Randy Johnson Joins 300 Win Club!

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-Digger's Daily-

Five time Cy Young Award winning southpaw slinger Randy Johnson won his 300th career game Thursday night in Washington. 300 wins and 4845 strikeouts spanning 22 seasons. During his prime RJ was one of the most dominating and feared pitchers of all time.

I predict we've seen the last of 300 game pitchers for a long time. There are a few current hurlers who could challenge. Johan Santana (116), Roy Holladay (140), Roy Oswalt (131), Mark Buehrle (131), CC Sabathia (122), Carlos Zambrano (99) & Jake Peavy (91) are the current crop aiming for 300. These guys will need a few 20 win seasons to get there. No pitcher will approach the mark for about 10 years or more.

A couple of pitching records will probably never be broken. Career strikeouts will forever belong to Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan (5714). Here's another of Nolan's records never to be broken... base on balls... walks (2795). Today's generation of baseball focuses on pitch counts so no chance anyone will ever threaten Ryan's records. Cy Young's 511 wins will never be touched either. Back in his day hurlers were starting 40+ games/season.

On the hitters side... Joe D's 56 consecutive game hitting streak seems out of reach. Every once in a long while some one starts chasing. Pete Rose was closest with 44. Ichiro is one player with the ability and mind set to challenge. He's currently riding a 27 gamer and holds the single season hits record (262). I'm a bit surprised no hitter has batted .400 since Ted Williams in 1941.

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Predicting Baseball's 2009 Award Winners

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-Digger's Daily-

It's time to gaze into my crystal ball for predicting baseball's award winners and leaders:

AWARDS
MVP: AL - Mark Teixeira (NYY), NL - Ryan Howard (Phi)
CY YOUNG: AL - John Lackey (LAA), NL - Carlos Zambrano (Chi)
MGR: AL - Trey Hillman (KC), NL - Dusty Baker (Cin)
ROOKIE: AL - Brett Gardner (NYY), NL - Gabby Sanchez (Fla)
COMEBACK: AL - Michael Cuddyer (Min), NL - Mike Hampton (Hou)

LEADERS
BATTING: AL - Kevin Youkilis (Bos), NL - Albert Pujols (StL)
HOME RUNS: AL - Jim Thome (Chi), NL - Ryan Howard (Phi)
STOLEN BASES: AL - Brian Roberts (Bal), NL - Jose Reyes (NYM)
WINS: AL - John Lackey (LAA), NL - Carlos Zambrano (Chi)
SAVES: AL - Jonathan Papelbon (Bos), NL - Francisco Rodrighez (NYM)