Tonight had a chance to be one of the most historic nights in the history of baseball with Tom Glavine going for his 300th win, Alex Rodriguez going for his 500th home run, and Barry Bonds going for a all time home run record tying 755th homer.

Unfortunately for these three, none of them could get the job done tonight.

Glavine came the closest as he pitched a great 6 innings for the Mets in Milwaukee tonight. He allowed just 2 hits and 1 run (although he also had 5 walks) in 6 innings tonight. He left the game with a 2-1 lead but he lost his 300th win when the game was tied in the 8th. The Brewers went on to win the game in the 13th inning by a final score of 4-2.

Alex Rodriguez went 0 for 5 for the Yankees as he one of the few Yankee hitters not to have a big game. The Yanks beat the White Sox in New York by a score of 16 to 3, behind a franchise record tying 8 home runs.

Perhaps A-Rod is pressing due to what Jose Canseco said? If you haven't caught it yet Canseco said he "has stuff" on A-Rod and when asked if he A-Rod ever did steroids he said "wait and see" (for his new book.) Clearly this could be seen as a publicity stunt by Canseco. But I don't see how you can just dismiss what he says considering that it looks like most of what he said in his last book was true. A lot of people dismissed what he said about Rafael Palmeiro and look how that turned out.

Bonds went 0 for 2 with 2 walks to finish off his awful July (save July 19th, that was a good day for him.) Bonds hit just .186 in July. He's had an up and down season this year.

April - .356
May - .194
June - .364
July - .186

Bonds has historically been amazing in August so it'll be interesting to see if he can keep up that trend. Even last year when Bonds was cold most of the season he hit .333 in August. 2004? He hit .414 in August that year. Although the .472 he hit in April that year was what really stands out. He also had an absolutely ridiculous .696 OBP in April of '04. I'm actually wondering if that's the greatest month of any hitter ever. An OPS of 1.828 for a full month has to be among the best if it's not the record.

As far as this magical trifecta of baseball history, I suppose if A-Rod and Bonds remain stuck there's a possibility for it to happen again on Glavine's next start.

It doesn't seem that unlikely that they'll remain stuck because of the way Bonds and Rodriguez have been hitting recently. Bonds has been in an awful month long slump other than his 2 home run game on July 19th. And Rodriguez has now gone 17 straight at bats without a hit as his batting average has dropped under .300 (he's now at .298)

Labels: Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Tom Glavine

With our two newest members in the hall of fame, and the fun of annoying O's fans, I give you the following magic:

GROUNDED INTO DOUBLE PLAYS, Alltime

1. Cal Ripken (21 O's seasons)	350
2. Hank Aaron	328
3. Carl Yastrzemski	323
4. Dave Winfield	319
5. Eddie Murray (12 O's seasons)	316
6. Jim Rice	315
7. Julio Franco	312
8. Harold Baines (7 O's seasons)	298
9t. Brooks Robinson (23 O's seasons)	297
9t. Rusty Staub	297

NIFTY!

Labels: Baltimore Orioles, IHateU, Save us Obi Wan Ripken

Barry Bonds hit career home run #754 (his 20th of the season) in the first inning of tonight's game against the Marlins in San Francisco. Bonds was walked each of his next 4 times up.

Every time Bonds come to the plate now is a potential history making moment. Now it's a question of if he will be given anything to hit. From what I saw tonight pitchers seemed more nervous than usual facing Bonds on the brink of a history making home run. And that's saying a lot as Bonds makes pitchers pretty nervous regardless of how many home runs he has. I think the pressure will go up even more once the record is tied. As I mentioned earlier it's #715 that's most remembered with Aaron and I think it's #756 that pitchers may be most wary of when pitching to Barry Bonds.

The Giants won the game in a slug fest. 12 to 10. It was another awful start for Barry Zito by the way. He got out of this one without a loss at least. He didn't get the win either though as the Giants offensive explosion came after he got the hook.

