Brennaman shilling for Schilling? More TV sports notes

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During last Saturday's baseball Game of the Week on Fox, announcer Thom Brennaman had some powerful words regarding Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, who is out for the season with shoulder surgery and might retire."I've never seen a more fearless performer in any sport in my life,'' Brennaman said, "than Curt Schilling was in that 2001 year.'' That's the season Schilling went 22-6 in the regular season for the Diamondbacks then pitched six postseason games, going 4-0 while allowing six earned runs in 481/3 innings.So is Schilling a Hall of Famer? Well, consider this: Schilling won only 216 regular-season games with a 3.46 ERA. Bert Blyleven is not in the Hall and he won 287 games with a 3.31 ERA. Orel Hershiser won 204 games with a 3.48 ERA, and he's not in the Hall, either.Schilling's postseason numbers might push him over the top. He went 11-2 with a 2.23 in the postseason and won three championships. Still, Blyleven went 5-1 in the postseason with a 2.47 ERA and has two rings. Hershiser was 8-3 in the postseason with a 2.59 ERA and pretty much single-handedly willed the Dodgers to the 1988 World Series title, winning the NLCS and World Series MVPs.One more thought when you're comparing postseason numbers: Schilling had the benefit of an extra round in the playoffs, something Blyleven and Hershiser never had. Throw out Schilling's first-round playoff numbers and he was 7 -2 in the postseason . In fact, if it weren't for the wild card, the 2004 Red Sox wouldn't have even made the playoffs -- and the whole bloody sock game wouldn't have happened.This isn't as much an argument against Schilling as it is for Blyleven and Hershiser. If one gets in, all three should get in.THREE THINGS TO PONDER-- 1. Why did Willie Randolph lose his job as Mets manager? Partly because the Mets payroll is loaded with supposed stars who aren't really stars. Carlos Beltran might be the most overrated so-called "superstar'' in baseball. Bottom line is the Mets just aren't as good as the Mets think they are.-- 2. Watch out for the Yankees. They play 23 of their next 35 at Yankee Stadium, and of their 12 road games, nine are against the Pirates, Mets and Blue Jays.-- 3. Dang, that Rays' loss Sunday hurt. Losing two of three to the Astros took some zip out of Tampa Bay sweeping the Cubs, didn't it?MOST REVEALING NUMBERWant to know why the Lakers looked so pathetic against the Celtics? Well, the obvious answer is the Celtics are simply that much better than the Lakers. But this statistic probably best reveals why the Lakers struggled: They're a one-man team and that one man (Kobe Bryant) was shut down by Boston. The teams played eight times over the season, twice in the regular season and six times in the Finals. Boston won six of those games. And in those six losses, Bryant shot 48-for-146 from the field.SADDEST STATJust pointing it out: Two more horses were euthanized after being injured Saturday at Churchill Downs. But, don't worry, fans assure us there's nothing wrong with horse racing.BIGGEST RIP JOBFox baseball pre-game analyst Kevin Kennedy earned his paycheck Saturday, laying into new Mets manager Jerry Manuel . Essentially, Kennedy said Manuel didn't have the back of fired manager Willie Randolph. He pointed to Manuel, who was Randolph's bench coach, talking about the things he would've done differently and would do differently now that he has taken over.As far as Manuel's grand plans, Kennedy said, "What good does that do Willie Randolph now? ... Jerry Manuel didn't handle it the right way."FAVORITE ANALYSTS OF THE WEEKENDAndy Gray: ESPN soccer announcer makes Euro 2008 worth watching. I could listen to him reading a phone book and be entertained.Bela Karolyi: Not slick or stylish, but refreshingly candid and himself analyzing women's gymnastics on NBC Sunday night.Ian Baker-Finch: CBS golf analyst doesn't rely on shtick or gimmicks. He just calls what he sees, and that's good enough.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)