Minnesota - Gilbert Brown, DT, Kansas 82. Tampa Bay - John Lynch, S, Stanford 118. Green Bay - Mark Brunell, QB, Washington 170. Seattle - Michael McCrary, DE, Wake Forest 181. L.A. Raiders - Greg Biekert, LB, Colorado 196. Dallas - Brock Marion, S, Nevada 207. N.Y. Giants - Jesse Armstead, LB, Miami 214. Houston - Blaine Bishop, S, Ball State 219. San Francisco - Elvis Grbac, QB, Michigan 222. San Diego - Trent Green, QB, Indiana

I decided to watch Baseball Tonight because apparently I want to punish myself, might as well make an entry out of it. Watching people analyze one week of baseball is always hilarious anyways especially when it’s done by the likes of Harold Reynolds and John Kruk. Who cares about sample sizes? Tigers/Brewers in the World Series! -Chris Berman is doing the show because it’s the Sunday of the Masters and he must do Baseball Tonight every Masters’ Sunday every year to show off his green jacket. He genuinely thinks people care. The world would stop if we didn’t see him squeeze all that fat in his green jacket. -Berman can’t believe that the Phillies let Vincente Padilla go and Kruk and Reynolds agree. Gee I know the guy had a 1.50 WHIP last year, what kind of a nut lets go of a pitcher like that? Hey he’s 2-0 so I’m sure he’s on top of Kruk’s Cy Young list. -Kruk went on a mini-rant about how Jim Leyland gets things done his way and that the Tigers are going to manufacture runs and he's not going to baby pitchers (woo hoo Tommy John surgery for everyone!) "because the more you baby pitchers the more they pitch like babies." Of course the Tigers "manufactured" 17 homeruns this week. Maybe Leyland has all of his players smoking too? OMG nicotine is a performance enhancing drug! -Berman loves Kevin Millar. He loves him. It hurts him seeing him play such a shitty first base. This man has waaaaaay too many man crushes. -Now Reynolds criticizes the Blue Jays for leaving Roy Halladay in too long, which Kruk agrees with. What happened to not babying pitchers? Well Halladay already has had shoulder surgery so I suppose Kruk just believes in running a pitcher into the ground and then baby him after he has surgery. -Berman asks the panel, who is the best lefty in baseball? Steve Phillips says Cliff Lee. Hey I can’t believe this guy isn’t a GM still, can you? -They are playing Godsmack as bumper music to commercial breaks. Way to keep with the times ESPN. What demographic are they targeting exactly? -They are doing a countdown of Barry Bonds’ 20 greatest moments and #14 is him being intentionally walked with the bases loaded in a meaningless game. Ya that was exciting. -Chipper Jones’ injury is shown and I swear Berman gets a hard on every time a player gets hurt because he gets to his patented soft tone voice where the producers cutout the background music because this a very serious situation and Chris Berman is talking. At the end of the Braves/Giants highlights Berman says “The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!” Comedic genius I tells ya. -Diamond Cuts, it’s extreme highlights with nu-metal! Seriously who are they targeting? Are there really viewers sitting around through the whole show wanting listen to Godsmack to overly produced baseball highlights? At least it’s not like last year where they would do features on other no longer relevant bands talking about baseball.

Game 6 of the 1986 World Series re-enacted by using RBI Baseball With Vin Scully's play-by-play looped over it. Just awesome.

