Bored

CFN rankings continued. 59. Oklahoma State 58. North Carolina 57. Mississippi 56. Northwestern 55. Tulsa 54. Kansas State 53. Kansas 52. Connecticut 51. Minnesota 50. BYU 49. Virginia 48. South Carolina 47. Purdue 46. UCLA 45. Fresno State 44. Texas A&M 43. Pittsburgh 42. N.C. State 41. South Florida 40. Oregon State

This is one that I’ve been putting off as it seemed too obvious for an entry. No one in there right mind thinks in 1991 that Terry Pendleton was a better player than Barry Bonds except apparently the 12 baseball writers who voted for Pendleton over Bonds. Now Pendleton winning wasn’t on the level of Andre Dawson winning in 1987 and actually after reviewing it there certainly have been several worse choices for MVP in the past. There’s an easy answer as to why Pendleton won the MVP and that was because the Braves were the feel good story of 1991. The Braves had lost 89 games or more in six consecutive seasons and had lost 97 the year before. But that all changed in ’91 when they made a shocking run at the N.L. West title and Pendleton received a good portion of the credit for their run. After all he wasn’t with the Braves before ‘91 and when he joins the team they suddenly became good so it must have been because of him, or at least that was probably the logic of some writers. Now I don’t want to slam Pendleton, he had a great year and he was the MVP of the Braves that season as he had a career year offensively after appearing to be washed at age 29 just a year earlier with the Cardinals. What would hurt Bonds in the MVP voting was A) he won the MVP the year before and did not have as good a year to follow it up, B) the Pirates ran away with the East title while the Braves were in a dog fight into the final weekend with the Dodgers for the West title so in September all eyes were on Atlanta, and C) he was already the miserable prick we know today and thus not liked by the media. Pendleton and Bonds received 22 of the 24 first place votes with Bonds’ teammate Bobby Bonilla receiving one. Not sure why someone picked Bonilla over Bonds but it did not cost Bonds the award and Bonilla had a great year. The other first place vote though went to Brett Butler who I’m assuming received it from a Dodgers writer. Butler had a good year but far from deserving to win it and he only placed 7th in the overall voting. Now what eventually convinced me to write an entry on this one had little to do with the winner of the award but one bizarre 10th place vote. Dave Martinez was with the Expos at the time and I don’t think MVP and Dave Martinez have ever been uttered before but yet he showed up one writer’s ballot that year. Martinez played in 124 games, received 427 plate appearances, with his Triple Crow stats at .295 avg, 7 hr, 42 rbi. It got me thinking as to how in the world did a writer justify giving Dave Martinez an MVP vote, even if only a 10th place? The Expos lost 90 games that year so it wasn’t like he had some relevant “clutch” hits down the stretch that would caused a writer to overrate him. The two best players on the Expos in 1991 were his outfield mates Ivan Calderon and Larry Walker so it’s hard to imagine his play was noticed more over those two. Then it donned on me…the writer meant to vote for his teammate Dennis Martinez. El Presidente won the N.L. ERA title and it’s completely conceivable for a writer to have given the league leader in ERA a 10th place vote. I can’t confirm this is what happened but there is no other logical explanation for it. Actual Results 1) Terry Pendleton 2) Barry Bonds 3) Bobby Bonilla 4) Will Clark 5) Howard Johnson 6) Ron Gant 7) Brett Butler 8) Lee Smith 9) Fred McGriff 10) Darryl Strawberry 11) Tom Glavine 12t) Jay Bell 12t) David Justice 14t) Andre Dawson 14t) John Smiley 16) Tony Gwynn 17t) John Kruk 17t) Barry Larkin 17t) Ryne Sandberg 20t) Dave Martinez 20t) Chris Sabo 20t) Ozzie Smith #10 .294/.367/.483, 97 RC, 139 OPS+, .311 EQA, 43.9 VORP, 25 Win Shares #9 .259/.342/.535, 105 RC, 145 OPS+, .308 EQA, 47.2 VORP, 25 Win Shares #8 153 ERA+, 2.78 K/BB, 1.10 WHIP, 55.5 VORP, 23 Win Shares #7 .278/.396/.494, 104 RC, 147 OPS+, .322 EQA, 48.7 VORP, 25 Win Shares #6 .304/.377/.454, 88 RC, 143 OPS+, .315 EQA, 54.2 VORP, 26 Win Shares #5 .319/.363/.517, 111 RC, 139 OPS+, .308 EQA, 53.6 VORP, 27 Win Shares #4 .302/.391/.492, 112 RC, 150 OPS+, .323 EQA, 49.9 VORP, 31 Win Shares #3 .291/.379/.485, 109 RC, 137 OPS+, .310 EQA, 52.5 VORP, 37 Win Shares #2 .301/.359/.536, 109 RC, 152 OPS+, .321 EQA, 53.2 VORP, 34 Win Shares #1* .292/.410/.514, 109 RC, 161 OPS+, .337 EQA, 61.6 VORP, 37 Win Shares See...I put an asterisk. Cause he's a cheater. HAHAHAHA. People who use asterisks to mock Bonds are so clever. Anyways you to have to admit that's one prophetic card.

