Busy weekend. Spent most of Saturday reorganizing my study and trying to get my Linux machine to do something more useful than let me play mah-johngg. No luck. The computer still thinks the mouse and the modem are one in the same. Not good.
Off to Elsinore that night for the first playoff game between the Storm and the High Desert Mavericks. Band practice Sunday in Escondido. Back to San Diego to pick up Sandra, then back up to Elsinore for Game 2. I’ll have full reports on both games within the next few days.
Meantime, the answer to Friday’s edition of “Who Am I?” is (A) Mark McGwire; (B) Russell Branyan.
Now for another comparison. This one’s a little dicier, as it involves a hitter and a pitcher.
| AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player A | 518 | 96 | 172 | 40 | 3 | 34 | 111 | 59 | 78 | .332 | .405 | .618 |
| IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | W-L | ERA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player B | 136.2 | 114 | 43 | 38 | 12 | 23 | 140 | 14-2 | 2.50 |
Okay, the first guy is everybody’s pick for NL ROY, Albert Pujols. The guy came out of Low-A ball and has annihilated big-league pitching while playing four positions for a playoff contender. It’s exceedingly difficult to argue a case against him.
But check out Player B. Yes, it’s only 136.2 innings, but those are Pedro-like numbers. I’ll kill the suspense right now. Player B is Houston’s Roy Oswalt. Like Pujols, he is also in the middle of a pennant chase. He also pitches his home games in Enron field, which is second only to Coors Field in terms of aiding hitters.
Here’s his record at Enron:
| IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | W-L | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 83.2 | 62 | 24 | 20 | 7 | 14 | 90 | 8-1 | 2.15 |
Here are his numbers over his past eight starts, in the months when rookies are supposed to wilt under pressure:
| IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | W-L | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 61.1 | 43 | 11 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 66 | 6-0 | 1.47 |
Those are just downright goofy. I don’t get pitching like that on my PlayStation 2.
Anyway, the point isn’t to belittle Albert Pujols or say that he doesn’t deserve to be ROY. Those numbers, and the context in which he’s produced them, are too monstrous to ignore.
But — and this is the point — it’s larger than it was. Oops, sorry. Been watching too much Monty Python lately. Seriously, the point is that Oswalt has been one of the most dominant pitchers in all of baseball since he joined the Astros in May. And he’s been almost untouchable since July 28. He may not win the ROY, and in the end, he probably doesn’t quite merit the honor. But he’s a heckuva lot closer to Pujols than you might’ve realized.
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