Central casting for a Triple Crown
By Buster Olney
There are 40 days remaining in the season: 40 days for Albert Pujols and Joey Votto to battle for the NL Central race, for the Triple Crown, for the NL MVP.
Votto leads Pujols in the batting race by one point, while Pujols has four more homers and six more RBIs than Votto.
<OFFER>
Jason McCallum of ESPN Stats & Information sent this along about the Triple Crown:
The leak
The teams that will feel the real fallout from the Deadspin baseball document dump will be the Tampa Bay Rays and the Oakland Athletics, who have been trying to put together support for new ballparks, and will now presumably face increased skepticism and scrutiny because of the leaked financial statements.
Those figures show that the Marlins were taking enormous profits while they cried poor to public officials in South Florida and convinced taxpayers to build a new ballpark. Now, any public official who wants to fight against a proposed ballpark project -- or just ask hard questions -- will be armed with the Marlins' balance sheets, with facts and figures, with greater context. The Rays and the Athletics and any other club asking for public funding will be held to a higher standard of transparency, and will likely be compelled to provide documentation along the lines of what Deadspin has published.
Last week, Roger Clemens was indicted on perjury charges stemming from his testimony before a congressional committee in 2008. He could be facing jail time essentially because members of Congress came to believe he callously lied to their faces. Maybe the time has come for officials representing professional sports teams to do their lobbying for publicly funded ballparks under oath. Because the numbers certainly suggest that there should be hard questions about whether the Marlins accurately represented their financial condition while reaching for taxpayer dollars.
John Romano believes the leaked documents will help the Rays' case. Winning is a costly business for the Rays.
To get ahead of the backlash from the Marlins' statements, it would be a smart political play for the Athletics and Rays to release their most recent financial statements in a press conference and tell reporters (and taxpayers): "Here you go; take a look at anything you want to see, and we're here to answer your questions about why we think we need a new ballpark."
The leaked financial documents are a warning for the Rangers' new owners, writes Evan Grant.
An insurance carrier is being blamed for the leak, writes Christian Red.
Strasburg
Stephen Strasburg's season may be over, and if his elbow injury is serious the Nationals may not have their meal ticket until sometime late next summer -- and the news isn't getting better, because Washington has been playing badly. Jim Riggleman spoke with his players about effort before Tuesday's game, before the Nationals were beaten again, as Adam Kilgore writes.
The Nationals are anxiously awaiting the results of Strasburg's next test, and there is concern in some corners of the organization that his injury is significant -- and there should be concern, as Stephania Bell writes. The dye test will take place Thursday, writes Adam Kilgore.
Moves, deals and decisions
1. Johnny Damon decided to turn down the chance to go to Boston, and as Bob Wojnowski writes, he seemed to be softly negotiating a chance for a return to Detroit. He has made Motown his town, writes Drew Sharp. Teammates are thrilled that Damon wants to stay, writes Tom Gage.
Damon's decision has others scratching their heads, writes Michael Silverman. It's official, writes Dan Shaughnessy: Johnny Damon really is an idiot.
By the way: Got a lot of e-mails taking issue with the suggestion that Damon is a Hall of Fame candidate. I've written it before and I'll write it again: With a couple more years of accumulated numbers, his totals will clearly be at a Hall of Fame level -- and he's got the little extras that help any résumé: the championship moments in the postseason.
Right now, Damon has 2,538 hits, 1,550 runs, 1,037 RBIs, 214 homers, 382 stolen bases. Let's say he finishes his career with 2,800 hits, 1,700 runs and 1,200 RBIs, a safe assumption.
Twenty-five players have scored 1,700 runs or more, and of those, 21 have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. The others are Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Craig Biggio and Alex Rodriguez.
Forty-five players have accumulated 2,800 hits or more, and almost all of them are in the Hall of Fame. In fact, the only guy who isn't in the Hall because of a lifetime ban or because he hasn't been on a ballot yet is Harold Baines, who was a DH for many years.
Opinions will vary on whether or not Damon has been an elite player, and he may or may not get in -- but by the end of his career, there is no question that he will have numbers worthy of the Hall of Fame.
2. The D-backs cut Bobby Crosby, to make room for a guy who is auditioning, writes Nick Piecoro.
3. The Mariners will play a day-night doubleheader today.
4. Torii Hunter says he's not trying to recruit Carl Crawford.
5. Brett Wallace was benched.
6. Manny Machado will make his pro debut Friday.
7. The Pirates have to fire John Russell, but they need to find the right guy to replace him, writes Ron Cook.
8. Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds may be tried at about the same time.
