The right mix of sharp veterans and eager Baby Backs signals a playoff return
Opponents had a .307 slugging percentage against rookie Brandon Webb last year, lowest in the majors.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Diamondbacks
CF Finley2B AlomarLF Gonzalez1B SexsonSS Cintron3B HillenbrandRF BautistaC Hammock
In this one-star system the supporting players will make or break the season
Barry Bonds's OBP topped .500 for the third time, a feat only Ted Williams (three) and Babe Ruth (five) achieved.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Giants
2B Durham1B SnowCF GrissomLF Bonds3B AlfonzoRF TuckerC PierzynskiSS Perez
Here's what's new: the ballpark and the staff ace, good ol' David Wells
David Wells's 0.85 walks per nine innings last season were the fewest since Greg Maddux averaged 0.77 in 1997
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Padres
3B Burroughs2B LorettaRF Giles1B NevinLF KleskoCF PaytonC HernandezSS Greene
With a new G.M. and a team in decline, rebuilding plans are in the works
The Dodgers' .368 slugging percentage last season was the lowest in the major leagues in 10 years.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Dodgers
CF RobertsSS Izturis3B BeltreRF GreenC Lo DucaLF EncarnacionIB Ventura2B Cora
A converted starter fills the void at closer, but will he get leads to protect?
Last year Todd Helton was the first player since 2000 to have 200 hits and 100 walks. He also did it in 2000.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Rockies
2B MilesSS Clayton1B HeltonCF WilsonRF Walker3B CastillaLF BurnitzC Johnson
You have to go to the back of the rotation to find a question mark on this club
Jason Giambi fanned 140 times in '03, becoming the first Yankee to lead the AL since Mickey Mantle in 1960.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Yankees
SS JeterDH Williams3B Rodriguez1B GiambiRF SheffieldLF MatsuiC Posada2B WilsonCF Lofton
All the pieces are in place, so the burden falls on nice guy Terry Francona
Pedro Martinez led the American League in ERA and opponents' batting average in each of the last two seasons.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Red Sox
CF Damon3B MuellerLF RamirezSS GarciaparraDH Ortiz1B MillarRF NixonC Varitek2B Reese
Bargains or busts? A season rides on an overhauled pitching staff
Roy Halladay struck out 6.38 batters for every one he walked, the best rate among starting pitchers in '03.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Blue Jays
RF JohnsonLF CatalanottoCF Wells1B DelgadoDH Phelps3B Hinske2B HudsonSS WoodwardC Cash
Javy Lopez adds punch with his bat, but it's how he handles this staff that's key
Last season Javy Lopez led the majors with a ratio of one home run per 11.5 plate appearances.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Orioles
2B Roberts3B MoraSS Tejada1B PalmeiroC LopezRF GibbonsDH SurhoffLF BigbieCF Matos
April 05, 2004
The * EraIs Baseball in the Asterisk Era ? (March 15). Yes, when every athlete who takes steroids puts his "ass to risk" in a shortsighted chase of glory and cash. Henry Aaron is still my idea of...
April 05, 2004
LETTERS
A longtime doormat builds a formidable lineup, but it's not enough to move up
Last year Victor Zambrano became the first pitcher managed by Lou Piniella to walk 100 batters (106).
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Devil Rays
LF CrawfordSS LugoCF BaldelliDH HuffRF Cruz1B Martinez3B BlumC Hall2B Sanchez
Hopes for a division threepeat rest heavily on a new closer's right shoulder
Johan Santana held opponents to a .165 average with runners in scoring position, lowest for any AL pitcher in '03.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Twins
LF Stewart2B Rivas1B MientkiewiczCF HunterRF Jones3B KoskieDH LeCroyC MauerSS Guzman
Two huge holes to plug: the top of the order and the top of the rotation
In 230 innings last year runners attempted only five steals against Mark Buehrle and succeeded once.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the White Sox
2B HarrisSS ValentinRF OrdoñezDH ThomasLF Lee1B Konerko3B CredeCF RowandC Olivo
Will Juan Gonzalez be able to put this mostly anonymous team over the top?