Labels: Barry Bonds

Ty Wigginton is the most sought after player at the moment. Apparently the Red Sox, Yankees, Padres, Cubs, and Twins have their eyes on this prize of the Devil Ray's magical beans system of picking up formerly released players. I hear some WNBA teams are interested in his GREAT FUNDAMENTALS too. I refuse to believe this bullshit. Not Ty Wigginton, but the WNBA, which is as real as the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, and Lindsey Lohan's nose cartilage.

The only halfway interesting trade deadline deals appear to be the bidding war for Mark Teixeira, and the functional parts of the Rangers' bullpen. Somehow the Yankees and Red Sox have worked themselves into rumors for the deal, because Texas is
really stupid. On planet Earth, the Angels and Braves appear to be fighting it out, with the Dodgers as a dark horse team. They are really the only teams that have the need and the farm system to get the former "un-tradeable" part which made Texas never get Bartolo Colon a few years back.

For those people who have read Moneyball, I sadly don't see the vaunted "Fuckin A'" trade from Billy Beane this year. Unless he can find a Triage unit. Be sure to tune into ESPN and vomit all over yourself for their deadline special while Steve Phillips proves why he got fired as Mets GM.

In a side note....

KERRY WOOD

Labels: IHateU, lolCubslol, Trade Deadline

Alex Rodriguez hit his 499th career home run yesterday. He's now just one short of becoming the 22nd player to hit 500. A-Rod turns 32 tomorrow. Barring some unforeseen incident, he will be the youngest player to hit 500 home runs. Currently the youngest player to ever reach 500 is Jimmie Foxx who was 32 years, 336 days old when he did it. Foxx was only the second player to ever hit 500 home runs at the time (1940.)

Rodriguez hopes to not follow the same path as Foxx after hitting #500. Foxx's career quickly fell apart after that and he only hit another 34 home runs before retiring at age 37.

The oldest player to hit #500? Ted Williams at age 41. Williams would have done it much sooner but missed much of the prime of his career due to World War II. Willie McCovey and Eddie Murray were both 40 when they hit #500.

The first member of the 500 home run club was Babe Ruth who hit #500 on August 11th, 1929. He was 34 years old. Ruth's feats are all the more impressive when you consider he started his career as a pitcher in the dead ball era.

Tom Glavine won his 299th game yesterday. When he gets to #300 he'll be the 23rd pitcher to do so.

While the 500 home run club seems to be losing it's luster with lesser players such as Rafael Palmeiro joining it, the 300 win club is becoming harder and harder to get into. 6 of the 22 current members of the 300 win club got to #300 before 1900. The club was founded by Pud Galvin in 1888, so it's been around 41 years longer than the 500 home run club.

It's very possible that by the end of this year the 500 home run club will have more members than the 300 win club.

A-Rod will become the 8th player since 1996 to join the 500 home run club. And as I mentioned earlier there are 3 more players who will likely join the club either this year or next. On the other hand Glavine will become just the 3rd pitcher to win #300 since '90. The other two? Roger Clemens (2003) and Greg Maddux (2004.)

While home runs have gotten easier over the years to hit. Wins have got harder to get (for starters.) This is because of the 5 man rotations and the fact that pitchers are taken out earlier in the games (which means more wins for relievers, and less for starters.)

The only other active pitcher who looks to have a shot at 300 wins (any time soon) is Randy Johnson. He has been plagued by injury problems and will be 44 years old by the end of the season. Johnson has 284 wins.

Because of this it's quite likely that Tom Glavine will be the last pitcher to win 300 games for a very long time.

Labels: Alex Rodriguez, Tom Glavine

Barry Bonds took the day off yesterday, but he did take time to call Bob Costas a "midget."

"You mean that little midget man who absolutely knows (expletive) about baseball?" Bonds asked rhetorically.

This was in response to an interview Bob Costas had on his HBO show with a chemist named Patrick Arnold who invented the designer steroid, the Clear. In this interview the chemist stated he believes that Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield took the Clear. The Clear could not be detected by steroid tests at the time. Costas has long been outspoken in his belief that Bonds took steroids.

