What a long, strange trip it's been
One Reason to Go On Living
Jose Lima defeated Curt Schilling, as the Royals upset the Red Sox. It's not 2004 anymore, folks. I hope that eases the pain we are all experiencing. It sure brought a smile to my face...
Another Reason to Go On Living
I have, by the powers someone recklessly invested in me, assigned myself another Batter's Box Portfolio. Yes, in addition to this daily posting of the day's pitching matchups accompanied by whatever (if anything) I feel like rattling on about... in addition to the Weekly Game Report... in addition to the Bi-Weekly NL West Update... Man, whatever will I do when the season ends? Hmmm, hmmm... continue the Lobby of Numbers (NL West up next), do another Year in Review or two (1920 and 1941 are hovering on my internal radar)... OK, I'll be fine.
Nevertheless, there is an important job to be done here, and clearly I'm the only one demented enough to take it on. (It helps, of course, that I have absolutely no life. None whatsoever.)
My mission, now that I've proven crazy enough to accept it, is to defend Eric Hinske. I will be The Dude's Advocate.
Look at that poll! Look! Roy Howell got a vote. Danny Ainge got a vote. Which proves, beyond any doubt whatsoever, that Bauxites have a sense of humour. Meanwhile, Eric Hinske has been given the Kevin Phillips-Bong treatment.
Well, no more! The Dude has an advocate, and everything will be better now. The rest of you are free to knock him at will. Which is probably what you were planning on doing anyway. Feel free. Knock yourselves out. You need feel no guilt in the matter, beating on one of the hometown nine.
I absolve you.
Other Stuff
Ken Griffey hit his 30th homer in Cincinnati's win over Washington; he's on pace to play in 151 games, with 38 HR and 109 RBI. I think that's good news.
Carlos Beltran played the 1000th game of his career last night. That was fast, wasn't it? And it segues so nicely into my Theme for the Day, that you'll think I planned it all ahead of time.
I was looking at the career numbers for the Blue Jays hitters. So that you might better Share the Experience, here they are:
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS Koskie 880 3031 470 840 189 13 111 462 411 703 68 34 .277 .369 .458 .827 Catalanotto 814 2545 391 752 166 25 61 306 208 348 39 22 .295 .358 .452 .810 Zaun 790 2164 268 546 113 8 47 272 290 335 20 12 .252 .343 .377 .720 Hillenbrand 701 2662 351 769 164 11 82 380 110 336 14 6 .289 .328 .451 .779 Wells 633 2496 373 719 157 14 105 377 162 352 31 11 .288 .332 .488 .820 Hinske 548 1963 306 505 131 10 63 270 233 453 44 15 .257 .337 .430 .767 Hudson 450 1573 204 427 85 22 35 196 131 267 17 9 .271 .330 .420 .750 Menechino 437 1228 203 295 56 7 35 145 198 272 3 10 .240 .359 .383 .742 Johnson 371 1270 192 353 61 10 28 161 64 230 15 10 .278 .334 .408 .742 Rios 228 830 117 232 45 12 9 80 57 166 26 10 .280 .328 .395 .723 Huckaby 152 419 41 93 13 1 3 29 19 77 0 0 .222 .256 .279 .535 Adams 128 429 64 119 23 6 12 64 46 48 8 2 .277 .348 .443 .791 Hill 73 262 35 77 19 3 3 33 22 27 1 1 .294 .354 .424 .778There's nothing all that startling there. Corey Koskie, who has played the most games, leads in every single counting category with the exception of triples, where Frank Catalanotto has him beat. (Vernon Wells has a chance to overtake Koskie for most homers.) Cat is the only other man on the team who has played 800 games in the majors.
Did you notice, by the way, that Eric Hinske has roughly the same number of stolen bases as Vernon Wells and Orlando Hudson combined, and the best stolen base percentage of anyone? (Except Russ Adams, who has just 10 attempts.) Does that make any sense? (I'm just trying on my New Role here!)
