Saturday December 20th, 2003
1:38am
What Happened to A-Dunn?
Before we start, let me state for the record that I really like Adam Dunn. I think he's going to be one of the best OFers in the NL in a few years. My question is "What happened to the uber-star we saw in 2001?" Let me start by giving a brief little background on that 2001 performance. Adam started the season with AA Chattanooga and he started well. He hit .343 in 140 ABs with 12 HRs and 31 RBI, which isn't too bad for a 21 year-old kid who hadn't seen a pitch at that level before. Before you know it he's up in AAA Louisville and he's still knocking the cover off the ball (.329 BA iwth 20 HRs and 53 RBI in 210 ABs). On July 20th, he was in Florida playing for the Reds. He went 1-for-3 in his debut with a BB and a SO. By the end of August, he was a household name after hitting 13 HRs in his first 151 ABs. He finished out the season with 19 Hrs to go with his 43 RBI, a .262 BA and a .948 OPS after only 244 at-bats against major league pitching. A star was born. Back to today. After having this phenominal start to his career we're starting to get some mixed results. I know that he just turned 24, so I'm not making any crazy statements that he's a washup or anything like that. I know he's not and I know that he's going to be a great player eventually, I'm just wondering why his BA dropped to .215 this year even after moving into the very hitter friendly Great American Ball Park?
Adam Dunn's Career Numbers
Year G AB H R RBI HR SO/BB BA OPS GPA
2001 66 244 64 54 43 19 74/38 .262 .949 .311
2002 158 535 133 84 71 26 170/128 .249 .854 .294
2003 116 381 82 70 57 27 126/74 .214 .819 .276
Totals 340 1160 279 208 171 72 370/240 .241 .863 .292
He missed a large chunk of last season (like the last 41 games on the schedule) with
a thumb injury, which explains why he played in so few games in '03. Lefty/Righty Splits Let's look at his lefty/righty splits for each year to see if that helps explain the mystery a bit....
Year BAvL BAvR GPAvL GPAvR HRvL HRvR
2001 .282 .254 .315 .310 6 13
2002 .254 .246 .304 .288 11 15
2003 .202 .221 .263 .281 9 18
What is most interesting to me about those numbers is that for his first two seasons he was better against lefties in everything except HRs (basically extra-base hits in general, I just didn't include them all) as a left-handed hitter. In 2003, he reversed this trend, and by quite a percentage. SO/BB Ratio Now let's look at his SO/BB ratios for his career....
Year AB SO BB SO/BB
2001 244 74 38 1.95
2002 535 170 128 1.33
2003 381 126 74 1.70
This could have something to do with the lower numbers.
Home/Away After the Reds moved into their new lucious ballpark, and people started seeing the ball fly out of there I think everyone just assumed that Adam would blossom this year. I think that it is important to note that he did hit better at home, .59 BA points better...
Location AB BA GPA HR
Home 202 .243 .298 16
Away 179 .184 .250 11
He is hitting better at home, which means to me that it isn't really a factor in the downfall.
Month-by-Month
I thought maybe, possibly that the downfall would have something to do with playing a full major league schedule, the travel and whatnot. Here is his month-by-month breakdown:
2001 AB BA GPA HR 2002 AB BA GPA HR
Jul 41 .268 .273 1 Apr 77 .286 .321 5
Aug 110 .282 .351 12 May 96 .323 .365 6
Sep 75 .227 .263 4 Jun 89 .303 .314 4
Oct 18 .278 .367 2 Jul 83 .253 .351 7
Aug 106 .160 .208 3
Sep 84 .179 .208 1
2003 AB BA GPA HR
Mar 4 .000 .000 0
Apr 83 .253 .329 9
May 83 .193 .253 9
Jun 71 .183 .287 5
Jul 99 .253 .275 3
Aug 41 .171 .211 1
After his rookie campaign, Adam seems to start hot in April and May and then just drop off the face of the map. It's not good to see that a player hit over .200 for only 2 months during a season, as Adam did in 2003.
PA/Game
The last thing that I'd like to look at his Adam's performance against starting pitchers, as the game goes on.
