The 2009 World Series. New York Yankees vs. Philadelphia Phillies

There is a lot of prestige, legend, lore and dramatic music on FOX surrounding the Fall Classic every year. There are also super long pre-game and inter-game festivities.

None of the last five World Series has gone beyond a fifth game. I need that to change. The best part about post-season baseball is a Game 7. I get nervous at home, in my chair. Even when I have no rooting interest, I still fidget and shift around like my life is on the line.

I can’t imagine what it must be like for the players. Sitting in the locker room before the game, stretching, taking BP, throwing, going over scouting reports, getting ready, I can see how having been there before would really help. That’s good news for the defending champ Philadelphia Phillies. But many of the New York Yankees have been there, too. Not among them is Alex Rodriguez, who has never been in the World Series, neither has Mark Teixeira or CC Sabathia.

The Yankee Locker Room – Before Game 1

Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte sit near their lockers with cups of coffee, reading the morning newspaper, and discussing their families, garden gnomes, and lawn maintenance.

Johnny Damon and Eric Hinske compare the World Series rings they won with the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and 2007, respectively.

Derek Jeter sits in the locker room, in a rocking chair, polishing his World Series rings. A-Rod, Teixeira, and CC sit on the floor, cross-legged, around his chair, having a snack.

A-Rod wears an oversized New York Yankees 1999 World Champions jacket. CC clutches his baseball glove in his right arm, like a child with a teddy bear, and holds six baseballs in his massive left hand. Teixeira sucks on a water bottle and rocks in place, a bat propped up in the bend of his elbow.
A-Rod, Teixeira, and CC ask Jeter questions about what it was like to win the World Series four times nearly a decade ago.

Teixeira: How do you hit in the clutch?

Jeter: Just relax, see the ball, and try to hit a line drive. It helps if you use Gillette Products and wear Nike.

A-Rod: How do I get people to like me?

Jeter: Dive into the stands for a ball and bloody your face. Or intercept a bad relay throw, flip it to Jorge and hope that Jeremy Giambi doesn’t slide.

CC: When we’re celebrating, should we do a choreographed handshake or just do big hugs?

Jeter: You have to be natural about it. You don’t want “Anything is possible!” and Two-handed up-top Wayne’s World high fives aren’t going to do it either. Also, Papelbon dancing should get you beat up.

CC: Hey Captain, if I hit somebody with 98 miles per hour of my awesomeness and he charges the mound, will you have my back?

Jeter: No, your fight is your own. I don’t have any fights.

A-Rod: When we had Kyle Farnsworth, I would just try to get behind him.

AJ Burnett walks over to Rivera, Posada, and Pettitte to show them the ring he won when he pitched 23 innings for the 2003 Florida Marlins, who beat the Yankees without him in the World Series.

Posada: You won that when you didn’t play and your team beat us. Why are you showing it to us?

Burnett: ‘Cause I have one just like you guys!

Posada: You can have Molina.

Then Posada stands up and punches Burnett. He sees Damon and Hinske with their Red Sox rings and he starts marching over to them, obviously angry. Before he can get there, however, Damon and Hinske take off – or Hinske tries to, but he is stuck on the bench. Posada chases Damon but his catcher knees can’t quite get him there. Damon tries to throw a baseball at Posada, but it only makes it half way to him. Damon leaves and Posada returns to his coffee and newspaper.

The three seated around Jeter’s rocking chair are all startled when Nick Swisher bursts in the locker room, cranks up some heavy metal and starts towel snapping people.

Rivera leans over to Pettitte and whispers.

Rivera: I can’t believe this is the guy Joe Buck thinks has changed the culture of our locker room.

Meanwhile, in the Phillies locker room everyone is loose. Almost.

Shane Victorino is throwing darts at a Russell Martin poster.

Ryan Howard is enjoying a meal with Jared.

Raul Ibanez is on his 1,273rd push up.

Jimmy Rollins is going over some game tape with Scott Van Pelt.

Chase Utley and Jayson Werth are throwing playing cards into a batting helmet.

Brad Lidge tucked himself into his locker to take a nap. He had another nightmare about Albert Pujols
and couldn’t sleep the night before.

Pedro Feliz is fielding more questions from Pedro Gomez about the seven seasons he spent playing with Barry Bonds in San Francisco.

Matt Stairs is working on a new power play for the John Bapst Memorial High Crusaders, eh.