Draftback...ain't I clever? The NFL Draft is later this month and the point of this blog is a lot of nostalgia so might as well look back at some old drafts, plus I've done no football content to this point. Pretty much picked in 1990 at random and because at first glance the 1st round looks rather uninspiring. I will only be looking back at the first round picks as to hell with going over the whole thing. Don't expect any real insight as unlike baseball there isn't much in terms of statisical analyst to do when it comes to football. There is Football Outsiders but their data only goes back five or six years. 1. Indianapolis - Jeff George, QB, Illinois The Colts traded up to make this controversial choice at the time as it surprised many that he left Illinois early and some weren't even sure he was worth a 1st round pick, let alone the #1 choice overall. All things considered George didn't have that bad of a career but his habit of being a jackass kind of always painted him a bad light. Didn't help that he never made it to a Pro Bowl either. 2. N.Y. Jets - Blair Thomas, RB, Penn State An overhyped Penn State running back who is a bust in the NFL? GET OUT! Actually showed signs of being a good NFL back in his rookie year but bad knees did him in. 3. Seattle - Cortez Kennedy, DT, Miami Seven time Pro Bowl selection who would spend his entire 11-year career with the Seahawks. Definently a good pick here. 4. Tampa Bay - Keith McCants, LB, Alabama Was rated #1 overall by many but he was a huge bust. Last I thing heard on him was he stole a car last year. Ya life didn't turn out to well for him. 5. San Diego - Junior Seau, LB, USC No brainer here, 11 Pro Bowl selections and a future spot in Canton. 6. Chicago - Mark Carrier, DB, USC Good NFL career as he burst on the scene his rookie year with a 10 interceptions on his way to Defensive Rookie of the Year. Selected to three Pro Bowls. 7. Detroit - Andre Ware, QB, Houston Hands down the #1 rated QB coming into the draft and everyone thought he'd be star because he was drafted by a team that had the run and shoot offense. Hey how'd that turn out? 8. New England - Chris Singleton, LB, Arizona Lasted seven years...um ya that's all I got. 9. Miami - Richmond Webb, T, Texas A&M Another good pick here, made it to seven Pro Bowls, playing 11 of his 13 years in Miami. 10. New England - Ray Agnew, DE, N.C. State Halfway decent player who hung around forever it seemed. 11. L.A. Raiders - Anthony Smith, DE, Arizona Pass rushing specialist who was an absolute beast his first few years in the league. 12. Cincinnati - James Francis, LB, Baylor Solid player who played nine seasons with the Bengals. 13. Kansas City - Percy Snow, LB, Michigan State The only thing I remember about Snow was I had one of the "behind the scenes" NFL tapes and one segment was on the Chief's war room before the '90 Draft and they were pretty excited about Snow. He ended lasting a whole three years. 14. New Orleans - Renaldo Turnbull, DE, West Virginia Part of those scary good Saints' linebacker cores from the early 90's. Decent career with his best year coming in 1993 when he had 13 sacks. 15. Houston - Lamar Lathon, LB, Houston You can see this was a very deep linebacker draft. Solid career. 16. Buffalo - James Williams, DB, Fresno State With a common name like that you think I'll actually know anything about the guy? 17. Dallas - Emmitt Smith, RB, Florida Safe to say everyone except maybe San Diego regretted not taking him. 18. Green Bay - Tony Bennett, LB, Mississippi Yet another linebacker who had a solid career. 19. Green Bay - Darrell Thompson, RB, Minnesota 1641 yards rushing, 3.5 YPC, 7 career touchdowns, gone after 1994. Ya not a good pick 20. Atlanta - Steve Broussard, RB, Washington State You know it would have been kind of interesting to see what Broussard would have done in a standard offense rather than the run and shoot. Okay maybe not that interesting but might have given a not so non-descript career. 21. Pittsburgh - Eric Green, TE, Liberty Pretty good tight end who made it to two Pro Bowls. 22. Philadelphia - Ben Smith, DB, Georgia Played six years and really who noticed? 23. L.A. Rams - Bern Brostek, C, Washington I don't think I paid as much attention to the NFL as I thought (and I don't pay that much attention today) I did. The guy played for the Rams so being a 49er fan you think I'd remember the guy with them playing each other twice a year but I don't. 24. N.Y Giants - Rodney Hampton, RB, Georgia Good career, had five consecutive 1000 yard seasons from '91 to '95. 25. San Francisco - Dexter Carter, RB, Florida State 49ers had the right idea drafting a running back as they would end up being correct in their concerns about Roger Craig lasting much longer (he didn't) but Carter wasn't the guy to replace him. Actually led the 49ers in rushing his rookie year but that just tells you had bad their running game was.

