The Big Unit Retires...

His nickname is the Big Unit, but a more apt name for Randy Johnson could have been Freak of Nature. A lefty, Johnson stood 6 feet 10 inches tall. Yankee fans will not soon forget how the Unit twice came out of the bullpen in 1995 (for Seattle) and 2001(for Arizona) to slam the door shut on the Yankees. A few years later, an aging Randy Johnson eventually came to the Yankees winning 34 games in two seasons. However, as his 5.00 ERA shows, the Unit was more the beneficiary of a good offense than a shut down, strikeout artist the team wanted.

Johnson is a legitimate Hall-of-Famer and probably one of the last to win 300 games in our generation. He not only authored a perfect game at age 40, he helped Seattle reach the playoffs in 1995 by going an amazing 18 and 2.

I like Johnson not because of his baseball ability but because he's one of the few people to have worse acne than former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega. Is it only me or does anyone else get the feeling that if the Unit were not pitching he'd be starring in a Cops episode from Seattle.

A few thoughts on Andy Pettitte

So the Yankees brought back Andy Pettitte for another season. Good for them. He should solidify the backhalf of therotation. Funny thing about Pettitte though. I don't really trust him in a big spot. Don't get me wrong...he's pitched well in a number of big games. Pettitte's 1-0 Game 5 in the 1996 World Series when he outdueled Atlanta's John Smoltz is at the top of the list. However, for my money Pettitte has had his share of post-season stinkers.

I recall a Friday Night in October 1998 when Cleveland really lit him up. I can still hear Michael Kay's radio call "And Andy Pettitte is getting rocked..." This game set up El Duque's gem when he ostensibly saved the Yankee season the next game. Then there's the 2001 World Series when Arizona forced a Game 7 by pounding Pettitte for six runs in two innings in Game 6.

(A less meaningful--and equally horrendous--start by Pettitte last year lends itself to a quick story. The game against the Kansas City Royals last July...hottest day of the year. Great seats. I'm keeping score and willing Pettitte to get through five, maybe six innings. Didn't happen. Pettitte proceeds to give up 12 earned runs, the last four courtesy of a Jose Guillen Grand Slam. Pissed beyond belief, I leave the Stadium in time to listen to John Sterling's call of a Yankee comeback win in the car on Johnny Damon's sixth hit of the game. This story summed up my entire 2008.)

Personally, I like Pettite. Always have. But I always trusted David Cone, David Wells, even Mike Mussina, before Pettitte in a big game. I will pass over in silence the hatchet job of Game 7 against Kevin Brown and Javier Vazquez in 2004 because, well, why should I get upset? Still bothers me.

My comments on Pettitte aside, his post-season numbers look better than I remember: Pettitte is 14–5 with a 3.96 ERA and 139 strikeouts in 35 postseason games (1995–2003, 2005, 2007). Pettitte has pitched 218.1 innings in the postseason.

Maybe its me. I remember the bad more than the good. It's like that way with gamblers too: You don't remember the wins with nearly the same vigor and emotion. The losses? Most players can recall them with stunning alacrity.

Some Interesting Numbers for Jim Rice

Congrats to Jim Rice who finally made the Hall of Fame on his last year of eligibility. Someone got something right. If you look at Rice's career numbers, there's no question: He is a Hall of Famer.

Besides the 382 homers and all those RBIs (1451), Rice was a career .298 hitter.

Jim Rice was one of the best hitters of the 1970s and the early part of the 1980 decade. His stats also match up favorably with Orlando Cepeda who made the Hall of Fame. Cepeda finished his career with a .297 career average, 379 home runs and 1365 RBIs. Accordingly, Cepeda finished with a lower batting average, fewer total home runs, and fewer RBIs than Jim Rice had during his career. In addition, Jim Rice played one less year than Cepeda did, meaning his individual yearly averages were higher than Cepeda's.

Jim Rice's statistics also compare favorably to Duke Snider who is also in the Hall of Fame. Snider had a career .295 average, 407 home runs, and 1333 RBIs. Billy Williams also made the Hall of Fame with totals of a .290 batting average, 426 home runs, and 1475 RBIs.

The next name on the list of players comparable to Rice is believe it or not, Ellis Burks. Maybe it's because I remember Burks coming up as a skinny outfielder in Boston but I would never compare him to Rice. But look it up:

Burks hit .291, 352 homers, and had 1206 RBI. Just judging on numbers alone, Burks warrants consideration, right? Wrong. And that's where baseball, which relies on its statistics as a measurement tool more than any other sport, got it wrong. How can you judge players in the steroid era against their predecessors? At least the voters continue to punish McGwire: He got about 20% of the necessary 75% to get in.

