Rest in Peace, Gary Coleman

Gary Coleman died today at age 42.

Yeah, Gary Coleman's life had become a train wreck over the last few years... but he made all of us laugh in the 1980s, and that should merit a nice salute.

I always remembered him as Jackie Robinson Cooper in the made for TV movie The Kid from Left Field, which to date is the only time the Padres have ever been seen winning the World Series.

In the movie, Coleman manages the Padres with the help of his dad, a former big leaguer played by the always great Robert Guillaume. If I remember correctly, he beat the Cubs in the NLCS (the film came out in 1979, 5 years before the Padres did that for real in 1984!)

And they beat the White Sox in the World Series on a walk off pinch hit homer by Gary Collins.

I also remember Ed McMahon played the owner of the Padres... and had the strange line that he wanted to win the team's first World Series since his father owned them. Well at the time the Padres were only 10 years old... so I guess it was an alternate baseball universe.

Either way, it was a baseball movie I dug as a kid and that's all that matters.

Hats off to you Gary Coleman. You looked good in those Taco Bell Padres unis.

Daisuke Matsuzaka is Japanese for Derek Lowe

One game Daisuke Matsusaka is coughing up 5 runs in the first to the Yankees… next thing you know he’s throwing a no hitter into the 8th inning in Philadelphia… next start he can’t get out of the 5th against the Royals.

Isn’t that a microcosm of the Dice-K era in Boston?
Every time you say “I think Dice-K is going to pitch like an ace now” he wets the bed.
Every time you say “Oh man, it was a huge mistake bringing him here” he throws a great game.

Sound familiar?

That was Derek Lowe to a T!

Remember how he blossomed and became a great reliever for one season in 2000? We all thought “Holy Cats! We’ve got a classic shut them down closer!”

Then the next year he was so bad he nearly torpedoed the season all by himself.

Then the next year, 2002, he threw a no hitter in April, became a 20 game winner and nearly won the Cy Young Award.

Then his ERA jumped nearly 2 runs the next year. Man you can’t rely on him in the big game.

But he came out of the bullpen and shut down the A’s in that amazing Division Series. He’s back!

Then he lost 2 starts against the Yankees in the ALCS. He’s done.

Then 2004 he was so awful that his ERA was over 5 and he wasn’t even in the post season rotation. He sucks. He’s a mop up man.





Then he won all three clinching games in the 2004 playoffs, including 6 innings of 1 hit ball in the Bronx to win the pennant and 7 shutout innings in St. Louis to win the World Series.

He left perfectly. He left with everyone remembering him as a playoff hero. He got the wild standing ovation during the ring ceremony in 2005 even though he had split for the Dodgers.

It’s like people remembering the Belushi/Chevy years of SNL. They only remember the good parts… not the many unwatchable episodes.

And so it is with Dice-K.

We’ve got the next great pitcher in baseball!

Oooo. He’s not that good. He might suck.

Oh my God! He clinched the pennant! And he got 2 RBI in the World Series and won his game!

Holy Cow he’s an 18 game winner and nearly threw a no hitter in the ALCS against the Rays!

Oh man, he blew his arm out pitching in that stupid World Baseball Classic.

He stinks, he let up 5 runs in the first.

Holy Crap! He’s throwing a no hitter! He’s awesome again! Who needs Beckett?

He’s walking the Royals with the bases loaded… why did we sign this guy?



Going up and down that fast will usually give a guy the bends!

Rooting for these guys was kind of like yelling “No Whammys!” while playing Press Your Luck. There’s no rhyme nor reason and you are either going to be thrilled or incensed.

Let’s hope Dice-K has another string of post season luck in him.
There’s only 14 more years left on his contract.

Met fans... please don't get too excited

Yes, I know the Mets just swept Philadelphia.

That's always a cool thing.

I know the Mets are only 2 back and look like world beaters right now. I beg of you, Met fans... don't get too excited.

Seriously, it isn't going to end well.

And in fact I think the two nice runs the Mets went on this year will in the end hurt the team... because they NEED to make a big move like dealing Santana when his value is at its best, and they won't do that when they think they are a contender!!

Just enjoy this fluke and don't start making October plans...

UNLESS...

There was one factor in today's game the team should take into account.

