MLB Report
In my opinion there were three big news items from baseball this week, and at
least two of them will not be new news to most of you. But the biggest one of
them in the overall scope of baseball was Roger Clemens getting his 300th win
and 4,000th strikeout in the same game. Clemens beat the Cardinals 5 to 2 Friday
and became the 21st pitcher in MLB history to record number 300. Being the 21st
to accomplish this feat, he's tied with Lefty Grove and Early Wynn for 19th on
the list. Clemens needs 7 more to pass Mickey Welch, 9 to pass Charley Radbourn,
and 11 to pass Tom Seaver. Getting 11 more may be a tall order for him unless
the Yankees make some serious improvements to the bullpen. I suppose if he won
every start for the rest of the year he could pass Gaylord Perry at 314, but
that is very unlikely. He became only the 3rd pitcher to reach 4,000 K's with
only Steve Carlton (4,136) and Nolan Ryan (5,714) ahead of him. He has an
outside shot at passing Carlton, but he'll have to be sharp the rest of the way.
In other news, Roy Oswalt, Pete Munro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel,
and Billy Wagner no-hit the Yankees last Wednesday. It was the first time the
Yankees had gone hitless since 1958. Certainly a six-pitcher no-no is less
impressive than a one-man gig, but it still takes a lot to hold any team hitless
for 9 innings, especially a team with the kind of hitters New York has. The
Atlanta Braves/Seattle Mariners series was the other big story of the week,
although you wouldn't know based on the TV coverage. FOX TV left the Braves/M's
game to pick up the rain delayed Cardinals/Yankees game for their national
broadcast. I don't know what the folks in the Northwest got to seebut here in
the South (an area that is very much devoted to the Braves) Fox felt we would be
more interested in the Yankees (who we generally hate) and the Cardinals (who we
generally ignore). On top of the market issues relating to the South, the series
was between the best team in the NL against the best team in the AL. There is no
way that the Yankees/Cardinals was a better game or a more attractive series -
especially since the news from that series (Clemens) happened the day before. I
know this has turned into a rant from a bitter Mariners fan, but come on! The
M's have had the best record in the AL for 3 or 4 weeks now, and we still have
to fight for press. You might hear a word about them right after the "What's
Wrong with the Yankees" story. Interleague play takes a break the first of next
week and resumes this weekend with the first of two "Geographic Rival" weekends.
We'll get to see exciting matchups in the Bay area (A's and Giant's), The Windy
City Classic (Cubs and White Sox), a Sub way series (Mets and Yankees), and
other compelling matchups like the Rowdy and Nasty Fan contest between the
Philles and Red Sox. Then there's the brainless Geographic matchups like Detroit
vs. Colorado and an I-5 extremeties series between Seattle and San Diego. Can
you even wait?