The First of Many

Hello to all,

This is my first blog here, with many more to come.  I will do my best to blog once or twice a day, but do to my hectic schedule, I may not be able too.  But for today's first blog, I'll do what I can in making this a rather longer blog and include as much as I can.  Here goes, hoping this journey may lead to something into the unexpected.

Where shall we start?  Being a baseball fan, I think that may be the best place to start.  Now obviously, it's going to be either Tim Lincecum, Chris Carpenter, or Adam Wainwright.  A few that could and should be in the race, Matt Cain and Javier Vazquez.  Ok, maybe you're thinking exactly what I was when i saw his name, "Javier Vazquez?  Didn't he retire?  He's not that old, but I don't remember ever seeing his name on SportsCenter since his one year disappointing stint with the New York Yankees in 2004."  Vazquez, 33, spent some time with the Diamondbacks, White Sox, until landing with the Braves this year following a trade with the White Sox. 

Silently, Vazquez is on a train to the end of his best season in the Majors since he debuted with the Montreal Expos in 1998.  When looking at his record to date, it can be misleading, 15-10.  The 15 wins is one shy of tying a career high he set as an Expo in 2001 with probably his best season of his career.  In that year, he went 16-11, again misleading with career best 3.42 ERA with 5 Complete Games and 3 Shutouts.  This year, he is on pace to set a new career high in ERA with a remarkable 2.87.  Dipping more into the stat book, Vazquez has 238 strikeouts in 219 1/3 innings.  That is second to only Tim Lincecum, who is toting around 254, and Wainwright is right behind him with 204.  But here's the interesting part, Wainwright has pitched 7 2/3 more innings than Vazquez, with a total of 227 innings. 

Whatever Vazquez is doing, he better keep doing it, because not many 33 year olds can pile up a 2.87 ERA after 4 of his last 5 seasons he recorded an over 4 ERA.  The one year he recorded a 3.74, was in 2007 with the White Sox.  My last interesting fact about Javier Vazquez himself, not many pitchers with a career ERA of 4.19 end a season with an ERA under 3.  Well, Vazquez is about to.

I have plenty more to talk about, and I will keep it coming, but for now, my time is running short.  Be on the lookout, as there are some very good football games coming up, both College and NFL, and the NL West and AL Central races heat up.  Come back for more.

The Easy