Greg Maddux is a guaranteed, first-ballot, Hall of Fame pitcher. He may become the last pitcher of his generation to get to 300 wins for his career. But yet, there are the questions that still abound about Maddux. How can he win with his velocity going down? How can he deal with not being the best pitcher in the Cubs? rotation? And, with being on the almost always-underachieving Atlanta Braves for the past decade-plus, can Maddux ever prove that he can be a clutch pitcher? With the Braves only winning one title even with all that pitching, the doubts extended to Maddux?s own talent. So he goes into 2004, coming back to his old team, with a chip on his shoulder. And, the good thing for Maddux (And for us) is that he?s got just the right team that can get into, and win, the World Series.
I realize that this will probably be into Desipio/NBC World Headquarters a little later than I wanted today, but with Andy pounding out two entries on each of the last three days, I felt it time to get out of my Illini-induced ?hangover? of sorts and get back on track. And what better way to do that than talk about Maddux?s return and then the Cubs? I can?t think of anything better. The Cubs are 1-0, tied for first with the Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates. St. Louis and Houston are both 0-2. The Cardinals? pitching has been so bad to start this season that the normally optimistic Cardinal fans aren?t exactly positive about their 2004 campaign. Seeing the attendance from Tuesday Night?s game (The announced attendance at Busch Stadium was 23,966, and we know that announced attendances at most baseball stadiums are about as reliable as television vote projections for telling us how many people actually showed up), I guess the Cardinal fandom is turning into a Cardinal fan-doom and gloom. Okay, that sucked. Let?s move on.
Houston?s problem is that their lineup is either old or ineffective except for Lance Berkman, who I think has been figured out by the good pitchers of the National League. The starting rotation is good, but in that bandbox formerly known as Enron Field, it pretty much gets cancelled out as a positive. And the bullpen isn?t going to be good if Brad Lidge continues to go out there every day like he is the White House Press Secretary. Every day Jimy Williams stays as the Astros? manager is another day they refuse to acknowledge the truth about his managing miscues. Frankly, it?s fun to watch.
Connecticut did the double for college basketball this season (For the first time in history I might add), winning both the Mens? and Womens? titles for 2004. How come Jim Calhoun gets no respect? Roy Williams is treated as a coaching God by most of the national media (That?s you ESPN), yet Calhoun has two more titles than Roy-Roy and gets about two percent of the admiration that Williams gets. I?m not saying Williams is a bad coach, because he?s not. I just believe he?s overrated, and folks like Calhoun and Jim Boeheim and Tom Izzo get underrated because of the attention Williams and a certain other ACC coach whose name I can?t spell from the national media.
Back to thinking about the Cardinals? plight for a moment: Can Joe Buck cry on Al Hrabosky?s shoulder during the game, or does he just have to wait until he goes home and get a pillow?
And here is another point that must make fans of the other NL Central teams cringe: Dusty doesn?t have to put in Dave Veres, Antonio Alfonseca, Juan Cruz, Shawn Estes, or Mark Guthrie (Who I eventually came to call the ?Feared Five?) into a game this year. Dusty still does some crazy stuff sometimes, but if he can win a division with those five pitchers as a part of his staff, then he must be doing something right.
Two stories of note before I am done:
Joe Mauer of the Twins is going to the DL and needs knee surgery. Can the Twins survive this?
The lesson of this story is that journalists shouldn?t make stuff up. Unless of course it is witty comments about Jim Edmonds or Jimy Williams or Tony LaRussa?
That?s all until next time?
I bet you wish you had me back.
Take it easy on the kid.
What did you do in the three minutes prior to reading this, do Halle Barry up the pooper?
Mmmmmmmm……pooper……..
Dave Justice was a five tool player. He could run, throw, field his position, hit for average, hit for power, and hit his wife.
I admire that.
Why didn’t you sign me then, Bobby?
I’ve got a gun.
Hey Bobby, you listed 6 tools.
Hey Wizard, where’s your wife? I’ll punch her right in the mouth!
K-R-Z-Y-Z-E-W-S-K-I…. just like it sounds….
Brian, Calhoun will get plenty of love now—so much so that you’ll be sick of his arrogant act before you know it.
Boeheim is too unassuming and uncharismatic to be viewed in the same light as the rest of the names you mentioned, and the fact that the Orangemen don’t play outside the Carrier Dome until January each year doesn’t help either. But he was in Blue Chips, and none of the other coaches can say that.
Izzo hasn’t gotten love lately because his teams have maybe been hit harder than any other by unforeseen defections over the past two season. But after the 2000 title, he was THE guy…
And Roy—coaching at two of college basketball’s most storied programs, and racking up a string of Final Four appearances will do wonders for national recognition. But, I didn’t see Roy on PTI or the ESPN pre-game show this year breaking down the championship—-that was Boeheim.
In fact, you didn’t see or hear much from Roy at all after the Sweet 16 Texas loss…. And if UNC recruit J.R. Smith cashes in on a decent McD’s performance, and Rashad McCants and Raymond Felton decide they’d rather get paid than finish 5th in the ACC next year—-you won’t hear much about Roy next year either.
Except until Duke-Carolina part I, and Duke-Carolina part II…
Randy Johnson could easily finish this season with 250 wins…. But who knows if he’s got 3-4 more mostly healthy seasons in him to get another 50…
and Morgan Ensberg is neither old nor ineffective. Unfortunately he plays for a dumbass though, so he might as well be both…
Finally—nice to see a column without the "I’m only 20 years old" reminder. It was starting to become like the younger, less funny version of Molly Shannon’s old SNL skit, "I’m 50! 50 years old! 5-0!!!"
Go easy, Jake. He’s just a yittle guy.
And he wakes up on campus every day, so it’s OK to regurgitate the obvious and the things you’ve read 3 or 4 times.
Anyone see the Jessica & Nick variety Special promo being televised on ABC? (Commercial aired during the Cubs game yesterday) The camera zooms in on Jessica as the voice over states "Two enormous young talents that have busrt on the scene……." or something to that affect while a montage of CLEAVAGE shots is shown. Better than Cinemax.
T&A baby. T&A.
Not amusing? I put in a line about Joe Buck crying and nobody appreciates it!!! Yeesh.
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