Pedro Martinez is on the phone with his daddy in the other locker room.

Cole Hamels is hanging out with his wife. Oreos, anyone?

Carlos Ruiz, in full catcher’s gear, is watching Cole Hamels hang out with his wife.

Cliff Lee wakes Lidge up to challenge Utley and Werth in throwing cards into a batting helmet.
Utley hands Lidge a stack of Albert Pujols baseball cards to use. Lidge sees them and goes into a catatonic state. He’s listed as day-to-day.

Lee beats Utley and Werth by himself and then goes out and pitches a brilliant game in which there was no evidence that he broke a sweat or had his heartbeat rise above 70 beats per minute. Kid has alligator blood.

I want to thank Chase Utley for bringing the Pat Riley look back last night. Let’s get Chase a suit, a tie, John Starks and let’s go lose to the Bulls!

The item of the week is this 2009 World Series Dueling Rosters Tee by Majestic. It commemorates.

Big weekend in sports coming up. NLCS, ALCS, NFL, College Football, BCS implications, Rivalries, Cross-town Rival High School Games (somewhere probably), tailgating, etc. Lot of action. Lot. Of. Action.

The NLCS kicked off last night with a Philadelphia Phillies 8-6 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers out-hit the Phillies 14-8, but left 10 men on base, compared to Philly’s 5. Andre Either and Matt Kemp combined to go 5-10 but only managed to score once between them.

Clayton Kershaw, 21, took the loss and Cole Hamels got the win, though he didn’t pitch much better than his counterpart. James Loney and Manny Ramirez each homered off him before he was pulled after five and a third.

Carlos Ruiz and Raul Ibanez each homered for Philly and Ryan Howard drove in two runs. Brad Lidge came in to get the save, but not before walking one and giving up a hit.

Russell Martin and Shane Victorino jawed back and forth all game long. It is always fun when the series gets heated in the first inning of Game 1.

Game 2 this afternoon will see Pedro Martinez face off against Vincente Padilla in a 100% unpredictable match-up. Chase Utley and Jayson Werth will each be trying for their first hit of the NLCS.

Things I didn’t know before either today or last night:

Chan Ho Park can still throw 96.

The only guy in the Phillies starting line-up under the age of 30 is Victorino (except Ryan Howard, who will be 30 on November 19th). The Flyin’ Hawaiian will turn 29 in November.

If you throw the ball into the dugout on a double play try and can’t get out of the inning, Manny Ramirez will hit a home run and make you feel bad about it.

Jim Thome does a fist-pump-whoop combo when Manny homers.

Randy Wolf should wear his cleats at all-times because he just might pinch run. That’s how slow Jim Thome is. Do you think Thome even brings a baseball glove to the game?

Game 1 of the ALCS is tonight. I’m saying Angels in 7 over the New York Yankees. John Lackey versus CC Sabathia. Do you remember Sabathia down the stretch last year for the Milwaulee Brewers? Silly.

Torii Hunter, Vlad Guerrero, Kendry Morales, and Bobby Abreu will bring some power into Yankee Stadium’s launching pad that may be tempered by some not ideal weather. Derek Jeter is used to it, Mr. November has been in cold weather playoff games enough in his career. Mark Teixeira a big strong dude, but it just seems to me that he is not going to be a big fan of cold weather. I have a feeling about this.

The biggest question concerning the weather though is will Alex Rodriguez’s lady friend be sitting in the front row if it is cold, rainy, and windy? This is a commitment testing event for their relationship. The many cuts to her cheering probably make Chris Robinson (her ex-husband) Jealous Again.

Did you know Kate Hudson’s dad, Kurt Russell, was a pretty good minor league baseball player before blowing apart his shoulder and returning to his acting career?

So that’s baseball. It’s also a huge weekend in the NFL.

Spotlight on New Orleans where the undefeated Saints play the undefeated New York Giants. It bothers me when radio and TV people say it’s going to be Drew Brees versus Eli Manning. It’s not. Brees and Manning will never be on the field at the same time until they do a man hug at the end of the game.

It is going to be Drew Brees, Reggie Bush, Marques Colston, and the rest of the New Orleans offense against Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck and the rest of the Giants defense.

And then it will be Manning, Steve Smith, Brandon Jacobs and the rest of the Giant offense against Darren Sharper, Charles Grant, Jonathan Casillas (yes, Casillas, I’m a homer, a little love to the Wisconsin Badgers) and the rest of the Saints defense.