Here's a few other Rice numbers to consider:

--Rice never drew more than 63 walks in a season
--During his 1978 MVP year Rice whiffed 126 times and still hit .315
--That same year, Rice hit 15 triples although Red Sox fans of the early-to-mid 1980s might recall Rice as Mr. 6-4-3 as the slugger routinely grounded into 30-plus double plays a year.

Just writing about baseball adds another 15 degrees outside. Pitchers and catchers report in 35 days.

1960 Series Loss Revisited…..48 years later

By Tom Gucciardo

Editor’s note: Yankee fans of a more recent age recall the stunning 2001 World Series loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 7. With Mariano Rivera on the mound, Yankee fans were stunned to lose. But before 2001, there was 1960. That was when another small-market team miraculously beat the big bad New York Yankees in 7 games.

Before the Internet, talk-radio, and World Series night games, Tom Gucciardo looks back at history and gives us his unvarnished view of what really happened. You’ll note how much has changed but also how little has changed. Enjoy.

History reflects on Casey Stengal as a great manager. He was a schmuck. And I’ll tell you why:

Whitey (Ford) was hurt that year. Instead of his usual 16-17 wins, he had maybe 11 or 12. His ERA was around 3.33. Another Yankee pitcher, Art Ditmar, stepped in and did well. He won more games than Whitey and pitched to a better ERA in the regular season.

But now it’s the World Series. Remember this is time before the multiple playoffs rounds you have now.

Anyone with any common sense regarding World Series play will tell you that starter of Game 1 would pitch Game 4 and Game 7 if necessary. Who better than Whitey?

Unbelievably, Casey gives the ball to Ditmar believing he was better suited to start Game 1 and Game 5.
What happened? Ditmar, in his two recorded starts got a total of 5 outs, and was charged with both losses. And how did Whitey do? Pitched two shutouts in Game 2 and Game 6.

The see-saw Series came down to a Game 7 in Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field. The Pirates jumped to an early 4–1 lead in Game 7, only to give up four runs in the sixth inning. The Yankees then added two more, making the score 7–4 by the eighth.

Destiny interfered when Yankee shortstop Tony Kubek was going to turn a double play when bobby schantz threw a ground ball pitch to hal smith. The ball hits Kubek in the throat erasing the double play. The Pirates go on to tie the score in the eighth and then go ahead 9-8. (Good trivia question....who replaced Kubek at short?)

The ninth inning was a classic. I'm sitting in my tenth period English class painfully trying not to expose my transistor radio.

One out, Mickey Mantle gets on. Roger Maris hits a Line-drive laser that Pirates infielder Rocky Bridges snares. Double play! World series over......wrong! Some how, Mantle dives back into first safely ahead of the throw. The most heads up play I've ever listened to. This is where it gets blurry? Somehow the Yanks tie it at 9. Who drove in Mantle?

The next thing I know is that Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski hits a home run off of Ralph Terry's hanging curve ball (which he was in love with all season by the way).

“OH SHIT!”

I had trouble explaining to my English teacher, Jack Munna, why I blurted it out.

Game over. World Series over. I couldn’t believe it. Did that just happen?

The Pirates were grossly outmatched against the Yankees, who had won their tenth pennant in twelve years. The Bronx Bombers outscored the Pirates 55–27 in this Series, outhit them 91–60, outbatted them .338 to .256, hit 10 home runs to Pittsburgh's four, three of which came as I was sitting in school that day.

My brother always told me that my mind was a repository of useless bullshit.

Stengel was summarily fired at the Series.


Tom Gucciardo, a lifelong Yankee and football Giants fan, lives in Staten Island, NY. This is his first piece for TDD.

Tuesday Musings...

A week left before the election and it feels like McCain's chances are slipping away. Perhaps the best thing to come out of the election is that people are on to Keith Olbermann and his biased brand of politics. I've said it before, McCain is reminding me a lot of Bob Dole these days. Both decent people. Sometimes though you don't get to play the big stage...that's life.

