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Mariners Musings

Musings about, um... well, the Seattle Mariners as well as a love affair with this game baseball. By Peter J. White

Friday, October 10, 2003

Pass me the hardware


You know what’s so fun about baseball’s awards? It’s that the awards have no clear cut definition. Most Valuable Player, Rookie of Year – They sound self-explanatory, but show me a baseball writer, heck, show me a baseball fan, and I’ll show you a different interpretation of “most valuable.” Sure, ballot writers could get specific and call the award “Player with the Most Win Shares” or “RBI King,” but where’s the fun it that? So, with mere hours left in voting in the 2003 Internet Baseball Awards, please indulge me while I “think out loud” and reach the conclusions of my ballot.

Most Valuable Player

“valu-able adj 1) having money value. 2) having great money value. 3) of great use or service.” –from The Merriam-Webster Dictionary

I believe it’s that “of great use or service” that we’re after. MVP is simply the greatest all around ballplayer of the league. And it’s “player,” not “most valuable hitter,” so all pitchers considered. I don’t believe in the mumbo jumbo the MVP has to come from a pennant winner. Last time I checked, there’s no “MVP” in team, and it takes a team to win the pennant. The numbers don’t lie. In fact, they often tell more of the story than the naked eye, so I won’t pretend I’m smarter than the stats. Here are the top AL players in terms of Win Shares: 

AL MVP             Win Shares

Alex Rodriguez        32

Carlos Delgado        32

Bret Boone            30

Carlos Beltran        28

Jorge Posada          28

Jason Giambi          28

Manny Ramirez         28

Alfonso Soriano       27

Vernon Wells          26

Miguel Tejada         25

Garrett Anderson      25

Nomar Garciaparra     25

Eric Chavez           25


The most convenient characteristic of Win Shares is the combination of offensive and defensive value. A-Rod and Delgado. According to WS, whatever value A-Rod has over Delgado in terms of being a top-notch shortstop, Delgado makes up with his hitting. I find it interesting that of that list of 13, eight play defense in the middle of the field. 

AL MVP             VORP

Alex Rodriguez     86.3

Bret Boone         75.8

Carlos Delgado     72.2

Manny Ramirez      69.2

Vernon Wells       62.3

Bill Mueller       60.1

Frank Thomas       59.2

Alfonso Soriano    59.2

Edgar Martinez     58.3

Nomar Garciaparra  58.3

Dmitri Young       58.3


According to Baseball Prospectus’s Value Over Replacement Player for position, Alex Rodriguez, again, is the AL’s premiere player of 2003. Delgado drops a notch below Bret Boone. Vernon Wells drops a couple of notches. Carlos Beltran drops off the list. Apparently his defense is more valuable than Wells’s. Now VORP only takes into account offense but weights it against players of the same defensive position. A-Rod’s value comes against of pool of the likes of Jeter, Garciaparra, Carlos Guillen, Deivi Cruz and the rest of the AL shortstops. Boone’s value is against the second basemen of the league.

A couple of weeks ago in defending the A-Rod for MVP argument, I sloppily threw out the idea that A-Rod was worth 11 wins in the standings for the Rangers. I was wrong with the number 11, but I liked the question: Just how many games is a player worth in the standings? Wins have the ultimate value in baseball, am I correct? Sure the Rangers are in last place again with their slugging shortstop. But just how much worse would they be without him? Tiger territory? Just how valuable is that? I figured that by using the Pythagorean method of approximating wins and Lee Sinins’s Runs Created Above Average it couldn’t be that difficult. Subtracting the RCAA from the team’s total runs scored gives what would be the runs created by a league average replacement who uses the same amount of outs.

It may not be the most scientific method in the world, and keep in mind my BA is in English, but here’s what I came up with. (RC is Runs Created; TRC is Team Runs Created; % is the percentage of the team’s runs created by that player; RCAA is Runs Created Above Average; PW is Pythagorean wins; PW w/o is Pythagorean wins with a league average replacement; Dif is the difference; clear as mud?) 

AL MVP                RC/TRC  %  RCAA PW PW w/o Diff

Carlos Delgado     142.4/894 16%  69  87   81     6

Alex Rodriguez     139.8/826 17%  53  68   63     5

Manny Ramirez      133.8/961 14%  59  95   90     5

Jason Giambi       122.0/877 14%  51  97   92     5

Magglio Ordonez    117.3/791 15%  39  89   85     4

Bret Boone         119.3/795 15%  38  99   95     4

Garrett Anderson   111.7/736 15%  33  80   77     3

Carlos Beltran     111.9/836 13%  36  78   74     4

Jorge Posada       100.0/877 11%  37  97   94     3

Bill Mueller       107.5/961 11%  38  95   92     3

Vernon Wells       125.5/894 14%  32  87   84     3

Alfonso Soriano    121.8/877 14%  32  97   94     3

Eric Chavez        102.9/768 13%  26  95   93     2

Nomar Garciaparra  119.0/961 12%  26  95   93     2

Miguel Tejada      102.2/768 13%  19  95   93     2


Carlos Delgado was worth 6 wins to the Blue Jays. A-Rod, Manny and Giambi were each worth 5 wins in the standings. Since this idea revolves around RCAA, it has the same limitations thereof. It’s based on simply a league average, without taking into account position. A-Rod would probably rank higher when his replacement is weighted against a pool of the AL’s light-hitting shortstops.

Secondly, RCAA is strictly a measure of offense. Sure, Manny, Giambi, Delgado and A-Rod are pretty much equals with the bat. But how’s Giambi’s double play pivot? Or Manny’s range in the hole? We can’t forget defense.

One other way to look at “valuable” is to consider a player’s offensive contribution within his own team. A single player generating 12-15% of his team’s offense is a pretty valuable commodity. A-Rod’s Rangers scored fewer runs than the Sox, Yankees and Jays. Thus, runs generated by A-Rod make up a greater percentage of his team’s offense. A-Rod’s offensive contribution to the Rangers is greater, i.e. more valuable, than any other player’s. That the Rangers pitching allowed more runs than any other team in the AL is what keeps A-Rod’s wins lower than Delgado’s.

Just how valuable is the difference between a 95-loss and 100-loss season? Because that’s essential what A-Rod means to the Rangers this season. Alex Rodriguez is the Official American League Most Valuable Player of Mariners Musings.

So here’s my top ten:

Alex Rodriguez
Carlos Delgado
Bret Boone
Manny Ramirez
Jason Giambi
Carlos Beltran
Jorge Posada
Vernon Wells
Bill Mueller
Alfonso Soriano

On to the National League! 

NL MVP             Win Shares

Albert Pujols         41

Barry Bonds           39

Gary Sheffield        35

Todd Helton           34

Jim Thome             30

Javier Lopez          30

Bobby Abreu           28

Marcus Giles          28

Richie Sexson         26

Chipper Jones         26


Pick a counting stat. Go ahead. Albert Pujols is your man. 


NL MVP             VORP

Barry Bonds        114.6

Albert Pujols       97.3

Gary Sheffield      78.9

Javy Lopez          75.9

Marcus Giles        64.7

Edgar Renteria      63.3

Todd Helton         62.5

Scott Rolen         57.8

Jim Edmonds         54.3

Richie Sexson       53.0


Pick a rate stat. Go ahead. Barry Bonds is your man. It’s about this time I’m ready to give it to Albert. After all, “most valuable” is all about what a player actually produces—not what he might produce given a certain amount of players. It’s about total production, and plate appearances have value. Travis Nelson puts it best:

“The analogy goes like this: If you have a stack of $100 bills, say, 50 bills tall, it’s worth $5000. If you have another stack of $50 bills, only this stack is 101 bills thick, its worth, its value, is $5050. You can argue all you want that the $100 bills are worth more, and you’ll win that argument, because that’s not the contention I’m making. I’m arguing that the stack of fifties is more valuable, if only slightly.”
Exactly.

But here’s something else to consider: 

NL MVP                RC/TRC  %  RCAA PW PW w/o Diff

Barry Bonds        148.8/755 20% 115  95   81    14 

Albert Pujols      159.0/876 18% 101  89   79    10

Todd Helton        154.3/853 18%  80  77   69     8

Gary Sheffield     140.0/907 15%  72  97   91     6

Jim Thome          127.6/791 16%  53  91   86     5

Javier Lopez       107.6/907 12%  55  97   92     5

Bobby Abreu        114.4/791 14%  38  91   87     4

Marcus Giles       113.2/907 12%  43  97   93     4

Chipper Jones      115.4/907 13%  43  97   93     4

Richie Sexson      121.6/714 17%  33  65   61     4

Scott Rolen        110.7/876 13%  34  89   86     3

Edgar Renteria     110.2/876 13%  33  89   86     3

Mark Loretta        93.5/678 14%  19  65   63     2

Rafael Furcal      111.3/907 12%  24  97   95     2

Ivan Rodriguez      85.4/751 11%  17  88   86     2


So despite just 550 total plate appearances (compared to Pujols 685), Barry Bonds single-handedly created one-fifth of his team’s total offense (2% more than Pujols in a team context) and contributed 14 wins to the Giants (to Pujols 10 for the Cards). So by this little exercise, the difference between Bonds and Pujols is roughly equivalent to the difference between Carlos Delgado and Miguel Tejada. With Barry, the Giants are a .500 team and don’t even sniff 2nd place in the NL West. The Official National League Most Valuable Player is Barry Bonds.

