what we gained against seattle we lost against utah, and that proved out. it wasn't a bad deal but it wasn't a good deal. it was a bandaid.
Thanks for posting. That was a good read and brought back the awesome memories of Baggy. I see him swinging deep at the Astrodome right now. ...sigh.
I'll give you that he is injury prone, but when healthy is a solid pitcher. Freddy Garcia 2006 stats W-L ERA K Walks WHIP 7-1 3.92 31 16 1.22 Pitching Year Team G GS W L SV CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP BAA 1999 SEA 33 33 17 8 0 2 1 201.1 205 96 91 18 90 170 4.07 1.47 .263 2000 SEA 21 20 9 5 0 0 0 124.1 112 62 54 16 64 79 3.91 1.42 .241 2001 SEA 34 34 18 6 0 4 3 238.2 199 88 81 16 69 163 3.05 1.12 .225 2002 SEA 34 34 16 10 0 1 0 223.2 227 110 109 30 63 181 4.39 1.30 .260 2003 SEA 33 33 12 14 0 1 0 201.1 196 109 101 31 71 144 4.51 1.33 .255 2004 SEA 15 15 4 7 0 1 0 107.0 96 39 38 8 32 82 3.20 1.20 .236 2004 CWS 16 16 9 4 0 0 0 103.0 96 53 51 14 32 102 4.46 1.24 .247 2005 CWS 33 33 14 8 0 2 0 228.0 225 102 98 26 60 146 3.87 1.25 .259 2006 CWS 9 9 7 1 0 1 0 57.1 54 26 25 5 16 31 3.92 1.22 .247 Career 228 227 106 63 0 12 4 1484.2 1410 685 648 164 497 1098 3.93 1.28 .249
Hold on a second. We didn't beat the Sonics because of Barkley. We beat them because Matt Maloney went bananas. He was a one-series wonder but oh what a wonder! Problem is he completely flamed out the next series against the Jazz and was a big reason there never was a Rocket vs. Bulls NBA Finals. In the offseason, the Rockets rewarded Maloney with the contract we all joke about. To clarify things: I was FOR the Barkley trade but he wasn't the reason we beat the Sonics. It was Matt Maloney's unconscious outside shooting that pushed us over the hump. Anybody have the box scores from that series? I think there were 3 games where Maloney was ridiculous.
That and Kenny Smith used to own the Jazz. I remember he used to kill the Jazz in the playoffs. The Rockets also missed Horry's defense and other intangibles. Cassell and Horry were also both very good at getting the entry pass into Hakeem.
Is anyone else going through 'Bagwell withdrawal' this year? It's really weird not seeing him on 1st base. I know he didn't play a lot last year either, but it's still weird.
man, you and i disagree about past playoff NBA action every time. http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_1997.html Game 1 : Maloney - 17 points; shot 50% from the 3 point line; 4 assists Barkley - 19 points, 9 boards, 3 assists Game 2: Maloney - 5 points; 1/7 from 3 point line; 4 assists Barkley - 21 points, 7 boards, 3 assists Game 3: Maloney - 19 points; 5/8 from 3, 7/16 overall; 2 assists Barkley - 11 points/17 boards/3 assists Game 4: Maloney - 26 points, 6 assists, 8/13 from 3 point line Barkley - 26 points/15 boards/2 assists Game 5: Maloney - 2 points; 0/6 from 3; 1/7 overall Barkley - 17 points/20 boards/1 assist Game 6: Maloney - 4 points; 1/4 from 3 Barkley - 20 points/12 boards/5 assists Game 7: Maloney - 15 points; 3/8 from 3; 2 assists Barkley - 20 points/14 boards/1 assist Maloney disappeared in 3 of the 7 games. Barkley brought it every night. Maloney got open looks because of Barkley. Because he screwed up their "zone" defense in Seattle. When Maloney hit it, they won. When he disappeared, they didn't. Barkley got us over the hump vs. Seattle. Which is EXACTLY why the Rockets gave up so much to get him. Maloney proceeded to get his ass handed to him by the Utah Jazz in the WCF.
IIRC, we were up 3-1 after Maloney's big game 4 and then essentially went to sleep (as did Maloney) in games 5 and 6 before closing them out in game 7. That year still pains me. A Rockets/Bulls series would have RULED, but no. F-king Karla and his f-king bear hug.
Don't forget about Carlos Guillen SEASON TEAM G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS 1998 Sea 10 39 9 13 1 1 0 5 3 9 2 0 .333 .381 .410 .791 1999 Sea 5 19 2 3 0 0 1 3 1 6 0 0 .158 .200 .316 .516 2000 Sea 90 288 45 74 15 2 7 42 28 53 1 3 .257 .324 .396 .720 2001 Sea 140 456 72 118 21 4 5 53 53 89 4 1 .259 .333 .355 .688 2002 Sea 134 475 73 124 24 6 9 56 46 91 4 5 .261 .326 .394 .720 2003 Sea 109 388 63 107 19 3 7 52 52 64 4 4 .276 .359 .394 .753 2004 Det 136 522 97 166 37 10 20 97 52 87 12 5 .318 .379 .542 .921 2005 Det 87 334 48 107 15 4 5 23 24 45 2 3 .320 .368 .434 .802 2006 Det 46 162 25 51 15 1 6 27 21 23 6 5 .315 .398 .531 .929
While its true that the nucleus (when intact) was great at beating the Jazz... we forget how mediocre they were starting to all play during the regular season, which culminated in the 4 game sweep against Seattle. After the 47-35 1995, which resulted in the most amazing playoff run of all-time, the team "improved" all the way to 48-34 in 1996, beat a horrible Lakers team 3-1, and then got exposed in nearly every game in that Seattle series. Robert Horry had started his now famous run of having lack-luster, dis-interested regular seasons (but turning it on in the playoffs), Cassell had some injury problems, Hakeem and Clyde were one year older... there was a lot more sentiment for the trade at the time simply to shake things up, because things were definitely getting stagnant, and the players looked less hungry (and why shouldn't they have had a letdown... they had accomplished enough in 2 years to satisfy anybody). The Barkley trade renewed this city's enthusiasm in Basketball for another 4 years... an enthusiasm that could have withered and died after that sweep (especially if the lackluster regular season runs continued). He also took a ton of pressure off Hakeem that year, and the only reason that the team didn't win 60 games (they won 58) was because Barkley got hurt (even further pointing to him being the key figure of that triumvant that year). He was hungrier than the other two stars (both literally and figuratively), he commanded a double-team every time (and was a better passer out of the post than Hakeem), he was one of the best rebounders to EVER wear a Rockets uniform, and he had a knack of getting to the foul line much more than our other stars. I guess you can say the trade was a "bad one" simply because the team didn't accomplish their goal (win a championship)... but I really didn't have much more faith in the Championship nucleus getting back to that point either. In many ways, Horry and Cassell had to start to fail a little to become the ultimate players that they are today... and I don't think they would have gotten the confidence to "lead" those teams with Hakeem and Clyde still there.
