Last pitcher standing

The Red Sox signed Brian Shouse to a minor league deal, but the 41-year-old lefty doesn't have much of a chance of making the team, as the Boston Globe noted:

Here's how much the Red Sox think of having signed Brian Shouse: They didn't announce it.

The Globe also noted that Shouse was a teammate of Tim Wakefield's on the 1993 Pirates. He then went five years without appearing in the majors before he resurfaced as a teammate of Wakefield on the 1998 Red Sox.

How odd is that? Of the 47 players who appeared in a game for the 1993 Pirates, 26 played their last game before 1998. Other than Shouse and Wakefield, no member of that team played beyond 2006.

From the 1998 Red Sox, Shouse and Wakefield are two of eight players still active - Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Varitek, Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe, Tom Gordon and Ron Mahay are the others. Other members of the '93 Pirates also on the '98 Red Sox were Midre Cummings and Orlando Merced.

Of the 47 players who played on that Red Sox team, 10 were gone by 1999 and 32 didn't play beyond 2003.

For the quirkiness of it, I hope Shouse, who was the fourth-oldest player in the American League last year, rejoins Wakefield, the AL's oldest player, in Boston this year.

Other relievers in the news: Boof Bonser doesn't know why his mom started calling him Boof, but he legally changed his name from John Paul in 2001. ... Hideki Okajima signed, avoiding arbitration. ... And before Phillies fans could stop laughing about Carlos Beltran surprising the Mets by having surgery, a similar thing occurred with Brad Lidge.

Attitudes, perception and perspective

I got bad vibes from John Lackey when he was continually frustrated by the Red Sox in the playoffs (until last year, of course). He'd glare at defenders and spout off at his offense for lack of support.

"He's no Jon Lester," I wrote during the 2008 ALDS.

He seemed the type of player I wouldn't want on my team.

Today, however, Amalie Benjamin tries to explain his attitude - he wants to win so badly that he's a jerk when he pitches:

"But every fifth day - ask the guys that played with me - I'm probably not the nicest person in the world. I'm ready to get after it. I'm there to win. I'm not there to mess around, for sure."

"I'd never really seen John get mad until I saw him screaming on the mound one day," [his wife] Krista says. "I was like, 'Oh my gosh.' I've never seen him get that angry. He's just always a very calm, mellow person. Just goes with the flow. Then he was so intense. It was kind of scary."

If Lackey's attitude really were a problem, you have to figure Benjamin would have found a teammate to spout off anonymously. If it were a problem, there's no way his former manager Mike Scioscia would speak so glowingly about him now that he's gone:

"You're not going to find a better teammate, you're not going to find a better guy in the clubhouse," Scioscia says. "For a guy that you would think is as competitive as you see on the field, he is really soft-spoken off the field. He is very caring. He's in touch with the community."

So, hopefully, my opinion of John Lackey as a a player I wouldn't want on my team was wrong. Or maybe I'm just a biased Red Sox fan enjoying his team's latest acquisition.

Lackey has some similarity with former Phillie Brett Myers. They're both big right-handers from the South whose competitiveness sometimes overcomes their composure.

As Brett has switched from Phillies red to Astros brown? yellow? orange? mustard? he pledged to "stick it" to his former team. We've been critical of Myers' attitude, but I kind of like his spunk here. (Maybe because he's not the Phillies problem anymore?)

Say what you want about Brett, but he gets Philadelphia. From the moment it was clear he was leaving, he has made a clear distinction between the team's management (who he has a right to be angry with) and its fans (who largely supported him during his tenure).

The fact that he continues to say he wanted to stay in Philly and openly encouraged fans to boo him proves his affection for the city and its fans.

Of course, not being primarily a Phillies fan might have altered my perception here.

I asked Christine what she thought of young Brett's quote and she said, "I hope he sticks it to the Phillies like he has been over the past few years: by giving up home runs at Citizens Bank Park."

Then, she conceded that fans can give him an ovation - until he crosses the white line.