Here’s my ballot:

Barry Bonds
Albert Pujols
Todd Helton
Gary Sheffield
Javy Lopez
Jim Thome
Marcus Giles
Bobby Abreu
Richie Sexson
Edgar Renteria

Cy Young

Much like the apocalypse, the American League is essentially a four-horse race. 

AL CY              Win Shares

Tim Hudson            23

Estaban Loaiza        23

Roy Halladay          23

Keith Foulke          21

Pedro Martinez        20

Mike Mussina          19

Barry Zito            18

Jamie Moyer           18

Mariano Rivera        18

Darrell May           17

Bartolo Colon         17

Mark Mulder           17

Pedro Martinez suffers the same appearance shortage as Bonds. He pitched 186.2 innings, which by itself is a decent load, but not compared to the other aces of the league Hudson (240), Loaiza (226.1) and certainly Halladay (266). That’s why his Win Shares suffer.

Keith Foulke cracks the top five as Win Shares gives weight to Saves, which is a silly idea. However I, for one, am of the opinion that pitching the seventh, eighth and ninth innings is increasingly more valuable than pitching the first, second and third innings. How to give credit for that in numerical form is for a mind sharper than mine. But credit Bill James for trying. 

AL CY              VORP

Esteban Loaiza     74.7

Pedro Martinez     71.9

Tim Hudson         69.5

Roy Hallady        66.8

Mark Mulder        53.4

Jamie Moyer        51.3

Johan Santana      50.9

Mike Mussina       50.4

Barry Zito         49.3


Just to prove how close of a race this is, the difference between #1 Loaiza and #4 Halladay is 7.9, while the difference between #4 Halladay and #5 Mulder is 13.4

Figuring how many games in the win column is simply an exercise of adding a pitcher’s Runs Saved Above Average to the teams Runs Allowed and refiguring the Pythagorean record. 

AL CY          RSAA TRA  PW  PW w/o Dif

Pedro Martinez  53  809  95    90    5

Tim Hudson      41  643  95    90    5

Roy Halladay    45  826  87    83    4

Estaban Loaiza  39  715  89    85    4

Jamie Moyer     27  637  99    95    4

Darrell May     32  867  78    75    3

Barry Zito      24  643  95    92    3

Damaso Marte    26  715  89    86    3

Johan Santana   27  758  85    83    2

Mark Mulder     23  643  95    92    3


Just as Bonds had the greatest impact in a lesser amount of time, so does Pedro prove to have the greatest impact in the league, relative to his team. But he shares that distinction with Hudson. Pick any one of these top four and you can’t go wrong. I’d be hard pressed to argue with you. As for me, I pick Tim Hudson as the Official American Cy Young of Mariners Musings. Here’s my ballot:

Tim Hudson
Pedro Martinez
Esteban Loaiza
Roy Halladay
Jamie Moyer

To the National League, Eric Gagne makes this analysis a little more murky. 

NL CY              Win Shares

Eric Gagne            25

Mark Prior            22

Jason Schmidt         22

Livan Hernandez       22

Javier Vazquez        21

Kevin Brown           20

Billy Wagner          19

Carlos Zambrano       18

Kerry Wood            18

Hideo Nomo            17

Brandon Webb          17


According to Win Shares, it’s Eric Gagne by a pretty fair margin with the starting trio of Prior, Schmidt and Hernandez trailing. As I said before, that’s simply the nature of Win Shares and its weight on saves. 

NL CY              VORP

Jason Schmidt      69.3

Mark Prior         64.1

Kevin Brown        60.2

Livan Hernandez    57.4

Javier Vazquez     54.7

Kerry Wood         53.7

Brandon Webb       49.8

Curt Schilling     48.7

Hideo Nomo         48.7

Kip Wells          45.9


VORP gives no extra credit for relievers, and that’s why Gagne doesn’t crack the top 10. Justifying how a pitcher who throws 70-80 innings is just as or more valuable than pitcher that throws 200+ is a tough road. Choosing whether a reliever or starter is “better” is just a sticky argument. Those are two distinct roles. Also, the role of closer seems to be chance at redemption for failed starters. No one ever failed at closing and then became a dominant starter, did they? You think Mark Prior could consistently 100 on the speed gun and put up Gagne’s numbers if he was pitching 5 innings max a week? It’s a tough call. The margin for error is much, much greater in the later innings than starters see at the beginning of the game. I think the value of relievers should be somewhat less than what Win Shares credits but greater than VORP. 

