And… the Cards keep their hold on the best record in baseball. There’s no such thing as an ugly win in my book. They looked like they were going to lose to the Nationals last night before a 5-run ninth inning.
And the Cubs are now a game under .500. I just want to quote Thudlow Boink from the April thread, because it’s a great post:
Life is good for Cardinals partisans. How 'bout you?
As someone willing to take personal pride in the accomplishments of others, I’m chuffed that STL is doing so well. And Pujols is very close now to being a drop-dead HOFer. If he has a massive coronary or has his arm fall off tomorrow, he will probably get voted into the HOF based on things already accomplished.
If i had a vote, he’d be in based on his career-to-date numbers.
At Baseball Reference, they have 4 different metrics for predicting possible/probable Hall of Fame players:
The Black Ink Test (27)
The Gray Ink Test (144)
Hall of Fame Standards (50)
Hall of Fame Monitor (100)
You can read about each category here. The numbers in brackets for the first 3 categories represent the score of the average Hall of Famer. The fourth category is more strictly predictive, and 100 is the number assigned to a Likely Hall of Famer.
Here are Pujols’ scores:
Black Ink - 32
Gray Ink - 182
HoF Standards - 44
HoF Monitor - 207
As you can see, he’s well ahead on 3 out of 4, and closing in on the last one. I’ve been keeping closer than normal track of Pujols this year because he’s on my fantasy team, and watching him constantly is just awesome. The Cards come to San Diego later in the season (August, i think), and i’m going to those games just to watch Pujols bat.
I also find it amazing that someone that big already has 4 stolen bases (from 4 attempts) this season.
Pujols isn’t eligible for the Hall of Fame until he plays next year. Presumably he will.
I don’t really place a lot of value in black/grey ink and “HoF Standards” numbers. Pujols is a Hall of Famer because he’s the best player in baseball. If a guy was the best player in baseball, for a prolonged period of time as Pujols has been - and there aren’t that many players about whom that can be said - that’s good enough for me.
As for my Blue Jays, tough loss yesterday, but we’re still the Wild Card! Woot! I’ll enjoy it while it lasts (they’ll be far out of it by June 15.) You can’t complain about a 15-9 April.
My Dodgers, at 15-8, are looking pretty good.
My Angels, not so much.
Absolutely.
The things is, though, that the Hall of Fame is prone to much debate, particularly over some criteria that have very little to do with being Very Good at Baseball. I know that issues of integrity and character and such are part of the official criteria, but in some people’s minds those things seem to outweigh actual performance.
The thing about the whole Black Ink and Gray Ink stuff is that they actually offer some solid support for the idea that Pujols has been the best player in baseball for much of the last 8 years. And the fact that he surpassed most of those metrics well before he even becomes eligible for HoF selection is even more impressive.
Anyway, i imagine that most people don’t want this thread hijacked into a HoF discussion, so i’ll stop there. 
As I predicted, the AL West is a dogfight of crappy teams. My A’s are in the basement, but only 3.5 games out at 8-11. The concern, as always, is hitting. We haven’t had a consistent masher since giambi 1.0 left town. Holliday looks atrocious - the combination of leaving coors and entering a new league seems to be too much for him. The only bright side is that the big loser there (in addition to the a’s and holliday) is scott boras, who is probably clutching the $85 million contract he turned down and sobbing right now (ok he probably doesn’t care much but still). The Angels seem snakebit this year (that Adenhart situation was as tragic as it comes in baseball), the Rangers are the same old Rangers, Seattle is in first and looking like a legit contender to win the west, but it doesn’t really matter because not one team in the division can win the first round of the playoffs.
And I don’t care what color ink you are using. Barring a historic collapse, Pujols is headed for the HoF.
The Reds are about where I’d thought they’d be for now, at a game over .500 and in third place…we need to whip up on the Bucs in Pittsburgh this series, and lay the wood on the Redbirds when we play them.
Fucking Houston. I HATE YOU ROY OSWALT!
Just watched the Padres suffer a painful loss to the Dodgers.
Jake Peavy gave up 2 hits and 1 walk over 8 fantastic innings, but got a no-decision. The Dodgers won the game 1-0 on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth.
