Bored

End of the month maybe. With Jason Kendall hitting like a pitcher they really are considering having Piazza split time behind the plate and DH when he comes back. Kendall/Piazza is quite the catcher platoon...circa 1998.

Or maybe it will turn ugly for the Red Sox, what do I know? I suppose it is worth mentioning tonight Trevor Hoffman became the first pitcher ever to reach 500 career saves.

The A's reallllllllllllllllly need Huston Street and Justin Duchscherer back. Having Alan Embree as your best available option at closer right now is just sad as he blows one against the Sox tonight. I feel bad for Dan Haren, who granted isn't going to have an ERA under 2 all year but he does have the potential to make a run at the Cy Young but with a bad offense and a bad bullpen it's tough to pick up those writer friendly wins. This series is going to be ugly if the A's don't pull it out as a Haren/Tavarez match up looked like a near lock for a win. Edit: Well that ended up being quite the ballgame, Chavez hits a walk off in the 11th for the win. Mark Ellis hit for the cycle.

He has some sort of front office position with the Nats.

The MLB Draft is this week and for the first time it will be televised which will likely replace the NFL Draft for the boringest sports program ever. At least with the NFL Draft you've seen the top players play because college football is everywhere on Saturday's in the Fall but you are rarely able to catch any college baseball on t.v. outside the College World Series plus on top of that many of the top prospects are drafted out of high school. I just picked 1987 to do a Draftback since by now most of the players from this draft careers are either done or winding down which just makes me feel so very old. It also has two first ballot Hall of Famers in the 1st Round with the #1 pick overall being one of the most hyped prospects ever and almost immediately living up to that hype. 1. Mariners - Ken Griffey Jr., Outfielder, High School By far the best #1 pick of the 1980's Griffey would already be a superstar by 1990 and help turn around what was the Clippers of Major League Baseball into a respectable franchise. 2. Pirates - Mark Merchant, Outfielder, High School On the other side of the coin we get this guy. Ironically enough he ended being traded to the Mariners organization in 1989 but never made it to the Majors and did not reach Triple-A until 1993. 3. Twins - Willie Banks, Pitcher, High School Walked 107 batters in 125 2/3 innings in low A ball in 1988. Had one solid year in the Majors in '93 (11-12, 4.04 ERA) and that was it. Pitched for seven different teams in nine years in the Majors. Per the Baseball Cube in 2005 he gave up 15 runs in two innings pitched for the independent Newark Bears. 4. Cubs - Mike Harkey, Pitcher, Cal State Fullerton Harkey had shoulder problems almost immediately but did to put together a very good rookie year in 1990 (12-6, 3.26 ERA) finishing 5th in the N.L. ROY voting. But that was his high point as he could rarely ever stay healthy. 5. White Sox - Jack McDowell, Pitcher, Stanford Made his MLB debut just three months after being drafted. Very good pitcher for a few years including picking up a Cy Young in 1993 but started to break down by age 30. Probably best known for flipping off the Yankee fans in 1995 after being pulled from a game in his one season in New York. 6. Braves - Derek Lilliquist, Pitcher, Georgia To no surprise he became expendable in the Braves organization and was traded to San Diego in 1990. Had two very good years as a middle reliever with the Indians in the mid-90's but little success at any other point. 7. Orioles - Chris Myers, Pitcher, High School I found almost nothing on this guy. As you can imagine he never pitched in the Majors. 8. Dodgers - Dan Opperman, Pitcher, High School Another guy where it is almost like he never exsisted. He apparently blew out his arm very early into is pro career. 9. Royals - Kevin Appier, Pitcher, High School Excellent pitcher during his early to mid-20's with the Royals and I think was bit overlooked during his peak. Pitched reguarly into his mid-30's but was not particularly effective after age 29. 