The Vikings put their undefeated record on the line when they host the recently fined Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens. Joe Flacco is a guy I like quite a bit, and a guy I like to call Joey Delaware but I will not wince when Jared Allen cattle ropes him. If Cedric Benson can rush for 100+ yards on Baltimore then Adrian Peterson can rush for that plus a bunch more. Hopefully for Minnesota Brett Favre will be doing his post-handoff jump throw fake thing a lot while Peterson is breaking tackles.

The Chicago Bears go to Atlanta to play the Falcons. Matt Ryan, Roddy White, and Michael Turner set the San Francisco 49er defense on fire last week. The Bears will want to see Jay Cutler find Devin Hester for some TD’s early so they can just run, run, run with Matt Forte.

The Pittsburgh Steelers host the Cleveland Browns in what should be a close game for at least the first five minutes.

Speaking of the Steelers, check out the ESPN commercial with Snoop Dogg in the Reebok Ascent 2009 Sideline Drift Full Zip Fleece Hooded Jacket. Start looking for these and other Drift items on all NFL sidelines.

In the college game this weekend USC travels to South Bend to play Notre Dame. Jimmy Clausen and Matt Barkley are another QB vs QB favorite match-up for the guys in the studios. So is Sam Bradford vs Colt McCoy when the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns go at in the Red River Rivalry. Those two teams love each other.

Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide play the Ol’ Ball Coach and the South Carolina Gamecocks. My favorite college football player this season is Tide RB Mark Ingram.

Boise State already narrowly survived Tulsa and Cincinnati took care of South Florida to keep the hopes of BCS haters alive that someone outside of the Big Ten, Pac-10, SEC, Big 12, or ACC will make a run at the Championship Game.

Tim Tebow is probably receiving accolades somewhere, too.

It is a big weekend for sports. October is a terrible month for marriages and TV remote control control. This is my first October as a married guy. I think it will be important to set a precedent for future years that the MLB playoffs and the NFL and big college football games will be watched. So when I lose this battle, somebody please be prepared to link me to some highlights and provide detailed and accurate recaps.

Here is the first post from our other new copywriter, Ariel Sandler. Ariel and Brent will be providing much of the content going forward, but still I’ll sneak in an occasional post. Enjoy…

Football, football, football.

That’s all Chicago sports fans have on their minds these days:

Can the Bears overcome a full season without Brian Urlacher? Will Jay Cutler do what the likes of Kyle Orton, Rex Grossman and others couldn’t? Is Johnny Knox a real person or reality show alter-ego?

And understandably so.

2009 was yet another disappointing baseball season in the Windy City. Mental mistakes and lackadaisical plays led White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen to question his team’s effort and GM Kenny Williams to deem his team “underachievers.”

Don’t even get me started on my Cubbies. A season full of hope quickly soured to angst and anger. The baseball gods did everything in their powers – even delaying the final crosstown matchup until September- but to no avail.

At least Jake Peavy ended up in Chicago…

But before I dive head-first into the football deep-end, a post-season baseball tournament remains. And who doesn’t love playing prognosticator?

Now that this year’s guests have all but arrived (Atlanta and Detroit, you are out. Colorado and Minnesota, you can stay), let’s begin:

American League Divisional Series

New York Yankees vs. Minnesota Twins

Well wouldn’t you know it…just when I had written the Twinkies off, both literally and figuratively, they go and win four straight games to close out the season and force game no. 163. And the little team that could – did it again! Who needs home run slugger Justin Morneau when you have the best player in the world not named Albert Pujols, Joe Mauer, on your team? Or when lesser known players like Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel combine for 59 homers? What is there to say other then, Thank you, Minnesota,” for once again proving a team doesn’t need barrels of cash to field a winner. Speaking of which…

The recession-proof Yankees are back on top, sporting a $200 million payroll and the league’s best record. Unlike the Cubs, New York’s offseason acquisitions worked out swimmingly. Mark Teixeira, the other switch-hitter, leads the American League in RBI and the golden arm, CC Sabathia leads the AL in victories.

It’s your classic David vs. Goliath. Only this time, Goliath snatches the slingshot out of the air and suddenly whips it right back in David’s face. Minnesota’s emotional high may net them a win against the Bronx Bombers, but I say Yanks in four.

Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Thought about starting with a joke concerning the Angels name, but let’s be honest – that joke’s not funny anymore. So stop.

The Boston Red Sox seem to have underachieved all season. Or maybe that’s just because I have a number of their players on my failed fantasy baseball squad. But that lineup is stacked. Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis and Victor Martinez? That reads like an all-star team. And only one of them has been accused of steroids.

Out West, the Angels continue to be who we thought they’d be. A winning team. They have played inspired ball all season and do so in a style many teams (paging Jim Hendry) underrate: speed and defense. But let’s not kid ourselves –name the Angels’ home run and wins leader.

(Still waiting).

If you said Kendry Morales and Joe Saunders – find something better to do with your time. The Angels will fight and hang around…until Papi lays the hammer down and continues his power resurgence. Sox in five.

National League Divisional Series

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. St. Louis Cardinals

I must decide: am I more excited for Manny Ramirez vs. Albert Pujols or Joe Torre vs. Tony LaRussa? “Wow…that ball must have gone 500 feet!” Or “What a pitching change! Look at that double-switch countermove!” Decisions, decisions.

Either way, this should be a good one. Both squads have received tremendous boosts from players not named Manny or Albert. The series may come down to which “role players” (Dodgers’ Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier or Cardinals’ Matt Holliday and Ryan Ludwick) step up.

As much as it hurts to say, I’ll take two of the top three National League earned run leaders, Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. Cards in five.

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Colorado Rockies

The Rockies are back! This team just doesn’t go away anymore…ever. Troy Tulowitzki is ridiculous. Todd Helton is timeless. And Jason Marquis is winning games. This team survived the Wild Card cluster and almost caught the Dodgers.

The Philadelphia Phillies remain a conundrum. They are better on the road than at home. They just demoted their closer, Brad Lidge, a guy who was perfect in saves a season ago. But they have four guys – Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez and Chase Utley – with over 30 home runs. Add two feared pitchers, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels, and you should be set. Phillies in four.

American League Championship Series

New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox

Yanks and Sox. Sox and Yanks. Can you believe these teams haven’t met in the playoffs since 2004? Interestingly enough – the 2009 matchup will play very much like that series five years ago – only this time:

…with the Sox up 3-2 and mere outs away from a four-game sweep, Johnny Damon does his best 2004 impersonation (sans Jesus beard) and hits a two-run shot off Jonathan Papelbon in the 9th as “the Yankees win!…theeee Yankeeeesss win!” Hilarity ensues.

Sabathia and Burnett dominate games five and six, setting up the finale in new Yankee Stadium.
Madonna sings the National Anthem. Kate Hudson throws out the first pitch. And suddenly, Alex Rodriguez (you didn’t think I forgot about him?), realizes, “Hey, it’s good to be me,” and goes off. A four-hit night concludes with a three-run 8th inning blast for a 6-4 win.

And just like that – it’s Alex Rodriguez’s world. We’re just living in it.

National League Championship Series

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Philadelphia Phillies

Over on the senior circuit, the Cardinals and Phillies attempt similar fireworks. But that’s like any Seinfeld-cast member starring in a new show (although I guess Elaine wins). Pitchers absolutely dominate this series. They split the first four after a number of solo shots. Once again, Carpenter and Wainwright, prove the difference. Cardinals take the champs in six.

But not before Brad Lidge plunks Pujols in the shoulder – sending everyone, except for LaRussa, into a frenzy. Can he play in the Series? Why didn’t he simply hit the destroy button as the ball approached? Ladies and gentleman, your fireworks.

World Series

New York Yankees vs. St. Louis Cardinals

Calm down, Cardinals fans. Pujols is in the lineup. He is “The Machine,” remember? And he delivers, too. St. Louis grabs the lead after Yankee skipper Joe Girardi inexplicably pitches to Pujols with two men on base in the 8th inning and up 3-2. Pujols places one in the gap for a double and the Cardinals take a 1-0 lead.

The Steinbrenner’s throw a fit.

Girardi regroups, as do the Yankees, and take the next three games. The Cardinals send Chris Carpenter back to the mound in game five and he wins again – making him a ridiculous 6-0 in the playoffs.

The Steinbrenner’s throw another fit.

Sabathia takes the mound in game six and dominates. Couple that with two Teixeira home runs over the short porch in right and the Yankees storm the mound.

So there you have it. Your 2009 MLB postseason. The Yankees prove you have to spend money to make money. So the economy listens. And the recession lifts.

