BoSox Blues

After getting pummeled last night in the Bronx, the Boston Red Sox now sit 6.5 games behind the hated Yankees. And while that deficit might seem insurmountable as the calendar turns to July, the race is far from over.
The Yankees have been on a tear since they were swept by the Sox in late April, playing .725 baseball since then. Boston, on the other hand, has only played .500 baseball since the same series. All that leads to the 10-game shift in the standings over the past two months.
But are the Yankees really that good? Probably not. Their projected won/loss record based on their runs scored vs. runs allowed is 42-32. Their current record is 48-26, a six-game swing. Before you dismiss the Bill James theory, keep in mind that of the 30 Major League Baseball teams, only three (the Yankees, Twins and Reds) have more than a three-game difference between their projected and actual records.
What does all this mean? It means that the Yankees have been very good over the past two months and have also been a bit lucky.
It also means that they are very beatable.
But, for the Red Sox to do that, they’ll need to improve in certain areas:

- Errors
Boston has the second most errors in the league (behind Detroit). Nomar Garciaparra already has four, even though he’s only played in 16 games. Even Johnny Damon has four, which are two more than he had in the previous two years combined.
The 65 errors have led to a major-league leading 59 unearned runs, which doesn’t help when you factor in the struggles of:

Starting Pitchers Not Named Pedro or Curt
- Martinez and Schilling have been stellar, as usual, this year and the Red Sox are 22-10 in games their aces start. But, when Derek Lowe, Tim Wakefield, Bronson Arroyo or Byung-Hyun Kim starts, the Sox are only 20-23.
Somebody needs to step-up. Before last night Derek Lowe seemed like the logical candidate, but Lowe’s psyche is as fragile as Frankie Merman’s and a shellacking at the hands of the Yankees probably isn’t going to help things any.
The signing of Pedro Astacio might help, but he hasn’t pitched since last June and the last time his ERA was under 4.50 was in 1997.

- Clutch Hitting
A key tenet of the Moneyball school is that good clutch-hitting is usually based more on statistical aberrations and selective memory rather than an actual knack for hitting the ball in a key situation. And most of the time, that’s true.
At most, a player has men on base in 25% of their at-bats, which comes to maybe 100-150 at-bats per year, a small sample size which is hardly representative of a player’s full abilities.
With that being said, clutch-hitting does exist. And one only has to look at last year’s Red Sox team to know that. If countless games the Red Sox got that timely double to score two men, or a clutch homerun to go-ahead late in the game.
This year, there seems to be none of that for the Sox. In consecutive games earlier this month Boston left 22 men on-base, in games where they scored a combined 4 runs. That’s not going to cut it in a pennant race.
Just look at the batting averages of some key players with men in scoring position this year compared to last year:

Batter          2003    2004
Kevin Millar   .263    .302
Bill Mueller   .200    .331
Jason Varitek  .246    .304

Think that doesn’t make a few games difference in the standings, particularly when all three bat behind on-base machines Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz?

Beat Up on the Bad Teams
Last year the Red Sox went 57-37 (.606) against teams with losing records. This year they are 17-14 (.540) against similar teams. With 19 games left with the Orioles and Blue Jays this year, the Sox need to at least win 14 of those if they want to have a chance to win the AL East.

Forget About the Yankees
In the end, it really doesn’t matter if the Red Sox win the Wild Card or the A.L. East. Either way, they won’t face the Yankees in the Divisional Series.
Scoreboard watching is for September. The Sox and their fans can’t get caught up in what New York is doing or how many games ahead or behind they are in the Wild Card race. The only thing that matters is how the Red Sox do in each game. Playing a game of what-if three months before the playoff-race will be decided is as pointless as speed-limits in shopping center parking lots.

Chris Answers PTI’s Questions

Are the Yankees the favorite to win it all even after Freddy Garcia and Carlos Beltran went elsewhere?

Even after missing out on the gems of the 2004 trading pool, the Yankees are still the prohibitive favorites to win the World Series, just like thy always are.
But, as they’ve shown in the past three years, such mid-season distinctions don’t always result in World Series championship so I’ll be sticking with my pre-season prediction that the Bombers run will end in the LCS.
The Yanks can outslug any team in the league, but pitching counts in October and with Mike Mussina continuing to struggle, Kevin Brown in the midst of his annual stint on the DL and George Steinbrenner reportedly interested at Kris Benson, the Yanks appear to be a bit short in that department.
Even with Jose Contraras pitching like a guy who deserves a $32 million contract (don’t underestimate the importance of having his family join him in the United States) and Mariano Rivera being Mariano Rivera, the Yanks still can’t match-up with the A’s, Red Sox or White Sox starters.

Was it poor sportsmanship from the Texas Long Horns to refuse the second-place trophy at the College World Series?

Of course it was. Texas was swept in the two-game series by Cal State-Fullerton, yet for some reason decided they “didn’t need a trophy to tell us we’re champions.”
Well, maybe not… but you do need to win a championship in order to be champions and Texas clearly did not do that. And then, to cap it off, they were too loser-like to accept their loser trophy.
And it wasn’t like this was the 1972 Olympic basketball final. Texas lost fair and square. What a bunch of punks.
It could have been worse I suppose. Chris Simms could be been the pitcher, Mack Brown could have been the coach and instead of losing to Cal State-Fullerton, the Longhorns could have gotten destroyed by Oklahoma in the CWS.

Do you have sympathy for the struggles of Michelle Wie and Freddy Adu?

I have sympathy for Freddy Adu because he is playing against guys who have been playing soccer since before he was born. But if Michelle Wie can’t even beat girls her own age, the hype machine needs to slow down a bit before we anoint her the next Tiger Woods.

Should the Bobcats be mad at the Olympic involvement of Emeka Okafor?

I’m sort of amused that Bernie Bickerstaff is upset that Okafor is going to Athens in August to compete in the Olympics. Interestingly, you didn’t hear anything from Bernie when he was coach of the Bullets and guys like Rod Strickland were getting arrested for drunk driving, smoking weed and assaulting women. However, Okafor, a model citizen, going to play basketball at the Olympics draws his ire. Way to have your priorities straight Bernie.

Will Mike Tyson ever be back on top of the men’s heavyweight division?

Current heavyweight champions John Ruiz and Chris Byrd aren’t exactly Frazier and Ali. If Tyson can beat up on a couple of tomato cans and get a fight with either of them, he could easily win. Of course, he’d have to forego eating their children, fornicating with female television reporters and move out of the homeless shelter he says he’s currently living in before any fight could happen, but if there’s somebody who can get themselves out of the gutter it’s… well, maybe Tyson could do it.

Is Tonya Harding’s boxing career pathetic or entertaining?

Oh, it’s both.

Mail Time

Baseball publicly acknowledged for the first time this week that it has banned Andro, which Mark McGwire took during the season he broke the home run record. Shouldn’t McGwire’s numbers be re-evaluated?

McGwire admitted he took andro, but he took it when it was legal so his records shouldn’t be re-evaluated for that reason. Instead, they should be re-evaluated based on the copious amount of illegal steroids that McGwire was taking throughout the ‘90s.

Martina Navratilova was named to the U.S. Olympic tennis team. Does she really increase the team’s chances of bringing home gold, or is this a publicity ploy.

Who won the gold medal at the 2000 Olympics? You want to say Serena or Venus, but you don’t know which one. (It was Venus.) Who did she beat? I’m guessing Elena Dementieva wasn’t one of your first guesses. Of course it wasn’t. Because nobody cares about Olympic tennis.

Tim Henman is at it again, toying with the hearts of the Brits at Wimbledon. Do you root for him to achieve knighthood by winning the tournament, or take perverse pleasure in his annual collapses?

If Henman wins there will be a lot of crooked smiles in Kingston Upon Thames and Stoke Newington. That, and lots of bad food.

Will the key to winning the Cialis Western Open be the ability to get it up and down?

Nice.

The North Korean government says Kim Jong Il recently took up golf, finishing his first round at 38-under par with five holes-in-one. Is Kim Jong Il right to cheat the world of his golf talent by remaining in the dictator business?

In the same announcement, the North Korean government announced that Il’s next sporting endeavor will be learning how to play baseball. George Steinbrenner has already made the wild-haired Korean dictator a 6-year, $120 million offer to play for the Yankees.

Chris Answers PTI’s Questions is an occasional feature on Chris’s Sports Blog.

Weekend Thoughts

- Somebody at ESPN.com must be an Ohio State alum. What other explanation could there be for the Web site’s fascination with the Ohio State basketball coaching search?
Today the top headline on the sports site is “Report: Buckeyes to talk to Vandy’s Stallings.”
My knee-jerk reaction was, “so?”
The school hasn’t been on the national radar since Jimmy Jackson was there in the early 90’s, the Buckeyes haven’t won a national title since 1961 and, perhaps most importantly, Ohio State is a football school.
If Bobby Knight had left Texas Tech to go coach at his alma mater, that would have been big news. But Kevin Stallings and Gary Waters leaving their schools to go to Columbus to coach a basketball team that nobody cares about isn’t news.

- Tim Henman really needs to win Wimbledon. Every year the Brits get all excited and think that Henman will break-through and win the title that no British man has won in decades. But every year Henman loses in the quarters or semis and leaves a nation disappointed. He’s like a male version of Mary-Ann from Gilligan’s Island., a big tease. Just win the thing already.

- First Carlos Beltran goes to the Astros. Then Freddy Garcia is traded to the White Sox. So, any minute now George Steinbrenner will be overpaying for a former All-Star so he doesn’t feel left out. Mike Hampton, anyone?

- I planned on waiting until the whole list was complete before I trashed it, but some recent events on ESPN’s Top 100 Moments of the Past 25 Years begged to be mocked.
Kellen Winslow being carried off the field after an AFC Divisional Playoff game is ahead of Jordan’s flu game, Jordan’s buzzer beater over Craig Ehlo and Scott Brosius’s game-winning homerun in the 2001 World Series?
Really?
When’s the last time you heard anybody mention Kellen Winslow’s exhaustion in that playoff game? Sure, people talk about the actual game (a 41-38 Charger win) but the shot of Winslow being carried off the field is hardly iconic.
I’ll try to resist talking about the rankings again until ESPN finishes releasing it, but if anything NASCAR related is ahead of Kirby Puckett’s Game 6 homer in the 1991 World Series, I reserve the right to rip the list again.

