minor lines, 6/1/09-6/2/09
McCovey Chronicles — ... Borchard knocks two home runs and Frandsen adds another as Fresno has 1/10th of the Giants' season home runs in one game.  (C) Neal gets a home run in San Jose's win.  (D) Oh, yea, Clark gave up a fly ball to start the game.  Which is notable since, well, he struck out the next ten he faced!  Clark ties the California League single-game record set back in the days when the teams involved were in Salinas and Santa Barbara 6/2 - (A) Where's that Greg Maddux guy?  The GreenJackets faced Tom Glavine after ...

Joe Posnanski appreciates the contrast to the 1975 Reds. Cincinnati's offensive woes plumb new depths in 4-1 loss.
Red Reporter — ... Luke Hochevar.  Former #1 pick Hochevar looked like Greg Maddux going against Cincinnati's terrible offense.  He only needed 80 pitches to throw a complete game, giving up three hits and a run, striking out three and walking one. ...

Career WAR Trifecta Quiz
Beyond the Box Score — ... what is it, which is not the best measure of "best player".  Holding on for five years at 2 WAR will add significant career value, but it doesn't impress me as much as two seasons of 5 WAR.  That aside, here are the ten sets of players.  Who has the most career WAR? Rickey Henderson, Mike Schmidt, Mickey Mantle Nolan Ryan, Phil Niekro, Bert Blyleven Robin Yount, Pete Rose, Carl Yastrzemski Tom Seaver, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux Curt Schilling, John Smoltz, ...

Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before: Cubs Bats Impotent In 2-0 Loss To Twins
Bleed Cubbie Blue — ... look like Greg Maddux today; he had Cub hitters off-balance all day, getting four called strikeouts (out of six total K's) and otherwise getting them to beat the ball into the ground. ...

Towers: "If we fall completely out of this thing in the next month than I think you're going to see a lot of younger players getting the AB's"
Gaslamp Ball — XX Sports Radio Interview: Kevin Towers (MP3) with Darren Smith When you lose two top guys in you rotation, it's tough to overcome but it provides opportunity for younger guys. This is the streakiest ball club that Towers has ever had. "Going into this year, we didn't think our club was probably as good as the 2008 club".  The payroll dropped 50%, lost Randy Wolf, Greg Maddux and Trevor Hoffman.  "We had such a terrible year in 2008, we just felt that even with probably a lesser roster we ...

Please Everyone, Stop Using Catcher ERA
Beyond the Box Score — ... . More than 2,300 plate appearances with an OPS in the .620s. He is not, nor has he ever, been a good offensive player. Bako's longevity reigns from, uh, well...Greg Maddux.  After ...

Post-Game Recap: Tim Lincecum is Good
McCovey Chronicles — ... Also of note: Tim Lincecum pitching the best game of his career. On a warm summer night, 25 years ago, Greg Maddux and ...

Orioles 6, Angels 4: Yup, we needed that.
Camden Chat — ... We needed that. The Orioles won a game against the Angels tonight they could have lost. David Hernandez could have lost his composure. Jim Johnson doesn’t always channel the fielding prowess of Greg Maddux. And George Sherrill has been known to walk a batter or two, or three... But they didn’t. The bad stuff didn’t happen. And the O’s won, 6-4. The offense, as per usual this year, got hot early than forgot how to hit. Luke Scott sent a pitch to the RF wall in the first to ...

Double or quits? What will the full-season numbers for Arizona be?
AZ Snakepit — ... Cy Young worthy, though a few more wins in the second-half would certainly help. That WHIP is simply insane, and would be the lowest ever in the NL if maintained for a full year, surpassing Greg Maddux's .811 in 1995  - no other NL pitcher has been below .840 over the past century. His K:BB ratio (7.53) would also be league top ten all-time. Almost as impressive, Haren has an OPS of.771 at the plate. ...

The Case for Bob Apodaca: Headcases and Ground Balls
Purple Row — ... , and Greg Maddux. How much of Mazzone's success was inflated because of the sheer level of pitching talent he had? Or, to rephrase, did Mazzone make the Big 3, or did they make Mazzone? Mazzone was later hired by Baltimore and fired with a year left on his contract, and maybe that's just because Baltimore's pitching has stunk outside of ...