I had been looking for an excuse to do an entry on one of the most bizarre years in baseball history and the A.L. MVP pick in 1981 was controversial so might as well do a redo. 1981 featured the strike to end all strikes, until the 1994 strike trumped it of course. The players went on strike on June 12th that year over free agent compensation and did not comeback until August 9th, losing 712 games in the process. Now the owners decided to come up with an idea to drum up some interest back in the sport to bring back a jaded fanbase after the strike ended: a split season. The standings as they were for games played before the strike would be considered the first half and then the second half would be the games played after the strike ended. An extra round of playoffs would be added where the division champ of the first half would meet the division champ of the second half. Now if the entire nation didn't say "What are they fucking stupid?" when the announced this, then they should have. My guess is the owners came up with this idea to try to recoup some of the revenue they lost from the strike by getting an extra round of playoffs. You don't even have to be a baseball fan to see the obvious problems with the idea. First off the season restarted it meant all the division leaders thru June 11th had already clinched a playoff spot: Yankees, A's, Phillies, and Dodgers. These four teams had essentially nothing to play for beyond pride for two months as they already knew they were going to the playoffs. Doesn't really get the competitive juices flowing, you know? Second problem was the nightmare scenerio where teams who had better records overall for the entire season being left out of postseason play due the split season where otherwise they would have been division champions. Hey guess what? It happened. St. Louis finished with a 59-43 record overall, 2 games better than second half N.L. East champion Montreal and 2 1/2 over first half champ Philadelphia. But it got much worse in the N.L. West. Cincinnati finished 66-42 overall, 4 games better than first half champ Los Angeles and 6 1/2 games better than second half champ Houston. The Reds had the best record in baseball in 1981 and did not go the playoffs. Let me repeat that, the team with the best record in baseball did not qualify for the postaseason. I'm surprised there wasn't riots in the streets of Cincinnati. The madness doesn't stop there as in the A.L. West, Kansas City won the second half title but finished the season 3 games under .500 overall. So we have the best team in baseball not in the playoffs and a team with a losing record in the playoffs. Almost makes you think they would have been better off shutting down the season like they would 13 years later. Oh ya the A.L. MVP. Rollie Fingers won the award marking the first time a closer had won it. Already gone over this in the 1984 and 1992 redos that closers should not be winning the MVP. He would beat out Rickey Henderson in a very tight race. My only guess is that the resut was due to Fingers being the established, World Series hero while Henderson was only his second full season. It's also pretty rare for players with low homerun totals to win the award as he only hit six homeruns in the short '81 season. His teammate Tony Armas was the only other player to receive a first place vote and finished 4th overall despite being, ironically enough, the 4th best player on his own team that year. Actual Results 1) Rollie Fingers 2) Rickey Henderson 3) Dwight Evans 4) Tony Armas 5) Eddie Murray 6) Carney Lansford 7) Dave Winfield 8) Cecil Cooper 9) Goose Gossage 10) Tom Paciorek 11) Dwayne Murphy 12) Kirk Gibson 13) Steve McCatty 14) Bobby Grich 15) Jack Morris 16) Al Oliver 17t) Buddy Bell 17th) Robin Yount 19) Bill Almon 20) Jerry Mumphrey 21t) Mike Hargrove 21t) Alan Trammell 23t) Steve Kemp 23t) Greg Luzinski 23t) Dennis Martinez 23t) Ken Singleton 27t) George Brett 27t) Dave Stieb #10 .336/.389/.439, 68 RC, 133 OPS+, .301 EQA, 32.4 VORP, 18 Win Shares #9 .294/.360/.464, 66 RC, 138 OPS+, .310 EQA, 34.7 VORP, 16 Win Shares #8 .259/.348/.493, 62 RC, 146 OPS+, .308 EQA, 29.3 VORP, 20 Win Shares #7 .326/.379/.509, 78 RC, 151 OPS+, .315 EQA, 39.6 VORP, 17 Win Shares #6 .294/.360/.534, 73 RC, 156 OPS+, .319 EQA, 40.1 VORP, 21 Win Shares #5 150 ERA+, 1.49 K/BB, 1.08 WHIP, 51.9 VORP, 18 Win Shares #4 .304/.378/.543, 72 RC, 164 OPS+, .325 EQA, 49.1 VORP, 21 Win Shares #3 .320/.363/.495, 75 RC, 151 OPS+, .316 EQA, 42.0 VORP, 22 Win Shares #2 .319/.408/.437, 76 RC, 150 OPS+, .323 EQA, 45.6 VORP, 27 Win Shares #1 .296/.415/.522, 90 RC, 163 OPS+, .333 EQA, 47.7 VORP, 26 Win Shares Damn what kind of self hating A's fans am I to not give the award to RICKEY~? Also I'm taking an award away from a player who has his number retired by the A's. What have I done!? Anyways as I mentioned in my entry about my first game that Evans has been very under valued over the years. Also have a couple of other good players who have been forgotten in Cecil Cooper and Bobby Grich. Hey and look STEVE McCATTY!!! What you don't remember Steve McCatty? Ya okay '81 was his only good year and he should have won the Cy Young. I guess a similar parallel would be 2003 when Esteban Loaiza blew away any other year he had but couldn't get the Cy Young. I did actually come close to putting Fingers at #10. Oh and that Tom Paciorek card is awesome.

