SB Nation User Blog: sluggo 2.0

Huff to the Mets?

sluggo 2.0 — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:28:53 -0000

Mets 1Bman Carlos Delgado is out for at least 2 months and according to the yammerings on WFAN they don't seem to think they have an adequate stopgap within the organization.

Now the 1st choice is apparently Nick Johnson, and outstanding fielder & the price is right. But he does have a history of injuries & doesn't have the same presence in the lineup that Huff would give.

Doubtful they'd part with top OF prospect Victor Martinez, but pitching help could be available. So if the Mets start asking questions on Huff's availability, what should MacPhail's answer be?

Jays building quite a collection of O's rejects

sluggo 2.0 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:51:47 -0000

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AsDj4IbGHu82gZPPPLWJE8QRvLYF?slug=ap-bluejays-millar&prov=ap&type=lgns

Link speaks for itself. All this yammering is to get to 75 words. I didn't know there was anything wrong with Lyle Overbay. I guess the idea is to use him as a DH. If nothing else the price was right. With the Ray's improvement they've been bumped from their perennial 3rd place status. And before this move if they were to move out of 4th, 5th seemed more likely than a return to 3rd. From a Jays point of view, I would say of this move what the Governator said in T-2, "This does not help our mission."

Happy 25th

sluggo 2.0 — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:24:10 -0000

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=198310160PHI

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1983&t=BAL

It was on 10/16/83 when the O's beat the Phils 5-0 behind a Scott McGreggor shutout to win the Series 4-1. For "domestically violating" Philly pitching at a .385 clip and handling a pitching staff that held Philly hitting to .195, Rick Dempsey was named Series MVP. And Cal Ripken was the AL season MVP.

The final standings will show a convincing 6 game regular season margin of victory, but that doesn't tell the whole story. It was a legitimate 5-way race well into August with the Os only pulling away in the last 6 weeks or so.

In Detroit, Sparky Anderson had all the pieces in place of a team that would win 104 games the next year.

Billy Martin was brought back to the Yankees after a horrid '82 season to prove that the core of the '77-'78 championship team was still strong.

The talented but inexperienced Blue Jays were led to the 1st winning season in team history by Bobby Cox.

And Harvey [Keunn]'s Wallbangers of Milwaukee, last year's pennant winners, still had a beefy lineup, even if the pitching had dropped off some.

With competition like that, no wonder there were questions if rookie manager Joe Altobelli, taking over from Earl himself, could run with the larger canines of the division! Only the Red Sox & Indians were out of it from the beginning.

But whatever it is that separates the winners from everyone else down the stretch, the Os found it. A perfect example of this was a Sep. game against Toronto when Tippy Martinez walked - and then picked off - 3 baby Jays in succession.

Then it was on to Chicago to play the White Sox, winners of the west by 20 games. A formidable lineup led by Kittle, Baines & Luzinski combined with the pitching of Hoyt, Dotson & Burns all pointed to Tony LaRussa's 1st pennant in his 1st full season. Eh, not so much. O's 3 - Sox 1.

And finally the Series, against the badly geezing Phillies, fresh off their own upset of LA in the NL playoffs, was rather anticlimactic.

If you were there it's worth remembering. If not, it's worth finding out about.

Chris Britton - all aboard the Scranton Shuttle

sluggo 2.0 — Sat, 10 May 2008 16:18:54 -0000

Back in the late 80s when the Yankees sucked (next on Yankeeograhpy, the Greg Cadaret story) - and even in the mid 80s when Mattingly, Winfield & Henderson would carry them through August before their pitching died - there was a penomenon known as The Columbus Shuttle, whereby one young player, usually a pitcher, would end up making multiple trips from the AAA Columbus Clippers & the Yankees & back again.

Sadly, the Clippers are no longer NY's AAA affiliate. The new team is in Scranton. But fear not! Fredo Steinbrenner has revived one of King George's old traditions in the person of Chris Britton, winner of the 2006 "Terry Forster Fat Tub of Goo" Award.

As of May 9, he has already been called up 3 times from Scranton. Here's wishing him luck in breaking the record which is 8 and if memory serves me right, is held by Steve Balboni & Ray Fontenot.

Domes now, please!

sluggo 2.0 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:22:19 -0000

I'm sure many will think this is heresy, but I really, really, REALLY think teams that have put up new stadiums in the last 20 or so years should have taken a cue from Skydome rather than Camden Yards.

We're already had one Opening Day rainout & 2 others are being delayed. Now I love the old school charm of Camden Yards, but these days "dome" doesn't have to = "monstrosity". Safeco is proof that you can combine common sense with aesthetics. And while it's true that there's nothing better than a ball game played when it's in the mid 70s under a clear blue sky, it's also true than in most places those other 78 home games can be a real problem.

From a team's point of view there's nothing that screws up a pitching staff more than about a gajillion unscheduled double headers in Aug/Sept. And from a fan's point of view there's nothing more annoying than settling down for a game & getting Rain Delay Theatre.

But instead of moving foreward most teams that are building new stadiums seem to be regressing. 2 non-domes going up in NY. And 1 in Minnesota, of all places. Yeah. Good luck with that.

Sorry, but with today's technology & engineering there's just no reason for it. Rainouts have about as much place in the world of 2008 as meat rationing, scrap metal drives & John McCain.