EVIL~! alkeiper

And there's the delay! Baseball-reference.com somehow got the 2006 stats done. My evening's booked.

Given the thunderstorms we had here the last hour, I think there's going to be a good sized delay in this game.

AIM chat tonight at tsmbaseball. I wouldn't be surprised to see Rogers come up big in his start. He knows his reputation rides on it.

For god sakes, the Eagles are only on once a week anyway! You can still catch your Terrell Owens updates during commercials! You can still catch ex-Phillies like Endy Chavez, Marlon Anderson, Placido Polanco and Bobby Abreu. And you know what really burns me, the pitch counts! I once pitched for 15 innings, walked 25 guys and struck out 15. And did I come out of the game? No! Because in my day, they paid you for nine innings and god damnit, you pitched for nine innings. Pitch counts?! PITCH COUNTS?! GAAARR!! Tommy Angry! Tommy SMASH!!!!!!!!

Haren starts game 3 and Harden game 4. I'm guessing Loaiza starts tomorrow.

The chat is up. IM me for an invite.

Game three was a close 1-0 game. The Yankees won the next two games 9-2 and 5-3, and neither were particularly memorable, IMO.

Must've been a mental gaff. I fixed it. ESPN Classic is airing the game on Friday at 10am ET, in edited form I am sure.

Before the games today, Baseball Tonight showed some of the biggest home runs in divisional series play. That got me thinking about the series themselves. Which series was the most exciting in the 12 year history of the format? The 1995 ALDS between the Mariners and the Yankees saw the Mariners come from one down in the final game to win 6-5 on Edgar Martinez's two run double. Game four saw Edgar Martinez break a 6-6 tie in the 8th with a grand slam, and game two saw a two run walkoff homer in extra innings off the bat of Jim Leyritz. The 1999 ALDS saw the Cleveland Indians take a two games to nothing lead on the Red Sox before they EXPLODED for 32 runs over the next two games. The Indians took an 8-7 lead in three innings in game five before Pedro Martinez came in and pitched six no-hit innings. The 2003 ALDS featured several close, exciting games. Three games were decided by one run and a fourth by a two run walkoff home run by Trot Nixon. In the 2003 NLDS, two games propelled the Marlins into the NLCS. The Fish fell behind 3-2 in the 11th before scoring two runs to win game three. In game four, Jeffrey Hammonds' single almost tied the game, but Jeff Conine nailed JT Snow at home plate. Ivan Rodriguez has yet to let go of the baseball. The 2004 ALDS between the Twins and Yankees saw Johan Santana shut down the Yankees in game one, their only win. The Yankees won games two and four in extra innings thanks to the late game heroics of Alex Rodriguez.

Crap. They found Chris Berman.

True, but you don't have to swing at the first pitch every time. Zito was not pitching well and yet the Twins would not make him work. He threw 52 strikes and 40 balls, but most of the strikes were by the Twins being overly aggressive and popping out on the 1st or 2nd pitch of the at bat. Don't get me wrong, Minnesota didn't deserve to win this game, but some patience and a timely bunt would have given them the chance. The Twins absolutely were poor at the plate as a team. I'm just pointing out that you can't judge Mauer and Morneau as clutch hitters based on one game.

NEWSFLASH: Hitting is difficult.

It works though. In fairness, Neshek is no slouch.

Here's wonderful strategy. You're down two and you can't afford to give up another run. So you give the ball to the guy you called up from AAA.

I think I found out why Bartlett sat in AAA for a year and a half.

That was a tremendous play from Punto.

News is very quiet on that front. Pat Gillick when asked about next year simply said, "he's under contract." I think the expectation is that there will be coaching staff changes but Manuel's safe.

Are you guys certain it was Max Kellerman?

HOME RUN! 1-0 A's.

Yeah, Pujols usually hits two home runs in that situation.

Good news! Joe Morgan will broadcast the game.

Really, the only response that I can give is that I discounted Hafner for missing September.

It is easy to get hung up on home runs and RBIs. There are other ways to contribute to offense however. Miguel Cabrera had 22 more singles, 21 more doubles, and 2 more triples than Berkman. What does that all add up to? Using runs created, we estimate that Berkman created 134.2 runs, compared to 132.1 for Cabrera. That's two runs, a razor thin margin. Then we take into account that Cabrera hit in a tougher run environment, and played a more crucial defensive position. Is that worth two runs on offense? Absolutely. As for percentage of a team's value, just as a bevy of qualified teammates shouldn't make a player the MVP, neither should a lack of them. Berkman knocked in about 18.5% of the Astros' runs. Cabrera knocked in 15% of his team's. And that is not unusual. Your top RBI guy will typically knock in about 14-18% of his team's runs. I know that everyone has their own rating system and qualifications for an MVP, but how could you leave Hafner off of your ballot? Even with his missed time, wouldn't you agree that he was the best hitter in the American League this year? Hafner has three things going against him. His team's lack of success, his lack of defensive value, and time missed due to injuries. The time missed is probably a bad argument given that I listed Manny who played 130 games and isn't about to win a Gold Glove. Hafner simply has no intangible arguments going for him beyond his hitting numbers. He certainly deserves consideration though, and would probably rank 11th on my ballot.

I think it's worth noting that only six players from the 2003 A's are still with the club. This team has changed a great deal the last three years.

Three things influenced my decision to place Cabrera over Berkman. 1. Cabrera had a higher OBP 2. Cabrera played in a much tougher hitters' park 3. Cabrera plays third base while Berkman plays first base It's close, I just felt Cabrera contributed more to his team. And really, that team performed well for having some serious black holes.