DocTee

That may be the best season ever compiled by an individual on a horrible team-- the only comparisons I can think of are Andre Dawson's MVP year with the last place Cubs and A-Rod with the Rangers.

Right now Roger Clemens is 11-4 with a 1.32 ERA. If the season ended today, he'd have the 2nd best ERA in the post-WWII era--and, he probably wouldn't win the Cy Young Award (Chris Carpenter 17-4 2.25 ERA would). I've listed the best single-season ERAs. Bob Gibson's season in 1968 gets all the press--and Tim McCarver airtime. But I think Pedro was better in 1999 and 2000 (check out the league AVG and ERA, and the next lowest ERA. I don't think anyone was ever more dominant for their year--in a hitter's era, against a DH. I also don't think Steve Carlton's gets enough credit for what he did in the 1972 season (27-10 1.97 ERA on a last-place team that went 59-97). Bob Gibson 1968 22-9 1.12 ERA 268 K NL AVG: .243 - NL ERA: 2.98 (Next lowest ERA: 1.99 Bobby Bolin, Fergie Jenkins 260 K�s were second).Dwight Gooden 1985 24-4 1.53 ERA 268 K NL AVG: 252 � NL ERA 3.59 (Next lowest ERA: John Tudor 1.93, Mario Soto 214 K�s were second).Greg Maddox 1994 16-6 1.56 ERA 156 K NL AVG: .267 � NL ERA: 4.22 (Next lowest ERA: Bret Saberhagen 2.74, Maddox 3rd in K�s, Ken Hill tied for lead with 16 wins).Luis Tiant 1968 21-9 1.60 ERA 264 K AL AVG: .230 � AL ERA: 2.98 (Next lowest ERA: Sam McDowell 1.81, Tiant 3rd in K�s, tied for 3rd in wins).Greg Maddox 1995 19-2 1.63 ERA 181 K NL AVG: .263 � NL ERA: 4.18 (Next lowest ERA: Hideo Nomo 2.54, Maddox 3rd in K�s).Dean Chance 1964 20-9 1.65 ERA 207 K AL AVG: .247 � AL ERA: 3.63 (Next Lowest ERA: Joe Horlan 1.88, Chance 3rd in K�s, tied for lead in wins).Nolan Ryan 1981 11-5 1.69 ERA 140 K NL AVG .255 � NL ERA 3.49 (Next lowest ERA: Bob Knepper 2.18, Ryan 4th in K�s, 6th in wins).Sandy Koufax 1966 27-9 1.73 ERA 317 K NL AVG: 256 � NL ERA: 3.61 (Next Lowest ERA: Mike Cuellar 2.22, Jim Bunning 252 K�s were second).Ron Guidry 1978 25-3 1.74 ERA 248 K AL AVG: .261 � AL ERA: 3.76 (Next lowest ERA: Jon Matlack 2.27, Guidry 2nd in K�s).Sandy Koufax 1964 19-5 1.74 ERA 223 K NL AVG: .254 � NL ERA: 3.53 (Next lowest ERA: Don Drysdale 2.18, Koufax 4th in K�s, Koufax 4th in wins).Pedro Martinez 2000 18-6 1.74 ERA 284 K AL AVG: .276 � AL ERA: 4.91 (Next lowest ERA: Roger Clemens 3.70, Bartolo Colon 2nd in K�s with 212, Martinez 4th in wins).Tom Seaver 1971 20-10 1.76 ERA 289 K NL AVG: .252 � NL ERA: 3.47 (Next lowest ERA: Dave Roberts 2.10, Fergie Jenkins 2nd in K�s with 263, Seaver tied for 2nd in wins).Vida Blue 1971 24-8 1.82 ERA 301 K AL AVG: .247 � AL ERA: 3.46 (Next lowest ERA: Wilbur Wood 1.91, Blue 2nd in K�s, 2nd in wins).Phil Niekro 1967 11-9 1.87 ERA 1.29 K NL AVG: .249 � NL ERA: 3.38 (Next lowest ERA: Jim Bunning 2.29, Niekro led in nothing but ERA).Sandy Koufax 1963 25-5 1.88 ERA 306 K�s NL AVG: .245 � NL ERA: 3.29 (Next lowest ERA: Dick Ellsworth 2.11, Jim Maloney 2nd in K�s with 265, Koufax tied for lead in wins).Kevin Brown 1996 17-11 1.89 ERA 159 K NL AVG: .262 � NL ERA: 4.22 (Next lowest ERA: Greg Maddox 2.72, Brown not among leaders in K�s, Brown 3rd in wins).Pedro Martinez 1997 17-8 1.90 ERA 305 K NL AVG: .263 � NL ERA: 4.21 (Next Lowest ERA: Greg Maddox 2.20, Martinez 2nd in K�s, tied for 5th in wins).Roger Clemens 1990 21-6 1.93 ERA 209 K AL AVG: .259 � AL ERA: 3.91 (Next lowest ERA: Chuck Finley 2.40, Clemens 4th in K, 3rd in wins).Hal Newhouser 1946 26-9 1.94 ERA 275 K AL AVG: .256 � AL ERA: 3.50 (Next lowest ERA: Spud Chandler 2.10, Newhouser 2nd in K�s, tied for lead in wins with Bob Feller).Steve Carlton 1972 27-10 1.97 ERA 310 K NL AVG: .248 � NL ERA: 3.45 (Next lowest ERA: Gary Nolan 1.99, Tom Seaver 2nd in K�s with 249).Billy Pierce 1955 15-10 1.97 ERA 157 K AL AVG: .258 � AL ERA: 3.96 (Next lowest ERA: Whitey Ford 2.63, Pierce was 3rd in K�s, but not among the leaders in wins).Whitey Ford 1958 14-7 2.01 ERA 145 K AL AVG: .254 � AL ERA 3.77 (Next lowest ERA: Billy Pierce 2.68, Ford not among the leaders in wins or K�s).Sandy Koufax 1965 26-8 2.04 ERA 382 K NL AVG: .249 � NL ERA: 3.54 (Next lowest ERA: Juan Marichal 2.13, Bob Veale 2nd in K�s with 276).Roger Clemens 1997 21-7 2.05 ERA 257 K AL AVG: .271 � AL ERA: 4.57 (Next lowest ERA: Randy Johnson 2.28, Johnson 2nd in K�s with 256).Joe Horlan 1967 19-7 2.06 ERA 103 K AL AVG: .236 � AL ERA: 3.23 (Next lowest ERA: Gary Peters 2.28, Horlan was 4th in wins but not among the leaders in K�s).Pedro Martinez 1999 23-4 2.07 ERA 313 K AL AVG: .275 � AL ERA: 4.86 (Next lowest ERA: David Cone 3.44, Chuck Finley was 2nd in K�s with 200).

