Rally Monkey?
This is a little random, but hey, whatever works.
Anyone who watched the Phillies swing the bat yesterday realized their swing needed something.
Maybe more torque.
Instead, they’re bringing more Tork. Peter Tork, who was to the Monkees what Ringo was to the Beatles, will show off his 60-something singing skills (will he play his own instrument?) in the 7th inning of today’s game, crooning “God Bless America,” or as he apparently said in one interview (h/t the WIP Morning Show), “God Save America,” which I think was originally done by the Sex Pistols.
Tork has been making the rounds. He performed at the Red Sox pep rally on Monday. That made a little sense, since Tork is from New England originally.
But as far as I’m aware, the former TV star doesn’t have any Philly ties. I just hope he doesn’t miss any notes. Nobody wants to see an old Monkey (Monkee??) get booed.
September 25th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Ward, I think the discrepancy between Young’s RBIs and Pedroia’s can be easily explained. Young is often slated at fifth in the lineup, a prime RBI posish, even on the D-Rays. Pedroia is often hitting second in Boston’s lineup, which is already a worse slot in terms of batting in runs, but becomes an abysmal spot to rack up ribbies when you consider that the man he’s hitting behind is Julio Lugo, who has a season OBP of under .300. In simple terms, Pedroia often comes up to bat with no one to knock in! Meanwhile, he’s one of the toughest players to strike out in the game. Not among rookies—but among ALL PLAYERS, even wily veterans who should know better than to chase pitches wildly outside the strike zone, yes-I-am-talking-to-you-Jason-Varitek. ROY clearly goes to Pedroia. Damn you, Schilling.
As for Sabathia vs Beckett, I think the Cy Young race has tightened over the past couple of weeks. I’m on record as handing it to C.C. before, but he’s still stuck on 18 wins, with seven losses. Beckett is now 20 and 6. Yes, Sabathia has been more durable—but otherwise, their numbers are very comparable this afternoon–on K’s, walks, ERA, HR allowed, BAA and WHIP. At this point I’d have to say it’s a tossup. It comes down to: What’s more important to you? More innings pitched or more wins?
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September 25th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Green, I still think Sabathia will end up w/ the Cy. But it will obviously come down to the final game of the season.
And we both agree about Pedroia. I just don’t understand why Schilling doesn’t see that Pedroia is the Rookie of the Year.
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September 25th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
I can think of three possibilities for his rationale:
1) He didn’t want to be viewed as biased. He wants people to think he’s fair. And fair obviously means not giving credit to those who deserve it.
2) Schill doesn’t believe in percentages, only in absolutes. SLG and OBP mean absolutely nothing to him. What does matter in his mind are things like the strength of his goblin’s axe in Everquest (expressed in whole numbers, obviously).
3) Curt Schilling has no rationale for anything.
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September 25th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
He pretty clearly says in his post “Rules were that we could vote for players in the AL only and no one on your own team.”
So yeah, that NO ONE ON YOUR OWN TEAM part kind of negates this thing.
Schilling can be a douche, but lets call him a douche only when he actually deserves it…
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September 25th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
To quote the “hysterical” cavemen, “next time, try doing a little research”. Jeez.
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September 25th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Ladies and gentlemen, your 2007 Illiterate Blogger of the Year, Coley Ward!
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September 25th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Schilling gets a pass on Pedroia (and both Coley and Red Monster get a black mark) due to the rule of not voting for anyone on your team.
Re: Beckett. After looking at the stats, I think I have to agree with him.
Not only has CC started 4 additional games, he’s pitched 40 more innings than Beckett, while maintaining a comparable ERA and WHIP. His K/BB ratio is better.
The real kicker is CC has thrown 4 complete games, including 1 shutout, this year. Beckett has thrown 1 complete game, with no shutouts.
Beckett has put up great numbers, but better? I don’t think so.
I’d say his rationale was just fine.
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September 25th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Players aren’t allowed to vote for their own team’s players, hence Schilling’s lack of Red Sox.
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September 25th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Hmmm…yeah, totally my bad. How embarrassing.
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September 26th, 2007 at 12:06 am
Rich, we’ve discussed CC vs Beckett (vs Wang) extensively in other comment threads, so I won’t go into it again here. That said, 20 wins is a difficult milestone to ignore.
Other commentors and Coley, it should be noted that in Schill’s blog, he describes these awards as “the Sporting News Players Choice awards.” So for the purposes of this exercise, which has even less relevance than the Iowa straw poll, yes, the players couldn’t vote for their own teammates. It should be noted that for the real awards, the voting is done by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
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September 26th, 2007 at 12:35 am
Carlos Pena over Dmitri Young for CBOTY? Whatever you say Schill…Can a player that has a nearly identical BA as he did the season before still be considered a comeback?
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September 26th, 2007 at 1:22 am
Mike J.,
I forgot batting average was the only measure for comeback player of the year.
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September 26th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
“Carlos Pena over Dmitri Young for CBOTY? Whatever you say Schill…Can a player that has a nearly identical BA as he did the season before still be considered a comeback?”
Do any of you retards actually read the blog post?
Unless the Washington Nationals magically appear in the AL, Curt Schilling can’t pick them.
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September 26th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Clearly the rules for this meaningless exercise are confusing to more than one reader. But while we may sometimes argue passionately, even vehemently, on UmpBump, there’s no need for namecalling. There are plenty of other blogs out there for that kind of thing.
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September 26th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
You “don’t get how he could vote for Young over Pedroia”? Perhaps you should do your best to, you know, READ. From 38Pitches:
“Yesterday we had the opportunity to vote on another set of awards. This time it was the Sporting News Players Choice awards. Rules were that we could vote for players in the AL only and no one on your own team.”
… Can’t vote for teammates, dumbasses.
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September 26th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Matt, not only do you get the prize for ignoring my comment about namecalling (see my comment, immediately above yours), you get a special certificate for adding absolutely nothing new with this comment (see half the other comments on this page).
I think I’m going to cry “spam” and just unapprove any more comments that either a) just repeat the fact that Schilling couldn’t vote for his own teammates, since we’ve already covered that extensively, or b) call people retards, dumbasses, or any other sixth-grade pejoratives.
Enough already.
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