Posted by Chris Doelle on January 5th, 2005 under
Baseball 
Wade Boggs was selected to baseball’s Hall of Fame on the 1st ballot - something that few players have done. Overlooked once again is Don Mattingly. The Yanks former 1st baseman spent his entire career in pinstripes and turned in stellar seasons year in and year out. The problem as far as the baseball writers is that he didn’t reach the magic number of 3,000 hits. Boggs had 3,010 (167 a year) hits in 18 seasons but only managed 118 homers in that time - only going over 20 one time in his entire career. Mattingly on the other hand played only 14 seasons and knotched 2,153 hits (154 a year) and slammed in 222 homeruns (nearly double Boggs in four less seasons.) Mattingly also outperformed Boggs in RBIs with 1,099 to 1,014.
So is Boggs the yardstick for whether or not Mattingly should be in the Hall? Nope, but baseball writers determined Boggs is a first ballot selection and Mattingly is OUT? Let’s look at fielding ability - Boggs was a liability in the field a .965 lifetime fielding average with 232 errors - Mattingly was gold, literally with Gold Gloves nearly every year and only 68 errors.
Awards:
Gold Glove - ‘85-’89, ‘91-’94
American League MVP - 1985
Batting Champion - 1984
Hits Leader - 1984, 1986
RBI Leader - 1985
The baseball writers should do a little homework instead of just looking for 3,000 hits.
PS. Kirby Puckett is in the Hall with a nearly identical number of hits and less homers and Gold Gloves. (another first ballot selection)
Well, it will go down as the perfect season that never was. My dream World Series came up short on two fronts. The Yankees did their part to destroy the dream with the biggest choke in baseball history and the Astros exposed their lack of pitching depth one too many times as they fell short of showing up for the final dance.
It would have been great to see the Yankees come to Minute Maid for a World Series game, Clemens to pitch against the Bronx Bombers, the Killer B’s to battle with Mariano… seriously, Jeter in Minute Maid would have been sweet. But alas, it now seems more like a mirage than a definite possibility.
The baseball season is now officially over. What of that other 7 game series? Does anyone really care? I know I don’t. No Yanks - no Stros…. no INTEREST!
I have to congratulate the RedSox for the amazing four game comeback to head to the World Series. They deserve to go on - the Yankees had the series wrapped up and choked… the better team is moving forward this year.
The Curse of the Bambino still lives however, because it is not about beating the Yankees or even going to the World Series - it is about “winning” the world series. That still remains intact and now I can put my full support behing the Astros to move forward to the Series and do their part to make Houston history while preserving “the curse!”
You couldn’t get a better story than game seven in Boston’s Fenway Park with long-time Red Sox pitcher, Roger Clemens pitching against them to victory for the Astros. Could the curse of the Rocket be added to the Bambino’s?
Posted by Chris Doelle on October 6th, 2004 under
Baseball 
Wow, 12 innings… numerous lead changes… a big hit by ARod to tie it up… and a sacrifice fly by Matsui to score Jeter and win it!
Add to that “The Rocket” pitching deep into the game for the Astros and getting his first win in the opener of a postseason series in his career… big homers from unexpected heroes (Berkman, Beltran, Ausmus and Lane all went deep)… and the Astros down the hated Braves!
Overall, it was a darn good day for baseball…
Wow, where to begin. The problem with taking a break it you are left with a lot of things to do to catch up. Kinda like this long ‘vacation’ weekend - possibly one of the most hectic and tiring weekends in recent history. It is a tired cliche, but I need to get back to work so that I can relax. 
I will attempt to cover the following in this post. Saturday, Tony, Allison, Pennie & I went out and did some things, Sunday, hung out more with Tony, Allison & Pennie, Monday - went to the Alamo Draft House to see Bruce Almighty….
Saturday: I got up early and did some housework and awaited the arrival of Tony & Allison. While waiting for them to arrive, I got the bug to do some home improvement. I hung some blinds in the kitchen and then set about to build a shelf for a TV in my bedroom. Brian assisted and we did a fine job I must say.
They arrived and we said our hellos after not seeing each other for a long time - Allison wasted no time in cutting up…
We hung out a bit as Sam and Allison got acquanted…
We then headed to the baseball game at Minute Maid park to watch the Astros take on the Cubs. We stopped off at the downtown aquarium and took the train ride and met this HUGE horse outside the ballpark.
Allison managed to entertain everyone around us. She wanted a picture to prove she was at a big league ballpark..
Well, I am going to leave Sunday and Monday’s recap to another day as I have some work to do.
