14 strikeouts

It wasn't a no hitter.

Slacker.

Cain Friday.

We led the major leagues for the first time in SFG history in batting average against (.236); we led the NL in batting average against with runners in scoring position and runners in scoring position with two outs.

We're on this.

The 100 Greatest Players in Professional Football History 50-41

Last week's ten is here.

Here's 100-51, my picks are first, the NFL Network picks are second.

100. Larry Allen (Joe Namath)
99. Tom Mack (Michael Strahan)
98. Ozzie Newsome (Lee Roy Selmon)
97. Steve Van Buren (Derrick Brooks)
96. Michael Strahan (Mel Hein)
95. Norm Van Brocklin (Larry Allen)
94. Donovan McNabb (Lenny Moore)
93. Lance Alworth (Sam Huff)
92. OJ Simpson (Michael Irvin)
91. Lou Groza (Fran Tarkenton)
90. Jack Youngblood (Kurt Warner)
89. Sam Huff (Ernie Nevers)
88. Paul Krause (Ed Reed)
87. Cris Carter (Crazylegs Hirsch)
86. Chris Doleman (Willie Davis)
85. Sammy Baugh (Marcus Allen)
84. Alex Karras (Joe Schmidt)
83. Tony Dorsett (Norm Van Brocklin)
82. Don Maynard (Ted Hendricks)
81. John Brodie (Steve Young)
80. Bobby Layne (Troy Aikman)
79. Gene Hickerson (Emlen Tunnell)
78. Chuck Howley (Bruce Matthews)
77. Michael Irvin (Tony Dorsett)
76. Too Tall Jones (Art Shell)
75. Roger Staubach (Darrell Green)
74. Willie Wood (Marion Motley)
73. Will Shields (Ozzie Newsome)
72. Carl Eller (Jonathan Ogden)
71. Ladainian Tomlinson (Paul Warfield)
70. Curtis Martin (Marshall Faulk)
69. Terrell Owens (Bobby Bell)
68. Len Dawson (Mike Webster)
67. Tom Brady (Kellen Winslow)
66. Mike Haynes (Willie Brown)
65. Ken Houston (Randy Moss)
64. Rickey Jackson (Herb Adderly)
63. Darrell Green (Jim Otto)
62. Mike Webster (Randy White)
61. Forrest Gregg (Ladainian Tomlinson)
60. Harold Jackson (Jack Ham)
59. Tim Brown (Mike Ditka)
58. Night Train Lane (Steve Van Buren)
57. Ken Anderson (Mike Singletary)
56. YA Tittle (Gene Upshaw)
55. Alan Page (Earl Campbell)
54. Thurman Thomas (Forrest Gregg)
53. Howie Long (Willie Lanier)
52. Jack Lambert (Eric Dickerson)
51. Randy Moss (Bart Starr)

Here's the next ten...

50.Joe Perry RB 48-63 Niners

-When you average 5 yards a carry over a fifteen year career, that's a top 50 all time player.  (NFL Net took Terry Bradshaw, not on my list)

49.Herb Adderly DB 61-72 Packers

-Top comp is Ronde Barber, among the most underrated players of recent vintage; the Barber brothers might be back to back in the top 150.  (Mike Haynes, already appeared on my list.)

48.James Lofton WR 78-93 Packers

-18+ yards per catch over 764 catches – Lofton’s career a good example of the “pre-steroid” era in the inflation of passing numbers; you could look at the mid 90s as the beginning of a very comparable offensive inflation in both football and baseball – the difference is the passing numbers in football, inflated by rule change, continue to increase.  (Red Grange - not on my list.)

47.Bruce Matthews OL 83-01  Oilers

-(NFL took Ray Nitschke, not on my list.)

46.Derrick Brooks LB 95-08 Bucs

-5 time first team All Pro.  (Roger Staubach - already appeared on my list.)

