Yardbarker: Cliff Politte

Don't jump off these Cliff(s) ...

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:03:00 -0500

With all the news about Cliff Lee recently -- he was involved in a series of trades that Blue Jay fans paid some attention to, as I recall -- I found myself wondering if we could build a full roster of MLB "Cliffs."The short answer is "yes." The longer answer is "wow, this team is a lot better than I expected it to be." The disorientingly long final roster-driven answer follows if you just click through ... Let's set the ground rules -- thanks to the greatness of BaseballReference.com, we were able to identify every MLB veteran in the history of the game who either had the given first or middle name "Clifford" or who otherwise went by the name "Cliff." Some other players didn't quite fit either category -- sorry, former 'spo backstop Barry Clifton Foote -- and were not considered.We ended up not only with a standard 25-man roster (after some scrambling due to a dearth of middle infielders), but also a full lineup card (nine men) of players who were considered and dismissed, and another 15 or so cuppajoe guys (not shown) who played parts of just one or two seasons in the big leagues ...For those wondering about family names, there have been two men surnamed Cliff to play minor league ball, 20 more named Clifford and one named Cliffords, but none has made it to the big leagues as yet, and the only one active, OF Peter Clifford, hit just .236 at AA in Arizona's system last season, so that doesn't seem likely to change any time soon ... Well, as much as I'd like to, we can't name this team THE BIG RED DOGS, because that childhood cartoon hero was named "Clifford" and here we are considering other forms of the name as well, so instead, let's greet ...THE CLIFF-DIVERS** indicates Hall of Famer* indicates All-StarMANAGERIAL/COACHING STAFFPlayer/Manager: Fred Clifford Clarke** (1602-1181, LOU, PIT, 1897-1915) Player/Coach: Clifford "Gavvy" Cravath (91-137, 1919-20 PHI) Player/Coach: Joyner Clifford "Jo-Jo" White (1-0, 1960 CLE interim)STARTING LINEUPC Cliff Bolton (.291 in just over 1000 PA, parts of 1931-41)1B Clifford Earl Torgeson (.265, 149 homers, 1947-61)2B Clifford "Pat" Crawford (also 1B/3B; .280, 1929-30 NYG, CIN, 1933-34 STL)SS Cliff Pennington (also 2B; .267, 4 HR, 11 SB for OAK since '08)3B Clifford Nolen Richardson (also SS; .247, parts of six seasons, 1929-39)LF Cornelius Cliff Floyd* (.278, 233 homers since 1993)CF Fred Clifford Clarke** (.312, 1015 RBI, 5-6 SB, 1894-1911, '13-15)RF Clifford "Gavvy" Cravath (.287, 119 home runs, 1908-09, '12-20)DH Cliff Johnson (C/1B; .258, 196 homers, seven teams, 1972-86) BENCHOF/1B/C Clifford W. Lee (.300 career hitter, five teams, 1919-26)IF/OF Cliff Cook (.201, 1959-63 CIN, NYM; part of 1962 expansion Mets)OF Cliff Heathcote (.275, 448 SB, 1918-32)OF Cliff Carroll (.251, 197 SB, 1882-93, six teams)OF/1B John Clifford "Lefty" Watwood (.289, 1929-33, '39) ROTATIONLHSP Clifton Phifer Lee* (90-52 since 2002, mostly with CLE; 2008 AL Cy Young Award)RHSP Floyd Clifford "Bill" Bevens (40-36, 1944-47 NYY) LHSP Cliff Melton* (86-80, 1937-44 NYG)RHSP Clifford "Connie" Johnson (40-39, parts of 1953-58 CHW, BAL)RHSP Raymond Clifford Phelps (14-7 as '30 BRK rookie; 33-35 career through '36)BULLPENRHRP Cliff Politte (22-23, 15 saves, 1998-2006, four teams)RHRP David Clifford Wickersham (68-57, 18 saves, four teams, 1960-69)LHRP Cliff Young (5-4, 1 save, 1990-91 CAL, '93 CLE)LH-LONG Cliff "Lefty" Chambers (48-53, 1948-53, three teams)RH-LONG Cliff Curtis (28-61, four teams, 1909-13; 6-24 for 1910 BSN)Nine Not Making the Cut (Pushed Off the Cliffs?)C/1B Cliff Blankenship (.225, 1905 CIN, '07, '09 WAS)OF Joyner Clifford "Jo-Jo" White (.256, 1932-33, mostly DET)OF/1B Matthew Clifford Luke (.242, 15 homers in 269 AB, four teams, 1996, '98-99)C Clifford "Tacks" Latimer (.221 in 86 AB, five teams, 1898-1902)OF Cliff Mapes (.242, 38 