Joel Pineiro pitches old enough to vote for Rutherford Hayes
Viva El Birdos — ... Of all the ways to become a first-rank pitcher, this is obviously the rarest and the most difficult to maintain; it is pitching without a margin for error, without any buffer for poor ball-in-play luck. Even Greg Maddux got that half a walk per nine innings tacked back on eventually, and he had the added benefit of being able to strike batters out when absolutely necessary.  ...

Atlanta Braves will retire Greg Maddux' #31 tonight
Sports Page Atlanta — ... on Friday night when Greg Maddux will have his number-31 jersey retired by the club. ...

Gregory Alan Maddux
Sports Page Atlanta — ... scouting report on Greg Maddux an 18-year old draft prospect in a Vegas high school (click picture for larger version): Maddux2_medium This is a perfect example of a pitcher who didn't show dominance early on. The most impressive and prescient note here is when the scout writes, "doesn't give in to the opposition, [...] he attacks the hitters on every pitch." 0 recs | Comment 7 comments | ...

Open Thread 7/17: Mets at Braves
Sports Page Atlanta — ... before their game Friday, July 17 against the New York Mets. More photos by John Bazemore - AP Ted Wilcox, left, and Matt White work to complete a number 31 sign that will be displayed outside Turner Field after the Braves retire the number 31 in honor of former pitcher Greg Maddux in Atlanta on Friday, July 10, 2009. The team plans to retire Maddux's number in a ceremony before their game Friday, July 17 against the New York Mets. Browse more photos It's a Greg Maddux night at the ballpark as the team retires his number. Jair Jurrjens , ...

Game 90 Recap: Mets 0, Braves 11, Greg Maddux 31
Talking Chop — ... kicked off the evening by retiring Greg Maddux' number-31 jersey and honoring him on the field. Mad Dog ended his speech to the fans by saying, "let's go beat the ...

Open Thread 7/19: Mets at Braves
Sports Page Atlanta — ... , next we face the best pitching staff in the NL -- next to ours -- so winning today's game will be a big step in the right direction -- proving we can actually win series when it counts. We should beat this team, we need to beat this team, we have the right pitcher on the mound to beat this team. In the words of Greg Maddux , "let's beat the ...

Cubs "Celebrate" Moon Landing Anniversary By Letting Phillies Blast Them Into Orbit 10-1
Bleed Cubbie Blue — ... As it turned out, any Cubs fans in Citizens Bank Park -- and there weren't many last night, perhaps the fewest Cubs fans I've seen at any road game in the last couple of years -- could have left right then, because those three runs were enough to win the game. The Cubs managed only a consolation run off Greg Maddux ...

Phillies Breakfast Links, August 5, 2009: Juggling the Rotation, Offensive Slump, Seniority Wins
The Good Phight — ... should pitch out of the bullpen because he has incentives in his contract for doing so, and Greg Maddux did it last year, and on it goes... ...

Justin Lehr, Your 15 Minutes Is Up: Journeyman Shuts Out Cubs 4-0
Bleed Cubbie Blue — ... -- making his second major league start after spending most of the last two and a half years in the minors, looked like Greg Maddux last night, baffling the ...

Friday Morning Baseball Headlines
Bleed Cubbie Blue — ... Rick Morrissey channels our own BLou in his whiny, sky-is-falling column about Kevin Gregg. Hey, Rick: many pitchers have a "dead arm" phase at this time of the season. Gregg will be just fine. Phil Rogers says the Cubs will "pull away" and win the NL Central. Uh-oh. Meanwhile, Lou Piniella says the Cardinals are the "team to beat". John Smoltz could have retired at the end of last year and gone into the Hall of Fame with Greg Maddux (and now, Tom Glavine, since he hasn't pitched this ...