45.Tony Gonzalez TE 97-   Chiefs

-80+ tds and over a thousand catches, the greatest TE in NFL history. (Hah!  First time!  They picked Gonzalez as well.  Consensus!  Consensus!  My work here is done.)

44.Marshall Faulk RB 94-06 Colts/Rams

-4+ yards a carry, 9+ a catch, 136 career TD. (Mel Blount - still to come on my list.)

43.Steve Young QB 85-99 Niners

-a QB rating of 96+, 33000+ yards passing, a comp percentage of 64%+, 232 career passing touchdowns and 43 on the ground with an avg of almost 6 yards a carry.  6 TD passes, no picks in SB 29. (Alan Page, just appeared on my list a dozen spots back.)  

42.Marcus Allen RB 82-97 Raiders/Chiefs

4 yards+ a carry, 9yards+ a catch, nearly 150 TDs and spent a chunk of his career as a blocking back. (John Mackey - not on my list.)

41. Marvin Harrison WR 96-08  Colts

And you thought Juice would be the top ranked player ever to kill a guy.  Allegedly.  (Rod Woodson - still to come on my list.)


That's the Top 60 - mine and theirs; I'll get the jump again on the next ten of the list by posting first thing next Thursday.  

I Pick Every NFL Game in 2010 - Week 5

Last week was here.

ATS 31-27-4
SU 36-26


Baltimore -7 Denver (win/win)
Bills +1 Jax (loss/loss)
Chiefs +8.5 Colts (Colts win game) (loss/win)
Wash +2.5 GB (win/win)
Det -3 StL (win/win)
Browns +3 Atlanta (loss/loss)
Bengals -6.5 Tampa (my suicide pick) (loss/loss)
Bears -3 Panthers (win/win)
Houston -3 NYG (loss/loss)
Ariz +7 NO (win/win)
Oakland +6 SD (Chargers win game) (win/loss)
Dallas -6.5 Tenn (loss/loss)
Eagles -3.5 Niners (loss/win)
Jets -4 Vikes (win/win)

ATS: 7-7   38-34-4
SU: 8-6     44-32

Giants v. Braves NLDS Thoughts

So, here we go.

Game 1 - Lincecum v. Lowe
Game 2 - Cain v. Hanson
Game 3 - Sanchez v. Hudson

-We were 7 1/2 games out on July 5.  The only time in SFG history we were further out and still won the division was 2000.  Beginning on that date, we played .630 ball, second only to the Phillies for best record in the majors.

-Lincecum's second only to Livan Hernandez as the youngest SFG to start game one of a playoff series.  No, it doesn't seem as if Livan Hernandez was ever 26 years old, but there it is.

-All 3 Braves starters are right handed - we went 68-50 this year against righties.

-For all the talk you'll hear analysts do about small ball and situational hitting and productive outs - when the Giants homered this season we win: 67-31.  And when we don't, we lose: 25-39.

-We led all of baseball in ERA.  Only the second SFG team ('87) ever to do so.

-Our pitching staff led all of baseball in strikeouts for consecutive seasons.  We struck out 1331 batters this year, an SFG record.

-We had the highest fielding percentage for any team in SFG history.

-When we score 3 runs or more, we have the best record in baseball.  3 runs.  That's it.  When we scored 3 or more we went 80-24.  As the postseason unfolds - if you see us hit a homer, if you see us score 3 runs, you're watching a game we are increasingly likely to win.  That's our team - we pitch the ball, we catch the ball, we hit home runs.  3 runs wins the game.

-Our guys have hit Lowe well.

Burrell: 9-25
Fontenot: 4-10 (in contrast to Sanchez, 3-17)
Renteria: 6-19
Ross: 3-10 (note that in contrast to Guillen 3-19 with seven strikeouts)
Rowand 11-23 (I don't know if Rowand makes the roster, but he hits these guys historically)
Sandoval: 4-10

Even the small sample sized guys - Torres, Uribe, have hit Lowe in their only opportunities.

