Gregory Pratt

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jun 19, 2008 -> 02:24 PM) kind of, he made a horrible play and all the runs were unearned, but Gavin had a chance to minimize and he didn't I've never understood the manner in which earned runs are assigned.

Pablo Ozuna cost Floyd six earned runs?

Anyone else catch it on HBO? It's very good. The scientology start is a little weak, but the rest is pretty good, especially the Reagan Oracle bit.

Where would Ichiro play?

yes

I received this email from a good friend: I look at all that is happening over there and I think to myself, "We might as well not have a government at all if we can not or do not give all we can to these poor people in Iowa." And I think it applies to our people in all disaster-struck regions.

The way they handled this was classless. They flew him out to LA and fired him in the middle of the night after he'd won a game. There's no reason to handle it that way.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jun 16, 2008 -> 09:04 PM) I know you're trying to say they are similar players because they're both fast OF'ers, but comparing Jerry Owens to Willy Taveras is laughable. Taveras is 100X the outfielder that Owens is and he has probably just as much speed with better instincts. Taveras can actually play the game while helping you in the field and maybe a couple times on offense, versus Owens who sucks all the time in the outfield and sometimes helps on offense. Willy's downside is a 4th OF; Jerry's upside is a 4th OF. Offensively, again, just because Taveras is hitting .239/.294 right now doesn't mean Jerry Owens is anywhere near that ballpark as a Major League ballplayer. Taveras in 2005 hit .291/.325, hit .278/.333 in 2006, and hit .320/.367 last year. That's an MLB track record. Owens cannot come close to sniffing that. If Willy Taveras is available for pennies on the dollar because of a down year combined with the Rockies' sucktitude, Kenny will make a very serious run and he'll probably pick him up. It would be stupid not to; in fact I'd be pissed if we had a GM that was afraid to take a cheap gamble on a young proven player that plays a premium position. Given the fact that the lowest he's ever hit in a full season was .263, and that was going all the way back to his age 18 season in rookie ball, I think it's pretty safe to say Taveras will start hitting again, and when he is hitting, no one will even mention Jerry Owens as a comparable in any fashion. Great post.

Thought I'd share my review of the John Feinstein book about Mussina/Glavine's 2007 seasons. Short version: it's really good if you love pitching/pitchers/MLB. http://www.baseballevolution.com/gregory/liveblack