9. The Mets should focus on the future now, writes Joel Sherman.
10. The Reds and Dusty Baker are upbeat about their contract talks.
11. Frank McCourt disputed something that Jamie McCourt's lawyers are alleging, writes Bill Shaikin. T.J. Simers is ready to buy the Dodgers, if Frank McCourt sells.
AL Central
The White Sox are feeling good about the chances of acquiring Manny Ramirez, writes Joe Cowley. If the White Sox get Manny, Ozzie is going to leave the hair issue to Jerry Reinsdorf.
It'll be interesting to see if Ramirez asks for something extra to facilitate any waiver move or trade -- and it would be interesting to see the reaction from the White Sox if Manny asked for an extra million bucks or something like that.
There is a lot at stake for Ramirez in the last 40 days before the end of the regular season. If he finishes poorly and gets hurt again, he probably would be lucky to get a small base salary, plus incentives, for 2011. If he finishes strongly, shows a lot of skills and is a major factor in the pennant race, he could probably get a $5 million one-year deal from somebody.
Bobby Jenks got the job done, and the White Sox picked up a game in the standings.
A missed call hurt the Twins, writes La Velle Neal. Jim Thome was forced to the bench.
NL West
The Rockies have won three straight, with Jorge De La Rosa shutting down the Braves, and Colorado is now five games behind Philadelphia in the wild-card race. Carlos Gonzalez put on a power display at Coors Field, where he has hit 20 of his 26 homers.
The Giants racked up 16 runs and routed the Reds. Bruce Bochy is mixing and matching his outfielders, writes Henry Schulman.
The Padres continue to do what the Padres have done all year: They shut down the D-backs, writes Bill Center.
NL Central
A managerial decision and coach's decision drew scrutiny in the Cardinals' loss. Bryan Burwell finds the Cardinals maddening.
The Reds' Travis Wood had a really bad day, writes John Fay.
AL East
Wade Davis was solid and the Rays hammered the Angels, as Marc Topkin writes. The Yankees mashed a bunch of homers, writes Ben Shpigel.
The Yankees pulled Javier Vazquez from the rotation, as Mark Feinsand writes, and replaced him with Ivan Nova.
NL East
Derek Lowe and the Braves got knocked around, writes David O'Brien. But the Braves' lead remained intact, because the Phillies had their guts ripped out in a wild 16-inning loss that concluded with Roy Oswalt in the lineup -- playing left field. Ryan Howard's ejection was a major blunder from a minor league umpire.
Dings and dents
1. Ian Kinsler has been cleared for baseball activities.
2. Magglio Ordonez had surgery and will miss the rest of the season.
3. Mike Cameron is looking ahead to 2011.
4. Luke Hochevar will pitch in the minors on Saturday, writes Bob Dutton.
5. Ross Ohlendorf is likely to be out for the year, writes Dejan Kovacevic.
Tuesday's games
1. The Astros won one of the great games of the season, writes Zachary Levine. This is an example of why baseball is such a great game, writes Richard Justice.
2. Gio Gonzalez was excellent again, as Susan Slusser writes. How Gonzalez won, from Lee Singer of ESPN Stats & Information:
A) He missed bats: Gonzalez recorded 15 swing-and-misses on 48 swings (31 percent), his highest miss percentage of the season. Six of his seven strikeouts were swinging.
B) He worked away: Gonzalez pounded the outer third of the zone, throwing a season-high 80 of his 109 pitches (73 percent, season average 54 percent) in this area. He recorded 10 swing-and-misses and got 16 outs, both season highs as well.
C) He finished off hitters: Gonzalez took 14 hitters to a two-strike count and retired 13 of them (93 percent, MLB average 72 percent).
3. Josh Johnson had another tough night, writes Joe Capozzi.
4. Colby Lewis and the Rangers found a way, as Jeff Wilson writes.
5. The Tigers racked up a whole bunch of hits in support of Rick Porcello.
6. The Orioles locked up a losing season, writes Jeff Zrebiec.
7. The Pirates' bats awakened, writes Dejan Kovacevic.
8. Luis Castillo got a game-winning hit, writes Anthony McCarron.
9. Carlos Zambrano pitched and won with a heavy heart, as his 11-year-old nephew is near death, writes Gordon Wittenmyer.