10. Padres - Kevin Garner, Pitcher/Outfielder, Texas All I found out is he became a first baseman and was traded in 1991 with Joey Cora to the White Sox. Never sniffed the Majors. 11. Athletics - Lee Tinsley, Outfielder, High School Never played for the A's and didn't make is MLB debut until 1993 with Seattle spending the majority of his brief career as a 4th or 5th outfielder. 12. Expos - Delino DeShields, Shortstop/Second Baseman, High School A speedy, decent hitting, but poor fielding second baseman who spent 13 seasons in the Majors. Probably best remembered though for being the guy the Dodgers traded Pedro Martinez for. 13. Brewers - Bill Spiers, Shortstop, Clemson 13 years in the Majors mainly as a utility infielder. 14. Cardinals - Cris Carpenter, Pitcher, Georgia No this is not Chris Carpenter. This Cris Carpenter pitched eight years in Majors primarily as a reliever. 15. Orioles - Brad DuVall, Pitcher, Virginia Tech Chose to return to school the next year but didn't help his stock as he dropped to 23rd overall to St. Louis in the '88 draft and would never reach the Majors. 16. Giants - Mike Remlinger, Pitcher, Dartmouth Only pitched 123 2/3 innings in the Majors thru 1996 he wouldn't have any real success until age 33 as a middle reliever with the Braves and was able to hang around until last year. 17. Blue Jays - Alex Sanchez, Pitcher, UCLA Spent 18 days in the Majors in 1989: 11 2/3 IP, 16 H, 13 ER, 14 BB, 4 SO. Ouch. 18. Reds - Jack Armstrong, Pitcher, Oklahoma Has to be one of the most obscure pitchers ever to start an All-Star Game doing so in 1990 but he'd collapse in the second half that year, would be left out of the Reds postseason rotation and really was never good again. 19. Rangers - Brian Bohanon, Pitcher, High School Despite 5.19 career ERA still threw over 1000 innings in the Majors which again proves if you have a son who is left handed you better make him learn how to pitch. 20. Tigers - Bill Henderson, Catcher, High School Another almost non-exsistant player. 21. Tigers - Steve Pegues, Outfielder, High School Well at least one of the Tigers back-to-back picks made it to the Majors but Pegues didn't do it until 1994 with the Reds and played a total of 100 games in the Majors. 22. Astros - Craig Biggio, Catcher, Seton Hall Okay he is washed up now and is just barely hanging by a thread to get to 3000 hits but he's had a remarkable career and doesn't need to get 3000 to be a lock for the Hall of Fame. 23. Rangers - Bill Haselman, Catcher, UCLA Career back up catcher who played 13 years in the Majors. 24. Mets - Chris Donnels, Third Baseman, Loyola Marymount Non-descript career in the Majors, played four years in Japan from 1996-1999. 25. Angels - John Orton, Catcher, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Damn teams sure were in desperate need of catchers in 1987. In 448 plate apperances in the Majors he hit .200/.265/.274. 26. Red Sox - Reggie Harris, Pitcher, High School Had a five year gap between apperances in the Majors between 1991 and 1996, only threw 121 career innings. Other Picks of Note 2nd Round, Blue Jays - Derek Bell 2nd Round, Indians - Albert Belle 2nd Round, Mariners - Dave Burba 2nd Round, Mets - Todd Hundley 2nd Round, Yankees - Pete Schourek 3rd Round, Cardinals - Ray Lankford 3rd Round, Brewers - Jaime Navarro 5th Round, Blue Jays - Mike Timlin 6th Round, Dodgers - Darrin Fletcher 6th Round, Padres - Dave Hollins 7th Round, Twins - Mark Guthrie 7th Round, Pirates - Mickey Morandini 7th Round, Reds - Reggie Sanders 11th Round, Orioles - Mike Mussina (did not sign) 13th Round, Orioles - Steve Finley 13th Round, Braves - Mike Stanton 18th Round, Orioles - David Segui 20th Round, Athletics - Scott Brosius 24th Round, Brewers - Jeromy Burnitz (did not sign) 26th Round, Yankees - Dan Wilson (did not sign) 28th Round, Twins - Bret Boone (did not sign) 30th Round, Astros - Darryl Kile 32nd Round, Rangers - Robb Nen 34th Round, Astros - Scott Erickson (did not sign) 37th Round, Cubs - Jeff Cirillo (did not sign) 45th Round, Blue Jays - Darren Lewis (did not sign) 48th Round, Yankees - Brad Ausmus 58th Round, Royals - Jeff Conine

I wasn't really putting down DeShields and it was an excellent pick for the Expos as three of his four years in Montreal were very good and then they flip him for Pedro.