NL CY          RSAA TRA  PW  PW w/o Dif

Livan Hernandez 50  716  80    75    5

Kevin Brown     38  556  84    78    6

Jason Schmidt   44  638  95    89    6

Javier Vazquez  48  716  80    75    5

Mark Prior      42  683  86    81    5

Brandon Webb    39  685  85    80    5

Curt Schilling  34  685  85    81    4

Eric Gagne      26  556  84    80    4

Hideo Nomo      22  556  84    80    4

Carlos Zambrano 26  683  86    83    3


Jason Schmidt and Kevin Brown both make the difference of 6 wins to their teams. Livan Hernandez, Javier Vazquez, Prior and Brandon Webb all make the difference of 5 wins. Gagne, despite being a closer, makes the difference of 4 games in the standings. Just as in the AL, there are at least four candidates that make very convincing arguments. I’ll go with Jason Schmidt as the Official National League Cy Young of Mariners Musings. My ballot:

Jason Schmidt
Mark Prior
Eric Gagne
Kevin Brown
Livan Hernandez

Rookie of the Year

What a mediocre year in the American League. Here are the best according to Win Shares: 

AL ROY             Win Shares

Hideki Matsui         19

Angel Berroa          16

Rocco Baldelli        14

Jody Gerut            14

Mark Teixeira         13

Craig Monroe          10

Francisco Rodriguez    9

Ben Broussard          9

Eric Munson            7


The guys with starting jobs out of spring training have a huge edge when it comes to Win Shares obviously because of playing time. 

AL ROY             VORP

Angel Berroa        34.0

Francisco Rodriguez 27.2

Hideki Matsui       22.5

Rocco Baldelli      20.1

Jose Contreras      18.9

Jody Gerut          17.9

Eric Munson         14.1


VORP will be a better tool in comparing the rookies against their positions. Here the shortstop Berroa and the middle reliever Rodriguez lead the pack. Matsui looks like a far less worthy candidate than hyped, as does Baldelli. 

AL ROY                RC/TRC  %  RCAA PW PW w/o Diff

Jody Gerut          75.2/699 11%  12  72   71     1 

Hideki Matsui       90.6/877 10%   5  97   97     0

Rocco Baldelli      86.7/715 12%  -3  67   67     0

Mark Teixeira       81.0/826 10%  -4  68   69    -1

Angel Berroa        87.5/836 10%  -7  78   79    -1


Rodriguez is the only AL rookie pitcher worth mentioning. 

AL ROY              RSAA TRA  PW  PW w/o Dif

Francisco Rodriguez  11	 754  80    79    1


There are no single overwhelming candidates. The names of Matsui, Berroa and Baldelli have been shoved down baseball fans’ throats seemingly since Opening Day. I don’t want to pick any of them, and here’s why.

The left-handed slugging Hideki Matsui, trumpeted as the reigning home run hitter of Japan, hit just 9 home runs in Yankee Stadium despite the short porch in right field. His .435 slugging percentage ranked 8th among AL left fielders, below such power threats as Frank Catalanotto (.472) and Jacque Jones (.464). Sure, he picked up 106 RBI. It only took him 695 total plate appearances while hitting mostly 5th and 6th in a lineup for a team that scored 877 runs. At best, Matsui was a league average hitter. Is there anyone else to pick?

Angel Berroa posted a .338 on-base percentage for the year and just a .795 OPS at home in Kaufman Stadium, known to be one of the best hitter’s parks in the AL. Is there anyone else to pick?

Rocco Baldelli posted a .326 OBP and his .743 OPS ranked 8th out of eight qualified centerfielders in the American League. Is there anyone else to pick?

Jody Gerut’s .830 OPS is the highest among AL rookie’s. His 22 home runs are second to Mark Teixeira’s 26. Among AL right fielders, his OPS ranks him 5th, higher than Ichiro, and he put up a higher slugging percentage than Tim Salmon. He was the one rookie hitter to matter even a single win to his team.

