Kinda like those 1993 Phillies of yours .

It looks like those Dodgers have a clubhouse full of players arguing over who is the biggest star. They shoulda seen it coming when you try to sign the best available players money can buy and put them on one team.

Great game against your Mets last night PB. Are you guys happy about picking up Bartolo Colon? He Kept us off the board (and the bases for that matter) last night. Final game of the series this afternoon.

I'm pleasantly surprised----No, pleasantly SHOCKED----by Colon this year. Because I sure as Hell didn't want him .

You guys musta been hard up for pitchers.

Beards, bellies and biceps. That was my favorite Phillie team in my life.

Two observations about the season so far:

1. The distribution of power teams has definitely shifted westward as the East divisions are playing sub-.500 ball. The traditional powers look weak. The Red Sox don't have the fire or competitiveness of last year; the Yankees appear old and punchless; The Rays can't score; the Phillies can't win and the Mets have little after David Wright. Even the Braves are struggling to create distance from these rusty teams and the Nationals are in their second consecutive year of being predicted to light the world on fire, but barely creating a spark.

Meanwhile the exciting teams live in the central and west: Oakland, San Francisco, Milwaukee, and Detroit. Even the Angels and Dodgers and Cardinals offer more excitement than the East.

I thought the Manny Machado incident and Oriole game against the A's offered an appropriate metaphor for the difference between east vs. west.

2. There are more exaggerated infield shifts for batters than I have ever seen in one season, and why not? Batters don't have enough skill and versatility to beat the shift. I remember the Reds in '77 putting on a huge infield shift for Rich Hebner, a left-handed, dead pull hitter, who was a pretty good hitter, but never going to smell a batting crown. He went 5 for 5 as he bunted 3 grounders to the vacated third base, and aimed two soft grounders through the vacated spot. He was never a bunter, but there was a time when every hitter was expected to be able to lay one down. As a result there were rarely exaggerated shifts employed.

Hitters today, when faced with shifts that leave the entire left side of the infield open are much more likely to ground out to right field where the second baseman is, than even consider taking it the other way even when a homerun is not needed.

Of course it was. We were both still young in 1993. And don't think that's not part of it!

I turned 29 that year and my first child was born during the season. The Phils had finished a distant last the previous year, and instead of bidding to get Barry Bonds in the free agent market, they used the money to get Jim Eisenreich and Pete Incaviglia to platoon, and Wildman Danny Jackson and David West.

I don't think there's been such an eccentric cast of characters to fill a roster when you add these guys to Mitch Williams, Dave Hollins, Dutch Daulton, Lenny Dykstra (whose son lives near me for the moment), Curt Schilling, Wes Chamberlain, Todd Pratt and John Kruk.

We recently had the 40th anniversary of Hank Aaron's record breaking homer, and today marks the 40th anniversary of a lesser known would-be homer that never was.

On this date in 1974 in the Houston Astrodome Dave Cash walked and Larry Bowa singled to lead off the first. Mike Schmidt launched a shot heading far beyond the centerfield wall. However, it struck a speaker dangling 120 feet from the ground above deep centerfield. It hit high off the speaker and bounced to the shallow part of the outfield. After discussion, as this contingency was not specifically contained in the ground rules because it was deemed impossible) it was ruled a single.

Cedeno claimed in his long career he never saw a ball hit like that one, and it was estimated that it would have gone 525-600 feet.

The speaker was never again hit by a batted ball though it was removed shortly before the Astrodome was closed.

I turned 34 during that World Series, Klyd. So I guess I have five years on you. I had two small daughters and my son came along on '95 .


I don't remember a cast of characters like that before or since. Those great A's teams from the '70s had a few characters, but nothing like those Phils .

Bill Clinton Tried to Strong Arm Yankees into Fighting Drug War, Documents Reveal

Declassified documents from the Clinton Administration show the zealousness of the former president’s war on drugs.

According to newly released declassified documents, former President Bill Clinton sought the help of the New York Yankees and its then-principal owner George Steinbrenner in fighting the war on drugs.

