1. In response to the ink spilled in June and early July about the United States no longer being the world’s most dominant sports power, I have five words for the doubters: Tiger Woods and Floyd Landis.
Tiger dominated the field on Thursday, Friday and Sunday at the British Open and extended his streak of winning Major tournaments when leading after 54 holes. I don’t see Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, or Jesper Parnevik anywhere close to Tiger and they’re supposedly the best the world has to offer. As for Floyd Landis, he kept the American winning streak alive, where the Red, White & Blue has won eight straight Tours de France.
If an American with a broken hip can win the most un-American of sports, it’s pretty hard to make the argument say that the U.S. doesn’t have its shit together. It takes more than a few high-profile losses to knock the United States down, which is why I felt that the worries were pretty ridiculous and alarmist. That isn’t to say that the U.S. even has to be the best, just that those who predicted our demise might’ve been a bit hasty in doing so.
2. Media and “fans” spent the weekend hyperventilating, as everyone was tripping over themselves trying to prove Alex Rodriguez’s mental weakness and the urgent need to trade him out of New York. From today’s Daily Quickie:
“...while [ARod’s] trade value is still high, all but the most blinded Yankee loyalists can agree this is the time for the Yankees to unload him.”
Reactionary much? I guess slumps and bad seasons are no longer tolerated, even if a bad season for one of the game’s best players is still a season better than most players in the game could have. Here are some stats that put ARod’s “bad season” into context:
2004: 7.0 RC/G – .304 GPA – 4.0 P/PA – 15.50 LD% – .313 BA/BIP – 45.30 GB% – 18.70 HR/F% – .248 BA/RISP
2005: 9.1 RC/G – .341 GPA – 3.9 P/PA – 15.60 LD% – .349 BA/BIP – 44.80 GB% – 25.00 HR/F% – .290 BA/RISP
2006: 7.3 RC/G – .297 GPA – 3.8 P/PA – 17.00 LD% – .313 BA/BIP – 43.90 GB% – 19.80 HR/F% – .295 BA/RISP
If you don’t know what these stats mean, don’t worry. As you can see, the numbers for 2006 are nearly in line with the stats from 2004 (actually they’re a bit better than in ‘04). In 2004, ARod ended up with 36 homers and 106 RBI and .286/.375/.512 AVG/OBP/SLG. I don’t remember anyone saying that he should’ve been traded after that season and he followed it up with the best season ever by a right-handed batter in Yankee history, winning his second career MVP. The point is the trade talk is ridiculous. And for those that say that he never hits in the clutch and that all of ARod’s RBI come in blowout wins or losses, kindly explain the .295 BA/RISP, 20 points higher than his current batting average.
3. I hope all baseball fans are starting their Justin Morneau HR watch this week. With five more homers, Morneau becomes the first member of the Minnesota Twins to hit 30 homers in a season since Gary Gaetti, Tom Brunansky and Kent Hrbek hit 31, 32, and 34, respectively back in 1987. It’s kind of hard to believe that in the age of steroids and inflated offense, the Twins have been without a 30-HR hitter in nearly two full decades. The Homer-Dome has been without fireworks for a long time but it seems safe to say that Morneau will be putting one of baseball’s stranger streaks to bed.
4. Finally, to those that think Joe Torre’s doing his finest work as Yankees manager by keeping his team afloat during a season where Gary Sheffield (66 games), Hideki Matsui (64 games), and Robinson Cano (27 games) have missed significant time, all I can say is that you’re not watching the same team I am. The Yankees faced three right-handed pitchers this weekend and Joe Torre started Bernie Williams in RF in all three games. I wonder if Joe Torre knows that besides Bernie Williams’ atrocious lack of defense, he is coming in at .254/.285/.378 vs. righties (compared to .327/.382/.510 vs. lefties). When the Yankees need to scrape together every ounce of offense they can muster, putting a guy with a .285 OBP in the lineup is just unacceptable. Even worse is that Bernie’s been batting in the fifth or sixth spot over the past week. Every single time I see Bernie in the game vs. a righty, I know that I’m 100% correct in saying that Joe Torre’s a horrendous manager. He’s just giving games away at this point...
