While writing the title I chuckled a bit because this seems to be such an oxymoron because it doesn’t seem true. The man is pitching in the low 80’s these days with the San Diego Padres and has won only a couple of games over 30 in his last 3 1/2 seasons. Yet yesterday Maddux won his 350th MLB game and is only the third player since 1911 to hit this mark. Maddux has played for 22 years with the Cubs, Braves, Dodgers and Padres during his stellar profesional career. Warren Spahn and Roger “Wanna Ride My Rocket?” Clemens are the other two pitchers to hit this milestone in basically the last 100 years. I think you can lock this achievment up and throw away the key because there won’t be any other pitchers hitting the 350 win mark moving forward. (It’s all about the stache)

Tonight San Diego must travel into Denver in a do or die game against the surging Rockies to see who wins the wild card spot in the National League. The Padres lost their last two games of the year against the Brewers while the Rockies have won 13 of their last 14 games. San Diego is starting NL Cy Young (my opinion) Jake Peavy (19-6 2.36 234 strikeouts - leading each pf these categories in the NL) while the Rockies hand the ball to Josh Fogg (10-9 4.79 ERA). I know pitching wins in the playoffs so we should go with Peavy and the Padres, but Colorado will win this game tonight and go on to face the Phillies.

Colorado wins the moneyline +121

Overall Record:

NFL 25-13-2
College Football: 20-21
MLB 1-0
College Basketball 48-37-2
NBA 6-4

Most of us have memories of Rick Ankiel as a highly touted prospect going totally mental during his short stint with the St. Louis Cardinals as a starting pitcher. Towards the end of his tenure as a pitcher he truly had issues even throwing the ball over the plate. Over two years later Ankiel has fought his way back to the majors, but no longer as a pitcher. Ankiel is now an outfielder and before being called up to the Cardinals he hit over 50 home runs in his last two years in the minors. Ankiel didn’t slow up in his debut as an outfielder in the majors by hitting a three-run homer in the seventh inning against the Padres leading St. Louis to a 5-0 win. Two days later Ankiel hit two bombs for the Cardinals lagainst the Dodgers leading to a 6-1 victory. Ankiel and his bat are bringing new life to a Cardinals team that has suffered through tons of injuries and a very disappointing season to date. They are now 6.5 games back in the NL Central and Ankiel could just be the edge they need to turn things around.

Trevor Hoffman set the all-time save record last night with his 479th save against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hoffman of the San Diego Padres surpassed “The Fireballer” Lee Smith who is still one of my all-time favorite closers based on his days with the Cubs. Hoffman leads the National League in saves this year with 43 saves in 48 chances. Congrats Trevor and let’s shoot for 500 now.

The Los Angeles Dodgers won their 10th in a row last night after disposing of the Colorado Crockies 7-2. This now puts the Dodgers a stunning two games above .500 for the season at 57-55. They are now only one and a half games behind the San Diego Padres in the pathetic NL West. I can assure you that the Dodgers could win 20 in a row and no team in MLB will be scared of them.