God dammit Vern, read the entry:

So...did Vito kill himself? He's been outed, goes to a random motel, and is now suddenly missing.

In a recent entry kkk talked about how excited Pirates' fans were in 1997 over the small glimmer of hope the team provided that year. Now I haven't really given any thought to the '97 Pirates before now and nor has anyone outside of Pittsburgh but I need excuses for an entry so by god I'm gonna talk about '97 Pirates. The Pirates currently hold the longest active streak of losing seasons in baseball at 13 seasons (well on their way to 14) and 1997 was the closest they've come to sniffing .500 since the departure of that guy Pedro Gomez follows around 24/7. As a Golden State Warriors fan I know the Bucs fan's pain and what it is like to get excited about mediocrity. The high watermark for them in '97 was on August 25th they were 67-64 and just three games out of first place. Now a team being just three games over .500 being only three games out in late August tells you that the N.L. Central was pretty bad in 1997. They would lose their next four games and never be over .500 the rest of the year although they would not be mathematically eliminated until September 24th. The division was almost as bad as N.L. West was in 2005 as the Astros would take the division crown with just 84 wins. The Pirates would finish 79-83 with a second place finish, five games out of first. One thing to keep in mind about this Pittsburgh team is that they had a pathetic $10.7 million payroll, by far the lowest in baseball in 1997 so any success they certainly had to be considered overachievers. The Reds had the highest payroll in the N.L. at $49.7 million but the Bucs finished ahead of them. Now I take a look back at the Little Bucs That Sorta Could and where they've went since. C: Jason Kendall (.294/.391/.434, 40.9 VORP, 22 Win Shares) - Just his second year but he had already emerged as the team's best player. He was a rising star but as well know in 1999 he'd have a horrific leg injury although he'd comeback in 2000 and have one the best years of his career which he'd parlay into an obscene contract that the Pirates would spend a few years trying to unload. Finally after a very good 2004 season he was traded to Oakland where unfortunately for the A's, and me, he'd hit catcher career wall in 2005. 1B: Kevin Young (.300/.332/.535, 26.5 VORP, 12 Win Shares) - Mainly a 4-A player Young put up solid numbers in a platoon with Mark Johnson in '97. In 1999 he'd have himself a pretty good year but that would be bad news for Pirates fans as he'd get a four-year, $24 million contract after that and hit like crap for the duration of the contract. Young really signifies what is wrong with the Pirates organization as after slugging just .399 in 2001, just awful for a first baseman, they still managed to give him 525 plate appearances the following season. They finally cut him loose during the 2003 season. 2B: Tony Womack (.278/.326/.374, 32.5 VORP, 18 Win Shares) - Aww the stat geek punching bag. After cups of coffee the previous three seasons this would qualify as Womack's rookie season and it he wasn't half bad. But it was obvious from that year already that he wasn't a reliable option as a lead off hitter, although he'd fool teams for several years just because of his speed, as he had only 43 walks in 689 plate appearances. He was traded to the Diamondbacks for the 1999 season, where he'd pick up a ring in 2001. Had two very short stints after trades in 2003 with the Rockies and Cubs. Then in 2004 with the Cardinals he'd have his career year at age 34 and convince the Yankees that he could be their regular second baseman for 2005. Whoops! What was so great about the Yankees signing Womack was that everyone knew he would suck. So congratulations to everyone for being right for once. Now currently with the Reds. 3B: Joe Randa (.302/.366/.451, 32.2 VORP, 16 Win Shares) - Acquired from the Royals before the season in what would be the first of five trades he's been in, he had a decent season. He's really the type of guy that would be useful for a good team that had a big hole at third base for a cheap price. Problem is he ends up on bad teams all the time who count him to be a key hitter in their line up. Following the season he'd be taken in the expansion draft by Arizona who'd unload him the same day to Detroit for Travis Fryman. Just another one year stint there and he'd be traded to the Mets who'd trade him six days later to Kansas City where he'd find a home for six years. Spent 2005 between the Reds and Padres and has now comeback to Pittsburgh to recreate that '97 magic! SS: Kevin Polcovich (.273/.350/.396, 14.6 VORP, 6 Win Shares) - Who? No really, I have no memory of this guy. This would be his rookie year at age 27 and he'd only spend one more year in the Majors. He was one of six guys to have more than 10 starts at shortstop for the Pirates in '97 including aging veterans Dale Sveum, Kevin Elster, and Shawon Dunston. LF: Al Martin (.291/.359/.473, 33.1 VORP, 13 Win Shares) - You always have to feel sorry for a guy who has to replace a legend but that's what Martin had to do. The typical numbers he put up would have been very good if he was a great fielding, center fielder but he was a poor fielding, corner outfielder. He also was awful against left handers