When the San Diego Padres host the Colorado Rockies today, Greg Maddux will take the hill for the home nine. The 42-year-old right-hander will be looking for career win 350.
Begs the question: who is the best pitcher of the last twenty years?
Maddux is not the only major leaguer looking to surpass a milestone.
Ken Griffey Jr. is sitting on 597 career home runs. Junior’s Cincinnati Reds play against the Mets at Shea Stadium today. Junior was out the lineup last night with an illness, and his time in Cincy seems to be coming to an end. The slugger has alluded to a return to Seattle. Time will tell.
Then there’s Manny. The man of dangling locks is perched on 497 home runs.
Our very own Thrilla, known to the rest of the world as Mike Kelly, has started what will be a career of milestones. In his first year as head coach Thrilla led Monroe Community College to the Region III Division II title. In doing so Thrilla earned coach-of-the-year honors. This weekend the Tribunes go for the East District title with a trip to the Junior College World Series on the line.
I would have to say that over the last 20 years, Greg Maddux has to be the best pitcher in the game. Probably one of the most cerebral pitchers in the game – he never relied on a mid-90s fastball, but relied on manipulating the strike zone to get hitters to do what HE wanted. One of the most impressive games I watched him throw (on TV), was when he threw a complete game and it took him only 78 or 79 pitches. You see guys now blow past the 100 pitch count by the 5th inning.
Got to admit though. Wouldn’t be saying that if Clemens didn’t have all of the question marks surrounding him.
What I like about Jr. – you hear all of the steroid talk and you don’t hear his name mentioned once. To me – his near 600 HRs are legit and it is refreshing. He has always been fun to watch and he still plays the game with a smile on his face. It is too bad that he had the couple of years with the injuries. He might be closing on 700 right now. Hopefully he can stick around of anoter 3 or 4 more years.
Manny will shoot past 500 as the weather in Boston warms up. Is 500 enough for him to get in the HOF? Has there been a better 2 strike hitter then Manny? At times it almost looks like he has to pitcher right where he wants him when he has 2 strikes.
What about Derek Jeter closing in on his 2400th hit? Ok, so that’s not such a big one, but I overheard them talking on the Fox game of the week Saturday that it’s believed Jeter has a shot at 4000 hits. It’s going to be tough, since he turns 34 this year, but it’s certainly possible. A-Rod would seem to have a shot too.
I’m going to have to vote for Maddux as well for the best pitcher of the last 20 years, and also agree with Smitty’s comment regarding Clemens. Really the only debate here would be whether or not you want to accept Clemens’ career at face value, but I don’t think we want to go there.
I would be cheering for Jeter to get 4,000. I might even pull for ARod a little. 🙂