I've read in Bob Raissman's NY Daily News column that the ESPN main baseball team of John Miller and Joe Morgan are on the verge of splitting up. Show of hands? Who's going to shed a tear? Morgan is as unlikeable as he was a great ballplayer. Give some up-and-comer a chance, I say. But ESPN, being ESPN, will screw it up somehow. John Miller's as solid as they come but again, let's change it up. I'm sure there are many voices who've paid their dues toiling in the minors can use that chance.

And for those wisenheimers who will ask how Tuesday musing are different from What I Learned Friday. My repy? Don't worry about it.

World Series Monday Night

Is there anything worse than watching another team clinch the World Series? Where is my Yankees? I'm a baseball fan at heart, yes. But this year's champs, the Phils, seem beatable to me. Jamie Moyer and Joe Blanton are their number 3 and 4 starters! THIS is the best team? This is the best MLB has to offer?

It's already 2-0 in the second and Tampa Bay pitcher Scott Kazmir is not long for this game. I can't take this team seriiously. I have to watch because there's not going to be baseball until April. I can see why the Phillies would be popular--they've got some characters on this team.

Screw it. Islanders/Rangers are on. This game has produced more drama in two periods than the W.S. has in five games. God I love the NHL. I could watch Monday Night Football but I need a huge, almost ungodly output from TE Bo Scaife to win my fantasy matchup. Edge Rangers.

Manny No Longer Manny

By Matt Bechard

It's over. Whether or not Manny Ramirez is traded today or stays in
Boston, the era of Manny Being Manny is finished. All things must pass,
and so to does the ability of Boston fans to shrug and smile at the
quirkiness of their beloved prodigious slugger.

It was one thing when we knew there would be about a week or two of
Manny Being Demanding, asking to be shipped out of the town where he
became universally worshipped. We knew once the deadline passed we would
get the Manny shoulder shrug, hands raised like "who me?" and he would
continue hitting.

It was one thing when we knew there would be a handful of cases of
Manny Being Lazy, not running out balls, turning doubles into singles,
misplaying balls memorably in left field. We knew after something
clicked in his head we'd see him going first to third, baiting runners
and throwing them out and hustling as best as a grown man in baggy pants
can.

It was one thing when we knew there would be some loopy Manny Being
Whacky moments, running into the Monster to pee during a pitching
change, running onto the field with the flag after gaining citizenship,
and too many zany quotes to count. We knew these were just part of a
true eccentric and we even embraced them like you would an elderly uncle
who still wears clothes from the 1970s and talks to plants.

This was all Manny Ramirez, Manny Being Manny if you will. Let me be
clear, Boston would not have own two World Series without him. In part
it was having a cornerstone player so ambivalent to curses and pressure
that helped the 2004 team overtake the Yankees in historic fashion and
shatter so many decades of frustration. He is a character, he is a
Hall-of-Famer, he is a presence, but most of all he is a hitter. And for
the past eight years in Boston that is what he has done, and he has done
it splendidly. And because of that the fans of Red Sox Nation have
embraced him like the other greats before him, maybe even more so
because of all the eccentricities that came with him and how much he was
disliked and chastised by fans of other teams. The Nation cheered him,
defended him and adored him.

But these last few weeks have been something else. I can never judge
when someone is hurt or not. But I can judge when someone doesn't care.
And maybe Manny is not hustling, taking games off, mouthing off and
generally being a brat in order to force a trade, but it is clear he
doesn't care about the team's performance or the fans in the seats and
at home. This is the first time in his Boston tenure that I truly
believe that Manny is letting the distractions impact his play, and it
isn't pretty to watch.

For the first time in his eight years I think the sentiment among fans
is starting to shift. In past years I think there would have been an
uproar if Manny was traded, even more than when Nomar and Pedro left
town. But those two examples taught fans that this management team is
smart and sometimes it is just time to move on. And when you know that
what you are getting out of a player, even a great player, is only 70%,
then saying goodbye becomes a little easier.

Will a trade happen? Who knows. Will Jason Bay or whoever replace the
offense of Manny? Probably not. But this is more than an A+B=C equation.
A player coming to Boston with something to prove combined with 24 other
players fighting and pulling together to show this deal doesn't make
them worse could be a powerful combo. And if Manny is dealt, to Florida
or wherever, I think there is a good chance he may have the best two
months of his career.

And if he did, well, that would just be more Manny Being Manny.

This is the first piece by Matt Bechard for TDD. He proudly lives, of course, in Red Sox Nation.

