In baseball, did you know…..
-that the Mariners are on pace for the WORST offensive season in the last 40 years in EITHER league? Joe Posnanski’s blog post on the subject is definitely worth a read.
-that those same Mariners hitters are most likely going to deny Felix Hernandez a Cy Young? King Felix has become an absolute stud…in 241 innings he has allowed only 189 hits, struck out 227, walked only 68 and sports an ERA of 2.31 and a WHIP of 1.06 – all better numbers than last year, and the ERA, IP, and K’s lead the AL. But, thanks to the anemic Seattle offense, he is 12-12 after going 19-5 a year ago. In his 12 losses, the Mariners have scored a total of 14(!!!) runs. Reminds me very much of Nolan Ryan in ’87, – league-leading 2.76 ERA and over 270 K’s but an 8-16 record.
Of course, this leads to one of my other pet peeves – judging pitchers by wins. Hernandez lost the other night 1-0, throwing a complete game in the process. Phil Hughes of the Yankees is 17-8 despite an ERA that is two full runs higher than Hernandez. Does anyone really believe Hughes has been a better pitcher this year? CC Sabathia has won 20 games despite an ERA a run higher. Even allowing for the difference between hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium and pitcher friendly Safeco Field, does anyone believe Sabathia has had a better year than Hernandez? Most of the time, wins and pitcher value tend to line up – but there ARE exceptions, particularly when you have average pitchers with great offenses or great pitchers with bad offenses. I hope that the voters see through the win-loss records and vote Hernandez ahead of Sabathia.
-that as of Friday, despite losing their closer for the entire season and their first baseman (and top power threat) Justin Morneau for the past two months, the Minnesota Twins have the BEST record in the AL? Time to give some credit to the front office and manager in Minnesota – I understand their payroll is up, but tell me another team outside of the Yankees who could absorb the loss of their best power hitter AND a top-tier closer. My dark-horse pick to win the World Series.
-that the Pirates are the most Jekyll-and-Hyde team in MLB? Yes, everyone knows they are bad, but HOW bad varies greatly depending on where they are. At home, they are very close to an average ballclub – they have a 38-40 home record, and if they sweep the Astros this weekend they will actually finish with a winning record at home. On the road…they are DREADFUL, 15-59 with seven road games to go. The worst road record I was able to find since the schedule went to 162 games was the ’62 expansion Mets, who went 18-62 on the road. Yes, the 2010 Pirates have a chance to be the WORST road team in modern history, worse than those Mets who are widely credited with being the worst team since 1900. In general over the past few years the Pirates have displayed a massive home/road split – in 2009 they had 40 home wins and 22 road wins, in 2008 39 home and 28 road. One year can be a fluke, two years is a small sample size..but three years of a worsening trend is worth looking into. I have no answers here – but if I were GM Neal Huntingdon, I’d be taking a VERY close look at how the team prepares for road trips and anything else I could find to try to ease these road woes.
In football, did you know…
-that the Steelers have yet to score an offensive TD in regulation? In fact, if you take away the 50-yard overtime TD , the team is rushing for barely three yards per carry. The passing game has been worse, throwing for only 21 net yards last week. Of course, the flip side has been how dominant the defense has been through two weeks. They haven’t shut down the Rams or Browns here – Atlanta had over 400 yards of offense in week 2, and as you know Chris Johnson ran for 2000 yards in 2009. The defense is back for-real, and will keep them in just about every game. This week, Tampa is off to a hot start but I expect the Steelers to pull out a close win – meaning that even if they lose to Baltimore in week 4 (which you have to expect), Ben will return to a 3-1 team with a schedule that suddenly looks promising. Barring a key injury, I have to revise my preseason prediction already – if they can win in Tampa, I think the Steelers can go 11-5 and you have to favor them to win the division.
-that the winner of the NFC West might finish under .500? the most talented team in the division is San Francisco, and at 0-2 they have an uphill climb just to finish 8-8. Arizona’s QB problems are as bad as I imagined, and Seattle came back to earth last week. The AFC West plays the NFC West this year, and unless the NFC gets the better of those matchups I think 7-9 may well win the West.
And finally, did you know…
-that Joe Posnanski might be the best writer of our generation? I’ve linked to his work a few times, including earlier in this column, but you are missing out if you don’t make his blog site, http://joeposnanski.si.com, a weekly read. Joe can make almost any topic interesting and can make the interesting topics jump right off the page. Take 20 minutes and check out some of his work. Click on the archives and find his ‘All too Familiar’ column, which references Dubois’ Jim Pittsley (remember him?). If you don’t find him to be an excellent read, I’d be surprised. Joe is becoming the Ring Lardner or Jimmy Cannon of our generation – in 15 years I believe we will look back on Joe’s work with the same fondness.
In the coming weeks we’ll preview the NHL and the MLB playoffs, September/October is ALWAYS one of the busiest sports months and we’ll have plenty to talk about!
Dave Glass can be reached at buggyracer@verizon.net.