Wait, Paul Konerko has 10 homers already?

Seriously… he’s in double digits already.

I didn’t know that.

Granted he just reached double digits a few hours ago. But still, I didn’t know he was so close to 10 that a pair of homers this afternoon in Arlington would do the trick.

Maybe I didn’t know because the White Sox haven’t exactly been hitting the cover off the ball… they have the lowest team batting average in all of baseball and have the second lowest team on base percentage in the American League.

Maybe their 8-13 start (they are 9-13 now) didn’t capture my imagination.

But here we are… the first home run hitter to double digits is Paul Konerko.

When you think of it, Konerko has had a pretty cool career. Not a Hall of Fame one, but certainly one that would earn him a spot on the U.S. Cellular Field outfield wall of retired numbers.

He may have been kicked around early in his career (he played for 3 big league teams in his first 4 seasons) but he has been an underrated fixture in Chicago. In a free agent era when people skip town constantly, he has spent 12 straight years in the South Side of Chicago. He was supposedly off to the Angels after the 2005 World Series… but decided to stick around with the Sox.

He’s been an All Star three times and finished 6th in the 2005 AL MVP vote. He has hit 20 or more homers in 10 of the past 11 seasons (and is halfway there already for 2010.) Four times he has driven in 100 runs.

Plus he has been a horse in the post season. He played for the 2000 and 2008 Division Champions… and of course was a big part of the 2005 World Champs run.

He crushed a key homer off of Tim Wakefield in Game 3 of the Division Series.
He hit first inning homers in Games 3 and 4 of the ALCS on his way to the Series MVP award.
And his grand slam off of Chad Qualls in Game 2 of the World Series turned a 4-2 deficit into a 6-4 lead.

Now here he is, leading the league in homers so far.
He’s had a cool and underrated career.

Like everyone on that White Sox team (including his currently unemployed former teammate Jermaine Dye) , there were no superstars (especially with Frank Thomas hurt). Just a bunch of guys who did their jobs well.

So I didn’t know Konerko had 10 homers already… and if nobody else in cyber space is going to salute him, I WILL!

The All Time Saves Leader Will Soon Be A Hall of Famer Again

Is Mariano Rivera the greatest reliever of all time?

Maybe.

Even though I am a Red Sox fan, I have given Rivera plenty of love on this blog.

I practically wrote a love letter to him last June.

Last November I said he should have been the World Series MVP over Hideki Matsui.

I also said he should have won the Babe Ruth Award over A-Rod.

I said he was what made the Yankees better than all the other playoff teams.

Now his place among relievers in history can be debatable. Certainly Rollie Fingers and Rich Gossage deserve a lot of praise (how many more saves would they have if they were one inning specialists instead of going 2 or 3 innings a save?)

But one thing is for certain... Rivera will soon be the All Time Save king.

Pirate Catcher Ryan Doumit is making sure of it.

Doumit has been a one man wrecking crew of Trevor Hoffman... the current All Time Saves leader.

He hit a 9th inning grand slam on Tuesday and a game tying homer yesterday to give Hoffman back to back blown saves.

Hoffman has already blown 4 saves this year... and his ERA is 13.00.

It's early but it isn't THAT early. He's 42 years old. And despite a solid year last year, it isn't a stretch to say 42 year olds off to bad starts might not be in a slump. They might be out of gas.

And a team like the Brewers, who have a shot to win and a small window of opportunity to do it, can't afford a closer who lets up nearly a run and a half an inning.

Even Ken Macha, who no doubts respects the hell out of Hoffman, hinted that a change might be coming.

Which means his save total might finally stop piling up.

Hoffman has 594 saves now.
Rivera is second on the all time list at 532.

Up until this point, Rivera has been chasing a moving target. Now it will probably stay still with 62 saves between them.

He's not getting it this year... but he also has shown no signs of slowing down. Rivera already has 6 saves and an ERA of 0.00.

That's slightly lower than Hoffman's.

If Hoffman's closing days are over, Rivera should pass Hoffman sometime in 2011.

And the biggest case for Hoffman's Hall of Fame candidacy, being the All Time Saves leader, would be gone before he was even eligible for the vote.

I have nothing against Hoffman personally. He seems like a good charitable guy and his teammates don't have a bad word to say about him. But as I wrote before I think he is a smidge overrated.

A specialist like a closer needs to consistently come up big in the big game. Rivera certainly has. Hoffman has not.

Having the biggest save total of all time isn't like the Home Run crown, or getting 300 wins or 3,000 hits. It's not an automatic punched ticket to Cooperstown.

Jeff Reardon passed Rollie Fingers to be the All TIme Saves leader as a member of the 1992 Red Sox. Reardon is not a Hall of Famer.

Lee Smith passed Reardon. He's not in the Hall either.

When the two were teammates briefly with the 1990 Red Sox, it wasn't considered to be a meeting of All Time greats.