2001 AB BA GPA HR 2002 AB BA GPA HR
v. P 1st Time 136 .287 .330 14 v. P 1st Time 311 .251 .295 16
v. P 2nd Time 52 .192 .241 1 v. P 2nd Time 120 .267 .308 5
v. P 3rd Time 44 .295 .372 4 v. P 3rd Time 92 .217 .284 5
v. P 4+ Time 12 .167 .170 0 v. P 4th Time 12 .250 .175 0
2003 AB BA GPA HR
v. P 1st Time 205 .224 .288 16
v. P 2nd Time 97 .227 .265 7
v. P 3rd Time 72 .194 .271 4
v. P 4+ Time 7 .000 .100 0
It is quite obvious that Adam struggles more and more each time he faces a pitcher. That makes me think that he doesn't make adjustments as the game goes on, while his competition does. This may also explain why he was so successful his rookie campaign. Especially since just about each time he faced a pitcher in the first inning, it was also the first time he faced him in his career. I think this may be something that would work out for A-Dunn very well towards the end of his career, if he needs to hang on by pinch hitting.
Conclusion
After looking at these factors, I'm going to let you make your own decision about what has happened to Adam Dunn. I still think that if he can start dropping his SO/BB ratio again, if he can become better against lefties than righties again, and if he can focus on making adjustments at the plate as the game progresses he will become a super-star. This can all come over time, or with the right hitting instructor. Let's make sure that we remember that Adam is still only 24 years old and will play 5 season before entering the "prime" of his career....
Friday December 19th, 2003
2:43am
What a Great Day
Yesterday was one of those days where everything goes right. You look up at the clouds and it's blue for miles with some of those big fat cumulonimbus clouds just floating around. It's a gorgeous 65-70 degrees out, and you just want to go outside and read a book or play some catch. Books My great day started when I made my semi-annual trip up to the bookstore to sell back my school books. At my wise age, I know that it is quite foolish to sell back your books to the first store you go to. It's just like when you go to buy your books, you've got to shop around for the best deal (you know--buy low and sell high). Well, I was VERY fortunate that I only had 3 books this semester, 2 of which were for one class. Normally I have at least 5 books, and they're very expensive. The first place I went offered me $10 for one book, $35 for another book, and said they weren't buying back the third one (which was ok, b/c it was the cheapest of the 3 when I bought it). Let's keep in mind that I spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $225-$250 for those three books just 4 months ago. If I accept this offer, my net spending would be $180-$205 which would mean that I was only able to sell back my books for 18-20% of what I purchased them for (and I shopped around when I purchased them so I know that I got the best deal, but many other students don't do that). I politely declined their offer, and traveled to the next store. They gave me basically the same offer give or take $3-4. I then went to the third different bookstore. I had success at this store in previous semesters when it came to selling back my books, and I was hoping for some more. I got it. They offered me $49 for the book the other stores offered me $35. Then I was offered $55 for the book that I had previously been offered $10 for. I was happy. They didn't take back the third book either. I accepted their $104 and left a happy guy. Looking at it %age wise, I ended up spending a net of $121-$146 on books which meant that I got back 42-46% of what I originally paid. That's not too bad for me, but wow those bookstores make a killing! 50% profit margins for someone who went to 3 different stores. Think if I had done what I bet 70% of students do, and sold my books to that first store. They're making 78%-80% per book on those students, which to me seems like a pretty good turn-around.... My boy Prince When I got home from the bookstores I went to the mailbox and saw that I had a package. When I opened it up, I was quite surprised and excited. In the envelope was an 8.5" x 11" collage of Terrence Murphy photos with T-Murph's signature sweeping across the top. Where did this come from? My boy, Stephen Prince. Prince was an officer in Iron Spikes when I joined (my sophomore year) and he graduated this past spring. One of his really good friends, RB #32 Oschlor Flemming, is (or was) on the football team and just finished up his career. Prince had emailed me asking if I had any pictures of T-Murph because he was making some sort of team collage, so I sent him the link to all my T-Murph photos on the web (which has since been more elegantly displayed on my T-Murph Page). Next thing I know, I'm opening up the envelope finding an autographed T-Murph photo with a note thanking me for my help. Thanks Prince, it's already up on the wall next to my I.S. Spirit Award. To quote OutKast's "Hey Ya"... "I say what's cooler than bein' cool? ICE COLD!" That my friends is ICE COLD! Check out Prince's website, which is really interesting and entertaining (check out his shoe collection under the "It's Me" section), at www.stevenprince.com.
