Is Lou Brock overrated? Yes, he is. Lou Brock is a member of the 3,000 hits club, but he got there because of longevity and because he hit leadoff and thus got lots of at-bats, not because of his hitting ability (though his .293 average does put him ahead of Ripken and Palmeiro). He is second all time in stolen bases, but as has been pointed out, his stolen base percentage was not particularly great, and he got to 938 on longevity, not because of any ability to get on base or steal bases efficiently.

Having said that, I must quibble with Keith on something over which we have quibbled before. Keith has, in my opinion, a misguided understanding of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Keith is under the impression that the Hall of Fame is kind of like a Top 100, that the only players who should be allowed in should be the best overall players in baseball history, based on overall value rating rather than based on individual accomplishments. Read more.

Matt's Email | Richard's Take | Keith's Take
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Run Corey Run.

April 20, 2006 - The Orioles-Indians series which just concluded today in Baltimore was perhaps the wildest of the early season and may be the wildest we see for a while. (Warning - cross-sport cliché coming) The Indians won the first game by two touchdowns, 15-1, behind the solid pitching of Jason Johnson, of all people, a former Oriole who went 26-46 in four seasons with the O's. The series looked like a wash, but things changed in the bottom of the third inning of game two. That is when none other than Corey "Tools" Patterson came to the plate to lead off the inning. As Asher writes, that is when the truly unexpected happened - Corey Patterson came to play.



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Something a little more comfortable.

Through three starts, the Yankees Randy Johnson is looking much more like his old self than he did in 2005. His WHIP is back down under 1.00, his opponents batting average is back to a respectable .213, and his ERA is 2.25.

The Unit's most intriguing stat, though, is K/BB ratio, which currently stands at infinity – 16 Ks to go with 0 BB. This is interesting for two reasons. First, obviously, he hasn't walked anybody this season, which is always good. But second, Randy's 16 strikeouts have come in 20 innings, which means for the second year in a row it appears that he is headed for less than one strikeout per inning.

In truth, Johnson's strikeouts have been declining for several years, and after his injury year of 2003 Randy acknowledged changing his approach and his arm angle slightly to reduce his risk of injury. Though this changed approach appears to have resulted in decreased strikeouts per inning, it also seems to have lessened the number of walks Randy gives up each year (47 and 44 in 2005 and 2004 compared with 71 in 2002 and 2001). Basically, Randy has traded some power for some control.

The Pace
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April 7, 2006 - It was starting pitching gone astray day in the Majors today, as no fewer than four pitchers came through with outings which could easily get them sent back to the minors, or perhaps even little league.

As a caveat, it is always important to remember that at this point in the season, guys will be left in a little longer than usual in order to work out kinks, try to establish a rhythm, see how well they can get themselves out of a jam, etc. Nonetheless, these guys were awful, even relatively speaking.

For example, take Kyle Lohse. He gave up 11 hits and three walks on his way to allowing 8 earned runs in four and two thirds. Gavin Floyd continued Philadelphia's dubious starting pitcher run by walking four and giving up 5 runs, three earned, in two and two thirds innings. In Pittsburgh, Paul Maholm managed to be outshined by Eric Milton, giving up five earned on five hits and five walks in six innings.

Interestingly, there were a couple of guys yesterday who were terrible in their start, but their team ended up winning because the other team's pitcher was just as bad. In Kansas City, the 6-spot that Jeremy Affeldt gave up in four innings didn't hurt because opposing pitcher Jon Garland managed to surrender nine earned runs on ten hits in five and one third inning. In Toronto, the D'Rays managed to pull out the 9-8 victory despite Casey Fossum's six earned runs in four and two thirds performance.

But the King of the Eve was truly Daniel Cabrera. In an inning and a third, Cabrera allowed 7 earned runs on three hits and seven walks. Cabrera walked six in the opening inning and a seventh in the second before getting yanked. Cabrera threw 60 pitched in his 1 and a third inning, only getting a terrifying 22 of them over strikes.

The Notebook
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