Watched the excellent Greg Maddux special on MLB Network, that detailed his life growing up in Vegas all the way through the end of his career in LA and San Diego. Featured his wife and kids, brother, Glavine, Smoltz, Mazzone, Chipper, Eddie Perez, Barry Bonds, Rick Sutcliffe, Tom Verducci, and Randy Johnson. As much as I've read about Maddux, there was still amazing stories that I'd not heard before.
Young yahoos sitting in their basements love to claim that Pedro had a few good years after Maddux won four Cy Youngs, but Martinez only won 15+ games in six seasons. Maddux won 15+ a record 17 straight years, and in 18 of 19 seasons. Sure wins aren't as highly thought of as they used to be, but that'd because starters these days barely make it to the 5th inning. I'd say wins are even all the more impressive. Get off my lawn.
They say that Pedro's prime (97-00) was better than Maddux's (92-95). Not so fast. Maddux pitched more innings and had a lower average ERA over both their best 4 year period, as well their best 7 year period as well.
…1……2……3……4…avg ERA…IP…
1.90 2.89 2.07 1.74 = 2.15 905.1 Pedro
2.18 2.36 1.56 1.63 = 1.93 946.2 Maddux
2.20 avg ERA 97-03 Pedro
2.12 avg ERA 92-98 Maddux
Maddux vsPedro
106.6 WAR 83.. 9
109 complete games 46
5008.1 inn pitched 2827.1
999 walks 760
3371 strikeouts 3154
18 gold gloves 0
355 wins 219
35 shutouts 17
4 Cy Young Awards to 3
Maddux led the league 5 straight years in innings pitched. Pedro never did. In 23 seasons Maddux managed to accumulate almost double the innings pitched, wins, complete games, and shutouts that Pedro tallied in 18. Martinez was one of the top pitchers in his era. Maddux was the greatest righthanded pitcher in the past 85 years, since the end of the dead ball era. Compared to Maddux, Pedro was a flash in the pan.
Friday: C fixed BBQ for supper, with slaw. Anna was driving to the beach for her cousin's bachelor weekend, and got stuck in a Taco Bell drive thru line for an hour on the way.
Saturday: AM golf. Played terrible. Returned home in time for a zoom call with friends in the far east. Then ESPN College GameDay and GT vs FSU.
Dinner at Houston's. Took a relaxing, scenic route: Lower Roswell to Johnson Ferry to Mt Vernon to Northside Drive, to Mt Paran to Northside Parkway. We had a 545 reservation, so no wait. As usual, I got the burger and C the salmon. And wine.
Sunday School with 24 in attendance. Prayed over Renice, who is scheduled to return to Israel on Thursday, Lord willing. After worship I drove C to Costco. I was looking forward to getting a hot dog, but the concession stand was being renovated. Instead I went home and ate leftover BBQ. After a nap I mowed the grass. Pancakes for supper.
Monday: up early to go to the gym. Left work at 515. Stopped by RaceTrac for a free candy bar. Ceil cooked boneless chicken breasts out on the new grill. French fries, grilled okra, and steamed broccoli. I was still stuffed from eating lunch at the CiCis Pizza buffet, so I didn't eat much.
Tuesday: lifted weights this morning for the first time in two months, so I had an excuse for taking it easy. For the most part my sciatic issues are over. Just a little pain remaining. With the sunrise not until 7:05 and getting later and later, I'd better limit my weekday golf to at most one weekday per week. I walk, and the course is up and down hills, about 2+ miles.
Do use a lap counter when you walk? What is your system? Back in the day when I ran at the FLC before work (in the 1990's), meeting up with Scot Wright and David McDaniel, if I couldn't get a lap counter I would move my keychain from finger to finger to count laps.
Using the FLC and preschool to recruit new members is spot on. That's exactly what Johnson Ferry's goal is from their sports programs and preschools !!! Just saw where our pastor wants to emphasize Christian education all the more.
When asked who currently she would want to swap places with for a day, Jamie Lee Curtis would want to be Caitlin Clark.
PAUL SKENES [B-R Bio] is the most recent winner of the John Olerud Award to make it to the majors. The award is given to the best two-way player in college baseball. Skenes won it as a sophomore playing for the Air Force Academy in 2022, then made the majors in 2024. He is only the second pitcher, 21 years old or younger, with at least ten strikeouts at Wrigley Field, while allowing no more than one hit. Skenes' 2nd MLB game was on 17-May-2024. Only rookie Kerry Wood had accomplished this previously, on 06-May-1998 when Wood K'ed 20 batters. Skenes pitched for the Air Force Academy Falcons and the LSU Tigers.
DENISON: sociologist Philip Rieff observed: "No culture has ever preserved itself where it is not a registration of sacred order." He then made an important statement our secularized society needs to hear: "The notion of a culture that persists independent of all sacred orders is unprecedented in human history." For a culture to flourish, it needs the right "sacred order." The Taliban recently codified morality laws requiring Afghan women to cover their faces and men to grow beards. I doubt this will help with the escalating humanitarian crisis raging, with poverty afflicting 90% of the population. In the Old Testament we read "the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lᴏʀᴅ" (1 Sam 2:12). And so these sons of the high priest, while externally religious, committed grave sins leading to their demise (1 Sam 4:17).
NASA astronauts will be stuck in space for eight months (denisonforum.org)
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