Wale - Nike Boots (Video)
December 2, 2008 – 11:15 pmNew video from Wale for “Nike Boots”…
EPMD - Listen Up (Video)
December 2, 2008 – 11:12 pmErick and Parrish hit us with their first video off We Mean Business. This is some classic EPMD funk right here… gotta say this one took me back a little bit.
Jon Hope - Breathin’ (Video)
December 2, 2008 – 11:05 pmWe wouldn’t be who we are if we didn’t post the newest latest video from Prov’s own Jon Hope who looks like he’s going to be the first MC to really break out of Providence…
Is Mike Mussina Hall Worthy?
November 28, 2008 – 12:00 am
Ever since Mike Mussina announced his retirement last week bloggers, talking heads and real journalists alike have all been asking the same question. Is Mike Mussina a Hall of Famer?
This is a tough one for me considering that I am somewhat biased as a Yankee fan… albiet a Yankee fan who was calling for Mussina’s head in April before he righted the ship and won 20 games for the first time in his career… but I’ll try to be as subjective as possible in breaking down Mussina’s career and his Hall worthiness. The detractors will point to the fact that Mussina never won a Cy Young award, was never considered the dominant pitcher in the American League at any time during his career, didn’t win 20 games until his final season, never lead the league in ERA, etc, etc, etc. There are a lot of reasons why Mike Mussina might not ultimately be elected into the Hall of Fame, and when one starts adding them up… there is a case to made that Mussina belongs in the Hall of Very Good, but not in Cooperstown. First off, let’s take a look at Mussina’s career stats.
Mussina: (270-153), 3562.7 IP, 2813 K’s, 785 BB, 3.68 ERA, 123 ERA+, 1.192 WHIP
So what does Mussina’s line tell us? First off, he won a lot of games… 270… and if he wanted to could have stuck around for another three years and reached the magical 300 wins, which would have guaranteed induction to the Hall. Knowing that 300 was within reach if Mussina wanted to hang around for it… we can’t really punish him for falling just shy of 300. There are plenty of pitchers in the Hall without 300 wins. What’s more impressive… although I’ll go on record as saying win/loss records are overrated (we’ll get into that in a minute)… is Mussina’s win-loss differential of 117. Mike won a lot of games, but he also didn’t lose a lot of games… meaning that aside from a couple of years with the Yankees in which he struggled, Mussina could always be counted on every fifth day to pitch well enough to win. His consistency and reliability over the years was remarkable.
Now, consistency and reliability isn’t going to get you in the Hall of Fame. If that were the case we’d be preparing busts for half of the players in baseball. No. Can’t put Mussina in because he could be counted on every fifth day. What you can put him in the Hall for is that you could count on him every fifth day to be much, much better than your average major league starting pitcher. The statistic that, in my mind, puts Mussina over the top is how much better he was than league average. During his career, the league average starting pitcher had an ERA of 4.51. Mussina’s career average ERA? 3.68. Almost a full run better than the league average over his 18 year career. And remember, Mussina pitched in what was one of the first homer happy ballparks… Camden Yards… for first ten years of his career, and during an era of offensive explosion brought on by rampant use of performance enhancing drugs.
Detractors will also always bring up the concept that Mussina was not a pitcher that you feared in big games… but the evidence points to the contrary. Mussina’s career postseason record is only 7-9… not very good, but his career postseason ERA… is 3.42… better than his career ERA! Mussina was a guy you wanted on the mound in the big game… he just didn’t get the run support to back up what was often a solid pitching performance making his win/loss record extremely deceiving. Also, when you compare Mussina’s postseason pitching record to some of his contemporaries… all of whom will be considered for or are considered locks for the Hall… he stacks up pretty well.
Mussina: (11-17) 3.42 ERA
Clemens: (14-10) 3.75 ERA
Maddux: (11-12) 3.27 ERA
Martinez: (5-3) 3.40 ERA
Glavine: (13-11) 3.42 ERA
R. Johnson: (4-7) 3.50 ERA
Schilling: (10-2) 2.23 ERA
Outside of Curt Schilling, who’s been a monster in the postseason.. and who’s postseason record is the only reason anybody should even consider Schilling for the Hall of Fame… Mike Mussina is right there will all of these guys. If Mussina’s postseason record is a detriment to his Hall of Fame candidacy… then it should be for all of these guys… especially Clemens who was anything but spectacular in the postseason… with or without the juice.