Victor Conte, founder of BALCO, immediately responded saying that he never supplied Barry Bonds with steroids and that it would not make any logical sense for him to take the undetectable Clear at the time because MLB was not testing for steroids anyway until 2003. In comparison track & field athletes have been tested for steroids for a long time. Conte has said that track star Marion Jones did use steroids.

Arnold also stepped back from his comments. Yesterday he stated that he could not say for sure if Bonds used the Clear or not.

"To me it was always implicit that an athlete that Victor was working with was on the program," Arnold told ESPN Radio yesterday morning. This statement contradicts what Arnold had said previously that Conte had told him that Bonds was on "the Program."

Labels: Barry Bonds

There seems to be an unusual amount of milestones being met and records being broken this season.

Already we've had Sammy Sosa reaching 600 home runs, Frank Thomas reaching 500 home runs, and Craig Biggio reaching 3000 hits.

As I wrote earlier in the year there are as many as 4 more players (Thomas was listed and has already done it) who could join the 500 home run club this season. Alex Rodriguez is just 2 home runs away now at 498. If all goes as scheduled, he will become the youngest player reach 500 home runs.

There's also a very good chance that Ken Griffey Jr. could become the 6th player to ever hit 600 home runs this season. He is currently sitting at 587 homers and is on pace to end the year with 604.

Tom Glavine is on the cusp of becoming the 23rd pitcher in MLB history to win 300 games. He is 298-197 all time. He may be the last pitcher to reach 300 wins for quite some time.

As IHateU recently posted Craig Biggio may become the all time leader in times hit by pitch this season. He has been hit by pitch 285 times in his career. The all time leader is Hughie Jennings at 287.

Of course the biggest record to be broken is Hank Aaron's career home run record of 755 which Barry Bonds should break soon barring injury. Bonds currently has 753 home runs.

While old man Barry Bonds went 0 for 2 to keep everyone waiting for #754, young man Tim Lincecum pitched another outstanding game for the Giants. He threw 8 scoreless innings with 8 strikeouts, allowing just 4 hits and 1 walk as the Giants beat the Brewers for the second straight game in Milwaukee 8 to 0.

Lincecum improved his record to 5-2 with a 3.96 ERA. He has 103 strikeouts in 94.1 innings this season.

Most impressively he is 3-0 in his last 5 starts with only 4 runs allowed in 34.1 innings, that's a 1.05 ERA. He also has 41 strikeouts against 14 walks during those 5 starts.

After a sketchy period in June, Tim Lincecum is now living up to the huge hype placed upon him prior to his arrival in San Francisco.

Labels: San Francisco Giants

Some guy who wears huge elbow guards is two away from tying and 3 away from breaking a great all time record....

Plunk Biggio

He could probably use a whole bunch of steroids right now.

I don't really know what to counter Joshua's Final Countdown with, so lets try this one...

Deep in the jeans she's wearing, I'm hooked and I can't stop staring.

Labels: Craig Biggio, Excessive amounts of Booty, IHateU

Milwaukee Brewers rookie 3B Ryan Braun is tearing up the NL.

In his 47 games so far, Braun has 14 home runs and 39 RBI. He is hitting .335 with a .660 slugging percentage.

Although he was not called up until May 24th he's still on pace to finish the year with 34 homers and 95 RBI.

Is this some sort of early career fluke or is Ryan Braun going to be a superstar?

I'm asking YOU!

Labels: Milwaukee Brewers

As IHateU just posted many are trying to guess when Bonds will hit #756 out of the park. Most assume that he will not do it on the road although Selig has said that he expects Bonds to play as he normally would. The good thing for the Giants is they are out of the playoffs anyway (save a complete miracle) and Bonds is old and needs periodic rest so it's easier to rest him without it looking TOO ridiculous.

There are 3 games in Milwaukee and Bonds just went 3 for 3 with 2 home runs yesterday. Usually when Bonds has a big game like that he follows it up with some more big games, and I would be surprised if he doesn't hit at least one home run in this series.

IHateU says that the Giants will sit Bonds if he hits 1 homer but I don't really see why they wouldn't want him to TIE the record on the road, in fact if he ties it that would make it much easier for him to hit #756 out of the park at home during the Giants 7 game home stand coming up after this 3 game series in Milwaukee.