so he often had to be platooned. Traded to the Padres before the 2000 season he'd bounce around from there to Seattle, be out of baseball in 2002, and then finish his career in 2003 with the Devil Rays. Al Martin Fun Facts: Arrested in 2000 for bigamy and made up a story about playing football at USC. Yes because no one pays attention to USC football. CF: Jermaine Allensworth (.255/.340/.339, 4.6 VORP, 7 Win Shares) - Simply a prospect who never panned out and no surprise with those numbers. Traded to the Royals during the 1998 season who'd flip him to the Mets less than two months later where he'd last appear in the Majors in 1999. Last seen in the independent Northern League. RF: Jose Guillen (.267/.300/.412, 1.5 VORP, 7 Win Shares) - This was Guillen's rookie year at just 21 years old as the Pirates hot shotted him from High A ball and he was clearly not ready yet they kept him up all year playing him in 144 games. It was this incredibly stupid decision that contributed to Guillen having a very slow start to his career. Traded to the Devil Rays in 1999 he'd be released by four different teams until in 2003 he'd breakout with the Reds. He'd be traded in a deadline deal to Oakland and then sign with the Angels on a surprisingly cheap deal as there were rumors of attitude problems. This would come up in late September in a key series with the A's where the Angels would suspend him for the rest of the season for an unknown clubhouse altercation. You know when a team in the middle of the pennant chase essentially dumps it's starting left fielder, who was having a pretty good year, that's probably a sign that the guy might have some problems. Currently he's with the Nationals where he wants to beat up Pedro Martinez or something. Maybe he should beat up Jim Bowden. Pitchers Esteban Loaiza (104 ERA+, 25.0 VORP, 11 Win Shares) - Loaiza has made a career out of being very average and '97 was no different and is probably now the definition of a journeyman starter. Pirates traded him to Texas during 1998, who would trade him to Toronto during 2000. After a miserable 2002 season he signed on the cheap with the White Sox and out of no where had a Cy Young caliber season. Then traded to the Yankees for Jose Contreras in a deadline deal which would turn into an absolute nightmare for him and the Yankees. Signed with the Nationals in 2005 and then signed a three-year, $22 million deal with the A's that I'm absolutely hating. Jon Lieber (96 ERA+, 17.0 VORP, 9 Win Shares) - Yet another pitcher who's put together an average career. Pirates traded him to the Cubs for Brant Brown after 1998 (that turned out well) where he'd have a 20 win season in 2001. Late in 2002 he'd have Tommy John surgery which would cause him to miss the entire 2003 season. The Yankees gambled on him before 2003 knowing he'd miss the season and he'd comeback for 2004 to be a moderately succesful pitcher who Yankee fans fell in love with. Now currently with the Phillies. Jason Schmidt (93 ERA+, 12.6 VORP, 8 Win Shares) - Oh here's a painful one for Pirates fans. Acquired in a late season dump of Denny Neagle the year before, Schmidt was a hot shot prospect. Now typically leaving the Braves seems to be career suicide for a starting pitcher. After two decent seasons, shoulder problems with derail Schmidt as he would miss four months that season. He'd struggle at times in 2001 and it was uncertain if he'd ever regain form. So during that season, with him eligible for free agency following the year, the Pirates traded him to San Francisco for Armando Rios and Ryan Vogelsong. In 2003 Schmidt would emerge as one of the best pitchers in baseball and follow that up with a very good 2004. Injuries have again slowed him down since but safe to say the Pirates wish they had gotten a little more in return for him. Steve Cooke (100 ERA+, 10.7 VORP, 7 Win Shares) - Another Pirates prospect that was probably rushed too soon. He had a pretty good rookie year in 1993 but shoulder problems would pop up the following season, probably due to throwing 210 innings at age 23, and he'd barely pitch at all the next two seasons before finally returning to full action in '97. But his shoulder and elbow were thrashed, he'd sign with the Reds but make only one apperance for them in 1998 and was out of baseball by 1999. Francisco Cordova (118 ERA+, 32.9 VORP, 13 Win Shares) - Young, overused, Pirates pitcher with shoulder problems. See a theme? Cordova broke out in 1997 as a potential rising star pitcher and had a combined no hitter against the Astros in July. He'd follow it up with a very good 1998 season and Pirates fan's hearts were all a flutter. But those pesky shoulder problems would pop up in 1999, he'd only throw 95 innings in 2000, and that was it for his career. Really too bad as he looked like he might be the real deal. Closer: Rich Loiselle (139 ERA+, 16.3 VORP, 11 Win Shares) - Pirates pitcher with injury problems, this is just getting depressing. Loiselle set a Pirates rookie record with 29 saves in '97 and then had a decent '98 season before elbow problems would effectively end his career. He'd have multiple surgeries and comebacks over the following few years but he'd never be effective again, his career over by 2001. So there you have it. I just spent more time than anyone every will on the 1997 Pirates. What do I win?

