Valadius

Can I just say, it's absolutely amazing that the Mets now own a .500 away record? They're 37-37 after their early-season road troubles.

Fewer steroids too! Books!!!

MVP doesn't sound so crazy.

I haven't had this much fun watching any sport since the 2007 Giants Super Bowl run. I'm just giddy.

Fman99 wrote: Nats down one, going to the bottom of the 9th, and the top of their order due up, and fans just streaming out of the park. GOOD TIMES. In fairness to the Nats, it has much less to do with the fervor of their fans and more to do with the unholy mess that is the DC Metro system.

All the political tweeters are calling for Williams' head.

WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Watching this in DC, I am struck by how old Ray Knight looks.

Anybody thinking about Labor Day in DC? I'm thinking of going, maybe with the missus.

Ross getting pulled.

I look at it as Part I and Part II.

I called it before he hit it. Call it fate, karma, what have you, it was just the perfect outcome that HAD to happen.

Joel Sherman, please call your office.

Word on the street is that Vladdy Jr. will be signing with Toronto.

I don't know of any objection to Piazza's personal views. The only person on the ballot who comes to mind with objectionable personal views/non-baseball life is Schilling, what with costing the taxpayers of Rhode Island a boatload on his failed video game venture and his politics, but he should get in by 2019.

Worth noting... self-appointed baseball pope Bob Costas was making the case for raising the number of ballot selections from 10 to 12 or 15 on MLB Network just now.

Worth laying out the upcoming contenders: 2016 Ken Griffey, Jr. - Will hit a percentage somewhere near Seaver. Trevor Hoffman - All-time saves leader at time of retirement, with 601. Jim Edmonds - 8-time Gold Glove winner, 4-time All-Star, 393 HRs Billy Wagner - 422 saves is 2nd among LHPs, career ERA of 2.31, career WHIP of 0.998 Also in this class - Luis Castillo, Mike Hampton, Chan Ho Park, Mike Sweeney, Jason Kendall 2017 Vladimir Guerrero - Find it hard to believe he won't get in on the first ballot, but something tells me that's what happens, because Hall voters are morons. Ivan Rodriguez - In many ways the "other" great catcher of Piazza's era. Probably gets in but not on first ballot. Manny Ramirez - Worthy numbers, but multiple positive PED tests probably keep him out. Jorge Posada - MFY hacks will make a push for him, but destined for the Hall of Very Good Also in this class - Mike Cameron, Pat Burrell, Magglio Ordonez, Edgar Renteria, Jason Varitek 2018 Jim Thome - 612 HRs. Should be first-ballot guy. Chipper Jones - Also probably first-ballot guy. Omar Vizquel - Defensive wizard, won 11 Gold Gloves, but also 2,877 hits, 404 SBs and 1,445 runs scored. Most games played at SS in history at 2,709. Andruw Jones - 10 Gold Gloves, 5-time All-Star. Johnny Damon - 2,769 hits, 408 SBs, 2004 World Series star. Scott Rolen - 8 Gold Gloves, 7-time All-Star. 316 HRs, 1,287 RBI Jamie Moyer - The Pitcher That Never Got Old. 269 wins in 25 seasons. Also in this class - Jason Isringhausen, Livan Hernandez, Chris Carpenter, Carlos Lee, Hideki Matsui, Kerry Wood 2019 Mariano Rivera - Will test just how much love closers have from Hall voters. Can a closer break 90%? Roy Halladay - The workhorse of his generation who should make it in. Andy Pettitte - 256 wins in 18 seasons, most postseason wins. Todd Helton - Great 1B but how much of that was Coors? Also in this class - Lance Berkman, Darren Oliver, Roy Oswalt, Michael Young 2020 Derek Jeter - Boston writers may keep him from Seaver's record. Paul Konerko - 439 HRs, 1,412 RBI Alfonso Soriano - 412 HRs, 289 SBs Also in this class (so far) Kevin Youkilis

How the fuck does more than one person vote for Aaron Boone? I get that at least one hack MFY writer might vote for him, but more than one?

I think it's a certainty that Piazza goes in next year with Griffey. Still an absolute travesty he's had to wait this long.

I'm not optimistic. Looks like most of the New York contingent has reported in. Updated: Jan 6: 10:35 ~ 192 Full Ballots ~ (33.6% of vote ~ based on last year) ~ As usual�BBWAA ballot digging is welcome! 99.0 - R. Johnson 97.9 - P. Martinez 87.0 - Smoltz 84.4 - Biggio 75.5 - Piazza ������������ 64.0 - Raines 62.5 - Bagwell 51.6 - Schilling 43.8 - Bonds 43.8 - Clemens 35.4 - Mussina 29.7 - E. Martinez 25.5 - Trammell 20.8 - Lee Smith 15.6 - McGriff 14.6 - Kent 8.9 - Sheffield 7.8 - L. Walker 6.3 - McGwire ������������- 4.7 - Sosa 4.7 - Mattingly 1.6 - Garciaparra 1.6 - Delgado 1.0 - Pete Rose (Write-In) 0.5 - Percival

Updated: Jan 6: 7:50 ~ 188 Full Ballots ~ (32.9% of vote ~ based on last year) ~ As usual�BBWAA ballot digging is welcome! 98.9 - R. Johnson 97.9 - P. Martinez 87.2 - Smoltz 84.6 - Biggio 76.1 - Piazza ������������ 63.3 - Raines 62.8 - Bagwell 51.1 - Schilling 43.6 - Bonds 43.6 - Clemens 35.6 - Mussina 29.3 - E. Martinez 23.4 - Trammell 19.7 - Lee Smith 16.0 - McGriff 14.4 - Kent 9.6 - Sheffield 7.4 - L. Walker 6.9 - McGwire ������������- 4.8 - Sosa 4.8 - Mattingly 1.6 - Garciaparra 1.6 - Delgado 1.1 - Pete Rose (Write-In)

In my view, Smoltz was the least of the Braves' triumvirate but that doesn't mean he wasn't great himself. He'll get whisked into Cooperstown this year in the afterglow of the Maddux/Glavine/Cox trifecta from last year's class, and that should close the book on the '90s Braves until Larry becomes eligible. Next year's class will be a bit of a breather compared to the last few - Ken Griffey, Jr. and Trevor Hoffman are the big names up next year, with Billy Wagner and Jim Edmonds really the only other players worthy of prolonged consideration. But until the Hall fixes its stupid induction rules we will continue to see this mess repeated year after year.

What's stunning to me is how low Jeff Kent's percentage is after reading articles for years about the "future Hall-of-Famer". Then again, given the backloaded ballot that's entirely the writers' fault for being overly restrictive with their votes over about a decade, this is the outcome you get. Updated: Jan 3: 8:00 ~ 127 Full Ballots ~ (22.1% of vote ~ based on last year) ~ As usual�BBWAA ballot digging is welcome! 99.2 - R. Johnson 97.6 - P. Martinez 89.8 - Smoltz 82.7 - Biggio 78.7 - Piazza ������������ 70.9 - Bagwell 66.1 - Raines 56.7 - Schilling 42.5 - Mussina 42.5 - Bonds 41.7 - Clemens 27.6 - E. Martinez 22.8 - Trammell 18.9 - Lee Smith 15.7 - McGriff 14.2 - Kent 9.4 - L. Walker 8.7 - Sheffield 6.3 - McGwire 5.5 - Sosa ������������- 4.7 - Mattingly 1.6 - Pete Rose (Write-In) 0.8 - Garciaparra 0.8 - Delgado