Tag / Phillies

by jim

The Joe Maddon Era Has Ended

After 5 seasons, the Cubs and Joe Maddon have agreed to part ways as his initial contract with the club expires with the end of the 2019 season.  Maddon, who was hired under dubious circumstances following the 2014 season, put together one of the best runs in franchise history, with 3 straight trips to the NLCS and a World Series victory that broke a 108 year curse on the north side.  The last 2 years, though, have ended in disappointment, with September swoons that led to a Wild Card loss in 2018 and missing the playoffs completely this year.

Maddon is likely to land on his feet, with attractive openings in San Diego and, potentially, Philadelphia.  The Angels, Maddon’s one time employer, have hinted they are willing to pull the same move the Cubs did 5 years ago, dumping their manager after one year for a shot at Maddon.  Wherever he ends up, he will try to rebound and re-find his winning touch.

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Hall Of Fame Batting Leaders


Today, former White Sox designated hitter Harold Baines joins long time Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, Orioles and Yankees ace Mike Mussina, Mariners star Edgar Martinez, Blue Jays and Phillies ace Roy Halladay, and well-traveled closer Lee Smith in taking their place in Cooperstown.  With a single new hitter joining the list of Hall of Famers I’ve seen play live, let’s check back in with the new leaders on the offensive side of the ball amongst Hall of Famers for all of the games I’ve attended between 1984 and 2019.

Home Runs

Name Total
Jim Thome 35
Frank Thomas 15
Vladimir Guerrero 6
Ivan Rodriguez 4
Chipper Jones 3

Hits

Name Total
Jim Thome 110
Frank Thomas 54
Ken Griffey Jr 32
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2019 All Star Break Standings

As the baseball world turns its sights to Cleveland for Tuesday night’s All Star Game, it’s time to take a look at the team records for the 23 games I attended in the first half of the baseball season, with the rebuild on the south side finally showing progress and the window of contention on the north side looking like it may be ending sooner rather than later.

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All Time Team Records

The 2019 baseball season got underway yesterday, with the now early start brought about due to the last collective bargaining agreement.  To celebrate, it is time once again to look at the all-time team records for games that I have identified as having attended dating back to 1984. The Cubs look to avenge last year’s loss in the Wild Card and hope to make it back to the World Series, while the rebuilding White Sox hope to finally start seeing some of their young talent blossom.  The 2019 season should be an exciting one on both sides of town.

All-Time Team Records
Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
California Angels 1 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 13 2 0.867
Florida Marlins 15 8 0.652
Colorado Rockies 10 6 0.625
Philadelphia Phillies 10 7 0.588
New York Yankees 14 10 0.583
Boston Red Sox 17 13 0.567
Los Angeles Angels 17 13 0.567
Toronto Blue Jays 13 10 0.565
Cleveland Indians 26 23 0.531
Detroit Tigers 27 24 0.529
Chicago Cubs 213 192 0.526
Houston Astros 22 20 0.524
Chicago White Sox 293 271 0.520
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2019 Predictions

The 2019 baseball season is scheduled to kick off tomorrow, at least the North American portion, with a full slate of games featuring all 30 teams.  For the ninth consecutive year, I’ve looked into the crystal ball to make my picks for the upcoming season.

American League

East: Yankees

Central: Indians

West: Astros

Wild Cards: Red Sox, Angels

AL Champion: Astros

Cy Young: Justin Verlander

MVP: George Springer

National League

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#13 – Aaron Rowand

Name: Aaron Rowand

Rank: 13

Position: CF

Years With White Sox: 2001-2005

Aaron Rowand joined the White Sox organization in 1998, selected in the first round of the draft.  He earned his first call up to the show on June 15, 2001 and made his major league debut the following day, pinch hitting and lining out to end an 8-2 loss to the Cardinals.  He ended the season hitting .293, fourth amongst rookies in the American League.

An off-season dirt bike accident looked to derail Rowand’s 2002 season, but he recovered enough to appear in 126 games, hitting .258 with 7 home runs and taking over as the starting center fielder following the mid-season trade of Kenny Lofton.  Rowand earned a return trip to Triple A in 2003 after hitting .133 in his first 60 games, but after a little more than a month, he returned to the big leagues, hitting .387 the rest of the way and ending the season with a .287 average.

2004 was a breakout year for Rowand.  A full time starter for the first time, Rowand appeared in 140 games, setting career highs with a .310 average and .905 OPS.  He also managed 24 home runs and 24 doubles.  He finished the year with 5.7 WAR, the seventh highest total in the American League.

The good times continued in 2005, for both Rowand and the White Sox.  In 157 games, Rowand hit .270 with 13 home runs.  Defensively, he committed only 3 errors in 394 chances, giving him the seventh highest defensive WAR in the American League.  Rowand went 4 for 10 against the Red Sox in the ALDS, driving in 2 runs and scoring 3 more in the 3 game sweep.  In the ALCS against the Angels, Rowand managed only 3 hits in the 5 game series, all doubles.  He bounced back in the World Series, going 5-17 against the Astros as the White Sox won their first title in 88 years.

Less than a month after the final out of the World Series, Rowand was traded, along with Gio Gonzalez and Daniel Haigwood, to the Phillies for Jim Thome.

