Dallas Cowboys Quiz: 1) Interceptions, career? 2) Passing
yards, season? 3) Passing yards, game? 4) Receptions, game?
5) Receiving yards, game? [#’s 4 and 5 have different answers.]
Answers below.
The Ryder Cup
We congratulate the Europeans for kicking our butt on Sunday.
Simply put, they wanted it far more than our guys did. But a few
random musings.
–Yes, Sam Torrance deserves a ton of credit, but I can’t beat up
on Curtis Strange for his decision in coming up with the order for
the singles.
–I’ve always like Bernhard Langer. Just a super, super
competitor.
–I had a tear in my eye after Paul Azinger’s unbelievable shot at
18. That’s why you watch this event. It seldom disappoints.
–But, most importantly, which group would you rather quaff a
bunch of ales with? Oh, to be partying with Darren Clarke, Paul
McGinley, Sam Torrance and Ian Woosnam Sunday night. Just
to be in a pub anywhere in Ireland, for that matter, would have
been fun. And that’s what it’s really all about, sports fans.
Finally, kudos to the British spectators, who were classy
throughout.
Da Market
Before we get to our baseball wrap-up, I just have to shift out of
the normal Bar Chat format to address a market-oriented topic
that’s in the news Monday, that being the rejection of Intel’s
Itanium mega-chip. I’ll have a comment or two in my next
Week in Review, but with Google telling Intel that they don’t
want to employ a technology that Intel has already invested
$5 billion in (that’s with a ‘b’), what’s interesting is that Google
said it sopped up too much power! Which is a convenient way to
bring up some thoughts that Harry K. passed along last week on
a similar topic. Or, as Harry titled his piece…
“I’m a Vampire, Baby, Suckin’ Blood From the Earth” – Neil
Young
“The average US home has 20 electrical appliances that bleed
consumers’ money all day long, even when they’re turned off. A
study at Cornell University reveals these vampire appliances cost
consumers $4 billion a year, or about $200 per household.
“All that juice is needed to support timers, clocks, memory,
remote on/off switches, microwave ovens, garage door openers,
security systems, etc. Among the bigger energy pigs are satellite
TV, DVD players and VCRs, which use almost as much
electricity when off as they do when they’re on.
“Satellite TV & DVD systems cost about $9/year in standby
power. TV sets run $10/year. A computer’s stand-by setting,
however, only uses $3/year, as long as you shut the machine
down when you aren’t using it. Using your computer’s ‘sleep’
function on nights and weekends can cost $41/yr., almost as
much as the $57 it costs to run the PC on weekdays when you’re
using it. [Multiply this by the hundreds of computers in your
average big dealer trading room, that everyone leaves on all the
time, and you begin to see how we can maybe find a much more
painless way to meet some of the Kyoto Accord requirements.]
“Worldwide, the Cornell study shows that stand-by power uses,
on average, 7% of your home’s total electricity bill. That can run
to as much as 25% of the power bill in homes with multiple TVs
and satellite dishes, etc. In Australia the average is 13% of total
energy use, in Japan 12%, in the US, 5%.” [Thanks, Harry.]
Johnny Mac’s Baseball Review
[If you aren’t a baseball fan, well, we’ll catch you next time!]
A year that could have ended with a disastrous strike has instead
proved compelling, with two good races and some nice
individual performances. As usual, there will be debates
regarding the end of season awards. Let’s examine the four big
ones.
AL MVP…with the advent of the 3 division format and the wild-
card, I don’t believe a team that hasn’t at least contended can
have a viable candidate. That would mean that Alex Rodriguez,
despite his 57 HR and 142 RBI, is out of my equation. The
Rangers haven’t played a meaningful game since Mother’s Day,
and there is no shortage of good candidates from real teams. It is
a shame that A-Rod will again fall short, but he made his choice
and has to live with it.
The two surprise teams, Minnesota and Anaheim, have no real
nationally known stars. Both clubs have done it with good
pitching, defense and timely hitting from many spots in the
lineup. I would think that Garrett Anderson will pick up the
most votes among this group, but fall well short of winning.
Boston has its share of players that had fine seasons, but their
failure to again finish ahead of the Yankees will hurt their
chances. Nomar, Manny Ramirez and Pedro Martinez, along
with surprises like Derrick Lowe and Shea Hillenbrand have
numbers that might have garnered support had the team won.
