In one of the most awesome displays of raw athletic ability we’ve ever seen, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt blew away the field on his way to a gold medal and world record in the men’s 100 meter dash. He even had time to ease up and start his celebration as he was crossing the finish line. At 6′ 5″ he doesn’t look like your typical sprinter. With his long strides and his raw power, the rest of the field didn’t have a chance.
Month: August 2008 (Page 26 of 50)
Show me a pitcher who doesn’t walk many batters, and I’ll show you a pitcher that wins games. Plain and simple, if you don’t hurt yourself by putting guys on base, you’re going to be in games and win a good portion of them. Here, we take a look at those active pitchers with the best control, i.e. those hurlers who yield the least amount of walks per nine innings. Interestingly, the Top 10 consists of all starting pitchers……
1. Carlos Silva, Seattle Mariners (1.634)–Okay, so Carlos Silva has lost more games than he’s won (59-60), but he’s pitching for the pathetic Mariners this year. What I’m saying is, 4-14 for a team that is 46-75 isn’t bad. And check this out…in 2005 with Minnesota, Silva pitched 188 1/3 innings and walked only nine batters. That’s just sick.
2. Jon Lieber, Chicago Cubs (1.725)–Journeyman Jon Lieber has been in the bigs since 1994, and has never walked more than 51 batters in a season. There’s no doubt his career ERA of 4.26 would be much higher if it weren’t for his excellent control.
3. Greg Maddux, San Diego Padres (1.803)–What, you expected not to see Mr. Maddux on here? Control is to Greg Maddux’ game what hot sauce is to Buffalo wings.
4. Ben Sheets, Milwaukee Brewers (1.960)–Sheets has never won more than twelve games in a season, but part of that is because he can’t stay off the disabled list. Sheets has nearly four times as many career strikeouts (1181) as walks (303) in seven-plus seasons.
5. Curt Schilling, Boston Red Sox (1.962)–It’s too bad that if we play word association, I’ll say “Curt Schilling” and you’ll say “bloody sock.” Then again, that also sums up the grit and determination of this guy. If I need to win a game, he’s one of maybe five pitchers I’ll give the ball to.
6. Mike Mussina, New York Yankees (1.987)–If you can see the concentration in a pitcher’s eyes, you know he’s focused on putting the ball over the plate and trying to get the hitter out. And how about this? In 18 seasons, Mussina has only hit 58 batters and thrown 71 wild pitches. Also, his 265-151 career record shows that my theory above has a bit of validity.
7. Mark Buehrle, Chicago White Sox (2.060)–Though he’s only won 117 games in almost nine seasons, Mark Buehrle is a workhorse (has never pitched less than 200 innings in a full season) who keeps his White Sox in games.
8. Roy Oswalt, Houston Astros (2.084)–Do you get the feeling Roy Oswalt hasn’t yet reached his potential? The guy is 122-62 since breaking into the majors in 2001, with a 3.20 ERA and 1286 strikeouts. And his control (360 walks, 16 wild pitches) isn’t too shabby, either.
9. Paul Byrd, Boston Red Sox (2.119)–I’m not sure that Byrd throws harder than 80 miles per hour, but there’s no doubt he can still get hitters out, which is why the Red Sox just obtained him from the Indians. And he gets better with age….in 2005 with the Angels, Byrd walked 28 batters in 204 1/3 — that’s 1.2 batters per game.
10. Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays (2.127)–With a 124-64 record over 11 seasons with mostly mediocre Toronto, Roy Halladay has consistently been one of the game’s best pitchers during his career.
Source: Baseball Reference
Cheering fellow American Jason Lezak anchor the U.S. individual relay team to a world record victory in the 400-meter medley, Michael Phelps captured his record eighth gold medal of the Beijing Olympics. He surpassed Mark Spitz’s mark of seven golds at the 1972 Munich Games.
This latest gold medal victory almost sunk before their eyes, as the Americans were in third place behind Japan and Australia going into Phelps’ leg of the race. He dove into the water, and powered the U.S. back in front with his butterfly stroke. Lezak held off Australia’s Eamon Sullivan to secure a world record time of 3:29.34 (Phelps’ seventh world record in Beijing).
Once the official results were posted on the board, it was celebration time for Phelps. And he could not contain himself, as Phelps slapped low-fives with his teammates and threw his arms in the air. He praised the support received from the U.S. swimming team because without them, none of his accomplishments would have been possible.
The final numbers for Phelps are five individual and three relay gold medals in Beijing. Thus far in his career, he has captured a total of 16 medals (14 gold). Phelps has become the all-time winningest Olympian, and the scary thing is, he has at least one more Olympics in him.
Even with six current or former NBA players, Spain was no match for Team USA in the fourth of five games of pool play. The combination of the Americans’ defense (16 steals) and three-point shooting (12-25, 48%) led to a 119-82 rout of the 2006 World Champions.
LeBron James led the U.S. in scoring with 18 points, while also posting eight assists, five rebounds and four steals. Dwyane Wade continued his fine play off the bench with 16 points, six rebounds and two steals. In total, the Americans had eight players in double figures.
Both teams have secured spots in the medal round and if the current standings hold, they wouldn’t meet again until the finals. The U.S. team plays Dirk Nowitzki, Chris Kaman and the rest of the German team at 8 am on Monday (on the USA Network) in the final game of pool play. The medal round starts on Wednesday.
Apparently even the Olympics are into gratuitous shots of women dancing around in bikinis. Not that we’re complaining…
Check out this recent video of cheerleaders entertaining beach volleyball fans in Beijing.
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