A guy can dream, can’t he?

Here’s another post from newly minted writer Brent. His sports knowledge is vastly impressive and to be frank, a little worrisome. Below you’ll find a reference to Bo Jackson, someone named Charlie something and a Techmo Super Bowl video among other items. It’s quite the creation. We’ll try to get both new guys set up with accounts this week and cut out this bloviating middleman…

My fellow copywriter Ariel is giving you a taste of what you’ll see in the playoffs this fall, but there is a lot you won’t see again until Spring Training.

I love Spring Training. I love that it gives every team a brand new start so they can suck and fall well short of expectations (New York Mets, Chicago Cubs), be awesome (Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees), or just experience more fledgling mediocrity (Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays). But for me, it doesn’t get much better than post-season baseball. I’m a Minnesota Twins fan and while the Twins haven’t had much success in October in the last decade, they have at least been in the playoffs in four of the last seven seasons, including a Game 163 in 2008 that they lost to the Chicago White Sox. John Danks shut the Twins out in that game but could not deliver the same result in his regular season finale this year against the Detroit Tigers when he walked three in the first inning, including one with the bases loaded. Now the Twins and Tigers will square off in Game 163. 2009 is the third season in a row to require a 163rd game. Two years ago the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 9-8 in 13 innings.

But it is always fun to see your favorite players on the biggest stage come October. I loved getting to see Johan Santana toe the rubber for the Twins in meaningful October games, not that he will ever do that again playing for the New York Minaya Mets. Torii Hunter, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Joe Nathan, and Cristian Guzman all cut their playoff teeth with the Twins. It sucks that they haven’t been to the World Series since Kirby Puckett wanted to “see you tomorrow night” in 1991 (Thank you very much, Jack Buck), but I feel better about being a Twins fan than had I grown up falling in love with a team like the Kansas City Royals, who haven’t been to the post-season since 1985 when they had George Brett, Bret Saberhagen, and Charlie Leibrandt, who gave up Kirby Puckett’s 11th inning homer in Game 6 in 1991 when he was an Atlanta Brave.

The playoffs this year will be loaded with big names: Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Kate Hudson, Derek Jeter, Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander, Kevin Youkilis, Josh Becket, Jonathan Papelbon, Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp, James Loney, Vlad Guerrero, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Brad Lidge’s sky high ERA. Doug Mientkiewicz is a big name in length and he is a Dodger, but he is out for the year so you will not see him in the ‘yoffs.

Without ye, the show must go on…

But there are guys who had phenomenal seasons who won’t see stadium lights after October 4th. Zack Greinke led the majors in ERA at 2.16, led the AL in WHIP at 1.07 and finished 3rd in strikeouts in all of baseball. And he won 16 games on a team that won 65 all season.

Albert Pujols got all the press this year in the NL, but what about Prince Fielder’s monster season? Prince set a Brewer record for RBI’s at 141, he hit 46 home runs, behind only 47 by Albert Pujols, and he hit .299 with an on-base percentage of .412.

So will Tim Lincecum, who had a Cy Young quality season, Pablo Sandoval, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Derrek Lee, Josh Hamilton, and Jake Peavy.

Roy Halladay’s reputation speaks for itself and because Toronto couldn’t get a deadline deal worked out (other than sending Alex Rios to the Chicago White Sox), he too will miss the playoffs, just as he has in every season of his career. The Toronto Blue Jays haven’t seen the post-season since they won back-to-back World Series Championships in 1992 and 1993. Remember Joe Carter jumping around first base? That team also had Minnesota natives Paul Molitor, Jack Morris, and former Minnesota Golden Gopher basketball stand out Dave Winfield (yes, basketball, he was also drafted by the Minnesota Vikings without ever having played a down of football in his life) on the roster.

Two Sports Ramblings

In 1990, the San Diego Padres traded Carter and Robbie Alomar to the Blue Jays for Tony Fernandez and Fred McGriff. In 1993 Carter, Alomar, and Fernandez all won a championship together in Toronto.

Fernandez went from the Pads to the Mets in 1992 in a deal involving former outfielder/running back D.J. Dozier and then the Mets traded Fernandez back to the Blue Jays in June of 1993. The Padres received McGriff, Dozier, and Wally Whitehurst in exchange for a World Series… (more or less, I’m blowing it out of proportion. But I can’t help but be reminded of when the Vikings traded for now MMA fighter Herschel Walker and gave the Cowboys a dynasty. I think Hershal Walker also tried out to be an Olympic bobsledder at some point, too. He dabbles.).