I Got My Job Back
This is something to be very happy for! Many of you remember that I used to work at Inspirations, the T-shirt capital of Aggieland. I started working there in early June of 2002 but I had to take the semester off this past fall in order to give my GPA a bit of a boost. I wasn't intending on coming back, especially after leaving right before the busiest time of the year (back to school and football season). I was afraid that everyone would think that I just bailed during the rough time and came back when things slowed down, but I was in the other day just checking things out and my manager asked if I'd like to work. I do miss working there because I was good friends with just about everyone and since they've been busy and I've been busy we haven't been able to hang out as much as we used to. I could also use the cash....'cause after you get married (July) Dad isn't quite as happy to hand you some cash (Love ya Pops). So today I went in and filled out all the paper work and I get to start back up on Monday! Whoop!
Big Brother/Big Sister
I doubt any of you know this, but I'm a mentor for a 7th grader as part of Big Brother's/Big Sister's here in College Station. His name is Brad and I've been his Big Brother for 2 years now (I started in December of '01). It's been pretty neat watching him grow up over that time span. When we started he was 11 and in 5th grade, and I'm amazed how much he's grown up from age 11 to age 13. He's really come a long way socially, and as he gets older it's more fun for me because we're able to relate a little more. I remember 7th grade a lot more than I remember 5th grade, so I have a good idea of what he's going through. Anyways, for those of you unfamiliar with BBBS, you basically spend 2-4 hours with your "'lil" twice a month. You can do anything you want, as long as it's ok with their parents. We usually go see a movie, play video games, go to the RecCenter, go to the batting cages, go to GattiLand (which is a giant video arcade with a pizza buffet). Today we went to Gattiland and ate and played some games. We had a pretty good time, and I told him we'd do something again just before New Years.
My Gal
After I dropped Brad off, I picked up my fiancée, Jennifer. We went to eat, then to Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy for some things and then to the movies. We saw "Bad Santa", which we've been trying to see since it came out. One time it was sold out, then the next time there were no seats together, so we thought 3rd time is a charm. It was. It was really funny. It was definitely a dark comedy, so I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. Lot's of dirty language and stuff like that. Now I sit here typing all this stuff up, just before I head off to bed. Pretty good day indeed....
Thursday December 18th, 2003
1:04am
Lady Aggie Basketball
Last night Pat and I showed up at Reed Arena. Our purpose? To see the Lady Aggies take on the always tough University of Louisiana-Monroe Lady Fightin' Indians. I haven't been to a lady basketball game since my freshman year but I figured "Hey, why not?" Things didn't start out well for the Lady Ags, with leading scorer Toccara Williams having to come out after only 8 minutes. She was helped off the court by trainers and came out of the locker-room wearing a boot (you know, the kind you wear when you break your foot), so I figure she's hurt pretty badly. We didn't need Toccara though, and easily beat UL-M 78-69. I honestly felt bad for the girls because there was no one there. The official attendance was 1,334 but after counting between 20-30 students in the student section, I feel that number isn't quite accurate. I'm sure that finals just finishing up and students either on their way home or at the bars celebrating were partially to blame. I can honestly say that I've never seen so many lay-ups hit the bottom of the rim and come back down. Really, our team is pretty good this year. We have a new head coach, Gary Blair, and we're 6-2 to start out the young season. We shot 51.8% from the field during the game, which really surprised me. Our leading scorer was Tamea Scales, who had her best game of her career shooting 7-for-10 for 18 pts, pulling down 8 boards, and having 3 steals. I was also pretty impressed with our center, Lynn Classen who swatted 3 shots and put in 13 points. She is #2 all-time here at A&M in blocked shots (or so the score card handed out prior to the game told me). I was also impressed with #12, Mindy Garrison. She was 4-of-9 for 10 points along with 3 steals. While I won't say it was the most exciting 40 minutes of sports I've ever watched, it was better than chilling at home and it was free (well, it is part of my $248 sports pass).
The Real Reason I Went....