Awww crap I didn't even realize VX had made his pick.

Don't you mean SMARTBALL~!? This is going on everywhere, it's the new sexy because of the White Sox and because steroids are no longer being used by anyone (hehe) that homeruns are suddenly going to stop being hit so everyone has to resort to manufacturing runs. Actually I flipped on the Padres/Rockies game very briefly and the Rockies announcer essentially said the above about homeruns, this coming after an 11 run first inning. I felt my brain leak out of my ear a little after this.

After a two-hitter last night, A's get a combined one-hitter tonight. Rich Harden pitches tommorrow so might as well go for the no hitter.

It's Dan Wilson Night. Giants will be holding Kirk Rueter Day sometime this year. Teams are really lowering the standards for who gets their own day.

Barry Zito has to be the most inefficient pitcher in baseball. He goes six innings, no runs, only three baserunners, but has already thrown 109 pitches. No wonder he hasn't thrown a complete game since 2003.

I watched most of the Pirates' game today on the free preview of MLB Extra Innings and yes the "We Will" slogan made me chuckle. I wouldn't envy the marketing department of a team that hasn't had a winning season in 14 years but jeez come up with something that isn't so easily mockable. It wouldn't take a six year old very long to turn that into "We Will...Suck." Since you brought them up a few entries ago I think I might have to do a "Where Did They Go?" entry on the '97 Pirates as I've been looking for an obscure team to do.

No, if a team won both halves they would have taken the team with the second best overall record. The A's came the closest to winning both halves as they finished one game back of the Royals in the second half of the season. If they had won the second half then the Rangers would have advanced to the playoffs. If they really wanted an extra round of playoffs they should have taken the 1st and 2nd place teams in each division rather than the incredibly flawed format they came up with. Here's the Ainge card:

Baltimore, although I suppose technically they did exsist since the Browns became the Ravens.

Holy crap how did that not go out? Oh well I'll take it.

You know who is clutch? Marco Scutaro. I say the Yankees trade A-Rod for Scutaro straight up. Super Marco is a team player unlike selfish A-Rod. And my plan worked brilliantly in jinxing Wright, mwahahahaha. Actually I was being serious when I said that but Torre tempted fate but leaving him in for the 9th.

Go away. I wouldn't be surprised if Wright turned himself into a good reliever.

MLB considers Sacramento "local" to the Bay Area so they blackout the A's and Giants.