10. Dave Bush felt like he threw a terrible pitch in a big spot.
11. Frank McCourt watched the Dodgers win, but wasn't taking questions.
12. The Angels got blown out, writes Ben Bolch.
13. The Jays got knocked around.
The Patience Index
<!-- begin inline 2 -->
Speed Trapped
These hitters saw the most pitches per plate appearance Tuesday:
<TABLE><THEAD><TR><TH>Hitter</TH><TH>PA</TH><TH>Pitches</TH><TH>Pitches/PA</TH></TR></THEAD><TBODY><TR class=last><TD>Carlos Pena</TD><TD>5</TD><TD>31</TD><TD>6.2</TD></TR><TR class=last><TD>Billy Butler</TD><TD>4</TD><TD>24</TD><TD>6.0</TD></TR><TR class=last><TD>Coco Crisp</TD><TD>5</TD><TD>29</TD><TD>5.8</TD></TR><TR class=last><TD>Yadier Molina</TD><TD>4</TD><TD>23</TD><TD>5.8</TD></TR><TR class=last><TD>Adam LaRoche</TD><TD>4</TD><TD>23</TD><TD>5.8</TD></TR><TR class=last><TD>Rod Barajas</TD><TD>4</TD><TD>23</TD><TD>5.8</TD></TR><TR class=last><TD>Ike Davis</TD><TD>5</TD><TD>28</TD><TD>5.6</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- end inline 2 -->
Other stuff
• Late umpire Satch Davidson was lauded for being fair, writes David Barron.
• Bud Selig's statue was unveiled in Milwaukee. He has helped make Milwaukee a better place, writes Michael Hunt.
• Chris Antonetti is eager to take control.
• Travis Buck is just happy to be healthy.
• The Orioles will hold their instructional league at Camden Yards.
• Cameron Maybin has had mixed results, as Clark Spencer writes.
• Carlos Gomez believes he is a better center fielder than a teammate.
• The opportunities to manage in Japan are dwindling for imported managers, writes Brad Lefton.
• George Steinbrenner will be honored in Monument Park, writes George King.
• Vanderbilt's receiving corps figures to be better this year.
And today will be better than yesterday.
By Buster Olney
There are 40 days remaining in the season: 40 days for Albert Pujols and Joey Votto to battle for the NL Central race, for the Triple Crown, for the NL MVP.
Votto leads Pujols in the batting race by one point, while Pujols has four more homers and six more RBIs than Votto.
<OFFER>
Jason McCallum of ESPN Stats & Information sent this along about the Triple Crown:
- "As we all know, Carl Yastrzemski was the last player to win the Triple Crown, as a member of the 1967 Red Sox. Joe Medwick was the last NL player to win the Triple Crown, as a member of the 1937 Cardinals.
"But Pujols and Votto are taking their run deeper into a season than we've seen in many years. If Pujols or Votto ends any day from this point forward as the leader in all three categories, either would put himself into serious contention for a Triple Crown.
"Since Yaz won the 1967 Triple Crown, the latest date on which ANY player has held the lead in all three Triple Crown categories was Sept. 8, 1972, by Dick Allen of the White Sox. No other player has led all three Triple Crown categories on or after Aug. 24 since 1967.
"As far as the National League is concerned, the last time a player held the lead in all three Triple Crown categories on or later than Aug. 24 was when Johnny Mize led all three categories on Sept. 14, 1940.
"Suffice it to say that Pujols and Votto are making serious runs at baseball history. But if either of them end a day as the leader in all their categories, they'll have staked claim to the latest Triple Crown lead in at least 38 years."
The leak
The teams that will feel the real fallout from the Deadspin baseball document dump will be the Tampa Bay Rays and the Oakland Athletics, who have been trying to put together support for new ballparks, and will now presumably face increased skepticism and scrutiny because of the leaked financial statements.
Those figures show that the Marlins were taking enormous profits while they cried poor to public officials in South Florida and convinced taxpayers to build a new ballpark. Now, any public official who wants to fight against a proposed ballpark project -- or just ask hard questions -- will be armed with the Marlins' balance sheets, with facts and figures, with greater context. The Rays and the Athletics and any other club asking for public funding will be held to a higher standard of transparency, and will likely be compelled to provide documentation along the lines of what Deadspin has published.
Last week, Roger Clemens was indicted on perjury charges stemming from his testimony before a congressional committee in 2008. He could be facing jail time essentially because members of Congress came to believe he callously lied to their faces. Maybe the time has come for officials representing professional sports teams to do their lobbying for publicly funded ballparks under oath. Because the numbers certainly suggest that there should be hard questions about whether the Marlins accurately represented their financial condition while reaching for taxpayer dollars.
John Romano believes the leaked documents will help the Rays' case. Winning is a costly business for the Rays.
To get ahead of the backlash from the Marlins' statements, it would be a smart political play for the Athletics and Rays to release their most recent financial statements in a press conference and tell reporters (and taxpayers): "Here you go; take a look at anything you want to see, and we're here to answer your questions about why we think we need a new ballpark."
