Cool Stat on Paps

from a.j. lavinius

Jonathan Papelbon recorded a rare "super-save" last night, striking out three consecutive batters to end the game with the tying run at third base. It was the first such save in 20 years and only the fifth since the save rule was instituted in 1969.

The batters who fanned against Papelbon were Carlos Pena, B.J. Upton, and Carl Crawford, who have batted in the same inning 422 times. This was only the sixth time that all three struck out.

Four Decade MLBers

With Schill's retirement, MLBers left with a shot are:

Tom Glavine
John Smoltz
Junior
Jamie Moyer
Randy Johnson
Kenny Rogers

380 more days to join the club..........

Cooch's Bullshit Meter Went Off...

First of all, you should know that I hate Barry Bonds, the player.

But, are these fuckwads telling me that they found a positive match for steroids from a 2004 sample?! Like they hadn't thought about testing this shit out years ago, or they've finally just gotten around to it? Seriously?

---
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3881897&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

Updated: February 3, 2009, 3:10 PM ET
Report: Retested Bonds sample positive

ESPN.com news services

A urine sample that Barry Bonds submitted as part of Major League Baseball's anonymous testing program in 2003 has come back positive for PEDs, according to a New York Times report.

Bonds provided samples that did not test positive under that program, but the samples were re-examined by federal authorities after they were seized in a 2004 raid, The Times reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Citing a person who has reviewed the evidence in the case, The Times reported last week that authorities detected anabolic steroids in urine samples linked to Bonds that they gathered in their investigation. It remains unclear, the newspaper said, whether the '03 urine sample and the samples seized in the feds' raid in '04 are the same.

Bonds testified to a federal grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative in 2003 that he used "the cream" and "the clear" but did not know they were performance-enhancing drugs. During that testimony, Bonds was asked if he ever took steroids, and he answered no.

The government alleges that Bonds lied under oath. His perjury trial is scheduled to begin March 2 in San Francisco.

Bonds' lawyers filed a motion last month asking Judge Susan Illston, who is presiding over the career home run leader's case, to exclude several pieces of evidence, including those 2003 urine samples.

Illston issued an order Monday saying that, on Wednesday morning, she will unseal some of the evidence gathered by prosecutors in the case. Illston informed defense lawyers she was rejecting their motion to file a series of documents under seal.

The defense had argued that making the material public now could hinder Bonds' ability to get a fair trial. However, Illston said she received a letter from media representatives on Jan. 30 requesting that the sealing order be lifted, and she ruled Monday that releasing the documents would not impair Bonds' Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial.

Red Sox Top 11 Prospects: From Baseball Prospectus

Future Shock
Red Sox Top 11 Prospects
by Kevin Goldstein


BOSTON RED SOX

Five-Star Prospects
1. Lars Anderson, 1B
2. Michael Bowden, RHP

Four-Star Prospects
3. Josh Reddick, RF
4. Daniel Bard, RHP [side note: Cooch has seen this guy pitching for the Sea Dogs; dude hit 101 on the radar a couple of times and his heat was consistently in the 98-100mph range. However, he had zero control over his breaking balls.]

Three-Star Prospects
5. Ryan Westmoreland, CF
6. Casey Kelly, RHP/SS
7. Michael Almanzar, 3B
8. Nick Hagadone, LHP
9. Junichi Tazawa, RHP
10. Bryan Price, RHP
11. Ryan Kalish, CF

Just Missed: Derek Gibson, SS; Yamaico Navarro, SS; Stolmey Pimentel, RHP

Ranking Challenges:
Anderson was a clear choice to top this list, and Bowden edges in behind him at second by being a touch ahead of the two four-star prospects. There are difficulties with all of the players from there on down, as they have a wide, even array of attributes and faults; youth, upside, and a lack of experience, as well as injuries to players like Westmoreland, Hagadone, and Kalish (and the last still has lingering concerns about wrist surgery he had before the '08 season). Tazawa's circumstances are unusual as well, as he's a Japanese player who is not quite ready for The Show, and has a performance record that is impossible to evaluate accurately. From the fifth spot to the last, it's all about the scouting reports, and based very little on the respective performances.

A REMINDER ABOUT AN AMAZING SEASON BY A NEW HALL OF FAMER

Rickey Henderson was elected to the Hall of Fame... In a career full of impressive statistics, this one might top the list: Henderson scored 146 runs in 143 games for the 1985 Yankees. Since 1940 no other player has appeared in at least 50 games in a season and averaged at least one run per game.

