Howe now, brown cow
Rob Neyer got a lesson in ethics this week. Texas Rangers reliever Frank Francisco now has more time for those inevitable anger management classes. I'm thinking Jim Duquette might want to consider sensitivity training during the offseason, as his plan for firing Mets manager Art Howe at the end of the season leaked early and he had to put the spin control in motion in order to worm out of yet another PR disaster. Art Howe seems like a stand-up guy, though; he agreed to stay on for the remaining 17 games of the season after meeting with Duquette. A generous move, I'd say, as the inconvenience of replacing Howe for the last couple of weeks of the season is the last thing the Mets need to cap off a dreadful season.
And to be fair, it's not Howe's fault. I mean, in his two seasons of managing the Mets, he has barely cracked a .400 win percentage, which means he might as well have been managing the Brewers. Actually, I'll bet he wishes he had inked a deal to manage the Brewers two years ago -- there's promise for the future with a nice core of young talent on that team, while the Mets don't have anything to look forward to without massive restructuring.
Ultimately, it's all about the talent. A great team (like Howe's A's teams) can succeed without a great manager (and Moneyball would have you believe that Howe is not one, though I'm not sure I agree with that assessment). A great, or good or even competent, manager can't do much without a team that has the tools to succeed: here's Lloyd McClendon, patron saint of this here blog, floundering year after year with the Pirates. So what role does a manager play? Filling out those line-up cards, for one, and giving a team a reason to believe and motivating them when they need a swift kick in the ass (Jack McKeon to the Marlins '03; Phil Garner to the Astros '04).
Also, it should be mentioned that the only thing worse than Mets management is the team's luck this year. Jose Reyes and Kaz Matsui did impressions of Samuel L. Jackson in Unbreakable and forced Jeff Keppinger and Wilson Delgado into the starting line-up. Piazza waffled about playing first base, so now Todd Zeile is there. Trades -- Hidalgo, Benson, Zambrano -- did absolutely nothing and seemed like profligate excuses for spending money better served in a roth IRA or stuffed inside a mattress. Starters dropped like flies, and then their replacements dropped like flies, and then the 3rd string replacements couldn't keep healthy.
And Art Howe? He'll still have his dignity at the end of the season. No one else affiliated with the Mets can say the same.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Fresh meat
The NL Rookie of the Year race just got interesting. No one's come close to having a season like Henry Rowengartner had for the Cubs in, oh, '93. But this season, it has been neck-and-neck between Pirates OF Jason Bay (The Outfielder Formerly Known As The Brian Giles Trade Throw In) and Padres SS Khalil Greene (The Only MLB Player Who Practices The Bah'ai Faith). Jason Bay missed nearly two months to open the season -- but collected Rookie of the Month honors in June and July -- which some pundits decided was enough to disqualify him from consideration. But, oh wait -- Khalil Greene broke a finger on Monday night and now he's out for the rest of the season. So injuries took their toll on both seasons.
Here's Khalil Greene's season numbers:
484ab /66r/ 132h/ 15hr/ 65bi/ 4sb/ .273ba/ .349obp/ .446slg/ .795ops
And here's Jason Bay through Wednesday 9/14/04:
350ab/ 55r/ 103h/ 23hr/ 72bi/ 3sb/ .294ba/ .372obp/ .571slg/ .943ops
I don't think we even need to consider the 50 or so at-bats (and handful of home runs and rbi) Bay will have over the rest of the season to do a point-by-point comparison. 300 abs is all that should be needed to qualify for consideration -- that's plenty to make a mark. And isn't it odd to see the same folks who rushed to anoint Dontrelle Willis (who came up later in the season than Brandon Webb) last year's NL ROY using the same criteria to argue that Greene would be a better choice?
Bay's not flawless, mind you: he strikes out at a much greater clip than Greene, has been thrown out stealing more, and has hit into more double-plays. Fair enough. Defense gets thrown out there a lot as a reason why Greene's the superior candidate, and of course he's playing a much harder defensive position, and he's made some Sports Center highlight reel plays this season, but check it out: Greene has 20 errors on the season and a fielding percentage of .965. Mr. Bay (in half of the "chances") has exactly one error and a fielding percentage of .995. Translation: he does not suck in the field.
Beyond that, the leads in all power categories should nail the door shut. Especially that .943 ops -- not Barry Bonds ungodly, but amazing. Hammer says: u can't touch that. I mean, that's it. End of story. Jason Bay has been the most consistent performer on the Pirates this year; Greene is...playing a role. Better than Ramon Vasquez, sure. But he's no Jason Bay.
