A-Rod Earns His Pinstripes (1 Viewer)

[Louis Badolato]

Brad,

I agree its a shame. Mattingly would have been in the hall if he had played in the 70's or the late 90's, and had a couple of rings, or if he had stayed healthy.

Hernandez was a great first baseman, and also a pretty darn good hitter. I only remember him as a Met, and don't really know enough about his earlier career to know if he belongs in the hall.

 

[jazzeum]

Well, he co-won the MVP (with Stargell) in 1979 and was instrumental in helping the Cards win the title in 1982. He was a clutch hitter but his only chance for the Hall (albeit a slim one) was as a defensive player. His offensive stats weren't good enough.

Too bad Mattingly got hurt or never had another chance to get a ring.

NY was lucky to have them both at the same time.

How about Yanks and Dodgers in the Series? Haven't had one of those classic series in a very, very long time. Would be a great one.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Yankees vs. Dodgers is always a classic series. I think the last time they hooked up was 1980, when the Yanks won the first two games, and then the Dodgers won four in a row. Before that was the Yanks winning the series with the Reggie Jackson 3 home run game in 1977 or 78.

But we are getting way ahead of ourselves. Right now in the American League, in addition to the Yanks, the Angels, Red Sox, Rangers, Tigers and Rays could all win the pennant. In the National League, in addition to the Dodgers, the Phillies, Cardinals, Giants, Rockies and Cubs could all go to the big show.

But the Yanks did complete the sweep of the Red Sox, and have never failed to win the Division (or League) in any season they had in excess of a six game lead at any time, so I am going to stick with them.

I think the Dodgers or the Phillies have the best chance of going from the National League, although with Albert Pujols, I would not count out the Cardinals either.

 

[jazzeum]

In the AL, at this time, the only team that I would worry about would be the Angels and possibly the Rays (who had a great chance to catch the Sox and blew it).

In the NL, I'm liking the Dodgers' chances although you can't rule out the Phillies.

Of course, it's still very early but think of Joe Torre vs. the Yankees. What a great story line.

 

[lancer]

JMO but Mattingly has a fair argument for the HOF. Lifetime B.A. over .300, 2,000+ career hits, MVP, All-Star several times. At any rate, he deserves it over the more recent retirees from the 'roid era. If it was up to me, old #9, Roger Maris would still be single season HR champ and Mr. Aaron would still be Lifetime HR champ. I do not know what I will do when the 'roid for lunch bunch becomes eligible for the HOF. Where's Ripken when you need him? -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

Fully agree with you Al. I don't consider Baroid the HR champ. It's a shame because he would have a HOFer even without the steroids.

It's a good sign that McGwire didn't get many votes in the most recent balloting.

 

[lancer]

Fully agree with you Al. I don't consider Baroid the HR champ. It's a shame because he would have a HOFer even without the steroids.

It's a good sign that McGwire didn't get many votes in the most recent balloting.

What will the writers do when Bonds is eligible? As said, he could have got in without juicing. How do you keep Rose out and let Bonds in? If Bonds goes in, Rose has to go in. Will there be degrees of cheating that are bad and not so bad? Break this rule: not so bad, you're in. Break this rule: very bad, you're out. Somebody better make a decision pretty soon. -- Al

 

[Louis Badolato]

JMO but Mattingly has a fair argument for the HOF. Lifetime B.A. over .300, 2,000+ career hits, MVP, All-Star several times. At any rate, he deserves it over the more recent retirees from the 'roid era. If it was up to me, old #9, Roger Maris would still be single season HR champ and Mr. Aaron would still be Lifetime HR champ. I do not know what I will do when the 'roid for lunch bunch becomes eligible for the HOF. Where's Ripken when you need him? -- Al

Agree with you 100% Al. I wouldn't let any of the steroid era records count.

Brad, I have to disagree that Bonds would have gone in without the steroids. His pre-steroid numbers are at best bordeline. If you look at his pre-steroid batting average, hits, and homers, there was absolutely no guarantee he would have gone in. He had less than 400 homers before the juice, no where near 3,000 hits, without the roid additions he might not have made it.

I hope the writers keep all the steroid cheaters out of the hall, including Barry Bonds (who was borderline without the Roids), A-Rod (who would have gone in without the roids), Palmiero (a liar who is no where near the hall of fame without the roid assisted 500 homers), McGuire (ditto), Sosa (ditto), Clemens (who would have made the hall without the roids), Big Poppy (a liar who wouldn't man up even when he tested positive, and who does not have Hall of Fame numbers even with the Roids), Manny Ramirez (who would have made it without the roids based on hits and batting average).

