There was an article in the Chicago Sun-Times regarding Cubs numbers. Jason Marquis is the first to wear 21 since Sammy Sosa left. The Cubs said that for a number to be retired, the player must be in the Hall of Fame. They haven’t let anyone wear Ron Santo’s number, and this year a player requested 31, but they turned him down. So the Cubs are saying that 31 will be retired when Greg Maddux enters the Hall. Santo, Gil Hodges, and Jim Kaat weren’t voted in by the Seniors Committee.
Makes you wonder what cap Maddux will have on his plaque. After Dave Winfield went in, didn’t they change how the cap is determined? Wade Boggs wanted to have a Tampa Bay cap, but it wasn’t allowed.
Hear Dale Murphy’s comments on steroids, etc? Strong. He has been hurt as much as anyone, since his numbers pale in comparison to that bunch.
Tim Hudson was wearing Under Armor cleats instead of his usual Pumas. Frenchy and McCann are also endorsing UA gear, but sticking to Mizuno shoes. Andruw now wears a Mizuno glove.
I’m not that crazy with those red side panels on the BP caps…or on the BP jerseys. Don’t mind the navy bills, though. Of course the uni-watch community is all up in arms about this as well. I figure every few years they’ll change them in order to sell more apparel. Those will be what we’ll see when we get to games early this year for BP. Supposedly Eric Gagne isn’t wearing a BP cap…he’s wearing a game cap, so it will get dirty faster. Exception...the Cards BP caps look ok with the darker second color.
Interesting that the price for fans on the new non-wool caps are higher than last year’s wool cap. I have no strong opinion, but wonder if the new cap will look shinier. Uni-Watch had a good interview last week with a guy who had an extensive cap collection going back to the 70’s.
I liked that Rowland’s Office blog…good point on Dews catching. Guess that’s why he wears all that gear. The other blog certainly has a lot of detailed info.
Amazing what Calvin Johnson continues to do. Hopefully he’ll be drafted by a decent team who can make good use of him…perhaps Tampa Bay.
CPA says...In his blog today, Dave O’Brien mentioned how “sweepable” this DH was today. I usually skim through his AJC blog to read just his comments, but I end up catching some of the readers comments as well – it amazes me to hear all the people complaining about the offense – a true leadoff hitter, bunt more, bunt less, etc – we are 3rd in the NL in runs scored and are scoring ½ a run more a game than last year and are on a pace to score 850+ runs, which would be the most since the 2003 team bashed 907 runs…
And from me...Working around the house Saturday, I was flipping between football, movies, and the Braves. Not thinking about the 7 pm game 2, I thought it may be time for game 2 to start after switching off the game for a while. Diaz had just homered to complete the comeback, and I couldn’t believe Wickman couldn’t hold the lead. Nice that he got another chance later that night. Bad about Chipper…at least Aybar is back, as well as all the call-ups. All these injuries make the 14 year run all that more special/significant. Another nice start out of James.
Getting Ward can only help. You can never tell with pitchers. I keep checking Adam Wainwright, who hasn’t made me feel bad for trading him.
It was fun to watch the first two Giants games, and to see LaRoche get the pie in the face. Giles was the one who got JF last year. LaRoche hollered out on air that he’d get Giles back when they went hunting. Last night it appeared Smoltz was ready to come out when Cox pulled him, judging by his exit. At least the media is also talking about the Red Sox “run” being over as well. Perhaps trading for David Wells will have a negative effect on the Padres. Yes, playing the Phillies will be key, considering the August they had. James has been impressive. Giles has been impressive since the break…perhaps finally getting healthy, but I agree, with JS’s track record, they wouldn’t overpay when they have Aybar and all the middle infielders in the minors.
Last week at Wrigley Field they gave away 200 authentic Greg Maddux jerseys. Then it was Prior jerseys…Wednesday Clemente jerseys. Earlier this year they gave away Ruth jerseys, then Jackie Robinson jerseys.
