Comment Winter Olympics
With no more Weekend Predictions until next April, I was looking for some other weekly feature we could use to spice up Fridays. Something else with that TGIF vibe to it.
When in doubt, steal. So I'm swiping the "Comment of the Week" award concept from Neil Best, who I believe swiped it from Bob Glauber. We'll make ours a seasonal thing, though - every Friday, from today through April 2, 2009. The Weekend Predictions will resume on April 9, 2009.
But let's add our own twist here: I'll give out a gold, silver and bronze every week. No one can win more than one medal per week. Hence the "Winter Olympics" idea. And yes, I am adapting a liberal definition of "winter." After all, the "baseball winter" is now upon us, and it can still be pretty cold even in early April.
So here we go. In some cases, I have edited for spelling and punctuation:
I remember when the Rangers won the Cup, I stayed up all night and made posters and put them on my brother's lawn. (I'm all class) The best part was I KNEW he couldn't retaliate because he had to be on a plane that morning and wouldn't have time to get me back. When I woke up, there were posters on my lawn. He didn't miss his flight, but he was willing to if that was the cost.
BTW, I'm going to assume that Richie's brother is an Islanders fan, as opposed to, say, a Canucks fan.
I remember watching Nolan Ryan pitch on a very cold spring day 40 years ago. He was wild and threw pitches to the backstop. People trashed him in the stands and yelled for Gil Hodges to take him out. He ended up in the HOF.
It would have been much funnier if Longoria just reared back and beaned Bruntlett in the back of the head, knocking him out, Bruntlett's unconscious body scoring the winning run. Or maybe that thought was inspired by too many beers...
OK, actual baseball thoughts:
The Mets were interested in Lidge at the time, as a setup man for Lidge's Astros buddy Billy Wagner, but Wade wanted a package headed by either Carlos Gomez or Fernando Martinez. The Mets couldn't do that, because they very likely knew at that point that Gomez would be needed to acquire Johan Santana, and they weren't going to give up Martinez for someone they perceived as a setup man; they wouldn't even trade Martinez for Santana. Even Gomez, somewhat of a disappointment for the Twins, OPSed .656.
So the Phillies received a circumstantial discount, influenced by something entirely out of their control: Astros owner Drayton McLane's decision to hire Wade.
Have a great weekend.
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Comments (12)
Ken - do we have a quote from Willie Randolph about not getting the Brewers job....?
Ken, what do you make of the possibility of Miller and Morgan being split up next season?
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/2008/10/25/2008-10-25_sources_say_espn_set_to_break_up_morganm.html
Not that I am a fan of Sutcliffe's so-called analysis either....
Now that the city of Philadelphia has end their drought of not winning a championship in the NFL, MLB, NBA or NHL, the cities now that have the longest drought without winning a championship in the 4 major sports are Minneapolis-St. Paul and Washington, D.C. Minneapolis-St.Paul hasn't won a championship since the Twins beat the Braves in Game 7 of the '91 World Series. Washington, D.C. hasn't won championship since the Redskins under Joe Gibbs won the Super Bowl in 1991. In the Minneapolis-St.Paul's case, the Vikings got to the Super Bowl 4 times and never won. The Twins since '91 went to the ALCS in '02 and lost to the Angels. The Timberwolves got to the Western Conference Finals in '04 to the Lakers, who won 4 championships in the 1950s when they were in Minneapolis. The North Stars went to the Stanley Cup Finals 2 twice, before moving to Dallas. Their replacement, the Wild got to the Western Conference in '03 and lost to the then Anaheim Mighty Ducks (now Anaheim Ducks). In Washington, D.C.'s case, the Redskins have not come close to getting back to the Super Bowl since '91. The Wizards have not a NBA title since their were call the Bullets in '78. The Capitals got to the Stanley Cup Finals in '98 and got swept by the Red Wings. And the Nationals have never made the playoffs since they move from Montreal, where the Montreal Expos made the playoffs once in '81 in the strike shorten season where the season was split into 2 halves and the Expos won the NL East 2nd half and lose to the Dodgers in the NLCS.
I am not on Willie's Most Favored Nation list, Gerry, so sad to say, I won't be getting such a quote. I think Willie and Doug Melvin are friends, and Melvin interviewed Willie at least in part to help him out.
JE, I think I'm in the majority when I say that I would love to never see Joe Morgan work another game. I haven't heard anything regarding the accuracy of the report. How Miller has lasted this long with Morgan is beyond me.
Great point, Andy.
Pat Burrell reportedly turn down a 2-year $22 million from the Phillies. Burrell probably wants more than 2 years and a lot of money, and I gather the Phillies don't want to give Burrell a long term contract when Burrell is 32 years old and more of a DH at this point of his career.
Ken
The breakdown of the Lidge trade is interesting, although I suppose familiarity could have the opposite affect as well - if Tony Bernazard had gotten the Seattle job, would he have been a less willing trade partner with the Mets if the deal included players he didn't like for whatever reason? I guess too much information can be a bad thing when you're trying to sell/trade a product.
I always thought Lidge for Milledge (no, I'm not trying to be funny with the name similarity) would have made some sense. In fact, I suggested the possibility on some Astros' forums. I thought it made particular sense after the Mets sold low on Milledge. But the Astros are known to focus a lot on character (despite Chacon), so they might not have had any interest.
I wonder if Roger Clemens actually hopes his defamation case is dismissed at the pre-trial hearing next week? Even if he wins, many people will still think he is guilty. So, what can he gain?
Thanks for the medal Ken. I will send you my address so I can wear it. You are going to be giving us actual medals aren't you?? (I think I just blew my chance for future medals!) I love the idea Ken, I just think you missed out on a great Simpson/Baseball reference...especially dealing with the Gold Medal. Remember Homer "knocking" in the winning run in the baseball episode when he got hit in the head with the bases loaded. (Another reason not to intentionally walk them!!)
Great concept btw. But why doesn't Willie like you?
Ken - a quick Willie tidbit...a couple of years ago William C. Rhoden wrote an article after Willie got rejected from yet another job.
I wrote to WCR that I wouldn't hire Willie either since he refused to coach / manage in the minors. How can you think you're qualified to manage an MLB team if you're never handled a pitching staff...?
Soon after WCR blocked receipt of e-mail from my e-mail address.
Thanks for not blocking my posts....(:>
Richie, of course I'm sending you actual medals! LOL. Excellent point on the IBB/Homer's HBP.
Gerry, that is classic on Rhoden, and that's probably about as much as I should say on that guy.
Willie doesn't like me because I wrote this past season that he deserved to be fired.