The NL Rookie of the Year race just got interesting. No one's come close to having a season like Henry Rowengartner had for the Cubs in, oh, '93. But this season, it has been neck-and-neck between Pirates OF Jason Bay (The Outfielder Formerly Known As The Brian Giles Trade Throw In) and Padres SS Khalil Greene (The Only MLB Player Who Practices The Bah'ai Faith). Jason Bay missed nearly two months to open the season -- but collected Rookie of the Month honors in June and July -- which some pundits decided was enough to disqualify him from consideration. But, oh wait -- Khalil Greene broke a finger on Monday night and now he's out for the rest of the season. So injuries took their toll on both seasons.
Here's Khalil Greene's season numbers:
484ab /66r/ 132h/ 15hr/ 65bi/ 4sb/ .273ba/ .349obp/ .446slg/ .795ops
And here's Jason Bay through Wednesday 9/14/04:
350ab/ 55r/ 103h/ 23hr/ 72bi/ 3sb/ .294ba/ .372obp/ .571slg/ .943ops
I don't think we even need to consider the 50 or so at-bats (and handful of home runs and rbi) Bay will have over the rest of the season to do a point-by-point comparison. 300 abs is all that should be needed to qualify for consideration -- that's plenty to make a mark. And isn't it odd to see the same folks who rushed to anoint Dontrelle Willis (who came up later in the season than Brandon Webb) last year's NL ROY using the same criteria to argue that Greene would be a better choice?
Bay's not flawless, mind you: he strikes out at a much greater clip than Greene, has been thrown out stealing more, and has hit into more double-plays. Fair enough. Defense gets thrown out there a lot as a reason why Greene's the superior candidate, and of course he's playing a much harder defensive position, and he's made some Sports Center highlight reel plays this season, but check it out: Greene has 20 errors on the season and a fielding percentage of .965. Mr. Bay (in half of the "chances") has exactly one error and a fielding percentage of .995. Translation: he does not suck in the field.
Beyond that, the leads in all power categories should nail the door shut. Especially that .943 ops -- not Barry Bonds ungodly, but amazing. Hammer says: u can't touch that. I mean, that's it. End of story. Jason Bay has been the most consistent performer on the Pirates this year; Greene is...playing a role. Better than Ramon Vasquez, sure. But he's no Jason Bay.
Sunday, September 12, 2004
Don't Worry, Lo Duca
Montreal's all tied up for a motocross racing event, so it's the Marlins vs. Expos at a neutral location on Monday and Tuesday. I'm soooo there. Is this a first? I mean, the Expos have obviously played a large number of games at Hiram Bithorn Stadium over the past couple of years, Las Vegas has hosted regular season games, and season openers have occurred in Monterey and Japan -- but has inclement weather or some other hardship, in combination with a lack of availability at either "home" or "away" fields, ever forced a neutral-location game(s) between two opponents during the regular season?
P.S. Carl Pavano will be robbed if he doesn't collect the NL Cy Young this year. I'm still sad he broke the engagement with Alyssa Milano off, ending all hopes for a hyphenated Milano-Pavano married name.
Update 9/12/04: Both games start at 1:05, and *sniff* I'll be chained to my desk at work. Tickets are $15, the whole stadium will be general admission, and a third of the gate receipts go to disaster relief. Kudos to MLB.
Also, the answer to the question I posed above is that the Yanks played the Angels in Shea Stadium for one game in '98 while Yankee Stadium was undergoing mandatory repairs. Also, Oakland played 6 games in Las Vegas to open the '96 season -- but what I was really searching for was something like the Yankees-Angels-Shea Stadium example.
Montreal's all tied up for a motocross racing event, so it's the Marlins vs. Expos at a neutral location on Monday and Tuesday. I'm soooo there. Is this a first? I mean, the Expos have obviously played a large number of games at Hiram Bithorn Stadium over the past couple of years, Las Vegas has hosted regular season games, and season openers have occurred in Monterey and Japan -- but has inclement weather or some other hardship, in combination with a lack of availability at either "home" or "away" fields, ever forced a neutral-location game(s) between two opponents during the regular season?
P.S. Carl Pavano will be robbed if he doesn't collect the NL Cy Young this year. I'm still sad he broke the engagement with Alyssa Milano off, ending all hopes for a hyphenated Milano-Pavano married name.