The leaked financial documents are a warning for the Rangers' new owners, writes Evan Grant.
An insurance carrier is being blamed for the leak, writes Christian Red.
Strasburg
Stephen Strasburg's season may be over, and if his elbow injury is serious the Nationals may not have their meal ticket until sometime late next summer -- and the news isn't getting better, because Washington has been playing badly. Jim Riggleman spoke with his players about effort before Tuesday's game, before the Nationals were beaten again, as Adam Kilgore writes.
The Nationals are anxiously awaiting the results of Strasburg's next test, and there is concern in some corners of the organization that his injury is significant -- and there should be concern, as Stephania Bell writes. The dye test will take place Thursday, writes Adam Kilgore.
Moves, deals and decisions
1. Johnny Damon decided to turn down the chance to go to Boston, and as Bob Wojnowski writes, he seemed to be softly negotiating a chance for a return to Detroit. He has made Motown his town, writes Drew Sharp. Teammates are thrilled that Damon wants to stay, writes Tom Gage.
Damon's decision has others scratching their heads, writes Michael Silverman. It's official, writes Dan Shaughnessy: Johnny Damon really is an idiot.
By the way: Got a lot of e-mails taking issue with the suggestion that Damon is a Hall of Fame candidate. I've written it before and I'll write it again: With a couple more years of accumulated numbers, his totals will clearly be at a Hall of Fame level -- and he's got the little extras that help any résumé: the championship moments in the postseason.
Right now, Damon has 2,538 hits, 1,550 runs, 1,037 RBIs, 214 homers, 382 stolen bases. Let's say he finishes his career with 2,800 hits, 1,700 runs and 1,200 RBIs, a safe assumption.
Twenty-five players have scored 1,700 runs or more, and of those, 21 have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. The others are Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Craig Biggio and Alex Rodriguez.
Forty-five players have accumulated 2,800 hits or more, and almost all of them are in the Hall of Fame. In fact, the only guy who isn't in the Hall because of a lifetime ban or because he hasn't been on a ballot yet is Harold Baines, who was a DH for many years.
Opinions will vary on whether or not Damon has been an elite player, and he may or may not get in -- but by the end of his career, there is no question that he will have numbers worthy of the Hall of Fame.
2. The D-backs cut Bobby Crosby, to make room for a guy who is auditioning, writes Nick Piecoro.
3. The Mariners will play a day-night doubleheader today.
4. Torii Hunter says he's not trying to recruit Carl Crawford.
5. Brett Wallace was benched.
6. Manny Machado will make his pro debut Friday.
7. The Pirates have to fire John Russell, but they need to find the right guy to replace him, writes Ron Cook.
8. Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds may be tried at about the same time.
9. The Mets should focus on the future now, writes Joel Sherman.
10. The Reds and Dusty Baker are upbeat about their contract talks.
11. Frank McCourt disputed something that Jamie McCourt's lawyers are alleging, writes Bill Shaikin. T.J. Simers is ready to buy the Dodgers, if Frank McCourt sells.
AL Central
The White Sox are feeling good about the chances of acquiring Manny Ramirez, writes Joe Cowley. If the White Sox get Manny, Ozzie is going to leave the hair issue to Jerry Reinsdorf.
It'll be interesting to see if Ramirez asks for something extra to facilitate any waiver move or trade -- and it would be interesting to see the reaction from the White Sox if Manny asked for an extra million bucks or something like that.
There is a lot at stake for Ramirez in the last 40 days before the end of the regular season. If he finishes poorly and gets hurt again, he probably would be lucky to get a small base salary, plus incentives, for 2011. If he finishes strongly, shows a lot of skills and is a major factor in the pennant race, he could probably get a $5 million one-year deal from somebody.
Bobby Jenks got the job done, and the White Sox picked up a game in the standings.
A missed call hurt the Twins, writes La Velle Neal. Jim Thome was forced to the bench.
NL West
The Rockies have won three straight, with Jorge De La Rosa shutting down the Braves, and Colorado is now five games behind Philadelphia in the wild-card race. Carlos Gonzalez put on a power display at Coors Field, where he has hit 20 of his 26 homers.
The Giants racked up 16 runs and routed the Reds. Bruce Bochy is mixing and matching his outfielders, writes Henry Schulman.
The Padres continue to do what the Padres have done all year: They shut down the D-backs, writes Bill Center.
NL Central
A managerial decision and coach's decision drew scrutiny in the Cardinals' loss. Bryan Burwell finds the Cardinals maddening.