NBA Draft Review

Some thoughts on the NBA draft:

1) By taking Dwight Howard with the #1 pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, the Orlando Magic blew it… big time. Here’s why: Tracy McGrady has made it clear he doesn’t want to stay in Orlando for a rebuilding project.
Forgetting for a minute what I think about McGrady (the words “punk” and “ass” come to mind), it is now clear that his team will be doing exactly that, meaning that T-Mac is most likely on his way out.
Had the Magic taken Emeka Okafor at #1, there would have been no need to rebuild in Orlando. Think about it: Jameer Nelson running the point, T-Mac at the 2 and Grant Hill, Drew Gooden and Emeka Okafor in the front-court could easily win a division.
Don’t forget that with the addition of Charlotte to the NBA, the league is realigning conferences and the Magic are in the powerhouse Southeast Division with Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami and Washington (teams that were a combined 96 games under .500 this season).
But because the Magic blinked and chose Howard, the high-school star will spend two or three years acclimating himself to the NBA (even Kevin Garnett, who was on an accelerated learning scale took until his fourth season to become a 20 and 10 man) and the McGrady-less Magic will find themselves back in the lottery for at least two more seasons.

2) The Bobcats took three-and-a-half minutes to give their pick to David Stern. I would have assumed that the moment Stern uttered any syllables that weren’t “E-mek” the Bobcats would have been tripping over themselves to get their card up to the podium. Maybe Bernie Bickerstaff was trying to work out an Okafor for Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe deal.

3) I said four words that I thought I’d never utter after the Bulls chose Ben Gordon at #3: “Nice pick John Paxson.”

4) Day-after draft report cards are the most worthless exercise outside a Richard Simmons video. But, one team I can confidently give an A too is (gasp) the Washington Wizards.
Forget about their 2nd round pick. NBA scouting is so bad that teams would be better off picking players in the second by playing pin-the-tail-on-the-draftee. (Don’t believe me about the NBA scouting? What do Marcus Fizer, Stromile Swift, Dermarr Johnson, Joel Przybilla, Robert Taylor, Adonal Foyle, Samaki Walker, Ed O’Bannon, Bryant Reeves, Eric Montross, Todd Day and Adam Keefe have in common? All were Top 10 NBA Draft Picks. I was only 12 and even I knew that Eric Montross was a stiff.)
Where was I? Oh yeah, the Bullets. They traded the 5th pick for Antwan Jamison (a #4 pick in the 1998 draft) AND dumped the unwieldy contracts of locker room-cancers Jerry Stackhouse and Christian Laettner AND got $3 million in the deal. As Mike Wise wrote in yesterday’s Washington Post God Bless Mark Cuban.

5) What was with the continuous echo during the ESPN telecast? It sounded like Mike Tirico was standing at the bottom of the Grand Canyon as he was anchoring the network’s draft coverage. At some points, Stephen A. Smith’s echo was so loud it sounded like he yelling at himself.

6) The most ridiculous comment of the night belonged to Jay Bilas who praised the Sonics drafting of Robert Swift as “one of the smartest picks of the draft.”
Keep in mind that the Sonics never spoke to Swift, never saw him work out and based their pick on tapes of him eating up high-school kids. Now, Swift might be a fine player in the NBA one day. But drafting him because he dominated kids in high school is like MENSA giving me a membership because I can wreck second-graders in Connect Four. He’s seven-feet tall! Of course he is eating up high-school kids.
Then, his agent doesn’t let Swift speak to or work-out for any teams. Does Goldman Sachs hire somebody who has a great resume but won’t come in for an interview? Of course not.
There must be a reason that Swift’s agent wouldn’t let him talk to anybody. He’s either a) dumb as a brick or b) dumb as a rock, much like the Sonics, despite what Jay Bilas will tell you.
Talent can only take you so far, just ask Kwame Brown. Ask his ex-boss Michael Jordan too. MJ was great, but the reason he was the best is because he wanted to be. How can the Sonics know if they have a Kwame or an MJ? They won’t know until training camp. That’s a pretty expensive gamble.

7) By the way, I can’t confirm this, but I think that Swift might be the first white American high-schooler ever drafted in the NBA. Why wasn’t this mentioned last night?

8) Tom Tolbert has two types of clothing. One makes him look like an extra from an Outkast video while the other suggests that Tolbert rushed to the ESPN set after working a double waiting tables at The Cheesecake Factory.

9) I would have loved to be a fly on the wall at Kris Humphries house last night. He probably had all his family and friends sitting around the TV waiting with baited breath to hear his name announced. Then, when the Jazz took him with the last lottery pick, they all probably went crazy with hugs, high-fives and tears.
Then, in the midst of the pandemonium, somebody quieted everybody else down so they could listen to what the ESPN analysts were saying about the Minnesota freshman only to hear Tom Tolbert and Jay Bilas absolutely rip Humphries apart for being a selfish player.
What do you think everybody did then? Was there an awkward silence? Did Humphries mom yell “I’d like to see you play in the NBA baldie!!!” at Tom Tolbert? Was there booing? Did people gather around Humphries to reassure him? Did the comments cast a pall over the rest of the night? I’m telling you, this is reality show material.

10) Have you ever taken part in a live fantasy draft and had the player you were waiting for selected right before your pick? It’s a classic kick-in-the-groin feeling, complimented by the terror of having to choose somebody else in a few short minutes.
That happened to me this year in my baseball fantasy draft. I was waiting for Hank Blalock and was convinced he was going to fall to me. Then, right before I was supposed to pick, the guy ahead of me snagged him, and I had to adjust on the fly. I had two minutes to find somebody else and the pickings were slim.
I used up most of my time looking at other third baseman, realized I couldn’t take anybody there, and by the time I decided on drafting an outfielder, I had four seconds left before the server would assign me a pick. I quickly scanned the outfielder list and with only one tick left on my time I chose… Craig Biggio. At that point, I insulted myself before anybody else in the draft had a chance to. A pre-emptive strike, if you will.
The rushed pick is the worst. Even as you’re making it, you are wishing you could take it back.
Anyway, to make a long story longer, I attribute the Raptors selection of Rafael Araujo to this phenomenon.

11) Apparently the Blazers front office dipped into Damon Stoudamire’s stash before making their first pick of the night. Sebastian Telfair at #13? What?
First of all, he would have been there at #23, guaranteed. Telfair has done nothing to live up to his billing as the King of Brooklyn, and if the Blazers hadn’t taken him, he might have dropped into the second round, sneaker deal be damned.
Second of all, they passed up on a gritty, battle-tested point guard with an NBA body in Jameer Nelson and instead picked an undersized, poor-shooting high-schooler who, in addition to adapting to a different game in the NBA will also have to deal with the fact that he’s no longer the best player on the court. Horrible pick.

12) My favorite part of the evening was Stuart Scott's interview with Andris Biedrins. In the span of two sentences Scott asked Biedrins how he feels "banging in the middle" and "playin' like a balla'".
Biedrins, who seems to speak about 50 words of English, had the same look on his face that my buddy Antzo gets when he's trying to figure out how much he should tip the bartender.

13) The Chicago Bulls drafted both Chris Duhon and Luol Deng. Well, at least the Bulls will be able to beat Clemson twice this year.

2004 NBA Draft Preview

A lot has changed since I wrote my early NBA lottery mock draft a few weeks ago.
The Bullets and Mavericks swapped overrated ex-Tar Heels, the Charlotte Bobcats moved up to get the high-schooler that I predicted they always secretly wanted, the Suns traded their #7 pick to the Bulls, giving John Paxson not one, but two opportunities to blow a lottery pick and every superstar in the game is seemingly on the trading block.
Some things, though, haven’t changed. The Magic still have to decide between Emeka Okafor and Dwight Howard, Sebastian Telfair will be drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers and I still couldn’t pick Andris Biedrins out of a line-up of Yakov Smirnoff, Mikhael Gorbachev and Ivan Drago.
Between the trades, the suits and Stephen A. Smith, it should be an interesting night at the Garden. Here’s how I think they’ll fall:

#1 – Orlando Magic
Emeka Okafor – Forward - Connecticut

There’s been some speculation in recent days that the Magic will go with the high-schooler Howard. He is said to have more “upside” than Okafor, but I think the Magic will go with the proven commodity. If you go to a restaurant you know that the Blackberry Glazed Duck might be the best thing on the menu, but you also know that you’ll be perfectly happy with the hamburger. Okafor is the hamburger. He’ll have a solid career, will make a few All-Star teams and will be a reliable center for whatever team he plays for. Don’t believe the Howard to the Magic hype. I think it’s being talked about because ESPN.com writers have nothing insightful to say about Robert Swift or J.R. Smith.

#2 – Charlotte Bobcats
Dwight Howard – Forward – SW Christian High School

Howard is the duck. He might be a delectable treat like lobster tail or Kevin Garnett or he might be a cross between Tyson Chandler, Kwame Brown and day-old prosciutto. Can the Bobcats afford to take such a risk after getting 19 players in the expansion draft that probably couldn’t win the NBDL title? Bernie Bickerstaff seems to think so. And that should give Charlotte fans as much reassurance as passengers on a United flight would get if they heard “I’m your captain, Teddy Kennedy.” And I think I deserve kudos for avoiding a seemingly inevitable Howard the Duck joke.

#3 – Chicago Bulls
Ben Gordon – Guard – Connecticut

Word is that the Bulls are looking to trade this picks and the Celtics and Pacers are possible suitors. In my last mock draft I proclaimed that Ben Gordon would eventually be the best player of this draft. I’m going to back off that statement a bit, but still think that Gordon deserves to be a top pick and will eventually be a star in the league. The Bulls would do right by picking Gordon. A backcourt with him and Kirk Hinrich could be special. But, John Paxson loves to surprise people, so don’t be shocked if the Bulls take Andre Iguodala or trade either pick for the rights to John “Hot Plate” Williams.