The fourth most saves in history belong to John Franco.

I don't think even the biggest Met fans I know consider him to be a Hall of Famer.

This isn't a slam on Franco, Reardon nor Smith. I was a fan of both. And Reardon actually DID have the great post season highlight of clinching a World Series (with the 1987 Twins.)

But neither were considered to be All Time Great difference making closers... like Gossage... or Fingers... or Eckersley... or Sutter... or even Hoyt Wilhelm.

They got a lot of saves for a lot of years and did so around the time that the closer became a one inning specialist. They stayed healthy for a long time and had solid careers... but did they change the dynamic of the game? Did managers manage differently knowing they were coming out of the pen like they do with Rivera?

I put Hoffman in the same category with Smith, Reardon and Franco... terrific career but as I wrote before, falls short of Cooperstown.

Saves are nice but not always a great barometer of greatness. Don't believe me?

Jose Mesa has more career saves than Goose Gossage. Who would you rather have in a big game? Hell, who would you rather have in a SMALL game?

But if saves are the short hand standard of a reliever's worth, it would be nice to see the All Time Saves leader be a Hall of Famer.

And when Mariano Rivera passes Trevor Hoffman some time next season, it will be so.

Are the Red Sox REALLY going to make us sweat out EVERY WIN?

I guess so.

My kingdom for a blow out win!

Seriously... can we have ONE WIN this year where I can be relaxed and maybe give the regulars half a day off?

I mean don't get me wrong, I LOVE that the Red Sox have gone 7-2 since they hit bottom after the 4 game sweep by the Rays.

I love that their bats picked up Beckett, that Buchholz and Lester picked up the bullpen and that Darnell McDonald picked up the entire team, including going 2-3 with an RBI tonight.

I love that despite all the turmoil, injuries and lousy starts, the Red Sox can still finish April with a winning record if they can beat Baltimore on Friday night.

But MAN, I could use a relaxing win and not a game that has me fidgeting and checking the score like a crazed addict!

Oh well... time to update the board.

DODGED A BULLET GAMES - 10

April 4 - 9-7 win against Yankees (On Opening Night, the Red Sox overcome a 5-1 Yankee lead with a game tying HR by Pedroia and a go ahead passed ball.)
April 10 - 8-3 win against Kansas City (Beckett out pitches Zack Greinke and nearly gets decapitated by a line drive.)
April 14 - 6-3 win in Minnesota. (Okajima gets Morneau to pop up with the bases loaded in the 7th and Papelbon wiggled out of a 9th inning jam.)
April 20 - 7-6 win against Texas. (Darnell McDonald introduces himself to Boston with an 8th inning game tying homer and a walk off hit in the 9th.)
April 21 - 8-7 win against Texas. (The Red Sox were down 4-0 early only to win it on Youk's 2 out 11th inning double.)
April 23 - 4-3 win against Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 3-0 lead but win it on Adrian Beltre's bases loaded walk.)

April 24 - 7-6 win against Baltimore. (The Red Sox score 6 in the 7th and hold off a late Baltimore comeback attempt.)
April 26 - 13-12 win at Toronto. (The Sox blow an early 5-0 lead but hang on for dear life in a slugfest.)
April 27 - 2-1 win at Toronto. (Buchholz holds the Jays down for 8 but it takes a bases loaded walk in the 8th to go ahead.)
April 28 - 2-0 win at Toronto. (Daniel Bard wiggles out of trouble in the 8th to help Lester shut down the Blue Jays and finish the sweep.)

TEETH GRINDER GAMES - 6

April 6 - 6-4 loss against the Yankees. (Scutaro's error leads to the winning run.)
April 7 - 3-1 loss against the Yankees. (Sox leave the winning run on in the 9th only to lose on Granderson's 10th inning homer)
April 9 - 4-3 loss in Kansas City. (Bard coughs up the lead, denying Wakefield a win.)
April 17 - 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Sox can't score with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 11th... lost it in the 12th.)
April 17 - 6-5 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Red Sox comeback falls a run short, leaving two on in the 8th)
April 25 - 7-6 loss to Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 4-1 lead, leave the winning run on second in the 9th, let up 3 in the 10th and could only score 2 in the bottom of the 10th)

+4 with a .500 record.

Now on to Baltimore, which is always good for the ole win/loss record

THE CY YOUNG DOZEN

I know I have written about the NL Cy Young race a bit, but I truly find it to be fascinating. Yeah, it is early, but I don’t recall the last time I have seen this many legit candidates all get out of the gate so quickly. And as someone who loves dominating stud pitchers, this year in the NL seems to be a bumper crop!

Nobody in the AL is dominating like the top NL pitchers, and the usual suspects (Verlander, Sabathia, Lester, Beckett, Hernadnez, Greinke) aren’t putting up numbers the way that the NL’s top 12 are.