http://www.baseballevolution.com/gregory/weekreview11 Gregory Pratt had a good week last week, spending four of seven nights out with close friends and the others catching up at his place. It was a pleasant seven days. Fighting Words -- Congratulations are in order for Ken Griffey Jr. after he has joined the 600 Homerun Club, and it is my pleasure to give Griffey recognition in this space: Congratulations! But some of the prose coming out of the nation's sportswriters this week is ridiculous. In an article entitled "Would Griffey consider being dealt to surprising Rays?" Jon Heyman gushes, "He's such a natural and still so good you almost wonder if he can homer on call." Except Griffey is most definitely not "still so good you almost wonder if he can homer on call" and any assertion to that effect is absurd. Look, I love Griffey too, but it's important to understand that he is not his 1989 Upper Deck card and he is not his 1993 stat-line and he is not his 1997 MVP Award and he is not Jamie Moyer's stirrups, either. He is a guy who runs as if he's wearing cement shoes, whose bat might as well weigh a hundred ounces for his inability to catch up to major league fastballs, and whose body is the biggest injury guarantee in baseball now that Mark Prior is out again. If the Rays trade for Griffey to mentor the younger players, that's fine -- that's their prerogative -- and it isn't an awful idea, but they had better not give up any good prospects for him because he isn't worth a good prospect. In fact, I think Griffey ought to give serious consideration to retirement after this season, and only return if he can be sure that next year will be more like 2007 than 2008. That is up to him, however. I was thinking about Heyman's words as I worked on this column, and I've been trying to explain them to myself because they caught me totally off guard. I mean, Griffey certainly deserves all the respect in the world for what he has been able to do with his career, for how he's done it, but some of these guys in the press (most notably Heyman) are going nuts. I think sportswriters are trying to make up for their refusal to call a steroid a steroid in the 1990s, early 2000s and even today by notching up their rhetoric for Griffey's milestone, and that is why Heyman and those like him are fawning over Griffey at this moment. After reading articles entitled "An untainted milestone" and others with praise of him as "a natural," I don't know what other conclusion there is for me to make. I just don't believe that Jon Heyman honestly watches Griffey bat right now and thinks to himself, "Gosh, I'll bet he can homer on command if he really wants to," because if he does, he should probably lose his job for not being able to recognize quality bat speed, or lack thereof. Now don't misunderstand me, dear reader: I am not upset with Griffey for the fact that he is nearing the end of his career -- in fact, I'm devoting my History of the Week to the man. I'm not criticizing Griffey for the fact that sportswriters are all over him this week. What I am criticizing is the media for making him out to be something that he isn't all because they want to atone for their past sins of omission. We can respect and honor Griffey without lying about his abilities at this stage of his career. Sort of how we can respect any given President of the United States as a man who has served as President of the United States, but not confuse them for George Washington when they're clearly more like Jimmy Carter or Warren Harding. I Guess I'm Old-Fashioned -- Alright, so I came at you from an arm-angle you haven't seen before in that last section with my reference to "Jamie Moyer's stirrups." I was just thinking: Wouldn't the world be a better place if everyone wore stirrups like Jamie Moyer and, sometimes, Reed Johnson? One of the more amusing things I've seen this season came in Cleveland when Paul Byrd was pitching to Orlando Cabrera and went for his double-windup, only to have Cabrera contemptuously call time on him. When Cabrera went back into the box, Byrd did the double-windup again to wild applause. I was certainly pleased by the display. Intersections -- Since I mentioned Joe Torre in my article about managers, let me ask this: am I the only one who really enjoys his State Farm commercial? It's not as good as but it's pretty good. Courage -- In John Feinstein's Living on the Black, which I have reviewed, there are quotes from Bobby Cox about how selfless and competitive "The Big Three" were in the 1990s. He talks about how Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz would pitch with their other arms if it meant giving their team a chance to win. John Smoltz took this almost literally and threw for Atlanta until he literally couldn't lift his arm above his head, and he had season, maybe career-ending surgery this week. I suspect that his career is over, but even if it isn't, he deserves all the credit in the world for literally giving every bit of himself that he could possibly give to the game of baseball. My admiration of the man has risen greatly over the last year, and it's got me thinking about other "brave" pitchers. At the most recent Sox game I attended, I picked up an 8x10 of Freddy Garcia because it was in my price range and because he is one of my favorite pitchers of all-time. I remember being hard on him through the 2006 season, wondering what happened to his fastball. Once everyone insisted that he was not hiding an injury, I criticized him for his laziness, his pot-smoking, his weight, and questioned whether or not he was off the juice. Then that September, he put up a brave and admirable performance as the rest of the White Sox tanked down the stretch, single-handedly keeping their playoff hopes alive. A a few months later, it was revealed that he was pitching on guts alone and had serious problems with his labrum. I've never been sorrier to have questioned someone's desire*, and I'll never forget Garcia for what he gave to the White Sox: the clinching game of the World Series and many other crucial wins. I suspect that San Francisco Giant fans have similar feelings toward Robb Nenn, and Cub fans ought to appreciate Kerry Wood for similar reasons. Through the Vineyard -- I've been teased in the forums of Baseball Evolution for saying that I used to "practice" getting hit by pitches when I was in high school, and I've gotten similar grief elsewhere. I just figure that there's no reason not to take one in the ribs or thighs if it's coming your way; so long as the ball is not headed for your elbow or your head or your knee, there's no reason not to take it. I was happy to see Fernando Vina explaining that he used to practice getting hit by pitches, too, and made a successful career out of it. It worked pretty well for Craig Biggio as well. To me, this is made funnier by the fact that I was the kind of pitcher who had no qualms about brushing someone off the plate. Plague of Locusts -- Chipper Jones was struck in the face by a ball that came off his own bat during batting practice on Friday, and his batting average is "down" to a "paltry" .402. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution joked this week, with Jair Jurrjens twisting his ankle at Wrigley Field and Tom Glavine going onto the disabled list until at least July and the aforementioned Jones/Smoltz injuries, that the Braves will soon face a plague of locusts. How much more bad fortune can a team endure? Tiger Tiger, Burning Bright -- I haven't mentioned it here before, but I had been concerned for Justin Verlander this season, as he had been awful for several starts. He's been really good in the last few weeks, and I am happy for him. I hate to see ace pitchers have off-years, and so it's good to see him recover. Now I'm just waiting for Roy Oswalt to get it together on a consistent basis. What Do You Mean William Blake? -- Yesterday was the twentieth anniversary of Bull Durham, and ESPN had a good collection of articles and interviews about it here. It is my favorite baseball movie, and I think it always will be. History of the Week -- I'm not sure any phrase was uttered more often this week in baseball than "What if?" As in: "What if Ken Griffey Jr. hadn't lost so much of his career and ability to injury? What if he were the homerun king, and not Barry Bonds? What would baseball look like then? What sort of numbers would Griffey had ended up with then?" I don't know the answer to any of these questions, but I have always been fascinated by this report from Jeff Pearlman about Griffey and Bonds. Before I begin, let me say that I trust Jeff Pearlman and I think he's a quality journalist. I've always enjoyed his work. He was kind enough to do my college radio show last winter, and he's always been helpful when I have emailed him with some question or other. His books are very good books, especially his biography of Bonds, and he's written for the finest sports magazines in the nation. I don't know that this story is true, but I believe that it is because I trust my fellow journalists and nobody denies the story, though Griffey says he doesn't remember it and Bonds refused to talk about it. (As you can see at the link, in the sidebar.) Here's a brief introduction: Bonds and Griffey have been friends for a long time, and confide in each other as friends do. After the 1998 season, Bonds went over to Griffey's house for dinner and the conversation turned to McGwire, Sosa and steroids. That is where it becomes very interesting: The article goes on to describe the steps Bonds took in his transformation, but that isn't important. This is about Griffey and Bonds making different choices in their careers, and in a different article Pearlman demonstrates the significance of this Spring Training meeting perfectly: "With what we know now, that day should go down as a landmark. It was the day when Barry Bonds decided to cheat and break all the records, and Ken Griffey Jr. decided to be honest and fade. It was the day when Barry Bonds decided he was bigger than the game, and Ken Griffey Jr. decided the game was bigger than him. It was the day Barry Bonds committed himself to greed. It was the day Ken Griffey Jr. committed himself to happiness." If the story is true, and Griffey is and always has been clean, then that meeting and the history it spawned ought to be Griffey's enduring legacy. Not just a great player, but a great man. *Consider this a Footnote History of the Week: When I realized what Freddy had done for the White Sox in his condition, I felt a little like Casey Stengel must've felt when he told Warren Spahn "Young man, you have no guts" after Spahn refused to hit a batter, and then watched him go off to War and return with a Purple Heart.