"Overbay, Chad Tracy, Ryan Howard, Hee Sop Choi. That's a pretty sweet group of young 1B, if you ask me. I'd take any one of 'em in a heartbeat..."No way the Phils deal Howard to a division foe...Hee Sop? There are rumors he's pressing hard to impress the Koreatown crowd-- can you imagine how bad he'd be in Shea? Overbay is a nice player and he's blocking Prince Fielder-- problem is, with only Konerko on the FA market, he could command a steep price from suitors like, oh I dunno, the MFY...That leaves Chad Tracy-- is he really that attractive a player that you'd deal a major-league ready pitcher (or Floyd)?

Seo 5 Williams 1Wright 1 Reyes 1 Floyd 1Castro 1

between ishii, graves, and takatsu, I'd say Omar's expanding his scope beyond Latin ballplayers-- we've now cornered the market on crappy Asian pitchers.

so do I, butut nobody complained about it until after Cammy "almost died for the mets" yesterday

I believe that article was written and posted before the brutal collision...

One great year in medoicre career: Brady AndersonI didn't think he'd be that good : Bobby CrosbyBetter player than announcer : Rick SutcliffeBetter announcer than player : Duane KuperHe kills us: Pat BurrellNext major steroid revellation : Pudge RodriguezJust play and shut up: Barry BondsOverrated : Jason KendallUnderrated : Mike MathenyWhy isn't he in the Hall of Fame yet?: Bert Blyleven

"I have to wonder what their pitching coach did differently this year, because the entire staff is having career years."Actually, i think much of the improvement can be traced to new backstop AJ Pierzynski (who beats Iguchi for Pale Hose MVP, IMO)

greta game-- espn crew says Mets are making serious inquiries into Pads' Xavier Nady to play 1B

Benson: 5Wright: 5

worst met name ever:Richard Goodhard Becker

Cameron, Mike - 4 Floyd, Cliff - 9Glavine, Tom - 4 Looper, Braden - 8Matsui, Kaz - 2Mientkiewicz, Doug - 1Milledge, Lastings - 8Piazza, Mike - 6Seo, Jae Wong - 7Trachsel, Steve - 6

