tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9110576096778579762011-11-27T20:01:52.684-05:00Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.comBlogger691100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-68004904723641436132010-01-15T19:02:00.008-05:002010-01-15T19:59:42.153-05:00Want to see how Kevin Durant's shot selection (At Rim, &lt;10 Feet, 10-15 Feet, 16-23 Feet, and Threes) has changed as the season has progressed?&nbsp; <br /><br />I don't know if this is going to work but I'll give it a whirl.<br /><br />This is Google Motion Chart. I want you to follow these steps to test it out.<br /><br /><b>Step 1:</b> In the check box on the right hand side, check off all the options (&lt;10,AtRim, Long, Mid, and Threes). Make sure that "Trails" is checked as well.<br /><br /><b>Step 2:</b> On the horizontal axis below the graph (the left to right one) it should say "Shot Pct". Click "Shot Pct" and change it to "Time".<br /><br /><b>Step 3:</b> Where it says "Game No" on the top right above the pretty colors, click that and change it to "Unique Colors".<br /><br /><b>Step 4:</b> Click the play button on the bottom left.<br /><br />(I don't know how to change the year or why it defaults to 1901). <br /><br /><br /><script src="http://spreadsheets.google.com/gpub?url=http%3A%2F%2Foj0ijfii34kccq3ioto7mdspc7r2s7o9.spreadsheets.gmodules.com%2Fgadgets%2Fifr%3Fup__table_query_url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fspreadsheets.google.com%252Ftq%253Frange%253DA1%25253AD191%2526headers%253D-1%2526key%253D0Ag6nInJ_I_s1dEpsYnB6Zm1Yck5UMVh4TU5MaWtBdEE%2526gid%253D0%2526pub%253D1%26up_title%3DKevin%2520Durant%2520Shot%2520Selection%26up_initialstate%3D%26up__table_query_refresh_interval%3D300%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252Fig%252Fmodules%252Fmotionchart.xml&amp;height=489&amp;width=754"></script><br /><br />Was that fun? Worth it? No?<br /><br />I wish there was a was a way to customize the "Time" measurement to "Games". It would make a whole lot more sense to see Kevin Durant's At Rim shot percentage by game and not by early 20th century years. And obviously, I would rather the chart be ready for the push play button without going through all the preliminary steps.<br /><br />So, Kevin Durant has cut down his long twos and crossed over the 3-point line as the season progressed while attacking the rim more.&nbsp; That's cool. Or is that just the chart?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-6800490472364143613?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-28393819268882543772009-12-02T15:58:00.006-05:002009-12-02T17:15:52.951-05:00One of my many duties at ESPN was 'scrubbing' box scores. There's a team of about a dozen staffers who verify the accuracy of ESPN's box score compared to the 'official box' from the school or professional team. This means every number, statistic, player name, coach name, referee name, game time and attendance total of every game on any ESPN.com scoreboard page must match 100% with the official box.<br /><br />And then it's checked three times over. This is scrubbing. <br /><br />It was mind-numbingly tedious. I mean, we spent hundreds of hours of our lives counting beans. "Working in sports" can do wonders for a person's patience.&nbsp; But we did it. <br /><br />I must have seen over a hundred thousand names during my scrubbing days. Sure, if you scan for a name in a phone book, you might "see" a lot of names but this is different.&nbsp; You are not verifying the precise spelling of every single name in the phone book and matching it with a name found on a separate piece of paper. That's what I mean.<br /><br />But I like names. I like them so much I have four of them. I had the longest name of my graduating class at Wake Forest (which was only about 1200 students, but still impressive.) The names kept me going. Some were worth writing down. Some were even worth writing home about.<br /><br />After a while, a select few of the scrubbers (Zack Mintz, Danny Mehigan, Pat McManus, and others) decided to keep track of the notable names.&nbsp; We would take a second to write down the name, add it to the list after work and from there, it grew into something special.&nbsp; It was a nightly ten second distraction but it kept our sanity intact, which at the workplace is very important.&nbsp; It started out as an unsorted collection but eventually, the list needed form.&nbsp; