History

I'm not a fan of the Resident Evil series, nor of very many RPG's. But, as I thought about my many years as a Cubs fan, I compare it to a meeting with Dr. Salvador.

For the uninitiated, or the few people who pretend they don't care, Dr. Salvador is the giant guy with the chainsaw in Resident Evil Four.

Among other things he can do besides cut your head off, he can teleport to the top of a ladder you're climbing and cut your head off, he can teleport ahead of you and cut your head off, he can break down the door of a room you're in and cut your head off-notice a pattern?

What young sports fan didn't love going to get a pack of baseball cards after a long school or summer day for a very cheap price?

I certainly did and I believe you all did to.  Cards had a big impact on my life as a kid; for example, when I got a sweet insert or jersey-piece of my favorite player I would go crazy.  I loved to get the latest issues of Beckket Sports Card Monthly to check the price of the card I had just received.

Do you consider yourself a hardcore fan of baseball history? Is your head filled with frivolous information such as the time of day the "shot heard round the world" occurred?

I like to consider myself to be somewhat knowledgeable concerning the more important things that has taken place in MLB history. Being a graduate of Old School, it is hard to think that instead of younger fans knowing who has hit the most home runs in All-Star game history, they are more concerned with who has the best VORP.

The Dodgers have most of what it takes to enter, or even win, the World Series. But they need to be more "clutch."

FanGraphs had them ranked first in National League teams in raw hitting ability for 2009. But they were behind the Phillies in batting "win probability." Meaning that the Phillies had fewer hits, but hit more when it counted. Sound familiar from the NCLS?

FanGraphs also had the Dodgers ranked first in Major League baseball in raw pitching. But the Dodgers' "clutch" value was a MINUS 1.84, putting them seventh in pitching "win probability."

The decline of the Cleveland Indians over the past two years, from playoff contender in 2007, to league average in 2008, to cellar dweller in 2009, has been perhaps the most dramatic in the major leagues.

And it (mostly) came from a different source than I thought.

Indian batters tend to be among the better ones in the league on traditional metrics, even in 2009. But their contribution hovers around league average because they aren't very clutch.

Ah, here we are yet again, sports fans: the offseason.

Just a week after the Yankees won their 27th World Series trophy, the baseball world is itching and ready to go for next April, when our stars will finally take the field again for another season of America's Pastime.

Of course, not all is quiet in the land of baseball from November to March, and teams are shuffling both players and coaches to try to stand where the Yankees do now in 12 short months. Everyone has a plan to get them into October 2010 and beyond.

Year: 1999

Record: 69-92

Win Percentage: .429

Win Percentage Change: +.028

Run Differential: -135

Pythagorean Record: 68-93

AL Finish: 11th of 14

Manager: Larry Parrish

Best Transaction: Traded Bryce Florie to the Boston Red Sox for Mike Maroth

I am sure you have heard the ages old adage, "If you can't play, coach." I have been hearing that from the time I followed the sport in the late 1950s.

Can it be true? I mean, you can look at teams all across the fruited plain who are replete with hitting coaches who barely batted above the Mendoza line .

Remember 1997? Spice Girls. Titanic. The Simpsons (back when it was still good). And Ken Griffey Jr.

Ok, so maybe Griffey wasn’t a pop culture icon like Baby Spice, Leo, or Homer J(ay), but he was the unquestioned king of baseball.

He hit home runs. He made great plays. He smiled. He had fun playing. We had fun watching.

Griffey was the type of superstar professional sports yearn for. Yes, he was a little cocky with his home run strut, but what star athlete isn’t?

Griffey had a presence.

Some months ago, I found some old news articles on John Wetteland's playing days and assembled them into a post on his personality during his teens, as well as his time with the Dodgers and Yankees, in 1989 and 1990, then again in 1995.

Today's news about him calls for a need to understand something about his past and how it likely relates to his hospitalization in Texas.