Ok, so you want to know the real reason that I went to this lady basketball game? Here's the scoop.... The athletic department is trying to boost attendance at all of our sporting events, so they have this new program that they're using. For every home non-football sporting event I attend I get a stamp on my "12th Man Team Rewards Card". When I fill up the stamp card (there are 12 stamps needed to fill up a card), I then get to "activate my spot on the 12th Man Team roster"....basically, I get a nicer, plastic card that they can scan. I also get a free t-shirt. After I get my scan card, I have to attend 12 more home non-football sporting events and I get a hat. That's cool (I saw the hat and it's not very cool so I'm not really looking forward to that). The next level is my goal. After I go to 12 more events (a whopping total of 36 in all), I will get an Aggie baseball jersey. I think that is pretty sweet, so I've set out to get one. I could achieve all 36 stamps during baseball season alone (there are 36 home games), but that is WAAAAAY too time consuming. Trust me, I went to 27 baseball games my sophomore year and it seemed like I was always at the park, which isn't bad, but I do have other things to take care of. Because of this, I'm trying to knock out as many other events as I can so I don't have to get out to every baseball game, especially during the winter break with Aggie basketball games (there are 2 on Sunday-a lady's and a men's). I could have started earlier in the semester by going to volleyball or soccer games, but I thought the prize was an Aggie football jersey, which I can buy at Champs or Footlocker for $30 or $40 without having to brave the freezing cold of early baseball season. I think this is a pretty cool idea by the A.D. and I plan on getting my money's worth out of my sports pass this semester.
Wednesday December 17th, 2003
12:49am
A's Pick Up Another Solid Starter
Billy Beane is at it again. Yesterday he traded right-handed relief pitcher, Mike Neu to Florida for starter Mark Redman. Redman is definitely not a staff ace, but he is definitely a nice fit into the #4 spot in the A's rotation. Here are the numbers behind the trade:
Mark Redman
| Year |
Age |
Team |
G |
GS |
W-L |
IP |
HR |
K/BB |
BAA |
Era |
AGs |
| 2001 |
27 |
Min/Det |
11 |
11 |
6-6 |
58.0 |
7 |
33/23 |
.289 |
4.50 |
n/a |
| 2002 |
28 |
Det |
30 |
30 |
8-15 |
203.0 |
15 |
109/51 |
.268 |
4.21 |
50 |
| 2003 |
29 |
Fla |
29 |
29 |
14-9 |
190.2 |
16 |
151/61 |
.239 |
3.59 |
55 |
| Career |
5-yr |
|
107 |
95 |
37-39 |
615.2 |
63 |
421/187 |
.265 |
4.27 |
n/a |
For
Mike Neu
| Year |
Age |
Team |
G |
GS |
W-L |
IP |
HR |
K/BB |
BAA |
Era |
AGs |
| 2003 |
25 |
Oak |
32 |
0 |
0-0 |
42.0 |
2 |
20/26 |
.261 |
3.64 |
- |
| Career |
1-yr |
|
32 |
0 |
0-0 |
42.0 |
2 |
20/26 |
.261 |
3.64 |
- |
This deal was basically for the Marlins to free up some salary money, and for the A's to pick up another solid starter to go along with the Big 3 + Rich Harden. Look at the numbers from last season of these guys:
| Name |
GS |
W-L |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
K/SO |
Era |
AGs |
| Tim Hudson |
34 |
16-7 |
240.0 |
197 |
84 |
72 |
162/61 |
2.70 |
59 |
| Mark Mulder |
26 |
15-9 |
186.2 |
180 |
66 |
65 |
128/40 |
3.13 |
57 |
| Barry Zito |
35 |
14-12 |
231.2 |
186 |
98 |
85 |
146/88 |
3.30 |
56 |
| Mark Redman |
29 |
14-9 |
190.2 |
172 |
82 |
76 |
151/60 |
3.59 |
55 |
| Rich Harden |
13 |
5-4 |
74.2 |
72 |
38 |
37 |
67/40 |
4.46 |
50 |
| Totals |
137 |
64-41 |
923.2 |
807 |
368 |
335 |
654/289 |
3.27 |
- |
| Averaged |
27 |
13-8 |
185.0 |
161.4 |
74 |
67 |
131/58 |
3.27 |
- |
That cannot be fair. At age 29, Redman will be the eldest of the 5 (Hudson 28, Mulder 26, Zito 25, and Harden 22). Keep in mind that Harden was a fresh faced rookie last year, and that Mulder was on the DL for the last 1/5th of the season. If Zito can get his BB number down, then he will just plain nasty once again. Look out AL, here they come....
What Ever Happened to: Kevin Maas
I've decided to start a weekly (if time permits) "What Ever Happened to: (fill in the name)" article. I'll try to dig up obscure players, guys who had a week of fame, or guys who had a great season or even really good players who just disappeared. I'll mainly remember these guys from their baseball cards and they'll mostly be from the 90's because that is when I started following the game and I don't know any players like that from earlier. Here we go...