Once again my rocker friend Jaime Fallon was in attendance... and as I wrote before, when she shows up, the Mets win.

It hasn't failed yet.

The Mets should just give her a season pass, and then get ready for October ball.

(Seriously, Jaime's attendance is the only reason I can think of for the Mets good fortue.)

Of COURSE the Royals would be too tough to beat!

The Red Sox stare down the Yankees, Twins, Phillies and Rays and walk away with an 8-2 record.

The defending World Champs... the reigning champs and current leader in the central... the best team in the AL... the best team in baseball... the Red Sox beat them to an .800 winning percentage.

So naturally they come home to play the Royals, a team on pace to lose 96 games... and can't score a run off of their bullpen.

There's a lot to say about Daisuke Matsusaka's grotesque outing, but that will be in another post.

For now, let's just say my teeth are grinding.

DODGED A BULLET GAMES - 16

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.)
May 4 - 5-1 win against the Angels. (Juan Rivera misplays Jeremy Hermedia's 2 out flyball into a 3 run game winning double)
May 5 - 3-1 win against the Angels. (Papi and Beltre homer and the Sox hang on despite squandering many potential rallies.)
May 6 - 11-6 win against the Angels. (Dice-K puts the Red Sox in a 4-0 hole before they even bat. The Sox bats respond.)
May 10 - 7-6 win against the Blue Jays. (Sox blow an early 2-0 lead, take advantage of some errors and hang on.)
May 18 - 7-5 win in New York. (Sox climb back from a 5-1 hole. A day after hitting a walk off homer, Marcus Thames drops a fly ball to start the winning rally for the Sox.)
May 25 - 2-0 win in Tampa. (Big Papi supplies all the offense as Papelbon wiggles out of a 9th inning jam.)

TEETH GRINDER GAMES - 14

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)
April 30 - 5-4 loss in Baltimore. (Tejada ties the game with a 2 out 8th inning homer and wins it with a bloop in the 10th)
May 1 - 12-9 loss in Baltimore. (Dice-K and Wakes get pounded, wasting 2 homers from Ortiz and an early 4-1 lead.)
May 2 - 3-2 loss in Baltimore. (Varitek is thrown at home trying to score with 2 outs in the 8th. Sox get swept in the 10th.
May 12 - 3-2 loss against the Blue Jays. (The Sox rally in the 9th comes up a run short and Kevin Gregg gets an ugly save.)
May 15 - 7-6 loss in Detroit. (The Sox blow a 6-1 lead and lose it on a 2 out bases loaded walk in the 12th.)
May 17 - 11-9 loss in New York. (The Sox come all the way back from a 5-0 first inning hole to take a 9-7 lead in the 9th... but Papelbon lets up a 2 run game tying shot to A-Rod and a 2 run walk off shot to Marcus Thames.)
May 21 - 5-1 loss in Philadelphia. (Big Papi's bid for a game tying 9th inning grand slam is caught at the warning track.)
May 27 - 4-3 loss to Kansas City. (Dice-K walks the go ahead run in and lets another score on a wild pitch as the Royals no name bullpen shut down the Hot Sox.)

Back down to +2.
I don't want to hear about let downs... I want to see a series win starting TOMORROW!

Monte Irvin and #20

Yesterday the Giants announced that they were retiring Monte Irvin's #20. And thankfully, Monte is still alive and will be at the ceremony.

Chances are Monte Irvin’s number retirement in San Francisco will get some nice applause at AT&T Park and some heartfelt commentary from baseball experts and most baseball fans will have no clue who he is.

He never played a day as a member of the San Francisco Giants, so you can forgive their fans if they don't get worked up when #20 gets retired.

But if things had played out a little differently, #20 would already have been retired all over baseball.

No less of an authority than Cool Papa Bell thought that Monte Irvin was going to be the player to break the color barrier.

He certainly was a more established professional baseball player than Jackie Robinson was. As an outfielder for the Newark Eagles in the Negro Leagues, he was a five time All Star and batted over .400 in 1940. He also was the MVP of the Mexican League in 1942.

Like Robinson, Irvin was talented at many sports. He was a champion javelin thrower as well as a star on the Lincoln University football team. Like Robinson, Irvin had served in the military during the Second World War and was a married family man.

When Branch Rickey was looking for the right candidate to break the color barrier, he wanted more than a good ballplayer.

