Ken Davidoff's baseball insider

Since I'm not doing this feature the weeks I'm on vacation, and since I want to make every comment eligible for a medal, today's ceremony comes from the last three weeks' worth of comments. The Selection Committee is exhausted.

And away we go:

The bronze goes to Richie G, who, aggravated that he lost the wager with me detailed here (near the bottom of the post), responded with an impressive haiku.:

Damn Carl Pavano
Lynbrook Richie G. Gone-O
See You in Two Years.

The silver goes to Bob Tufts, with this brilliant comment on Andy Pettitte:

It is obvious that Pettitte is operating under something other than Copernicus' heliocentric model of the universe.

And the gold goes to Islander505, for this post in what was a spirited debate about the Hall of Fame, concerning whether lawbreakers should be eligible:

Drinking was not always legal.
PROHIBITION.
Consorting with prostitutes has NEVER been legal.
Bye-bye Babe Ruth and about 90% of the current members of the Hall of Fame.
As James K says....once you get into legal and illegal activities of players off the field it is a VERY SLIPPERY SLOPE.
Was snorting cocaine, dropping acid and smoking some Mexican illegal, damaging to their performances and to the game and just plain WRONG?
You betcha.

"But so was a lot of other stuff that was MORE readily available to HOF'ers of yesteryear"
As Casey Stengel once said....
"It ain't the sex that killing my ballplayers, it's the looking for it".
Be careful of the glass walls you want to put around the HOF.

Kind of a hangover week here, still recovering from Vegas (the work, not the play. There was no time for play). Nevertheless, as usual, the comments were stellar. Plenty of good candidates.

Without further ado, here are your medal winners:

The bronze goes to Howard, who artfully melded his current-events knowledge and his love of the Mets:

Hey, Ken. Curious, was that Aaron Heilman hurling his shoes at Bush? The lack of control looked very familiar.

The silver goes to Bob Tufts, who, as is his wont, turned someone else's lemons into lemonade for us:

Fred Wilpon just signed Charles Ponzi to a multi-year, $300-million contract. He will probably be used as a pinch-runner and be allowed to steal at will.

And the gold goes to Jack, who mixed it up with a good, old-fashioned baseball rip:

Concerning Pavano: Most people thought the signing was a little bit ridiculous, especially at the price. Since I am not a psychiatrist, I can only guess at the reasons Cashman isn't secure enough in his own person to admit he made a mistake. His continuing defense of that signing, and of Pavano's conduct over the past four years, makes the Yankee GM look foolish.

Meanwhile, plenty of baseball coverage in today's Newsday:

Good to be back home. First of all, my apologies this past week for not being as responsive as I usually try to be to your questions directed to me. It was pretty crazy out in Vegas, and I had to keep running out and trying to track people down.

Second of all, thanks very, very much to those who offered their support this past week when my name surfaced unexpectedly in the news. I am sincerely touched by your words.

And lastly, thanks for continuing to persevere through the Comment Submission Errors.

Now onto the medals:

The bronze goes to Jack, who found a way to sprinkle some baseball into a more general discussion of our bad economy:

Denny McLain could have done a better job running some of the companies now pleading for taxpayer assistance.

The silver goes to Howard, who checked in on CC Sabathia's decision to sign with the Yankees:

Oh, heard the Yankees paid Sabathia so much money because his agent charged by the pound.

And the gold goes to Sandy, who resolved the debate on this guy, once and for all.

If Pootz performs like Heilman did, he will be called Puttz.

Baseball coming up soon.

Thanks to this site for the Olympic flag.

Man oh man, if I could, I would give out more than three medals this week. Great stuff all around, even though things got a little heated at times.

Alas, the Rules Committee would frown upon such generosity, so we'll keep it at just three award winners.

The bronze goes to baileywalk, who offered this thought when a Brandon Webb-to-the-Yankees trade was floated:

If the Yankees could get Webb for Damon, Kennedy and Melky, Cashman would do a tap dance, naked, in centerfield at the new Yankee Stadium.

The silver goes to Bob Tufts, who suggested:

If Newsday buys the Mets, we can name the new park "Comment Submission Error Field."

