Tag / Giants

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#352 – Ken Vining

Name: Ken Vining

Rank: 352

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 2001

Ken Vining was acquired by the White Sox from the Giants as part of the reviled, but ultimately fruitful “White Flag” trade at the deadline in 1997 that sent Wilson Alvarez, Danny Darwin, and Roberto Hernandez west in exchange for Vining, Lorenzo Barcelo, Mike Caruso, Keith Foulke, and Bob Howry.

Vining finally made it to the big leagues in 2001, but success was difficult to find and Vining’s season, and career, came to an end after only 8 appearances.

Vining’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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by jim

2012 Predictions Revisited

Exactly six months ago, I looked into my crystal ball and tried to predict the outcomes of the upcoming baseball season.  Now that the season has come to an end, and half of my predicted divison winners are headed home instead of the playoffs, let’s take a look back at how things unfolded.

American League

East: Yankees

The Yankees went down to the wire, not with the Red Sox as expected, but with the surprising Orioles.

Central: Tigers

After picking up free agent Prince Fielder, the Tigers were expected to run away with the Central division.  Instead, they underachieved much of the season and battled the overachieving White Sox for most of the season.  However, a late season collapse by the White Sox offense helped the Tigers take the division.

West: Angels

The Angels just may have been the biggest disappointment in the league this year. After dropping over $330 million in one day on Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson, the Angels were expected to be at the top of the heap this year.  Unfortunately, things just did not work out and, even with the addition of rookie of the year shoo-in Mike Trout, the Angels were unable to make a serious run and finished in third place, behind the surging A’s, who swept the Rangers in the last series of the season to take the division title.

Wild Cards: Rays, Rangers

The Orioles and the Rangers will face off in the first wild card play-in game.

National League Continue reading →

by jim

Nostradamus Wept – NL Edition

With 81 games in the books, we are officially at the halfway point of the 2012 season.  The so-called experts at Sports Illustrated made some pre-season predictions that are looking a little off a this point.

Team Won Lost

Predicted

Wins

 Predicted

Losses

 Comments
NL East
Washington Nationals 47 32 84 78

The Nationals were expected to improve this year, but they appear to have taken a giant leap forward.
New York Mets 44 38 75 87 One of the surprises of the first half, the Mets were thought to be also-rans following their off-season ownership troubles.
Atlanta Braves 42 39 82 80 The Braves have kept a steady ship following last season’s late collapse.
Miami Marlins 39 42 89 73 The Fish surrounded a great May with struggles in April and June.
Philadelphia Phillies 37 46 94 68 Injuries to Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Roy Halladay have kept the Phillies out of their usual spot in the pennant chase.
NL Central
Pittsburgh Pirates 45 36 70 92 Last year the Pirates flirted with respectability for the first time since 1992 before faltering after one bad call cost them a game.  This year, they may be for real.
Cincinnati Reds 44 37 89 73 The Reds are right at their expected pace.
St. Louis Cardinals 43 39 87 75 The defending champions have dealt with the loss of Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter better than anyone expected them to.
Milwaukee Brewers 38 43 84 78 After finally winning the NL Central last year, the Brewers have struggled after losing Prince Fielder.
Houston Astros 32 50 57 105 The rebuilding Astros have been a little better than expected in their final season in the National League.
Chicago Cubs 31 50 66 96 The rebuilding Cubs have been a little worse than expected in Theo Epstein’s first year as the savior of the franchise.
NL West
Los Angeles Dodgers 46 37 83 79 The Dodgers had a surprising first half, sparked on by their ownership change.
San Francisco Giants 45 37 90 72 The Giants have had an eventful first half, with a perfect game and 4 straight shutouts.
Arizona Diamondbacks 39 42 88 74 The DBacks struggled in the first half, and that was before losing Daniel Hudson for the season.
San Diego Padres 33 50 70 92 The Padres have been a little worse than expected in the first half.
Colorado Rockies 31 50 79 83 The Rockies have struggled in the first half and have turned to a 4 man rotation to try and turn things around.

 

by admin

All Time Team Records

Heading into the 2012 season, here all the all-time team records in games that I have attended.

All-Time Team Records

Team Won Lost Winning Pctg
California Angels 1 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 12 2 0.857
Florida Marlins 15 8 0.652
Philadelphia Phillies 10 6 0.625
Toronto Blue Jays 8 5 0.615
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 13 10 0.565
Chicago White Sox 191 158 0.547
New York Yankees 9 8 0.529
Chicago Cubs 188 168 0.528
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by jim

2012 Predictions

Continuing the tradition started last year, here are my picks for the upcoming baseball season.

American League

East: Yankees

Central: Tigers

West: Angels

Wild Cards: Rays, Rangers

AL Champion: Angels

Cy Young: C.C. Sabathia

MVP: Albert Pujols

National League

East: Braves

Central: Brewers

West: Giants

Wild Cards: Phillies, Dodgers

NL Champion: Braves

Cy Young: Zach Greinke

MVP: Jason Heyward

by admin

2011 Predictions Revisited

6 months ago, I looked into my crystal ball and tried to predict the outcomes of the upcoming baseball season.  Now that the season has (mercifully) come to an end, and my predicted divison winners finished an average of just over 13 games back, let’s take a look back at how wrong I was.

American League

East: Red Sox

National League

East: Braves

Wow.  Neither team won their division, though both had commanding Wild Card leads heading into September.  Both ultimately blew those leads, missing out on the playoffs on the final day of the regular season.  The Red Sox actually were one of, in not the best team in baseball for 4 months this summer, but they were horrible in the other two, April and September.  The Braves can at least point to injuries to their starting rotation as the cause for their collapse.

 

Central: White Sox

Central: Brewers

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by admin

All Time Records (through 2010)

Now that the 2010 season has come to an end, let’s take a look at team’s overall records in games I have personally attended over my entire life.  Every game I can remember or have tracked down is included, even the postseason.  Teams that move (Expos/Nationals), change “city” names (California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels) or change team names (Devil Rays/Rays) are split out per incarnation.

All-Time Team Records
TeamCity TeamName Won Loss Winning Pctg
California Angels 1 0 1
Arizona Diamondbacks 12 2 0.857142857142857
Florida Marlins 15 8 0.652173913043478
Philadelphia Phillies 10 6 0.625
Toronto Blue Jays 8 5 0.615384615384615
Tampa Bay Rays 3 2 0.6
Los Angeles Dodgers 9 7 0.5625
Chicago White Sox 166 140 0.542483660130719
Chicago Cubs 185 165 0.528571428571429
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