The Fat Man Four days after failing to retire a single batter and leaving the game suffering from back spasms, David Wells pitched seven shutout innings. Okay, it was only the Cincinnati Reds. But the start affirmed that Wells is reasonably healthy, and is capable of pitching well, especially when he’s got something to prove. …
Archive of entries posted by Jay Jaffe
The Man in El Guapo’s Pants Manny Ramirez has missed Boston’s last two games due to illness. Suffering from flu-like symptons, he’s been taking antibiotics. And he’s apparently lost weight. But when asked about his baggy uniform pants, Ramirez explained that they had been fitted for rotund reliever Rich Garces. According to the listings, “El …
Mike Hampton, slugger Rob Neyer devoted a whole column to Hampton’s hitting, examining it in the context of other great-hitting pitchers. The last pitcher to hit 5 in one season was Bob Gibson, in 1972. Elsewhere on ESPN.com, Jayson Stark listed the following pitchers who’ve hit five or more since 1968: Earl Wilson, 1968, 7 …
The Orlando Cabrera Incident The New York Daily News’ Filip Bondy has an entertainingly hyperbolic piece on the Yankees-Expos “rivalry”. According to Bondy, it started with the 1967 World’s Fair in Montreal trying to outdo the previous one in New York. Bondy places Expos SS Orlando Cabrera at the center of the current conflict. Cabrera …
Most common scores in baseball history Over at Baseball Primer, someone has done a tally of every AL and NL game from 1901 to 2000 to find out what the most common scores are. And the winner is… 3-2, beating out 4-3, 2-1 and 5-4. Sounds like some demented SportsCenter parody now that I read …
“I’m seeing the ball right now.” When pitcher Mike Hampton signed with the Colorado Rockies, many people wondered aloud whether he would fall victim to the rarefied air of the Mile High city. They were partially correct: the home runs have been soaring out, but they’re off of Hampton’s bat. He slugged his fifth of …
Big Unit in a class by himself Here’s an interesting piece on where Randy Johnson fits in among today’s elite pitchers. What’s more interesting than the result, to me, is the methodology, because it’s a useful one to compare any group of pitchers. Today we hear a lot of talk about how great Pedro Martinez …
Winner of the Butch Hobson Award Jason Varitek broke his elbow diving for a pop foul in an 8-1 game vs. Detroit. Once again, the fullback mentality gets the best of the Red Sox. I think I’m understanding the Sox better after the events of this week. They seem to think that by emptying the …
Should the Red Sox fire Jimy Williams? Red Sox fans always seem to have one hand on the panic button, the other on a mallet to pound on that hand and make sure the button is getting pressed hard enough. Fire a manager in first place, while one of your three superstars has been on …