Kevin Maas broke into the big leagues on June 29th, 1990 at the age of 25 with the New York Yankees. He broke onto the scene quite fast hitting 10 HRs in his first 77-ABs (which was a record, he also got to 13 HRs the fastest ever in 110 ABs). Kevin finished that season with pretty decent numbers for a rookie (21 HRs, .252 BA in 254 ABs) and finished 2nd to Sandy Alomar Jr. in the AL Rookie of the Year voting. 1991 was an ok year, but terrible compared to his rookie projections. He played in 148 games and had 500 ABs and he still had 23 HRs (remember in 1990 35 HRs was a superstar goal). The problem with this is that he his HR/AB ratio dropped from 1 HR in every 12.10 ABs to 1 HR in every 21.74 ABs, thus besting his previous season's HR number by only 2 in almost double the ABs. This combined with a .220 BA and 128 SOs and the NY media probably didn't go over too well. His number continued to drop as he got older (remember he broke into the league at age 25) and the Yankees finally released him in March of 1994. The Padres wanted to give him a shot so they signed him in April but he was released once more within a month and a half. He went through the same thing with the Reds and by Christmas of 1994 he was a Minnesota Twin. He got back up to the big leagues in 1995 and picked up 57 ABs with the Twinkies. They released him on June 30th (he hit .193 with 1 HR and 5 RBI, which isn't good for a 1B/DH). The Yankees resigned him two days later but he never stepped foot in Yankee Stadium again (as a player...for all I know he could have season tickets now). Out of baseball at the age of 30. I couldn't really find much on him after then. Read he signed with the Hanshin Tigers over in Japan for 1996, but I couldn't find any stats to prove he played. I do, however, know what he's doing now.
Career Major League Stats
| Year |
Team |
G |
AB |
H |
R |
HR |
RBI |
SO/BB |
BA |
OPS |
GPA |
| 1990 |
NYY |
79 |
254 |
64 |
42 |
21 |
41 |
76/43 |
.252 |
.902 |
.299 |
| 1991 |
NYY |
148 |
500 |
110 |
69 |
23 |
63 |
128/83 |
.220 |
.723 |
.247 |
| 1992 |
NNY |
98 |
286 |
71 |
35 |
11 |
35 |
63/25 |
.248 |
.711 |
.239 |
| 1993 |
NYY |
59 |
151 |
31 |
20 |
9 |
25 |
32/24 |
.205 |
.727 |
.245 |
| 1995 |
Minn |
22 |
57 |
11 |
5 |
1 |
5 |
11/7 |
.193 |
.597 |
.205 |
Tuesday December 16th, 2003
3:23am
2 Down and 1 To Go
Finals that is....Funny story....so I'm studying in the library yesterday morning before my final (which started at 10:30) and I take my pencil out of my bag and I find that it is out of lead (it's that classic, the Paper-Mate Sharpwriter). This is an unusually big problem because I normally carry two of these fine writing machines with me in my bag, but I had misplaced my other one just the day before, so this one was my backup. What to do? Well, for studying purposes I pulled out my Paper-Mate Write Bros., which is quite possibly the greatest pen ever made....blue ink, good medium point, and nice Q (in fluid power Q = flow rate, and since I was studying fluid power I feel that the use of Q abbreviation is appropriate). When my neck started to hurt, I decided to take a quick break and run to the Commons Market to get another pencil (because my test was scantron). The Commons Lobby is basically where the 4 main south-side dorms (Krueger (female), Mosher (female), Aston (male), & Dunn (male))all meet together (hence 95% freshmen) and in it....the Commons Market (where you can get a variety of useful everyday items at a premium price).
