Today's Fantasy Rx

Beyond the domination of the CBA talks and playoff contenders in all discussions, several other notable events from throughout the year deserve remembrance. Here's a smattering of other moments that enhanced the 2002 season for us:

Operation Shutdown Mr. Baggypants heads back to his boat before the end of Spring Training, hopefully permanently sparing us from his ever-present fashion faux pas.

Luis Gonzalez's gum earns more Spring Training press than the Anaheim Angels.

Bobby Cox and Leo Mazzone assemble a rather eclectic bullpen of John Smoltz, Mike Remlinger, Kerry Ligtenberg, Chris Hammond, Darren Holmes, Kevin Gryboski, and Tim Spooneybarger, and then watch their relief corps compile one of the greatest seasons of any pen in history.

Cleveland wins on Opening Day, loses game two, and then wins 10 straight games to hold an 11-1 record. Their April 14th game against Kansas City is postponed, they proceed to lose 15 of their next 17 games, and then Mark Shapiro begins an ambitious rebuilding process that ends with them owning perhaps the best minor league depth in baseball.

Derek Lowe establishes himself as a potential star by pitching a no-hitter on April 27th, which still counted even though he only shut down Tampa. Building on his early success and league-leading 3.46 G-F, he continued to perform as one of the more consistently productive pitchers, and he's earned the Cy Young.

At the end of April, Michael Barrett has hit 4 HR and 17 RBI, Damian Miller's reached 6 HR and 22 RBI, and both look like potential MVP candidates. The two catchers combine for 14 HR and 52 RBI over the entire rest of the season.

Montreal reaches a 17-10 record with a win in Houston on May Day, largely on the strength of an incredible increase in plate discipline from nearly all their hitters. They lose their next six games, including a three-game sweep in Arizona, and despite trades for Bartolo Colon and Cliff Floyd, they can't compensate for a growing loss of patience from their hitters. However they still finish at 83-79, posting their first .500+ season since 1996, and as owners of the seventh best record in the league in what might be their last year in Canada, they wind up second in the division behind 101-game winner Atlanta.

Mike Cameron hits 4 homers in Comiskey against the White Sox on May 2nd. Despite that outburst, he never exceeds 5 homers in any month, though he also never posted less than 3.

Seattle bans "Yankees Suck" t-shirts from the ballpark, and then fails to make the playoffs the year after setting the AL wins' record.

Shawn Green hits 3 homers through May 20th, blasts 2 in Milwaukee on May 21st, and then adds four more in Miller Park on May 23rd. After two more longballs in Arizona and a shot against the Brewers at home, he finishes his week with 10 HR and 18 RBI, one of the most impressive power displays in recent memory.

Luis Castillo's hitting streak ends at 35 games as the Marlins leave him on deck when Tim Raines, Sr. hits a walk-off sac fly. Florida teammate Kevin Millar later joins Castillo with a scarcely discussed 25-game hitting streak of his own.

Oakland, Detroit, and the Yankees complete the most interesting three-way of the year as New York gains a future ace, Detroit picks up three top prospects, and Oakland adds Ted Lilly and two top prospects. All three sides appear to have "won" this deal, although the Tigers might wind up with an ace, closer, and #3 hitter.

The Cubs fire Don Baylor, promoting Bruce Kimm, a proponent of the "whack it, hack it" offense. We found out the Baylor news almost simultaneously with hearing of Ted Williams' death. While the baseball world lost the last great living hitter of the 1940s, at least we have some hope that Ted one day might extend his record for oldest player to win a batting title.

Sammy Sosa hits a ball out of Miller Park in the Home Run Derby and onto the rain-soaked promenade through the open outfield window. Even Sammy doesn't normally leave the yard when the stadium has a closed, albeit leaky, roof.

Beelzebud/Budzilla proves he's an all-purpose evil-doer by canceling the last major event he'd left unscathed. Commentators across the country whined about the necessity of taking what most fans considered the only possible incorrect action.

Ozzie Smith and Harry Kalas enter Cooperstown as members. Gary Carter, Jim Rice, Bruce Sutter, Andre Dawson, Goose Gossage, Steve Garvey, Tommy John, Bert Blyleven, Jim Kaat, Alan Trammell, and Keith Hernandez do not. Mike Henneman, Jeff Russell, Scott Sanderson, and Robby Thompson didn't even receive a single vote, suggesting some voters recognized the seriousness of the ballots. The lone supporters of Nails Dykstra and Tim Wallach, as well as the duos behind Mike Greenwell and Frank Viola, obviously did not.

Manny Ramirez becomes the first player to earn two different Rotohelp.com "Turkey of the Week" awards. He first injured himself by sliding headfirst into home in May, thereby missing six weeks and severely reducing Boston's playoff chances, and then requested an at-bat song that included explicit twelve-letter lyrics on a sunny Boston Sunday.

The sole weekly baseball publication succumbs to financial pressure and starts sharing space with even worse articles from more "experts" in a different sport. Our subscription already extends beyond the limits of our patience, but at least we saw our names in BW for a couple weeks before the hostile takeover.

Beginning on August 13th Oakland sets an American League record by winning 20 straight games. A loss at Minnesota on September 6th leaves them with an 88-52 record. Over the same stretch, Anaheim wins 16 of 22 to hold an 86-54 record; they win two more games, reaching a 10-game winning streak, before Oakland beats them. Oakland and Anaheim split eight games in September in one of the most compelling 11-day periods in years. Ignore the backtracking busybodies who tell you the existence of the Wild Card negated the series' drama.

Chin-Feng Chen and Hee Seop Choi respectively become the first position players from Taiwan and Korea to reach the majors. Neither of these players seemed to receive a tenth of the press of failed Cardinals' import So Taguchi. At least the potential debuts of Hideki "Godzilla" Matsui in New York and Kazuo Matsui on the West Coast should provide a more impressive follow-up to Ichiro. We also hope finally to see Roberto Petagine make a triumphant U.S. return, likely compiling numbers closer to Prince's Big Daddy rather than Orestes Destrade.

Comiskey security staff forget to hire Randy Myers to protect the opponents; Myers once dropped an onrusher from the crowd with a single blow, but he also kept (supposedly) disarmed hand grenades in his locker. Without Myers, the Sox fail to curtail one of the most disgraceful on-field events in many seasons, further embarrassing the "Disco Demolition" franchise.

Scott Rolen signs an 8-year, $90M contract with St. Louis, receiving both the most money and years of any expected free agent.

The Braves, Yankees, and Diamondbacks win their divisions. Again.

Ernie Harwell begins a deserved retirement. Tim Raines finishes his career as a Marlin.

While reaching base 58.2% of the time, obliterating Ted Williams' previous record from 1941 of a .553 OBP, and also breaking his walks' record from 2001 by accepting 198 bases on balls, Barry Bonds posts the best offensive season in the history of baseball. Again.

Alex Rodriguez leads the majors in homers and RBI while performing at a level rarely seen at any position. Popular media sentiment has him losing yet another MVP due to the apparently commonly confused belief that a player can't possess value without good teammates.

Sammy Sosa finishes the season with 49 homers and 499 career homers. Cubs' fans wait 'til next year. Again.

Opening Day 2003 is only 182 days away.

Today's Fantasy Rx: Enjoy the last games of the regular season, relax this evening as most networks debut their fall Sunday schedules, and then join us back here tomorrow as we'll continue to turn out a couple articles each and every day of the year.