Juan Gonzalez was one of two players in 2003 with 10 more HRs (24) than walks (14). Javy Lopez (43, 33) was the other.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Royals
SS BerroaCF BeltranDH SweeneyRF Gonzalez3B RandaC SantiagoLF Guiel1B Harvey2B Relaford
Self-made power hitter Jody Gerut puts some muscle in the rebuilding project
Switch-hitter Milton Bradley led the AL last season with a .500 on-base percentage versus lefties.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Indians
LF LawtonSS VizquelRF GerutCF BradleyC MartinezDH Hafner3B Blake1B Broussard2B Belliard
The goal of an off-season spending spree? For now, mere respectability
Last year Detroit pitchers struck out 4.78 hitters per nine innings, the lowest rate in the majors since 1992.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Tigers
CF Sanchez2B ViñaC RodriguezDH YoungLF WhiteRF Higginson1B Peña3B MunsonSS Guillen
Playoff aspirations could die on the vine if Jermaine Dye doesn't bounce back
Oakland's 3.02 ERA at home last year was more than a half run lower than the AL's next best: Seattle's 3.54.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Athletics
CF Kotsay2B Ellis3B ChavezRF DyeDH Durazo1B HattebergLF KieltyC MillerSS Crosby
Jose Guillen looks like the bargain on the best team Arte Moreno could buy
For the second straight season the Angels were the majors' toughest team to strike out (838 times last year).
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Angels
SS Eckstein1B ErstadRF GuerreroCF Anderson3B GlausLF GuillenDH SalmonC Molina2B Kennedy
Can Freddy Garcia keep his focus and become the ace this staff needs?
Ryan Franklin gave up 34 home runs in 212 innings last year, but he allowed only 59 other runners to score.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Mariners
RF SuzukiCF Winn2B BooneLF IbañezDH Martinez3B Spiezio1B OlerudSS Auriliac Wilson
Even if Alfonso Soriano hits like A-Rod, the pitching won't lift them out of last
Texas relievers set a big league record with 601⅓ innings pitched, beating the old mark of 599⅓ by the '77 Mariners.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Rangers
SS M. Young3B Blalock2B SorianoDH Fullmer1B TeixeiraRF JordanLF MenchCF NixC Laird
April 05, 2004
We ranked the position players in the major leagues from I (the best) to 425 and the pitchers from 1 to 400, based on our projections of their statistical production this season. The categories...
April 05, 2004
College Football
The Bill Callahan era at Nebraska opens with a crash course in passing
Sylvester Croom, Mississippi StateThe SEC's first black head football coach takes over a team that has finished last in the SEC West three years in a row.
Enough Innuendo. Let's name names. It's time to embrace McCarthyism—Charlie McCarthyism—and expose those in baseball who are so unmuscled, so fungo-bat skinny, so ventriloquist's-dummy diminutive...
Maurice Cheeks is getting signals that the Blazers want him to leave
On the allure of NCAA tournament stars at draft time:
The improbable addition of center Petr Nedved has revived Edmonton
Referees are furious at union head Bob Goodenow for comments he made to The Toronto Sun, saying that players think the game is officiated too loosely and thus feel the need to police themselves....
In Boston he is known as Aaron (F——-') Boone, cousin to Bucky (F——-') Dent.
Martha Burk won't be protesting at Augusta National during next week's Masters. But one way or the other, she figures in Hootie Johnson's future
April 05, 2004
Ex-athlete with eating disorder successfully sues coach
April 05, 2004
While approximately half of Justin Miller's body is covered by tattoos—and he's vowed to fill the empty spaces—only a few small ones adorn his right arm. Nonetheless, after hitters complained that...
Todd Bertuzzi's banishment hasn't slowed down the mayhem in the NHL
April 05, 2004
DOES THIS STORY SOUND FAMILIAR?A runty racehorse has captured the imagination of a country that has fallen on economic hard times. Fans pack her races, and books and DVDs about her fly off the...
2,219Saves this season for Florida goalie Roberto Luongo, breaking the NHL single-season record held by Felix Potvin.
April 05, 2004
DiedOf injuries sustained in a car accident near Miami, Matthew Gribble, 41, an Olympic swimmer and former world-record holder in the 100-meter butterfly. In 1982 Gribble upset heavily favored...
