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Although Tirebiter’s Redbirds started off Week 18 white-hot, they cooled off a bit during the latter part of the week to finish with a more than respectable point total (404), but not the jaw-dropping week that Jimmy was hoping for to significantly close the gap with the Skipjacks.  The Skipjacks still lead the Redbirds by a healthy cushion (238.5 points) through 18 weeks, but it would be well for Itchie to take notice (not that he hasn’t) that his projected total margin is only 64 points.  Has Itchie forgotten the painful lesson that he learned in 2004, when his lead on the field absolutely evaporated once the point limits started taking effect during the last two weeks of the season?  Don’t be surprised to see a flurry of panicked trade proposals being floated by our boy Itchie in the coming weeks, as well as some Possum-like whining about the unfairness of point caps.  I see a Mr. Cranky (shown here) in his future as well as his past. 

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While we’re on the subject of Itchie, only he could work the whip on John Patterson so expertly to convert this heretofore nag to a Kentucky Derby contender.  This past week, Itchie used his Midas touch to produce a 40-point (yes, 40) outing from Patterson in the Nationals’ 4-0 whitewashing of the Dodgers, featuring the Senators’ own Brad Penny on the hill for the men from L.A.  Bear in mind that this free agent pickup of Itchie (April 18) had a career ERA of 5.03 entering the 2005 season.  This year, under Itchie’s nurturing touch, Patterson has an ERA of 2.52 and a won-loss record of 6-3.

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Is there a more amazing athlete competing today in sports than Roger Clemens?  On Sunday night, he got his 11th win, throwing 7 innings of 6-hit ball and giving up not a single earned run.  This lowered his already obscene ERA to 1.38, which is Bob Gibson territory.  Moreover, it should be noted that when Bob Gibson had his historic 1.12 ERA in 1967 (3rd lowest for a season in the modern era), he was pitching off of a mound that was about 8 inches taller than today’s hills.

Clemens turned 43 last week, and it could be argued that he is having his best year ever.  He has made 23 starts for the Astros, and he has had quality starts in 21 out of those 23.  In the other two, he had one game in which he left after five innings because of a groin injury, ahead 2-0 before Lidge set himself ablaze in the 9th.  In the other, he gave up 4 earned runs in six innings of work against the Cubs, but managed to get the win.  His whip is sub-1.0, and if not for several blown saves and a lack of run support, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine him having a won-loss record of something like 16- or 17-and-2 instead of 11-and-4.  Do you think Roger owes it all to steroids like his contemporary Palmeiro, or do you suppose that his legendary work ethic has more to do with it? 

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Given the level that he is pitching at, and the physical condition he is in, one has to wonder how many more years Clemens might continue pitching.  If memory serves, Nolan Ryan pitched until he was 47, and I believe that Gaylord Perry lasted about as long.  If Clemens continues to pitch beyond this year, he has a chance to move up the all-time wins list past some of the biggest names in the game.  He is currently at 339 wins, 9th place on the all-time list, just three behind Tim Keefe who sits in 8th at 342.  If Clemens was to get five more wins this year, he would end the season with 344.  If he was to win 15 games next year, this would then put him at 359, still in 8th place, but only two behind Kid Nichols (361), four behind Warren Spahn (363), and five behind Pud Galvin (364).  If he was to come back and win 15 more in 2007, this would put him at 374, slipping him past Grover Cleveland Alexander and Christie Mathewson, who are both tied at 373.  Could it happen?  Never count the Rocketman out.  You can bet he’s given this some thought.

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The forgotten man in all of this is Greg Maddux, who continues to plug away in Chicago and add numbers to his mounting list of career wins, currently totaling 313.  However, with his current record for this season standing at 8 and 9, and the Cubs playing like crap behind him, Maddux’s 17-year skein of 15-win seasons may be in jeopardy. 

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Clemens will go down in history as one of the most dominating pitchers in history, while Maddux will go down as one of the smartest, and perhaps as well as the best fielding pitcher of all time.  Consider this:  Through the end of the 2004 season, Maddux had played in 608 games, made 477 put-outs (line drives, popups, tag-outs), 985 assists, 74 double plays, while making 46 errors, for a .969 fielding percentage.  In 640 games, 42 more than Maddux, Clemens made only 304 put-outs, had only 509 assists, and participated in only 25 double plays.  While he had only half as many errors, 23, and a slightly higher fielding percentage, .972, this probably reflects mostly upon his lack of range.  There is a reason that Maddux has 14 gold gloves. 

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To put Maddux’s performance in historical perspective, many people consider Jim “Kitty” Kaat as the best fielding pitcher of his era, if not all-time.  And he was a great one, no question about that.  Kaat won 16 consecutive gold gloves for fielding his position, both in the American League and in the National League.  However, in a career in which he went 283-and-237, Kaat played in an eye-popping total of 898 games, made 262 put-outs, had 744 assists, committed 56 errors, and contributed to 65 double plays, with a career fielding average of .947.  The numbers do not lie.  Maddux has Kaat in the fielding department, hands down. 

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RIP to Gene Mauch, who passed away on Monday, August 8, at the age of 79.  Mauch managed for a total of 26 years, with the Philadelphia Phillies, Montreal Expos, Minnesota Twins and California Angels, compiling a career won-loss record of 1902-2037, for a won-loss percentage of .483.  Two of his Angel teams won their divisions, but both lost in the ALCS, and he never piloted a team to the World Series.  He is probably the most famous (or infamous) for being the skipper at the helm of the dramatic collapse of the 1964 Philadelphia Phillies, who led the National League by ten games in late September before dropping ten straight from September 21 to September 30 while the Cardinals won eight in a row to pass them for the right to go to the World Series.  Maybe Gene now understands why this had to happen under his watch.