2006 wasn’t that long ago that the National League honored Brandon Webb with the Cy Young award for his solid but not exactly eye popping season.

This year? I doubt if Webb had the same season in 2010 that he would crack the top 5 when all is said and done.

I’ve counted 12 pitchers who are either former Cy Young winners off to solid starts, true aces who are dominating and a few guys whose careers looked over by the end of last year who are coming out blazing.

And this list of 12 doesn’t even include former Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter, nor dark horse candidate Ricky NolascoBoth have shown moments of brilliance, as has reliever Matt Capps. But this top 12 is a hard party to crack.


Let’s list them…


Tim Lincecum

I truly believe if he can deliver a World Series title to San Francisco he will be the third biggest star in San Francisco sports history. He seems hellbent to make it 3 Cy Young Awards before his 27th birthday. He would have win #5 this afternoon if Brian Wilson could have held onto the 9th inning lead. Yet he still has a 1.27 ERA and leads the league in strikeouts. I guess that whole pot thing really slowed him down.


Ubaldo Jimenez

He is the first pitcher since Jack Morris in 1984 to start the season 5-0 with a no hitter. He is second in the league in innings pitched and has held opponents to a 0.79 ERA and a .186 average against. Oh yeah, he’s doing all of that in COLORADO!


Roy Halladay

Even with a loss the other day, Halladay is throwing like he wants Cy Young #2. Nobody has pitched more innings in the NL. He has 2 complete games and a shutout and his ERA is 1.80. And 5 of his 8 earned runs came in one start. I think it is safe to say it was a good pick up for Philadelphia.


Adam Wainwright

He has the second lowest WHIP in the league and been an innings eater with a pair of complete games. He also has a tiny 1.69 ERA and a .187 batting average against to go with his 3 wins.



Johan Santana

Santana had one truly lousy game against the Washington Nationals in early April where he let up 5 runs, 4 on a grand slam by Josh Willingham. He has let up a grand total of 3 other earned runs all season. He has a 3-1 record and even with the rocky start against Washington, has a more than respectable 2.08 ERA and has not let up more than 1 run in 4 of his 5 starts.

Mike Pelfrey

With all of these great performances out of the gate, do you know who LEADS the NL in ERA? That would by Pelfry, whose ERA is impressive (and snicker worthy) at 0.69. Throw in his 4-0 record and coming out of the bullpen to save the Mets 20 inning marathon and he deserves at least entry to the dance.



Dan Haren

Who is second in the league for strikeouts behind Lincecum? Surprise! It’s Haren who has 38 in 34 innings of work. His ERA is a mediocre 4.50 but he’s been winning games (3-1 record), been eating up innings (third in IP behind Jimenez and Halladay) and has only 8 walks in 5 starts.


Josh Johnson

The Marlins well paid ace got out of the gate slowly but has been showing his ace stuff lately, especially after a complete game 3 hitter with 12 strikeouts and one walk against the Padres on April 26th. He is now third in the league in strikeouts.



Barry Zito

Remember when Barry Zito was on everyone’s short list for worst free agent contracts? Well now he is off to a 3-0 start and is averaging nearly 7 innings a start while posting a 1.32 ERA. Oh, by the way… his .161 batting average against is the lowest in the National League! Not bad for a crummy contract.


Livan Hernandez

Yes. It’s the same Livan Hernandez. An after thought starting pitcher on a potentially god awful Nationals team, the beneficiary of the Late Eric Gregg’s strike zone has won 3 of his first 4 decisions including a complete game shutout. His 0.87 ERA and .176 Batting Average Against are both third best in the league and his WHIP is 4th best. Will he keep that up? Who am I to say?


Brad Penny

The same Brad Penny who was run out of Boston on a rail is 3-0 in St. Louis this year. His 0.94 ERA is 4th best in the league. He has gone at least 7 innings in all 4 of his starts and has yet to let up more than 2 runs in any of them.

Another headcase solved by Dave Duncan!


Carlos Silva

One team’s garbage is another team’s treasure. Dumped into Chicago from Seattle in exchange for lunatic Milton Bradley, the Cubs may have stolen a winner…or least rejuvenated a talented pitcher with a fresh start. In 4 starts and 26 innings, Silva has the lowest WHIP in the league, plus a tiny 1.73 ERA and the fourth lowest Batting Average Against in the NL. Throw in a 2-0 record and a 5-1 strikeout to walk ratio and the Cubs may have more than coffee grounds from Seattle. Meanwhile Bradley is flopping as a .204 hitter flipping off fans with the Mariners.


So it will be interesting to see how many of these dozen remain Cy Young contenders month to month... I am guessing pitchers like Santana and Johnson will see their numbers improve and the Pennys and the Silvas would come back to Earth.

But who knows? I guess YOU picked Zack Greinke to win the Cy Young last year!

