He has Micah Owings for run support.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/...os=all&minip=0

I have watched baseball for almost 40 years and my favorite three pitchers of all time are:

1. Greg Maddux
2. Tom Seaver
3. Bob Gibson

One of the reasons I have always loved and still love Maddux is that he went the whole month of August without giving up a walk (6 GS).

I frickin love Greg Maddux. He was the reason I adopted the Braves as a second team for awhile... and then dropped them when he left.

I hated Maddux on the braves but have mellowed a bit.

:(

No respect.

The case of Micah Owings just makes me furious about the stupid conventions of pro baseball.

This guy should absolutely be a two-way player. He was an accomplished first baseman and cleanup hitter at the highest level of college baseball and obviously is one of the better hitters on the light-hitting Diamondbacks. At the very LEAST he should be hitting 5th or 6th when he pitches. It only makes sense. Batting him higher up will get him an extra at-bat now and then since as a pitcher he'll usually be out by the sixth or seventh. Arizona SHOULD be aiming for this.

But no. He hits ninth like any other pitcher and otherwise doesn't play. Stupid.

I didn't know who Owings was, but then looked at his stats... that's cool. He can hit pretty good (OBP isn't very high, but his AVG is nice), and is a servicable pitcher.

Dola,

Are there any others like him right now? When was the last time someone was good both ways?

Well, you have to admit, a rally like that is much more impressive against a team whose bullpen doesn't cough up the leads its offense gives it.

Neve Campbell. Wild Things.

Never heard of him, or the team.

Oh.

Milwaukee briefly used Brooks Kieshnick as both a few years ago, but he was pretty bad all around.

Here in New Orleans I watched Owings play college ball. He is certainly not a great hitter at the major league level, but I believe that, right now, if he played full time, he'd hit somewhere around .240 with 20-25 bombs. Not outstanding numbers, but on that team, he's a 6-hole hitter. I just don't understand why they don't take advantage of him, because a genuine two-way threat enables you to keep an extra reliever, which would lessen the burden on your entire bullpen over the course of a season. It's such a waste to just hit him 9th when he pitches and that's that.

Chin Ding Dong...no hitter thru 6.

Chien-Ming Wang... I'm glad it's not on TV I hate watching no-no's in action! :rolleyes:

I must not be watching enough Baseball Tonight this year because I had no idea about Micah Owings. Why not have that guy play some games when he's off? .280, 4 hr, 12 rbi, ops over .900, only ~50 ab's... why not?

Actually, the Nationals bullpen is it's strongpoint. (Just did a quick search and all I can find is that the Nats lead the NL for July)

Owings is a pitcher with pretty solid upside. He's not going to be a star, but should be a very valuable pitcher and at 24 you don't risk injury sending him to the outfield or to the plate more often than you really need to.

Yes, you would get more value out of the roster spot, but the guy would probably put up a line similar to .240/.290/.410 (pulled out of my ass, but it would look something like that at best). No GM in his right mind would risk getting fired trying to stretch out an extra bullpen slot on a guy that would post a .700 OPS

Brooks Kieshnick sucked, if he got hurt no one was losing their job. Its easy to take risks with guys that are borderline major leaguers, but you don't take risks with young pitchers.

Personally I believe if Owings actually worked on his game he would be a pretty good hitter. My guesstimate was based on what he would hit now, having not worked much on hitting over the last two years.

Nevertheless, I realize it's a pretty far-out strategy, and lord knows everybody in baseball is scared shitless about taking a risk. But I do think at the very least he needs to be hitting 5th or 6th for Arizona right now when he pitches.

espn.com with the quality link text:

# Yankees wave magic Wang and sweep Red Sox

That is such a great headline :D. And I hate the Yankees.

Great game, from a baseball fan's view, today with the Mets and Phillies. However, as a Mets fan, what a blow. Howie Rose said it best by saying it was a must win before the game even started, but after erasing leads of 5-0 and 8-5 and taking a 10-8 lead, multiply that "must win" idea by 100.

...The nats bullpen had the best bullpen ERA in the NL in July, that is.

Jeebus - John McLaren is actually making me miss Mike Hargrove. Can we just hire a monkey with brain damage to run the team - I'm not really sure I'd notice the difference...

LOL! Mariners lose their 6th straight on a walkoff walk and they're now tied with the Yankees in the loss column. Yankees have a 1 game lead because they have 2 more wins. The September 3-5 series between the two is going to be huge. Yankees will have Clemens, Wang, and Hughes throwing against the M's and it'll be at Yankee Stadium so hopefully after that series, the Yankees have a little cushion.

Gil Meche was probably the only Royal in the dugout thinking "oh crap" after they thumped the Twins for 9 in a sloppy game 1 of the doubleheader.

SI

Also, since ESPN or no one else wants to report it (except MLB.com), might want to check out Twins/Royals. Meche with quality start number 18 (of 29), provided he gives up no more runs the rest of the way, now that he's in the 7th. Gil, not the story, tho.