Deion Sanders/Andre Rison "fight" from 1994

They were until last year when they went 2-9. Lafayette is the heavy favorite this year. Big East Media Presason Poll 1. West Virginia (18) 2. Louisville (6) 3. Pittsburgh 4. Rutgers 5. South Florida 6. Connecticut 7. Cincinnati 8. Syracuse

CFN preseason rankings continued. 79. Cincinnati 78. Stanford (ouch) 77. Illinois 76. Nevada 75. Washington 74. Houston 73. Kentucky 72. East Carolina 71. San Diego State 70. Hawaii 69. Indiana 68. Mississippi State 67. Syracuse 66. UTEP 65. Baylor 64. Wake Forest 63. Toledo 62. Northern Illinois 61. Southern Miss

CFN is counting down their preseason rankings this week, here are the bottom 40. 119. Temple 118. Florida Atlantic 117. Buffalo 116. New Mexico State 115. UL Monroe 114. San Jose State 113. FIU 112. Utah State 111. Army 110. Rice 109. North Texas 108. Arkansas State 107. Idaho 106. Troy 105. MTSU 104. Ohio 103. Eastern Michigan 102. Ball State 101. UL Lafayette 100. Kent State 99. Bowling Green 98. Tulane 97. Western Michigan 96. Air Force 95. Central Michigan 94. UNLV 93. Louisiana Tech 92. Miami of Ohio 91. SMU 90. Akron 89. Duke 88. UAB 87. Memphis 86. Wyoming 85. New Mexico 84. Navy 83. Vanderbilt 82. Marshall 81. UCF 80. Colorado State

It would have seemed nuts coming into the season but I think the A's will need to entertain the idea of trading for a shortstop for the stretch run. Bobby "Harold Reynolds pick me for MVP" Crosby is just completely lost at the plate. He was hitting .232/.293/.343 coming into tonight and in the 8th innning with a runner in scoring position he had 3-1 count and made an absolutely embarrassing swing at a pitch in the dirt in which he nealy landed on his ass flailing at the pitch. The next pitch he took for strike three. He's 3 for his last 34 and hasn't homered since May 31st.

The Cowboys player Keith Davis was also shot back in 2003. You know getting shot once you can write it off as being an innocent victim but twice you've probably fucked with the wrong people once too often.

Rickey Henderson is the easy choice for Oakland since not only is he the "Greatest of All-Time" but he also grew up in Oakland.

The Braves/Cardinals will be on ESPN tommorrow where Chipper Jones has a chance to break the record for most consecutive games with an extra base hit set by Paul Waner in 1927.

On Saturday for the first time in 28 years a full slate of MLB games went without one save being record and the sun still rose in the morning. Now can we get rid of this meaningless statistic? Series starting Monday Rockies/Pirates A's/Orioles Nationals/Marlins Mariners/Yankees Braves/Cardinals Royals/Red Sox Dodgers/Diamondbacks Rangers/Blue Jays Phillies/Padres Devil Rays/Twins Brewers/Giants Indians/Angels Series starting Tuesday Mets/Reds Astros/Cubs White Sox/Tigers Series starting Thursday Pirates/Marlins Rangers/Red Sox (one game) Yankees/Blue Jays Padres/Giants Angels/Royals Series starting Friday Braves/Phillies Twins/Indians Cubs/Nationals A's/Tigers Brewers/Reds Astros/Mets Orioles/Devil Rays Rockies/Diamondbacks Rangers/White Sox Red Sox/Mariners Cardinals/Dodgers

Curently 27 holdovers and 9 newcomers signed up. Next weekend I will send a PM to any holdovers who have not signed up yet and give them a week longer to sign up before their spots are vacated. After that I'll leave sign ups open for another week before closing them.

