Good morning everyone and thanks again
for stopping by this website! My daily hit counts are up pretty
dramatically in the past few days. I hope that you are enjoying what
you have been reading. I’m very happy about that and hope that I am
doing well enough for you to stick around for awhile.
By the time you read this, I will actually be out of town, on my way
to the Twin Cities for the Twins games on Friday night (7:00) and
Saturday afternoon (3:00). I am excited to get down there.
It will be
Carlos Silva against Kevin
Brown tonight. Silva MUST keep the ball down and not allow homers
to the Bombers if the Twins want to have a chance. I certainly feel he
is capable. And, Kevin Brown is not the same
Kevin Brown as he was early in the season, much less early in his
career. The Twins must continue to hit well. The Twins also need to
get off to a good start, particularly with the bats. It would be good
for their morale to get a lead.
Just a quick note to all of the second-guessers out there. I
understand your need to rant following such a devastating loss on
Wednesday night. Believe me, that one hurt to watch and there were
plenty of opportunities to question Ron Gardenhire. In my mind, I asked myself what I would do in
certain situations. (I do this all the time when watching ball games)
Would I have had Lew Ford
pinch hit for Jason Kubel
in the 8th? Would I have left
Joe Nathan in for the 12th? Would I have pinch hit for Henry Blanco?
In some cases, I probably would have done exactly what Gardy did. In
other case, maybe not. But to act as if any of the decisions he made
were just flat-out stupid is, well, flat-out stupid. Every decision
that he made throughout the game made sense in some ways. Sure, a
couple of them, namely keeping Nathan in for the 12th,
turned out really poorly. However, what happens if Nathan gets the
Yankees 1-2-3? What if Jeter grounds into a double play? Gardy looks
like a genius and Nathan looks like a warrior. What happens if Gardy
throws JC Romero into the 12th inning? He’s been horrible. Say
he gets shelled, then what? Gardy should have left Nathan in, right?
What if he puts Jesse Crain
into that situation (and remember, I’m a huge Crain fan!) to face
Jeter and A-Rod, and he gives up a walk and a 2-run, game-ending
homer? Then Gardy shouldn’t have thrown a guy with six weeks of big
league experience into that situation… and will he ever recover?
Should Gardy have started Jason
Kubel instead of Lew Ford?
Well, I am of the belief that based on what Ford did (basically being
the Twins best, most consistent hitter the whole season) during the
season, he should be in the lineup every day! That said, I can totally
understand the reasoning behind Gardenhire’s decision. In hindsight,
it was a bad thing to have Kubel in the lineup, but what if Kubel went
3-4 with two homers and 6 RBI?
My point is that I do understand second-guessing, but the extreme
level that Gardy has been scrutinized for his game-decisions Wednesday
night is absolutely ridiculous! I also understand that it is the
playoffs and everything is looked at with a fine-toothed comb and
under a microscope, especially when your opponent is the Yankees. But
a manager’s job is to make decisions at times before and throughout
a game. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes, you
make decisions and then the players either come through or fail. It is
the way this game works, and it is part of what we all love about it.
How ‘bout we just all enjoy the series? Let’s not become like the
Yankees fans! We don’t need to! We witnessed a great baseball game.
Let’s leave it at that and cheer the team this weekend!
Do you have any thoughts on that? If so, feel free to e-mail
me. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
But today, since I am gone, I am going to post my 2004
SethSpeaks MLB AWARDS. I
have looked at the numbers and thought through all of these awards,
and have ranked the top managers, rookies, Cy Young candidates and MVP
candidates in both leagues. I am not going to throw too many numbers
at you. I am just going to express my thoughts on the awards.
National League Manager
of the Year
1.)
Bobby
Cox,
Atlanta
Braves
2.)
Tony
Larussa,
St. Louis
Cardinals
3.)
Phil
Garner,
Houston
Astros
The Braves lost Gary
Sheffield, Javy Lopez, Vinny Castilla
and Greg Maddux. Their
pitching staff was questionable at best. Yet somehow Cox led the
Braves to the division title… again… easily! Larussa is a fine
manager, but that team had so much talent that you and I could write
up a lineup featuring those guys and still win. What he was able to
get from the pitching staff warrants respect. And many people will
select Phil Garner because
of what he managed the Astros to in the second half. And he does
deserve a lot of credit. But to me, Bobby Cox is the clear-cut winner.
American League Manager of the
Year
1.)
Mike
Scioscia,
Anaheim
Angels
2.)
Ron
Gardenhire
,
Minnesota
Twins
3.)