Related to Tiger, but not to his greatness at the game of golf is this article: http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=gallo/080604 I've been meaning to post it. He mocked hockey, and DJ Gallo wrote the NHL's response: That said, he's a pretty good golfer.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

This would be perfect for AJ, to hurt Herges. Aren't they super-enemies or something?

What were Ozzie and Cora doing?

Juanito!

Anderson still isn't a good-hitter. That was brutal.

That ball got killed.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 13, 2008 -> 08:35 PM) There were a lot of guys who looked to be sulking in the dugout after Anderson's homer. Most noticeably was Jermaine Dye. Why do you think they were sulking?

I hope they don't hit Chipper.

I'm going to be in LA in a month, give or take. I'm very interested in the suitcase.

The injury to Jurrjens is unreal.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 10, 2008 -> 09:05 PM) I was on a cruise at the time on my honeymoon. Checking the Cubs on GameDay

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 10, 2008 -> 08:59 PM) Neither....I haven't been impressed by Glavine in years, to be honest. And what do you know, another liner by the Braves. I'll bet you were ecstatic when he beat the Cubs for his 300th win.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 10, 2008 -> 08:54 PM) How many lineouts can the Braves have in one game? I also can't believe the Braves signed Glavine. Did they really think he had anything left in the tank? I know you're upset because Glavine committed the grave crime of giving up runs to the Cubs, but Glavine quite clearly has something left in the tank. He's had some pretty good starts with a few bad ones. It happens.

QUOTE (RibbieRubarb @ Jun 10, 2008 -> 08:51 AM) His hatred for Ozzie and Jerry knows no bounds. Even even blames the Bulls coaching-search problems on Ozzie. From June 7: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/mariotti/99...T-jay07.article That is one of the most shameful bits of sportswriting in the history of sportswriting. That guy's awful.