Anyway, two things struck me about this Data Table. First, the four men with the most major league experience all picked up the bulk of that experience elsewhere. This is Koskie and Hillenbrand's first year in Toronto, Zaun arrived after the 2004 season had started. This is Catalanotto's third year in Toronto - while he's played more games in Toronto than he did in Texas (barely) or Detroit, it's still less than half of his career total. Of the current crew, Vernon Wells has played the most games in a Blue Jays uniform.
But it also struck me that 880 games by the most experienced major leaguer on the roster really wasn't that many games. Don't most teams have players who have played at least 1000 games? Or more?
Yes. They do. Pretty well all of them, in fact.
There is one other team that doesn't have a player with 1000 games played. That would be the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Pirate who has played in the most games is pitcher Jose Mesa, who has worked in 876 games.
This means, of course, that's he's probably been in uniform for close to 2000. Pitchers complicate things! Only one active pitcher, Washington's Mike Stanton, has actuially played in more than 1000 games. I can't be bothered to try to figure out how many have been in uniform for that many. On the Blue Jays, I am certain that Miguel Batista has suited up for more than 1000 major league games, although he's only actually appeared in 348.
Cleveland is something of a special case. The Indians actually have Juan Gonzalez, veteran of 1689 games, on their roster, even though Long Gone has been long gone to the DL after playing in exactly 1 game this season. It's hard for me to take him seriously as a member of the team. Which would make Ronnie Belliard their most seasoned real player, with 872 games under his belt, just shy of Koskie's total. The Indians also have a number of pitchers who have suited up for far more than 1000 games: Kevin Millwood, Arthur Rhodes, Bob Wickman spring to mind.
Every other team has a player with at least 1000 games, without even speculating or worrying about the pitchers. Some teams are comprised of little else.
You want to know who these grizzled old pros are, and where they work? I am here to tell you.
Arizona (4) - Luis Gonzalez (2133), Royce Clayton (1864), Shawn Green (1640), Tony Clark (1193)
Atlanta (3) - Julio Franco (2354), Chipper Jones (1617), Andruw Jones (1417)
Baltimore (6) - Rafael Palmeiro (2828), B.J. Surhoff (2287), Sammy Sosa (2240), Javy Lopez (1376), Chris Gomez (1252), Miguel Tejada (1224)
Boston (5) - John Olerud (2202), Manny Ramirez (1651), Johnny Damon (1524), Edgar Renteria (1414), Bill Mueller (1148)
Chicago Cubs (7) - Jeromy Burnitz (1548), Matt Lawton (1301), Neffi Perez (1229), Derrek Lee (1151), Todd Walker (1103), Nomar Garciaparra (1037), Todd Hollandsworth (1001)
Chicago White Sox (4) - Frank Thomas (1959), Carl Everett (1277), Jermaine Dye (1150), Paul Konerko (1085)
Cincinnati (3) - Ken Griffey (2116), Rich Aurilia (1203), sean Casey (1064)
Cleveland (1) - Juan Gonzalez (1689)
Colorado (1) - Todd Helton (1245)
Detroit (6) - Ivan Rodriguez (1860), Bobby Higginson (1362), Rondell White (1337), Fernando Vina (1148), Dmitri Young (1114), Magglio Ordonez (1051)
Florida (5) - Lenny Harris (1884), Jeff Conine (1746), Carlos Delgado (1533), Damion Easley (1410). Juan Encarnacion wll join them next week, he's at 998.
Houston (3) - Craig Biggio (2531), Jeff Bagwell (2135), Brad Ausmus (1544). Orlando Palmeiro should make it before the year is over, he's at 981.
