Re-visiting the past

This was my take on Tom Glavine just a few days ago, when almost all baseball fans wrote off the 296 game winner:

Those of you writing off Tom Glavine, let me be the first to say: Not so fast. He has been rocked in his last two outings giving up 9 ER in 4 and 1/3 innings in Detroit before giving up 7 ER in 4+ innings yesterday, but the Tigers and Yankees are two of the top five hitting teams in baseball statistically. Glavine's next two starts are against Oakland and St. Louis, two teams who do not have the firepower of the Tigers and the Bombers. Consider this, before these past two games Glavine, Glavine had gone 0-3 in the 3 prior games giving up just 7 ER in 20 IP and was not supported by either his bullpen or his lineup. Does he look hittable? Yes. Is he throwing fewer strikes? Yes. But Tom Glavine is four wins away from completing a feat that will not be replicated for the next 10 years, after Randy Johnson does it early next season. In fact winning 300 games might not be done for quite some time. When Glavine wins number 300, and yes he will do it this year, it will be a bit more special because looking ahead the next closest pitchers to him and RJ are Mike Mussina at 242, David Wells at 233 and Jamie Moyer at 222. Pedro and Kenny Rogers are at 206 and 207 respectively and John Smoltz is at 201. No other active pitcher has 200 wins or more and Andy Pettite is at 190, but none of the aforementioned pitchers have the longevity to win 300 in their career.

This is me nodding my head saying I told you so. One start does not necessarily mean he is "back," but by the looks of it, it is pretty evident he can still pitch when he is not facing a top tier offense. Oakland, is not, in the aforementioned group.

NHL talk- I realize no one cares about this league but between the Rangers draft steal at the 17th pick (Alexei Cherepanov) and the litany of trades thath ave taken place, it is worth mentioning. I am discusgted at the Nashville Predators for pulling a "Florida Marlins" circa 2003, and running a fire-sale through the entire organization. First they deal one of their captains, defenseman Kimmo Timmonen for draft picks and then they deal the most notable player on their roster goaltender Tomas Vokoun for more draft picks. Chris Mason is a nice reserve goalie who stepped up when Vokoun went down this season but this is embarassing and because hockey is not America's pasttime, the Predators would usually be getting killed by the media for this decisions, but if you needed anymore proof this league is in that much trouble, the average person walking down the street could not even tell you who Tomas Vokoun is let alone why or how he got dealt.


Baseball history- Sosa hits 600 and gets cheers in Texas, Thomas hits 498, sets HR record for Designated hitters and will hit 5oo any day now, Griffey back in Seattle for the first time since he leftand the most exciting which is seeing the two eventual two most prolific home run hitters in the same ball-park for a three-game series down by the bay.

Glad to be back after a great couple of days on the beach in LBI, more to come in the next few days.