Outside the Commons
Commons Floor plan
Anyways, so I'm approaching those sliding doors and this guy tears around the corner in a full out sprint....with a blue book in his hand. Ahh yes, it was 8:15 and some finals started at 8:00...Poor guy...I've been in his shoes before. I get into the Commons Market and since it is the end of the semester, they aren't restocking anything, so I'm stuck with 3 choices. Choice A, the classic wooden pencil ($0.15; unsharpened and they were out of sharpeners); Choice B, a mechanical pencil that had no eraser on the top and used 1.3mm lead ($1.29; most mechanical pencils use 0.5 or 0.7, so this thing was HUGE); or Choice C, a Pentel Carnival mechanical pencil ($0.39). Well, as you could probably tell from above, I'm a Paper-Mate guy, but I had to go with the Pentel Carnival. I wish I could find a photo of the Carnival, but I think it's no longer in production. Let’s just say it's well described by the name. It's a clear black (there were blue, red and green also) pencil with sparkles. (Before I start with the next events, let me say that not all Texas A&M employees are students or even necessarily people with any education what-so-ever) So I go to the check out and the girl behind the counter asks me (I think it was a question), "Is doz all?" I don't need to say too much other than she must have gone to texas tech for her undergraduate....I informed her that there was only one (which was obvious by the lone pencil sitting on the counter) and she then asked me, "How much it cost?" I walked back over to where I found it and then told her the correct $0.39 value....This was all before my exam, but I'm alive typing this so I must have survived the day. Long story a bit shorter....I found my misplaced Sharpwriter in the bottom of my bag as I was packing up to leave the library. I used the Carnival on the exam, because I figure it must have been some sort of sign. We'll see how it worked when grades come out.
Major Happenings in the MLB
Chicago Cubs Re-sign Mark Grudzeelakankdlanik
Actually, it's Grudzielanek (and I honestly didn't have to look). I know it happened a week ago, but I've been busy. Grudz is coming off his second best season of his career, hitting .314 in 481 ABs. Power wise, this was his worst season since his rookie year of '95, but other than that he was quite solid. The Cubs signed him to a one-year deal at $2.75M, with a $2.5M club option for '05 (or a $250,000 buyout). I wasn't too particularly thrilled with the resigning, but only because I was hoping for some big move like getting Jose Vidro or maybe the faint, faint whisperings of A-Rod I heard a few weeks ago. It was a pretty safe move, nothing to make me cry with joy about, but it could have been worse (like giving Fernando Vina a 2-year, $6M deal....and we wonder why Detroit stinks)....
Mike Cameron signs with the Mets
I was going to talk about this, but it seems that Aaron from Aaron' Baseball Blog covered quite well (as always), so that would just be double coverage (something that Larry Fitzgerald knows about)....
BoSox Eliminate Need for Closer by Committee
Thank goodness....The Beantowne boys keep the pressure on the Yankees by signing, in Theo Epstein's words, "one of the elite pitchers in baseball", Keith Folke, formerly the closer for the A's. I don't know if I'd go that far, but he is definitely a pretty good closer. I guess I still harbor some hostility towards him for screwing Tim Hudson out of an All-Star appearance and the Cy-Young....
Around the AL-What's up with SS?
Will A-Rod end up in Boston? Is Nomar really mad enough to request a trade to the East Coast? I don't have a clue, but I do know that the Baltimore Orioles opened up their deep pockets and handed Miguel Tejada a fat 6 year/$72M deal. After struggling terribly to start the season last year, hitting as low as .222 with only 10 HRs on June 15th, Miggy finished the season with quite respectable numbers (.278 BA, 27 HRs, 106 RBI, .807 OPS). Sure they weren't quite up to his MVP season the year before, but not too many people not playing LF for the Giants can make back-to-back runs at the MVP.
What this signing does for the Red Sox is actually quite important. It gives them a solid measuring stick to see what Nomar is worth. According to Peter Gammons, since Tejada got $12M/year Nomar's market value is $14-15M. If they went ahead and traded him and then traded Manny to Texas for A-Rod, realistically, A-Rod would be the only thing from those two trades that would benefit them in the 2004 season (because they'd more than likely get prospects for Nomar). Jason Stark wrote a really good article last night on ESPN.com, so check that out for some pretty in-depth stuff....
Houston We (Could) Have Lift Off
At first I really didn't think it would happen, but the more and more I think about it and the more and more I read about it and the more and more my dad keeps brainwashing me I think it's going to happen. I think the Astros will sign Roger "the Rocket" Clemens for the 2004 season. Honestly, I can't stand the guy and I can't stand the thought of the Cubs hard work this off-season going to waste but it would be pretty cool from the perspective of a native Houstonian. First of all, this would just be INSANE publicity for the Astros. Season tickets would fly and there would be a buzz around the city similar to 1998 when the Astros traded for Randy Johnson. Baseball will be king once more in the Bayou City. Next, the Astros are hosting the All-Star game in 2004 and what greater way to give him his little ride into the sunset (although he did already take that ride at last year's All-Star game at the expense of Barry Zito). He's good friends with a number of Astros, and as we all know, he's best friends with Andy Pettitte. Finally, I think he's always wanted to play here in Texas, and this would be a pretty cool way to do it, especially because I think the city would give him a true final hurrah (not assuming that playoff game in Fenway didn't really do it).
