And the Award Goes To

It's time for the annual DITr regular season baseball awards to be announced.

But first, a few thoughts on the recently completed World Series.

In my opinion, despite the historical significance of Boston's victory, it was one of the least entertaining World Series in recent memory. There was very little drama or tension. There were no lead changes, St. Louis NEVER had a lead in the entire series.

Some may say that the Cardinal hitters didn't show up, but Boston's pitching dominance was the real story. At no point in the regular season or playoffs up to the series had St. Louis been held to three runs over three games.

Manny Ramirez did not deserve the MVP. I think it should have gone to Curt Schilling. I felt his performance in game 2 set the tone for the rest of the series. The fact that he was even able to pitch, and then pitch lights out, was impressive. I rank that right up there with Kirk Gibson's bottom of the ninth, two-out, two-run, walk-off home run in game 1 of the 1988 World Series for Los Angeles when he could barely walk to the plate. Just plain gutsy.



Now for the awards.

NL MVP
Adrian Beltre, 3B, Los Angeles .334 48 HR 121 RBI - Other candidates for consideration: Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols. This was probably the toughest one for me to decide. Bonds may have had one of the most impressive seasons ever, given the fact that no one pitches to him and he still managed to hit 45 hr. His OPS(on-base pct. plus slugging pct.) was a ridiculous 1.422. Pujols was nearly identical to Beltre in all categories but doubles, where he hit 51 compared to Beltre's 32. However, I honestly felt that Beltre had the greatest impact on his team. The Dodgers increased their runs scored per game by over one run compared to 2003 and hit 79 more home runs than 2003. They finally had an offense that could support their fine pitching, and it showed, as the Dodgers won the NL West. Now, I dislike, maybe even hate the Dodgers, so I'm not predetermined to give an award to them, but Beltre was the MVP in my book.

AL MVP
Vladimir Guerrero, OF, Anaheim .337 39 HR 126 RBI - Other candidates for consideration: Manny Ramirez and Miguel Tejada. Ramirez had another impressive season at the plate. Maybe, like Bonds, we've come to expect it so it's not that big of a deal. Tejada led mlb in rbi. However, any player that finishes in the top five in all triple crown categories gets my vote. Guerrero was 3rd in average, 4th in home runs and 4th in rbi.

NL Cy Young
Randy Johnson, Arizona 16-14 2.60 ERA 290 K 44 BB - In my opinion, neither Cy Young race had any candidates that truly measured up to the winners. This selection will most likely surprise many, but I think the statistics will prove my point. Hitters batted only .197 against Johnson. This was second in mlb only to the AL winner. A widely used pitching statistic is WHIP(walks plus hits/innings pitched). Johnson had a WHIP of .90, first in mlb. Johnson's 16 victories were 31.4% of his team's total. This is the highest percentage since Phil Niekro won 31.8% for Atlanta in 1979. I could go on and on, but I won't.

AL Cy Young
Johann Santana, Minnesota 20-6 2.61 ERA 265 K 54 BB - For starters (pun intended), Santana was 13-0 with a 1.18 ERA after the all-star break. He was truly dominating the second half of the season, no matter how you look at it. For the entire season, hitters batted .192 against him, first in mlb. Santana's WHIP was .92, second in mlb only to Johnson.

NL Manager of the Year
Bobby Cox, Atlanta - Other candidates under consideration: Tony La Russa and Phil Garner. Cox continues to produce a winner in Atlanta when very few expect it. Some of the credit would have to also go to General Manager John Schuerholz. Cox and Schuerholz are the longest running GM/Manager duo, having been together since 1990.

AL Manager of the Year
Buck Showalter, Texas - Other candidates for consideration: Alan Trammell and Terry Francona. Showalter took a team that had recently been the bottom feeders of the AL West and made them a contender in the division, finishing only 3 games back of Anaheim. Texas had not won more than 73 games since 1999 and won 89 in 2004.

NL Rookie of the Year
Jason Bay, OF, Pittsburgh .282 26 HR 82 RBI - Other candidates for consideration: Khalil Greene and Aaron Miles. Bay was part of the trade that sent Brian Giles to SD and proved he belonged in the majors. Anytime a rookie hits 20+ home runs he gets serious consideration here at DITr. Greene was also a serious candidate, but had the second lowest fielding percentage in the NL for shortstops.

AL Rookie of the Year
Justin Morneau, 1B, Minnesota .271 19 HR 58 RBI - Other candidate for consideration: Bubba Crosby. Morneau was third in home runs (19) among MLB rookies, behind Bay (26) and Crosby (22). Here's the kicker: he had 280 at bats compared to 545 for Crosby. If you were to pro rate Morneau's statistics for an entire season they would be 41 HR and 126 RBI.

NL Surprise Player of the Year
Jaret Wright, SP, Atlanta 15-8 3.28 ERA 159 K - Wright emerged as a potential star with Cleveland in 1998. The last reasonably good season he had was in 1999. Since then, Wright had totaled 11 wins and 166 strikeouts. Wright's era of 3.28 in 2004 was the best of his career. Leave it to Leo Mazzone to turn a pitcher's career around.

AL Surprise Player of the Year
Michael Young, SS, Texas .313 22 HR 99 RBI - Young moved to shortstop from second base with the trade of Alex Rodriguez and the acquisition of Alphonso Soriano. His 2004 statistics weren't a vast improvement over 2003, but I chose him for who he replaced. A-Rod's statistics were .286, 36 home runs and 106 rbi, all for $21 million dollars. Texas got similar production out of Young for $450,000.


Approximately 105 days until Spring Training.