The Mariners have slipped quite a bit this year and no one stands
out (though John Olerud had a solid year). [Separately, we also
note the successes of Chicago’s Magglio Ordonez and
Cleveland’s Jim Thome.] That leaves us with the Yankees and
the A’s.
The Yankees have again done it with balance…solid starting
pitching, good bullpen, speed and power through the lineup.
Unlike recent years, though, this bunch is a little less disciplined
at the plate, but has more pop and more base-stealing ability.
The biggest surprise would have to be Alfonso Soriano, who has
quickly established himself as a premier player, with 200 hits,
100 runs, 100 ribbies, almost 40/40 (he fell one homer short), 50
doubles…these are impressive credentials. About the only knock
on the guy is the lack of walks (less than 25), which makes his
on-base percentage (OBP) a rather ordinary .332. The voters
generally tend to give added weight to the straw that broke the
camel’s back, so to speak, and to underweight the other straws.
By that I mean that a surprise player like Soriano will get more
attention than other Yankees who were expected to produce. It is
unfair, I believe, because it is harder to meet high expectations
than to exceed lower ones. Jason Giambi, Bernie Williams and
Derek Jeter have all had excellent seasons with numbers that
would justify an MVP vote. Bernie could have won the batting
title, and will lose only because Manny Ramirez and Mike
Sweeney had way fewer at bats. Add in the 100 runs, 100 ribbies
and .415 OBP and it is a very good package. Giambi was
expected to have a .300/40/120 year, and that is exactly what he
gave them. Jeter again hit near .300, scored a ton of runs and
played an excellent short. But in the end, Soriano will place
higher than any of them in the MVP voting (probably finishing
second).
That leaves us with the Oakland A’s. Last year they finished
102-60 and came within a whisker of knocking off the Yankees.
Since then they lost their acknowledged leader and superstar
(Giambi), their lead-off hitter (Johnny Damon / Red Sox) and
their closer (Jason Isringhausen / St. Louis), all to free agency.
Jermaine Dye had that horrific broken leg in game four and has
yet to fully regain his form. Terrence Long, expected to have a
breakout year, has instead regressed in every offensive category.
David Justice, brought in to supply some pop, has hit all of 11
homers. Sounds like a recipe for an off year, but the A’s actually
finished one game better, going 103-59. A lot of the credit
obviously goes to the pitching staff, boasting an amazing trio of
young starters. But one guy did step up and make the team
his…the fabulous young shortstop, Miguel Tejada. Embracing
his role as team leader, Tejada supplied the A’s with power (34
homers), production (131 RBI), clutch hits and defense. As with
Soriano, the only knock is a paltry walk total. I would give
Tejada my vote for MVP and suspect the writers will do the
same.
N.L. MVP…again, a decent number of guys to choose from
among the contending teams. That would eliminate players such
as Vlad Guerrero, Pat Burrell, Brian Giles, Sammy Sosa, Larry
Walker and Todd Helton. It’s a shame the Expos are never on
national TV, because Vlad is quickly becoming a top-tier
superstar. Unfortunately, like Soriano, he fell one homer short of
40/40.
Which leaves us with the real contenders. The Braves have had a
remarkable season, basically putting the division away by
August. As with the Yankees, they have done it with a balance
of power, speed, pitching and defense. Chipper Jones, Andruw
(sic) Jones, Rafael Furcal and Gary Sheffield have all
contributed, but Chipper was the only one to drive in 100
(exactly), while Andruw hit 35 homers. The starters have had
solid years and John Smoltz finished with an N.L. record 55
saves. But no one, Smoltz included, really stands out. To be
honest, saves are a manipulated stat these days and Smoltz has
been lit up a number of times this year, while he also has a
number of ‘cheap’ saves.
The Astros have hung on the periphery of the pennant race all
year, never really falling out of it, but also never putting a real
scare into the Cards. A great one-two punch of starters (Oswalt
and Miller), with Wagner and Dotel anchoring the pen,
complemented the outstanding efforts of Lance Berkman. With
Jeff Bagwell and Craig Bigigo having off years (for them) and
others not panning out (Ward and Hidalgo), Berkman has become
the stud in this lineup. .300/42/128, along with 100 runs and
a huge slugging percentage have put him in the upper echelon.
