I love the game.  My great grandma made me a baseball fan when I was three years old and when she was overcome by Alzheimer's later in life, she always knew who I was because we talked baseball.  I played the game until circumstances wouldnt' allow, and now I coach and teach it in the summer and play in a league in the spring.  It is a beautiful game, and we should all be thankful that we have a sport like baseball that can look so simple, yet humble even the greatest of athletes from other sports.

What I'd really like to do is to do a "best of" post for games/players that you've seen live either at the park or on TV, major, minor, little league, doesn't matter....add in categories if you'd like!

Best game pitched:  Greg Maddux...the absolute master...6/10/02 at the Metrodome...gave up 5 in the first inning, but battled back and simply dominated the Twins the rest of the way while he was in, allowing the Braves to come back and tie the score....

Most amazing home run hit: Bo Jackson batting practice at the Metrodome...if you know where the banners are for Hrbek, Oliva, Puckett, et all in centerfield now, you'll know that landing a home run half way up the bleachers behind there is a mammoth blast...kicker of it all was that the ball never really had any arch....so who knows without bleachers how far that ball may have traveled

Most amazing defensive play: Once again, Bo Jackson....I can't recall the game, I just remember watching replays over and over of Bo grabbing the ball barehanded at the wall in front of a 400+ foot sign, wheeling around and without any windup or hop or anything, throwing a perfect strike, no hops, to home plate to Bob Boone who held onto the ball in shock as the runner ran right to him, thinking there was no way that anyone could throw him out from that deep (I believe it was against the Angels, but I may be wrong)....

Best baserunning: Cristian Guzman at his peak...he seemed to tap each base just on the corner as he flew around the bases....he wasn't the fastest guy on the basepaths, but he racked up a ton of triples because he took the shortest, most efficient path...

Best basestealer: Rickey Henderson, and it's not even close...best team at it would be the Cardinals of the 80s, but Rickey just turned base stealing into a science, knowing when a twitch in the hip of a certain pitcher meant he was going to first or if that twitch meant he was going home....

Most fun player to watch: As a pitcher, Maddux was my idol and I used to record every game he pitched on TV, but this has to go to Kirby Puckett....I met the man after his eyesight ended his career, and he was just as cordial to fans as he was on the field....he'd sign for hours before (and sometimes during) games, and he had a huge smile on his face all the time....best of all, he hustled out and gave 100% of what he had on every play...nowhere near the most gifted player I've seen, but easily the one who got the most out of his gifts...

Last, best baseball game ever watched: 1991 World Series game 7....the 1995 win was special for me as well as a lifelong Braves fan, but to watch the local Twins battle my Braves in such an epic series was awesome, but we had a family gathering the day of game 7, and all of us were gathered around the TV watching smoltz and morris in their brilliance....the twins fans in the room jumped and cheered when they won, but there was no trash talking or anything as it was such an awesome series that everyone in the room was happy, regardless of the outcome....

Any Thanksgiving baseball contributions from others?

Story:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081122&content_id=3689204&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

The article says that he will be ready for the 2009 season, but I have to wonder about lingering effects.  It is his plant leg as he throws, and that leg has to withstand a LOT of torque, even moreso with a power pitcher like Billingsley.  What are the community's thoughts?  Is this a non-story, or could this derail a very promising young arm?  Or is the real angle somewhere in between?

Couldn't resist the chance to panic every Met fan on the board and send every Oriole fan into ecstacy usually reserved for late night thoughts of Jessica Alba.

I apologize, but anytime I can use his attempt at a career to scare all Mets fans that their God has been traded away is worth every minute!

I've seen individual posts about the awards, but here's my rundown:

AL MVP: Dustin Pedroia; 2nd: Justin Morneau; 3rd: Carlos Quentin

AL Cy Young: Cliff Lee; 2nd: Francisco Rodriguez; 3rd: Roy Halladay

AL ROY: Evan Longoria; 2nd: Alexei Ramirez; 3rd: Jacoby Ellsbury

AL CBPY: Cliff Lee

AL MOY: Joe Madden

NL MVP: Albert Pujols; 2nd: Manny Ramirez; 3rd: Lance Berkman

NL Cy Young: Brad Lidge; 2nd: Tim Lincecum; 3rd: C.C. Sabathia

NL ROY: Geovany Soto; 2nd: Hiroki Kuroda; 3rd: Joey Votto

NL CBPY: Ryan Dempster

NL MOY: Cecil Cooper (he, Lou, and Torre were a tough trio to decide among)

While his season has certainly had its low and high points, he's earned the starting role he's currently occupying, and it was my first chance to see him on 7/29 vs. Glen Perkins and the Twins.

First impression: holy cow is he skinny!  If you looked at his stat line, you'd think he's a slugging middle infielder type, but he certainly doesn't have the body.  Then you watch him hit.  The young man swings a vicious bat and has nearly perfect body action in his swing.  He did work the count well against Perkins, but none of that resulted in a walk.  When he made contact, the ball just jumped off of his bat.  His swing and running style remind me incredibly of video and photographs I've seen of a young Henry Aaron, most distinctively the wrists on his swing and the arm motion in his running (something Hank smoothed out later in his career).

Alexei had a very impressive couple of hits and took 3rd from first on a routine single to right field, running through the stop sign in the process.  While it's not a good idea to ignore your coaches, he seemed to have a great instinct about him on the basepaths.

In short, I was impressed with my first in-stadium viewing of him.  Clayton Richard would have received the same impression if the game ended after 4 innings.  He simply lost his location completely in the 5th.  Oh, and Delmon Young had a horrible night at the plate, but made a tremendous running catch in the ninth to ensure the victory.

Who's going wherA

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