The documents were written by then-Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, now the embattled mayor of Chicago, and show how the administration in a sense tried to muscle the sports franchise into helping wage the war on drugs.

It was 1995 and the Yankees had just signed Darryl Strawberry to a short-term contract despite the all-star slugger testing positive for cocaine just months earlier. Emmanuel had been discussing the issue with Larry Brown, who was then the Director of the Office of National Drug Policy under Clinton, and expressed in no uncertain terms the administration’s displeasure with the signing.

“I have been working with Director Lee Brown on his statements about Darryl Strawberry and the Yankees,” Emmanuel wrote. “He did a very good job representing our principles and explaining why we oppose a two-time drug user being admitted back onto the field.”

At the time, the Clinton administration was seeing a precipitous drop in violent crime since its peak in 1991 and wanted to do everything it could to continue pushing those numbers down.

Emmanuel’s document listed three demands specifically targeted at the Yankees: one, they wanted Strawberry to perform community service with young people; two, they requested that the team set up some kind of “franchise-wide standard,” though what that meant was never explained; and three, they wanted Steinbrenner to contribute financially to a drug program of Brown’s choosing.

While the documents remained classified for almost 20 years, the Clinton administration did publicly chastise the Yankees at the time of the signing. “The Yankees have struck out by signing Darryl Strawberry,” Brown said at the time. “They are sending the worst possible message to the youth of America: That if you use drugs, you can be rewarded with big money in big-time sports.”

Apparently, Steinbrenner ignored the administration’s demands and went on to win two World Series with Strawberry, while Clinton went on to oversee a steep decline in violent crime despite the Yankees’ non-compliance.

I couldn't agree more. It is SO frustrating to see these guys keep hitting into the shift. Lay a bunt down and try to beat it. Force the team not to shift on you or just continue to drop bunts. The Yankees NEVER do this and it just kills me watching the shift gobble up ground ball after ground ball for outs.

Unheard of twenty years ago.

Nice to see Mike Schmidt on hand to watch Jimmy Rollins pass him as the Phillies all-time hit leader. Even as a Mets fan, I loved Schmidt. Classy guy, tough as nails. Best third baseman I've ever seen .

Just read that former hitting great Tony Gwynn died of cancer at age 54. What a great player and too young to be gone.

Probably the best hitter I have seen in my life time along with George Brett.

.338 career avg. over 20 years of pro ball with the same club. the stat that really got me other than the career batting avg. was Gwynn only had 434 strike outs his entire career. Only good stories about this guy off the field too.

Baseball has truly lost one of its greats.

http://mlb.si.com/2014/06/16/tony-gwynn-dies-at-age-54/

In hearing some of the tributes to Gwynn yesterday, these jumped out at me:

1) Gwynn had one game in his MLB career in which he struck out 3 times in a game. Hacks like Mark Reynolds sometimes do that twice in the same week.

2) Gwynn was hitting .394 in 1994 when MLB cancelled the season due to the players strike. He was the closest to hitting .400 since George Brett in the early 1980s. It's a shame the strike hit because Gwynn had a real chance to break .400.

I've been a baseball fan since the early 1970s, and the best pure hitters I've ever seen were Rod Carew and Tony Gwynn, and then I put Wade Boggs, George Brett and Pete Rose just behind. Between Gwynn and Carew I'd give Gwynn the edge.

Gwynn was one of the first hitter to study films of his hitting and he did it effectively and extensively. He became close friends with Ted Williams, another San Diegoan, who may have been the best pure hitter of all-time, and the two discussed hitting at length.

Not only did Gwynn rarely strike out, but he didn't hit many pop-ups or dribblers either. With two strikes he changed his approach (which isn't done often in today's game), but still always seemed to square up on pitches.

Another fun stat: Against the celebrated trio of Smoltz, Glavine and Greg Maddux (Hall of Famers and a future HOFer) Gwynn hit .381, and he faced these guys a lot. It didn't matter how good a pitcher you were; if he saw you enough, you were his.

And the lone pitcher who fanned Gwynn three times in a game was none other than Bob Welch, who died several days ago.