I wasn’t expecting Tech to win, and thought Weiss did a good job with a few clutch calls. I don’t understand the rule on a pass reception when the guy is falling down. I know I’m bad about listing a few plays that, had they gone the other way, would’ve changed the winner of the game…and I know ND missed 2 FGs. Tech played good, and I’m sure the poor defense was worn out at the end. Saw a guy yesterday whose first comment was ’same old Reggie’, and I agreed. I think Bisher even said that ND was happy to defense Ball on the QB draw…much easier than defending Calvin. I just hope they play good every game, instead of not showing up against lesser opponents. Perhaps a backup GT QB will shine this week.
Will has a night game the Thursday night Tech plays Virginia, so I won’t get to see much of the throwback uniforms. So many teams have recently done a good job with throwbacks, but if anyone can screw them up, it will be Tech. Prediction: they wear non-throwback black face masks.
Another good baseball practice Saturday morning. Henry is holding them to a higher standard than these boys have been used to, and the boys and parents appreciate it. Henry teaches at Campbell and helps coach the baseball team. Saturday we worked for a long time on turning DPs…everyone was a 2B, SS, or 1B, and we really broke it down. Afterwards Henry had a long talk with Will, which is good, he needs to hear this stuff from others besides me. Henry had talked to a former college infielder, who had spoke of taking hundreds of grounders a day. So I’m getting better hitting fungos, and only threw about a hundred pitches. Will still can improve his fielding fundamentals, and sometimes gets lazy at the plate as well. We seem to be playing every other week in Powder Springs or Acworth. The defense will be weak if Will and the other good player are pitcher and catcher…hopefully other catchers will emerge.
All this extra duty has broken a few laces on my old Dale Murphy Rawlings glove. May have to break down and get a new glove.
The Little League championship game was on, but the kids, including Will, decided to watch Animal Planet instead. I stand by my comment that it's a racket controlled by grownups. That Columbus pitcher got excited in the last inning, hitting a batter and walking another. A hit would’ve changed the game.
We went to see Cars Sunday at the Picture Show…not surprised that it was packed. Didn’t realize that Paul Newman was in it. Also Bonnie Hunt, Owen Wilson, Cheech Marin, George Carlin, Richard Petty, Costas, Leno, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Keaton, Ratzenberger, and the guy from Monk. Since then Matthew has been playing with his Hot Wheels.
What a good idea to comment on the MLB choices for each team’s most outstanding player.I have been casting my votes…here they are, along with some comments.I’ll rank all five for each team.First my favorite, the senior circuit…
Arizona:Randy Johnson’s perfect game and Series championship beats out Gonzalez’s steady career.Williams also starred for the Giants, Bell for the Pirates.Why not Greg Counsell or Curt Schilling?
Braves:(1) Aaron, no question. (2) Spahn is the all-time winningest lefty. (3) Niekro won 300 pitching for horrible teams. (4) Tie!Chipper’s run of 100+ RBI seasons and Smoltz’s 150 wins and saves put them at Cooperstown’s doorstep…but how do you pick them over Maddux or Glavine?Dale Murphy’s back to back MVP seasons also take a back seat, because the selectors must’ve wanted young voters to bleed votes away from Aaron.
Cubs:Five fine choices…Ernie, Billy, the underrated Jenkins, Ryno, and Santo.And I wore Sandberg’s 23 at the fantasy camp.Yes, Sammie got the shaft.
Reds:I’ve been voting for Bench instead of the tainted hit king.Robinson had a great career, but it was so split between the Reds and Orioles.Bench, Rose, Robinson, Morgan, Perez.
Rockies: Not much to pick from here, though Larry Walker was a five tool players before being slowed by injuries.Career Rockie Helton tops, Walker, Coor’s Field stud Vinny, El Cate Grande (loved by all Braves fans), and Bichette.
Marlins:With the revolving door swinging after each title, nobody has taken a foothold.Dontrell becomes the Marlins all-time wins leader this year.Then Series hero Beckett, followed by Castillo, Conine, and Nen.
Astros:Tough call…I’ll pick Nolan over Biggio and Bagwell, then the Toy Cannon, and Dierker, who has done everything in the organization.How about Ceasar Cedeno?
Dodgers:Even tougher.Jackie is tops, for all he went through.Koufax’s short, excellent career is second, then Campy, Pee Wee, and Duke. Tough to leave off Drysdale, Orel, and Fernando. A step below are Garvey, Dusty, and Kirk.