I guess for t.v. they are going to have former players/managers as reps for each franchise. What they will actually be doing I have no idea. Here's the list: Arizona: Rico Brogna, Luke Wren Atlanta: Paul Snyder, Ralph Garr, Kurt Kemp Baltimore: Jim Palmer, Scott Proefrock Boston: Dwight Evans, Ray Fagnant Chicago Cubs: Chuck Wasserstrom Chicago White Sox: Roland Hemond, Chet Lemon Cincinnati: Ken Griffey, Sr., Jim Thrift Cleveland: Ellis Burks, Robby Thompson, Steve Frohwerk Colorado: Walt Weiss, Clarence Johns Detroit: Al Avila, Willie Horton, Tom Moore Florida: Andre Dawson, Manny Colon, Brian Bridges Houston: Enos Cabell, Jay Edmiston Kansas City: Frank White, Art Stewart LA Angels of Anaheim: Demetrius Figgins, Dan Radcliff LA Dodgers: Tommy Lasorda, Ralph Avila, Brian Stephensen Milwaukee: Gord Ash, Tony Diggs, Wil Inman Minnesota: Jim Rantz, Tony Oliva NY Mets: Darryl Strawberry, Kevin Morgan NY Yankees: Frank Howard, Mike Thurman Oakland: Terry Steinbach Philadelphia: Robin Roberts, Lee McDaniel, Dallas Green Pittsburgh: Steve Blass, Trevor Gooby San Diego: Dave Winfield, Randy Smith San Francisco: Felipe Alou, Jack Hiatt, Steve Decker Seattle: Dan Evans St. Louis: John Mozeliak, Alan Benes Tampa: Bay Dave Martinez, Don Zimmer Texas: Jim Sundberg, Steve Buechele, Mel Didier Toronto: Rob Ducey Washington: Barry Larkin, Tim Foli

Who else then? There's no clearly established star at second base and Cano nearly won a batting title last year. As of right now Brian Roberts would be a solid choice. Very good start to the season so far and has a decent track record. I think the last time I cared enough to vote for the All-Star team was stuffing the ballot box for Jason Giambi in 2000.

In case you've missed the last couple of years, there is no baseball on holidays on ESPN so you will get a Classic Car Auction marathon on ESPN2 instead. ESPN & FOX Games to Poison Our Youth TUESDAY Giants (Tim Lincecum) at Mets (Oliver Perez), 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN WEDNESDAY Indians (Paul Byrd) at Red Sox (Daisuke Matsuzaka), 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN SATURDAY Yankees at Red Sox, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX Cardinals at Astros, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX SUNDAY Yankees at Red Sox, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

But Paulie also mentioned when they were packing up at Tony's house that he heard that Sil wasn't going to regain consciousness so he is basically as good as dead at this point. I was on the edge of seat when Sil got shot as I was legit hoping he or Patsy would pop the other two guys before Sil would be shot.

So is it true that Sportscenter spent two full segments talking about A-Rod fucking some stripper in Toronto the other day?

D'oh didn't read your post right. Quick Google search reveals that Eddie Waitkus and Marv Rickert of the Cubs did it on June 23, 1946. Too old of a game to find a boxscore for though.

Well I was Bored enough and interested enough to see if this were true and your co-worker ain't lying, if they were at the game, because on August 27th of that year Toby Harrah and Bump Willis went back-to-back in New York: Boxscore