A Mets Fan Insists on Equal Time for Shea Stadium

By Dwayne Smith

Editor's note: In honor of Shea Stadium's last opener yesterday, we're giving equal time to a life-long Mets fan

While watching the Mets continue their 2007 slide in the home opener at Shea Stadium, I had to ask myself if I'll actually miss this place. Well, no, I won't and am greatly looking forward to the new place, even if I'll have to refinance my mortgage to get a seat. With the stadium nearing its demise and a similar list by this blog's namesake, I felt a need to list my own personal greatest in Shea Stadium.

1. Arizona v Mets, Wildcard. Game 4, Mets win game 4-3 and series 3-1:

The only playoff game I’ve ever seen in person and it was a special one. Not just for the fact that the Mets needed a victory to avoid Randy Johnson in Arizona or that Todd Pratt won it in the bottom of the tenth with a series clinching walk-off home run. This was the first game I attended with my father after his triple bypass surgery three months prior. As for the game, the Mets were undermanned without Mike Piazza in the lineup. The Mets would survive this game, despite Bobby valentine’s desire to let Al leiter throw as many pitches as possible. Pratt would eventually with the game as it came so close to being caught by CF Steve Finley, the crowd had to wait for his reaction when he pulled his glove from over the wall.

2. August 20, 2006 – Colorado Rockies. Mets win 4-3, My son’s first game:
There’s nothing quite like the bond between a father and son and the role baseball has in that. Whether it’s playing catch or explaining the rules of the game, baseball is the one sport where you can really bond while watching the action unfold. Well, at the ripe age of 10 weeks, I took my son Dean to his first baseball game at Shea. Sure he won’t remember a thing or know the joys of the flooded concourses the stadium sports, but I’ll remember every moment. Oh yeah, it was a pretty good game, with four pitchers combining to shut out the Rockies 2-0. Orlando Hernandez was the starter and the Carloses provided the offense. Beltran and Delgado hit solo home runs to provide all the needed offense.

3. May 5, 2004 – San Francisco Giants. Mets win 8-2. Mike Pizza hits record breaking hr:

I bought tickets mainly because this was the only time Barry Bonds would be in town for the year. Actually I also went to the May 4th game for the same reason. Well Bonds missed both nights and played the final game of the series which happened to be the one I missed. None of this made a difference as I got to be in the park when Mike Piazza crushed a signature home run against Jerome Williams in the bottom of the first inning. The solo shot would put Piazza in front of Carlton Fisk and give him the most home runs by a catcher in major league history. The crowd went wild and all this fanfare and excitement would eventually lead to the remarkably dense decision to move Piazza to first base shortly afterwards. This was just one of the many poor decisions that will forever prevent Art Howe from managing a major league team again.

4. August 23, 1985 – San Diego Padres. Padres win both games of a doubleheader 6-1 and 3-0. I got killer Autographs though:

While one year away from the only time I’ve been happy as a sports fan, my buddies and I caught two trains from Brooklyn to get to the stadium for a double header. For those who don’t remember, this was when baseball teams actually allowed customers to sit and watch two games for one ticket. This is not the day/night thing where fans see one game, get kicked out and then another set come for the night game. Anyway, I digress. The Mets had a pathetic offensive showing against the defending National league champs, The cool part was sticking around after the last game to get autographs. Among the autographs were Steve Garvey and Ralph Kiner. Kiner was my personal highlight.

5. June 18, 2004 – Detroit Tigers. Mets win 3-2 Pizza ceremony:

With Hall of Fame catchers Yogi Berra, Carlton Fisk, Gary Carter and Johnny Bench at Shea Stadium, the Mets had "Mike Piazza Night" on June 18, 2004, to celebrate breaking the record for career home runs by a catcher. Despite "speeches" by Mets clubhouse Godfathers Al Leiter and John Franco and the team gift of a bright yellow PT Cruiser, the tribute was a great way to honor the outstanding achievement. Seeing these all time great catchers, including Ivan Rodriguez, really put in perspective the great achievement of Piazza as one of the great offensive catchers the game has seen. Piazza had a nice game, but it was Mike Cameron who stole the show with a bottom of the ninth walk off home run. Funniest moment of the game was during the ceremony, when this Yankee fan behind me said, “Posada will have one of these in a few years.” Oh Yankee fans, unable to see someone honored without consoling themselves by saying a Yankee is better. By the way, Posada will absolutely not challenge this record.


Dwayne Smith, an unabashed Yankee hater, lives in New York. This is his first piece for The Daily Del Franco