Kansas City (2) - Matt Stairs (1270), Mike Sweeney (1125)
LA Angels (6) - Steve Finley (2385), Tim Salmon (1596), Garrett Anderson (1589), Vladimir Guerrero (1269), Darren Erstad (1249), Orlando Cabrera (1067)
LA Dodgers (3) - Jeff Kent (1896), Jose Valentin (1476), Jose Cruz (1138)
Milwaukee (2) - Jeff Cirillo (1410), Carlos Lee (1008)
Minnesota (1) - Shannon Stewart (1130)
NY Mets (5) - Mike Piazza (1687), Jose Offerman (1637), Cliff Floyd (1268), Gerald Williams (1157), Carlos Beltran (1000)
NY Yankees (10) - Gary Sheffield (2159), Ruben Sierra (2152), Tino Martinez (2003), Bernie Williams (1913), Alex Rodriguez (1556), Derek Jeter (1489), Jason Giambi (1450), Tony Womack (1265), Jorge Posada (1115), John Flaherty (1037)
Oakland (2) - Jason Kendall (1367), Mark Kotsay (1128). Two more guys are on the brink: Eric Chavez (994) and Scott Hatteberg (991).
Philadelphia (5) - Kenny Lofton (1811), Jim Thome (1738), Bobby Abreu (1295), David Bell (1224), Mike Lieberthal (1082)
Pittsburgh (0)
San Diego (5) - Eric Young (1649), Ryan Klesko (1585), Joe Randa (1401), Brian Giles (1326), Mark Loretta (1196)
San Francisco (9) - Barry Bonds (2716), Omar Vizquel (2256), Moises Alou (1712), J.T. Snow (1650), Ray Durham (1538), Edgardo Alfonzo (1451), Michael Tucker (1358), Mike Matheny (1225), Deivi Cruz (1212)
Seattle (3) - Dan Wilson (1298), Dave Hansen (1213), Adrian Beltre (1086)
St.Louis (6) - Larry Walker (1967), Reggie Sanders (1650), Jim Edmunds (1559), Mark Grudzielanek (1413), Scott Rolen (1251), John Mabry (1164)
Tampa Bay (1) - Alex Gonzalez (1346)
Toronto (0)
Texas (2) - Sandy Alomar (1318), Phil Nevin (1078). Richard Hidalgo shgould get there this year, he's at 987.
Washington (5) - Vinny Castilla (1742), Carlos Baerga (1611), Jose Vidro (1043), Jose Guillen (1016), Mike Stanton (1012)
So if you happen to be wondering why this Blue Jays squad sometimes seems to play like they're an inexperienced bunch, just learning the ropes, green as the proverbial grass - it might be because, comparatively speaking, that's exactly what they are.
The Matchup of the Day comes late at night, in Seattle. A couple of pitchers named Hernandez, one really old and one really young, will be hooking up. Yes, it's El Duque vs King Felix. I'd pay to see that one.
The schedule
DET: Johnson (7-9, 4.09 ERA)
BOS: Wakefield (12-10, 4.29 ERA)
KAN: Wood (4-4, 4.09 ERA)
NYY: Johnson (11-8, 4.34 ERA)
CLE: Sabathia (10-9, 4.76 ERA)
TOR: McGowan (1-1, 8.63 ERA)
LAA: Santana (7-5, 4.41 ERA)
TAM: Fossum (7-10, 4.44 ERA)
OAK: Blanton (7-9, 3.75 ERA)
BAL: Chen (10-7, 3.95 ERA)
MIN: Lohse (8-11, 4.09 ERA)
TEX: Rogers (11-7, 3.27 ERA)
CHW: Hernandez (8-6, 4.75 ERA)
SEA: Hernandez (2-1, 1.24 ERA)
FLA: Vargas (4-1, 2.43 ERA)
CHC: Rusch (5-6, 4.21 ERA)
STL: Suppan (12-9, 3.94 ERA)
WAS: Loaiza (8-9, 3.66 ERA)
CIN: Harang (8-11, 3.78 ERA)
PIT: Redman (5-13, 4.78 ERA)
ATL: Ramirez (10-7, 4.61 ERA)
MIL: Sheets (9-9, 3.44 ERA)
PHI: Myers (11-6, 3.48 ERA)
ARI: Halsey (8-10, 4.39 ERA)
COL: Francis (11-9, 6.01 ERA)
SDG: Eaton (9-2, 3.76 ERA)
NYM: Trachsel (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
SFO: Correia (2-4, 4.86 ERA)
HOU: Pettitte (11-9, 2.67 ERA)
LAD: Lowe (8-12, 4.20 ERA)