People ask me what I do in the winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. - Rogers Hornsby

Election Analysis

I recently made the discovery that there are other things in life besides baseball. I was shocked at this discovery and I'm not sure the reality of it has fully sunk in yet. After the World Series is over I look forward to two days, the first day of Spring Training and the release date of the new version of the Lahman database. Hopefully you can see how this discovery would rock my world. I'm still perplexed at the thought, but nevertheless, it is true.

Upon my discovery I decided it might be a good idea to occassionally depart from the topic of baseball here at DITr. So, future topics will fit into one of two categories: "baseball" or "other things". This week's topic will fit into the category of "other things", specifically the upcoming Presidential Election. (Now, given the facts that W is an avid baseball fan, a former MLB owner, and a former candidate for MLB Commissioner, it would be easy to overlap the two, but I will try and resist the temptation.)

I am analytical by nature and love to do research, so with all that said, I'd like to offer my analysis of the election that is a couple weeks away. Now, before you close your browser figuring this is going to be REALLY boring, let me assure you that my election analysis will be much shorter than my baseball analysis. After all, I only recently discovered this stuff.

I did some digging in Algore's favorite invention and found some interesting data. According to my analysis, the Presidential Election boils down to one thing...Missouri. Let me explain my findings and I think you will agree. Since 1972, there are six states that have voted for the winning Presidential candidate in each election: Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee. Of these six, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee have chosen the winning candidate each election since 1964. As impressive as that is, Missouri also voted for the winning candidate in 1960, giving it 11 straight Presidential Elections in which it voted for the winner. So, my conclusion is, there's a good chance that whomever wins Missouri will be our next President.

Now for the projection of who that might be. According to electionprojection.com, Bush holds a rather narrow lead of 3.24% with a margin of error of .8% in Missouri. The bottom line is, it seems as though we are in store for another very close, fight-to-the-finish type race.

I hope this analysis has been helpful. I promise, no more "other things" for awhile, just baseball.

To Quote a Famous Baseball Player

It's budget season at Denver Botanic Gardens, so I haven't had much creative energy lately. Thus, the extended period between postings. It hasn't been for a lack of ideas, just the time or energy to write them down.

Of the many reasons that baseball is so near and dear to my heart, one is the ability for players, managers, etc. to express themselves in colorful and, often times, humorous ways. In fact, in my opinion, a manager is not really very good unless he can explain an ordinary event in such a way that will give you a little chuckle. With this in mind, I have compiled some of my favorite quotes by baseball players, about baseball players, or about baseball in general. If you enjoy these quotations, visit Baseball Almanac's website and browse their vast collection.

Without question, the most popular baseball personality to be quoted is Yogi Berra. His quotations have become so popular as to have actually earned their own term, a Yogiism. Most people today are probably familiar with at least one Yogiism, whether or not they know Yogi Berra said it, or even who Yogi Berra is. I do not have any Yogi Berra quotes here. I thought it would be more fun to mention those that are not as well known.


Wait until Tommy (Lasorda) meets the Lord and finds out he's wearing pinstripes. - Gaylord Perry

All last year we tried to teach him (Fernando Valenzuela) English, and the only word he learned was million. - Lasorda

He (Daryl Strawberry) is not a dog; a dog is loyal and runs after balls. - Lasorda

The only thing Earl Weaver knows about big-league pitching is that he can't hit it. - Jim Palmer

Don Drysdale would consider an intentional walk a waste of three pitches. If he wants to put you on base, he can hit you with one pitch. - Mike Shannon

I hated to bat against Drysdale. After he hit you he'd come around, look at the bruise on your arm and say, "Do you want me to sign it?" - Micky Mantle

He (Bob Gibson) pitches as though he's double-parked. - Vin Scully

Bob Gibson is the luckiest pitcher in baseball. He is always pitching when the other team doesn't score any runs. - Tim McCarver

Trying to hit him (Sandy Koufax) was like trying to drink coffee with a fork. - Willie Stargell

Blind people come to the park just to listen to him (Tom Seaver) pitch. - Reggie Jackson

Every hitter likes fastballs just like everybody likes ice cream. But you don't like it when someone's stuffing it into you by the gallon. That's how you feel when Nolan Ryan's throwing balls by you. - Reggie Jackson

It's not that Reggie (Jackson) is a bad outfielder. He just has trouble judging the ball and picking it up. - New York Yankees Manager Billy Martin

There isn't enough mustard in the whole world to cover that hot dog. - Darold Knowles about Reggie Jackson

If he can hit .350, we (Missouri driver's license bureau) figured he (George Brett) could see. - Harley Duncan on why they waived the eye test

He's (Rod Carew) the only guy I know who can go four for three. - Alan Bannister

I found out (after getting glasses in 1986) there are a lot of ugly people out there. - Eddie Murray

For my friend, Rick Cummings:

A surge of joy flooded over me that I will never forget. I felt like shouting out that I had made a ball curve. I wanted to tell everybody - it was too good to keep to myself. - Candy Cummings, inventor of the curve ball

Nothing is better for a good chuckle than a handful of quotes by Bob Uecker.

Career highlights? I had two. I got an intentional walk from Sandy Koufax and I got out of a rundown against the Mets.

I led the league in "Go get 'em next time".

In 1962, I was named Minor League Player of the Year. It was my second season in the bigs.

I signed with the Milwaukee Braves for three thousand dollars. That bothered my dad at the time because he didn't have that kind of dough. But he eventually scraped it up.

I didn't get a lot of awards as a player. But they did have a Bob Uecker Day Off for me once in Philly.


And, lastly, my all-time favorite baseball quote:

When I was a small boy in Kansas, a friend of mine and I went fishing and as we sat there in the warmth of the summer afternoon on a river bank, we talked about what we wanted to do when we grew up. I told him that I wanted to be a real major league baseball player, a genuine professional like Honus Wagner. My friend said that he'd like to be President of the United States. Neither of us got our wish. - Dwight D. Eisenhower