#4 – Los Angeles Clippers
Shaun Livingston – Guard – Peoria High School

The 6’7 point guard better work on his fake-smiles before he shakes hands with David Stern with a Clippers hat on his head.

#5 – ????????????
Luol Deng – Forward – Duke

Even in an organization where Don and Donnie Nelson are running the show, I can’t imagine Pavel Podkolzine going this high. The Mavs want the Russian big man, but he’ll be available later in the 1st round. So what will they do? Try to free cap room for Shaq, that’s what.
Look for this pick and Stackhouse to go somewhere (not necessarily L.A.). But, that doesn’t mean a draft-night shocker with the Lakers won’t go down.
The only thing holding up a monumental Shaq trade is Dirk Nowitzki. Now, this isn’t exactly like when the Reds let Pokey Reese gum up the works for a Ken Griffey Jr. trade a few years back, but it’s a similar situation.
Nowitzki is a great player. He’s a rarity, a 7-footer with range. But he plays zero defense, plays like he’s C. Webb late in playoff games and hasn’t won anything substantial in the NBA.
Shaq is the most dominant force in NBA history. He takes games off every now and then, and seemed a bit disinterested in the playoffs this year, but if he is given the chance to beat the Lakers and whatever team Kobe is playing on, you know Shaq will deliver.
You have to trade Dirk for Shaq. You just have to. This is a no-brainer.
Mark Cuban will eventually do it, even if he knows Shaq only has three or four good years left. The Mavs with Dirk have been an expensive bust. It’s time to shake things up.
And as for that trade with the Bullets (Antwan Jamison for the #5 pick, Jerry Stackhouse and Christian Laettner), mark down the exact time you heard about it. For that is the precise moment that Antwan Jamison’s career came to an end.

#6 – Atlanta Hawks
Devin Harris – Guard – Wisconsin

With any luck Harris will be more Boris Diaw and less DerMarr Johnson.

#7 – Chicago Bulls
Luke Jackson – Guard – Oregon

For obvious reasons, John Paxson has an affinity for small, white guards.

#8 – Toronto Raptors
Josh Childress – Forward – Stanford

Makes sense. In Canada the dollar is ¾ the value of the U.S. dollar. And since Josh Childress is ¾ of a good player, this is a great fit.

#9 – Philadelphia 76ers
Andris Biedrins – Latvia – Forward

With the smoothness of Gervin, the quickness of Magic and the jumping ability of Spud Webb, Biedrins is a new sort of European player and would bring – oh, who am I kidding.

#10 – Cleveland Cavaliers
Andre Iguodala – Guard – Arizona

By the time Iguodala becomes a quality player in the NBA, he won’t be playing on the Cavs. Jim Paxson should take a look at trading down to get NBA-ready Jameer Nelson, but college seniors are apparently more dangerous to NBA GM’s than hemlock, so don’t expect that to happen.

#11 – Golden State Warriors
Robert Swift – Center – Bakersfield High School

Yeah, just what the Warriors need… another player with potential. The only potential the Warriors should care about is the potential of Mike Montgomery to suck worse than Rick Pitino.

#12 – Seattle Supersonics
Kirk Snyder – Forward – Nevada

Let’s say Michigan State hadn’t choked late in their first-round NCAA Tournament game against Nevada. Where do you think Kirk Snyder would have been drafted tonight? Late first-round? Early second? I guess we’ll never know, but I guarantee that it wouldn’t have been in the lottery.

#13 – Portland Trail Blazers
Al Jefferson - Forward – Prentiss High School

With a name like Al Jefferson, how is this kid not going to be a bust?

#14 – Utah Jazz
Rafael Araujo – Center – Utah

The Jazz pick 16th also, so they could waste a pick with Araujo there also.

#15 – Boston Celtics - Sergei Monya
#16 – Utah Jazz - Josh Smith
#17 – Atlanta Hawks - Jameer Nelson
#18 – New Orleans Hornets - Kris Humphries
#19 – Miami Heat - Sasha Vujacic
#20 – Denver Nuggets - J.R. Smith
#21 – Utah Jazz - Anderson Varejao
#22 – Portland Trail Blazers - Sebastian Telfair
#23 – Portland Trail Blazers - Peter John Ramos
#24 – Boston Celtics - Kevin Martin
#25 – Boston Celtics - Viktor Khryapa
#26 – Sacramento Kings - Ricky Minard
#27 – Los Angeles Lakers - Tony Allen
#28 – San Antonio Spurs - Trevor Ariza
#29 – Indiana Pacers - Delonte West

Who Wants to be the N.L. All-Star Starter?

The Major League Baseball All-Star is only three weeks away, and the teams will be announced in less than two. Many of the starting positions are essentially filled because players have insurmountble leads in fan-voting, but a few, like the American League outfielders and National League shortstop are still up for grabs.
That leaves the pitchers. The starting pitcher for the All-Star game is decided upon by the league's respective managers (Joe Torre for the A.L. and Jack McKeon for the N.L.)
Both have difficult jobs this year. The A.L. lacks a clear dominant pitcher and Torre will have to choose from between Tim Hudson, Curt Schilling, Mark Mulder, Javier Vazquez, C.C. Sabathia and Pedro Martinez, each of whom have had a good year so far, but not up to their normal standards.
McKeon, on the other hand, has his choice of three pitchers who have had a stellar first three months of the year.
Since he started 9-0, most have assumed that Roger Clemens would get the start, particularly since the All-Star game will be held in Clemens home-park, Minute Maid Field. Clemens has faltered a bit since then and now the starting job in the N.L. is a wide-open three-horse race.
Here are the stats for the top three contenders for the National League All-Star game starter.

       IP    ER   HR   SO     BB     K/9    WHIP    BAA   ERA    W-L


A     88.2   28   8    97     36     9.85   1.23   .176   2.84   9-2
B     100.1  34   9    113    24     10.14  0.90   .183   3.05   9-5
C     91.2   23   6    103    29     10.11  0.94   .176   2.26   9-2

Those numbers are pretty close for three pitchers to have after nearly three months of the season. And from those alone, it's tough to single out somebody as having the best year.
Based solely on the numbers, it's a toss-up. Player A, while having a great season probably has the worst (well, not the worst... how about the "third-best") stats. He has started the least innings, has the highest WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) and lowest strikeouts per nine.
Player A is Roger Clemens. After his 9-0 start it seemed like Jack McKeon was going to have an easy choice. But since then Clemens has been rocked for 19 hits and 10 earned-runs in the 10.2 innings he pitched in two straight losses.
While Clemens "comeback" and domination thus far has been a great story this season, he shouldn't get the starting nod just because he is 41. Especially not if somebody deserves it more.
So that leaves:

Pitcher  IP     ER   HR   SO     BB     K/9    WHIP    BAA   ERA    W-L


Johnson  100.1  34   9    113    24     10.14  0.90   .183   3.05   9-5
Schmidt  91.2   23   6    103    29     10.11  0.94   .176   2.26   9-2

Not to be repetitive, but, except for the earned runs, those numbers are about as close as it gets. (And, just in case you were wondering, both pitchers have two complete game shutouts on the year and go about 7 innings per start (Johnson 6 2/3, Schmidt 7). Eerie stuff.)
So, considering these guys are pitching like the Doublemint twins, what other factors can be considered. Here are some:

-Johnson, of course, pitched a perfect game earlier this year. Advantage: Randy.
Schmidt, on the other hand, pitched a one-hitter on the same night as Unit's perfecto and then followed that up with another a month later. Advantage: Jason.

- Randy Johnson has two of the top seven game scores (Start with 50 points. Add 1 point for each out recorded, (3 points per inning). Add 2 points for each inning completed after the 4th. Add 1 point for each strikeout. Subtract 2 points for each hit allowed. Subtract 4 points for each earned run allowed. Subtract 2 points for each unearned run allowed. Subtract 1 point for each walk.) in the National League this year, including the top game (100 for his perfect game against the Braves). Advantage: Randy.
Jason Schmidt has two of the top five game scores, including the second (97 for the one-hitter on the same night as RJ's 100) and fifth (92 for his other near no-no, this time against the Red Sox). Advantage: Jason.

- Randy Johnson has a mullet. Big Advantage: Randy.
Jason Schmidt has an intimidating goatee and looks like he belongs on The Island of Misfit Toys inside of on the mound at SBC Park. Big Advantage: Jason.

Hmmmm... this is becoming more difficult than I had imagined. Let's go even further...
We've discussed the good games Johnson and Schmidt have pitched, so we might as well look at the bad ones too.
In his first start of the season Jason Schmidt gave up six earned in four innings and took the loss against the Padres. Since then his earned runs in his starts are as follows: 2, 2, 1, 3, 0, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 0.
Randy Johnson, on the other hand has mixed brilliance (four earned in five starts in early May, including that perfect game) with erratic-pitching (four starts with over four earned runs).
Man, I haven't thought this hard since Friday, when the bartender told me there was no Sierra Nevada and I had to choose between Miller Lite and turpentine.
When it comes down to it, the starting pitcher for the All-Star Game is more of a ceremonial thing than anything. Whoever starts will throw two innings, followed by somebody else who will throw two and then the third of the triumvirate will go either one or two to get to the middle innings.
Jack McKeon will have a tough choice to make in two weeks when he is filling out his All-Star lineup, and a lot can change between now and then, as each pitcher will have two or three more starts to win or lose the job.
At this point though, Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson are pitching well enough to start in the All-Star game. But, unfortunately for them, Jason Schmidt deserves it more.

Tuesday Thoughts

Sorry for not posting on Friday and Monday. I had a weekend full of weddings and traveling and am now up in Queens for a few days. I’ll try to keep a regular posting schedule through the rest of the week. Keep checking for daily updates.