He wanted an upstanding human being and one who would be willing to take the punishment and respond not with their fists but with their play.

And oh yeah, he also wanted to make A LOT of money!

Irvin fit all the qualifications... solid player, family man, college educated, military service and a person of strong character.

And supposedly Rickey approached Irvin to be part of his great experiment. Legend has it that Irvin didn't think he was ready to play at the Major League level so soon after leaving the service.

Rickey went with Robinson and Irvin would eventually join the Giants. Irvin led the National League in RBIs in 1951 when the Giants would over take the Dodgers behind Bobby Thomson's homer. He was also an All Star in 1952 and helped the Giants win the 1954 World Series, the last one the team has won to date.

He worked for the Mets and the Commissioners office after his retirement and became a member of the Hall of Fame in 1973, a year after Jackie Robinson's untimely death.

But imagine if he had said yes to Rickey.

Maybe it would have been Monte Irvin whose legacy we celebrate in breaking the color barrier.

Maybe school children would be taught to marvel at the dignity, talent and bravery of the great Monte Irvin.

And chances are Jackie Robinson, not given the directive by Branch Rickey to curb his well known hot temper, may not have lasted long. Perhaps Jackie would be known as a former UCLA football star who briefly played in the majors.

Maybe Jackie would have joined his former UCLA football teammates Woody Strode and Kenny Washington as racial pioneers in the NFL.

People might say something like "What Monte Irvin was to baseball, Jackie Robinson was to the National Football League."


And maybe in 1997, on the 50th anniversary of the color barrier being broken, Bud Selig and Bill Clinton would have retired #20 all over baseball instead of #42.

We'll never know. But what we DO know is Monte Irvin deserves to have #20 retired.
And if you are at that game... stand up and applaud.

He had All Star stuff and the heart of a pioneer.

For now, the Cy Young race in the National League is much clearer

About a month ago, I had listed 12 potential Cy Young candidates in the National League as the award seemed like it was going to be loaded with possible winners.

It is a lot less cluttered now.

11 of the 12 pitchers have had a bump or two in the road since then. Even two of the three top contenders are coming off of a loss now. Roy Halladay was hit hard by the Red Sox over the weekend and last night Tim Lincecum was handed his first loss of the season.

And Ubaldo Jimenez keeps on dominating. His numbers are sickening at around the 1/3 mark of the season.

How good are they? Good enough to remove the "in Coors" qualifier to them. They would be good in ANY ballpark.

You like wins? He's got 9 of them.
You like win percentage? His winning percentage is .900! (His lone loss came in a 7 inning, 2 hit, 1 run, 1 walk effort in Dodger Stadium on May 9th.)
You like an innings eater? He averages more than 7 innings a start!
You like a dominating start? He threw the Rockies' first ever no hitter and in half of his starts, he's let up zero runs.

You like ERA? His is 0.88. Plus his Coors Field ERA is 1.29!

He has the lowest ERA+, the lowest WHIP, the lowest batting average against, the lowest hits per nine innings ratio, the fewest homers per 9 innings...

And those are just the categories he LEADS in.

There's about 2/3 of the season left and Halladay, Wainwright, Lincecum or someone else could dominate and win the prize.

But as of this posting, Jimenez has the lead.

19-4

On the surface, not much has changed.

The Rays still have the best record in baseball.

The Red Sox still trail both the Rays and the Yankees (although they leap frogged Toronto into third place.)

And yet a lot has changed.

They looked like a dead from the neck up team in Detroit a few weekends ago and started a 10 game stretch against the Yankees, Twins, Phillies and Rays. And only the two games against Minnesota were at home.

It was a stretch that essentially could have buried the Red Sox.
And it began with a "Oh boy, I guess the season IS over" Papelbon meltdown in the Bronx.

Their record, including the Papelbon bed wetting, over those 10 games?

8-2.

They faced some of the best teams in the game and out hit them (they scored 5 or more runs 7 times in that stretch) and out pitched them.

In their current 5 game winning streak, the average Red Sox start has been roughly 7 innings and 1 earned run... against the best team in the NL and the AL.

Not much has changed except the Red Sox outscored the best team in baseball 19-4 on their own turf.

Notice has been served.

The Red Sox are waking up... you should have buried them when you had the chance!