But my pick for Official American League Rookie of the Year goes to Francisco Rodriguez, Anaheim’s fireballing middle reliever. To be a 21-year-old right-handed middle reliever and to be the difference of a win to your team, I find that impressive. K-Rod struck out 95 batters in 86 innings, a ratio of nearly 10 per 9 innings. He allowed less than a baserunner (0.99 WHIP) per inning. Opponents hit just .172 off of him. It’s a weak field, but somebody has to take the prize. My ballot:

Francisco Rodriguez
Jody Gerut
Angel Berroa

Now the National League is a different story as five pitchers and two hitters brought at least one win to their team, but we’ll get to that in a second. 

NL ROY             Win Shares  	

Scott Podsednik       22

Brandon Webb          17

Marlon Byrd           16

Ty Wigginton          15

Dontrelle Willis      14

Jason Phillips        13

Miguel Cabrera        12

Jose Reyes            12

Jose Valverde         11

Adam Everett          11


Podsednik leads all rookies in both leagues in Win Shares with 22 and Webb leads all rookie pitchers with 17. 

NL ROY             VORP

Brandon Webb       49.8

Scott Podsednik    43.2

Dontrelle Willis   36.5

Marlon Byrd        25.8

Jason Phillips     25.6

Jerome Williams    23.4

Horacio Ramirez    20.9

Zach Day           20.5

Keith Ginter       19.1

Jae Weong Seo      19.1


In terms of VORP, again it’s Podsednik and Webb heads and shoulders above the rest. 

NL ROY                RC/TRC  %  RCAA PW PW w/o Diff

Scott Podsednik     97.7/714 14%  18  65   63     2  

Marlon Byrd         78.4/791 10%  13  91   90     1

Jose Reyes          41.8/642  7%   4  68   68     0

Jason Phillips      61.1/642 10%   3  68   68     0

Miguel Cabrera      43.6/751  6%  -1  88   88     0


Podesednik and Byrd are the only two rookie NL hitters that brought significant positive value to the teams. 

NL ROY          RSAA TRA  PW  PW w/o Dif

Brandon Webb     39  685  85    80    5

Jerome Williams  14  638  95    93    2

Zach Day         14  716  80    79    1

Dontrelle Willis 12  692  88    86    2

Claudio Vargas   10  716  80    79    1


Brandon Webb was one of the top 10 best pitchers in the National League and is a shoo-in as the Official National League Rookie of the Year of Mariners Musings. Any one of Podsednik or the four other pitchers could have easily been the best rookie of the American League. Maybe the Brewers will consider Scott Podsednik as a type of advance from the Mariners for Richie Sexson. My ballot:

Brandon Webb
Scott Podsednik
Dontrelle Willis

Disagree? Well, go vote for yourself.
|| Peter @ 10/10/2003

Thursday, October 09, 2003

Random playoff thoughts of the day


The Fox ALCS broadcast lineup:

Joe "I'll be milking this Ed-Hillel-Objective-Yankee-Fan joke till Game 7" Buck
Tim "I know more baseball than you" McCarver
Bret "Third wheel" Boone

Did you catch this sequence?

One out, none on, in the 7th. 4-0 Red Sox.

Jeff Nelson relieves Felix Heredia to face right-hander Nomar (.843 OPS vs. right-handed pitching).

Amazingly, Nomar does not pop out. Instead he grounds out to Posada. Yeah, to the catcher. Two out.

Next up: Right-handed Manny Ramirez (.984 OPS vs. right-handed pitching).

Manny flares a 3-1 pitch from Nellie to right for a single. One one.

Left-handed David Ortiz (1.058 OPS vs. right-handed pitching) steps to the plate. A stray 1-1 slider jumps out and bites Ortiz on the left foot. Two on, two out.

Here comes the right-handed Kevin Millar (.820 OPS vs. right-handed pitching). Millar drops a 1-2 pitch from Nellie into shallow left field and Ramirez scores without a throw. 5-0 Red Sox.

Joe Torre announces Nellie's night is finished and the Yanks' second leftie, Gabe White comes in to face left-handed Trot Nixon (.671 OPS vs. left-handed pitching).

Nixon stings a 1-1 pitch from White into left, but too sharply as the lumbering Ortiz with the tender foot is held at third. Two out, bases loaded.

But White gets Doug Mirabelli to ground out right to Soriano to end the inning and ward off complete Yankee catastrophe.

Jeff Nelson's line for the evening: 0.1 IP, 17 pitches, 2 hits (both to right-handed batters), 1 run.