A's lost two out of three to the Orioles this weekend in Baltimore and as May closes out it is once again looking like this is the year the A's string of winning seasons comes to an end. But it seems that way every year the first couple of months of the season before they go on some insane run for a couple of months that saves their season. Their former shortstop Miguel Tejada had never homered in 25 games against the A's before homering in back-to-back days this weekend and it was five years ago when Tejada played a major role in the A's most remarkable run of all when they won an American League record 20 straight games. It was that streak and some timely hits by Tejada that would be the primary reason he would be awarded the A.L. MVP after the season and it was always a very questionable win in the minds of statheads. I fully supported him winning the award at the time Miggy could have shit on my floor and I wouldn't have minded but enough time has past that it is time for me to take back what he didn't really deserve. Tejada received 21 of the posssible 28 first place votes beating out Alex Rodriguez and Alfonso Soriano by a comfortable margin. A-Rod hit 57 homeruns and had 142 RBI in 2002 and those normally would be plenty for the writers to give him in the MVP the problem being this was of course when he was with the Rangers where wins did not come very often in Texas. Tejada hit 23 fewer homeruns than A-Rod and had a near idential OPS to his teammate Eric Chavez who finished 14th in the voting. But the main facotr in the writers view was that the Rangers won only 72 games, finishing 31 games behind Miggy and the A's, thus A-Rod could not have been truly "valuable" if his team played so poorly. Soriano had his breakout year with the Yankees, coming up with one homerun shy of a 40-40 season but given how loaded the Yankees line up was it was hard in the view of the writers to give the award to a player with so much help around him with teammates Jason Giambi and Bernie Williams both finishing in the Top 10. So should A-Rod have been the slam dunk winner and how bad of a choice was Tejada? Actual Results 1) Miguel Teajda 2) Alex Rodriguez 3) Alfonso Soriano 4) Garret Anderson 5) Jason Giambi 6) Torii Hunter 7) Jim Thome 8) Magglio Ordonez 9) Manny Ramirez 10) Bernie Williams 11t) David Eckstein 11t) Nomar Garciaparra 13) Barry Zito 14) Eric Chavez 15t) Eddie Guardado 15t) Troy Percival 17) Ichiro Suzuki 18) Billy Koch 19) Derek Lowe 20t) Pedro Martinez 20t) Mike Sweeney #10 .310/.352/.528, 118 RC, 132 OPS+, .290 EQA, 64.8 VORP, 27 Win Shares #9 .320/.381/.597, 132 RC, 152 OPS+, .312 EQA, 57.7 VORP, 26 Win Shares #8 169 ERA+, 2.33 K/BB, 1.13 WHIP, 75.3 VORP, 25 Win Shares #7 .308/.354/.508, 116 RC, 122 OPS+, .288 EQA, 58.6 VORP, 32 Win Shares #6 .300/.332/.547, 123 RC, 131 OPS+, .291 EQA, 68.9 VORP, 30 Win Shares #5 .333/.415/.493, 125 RC, 143 OPS+, .312 EQA, 66.7 VORP, 30 Win Shares #4 .349/.450/.647, 125 RC, 190 OPS+, .353 EQA, 75.4 VORP, 29 Win Shares #3 .314/.435/.598, 143 RC, 174 OPS+, .341 EQA, 79.2 VORP, 34 Win Shares #2 .304/.445/.677, 145 RC, 191 OPS+, .357 EQA, 85.0 VORP, 34 Win Shares #1 .300/.392/.623, 150 RC, 152 OPS+, .317 EQA, 86.8 VORP, 35 Win Shares Some idiot on this board once said this back in 2003: Oh wait, that was me. Fuck. Anyways A-Rod, Thome, and Giambi all have great cases. Thome suffered the same fate as A-Rod that year as he was on a bad team otherwise he may have had a shot at the award if he had been on a contender. Alas I deferred to A-Rod's slight edge in both VORP and Win Shares (WARP3 as well) to give him the nod but there was simply no easy pick that season so this was the perfect year for someone like Tejada to win.

