 |
| |
|
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
It's his crown St. Louis' Pujols has a great chance at a rare baseball featPosted: Monday June 23, 2003 1:26 PMUpdated: Tuesday June 24, 2003 1:01 AM
Sometimes, with all the numbers that ricochet around during a typical baseball season, it's hard to find the ones that really count. There are people, to give you a for instance, who swear by on-base percentage as the most accurate representation of a hitter's worth. Getting on base is what it's all about, after all. Walking, getting hit by a pitch, smacking a single off the pitcher's shin. It doesn't matter. Just getting on. That's the biggie. Everything else is just fluff. Others crow about OPS, the combination of on-base percentage and slugging percentage. That shows who can hit and who can hit for power, the stats conscious argue. For others still, it's all runs. Scoring. If you get right down to it, that seems to be what baseball is really all about.
Average. Home runs. Runs Batted In. The usual suspects. Which brings us to Albert Pujols. There has not been a winner of baseball's Triple Crown of hitting statistics since 1967. That's 35 seasons of guys getting close -- maybe leading the league in two of those Big Three categories -- but falling short. Not since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski hit .326, with 44 homers and 121 RBIs back in '67, has someone pulled off the Triple Crown. And now comes Pujols, St. Louis' amazing left fielder, who is by so far the best player in the game at this moment -- at this moment -- that there shouldn't be much of an argument. Take note of that, All-Star voters. The guy can rake. Oh, he has his down moments. In a game against Kansas City on Sunday, Royals closer Mike MacDougal froze Pujols with a nasty curve ball to strike him out, ending the game. Pujols was absolutely baffled by the pitch. Looked terrible. But those at-bats are the exceptions. And, as it was in that game, Pujols already had three hits. He did his part. Pujols has owned just about every pitcher he's faced this season despite playing hurt. And the statistics -- just about all of them -- show it. Pujols is among the National League's Top 10 in (let's take a deep breath now) … Slugging percentage, on-base percentage, hits, extra-base hits, doubles, total bases, home batting average, road batting average, hitting with runners in scoring position, night batting average, hitting against righties, hitting against lefties and hitting with his eyes shut while listening to a Bernie Williams CD and juggling three balls and a Sharpie. Of course, there are at least three categories that are missing there. He leads the league in batting average (.384), he's third in home runs (21) and he's tied for first in RBIs (66). St. Louis manager Tony La Russa calls Pujols the best player he ever has managed, which is saying a lot. It says a lot not only because of all the good players that La Russa has managed, but because Pujols is only in his third year. He's only 23 years old. If La Russa is right -- if Pujols is better than Mark McGwire or, say, Rickey Henderson -- how good can Pujols get? This is how good: Pujols has a better shot at a Triple Crown than anyone in the game right now. But even as good as he is -- and did we say he's pretty good? -- winning the Triple Crown won't be easy. It would be almost incomprehensible, given his short but illustrious history, to see Pujols slump to the point where he'd give up his batting average lead. After all, he has 38 points on Atlanta's Gary Sheffield in that category. And Pujols is always steady. He's never hit under .300 in his career. His 66 RBIs puts him on pace for about 144, which isn't anywhere close to Sammy Sosa's 160 in 2001, which was the best that year. But 144 RBIs would have been good enough to win in that category last season. Pujols is only two behind leader Florida's Mike Lowell in the chase for the home run title. But that's the third of the equation where he could fall short. Pujols is on pace to launch 46 homers this season, and no one has won the home run title with that low of a total since Barry Bonds hit 46 in 1993. Still, we're talking pace. Pujols' numbers in the second half of a season are typically better than his first half. He's a .371 hitter in August, a .335 hitter in September. It's very possible he could hit approach 50 or more homers this season. And that would put him breathtakingly close to winning the Big Three stat categories. It's been 35 seasons since Yaz won the last Triple Crown, and 65 seasons since the last hitter in the National League, St. Louis' Joe Medwick, did it (.374, 31, 154 in 1937). Can Pujols pull it off? Sure he can. It's pretty clear. All you have to do is look at the numbers.
• Good news about Vladimir Guerrero's back. Unless, of course, you play for the Braves or Phillies. • Remember how bad Jason Giambi looked? Seen him in June? He's hitting .333 with eight homers and 18 RBIs and now has his average up around .250. With 19 homers and 52 RBIs on the year. Sorry we ever doubted him. • There is no one I'd rather watch play second base than Roberto Alomar. He makes the most difficult play look like a game of soft-toss with a 4-year-old. What hands. • Another thing baseball needs: More young, excitable talent like Florida's Dontrelle Willis.
