Damn Limeade, Part 2

Well, the Yanks pulled out the victory in a 6-3 win over Cleveland, but I'm still baffled over that cherry limeade. Why would they make something so sweet? Joba pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, recovering nicely from Tuesday's outing against Cleveland when he allowed a game winning three-run homer to David Dellucci. Mo, once against pitched a scoreless ninth. In 14 innings this year, he has allowed five hits, no walks and no runs. Really, those are remarkable numbers. It was a crisp game on a crisp day. 

The guy sitting behind Mose and me was one of your typical fat, drunk guys; drunk to the point where he no longer had any idea what he's talking about and is already slurring his words. I kid you not, this exchange actually went down in the seventh inning today:

Vendor: Last call for beer.

Drunk Guy's Friend Who's Also Drunk: You want another?

Drunk Guy: No, man. I have to drive home. I really don't need another right now.

Drunk Guy's Friend Who's Also Drunk purchases two more Bud Lights, anyway.

Drunk Guy's Friend Who's Also Drunk: Well, I've already bought two beers...

Drunk Guy: Oh whatever. This is a problem though. I don't know the cops around here like I do in Florida.

Drunk Guy drinks the entire beer in two seconds.

Fun day.

- D. Spell

Award Injustices-Fergie Jenkins Over Tom Seaver 1971

We are going to be running a series highlighting the greatest award injustices (situations where the winner of an award clearly should not have been the victor) in New York sports history. We will be doing this in both directions-where a New York player was not given the award even when he was the superior player, and when a New York player was given the award even though there was a better option available. Today we will be examining...

Fergie Jenkins victory over Tom Seaver in the 1971 Cy Young race.

First let's start with the stats of each player
Wins Losses ERA Strikeouts WHIP
Player A: 20 10 1.76 289 0.95
Player B: 24 13 2.77 263 1.05


Now if you were a CY Young voter, who would you have voted for? I know that Player A would have had my vote easily. Yes he had 4 less wins, but he also had 3 less losses, an ERA a full point better than Player B's and he had 26 more strikeouts. Even his WHIP was an entire tenth of a point better. It should have been no contest between these two players. Yet, Fergie Jenkins (Player B) had more than three times as many first place votes as Tom Seaver (Player A) did. I thought that Jenkins might have won so handily because the Cubs in 1971 were a much better team than the Mets, making Jenkins' contributions more valuable, but in fact the Cubs and the Mets had the exact same record in '71, 83-79.
This means that the only reason why Jenkins dominated the vote getting was because of his 4 more wins. That just doesn't justify the award for me. Seaver still had 20 wins, second most in the National League, the benchmark for any truly amazing pitching season, and that ERA is simply absurd. Seaver was the only pitcher with a sub 2.00 ERA that season, and he was the only pitcher with a sub 1.00 WHIP. Not only that, but Seaver led the league in strikeouts even though he threw 40 innings less than Jenkins. On the opposite side of the coin, Jenkins led the league in home runs allowed and in hits allowed, not the categories you would expect the CY Young award to be leading in.

So for me it is pretty clear that Tom Seaver was robbed in the 1971 CY Young voting. what do you think?

- Mose

Damn Limeade

Darrell and I are at the Yankees game today. It is now the end the of the 6th inning, time for the YMCA groundskeepers sponsored by Toro Tractors. At the moment the Yankees are winning 4 to 3 thanks to a Jason Giambi 2-run homer, a solo shot and an rbi double from Johnny Damon. Mussina pitched a very solid game until the 5th inning and he has been replaced by Ross Ohlendorf.

The most interesting part of the day though has been Darrell's constant inner-battle on whether or not to buy a Minute Maid (registered trade mark) Frozen Lemonade. After finally findng the lemonade vendor, Darrell was told that there was only Cherry Limeade available, no Lemonade. Thus Darrell was forced into purchasing the unappealing, sickly red colored limeade. After 3 spoonfuls of the cherry goop, Darrell was forced to throw it away out of disgust. Not five minutes later another vendor came by with the mythical Lemon flavored treat, alas it was too late, and Darrell was to go unsatisfied for another day.

We break for the 7th inning stretch now, but we will get back to you after the game. With a recap.

-Mose

Why Do We Need to Remember Shea Stadium?

The New York Post is running this piece, in order to commemorate the final season of Shea Stadium. Why do I need to remember one of the worst and ugliest stadiums I have ever set foot in. The seats are uncomfortable, the security is terrible and there is no special feeling about it. No one walks into Shea Stadium and feels past Mets' ghosts in the walls. All you can feel is your knees pressed up against the head of the guy sitting in front of you.