 

[lancer]

It was a great weekend for NYY fans. As to the Marichal-Spahn duel, it was July 2, 1963, in San Fran. Mays hit a first pitch screwball for a HR to left field with one out in the bottom of the 16th inning. Marichal and Spahn both went the distance in this 1-0 SF win. IMO this is easily the best pitched game in modern baseball history. -- Al

Just as a matter of interest, on June 16, 1963 (2 weeks before the Spahn game), Marichal no-hit Houston and won 1-0 as well. Marichal ended 1963 with a 25-8 record. As usual, Koufax took the Cy Young with a 25-5 record. Gee, I miss real pitching. -- Al

 

[lancer]

Hey baseball fans, has anyone noticed that 7 out of 9 NYY starters all have 20+ Hrs and 70+ RBI's? The only 2 that don't are Cabrera and Jeter, and Jeter will hit those levels by seasons end. Cripes, what a line-up. With a little better pitching this team would be all but unbeatable. Meanwhile my Orioles and Nationals are on a somewhat different track but do have some hope in the next few seasons with some decent young pitching. I love this game! -- lancer

 

[Louis Badolato]

The Yanks will have 8 players with 20+ homers and 70+ RBI's, the most in baseball history (they are presently tied with 2 other teams with 7 players for the most all time), assuming that Jeter stays healthy. Jeter will also pass Lou Gehrig for first place on the all time Yankees hit list, and should have 200+ hits for the umpteenth time in his career (he is second only to Ichiro for hits this season, and has the most hits of any player since 1995). He has also returned to the gold glove caliber defense he played for the 1st 12 seasons of his career, before a variety of leg injuries (most recently the quad last season) slowed him down. He has stolen more than 20 bases. His season numbers will end up looking like .333 average, .400 on base percentage, 20 homers, 75 RBI's from the lead off spot, 115 runs scored, 25 stolen bases and gold glove defense, on the team with the best record in baseball by 7 full games over the next closest team. All season I have thought that Mark Texiera was the only candidate for MVP, but now I think Jeter deserves it. But Jeter doesn't care about any of his personal stats, and neither do I, as long as he gets another world series ring.

 

[gk5717]

Hey Louis what do you think of a Yankees, Cardinals World Series? Have you taken notice how well the Cards have been playing since they got those 3 players, DeRosa , Lugo and Holliday. Don,t forget they have 2 Cy Young candidates in Carpenter & Wainright and who can forget Albert, probably the best player in all of baseball.
I have to say it really isn,t a world series if the Yankees aren,t in it. I guess I learned that being a child of the fifties.
Gary

 

[Louis Badolato]

Hey Louis what do you think of a Yankees, Cardinals World Series? Have you taken notice how well the Cards have been playing since they got those 3 players, DeRosa , Lugo and Holliday. Don,t forget they have 2 Cy Young candidates in Carpenter & Wainright and who can forget Albert, probably the best player in all of baseball.
I have to say it really isn,t a world series if the Yankees aren,t in it. I guess I learned that being a child of the fifties.
Gary

There is no reason that the Cardinals could not make (or win) the world series with Pujols (who is, as you noted, the best player in baseball) and terrific starters like Carpenter & Wainright. I see it being the Cards or the Phillies coming out of the NL.

As much as I hope the Yankees win it all, I am not ready to pencil them in yet. The are certainly the frontrunner, but the Red Sox, Angels, Detroit and Texas all could win. The way I see it, the Yankees will get Detroit in the first round, the Angels get the Red Sox. If the Yankees beat Detroit, they will face the Red Sox, who have the Angels number, with a chance to get revenge for 2004.

If it pans out to Yankees vs. Cardinals, and I were Joe Girardi, Pujols would never get an official at bat. I would walk him intentionally every time he came to the plate, especially if the bases are loaded (unless its a walk off situation).

 

[Phantom Warrior]

Agree with you 100% Al. I wouldn't let any of the steroid era records count.

Brad, I have to disagree that Bonds would have gone in without the steroids. His pre-steroid numbers are at best bordeline. If you look at his pre-steroid batting average, hits, and homers, there was absolutely no guarantee he would have gone in. He had less than 400 homers before the juice, no where near 3,000 hits, without the roid additions he might not have made it.

I hope the writers keep all the steroid cheaters out of the hall, including Barry Bonds (who was borderline without the Roids), A-Rod (who would have gone in without the roids), Palmiero (a liar who is no where near the hall of fame without the roid assisted 500 homers), McGuire (ditto), Sosa (ditto), Clemens (who would have made the hall without the roids), Big Poppy (a liar who wouldn't man up even when he tested positive, and who does not have Hall of Fame numbers even with the Roids), Manny Ramirez (who would have made it without the roids based on hits and batting average).

I agree with these comments on who would have gotten in without the roids. Only A-Rod and Ramirez were on HOF paces before roids. It is normal for players stats to decline as they get older after their prime 5 - 7 young years after being rookies and sophomores. It is not typical for a player in his mid 30's to suddenly start putting up HOF numbers. When he wasn't doing it earlier. No way Bonds, Sosa, McGuire should be in the HOF.

When baseball put an asterisk next to Maris home run record because he played more games than the Babe, all of the players passing him in recent years should have 2 asterisks, one for more games and a big red one for roids.