SI

Top 8, 1 out, Scott Baker throwing a perfect game for Minny. ESPN broke in just before this last out.

ESPN just switched over from the Washington-Syracuse game.

Man, that pitch to Butler was just wicked.

SI

On the Royals broadcast, Bob Davis has been mentioning the perfect game since the 5th, as if he could singlehandedly jynx it.

SI

I don't really know much about Baker besides his numbers from this year. Was he considered a big time prospect at any time?

He and Garza as well as Liriano have been pretty highly touted for Minny for quite a while as I've heard all 3 names for a couple of years. But a Minnesota fan could tell you more, I'm sure.

SI

Saw he had an 8 inning, 4 H, 0 run game a few weeks ago...

Was considered a pretty solid prospect up until last year or so. He bombed pretty big in the majors last year and was sent back down until a month or so into this year. Still considered pretty decent, but not a top of the rotation guy.

I really wish they were showing us the top of the 9th just for the atmosphere, especially with this shit UW-Cuse game being in a FUCKING CHALLENGE REVIEW.

Here we freakin' go!

Rece Davis is just dying to jinx this thing.

OH, my. Don't go down this way, bud.

Someone's a little tight. Gotta swing away at this 3-0 pitch.

FUCK!

Damn.

Final score prediction:

Royals - 6
Minnesota - 5

That ump needs to call that first pitch a strike, I don't care. That bastard.

Come on double play ball.

It did look pretty good to me.

Fuckin blooper.

Jeez

Mike! In his first AB back in over 2 months. Still, I wanted to see a perfect game...

SI

He's baaack! http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_yl...v=ap&type=lgns

Anyone not watching football should check out Boston/Baltimore

SI

I wish ESPN would have cut in for the last inning.

Yeah, no kidding

SI

Live on ESPN now

Mercifully. I'm sure some K-State fans around here will bitch incessantly

SI

Pretty pitch to end the game

SI

Yes!!! Let's go Braves!!

What the heck was Torre doing having a bat confiscated in a game against Tampa Bay?

SI

SI, my friend, you do realize that you take a risk for bringing up baseball news on FOOTBALL SATURDAY?

I was even silly enough to bring it up in the College Football thread but thanfully (for me), nobody noticed ;)

SI

Damn you Ankiel!

BTW, I wish the best for Juan Encarnacion. He's too young, 31, to have an eye in jeopardy and I hope he will continue to be able to play baseball.

Walkoff for Ryan Zimmerman! two years (to the day) in the league and he has 7 walk-offs.

Brian Bannister just keeps rolling. 8 IP, 1 run against the Twins- 0 BB, 1 K. I don't get how he's doing it.

SI

10 minutes from Pedro finally taking the mound. 5 solid innings is all that's needed today.

Delivered.

5 innings, 3 runs (2 earned), 5 hits, 3 walks, 4 Ks. Hit 90 on the gun. Left with the Mets up 4-3, now up 6-3.

First inning, got hit hard a couple times, included a ball that Moises Alou misplayed into an RBI double. He was throwing in the low 80s at that point, but once he started letting loose a bit more and hitting 88-89, he was much more effective. Battled to get out of a tough spot in the 5th. Also picked up his 3000th career strikeout.

One of the main reasons Greg Maddux is my all-time favorite pitcher:

Of all Maddux's numbers and accomplishments, the most amazing to me is that if it weren't for 2002 when he pitched 199.1 innings, he'd be shooting for his 20th straight year of 200 or more innings pitched.

My stat of the day
First 56 games as Reds manager
Jerry Naron 31-25
Pete Mackanin 31-25
Narron would win his next four....and move to 35-25

Curtis Granderson has some awesome stats this year... According to ESPN.com, he needs one HR and three SB to be only the third man in history with 20 or more doubles, triples, homers and stolen bases in one season.

That's awesome.

An even bigger reason to love Maddux is that the previous streak ended with an intentional walk. And I guarantee he wouldn't hesitate to do end this streak in the same way.

Re: Chipper Jones ripping the Umps
 

Chipper talked about Turner Field needing the QuesTec system. Is there a non-monetary reason for the system to only be in 11 ball parks as opposed to all of the stadiums?

Still trying to figure out the Red Sox.

Best record in baseball, on the verge of their first division title in years, and yet, they don't seem like a great team. It's been a pretty boring season outside of some exciting rookie performances over the last few weeks.

ok, Honestly now. Did anyone at all really expect the White Sox coming into this season to possibly be the worst team in baseball? what a collapse since 05

Does all this losing make Ozzie Guillen a "faggot" now?

PECOTA had them at 72 wins, at which point all of the Chicago press made all the "Computers SUK" and "NERDS BASEBALL IS PLAYED ON THE FIELD" jokes. Right about now, they look like idiots.