Besides Dozier and Winfield, the Padres and Blue Jays have other dual sport athlete connections. Tony Gwynn was drafted by the San Diego Clippers the same day the Padres drafted him, but he chose to be a Hall of Fame hitter over a rotund basketball player. Danny Ainge was a Blue Jay farmhand and a Boston Celtics point guard before he became the GM and ripped Kevin Garnett out of Minnesota, along with the hearts of many Minnesota nice hoop fans.

Our old friend Charlie Leibrandt from a few paragraphs ago played with a couple of two-sport athletes. He was a teammate of Bo Jackson on the Royals, who of course was an Oakland Raider and legendary Tecmo Super Bowl player.

Then Ol’ Charlie pitched with Tom Glavine on the Braves. Glavine was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL. Glavine played with Kenny Lofton in 1997, who was an Arizona Wildcat point guard in college. And of course Deion Sanders was a Brave and Atlanta Falcon simultaneously. If you watch the 1991 World Series DVD that MLB put out, you will see Deion sitting in the front row near the Braves dugout sporting some huge bling and sweet hair.

So anyway, back on topic, Roy Halladay only plays baseball and his year is over. So are the seasons of Ryan Braun, Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez, Carl Crawford, James Shields, Andrew McCutchen, Nick Markakis, Matt Weiters, and Jay Bruce.

Thinking Green

Besides getting ready to vacation in warm climates, what else do these guys have in common with Greinke, Fielder, and Halladay? In the next few years, they’ll each probably receive ginormous contract offers from teams you will see in the playoffs this year: Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, and The Los Angeles, California Angels of Aneheim, USA. Or other big market teams, like the New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, and Chicago White Sox.

Small market teams find it difficult to hold on to their best young talent, even through the players’ arbitration years, after all, Ryan Howard was awarded $10 million in arbitration after striking out 199 times. I wonder what Mark Reynolds of the Arizona Diamondbacks will get after striking out over 400 times over the last two seasons?

There are pitfalls to rooting for both small market and big market teams, however. Small market teams, like my Twins, have to wave good-bye to guys like Johan Santana and Torii Hunter because they cannot afford to keep them. The Tampa Bay Rays will find out the same thing when they try to hold on to Carl Crawford and others. The Florida Marlins know this reality well and will face it again when it comes time to pay Josh Johnson, Dan Uggla, and Ramirez.

Big market teams throw money at players like they are Pacman Jones making it rain. But that comes with great risk sometimes, too. San Francisco gave Barry Zito $126 million over seven years and they got a #3 starter at best. The Cubs are locked in to Alfonso Soriano for more than any club would like to be. Mike Hampton signed a monster deal once upon a time and then spent much of that time on the DL. The same can be said about Carl Pavano, Kevin Brown, Jason Schmidt and others.

Snippets

Things you should know that have happened sort of under-the-radar and may be of help to you in future fantasy drafts or baseball nerd conversations:

Jair Jurrjens had a 2.61 ERA for the Braves this year, good for 6th best in baseball.

Of all pitchers who threw more than 160 IP, only 10 struck out more than 1 hitter per inning, including Colorado Rockie Jorge De La Rosa.

Only three teams had more complete games this year than Roy Halladay.

Adam Dunn’s streak of 40+ home runs in a season ended at six as he finished with 38 for the Washington Natinals, err… Nationals.

The New York Mets hit 95 homers as a team, last in the league and 149 behind the league leading New York Yankess. The Mets could combine home run totals with seven other teams and still have fewer than the Yankees did. Handfuls of players could combine their home run totals to have the greater than sign in their favor when compared with the Mets.

Fielder, Braun, and Mike Cameron > 2009 Mets.
Mauer, Morneau, and Michael Cuddyer > 2009 Mets.
The second baseman of the AL East* > 2009 Mets.
Pujols, Fielder, and Carlos Zambrano > 2009 Mets.

*Aaron Hill (36), Robinson Cano (25), Dustin Pedroia (15), Brian Roberts (16), and Ben Zobrist (27).

Juan Pierre wins the 2009 award for most at-bats without a home run: 380.

Aaron Harang is 6’ 7”. He will be next year, too.