Sure Bonds #755 is historic but what do we remember from Hank Aaron? It's not #714 but #715, so I think that #756 is really the important one this time, the one that they really want to make sure happens at home.

The craziest scenario would be if Bonds hits 2 home runs in his first 2 at bats tonight. Would you sit a guy that hot? That would be pretty obvious...

Anyway as IHateU suggested here's Europe (the band, not the continent)

Labels: Barry Bonds

With people going crazy trying to figure out which location Bonds hitting 755 and 756 (Harry pretends to be dead, and see title)would bring the most drama, here is a look at the upcoming schedule: (Voldemort's snake kills Snape)


Fri 7/20 @ Milwaukee J. Suppan (8-8) 12 HR's allowed (This season)
Sat 7/21 @ Milwaukee D. Bush (8-7) 13 HR's
Sun 7/22 @ Milwaukee- DAY GAME C. Vargas (7-2) 17 HR's
Mon 7/23 Atlanta J. Smoltz (9-5) 9 HR's
Tue 7/24 Atlanta They Kill the Owl
Weds 7/25 Atlanta
Thur 7/26 Atlanta
Fri 7/27 Florida
Sat 7/28 Florida
Sun 7/29 Florida
Mon 7/30 Off Dobby dies
Tue 7/31 @ Los Angeles (N)
Weds 8/1 @ Los Angeles (N)
Thur 8/2 @ Los Angeles (N)
Fri 8/3 @ San Diego
Sat 8/4 @ San Diego
Sun 8/5 @ San Diego
Mon 8/6 Washington
Tue 8/7 Washington
Weds 8/8 Washington
Thur 8/9 Washington
Fri 8/10 Pittsburgh
Sat 8/11 Pittsburgh
Sun 8/12 Pittsburgh- DAY GAME
(Book ends with them sending their kids to wizzard school)

I think it's safe to assume Bonds will be sitting if he hits any today, to wait for the homestand. Dumbledorf was going to die anyway, Snape performed a mercy killing so Draco wouldn't be a murderer. Well, anyway, go watch some baseball and don't read any kids books!

Labels: Barry Bonds, Gay Children's Books, I'll Muggle your goddamned face, IHateU

Barry Bonds emphatically ended his slump today in Chicago.

He had gone 21 consecutive at bats without a hit. But after being out of the starting lineup for 3 games to rest, he hit the very first pitch he saw out of the park for a solo home run in the 2nd inning. He then singled home 2 runners in the 3rd inning. He followed up a 6th inning walk with another home run, this time a 3 run shot in the 7th inning.

3 for 3, 1 BB, 2 HR, 6 RBI

Unfortunately for the Giants, Bonds' monster 2 home run, 6 RBI game was not enough to get the win. The Cubs won the game 9 to 8 as the Giants fell to 39-54.

But at this point the Giants season seems to be nothing much except for the Barry Bonds show anyway (along with watching rookie pitching phenomenon Tim Lincecum develop.)

The home runs were #752 and #753 all time for Bonds which leaves him only 2 behind the all time record of 755 by Hank Aaron.

Labels: Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds has been mired in a horrible slump coming on the heels of a very hot streak to close out June and start July.

Today, with the Dodgers beating the Giants for the 11th straight time in San Francisco, Bonds went 0 for 5 to extend his hitless streak to 18 consecutive at bats.

Bonds had a tremendous April, an awful May, a great June, and now appears well on his way to a dreadful July as the Giants are spiraling down and out to complete irrelevance in the NL West.

Bonds hit career home run #751 on July 3rd and has been stuck there since.

Labels: Barry Bonds

The Seattle Mariners signed their star Japanese leadoff hitter Ichiro Suzuki to a new 5 year contract worth 90 million dollars just three days after his MVP winning inside the park home run hitting performance at the All Star Game.

He currently leads the big leagues with 128 hits and is second in batting average at .355 and 3rd in the AL with 23 stolen bases.