- Hasn’t the knock on Tracy McGrady always been that he doesn’t make his teammates better? Isn’t that why his Orlando teams have never advanced past the first-round of the playoffs and also why he has a reputation as a “me-first” kind of player?
So if all that is true, then why do Jeff van Gundy and the Rockets want McGrady, a lesser-version of Kobe, who likes taking shots and will probably be reluctant to run an offense through Yao.
That was the problem that Steve Francis had in Houston (well, that and his attitude). He felt that running a Yao-based offense wasn’t the best use of his talents, and he isn’t half the player that McGrady is. Do you think that T-Mac is going to be content feeding the ball into Yao so he can take 25 high-percentage shots a game?
And what about Francis? His game fell off so badly last year that at times I thought I was watching Penny Hardaway, he doesn’t want to play in Orlando (shocking) but is willing to if the Magic can work out a deal for Shaq and he hates all figures of authority. If you’re the Magic, he sounds like the ideal cornerstone to a rebuilding project.
Plus, if Stevie didn’t want to get the ball into Yao, why would he all of a sudden do the same for Shaq?
Somethings up with this trade. It still might go through, but I’ll bet that at least one of the major players in the deal (McGrady or Francis) will end up with a team other than the one they’re traded to.

- Retief Goosen (see my U.S. Open Prediction page, under: players to watch) deserved to win the Open this weekend after his 11 one-putts Sunday on treacherous greens. But let’s not overlook the choke-job by Phil Mickelson on the 17th green.
I’m not talking about the missed par putt. That was understandable. But his hurried bogey-attempt, after hearing cheers for Goosen’s birdie on 16, that was pushed a few inches to the right of the hole was inexcusable.
Instead of going to 17 and 18 with a flimsy one-shot lead on a day where pars seemed like birdies, Goosen had a two-shot cushion thanks to Mickelson’s putting woes.
The difference between to the two is enormous. Goosen would have had to make par on 18 to win had Mickelson made his bogey putt. Knowing his previous history (remember the South African’s three-putt at Southern Hills in 2001 that forced a Monday playoff with Mark Brooks) and the difficulty of the 18th at Shinnecock, there was a good chance that there would have been a Monday playoff.
Instead, Mickelson is left to wonder what might have been while Goosen is enjoying his second U.S. Open title

- Since Ernie Els won his second U.S. Open at Congressional in 1997, every player who has won the Championship has been a repeat winner, or repeated since, except for Jim Furyk. The explanation is a little more convoluted than I had hoped, but bear with me. Below, a list of the Open winners since 1997. (Other years in which the player has won the Open appear in parenthesis.)

1997 – Ernie Els (1994)
1998 – Lee Janzen (1993)
1999 – Payne Stewart (1991)
2000 – Tiger Woods
2001 – Retief Goosen
2002 – Tiger Woods
2003 – Jim Furyk
2004 – Retief Goosen

Compare that to the Masters (where only Tiger and Jose Maria Olazabal), the British Open (none since 1996) and the PGA Championship (Tiger again), and it seems that once a player has tamed a course at the U.S. Open, they’re bound to do it again someday.

U.S Open Preview

When the United States Golf Association sets up a course for the U.S. Open they try to ensure that it will be a supreme test of golfing skill. Unforgiving rough that makes errant drives tournament-suicide, lightning-fast greens which require a delicate touch and treacherous pin placements attempt to guarantee that only a seasoned, accomplished golfer who puts together four solid rounds will emerge victorious.
Rarely are there fluke winners of the U.S. Open like the British Open and PGA Championships often have (Ben Curtis and Shaun Micheel, anyone?) and this is due in large part to the near-impossible playing conditions. Yet, every now and then a Steve Jones or David Graham wins the title.
What does this all mean? The winner at Shinnecock Hills on Sunday evening will most likely be a top-player like Tiger Woods or Ernie Els, but it could also be someone like Miguel Angel Cabrera or Zach Johnson. In other words, nothing is for sure.
One thing though is for certain: whoever holds the trophy at the end of the weekend will be somebody who avoids the rough, putts well and is content to make pars all week. A score of 2 or 3 under will probably be enough to win at Shinnecock.
So who will post that score? More on that later…

Best 1st and 2nd Round Pairing: Tiger Woods, Shigeki Maruyama, Chad Campbell

You were expecting somebody else? But even if you drop Tiger from this threesome, the two remaining players – Maruyama and Campbell – have the games to succeed at the U.S. Open. Now that Phil Mickelson has won a major, Chad Campbell is fast becoming the best player never to win a major. That could change this weekend in New York. Campbell is 5th on the Tour in Total Driving (driving accuracy rank + driving distance rank), but will need to improve his putting if he wants to contend. Maruyama, a great putter and so-so driver, will need to do the opposite.
As for Tiger, don’t be fooled by all the slump talk. It’s true his game has slipped from his astonishing peak during the 2001 season but even at 85% he’s still one of the best players in the game. And taking into account Tiger’s current weakness (driving accuracy), Shinnecock Hills sets up quite nicely for him. (Doesn’t it seem like every course sets up nicely for Tiger?) In Woods’ last three starts he has finished 3rd, 4th and 3rd, respectively, on courses where he didn’t have to use his driver.
At Shinnecock, Tiger can use his more accurate 3-wood and stay near the top of the leader board.

Best 1st and 2nd Round Pairing to Follow: Jay Haas, Tom Kite, Raymond Floyd

Last year Tom Watson and his caddy, the late Bruce Edwards, electrified the crowd at Olympia Fields with an opening-round 65. Can one of Watson’s fellow Champions Tour members do the same? Following this grouping will kind of be like watching Cocoon, except the role of gruff, old guy will be played by Floyd instead of Wilford Brimley.
Haas has had five top-20 finishes so far this year on the PGA Tour, including a 3rd place finish at the Bob Hope Classic, so don’t be surprised if he is lurking within striking distance of the leaders on Sunday.

Most Interesting Player to Watch: David Duval

Duval hasn’t played on the PGA Tour since the Las Vegas Invitational in October and hasn’t made a cut since the Kemper Open (which began life as the Booz Allen Classic last year. Come on. If your last name is Booz, couldn’t you let the whole naming the company after yourself thing slide?) last June.
Duval did finish 28th in the U.S. Open the last time the championship visited Shinnecock, but don’t expect him to see the weekend. Any two-day score within 10 shots of par will be a success for the troubled former #1 player in the world.

Trendy Pick Who Won’t Make the Cut: Scott Verplank

Nothing against Scott Verplank, mind you, but it seems that in every major there is one player who a couple of media guys pick out as their dark horse to win, and then ends up shooting 76-80 and miss the cut by a dozen strokes. These guys are usually solid golfers who have games that are tailor-made for the course where the tournament is held, but for whatever reason, they never seem to come through.
Chad Campbell was that guy in this years Masters and ended up going out in 76-77 and ending his trip to Augusta before it started.
So far, Scott Verplank has been tabbed as the chic pick for the Open. Golf World narrowed the field down by using a number of criteria and Verplank was left standing and on PTI Jimmy Roberts mentioned him as a possible winner.
One could easily make a case for the 39-year old. He isn’t long off the tee (neither was Pavin in ’95), but he is deadly accurate and is a solid putter.
Scott Verplank has the game to win at Shinnecock this week. But one trendy pick has to fail, and it looks like it’s going to be him. Sorry, it’s the rule.

One Name You’ll See on Sunday: Vijay Singh

Vijay is like both a cockroach and Carrot Top. No matter how many times you try to ignore them, they always manage to come back with a vengeance.
I kind of like Vijay. He gets a bad rap because he’s aloof like Franco my butcher and his sound bites seem to suggest that in a former life he was an opinionated 1950’s father, but he has a great swing, is tremendously accurate and has one of those looks that seems to suggest he’s only one false move away from snapping (even when standing next to two buxom blondes.)
Like him or not, you have to admit that he’s a great golfer and that the likelihood of his name being on the main leader board Sunday is high as seeing over 20 Cadillac commercials and hearing Johnny Miller complain about belly-putters during the NBC telecast.

One Name You Won’t See on Sunday: Brian Davis

He’ll miss the cut because he needs to catch at least two of The Dead’s five nights at Red Rocks.

Prediction I Want to Make, But Don’t Have the Cojones To: Phil Mickelson Doesn’t Finish In Top-20

I’d like to say that Phil will have a post-Masters letdown, but he always plays so well in the U.S. Open that I don’t really believe he will. I will go out on a pretty sturdy limb and say he won’t win the Championship, but that’s about as lame a prediction as guessing that Around the World in 80 Days is going to suck.
By the way, kudos to the four of you who got the Brian Davis thing.

Tiger Woods Prediction: Slow start on Thursday, climbs back into contention on Saturday and plays well enough on Sunday to stay in the Top 10 but not win.

Well, I think I said it all up there in the italics.

Predicted Winner: Kenny Perry

I could have picked the usual suspects like Tiger or Ernie, or gone for a shot in the dark like Jonathan Byrd or Thomas Bjorn, but instead I’ll go with a guy who has been playing good golf over the past 16 months and has the accurate game that should fit in well with the links-type Shinnecock course.
Other people to look out for: Ernie Els, Fred Funk, Retief Goosen, Bill and Jay Haas and of course, Tiger Woods.

