Let me preface this by saying I'm a Phillies fan. With that out of the way, I don't know if anyone else thinks so, but the slagging the Yankee announcers gave to Greg Maddux on Monday was horrible and uncalled for. When they did it, it was clear that Clemens wasn't going to get his 300th win that day, so they had to do something to let the viewers know that Clemens was still the uber-pitcher.

The announcers, their words muffled by the fact that their heads were so far up Steinbrenner's ass that his sphincter was muffling their words, went on to say that Maddux wasn't really a complete game pitcher, and had at best an outside shot at 300 wins.

The absolute worst part was still to come. For whatever reason they decided to say that "some hitters complain that Maddux's ball has unnatural movement, the implication being...". Honestly, I forget if they actually said anything after that, or if they went ahead and spelled out the implication that Maddux was a cheater for the Yankee-nation.

Observe the stats below. I have constructed a table for your enjoyment.

On first look, they seem pretty similar. One important little fact is that Maddux is 4 years younger than Clemens. So I don't see him *not* getting 300 wins. If I'm wrong, feel free to flame me in 5 years. Maddux has nearly as many complete games as Clemens, and he may catch up in that department. His ERA is lower. And yet, somehow, he doesn't even compare to Clemens according to our fecal friends from the Yankees.

Anyhow, I feel it was horribly disrepectful to call of the best pitchers of this generation a cheater just to make sure everyone knew how good Clemens is.

Note: I'm off to San Francisco in 2 weeks for some JavaONE fun, on the company, yo. If anybody knows where a geek can spend some time, drop a line. Especially appreciated are used bookstores, good record stores, and any kind of odd/unusual museums.