WILL NO AWARD MAKE GREINKE CRANKY?
By Murray Chass
October 4, 2009
Zack Greinke pitched two seasons in one this season. If he had pitched only the better of the two, he would be a clear-cut winner of the American League Cy Young award. As it is, he will probably win the award anyway, but if I were voting – and I am not – I would vote for Felix Hernandez.
Adam Wainwright will most likely win the National League award, but here, too, I would differ and go with his teammate, Chris Carpenter.
Greinke was terrific this season, at times awesome, no question about it. In many of his games he almost seemed unhittable. He won games on his own. He had to because he pitches for the Kansas City Royals, one of the worst offensive teams in the major leagues. But then, the only worse offensive team is the one Hernandez pitches for, the Seattle Mariners.
Keep reading...
THE SKY IS NOT FALLING, CHICKEN LITTLE
By Murray Chass
September 30, 2009
The headline reflected the current cry from too many baseball observers. “High-Payroll Teams Likely To Dominate MLB Postseason,” it said. It is baseball’s version of the fable “Chicken Little, or The Sky Is Falling.”
In the words of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, “The phrase, ‘The sky is falling,’ has passed into the English language as a common idiom indicating a hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is imminent.”
As it applies to baseball, the cry about high-payroll teams is both hysterical and mistaken. Anyone who cries that baseball’s sky is falling hasn’t been watching or keeping track of playoff developments in recent years.
Keep reading...
MINNESOTA MARCHES ON
By Murray Chass
September 27, 2009
Here they go again. For the third time in four seasons, the Minnesota Twins are in the last week of the season scrapping for the American League Central championship. In the previous two instances, they won one and lost one. The outcome of this season’s scrap will be determined, to a great extent, by their four-game series with Detroit this week.
The Twins were two games behind the Tigers entering Sunday’s games. The Twins were playing a three-game weekend series in Kansas City, the Tigers in Chicago. They are scheduled to begin their four-game series in Detroit Monday night.
Keep reading...
