2005 Season

Gentlemen:

Welcome to your final regular season edition of From the Bullpen. Like the rest of you, I am being visited this week by the twin Ds. Dismay, first, at the thought of the end of another season and the beginning of another long off-season. Disgust, a strong second, at the prospect (looks like a lock) of a fifth HSL crown for the bombastic baron of braggadocio, Itchie Thielen. It’s bad enough having to feed and clothe and nurture his three ratty little kids on a daily basis, now I will have to listen to him crow all off-season.

With one week to play, the Skipjacks lead the 2nd place Redbirds by a total of 9272.0 to 9024.5, a comfortable cushion of 247.5 points. Here are the Week 25 standings from top to bottom:

WEEK 25 STANDINGS

Upper Division
1.	Skipjacks	9272.0
2.	Redbirds	9024.5
3.	Senators	8780.5
4.	Chiefs	8740.0
5.	Reds	8604.0
6.	Wahoos	8476.5
Lower Division
7.	Tigers	8476.5
8.	Bombers	8549.5
9.	Irates	8315.5
10.	Cubs**	8218.5
11.	Tribe	8159.0
12.	Blues	8074.5

Here are the Week 25 point totals:

WEEK 25 POINT TOTALS

1.	Cubs*	477.0
2.	Bombers	436.5
3.	Chiefs	408.5
4.	Wahoos	371.0
5.	Senators	347.0
6.	Irates	330.0
7.	Reds	325.0
8.	Tigers	317.5
9.	Blues	303.0
10.	Tribe	289.5
11.	Redbirds	285.0
12.	Skipjacks	280.5

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

HITTERS
1.	D. Lee	752.0
2.	A-Rod	743.0
3.	Ortiz	714.0
4.	Pujols	713.0
5.	Teixeira	696.0
6.	Young	685.0
7.	Manny	660.0
8.	Bay	656.0
9.	A. Jones	648.0
10.	M. Cabrera	644.0
11.	Roberts	627.0
12.	Tejada	621.0
13.	Kent	613.0
(T)	Soriano	613.0
15.	Jeter	611.0


PITCHERS
1.	Carpenter	632.0
2.	Willis	581.0
3.	Pedro	566.0
4.	Pettitte	564.0
5.	Rivera	560.0
6.	Clemens	556.0
(T)	Santana	556.0
8.	Cordero	536.0
9.	Wagner	509.0
(T)	Smoltz	509.0
11.	Oswalt	507.0
12.	Nathan	493.0
13.	Peavy	491.0
14.	Colon	486.0
15.	Zambrano	485.0

AROUND THE HORN

**	As aforesaid, it looks like Itchie and his Jax have a lock on his fifth title. Hey, life in the Hot Stove League, as in general, isn’t always fair. Although I concede nothing until the final results are in, unofficial congratulations are in order to our back-slapping, baby-kissing purveyor of promises, Itchie Thielen.

	While Jim Ed’s Redbirds are destined to finish in the bridesmaid spot again, from a glass half-full perspective, he can look forward to drafting Pujols in the No. 2 spot next year, as Itchie will be forced to take A-Rod No. 1 again. So it could be worse.

**	Although one week ago it looked like the Chiefs were destined for 4th or 5th, a late bull rush by B.T. and Screech’s charges have put them in fierce contention for the final money pot. Looks like the Chiefs and the Senators will be battling this one out to the very finish, and it may very well be Sunday night before we know which team finishes in 3rd and which team finishes out of the money. Because I have a dog in this fight, I won’t be wishing good luck to the Chiefs’ upper management.

	The Reds, them Commies, will be settling for 5th place. Not bad for a Socialist organization.

	The battle rages on for the final spot in the Upper Division, with the Bombers, Tigers and Wahoos all inspired and actively engaged in their final combat roles of the season. No money, but plenty of pride, on the line. 6th place beats the pants off of ending 7th or 8th.

