TDL’s Sports, Wrestling, & Otherwise

I know there’s going to be a ton of ink spilled and bytes spent furiously typing about how there probably won’t ever be another pitcher to reach the 300 milestone (presuming that Randy Johnson’s back really does keep him from the one or two more seasons he’s going to require to get there). I’m reading plenty of columns that passingly mention that there are now 23 guys in the 300 Win Club. Not many of them are mentioning that as the very reason that 300 wins has been a guaranteed ticket to Cooperstown for over 100 years. Baseball’s gone 20 years without finding itself with a 300 game winner more than once. Grover Cleveland Alexander got there in 1924. No one else would join him until Lefty Grove won #300 in 1941. He’d be alone until Warren Spahn joined him in 1961.

But, I’m really posting this to make fun of This awful article by alleged AP Writer Rick Gano.

Three-hundred wins has long punched a ticket to Cooperstown. One reason Tom Glavine could make that trip is his durability — he’s never been on the disabled list in a career than began in 1987.

With him so far.

He’s doesn’t rely on an overpowering fastball to dominate hitters and doesn’t tax his arm. Instead, he’s brushing the outside corner, mixing pitches and speeds.

In other words: he’s a good pitcher.

Late in his career, the 41-year-old left-hander worked with Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson to alter his approach and sequence of deliveries, making even more guesswork for hitters.

This sentence is the third paragraph… it’s not a particularly good paragraph… or sentence. Now, I realize that I’m in a glass house here; I’ve been known to make a typo or eleven. However, my excuse is that I don’t have an editor nor do I write for the A-damn-P.

He fields his position and he can swing the bat as he showed Sunday night in the Mets’ 8-3 win over the Cubs when he joined the exclusive 300-win club.

On and on and on and on.

He had an RBI single, a sacrifice, a bouncer to move a runner up and a walk. It’s an edge that helps greatly, especially in the National League where he’s spent his entire career.

Glavine is really good a sacrifice bunts. He’s also having a ridiculous year behind the plate for him and for a pitcher in general. He’s hitting .244 with an OBP of .362 in 41 at-bats. Guys on the Mets with a sub-.362 OBP: Carlos Delgado, Paul Lo Duca, Carlos Beltran, Shawn Green. Times Glavine has ever done this before or will ever do this again: 0.

The game has evolved since Glavine broke in with the Atlanta Braves two decades ago. Five-man rotations are commonplace, reducing the number of starts. Bullpen specialists are everywhere.

I know “Glavine Is Old” jokes are funny (my favorite was a few weeks ago: a co-worker mentioned that Glavine, in his younger days, passed the time with the most cutting-edge toy of his day… the Hoop N Stick) and, if that’s what the author was going for here, I wouldn’t bring it up… but Glavine broke in the league in 1988. Most teams started using five-man rotations in the 70s and Glavine was never a 300 Inning pitcher. Let’s simmer down on the “back when men were men” memoirs for a guy who played most of his career in the 90s and 2000s.

“Notice the dwindling number of 20-game winners you’ve seen over the years. That’s a pretty good indication in itself,” said Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella said, adding he doesn’t see another 300-game winner on the horizon.

I like Lou, but this is just wrong. Of the 23 guys in the 300 Club: 5 won their 300th before 1900, 6 won between 1900 and 1924, 3(!) in the 65(!) years between 1925 and 1980, 5 in the 80s, 1 in the 90s, and 3 since 2000. Dwindling Number? I’d say the numbers actually skyrocketed. In the last 27 years, 9 guys won their 300th game. In the 65 years preceding that there was a grand total of 3. I’ll say that the number of 400 game winners has dwindled.

Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks is out with back problems and is almost 44. Even though he has 284 wins, the magic 300 is unlikely for the left-hander.

Randy’s got 4000 strikeouts. The list of guys who have more than him is as follows: Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens. I think he’ll be OK.

It’s a topic Glavine has dealt with since he reached win No. 299. And two days before pitching at Wrigley Field and getting his 300th, he discussed it again.

This is a paragraph. I will note, what Glavine was discussing was not included in this paragraph, it was included in the next one. I died a little inside.

“Obviously, Randy is on the doorstep,” he said. “But with his health, that’s something you have to wait and see. There are a lot of talented guys in the game. It’s just a matter of if guys are going to stay healthy 18, 19, 20 years. That’s a big question.”

It’s just not likely.

This is four paragraphs.

I don’t.

Know why.

What, exactly, are the qualifications to be a writer (or editor for that matter) for the AP? It is summer… are they giving interns write-ups and just posting them? Seriously.