Is He A True Yankee Yet?

Overshadowed by Dioneer Navarro's walk-off homerun in the 10th and a Yankee loss, Alex Rodriguez hit a 3rd inning grand slam last night, and in doing so, became the first player in the history of the game to have 50 homeruns, 150 RBI, and 20 stolen bases in the same season.

His RBI total (151) is the most for a Yankee since Joe DiMaggio in 1948 (155), and his run total (139) is most by a Yankee since Rickey Henderson in 1985 (146).

Not a bad year.

The Artist Currently Known As Prince

Do you know who the youngest player is to hit 50 homeruns in a season? Here's a hint. His last name is Fielder and his first name isn't Cecil.

Prince Fielder unloaded on numbers 49 and 50 last night in the Brew Crew's 9-1 win over St. Louis, as he turned 23 years and 139 days old.

For the season, Fielder now ranks 1st in the NL in homeruns and slugging, 2nd in OPS, 3rd in RBI, 5th in runs, 9th in walks, and 10th in OBP. Further boosting his MVP resume, he's hitting .346 with 9 dingers in September (including more walks than strikeouts), and for the season he's hitting .329 close and late.

Interestingly, the younger Fielder openly admits he wants to hit two more homeruns this season and win the MVP, so he can best his dad, with whom he no longer speaks.

"Hopefully one day, when they mention my name, they won't have to mention his," he said.

Bad news NL hurlers...not only is this young, powerful, talented slugger making a last-ditch effort to blast his team into the post season (they're now 2 back of the Cubs with 5 to play), but he's also playing with the proverbial family chip on his shoulder.

Hershiser's History?

Brandon Webb did it again last night, tossing his third straight shutout and running his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 42. As you probably know, the record is 59, set back in 1988 by Dodger righty Orel Hershiser, meaning with two more shutouts, Webb would set a new record of 60.

He is the first pitcher since Hershiser to have a consecutive scoreless innings streak of more than 40, and just the 21st in history to have one that long (that's what she said).

Based on the D-Backs' schedule, he's supposed to throw Wednesday, at home, against the Milwaukee Brewers, who could be without Prince Fielder if the league upholds his 3-game suspension. Fielder's status for that game has the potential to be huge in the scope of this streak because obviously Webb would prefer not to have to face the NL's homerun leader 3 or 4 times if he doesn't have to.

If he manages to keep his streak alive after that appearance (he doesn't have to throw a shutout either, he just can't give up any runs), his next start would be Monday the 27th at light-hitting San Diego, and then if necessary he'd pitch again September 1st, at home, against the Colorado Rockies.

Odds are, somebody will break his streak before he gets to Orel, but then again, the odds of him getting to 40 weren't great either, so who knows.

And speaking of streaks, Bobby Jenks still hasn't allowed a baserunner, partially because he hasn't pitched since last Sunday. As it stands right now, he has tied the major league record for consecutive hitters retired, at 41. The White Sox have lost 6 in a row and have two more games left this weekend, at Seattle. So the question is, what's more likely to happen, the White Sox winning a game or somebody reaching base against Jenks?

756*

To me, this is a sad day for baseball...not because it's Barry Bonds who's broken one of the game's most revered records. No, we knew that was going to happen eventually and Bonds is unquestionably a Hall-of-Famer. To me, the reason this is a sad day is because baseball and its fans are either grossly over-celebrating this achievement, or grossly under-celebrating it, and we may never know which is the case.

One of two things happened here. Either Barry Bonds did use illegal performance-enhancing drugs to enjoy freakish success in his late 30s and 40s and broke records he otherwise wouldn't have come close to breaking, or he didn't do anything wrong other than enjoying unprecedented late-career potency thanks to a rigorous workout regimen and a health-conscious diet. It's sad we don't have an answer to that yet.

Bonds insisted his record is "taint-free," again last night during a post-game press conference. I appreciate that, but with all due respect to Bonds, I'd like to hear high ranking baseball officials corroborate his story. And considering the fact that Bud Selig didn't even want his picture taken with Bonds, I wouldn't expect that any time soon. It's sad that every single story or discussion in the days and weeks to come will include the words "suspicion," "allegations," "knowingly," "cheat," "taint," "leaked grand jury testimony" and "steroids." It's sad because the game deserves better, and so does Bonds if he's actually clean.