Ichiro has a reasonable shot at 3000 career hits despite not starting his MLB career until he was 28 years old in 2001. He has never had fewer than 208 hits in a season and has finished either 1st or 2nd in hits every year in the AL.

Despite all of this some feel that Ichiro is overrated due to his low walk ratio and lack of power. His detractors can point out that he has actually lead the league in at bats (4) more times than hits (3.) His career OBP of .379 is not as outstanding as you would expect someone with a .333 batting average to have and his .439 slugging percentage is weak. His career OPS is .818 and OPS+ is 120 which shows that while he is an above average offensive performer, he is probably not as good as most casual fans with a lesser understanding of statistics think.

Oh the other hand his positives include his 258 career steals, his 6 gold gloves (every season so far), and his 109 career intentional walks (14th among active players) which shows that despite his lack of power Ichiro is a feared hitter in the American League.

He's also having arguably his greatest season so far this year. His season to date 134 OPS+ is just shy of his career high of 135 in 2004 when he set the MLB for hits in a season with 262.

Labels: Seattle Mariners

The greatest lead off hitter of all time, Rickey Henderson, has become the New York Mets new hitting coach.

Henderson had already been with the Mets as a special instructor and has been instrumental in Jose Reyes development as a player.

Henderson had a 25 year career from 1979 to 2003. He finished his career with 3055 hits, 2295 runs, 1406 stolen bases, and 2190 walks. He is MLB's all time leader in runs and stolen bases and he's second to only Barry Bonds in walks.

Labels: New York Mets

MLB.com is having a contest where you can win $10,000 by predicting the 2007 All-Star Game line score. Go HERE to enter the contest. It's free to enter.

The American League announced itself as a major league in 1901. It was formerly a minor league known as the Western League.

The league formed with 8 teams: the Chicago White Sox, the Boston Americans, the Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Indians, the Detroit Tigers, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Washington Senators, and the Philadelphia Athletics.

The Philadelphia Athletics (now the Oakland Athletics) lured Nap Lajoie from the NL's Philadelphia Phillies and he went on to win the triple crown in the AL's first season with a .426 batting average, 14 home runs, and 125 RBI. Lajoie lead the league in almost every hitting stat: AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, OPS+, Batter Wins, Adj. Batter Runs, Runs, Hits, Doubles, Home Runs, Total Bases, and RBI. The only categories he did not lead the league in were triples, walks, and stolen bases.

As incredible as Lajoie was in this first AL season it was not enough to carry the A's to the title. They finished in 4th place.

The Chicago White Sox won the first AL championship with an 83-53 record.

Cy Young, who also moved from the NL (St. Louis Cardinals) to the new AL (Boston Americans), was the top pitcher in the league with a league leading 33 wins, 158 strikeouts, and 1.62 ERA. If there had been a Cy Young Award at the time, Cy Young surely would have won it.

Interesting Tidbitty: Saves were not an official stat at the time but baseball historians have gone back to count up the saves that were accumulated. A pitcher named Bill Hoffer of the Cleveland Indians lead the AL with 3 saves. During this period starting pitchers completed nearly all of their games. For example Cy Young completed 38 of the 41 games he started.


Cy Young and Lefty Grove Framed 16x20 Brearly Collection Photograph

Labels: baseball history

My choices for the award winners as of the mid season break.

American League:

MVP: Magglio Ordonez, Detroit Tigers

This one came down to Ordonez and Alex Rodriguez for me. Their overall statistical performance has been pretty close (They are #1 and #2 in the AL in OPS) but the big tie breaker is the fact that the Tigers have been excellent (1st place in the AL Central) while A-Rod's Yankees have very disappointing (1 game under .500 and 10 games behind the Red Sox.)

Ordonez is leading the majors in batting average at .367, he's leading the AL in OBP at .446, and he's also leading the majors in doubles with 35.

I can easily see this going the other way. Overall A-Rod's got slightly better numbers than Ordonez and he's on pace to hit nearly 60 homers. He's a third baseman while Ordonez is a RF. From a purely statistical point of view I think you have to go with Rodriguez but I do think with an MVP award you should at least consider somewhat the state of the team the player is on.