Update 9/12/04: Both games start at 1:05, and *sniff* I'll be chained to my desk at work. Tickets are $15, the whole stadium will be general admission, and a third of the gate receipts go to disaster relief. Kudos to MLB.
Also, the answer to the question I posed above is that the Yanks played the Angels in Shea Stadium for one game in '98 while Yankee Stadium was undergoing mandatory repairs. Also, Oakland played 6 games in Las Vegas to open the '96 season -- but what I was really searching for was something like the Yankees-Angels-Shea Stadium example.
Saturday, September 11, 2004
Chi-town follies
While the whole world waited for Barry to join the 700 club (it'll happen this season, and he'll surpass Ruth the next and then Aaron the next because of a little thing called T-E-N-A-C-I-T-Y), Gobo rolled into town for a conference and we headed over to Wrigley Field to watch a Cubs-Expos game from the (sorta) cheapie section. Big fun -- hanging out with Gobo, at least. He came prepared for the party with a Cubs jersey with his own name imprinted on the back of it, probably because he shares a name with a certain obsessive-compulsive relieverwho likes to chew on, like, bark and trace circles on the pitcher's mound. When I see this guy pitch, all I can think of is Tony Shaloub in Monk.
And the game itself? To quote Iggy and the Stooges: no fun, no fun, no fun. Greg Maddux kept it on lockdown through 7 innings before everything went boom and the Expos pounded out 5 runs in the 8th. Wasn't Maddux's fault, though -- he only ended up with two earned runs on his line, due in part to Derrek Lee booting a throw to first and catcher Paul Bako wildly misplaying a shouldn't-have-done-it-under-any-circumstance throw to second base.
And the Cubs could not put together the hits against Montreal starter Scott Downs (once traded from the Cubs to the Expos for Henry Rodriguez, a hero in Montreal back when folks cared enough to throw O Henry! candy bars onto the field), who came into the game with a 7.00+ era. Sammy Sosa looked mortal for the first time since he donned a Cubs uniform in 1992 and just hacked, hacked, hacked away at the pitches. Nomar Garciaparra (back in a Cubs uniform in '05? We couldn't decide) grounded into two double-plays and stranded four runners on base. And Mike Remlinger came in to relieve Maddux for a third of an inning and coughed up another run, prompting a huge Bronx cheer from the largely disinterested crowd.
On the plus side, a few fans walked away with Ryne Sandberg autographed baseballs. On the other side, this was the game where the Astros overtook the Cubs for the Wild Card lead...and then lost it again. So we've got the Cubs tied with the Astros and the Giants, with Florida and Philly within spitting distance, at this writing. Florida has more games to make up (including some which may be moved to the South Side of Chicago because of Hurricane Ivan -- how strange is that?). That's my pick. Philly's not fooling anyone and the Marlins are the only team that has the pitching to compete in the playoffs. Watch the Cubs take a dirt nap in October and please be sure to congratulate me on the fact that my commute time coming home from work is sure to reduce by 50%.
While the whole world waited for Barry to join the 700 club (it'll happen this season, and he'll surpass Ruth the next and then Aaron the next because of a little thing called T-E-N-A-C-I-T-Y), Gobo rolled into town for a conference and we headed over to Wrigley Field to watch a Cubs-Expos game from the (sorta) cheapie section. Big fun -- hanging out with Gobo, at least. He came prepared for the party with a Cubs jersey with his own name imprinted on the back of it, probably because he shares a name with a certain obsessive-compulsive relieverwho likes to chew on, like, bark and trace circles on the pitcher's mound. When I see this guy pitch, all I can think of is Tony Shaloub in Monk.
And the game itself? To quote Iggy and the Stooges: no fun, no fun, no fun. Greg Maddux kept it on lockdown through 7 innings before everything went boom and the Expos pounded out 5 runs in the 8th. Wasn't Maddux's fault, though -- he only ended up with two earned runs on his line, due in part to Derrek Lee booting a throw to first and catcher Paul Bako wildly misplaying a shouldn't-have-done-it-under-any-circumstance throw to second base.
And the Cubs could not put together the hits against Montreal starter Scott Downs (once traded from the Cubs to the Expos for Henry Rodriguez, a hero in Montreal back when folks cared enough to throw O Henry! candy bars onto the field), who came into the game with a 7.00+ era. Sammy Sosa looked mortal for the first time since he donned a Cubs uniform in 1992 and just hacked, hacked, hacked away at the pitches. Nomar Garciaparra (back in a Cubs uniform in '05? We couldn't decide) grounded into two double-plays and stranded four runners on base. And Mike Remlinger came in to relieve Maddux for a third of an inning and coughed up another run, prompting a huge Bronx cheer from the largely disinterested crowd.
