CMON, CARDS.

This may come as a shock, but I think the Cardinals can do it. But today is the day we have to turn it around. Today is the day to right the ship. This is our last day off before 31 straight games. This weekend, we play three against the division leading Reds. And whereas some would say that every game is equally important, I believe there's a reasonable exception to that generalization: playing the team ahead of you is always more important. It's the swing. It's our last big chance to take a leap forward.

But then look at who else we play (win percentages in parentheses): 6 with Pittsburgh(.331), 6 with Chicago (.425), 4 with San Diego (.576 but currently on a 7 game losing streak), 4 with Colorado (.523), 4 at Atlanta (.586 - ouch), 3 at Milwaukee (.466), and that makeup with Florida (.508). 15 games against sub-500 teams. THAT LOOKS POSSIBLE TO ME.

I don't know. I just want to see us get to play the Braves in the NLCS or maybe the NLDS and the Yankees in the WS. And win in seven. With extra innings. A bunch of postseason nailbiter games. Is that too much to ask?

Randy Johnson in 2009?

The Giants just signed Randy Johnson to a 1-year, $8 million contract. That's a big risk! How many back surgeries has he had? I guess last year's performance was convincing enough that he's doing alright, though. And I guess $8 mil sounds like a lot more to me than it does to the Giants, heh heh.

He has 295 wins and 4789 strikeouts. 5 wins at age 45 is not too much of a stretch, since he had 11 wins last year. He would become the 24th (and probably the LAST) pitcher to reach the 300 win milestone. Who would have thought a few years ago that he would still be around to do this? My goodness, he has 65 wins after turning 40! I bet that's his primary milestone goal.

But is 211 strikeouts possible in 2009? He hasn't reached that mark since 2005, at the tender young age of 41. But to be only the SECOND pitcher to reach 5000, that would be pretty keen. Let's think about it. Last year he had 173 K's in 184 IP. And since turning 40, he's stuck pretty close to an average of 1K per IP. Can a 45-year-old (he turns 46 in September) pitch enough innings to get 211 strikeouts? He's already safe in second place with 4789, so even if he doesn't, there's no one on his tail. Some other guys are hovering around 3000, but that's not really competition at all, is it?

After all that thinking, I'm sure it's not just about the personal milestones. The Giants say they want to be contenders, and they think he's a part of that equation. Is he?

going home again.

The season is over, and the White Sox have declined their option on Ken Griffey Jr. And now the talk is that he might go back to Seattle where he got his start. I think Griffey should go back to Seattle... after all, that’s what the 600 home run club does – they go back to the place they started:

- Babe Ruth started off with the Boston Red Sox and, after a storied career with the New York Yankees, spent his final season with the Boston Braves.
- Willie Mays got his start with the New York Giants, went across the nation when they moved to San Francisco, then went back to the New York Mets at the end.
- Hank Aaron started off with the Milwaukee Braves, moved with them to Atlanta, and chose to end up with the Milwaukee Brewers for his last two seasons.
- Sammy Sosa, who started out with a mere 25 games in a Texas Rangers jersey, went on to play for both Chicago teams and then played one season in Baltimore. But then, after a season off, he came back to Texas to JOIN the 600 home run club in one last hurrah.

The only holdout from that list is Barry Bonds: 7 years in Pittsburgh, then 15 years in San Francisco. Perhaps he could be signed for one at-bat with the Pirates again! Or does the Pittsburgh area have a senior league? Haha...

BLT. Yum.

Okay... over a year later, and I think I actually want to start blogging here.

I was driving to work this morning and ESPN radio was talking about someone who hit a triple, with the bases loaded. So that got me thinking. I think we (not me, but the stats guys in charge) should create a new stat:

the BLT... or Bases Loaded Triple.

Yeah, it's a little less "romantic" than the grand slam, but hey, that's still a pretty good swing of the bat, at a rather important time. And I bet it's every bit as rare as the grand slam, if not even more rare. Think about it:

Comparatively speaking, the grand slam is a rather rare occurrence. The career home run leader (Barry Bonds) has 762. The career grand slam leader (Lou Gehrig) has only 23. And I just read that in the 2005 season, "grand slams accounted for 132 of the 5017 total home runs hit (2.6 %)."

Then take into consideration that five people hit at least 40 HR in 2007, compared to five people hitting at least 10 triples in 2007. I know the math isn't that simple, but that means that triples are about 1/4 as common as homers. Would that mean that the BLT is exceedingly rare? I don't know. But it sure does make me hungry thinking about it.

first. blog. ever.

Okay. A whole new world is, right here and now, opening up for me...
And the first troubling thought is:
How do I write something that is of worth, and which I'm not going to want to revise or rewrite or whatever? Such is my tendency. I can write so that I am understood. But can I write so that I CAN'T be MISunderstood? And oh yeah, will ANYone be interested in reading it?

Well I guess it would be impossible to know that.
Kind of like hitting a 5-run homer.

So anyway, this will probably not deal with those sorts of things.
Alright then, problem solved! (Wipe imaginary sweat from forehead)

You know what I like? I like baseball. So this blog will be about baseball. And since I'm a bit of a nerd, there will probably be stats and stuff. Not usually just something that I cut from another baseball website and paste here, but stuff that I compile. Yes, I do that. I was made-fun-of in college for doing that. Just wait, you'll see.