What crapshoot said, they were picked by pecota to finish last in the Central this season. Their '05 team was seen as an Ozzie smartball team, but they actually scored over 40% of their runs off of homers that season. As they move closer and closer to the "smartball" team Ozzie wants, they lose more games.

Ozzie can call it what he wants, but there's nothing smart about giving Podsednik and Erstad the ABs they've been given. Especially when you consider they'd have a lot more if they could stay healthy.

This year they seem to having quite a few off years, but Dye is actually only 20 points off his career OPS, Pierzynski is about 30 points off of his, and Konerko is right in line with his career numbers.

This team has had so many career years the past 2 years that some regression has to be expected.

nah, cuz they still won a world series .. he gets 1 more year.

hmm, thats a good point, but I'd bet that 72 wins wasn't the worst team in baseball. havent seen the numbers tho.

I agree. I think I've watched parts of a couple of Jays games, and that's it this year so far. No team screams "WORLD SERIES" to mee right now. Although for some reason I'd probably be pulling for a team like Milwaukee or the Padres, with no one in the AL really exciting me.

GM Littlefield out after another lost Pirates season
 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3008832

Tigers, 4 in the 9th to win 5-4? Are you kidding me?

Please catch the Yanks and knock them out of the playoffs. k, thx

SI

hmm, apparently I was way off. Not sure how I feel just yet on his contract extension through 2011. I'll see next year.

On another not, Javier Vazquez is having a pretty solid season imo - 12-8 3.9 era, 180k's and 47 walks.. bright spot for the sox this year.

I think it's pretty much over. The Yankees are up 5 games in the loss column with 17 to play for the Yankees and 15 to play for the Tigers. If the stupid Devil Rays had held on to either of their leads the past 2 nights, the Yankees might have had a shot at the division. They still do if they sweep the Sox in Fenway, but that's not likley.

Anyway, apparently there's a new incentive to finish 1st in the AL this year. The team with the best record gets to choose whether or not they play the series that gets an extra day off for the first round meaning that they could set it up so their best two pitchers could pitch games 1, 2, 4, and 5 on full days rest. Does anyone think that Boston, Cleveland, or Anaheim would take advantage of this? People on tv have been saying Boston wouldn't because of their depth in the starting rotation. And that Cleveland and Anaheim would, but they'd be playing the Yankees and that would work into their favor as well getting to pitch Wang and Pettitte twice each.

Thome hits his 500th career dinger with a bottom of the ninth walkoff to win the game today.

Even as an Angels fan, I have to admit that's pretty cool. Way to go, Thome.

That's quite a cool way for that to go.

SI

beautiful.

Quite the pitching duel in Boston being overshadowed by the Pats game.

J.R. motherfucking Towles?!?

Guess we need to let the kids play more often. That's two offensive explosions in the past week...

This should be a fun week. Just 1.5 behind the Mets and keeping you on the edge every game should make for a fun week of baseball (and something to help forget about the Eagles troubles).

If they can get it down to a half game there are going to be some really on edge Mets fans (if they aren't already)...

Free advice to Mets fans in South Florida,

It is never a good idea to throw things on the field no matter how bad your team is playing

It is really not a good idea to do it when there are only like 50 people in the stadium.

The Mets are killing me.

They deserve to not make it the way they have been playing.

so where does he go next?
 

Will Barry Bonds be playing for your team next year?

http://mlb.mlb.com/players/bonds_bar...nal/latest.jsp


Since he is looking for a World Series ring, I guess that leaves the Marlins out of the mix:D

I think he ends up in Texas. Either way, highest OPS in the national league this year. I'm sad that he won't retire a Giant, and if that SOB Sabean brings back Randy Winn, Rich Aurillia, Pedro Feliz, Dave Roberts and all while claiming a youth movement, he ought to fired (course, he should have been fired a while back).

I'd guess Angels, then Mariners.

I hope he signs with another team, so another fan base can at least get a glimpse of how much fear he can induce.

No way in hell Art Moreno approves any contract for Bonds.

Highly unlikely to be the M's also. There's no room for one thing, with Raul Ibanez, Jose Vidro, Richie Sexson and Ben Broussard already clogging up the LF/DH/1B group and a need to get top prospect Adam Jones in the lineup full-time next year.

Secondly, I don't see the "family-friendly" M's ownership taking on Bonds and all of his juicing baggage.

I feel for you, that totally sucks. He's still one of the best, if not the best hitters in the game. For 17millionish, he's totally worth it.

That being said, I hope he lands with the Yankees.

The two weeks I watched the Giants this summer were very painful. I can't believe the retreads you guys have out there, all of whom are making 4-6 million or so.

Wow, Tim McCarver decides the 2nd inning is a good time to bring up the no-hit stuff dished out by Oliver Perez today. He promptly gave up a hit. That was the earliest I've ever heard a no-hit jinx.