Cy Young: Dan Haren, Oakland A's

Haren is leading the AL in ERA at 2.30 and he's got a 10-3 record.

Other contenders include Johan Santana who is 10-6 with a 2.75 ERA and Josh Beckett of the Red Sox who is 12-2.

Rookie Of The Year: Jeremy Guthrie, Baltimore Orioles

Guthrie is only 4-2 but he's second in the AL in ERA at 2.74 and he's got a .207 BAA. And maybe most impressive he leads the AL with a 0.91 WHIP.

Other contenders for the AL Rookie of the Year Award include three Boston Red Sox rookies. The starting pitcher Dice-K who is 10-6, the 2B Dustin Pedroia who is hitting .318 with 21 doubles, and the relief pitcher Hideki Okajima who has a 0.83 ERA in 43.1 IP as a setup man.

National League:

MVP: Prince Fielder, Milwaukee Brewers

Fielder is leading the NL in homers with 29 and in slugging percentage at .620, he's also 2nd in RBI at 70. You combine these great numbers with the surprising Brewers being first place in the NL Central and you've got the easy MVP in my opinion.

Other contenders include the underrated Braves 3B Chipper Jones who is second in the NL in OPS. Ridiculously Jones didn't even make the All-Star team. Other contenders do NOT include Matt Holliday of the Rockies who Jason Stark of ESPN picked as his NL MVP thus far. Holliday's numbers are greatly inflated by playing his home games in Colorado. His home OPS is just short of 300 points higher than his road OPS. I just don't see how you can choose any hitter from Colorado as MVP unless the Rockies are having an outstanding year and the hitter is having an absolutely mind blowing year statistically. Holliday's numbers are far from mind blowing. He's 6th in the NL in OPS despite his numbers being artificially inflated by being a Rockie.

To further my point about Chipper Jones, Jones actually has a higher OPS on the road than he does at home (by almost 200 points.) I don't really see how you can look at Holliday's numbers in LF playing for Colorado and say they are better than Jones's playing 3B for Atlanta.

Cy Young: Jake Peavy, San Diego Padres

Peavy leads the NL in WHIP (1.06) and strikeouts (125) and he's second in ERA (2.19) for the Padres who have the best record in the NL.

There's plenty of solid competition in the NL for the Cy Young. Peavy's teammate in San Diego Chris Young is leading the big leagues in ERA at 2.00 and Brad Penny in LA is 10-1 with a 2.39 ERA.

Rookie Of The Year: Hunter Pence, Houston Astros

Astros CF Hunter Pence goes into the all star break leading the NL in hitting at .342, he's also 4th in SLG at .589, and he's 8th in the NL with a .956 OPS.

Pence is a true rookie. He's never had a single at bat in the big leagues till this year. Not only is Pence the front runner (by a long shot) for NL ROY, he also has the numbers to be an all star and I'd select him as MVP over Matt Holliday personally.

"Wow, what a Hall of Fame class that will be."

"One of the best Hall of Fame classes ever? Most likely."

"Gwynn, Ripken, and McGwire? What a Hall of Fame class."

It seems like that was about 40 years ago when talking heads were muttering those statements. Sure enough, when Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken, Jr., and Mark McGwire all announced their respective retirements in 2001, everyone knew that each would go storming through the doors of Cooperstown.

But when it came time to vote, one guy was not on many of the voters' ballots. He was, at one point, the undisputed single season home run king, Mark McGwire.

We all know what happened since 2001. Steroid speculation grew to a fever pitch, and many prominent sluggers, including McGwire and Sosa, were called to speak before Congress in 2005. Between Sosa's ability to forget how to speak English, and McGwire's constant claim of not wanting to talk about the past, the top sluggers in the game took a reputation hit.

The guy who fell the hardest was, of course, McGwire. He went from being a reluctant hero in 1998, to the poster boy of steroids-gone-wrong in 2005. McGwire was obviously out of the game at this point, but Sosa was still playing and had a chance to redeem himself in Baltimore.