Did "Mike" scoop 'em all?

Did "Mike" have the skinny on Teixeira before the big news outlets?

Lavinius breaks the silence to bring the following message...

SIGN. MARK. HOWEVER-YOU-SPELL-HIS-LAST-NAME

Get it done.

Peace out and Happy Holidays.

WHAT THE FUCK...

...IS MIKE TIMLIN DOING ON THE ALCS ROSTER?

RAYS MAKE THE PLAYOFFS! RAYS MAKE THE PLAYOFFS!

For the first time in its 11-year existence, the Rays (prior to this season known as the laughing stock of the league and also known as the Devil Rays) have made the playoffs!

With less than 10 games to go, Cooch unboldly predicts that they will also win the division. They came out of nowhere this season to win more than 90 games and wipe the smartass off most of our faces.


Congrats, Rays, even though I hate your fucking collective guts.

Lavinius edit: Me fucking too! Most of the Tampa/St. Pete area couldn't give less than a rat's ass of care about you. Your stadium is a joke. Your fans are a joke. You don't have a prayer of selling out a game unless there's thousands of away fans helping the cause. In short, I wish you zero success and that you humbly go fuck yourselves.

nomar garciaparra: injured again

Year, salary, and number of games played:
2004 $11,500,000 for 81 games
2005 $8,250,000 for 22 games
2006 $6,000,000 for 122 games
2007 $8,516,697 for 121 games
2008 $9,516,697 for 50 games (with less than 10 games to go this season)

Byrd vs. the Birds: Redux

Guess what? Byrd will be matched up against Toronto again. Friday....

Tris Speaker, Wade Boggs, and Dustin Pedroia

Who are the only Red Sox members to have 200 hits and 50 doubles in the same season?

Cash is STILL Money

Byrd vs. the Birds

With his start today against the Blue Jays, Paul Byrd will have faced the Blue Birds in 4 of his last 7 starts. He is 2-1 w/ a 4.03 ERA against the Jays this season.

Cantu's 25th homer makes history for Marlins

Cantu's solo homer that tied the score at 1 in the fourth was his 25th of the season. The Marlins are now the first team in Major League history to have four infielders hit at least 25. Mike Jacobs (32), Dan Uggla (30), Hanley Ramirez (29) and Cantu have accounted for 116 of the Marlins 188 homers this season.

Full Article

Let the debate begin: Thigpen '90 versus Rodriguez '08

Thigpen: 4-6, 57 saves, 8 blown, 77 games, 88.1 IP, 1.83 ERA
K-Rod: 2-2, 57 saves, 6 blown, 69 games, 63.1 IP, 2.42 ERA

Thigpen had a significantly lower ERA, averaged more than 1 IP per game (including 9 games with 2+ IP and 2 games going 3 IP). I'll take the '90 Thigpen...
[Thigpen's 1990 game log]

Youk...

Youk is the Sox' official team leader in HRs (25) and RBIs (97). Jason Bay has actually hit 26 HRs, but only 4 official AL HRs.

Carlos Pena

...has walked 7 times with the bases loaded this season.

Dice-BB

Number of times Dice-BB has walked:

0 batters in a game: 3
1 batter in a game: 1
2 batters in a game: 6
3 batters in a game: 6
4 batters in a game: 2
5 batters in a game: 5
6 batters in a game: 2
7 batters in a game: 0
8 batters in a game: 1

RED SOX DON'T WANT THIS SERIES TO EVER END

he Red Sox concluded their three-game series against the Rangers with a 10-0 win. Boston had a 10-0 lead in the first game and an 8-0 margin on Wednesday. It's the first time in Red Sox history that they've had a lead of 8-0 or more in each of three consecutive games, and over the last 46 seasons the only other team to do that was the Indians in September 1986. (Maybe it was those three games that convinced Sports Illustrated to call the Indians the "best team in the American League" in its 1987 baseball preview issue.)

The Red Sox scored 37 runs in the series against Texas, tying the most by any major league team in a three-game series this season. The White Sox had 37 against the Pirates in June and the Tigers had 37 vs. the Rangers in April.

The Red Sox have scored that many runs in a three-game series only one other time over the last 55 seasons, when they had 45 in a series against the Marlins in June 2003.

From Elias Sports Bureau