Won
April 05, 2004
Padres pitcher and rocket scientist Jason Szuminski, 25, is trying to become the majors' first MIT grad. How is he doing? SI's Szuminskimeter tells all.
April 05, 2004 | Bill Scheft
Before we begin, did you read where the Pope wants people to stop watching sports on Sunday? Sounds like somebody had Xavier only going one round....
The 92-year-old chairman of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo., offers some diamond thoughts.
April 05, 2004
It was a split decision in the Taylor household last weekend as March Madness met March Badness. On Saturday night in Little Rock, 25-year-old Jermaine (Bad Intentions) Taylor (20-0) scored a TKO...
April 05, 2004
No, it's not a deleted scene from the Clash of the Titans DVD. That's actress Thalia Prokopiou, dressed in the white robe of a high priestess, lighting the Olympic torch. Prokopiou used the sun's...
April 05, 2004
A sofa and a chair from the hotel room Kobe Bryant stayed in the night he allegedly assaulted a Colorado woman are being sold by a Denver furniture dealer.
April 05, 2004
CHI CHI RODRIGUEZGolfer, on what it is like to play with a U.S. president: "They yell fore, shoot 6 and write down 5."
WHAT TO WATCH AND WATCH FOR
April 05, 2004 | Sridhar Pappu
•STELLAR DEBUTThe biggest star of the women's NCAA tournament hasn't played a single minute. Rookie ESPN analyst Kara Lawson, a guard for the WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs, has been so impressive in...
April 05, 2004
Tiffany Hodgens, SAN DIEGOWater PoloHodgens, a senior attacker at UC Davis, scored 10 goals in three games on March 6, bringing her career total to 330 goals, the most ever by a woman college...
April 05, 2004
To submit a candidate for Faces in the Crowd, go to SI.com/faces.
Once the most important event in boxing, the Chicago Golden Gloves still puts on an entertaining—if smaller-time—show
For more about sports in Illinois and the other 49 states, go to si.com/50.
There was no thrill like going to Wrigley to watch the original Hammerin' Hank
Illinoisians weigh in on sports*
To read an SI Flashback story about the Bears' Super Bowl XX triumph, view a gallery of every Michael Jordan cover or vote for the greatest moment in Chicago sports history, go to...
To win the NCAA championship, each of the remaining teams will require a peak performance from its indispensable player
Final Four reports from Seth Davis, Stewart Mandel, John O'Keefe, B.J. Schecter and Phil Taylor, at si.com/basketball/ncaa.
These guys take and make the shots that can cut a team's heart out
April 05, 2004
To sign up for Sports Illustrated's free subscriber-only e-mail newsletter, go to sicustomerservice.com/siextra.
April 05, 2004
All the news from Alamo City: complete coverage of the Final Four, including daily on-the-scene analysis by SI writers in San Antonio, at si.com/basketball/ncaa.
April 05, 2004
BIG EASTIn a fitting follow-up to their epic series of battles last season, the Yankees and the Red Sox (here, at Fenway in August) renew hostilities early in 2004 with weekend series April 16-19...
Baseball's conventional wisdom is taking a beating from a new stat-crazy culture that turns the numbers inside out
Cost-effective and statistically solid, the face of the information age is...Frank Catalanotto?
A comparison of 2004 salaries and 2003 production for these AL leftfielders reveals Frank Catalanotto's bang for the buck
These teams made the right moves in their search for affordable additions
The American league long ago picked up the reputation of being more of a breaking-ball league than the National, in which pitchers were said to be more likely to challenge hitters with fastballs....
Why OBP and OPS are very hot, and batting average and RBIs are out of style
More on baseball's stat services plus scores, team schedules, complete rosters and analysis from Tom Verducci at si.com/baseball.
The Bolsheviks of baseball's information revolution are the three dozen staffers of Baseball Prospectus, a think tank-website that subjects the game's conventional wisdom to the cold light of...
April 05, 2004
Regional InterestUConn center Jessica Moore and UC Santa Barbara guard April McDivitt (10) scramble for a loose ball while Jenna Green (33) and Kristen Mann pursue the play during the NCAA East...