The Reds' Travis Wood had a really bad day, writes John Fay.
AL East
Wade Davis was solid and the Rays hammered the Angels, as Marc Topkin writes. The Yankees mashed a bunch of homers, writes Ben Shpigel.
The Yankees pulled Javier Vazquez from the rotation, as Mark Feinsand writes, and replaced him with Ivan Nova.
NL East
Derek Lowe and the Braves got knocked around, writes David O'Brien. But the Braves' lead remained intact, because the Phillies had their guts ripped out in a wild 16-inning loss that concluded with Roy Oswalt in the lineup -- playing left field. Ryan Howard's ejection was a major blunder from a minor league umpire.
Dings and dents
1. Ian Kinsler has been cleared for baseball activities.
2. Magglio Ordonez had surgery and will miss the rest of the season.
3. Mike Cameron is looking ahead to 2011.
4. Luke Hochevar will pitch in the minors on Saturday, writes Bob Dutton.
5. Ross Ohlendorf is likely to be out for the year, writes Dejan Kovacevic.
Tuesday's games
1. The Astros won one of the great games of the season, writes Zachary Levine. This is an example of why baseball is such a great game, writes Richard Justice.
2. Gio Gonzalez was excellent again, as Susan Slusser writes. How Gonzalez won, from Lee Singer of ESPN Stats & Information:
A) He missed bats: Gonzalez recorded 15 swing-and-misses on 48 swings (31 percent), his highest miss percentage of the season. Six of his seven strikeouts were swinging.
B) He worked away: Gonzalez pounded the outer third of the zone, throwing a season-high 80 of his 109 pitches (73 percent, season average 54 percent) in this area. He recorded 10 swing-and-misses and got 16 outs, both season highs as well.
C) He finished off hitters: Gonzalez took 14 hitters to a two-strike count and retired 13 of them (93 percent, MLB average 72 percent).
3. Josh Johnson had another tough night, writes Joe Capozzi.
4. Colby Lewis and the Rangers found a way, as Jeff Wilson writes.
5. The Tigers racked up a whole bunch of hits in support of Rick Porcello.
6. The Orioles locked up a losing season, writes Jeff Zrebiec.
7. The Pirates' bats awakened, writes Dejan Kovacevic.
8. Luis Castillo got a game-winning hit, writes Anthony McCarron.
9. Carlos Zambrano pitched and won with a heavy heart, as his 11-year-old nephew is near death, writes Gordon Wittenmyer.
10. Dave Bush felt like he threw a terrible pitch in a big spot.
11. Frank McCourt watched the Dodgers win, but wasn't taking questions.
12. The Angels got blown out, writes Ben Bolch.
13. The Jays got knocked around.
The Patience Index
<!-- begin inline 2 -->
Speed Trapped
These hitters saw the most pitches per plate appearance Tuesday:
<TABLE><THEAD><TR><TH>Hitter</TH><TH>PA</TH><TH>Pitches</TH><TH>Pitches/PA</TH></TR></THEAD><TBODY><TR class=last><TD>Carlos Pena</TD><TD>5</TD><TD>31</TD><TD>6.2</TD></TR><TR class=last><TD>Billy Butler</TD><TD>4</TD><TD>24</TD><TD>6.0</TD></TR><TR class=last><TD>Coco Crisp</TD><TD>5</TD><TD>29</TD><TD>5.8</TD></TR><TR class=last><TD>Yadier Molina</TD><TD>4</TD><TD>23</TD><TD>5.8</TD></TR><TR class=last><TD>Adam LaRoche</TD><TD>4</TD><TD>23</TD><TD>5.8</TD></TR><TR class=last><TD>Rod Barajas</TD><TD>4</TD><TD>23</TD><TD>5.8</TD></TR><TR class=last><TD>Ike Davis</TD><TD>5</TD><TD>28</TD><TD>5.6</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- end inline 2 -->
Other stuff
• Late umpire Satch Davidson was lauded for being fair, writes David Barron.
• Bud Selig's statue was unveiled in Milwaukee. He has helped make Milwaukee a better place, writes Michael Hunt.
• Chris Antonetti is eager to take control.
• Travis Buck is just happy to be healthy.
• The Orioles will hold their instructional league at Camden Yards.
• Cameron Maybin has had mixed results, as Clark Spencer writes.
• Carlos Gomez believes he is a better center fielder than a teammate.
• The opportunities to manage in Japan are dwindling for imported managers, writes Brad Lefton.
• George Steinbrenner will be honored in Monument Park, writes George King.
• Vanderbilt's receiving corps figures to be better this year.
And today will be better than yesterday.