The gold goes to JE, who offered this retort to a comment I made:

"Pitching and defense, pitching and defense, pitching and defense."
I don't doubt that Cashman is uttering those magic words, Ken, but if he actually believes what he says, then why not address Jeter's defensive shortcomings at the most important position on the diamond? (Move him to CF or 1B.) In contrast, Dunn (or Burrell, Ramirez, and Ibanez) are playing a corner outfield position.

Gotta run this morning, but we'll have baseball and the contest later. Thanks to this site and this site for the accompanying art.

Turned out to be a pretty quiet week, and then I missed my usual Friday morning slot for this feature, thanks to a rough Thursday night that had nothing to do with pigging out and everything to do with 5-year-olds' immune systems. Anyhow, the little guy is doing better, and here, belatedly, are our best comments of the week:

The bronze goes to Gerry, regarding the "Comment Submission Error" problem that just isn't going away:

The Glauber / Sandy fix is flawed...maybe Obama will fix this.

The silver goes to Andy, who checked in on my second annual "Overrated and Over-hated" list.

And you're spot on with Male Pattern Baldness. Totally overrated. I really thought I'd gain more respect with my follically-challenged look, but so far? No dice.

And the gold goes to Tim N., who railed against the "Mets have no leadership" complaint:

The more baseball I watch (thirtyCOUGH years now), the more I think this "clutch" and "late and close" stuff is just nonsense. ...How come no one is looking at Ryan Howard's or Jimmy Rollins' "late and close" numbers for '08? Is it because their team won?

It does seem like an annual rite of winter that we take the biggest stars on the most disappointing teams and bang out some number that says, "He doesn't hit when the game counts." The game counts for nine innings.

A really great week for comments. Earnest debates about baseball matters, interesting memories of cross-country trips and shared frustration over the blog's system for registering said comments.

In all sincerity, I really appreciate you grinding through the "comment submission error" thing. I know my dot-com teammates are working hard to eradicate it.

Sorry, also, that I was MIA yesterday. I was running around town, from Bud Selig/Hal Steinbrenner to David Wright to Mike Mussina (on the phone) to John Beilein (a non-work, meet and greet near the Garden - and I should've hung around for the game), and my Internet service was such that I couldn't even call up the blog, let alone create new posts.

Anyway, onto this week's medals.

The bronze goes to James K., once an intermittent commenter, suddenly a passionate one, who used his stats love to support many interesting takes. Here was my favorite, as part of the "Tom Glavine vs. Mike Mussina" Hall of Fame debate:

Because I need a break from studying for the CPA exam, I took the time to list out Moose and Glavine's 10 best full seasons as far as ERA+:

It's pretty close. Dunno if you could say one was excessively better than the other, but to go to tiebreakers (K/BB, WHIP, etc.) Mussina outperformed Glavine. I just wish voters and fans would start with statistics rather than perception (i.e. "Glavine is a Hall of Famer - he was dominant, anyone would pick him over Mussina"). Perceptions vary - statistics don't.

The silver goes to Jack, who seemed to like making predictions this week:

Prediction: The "comment submission error" phenomenon leads to lower page views and lower comment totals.

And the gold goes to Richie G., who offered an interesting tale of a trip to our heartland:

When I drove cross country to Vegas, I stopped in Nebraska in the smallest town in America. They have a diner, a movie theatre that is 100 years old and a Mom and Pop supermarket.

I took a chance...she laughed.
.

More later. Thanks to this site and this site for the accompanying art.

This week's winners:

The bronze goes to Dennis, who offered this commentary on the HGH-testing issue:

Once they find a reliable test for HGH, there's going to be another
drug they are going to have to find a test for. Blood testing will
never happen anytime soon in the four major-league sports. Blood testing
is very complicated to do because you don't know what's in a person's
blood, and even blood testing is unreliable.

The silver goes to JE, who helped me yesterday with the Nick Swisher coverage:

Consider too that Swisher's BABIP last year was ridiculously low (.251), meaning that he was unlucky; that figure should rise markedly in '09.

The gold goes to whynot, who offered this observation on Francisco Rodriguez:

The way everybody is dissing him, K-Rod might have to resort to declaring himself a bank-holding company if he's ever going to get big money.