Had Houston made the playoffs, or at least made a better run at
it, Berkman might have indeed won the award this year. I think
he will finish high (top five) and might well win a few before
his career is done.
The Dodgers hung in there until the end, but fell short to San
Francisco for the wild-card. Injuries to their pitchers have hurt
(Brown, Ishii, Dreifort) and Eric Karros and Brian Jordan have
had better years, but Shawn Green has certainly taken his spot
among the top sluggers in the game. With 42 home runs, 114
RBI, over 100 runs, over 90 walks, he has carried the Dodgers
offensively all season. Green will garner some support for MVP,
possibly finishing as high as third. The other Dodger to merit
some consideration is reliever Eric Gagne. A nondescript middle
reliever with a total of zero saves entering the season, he racked
up 52 this year with excellent numbers all around. Relievers
with less impressive credentials have won MVP awards, but he
will split votes with teammate Green and with fellow closer
Smoltz.
Despite winning its division, Arizona is limping into the
playoffs, with star slugger Luis Gonzalez due to miss the post-
season. The Diamondbacks, though, have the best one-two
punch at the front of the starting rotation since the hey-days of
Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale (both Randy Johnson and Curt
Schilling are clearly better than Drysdale, however). The starting
lineup has been productive (though Gonzalez’s numbers were
way off last years figures), Junior Spivey has been a pleasant
surprise, and others have produced. But, let’s face it, this team
lives and dies with Johnson and Schilling. The other three
starters were a combined 24-32 with one complete game, while
the Big Two finished up 47-12 with exacty 650 Ks. Pretty
staggering stuff. Unfortunately, it is tough to separate them and
many writers feel starters should compete only for the Cy Young,
leaving the MVP to everyday players and closers. That is a
discussion for another time, but for this year both will get some
support but fall well short of the award.
That leaves us with the Cardinals and Giants. Three players
stand out here, Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent and the soph sensation,
Albert Pujols. St. Louis is the feel-good team of the year,
overcoming tragedy and injury to win another division
championship. The deaths of Jack Buck and Darrell Kile were
devastating to the franchise, and the injuries to the pitching staff
could have stalled the season. 13 different hurlers started games
for the Cards, including such household names as Jason
Simontacchi and Jamie Wright. Tino Martinez never got
untracked, J.D. Drew has never lived up to his advance billing,
while Jim Edmonds and Fernando Vina had pretty standard
years. Edgar Renteria has established himself as a premier
player, and third baseman Scott Rolen has done alright since his
mid-season acquisition, but it has been Pujols carrying this club
from opening day. Only 22-years-old, his rise from A ball to
stardom in two years is phenomenal. He finished up ’02 hitting
.314, with 34 homers, 127 RBI (#2) and 118 runs (#2). The guy
also plays not just the outfield, but first and third as well, and he
rarely strikes out. The only drawback to his game is that, like
many of his Dominican Republic brethren, he doesn’t walk
much. [As the story goes, you have to hit your way off the
island, not walk.] All in all, he has been the best player on a very
good team, a team that might have spit the bit but didn’t. If he
wins the award, it would be alright with me.
The Giants managed to qualify for the playoffs, taking the wild-
card. The Kent / Bonds duo once again led the charge
offensively, while the starting pitchers are a bunch of 13-10, 12-9
types, backed up by Rob Nenn and his 43 saves. But the rest of
the lineup is mediocre (Benito Santiago bats fifth, for
chrissakes), so let’s look at the top two.
It pains me to say this, as I am not a big Bonds fan, but he has
reached a level of offensive performance not seen since Mickey
Mantle. You just can not pitch to him…he has a great eye, never
strikes out and punishes anything in the strike zone. After this
year, he will own the single season records for homers, walks,
slugging percentage, and on-base percentage. [Barry finished
with 198 walks, besting his previous mark of 2001, 177, and his
on-base % of .582 smashed Ted Williams’s record of .553 set
back in 1941.] In winning his first batting title with a .370
average, Bonds, at age 38, also became the oldest to garner his
first hitting crown. Yes, he’s one of the few players in history to
legitimately affect the performance of the player hitting ahead of
him in the lineup. For the most part, it is a myth that a certain
player “protects” another in the order. Major league pitchers
want to get you out, regardless of who’s coming up behind you,
but there are rare exceptions, such as Mantle in 1961 (when
Roger Maris moved to the three hole in the order, his own
numbers took off). Thus, I feel Jeff Kent has similarly benefited
this year. After moving to the three spot (a great move by
manager Dusty Baker, by the way) he has put up super numbers,
but he has won an MVP already and I think others feel like I do,
that Bonds has had a direct influence on Kent’s stats.