How the West Was Beaten

Over the past 10 days the Los Angeles Lakers discovered what the New York Mets, Washington Redskins, New York Rangers and Baltimore Orioles already have found out the hard way: money can buy superstars, but only chemistry can build a team.
Having a regular season and playoffs seemed like a mere formality in October, because everybody assumed the Lakers were going to steamroll through both en route to their fourth NBA title in five years.
Some were even speculating that L.A. might challenge the 1996 Bulls record of 72 wins in a regular season. But, of course, they didn’t come close.
Like most Laker regular seasons, the team took games off, rarely played with intensity and set their sights for the playoffs. In the process of slacking through the 81-game season, the Lakers managed never to gel into a team.
They always seemed a little bit… off. Gary Payton was clearly never comfortable with the triangle-offense (and made a point of telling anybody who would listen, and some who wouldn’t, about it), Karl Malone couldn’t seem to figure out the role of a third-option and Shaq played hard in about 50% of the games due to his nagging toe injury.
And then there was Kobe. Between his jet-setting back and forth to Colorado, his penchant for taking over games all by himself and that bizarre game in April against the Kings when he answered critics by taking zero shots in the first quarter and finishing the game with eight points, Bryant looked like he was playing more as an escape from his legal troubles than for his team.
In the end, Los Angeles didn’t seem to care. They sleep-walked through their first-round series versus the Rockets, needed a Derek Fisher prayer to get past the Spurs and took advantage of a green Timberwolves team to sneak into the Finals. But never in any of those series did it seem like the individuals on the Lakers were ever on the same page.
But, depending on the matchup, they still could have won the NBA Finals. Had the Pacers or Nets snuck out of the East, the Lakers would have pieced together four victories and would have gone down in the history books as a troubled, but victorious team.
But unfortunately for L.A., they met-up with a Pistons team that had the one thing the Lakers didn’t: heart.
A team that was comprised of players that had been written-off early in their careers, the Piston players had something to prove in the NBA Finals.
While everybody was giving the Larry O’Brien trophy to the Lakers before the series started, the Pistons knew better. They knew they were the better team. Sure, they didn’t have the marquee names, all the banners in the rafters or Jack Nicholson sitting courtside, but they played together. In every game. And as it’s been said over the past 24 hours, five beats two every time.
With Karl Malone nursing an injury and Gary Payton doing his best Penny Hardaway impersonation, the Lakers were forced to start Devean George and Stanislav Medvedenko in Game Five, two guys who wouldn’t have started for the Cavaliers this year.
The Pistons, in part due to great coaching by Larry Brown, exploited the Lakers weaknesses, got L.A. down early, and for all intents and purposes, wrapped up the title at halftime.
On paper, it was shocking.
The Lakers have four Hall of Famers on their roster, the Pistons have none. The Lakers had the coach who is tied for the most championships in NBA history while the Pistons’ coach was better known for his vagabond ways than for his extraordinary coaching ability.
But the only championship that L.A. won this year was the one on that same paper. The Lakers were thoroughly beaten in every facet of the game; offense, defense, rebounding, passing, hustle, coaching and emotion.
Had it not been for a Pistons break-down late in Game 2 that allowed Kobe Bryant to hit a game-tying three with under three seconds, this series would have been done on Sunday. That’s how much better Detroit was than the heralded Lakers.
Was Detroit the best team in the league? Probably not. It would have been interesting to see Sacramento, San Antonio or Minnesota play the Pistons in the NBA Finals. But that doesn’t matter. The Marlins weren’t the best team in baseball last year, nor were the Lightning the best hockey team. However, all of those teams were the best when it counted.
The Lakers didn’t lose because they played as individuals because Kobe was selfish or because Karl Malone and Horace Grant were hurt or because of some Eastern Conference conspiracy. The reason there won’t be a parade down Ventura Boulevard this week is because the Detroit Pistons were the better team.

- With the series victory, Detroit becomes the first Eastern Conference team to win the NBA title since the Chicago Bulls did it in 1998. And perhaps even more amazing, the Pistons and the Bulls are the only Eastern Conference teams to win the Championship since 1986 (the Bulls won six, the Pistons now have three).

- Chauncey Billups was great in the NBA Finals and was a fine choice for MVP, but my vote would have gone to Ben Wallace. The Pistons won the series because of their shut-down defense, and the man who played the biggest part in that was Wallace. The afroed one brought down nearly 14 boards a game, including 22 in the deciding game.

- I think Kobe is going to end up staying with the Lakers. Even though all conventional wisdom suggests that he’ll be signing elsewhere after opting out of the final year of his contract, I just don’t see him in another uniform. Unless of course it’s an orange jumpsuit.

Tomorrow: U.S. Open Preview

Chris Answers PTI’s Questions

The title is pretty self-explanatory. Today, in the debut of Chris Answer’s PTI’s Questions, I’ll use yesterday’s show.

Are the Lakers finally done?

First the Lakers were unstoppable, now they are easily beatable. At the beginning of the playoffs the Spurs-Lakers second-round series was technically the NBA Finals and the Western Conference and real NBA Finals series were mere formalities en route to the title. Eight days ago, the Pistons didn’t any chance to win against a stacked Los Angeles team but now, after four sub-par games, that same Lakers team has no shot.
In the fast-paced world of the internet and 24-hour sports news stations, instant analysis has become the norm and every talking head in the media apparently has long-term memory loss.
Case in point, via ESPN’s Daily Quickie:

L.A. has been accused of taking games off when "there's no urgency." It's a counter-intuitive argument, but nothing is more urgent than legacy. It drives all of them.

These Lakers get one shot to silence the critics that refuse to put this team in NBA's upper historical tier; it will take the most convincing of performances -- nothing less than a sweep. You think Phil doesn't know this? That's why it's Lakers in 4.

The Big Four in four. Even now, phrased nicely for the history books.
- June 4, 2004

A nice, bold prediction. Dan Shanoff started that column with the line “It’s not if the Lakers win but how.” That was 10 days ago. Today:

Here's how "over" this NBA Finals series is:
Even though it's "only" 3-1 Detroit, it's completely reasonable to start figuring out which Laker(s) will be scapegoats for this worst-ever choke job.
- June 14, 2004

So which one is it? Are the Lakers dominating or are they done? And is four games really enough to tell either way? The answer is no and no. The Lakers clearly aren’t the dominating force they were during their three-peat. But that doesn’t mean they are done.
The Pistons have played four great games against the Lakers, but with the exception of Game 3, the Lakers have had a realistic opportunity to win every one.
On Sunday, L.A. was sabotaged by Kobe Bryant and his 25 shots. As Michael Wilbon said, “It was spectacularly self-absorbed for Kobe to ignore Shaq in the hole.” And it’s true. (Of course, Wilbon said he also wanted to see more of Rick Fox. Rick Fox? Even Vanessa Williams doesn’t want to see more of Rick Fox. But I digress.)
Instead of running the offense through Shaq (16-21 from the floor), Kobe decided to pull an MJ and try to win the game on his own. It didn’t work, and now the Lakers are staring at a 3-1 deficit.
Tension in the Lakers locker room might be at an all-time high right now, but expect Shaq to get a lot more touches down low tonight.
Maybe the Lakers will lose this evening. Maybe they’ll win and the series will shift back to L.A. The point is, in this series, nothing has gone as predicted.
Prediction: Lakers win tonight. And tomorrow morning, everybody asks if the Lakers are back.

Did Magic Johnson make fair comments about Lakers?

Let’s see, what did Magic say?
He said that the Lakers are taking the Pistons lightly, Karl Malone should never have gotten into an altercation with a fan, Gary Payton is an old 35 and shouldn’t be airballing 15-foot open jumpshots and that the Lakers were a team built to win the Finals, not just get there.
So what exactly is unfair about that?

Should ABC have bumped the playoff at the Buick Classic for America’s Funniest Home Videos, sans Bob Saget?

First of all, dumping Bob Saget from America’s Funniest Home Videos was ABC’s second-biggest mistake of all-time. Who else could have the vocal range to voice the inner-monologue of a 5-year old playing tee-ball who accidentally swings and hits his father in the nuts AND speak the thoughts of a dog who instead of catching a Frisbee bites his owner in the nuts. Couple that with his earnest, straight-forward interviews with the $10,000 winners of other various crotch-related accidents caught on tape, and Bob Saget was born to host AFHV.
Anyway, didn’t ABC learn anything from NBC’s fiasco with the Heidi game? Isn’t it a rule that sports trumps all these days? Granted, it wasn’t like it was Tiger and Ernie going head-to-head on the final hole of the U.S. Open, but a three-way playoff with Sergio Garcia is still pretty good TV. Even if he didn’t hit Rory Sabbatini in the crotch with an errant shot.
By the way, ABC’s worst moment: Failing to recognize the comedic genius of Bob Saget’s Full House co-star Dave Coulier.

Is a suspension enough for Bob Huggins?

If the Cincinnati basketball program has a few more arrests, word is that Dick Wolf will make the pilot for a new show, Law and Order: Bearcats Basketball.
Some highlights from the Cincy rap sheets.

Donald Little sentenced to 30-days in jail for assaulting his roommate.
Eric Hicks suspended for hitting a woman in the head with a beer bottle.
B.J. Grove indicted for domestic violence after allegations that he pushed his nine-month pregnant girlfriend into a bathtub.
Eugene Land arrested for shoplifting.
Dontonio Wingfield served 18 months in jail after assaulting two police officers who were responding to a call from Wingfield’s girlfriend, whom he had allegedly beaten.
Shawn Myrick spent six months in prison after pleading guilty to sexual battery.
D’Juan Baker put on three-years probation for punching his girlfriend in the face and hitting her in the head with a flower pot.
And the topper: Art Long was arrested after he was accused of punching a police horse.


Huggins was suspended, of course, for his arrest for drunk-driving. He didn’t take a breathalyzer test, but failed so miserably in his sobriety tests that police arrested him. When Huggins was asked to recite the alphabet from the letter “E” through “P” he responded “E, F, G, H, I, K, L, N, Z” and when told to count backward from 67 to 54 he instead counted from 62 to 52.
Of course, when members of the Cincy basketball team (cumulative GPA over the past 10 years: 0.78) were told of Huggins’ responses, they said, “so what’s the problem?”

Did the fan who got the ball get it fairly?