It's sad that some people might try to turn this into a racial issue, which it simply is not. I bet you'll be able to find more Barry Bonds fans right now than Mark McGwire or Rafael Palmeiro fans, and probably more Hank Aaron fans than the other three combined.

And it's sad that some people are not celebrating this once-in-a-lifetime achievement with the same zeal as, say, Ripken's 2131, or McGwire's 62nd back before this whole mess started. That's not to say that I blame them, it's just sad that there's any doubt.

300

It's the hottest DVD in America right now, and it's how many career victories Tom Glavine has, thanks to tonight's 8-3 win, in Chicago, against the Cubs.

Glavine was vintage Glavine. He got ahead of hitters, got a few generous strike calls from the home plate umpire (earned by being in the zone all night), and changed location and speed with the veteran savvy of a savvy veteran.

Glavine is the guy every father should make his son watch the first time Sonny Boy asks how hard he was throwing on the radar gun in his high school game. He should sit him down, pop in tonight's game, or just about any of Glavine's other 299 wins, and show Junior that you can throw 85 and still make good big league hitters look bad. If that speed works against Alfonso Soriano and Derek Lee, 70 will work just fine against the J-V team.

In this generation, Glavine will probably be thought of after guys like Clemens, Maddux, and Randy Johnson (rightly so). But he ranks well above pitchers like Schilling, Pedro, Pettitte, Smoltz, and Mussina for, if nothing else, his consistency.

Glavine is now the 23rd member of the 300 club (Gerard Butler is not one of the other 22), and the big question is, will he be the last? As I've said before, there aren't too many pitchers right now with a decent crack at 300. Since my post a few weeks ago, Johnson's season has come to an end, without another win. So he'll need 16 next year, after major back surgery, and at age 44. It's possible, but it'll be tough. And I don't see Johnson pitching for anybody in 2009.

Mussina's 2006 made it look like he had a lot more career left than he appears to have left in 2007. He's 55 wins away and has never had 20 in a season, meaning he's going to need to pitch for at least 4 more seasons. Again, not impossible, but not likely.

Realistically, after Moose, it's Pedro who needs 94 more at age 35, and Pettitte who's the same age and 109 away. Personally, I don't think it's going to happen for any of those guys, meaning it may be Roy Oswalt, C.C. Sabathia, or Johan Santana who ends up getting close.

Or who knows? Maybe it's the 13-year-old who just finished up watching Glavine's 300th and now has a newfound appreciation for pitching rather than just lighting up the gun, who's going to be the next to join the list, some 30 years from now. That, friends, is what makes this game so great.

Milemarkers And Speed Bumps

Yesterday, Barry Bonds took two pretty big steps forward in his quest to break Hank Aaron's all-time homerun record, snapping an 0-21 drought with career bombs 752 and 753 in Chicago. Two more jacks- he's tied. And with three more- the record, clouded by suspicion though it will be, is his.

On the other side of the milestone spectrum, the New York Mets spotted Tom Glavine a 6-spot in the top of the first, and gave him 3 more in the top of the third in LA, but he was pulled after just 2 innings, 68 pitches, 10 hits, and 4 earned, thus disqualifying him for his 299th carer win. The Mets ended up winning a barnburner, 13-9.

Both of these future Hall of Famers face difficult roads ahead in their quests for their respective statistical achievements. Bonds openly admits when he sees the umpire give the pitcher the new, special "Barry Bonds homerun baseball" it gets in his head (and in his defense, how would it not get in your head?). And Glavine, sad as it is to say, is seemingly at the end of the road, stuff-wise. He will almost certainly finish with a 4.00+ ERA this season for just the 5th time in 20 full seasons. And he's flirting with a career-worst in ERA, set back in 1988 with the Braves when he posted a 4.56 mark (ignoring the 50 innings he threw in his rookie season). I submit as further proof his increasing walk totals and his decreasing strikeout totals.

There's enough season left that barring injury, both of these 40-plus-ers should be able to reach their marks this year. But the question now is, who's going to have a tougher time, Bonds or Glavine?