Why does ESPN suck? The continuous exsistence of the ESPYs.

This year in college football there will be something called the BCS Championship Game or as I like to think of it, Fiesta Bowl II. It will match up the #1 and #2 teams in the BCS rankings and it will take place in the new Arizona Cardinals stadium which will be the new site of the Fiesta Bowl. It’s not a bowl game but it’ll be played at a bowl site the week after a bowl game was just played in it. It was the NCAA’s lame compromise they came up with for those who want to keep the bowl tradition and those who want a tournament or “plus one” format without actually addressing any of the flaws with the current format. But after it was after the 1986 regular season in the Fiesta Bowl where arguably the first true National Championship game may have ever taken place. The landscape of college football was very different 20 years ago as many big time programs besides Notre Dame were still independents. Florida State, Boston College, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, South Carolina, and others were all independents. Two other national powerhouse independents would emerge as the #1 and #2 teams in the country in Miami and Penn State. Since neither had a conference affiliation thus neither was required to go to a particular bowl game. This is where the Fiesta Bowl came in as unlike the other major bowls they were not aligned with any conference to take their champion thus there able to invite both of the nation’s only undefeated teams. Miami were huge favorites with Heisman trophy winner Vinny Testaverde at quarterback, the Hurricanes beat their opponents by an average score of 38-12 during the regular season. Miami was the cockiest team on the planet at the time and infamously showed up to Tempe like this: At a dinner to honor both teams the week of the game, the Hurricanes walked out of it. Jerome Brown was quoted as “Did the Japanese sit down and eat with Pearl Harbor before they bombed them?” You know equating yourself with the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor has never been the smartest thing to say. But Penn State would upset Miami 14-10 to win an undisputed national championship, intercepting Testaverde five times in the game. Four years later Penn State would join the Big Ten and spark the move of several independents to join conferences. One other thing 1986 was also the Year of the Boz, probably the greatest marketing ever of a college athlete ever. Oklahoma's All-American linebacker Brian Bosworth created a complete alter ego for himself known as The Boz and made himself the most recognizable player in college football. Oklahoma won the Big 8 title but Bosworth would be suspended from the Orange Bowl for testing positive for steroids. Here are useless facts from 1986. Preseason AP Top 20 1. Oklahoma 2. Michigan 3. Miami 4. UCLA 5. Alabama 6. Penn State 7. Texas A&M 8. Nebraska 9. Ohio State 10. Tennessee 11. Florida State 12. Baylor 13. Florida 14. Auburn 15. LSU 16. Georgia 17. Washington 18. BYU 19. Arkansas 20. Michigan State Top 20 Reguarl Season Match-ups Week 1 #1 Oklahoma 38, #4 UCLA 3 #3 Miami 23, #13 Florida 15 #5 Alabama 16, #9 Ohio State 10 Week 2 #14 LSU 35, #7 Texas A&M 17 #17 Washington 40, #10 Ohio State 7 Week 3 #4 Alabama 21, #13 Florida 7 #7 Washington 52, #11 