Pat Burrell's impact

According to The Bill James Handbook, Charlie Manuel used more pinch runners in 2007 (56) and 2008 (62) than any other manager. He also used a lot of defensive substitutes in those years (75 and 60).

Those numbers plummeted last year: only 20 pinch runners and 16 defensive replacements. In the National League, a manager averaged 20 pinch runners last year and 38 defensive switches.

How much of Cholly's decreased use in switches is due to the fact that our beloved Pat Burrell, a plodding left fielder, was jettisoned for Raul Ibanez?

Incidentally, the Phillies also, by far, used the fewest number of lineups of any team last year. Cholly used only 68 lineups the entire season; the only other team with fewer than 100 lineups was the Marlins with 97.

Missed one: The other day, I noted that while Roger Clemens was making his 375th start for the Red Sox on Aug. 17, 1996, an unknown named Rich Hunter was making his eighth start for the Phillies. Christine, however, noticed that for Seattle on that day, a 33-year-old pitcher was making his 243rd start. His name? Jamie Moyer.

Honor roll

The other day, I noted how Jamie Moyer is now the active career leader in several more categories because Randy Johnson announced his retirement.

He's clearly the most decorated active SoxandPhil, but he's not the only one who ranks among active career leaders. Here's where some SoxandPhils hitters rank on the career lists in The Bill James Handbook - but for my sake, we'll keep using the Big Unit's rankings from the book.

After completing this mind-numbing task, my one thought is surprise that Pat Burrell couldn't squeeze into any category, but Carlos Ruiz did.

Current SoxandPhils

Slugging average: Ryan Howard (.586, third)

Triples: Jimmy Rollins (95, T-first), Mike Cameron (59, 10th)

Strikeouts: Cameron (1,798, second)

Stolen bases: Rollins (326, eighth)

Seasons played: Moyer (23, first)

At-bats per home run: Howard (12.1, first)

Stolen base percentage: Jacoby Ellsbury (84.9, fourth), Rollins (82.5, seventh)

Strikeouts-to-walks ratio: Dustin Pedroia (.820, sixth), Ruiz (.971, 10th)

OPS: Howard (.961, sixth)

Secondary average: Howard (.461, fourth)

Highest strikeout per PA: Howard (.279, seventh)

Lowest strikeout per PA: Placido Polanco (.065, third), Pedroia (.069, fourth)

At-bats per RBI: Howard (4.2, first), David Ortiz (4.8, fifth)

Former SoxandPhils

Average: Manny Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra (.313, T-ninth)

On-base percentage: Ramirez (.411, fourth), Jim Thome (.404, eighth), Bobby Abreu (.404 ninth)

Slugging average: Ramirez (.591, second), Thome (.557, eighth)

Home runs: Thome (564, third), Ramirez (546, fourth)

Games: Thome (2,284, fifth), Ramirez (2,207, sixth)

At-bats: Johnny Damon (8,408, sixth), Ramirez (7,962, ninth)

Hits: Ramirez (2,494, seventh), Damon (2,425, ninth)

Total bases: Ramirez (4,703, fourth), Thome (4,290, fifth)

Doubles: Ramirez (531, second), Abreu (483, sixth), Damon (451, 10th)

Triples: Damon (95, T-first)

Runs: Ramirez (1,506, fifth), Thome (1,486, sixth), Damon (1,483, seventh)

RBI: Ramirez (1,788, second), Thome (1,565, fifth)

Walks: Thome (1,619, first), Ramirez (1,283, fifth), Abreu (1,254, seventh)

Intentional walks: Ramirez (212, third), Thome (162, seventh)

Hit by pitch: Scott Rolen (112, ninth)

Strikeouts: Thome (2,313, first), Ramirez (1,748, fourth), Abreu (1,518, eighth)

Sacrifice hits: John Smoltz (136, second), Edgar Renteria (91, eighth)

Sacrifice flies: Ramirez (87, fourth)

Stolen bases: Damon (374, third), Abreu (348, sixth)