homers, 1948-52, three teams)OF Clifford "Trey" Beamon (.253, 1996-98 PIT, SDP, DET)OF Mark Clifford Funderburk (.294, 1981, '85 MIN)RHRP Cliff Markle (12-17, parts of 1915-24 NYY, CIN)RHRP Cliff Fannin (34-51, 1945-52 SLB)Yes, yes, we'll call this next part ... Cliffs Notes ... Cravath was the pre-Ruthian-era King of Clout, with 119 homers in fewer than 4000 career at-bats. He belted an astounding (for the time) 62 homers from 1913-15 (19, 19 and 24 those seasons) and led the NL in homers six times in eleven big league seasons -- all that, and he didn't play regularly until his age-31 season! ... Cliff Melton won 20 games as a 1937 Giants rookie -- and that same year, led the National League in saves (with seven) ... That's a combination we're unlikely to ever see again! ... Bolton, our starting catcher, managed to leg out 11 triples in 1935, which placed him among the league leaders; he only had seven more three-baggers in his entire career ... That one season didn't even place Bolton first in the AL among Cliffs, though, as Jo-Jo White had 12 triples in the 1935 American League ...In one of the biggest trades in early baseball history, back in December of 1899, Fred Clarke -- there's one Cliff connection -- was traded by the Louisville Colonels with Bert Cunningham, Mike Kelley, Tacks Latimer (another Cliff!), Tommy Leach, Tom Messitt, Deacon Phillippe, Claude Ritchey, Rube Waddell, Jack Wadsworth, Honus Wagner and Chief Zimmer to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jack Chesbro, Paddy Fox, Art Madison, John O'Brien and $25,000. That might well qualify as the trade with the most future Hall of Fame inductees involved, ever ... On our bench, Clifford W. Lee had some fine seasons, mostly as an OF for the Phillies in 1922-23 (.322/28/124 combined those two campaigns), but as noted above, earlier in his career, he caught quite a bit for the 1919-20 Pirates, so he could conceivably team with Clifton P. Lee to give this squad an All-Cliff-Lee set of battery mates ...Remember Cliff Young? The Jays acquired the reliever from the Expos late in 1985 for Mitch Webster, in one of the few All-Canadian-team trades in MLB history, then shipped Young off to the warmer climes of Anaheim before the 1989 season for De Wayne Buice ... Wickersham won 19 games for the '64 Tigers, but was on his way to Pittsburgh before the '68 season when the Tigers put it all together ...Other than current All-Star Lee, the only other pitching Cliff that BaseballReference.com lists as "active" is LHRP Cliff Bartosh, who cameoed with the Tribe and Cubs about five years ago, but the Duncanville, Texas High School grad (hey, my wife went there, gotta do the shout-out) has not been back to the majors since 2005 ... From the position-player side, actives include Floyd, Pennington and ... um ... that may be all ...In 1962, Cliff Cook was traded by the Cincinnati Reds (with Bob Miller) to the New York Mets for the inimitable Don Zimmer ... In 1947, Bevens came within one out of throwing the first no-hitter in World Series history, but Cookie Lavagetto singled, the Dodgers rallied and beat Bevens that day, and Don Larsen took his place in history the next decade in a matchup of the same two teams ...We don't have a standard full-time catcher to serve as Bolton's bench caddy, but with Johnson as the DH and C.W. Lee on the bench, there are enough catching options to make manager Clarke, who skippered his teams to four pennants and one (1909) World Series title, comfortable ... In 1951, Cliff Chambers was traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates as part of a package that acquired, among others, a young Joe Garagiola ... In case you missed it on skimming the roster above, Chambers had the kinda cool distinction of pitching from '48-'53 and finishing with a career won-loss of 48-53 ...So that's it for the Cliff-Divers. Did we miss anyone? And how would this team do in, say, the 2010 NL West?