-Game 2 is less promising.  We don't have a lot of at bats against Hanson, but the ones we do have aren't great, there are a lot of 0-4, 0-6, 0-7 records in small samples.

-Game 3's a mixed bag against Hudson:
Burrell: 7-34
Guillen: 3-15
Ross 2-15
Sanchez 3-21

But..
Huff 7-22
Rowand 8-21

On the other side - Infante, Lee, McCann have all hit Lincecum. Could be game 1 is higher scoring than one would anticipate.

But not Game 2, where Cain's record against them is similar to Hanson's against us.  And Sanchez has a similar split (not quite as successful) against the Braves as Hudson has against us.

This looks hard to me like a long, tight series.  I don't think I'm just being pessimistic when I say we're looking at going five.

But I do think we win.

And then the Phillies.

Edit - No Zito, no Guillen.  This is an excellent turn of events.  Curiously good decisionmaking.

2010 MLB Postseason Predictions

A five game series is a crapshoot; the range of pythagorean wins among the 8 playoff teams is 92-97; there just aren't any mismatches left.  That said - here are the picks.

NL - Philadelphia over Cincinnati - Phils in 4
-They both hit and catch the ball; they both stick low OBP guys at the top of the order; the Phillies hit lefties this year significantly better than had they previously, and while the Reds have a sizeable bullpen advantage, the Phils don't use that pen often.  Maybe that catches up to them by the end of the month, but it's unlikely to matter in the first round.  The Phils are the best team in the NL playing the best baseball.  For game one - the Reds are sending the right guy to the mound, you'd still expect them to lose, but if they have any chance at all in the series, Volquez has to win Wednesday.

NL San Francisco over Atlanta - Giants in 5
-We're pretty good - the rotation, 1 through 11 is the best in the postseason (particularly if it's Bumgarner, and not Zito who is the 4th starter) we catch the ball (better is it's Ross and not Guillen who starts in right) and we don't score a lot, but with Posey/Burrell/Huff we can pop some homers.  The Braves don't hit any better than we do, there's not much punch beyond Heyward/McCann, they don't have our rotation - and while the pen has been a real strength it, like the entire Braves club, is showing a ton of wear as we hit the postseason.  Prior to Game 162 I wrote that even though it left us open to the possibility of a one game playoff (or worse), I was rooting for the Braves to win Sunday, as this is the most favorable matchup possible for SFG.  Giants fans - you should expect to be playing the Phillies for the NL pennant and be disappointed if you are not.

AL - Tampa over Texas - Rays in 4
-Rays are well balanced, without any glaring weaknesses (they strikeout a helluva lot, which doesn't that much matter given how much they score) or overwhelming strengths (outside of their patience at the plate, it's a lineup filled with guys who will take a pitch, the Rays peck each at bat to death, exactly the approach I most like) Texas isn't as strong against lefties as they are righties, look for Price to have an advantage in his matchup.  Both teams catch the ball, both pens are strong - the Rangers take a hit in a short series with Cliff Lee's inability to pitch on short rest.  Josh Hamilton is just coming back from injury, David Murphy's health is questionable - Tampa's a better team with fewer questions.  None of these 4 series is a lock, but A Texas win would be the most suprising result for me.  Lee is not a great Game One matchup for Tampa given his pinpoint (cliche alert) control; if Tampa wins game one go all in on the Rays to win this series - even if they lose, that shouldn't overly sway you in thinking Texas is about to pull an upset. 

AL - New York over Minnesota - Yanks in 5
-The Twins have Mauer/Liriano and Thome from the right side and not a lot else; they can't hit lefties at all; NY isn't built to win the whole thing, given Sabathia as their only reliable starter, but they should get by the Twins.  The Yanks can still mash.

NLCS - Philadelphia d. San Francisco - Phils in 7.  'Cause it wouldn't be any fun if we didn't lose in 7.
ALCS - Tampa d. New York - Rays in 6.


World Series - Tampa d. Philadelphia - Rays in 7.