Tiger dominated the field on Thursday, Friday and Sunday at the British Open and extended his streak of winning Major tournaments when leading after 54 holes. I don’t see Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, or Jesper Parnevik anywhere close to Tiger and they’re supposedly the best the world has to offer. As for Floyd Landis, he kept the American winning streak alive, where the Red, White & Blue has won eight straight Tours de France.
If an American with a broken hip can win the most un-American of sports, it’s pretty hard to make the argument say that the U.S. doesn’t have its shit together. It takes more than a few high-profile losses to knock the United States down, which is why I felt that the worries were pretty ridiculous and alarmist. That isn’t to say that the U.S. even has to be the best, just that those who predicted our demise might’ve been a bit hasty in doing so.
2. Media and “fans” spent the weekend hyperventilating, as everyone was tripping over themselves trying to prove Alex Rodriguez’s mental weakness and the urgent need to trade him out of New York. From today’s Daily Quickie:
“...while [ARod’s] trade value is still high, all but the most blinded Yankee loyalists can agree this is the time for the Yankees to unload him.”
Reactionary much? I guess slumps and bad seasons are no longer tolerated, even if a bad season for one of the game’s best players is still a season better than most players in the game could have. Here are some stats that put ARod’s “bad season” into context:
2004: 7.0 RC/G – .304 GPA – 4.0 P/PA – 15.50 LD% – .313 BA/BIP – 45.30 GB% – 18.70 HR/F% – .248 BA/RISP
2005: 9.1 RC/G – .341 GPA – 3.9 P/PA – 15.60 LD% – .349 BA/BIP – 44.80 GB% – 25.00 HR/F% – .290 BA/RISP
2006: 7.3 RC/G – .297 GPA – 3.8 P/PA – 17.00 LD% – .313 BA/BIP – 43.90 GB% – 19.80 HR/F% – .295 BA/RISP
If you don’t know what these stats mean, don’t worry. As you can see, the numbers for 2006 are nearly in line with the stats from 2004 (actually they’re a bit better than in ‘04). In 2004, ARod ended up with 36 homers and 106 RBI and .286/.375/.512 AVG/OBP/SLG. I don’t remember anyone saying that he should’ve been traded after that season and he followed it up with the best season ever by a right-handed batter in Yankee history, winning his second career MVP. The point is the trade talk is ridiculous. And for those that say that he never hits in the clutch and that all of ARod’s RBI come in blowout wins or losses, kindly explain the .295 BA/RISP, 20 points higher than his current batting average.
3. I hope all baseball fans are starting their Justin Morneau HR watch this week. With five more homers, Morneau becomes the first member of the Minnesota Twins to hit 30 homers in a season since Gary Gaetti, Tom Brunansky and Kent Hrbek hit 31, 32, and 34, respectively back in 1987. It’s kind of hard to believe that in the age of steroids and inflated offense, the Twins have been without a 30-HR hitter in nearly two full decades. The Homer-Dome has been without fireworks for a long time but it seems safe to say that Morneau will be putting one of baseball’s stranger streaks to bed.
4. Finally, to those that think Joe Torre’s doing his finest work as Yankees manager by keeping his team afloat during a season where Gary Sheffield (66 games), Hideki Matsui (64 games), and Robinson Cano (27 games) have missed significant time, all I can say is that you’re not watching the same team I am. The Yankees faced three right-handed pitchers this weekend and Joe Torre started Bernie Williams in RF in all three games. I wonder if Joe Torre knows that besides Bernie Williams’ atrocious lack of defense, he is coming in at .254/.285/.378 vs. righties (compared to .327/.382/.510 vs. lefties). When the Yankees need to scrape together every ounce of offense they can muster, putting a guy with a .285 OBP in the lineup is just unacceptable. Even worse is that Bernie’s been batting in the fifth or sixth spot over the past week. Every single time I see Bernie in the game vs. a righty, I know that I’m 100% correct in saying that Joe Torre’s a horrendous manager. He’s just giving games away at this point...
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