House Bashing II: Person, Woody, Rocket, Morris, Candy...

Robert Person made his ML debut September 18, 1995, for the woeful New York Mets.

A year later (December 20, 1996), he was traded to the Blue Jays for John Olerud, whom Toronto thought was on the decline.

Person made three straight solid starts in the opening month of the 1997 season, but was just 0-1 with a 2.25 ERA in 20 innings. He had 15 K's and allowed just 5 walks.

By the end of the year, Person was 5-10 in 22 starts with a 5.61 ERA.

Teammate Woody Williams went 9-14 with a 4.35 ERA in 31 starts, his first ML season as a full-time starter (after spending his first few years pitching out of the pen).

Roger Clemens, in his first season with the Blue Jays, went 21-7 wioth a 2.05 ERA, capturing the Cy Young over Seattle's Randy Johnson (20-4, 2.28). (Oddly, Clemens didn't win the award unanimously despite achieving the pitching "Triple Crown", as Johnson and future teammate Randy Myers got three of those votes.)

The reason I'm bringing this up is I remember seeing a Globe & Mail article (I used to read that paper every day because its baseball coverage was great) in which Person was suggesting the Jays were scoring more runs when Clemens was pitching. Thus, Person and Williams had losing records while the Rocket was unbeatable. Williams brushed it off and said he didn't pay attention to such things.

Person's point was perhaps the batters felt more pumped up to see the Rocket on the mound, and added he himself would be too, were he a hitter.

Maybe resident Zonker John House subscribes to Person's theory.

Haha! Perhaps House thinks a pitcher like Clemens would make guys like Joe Carter and Ed Sprague get more hits and bash more home runs. (Better than PEDs!!)

The reason I bring up House is the fact he thinks Jack Morris ('92-93) was great, and Tom Candiotti ('91) was brutal.

Consider these stats from the ALCS:
(GS= games started)
Pitcher A: 2 GS, 7 2/3 IP, 17 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 5 K's, 8.22 ERA
Pitcher B: 2 GS, 12 1/3 IP, 11 H, 9 ER, 9 BB, 6 K's, 6.57 ERA

So, both pitchers sucked. You can make a case that Pitcher B was marginally better, but not by much, other than eating a few more innings.

Yes, A is Candiotti, and B is Morris, in the 1991 and '92 ALCS, respectively.

The big difference is the Jays lost the ALCS with Candiotti being the Game One starter one year, and won the ALCS with Morris holding that role the year after.

Or how about this?

1992
Pitcher X: 34 GS, 240 2/3 IP, 222 H, 18 HR, 80 BB, 132 K's, 4.04 ERA
Pitcher Y: 30 GS, 203 2/3 IP, 177 H, 13 HR, 63 BB, 152 K's, 3.00 ERA

Of course, X was Morris, who went 21-6 with the Blue Jays. Y was Candiotti, who was just 11-15 with the NL's worst team, the Dodgers. (Imagine a knuckleball pitcher getting more K's, and more K's per 9 innings, than Morris!!)

Pitcher Z: 34 GS, 238 IP, 202 H, 12 HR, 73 BB, 167 K's, 2.65 ERA

Pitcher Z was Candiotti's 1991 regular season, which he split between Toronto and Cleveland. Very comparable to Morris' '92 campaign with the Blue Birds (other than the ERA, where Candiotti owned him!!). But Candiotti was 13-13 with those numbers, 6-7 with the Jays.

Supposedly Morris made Robbie Alomar, Carter, Pat Borders, et al. get more clutch hits and homers. Candiotti? Makes everyone go in a slump.

Consider how the Jays batters fared in the AL playoffs each year.

1991 ALCS (vs. Minnesota): Blue Jays hit 1 HR, batted .249, scored 19 runs in 5 games, and won just once.
1992 ALCS (vs. Oakland): Blue Jays hit 10 HR, batted .281, scored 31 runs in 6 games.

Toronto won games 7-5, 7-6, and 9-2 against the A's, while never scored more than 5 in any single game versus the Twins a year earlier.

Hmm. Hard to argue that the Twins' pitching was that much better than the A's. Minnesota had Morris (gasp!), Kevin Tapani, Scott Erickson, closer Rick Aguilera, and a bunch of no-name relievers. Oakland had Dave Stewart (future Jay), Mike Moore, Ron Darling (who almost no-hit Toronto at SkyDome earlier in '92, a game in which Cliff attended!), Bob Welch, Jeff Russell, and AL MVP and Cy Young winner Dennis Eckersley.

(Well, as it turned out, Moore, Darling, Russell, and Eck were ineffective in the series. When all of them struggled, the A's just didn't have a chance.)

Anyway, Carter was the only Jay to homer in 1991. In the '92 ALCS, Alomar, Dave Winfield, and Candy Maldonado each hit 2, while Carter, Olerud, Kelly Gruber, and Borders each hit 1.

Other than newcomer Winfield, each of those Blue Jays had played in the 1991 ALCS.

Winfield was clearly a big addition, as he drove in 100 runs during the regular season as the full-time DH, taking over from the ineffective trio of Mookie Wilson (whom I think Cliff doesn't like), Pat Tabler (who's a career .300 hitter with the bases loaded but not a legit DH), and Rance Mulliniks.

Still, getting to my original question: did Jack Morris make guys like Gruber, Maldonado, Borders, Olerud, et al. get more of those clutch hits?

I wonder what House has to say about that.

After all, his contention is that Morris was gold. Candiotti a bum.

And I don't even want to mention '93... Morris 7-12, 6.19. Candiotti 8-10, 3.12.

Serves the Candy Man right, perhaps. For signing with the Dodgers. And not the Jays. Or even the Bronx Bombers.

On a different topic now, the Yankees wanted to sign Candiotti after the '91 season. He declined. (Greg Maddux and Barry Bonds turned down the Yanks after the '92 season too...)

Jimmy Key, who played with both Candiotti and Morris, wisely signed with the Yankees after '92 (New York's consolation prize after Maddux and Bonds got away), and became a LEGEND in pinstripes, being hailed as a World Series hero (1996) and being a perennial Cy Young contender (18-6 in 1993, 17-4 in 1994).

Well, too bad to Candiotti and Bonds for never winning a World Series. Maddux for winning just one (and losing to the Yanks in 1996 and 1999--ha!!).

They all shouldn't have snubbed New York.

(There, House. I snickered at Bonds. Happy now?)