Chris Kahrl will have more to say about yesterday’s big trades, but I want to share with you a great point made by Rany Jazayerli in e-mail, about the Mets/Twins deal: Can you imagine how pissed off Matt Lawton is right now? He came up with the Twins in 1995, he’s suffered through six awful…
I always hated the Rally Monkey. For those of you who haven’t been to an Angels game lately, the Rally Monkey is the Angels’ device for getting the crowd excited when the team is behind. It started about a year ago, and now every time the Angels need runs, they show a clip of this…
There’s a rather extended thread–actually a series of threads–on the Usenet newsgroup rec.sport.baseball concerning the value of Barry Bonds, and whether he or Luis Gonzalez is the more valuable player this year. Some people are rather staunch in their believe that Bonds isn’t a "clutch" player, pointing to his lackluster postseason performances for the Pirates…
I realize this is going to seem like piling on, but I want to talk a little bit about Wednesday’s three-way deal. The latest Allard Baird silliness has garnered most of the attention, but it’s really an interesting trade on all sides. The A’s added a right-handed hitter to play right field and bat fifth….
The promised run through the NL stats: The NL MVP race: PA AVG OBP SLG EqA RARP VORP R RBI Luis Gonzalez 438 .342 .435 .725 .363 58.8 68.6 83 94 Barry Bonds 403 .290 .474 .778 .399 73.1 75.5 72 78 Barry Bonds still gets my vote, but his slight decline since June at…
I know we went around the AL last Friday, and I’d planned to look at the NL today, but I’m pushing that back for a day. I want to point out some mediocy from last night’s A’s/Royals game. Down 4-2 in the top of the ninth with no one out and Jeremy Giambi on first…
Just riffing as I look at the AL stats: I haven’t mentioned him in a while, so here’s a Garret Anderson update. He’s walked 15 times–just 12 times on his own–in more than 400 plate appearances, and his OBP is once again under .300. Here’s some perspective: Anderson is playing every day and taking no…
The A’s have moved to within six games of the wild card after a terrible start, and are looking like the team we all thought would be the scourge of the American League. With the team playing great baseball, ESPN.com is reporting that Oakland A’s co-owner Steve Schott is pushing for the team to trade…
Lost in the hoopla, the All-Star balloting, the RBIs, and the Sports Illustrated spread has been one small detail regarding Bret Boone‘s good first half: he hasn’t been the best second baseman in his league. That title belongs to Roberto Alomar. Alomar, who hit two home runs last night, has outplayed Boone by a not-insignificant…
We’re splitting the column to open the week, as Keith Law has submitted something for everyone’s perusal. I went to dinner last night with family, so I only saw small pieces of the games ESPN and ESPN2 were televising, and I didn’t catch who was calling the Angels/Padres game. What I did catch was some…
For the most part, we sort records into "breakable" and "unbreakable." Cy Young‘s record for career wins? Unbreakable, because pitchers don’t get that many decisions anymore. Hank Aaron‘s record for career home runs? Very breakable, as players become stronger and the conditions for hitting home runs remain good. Other than the career runs scored record,…
All-Star night, and I, like millions of others, will not be in Seattle for the festivities. So if I’m going to watch the game on TV, I might as well get a column out of it. (All times Pacific Daylight.) 5:18: I do believe that Jorge Posada lining up for introductions with his baby in…
Rob Neyer and David Schoenfield of ESPN.com both do a better job of picking through the All-Star selections than I could, so I’ll direct you to their work for commentary on Cliff Floyd, et al. My only note is to say that the omission of Greg Maddux is one of the all-time bad jokes of…
Now that the All-Star starters have been announced, and the Japan-Kroger plot to avenge the memory of Gus Bell has been thwarted, let’s take a shot at figuring the rest of the AL and NL All-Star teams. Note: I’m not talking about "deserving" here; I’m just playing the home version of the game Bobby Valentine…
Just some of the notes I made this weekend… I’ve never led a column with an umpire comment, so I’ll put this first. The last play of Saturday night’s Padre/Dodger game saw one of the great displays of men-in-black hustle ever. D’Angelo Jimenez drove a ball to the warning track in right-center field. Shawn Green…
How many of you saw last night’s Red Sox/Devil Rays game? I hope you all did, because it was the most egregious example of a full managerial pout I have ever seen in my life. Setting it up…the D-Rays had just blown the last of a 6-0 lead in the seventh inning. Leading 6-3, Paul…