Thinking of Knucksie
11/27/2009 at 12:31 pm | In nostalgia | 2 Comments
The day after Thanksgiving is, in my opinion, the busiest shopping day of the year. — Peggy Hill
That has nothing to do with Phil Niekro. I mention it only because today is the day after Thanksgiving and because it’s funny.
On to Phillip, which is also appropos of nothing. It’s just that I love looking at his stats, and I haven’t written anything here since Jordan Shafer played center field.
How about this four-year stretch that Knucksie built from 1977 through 1980 — on Bravos clubs that lost 101, 93, 94 and 80 games:
- 77-80, 3.48 ERA
- 167 starts (avg. 42 a season)
- 76 complete games, 46 percent of his starts.
Dressed to the 9s, innings that is
So in a four-year stretch, Knucksie completed basically every otherstart. By comparison, over the past four seasons the Braves as a team have 12 complete games, or one for every 54 starts.
He averaged 320 innings pitched in those seasons. OK, a knuckle ball doesn’t shred an arm like fastballs and split-fingers. Still. The man put in an honest day’s work every, not fifth day, not fourth day — Niekro started once every 3.9 games from 1977 – ‘80. Splitting hairs, but it’s pretty amazing.
Knucksie’s only 85th on the career CG list, with 245, but that includes guys from the 1800s. Only four contemporaries had more complete games than Niekro: Gaylord Perry, Fergie Jenkins, Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton, in order.
Among pitchers Baseball Reference considers active, the leader in CGs is Randy Johnson with 100, fewer than half Niekro’s total. The drop to second place is huge. No 2. is Glavine at 56. Smoltz is third at 53. Maddux had 109.
–CD
Fay Vincent on ‘roid users, gamblers
11/03/2009 at 5:01 pm | In A-Fraud | 10 CommentsPretty funny quote from an NYT piece about the different tacts taken by A-Rod, Pete Rose and Clemens after their misdeeds:
“I think in some cases, it just comes down to intelligence, and Rodriguez is significantly more intelligent than Clemens and Rose,” Vincent said.
Duane checks in
10/30/2009 at 5:15 pm | In Duane | 5 CommentsWhazz up, fellas?!
I’m assistant manager of the buildings and grounds staff now at the city of LaGrange parks department, so that’s good. Still have to clean bathrooms sometimes, but just not every day. So, I ain’t exactly Warren Buffett just yet, but things are looking up on that front.
Keep it quiet, but while I was cleaning the bathroom at the park the other day I seen the mayor going George Micheal on the guy owns the flower shop downtown. I’m thinking about trying to blackmail him. I”ll let y’all know how that works out.
Speaking of money, I been saving some. Still working out some debts and all. Then I heard an ad on the radio that made a lot of sense. Y’all might be familiar with it. Mike Bell from 790 the Zone said ”Don’t save for a rainy day. That day may never come.” Instead, he suggests, go out and rent a flat-screen TV from Aaron’s. So thats what I done.
Got top-shelf cable service, of course. Like a wise man said — if you ain’t watching tv, you’re wasting money ’cause you gotta pay the cable bill either way. So I’m watching a lot of TV to get my money’s worth. Hee Haw reruns are still funny.
Damn, football and the World Series looks good on this 52-incher. Look even better if our dadgum Braves was in it.
Bad news: Brenda’s filing for divorce. My cousin Ronnie told me he saw her at Golden Corral with Earl Blanchard. He’s from our senior class and owns his own electrician business. Bastard. Sad, I know. I ain’t giving up, though.
Anyhooo…I’m glad ole Tim Hudson’s gonna be staying around. I like bald pitchers with tattoos of weird shapes on their arms. They look tough and scary to the hitters.
Nice work, Mr. Sparrow. Next move should be trading Lowe and Kawasaki for a dang home run hitter. Maybe we can get that Worth from the Phillies. Re-sign Gonzo too. I like his intensefulness.
I seen Turdshera on the TV while I was eating lunch at Hooters today, talking about his home run he got lucky and hit last night. He’s got a long damn face. Looks like Seattle Slew.
Later, dudes. Be cool, Dave. I like how you break out your long arguments in the comments. You a lawyer?
–Duane From Forest Park
What is Wren thinking?
10/26/2009 at 10:14 am | In Huddy, the braintrust | 7 CommentsI don’t mean “What the hell is he thinking” as if he were pursuing, say, Mark Redman. I’m just wondering if committing $30 or so million for the next three years to a pitcher in his mid 30s is a smart move.
Maybe it is. It’s all a muddle in my mind. I trust it is clearer in the mind of the Bravos’ GM.