Seasons played: Tom Gordon and Smoltz (21, T-fourth), Thome (19, T-eighth)

At-bats per home run: Thome (13.7, second), Ramirez (14.6, sixth), Russell Branyan (14.8, seventh)

Grounded into double play: Ramirez (237, third), Renteria (226, sixth)

Stolen base percentage: Michael Bourn (82.9, sixth)

Worst stolen base percentage: Mark Kotsay (62.3, second)

At-bats per GIDP: Bourn (240.0, second), Branyan (105.7, 10th)

OPS: Ramirez (1.002, second), Thome (.961, seventh)

Secondary average: Thome (.492, first), Ramirez (.443, sixth)

Highest strikeout per PA: Branyan (.335, first), Smoltz (.313, fifth), Carlos Pena (.262, ninth)

Plate appearances: Thome (9,463, seventh), Ramirez (9,437, eighth), Damon (9,433, ninth)

At-bats per RBI: Ramirez (4.5, second), Thome (4.9, seventh)

{And if you've managed to slog your way through to the end of this list, yes, Greg did go 0-4 on his weekend football picks. Better luck next weekend.}

Who is Rich Hunter?

The Red Sox pitcher on Aug. 17, 1996, had started 374 major league games for the Red Sox, and although he would start 333 more in his 24-year career, he would pitch only eight more times for the Red Sox.

The Phillies pitcher that day was making his eighth start for the Phillies. He would start six more that season and then never pitch again in the big leagues.

Let's backtrack.

While looking at my program yesterday for the post on Roger Clemens' last Fenway shutout for the Red Sox, I noticed that I had saved the little insert that lists news and other teams' rosters. (For the long-timers, this is similar to the Phillies former Newsy Notes.)

Of course, I checked to see what the Phillies were doing that day. They were hosting the Giants and starting a 1-3 pitcher named Hunter. I couldn't remember a Hunter on the Phillies in the mid-1990s. Neither could Christine, which is odd because both of us tend to remember most scrubby players.

We were more curious when we found out that the Phillies pitcher, Rich Hunter, had made 14 starts that year but never pitched again in the majors. He kicked around the minors and independent leagues until 1999 and his career ended when he was 24 years old.

The most we could find on him was a 1996 Baseball Digest story talking about rookies who could make an impact. He went 19-2 with a 2.73 ERA in A and AA ball in 1995, earning the organization's Paul Owens Award for minor league pitcher of the year.

"He doesn't throw real hard, but he's just got phenomenal control," said Del Unser, Phillies director of player development. "He's got a big-league curveball and a big-league changeup along with big-league control (32 walks in 184 innings) and big league poise."

We found a couple game-day stories about his starts, but not much else.

Fortunately, Christine remembered that I hadn't yet thrown out my 1996 Scranton Wilkes-Barre Red Barons program. Sure enough, today's topic is in there on page 67. But there's not much to note other than he was single in 1996 and a 1992 graduate of Linfield High School in California, where he was first-team All-State in baseball.

I'm willing to bet injuries played a role, but I'd love to know why he never panned out.

Football: As is becoming annual tradition, I forgot to post my playoff picks yesterday. Good thing because I would have picked the Bengals and Eagles. I just couldn't see the Jets winning a game, and I thought the Eagles had a bigger choke in them. Oops. Today, I pick the Patriots and Packers. So if you need some money, bet on the Ravens and Cardinals.

My last untainted memory of Roger the Red Sox

Until Andre Dawson ends the speculation and announces that he will enter the Hall of Fame as a Red Sox, people will wonder if he will wear a Cubs or Expos hat into Cooperstown. Seriously, I endorse Les Expos.

The topic recently prompted Rob Neyer to list which caps he thinks certain multi-team stars should wear. He said that, without a doubt, Roger Clemens should go in with a B on his head.

After all that has happened (and assuming they start voting in roiders), I'm not sure I would even want that anymore.