This week, missives on the controversy over Roger Clemens and his cap, interleague play, the Royals, Jeff Weaver and so forth … Why can't Joe Torre and the Yankees just be patient with Jeff Weaver? Granted, he's not putting up the numbers he's capable of, but in perspective those numbers aren't as ghastly as the N.Y. media would have you believe. His ERA as a starter is lower than John Lackey's, John Burkett's, Joe Mays' and Brad Radke's, to name a few, and those guys aren't getting dropped from their team's rotations. He's tied for fourth in the league in fewest HRs allowed among starters with at least 11 starts. For the money the Yankees are investing in this kid, you'd think they would be a little more patient with him. Just send him out every fifth day and let him get his confidence back. But with Steinbrenner's $32 million prize returning from the DL, it looks like back to the bullpen for Weaver. The Yankees are going to ruin this kid for next year when they really need him. Once again, ownership and the N.Y. media can't look at the long-term effects, all they are interested in is today. Keep Weaver in the rotation, Joe, and let cooler heads prevail. You'll need him at 100 percent when Clemens and Wells are gone. -- Bret Ingle Let cooler heads prevail? We're not talking Weaver then, are we? Until the volatile youngster learns to control himself, he'll never be able to pitch effectively in New York. As much as I hate to admit it, the Yankees really may have the right idea in this whole mess. Letting Weaver get himself together in the pen -- where the team can keep and eye on him -- may be the best thing for everybody. How much good is getting touched up and frustrated every outing doing him? The Yanks need to be extremely careful with young Mr. Weaver. They need him badly (I'm not sold on Contreras, either). You may want to reconsider the importance of hit streaks, as Benito Santiago, Kenny Lofton and Paul Lo Duca own three of the most impressive such streaks since the 1970s. -- Rich Otterman, Pittsburgh Well, sure, hit streaks aren't everything. I never said they were. Just pointed out how difficult it is to pull off a decent one. And, for a lot of reasons, those three guys (and others this season) have been able to do it. (Santiago, by the way, had a 34-gamer in 1987.) I was in Cincinnati's beautiful new ballpark the night that Ken Griffey Jr. strained his right biceps. The reason I'm telling you this apparently innocuous detail is because at a bar after the game, I was drinking with some Cincinnati construction workers. Coincidently all of them had "strained biceps" and yet not one of them was be going on the DL. Seems that there isn't a workingman's Disabled List in Cincy! Imagine that, these guys had to get up the next day and go to work. I felt for them because, of course, I had to go as well. Can you fathom how good Griffey Jr. would be if he had the will a Paul O'Neill or the passion for the game like a 5-foot-7, 165-pound David Eckstein? The discussion of the emblem on his "Hall of Fame" hat (that's if he has a Bonds-like epiphany) will be nil because they'll just show him with it turned backward. Right there is all you need to know about his respect for the game. Put your hat on right -- you're on a ballclub not in a dance club! Gutless, passionless and overpaid! -- Michael McDermott, Noblesville, Ind. I try not to include too many of these type of e-mails. The e-bag could degenerate pretty quickly. But … it's funny, a lot of people used to love the fact that Griffey turned his hat backward. They though it showed the kid in him. That, and his big smile, supposedly demonstrated a love and zest for the game. But now, because he's been hurt, all these questions about him and his passion for the game start popping up. The guy has been leveled by injuries in the past several years. And now, when he feels pain -- heck, I'd be jumpy, too. I'm no Griffey PR guy. But I will say, if he says he's injured, you almost have to believe him. I'm sick of all this purist/interleague play nonsense. All it is is a bunch of old people blabbering on about how interleague play diminishes from the World Series blah blah blah. But with the way players switch teams these days there isn't really a team allegiance, or even a league allegiance, as there used to be. In fact, I think it has added to the game … at least for the fans. We're able to see teams that are a little different than the Orioles, Tigers and Devil Rays. So let's drop this interleague debate and talk about something worthwhile. -- Mark MacEachern, Ontario And so we hear from another member of the Bud Selig for President club. Thank you. What's with your Royals-bashing this year? In your latest potshot (June 16 column), you label them dead in the same paragraph you gush all over the Giants. Did you know the two teams played last weekend, and the Royals won two of three? Royals pitchers struck out your beloved Bonds three times and held him to one solo home run in the series. Then, last night (June 16), the Royals beat the first-place Twins for the fifth time in seven games this year. You need to let go of your big-market bias and give the $40 million-payroll Royals some much-deserved respect. People that know the game are. -- Tim Dyhouse, Kansas City Sorry, Tim. I wasn't bashing the Royals. Or at least I didn't think I was. I was just pointing out that they've cooled off. Very quickly. I will admit, though, that they're showing a good deal of character hanging in there, especially in those games against Minnesota. And this weekend in taking the series against St. Louis. Heck, you could even say they've bounced back. There was a time when I figured they'd be way under. 