Week 2 Column
Ahhhh, the beautiful days of September, with just a hint of chill in the air ant not a worry in the world. Well, except I guess for the real estate market's collapse an inability to get up, the complete destruction of our financial markets, and losing a brutal game to the Cowboys last night. Here are a few observations from the world of sports:
- The Milwaukee Brewers have not made the playoffs since 1982 for more than one reason. But one of them is clearly incompetent leadership in their front office, which, of course, all stems from the fact that the team is owned by the Selig family. How can you possibly fire your manager with 12 games to go when you are tied for the wild card lead? Preposterous. And to replace him with Dale Sveum? Ask any Red Sox fan about the wisdom of that move….
- Speaking of teams trying their best to make sure the Phillies make the layoffs for their second straight year, the Mets do not seem like they want to grab this NL East division by the throat. At least Mets fans can feel comforted knowing that no matter what happens, last year’s stretch drive was worse.
- Is anyone on board for my Brad Lidge/Manny Ramirez first and second in the NL MVP voting? I didn’t think so….but I am right!!!
- What people are saying about Mike Shanahan now that his decision to go for the win with a 2 point conversion instead of playing for overtime worked (versus what they would have said if it failed): Mike Shanahan is the gutsiest (most idiotic) coach in NFL history. To play for the win shows how much confidence he has in his offense (that he thinks his defense sucks) and he should be handed coach of the year (fired) right now.
- So in two weeks, San Diego lost a game as time expired, and then on a horrendous call followed by a 4th down and 2 point conversions. Does anybody else think this is just bad karma that Norv Turner creates? And, hello? You do realize, Norv, that you have LaDanian Tomlinson on your team, right?
- Speaking of the Chargers, they should be able to not pay Shawne Merriman for the entire season. He was advised by multiple doctors after last season to get surgery which may have enabled him to play this year. Instead, he shunned the suggestions of medical professionals and cost himself the entire season.
- I think the Eagles fans are headed for a mostly love with some violent hate relationship with DeSean Jackson. This kid is clearly very talented, but he will do just enough stupid things such as dropping the ball on the one yard line instead of holding it into the end zone that he will drive people nuts at times.
- Speaking of Eagle fans, why is it that after 10 years, people still do not appreciate Donovan McNabb and how good he is. Other than Tom Brady and Payton Manning, has there been a better QB in the league during McNabb’s 10 years? And, yes, he made two bad plays last night (taking the sack and that double pump handoff), but the team scored 37 freaking points (30 on offense). Is that not good enough to win a game? It amazes me that people still bash D-Mac every chance they get. Even Mike Schmidt, the king of the cool relationship with the fans, was revered by this point in his career…..
- Who do you think the best team in Missouri. The Chiefs are woeful on their best days. The Rams aspire to horrendous. Don’t count out the Missouri Tigers in a three team battle royale. Chase Daniels, Jeremy Macklin and company may just be part of the best team in the state, in Columbia.
- I know most of my legions of fans do not give a rat's ass about NASCAR, but for the few that do: don't you get the feeling that if Kyle Busch fades in the Chase after dominating the entire regular season, that he will start taking drivers out right and left, if not take it a step farther and come after Nascar officials with an uzi or machette?
- Less than 30 days until college hoops practice starts!!!
I will be back later in the week with some fascinating thoughts on something or other...
posted by Dils @ 9/16/2008 02:49:00 PM
10 comments
10 Comments:
Very tough loss to get over last night as a Birds fan. I've been a fan long enough to realize that there is always a good 2 or 3 of these types of games per year when they rip your heart out, but nonetheless, it still stings for at least a couple of days every time it happens.
Dils, I completely agree on your McNabb assessment. When the guy is healthy, he is one of the better quarterbacks in the league. He had an outstanding showing last night and reminded me a lot of the old school McNabb with the way he was evading pass rushers last night. However, my only gripe with him throughout the years reared its ugly head last night when he couldn't get it done when it mattered most.
The defense was a huge letdown last night considering I was expecting big things from them this week. The offseason defensive acquisitions that this team made after last season were all designed for games like last night and they failed to prove their worth. The pass rush was absolutely invisible last night which in turn led to the secondary getting beat.
