Okay… okay… it’s only two games - and Clemens is still working back to full capacity. But indeed for the second time in a week, Tavarez and Clemens pitch on the same day and put up eerily similar stat lines:
Since Gonzo is too busy whining about East Coast (i.e. Right Coast) bias to actually contribute anything newsworthy from the Wrong… er, West Coast, I’ll do it for him.
I’d like to introduce you to a guy who’s very quietly making the most of a long overdue full-time opportunity. His name is Cust. Jack Cust.
Josh Beckett is getting a lot of press because he’s off to a 9-0 start, while pitching in Boston. His ERA is 2.88, which is good - but it’s the 8.75 rpg in run support that’s perhaps a more telling reason. He’s got 67 K, 16 BB, 4.19 K/BB, 1.00 WHIP and 7 quality starts.
Although not getting quite the media attention that Beckett is, Danny Haren is having a terrific year: 14GS, 13 quality starts, 7-2 W/L, 1.58 ERA (on only 4.36 rpg of support), 0.86 WHIP, 76 K, 21 BB, and 3.62 K/BB. Since he’s doing it on the west coast, for a team that had to artificially limit its seating in an effort to be able to announce a “sell-out”, we’re not hearing as much about Haren’s season as we should. Indeed, Jim Leyland (AL All-Star manager) is on record as saying that Beckett should start the ASG (at least for now)… which is silly, cuz a cursory glance at the numbers reveals Haren is the choice.
But I submit a pitcher who may not be pitching as well as Haren, but is pitching as well as Beckett - and is receiving *far* less recognition than both for his efforts….
Two pretty close stat lines from Saturday’s games:
Pitcher A - 6 IP, 3 ER, 5H, 2BB, 8 K, 108 pitches, team wins game
Pitcher B - 6 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 5 K, 97 pitches, team wins game
After three years in Boston, shuttling back and forth to/from the minors while amassing a league-average ERA, Lenny Dinardo went to Oakland for the 2007 season. Making his second start of the season, and only the ninth start of his career, he shuts out the “mighty” Red Sox on 2 hits and 6 walks (not a typo). So much for Dice-K’s run support.
Cue Joaquin Andujar: “You can sum up baseball in one word, youneverknow.”
I saw someone note that even with the Yankees back 13.5 games (at the time), the fact that there are 17 weeks left in the season means they “only” need to pick up a game per week to overtake the Red Sox. Yes, that’s technically true. Course, that also applies to the Orioles, Blue Jays and Devil Rays. Before you scoff at my inclusion of those three teams in this discussion of the Yankees, be advised that Clemens missed his *first* scheduled start due to a groin injury (which at age 44, is unlikely to then not re-emerge for the rest of the year) - and Pettitte had to leave his last game (against Boston) with back spasms (like he had in spring training).
Course, when the Red Sox get shut out by Lenny Dinardo as they did last night in Oakland… I suppose *anything* is indeed possible. Remember the sage Joaquin Andujar: “You can sum up baseball in one word, youneverknow.”
The Islanders will pay Alexei Yashin $17.6 million to not play for them anymore. That makes sense, since NHL teams are swimming in excess cash from their sweet TV deal. As someone who is currently not working for zero compensation, I can only stand back and admire Yashin’s ability to pull down nine figures in return for his indolence. Well played, sir.
Game 3 of this year’s Stanley Cup finals achieved the lowest rating ever for a prime time television program. Lowest. Rating. Ever. Including Cop Rock.
OK, we’ve covered baseball movies. I think Major League takes top honors by acclamation, with special mentions for Bull Durham and Eight Men Out. I wonder if there will be such relative consistency of opinion on the issue of books about baseball. Here is my top ten list. All are non-fiction. Four are by journalists, though none who write primarily about sports. Two are by players, two by statheads, one each from an evolutionary biologist and a Rennaisance scholar. My favorite anecdote about the Rennaisance scholar: upon taking over as President of Yale, Bart Giamatti felt that his first act in office should be bold and tone-setting. He thus issued a proclamation that thenceforth, evil was banished from the Yale campus, and Paradise restored. So you can see where he was coming from on the Pete Rose thing. Without further ado:
I regard most sportswriters as intellectually obtuse, and given to moral preening. Yet even my low opinion sometimes affords practitioners of the craft too much credit. Such is the case with John Feinstein, who continues to insist on the guilt and poor character of Duke lacrosse players, despite the North Carolina attorney general taking the extraordinary step of pronouncing them not merely “not guilty” but in fact “innocent.” I suppose one could still say some were guilty of underage drinking, but let’s take it as read that nobody in this forum objects to that. Feinstein’s inability to acknowledge the error of his early rush to judgement only brings discredit to himself and his profession.