As the air turns colder, summer officially comes to an end and Major League Baseball heads into the final week of the regular season, we turn our attention to three men whose ineffectiveness has been so brilliant that they are simultaneously closing in on three of baseball's most dubious distinctions.
Omar Daal and the 20-Loss Club
Brian Kingman can't sleep at night. He tosses and turns with visions of Omar Daal heading to the mound and walking in runs and giving up extra-base hits.
You see, Kingman is the last player to lose 20 games in a season, reaching this milestone of ineptitude as a member of the 1980 Oakland A's. Twenty years later, Philadelphia right-hander Daal's 19 losses pose a serious threat to Kingman's bizarre claim to fame. Kingman revels in his status as the answer of a barroom trivia question, and he desperately wants Daal to fall short of reaching the milestone.
"This guy can't lose 20," a distraught Kingman told ESPN writer Jayson Stark. "Then you won't have any reason to call me anymore. I'll have to kidnap him or something."
Kidnapping may be the only way to keep Daal from joining the exclusive club of futility. Daal is still scheduled to pitch twice more, today against the Cubs and at Florida on the final day of the season. Phillies manager Terry Francona has insisted that Daal won't be leaving the rotation to avoid reaching 20 losses, which has Kingman up at night.
Daal, who last won on August 8th, has been just as bad as his 3-19 record and robust 6. 26 ERA would indicate.
Recently, however, Daal has pitched well enough to show glimpses of the man who won 16 games last year for the Arizona Diamondbacks, helping them reach the postseason. But even when he does pitch well, as he has in his last four starts, Daal still manages to rack up losses. In his last three starts before Thursday's game against the Mets, the Phillies scored a total of one run.
It's this mixture of bad run support, and even worse pitching, that has Daal one "L" away from supplanting Kingman as the most recent great loser of Major League Baseball.
Jose Lima's Home Run Chase
There's a different kind of home run chase going on these days, and it doesn't include andro-pumping, testosterone-fueled sluggers (that would just be sooo 1998). Instead it involves Jose Lima, starting pitcher for the Houston Astros, and his pursuit of Bert Blyleven's single-season record of home runs allowed.
Lima, who makes half of his starts in Houston's hitter-friendly Enron Field (dubbed Ten-Run Field by opposing pitchers for its shallow fences and inflation-effect on ERAs) has been on pace to break Blyleven's record since April.
In his last start on Sept. 22 against the Reds, Lima gave up three homers in the second inning -- giving him a total of 47 on the year, three shy of the 50 gopher balls Blyleven surrendered in 1986 as a Minnesota Twin.
Doctors have advised Lima to stop pitching to avoid the potential whiplash effects of constantly turning around to watch another one of his breaking balls deposited 400 feet from homeplate.
Lima, holder of the National League record previously held by Robin Roberts, has one more start at Pittsburgh. Blyleven's record looks pretty safe. In an earlier outing against the Pirates this season, Lima pitched seven-plus innings and didn't throw one pitch that left the yard.
Preston Wilson's K's Approach Record
Preston Wilson, centerfielder for the Florida Marlins and the brightest star on an improving team, has heard the phrase "STEE-RIKE THREE" from just about every Major League umpire this season.
While swinging and missing or being caught looking at pitches on the outside corner, Wilson has struck out every possible way 185 times, four short of Bobby Bonds' single-season record set in 1970.
Wilson has abandoned the old "put-it-in-play and see what happens" adage, and if his K-crazy influence reaches youngsters, it could have a debilitating effect on the health of Little League managers across the country.
Wilson and Marlins Manager John Boles have downplayed the high strikeout total and instead focus on the slugger's 30 home runs and 170 RBIs.
Wilson shouldn't worry too much about the excessive amount of K's. Of the top five leaders in career strikeouts, four are in the Hall of Fame, and the fifth -- Dave Kingman -- managed to a hit a not-too-shabby 442 home runs.
"I don't feel I need vindication for my strikeouts," Wilson recently said. "I see it as I have strikeouts, had a lot of strikeouts, but I still did a lot to help my team. I was still productive enough to warrant being in there to get those at-bats to get that many strikeouts."
It's a good thing that Wilson has such a positive outlook on his high strikeout total, because with a week full of games left, Preston Wilson will have to get used to being the new King of K's.