This Week in Baseball 7/30 - 8/5

[devo]

Careful, if trends follow that means Milwaukee's about to go on a 35-15 tear.

[Guest •]

That's a slightly different dynamic, though, player/manager as opposed to star player/asshole catcher. This is more like Ted Lilly and John Gibbons. Maybe we'll get Johnny Estrada next year to assemble a dugout-fighter trifecta.

[devo]

Mike Lamb just hit a pinch-hit Grand Slam to tie the Houston/Atlanta game at nine in the top of the eighth. That was tremendous.

[vivalaultra]

Damn straight it was tremendous. And the FO wants to get rid of Lamb at the end of the year, despite Lamb repeatedely saying that he WANTS to stay in Houston, even if it means playing on the bench and Lance Berkman saying that he'd shift back to playing RF so Lamb could play at first.

[Vern Gagne]

Lamb is one of the guys I think the Twins should go after this off-season.

[KingPK]

Tim Wakefield notched his 150th win as a Red Sox pitcher today. He's third all time in team career victories behind Clemens and Cy Young.

 

Oh, and may the executive that greenlit Sox Appeal be stricken with some hideous disease of the penal area.

Edited August 3, 2007 by KingPK

[vivalaultra]

Classy moment in Atlanta. Before the Astros/Braves game, John Schuerholz presented Craig Biggio with a check for The Sunshine Kids in an on-field presentation and just a minute ago, they showed a 2 and a half minute highlight video of Craig's career with 'Thanks for the memories, Craig' imposed on it and then the crowd gave him a standing ovation and a curtain call.

 

Haha. Today at Dodger Stadium, it was 'Steroid Awareness Day'. That's hilarious.

[Guest •]

Oh, and may the executive that greenlit Sox Appeal be stricken with some hideous disease of the penal area.

Leave prison inmates out of this.

 

I will, however, wish penile disease on any douchebag that capitalizes on the fact that sox and sex are but one mere vowel away from each other. That means you, Sox and the City author and generally bad Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper.

[devo]

Bobby Cox in the background of the TBS broadcast:

 

"C'mon! Can't we fucking get one goddamn-"

 

Nice.

[Guest]

Funny moment in the Angel game, Vlad broke his HR less streak, got back to the dugout, and nobody congratulated him. After a couple of seconds of Vlad smiling at the camera like, "I'm sure you guys at home care," everyone mobbed him.

 

Just one of those things you had to see. The joys that winning will bring, players on a team like Baltimore wouldn't dare to do something like it.

[vivalaultra]

Jason Jennings can't pitch worth a shit, but he just got a pinch-single to drive in a run in the top of the 14th to give the 'Stros a 1-run lead. Maybe they'll try him at 3rd base or in RF...

[Fökai]

A common discussion, but Glavine's eventual 300th victory made me worried - on the Mike & Mike Show, the fill-in hosts were talking about the next 300-win pitcher, and they made it seem like this may be the last. A little extreme, I know, but it begged the question. Is it Johan? Oswalt? Glavine had thirteen seasons with at least 14 wins, and five seasons with at least 20.

[Boon]

How can people really just say the yankees are done? The twins came back from a bigger hole and with less time and they had to jump 2 teams including the team that went to the World Series. I just dont get it and im not even a Yankees fan at all

If the Red Sox play .500 ball the rest of the way, they still win 93 games. To match that total, the Yankees would have to go 35-19, nearly .650 ball. The Yanks are capable of doing that, but they'd have to do it while the Red Sox lost. Considering the Sox still have 12 against Tampa Bay and 10 against Baltimore, that's going to be tough.

 

Can it be done? Absolutely. Just doesn't seem likely.

 

Now the wild card- that's another story entirely.

[CanadianChris]

A common discussion, but Glavine's eventual 300th victory made me worried - on the Mike & Mike Show, the fill-in hosts were talking about the next 300-win pitcher, and they made it seem like this may be the last. A little extreme, I know, but it begged the question. Is it Johan? Oswalt? Glavine had thirteen seasons with at least 14 wins, and five seasons with at least 20.

Mussina should get there if he stays around four another 4-5 years. That's looking less and less likely with every start, though.

 

I doubt Oswalt will make it. Same with Santana. Neither of them has enough years left (Oswalt is 29 with 108 wins, Santana 28 with 89 wins). They'd both need to go for another 12-15 years (which is more possible now than in years past, I'll admit). I'd rate Santana somewhat more likely because he's a lefty.

 

It's harder to do nowadays because pitchers are becoming full-time starters later and later. Clemens and Maddux were 21 when they became full-time starters, and Glavine was 22. Oswalt's first full year as a starter came when he was 24. Santana was 25 in his first full year. Throw in injuries and poor teams, and you can see how it's so difficult. Look at Randy Johnson -- he's not going to make it, and he pitched until he was 43. He only had three injury-shortened seasons, but he wasn't a full-time starter until he was 25.

[migoli]

How can people really just say the yankees are done? The twins came back from a bigger hole and with less time and they had to jump 2 teams including the team that went to the World Series. I just dont get it and im not even a Yankees fan at all

If the Red Sox play .500 ball the rest of the way, they still win 93 games. To match that total, the Yankees would have to go 35-19, nearly .650 ball. The Yanks are capable of doing that, but they'd have to do it while the Red Sox lost. Considering the Sox still have 12 against Tampa Bay and 10 against Baltimore, that's going to be tough.