But it did give me the opportunity to revisit Aug. 17, 1996 - the day I was in the stands to see Clemens throw his last home shutout for the Red Sox.

I kept score, but I couldn't scan a copy because the scorecard boxes have diamonds on them, making the page hard to read. (I prefer empty boxes on my scorecards.)

I don't remember much except the experience of watching a seemingly washed-up Roger Clemens revert to The Rocket. He was dominant. The place was electric. And I was thrilled. Of course, the whole thing was probably fake.

Recently, I salvaged the program from that day. It touts Jeff Frye, Reggie Jefferson, Bill Haselman and Jose Malave as unsung stars of the 1996 Red Sox, which finished 82-80.

Other stars on that lackluster team included Mike Stanley, Mo Vaughn, Tim Naehring, John Valentin, Wil Cordero, Mike Greenwell, Jose Canseco and Troy O'Leary.

See, this is why I seldom criticize SoxandPhils management. I'll never forgot rosters like these.

To the right are some photos of the team. Without editorial comment, notice Vaughn, Canseco, Clemens, Tim Wakefield, Kevin Mitchell, Tom Gordon and Jamie Moyer.

Not included on this page - but we'll show him separately - is an ultimate SoxandPhil. One of two to be officially owned by this Web site: Healthcliff Slocumb "if you got 'em."

I won't get myself riled up by discussing why he is not in the Hall of Fame, but if, no, when he is inducted, what do you think - Red Sox or Phillies hat? Other than three years with the Cubs, he never spent more than two years in one place. He performed better as a Phillie, but had more saves as a Red Sox.

And I think he should get bonus credit for his impact on Red Sox history. Without him, there would be no Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek and therefore no trophy in 2004.

I know it won't happen, but Slocumb's induction speech would make me feel a lot happier than Clemens'.

When one old lefty moves out, another moves up

When Randy Johnson announced his retirement this week, it did have some meaning for the Phillies - well, one of them anyway.

With Johnson out of the picture, Jamie Moyer has moved up in a couple of categories on the ol' active leader lists, according to The Bill James Handbook.

Before the Big Unit retired, J-Moy already led active pitchers in games started (609), losses (195) and home runs allowed (491).

Now, he will open the season also leading in wins (258), innings (3,908.2) and batters faced (16,642).

Moyer also moved up to fifth in complete games (31), third in strikeouts (2,342), second in walks (1,117) and third in hit batsmen (138).

Moyer - whose fastball averaged a league-low 81.4 mph last year - will be the active strikeout leader if Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz don't play in 2010.

Another old Phillie: Brett Myers, who has a been a Phillie for so long that his major league debut occurred during our honeymoon, is officially gone. He's now with Ed Wade and the rest of the Philadelphia Astrox. Christine laments the end of an era. We said our peace to young Brett in November.

Mutual (g)love society: Mike Lowell once told Nick Cafardo that Adrian Beltre was the best third baseman he's seen:

"Tools-wise, Adrian Beltre is the best one," he said. "He can be the best one. He's very, very quick. He comes in on the ball incredibly. I relate it to the way I can catch some ground balls. But I see some balls he gets down the line where I really have to concentrate on setting my feet to make a good, strong throw and he's off-balance throwing from the side and it's a rocket that comes out of his arm.

"So I enjoy watching his tools. I wish I could have that ability to flick the ball across the diamond and it goes like a bullet. In the minors, he was like a man playing against boys."

Beltre, supplanting Lowell at third for the Red Sox, returned the kind words today:

New Boston Red Sox third baseman Adrian Beltre has played against Mike Lowell since they were in the minor leagues, and said Lowell has the best hands of any third baseman in the game. "I know Mike Lowell," he said after his introductory press conference in Fenway Park on Friday. "I'm a huge fan of Mike Lowell. Mike is a great guy."

Thanks: Big kudos to Cafepress.com. Christine's Chooch T-shirt was a little too small. We asked to exchange it for a larger one. They just sent us a larger one without asking us to send the other one back. It arrived today. Great customer service.