The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Closer

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:01:05 -0500

Part of being a "smart" sports fan in the 21st century is being able to separate what's frustrating from what really hurts a team. A Ryan Howard strikeout is frustrating, sure, but strikeouts are part of his game. And when his game is a career .959 OPS (141 OPS+), you can ignore the strikeouts (which are really only slightly more damaging than groundouts or line drive outs or going out of the basepath or putting too much pine tar on your bat, anyway). But frustrating plays certainly detract from your enjoyment of the game as a fan, or at least make it more, well, frustrating. Last season, the Phillies' enjoyed a near-perfect season from their bullpen, with Brad Lidge converting all 41 of his save opportunities and closing out seven more games in the postseason. It seemed like the Phillies cruised to the World Series title last year, and that's not just because they went 11-3 in October. They also had a bullpen that didn't blow any games. Last year's postseason was extra fun for Phillies fans because there were no close calls, no walkoff homers (or walks) for the other team, no repeat of Mitch Williams. This year, of course, is another story. The Phillies will still win their third straight division title, but it hasn't been as much fun this time around. Last night, Brad Lidge blew his 11th save of the year, giving up 2 runs in the ninth as the Marlins beat the Phillies. A year after going 2-0 with a 1.95 ERA (225 ERA+), Lidge is 0-8 (!) with a 7.48 ERA (57 ERA+). Before last night's blown one, Lidge had three straight saves -- giving up at least a run in each. His last 1-2-3 save was at the Baker Bowl (Aug. 30, actually). For Phillies fans, the ninth inning has become the time to pace back and forth, the time to move your Phillies hat around the room in the hopes it has some magical effect on the game, the time to sacrifice a goat in order to turn Brad Lidge into a pitcher who can manage to get out of an inning without giving the other team the win. Personally, I've been locking myself in the bathroom and following the game on MLB.com. It's just easier that way. I fully expect someone to put out a paper eventually arguing that relief pitching success is almost completely random. Conventional wisdom was Brad Lidge's career was finished after he gave up a game-winning homer to Albert Pujols in the 2005 NLCS. He went out and had a perfect season and closed out the World Series, and only after that can he not finish a game. The Chicago White Sox won the Series in 2005 after a successful season partially due to great relief seasons by guys like Dustin Hermanson, Cliff Politte and Neil Cotts. David Price (22 at the time) shut the door on Boston in last year's ALCS. Jose Mesa saved 321 career games. That closing games might just be one of life's great mysteries is no comfort to Phils fans. They'll have to keep covering their eyes every time Lidge (or Ryan Madson, who has six blown saves this year) comes into the game. It's more frustrating than when Ryan Howard swings at one of those sliders in the dirt.