500 by the break. Now, I'm not so sure. They're scrappy. I don't think that will be enough to make them a winning team. But they're scrappy. Why is Alfonso Soriano getting the most votes for the All-Star Game? And an even better question, why is he getting more votes than Bret Boone? Defensively, Boone is the best in the AL (check the stats). I wish people in the "media hotbed" would take the time to recognize the outstanding defense that Boonie plays night in and night out. He turns a double play like nobody's business and is a virtual net at second base. Now, comparing offensive stats with Soriano, as of today (June 17): Boone has a 35-point higher average, is tied with the leadoff man in runs, is one behind Soriano in hits, is tied in HRs, has 11 more RBIs, better SLG, OBP, and OPS. All this with pitcher-friendly Safeco as his home. C'mon people, wake up. -- Floyd Wagner, Everett, Wash. Yep, Floyd. Boone is kicking Soriano's butt. Fans need to look at the stats and not just the uniform if this All-Star thing is to be taken seriously. Boone has had the better first half by far. I had Boone as my AL second baseman in my All-Star picks a week or so ago. And nothing's happened to change my mind. Whiny umps drive me nuts, too, but I think they are right on this one. The calling of balls and strikes is a judgment call. I realize that the rules are written for it to be an objective call, but the reality is, the calls are subjective. It is an intrinsic part of the game for there to be some variation on the calls. Subtle nuances like that are a part of the game and have been for decades. Baseball has a rich legacy of being a human sport. Judgment calls have been a part of the game and should remain exactly thus. The computer grading system was a bad idea from the get go and should be scrapped as such. -- Doug Angel I like the idea of QuesTec. The application of it is flawed, considering it's not even in half the parks. And there may be some technical problems with it, too. But I think it eventually will improve umpiring, and that makes the game better for everyone. Keep the umps. Keep the judgment calls they make (every pitch is a judgment call). But there's nothing wrong with putting something in place to show the umps how accurate they are in calling balls and strikes, something to try to make them better at it. You mean to tell me, that Roger Clemens has no say in what cap he wears in the Hall of Fame? It is HIS work, HIS sweat, HIS practice, that EARNED him the right to be in the Hall of Fame, not some condescending [BLEEEP] who sit in their air-conditioned booths and offices. It is absolute arrogance to proclaim that the Rocket can't have a say and only the Hall can be objective. He knows himself, his career and his numbers better than anyone. I am not saying Clemens should have the only say, but he should have a say. -- L. Dillman, Clovis, Calif. Yeah, he's having his say, all right. I have a feeling we may hear plenty on this from Clemens, and others, over the next few years. It's kind of silly, really. Clemens is going in with whatever cap, and his whole career will be honored. The point is, the Hall is a museum. It's there to accurately chronicle the game of baseball and its place in society. The good and the bad. The popular and unpopular. If you have the people in the game determining how they are portrayed, the accuracy starts to suffer. As far as the Hall itself, I don't think the people there are being condescending. They're thinking of the proper portrayal of history. It's too bad if their goals differ with Clemens'. I think the Hall should honor the wishes of each player because the Hall is just a building without the people enshrined therein. Anyone else, including you and I, are just fans with biases built in, and should therefore stay out of it. -- Jim Pagano, Hopewell Township, N.J. Again, to me, it comes down to the accurate portrayal of history. I've got a solution to the Clemens Cap Crisis. Well, two really. He can just put it out to the highest bidder (which he has shown he is very adept at or, simply put a cap on his bust that has big gold $$ sign. He was, is and always will be a mercenary ball player, a hired gun. -- Kevin T. O'Neill, Vancouver, B.C. I'm almost sure, if it were up to Clemens, that he would not choose to portray himself that way. John Donovan is a senior writer for SI.com.
Comments? To e-mail Donovan, click here.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Jose Canseco. Shouldn't be a surprise there. The sad story of the one-time speedy slugger took a sadder twist last week when he was arrested after testing positive for steroids, a violation of his probation. He could face up to 15 years in prison. This guy was amazing at one time. Now … just sad.
"I'm the only [other] guy who could hit it into the upper deck, in a Phillies uniform, who has been booed until I can't stand it anymore, and gone to the plate with anxiety kicking to the point where I'm swinging at the pitch before the pitcher pitches it."