So it sounds like I’m strongly for Mike Mussina’s Hall of Fame candidacy… and I am… for it… but not strongly for it. The question that has to be asked with Mussina is… was he really great, or was he just very good? My thoughts are that Mussina is one of those guys who’s right on that line. Where he falls depends on which lens you look at his career through. There are plenty of statistics that would make it seem like Mussina was a great pitcher, but when you look at his rankings by season… he’s always in the top ten, but rarely the best in any given year. He was always in the top 10 in ERA, wins, WHIP, ERA+, K’s, K to BB ratio and more categores… but he rarely was the best in any of those categories. He was only a five time All-Star… a small number considering an 18 year career… and as most detractors will point out he never won a Cy Young Award… but he did finish in the top ten 9 times… half of the seasons in which he put on a uniform for a major league baseball team.
So what’s the verdict? Is Mike Mussina a Hall of Famer? I think he is, but not on the first ballot. I say Mussina will end up waiting 5-10 years before finally being voted in. While he was never the best pitcher in baseball in any given year… or over the duration in which his career spanned… Mussina was definately one of the top five to seven pitchers in baseball in the 90’s and the early part of the 21st century. That is what will ultimately get him in.
And once he gets in… what cap will he wear? This is a question that is almost as difficult to answer as whether or not Mussina is a Hall of Famer… but I have to go with the O’s here. Although Mussina had some very good years with the Yankees, and finally won 20 games with the pinstripes… his best seasons were with Baltimore. While Yankee fans will likely always remember Mussina as one of our own… he should… if he gets elected… wear a Baltimore Orioles hat in Cooperstown.
Skillz - For Real (Video)
November 27, 2008 – 10:48 pmNew video from Skillz…
Whayback
Skillz featuring Talib Kweli - So Far So Good (Video)
Skillz featuring Freeway - Don’t Act Like You Don’t Know (Video)
Mad Skillz - The Nod Factor (Throwback Thursday - Video)
Evidence featuring Krondon - Solitary Confinement (Video)
November 27, 2008 – 10:39 pmLike I said… it appears that Evidence is going to shoot a video for every track off The Layover EP. Thanks to the nice topless rabbit… this is one you certainly won’t be seeing on BET or MTV anytime soon… wait… do they even play videos anymore??
Whayback
Evidence featuring Defari - Don’t Hate (Video)
Evidence featuring Alchemist - So Fresh (Video)
Evidence - The Layover (Video)
Busta Rhymes - I Got Bass (Video)
November 27, 2008 – 10:30 pmOnly Busta can make a video with nothing but a white background entertaining. From buzzing Busta misquitos to little Busta’s falling out of smelly shoes… the guys is just the epitome of humor when it comes to the videos. It does seem like he’s getting a little to big to even move properly though… don’t it?
Whayback
Busta Rhymes featuring Linkin’ Park - We Made it (Video)
Jake One featuring Freeway & Brother Ali - The Truth (Video)
November 27, 2008 – 10:19 pmHere goes the first video from Jake One’s White Van Music. “The Truth” is one of the albums better cuts.
Evidence featuring Defari - Don’t Hate (Video)
November 27, 2008 – 10:12 pmI think Evidence is on a mission to make a video for every song off The Layover EP… which is very dope by the way.
Whayback
Evidence featuring Alchemst - So Fresh (Video)
Evidence - The Layover (Video)
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message (Throwback Thursday)
November 27, 2008 – 9:55 pmHappy Thanksgiving to everybody out there!
Those of us who love hip-hop have to be thankful to the pioneers… the people who started this shit and allowed us to enjoy and participate in the artform. If it wasn’t for songs like “The Message” there would be no Jay-Z… no Lil’ Wayne… no Kanye West. Respect the architects!