Brewers:Yount was great at the plate, at short, and center…beating out Molitor and Fingers, both of whom also starred elsewhere.Then the under-rated Cooper and Gantner.
Mets:As a Braves fan, perhaps I should be voting for Strawberry.Surely Tom Terrific is tops.The other guys pale in comparison.(2) Strawberry tore it up while he was a Met.(3) Franco’s long career tops (4) Series hero Tug and (5) Piazza, whose best days were in Dodger blue.What about Dwight Gooden?
Phillies:I’m taking Lefty over Schmidt, then Roberts, Klein (who I don’t recall), and Ashburn. They outrank Luzinski, Bowa, and that great centerfielder (Elliot Maddox?).
Pirates:Being old school, Honus barely tops the excellent Clemente.Feared power hitter Stargell then beats Series hero Maz and Kiner.Didn’t Pittsburgh have a skinny outfielder win a few MVP’s in the 90’s?
Cardinals:Again the old school Stan the Man beats out the tough as nails Gibson, whom I still dislike for his stint as the Bravos pitching coach…trying to make Rick Mahler a power pitcher!The Wizard’s illustrious career tops Pujols, whom I love…he could be the player of this decade.Brock is no slouch, but brings up the rear of these five.
Padres:Gwynn spent his entire career in San Diego, and boy could he hit for average…most of the time in pain.That beats the amazing Winfield, whom I’m telling my boys about.Winfield spent many years with other teams.Hoffman has been quietly piling up saves for a mostly average team.Jones pitched a no-hitter, and maybe Giles is the current favorite…what about the shortstop Greene?Or Garry Templeton…or Ozzie?
Giants:Say Hey Willie tops this tough five.Perhaps if Bonds wasn’t so tainted and self-absorbed I would pick him.Third is Mel Ott, who hit his 500 homers in a tougher time than Stretch…who stuck around past his prime to pile up homers.Marichal was quite the competitor.
Expos/Nationals:Whether Tim Raines?Wasn’t his number retired?And Ellis Valentine, or even Warren Cromarte?Carter was not my favorite, but he beats le Grande Orange.Write in time!Soriano’s performance for the Nats this year puts him third, then Raines and Valentine.Don’t the Nats have an above average closer?
From the CPA...Ripping on JF (or the Atlanta Braves in general) continues to be the easy story for lazy sportswriters. I love to try to quantify as much of the game as possible through stats, but JF is a special case. If you look at his ’06 stats vs his ’05 stats, it appears as if he is regressing, but if you consider most of his good ’05 numbers came from his hot start (before the league knew how to pitch him), then you see a different story.
I agree – if things would have gone better for the organization, he would have spent the year in Richmond. As it is, he probably needs to be hitting lower in the order. And, it did not help any that Buck Martinez sabotaged his early season by having him sit on the bench during the WBC (why was Martinez managing the team anyway?). Though, as you mention, I think his intangibles bring a lot to the team.
From me...My friend Lang Whitaker had an excellent column on the Braves last week on www.SI.com - with an interesting linked article detailing Francoeur's season putting him on track to rank close to worst all-time in outs produced at the plate. But for that to happen, JF's BA will have to decrease...down below .240. Instead, in the last few weeks his average has risen from around .240 to over .260. Leading baseball in clutch hits, and still on track for 35/100...not bad for a young guy who should be in AAA this year.
His ROY rival Ryan Howard is impressive...but Howard played college ball, as well as working his way up through the minors...including AAA, the level JF skipped.
Wednesday matchup...Clemens vs. Maddux...most victories ever by two starting pitchers.
ARod's throwing problems...has no one mentioned how he's throwing sidearm? I remember watching him warm up at short, playing for the Rangers...with perfect form...pointing with his left arm, stepping, and making a strong OVERHAND throw.
I was lucky to see Greg Maddux so many times here in Atlanta. He's numero uno in my book. Others, though, consider his single-mindedness as selfish: for example; pitching through rain delays to get the win...only when he has the lead.
But a guy who quietly dominates with less than dominating ability, but with dominanting mental acumen...that's something special. Tiger does it with both the physical and the mental. Many have the physical part. Later on Roger added the mental, but for years he relied on his body. Give me Doggie any day!
Many are just now figuring out how great he's been.