Did you see this guy? A foul ball was hit to the stands, he dove over the seat in front of him, kicking a four-year old kid in the process, and retrieved the ball from under the skirt of the young child’s mother.
Then, the guy who got the ball was booed for not giving it to the kid who he had kicked. His presumed girlfriend wouldn’t talk to him the rest of the game, he eventually left, and players for the Cardinals and Reds gave the ball-less child autographs, bats and balls.
To address the question, yes the guy got the ball fairly. Because if you watch the videotape, the kid wasn’t going for the ball. He was totally oblivious to the whole situation. But, since the guy who got the ball kicked the kid (albeit unintentionally) in his quest to get said ball, he should have given it to him. So yes, he got the ball fairly but no he shouldn’t have kept it.
But this brings up an interesting point. I was at a Red Sox-Orioles game in April and a guy sitting directly behind me got a foul ball. The ball was hit to the upper-deck, dropped, and rolled around in our section for a few seconds until this guy grabbed it from a group of about six people. He got back to his seat, high-fived his buddy, showed the ball to anybody who was interested and everybody was happy.
That is, until a young mother sitting in front of me told her son to go ask the guy if he would give away the ball. Politely, the man with the ball said no, but the mother kept telling her son to go ask for it. It wasn’t until this woman’s husband emerged from the depths of his 8th beer and told his son to stop pestering the guy.
Now, of course the guy was right in keeping the ball. After all, he wasn’t fighting a child for it and the kid asking for it didn’t belong to him. But what are the rules about this? I don’t think are any specific ones, so I’ve come up with:
The Rules of Catching A Foul Ball
I’ve come up with some.
1) Anything goes in foul-ball retrieval, as long as it is done to somebody who is a) going for the ball and b) close to a physical equal. For example, if you and three frat boys are going for the ball, you can throw some elbows, stomp on feet and pull a Funniest Home Videos on them in order to get the ball. But, if the ball lands under the feet of an old-man, you have to back off. Same for pregnant women and nuns.
2) If you are fighting with a child under the age of 13 for a foul-ball, you must not fight dirty and must give the ball to the child upon retrieval. However, if it is a 14 year old, you are well within your limits to hit him in the throat, get the ball and keep it. Ask for a birth certificate if necessary.
3) Once you get the ball, it is entirely up to your discretion what to do with it. Sometimes, stadium rules apply. A homerun ball from an opposing player in Wrigley must go back on the field, even if it is Barry Bonds’ 756th homerun ball. But, if you are in Tampa Bay and the fans boo you for not returning a Carlos Beltran moonshot, tell them to shut-up and go watch their “beloved” hockey team.
4) You don’t have to give the ball to a child in your section just because they are children. However, if you find yourself in the middle of a section filled with kids from the Make-a-Wish foundation, its best to move to another seat and avoid any possible difficulties.
5) Never spill beer or nachos in pursuit of a foul ball. Hot dogs, soda and ice cream are a judgment call. Look at it this way: you can always catch another foul, but you’ll never get back the $6.50 you spent on a spilled 22-ounce Miller Lite.
6) If you’re at the game with your girlfriend and you catch a foul ball, don’t give her the ball. Pulling out her chair at a restaurant is chivalrous, giving her a ball caked with mud and rosin is just gross.
7) If you are at the game with your child, you must give them the foul ball. But make a point of telling all of your friends and your child’s friends that you were the one who caught it.
8) If you catch any ball hit by Derek Jeter pull out a Sharpie, write “Here’s the Ball Back: Now You Only Need One More” on it and throw it at his face.

Five Good Minutes with Grant Hill

Tony Kornheiser asked Hill how it feels to see the Pistons doing so well without him. Grant said it was a weird experience, and I can see where he’s coming from. After all, when he was the leader of the team, Detroit never won a playoff series. It’s like asking Steve Grogan what it’s like to watch the Patriots win the Super Bowl.

Mail Time

Ken Griffey Jr. is blaming the Reds six-game slide on the distraction of him going for his 500th homer. Are you buying that?

The only thing to blame for the Reds recent six-game slide is the team’s lack of pitching. Cincy ranks second to last in the NL with a 4.89 staff ERA, opposing teams have a ridiculous .812 OPS against them (only the Rockies staff has a higher percentage against), and of the Reds four pitchers who have started over 10 games, three have an ERA over 5.
According to Bill James Expected Win Percentage (which is based on runs scored vs. runs allowed) the Reds at 34-28 should have a record of 29-33. This, of course, is hardly a fool-proof statistic, but it usually predicts a teams final record fairly accurately.
In simpler terms, it means the Reds losing-streak is more the rule rather than the exception.
Back to Griffey, his run at 500 homeruns has been the least publicized in history. Nobody seems to care. ESPN isn’t breaking in with live coverage of his at-bats and there isn’t a national media contingent following the Reds. With Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro all recently passing 500, getting to the landmark number is becoming as exciting as all those moon landings were after Armstrong and Aldrin landed there.

The Raptors have reportedly spoken with Michigan State’s Tom Izzo about their coaching vacancy. If you were Izzo, would you want the job?

Tom Izzo has a good thing going at Michigan State. He has won a National Championship, consistently has teams in the Top 10, the Spartans are always contenders in the NCAA Tournament and he has a great recruiting base in Michigan.
He can become a legend in East Lansing if he stays for his whole career, like Jud Heathcote before him. Look at guys like John Wooden, Mike Krzyzewski, John Thompson, Lou Carnesecca and Dean Smith. They are instantly identifiable with a single institution. They stayed in one place after discovering success and in turn are the most revered men on their respective campuses.
Why would Izzo give that up to go to a league where there is zero job security and coaches have to deal with pampered millionaires who don’t want to be told what to do instead of impressionable youth who have little choice but to listen to the coach.
Maybe Izzo should talk to Rick Pitino, John Calipari and Jerry Tarkanian about the switch. All three went to the NBA, failed miserably, and returned to the college ranks soon after.
Had Pitino stayed at Kentucky they might be changing the name of Rupp Arena to Pitino Arena. Instead, he had to start over at Louisville and is just now molding the program in his own image.
Tom Izzo is the man at Michigan State. He shouldn’t give that up for the remote chance of becoming an NBA coaching star.

David Duval has decided to compete in this week’ U.S. Open, saying “There will be 156 players there and I guarantee I’ll be having the most fun.” What do you make of that?

I think he means that when he misses the cut on Friday, he’ll go into New York City and spend the weekend at Scores.

Tom Brady is reportedly engaged. Given how you’ve blamed Tiger’s slump in part on his taking of a fiancée, do you foresee a falloff in Brady’s standard of play?

Tom Brady is a good NFL quarterback. He’s not great, he’s good. He gets the job done, doesn’t make any big mistakes and owes his Super Bowl success in large part to the Pats defense. So unless all 11 guys on defense “take a fiancée”, Brady should be able to maintain his high-level of play… fiancée or not.

Did you check out your boy Mason announcing the starting five for the Detroit Pistons before Sunday’s game?
Do you find him annoying or inspiring.

His name is just Mason? P.A. announcers are now dropping their last names? First popes started doing it, then singers, models, Brazilian soccer players, Ichiro and now P.A. guys? This has to stop. What’s next, kids calling their teachers “Anne” and in a few years the country electing a President Jeremy?
Then what? The trend-setters will go a stop further and shorten their names even more, that’s what. So by the late 2010’s we’ll just be grunting syllables and making hand motions when calling out each others names.
So as you can tell, I already find Mason annoying. But when factoring in his player introductions that range from Barry White baritone to Steven Tyler-like screams, and infusing that with imitations of Speedy Gonzalez, Ray Clay, Michael Buffer and Snoop Dogg, I’ll put Mason in between Ashton Kutcher and that chick from the commercial who pushes her boyfriends truck off a cliff on my list of most annoying people.
I hate that commercial. It would be a lot funnier if Bob Saget had narrated it and the truck hit her boyfriend in the crotch.

Chris Answers PTI’s Questions is an occasional feature on Chris’s Sports Blog.

Quick Weekend Thoughts

- All those people who were comparing Kobe to Michael Jordan after Game 3 of the NBA Finals sure have quieted down recently. I haven’t heard a group get this silent since Howard Dean supporters did the same circa mid-February.

- Sergio Garcia’s win in the Buick Classic vaults him onto the “favorites” list at this week’s U.S. Open. Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, David Toms and Chad Campbell top my list early in the week, but don’t sleep on Tiger. Shinnecock Hills is short enough to let Tiger keep his driver in the bag, so he should be a factor.

- Don’t look now, but in his last two starts Pedro Martinez’s line looks like this:

15 IP, 9 H, 1 ER, 13 K, 3 BB

His ERA has dropped from 4.40 to 3.77 and it’s coming at the right time. Red Sox ace Curt Schilling will undergo an MRI after his next start Wednesday to check on his injured ankle and might go on the 15-day DL.

- Dave Chappelle is in talks to play Rick James in an upcoming movie biopic about the singer, based on his book Memoirs of a Superfreak. I haven’t been this excited about a movie since I read that Horatio Sanz and Cuba Gooding Jr. were teaming up for Boat Trip.

- Sorry for the short entry today, check back tomorrow for a new feature on Chris’s Sports Blog.

Dick's Back

It's only June, but Dick Vitale is back at it again. In a column on his page at ESPN.com, Dick takes critics to task for already counting a depleted Duke team out of the 2005 National Championship picture.
A breakdown of Vitale's column.


I can hear all of those Duke critics screaming now.

First of all Dick, that screaming you hear is your own. Your house must have an echo. Second of all, it’s June. Midnight madness is still four months away. Take a break. Go watch the Devil Rays and suck up to George Steinbrenner or something.
But since you brought it up, let’s talk about Duke.

No more Luol Deng at Cameron Indoor Stadium (Deng declared for the draft after one year at Duke). Senior Chris Duhon is done wearing that Blue Devils uniform. Recruit Shaun Livingston apparently won't show up in Durham (reports indicate that he'll decide Saturday whether to stay in the draft).