Why is it that everyone's up in arms over steroids and the HoF, but there's no complaint that many of those in the Hall complied their stats against competition that didn't include African American or Latino players. If juice helped Raffy et al put up gaudy numbers, a discriminatory employment policy clearly benefitted earlier generations of players. Ty Cobb and the Babe were as much products of their times a Palmeiro is of his. And what of Gaylord Perry, a cheater if ever there was one? He recently had his number retired by the Giants-- would that team do the same for Bonds if/when he is found guilty of juicing?

awesome analysis. The cry of "misused 'pen" serves for us fans the same role that a lamp-post serves for a drunk-- it's more for support than illumination.

or, considering the sad state of the NL West, worse than .500?

Q: when's the latest in a season that all teams in one division were .500 or better?

Matt Lawton from Bucs for Cubs Jody Gerut

The only thing worse than the Reds standing pat (Pena, Dunn, Kearns, Griffey, Casey) was the D-Rays seriously over-valuing their commodities.

and, of course, there's a campaign to replace the Miller-inspired hat logo with the "classic '80s ball-and-glove"

Does anyone recall Mark Grace leaving his mitt on the first base bag for his counterpart to use when his own was being restrung? That was old school.

2 words: Mo Vaughn2 more : Melvin Mora (traded for rent-a-SS Mike Bordick when Rey Ordonez was injured)

not that I agree...from: http://baseballcardsnmore.com/markgrace/Mark had more hits in the 10 years comprising the nineties than ANY other major leaguer. Every other Decade hits leader (except Pete Rose) is in the Hall of Fame. Mark also led every major leaguer in doubles for those 10 years!! A tremendous "double" feat!! Grace Carer (1988-2003)Games AB BA HR RBI H 2B 3B BB K R RPI 2245 8065 .303 173 1146 2445 511 45 1075 642 1179 2152 The stats shown are only to compare Mark Grace with players elected to the Hall of Fame, not to diminish any of these great player's records.Baseball, the greatest of all games is always thought of as "A team game played by individuals" and we believe that the most important statistic in a player's record is the one that accounts for runs, as runs win games! We will attempt to illustrate Mark Grace's value to his team by showing his entire batting "arsenal", but especially his "runs produced index" (RPI) which is figured by adding runs scored and runs batted in and subtracting home runs as home runs add a run scored and a run batted in but in reality the team only scores one run! It will surprise many people to find that Mark Grace has supplied as many runs to the Cubs as some great power hitters have accounted for with their teams! Remember, Mark is an All Star Game veteran, a Gold Glove fielder, and has been the opening day first baseman for the Cubs for 12 straight years!The following season stats of Hall of Famers are based on 550 official at bats. Years BA HR RBI H 2B 3B R RPI Grace 14.60 .303 12 79 168 35 3 81 148 B. Robinson 19.31 .267 14 70 147 25 4 62 120 G. Kell 12.18 .306 6 71 169 31 4 72 137 J. Bench 14.00 .267 28 98 146 27 2 78 148 Tony Perez 17.79 .279 21 93 154 29 5 72 144 Enos Slaughter 14.50 .300 12 90 164 28 10 86 164 Drafted by the Cubs in the 24th round of the 1985 amateur draft1988's Sporting News NL Rookie of the Year.308 lifetime batting average is the highest of any left handed Cubs hitter since 1900 (1,000 or more games) 456 doubles is highest total for Cubs in the 20th century! Hit .647 with a 1.118 slugging percentage in the 5 games of 1989 Cubs/Giants N.L. postseason series Hit for the cycle against San Diego May 9th, 1993 1,000th hit on August 31st, 1993 2,000th hit on August 2nd, 1999 Named to N.L. All Star Team 3 times Gold Glove winner 4 times 7 times in top 10 in on base percentageMark's flair for the dramatic was evident on September 13th, 1998 when he hit a 2 run homer in the bottom of the 10th to beat Milwaukee, on "Gracie the Swan" Beanie Baby day! July 26th, 2000 - Gracie had a career high 6 RBIs in a 4 for 5 game against Philadelphia August 6th, 2000 - Mark had his first career 5 hit game, going 5 for 5 with 2 doubles and a homer at San Diego December 8th, 2000 - Mark signs a two year contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Of his 105 CG, 99 came before 2001. And mea culpa, Maddux once had a 204 K campaign.

Even more astonishing than his complete games, Maddux NEVER had a season in which he had more than 200 strikeouts.Talk about consistency.