Phlashback Phriday: September 11, 2000

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:15:00 -0500

The date 9/11 will always cause flashbacks to that horrific event in American history in the year 2001. Most of you probably remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you heard about the first plane striking the Twin Towers. The world came to a complete standstill that day as we watched the drama unfold. Baseball was at the forefront of bringing our great country back some form of normalcy. Today I choose the last 9/11 before the one we'll never forget to "phlashback" on.Venue- Veterans StadiumEvent- Montreal Expos @ Philadelphia PhilliesGame 1 Lineup:1. Marlon Anderson- 2B2. Kevin Sefcik- CF3. Bobby Abreu- RF4. Travis Lee- 1B5. Kevin Jordan- 3B6. Rob Ducey- LF7. Gary Bennett- C8. Alex Arias- SSPitchers- Cliff Politte (starter) and Jeff Brantley.Recap- Politte pitched 8 strong innings allowing 2 runs and picking up the win, while Brantley shut the door on the Expos for his 23rd save. The Phillies scored 4 unearned runs, thanks to 2 Geoff Blum errors, and won the game 5-2. Current Phillie, Andy Tracy, started at 1st base for the Expos that day, brothers Wilton and Vlad Guerrero were with Montreal too.Game 2 Lineup:1. Marlon Anderson- 2B2. Doug Glanville- CF3. Bobby Abreu- RF4. Scott Rolen- 3B5. Pat Burrell- LF6. Travis Lee- 1B7. Tomas Perez- SS8. Tom Prince- CPitchers- Randy Wolf (starter), Chris Brock, Ed Vosberg, Vicente Padilla, and Wayne Gomes. Recap- Wow, a game with switch-hitting guru Padilla in relief, and two almost-forgots Brock and Vosberg. The Phillies lost the second games of the double header 7-6, but Pie Guy Tomas Perez did steal a base, so the game wasn't a total waste. Montreal went to 60-82 while the Phillies fell to 59-84...both teams sucked.~Carson

Phlashback Phriday- August 21, 2001

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:25:00 -0500

The 2000's have been good to Phillies fans. The year 2001 was the start of the turnaround from dismal organization to perennial contenders. Larry Bowa took the throne of manager that year, and won NL Manager of the Year by guiding the Phils to a 86-76 record. On this day the Astros were in Philly and took the game 8-2 from the Phightins.Lineup:1. Jimmy Rollins/SS2. Marlon Anderson/2B3. Scott Rolen/3B4. Bobby Abreu/RF5. Travis Lee/1B6. Pat Burrell/LF7. Doug Glanville/CF8. Johnny Estrada/CPitchers- Nelson Figueroa (starter), Jose Santiago, Cliff Politte, and Eddie Oropesa.Game Notes:*Bobby Abreu collected his 35th double, 32nd stolen base, and 89th rbi on the way to his first 30/30 season (also did it in 2004).*Look at 2nd and 1st base and you'll be damn glad those duds no longer man the right side of the infield.*The attendance was only 20,647 at the Vet. Don't know if Citizens Bank Park has ever had a crowd that sparse._______________________________________________________ Heading to NY:Taking anything less than 3 out of 4 from this depleted Mets club would be a disgrace. They won't have Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, or David Wright in the lineup. Johan Santana pitched last night, so they'll dodge that bullet. Instead they get Mike Pelfrey, Tim Redding, Oliver Perez, and recently turned starter Bobby Parnell. The Phils are one of the hottest teams in baseball, and are 20 games above .500 (69-49) for the first time all year. With the Braves and Marlins beating up on each other this weekend, it's time to pad the 6.5 game NL East cushion. (T-Shirt courtesy of Philly Phaithful)~Carson

Keith Foulke Retires Without Throwing a Pitch for Cleveland

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 13:37:37 -0500

Welcome to Cleveland, Keith. Foulke is set to announce his retirement today having never thrown a pitch for the Cleveland Indians.

List of Free Agent Relievers, Not Exactly Exciting

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 18:05:37 -0500

As the Beerleaguer puts it, "When it comes to free agent relievers, there's an unusually high level of rubbish this winter." This list comes on the heels of the Phillies walking away from a Joe Borowski signing after he and his bum shoulder failed to impress doctors during a physical. He's not the only one on this list that has an injury history or may be on the downside of his career. If your team needs to acquire bullpen help this winter, a trade might be the best option.