Sorry for the lack of posting

If anyone is actually reading this that is. I've actually had to do some things at work so have not been able to post much. Anyways, I was on the crapper this morning and was thinking about ways to identify which Major League pitchers will have staying power, i.e. Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens, Nolan Ryan, and Randy Johnson, etc. and which will be flops like Todd Van Poppel, Mike Harkey, and Jon Garland. Out of all the guys there Maddux's stats are amazing to look at as the years progress. Just look at his walk totals throughout his career. His last year with the Cubs in 1992 he walked 70 batters while striking out 199. Then under Mazzone in his next year he walks 52 and strikes out 197, pretty frickin amazing. Then comes the amazing year, 19-2 record. in 209.2 innings pitched he walked 23 batters, struck out 181, and had an e.r.a of 1.63. Although he won the cy young in this year and the previous year and the year before that, 1995 was arguably one of the best pitching years anybody who has worn a major league uniform has ever had. Sorry for the digression, Maddux's career amazes me, but I will be back to post more about the simlarities of the pitching greats early years and what sets them apart from the flops. To keep you busy these stat lines are from the second year of Maddux and Dempster: Tell me which one is Maddux and which one is dempster? G GS CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB SO W L SV HLD ERA 25 25 0 0 147.0 146 77 77 21 93 126 7 8 0 0 4.71 30 27 1 0 155.2 181 111 97 17 74 101 6 14 0 0 5.61