And what was funny about Anderson was all you heard about him the next couple of years was how underrated he was yet he has a Top 5 MVP finish without really deserving it. Actually the oddest finish in the voting was David Eckstein finishing tied for 11th with Garciaparra less anyone think that the media's love affair with him just started last year.

In hindsight they obviously didn't make the right choice. But I've said before that given what we knew at the time Chavez appeared to be the better choice as he was younger, was putting up better numbers at his age than Tejada did, and the better defensive player. I can't blame Beane one bit for making the decision he made as even the biggest Tejada fan wouldn't have predicted Chavez would turn into the painfully average hitter he's become and now starting to tilt towards mediocrity at the plate.

ESPN & FOX Games to Poison Our Youth MONDAY Red Sox (Tim Wakefield) at Yankees (Chien-Ming Wang), 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN WEDNESDAY Red Sox (Curt Schilling) at Yankees (Andy Pettitte), 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN SATURDAY Phillies at Braves, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX Indians at Tigers, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX Cubs at Dodgers, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX SUNDAY Indians at Tigers, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

Finally I have an excuse to update this dying blog as HardballTimes.com has release the first Win Shares of the year and I know you are all excited. Okay maybe not, but it least allows me to take my first look of the year at the MVP races in both leagues. Being that we're less than two months into the season you have to take most things so far with a grain of salt. Taking a look back at my first MVP Watch from last year only two players from each league were in my final fictional MVP ballot (Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman in the N.L. and Jim Thome, Travis Hafner in the A.L.). Last season Pujols led the N.L. race wire to wire in my view but he of course lost out to Ryan Howard in the real vote. This year Pujols is off to a very slow start by his standards and is no where in the early MVP picture. Right now it is three players vying for the top spot in Barry Bonds, J.J. Hardy, and Jose Reyes. Hardy's fast start seems a bit fluky but Bonds and Reyes could both certainly be in the race the whole year. 10. Miguel Cabrera, Marlins .316/.399/.536, 36 RC, 154 OPS+, .328 EQA, 19.4 VORP, 8.4 Win Shares 9. Carlos Beltran, Mets .301/.385/.523, 34 RC, 147 OPS+, .316 EQA, 19.0 VORP, 8.9 Win Shares 8. Russell Martin, Dodgers .314/.390/.468, 35 RC, 128 OPS+, .308 EQA, 16.7 VORP, 11.4 Win Shares 7. Todd Helton, Rockies .361/.480/.538, 35 RC, 166 OPS+, .348 EQA, 23.5 VORP, 9.3 Win Shares 6. Prince Fielder, Brewers .287/.370/.586, 38 RC, 153 OPS+, .313 EQA, 18.0 VORP, 10.2 Win Shares 5. Jake Peavy, Padres 235 ERA+, 4.05 K/BB, 0.98 WHIP, 25.3 VORP, 8.3 Win Shares 4. Hanley Ramirez, Marlins .344/.420/.557, 36 RC, 166 OPS+, .341 EQA, 28.7 VORP, 9.2 Win Shares 3. J.J. Hardy, Brewers .311/.353/.595, 39 RC, 150 OPS+, .310 EQA, 21.5 VORP, 12.4 Win Shares 2. Barry Bonds, Giants .282/.503/.618, 36 RC, 200 OPS+, .381 EQA, 22.5 VORP, 10.4 Win Shares 1. Jose Reyes, Mets .313/.392/.484, 38 RC, 140 OPS+, .315 EQA, 23.7 VORP, 11.5 Win Shares In the A.L. last year there was the MVP race was a complete debacle...as I picked Derek Jeter as my clear choice for MVP and the world stood still. Oh and Justin Morneau won the real MVP despite being the 3rd best player on his own team. Jeter is off to great start and is in the Top 5 but the #1 spot at the moment was an easy choice although certainly not someone you would have thought of coming into the season. Might raise some eyebrows with two Yankees above two Red Sox on the ballot at the moment but it really gives you an idea of how bad the Yankees have been beyond A-Rod and Jeter. 10. Grady Sizemore, Indians .270/.393/.454, 36 RC, 129 OPS+, .308 EQA, 18.0 VORP, 10.0 Win Shares 9. B.J. Upton, Devil Rays .309/.391/.550, 32 RC, 146 OPS+, .314 EQA, 18.3 VORP, 10.4 Win Shares 8. Orlando Cabrera, Angels .312/.360/.435, 32 RC, 116 OPS+, .281 EQA, 15.5 VORP, 11.3 Win Shares 7. Curtis Granderson, Tigers .286/.347/.583, 36 RC, 144 OPS+, .305 EQA, 19.6 VORP, 9.9 Win Shares 6. Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox .347/.429/.535, 39 RC, 154 OPS+, .322 EQA, 22.0 VORP, 9.3 Win Shares 5. David Ortiz, Red Sox .319/.436/.596, 40 RC, 171 OPS+, .335 EQA, 23.6 VORP, 9.0 Win Shares 4. Derek Jeter, Yankees .367/.444/.494, 45 RC, 157 OPS+, .319 EQA, 23.8 VORP, 10.8 Win Shares 3. Alex Rodriguez, Yankees .306/.396/.676, 46 RC, 187 OPS+, .340 EQA, 29.1 VORP, 10.1 Win Shares 2. Vladimir Guerrero, Angels .335/.444/.613, 40 RC, 186 OPS+, .348 EQA, 28.1 VORP, 11.0 Win Shares 1. Magglio Ordonez, Tigers .361/.441/.710, 48 RC, 203 OPS+, .365 EQA, 34.5 VORP, 12.3 Win Shares

NFL Network is going to continue their "NFL Classics" series into June with four more games although again the term "classic" is used loosely as all of the games for June are within the last six years. June 7th: Oakland at New England, 1/19/02, AFC Divisional Playoff June 14th: New England at Indianapolis, 1/21/07, AFC Championship June 21st: Seattle at Green Bay, 1/4/04, NFC Wild Card June 28th: N.Y. Giants at San Francisco, 1/5/03, NFC Wild Card The Dolphins/Jets MNF game from 2000 is on right now and a week from tonight will be the Bills 32 point comeback against the Oilers.

With Milton Bradley going on the DL, which again you never see coming, the A's officially have now hit double figures in number of players on the 40 man roster who are currently on the DL. Do they get like a free sandwich or utility infielder for that?

I don't remember the whole story but during my freshman year of high school the band teacher was either fired or forced to resign after he called a black student a "monkey."

"Maybe subconsiously he knew the rope was too long to keep him submerged." "Or maybe he's a fucking idiot." God that had me dying. That was also about the best beatdown in the history of the show.

ESPN & FOX Games to Poison Our Youth MONDAY Cubs (Jason Marquis) at Mets (Tom Glavine), 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN WEDNESDAY Tigers (Mike Maroth) at Red Sox (Julian Tavarez), 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN SATURDAY Yankees at Mets, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX White Sox at Cubs, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX SUNDAY Yankees at Mets, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

Since Huston Street got hurt the A's bullpen has given up seven 9th inning runs in three games to the Royals. I need to stop watching baseball.

That was a Grade-A flop by AK-47 to get Barnes tossed. Bah, blowing Game 2 pretty much killed the Warriors chances in this series. Oh well will always have the Dallas series.