EVIL~! alkeiper

Remember tonight is Tim Lincecum's MLB debut against the Phillies. Check out his minor league stats so far this season. Team League W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB SO GO/AO AVG FRE PCL 4 0 0.29 5 5 0 0 0 31.0 12 1 1 0 11 46 1.72 .119

In all seriousness, looking at Clemens' pitching stats make me wonder. He moved to Houston for three years and suddenly became ridiculously dominant, as far beyond any established norm as Barry Bonds. Even avoiding the steroid acquisitions, he was an above-average pitcher the last time he pitched for the Yankees. Even if he continues his Houston numbers, he's worth about three wins over average the rest of the way. I don't think this significantly changes the divisional race.

Still better than "free beer and drive home talking on your cell phone without a seatbelt" night at Busch Stadium.

Intensifier, that's a dangerous statement to make. You're going to see brash, trash-talking athletes on tv because a guy sitting and not saying anything does not make exciting television. You can debate the merits of behavior, but in the media world we live in the guys who cause controversy are the ones who will get the coverage. I don't think it comes down to race at all.

I guess the speculation now is whether Clemens comes to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for a minor league appearance. That's a circus waiting to happen.

That link led to another... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4OiBbEditM Muhammad Ali vs. Gorilla Monsoon

I bet Kane isn't really standing on the stairway to hell amidst condemned souls either.

Probably. Unless Satchel Paige, or some 60-year old manager back in the ol' days who'd pinch hit for no reason hit/gave up a HR. Oldest to give up a homer was either Hoyt Wilhelm or Jack Quinn (who was also the oldest to HIT a home run until Franco). Looking at their respective leagues there were no hitters who could've combined to break the age record.

I was surprised to see the Mariners give up five first-inning runs without starting Jeff Weaver.

I'm surprised not to see the A'noai family on the cover of the families dvd. Seven of them won titles in WWE at some point.

Czech wins the thread.

Pitching matchup on Sunday Night Baseball: Cole Hamels vs. Tim Lincecum (MLB debut). In AAA, Lincecum has compiled a 4-0 record and in 31 innings, he's struck out 46 batters and allowed a 0.29 ERA. He is just nasty on the pitching mound, and that should be an incredibly fun matchup.

It's tough to gauge because he's three years detached from his first Yankees run so no one really considers him an elite pitcher. He was outstanding in 1996-97 and since he's settled in to an above-average, relatively reliable pitcher. I don't think his postseason record is really a benefit because his teams had better postseason win/loss records than he did. His win/loss records are the only think that put him close to the Hall, and those were clearly influenced by the unusually great offenses he pitched for.

The case for Mussina is simple. In Cy Young voting from 1992-2001 he finished 4th, out, 4th, 5th, 5th, 6th, out, 2nd, 6th, 5th. He established himself as a top five pitcher over the span of a full decade. Whether or not voters get hung up on not reaching 20 wins is a problem, but they have to remember he would have posted 20 in 1994 and '95 if not for the labor dispute. And then there's the winning percentage. Of all the pitchers with 200+ wins, the only pitcher with a better winning percentage than Mussina who's not in the Hall was a 19th century pitcher who staked his claim in the American Association (and less than ten years at that).

If you asked for a list of pitchers ten years ago who started in 1980, you'd have Clemens with 192 wins and then Frank Viola with 176. It's early yet.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Magnificent Muraco yet. One of the top heels in wrestling in the early '80s.

To bad he was facing the almighty power of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons.

Since Leena mentioned 1990, here's a list to digest. CAREER 1990-2006 ERA displayed only--not a sorting criteria WINNING PERCENTAGE displayed only--not a sorting criteria WINS W ERA PCT 1 Greg Maddux 288 2.95 .636 2 Randy Johnson 270 3.15 .668 3 Tom Glavine 267 3.36 .622 4 Roger Clemens 253 3.12 .655 5 Mike Mussina 239 3.63 .641 6 David Wells 216 4.10 .614 7 Curt Schilling 207 3.40 .607 8 Pedro Martinez 206 2.81 .691 9 Kenny Rogers 204 4.22 .602 10 Kevin Brown 197 3.26 .595 11 Andy Pettitte 186 3.81 .641 12 Jamie Moyer 184 4.10 .599 13 John Smoltz 179 3.25 .601 14 Chuck Finley 170 3.90 .547 15 Kevin Appier 168 3.69 .558 16 John Burkett 166 4.31 .550 T17 Al Leiter 155 3.75 .556 T17 David Cone 155 3.55 .587 19 Tim Wakefield 151 4.30 .530 20 Andy Benes 149 3.99 .523 The difficulty for Pettitte is distancing himself from the Wells/Rogers class of pitchers. The raw ERA figures do a surprisingly good job of separating the wheat from the chaff. On an unrelated note, Baseball Reference has begun posting current minor league statistics. http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/PH...07_orgpit.shtml

And not wearing a seatbelt. It's almost like one of those education films. "Don't do what Danny Don't Does."

Pettitte's an interesting candidate because his win percentage (.640) is excellent. His qualifications are similar to another Yankee, Lefty Gomez. The problem is that Hall voters seem hesitant to vote a pitcher into the Hall without overwhelming credentials. I think Pettitte would need 250 wins at least to merit serious consideration.

That's exactly what they did. I was bummed about it, too: for all the talk I've heard about Art Barr, that was the first time I'd ever seen one of his matches... That frog splash was sweet, though; Eddy totally stole that. As would I, were I in his situation. It's a tribute. Or it was, in any case.

I don't. But at some point you have to make the most of what you have. What the Phils should do is move some of their minor league starters to the pen and see what they come up with.

Funny to think that when the venue was announced, many of us speculated that the only match that could sell out the building was Hogan/Austin.

Am I the only one who's never heard of this Jack Cust before? He sounds like one of those random fake minor league players the computer generates in a video game. For a time Cust resided on a few top 50 prospect lists. As a 21 year old in AA, he produced a .440 OBP. Moving up to AAA the next season, he had a .415 OBP. A combination of power and plate discipline. The problems were that he struck out 150-160 times a year, and his defense was putrid at best. He never really got a shot though, sticking in AAA since. He's received 144 total at bats in the Majors where he hit .222 but again displayed power and discipline. If he can hit .250 in the Majors his secondary hitting skills will make him productive. As I noted before, the reason they moved Brett Myers to the pen was that they absolutely could not use Lieber there any longer. Jamie Moyer's a soft-tosser, Freddy Garcia is an innings-eater and Cole Hamels is their ace. That left Myers and Adam Eaton, and teams don't like to take their newly acquired starters and stick them in the pen since it will discourage future signings. I'm fine with it as long as Myers is moved back to the rotation by next season.