Baseball is Poop

I Know I'll Never Love This Way Again
Why are so many people saying that Tom Glavine will be the last 300 game winner? First of all, this makes a better story. If you say "Tom Glavine won 300 games a feat that will be accomplished again in a few years" that doesn't make for interesting newspaper or talk radio.
But there is some credence to this belief.
1) The current crop of contenders is weak.
Randy Johnson needs 16 wins, and he'd probably have to pitch until 2009, at age 45, to get there.
Andy Pettitte is averaging more than 15 wins a season, but he'd have to keep that up for 7 more years until age 41. Oswalt and Santana may have started a little too late.
2) The game has changed. This is the real reason people are referring to. Pitchers are pitching fewer innings, getting taken out earlier, especially in tie games and close games. Also bullpens are worse, and pitching more, meaning more blown leads.
3) It is hard. To win 300 you need to average 15 wins for 20 seasons. And if you don't start winning consistently at age 21 or 22, you'll have to pitch into your early 40s to do it.

But as we go on pitchers are pitching later in their careers, and maintaining their effectiveness.

I think it will happen, but the next person to do it isn't in the Major Leagues yet.

Best Rookie Ever?
Milwauke Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun is having one of the best rookie seasons ever. He didn't come up until May 25th, missing 47 games (about a third of the season). Since then Braun has been up for 66 games and put up incredible numbers compared to other great rookies:

Braun 266 AB 52 runs 21 HR 54 RBI .346 BA 1.057 OPS
Pujols 590 AB 112 runs 37 HR 130 RBI .329 BA 1.013 OPS
Howard 312 AB 52 runs 22 HR 63 RBI .289 BA .923 OPS
McCovey 192 AB 32 runs 13 HR 38 RBI .353 BA 1.085 OPS

If Braun keeps it up for another 200 at bats and hits 35 homers while maintaining high averages, it could go down as the best rookie season anyone has ever had.

Home Sweet Home
Astros pitcher Wandy Rodriguez has some of the most disparate home/road splits I've ever seen.

Home 11 starts 6-2 record 74 2/3 innings 52 hits 14 earned runs 16 walks 65 Ks 1.69 ERA
Away 11 starts 1-8 record 57 1/3 innings 77 hits 52 earned runs 22 walks 51 Ks 8.16 ERA

The Way the Game is Going
For a brief period of time on Saturday and Sunday (after A-Rod's homer, before Glavine's win) there were exactly 22 members of the 500 Home Run and 300 Win clubs. By the time the next pitcher joins that club, there were be at least 50 guys with 500 homers. I count at least 7 active players who should accomplish that feat (Thome, Manny, Sheff, Andruw, Vladi, Pooh Holes and Adam Dunn).