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Here we are again, winter, leaves falling from the trees, cold and rainy days, a presidential tag game of "You're not it", and of course, in the C.R.A.B.S. world, everyone awaits the final cuts of Sacramento and Oakland. Remember now, the old tale, if Sacramento makes it's cuts before Oakland, it's going to be a pleasant spring and summer. It's time for my annual (This, of course, being the first annual) team-by-team review of the 2000 C.R.A.B.S. season. As with every C.R.A.B.S. review I've done (This, of course, being the first), I will start at the top with C.R.A.B.S. newly established dynasty (Look, two championships in a row qualifies as a dynasty in this league, OK?), le Surgeons de la Crabapple (Those four years of French came in handy now, eh?) What can I say, they won, right? Alright. Coming into the season as the defending champs, Crabapple still needed to fill some holes, as in shortstop, as in Desi Relaford is the returning starter. 'Nuff said. The Surgeons gamely plucked Jose Valentin and Rafael Furcal in the Free Agent Draft and bid adieu (Viva la France!) to Mr. Relaford. Valentin and Furcal combined for 621 points and were huge catalysts at the top of the order. Career years from Jeff Kent (Team record 646 points) and Brad Fullmer, and the continued excellence of Mike Piazza and BJ Surhoff made the Surgeon lineup the league's best. Five players hit 20 or more homeruns as Crabapple led the league with 201 round trippers. The rotation was beset at the beginning of the season with news that Justin Thompson would miss the season because he was stuck in Florida designing election ballots. But that didn't keep these Surgeons down long, as Brian Anderson returned from the dead and led the team with 10 wins. Danny Graves broke his own team record with 8 saves out of the pen, to go nicely with his 2.20 ERA and All-Star selection. The only weak spot on the team, came rather surprisingly from thirdbase. Robin Ventura hit only .255 with a career low (Not counting those broken leg years, yo) 370 points. Even still, Crabapple cruised into first place sometime around 1946 and stayed there. Well, until the regular season ended anyway. Chicago proved no match for the men in scrubs, falling out of the playoffs before anyone could say, "Surgeons to the World Series! STAT! Can you say all Maine World Series? I knew you could. Crabapple flew out to a 2-0 lead over Maine in the Series, fell back 2-2, went ahead 3-2, fell back 3-3, then captured their unprecedented second C.R.A.B.S. championship with a seventh game victory. Whew! Let us pause for a moment so I can catch my breath…….OK, let's go onto something else. Talk about coming out of nowhere. Yes, these are the same Lobsters that brought up the rear of the National League in 1999. The Free Agent Draft brought in starting pitchers Mike Hampton and Livan Hernandez and outfielders Jeffrey Hammonds and Derek Bell, and voila! Instant success. Well, OK, not instant. In fact, Maine didn't clinch a playoff berth (Their first ever) until the 120th game, and when you only play 120 games, that's called cutting it close. REALCLOSE. Brian Giles, Vladimir Guerrero (In France, that's Vladimir Guerrero) and Tony Batista, led the offense with 667, 657, and 645 points, respectively, finishing sixth, seventh and eleventh in all of C.R.A.B.S.DOM. If there were such a thing. Hammonds replaced Bell in the starting lineup halfway through the season, and finished with a .373 mark with 408 points in only 230 at bats (And it only took him 7 years for that breakout half-season). Hampton and Hernandez led the Lobster's with 12 wins apiece, while Keith Foulke took over the closing role from John Rocker, leading the pen with six saves and a 2.87 ERA. After dispatching the favored Sacramento Giants in the playoffs, Maine took Crabapple to the seventh game before falling gamely in the big game. WOW! What a year for that little state, that from what I'm told is somewhere on the East Coast. How many times can these guys come close, but not go home with the gravy? Six of seven years these Giants have qualified for the post-season. Once, only once, I remind you, have they walked off with that beautiful Mike LaCoss Memorial Trophy given each year to the C.R.A.B.S. champion, and that was way back in the stone ages of 1995. Greg Maddux (16-7 3.18), check. Pedro Martinez (12-3 1.65), check. Chipper Jones (.301, 22HR, 561), check. Ray Durham (584 points), check. John Wetteland (10 saves), check. Their stars all had their usual outstanding seasons, and lookie what we have over here, a strapping young firstbasemen who checked in with a .396 average, 154 hits, 44 doubles, and 787 points. All league records, dontcha know. Take a bow, Todd Helton. So, I know you must be asking yourself, "Wha hoppen?". Well, you might