No more Luol Deng? He was only there a year! There are probably hot dogs in the Cameron concession stands that have been there longer. And as for Duhon, I’m sure he’ll be back at Duke soon enough as a 3rd assistant in a few years after deciding that sharing a hotel room with Chris Carrawell in Roanoke on NBDL road-trips isn’t the way he wants to use that Duke degree. (Don’t even get me started on Andy Katz’s column about Duhon. He was never going to be a lottery pick. He stayed at Duke not because he wanted to graduate, but because the NBA didn’t want him. Don’t turn Duhon or guys like Jameer Nelson into martyrs because they stayed in school. They stayed because they didn’t have any other choice.) And Shaun Livingston was never at Duke, so you can’t miss something you never had.

Let me remind those naysayers that I heard those same comments when Elton Brand, Corey Maggette and William Avery said bye-bye to Duke in 1999. Check out what happened next! That successful 1999-2000 Duke team laid the foundation for the 2001 national-championship squad.

I don’t recall anybody saying nay about Duke in 1999. The Blue Devils were ranked #10 in the AP Preseason poll that year, based on the strength of their returning players (Shane Battier, Carrawell and Nate James) and their highly-touted freshman class (Jason Williams, Mike Dunleavy and Carlos Boozer). Get your facts right, baldie.

Plenty of college teams in America would love to line up with a backcourt of Daniel Ewing and J.J. Redick. Are you kidding me?

I would be kidding you if I asked what happens when two rabbis, a priest and Stevie Wonder walk into a schiropadist’s office. But seeing as how nobody is talking to you and you are writing a column, I don’t see how anybody would be kidding you. Maybe it’s the voices of screaming critics that you’re hearing again.
As for Ewing and Redick, I can name plenty of teams that wouldn’t like to line up with the backcourt, including four in the ACC. (Wake Forest, UNC, Georgia Tech and Maryland all have a better backcourt than Duke.)

Sean Dockery, the third guard, gives the Blue Devils defensive intensity.

Saying a player has defensive intensity is like saying a girl has a great personality.

Up front, you can rest assured that Shavlik Randolph will be much improved after a solid sophomore campaign.

Why would I rest assured that Randolph will be improved? Does Vitale realize that not everybody is a Duke fan? Is he writing this column for goduke.com?

With two super incoming diaper dandies, guard DeMarcus Nelson and forward David McClure (who has great shooting range), the cupboard is not totally empty in Durham.

The cupboard would be bare Dick. Bare, not empty. Apparently Vitale has been hanging out with George McFly for a bit too long.

For those jumping for joy, predicting gloom and doom for the Blue Devils -- like those who are anti-Yankees or anti-Notre Dame football -- think again. There is something about teams and programs that win on a consistent basis ... some fans want to see those champions fail.

Do you think that Vitale has one of those voice-recognition programs on his computer that types what he says? Can you imagine him sitting in his office working himself into a frenzy about how great Duke is gonna be, and the program keeps shutting down but it doesn’t recognize the word “BAAAAABBBBBBYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!”
And Dick is wrong about one thing. Some fans don’t want to see the Yankees, Duke and Notre Dame to fail, ALL fans do. Unless you root for one of those three teams (and thusly have no soul), you are rooting against them.

Duke will be physically, mentally and emotionally prepared for battle. This program will play at an incredible level night in and night out to prove those critics wrong. That's Coach K at his best.

A) Duke isn’t going to battle, they’re playing a basketball game. Soldiers go to battle, basketball players play a game.
B) No, Coach K at his best is whining to the refs and watching his team get all the calls.
C) It doesn’t matter how Coach K prepares Duke this year. A backcourt of Daniel Ewing and Backne Redick isn’t going to scare anybody in the stacked ACC, and Shavlik Randolph and Shelden Williams aren’t exactly Worthy and Kareem. Duke won’t finish in the Top 3 of the ACC this year. They’ll be a Top 15 team all season because voters love to vote for Duke, but in the end, they won’t see the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
And no Dick… I’m not kidding.

Best Teams of the Past 25 Years

As part of their 25th birthday celebration, ESPN has been releasing lists ranking the best teams, greatest moments and other people and events during the network’s quarter-century on-air. I’ve already given my take on the Top 25 athletes of the past 25 years and today I’ll rank the Top 8 teams of the same span. Why eight? Because after eight, it got too tough to pick.
ESPN gave the following choices to vote on:

1979 Pittsburgh Steelers
1980 USA Hockey
1982 UNC Basketball
1982 NY Islanders
1983 Iowa Wrestling
1983 Philadelphia 76ers
1984 San Francisco 49ers
1984 Edmonton Oilers
1985 Chicago Bears
1986 Boston Celtics
1986 New York Mets
1987 LA Lakers
1988 San Francisco 49ers
1990 UNLV Basketball
1991 Miami Football
1992 Dallas Cowboys
1992 Duke Blue Devils
1992 USA Basketball
1994 San Francisco 49ers
1996 Nebraska Football
1996 Chicago Bulls
1998 Tennessee Women’s Basketball
1998 New York Yankees
2001 Miami Football
2002 Connecticut Women’s Basketball

Just like with their Top 25 Athletes List ESPN left off a few deserving members so I will add teams to my list not on ESPN’s original 25.
My criteria for choosing the teams will be as follows:
1) Only teams that have won championships will be on the list. ESPN followed this rule as well, but didn’t follow #2.
2) If the same core team was better in a non-championship year, then they won’t make my list. So, UNLV’s 1990 team won’t make my cut because they were much better in 1991 but didn’t take Duke seriously enough in the Final Four and didn’t win. I can’t in good conscience rank the 1990 Runnin’ Rebels ahead of the 1991 version just because the in 1990 UNLV cut down the nets. Patrick Ewing’s Georgetown teams of the mid-‘80s also miss the list because of this.
3) This is a list of greatest teams, not a list of luckiest teams. Therefore the 1982 UNC Basketball team (Freddy Brown – the Hoyas were wearing the dark uniforms), 1986 Mets (thank you Calvin Schiraldi, Bob Stanley and Bill Buckner) 1992 Duke Basketball team (good idea not putting a guy on the inbounds pass Rick Pitino) don’t make it. Sure, they were great teams. But they benefited more from other team’s miscues than true greatness. But, regardless of that, neither the UNC or Duke teams would make the list, as they were great, but not “special teams”. The 1986 Mets, on the other hand, are revered as one of the best teams in baseball history (Rob Neyer ranks them #8), but they owe their championship to the Red Sox blowing it. Still, they get an honorable mention for a 108-54 regular season record and a championship.
Note: this doesn’t mean teams that won close games en route to their titles aren’t eligible because there is a difference from Joe Montana engineering the go-ahead drive in Super Bowl XXIII than it is for Kentucky not to guard Grant Hill.
4) Olympic teams are not eligible. The 1992 Dream Team would easily be at the top of this list, but they were a collection of great players. They aren’t on for the same reason the 1992 American League All-Star team (Alomar, Ripken, Griffey, Puckett, McGwire, Boggs, Molitor, Pudge, Clemens and Eckersley) doesn’t make it. And while the 1980 USA Hockey team was maybe the best story of the past 25 years, they certainly weren’t one of the top teams.
5) I’m not putting Division II or Division III teams on my list either. Sure, it might be unfair, but even though Mount Union football dominated Division III throughout the 1990’s they still were playing against inferior competition. I’m sure somebody could convince me that I’m wrong about this, but then again, I'm real stubborn.
5) No women’s basketball teams. I’m sorry... wait, no I’m not.
Note: Teams not on ESPN’s original list denoted by a *
Anyway, onto the list:

#8 – 2001 Miami Hurricanes Football

Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee, Frank Gore, Ken Dorsey, Andre Johnson, Jeremy Shockey, Bryant McKinnie, Phillip Buchanon, Ed Reed, Jonathan Vilma were all part of Miami’s undefeated 2000 campaign that saw a come-from-behind victory against arch-rival Florida State, a 59-0 drubbing of 10-3 Syracuse, an easy victory on the road against a Top 10 Virginia Tech team and a a 37-14 win over Nebraska in the National Title game that wasn’t that close (Miami had a 34-0 lead at halftime).
Sure, Oregon probably should have been in the title game instead of Nebraska, but that would only have changed the name of the Canes final victim.

#7 – 1982 New York Islanders

Wayne Gretzky had flashier numbers and more Hall of Famers at his side with the 1984 Edmonton Oilers, but the 1982 Isles earned 118 points in the regular season, outscored opponents by 135 goals and had a 15-game winning streak in the middle of the season.
The Mike Bossey-led squad struggled in the 1st and 2nd round of the playoffs (they were pushed to a deciding Game 5 in the 1st round vs. the Penguins and needed overtime to advance) but in the conference and Stanley Cup Finals the Islanders didn’t lose a game to the Vancouver Canucks.

#6 – 1989 San Francisco 49ers

While it pains me to put a George Seifert-coached Niners team on this list instead of one helmed by Bill Walsh (it’s kind of like saying that the Commodores were better after Lionel Richie left), this was the best of the five 49ers teams to win Super Bowls in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
Joe Montana had aged like a fine Coteaux de Layon, Jerry Rice was entering his prime and the defense that included Ronnie Lott, Matt Millen, Jim Burt, Charles Haley and Bill Romanowski was integral in the team finishing the year 14-2.
The Niners steamrolled through the playoffs and pummeled the Denver Broncos 55-10 in the biggest blowout in Super Bowl history.
San Fran isn't higher because they lost two regular-season home games.

#5 – 1991 Washington Redskins*

Before you accuse me of being a homer, let me say, in my defense, that I’m not the only one who agrees that the ’91 Skins are one of the best football teams of all-time. ESPN.com listed the team as the fourth best in history, while Paul Zimmerman at Sports Illustrated says this Skins team is one of the most underrated of all-time.
The team finished 14-2, with the only losses coming at the hands of two divisional opponents.
The Cowboys ruined the Redskins chances of an undefeated season when, on the strength of a Troy Aikman to Alvin Harper hail-mary touchdown at the end of the first-half, they won at RFK in Week 13.
The other loss was in a meaningless Week 17 tilt at Veterans Stadium. Joe Gibbs sat most of the Skins starters, as the team had already clinched home-field advantage in the playoffs, but the Skins still had a chance to win late in the game until lineman Mark Adickes dropped an easy touchdown catch on a sneaky lineman-eligible goaline play late in the 4th quarter.
The Redskins outscored their opponents by 261 points (a margin that was more than five teams scored all year), while winning by scores of 45-0, 34-0, 42-17, 56-17 and 41-14 during the regular season.
The postseason wasn’t much harder. The Redskins dispatched of the Atlanta Falcons in the Divisional Playoff game on a wet, sloppy field at RFK Stadium and then blew-out the Detroit Lions 41-10 in the NFC Championship.
In the Super Bowl the Redskins dominated the Buffalo Bills, although the 37-24 final score indicated that the game was much closer than it actually was. (The Bills scored two meaningless touchdowns with less than six minutes left in the game).