	Although it looked like U-Bob and his feisty, late-charging Tribe had the Irates firmly in their sights, it looks like bragging rights between these fierce intercity rivals will go to SloPay, although 9th place bragging rights may qualify as an oxymoron.

	With their mastodonic Week 25 performance, the once left-for-dead Cubs* now actually seem likely to avoid a finish in the outhouse, and may even be able to outlast the Tribe and finish in 10th place. Not exactly something to write home about, but it could be worse. The same, however, cannot be said for the Blues who, barring that same blue moon that Tirebiter is praying for, will finish in the league septic tank. Okay, I guess it could be worse, the Blues could have broken U-Bob’s all-time low points mark from last year, but didn’t. Kudos.

FROM THE BUSHES

u So what happens now to Palmeiro, following his being shown the door by the Orioles? Is his career over, or will some unscrupulous club (the major league alter ego of the Skipjacks?) pick him up and see if he has any gas left in the tank next spring training? If it is all over for Raffy, does this latest episode (accusing Tejada of shooting him up with vitamin B12) further detract from his chances of making it into the Hall of Fame? What do the rest of you geniuses think? I believe his playing career to be over, and I think it will be a long road ahead for him to make it into the Hall of Fame, but that he will eventually be enshrined in Cooperstown.

u Most of you probably saw that Ashton Kucher and Demi Moore finally tied the knot this past weekend, and what good news that is for everyone. But how many of you noticed (or care) that pretty boy Kucher is only 27 (or is it 28?) years of age? This surprised me, since it seems like he has been annoying me for a lot longer than ten years, or however long his career has been to date. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m doubting that he’s ever going to have the word “Oscar” used in the same sentence with his name. Hollywood. You can have it.

u I am assured that there is no truth whatsoever to the rumor that has been circulating that U-Bob is going to be taking over for Jim Cramer on Mad Money. The income and star status would be great, but U-Bob has way too much dignity for that type of operation.

u This final week of play in the major leagues promises to be exciting, with meaningful matchups between the Padres and the Giants (four games) in the NL West, a season-ending series between the Yankees and the Red Sox in Beantown over the weekend, and a showdown series between the White Sox and the Indians to end the season. Not that I’m endorsing the wild card system, mind you, but it is going to make this last week an interesting one.

u Does anybody share my concern about the mental health of our brethren Ted “Blogger” Bridges, and in particular his recent monopolizing of our Message Board. A bit frightening, to say the least. And who is minding the store over at the Fund when Possum is glued to his keyboard? This may explain a few things.

THE ENVELOPE, PLEASE

Time now to announce Skipper’s list of Top Ten Favorite Baseball Movies. The input that I received from the ranks on the Message Board was not as broad-based as I would have liked, but thanks anyway to Stretch for affirming several of my choices. I know that Possum also provided the names of some of his favorite books on baseball, and there may even have been a baseball movie favorite or two of his tossed in there somewhere, but I just didn’t have the two hours necessary to cull through all of the flotsam and jetsam to pick them out.

I pretty much had my list ready to go and then this past weekend, I bought Fever Pitch, a movie by the Farley brothers about a Red Sox fanatic who is torn between his passionate love for the game and his new romantic interest. The movie, starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore, is an instant baseball classic in my book, and debuts at No. 6 on my list. If you haven’t seen it, it is definitely worth the price of admission or a DVD rental.

Without further ado, then, here is my Top Ten List of Favorite Baseball Movies.

10. A League of Their Own

9. Sandlot

8. Major League

7. For the Love of the Game

6. Fever Pitch

5. The Rookie

4. Bang the Drum Slowly

3. Pride of the Yankees

2. Bull Durham

1. Field of Dreams

Other baseball movies that were under consideration but did not make the Top Ten list are as follows:

Mr. Baseball

Eight Men Out

Mr. 3000

The Winning Team

The Monty Irvin Story

Little Big League

The Natural

This Old Cub

The Bad News Bears

The Scout

If there are any that I have missed, please feel free to enlighten me.

That’s it for this week.

Skipper


2005 Season	Edition No. 29	September 27, 2005