And for good measure can somebody please, please, please get Sean Considine off of this team. If he's not bouncing off 250 pound tight ends he's blowing a coverage deep. The absolute most useless player on this squad.
At that point of Mike Schmidt's career, he won a Worlds Series and was the MVP of the league twice. McNabb has done neither and never will.
Brad Lidge for MVP? insanity. 35 for 35 is awesome but with K-Rod breaking all records in the AL in the same catagory, what Lidge has done is useless in comparison.
Anon:
I disagree with you for a few reasons, taking nothing away from K-Rod's season. First, saves by themselves are an overrated statistic. I mean you can come in with a three run lead, give up two runs, and get a save. Second, K-Rod has blown six saves, Lidge none. K-Rod also has two losses while Lidge has none. But the over-riding factor for me personally is that the Phillies are something like 70-0 when leading after 8 innings. There is no other person in the world, including K-Rod with his 6 blown saves, that would have been able to secure that kind of record for this team. And if they sneak into the playoffs by a game or two, I would argue that Lidge's perfection was more valuable to his team than anyone else was to his team, because ultimately the Phils would have come up just short with anyone else on the back end of their 'pen. Lastly, K-Rod is an AL player, so my picking Lidge for NL MVP was really irrelevant to the discussion, although useful for comparative purposes. I will look forward to your reaction to these comments. Thanks, anon...
Dils
I like ur retort, but here is where you are mistaken:
phils are 70-0 when leading after 8 innings. Fantastic stat. unreal actually. Lidge only has 39 saves. This means in 31 other games, the P's were winning by more than 3 runs and didnt need his services for the night. 70-0 can't be attributed to Brad Lidge. 39-0 can. A player can not get MVP for being spectacular in 38 games.(40 games if you count his wins). Just ask Ryan Howard or Manny Ramirez this year.
just this month alone, Lidge has pitched 4 times when a save situation wasnt warranted. 3 of those games were wins by the phils by 4 runs. Why was he even in the game? Why should he be credited with taking the Phils to the 70-0 stat when they are already up by 4 runs in each game? makes no sense to me.
The 4th game this month he pitched in was vs florida in a loss.
So if Lidge pitches in 31 games when saves are not warranted, the question to ask would be: how many times out of those 31 games would the phils blow a 4 run lead(bc a 4 run lead does not get you a save) after 8 innings in 1 season? I'm guessing none no matter who is pitching.
The bigger picture here is that Lidge is not even the best player on his own team. How in the world can he be MVP of the NL if he isnt statistically better than Ryan Howard or Chase utley?
In 17 of Lidge's saves the Phils won by exactly 1 run. A true measure of a job well done. Holding a 2 or 3 run lead for one inning in 22 other games is great by not amazing by any feat.
In 3 of those 17 one run wins, Lidge gave up at least 1 run, meaning he made it closer than it should have been. So basically, he did his job teriffically for 14 games out of his 39 total saves. Not MVP caliber.
K-rod pitched in 73 games this year. 67 of those games were save opportunities! unreal. He only pitched in 7 games where they basically didnt 'need' him.
Compare that to lidge who was only needed in 39 out of the 69 total games pitched. K-rod feat is much more impressive, even with the blown saves/losses. If Lidge pitches another 30 meaningful games, the odds say he's bound to blow a save or two. More opportunities = more chances to blow a game. hence K-rod's losses/blown saves.
I understand the NL has zero bearing on the AL MVP voting, but comparitively speaking, these 2 players seasons are not even close. One is extraordinary, One is very good. If either are MVP worthy, it's a guy who played saved 67 out of 95 wins(K'rod), not a guy who saved 39 out of 87. Not even close in my humble opinion. But a good debate topic.