Bad Vibrations

Nice job, Brian Wilson... Tim Lincecum throws a gem for 8 1/3 innings and you cough the lead up in 4 batters!

Tim should be 5-0 and matched Jimenez of the Rockies in the win column.

Instead he gets a no decision and YOU could get the win if the Giants win it in the 9th?

That just stinks.

You don't deserve the win today any more than the Beach Boy Brian Wilson!

The Red Sox COULD be 0-21

The Red Sox dodged another bullet yesterday, and along the way rested their pen and won another series.

But I noticed something as I updated the tally... the Red Sox have dodged 9 bullets this year. Meaning that 9 times this year they won games that they very easily could have lost.

They have a grand total of 10 wins so far.

The only win so far this year that I didn't put down in the Dodged Bullet category was an 8-6 win against the Royals. The Sox took a 5-1 lead early in the game and while the Royals cut it close, I never thought they were going to win.

That being said, the Royals had the tying run on deck in the 8th and 9th... which means that they COULD have lost the game without a huge stretch of the imagination.

And the other 9 wins included come from behind wins, slug fests, pitching duels and extra inning thrillers.

That means with a bounce here, a home run there and a called third strike sprinkled into each of the Red Sox 10 victories and they could be winless.

And instead of knocking on .500's door (which they could do with a win tonight) they'd be matching the 1988 Orioles' start!

DODGED A BULLET GAMES - 9

April 4 - 9-7 win against Yankees (On Opening Night, the Red Sox overcome a 5-1 Yankee lead with a game tying HR by Pedroia and a go ahead passed ball.)
April 10 - 8-3 win against Kansas City (Beckett out pitches Zack Greinke and nearly gets decapitated by a line drive.)
April 14 - 6-3 win in Minnesota. (Okajima gets Morneau to pop up with the bases loaded in the 7th and Papelbon wiggled out of a 9th inning jam.)
April 20 - 7-6 win against Texas. (Darnell McDonald introduces himself to Boston with an 8th inning game tying homer and a walk off hit in the 9th.)
April 21 - 8-7 win against Texas. (The Red Sox were down 4-0 early only to win it on Youk's 2 out 11th inning double.)
April 23 - 4-3 win against Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 3-0 lead but win it on Adrian Beltre's bases loaded walk.)

April 24 - 7-6 win against Baltimore. (The Red Sox score 6 in the 7th and hold off a late Baltimore comeback attempt.)
April 26 - 13-12 win at Toronto. (The Sox blow an early 5-0 lead but hang on for dear life in a slugfest.)
April 27 - 2-1 win at Toronto. (Buchholz holds the Jays down for 8 but it takes a bases loaded walk in the 8th to go ahead.)

TEETH GRINDER GAMES - 6

April 6 - 6-4 loss against the Yankees. (Scutaro's error leads to the winning run.)
April 7 - 3-1 loss against the Yankees. (Sox leave the winning run on in the 9th only to lose on Granderson's 10th inning homer)
April 9 - 4-3 loss in Kansas City. (Bard coughs up the lead, denying Wakefield a win.)
April 17 - 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Sox can't score with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 11th... lost it in the 12th.)
April 17 - 6-5 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Red Sox comeback falls a run short, leaving two on in the 8th)
April 25 - 7-6 loss to Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 4-1 lead, leave the winning run on second in the 9th, let up 3 in the 10th and could only score 2 in the bottom of the 10th)

Now 3 up in the Dodged Bullet/Teeth Grinder tally.
3 straight series wins... go for the sweep tonight and maybe end April on a winning streak!

The Pirates nose dive is MY fault

I am SO sorry, Pirate fans.



I was seriously just trying to be encouraging to the Pirates and their fans.



I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for them and I saw, early in the season, that they swept the Reds.



And I noticed that they were 2 games above .500 and were playing exciting ball.



So I wrote about it... and man since then, the results have been pretty amazing.



And when a young team has some success early, they can go in three different directions:

1) They can have an exciting and unexpected season, like the Rays did in 2008.

2) They can quickly come back to Earth, like the Blue Jays did in 2009.

3) Or they can collapse so grotesquely that you can basically call the season over before May… like the 2010 Pirates just did.



They’ve lost 7 in a row.

And guess what?… THAT’S THE GOOD NEWS



They didn’t just lose these games. They crashed and burned in ways that the slaughter rule should have been in place.



In short they do not look like a major league team. Put them up against the New Orleans Zephyrs and I wouldn’t pick the Pirates.



Since I gave them a pat on the back the Pirates have an 0-7 record and have been outscored by a combined score of 72-11.



Look at that again… in their last 7 games, they’ve lost by an AVERAGE of roughly 10-1.



Better hope the Penguins have a good playoff push.

I have a feeling consecutive losing season #18 is a foregone conclusion.