The Local
The last time the Los Angeles Angels boasted a 20-game winner, they were known as the California Angels, the 20-game winner was a trim fellow named Nolan Ryan, and Gerald Ford was just over a month settled in as the nation's first unelected president to claim the office through other than the Electoral College.
This time, the Angels' 20-game winner is a portly fellow named Bartolo Colon, who has become a 20-game winner for the second time in his career and the first time with the same team from one to 20, having won 10 apiece for the 2002 Cleveland Indians and Montreal Expos.
Ryan in 1974 rolled up an earned run average (2.89) .55 below the American League average; Colon, through this writing, has rolled up an ERA (3.34) .96 below the league average, a capacity which might have given him a 2.48 pitching in Ryan's season. Ryan in 1974 also earned a 1.82-to-1 strikeouts-to-walks ratio, aligning 367 strikeouts to 202 walks.
Colon, through this writing, has struck out less than half (149) and walked likewise (40), for a hair short of a 4-to-1 K/BB ratio; or, if you prefer to think of it this way, Colon has walked a mere 20 percent of what Ryan walked. The Express in the 10 starts leading to his 20th win in 1974 went 6-4 with a 2.21 ERA; Colon, in the 10 leading to his 20th, has gone 8-1 with one no-decision (a game he pitched more than well enough to win) with a 2.70 ERA.
As it happens, Colon resembles a beach ball with legs when captured sideways by a photographer in mid-delivery. Or, if you prefer, he resembled what Ralph Kramden might evince had he become a pitcher and not a bus driver, minus the bang-zoom punches. Call him the Local, if you must.
The last such 20-game winner in memory was Mickey Lolich. David Wells, winning 20 for the 2000 Toronto Blue Jays, resembled a mere two pounds of baloney in a one-pound sack. Clearly enough did Wells and the Express lack what it takes to run in company that fast. We who claim each day that the biggest thing into which we ever get is our pants salute the Bartolocal.
Running of the Bulls
There is even less breathing easy now than when Johnny Damon made the observation Sunday. And the Olde Towne Team needs no reminder that dropping six of 11, while the Empire Emeritus is winning nine of 10, is not the way to make security atop the American League East.
Nor do they need any reminder that Mike Timlin and his fellow bulls squandering a 4-2 lead into a 7-4 Tampa Bay Devil Rays win is even less exemplary a way to make such security. Especially on a night when Randy Johnson continues to resemble the Big Unit we have all known and loved, unless we are Baltimore Orioles hitters, and the Empire Emeritus steps genteelly over them into a half-game AL East lead they haven't seen since New Orleans was dry. There are right and wrong times and ways to run the bulls.
This Time, The End
Sometimes it seems no season passes without Ken Griffey, Jr. suffering another season-ending injury or surgery. Missing 15 games with a right foot sprain, suffered rounding second earlier this month, Griffey come Monday faces surgery to clean out his left knee and purge his hamstring of scar tissue.
With 35 home runs, 92 runs batted in, 85 runs scored, a .369 on-base percentage, a .576 slugging percentage, and a .946 OPS, Griffey made a) a magnificent Comeback Player of the Year case, b) the Cincinnati Reds worth watching for more than awhile, and c) the non-waiver trade deadline interesting, with the Chicago White Sox believed pursuing a deal, but Griffey saying through his agent he had no desire to leave his hometown team, even though he also wanted to play for a contender once more.
At least this time the annual event came after he performed according to his once-customary standards, and at all but season's end.
Walking and Chewing Gum
Said Barry Bonds during the San Francisco Giants' visit to the Washington Nationals, when not hitting a bomb a night: Congress surely has far more important things to ponder than, you know, that business. Said an aide to Rep. Tom Davis (R-Virginia), the chairman of the House Government Reform Committee: Chairman Davis and ranking Democrat Henry Waxman can, in fact, walk and chew gum at the same time.
You may recall just how good they were in March: Davis and Waxman said they had no wish to "impede or complicate" official legal investigations. Thus they declined to invite Bonds to its inquisition because of the then-still-open Fabulous BALCO Boys probe. But they thought nothing of inviting Jason Giambi — in spite of the then-still-open Fabulous BALCO Boys probe. It took the Justice Department for them to disinvite Giambi, Justice advising them a day later that they stood precisely to impede or complicate an official legal investigation.
The day may come yet when Davis and Waxman can walk and chew gum at the same time. You will recognise it when they declare that, henceforth, business having nothing to do with "government reform" (yes, the phrase rings like "profligate skinflint") is none of their business.
Spoils
The half-game lead remains in the American League East and has yet to arrive in the American League Central, even if the East's dance changed partners for at least one day. And the East is not necessarily hosting the only spellbinding dance in town.
The Cleveland Indians took two out of three from the Chicago White Sox, who still have innings to play in spite of a 15-game Central lead shrinking to two and a half and an 11-9 September against the Tribe's 15-4 month thus far. A rare Cleveland bullpen lapse and a 10th-inning walkoff home run by Joe Crede in the second of the three showed as much, but two homers from Travis Hafner, five-hit pitching from Scott Elarton, and White Sox starter Jon Garland just not having it — in his own words — put the Indians two and a half back.
A sweep would have closed it to half a game, but the two-of-three still leaves the Indians with momentum enough on a 14-of-16 spell. The White Sox are 7-of-16 and formerly owned a 15-game division lead. And if they think a two and a half lead is safer than the 15-game lead that now seems last year's news, they may care to think twice, even if they have a small advantage between both clubs' coming pairs of sets with spoilers in waiting.
The Tribe has dates next with the Kansas City Royals and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays — they are 10-4 against the Royals to date and 3-4 against the Devil Rays. The White Sox have dates with the Minnesota Twins and the Detroit Tigers — they are 8-6 against the Twins to date and 9-1 against the Tigers. The Royals greet the Indians in Kansas City on a 9-11 September. The Devil Rays — who have just helped push the Boston Red Sox a half game behind the Yankees for the first time in what seems generations — are 9-10 for the month to date. The Twins come to Chicago on a 7-11 September, while the Tigers begin a set with the Seattle Mariners on a 4-18 September.
And the Central could still go down to the final weekend wire. Guess who the Indians and the White Sox finish against? In Cleveland. With the Indians holding the extra motivation of no hope to win the season series against the White Sox, but every hope of stealing the division from them. Who says the Red Sox and the Yankees have to have all the final weekend's fun?
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