Sunday December 14th, 2003
1:48pm
So Much To Talk About
There has been so much going on in the world of sports over this last week, combined with the fact that finals started on Friday that I haven't been able to cover everything that I wanted to. Basically, I'm going to try to cover it all now, but just not quite as in-depth as I wanted to.
We Caught the Bastard
I know it has nothing to do with my site, but thank goodness it happened....
Dustin Long
Much to my dismay, Aggie QB, Dustin Long, has decided to transfer out. He will be finishing up his collegiate career at nearby Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX, where Dan Rather actually went to school (I always thought that was kind of cool). This totally kills my idea of red-shirting Reggie McNeal next season to keep him here for an extra year and playing Dustin. Dustin had a phenomenal season in 2002 for the Aggies starting 9 games, seeing action in 12 games, throwing for the second most yards in school history (2,509) and setting a Big XII record with 7 TDs in a single game (vs. texas tech). He was 240-for-333 (53.15%) with a 125.66 passing efficiency rating and 19 TDs to 16 INTs. 2003 didn't go quite as well for Dustin. He lost his starting job to the proclaimed savior of Aggie football, Reggie McNeal and only started 1 of the 12 games he played in (the t.u. game). He threw for 709 yards on 63-of-104 passing (60.58%) and 4 TDs to go with 6 INTs. He finished the season with a 119 passing efficiency rating. I wish Dustin well at his new school, and I know he will delight the Bearcat fans with some big numbers. If things slow down sometime soon, I was going to do a comparison between Reggie and Dustin, to find out who should have been our guy next year. Since it's now a moot point, it has dropped quite a bit on my "To Do List".
In similar news, I have been told by one of the players that I check attendance for, that WR Anthony Wright will also be transferring out next year. In his two seasons with the Aggies, Wright caught 3 passes for 19 yards. He was used a lot this past season to block. Anthony went to my high school (Westfield HS) for his freshman and sophomore seasons but moved to Klien Forest where he became a stud.
Brew Crew Cont...
On Thursday, I talked about the Milwaukee Brewers and how terribly they've treated their fans. I also mentioned some guys that they've got in the minor leagues that could hopefully turn things around for them. Well, yesterday I picked up a copy of Baseball America, and low-and-behold....there was Rickie Weeks on the cover. They were breaking down the Top 10 prospects on each NL Central team. Some of the guys on their list matched the guys I mentioned (Rickie Weeks, Prince Fielder, Corey Hart, J.J. Hardy, Mike Jones, & Ben Hendrickson) but there were a couple others that I didn't cover that I think I should.
- Manny Parra-LHP: BA had him ranked #4 in the Brewer's organization and rightfully so. He threw 139 innings last season on their Low-A club going 11-2 with a 2.73 ERA and K-ing 117 while walking only 24. He was a draft-and-follow guy from the 2001 draft, and really showed how effective those can be.
- Brad Nelson-OF/1B: I don't think Brad will be playing and 1B as long as "Little" Fielder (who is 6'0" and 240 lbs) is in this system, but he should be in the Brewer's lineup in a few years. Ranked their #6 prospect, Brad split time between High-A and AA with varying results due to a broken bone in his hand. In 167 ABs in A ball, he hit .311 as opposed to a .210 BA in 143 ABs in AA. The thing is that when he came back from his broken hand, he was moved up to AA without getting anymore A ABs. He was the Brewer's 2002 minor league player of the year at age 19, so we know we can expect a bit more from him in the future.