BYU 21 Week 4 #1 Miami 28, #2 Oklahoma 16 #5 Michigan 20, #20 Florida State 18 #12 USC 20, #6 Washington 10 Week 5 #11 Iowa 24, #17 Michigan State 21 #16 Arizona State 16, #15 UCLA 9 Week 6 #12 Washington 24, #18 Stanford 14 Week 7 #4 Michigan 20, #8 Iowa 17 #10 Arizona State 29, #15 USC 20 #11 Texas A&M 31, #20 Baylor 30 Week 8 #6 Penn State 23, #2 Alabama 3 #7 Auburn 35, #13 Mississippi State 6 Week 9 #1 Miami 41, #20 Florida State 23 #7 Arizona State 34, #6 Washington 21 #8 Alabama 38, #19 Mississippi State 3 #17 Ohio State 31, #11 Iowa 10 #18 USC 20, #14 Arizona 13 Week 10 #18 LSU 14, #6 Alabama 10 Week 11 #17 Arkansas 14, #17 Texas A&M 10 #10 Washington 17, #19 UCLA 17 tie Week 12 #3 Oklahoma 20, #5 Nebraska 17 #14 Arizona 34, #4 Arizona State 17 #6 Michigan 26, #7 Ohio State 24 #18 UCLA 45, #10 USC 25 Week 13 #14 Auburn 21, #7 Alabama 17 Bowl Games (MVP) California: San Jose State 37, Miami of Ohio 7 (Mike Perez) Independence: Mississippi 20, Texas Tech 17 (Mark Young) Hall of Fame: Boston College 27, #17 Georgia 24 (James Jackson, Georgia) Sun: #13 Alabama 28, #12 Washington 6 (Cornelius Bennett) Aloha: #16 Arizona 30, North Carolina 21 (Alfred Jenkins) Gator: Clemson 27, #20 Stanford 21 (Rodney Williams) Liberty: Tennessee 21, Minnesota 14 (Jeff Francis) Holiday: #19 Iowa 39, San Diego State 38 (Mark Vlasic) Freedom: #15 UCLA 31, BYU 10 (Gaston Green) Bluebonnet: #14 Baylor 21, Colorado 9 (Ray Berry) All-American: Florida State 27, Indiana 13 (Sammie Smith) Peach: Virginia Tech 25, #18 N.C. State 24 (Erik Kramer, N.C. State) Rose: #7 Arizona State 22, #4 Michigan 15 (Jeff Van Raaphorst) Citrus: #10 Auburn 16, USC 7 (Aundray Bruce) Cotton: #11 Ohio State 28, #8 Texas A&M 12 (Chris Spielman) Orange: #3 Oklahoma 42, #9 Arkansas 8 (Spencer Tillman) Sugar: #6 Nebraska 30, #5 LSU 15 (Steve Taylor) Fiesta: #2 Penn State 14, #1 Miami 10 (Shane Conlan) Final AP Top 20 1. Penn State 2. Miami 3. Oklahoma 4. Arizona State 5. Nebraska 6. Auburn 7. Ohio State 8. Michigan 9. Alabama 10. LSU 11. Arizona 12. Baylor 13. Texas A&M 14. UCLA 15. Arkansas 16. Iowa 17. Clemson 18. Washington 19. Boston College 20. Virginia Tech All-Americans QB Vinny Testaverde, Miami RB Brent Fullwood, Auburn Paul Palmer, Temple Terrence Flagler, Clemson Brad Muster, Stanford WR Cris Carter, Ohio State Wendall Davis, LSU Tim Brown Notre Dame TE Keith Jackson, Oklahoma OL Jeff Bregel, USC Randy Dixon, Pittsburgh Danny Villa, Arizona State John Clay, Missouri Ben Tamburello, Auburn Jeff Zimmerman, Florida Chris Conlin, Penn State Dave Croston, Iowa Paul Kiser, Wake Forest John Elliott, Michigan Randal McDaniel, Arizona State Mark Hutson, Oklahoma Harris Barton, North Carolina John Phillips, Clemson DL Jerome Brown, Miami Danny Noonan, Nebraska Tony Woods, Pittsburgh Jason Buck, BYU Reggie Rogers, Washington Tim Johnson, Penn State LB Cornelius Bennett, Alabama Shane Conlan, Penn State Brian Bosworth, Oklahoma Chris Spielman, Ohio State Terry Maki, Air Force DB Thomas Everett, Baylor Tim McDonald, USC Bennie Blades, Miami Rod Woodson, Purdue Garland Rivers, Michigan John Little, Georgia Gordon Lockbaum, Holy Cross Mark Moore, Oklahoma State K Jeff Jaeger, Washington Marty Zendejas, Nevada Jeff Ward, Texas P Barry Helton, Colorado Greg Horne, Arkansas Bill Smith, Mississippi Greg Montgomery, Michigan State