 

Can it be done? Absolutely. Just doesn't seem likely.

 

Now the wild card- that's another story entirely.

 

 

Oh yeah i mean i dont see it happening but i also didnt see the Yankees being that bad early so i just cant believe how many people have totally gave up the idea of the Yankees coming back

[Mike wanna be]

A common discussion, but Glavine's eventual 300th victory made me worried - on the Mike & Mike Show, the fill-in hosts were talking about the next 300-win pitcher, and they made it seem like this may be the last. A little extreme, I know, but it begged the question. Is it Johan? Oswalt? Glavine had thirteen seasons with at least 14 wins, and five seasons with at least 20.

Mussina should get there if he stays around four another 4-5 years. That's looking less and less likely with every start, though.

 

I doubt Oswalt will make it. Same with Santana. Neither of them has enough years left (Oswalt is 29 with 108 wins, Santana 28 with 89 wins). They'd both need to go for another 12-15 years (which is more possible now than in years past, I'll admit). I'd rate Santana somewhat more likely because he's a lefty.

 

It's harder to do nowadays because pitchers are becoming full-time starters later and later. Clemens and Maddux were 21 when they became full-time starters, and Glavine was 22. Oswalt's first full year as a starter came when he was 24. Santana was 25 in his first full year. Throw in injuries and poor teams, and you can see how it's so difficult. Look at Randy Johnson -- he's not going to make it, and he pitched until he was 43. He only had three injury-shortened seasons, but he wasn't a full-time starter until he was 25.

The only pitchers that would have a chance are the ones on the really good teams, since they have the best shot at 20-win seasons...that said, if Tim Lincecum's claims of arm durability are true, I'd say he's got a pretty good shot if the Giants don't suck for a decade.

[vivalaultra]

If Tim Lincecum wants to win 300 games, the Giants are going to have to not suck for more than just a decade. Even in the unlikely scenario that he wins 20-games a year for 10 years, that only gives him 200 wins. That said, there's absolutely no way that Tim Lincecum, nor any other pitcher, will win 20 games a year for a whole decade, arm durability be damned.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

Let me put this 300+ win stuff into perspective. Pete Alexander won his 300th game in 1924, he was the last of the deadball era pitchers to reach 300. Lefty Grove won his 300th game in 1941, 17 years later. Warren Spahn won his 300th in 1961, Early Wynn in 1964. The next 300 game winner did not come until 1982. That is a span of over sixty years where just four pitchers reached the plateau.

 

The 300 game winner is not something that disintegrated over time. Rather, it was the product of the 1960s and '70s, where pitchers racked up inflated inning and win totals much like the slugging numbers of today. Six pitchers won their 300th game in the 1980s. That was NOT the norm. The most 300th wins any decade has seen since is two, at least until Glavine becomes the third pitcher this decade to do it.

 

In summary, it is not a downfall of today's game that no one seems likely to reach 300 wins.

[Bruiser Chong]

I'm one of those guys who thinks you usually bring in your closer of a tied game in the ninth or extras, but Ryan Dempster's the exception to the rule. He's magnificent in save situations, but is guaranteed to at least be out of control when it's not. And usually, he'll blow the game.

[Guest FaSho]

Do you guys think the D-Backs will resign Byrnes?

[vivalaultra]

Do you guys think the D-Backs will resign Byrnes?

 

They don't really have any need to. Upton and Young will most likely outplay Byrnes in 2008 (and do it for the ML minimum) and Carlos Quentin will be good, too. Despite Byrnes saying that he's willing to do a hometown discount, I haven't read anything where the D-Backs are extremely interested in him, and I think they don't really have any reason to be interested in him.

[Bruiser Chong]

Oh and hey, Neifi Perez was suspended another 80 games for failing another drug test.

[Smartly Pretty]

I'm one of those guys who thinks you usually bring in your closer of a tied game in the ninth or extras, but Ryan Dempster's the exception to the rule. He's magnificent in save situations, but is guaranteed to at least be out of control when it's not. And usually, he'll blow the game.

 

nice call.

[Guest NYankees]

Melky Cabrera just hit a ground rule double on a ball that didn't get passed the pitcher's mound.

[vivalaultra]

Since I'm probably not going to see BBTN, could you go into...more detail about that?

[mike546]

He hit a ball up the middle, it deflected off the foot of the pitcher, hit the top of the Yankees dugout and went into the stands.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

The Arizona D'backs claimed both Jeff Cirillo and Byung-Hyun Kim off waivers.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

By the way, love ESPN2's coverage of the Home Run Chase. They show the "syringe" incident along with SCARY music. Of course it was an ink jet refilling tool but syringe sounds so much better.

[Mik]

I can't believe Lincecum's name came up in this thread for 300 wins.

 

A lot of scouts, Keith Law most vocally, think he's going to end up in the bullpen.

[Bruiser Chong]

The Brewers are undefeated following games in which its manager fights with his players.

 

Color me unimpressed with Al's Phillies tonight.