What If

The stupidity, the abject absurdity of Grady Little's managing of the 2003 ALCS deciding game was not removing Pedro Martinez after the seventh. For those watching, Martinez was at 101 pitches, and had been hammered in the seventh inning. His fastball still was in the low 90s, but had totally straightened out.

Everyone also knows that at least Mike Timlin tended to pitch better coming in at the beginning of an inning than the end.

Trot Nixon looked a lot bigger (15 pounds) back in 2003. I wonder what that was about. I guess he got on Jenny Craig.

Tom Tippett's Diamond Mind Baseball is an excellent simulation product, although I haven't used the latest volumes. I do recommend the product, superior to APBA Games electronic simulation in my opinion. Diamond Mind had inning by inning and pitch by pitch simulation available, with a text rather than graphically intense product.

I haven't bought a baseball computer game in a long time. Maybe Earl Weaver Baseball was my favorite ever, with the little sprites and some great all-time teams. Front Page Sports Baseball never made it, and although Nintendo's baseball games were always fun, none of them simulated reality like Diamond Mind or APBA.

Well, we're at the 'Moment of Truth' for Grady Little, who literally drowns in the Rubicon. Somehow, I expect that the simulation will not contradict the previous results, unlike the Time Tunnel or Star Trek voyages through Time Warps. Statistically, computers aren't going to predict relief pitchers coming in to give up three run homers, or predict indefinite scoreless relief by Mariano Rivera.

We'll know soon enough.