So it will boil down to Bonds and Pujols, with Bonds the winner.
Now, as far as the Cy Young award is concerned…
One of the interesting dichotomies in baseball this year was the
plethora of good pitching in what is surely an age of hitting.
[Sorry, I don’t normally use dichotomy and plethora in the same
sentence.] In the A.L., aside from the three frontrunners (Barry
Zito, Derrick Lowe and Pedro Martinez), many others have had
good to excellent years, including Jarrod Washburn (18-6), Mark
Mulder (19-7) Roy Halladay (19-7) and David Wells (also 19-7).
But in looking at the top three, the real surprise is Lowe. Starting
off his career in middle relief, Derrick became a decent closer
(64 saves in 2000-2001) before switching to a starting role this
year. It’s not as easy as he made it look. Lowe ended the season
with a 21-8 mark and a 2.58 ERA, second only to teammate
Pedro’s 2.26. Lowe also had 7 starts where he allowed 2 hits or
less (including a no-hitter). He has been a bit less impressive as
the season wore on, not entirely unexpected since this was his
first season as a starter, while as far as the award is concerned, he
will suffer from a combination of relative anonymity and the fact
that most writers don’t think he was even the best pitcher on his
team.
That would lead us to the incomparable Martinez. Shutting it
down last year after a small rotator cuff tear was located, surgery
left his future in doubt. He opened the season getting absolutely
shelled by Toronto, yielding 7 earned runs in three innings, and
whispers that he might never be the Pedro of old abounded.
Maybe they were right, because he might have been even better.
Winning 20 games, while losing just 4, his ERA was under 2.00
after that first start. In seventeen starts he allowed one or no
earned runs and he led the league again in strikeouts with 239
(the only A.L. pitcher over 200, incidentally). Plus he held
opponents to a .183 batting average as of this writing. Quite an
impressive set of credentials for a truly great pitcher. And yet
they may not be enough.
Because, we have Zen lefty, Barry Zito, he of the implacable
demeanor and the wicked yakker (easy…yakker is slang for
curve ball). In a pitching world dominated by the split-finger
and the slider, the true big-breaking curve has seemingly gone
the way of the 8-track tape. Zito’s has a certain beauty, though,
freezing major league hitters at will. Since his arrival midway
through the 2000 season, he is the winningest pitcher in the
league, compiling a 47-17 record. Zito made his mark on the
national stage in last year’s series with the Yankees, in a game
most recall for Jeter’s terrific play at the plate to nail Jeremy
Giambi, but Zito himself was masterful that night, allowing only
one run on two hits.
Barry had a superb season, 23-5 with a 2.75 ERA, establishing
himself as the leader of a staff with three “aces”. His record
following Oakland losses was 12-1. So, it’s a real close call here
for the Cy Young. If you were holding my family hostage and I
had to pick one guy to win one game for me, I would probably
go with Pedro, but over a seasons worth of work, done in the
throes of a tight pennant race, I give Zito a very slight nod for the
award.
N.L. Cy Young…
Again, no shortage of very good seasons. Comeback kids like
Kevin Millwood (18-8) and Hideo Nomo (16-6) made for good
stories, while the Dodgers’ Odallis Perez looks like a keeper,
and the Astros Wade Miller (15-4) is an emerging star. Greg
Gagne and John Smoltz have glitzy numbers in relief and
Colorado’s rookie Jason Jennings deserves credit for managing
to thrive in Colorado (16-8 despite throwing half the time at
Coors Field).
But five stood above the rest…Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling,
Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and Roy Oswalt. Four grizzled
veterans and one kid. The kid, Oswalt, looks like a good one. In
only his second season, Roy quickly put himself in the upper
echelon of starters. 33-11 in his first 53 starts, the 25-year-old
has a career ERA under 3.00, gives up less hits than innings
pitched and has an excellent strikeout to walk ratio (4-1). His
day will come, but not this year.