Terry

 

[jazzeum]

Bonds' numbers pre juice are hardly borderline. In the book Game of Shadows by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, which exposed him, the authors put 1999 as the year he first started using steroids. So, if you look at his stats before then, he had 411 homeruns and averaged about 94 RBIs per season. If you subtract his first four years when he averaged between 50 and 60 RBIs per season, the number goes up. Same thing with his batting average, consistently around .300. He played nine more years after that and maybe the steroids had something to do with his longevity, maybe not.

Although it's hard to extrapolate stats, he probably would have been around 30 plus homers and in the 80 to 90 RBI range in the five years after 1998 (his five years before that averaged approximately 38 HRs and 107 RBIs, and don't forget he lost homers in 1994 because of the strike year). Adding 130 to 140 HRs would put him a little above or below 550.

Those, my friends, are Hall of Fame numbers. It's a shame he squandered his ample talents for gaudy numbers when he didn't need to.

 

[jazzeum]

I hadn't looked at the hits but through 1998, he had 1,917 hits and in the five years before 1999 averaged 150 hits. If you look at the five years after, you can probably extrapolate 680 or so hits so around 2,500 to 2,600 hits. That wouldn't be too shabby (not Willie Mays type of numbers -- Willie had approximately 3,300), but probably good enough for HOF admission. Again, we'll never know.

 

[Phantom Warrior]

I hadn't looked at the hits but through 1998, he had 1,917 hits and in the five years before 1999 averaged 150 hits. If you look at the five years after, you can probably extrapolate 680 or so hits so around 2,500 to 2,600 hits. That wouldn't be too shabby (not Willie Mays type of numbers -- Willie had approximately 3,300), but probably good enough for HOF admission. Again, we'll never know.

Don't forget, output declines with age and faster for some players than others. Power hitters can lose strength and bat speed so that there are more warning track outs, more strikeouts, and as HRs become outs, BA drops even more. I wish I still had the Bill James annual books - he did a lot of stats analysis on career stats fluctuations and player ages/years of playing

Terry

 

[jazzeum]

I factored in a drop.
We will never really know though, will we?

 

[Louis Badolato]

I factored in a drop.
We will never really know though, will we?

You are absolutely correct, we will never know . . . but considering the fact that he is a liar and a cheater, I am not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Frankly, I thought he was in his decline, with diminishing skills by 1999, and doubt he would have hit 500 home runs absent steroids. Less than 500 homers, and less than 2500 hits would not have gotten him into the hall. The way I look at steroid cheats, you discount the power numbers post once the cheating started, and look to batting average, hits, and defensive skills. You take away the post steroid power numbers, and I'd take Mattingly over him every time, and Mattingly is only a border line hall of famer.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Dave,

You did not get a chance to watch last nights game, but it was a playoff. That first win was kind of a fluke, with the great John Smoltz (a player and a person I have always respected) demonstrating that at 42, and post major shoulder surgery, he just didn't have it any more. We needed last nights game to really establish that we could beat the Red Sox. The better both teams pitchers were, the more desperately both teams needed to win that game. By the time it went to extras, everyone watching realized that the team that lost this game was going to be terribly deflated.

With all of the great plays and missed chances in extra innings, the need to win grew to epic proportions. In the 7th inning, a walk and a catcher's interference put Red Sox on 1st and 2nd with nobody out, but Burnett (who gave up only one hit all night, a lead off bloop single that a good right fielder would have caught), pitched out of it. In the 8th inning, the Red Sox's rookie left fielder missed a second deck home run by about a foot fowl. In the 13th inning, Victor Martinez hit one to the wall that looked like a home run off the bat, but Hinske made the catch. Later in the inning, A-Rod robbed Big Poppie of a line drive double down the line on a great running stab.

It seemed like every inning, my favorite player, Derek Jeter came to the plate with runners in scoring position and two out, but failed to get the clutch hit. Then in the 14th inning, with one out and runners on 1st and 2nd, Hinske was robbed of a game winning walk off RBI hit by an amazing play by J.D. Drew. In the next at bat, Melky Cabrera missed a walk off hit down the right field line by less than two inches fowl (the replay showed it was about 1/3 of the width of the ball away from the chalk line) before making out.

The whole season (and indeed, domination of the AL East since 2004) changed last night, and Yankees passed the Red Sox as the best team, restoring order to the universe. I am going to make a bold prediction: if the Yankees can complete a sweep of this 4 game series, not only are the going to win the East, they are going to win it all. And, last night A-Rod showed mental toughness and earned a part in it.

Wow, was this ever a prophetic post. I still can't believe how well A-Rod played in the playoffs. He is a champion now, and no one can ever take that away from him.

Here's my next prediction: whichever team gets Roy Halliday from Toronto will be next years Champion (not a tough prediction to make - he will only approve a trade to the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels or Phillies).