Here's what AJC sportswriter Mark Bradley wrote when Maddux departed...
Tom Glavine was loved, and Tom Glavine was hated. When he bolted for New York, this city was all a-dither. Greg Maddux's departure has stirred no such visceral response. We never hated Maddux -- he wasn't a union mouthpiece -- but we never quite loved him, either. We simply admired him.
We should have. We'll never see anyone better.
Glavine is among the hal####ozen best pitchers of his generation. Maddux is the best. He has won more games than Pedro Martinez, has compiled a lower ERA than Roger Clemens, has won more consistently than Randy Johnson. Heck, he has won more consistently than any pitcher who ever lived, the benchmark Cy Young included.
We saw Greg Maddux up close for 11 numbingly brilliant seasons, but how many among us grasped what we were seeing? He didn't have a big fastball or an appropriate nickname. He's known as Mad Dog, which is a play on his surname, or simply Doggie, and neither fits. There's nothing wild-eyed about Maddux. He is, on the contrary, utterly cold-blooded. He's a clinician. He sees, as is said of the best quarterbacks, the whole field. More than merely smart, Maddux is shrewd.
A tiny example: On the night he made his first attempt to eclipse the exotic Cy Young standard -- 15 victories for 15 seasons running -- Maddux sat in the dugout 2 1/2 hours before game time. Pat Corrales, who positions the Braves' defense, asked if Maddux had seen Philadelphia's lineup yet. Maddux ticked off the names. Speaking of the Phillies' 3-4-5 hitters, Corrales said, "They'll be sitting dead-red."
In baseball argot, sitting dead-red means waiting on a fastball. Most big boppers do it, which makes it a fairly generic scouting report. But here Maddux showed why he -- possessed of that unassuming 89-mph fastball -- came to win 15 games every year without fail. To Corrales, he said, "Yeah, but they haven't been sitting dead-red the first three games of this series." Jim Thome and Bobby Abreu and Mike Lieberthal had taken to jumping on breaking balls, and Maddux noticed. Maddux notices everything.
Another tiny example: Before Game 1 of the 1996 World Series, the Braves' pitchers were discussing the Yankees' hitters. This was before interleague play, so the New Yorkers should have been something of a mystery. Leo Mazzone read off Bernie Williams' name and listed his tendencies, gathered at great expense by the Braves' advance scouts.
"That's just wrong," Maddux said. "I've been watching him [on TV] the last two weeks, and that's not what he's doing."
Mazzone made an executive decision. "We'll go with Doggie on this," he said. Maddux pitched Game 2, working eight shutout innings. Williams went 0-for-4.
Glavine put himself front and center. Maddux took his turn and won his games and managed to remain unobtrusive. (He once refused to pose at his Las Vegas home in front of his Cy Young plaques; he thought it would look cheesy.) Glavine was the go-to guy for the periodic State-of-the-Braves assessment. Maddux has no use for boilerplate. He can, however, say something so cutting in its insight that you walk away wondering why nobody has said it that way before.
Why? Because Maddux sees things others don't. We made sport of him for not having a hard body, but there are a thousand chiseled fastballers who can't pitch like he does. If he could have thrown as hard as the Big Unit, he wouldn't have had to think like Greg Maddux. But he took what he had and did what he had to do, start after start, season upon season, and five years after he stops pitching he'll be enshrined in Cooperstown.
But he's a Brave no longer. We were more prepared for Maddux's exit than we'd been for Glavine's. We knew the Braves wouldn't offer arbitration again, and many among us believed they shouldn't have the first time. We admired Maddux, yes, but we wondered why he wouldn't throw to Javy Lopez and why he'd pull himself after 80 pitches. We saw so much of him we came to notice the quirks above the seamless excellence, which was our loss. With Greg Maddux, the Big Picture was a stone masterpiece. We won't behold his likes again.
No relation to Dale! Lifetime Georgia boy...enjoys visiting the rest of the USA. The CPA is my buddy with a finger on the pulse of MLB. I'm a GT grad who also appreciates UGA. Love the Braves & MLB, tolerate the Falcons, Hawks, & Thrashers. A worker bee enjoying Little League & ballet - my excuse for not having hours to write & research. More ramblings can be found at www.sacrifice fly.blogspot. com