If you want to compare Lidge and K-Rod, let's do that...Lidge has pitched one more inning than K-Rod during the season. He has a lower ERA, has given up less hits, less walks, has a better WHIP, has more strikeouts, and has 0 blows saves and losses versus 10 blown saves and losses for K-Rod. Do you think Bobby Thigpen until this season had the best year of any reliever just because he had the most saves? Not even close. Do you think 39 is not a statistically significant sample size? I would be curious to know (and admittedly I do not have this answer) what the highest number of saves in MLB history is without a blown save? And to break down 1 run saves vs. 2 and 3 run saves is irrelevant bacause I would imagine over a sample size that big most historical instances are similar. I take nothing away from K-Rod as a pitcher, for he is excellent, and has had a great year. But Lidge has had a perfect year, even if you discount the team's 74-0 record when leading after the 8th and only use his 39 saves and 2 wins. Bottom line is if the Phillies scrape into the playoffs, any number of blown saves by Lidge would have been too many, certainly the 10 that K-Rod has had. And trust me, as someone who has watched most Phillies games this year, Lidge has been more valuable than Howard and Utley.
So I agree that it is not close. I just like the other side, and just about every number supports my argument.
I think Lidge may have the second most consecutive saves to start a season to Gagne's 55 in 1993. Unbelievable that Gagne saved 84 in a row between 2002-04. And now he can't get anyone out. Arm fell apart or performance enhancers in his peak?
Numbers are what you make of them.
K rod has 67 save opportunities this year.
Lidge has 39.
28 more significant innings. And by signif, I mean when the game is on the line(3 runs or less). Lidge pitching 2/3rds of an inning vs the Brewers last week up 7-3 isn't really significant. We both prolly could have gotten 2 outs without giving up 4 runs.
While I respect ur opinion about Lidge being the most valuable on the Phils, I think you are dead wrong here. In the biggest series of the year so far(Brewers 4 game sweep), Lidge recorded 1 save up 3 runs. He basically wasnt needed all series since they beat the brewers by at least 3 runs every game. Ryan Howard, in the last month alone has basically carried the phils with a .354 avr, .421 OBP, slugging at .892 with 9 homers and 27 rbi's in only 18 games. Without him during this stretch, the phils are not in contention.
Same goes for Chase Utley during the first month or so of the season. He single handedly kept the phils afloat at the top of division with his torrid April.
To further my point and prolly the only point that matters in any MVP decision, is whether or not Lidge will get more votes then either Howard or Utley for NL MVP. The baseball writers certainly are more of an authority then either you or I, no matter how many games we watch or go to of our team. I'm willing to wager that ryan howard AND chase Utley both get more votes for NL MVP then Brad Lidge bc their seasons were better than his and bc they are the Phillies MVP this season.
Also, if Lidge had blown the average number of saves as the other top closers which is prolly 3 or 4, the Phillies would still be right in the hunt for the wildcard.
Its kinda funny how the mets lose Wagner who is 1 of the top closers in MLB and they got better as a team. Closer is way overrated, especially when the 'first place mets' are doing it with luis ayala and his 5+ era and 6 blown saves. Just goes to show that a closer will never again and should never win a league MVP bc they are not as valuable as an everyday player.
you state:
"Bottom line is if the Phillies scrape into the playoffs, any number of blown saves by Lidge would have been too many, certainly the 10 that K-Rod has had."
Mets current closer: 9 losses and 6 blown saves. 15 games total that he has cost his team and the mets are more than alive right? I'm just saying...
closer is usually an overrated position, as evidenced by K-rod, who has not even had one of his better years, yet breaks a meaningless record
on the other hand, lidge has been PERFECT and is the main reason -- considering their bullpen woes in past years -- that Philly is in first place. think tom gordon os years past, ok.
Lidge being perfect has no bearing on this arguement. The arguement was, does Lidge deserve the NL MVP, not is lidge better than K-rod.
The Phillies haven't had bullpen woes in a few years. Myers did fine last year. Wagner was a stud when he was here. The Phillies are in first place only because the Mets bullpen is atrocious and has cost the mets at least 18 games this year, not to mention Willie Randolph his job.
If anyone actually thinks Lidge deserves the MVP over an everyday productive player, that person really has no baseball intelligence.
Lidge is great but he is a product of the Phillies offense and rarely has to close a tight game.
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