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

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2019 Hall Of Fame Ballot – The Holdovers


baseballhofThe BBWAA released their ballot for the Hall of Fame class of 2019 yesterday. The results of the vote are due to be revealed on January 22nd, with induction taking place next July. After Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, Vladimir Guerrero, and Trevor Hoffman were elected in last year’s voting, the new ballot contains 15 holdovers along with 20 newcomers, which may continue the logjam caused by the current BBWAA rules which limit the number of votes on one ballot to 10 and the ongoing refusal by some writers to vote for players tainted by PEDs, leaving too many qualified candidates fighting for limited spots.

Let’s take a look at the returning candidates today before moving on to the newcomers.

Barry Bonds
Years on ballot: 6
2018 Percentage: 56.4

The all time home run champion saw his vote percentage rise for the fourth straight time last year, so the PED bias holding him back may be subsiding.  With only 4 more shots with the writers, it remains to be seen if he has enough time to get up to 75%.

Roger Clemens
Years on ballot: 6
2018 Percentage: 57.3

Roger Clemens, he of the 354 career victories and 7 Cy Young awards, also found himself with a fourth consecutive rise after his sixth run through the voting process.  For some odd reason, perhaps by having played for more teams, Clemens continues to get marginally more support than his fellow PED poster child Barry Bonds.

Andruw Jones
Years on ballot: 1
2018 Percentage: 7.3

If voters were to stick to his first 11 seasons, Jones looks like a shoe-in for the Hall.  His last 7 seasons, though, were so bad that it makes it hard to consider him.  Based on his initial vote total, those final seasons seem to be holding sway.

Jeff Kent
Years on ballot: 5
2018 Percentage: 14.5

The 2000 NL MVP saw his vote percentage go in the wrong direction last year.  He still has a long way to go and not a whole lot of time left, so the future does not look good for him.

Edgar Martinez
Years on ballot: 9
2018 Percentage: 70.4

The longtime DH for the Mariners saw another big jump last year, but has 1 last shot to make up that remaining 5%.

Fred McGriff
Years on ballot: 9
2018 Percentage: 23.2
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2018 Final Standings

Despite holding a 5 game lead in the NL Central on Labor Day, the Cubs lost the tie-breaking game 163 on Monday to give the division title to the Brewers and then fell in the Wild Card game yesterday to the Rockies, prematurely ending their season and bringing my game-attending portion of 2018 to an end.  I made it to only 29 games this season, tied for my lowest total since acquiring season tickets in 2002.  I didn’t even manage to attend any games outside of the 2 Chicago stadiums.  Here are the final standings for those games and the 18 different teams I saw in person, through both the regular season and the Wild Card.

2018 Team Records
Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Houston Astros 2 0 1.000
Colorado Rockies 2 0 1.000
Boston Red Sox 1 0 1.000
Cleveland Indians 1 0 1.000
Los Angeles Angels 1 0 1.000
Oakland Athletics 1 0 1.000
Detroit Tigers 3 1 0.750
Minnesota Twins 2 1 0.667
Chicago Cubs 4 3 0.571
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2018 Predictions Revisited

Six months ago, at the dawn of the 2018 baseball season, I made my annual predictions as to who would win what.  Now that the regular season has come to an end, it is time revisit those predictions and see what, if anything, I got right.

American League

East: Yankees

The Red Sox set a franchise record in wins and have pretty much held a commanding lead for the entire season, so I was a little off here.

Central: Indians

Getting this right shouldn’t really count, as the Indians are the only team in the Central to finish with a winning record.

West: Astros

The Astros have surpassed 100 wins and are ready to defend their title.

Wild Cards: Red Sox, Angels

Well, if you swap out the Red Sox and the Yankees, this doesn’t look too bad.  The Angels, however, did not pan out and instead the A’s took the second Wild Card slot.

AL Champion: Yankees

Well, they are still alive, so I guess it can still be a good pick.

Cy Young: Chris Sale

This seemed like a good pick through much of the season, but a late year injury may hold him back.

MVP: Giancarlo Stanton

Not going to happen.  Either Mookie Betts or Mike Trout will take home this award.

National League

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Looking Ahead To 2019

Major League Baseball released their tentative 2019 schedule last week.  While the local squads have differing goals in mind as 2018 winds down, with the Cubs looking for their 4th straight trip to post-season and the White Sox playing out the string in year two of their rebuild, it’s time to turn our attention to next summer for both teams.

For the second year in a row, the White Sox open their season on the road in Kansas City against the Royals.  The home opener comes a week later, on April 4, against the Mariners.

The interleague schedule pits the White Sox against the NL East, with trips to Washington, Philadelphia, and Atlanta and home series against the Nationals, Marlins, and the Mets.  The rivalry with their north side foes continues with a 2 game series at Wrigley Field in June and then moving back to the south side in July.

The season ends with a 6 game homestand against the Indians and the Tigers.  Hopefully by this time, the White Sox losing ways will be well behind them.

On the north side, the Cubs open their season in interleague play, facing the Rangers in Texas on March 28.  They kick off the home portion of their schedule on April 8, against the Pirates.

The interleague schedule pits the Cubs against the AL West, with trips to Texas, Seattle, and Houston and home series against the Angels, A’s, and the Mariners.

The Cubs end the year with a 16 game stretch against the NL Central, with 13 of those coming against the Pirates and the Cardinals, who are likely to  challenge them for the NL Central crown.