Sand-tana?

Johan Santana's recent career-threatening shoulder surgery brings up a very valid question: if indeed his career is over, how will he be remembered? At his best he was the most dominating pitcher in the game, winning two of three Cy Youngs while being robbed of a third. In more recent years, he has been one of the biggest question marks in baseball, averaging just 161 innings between '09, '10, and '12, and missing all of '11 and '13. This paradox brings to mind the abrupt ending to another lefty's career, Sandy Koufax.

Best Pitchers' Duels of the 1980s, Part 1

Here is a list of the best pitchers' duels of the early 1980s, one for each year:

April 10th, 1980: The aces of their respective teams, former Cy Young winner Ron Guidry of the Yankees and Jon Matlack of the Rangers hooked up for a great early-season match-up. Both pitched 9 shutout innings, with Guidry giving up just 2 hits to Matlack's 3. Neither allowed a walk, although neither struck out a lot of batters either (Guidry - 5, Matlack - 4). The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the 12th, when closer Goose Gossage of New York uncorked a wild pitch to score ex-Yankee Mickey Rivers from third base.

September 21, 1981: In a game I've already chronicled, Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies failed to pick up a victory despite 10 shutout innings against Ray Burris and the Expos. The game ended on a 17th inning walk-off single by Andre Dawson.

October 1, 1982: Both John Denny of the Phillies and Terry Leach of the Mets allowed just 1 hit, but Leach went 10 to pick up a shutout victory. Leach did walk 6, although the only hit was a Luis Aguayo triple in the 5th inning. Hubie Brooks's sac fly off reliever Porfi Altamirano in the 10th would be all the Mets would need in this one.

July 31, 1983: Both Mike Torrez of the Mets and Jose DeLeon of the Pirates pitched the games of their lives in this one, but ultimately it would be decided by the bullpens. DeLeon allowed just 1 hit and 3 walks against 11 strikeouts, pitching 9 innings of shutout ball. He carried a no-hitter into the bottom of the 9th before it was broken up by Hubie Brooks. Torrez, on the other hand, kept bending but did not break, allowing 8 hits, and getting out of jams in the 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th and 10th. He went 11 shutout innings. The turning point of the game may have come in the 7th, when Tony Pena of the Pirates was caught stealing home with two outs. George Foster drove home the winning run from second in the 12th inning off of Manny Sarmiento.

What's Up Doc?

Earlier today, Roy Halladay made his season debut against the Braves. Halladay struggled last year, posting an ERA of 4.49 in just 25 starts, missing several due to injury. Tonight, he went just 3.1 innings, allowing 5 earned runs but striking out 9. This made Halladay just the 3rd known pitcher to strike out 9 in less than 4 innings while allowing 5 or more earned runs. Here are the other two:

Rk	Player	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	App,Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	GSc
1	David Cone	1990-04-25	NYM	ATL	W 8-5	GS-4	3.2	8	5	5	3	9	1	31
2	Jim Beattie	1982-08-09	SEA	OAK	L 4-9	GS-4 ,L	3.2	7	6	6	3	9	2	29

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used

Generated 4/4/2013.

This also marks the third game in the last two seasons in which Halladay failed to make it out of the fourth inning; he had done so just once in the previous four seasons:

Rk	Date ▾	Tm	Opp	Rslt	App,Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit	Str	GSc
2	2012-09-22	PHI	ATL	L 2-8	GS-2 ,L	1.2	5	7	7	3	3	1	51	33	17
3	2012-05-27	PHI	STL	L 3-8	GS-2 ,L	2.0	4	4	4	1	0	1	36	23	31
4	2009-06-12	TOR	FLA	L 3-7	GS-3	3.0	5	1	1	0	0	0	41	29	45
5	2007-06-05	TOR	TBD	W 12-11	GS-4	3.1	12	8	7	1	1	2	77	48	6
6	2006-09-20	TOR	NYY	W 3-2	GS-4	3.1	3	1	1	1	1	0	42	28	50
7	2006-09-10	TOR	LAA	L 3-4	GS-1	0.2	2	0	0	0	0	0	16	10	48
8	2005-07-08	TOR	TEX	L 6-7	GS-3	2.2	6	3	2	0	4	2	48	36	40
9	2004-09-27	TOR	BAL	W 4-1	GS-3	3.0	4	1	1	2	2	1	70	44	47
10	2003-08-17	TOR	OAK	L 3-7	GS-3 ,L	3.0	10	7	5	1	3	0	72	47	17
11	2000-09-23	TOR	TBD	W 7-6	GS-3	3.0	6	6	6	1	3	2	65	38	25
12	2000-07-21	TOR	BAL	L 5-9	GS-4 ,L	3.1	8	5	5	1	2	2	73	47	25
13	2000-06-30	TOR	BAL	L 3-8	GS-3 ,L	2.2	4	7	7	4	1	1	79	41	19
14	2000-05-05	TOR	CLE	W 11-10	GS-4	3.2	9	8	8	6	4	1	103	56	9
15	1999-05-09	TOR	TEX	L 6-11	GS-2	2.0	8	4	4	3	1	0	51	27	22
16	1999-04-29	TOR	ANA	L 1-17	GS-3 ,L	2.1	9	11	11	3	1	2	68	35	-7