Ouch!
Woot, Jays back in first place! For a day, anyway.
Doc Halladay is my personal saviour.
By all accounts, he’s a good person too. Not that has any determination on the HOF, but it means something to me. I read an article about him a few years ago. IIRC, his wife has a child from a previous relationship that has Downs Syndrome, and he has done a lot of charity work for that cause.
The Yankees staged a late rally to beat the Angels lat night. Pettitte blew a lead, but they came back for their 4th in a row. Cano has an 18-game hitting streak going.
Game tied, bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, two outs. Jose Lopez gets the game winning single on the 14th pitch of the at-bat. Mariners continue to win. Also, both my fantasy teams are in first place. It almost makes up for the Blazers being eliminated in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
D-backs win to start off the month. The D-backs, or any other team for that matter, will probably never get a schedule with 18 out of 21 at home to start the season. They didn’t take advantage of it in April.
The Marlins blew it against the Cubs yesterday. The Marlins are losing too many games due to the bullpen. This is at least the third game in the past week that the bullpen has lost leads. I still think the Marlins have a decent chance to win the NL East, but the bullpen has to hold leads. These aren’t one run leads they’re blowing.
The Texas Rangers still look to be a very streaky team. They need to trade one of their catchers and an outfielder for some pitching. I’m sure the Royal would part with Sidney Ponson! Hopefully, Hamilton can avoid a DL stint.
The A’s have been hurt by rainouts and cancelled games as well as injuries. They had the most players in the majors on the DL and they’re well on their way to doing the same thing this year.
Still, it was an interesting April. April means everything and April means nothing in baseball.
I just traded away Peavy in one of my fantasy leagues based on his poor start. That may come back to bite me, but I did have him for last night’s game. I picked up Scott Kazmir, so probably an even deal. Keeper league, so I wouldn’t mind holding on to Kazmir.
Anybody willing to trade starting pitchers with the Phillies? I swear, this team would be running away with the division already if the goddamn pitching staff could keep the balls out of the bleachers.
Life is good for Cardinals partisans.
Ha! You just lost a game to the worst team in baseball!
It seems the Nats have finally figured out how to win one – make the started pitch all day so we can keep the ball out of the bullpen’s hands.
–Cliffy
Today’s Jays win was an interesting case of a game they should have won and yet damn near lost a few times. Aaron Hill for MVP, by the way, and good on Robert Ray, who was OK in his major league debut, after being called up for no other reason than he’s not injured and Saturday was his scheduled day to pitch. That’s how injury-plagued the Jays are.
17-9, still in first, enjoying it while it lasts! (I maintain my prediction they’ll be dead and buried by mid-June.)
Does anyone really think we should be voting for the All Star game this early? This is ridiculous. With internet voting, June 1 should be the very earliest All Star game voting starts.
I’m old enough to remember the days of mailing in my Gillette punch card ballot. All Star voting will never be an exact science (See the NBA and Yao Ming always getting votes), I think we should at least wait until we’ve had some time to see how a player is doing before we start voting.
Yeah, I remember being really interested in Pujols during his rookie year, because the guy just played like such a pure fuckin’ pro right from the start. He was the complete package, with excellent ability to hit for average and power, great plate discipline, a great work ethic, and sound baseball instincts. The funny thing was that he did have a sophomore slump, but it would be a career year for most everyone else (.314/.394/.561, OPS+ 151, a career low). And yet another thing that amazes me about the guy is that he’s a power hitter who never struck out more than 70 times after his rookie year.
He drops dead tomorrow, he’s in the Hall 5 years from now, no question.
Maybe. I’m one who casts his votes for who I feel is the best player at the position whenever I can - not necessarily the one having the best first half. Except in fairly extreme cases, like Smith suddenly being way over the hill or Jones really breaking out into an MVP season, it’d be pretty strange for a player’s stats in the month of May to make me change my mind about my vote.
To use Albert Pujols as the obvious example, if some other NL first basemen is outhitting Pujols on June 1, I’m still voting for Pujols, unless he’s injured and won’t make the game.