EVIL~! alkeiper

Series to watch as the end of the season draws near.... Chicago Cubs @ Pittsburgh Chicago stands a scant 1 game behind Houston in the NL Central. These two teams open up tonight with a double header, and play four total. Zambrano, Cruz, Clement, and Prior are scheduled to start for Chicago. Boston @ Cleveland The Red Sox are 2 1/2 games ahead of Seattle in the Wild Card race, but five behind the Yankees. Whatever the goal, the objective is to win. Boston pitches Burkett, Lowe, and Pedro Martinez this weekend. Sunday's game is a 1:00pm game, scheduled for broadcast on ESPN2. Cincinnati @ Philadelphia The Phillies are only a half game behind the Marlins in the wild card, but they have no margin for error. Luckily, they're at home against the Reds. The Phillies are terrific at home, and riding a wave of momentum thanks to Thursday's wild win over the Marlins. Randy Wolf, Amaury Telemaco, and Vicente Padilla start for the Phillies. Montreal @ NY Mets The Expos are on the fringe of playoff contention, but stranger things have happened. They'll need a sweep here to stay in the race. NY Yankees @ Tampa Bay Same old, same old for the Yankees. They hold a five game lead in the East, and should coast into the playoffs. Kansas City @ Chicago White Sox The White Sox are reeling after a disasterous series against Minnesota. The Sox are 3 1/2 games out, and the Royals are 4 1/2 games out. Both teams really need a sweep to get back in the hunt, so tonight's game is critical. Florida @ Atlanta Proving time for the Marlins. With only a 1/2 game lead in the Wild Card, they head to Atlanta for 4 games against the Braves. Worse for the Marlins, the Braves are 51-24 at home this year. 2 out of 4 will be a success for the Marlins, as they aim to maintain their lead heading into this upcoming week's showdown at home vs. the Phillies. Arizona @ Milwaukee Same as the Expos. The D'backs are at the back end of the Wild Card hunt, and desperately need a sweep in this series. Detroit @ Minnesota A great time to be a Twins fan. Minnesota swept the White Sox to build a 3 1/2 game lead in the central. They now face the lowly Tigers, at home no less. Seven of their last 9 games come against the Tigers, so the Twins might start printing tickets now. Houston @ St. Louis Yes, the Cardinals are five games out, but look at the circumstances here. A sweep against the Astros closes the gap to two games, as long as the Cubs don't take the lead. Anything but a sweep, however, and the Cards wind up four games back with six to go. The Astros need to win to hold off the Cubs for their 1 game Central lead. Seattle @ Oakland See above. The Mariners can close the West gap to 2 games with a sweep here. They also need to make up ground on the Red Sox, who are 2 1/2 games ahead in the Wild Card. The A's need to sew up the division, and a sweep on their part will clinch it. San Francisco @ Los Angeles The Dodgers are on the fringe, but still in the race. Still, they'll need to count on collapes by both the Phillies and the Marlins to make the playoffs. Toronto @ Baltimore Toronto is 10 back of the Wild Card, with 10 to go. They need the Sox to lose every game, and they need to win every game. If the Jays lose, they're mathematically eliminated. NOT IMPORTANT Anaheim @ Texas San Diego @ Colorado

I ran through the game logs to come up with a few numbers. With Bonds, the Giants are 81-42 (.659). Without Bonds, the Giants are 12-16 (.429).

Keep in mind that the press hated Ted Williams in those days. In any case, the 1942 award went to Joe Gordon, who is possibly the Yankees best second baseman in franchise history. A Jeff Kent type player, and a borderline Hall of Fame candidate. I don't know why he got the award in '42. He hit .322, but Williams was better in every facet. Its not like Boston wasn't in it that year. They finished 2nd, and won 93 games. In '47, the award went to Joe Dimaggio, by one point. If a writer had moved Williams up two spots on his ballot, Williams would've won. Williams did win in '46. Keep in mind that writers in those days were not sabermetrically inclined, so OBP didn't mean as much as it does now. Williams for years was a top 3 candidate. Even when the Sox didn't win, he got the votes.