Joe
Torre
,
New York
Yankees
This one is a tough one. I have been
flip-flopping my thoughts on it for the last couple of weeks. Being a
Twins fan, I would love to give it to Gardy. And based on all that
they lost in the off-season, and all of the injuries that they faced
during the season, Gardy again led the Twins to the title. Obviously
he is being second-guessed for Game 2 decisions, and he was
second-guessed by many Twins fans much of the year, but he has the
respect of his players, and continues to lead the Twins. A lot of
times, managers of teams with talent and expectations don’t get
enough credit for bringing it all together. Torre’s demeanor just
works so perfectly with that team and those egos. But I have to give
the award to Mike Scioscia. Like the Twins, the Angels had a lot of injuries, and
yet, they won the AL West and won 93 games. Troy Glaus, Darin Erstad,
Garrett Anderson, Bengie
Molina, and David Eckstein all missed time. Their pitching rotation was awful
early. Basically, they came up big down the stretch and Scioscia does
deserve credit. Maybe, to me, he wins this award over Gardenhire
because of the final weekend when his team beat the A’s
head-to-head.
National League Rookie of the
Year
1.)
Jason
Bay
,
Pittsburgh
Pirates
2.)
Khalil
Greene,
San Diego
Padres
3.)
Akinori
Osuna,
San Diego
Padres
All year, I was saying the Greene
should win the award. He was solid both offensively and defensively
all year. But then he got hurt late in the season. The only reason I
would not have given it to Bay earlier in the season was simply
because he missed more than a month at the start of the season. But in
the end, Bay was the better rookie and deserves the award. Osuna was
just a very solid reliever for the Padres the entire season. His
numbers are very impressive!
American League Rookie of the
Year
1.)
Bobby
Crosby,
Oakland
A’s
2.)
Zack
Greinke
,
Kansas
City Royals
3.)
Shingo
Takatsu,
Chicago
White Sox
It is a very weak group of rookies in
the American League. Had Lew
Ford spent one fewer day with the Twins in 2003, he would be the
unanimous choice for rookie of the year. Had Justin
Morneau spent two less days with the Twins in 2003, he would
certainly get major consideration despite the fact that he played just
half of the year with the Twins. But we have what we have. Takatsu was
solid in the Sox bullpen most of the year and even as closer late in
the season. Greinke was very impressive, especially considering his
age. His problem is that the Royals were so terrible that it will mask
how well he pitched because of his record. That leaves
Crosby
, and he has been solid. He has put up good power numbers. He just
strikes out so much, but he did play almost every day. Weak class of
rookies, but I’d give Bobby
Crosby my vote.
National League Cy Young Award
1.)
Randy
Johnson
,
Arizona
Diamondbacks
2.)
Roger
Clemens,
Houston
Astros
3.)
Roy
Oswalt,
Houston
Astros
4.)
Jason
Schmidt,
San Francisco
Giants
5.)
Carl
Pavano
,
Florida
Marlins
Unlike the MVP Award, the Cy Young is
given to the best pitcher for that season. As you know, I think that
the “Win” stat is pretty much useless in determining how good a
pitcher is. Ask Brad Radke
and Kenny Rogers! Most of the year, I was ready to give this award to Jason
Schmidt, but he did struggle down the stretch. That Astros 1-2
punch is tough! Both were great all season. Oswalt was the only
20-game winner in the National League. Carl Pavano was a huge surprise, to me at least, because he had an
incredible season, and the Marlins really needed that! Maybe breaking
up with Alyssa Milano makes
a guy a better pitcher. But when it comes to the best pitcher in the
league, it has to be Randy
Johnson. He plays on an absolutely horrible Diamondback team, so
his Win-Loss record is barely over .500 (16-14). But he led the league
in almost every other pitching category including strikeouts. Randy
Johnson is my NL Cy Young choice.
American League Cy Young Award
1.)
Johan
Santana
,
Minnesota
Twins
2.)
Curt
Schilling,
Boston
Red Sox
3.)
Mariano
Rivera
,
New York
Yankees
4.)
Joe
Nathan
,
Minnesota
Twins
5.)
Francisco
Cordero
,
Texas
Rangers
On this site, I have probably talked
about Johan Santana too
much. Clearly, he has the best pitching numbers of anyone in baseball.
Schilling was great again, but there is no questioning who was better
this year. Then, to me, there were no other starting pitchers even
worthy of discussion in the American League, so I went with three
dominant closers. Rivera had a very strong year. Joe
Nathan was more than Twins fans could have hoped for. And Francisco
Cordero was a positive light at the end of games for Rangers,
something that they have not had in a long time! But clearly, Johan
Santana earned the AL Cy Young Award this year!