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/4/2013.

2013 MLB Standings Predictions

American League East			American League Central			American League West
Toronto Blue Jays	89-73	--	Detroit Tigers	104-68	--	Los Angeles Angels	94-68	--
Tampa Bay Rays	88-74	1	Chicago White Sox	90-72	14	Oakland Athletics	91-71	3
Baltimore Orioles	84-78	5	Kansas City Royals	82-80	22	Texas Rangers	85-77	9
New York Yankees	79-83	10	Cleveland Indians	80-82	24	Seattle Mariners	76-86	18
Boston Red Sox	77-85	12	Minnesota Twins	71-91	33	Houston Astros	60-102	34
National League East			National League Central			National League West
Washington Nationals	96-66	--	Cincinnati Reds	96-66	--	Los Angeles Dodgers	89-73	--
Atlanta Braves	83-79	13	Milwaukee Brewers	83-79	13	Arizona Diamondbacks	88-74	1
Philadelphia Phillies	73-89	23	St. Louis Cardinals	80-82	16	San Francisco Giants	87-75	2
New York Mets	69-93	27	Chicago Cubs	74-88	22	Colorado Rockies	65-97	24
Miami Marlins	59-103	37	Pittsburgh Pirates	73-89	23	San Diego Padres	65-97	24

2012 MLB All-Rookie Team

Using baseball-reference.com's new "Rookie Status" tool on the Play Index, here are the top rookies of 2012 by WAR:

C: Yasmani Grandal, SDP (2.7)
1B: Anthony Rizzo, CHC (2.2)
2B: DJ LeMahieu, COL (1.2)
SS: Andrelton Simmons, ATL (2.8)
3B: Todd Frazier, CIN (1.9)
OF: Mike Trout, LAA (10.7)
OF: Bryce Harper, WSN (5.0)
OF: Norichika Aoki, MIL (3.3)
DH: Jesus Montero, SEA (-0.3)
RHP: Yu Darvish, TEX (4.0)
LHP: Wade Miley, ARI (3.2)
RP: Ryan Cook, OAK (2.6)

Early 2013 MLB Standings Projections

American League East			American League Central			American League West
Toronto Blue Jays	91-71	--	Detroit Tigers	101-61	--	Los Angeles Angels	92-70	--
New York Yankees	89-73	2	Chicago White Sox	87-75	14	Oakland Athletics	91-71	1
Baltimore Orioles	85-77	6	Kansas City Royals	76-86	25	Texas Rangers	90-72	2
Tampa Bay Rays	84-78	7	Cleveland Indians	72-90	29	Seattle Mariners	72-90	20
Boston Red Sox	78-84	13	Minnesota Twins	70-92	31	Houston Astros	57-105	35
National League East			National League Central			National League West
Washington Nationals	95-67	--	Cincinnati Reds	98-64	--	Arizona Diamondbacks	90-72	--
Atlanta Braves	83-79	12	St. Louis Cardinals	85-77	13	Los Angeles Dodgers	90-72	--
Philadelphia Phillies	70-92	25	Milwaukee Brewers	80-82	18	San Francisco Giants	85-77	5
New York Mets	68-94	27	Chicago Cubs	75-87	23	San Diego Padres	72-90	18
Miami Marlins	62-100	33	Pittsburgh Pirates	74-88	24	Colorado Rockies	68-94	22

Week 11 NFL Power Rankings

32.) Jacksonville Jaguars (1-8)
31.) Kansas City Chiefs (1-8)
30.) Philadelphia Eagles (3-6)
29.) Washington Redskins (3-6)
28.) Carolina Panthers (2-7)