wanna brush up on the old English as a second language course, bucky, but to answer your question. I don't know. How can this team keep falling in the playoffs after breezing through the regular season? Sure, Pedro was hurting by the end of the year, and missing starts. Ditto Jose Canseco. Matt Williams never made so much as a peep because of some front office snafus (Litigation is still pending so I'm unable to expand on this. They're guilty, though). Ben Grieve did a disappearing act halfway through the season, Kevin Millwood (6-9 5.87)pulled a rabbit out of his hat, and not much else, and Tom Glavine actually had a losing record (8-9). Alright, I guess there are some reasons, injuries being the key, but dadgummit, these guys still won 71 games in the regular set. They've won the most games ever, they've won 70 games more times than any other team, but they still come up clunkers in the playoffs. Go figger. And if you think of something, let me know, K? Rounding out our "worst to almost first" duet, is the Chicago White Sox (Applause here). After lying dormant for four years, the White Sox returned to the playoffs in the American League's surprise equivalent to that of Maine. Led by young bull Magglio Ordonez (Team record 687 points), the usual stars, John Olerud (558 points, team record 36 doubles), Rafael Palmeiro (557 points), and Mike Bordick (Yes, THAT Mike Bordick), who hit a career high 17 homeruns to go with 534 points (OK, maybe it wasn't THAT Mike Bordick), the Sox' led the AL for the first two months before settling in second and holding off a late charge from Roseville to clinch their third playoff berth. Moises Alou came back from injury to post a nifty campaign (.375, 20, 457) and Chicago debuted their latest young outfielder, Preston Wilson (.257, 12, 381- Off the bench). Denny Neagle and Hideo Nomo led the staff with 10 wins apiece, and Todd Jones was his usual old self, checking in with 9 saves. Overall, a splendid return to glory for the men in, ahem, White Sox, even though they lost in the playoffs. How'd they do it? Like I know…… Missed it by thatmuch. After sitting in the second playoff berth for most of the season, Oakland gave way to upstart Maine on the final day of the regular season. Ouch. Frank Thomas enjoyed a rebirth of sorts, hitting .337 with 34 homeruns, a team record 105 RBI and 748 points. Alex Rodriguez (.341, 25, 695) enjoyed another stellar season, as did Barry Bonds (.317, 34, 601), but where did Ken Griffey, Jr. go? OK, OK, he did hit 27 dongs, and scored only 1 point less than Sir Barry (In 72 more ABs), but where did that .249 average come from? The A's lack of production from centerfield, thirdbase, and catcher did them in, as the three starters from those positions combined for a measly 861 points (Or only 74 points less than Sacramento's Todd Helton!). Randy Johnson was Randy Johnson again, breaking his own league record with 254 strikeouts to go with his 15 wins and 2.28 ERA. Al Leiter and Kevin Brown turned in winning records and sub 3.00 ERA's. The bullpen by committee worked successfully to the tune of 17 saves, led by Jason Isringhausen's 9. One game, just one more game, and Oakland would have contended for their second championship. That make's for a loooooong offseason. More time to make your cuts, I guess. Something strange has been going on in Scottsdale. Other than not making the playoffs, of course. Albert Belle finished fifth (FIFTH!) on the team point-wise, and the Hawkeyes' actually had three, count 'em THREE starters win at least 10 games. Jason Giambi led the offense this time around finishing with a career high 29 HRs, 95 RBI and 655 points. The surprising Jose Vidro tailed near the end of the season, but still had a wonderful debut season, hitting .350 with 644 points. Belle failed to hit 20 homeruns for the first time ever and his 549 points finished ahead of only Javier Lopez among Hawkeyes' that played in at least 100 games. Fernando Tatis missed most of the season with a groin injury, playing in only 60 games (That's about 60 more games than I played in after my last groin injury). Tatis' injury , Kenny Lofton's lenghty recovery from shoulder surgery, and Tony Clark's back woes that limited him to 8 games severely limited Scottsdale's offense. The pitching staff was almost the bright spot here. Carl Pavano won 11 games before missing the second half of the season, while Jeff Weaver (10-7) and Javier Vazquez (10-6) rounded out a rejuvenated starting rotation. Armando Benitez led the team with 11 saves, while Ugueth Urbina missed most of the season due to injury, and Jeff Shaw just played like he should have. If not for the injuries to Tatis, Clark, Urbina, and Pavano, the Hawkeyes' may have made the playoffs. Or, at least, maybe if not for the three teams that finished ahead of them. You be the judge. |