The only thing I will miss in Shea, which I hope carries over to the new stadium is the extreme lack of security. In Yankee Stadium, you need to show your ticket in order to get into the first 20 rows. If your seat is not there, you can't go behind the dugout. However, in Shea, none of the ushers care. All you have to do is buy upper-deck seats from a scalper before the game and walk down to one of the many seats available down the baseline. I have tried this a number of times without fail.

To be perfectly honest, I won't miss Shea Stadium at all. I won't miss Yankee Stadium either. I would rather have the new features, the comfortable seats with good views of the field, the more intimate setting of a smaller stadium. I can't wait until New York baseball in 2009.

- D. Spell

TRIVIA OF THE DAY

Richard Jefferson does a very good Latrell Sprewell impression. 

Candy Is Not Good For You

Apparently, candy is bad for you. Did anyone else know that? Joe Girardi does. The Yankee manager has officially banned candy from the clubhouse during the pregame, postgame and during-game player visits to the locker room. 

Not only will there not be no candy permitted in the Yankee Stadium clubhouse, but there will also be no candy to welcome the Yankees on the road. Girardi has contacted all future road teams in an effort to make sure that there is no junk food waiting for his team in the visiting locker room. Usually, the Yankees arrive to an array of candy and ice cream. When they showed up in Tampa two weeks ago, there was a smorgasbord of dried fruit and nuts waiting for them. In Baltimore, the ice cream freezer was removed from the clubhouse and wrapped up outside the door so that no player would be able to steal any frozen goodies. 

How fat exactly are Girardi's players that he would actually worry about them breaking out of the clubhouse and stealing a Froze Fruit after a game? Is wrapping up the freezer really necessary when Derek Jeter can probably afford his own pint of ice cream after the game, anyway? Either way, the non-sweets rule does not seem to be working as the Yanks have gone 11-11 since Girardi installed it.

 FireJoeMorgan.com has something to say about Girardi's ban on candy.

- D. Spell

Angel Pagan Is Awesome

It's still early, but so far this season, we have to anoint the New York Mets with the crown for the best 2007-2008 off-season in baseball. Everyone knows about the Santana trade. Everyone knows about his 47 strikeouts in 46 1/3 innings, his 2.91 ERA, his 1.01 WHIP. Somehow the Mets managed to give up one guy with good Major League talent in that deal, Carlos Gomez, who hit for the cycle yesterday but is quite replaceable in comparison to an ace like Santana. Any general manager would have been crazy to turn down that deal with the Twins if he were in the Mets' position, which is why I commend Omar Minaya much more for his other finds over the off-season.

In what may be remembered as the best trade of the season, Minaya sent his top outfield prospect, Lastings Milledge, to the division rival Washington Nationals for Brian Schneider and Ryan Church. Milledge, who is only hitting .256 in Washington, was not a favorite of manager Willy Randolph, who did not condone his non-chalant style of play accompanied with his bitter attitude towards his teammates. Schneider and Church were nice players in Washington, Schneider was a decent catcher who was a .250 hitter and Church was coming off a 15 homerun season in which he hit .272. However, Church and Schneider have played much better than their previous numbers would indicate as they are currently first and second on the Mets in batting average, respectively. Church is hitting .328 and slugging .541, both the highest percentages of his career. He has also contributed with 24 RBI, second on the team to David Wright. Schneider is hitting .308 and has thrown out 33% of his opposing base stealers, 8% higher than the league average.

Schneider has also gotten help from backup catcher Raul Casanova, a member of the Devil Rays last season, who is hitting .283. Opposing baserunners scarcely run on Casanova's powerful arm as he has thrown out two potential base-stealers in four attempts this year.

Angel Pagan, who the Mets acquired through a trade with the Cubs on January 5, has also helped fill in well for Moises Alou. So well, in fact, that it will be tough to remove him from the lineup. Pagan's defense in left field has been superb (did you see that catch yesterday against the Dodgers?) and he is hitting in the clutch with a terrific .323 batting average with runners in scoring position. 

Imagine the Mets' season without these four players. Imagine Lastings Milledge starting in the outfield, hitting .250 and privately and/or publicly bickering with Willy Randolph. Imagine if Casanova had not been available to replace last year's backup catcher Ramon Castro when he was placed on the DL early in the season. The Mets would probably be hanging out with the Nationals right now instead of the Phillies and Marlins. 

- D. Spell