On the plus side, a few fans walked away with Ryne Sandberg autographed baseballs. On the other side, this was the game where the Astros overtook the Cubs for the Wild Card lead...and then lost it again. So we've got the Cubs tied with the Astros and the Giants, with Florida and Philly within spitting distance, at this writing. Florida has more games to make up (including some which may be moved to the South Side of Chicago because of Hurricane Ivan -- how strange is that?). That's my pick. Philly's not fooling anyone and the Marlins are the only team that has the pitching to compete in the playoffs. Watch the Cubs take a dirt nap in October and please be sure to congratulate me on the fact that my commute time coming home from work is sure to reduce by 50%.
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Stinkees
How therapeutic is this? Very. For one, it gives me an opportunity to figure out how to post images to this here blog. Beyond that, though, it gives me a chance to relive the glory of the Evil Empire's worst defeat...EVER. How bad was it? To find a shutout as lopsided as Cleveland's crushing victory on Wednesday evening, you'd have to hop on the time machine with Mr. Peabody and Sherman and go all the way back to 1900, a Pittsburgh team comprised of folks with curly mustaches and sissy knickers pounded the pepper out their Cubs competitors.
The press seemed to be really concerned with A-Rod and Babyface Jeter's reactions after the game. But what about Kevin Brown, all 10-4 up in this bitch, breaking his hand in a fit of frustration two nights ago and jeopardizing the rest of his season? It's as hard to comprehend as Steinbrenner's post-game motivational schtick where he likened the plight of the Yankees to the plight of New York after the events of September 11, 2001.
Barring a spectacular collapse, the Yankees will at least qualify for a Wild Card spot. Minnesota and Oakland appear to have it locked up in the other divisions, but the Yankees-Red Sox dogfight is the only race that matters in the AL right now. As of this writing, the Yankees are 5-5 in their last 10 games, while Ben Affleck's team has cruised to a 9-1 record. What part does momentum play? It's huge if you've ever played Def Jam Vendetta. The Yanks lead has crumbled to 2.5 games in the AL East; similar records over the next 10 could flip-flop the standings and have the Sox pull ahead.
My pal Albert likes to say that rooting for the Red Sox is a vain and hopeless pursuit because the Red Sox try to parry and thrust along with all of the Yankees' moves and they're still not good enough to beat the Yankees. Steinbrenner was right, though: the Yankees are the City of New York's problem. Boston's 8-5 record against the team that broke Scrooge MacDuck's bank vault? 8-5. No problem.
How therapeutic is this? Very. For one, it gives me an opportunity to figure out how to post images to this here blog. Beyond that, though, it gives me a chance to relive the glory of the Evil Empire's worst defeat...EVER. How bad was it? To find a shutout as lopsided as Cleveland's crushing victory on Wednesday evening, you'd have to hop on the time machine with Mr. Peabody and Sherman and go all the way back to 1900, a Pittsburgh team comprised of folks with curly mustaches and sissy knickers pounded the pepper out their Cubs competitors.
The press seemed to be really concerned with A-Rod and Babyface Jeter's reactions after the game. But what about Kevin Brown, all 10-4 up in this bitch, breaking his hand in a fit of frustration two nights ago and jeopardizing the rest of his season? It's as hard to comprehend as Steinbrenner's post-game motivational schtick where he likened the plight of the Yankees to the plight of New York after the events of September 11, 2001.
Barring a spectacular collapse, the Yankees will at least qualify for a Wild Card spot. Minnesota and Oakland appear to have it locked up in the other divisions, but the Yankees-Red Sox dogfight is the only race that matters in the AL right now. As of this writing, the Yankees are 5-5 in their last 10 games, while Ben Affleck's team has cruised to a 9-1 record. What part does momentum play? It's huge if you've ever played Def Jam Vendetta. The Yanks lead has crumbled to 2.5 games in the AL East; similar records over the next 10 could flip-flop the standings and have the Sox pull ahead.
My pal Albert likes to say that rooting for the Red Sox is a vain and hopeless pursuit because the Red Sox try to parry and thrust along with all of the Yankees' moves and they're still not good enough to beat the Yankees. Steinbrenner was right, though: the Yankees are the City of New York's problem. Boston's 8-5 record against the team that broke Scrooge MacDuck's bank vault? 8-5. No problem.
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