YFSF

Ballot Time

Were it not for his awful testimony in 2005 before Congress, Mark McGwire would be in the Hall of Fame. He's a special case, so let's assume for a moment that he's in -- as arguably he should be.

Excepting him, which currently eligible Hall of Fame candidate has the fifth-highest batting average, third-highest on base percentage, highest slugging percentage and highest OPS+ among the 15 men eligible for the Hall this year?

Shoo-In vs. Shut-In

It's Friday. That means it soon will be time for me to order out for a couple two-liter bottles of Dew and three double-cheese, double-pepperonis (I have a coupon) for a 36-hour WOW session.

In the mean time, I will read and re-read Dan Shaughnessy and feel shame... at least until I get bored, have mom nuke me a quesadilla and some poppers, and drift over to the Maxim Hot 100.

Neyer has a well-reasoned response.

Not Robbed!

A picture split hair is worth a thousand words.

Or, according to Microsoft Word (and including the title), 1172.

Congratulations!

Too small.  Not toolsy enough.  Finnish.

Today all these doubts were put to rest, as an award was handed out.

The little one that could.   Dynamic.  Team supporter without compare.

That's right.  Today Comptel Dynamic OSS won a Mobile Star Award for "Achievement in Operator Software for Customer or Device Management".  Many people said it couldn't be done, that the code was too lean, too short, binary in talent.   But Compt---

Oh, shit. Lost my mind for a second there.  The award goes to Dustin Pedroia. Congrats, little man!

Will Our Long National Nightmare Finally Be Over?

The Curse of the Hit Dog may finally come to an end today.

Yes, I'm referring to the Red Sox' long, terrible MVP drought, no player having won the hardware since Mo Vaughn in 1995. After acrimoniously leaving Dan Duquette's soulless regime in 1998, Vaughn famously cursed the Red Sox, and the effects have been devastating.

First there was the Great Pedro Snub of 1999, when George King famously left Martinex off his ballot, arguing he didn't believe pitchers should be eligibe for the MVP one year after naming two pitchers to his MVP ballot.

Then, despite having the greatest pitching season in the history of baseball in 2000, Martinez could finish no better than fifth, thanks to the Red Sox' suckitude. Disastrous campaigns in 2001 and 2002 cost Manny Ramirez shots at the award.

In 2003, David Ortiz, Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra finished fifth, sixth and seventh in the balloting, splitting six first-place votes among them -- the same number that went to winner Alex Rodriguez. In 2004, Ramirez led the league in OPS for the eventual World Series winners, yet finished third behind Valdimir Guerrero and Gary Sheffield.

And who can forget the Grest Debate of 2005, when Ortiz and Rodriguez were locked in a close race for the award while the Sox and Yanks were locked in a race for the division. The Sox lost the division on a tiebreaker; Ortiz lost the MVP by 24 votes. Somewhere, Mo Vaughn flexed a tattooed bicep and smiled.

The Sox were out of it in 2006, costing Ortiz another shot at the MVP in a season where he surely would have won if Boston had even contended for a playoff spot, and last year, Alex Rodriguez was simply too good.

But could this year be the year? Dustin Pedroia comes in as the favorite, but Kevin Youkilis also has garnered support. Could they split the vote, allowing a dark horse like Carlos Quentin or Francisco Rodriguez to slip in and keep the curse alive?

We'll know in a few short hours.

Cliff Lee Wins AL CY

Tribe pitchers go back-to-back.  Something I don't understand is how any writer could vote K-Rod ahead of Roy Halladay.

Next Stop: Cy Young?

"I would have been ready (to pitch). ... If he would have told me to do it, I would have done it."

Hall of Fame Arguments, Curt Schilling Edition

With Curt Schilling's season definitely over -- and his career also pretty well done -- it's obviously time to revisit a post I did two years ago, arguing that not only is Curt Schilling a Hall of Famer, but it's not particularly close. What follows is portions of that post, updated for his performance since then. The context was immeditely after Schilling won his 200th game.

Hall of Fame Manny

From the Globe:

But after paying tribute to Ramírez's prowess, Ortiz soon was convulsed at the thought that Ramírez, because he doesn't care about such things, might skip his own induction ceremony. He mimicked Hall officials placing a call to Ramírez, perhaps in Brazil, the native land of his wife, Juliana, to see if he was coming.

Ramírez's response, in Ortiz's telling? "Just give it to Ino," Ortiz said, referring to Ino Guerrero, the Sox staffer who frequently pitches batting practice to Ramírez and Ortiz. "I'm busy here. Turn the page. I'm not playing anymore."

All right, YFSF humorists. Your turn. What do you foresee Manny Ramirez -- maybe the most wacky, carefree hitter ever to wear the title "most feared" in a lineup -- saying when his time comes to be inducted into the Hall of Fame?

"Chances are, I probably would have done it, too."

Rich Gossage, about to be inducted into Cooperstown, talking about steroids.