2009 NL Wild Card: the Los Angeles Dodgers?
Purple Row — ... Hill if he doesn't sign.  Football practices start this week for UNC. David Eckstein didn't want to be traded to a contender.  Not only is he a gritty gamer, but he's unselfish as well.  He actually wants to help stick around San Diego and help influence Padres rebuilding plan. The Friars hope to rebuild via arms a la Braves of the 90's.  Aaron Poreda, Clayton Richard, Mat Latos and Adys Portillo surely won't become Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Steve Avery, but ...

Washington Nationals/Atlanta Braves: Series Preview Interview With Talking Chop.
Federal Baseball — ... Talking Chop: "They shouldn't bring either back as a player, but I'd be happy as a clam if they brought them back in a baseball or broadcasting role. Smoltz did some broadcasting last year when he was injured and he was pretty good. Apparently we've talked with Greg Maddux about coming back as some kind of instructor in spring training, and it would be a player development wet dream to have Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz as coaches in your major and minor league spring training camp." ...

Baseball Stadiums And You
True Blue LA — ... :  I took a detour on my way home from a business conference to see my first two games in San Francisco.  The first game was the next-to-last day of the season, and Greg Maddux beat the ...

Friday Morning Astros, etc Round Up
The Crawfish Boxes — ... and Matt Williams were on pace for record breaking seasons, but I remember Greg Maddux having a Gibson-esque 1994 campaign before the strike occurred. His ...

One is the Loneliest Number: Mariners 3, Tigers 1
Bless You Boys — ... Granderson has been struggling lately.  The evidence is pretty compelling.  Grandy is 0-for-12 with seven strikeouts in his past three games.  But if you look at his numbers for August, this is a pretty typical slump for him. Comment of the Night: Hey so once again Ian wrote at length about how terrible the opposing pitcher has been as of late. And we’re making him look like ’95 Greg Maddux. by explosivo2k2 Yeah, ...

Wags Is Back: Braves 3, Mets 2
Amazin' Avenue — ... hadn't won a game in six starts since the All-Star break, but he looked like an in-his-prime Greg Maddux against the Mets withered lineup. ...

Padilla, Dodgers Look To Get Back Into The Win Column
True Blue LA — ... four runs, they allowed only five runs, and in extra innings to boot.  In other words, the Dodgers have not given up more than four runs in regulation in nearly a month. The Dodgers have won each of the last two Labor Days, in games started by someone acquired after the July 31 non-waiver trading deadline: In 2007, Esteban Loaiza (acquired August 29) started his first game as a Dodger, beating the Cubs at Wrigley Field, 11-3 In 2008, Greg Maddux (acquired August 19) started and beat the Padres, 5-2 at ...

Brushing Up On Freddy Garcia
South Side Sox — ... Can a pitcher actually succeed as a starter (or at least stave off replacement level) without breaking 90 mph with his fastball?  Certain lefties, I suppose, have the capacity.  Outside of the end of Greg Maddux's career, though, there are vanishingly few examples of right handed starters making any kind of career out of junkballing.  That's the only way ...

It Was Twenty-Five Years Ago Today: Cubs vs. Giants Preview, Thursday 9/24, 9:15 CT
Bleed Cubbie Blue — ... Brad Penny is 3-3, 2.64 in nine career starts vs. the Cubs; the most famous of them is probably this 2006 game at Wrigley Field, pitched by Penny not long after Greg Maddux was traded to the Dodgers. Penny let Maddux call all his pitches that day and Penny threw seven shutout innings, allowing seven singles and no walks. Penny had a rough time with the Red Sox this year; they released him and he's been better with the Giants, although he got pounded in his last start against the Dodgers. Aramis ...

A tale of two aces
Viva El Birdos — ... Matthews? Really, Tony?). Johnson and Schilling combined to pitch 26 of the 44.2 innings (58%) for the D-backs, yielding just 4 earned runs in those 26 innings. Clearly the plan for the D-backs was to ride the backs of their 2 aces as far as they could take them. The D-backs had a mediocre pen and a decent, but not dominant, offense but their rotation had 2 aces. Sound at all familiar? The D-backs went on to take on the Braves in the NLCS. These Braves had Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Burkett in their rotation and ...