But he didn't. He had a terrible year offensively, and when no one besides the Nationals wanted him for the 2006 season, he effectively retired.

Meanwhile, Bonds shot past both Sosa and McGwire to become the game's greatest slugger, breaking McGwire's home run record by slugging 73 home runs in 2001. He then began his climb to Hammerin' Hank's record by becoming the first player in some time to hit 600 and then 700 home runs in a career.

After Sosa's year hiatus, he was invited to attend the Rangers' spring training. He played his way onto the team and then began a march to 600 home runs. A few weeks ago, he hit his 600th home run against his old team, the Chicago Cubs. This all brings us up to the present.

Bonds is a handful of home runs away from the all time home run record. Sosa has hit a few more dingers after his milestone blast. McGwire has not been heard from in years.

I'm told by talking heads that Bonds is a lock for the Hall of Fame. And after Sosa hit his 600th HR, I was told, surprisngly, that he was also a Hall of Famer. But Mark McGwire, even with 583 home runs, is left off of that list.

The excuse that many use to back up their claim that Bonds is a Hall of Famer, is that A) he will be the all time home run king, and B) he was a Hall of Famer before the steroid era. I will give them that.

But Sosa is the more peculiar pick. Before this season, Sosa was just as crucified as McGwire was. His season in Baltimore, to many, was proof that Sosa must have gone off the juice, as his numbers were way down from his career averages.

Just as soon as 600 left the yard, though, I was told that he was a Hall of Famer, because only four other men had hit the 600 plateau. But my question is, if Sosa is a lock at 600, how is McGwire not a lock just 17 shy of 600?

It is a double standard I am growing very tired of. My thought has always been that McGwire and Sosa either enter the Hall as a pair, or are left out as a pair. They both had their best seasons during the steroid-era. They both looked cartoonish and muscle-bound during their assault on the home run record. And they both suffered a fall from grace that hadn't been seen in baseball since Pete Rose.

I understand why Bonds will be let in. But how is Sosa in, if McGwire is not? In an era where sportswriter blowhards will blab and contradict themselves, I don't know if I will ever find an answer.

1998 feels so long ago.

Let's look at the numbers which support my argument: This season Barry Bonds has been the best hitter in the NL. At age 42.

Bonds leads the National League in the following categories:

OBP - .517 - Second place is Todd Helton who does not count due to playing for the Rockies so the real second place is Albert Pujols (who has rebounded nicely from his poor start) at .417, a full 100 points behind Bonds. That's an incredible domination of one of baseball's most important statistics. Bonds also leads all AL hitters in OBP by a wide margin. Bonds has been so incredibly good 2001 through 2004 that people aren't as shocked by his ridiculous numbers anymore, but they are still that: ridiculous. A .517 OBP is just absolutely ridiculous. He makes everyone else look like a little leaguer. He is truly a God amongst men when it comes to hitting a baseball.

SLG - .614 - Much was made of Bonds' struggles in May but he's leading the national league in slugging percentage. Read that again and think about it. This 42 (turning 43) year old man is leading the league in slugging percentage. Only A-Rod in the AL has a higher SLG.

OPS - 1.132 - Obviously leading in the two components of this stat he also leads in OPS and by a healthy margin. Second place? Again it's a Rockie (Matt Holliday) so we'll have to go to 3rd place for someone whose stats we can respect, Chipper Jones. Jones is at 0.986, nearly 150 points behind Bonds. Bonds also tops the entire major leagues in OPS.

BB - 86 - Of course Bonds also leads MLB in walks.

IBB - 30

RC/27 - 12.27 - Bonds leads MLB in this Sabermetric statistic by a wide margin. According to this statistic a team of 9 Barry Bonds would average 12.27 runs per game. Obviously the Giants are not a team of Barry Bonds. You can definitely argue this calculation as of course a team of Barry Bonds would not get walked so often but on the other hand they would also have to be pitched to very well (ie throw strikes) because it's not like you can pitch around one Bonds to get to another one. Hell 12.27 might be low.