Conventional wisdom would say it's a whole lot easier for a slugger to hit 3 homeruns than it is for a good pitcher to win 2 games. An everyday player, and Bonds is almost one these days, has an opportunity to hit a homerun with every plate appearance, whereas a starting pitcher like Glavine only has a chance to pick up a win every fifth team game. Plus, hitting a homerun requires the batter to have one good swing, one time, whereas to get a win, a pitcher needs to work at least 5 innings, have his team score more runs than he's allowed, and the bullpen can't squander the lead. In other words, Barry Bonds doesn't need to rely on his teammates at all to hit a homerun, whereas Tom Glavine very much needs to rely on his teammates to get a win.

But we're not talking about any 3 homeruns, or any 2 wins. We're talking about 756 and 300. And that, to me, is where this argument gets interesting. With each homerun Bonds hits, the pressure, attention, and scrutiny will intensify exponentially. That simply won't happen for Glavine. Sure it will be the story when he gets to 299, and each subsequent time he goes for 300, but it won't even be a story on the 4 other days he doesn't pitch. He can rest mentally those days and focus on baseball only. But Bonds will get no reprieve. If he plays tonight and hits one, everybody will start to ask him about 755. If he plays and doesn't hit one, everybody will ask him about 754. And if he doesn't play, everybody will ask him when he will play again, so he can hit 754. The reason for all this is because nobody's been where Barry is trying to go, whereas 22 pitchers have been where Glavine is trying to go. It won't be long before ESPN starts breaking into its regular programming to bring the world Barry Bonds' latest at-bat live, as he goes for history. This will happen for every single one of his at-bats, until he gets to 756. You can bet the same will not happen for Glavine.

So while I think Bonds will hit his 3 before Glavine wins his 2, I think Bonds will have a much tougher time getting there. And with each homerless at-bat, it will only get more difficult. What's interesting about these two statistical quests though is the fact that it's no sure bet we'll ever see 756 or 300 again.

Among hitters, Sammy Sosa and Ken Griffey Jr. are the two closest, but I don't think either of these guys has another 150 jacks in them, given their proximity to 40. And at age 39, Frank Thomas most certainly does not have another 250 in him. A still-31-year-old Alex Rodriguez is the best bet, but like "The Big Hurt," he's only about two-thirds of the way to Bonds, and Bonds is still playing. Jim Thome (36, 487), Manny Ramirez (35, 484), Gary Sheffield (38, 477), and Carlos Delgado (35, 423) all seem like locks for 500, but not necessarily 600. Realistically, that leaves Andruw Jones (30, 361) and Vladimir Guerrero (32, 352) both of whom aren't even halfway there yet.

The prospects are even more bleak among pitchers. Does 43-year-old Randy Johnson have 16 more wins in him? Personally, I don't think he does. If you look at his struggles to stay healthy this season, there's no sure bet he'll pick up 4 or 5 more wins in 2007, meaning he would have to win more than 10 if he returns in 2008. It won't matter because he's a Hall of Famer even without 300 on his resume. But if Johnson doesn't get to 300, it could be a long time before anyone else does. Mike Mussina (38) needs 57 more wins. That won't happen. David Wells (44) needs 65...zippy chance. Same story for Jamie Moyer (44, 223), Curt Schilling (40, 213), Kenny Rogers (42, 210), and John Smoltz (40, 202). If 35-year-old Pedro Martinez didn't have a 50-year-old right arm and body, his 206 wins would be a good bet to turn into 300, but now it doesn't look so good. And after Andy Pettitte (35, 191), and Bartolo Colon (34, 146), the only four pitchers under 35 with at least 120 wins are Tim Hudson (31, 129), Kevin Milwood (32, 129), Livan Hernandez (32, 128), and Jason Schmidt (34, 128). Then you get into mega-projection territory with guys like Roy Oswalt (29, 106), Roy Halladay (30, 105), Mark Buehrle (28, 104), CC Sabathia (26, 94), and Johan Santana (28, 89).

So whether you like them or hate them, cheer on Bonds and Glavine as they go for the record books. It could be the last time we see something like this ever again.