All-time Pitching Rotations--Vol. IV

The greatness of a pitching rotation continues to be discussed mostly in simple terms of wins and losses, despite how much more we now know.  Wins are what the game is all about--getting them however possible.  But wins are a team stat, not an individual one.  Few teams won as many games in a three year span as the Baltimore Orioles of 1969-1971.  They won a combined 118 games en route to three straight pennants and one World Series title (1970).  Much of the credit for their success has been lauded on their pitching staff, led by a young Jim Palmer.  1971 was the standout year, as all four starters reached that magical benchmark of 20 wins.  But were all those wins the result of dominant pitching, or the byproduct of a great team executing in all facets of the game?

This is a Picture of Hipster Lance Berkman

Just eating a sandwich and rockin' a deep V.

ManBearZim

Just what in the name of Bill Veeck is going on down in Florida this off-season?  It seems as if the Rays and Marlins are trying to out-zany each other.  The Marlins fired the opening shots with new technicolor uniforms, aquariums on the playing field, and an acid induced home run structure.  The Rays retaliated with DJ Kitty, and now this.  The Zim Bear:  Half Don Zimmer, half Teddy Bear, half morphine induced fever dream.  Get your own on June 29th when the Rays take on the Oakland A's (free to the first 10,000 fans), or just go ahead and do an eBay saved search now.

All-Time Pitching Rotations--Vol. III

The Big Three: A novelization by Nicholas Sparks.

The night sky was dark.  Not like coal, but dark like the undulating waves of Barry Zito's hair, cascading in folds across his laconic brow as the cool breezy Bay breezes flowed into the stadium.  The lights came on.  The crowd filed in, rapt in anxious excitement as they prepared for battle.  A hotdog to calm the nervous swishing in their bellies, an ice cold beer to numb their nerves, which were dancing a waltz through their quivering bodies.  The grass is green as freshly mowed grass, the rigid blades tickling the players' cleats like the love-hair prickles of a wanton lover...oh sugar!  This is a baseball blog, not the newest from literary laureate Nicholas Sparks.  You'll have to wait for that one.  It will be published too soon.

Our search for the greatest pitching rotation in history marches on with The Big Three from Oakland, and that other guy.  They were good, boyos.  Even better than I remembered.  But do they stack up to the best?

Through the Looking Glass

LOLcats are taking over baseball.  It started in 2010 when the Seattle Mariners had an I Can Haz Cheezburger promotional night complete with a cat bobble-head, then the Tampa Bay Rays started playing this video on the scoreboard between innings.  The slightly terrifying image you see above is DJ Kitty, the newest mascot of the Tampa Bay Rays (yes, that is a cowbell hanging from its neck).  If the O RLY owl makes his MLB debut this year, may God have mercy on us all.

R.I.P. Gary Carter

1954-2012

All-Time Pitching Rotations -- Vol. II

A trio of justifiably self-satisfied young men.

Any conversation about pitching greatness eventually comes around to the Atlanta Braves of the 1990s.  Most of the time, the conversation both begins and ends there.  Growing up in Atlanta during this period, despite being a Cubs fan, I had the supreme pleasure of watching these guys pitch an awful lot.  The summers were great for a baseball fan down here: watch the Cubs flounder lovingly at 2:20ET, dirty the side of the house with tennis ball-shaped red clay splotches, watch the Braves play beautifully at 7:10ET.  Why in the hell did I not shift my allegiance, especially with no actual ties to the city of Chicago?  That's an answer for another day, but surely, in part, because I was a fool.  Although my Cubs fanship will one day pay huge dividends.  Besides, failure is all a part of it, and the Cubs have only failed for twenty-three years that have mattered to me personally.  Back on topic...the Atlanta Braves were great.  They should have won more World Series Championships, and they earned more than the five pennants they won.  But did they have the best rotation of all time?