Academic improprieties at a major college football program? Well I am shocked and outraged. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/14/sports/n...amp;oref=slogin

"Da Predator" is leaving Miami. http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news;_ylt=An...p&type=lgns

1975 World Series – Reds 6, Red Sox 5 10 Innings (boxscore and play account) -Like Game 2 this game is incomplete on the disk. With one out in the bottom of the 7th a screen comes up acknowledging that a portion of the game is missing from the archives. Now when the action returns I have no idea what part of the game until a couple minutes later when the announcers mention that it’s the top of the 9th. It would have been nice for them to add a graphic telling you what part of the game they had jumped to. Thankfully the Dwight Evans’ game tying homerun in the 9th isn’t missed. -The video quality is the poorest so far of any of the games. Makes me wonder if they’ll be able to put together any pre-70’s World Series sets or not. -Curt Gowdy wonders aloud if Pete Rose can get to 3000 hits or not. Considering he’d already cleared 2500 that year at age 34 I can’t imagine to many people thought there’d be much doubt about that. -I’m amused again by the fact that Joe Morgan apparently didn’t like runners trying to steal when he was up. That’s not SMARTBALL~ Joe! -Clay Carroll comes into pitch in the 7th with the Reds up 5-2 and Tom Brennaman (part of the rotating announce crew that I mentioned in the Game 1 entry) calls it a “saving situation” which tells you how much the role of relievers has changed. Carroll wasn’t the Reds primary closer though as he only had 7 saves during the regular season. -1975 technology gone mad: With Johnny Bench up in the 9th, NBS puts an image of Bench's wife over the upper righthand corner of the screen (see the screencap) and continue to shoot a side camera angle of Bench for the first three pitches with his wife looking on. I hope Fox producers have never seen this. -Big controversy in the bottom of the 10th as with Cesar Geronimo on first and none out, Ed Armbrister comes up to pinch hit in the pitcher’s spot specifically to bunt. He lays down a terrible bunt right in front of home plate. As Carlton Fisk tries to get to the ball Armbrister gets in his way. Fisk gets to the ball but uncorks a wild throw to second that gets by the bag and Geronimo advances to third while Armbrister ends up on second. Fisk is furious and rightfully so as it should have been interference. A couple of batters later Joe Morgan ends it with a base hit (sorry, "manufactured a run") and the Red Sox drop a second straight heartbreaker. -During all of this the crowd was rather subdued for a World Series extra inning game. 1979 World Series – Orioles 8, Pirates 4 (boxscore and play account) -Like Game 2 the network graphics are missing from the footage of this game. Hope it’s not this way the rest of the series. -Al Michaels fills in for Keith Jackson as Jackson has to do a college football game the next day. It’s been too long since I heard Michaels call baseball. -Both teams are wearing classic whites and greys for this game rather than the usual softball uniforms. -Michaels calls Three Rivers a beautiful ball park. Well this was 1979 and it was very much the age of the giant, multi-purpose stadiums so maybe Three Rivers was considered nice for the time, what do I know? -Unfortunately Cosell still hasn’t said anything particularly interesting in the entire series although he goes on a couple of mini-rants about the baseball writer’s blaming ABC for the bad weather or something, couldn’t quite figure out what he was talking about. 1986 World Series – Mets 7, Red Sox 1 (boxscore and play account) -Vin Scully mentions that Oil Can Boyd has hepatitis. Well that’s good to know. -Now in the ‘75 Series in Cincinnati when Carlton Fisk homered in the 2nd there seemed to be a decent number of Red Sox fans in the stands. Now for this series for the first two games in New York when the Red Sox would make a big play there was seemingly not a single Red Sox fan in the stands. This took me by surprise as today at every Red Sox road game there are thousands of bandwagon…uh I mean lifelong SAWX fans in the stands no matter where the game is played. Then what is interesting as the ’86 Series goes to Boston after Lenny Dykstra leads off the game with a homerun there is a noticeable number of Mets fans in the crowd and even a very light “Let’s Go Mets” chant starts. -Oil Can Boydism: Quoted earlier in the year after a game that was fogged out in Cleveland as saying “What do you expect when you build a stadium near the ocean?” -With the Mets up 7-1 in the bottom of the eighth the Red Sox fans start doing…the wave!? The wave in Fenway Park? Who knew? -Scully makes a somewhat interesting parallel from the previous World Series where another high strung pitcher in Joaquin Andujar made the start in Game 3 and lost the game that let the Royals back in that series.

A rainout would kick so much ass.

It's official, TBS will start televising Division Series games in 2007 but the new twist is that they'll start televising non-Braves regular season games in 2008. That part I'm actually excited about as MLB desperately needs another cable partner with their new scaled back deal with ESPN. http://www.ajc.com/braves/content/sports/b...es/0711tbs.html

Leon Lett/Don Beebe play from Super Bowl XXVII

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

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.