SECA - .772 - Another Sabermetric stat that Bonds dominates. It's defined as: "A way to look at a player's extra bases gained, independent of Batting Average" and it's calculated TB - H + BB + SB - CS) / AB

BB/K - 2.69 - If K/BB are such an important stat to pitchers this is also an interesting stat to look at from a hitting perspective. Bonds has dominated this stat in the past. In 2004 he had a 5.66 BB/K ratio.

HR/AB % - 8.629 - He's barely ahead of Prince Fielder who is at 8.626, I think this maybe the most surprising stat to those who just look at the totals and see Bonds with 17 home runs vs Fielder's 27. Yes, but Fielder has 313 at bats vs. Bonds 197. No hitter in the NL thus far has been more likely to hit a home run when given a pitch to hit than Barry Bonds. This is why baseball is still so scared of him and why he still gets intentionally walked so much (along with the weak Giants lineup.) A-Rod does lead the majors in this stat at 9.15%. BTW I do think A-Rod has been a better hitter than Bonds this year which is why this is titled the best hitter in the NL rather than in MLB. But I would not be surprised at all if Bonds surpasses Rodriguez in the second half of the season. Bonds generally finishes stronger than he starts, we'll see if that trend holds up as he turns 43 years old.

For those traditionalists out there who will point out that Bonds is only 34th in Runs scored and 40th in RBI in the NL: To you I ask so what? Those counting stats are team/situation dependent statistics that are completely irrelevant when assessing a hitter's skill. Why should Bonds be penalized for being in a piss poor lineup? It doesn't make any sense. I will admit that the Giants' less than stellar lineup does help to boost his OBP but I also believe if he had better hitters in the lineup with him he would have a higher HR% and SLG as he would be getting more pitches to hit and he would be able to get into a better groove as a hitter. He would also obviously have many more RBI and runs (and home runs.) His runs numbers are lowered further because he is often replaced by a pinch runner when he gets on base towards the end of the game.

Labels: Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds sent a 0-2 pitch into the stands in the first inning of tonight's game in Cincinnati to give the Giants a 2-0 lead.

The home run was Bonds' 17th of the season and 751st of his career.

He is now 4 home runs shy of Hank Aaron's career record of 755.

The hit extended Bonds' hitting streak to 9 games which is more impressive than it sounds when you consider that Bonds often gets 1 or 2 at bats per game because of all of his walks.

He's now hitting .308 for the season.

Labels: Barry Bonds

An annual tradition among baseball fans: Who was snubbed from the All Star Game?

Position Players

Name - Team/Pos - AVG/OBP/SLG - Home Runs

Chipper Jones - Braves/3B - .333/.419/.596 - 13 home runs

Jones is second in the NL in OPS (after Barry Bonds) as a 3rd baseman which one would think would make him an easy choice for the all star team.

Mark Teixeira - Rangers/1B - .302/.405/.554 - 12 home runs

Ryan Howard - Phillies/1B - .253/.387/.555 - 19 home runs

Howard has had a disappointing season but he's still 9th in the NL in OPS.

Aramis Ramirez - Cubs/3B - .312/.358/.571 - 15 home runs

The second NL 3B to be on the list. You'd usually think a .312 average and a .571 slugging percentage would be enough to make the all star team especially in the infield.

Adam Dunn - Reds/LF - .263/.352/.561 - 23 home runs

He's second in the NL in home runs but he's hurt by his not so great average and OBP. He's also hurt by the fact that the Reds are awful and Ken Griffey Jr. is already on the team.

Gary Sheffield - Tigers/DH - .290/.401/.530 - 18 home runs

Being a DH probably doesn't help his cause especially considering the game is in an NL stadium this year.

Curtis Granderson - Tigers/CF - .289/.343/.563 - 11 home runs

Granderson has 15 triples.

Pitchers

Name - Team - W-L, ERA

Chris Young - Padres - 8-3, 2.14

3rd in the NL in ERA.

John Maine - Mets - 9-4, 2.74

4th in the NL in ERA.

Jeremy Guthrie - Orioles - 4-2, 2.63

2nd in the AL in ERA.