Steve Lyons is a moron

If you were watching the A's-Tigers game tonight, you may have heard Steve Lyons prove (again) that he's a complete and utter moron with this little gem:

When healthy, Rich Harden might have the best stuff in the American League.

In short, no, Steve, he doesn't. And it's not really even up for debate. Richie's a good Canadian boy and all, and I'll admit he's pretty good, but I have a few guys to submit as being substantially better than our boy Rich (career ERA+: 123, career WHIP: 1.269) ..... in fact, he wouldn't have even been the second best pitcher in the A's last playoff series!!

Who's better, you ask? That's easy.... both Johan Santana (144, 1.099) and Francisco Liriano (163, 1.016) of the Twins are much better.

I wouldn't even say Harden's the best pitcher in the AL with a last name starting with 'H'... that's the Jays' Roy Halladay (130, 1.230).

I'm not even going to get into the concept that Santana and Halladay are perennial Cy Young candiates, while Harden has never pitched 200 innings... cuz that'd be mean... oh, whoops.... I guess I did bring it up....

But in all seriousness, I'm not saying Rich isn't pretty good, and that I'd rather him start than that overrated nutjob Barry Zito (127 1.250) whose career numbers and buoyed by a fast start to his career when the A's still had Tim Hudon and Mark Mulder (who seem to also be stinking out the joint on their own.... maybe there's more to that.... but, whatever......), it's just that that ridiculous hyperbole was a bit much. Yes, it will make a pretty big difference to have him pitch rather than someone like Kirk Saarloos (93 1.509), but he's not the second fucking coming of Sandy Koufax, either...

Point being: Steve Lyons has a below-average intellect and needs to be quiet. However, the fact that he is paid by FOX to talk (about baseball, of all things) will likely make this not happen very soon.

[Yes... this was my little FJM-esque rant for the day.... bite me.]