The Heisman Trophy
It all went down last night. All the hoopla and bells & whistles came down to the winner, Jason White the Oklahoma QB. All season long I felt that White would be the winner by a landslide, but after OU lost to K-State (he still threw for 298 yards), I thought it would be a much closer race. I think that voters look too closely at end performances and it hurts players that have 1 bad game all year if it comes at the end of the season. I think the numbers speak for themselves:
- 265-of-414 passing (64%)for 3,744 yards
- 168.0 QB Rating
- this is the one that stuns me....40:8 TD-to-INT ratio
I think that when considering the Heisman, you do have to look at the team he plays for. That's what hurt Eli Manning. I know that he led #18 'Ole Miss to one of their best seasons ever, but they're still not a one or two loss team or even a top 10 team. I think the same thing also hurt Larry Fitzgerald (Pitt lost 4 games). I know that being only a sophomore hurt him as well. I still think he was the best college player of the season, but this award doesn't necessarily go to that guy. I have been extremely impressed with Fitzgerald throughout the season. He really does appear to be one of those rare, genuine athletes that come along every now and then. Whoever has the #1 pick whenever he decides to go pro should grab this guy up because not only is he one of the best collegiate WRs ever, he's a class act. Plus, I'll never forget that catch he made against us down on the left side of the south end zone. He was in triple coverage, went up in the air, weaved through the Aggie defenders, and made the catch in the end zone. It was one of the most amazing physical plays I've ever seen in any sport. He just looked so effortless. Amazing. I hope he has an amazing career and continues to make all the right moves. As for Chris Perry, I think he is a terrific back, but when you aren't statistically the best back in the nation (like Darren Sproles from #10 K-State, who coincidentally beat O.U. single handedly) it's tough to earn enough votes to knock off someone like White. Check this out:
| Category |
Perry |
Sproles |
| Yards |
1589 |
1948 |
| Avg/Carry |
5.04 |
6.65 |
| Avg/Game |
132.42 |
139.14 |
| Rush TDs |
17 |
15 |
Rockets 67 vs. Spurs 71
This past Thursday evening I had the opportunity to go down to Houston to watch the Rockets battle the cross-state Spurs. Finals aside, I felt that this was something I needed to do (mainly because they were the best seats I've ever seen in my life), so Pat and I took off from College Station at about 3:30pm. We swung by my house to pick up the tickets, stopped by McDonald's for dinner, and headed out to the brand new Toyota Center-"Houston's Downtown Arena" for the evening's action. We arrived sometime close to 6:15 for a 7:30 tip-off because I wanted to get some pictures of the Rockets and Spurs during warm-ups. We parked and headed towards the front door where I was stopped (which is normal for someone with a camera) and I thought he just wanted to check my camera to make sure it wasn't some sort of weapon. He did not. I was informed that I was not allowed to enter the building unless I removed the 4" lens off of my camera. Here's the official rule from their website: Professional cameras are prohibited at all events in Toyota Center unless accompanied by an appropriate media credential. Cameras containing lenses (not to exceed 4 inches in length) with no flashes may be allowed for some events. Video cameras and audio recorders are prohibited in Toyota Center unless specifically approved. Let's just think of how long four inches is. It's pretty close to the width of a pair of sunglasses. Why that is dangerous, I don't know. I was told I could check my lens in at the "courtesy" booth and pick it up after the game, but I opted to take it back to the truck. Apparently, my "professional" camera is good enough for the old Compaq Center, every major league baseball park I've ever been to, and all the minor league parks I've been to, but the Rockets are afraid of me taking some great photos and then trying to sell them and they don't see a dime. How about the pretty dime the ticket cost, or the parking cost, or the gas cost? If the whole professional thing is the case, then they should have a policy where no digital camera with a zoom more than x5 should be allowed. Just because the digital camera doesn't need the larger lens, they can still take photos just as close as my lens could. Basically, I was mad. We finally got inside and found our seats (Section 105 Row 9 Seats 2 & 3)
They were awesome! If I had my lens I wouldn't have been able to get the player's entire body into the frame. I ended up having to settle with my smaller lens where I got the entire player, a 10 foot radius around the player, and the goal all into the picture. It totally ruined a great opportunity for me to take some sweet pictures of my boy Yao Ming, and Pat's boy Tim Duncan. Thanks Toyota Center.
Anyways, the game was exciting, but sooooo sloppy. The Rockets were just outplayed, and they looked really flat. They came one point away from tying the franchise record for lowest score ever and the teams combined for a total of 55 points in the first half, a NBA record low since the introduction of the shot clock. Duncan led all scorers with 22 and Cuttino Mobley led the Rockets with 19 followed by Stevie "Franchise" with 18. My boy, Yao didn't have a very good game, shooting only 4-of-13 for 8 points to go with 10 boards. He missed a good number of shots inside, which really surprised me. Anyways, if you'd like to read more, check out the box score.....
Our Band Can Beat Up Your Band
Just for a bit of visual evidence, our band is the greatest in all the land....
The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band
texas university's band
Hey texas, shouldn't those lines be straight????
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