Not in the stats community—but don't try telling that to the guys on the field
The charts below list the hitters who were the best in late-inning pressure situations, or LIPS, in 2003 and those who were the best over their careers (among players who debuted in the majors in...
SI senior writer Tom Verducci picks the top 10 alltime clutch at bats.
Where will the numbers game go in the future? Beyond hitting and pitching
They are the new breed of front-office executives: fresh, Ivy League-educated faces of Generation Google, men who often have less impressive baseball credentials than Garth Brooks. For a stat-head...
The skipper of the world champs uses stats, sure, but relies more on his eyes and gut
A fielder makes a spectacular play and then leads off the next inning. Since the dawn of baseball, it's been a common occurrence. Or has it?
April 05, 2004
How We Rank Them
A stronger bullpen creates pennant possibilities—if cooler heads prevail
Bobby Abreu (2,999) and Jim Thome (2,873) ranked first and third in the majors in pitches seen last year.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Phillies
CF Byrd2B Polanco1B ThomeLF BurrellRF AbreuC LieberthalSS Rollins3B Bell
This time the defending champs have a fighting chance to return to the playoffs
Juan Pierre made contact with 94% of the pitches he swung at in '03, the best rate in baseball.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Marlins
CF Pierre2B CastilloRF Cabrera3B LowellLF ConineIB ChoiC CastroSS Gonzalez
A weakened lineup and a shaky rotation spell the end of a divisional dynasty
Rafael Furcal was the only major leaguer to score more than half the times he reached base last year (50.6%).
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Braves
SS Furcal2B GilesLF C. JonesCF A. JonesRF DrewIB LaRocheC Estrada3B DeRosa
The franchise may be going places, but one stop won't be the postseason
No other hitter saw more pitches per plate appearance last year than Brad Wilkerson, who averaged 4.37
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Expos
CF Bergeron2B Vidro1B JohnsonRF EverettSS CabreraLF Wilkerson3B BatistaC Schneider
A club sees the errors of its ways and makes itself stronger up the middle
Mike Piazza is the alltime leader among catchers (min. 5,000 ABs) in slugging percentage (.572) and OPS (.959).
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Mets
SS Matsui2B ReyesLF FloydC PiazzaCF CameronIB PhillipsRF Garcia3B Wigginton
Fortune will finally smile on a club that made all the right off-season moves
Kerry Wood (6.48), Matt Clement (7.54) and Mark Prior (7.79) were all in the NL's top 10 in fewest hits alllowed per nine innings.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Cubs
2B GrudzielanekCF PattersonRF SosaLF Alou3B Ramirez1B LeeSS GonzalezC Barrett
With a quality rotation in place, the pressure's on the bullpen to hold up its end
Last season Roger Clemens, Roy Oswalt and Andy Pettitte each had a 3:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Astros
CF BiggioSS Everett1B Bagwell2B KentLF BerkmanRF Hidalgo3B EnsbergC Ausmus
A loaded lineup won't be enough in the suddenly strong-armed Central
St. Louis set a team record in '03 with 570 extra-base hits, surpassing the 1930 Gashouse Gang's 566.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Cardinals
2B HartLF Lankford1B PujolsCF Edmonds3B RolenSS RenteriaRF SandersC Matheny
There's not much hope until boppers like Adam Dunn start to hit for average
Cory Lidle and Tigers 21-game loser Mike Maroth tied for the most earned runs allowed last season (123).
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Reds
2B JimenezSS LarkinCF GriffeyRF Kearns1B CaseyLF Dunn3B LarsonC LaRue
Not even another successful reclamation project can save this sorry club
Ben Sheets surrendered the most hits (469) and second-most runs (227) in the NL over the past two seasons.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Brewers
CF Podsednik2B Spivey1B OverbayLF JenkinsRF Grieve3B HelmsSS CounsellC Moeller
For young outfielders, starting roles are abundant (minimal experience needed)
Raul Mondesi's six 20 HR-20 SB seasons are more than any other active player's except Barry Bonds's 10.
an opposing team's scout sizes up the Pirates
CF RedmanSS J. WilsonC KendallRF Mondesi1B SimonLF Bay3B Stynes2B Hill