Fielding percentage doesn't measure much, besides a player not screwing up. In any case, Bonds plays a tougher position, and he's considered a good fielder. So Thome can't gain any ground in that department. Because how is leadership any different from performing well, in Thome's case? Thome's "leadership" is measured in his hitting stats. Bobby Abreu is one of those players who is going to be criticised for not being more than he is, even when he's still very good. He's gone 20/20 five straight years now. An OBP over .400 5 out of 6 years. Every year he walks 100+ times. Players like Abreu are always criticised because they're not spectacular, but I'll take Abreu's production any day.

Well San Francisco won 103 games that year, and lost the division in the last game of the season. Bonds really had Dykstra beat. Dykstra had 3 more BB, and 7 more Steals, but that's all you can give him. Bonds hit .336/.458/.677 that year.

Gold glove caliber fielding is pushing it. Leadership is a bullshit quality. The big thing is those 28 games. Its tough to create value for your team when you're not playing. I don't know whether it pushes Thome over Bonds, but its certainly an issue to consider. In any case, I wouldn't put Thome over Pujols.

How about props for the guy that said that Mueller would start at third, and Shea would get turfed? Now who's leading the AL in batting again?

Here's a question. Why should the MVP only come from contending teams? I mean, its a voter's choice, but a few posters talk about making it an official rule.

Because if you limit yourself to contending teams, your bottom players look fairly mediocre by comparison.

Thome does have a case over Bonds, just because of that gap in games played. I didn't know it was that big.

In the official league, I've turned to a desperation strategy. Well below the league limit for IP, I've picked up a bunch of pitchers, and I'm playing about 3 starters a day.

The key term is on pace. The winner of the WC will likely finish around 90 wins.

If it weren't for Bonds and Pujols, I'd agree with you. .283/.424/.604 this month. Not quite Yaz numbers, but still very good.

Underachieving? The Phillies are on pace for 88 wins, their highest total since '93. I consider this season a step forward, even if we miss the playoffs. As for the Marlins, they're just a dull team.

It depends. If the Marlins win the Wild Card, then I become the Giants biggest fan. If the Phillies win, then I hate the Giants.

I don't understand him. He still has a decent K rate, but he's not throwing the pitches right. Every batter got a 3 ball count (or so it seemed). In any case, I wouldn't put him in a pressure situation. On another tangent, what the hell is with pinch hitting with Kelly Stinnett? He's the thrid catcher, and the worst hitter on the bench. Why not give Travis Chapman a shot?

The breaks just didn't fall our way. It was an odd game, and the Marlins had many chances for even more runs in the middle innings.

I hear about down years alot. I don't have the data in front of me, but is it possible that offense as a whole is down? I'll look into it tonight.

Bear with me, as I'm responding to several posters. FUCK. I swear MLB schedules games around my work schedule. I'll have to try and schedule my break around the ending. Catchers generally miss too many games, which is why they don't figure into MVP discussions alot. Batting average is meaningless. The only GMs who depend on it as a stat manage teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates. Rodriguez is a hair below Ramirez and Delgado in terms of hitting, but his defense is what sets him apart. Rodriguez' shortstop skills push him far above the 1B/DH players. Then the award becomes a pile of bullshit. And I don't understand why a player should recieve an award based solely on the performance of his teammates.

The position you play is relevent, because the MVP award takes every aspect of play into consideration. Hitting, pitching, and defense. A-Rod getting screwed last year doesn't justify him getting screwed this year. As for A-Rod over Delgado? Like I said before. Alex leads the A.L. in slugging, and he's a shortstop. He also leads the A.L. in home runs, and runs scored. And he has also played every single game for three years now. If anyone can make any kind of case for Garret Anderson, I'd like to hear it.

Aubrey Huff is indeed a good hitter, but there are a few problems. First, there are players clearly better by the raw stats, and second, he suffers from playing at DH alot. (Or badly at thrid....I don't have the position data handy).

They did last year. People forget that Alex finished 2nd in the voting.

Alex Rodriguez. Spare the "winning team" bullshit. The man has flat out dominated. He LEADS the AL in slugging, and plays shortstop. 16 steals as well. There's nothing A-Rod doesn't do well.

Its just one game. Tomorrow is another crucial game. A win, and we're in 1st. A loss, and we're back where we started.

Time for the Nelson Muntz laugh. I had a thought while at work. Thanks to the impending hurricane, there's a chance that Thursday's game might get rained out. Should that happen, the teams would have to make up the game the day after the season, assuming the game effects the playoffs.