Tuesday November 18, 2003
 

EARL BATTEY DIES

VIKINGS LOSE… AGAIN

GOPHERS FB LOSES, HOOPS TEAM WINS

NFL “EXPERT” PICKS
 

… AND ALL THE STATHEADS REJOICED!!!

Alex Rodriguez was named the American League Most Valuable Player yesterday. That was quite frustrating, but as I wrote in the title, I’m sure all the statheads, all the SABRmetricians are very happy and almost feel vindicated.

Ten different players received a first-place vote. That makes sense. No one really deserved the award this season, so it was A-Rod’s chance. Twins fans have to be excited that Shannon Stewart finished 4^th in the voting, with 3 first place votes. The change that happened with the Twins in the second half of the season directly corresponded with the Twins acquiring Stewart from the Blue Jays. He was a spark whose affect on the team can not be measured fully by individual statistics. Former Twin and current Red Sox DH David Ortiz finished 5^th place and received 4 first-place votes. His second half was full of (I’m sorry to the statheads) clutch hits and home runs!

I really don’t have a huge problem with that selection. No, I really don’t think he deserved it, but these post season awards continue to disappoint me to the point that I just don’t care. It started with Dontrelle Willis winning the NL Rookie of the Year award and Brandon Webb finishing third.

I think that A-Rod won this season’s award because he had a very good year, but also because so many people have been whining about him losing the 2002 MVP award to Miguel Tejada. Well, if he didn’t win it last season, with the incredible numbers he put up on a terrible team, there is no way he should have won it this year, when his numbers weren’t as earth-shattering and his team finished 20 games below .500. My selection would have been Carlos Delgado. Here’s what I wrote last month:

#4 - Alex Rodriguez - SS - Texas Rangers

And, let the controversy begin! As I’ve said on numerous occasions, if I needed to name the Most Outstanding Player this season, Rodriguez would be my choice. But ‘Valuable’? I just can’t say that. I’ve written “when was his last important at bat, Memorial Day?” Here are his numbers: .298/.396/.600 with 30 doubles, 6 triples, 48 home runs and 118 RBI. All great numbers, just not so great to warrant, in my opinion, a spot above the top 3. (and no, his ‘value’ in my opinion is not at all based on his contract!!)

MVP - CARLOS DELGADO - 1B - Toronto Blue Jays

His numbers, to me, are equal to those of Alex Rodriguez. Yes, the Blue Jays were 10+ games behind the New York Yankees in the East. But the team won 86 games and Delgado kept the team in the ‘unwinnable’ race far longer than I’m sure most would have expected. For the year, Delgado hit .302/.426/.593, with 38 doubles, 42 home runs and 145 RBI. He played in 161 games and recorded 570 at bats. He walked 109 times (something the Blue Jays appreciate, I’m sure) and struck out 137 times. Delgado had a great year, and in my opinion deserves to be named the American League MVP.

Let’s just check out the statistics, including those I used in Friday’s Bang for the Buck report :

If you were to not look back to whose numbers are whose, and just looked at these stats, tell me who had the better season? Who deserves the MVP?

OK, A-Rod is Player A. Delgado is Player B. I just don’t see enough difference to account for the 15 fewer wins that the Rangers had than the Blue Jays. Call me a traditionalist, or whatever you like, but I do think actual wins matter.

But, enough about that! I won’t win that argument in the baseball blog arena! On to today, when the NL MVP will be announce. This is really a two player race between Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols. Both put up such remarkable numbers. Bonds’ numbers are generally slightly more dominant, but he did miss a lot of playing time for various reasons. My vote went to Bonds, but I would have no problem with Albert Pujols winning the award. In a normal season, Gary Sheffield and Javy Lopez could have made very strong arguments for the award as well.
 

BATTEY DIES

In a bit of sad news, former Twins Great catcher, Earl Battey died after a long battle with cancer. He had been battling the cancer for quite some time.

Battey was a four-time All-Star, won three Gold Gloves and was a Top 10 finisher in the MVP voting three times. After playing parts of five seasons with the Chicago White Sox, Battey went to the Washington Senators in 1960. He then moved with the team to Minnesota in 1961 and played with the team through 1967. A career .270/.349/.409 hitter, he added 104 homers and 449 RBI. Certainly not a Hall of Famer, Battey is probably the best catcher ever to play for the Twins.
 

VIKINGS LOSE FOURTH STRAIGHT

Vikings 18, Raiders 28. I don’t even know what to say. That was terrible. Why don’t they just let Tyrone Wheatley run for 8 yards a carry in the first half. Why don’t they let Rick Mirer look like an adequate QB. Why don’t they turn the ball over a couple more times? Why didn’t Tice challenge the Burleson fumble? Why didn’t he challenge the Culpepper fumble at the 2 yard line?

So many questions, but what are the answers? I really don’t know. They’ve got to control the ball better and keep it in their possession. But it really doesn’t matter if the defense can’t stop anyone. The two straight games against two bad teams in California were supposed to be what was needed to turn around the Vikings after two straight losses. But instead, they now have a 4 game losing streak. And their 3 ½ game lead over the Packers is now just a one game lead.

Hopefully the Vikings will be able to figure it out before next week’s game against the Lions! First-round pick Kevin Williams getting arrested for a DWI can’t exactly be what the team was hoping for!

You know what I would like to see (and I’m guessing many out there wouldn’t like it)?  I think that it is about time for Randy Moss to start making some statements publicly. He is a leader on this team and needs to be vocal at this time. I’m not saying he should get in trouble, but he does need to talk.

What do you think? What is the answer to all that ails the Vikings? E-mail me.
 

GOPHER FOOTBALL GETS DESTROYED

Like the Vikings, turnovers really hurt the Gophers on Saturday at Iowa. The biggest turnover was a Laurence Maroney fumble inside the one yard line. After that, the Hawkeyes completed dominated every facet of the game, winning 40-22 in a game that wasn’t really even that close.

The Gophers end their regular season with a bye next weekend. They have a 9-3 record, 5-3 in the Big 10. A very solid season, to say the least. After next weekend, the Gophers will find out where they will play a bowl game. Hopefully they can get a good, New Years Day Bowl.

On a brighter note, the Gophers Basketball team started their season last night with a 78-67 win over Missouri-Kansas City in the first round of the preseason NIT. I am excited about this team. With Kris Humphreys on the squad (he led the team with 26 points and 15 rebounds last night), the team should have a strong inside presence. Adam Boone, despite not scoring last night, should add some stability to the point guard position. Moe Hargrow will be able to play more shooting guard (he had 18 last night). Ben Johnson should be healthy and help the team a lot this year. And, Michael Bauer is in his fifth season with the team. He contributed 9 points and 10 rebounds last night.
 

NFL “EXPERT” PICKS

Well, we all did much better this week. Maybe the bye weeks somehow kept us (re: me) from picking well. As you can see, Mike Brasel and David Lee both finished 13-3 to win the week. I don’t know why Mike did it, but he was the one that chose the Bengals to beat the Chiefs. I’m happy with 12-4. Be sure to check out the FB Picks page to see the up-to-date overall standings. Please also be sure to check out the links to each of the panelists web sites. Here are the results from Week 11:

One blog that I have to make mention of quickly is the Transaction Guy. Christian takes a look all transactions that occur and keeps tabs on free agent signings. Of course, there is some excellent analysis as well.

And that’s it for today. Please be sure to e-mail me about anything you have read today and I will get back to you. I appreciate all of the responses I have received and look forward to hearing from others. Have a great Tuesday!

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