>I remember Mitch well from his time with the Cubs (along with that World Series of course). You know how some closers have theme music when they come in from the bullpen? Mitch's was "Wild Thing." The prototypical Mitch Williams appearance was to come in with a one run lead, walk the bases loaded, and then strike out the side. Never a dull moment.
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>Yes, Mitch did that with the Phillies in 1993...most of his saves were scary ones.
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>And for that matter, when Brad Lidge saved all his chances in 2008, he had some scary ones.
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>And I will give credit to someone I thought was washed up...after looking terrible in July and much of August, Lincecum straightened himself out in September. It looks like the Giants will be playing in October, and Lincecum helped his team with strong performances in September. Previously his record in September was poor, but he showed me something. I still say Halladay is a better pitcher, and clearly had a much better season, but I was wrong in my prediction that Linecum would cave in September - he didn't.

I am glad to read that, KG. It was getting a little religious there and that made me uncomfortable.

Yes, Lincecum had a sensational September after an atrocious August and an iffy summer in general. It won't surprise me a bit if he is the NL pitcher of the month. The numbers are all there, even the walks. His only loss was 2-1. His next to last start was one of the best starts of his career, especially given the circumstances. The Giants have been in a white knuckle pennant race with the Padres and Braves, and the Rockies for a while, for two spots. Every start has mattered. He was pitching at Colorado, who at that point were only about 4 games out, He took a perfect game into the 6th inning. That was broken up when he jammed a lefty batter on an 0-2 pitch and the ball floated over the infield, skipping just inside the left line for a double. He came in on a two out single to give the Rockies a 1-0 lead. Those were the only two baserunners Lincecum allowed in 8 innings. Lots of strikeouts, I think 9. He had even more K's in his last start, when he was much shakier but was gritty when he had to be and only let in one run. You can lose the image of him as a long haired pot smoking airhead. He is an elite major league pitcher. As is Halladay.

Just so it's crystal clear, Halladay had a better season and will almost surely win the Cy Young award. I never said anything against him at all and salute his success. I am already on record predicting the Phillies will win the World Series. Whatever the trophy is called -- the Julian Javier Trophy? the Dave Kingman Trophy? ;-) Funny that the hockey and football trophies have famous names and the baseball trophy probably couldn't be named even by most fans. Let's start a write-in campaign for Julian Javier Trophy ;-)