The specter of contraction has reared its ugly head again. The very public tiff between Jerry McMorris, principal owner of the Colorado Rockies, and the Montreal Expos, has brought the subject back into the public debate. For those who missed it, McMorris proposed that last weekend’s series between the Rockies and Expos be moved to…
Part One Part Two (Introduced by Bill James in 1987, the Ken Phelps All-Star Team is a way of acknowledging players who, based on their performance in the minor leagues, deserve a chance to play in the majors, but who have not received the opportunity. In Part Two of his three-part series, Jeff Bower looks…
The dream died this weekend. The Twins, with one last chance to make a run in the AL Central, dropped two of three games to the Indians, making their tragic number six and basically ending the divisional race. The Twins scored just four runs in their two losses, continuing an offensive slide that is the…
PITCHING THROUGH PAIN "The way things were going, it was feeling better before the Pittsburgh incident, I thought that I was on the right track and would be able to make it. But, you know, whatever happened then, since I’ve been back the second time. it has not been great the whole time. It’s gotten…
The Mets are just five games out of first place in the NL East, so I was going to do a column on exactly how this happened. My mother is a big Mets fan, bless her heart, and when I mentioned my intention, she about disowned me, mindful of the evil things I’ve done to…
This week’s question come from P. N., who asks: I’m an Oakland A’s fan and there’s been a lot of talk lately about how the A’s are leading both leagues in the number of batters hit by pitches. Tim Hudson has suggested that the pitching staff needs to be more aggressive in protecting the hitters….
That was interesting. Four of the National League’s eight–and with the Mets six games out, I guess we have to say "nine"–contenders blew leads in the ninth inning yesterday: The Diamondbacks had the most spectacular implosion, blowing first a six-run first-inning lead, then watching Byung-Hyun Kim serve up back-to-back solo shots to Todd Helton and…
We are a jaded society. The entertainment industry drowns us in hyperbole and excess, to the point where magazines devote their cover story to the outfits worn by celebrities to an award show. The sports industry is nearly as guilty, or haven’t you noticed that college players are being touted for the Heisman trophy in…
The National League has a tremendous wild-card race going, with five teams separated by four games. Throw in the division leaders, and half the league is within 8 1/2 games of each other. That’s a recipe for a great three weeks of baseball, perhaps comparable to the 1967 American League race, if we get lucky….
And on the sixth day, they played. Bud Selig and his colleagues made the correct decision. Perhaps for the wrong reasons–because the NFL cancelled–but they made the right decision. I believe that it was easier for the NFL to cancel its games because its commissioner and other league officials were in New York City last…
Last Tuesday morning at about 7 a.m., the phone on my nightstand rang. Normally, this isn’t a big deal. It’s usually someone from the east coast who’s either forgotten about the time difference, or who’s decided that it’s time for me to get up and help them out with something. But on this morning, the…
OPPONENTS ON BARRY "The numbers don’t lie." —Curt Schilling, Diamondbacks pitcher, on Barry Bonds "Barry and I are close. Everyone has his own routine and does what he needs to do to prepare to play. What Barry does obviously works for him. And he’s by far the best I’ve ever played with." —Matt Williams, Diamondbacks…
The good races in the National League, combined with the new ‘n improved unbalanced schedule, mean that there will be big games being played just about every day for the rest of the season. The stretch begins tonight in Atlanta, where the Phillies will try and make up for six weeks of mediocre baseball in…
A number of readers found more in my Labor Day column on "hope and faith" than was actually there. The primary point of the column was to dispel the Chicken Little garbage frequently spewed by some mainstream sportswriters who argue that fans of most baseball teams can’t hold out any hope of contending in April…
THAT PERSONAL TOUCH "If you look at the long run, the future, I still have three years here. It would be wise to just let me get healthy whenever we can and do whatever possible to win later on if we’re not going to win this year. But we still have chances, and I’m just…