National League MVP
1.)
Barry
Bonds,
San Francisco
Giants
2.)
Adrian
Beltre,
Los Angeles
Dodgers
3.)
Albert
Pujols,
St. Louis
Cardinals
4.)
Scott
Rolen,
St. Louis
Cardinals
5.)
Jim
Edmonds,
St. Louis
Cardinals
6.)
Lance
Berkman,
Houston
Astros
7.)
Bobby
Abreu,
Philadelphia
Phillies
8.)
Moises
Alou,
Chicago
Cubs
9.)
Aramis
Ramirez,
Chicago
Cubs
10.)
JD
Drew,
Atlanta
Braves
They should really have two awards
here. One should go to Barry
Bonds. He is the most dominant player in the game. He gets on over
60% of the time. No one pitches to him and yet he’s still in the top
5 in the league in homers. He just changes the game. And, he
single-handedly led the Giants to their finish, just one game out of
the playoffs. The award for NL MVP (Non-Bonds Division) in my mind,
goes to the Dodgers Adrian Beltre. Finally, he came through on his incredible potential.
The Dodgers are a bad offensive team, yet Beltre put up incredible
numbers and because of them, the Dodgers won the NL West. You could
argue that a couple of the Cardinals put up equivalent numbers to
Beltre. However, because I have Pujols, Rolen and
Edmonds
, how do you select a most valuable. As you can guess, I don’t
believe that the term “valuable” is all about the numbers. That
said, I don’t believe that Henry
Blanco is the Twins MVP. But the Cardinals would have been a great
team without any one of those players still. I realize that may not be
fair, but that is my definition of valuable. The National League
really had a lot of players. All five of the guys I have listed as
number six through ten would warrant serious consideration if they
played in the AL. Lance Berkman
and Bobby Abreu are vastly
underrated. The Cubs had a couple of guys that put up huge numbers.
And JD Drew finally put it all together and stayed healthy (for the most
part) all season!
American League MVP
1.)
Vlad
Guerrero,
Anaheim
Angels
2.)
Johan
Santana
,
Minnesota
Twins
3.)
Manny
Ramirez,
Boston
Red Sox
4.)
David
Ortiz,
Boston
Red Sox
5.)
Miguel
Tejada,
Baltimore
Orioles
6.)
Gary
Sheffield
,
New York
Yankees
7.)
Hideki
Matsui
,
New York
Yankees
8.)
Joe
Nathan
,
Minnesota
Twins
9.)
Mark
Teixeira
,
Texas
Rangers
10.)
Johnny
Damon,
Boston
Red Sox
Johan
Santana had one of the best
second halves by a pitcher in the history of modern day baseball. What
he did and what he meant to the Twins can not be measured by what he
did every fifth day. What he did every fifth day wins him the Cy Young
Award. I can’t give a pitcher the MVP Award when he pitches in 35
games and a positional player plays in 160 or so. But he deserves it
and will receive a lot of votes, so I’ll give him a second place
vote. To me, the AL MVP has to be the Angels Vlad
Guerrero. It shouldn’t even be close. For many of the reasons
that I gave Mike Scioscia the Manager Award, Guerrero led a depleted Angels team
to the playoffs. He was particularly stellar down the stretch! The Red
Sox killer combo of Manny
Ramirez and David Ortiz
were incredible again, but had each other. Miguel
Tejada went to
Baltimore
and had arguably his best season. RBIs are a result of other things
(like base runners on when he’s up), but he had 150 of them, which
means he came through in those opportunities a LOT!.
The Yankees had a lot of MVP candidates. Gary
Sheffield, Hideki Matsui
and Alex Rodriguez all had
similar numbers and all deserve consideration. The Rangers four
infielders all warrant discussion. Teixeira had probably the best
overall numbers, but you can’t overlook the role of Michael
Young on that team. Likewise, Johnny
Damon was quite the catalyst for that potent Red Sox lineup. Joe Nathan, Mariano Rivera
and Francisco Cordero all
should receive votes too. They at least all contributed in 70 or more
games.
This is a very quick version of the award winners in baseball this
year. I know it isn’t full of statistics and numbers, but you know
the numbers. And everyone is throwing you the numbers. Because of my
travel plans, I really don’t have a lot of time to dive into the
specific numbers, but so you know, I have looked at them and compared
and analyzed them.