Dodgers Wanted To Wait For True Blue LA Night
True Blue LA — ... : a win in San Francisco, also on the next-to-last day of the year, gave the Dodgers a playoff spot (the division was still in play, but they ended up as the wild card) behind Greg Maddux ...

Haw Haw, Baseball Prospectus!
Halos Heaven — ... never really had a number four (I inserted Greg Maddux, who they probably would have used in the World Series). I'd say that Chicago and Boston clearly headed this pack, and then it's pretty much a toss-up the rest of the way, though the Angels had as good a case as anyone for #3. ...

Better Know a Playoff Team: St. Louis Cardinals
Red Reporter — ... has the highest single season winning percentage by a Cardinals pitcher since Dizzy Dean went 30-7 in 1934 (min 20 deciscions).  He fell short of Greg Maddux's .905 winning percentage in 1995 when Maddux went 19-2 in a shortened season. ...

How to spend your winter vacation
Viva El Birdos — ... Don't even get me started about the pitchers. Unless you want to know about Gary Daley, that is, who spent the whole offseason working with Greg Maddux. ...

Is New York Yankees' three-man rotation idea a good one?
Pinstripe Alley — ... lost thirteen of those games. Every defeat has a thousand parents, but at minimum, starting a pitcher prematurely is a very heavy straw meeting a very weak camel. More over, all Cox's successes came before 1995, when Steve Avery and Tom Glavine and John Smoltz were all young and elastic. Cox would go on to try it six more times between 1996 and 2005, and the Braves didn't win even one of the games. Tim Hudson couldn't do it, nor Kevin Millwood, nor Greg Maddux, nor Smoltz, nor Glavine - and Glavine tried, twice. If ...

Busting out in the Divisional Round: Alex Rodriguez and Jeff Bagwell
The Crawfish Boxes — ... of Bags' bunch in 2004. Between his and Craig's declines, and the lowest output from 3B since 1997, this was a pretty good, but not superior lineup. What surprised me was that Jeff Kent, a power hitting second baseman throughout his career, posted Biggio-like numbers at second in 2004. Lance Berkman is great....like, "play for five more seasons and punch his ticket to Cooperstown" great. If anything, I'd chalk up their 2004 NLCS appearance to not having to face Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Kevin Brown, and John Smoltz, and ...

How Did They Do That?
The Good Phight — ... Hamels, Brett Myers, and Jamie Moyer, and relievers Brad Lidge, Ryan Madson, and J.C. Romero--a stunning five saw their contributions plummet in the season that just ended.  By contrast, consider the last NL team to win back-to-back pennants: the Atlanta Braves of the mid-1990s. The world champion 1995 Braves boasted a rotation led by future Hall of Famers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, who combined for ...

Points Of Contention: Rob Johnson's Defense
Lookout Landing — ... Working in Rob Johnson's favor is that pitchers like him. The reason he caught so much of Felix, Bedard, and Washburn is because that's what Felix, Bedard and Washburn wanted. If the pitchers feel like Johnson calls a good game - if the pitchers feel comfortable throwing to him - then that has value. You want your pitchers to feel comfortable when they're going to work. But then Greg Maddux felt most comfortable throwing to pretty much anyone but ...

2009 SBN AL Manager Of The Year Voting Results
Lookout Landing — ... a number of potentially severe injuries to post the second-best record in the American League. There was also the whole Adenhart thing, and while subtracting Adenhart from the equation didn't really make the Angels worse on paper, he did, y'know, die, he freaking died, and Scioscia got his team through the most devastating sort of adversity. Good luck finding anyone with the balls to suggest that Scioscia doesn't deserve credit for that. Scioscia and the MotY, at this point, is like Greg Maddux and the Gold Gloves - if you don't know who else to vote for, ...

NL Gold Glove winners announced: Pardon me while I hold my sides
AZ Snakepit — ... . However, I'm somewhat surprised voters didn't pick Greg Maddux, out of sheer habit, since he had won eighteen of the past nineteen GG. I guess I should be happy they noticed he pitched only forty innings. ...