I just question whether tying up about $25 million per season for the next three seasons in two starters heading into their late 30s, neither of whom is close to dominant now, is the best use of limited dollars. If Wren signs Huddy, we’ll have six legit starting pitchers under contract next season, four of them in their mid-to-late 30s–Huddy, Lowe, Vazquez and KK–who will be paid a combined $44M or so next year. That’s about half the team payroll.
I’m guessing that if the Braves re-sign Hudson, someone will get moved. You figure they have to deal a pitcher, if only to shed some payroll. Critical as it is, starting pitching alone will not get you to October. We learned that this year.
Finally, for the hell of it, a World Series prediction. I’m rooting for a seven-game series, and I think we’ll get one. Yankees in seven. The Phils might well be the better team, but I have a feeling the pinstriped $200M payroll will win.
–CD
Listen and learn
10/20/2009 at 4:37 pm | In Hanson, sports journalism | 6 CommentsI picked up an interesting nugget from local talk radio today.
J.A. Happ won the Sporting News NL Rookie of the Year Award and Tim Hudson finished second. This one came from the news update guy on 680 The Fan.
In other news, the Thrashers have been scoring lots of touchdowns so far, and the Falcons are playing the Texas Rangers this weekend.
–CD
Roy Clark is gone
10/14/2009 at 10:33 am | In the braintrust | Leave a CommentSounds like his job with the Kastens is a big jump up the ladder from what he was doing here.
Huddy booking?
10/14/2009 at 9:25 am | In Huddy | 3 CommentsKen Rosenthal says so. The Fox Sports writer/dugout TV reporter writes that anonymous sources tell him Hudson will decline the option.
That would at least make it easier to figure out next year’s rotation. No way you throw a multi-year offer at him. Too old, too much of a health question mark. On the other hand, it could complicate efforts to trade for a hitter. On yet another hand, it might not be true.
–CD
Getting Chippy
10/09/2009 at 10:22 am | In voices of the braves | 7 CommentsThe Paper of Record weighs in on Chip. Hint: Richard Sandomir probably won’t be invited to dinner at the Carays. Too bad most people reading the reviews probably think Chip is representative of the quality of Braves’ broadcasts.
–CD
Office Post-season Awards
10/05/2009 at 5:30 pm | In 2009 | 26 CommentsNick Esasky Bust of the Year: KJ. To say he regressed is like saying Michael Jackson had a bad year. Francoeur gets an honorable mention, but he got traded so he’s ineligible. Norton also gets HM, but he was just a pinch hitter.
Craig McMurtry/David Justice Rookie of the Year: Hanson, obviously. He was fantastic, better than expected and better than any recent Braves great in his first year.
Glavine-Maddux-Smoltz Pitcher of the Year: Jair Jurrjens. He only gave up an average of 2.8 earned runs in his 10 LOSSES. He was 14-10. He could conceivably have won 25 games, when you consider he gave up 2 or fewer earned runs 14 times and got either a loss or no decision. Javy Vazquez is a very close second.
Henry Aaron-Dale Murphy-Chipper Jones Offensive Player of the Year: Yesco. Who else could it be? Dude was solid all year and hit like a maniac in the clutch.
Rafael Belliard Defender of the Year: Yunel. Again, solid-to-spectacular for most of the season at a critical position. Went nearly 50 games without a boot.
Eric Gregg Douchebag of the Year: Bill Hohn. He should never be allowed to call a big league game. Honorable mention: Jeff Bennett, for bitching about being released after he, A, sucked, and B, broke his own hand.
Mark Wohlers Heartbreak of the Year: Matty D. getting caught off third.
Frankie Cabrera-Sid Bream Thrill of the Year: Matty D.’s 3-run jack a couple of nights earlier.
Gabe Kaplan Welcome Back Award: Adam LaRoche. A hitting fool for the Bravos this year and excellent glovework to boot, pun intended, even though it kinda doesn’t make sense.
Fred McGriff Press Box Fire Impact Player Award: Martin Prado. He started playing, the Braves started winning.
That’s it for now. We’ll probably come up with more. Meanwhile, feel free to add your own.
–CD
Will other teams follow suit?
10/01/2009 at 5:25 pm | In The Ted | 6 CommentsThe Stinkin Mets are lowering ticket prices next season. It’ll be interesting to see if other teams, especially the one that plays home games on Hank Aaron Drive, do the same.
Keep in mind, though, that the Mets’ ticket prices are far higher than those of the Braves and most teams, and the Stinkins had a godawful season.
–CD
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