Kinda makes you wonder what Armando Benitez is up to these days, doesn't it?
|| Peter @ 10/09/2003

Wednesday, October 08, 2003

Random playoff thoughts of the day


For more on why "Miguel Tejada is a better role model for his own children than Derek Lowe" see King Kaufman. And if you're too cheap to subscribe to Salon to read it (as I am), Bob Montgomery breaks down the pertinent parts. The thing is, I remember hearing the tirade but for some reason I wasn't putting two and two together as to where it was coming from.

Yet I again, I pass out on the couch in the 8th inning of a tie game. This time I wake up to Drew Carrey and it's 12:30 a.m. I vaguely remember hearing things about Ivan Rodriguez and Arnold Schwarzenegger. And that makes for more bizarre dreams than usual. I was hoping for a slugfest. And after the first inning, I thought I was going to get my wish. I really don't know if I can handle another week solid of extra-inning tight games won in the last at bat. I certainly can't seem to stay awake for them. Oh well. Good for the Fish. They face Prior and Wood next, and being down 2-1 is much better for them than 3-0.

The Good: No more Joe Morgan. No more David Justice. No more Rick Sutcliffe.

The Bad: An entire series of Steve Lyons. Thank the Maker that Al Leiter's in the booth. They're were as many extra base hits last night as items from Lyons's mouth that Leiter directly contradicted. "Well no, actually Psycho..."

More Good: For the Sox/Yankees, the good people of Fox bring us Joe Buck, Tim McCarver and... Bret Boone! Yeah, you can bet he lives for this.

In the most shocking quote I think I've ever read from Howard Lincoln, which causes me to wonder if aliens are possessing his body, or at least his mouth:
"We want someone with creativity. We're not looking for a 'yes' man - we want someone who will fight for his recommendations... I've been intrigued by one aspect of Beane's book - the necessity of accepting change. Some people in baseball have trouble accepting change. I happen to think there has to be a willingness to change" (LaRue, TribNet).
Encouraging stuff, though I wasn't aware Billy Beane had written a book. Maybe Beane is still looking for a publisher and showed Howard the manuscript for some professional feedback. The October 31st deadline makes me wonder, though: If the Yankees lose, and Brian Cashman takes the fall, will there be enough time to consider him?

|| Peter @ 10/08/2003

Tuesday, October 07, 2003

Random playoff thoughts of the day


Don't count me on the Miguel-Tejada-to-the-Mariners bandwagon. Why, you ask? Because he has the emotional maturity of a 5-year-old, I reply.
"'Derek Lowe is going to be paid back for that sign,' Tejada screamed hysterically through the clubhouse, shouting expletives. 'My kid is in the stands. He's going to pay.'

"Oakland general manager Billy Beane escorted the crying Tejada away" (McCauley, AP).

You're the reigning MVP, Miggy. You're a paid professional. Lose with some class and dignity.

Oh, and there's that .331 career on-base percentage, .786 career OPS in Safeco Field (.278/.342/.444). Did we mention he's right-handed? So by all means, let the Dodgers/Orioles overspend to their hearts' content.

What a phenomenal game. When I grow up, I'll write like Ed Cossette.

And so, just as inevitable as a Mariners second-half swoon, the A's are eliminated from the first round of the postseason, and Jeremy Giambi passes the torch of Athletic home plate ineptitude to Eric Byrnes.

Headline of the Year Award goes to Scott Allen of the Stanford Daily for this gem: "Billy Beane is not my lover!" (link via David Pinto)

And this just in: California voters are arriving at the polls today to discover they're actually voting to recall Ken Macha.
|| Peter @ 10/07/2003

Monday, October 06, 2003

Random playoff thoughts of the day


Boy do I feel like a schmuck. My apologies, Mr. Schmidt.

Saturday's A's/Red Sox game was the first playoff game (finally) I caught start to finish. Sort of. I fell asleep in the 8th inning and woke up to Jon Miller raving about Trot Nixon's pinch-hit, walk-off homer. Now that's one for the annals of Sox history. My, how the momentum has reversed.

If I'm Steve Schott, my pep talk to Billy Beane is something along the lines of: "Well, you better find some shit to work in the playoffs."

Remember that scene in Back to the Future Part II, just after the obnoxious hoverboard scene, when Marty learns the 2015 Cubbies have just swept the World Series from Miami? Yeah. (It's just around the 22 minute mark for reference sake.) Hmmm.

What an amazing week of baseball. If the championship series this week can be at least half as thrilling, I'll be a happy camper.
|| Peter @ 10/06/2003