#4 – 1996 Chicago Bulls

Some say this wasn’t the best of the Michael Jordan-led Bulls teams. But how can you argue with a 72-10 regular season record? That number is amazing, but even more so is the fact that the Bulls outscored their opponents by 1000 points during the regular season. That’s more than 12 points a game. (And you thought Bison Dele (7.0 ppg) and Randy Brown (4.7 ppg) and Matt Steigenga (1.5 ppg for a combined 13.2 ppg for the three) were unimportant players in the Bulls dynasty. Shame on you.)
Jordan and company went 15-3 in the playoffs, losing two to the Sonics in the Finals.
Although, the Bulls Game 5 loss in Seattle might have been one of those not-wanting-to-win-the-title-on-the-road games that Jordan’s teams always seemed to lose.

#3 – 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers Football

In the midst of a 26-game winning streak, the Nebraska Cornhuskers rolled through their schedule scoring more than 50 points-per game, demolishing three Top 10 teams and actually made people say “Wow, Tommie Frazier is good!.
Their 62-24 crushing of #2 Florida in the Fiesta Bowl put an exclamation point on one of the best seasons in college football history.

#2 – 1998 New York Yankees

Yeah, I guess they were pretty good. Even I can’t argue with 114 regular season wins and an 11-2 record in the playoffs (including a sweep of the San Diego Padres in the World Series).
But just for the record, Derek Jeter batted .235 with no homers and only 3 RBI in the postseason. So let’s just cut all that Mr. Clutch crap out, alright?

#1 – 1985 Chicago Bears

I could list all the stats and the scores, but all you need to know is that the Bears recorded the “Super Bowl Shuffle” on December 3rd - during the regular season. After that, they really didn’t even need to finish out the schedule, not with lines like “Well they call me Sweetness/and I like to dance/runnin’ the ball is like makin’ romance” and “Buddy’s guys cover it down to the bone/That’s why they call it the 46 zone”.
Scintillating metaphors and explanations of defensive schemes. Even 2pac couldn’t have done it better.

Send any thoughts about my list or anything else to chrisachase@comcast.net.
Mailbag tomorrow.

Who is Cooperstown Bound?

Today in the mail I received Bill James’ book Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame from Amazon.com. It’s an older book, first published in 1994 and in it, James discusses who should and shouldn’t be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
He focuses on older players like Phil Rizzuto, George Kelly, Bill Mazeroski and others and debates the merits of each.
So that got me thinking: what current players will one day be inducted into the Hall of Fame?
I looked at today's players and made my ballot based on who would make the Hall if their careers ended today. Hence, players like Albert Pujols and Mark Prior don’t make the cut, even though they could very well end up in Cooperstown one day.
Onto the list:

Get the Plaques Ready

Roberto Alomar – 2nd Base

It’s easy to forget how great Roberto Alomar was in his prime. But a miserable twilight to his career and the spitting incident with John Hirschbeck seem to have made people forget that Alomar has won 10 Gold Gloves, was a 12-time All-Star, has a career batting average over .300 and was a doubling machine. He’ll be inducted on the first ballot.

Craig Biggio – 2nd Base

Bill James loves Craig Biggio. James rated Bigs the 5th best second-baseman and 35th best player of all time in his New Baseball Historical Abstract due in large part to “little stats”.
For instance, in 1997 Biggio became only the fourth player in major-league history to play a full-season without grounding into a double play. The longtime Astro also is #5 on the career hit-by-pitch list.
Biggio is the prototypical sabermetric player. His boxscore stats aren’t flashy, but he creates runs.
Here’s what James himself has to say about Biggio in his Abstract

"Craig Biggio is the best player in major league baseball today. If you compare Craig Biggio very carefully to Ken Griffey Jr. in almost any season, you will find that Biggio has contributed more to his team than Griffey has. ... (A)part from home runs, (Biggio) did everything better than Griffey (in 1998)."

Barry Bonds – Left Field

Bonds is in the Top 2 of Active Players in the following statistical categories:
OBP, Slugging, OPS, Games Played, Runs, Total Bases, Doubles, Home Runs, RBI’s, Walks, Stolen Bases, XBH and MVP awards.
So I’ll let him slide for only ranking 10th among active players for sacrifice flies.

Roger Clemens – Pitcher

Didn’t even need the rings he got with the Yankees.

Ken Griffey, Jr. – Center Field

Junior doesn’t need to get to 500 homers (which he will have by the end of the week) to get in. He was as good as in from the moment he stepped on the playing field in Seattle at age 20.

Randy Johnson – Pitcher

The only question for the Big Unit now is, will he go down in history as the best modern left-handed pitcher ever? Well, probably not. Koufax in his prime was better, and Warren Sphan has better numbers. But Johnson is at least in the debate.

Greg Maddux – Pitcher

Soon to hit 300 wins, but like Griffey and his homers, it doesn’t matter. Maddux’s 1994 and 1995 (35-8, 335 K, 54 BB, 1.59 ERA, 267 ERA+) might be the best two-year stretch of any pitcher in history.

Pedro Martinez – Pitcher

Some say he didn’t pitch enough innings or get enough wins (he is only 166-67 for his career). But you can’t argue with Pedro’s winning percentage (1st in modern history), his hits allowed per nine innings pitched (2nd), strikeouts per nine (2nd), three ERA titles and five Cy Young’s.

Mike Piazza – Catcher

Piazza is the best-hitting catcher in history, and that cancels out his miserable play behind the plate. Keep in mind that for nearly all of his career Piazza has played in Los Angeles and New York in two pitcher’s parks, thus making his career homerun total looks all the more impressive.
Piazza drops a notch or four in my book for not beating the crap out of Roger Clemens after the Yankees pitcher threw a broken bat at him in the 2000 World Series, but his 2001 “Even Though Nobody Has Actually Specifically Accused Me of It, I’m Not Gay” press-conference was such great comedy that I’ll forgive him.

Alex Rodriguez – Shortstop/3rd Base

Yes, if his career ended today A. Rod would be a lock for the Hall of Fame. Even if he gets Griffey-esque injuries over the next few years, he’ll still be considered one of the two best shortstops of all-time along with Honus Wagner. And yes, this makes it all the more ridiculous that two-time Gold Glove winner is being kept out of his rightful position by Derek Jeter.

Ivan Rodriguez – Catcher

What Piazza is to hitting, Pudge is to fielding. He has 10 Gold Gloves to his credit, one MVP award (although Pedro should have won that year) and one more World Series ring than Ted Williams and Ernie Banks.

Sammy Sosa – Right Field

By the time Sammy Sosa finishes his career he could be the all-time homerun champion as well as the strikeout king. He’ll be a first ballot Hall-of-Damer, but I would probably wait until his second year of eligibility to put him in. That corked-bat incident has to count for something. But so does the fact that Sammy has three of the top-six single season homerun totals in history.

Not Quite There

Tom Glavine – Pitcher

Glavine is enjoying a bit of a resurgence this season with the Mets after a miserable 2003. He currently has 257 wins and should he get to 300 he’ll be a lock, but wins are tough to come by playing with the Metropolitans. The modern pitchers with the most wins who aren’t in the hall are Tommy John (288), Bert Blyleven (287 – and he should be in) and Jim Kaat (283). Glavine will deserve induction with another solid year or two, but as of now he’d be on the outside looking in.

Edgar Martinez – DH

Martinez will go down as the best designated hitter of all time. In my book, that and $21.50 will get you a Greyhound ticket to Cooperstown.

Fred McGriff – 1st Base/DH

The Crime Dog will probably be the first test-case for whether or not 500 homeruns guarantees entry into the Hall of Fame. Everybody who has hit 500 is either in the Hall or will be when they are eligible. There is a first time for everything though, and McGriff will find that out the hard way.

Rafael Palmeiro – 1st Base

Before I start, let me say two things about Palmeiro:
1) Raffy has always been one of my favorite players in baseball.
and
2) He will eventually be enshrined in Cooperstown.
The problem is, I don’t think he deserves to be. Sure, he will have all the “benchmarks” for induction: 500 HR’s and 3000 hits (every player who has reached either of those numbers is in the Hall, and only three players (Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Eddie Murray) have ever reached both.)
Those numbers are fantastic. 3000 will always be special, while 500 is becoming less-so, but getting them both is quite a feat. But think about this, was Rafael Palmeiro ever considered the best player in the majors? Or even at first base?
The answer is, no. Raffy only has three Top Ten finishes in the MVP voting, was an All-Star only four times and never really had one huge season.
True, Palmeiro was underrated for most of the ‘90s, but even so, if he wasn’t considered one of the best in any particular year, should he really be among the greatest players of all-time?
Some compare Raffy’s quiet accumulation of numbers to Eddie Murray. And its true that both kind of snuck up on the 500 and 3000 plateaus. But Murray finished in the Top 10 of the MVP voting eight times and made the All-Star game eight times also.
Rafael Palmeiro is one of the better players to ever play major league baseball. I just don’t think he is among the greatest.

Frank Thomas – 1st Base/DH

Great numbers, but too many injuries and too sour a personality. But, if there were a Hall of Fame for great nicknames, then the Big Hurt would have his own wing.

At Long Last, Tampa Bay Gets Their Cup

The long wait is finally over for Tampa Bay hockey fans. After