Klydon, you always find great nuggets like this. That is a strange coincidence. I remember Welch's playing days, but didn't realize until his passing how long he lasted in MLB. In my mind, I equated Welch as a Dodger, despite his later success with Oakland.

I remember his huge year in Oakland with Dave Stewart, but the first thing I think of about Bob Welch is his rookie year when with two out in the bottom of the ninth he struck out Reggie Jackson with the tying run on base. He also was one of the pitchers off whom Jackson hit one of his three homers in the final game.

I had to look up the game where Gwynn struck out three times against Welch. It happened on Monday, April 14, 1986. Welch struck out 12 in 9 2/3 innings, but didn't get the decision. The game was tied, 2-2, after nine. Mariano Duncan homered in the top of the 10th to put the Dodgers ahead. Gwynn led off the bottom of the 10th by reaching second on an error by Ken Landreaux, who had just entered the game. Welch retired the next two batters without Gwynn advancing before pinch hitter, John Kruk, singled to tie the game.

In the 11th Bruce Bochy won the game with a pinch hit homer to lead off the inning.

Not only was it the lone game, in which Gwynn struck out three times, but it was the only game in Padre history where they had a pinch hit rbi to tie the game in extra innings and a pinch hit rbi to win it in the following inning.

To continue this unofficial theme of branching out from the topics based upon the context of the previous post, I will use Ken Landreaux. I remember him making a nice run at the unbreakable Joe DiMaggio 56 game hitting streak. I thought for sure that Landreaux's streak of hitting safely in 31 straight games would rank much higher than it did. I knew Pete Rose reached 44 games, but I had no idea how many were ahead of Landreaux. The most recent highest streak was 38 games by Jimmy Rollins between 2005-2006, which is only good enough for 8th place all-time.

Here's the rest of the list:
All-Time Hitting Streaks in MLB History

Goombah, I have a bit of a remote connection with one of your Cleveland Indians, Michael Brantley. His dad (Mickey) played a few years with the Mariners in the late 80s, and was from the same hometown, Catskill, NY, as one of my roommates in Boston, Larry. Larry's brother was a friend of Mickey Brantley, so often when the Red Sox were in Boston in '88 or '89, he'd set us up with tickets.

I never met Mickey, who had a couple decent years, but he'd always leave Larry a message as to where we can pick up the tickets and for what day. We'd sit in a section where some of the players' wives and family would be, and on one occasion Mickey's wife introduced herself to us. She was with her baby, who had just started to walk. The baby boy was Michael Brantley, whom I held on my lap for a little bit.

I recently heard Michael Brantley interviewed and only when he mentioned his dad, did I put two and two together.

Yankee Old Timer's Day is on right now and I feel ancient. I'm older than half these guys .

I know the feeling.

I used to love watching these annual games when I was a kid. Joe D. was always the last player announced and then Mrs. Lou Gehrig and Mrs. Babe Ruth were introduced from the stands. The crowd would always go wild.

You took the words right out of my mouth. I remember those games on Channel 11 vividly. Those two old broads (and I mean that affectionately) were beloved by the New York fans .

That's a nice story Klydon. Brantley is a core player for the Indians and seems to be well-grounded.

I have been out of town for the past few days. I was able to fulfill a sports bucket list item on the trip. I made my first visit to Wrigley Field. Topping it off was to share the visit with my family, especially my young son. We actually saw the Cubs play the Pirates on Friday. There were a good number of Pitt fans at the game.

I got to thinking about the game and found the box score on baseball reference. I remembered it was a Friday night after we had a final exam and were blowing off some steam before the last final. Mickey Brantley homered and doubled even though they lost.

I'm sure you'll fondly remember Wrigley Field, especially since your son shared the experience with you. Wrigley is a place where you not only watch a ball game, but you can also feel a real sense of history. It's nice to hear that the Bucs are having some of their fans follow them on the road.

And re the Widow Gehrig: "The Pride of the Yankees" is a wonderful film, and probably the greatest baseball movie ever. But they took a lot of liberties. For instance, in the film Lou's mother and wife came to care for each other. In reality they hated each other's guts. They were tied up in lawsuits with one another until the day Gehrig's mother died.