The Maddux/Glavine duo just keeps marching on. They change
the roster over, they change the strike zone, they change
stadiums, none of it matters. [As an aside, attendance in Atlanta
was down 10% this year. What a disgrace of a sports town.]
Maddux just recorded his 15th-straight year of 15+ wins,
accomplished prior only by Cy Young, while just one miserable
outting in Florida cost him the ERA crown. His control is as
awesome as ever and a plaque in Cooperstown awaits five years
after he retires. And it now looks like Glavine will join him. A
borderline guy a year or two ago, he has shown no signs of
slowing down, while his 242 (and counting) wins will get him to
the Hall.
As good as both have been this year, however, the discussion
boils down to Schilling and Johnson. Randy is a freak…he is
better right now, at age 38, than at any time in his career and he
is a power pitcher. It’s unheard of. Johnson finished up 24-5
with a 2.32 ERA and 334 strikeouts, pitching’s triple crown.
Johnson has also been churning out innings (over 250) in an era
where anything over 200 is now considered yeoman work.
Meanwhile, having Schilling on the team has been good for both
of them, as they continually push each other to higher and higher
levels. Schilling was going pitch for pitch with him until getting
lit up in recent outings. Finishing with a 23-7 mark (his ERA
‘ballooned’ to 3.23 as a result of the last few games), Curt fanned
316.
Johnson and Schilling have been inseparable all year, the most
dominant pitching tandem ever. It wouldn’t suck if they again
split an award, as they did in the World Series, while Schilling
has the lifetime achievement thing going for him, never having
won a Cy. Nonetheless, while there really isn’t a gnat’s ass
worth of difference here, Johnson gets the nod.
—
And now it’s the editor’s turn to add a few thoughts.
–For once, I can’t complain about the season ending hitting
totals, especially since no N.L. player hit 50 home runs (Sosa
finished with 49, 499 for his career), while Berkman’s league-
leading 128 ribbies is more like the totals of my youth.
–In the lousy club category, honors go to Milwaukee (56-106),
Detroit (55-106), and Tampa Bay (55-106). Also, kudos to
Baltimore for finishing strong in losing its last ten. As for my
Mets….hey, look over there…it’s a comet!
–In the “go figure” category, Boston was 42-39 at home, 51-30
on the road.
–Colorado was 47-34 at home, 26-55 on the road. Oakland was
16-2 in interleague play.
Other Stuff
–The Minnesota Vikings’ Randy Moss didn’t apologize to the
female traffic officer he bumped the other day, but he did say, “I
have loving women in my life. I respect women like they’re
really supposed to be respected.” What a guy.
–When I was in Ireland, a fellow caught a 660-lb. bluefin tuna
outside Galway after a 4 hour fight. Last year, a man in Donegal
caught a 968-lb. bluefin. Which made me go to the record book
for such a catch and the winner is Canada’s Ken Fraser, who on
October 26, 1979, caught a 1,496-lb. bluefin off Aulds Cove,
Nova Scotia.
–Sorry, Ken S., but I have to mention to the gang that Nebraska
is now unranked for the first time in 21 years.
–I apologize to all Rutgers football fans for my disparaging
remarks earlier in the year. This past weekend, Rutgers played
admirably in losing only 35-14 to Tennessee.
–Wake choked, blowing a 27-10 halftime lead versus Virginia.
Final score, 38-34.
–Back to last Thursday night, I told you Louisville was one of
my two sleeper teams…they beat Florida State. [I picked Texas
to go all the way, and we await Texas-Oklahoma in a few
weeks.]
Top 3 songs for the week of 10/3/64: #1 “Oh, Pretty Woman”
(Roy Orbison) #2 “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” (Manfred Mann) #3
“Bread And Butter” (The Newbeats)
Dallas Cowboys Quiz Answers: 1) Career, interceptions: Mel
Renfro, 52 (1964-77…gosh, I feel old. He’s been retired 25
years!) 2) Passing yards, season: Danny White…3,980 (1983)
3) Passing yards, game: Don Meredith…460 (1963) 4)
Receptions, game: Lance Rentzel…13 (1967) 5) Receiving
yards, game: Bob Hayes…246 (1966)
Next Bar Chat, Thursday. “Overrated/Underrated.”
