The World's Worst Sports Blog

The Sidney Awards for April 2014 May 4, 2014

That sleeveless shirt is so disappointing.

Once again, it’s time for the World’s Worst Sports Blog’s favorite monthly recognition: the Sidney Ponson Memorial Awards for Disappointing Performance in Baseball! The awards commemorate the Major League Baseball career of Sir Sidney Ponson, Knight of the Netherlands, who has made many bad choices in the realm of behavior, clothing, and hairstyle.

The most prestigious Sidney is the coveted Cheapest Win of the Month, which goes this month to the Twins’ Ricky Nolasco. Ricky pitched an April 24th game against the Tampa Bay Rays and nailed a game score of 27 with 6 innings pitched, 10 hits, 6 runs (all earned), 2 walks, 1 strikeout, and one home run given up to David DeJesus. Nolasco is still in competition with Cliff Lee and his pace-setting game score of 13.

On the other end of the line, Atlanta’s Alex Wood takes home the award for Toughest Loss of the Month. On April 22, Wood pitched 8 innings, allowing only one run on four hits, walking none and striking out eleven for a game score of 81. The Braves’ run support was nonexistent; only three Braves even got on base. As good as Wood was, Jose Fernandez was better, pitching 8, allowing no runs on three hits, and striking out 14 for a game score of 90.

The Sidney for Disappointing Starting Pitching goes to Felipe Paulino of the White Sox for his dazzling April 18th performance. In only 3 2/3 innings, Paulino allowed an incredible 10 earned runs on 13 hits, walking 3 and striking out 3; this led him to the first negative game score (-5) of the season, although that may have had something to do with the rotator cuff inflammation that landed him on the disabled list a few days later.

Grant Balfour is the proud¹ recipient of the April Sidney for Disappointing Performance in Relief following his April 25th blown save against the White Sox. Though several pitchers blew more saves than Balfour during the month of April, Balfour managed to give up a grand slam after walking three batters in the process of allowing five earned runs for the biggest blown save of the month.

The Sidney for Disappointment by a Batter goes undoubtedly to Greg Dobbs of the Marlins, who managed to avoid getting on base at all during the month of April. His last time on base was March 31, and he managed to avoid walking, hitting, being hit by a pitch, or even reaching on an error in twelve at-bats as a pinch hitter. He hasn’t played since April 26th and was designated for assignment on April 29.

Finally, the special Sidney for Disappointing Statisticians goes to Albert Pujols. Although the World’s Worst Sports Blog was excited about the prospect of reviving the Choke Index for Albert’s 499th to 500th home runs, Albert managed to hit his 500th home run only two plate appearances after #499. This blogger didn’t even have time to crunch the numbers before Pujols, who paused only to strike out in the second inning before taking Taylor Jordan deep on his second home run of the game, had managed the milestone. Congratulations, Albert!

—–

¹Not a guarantee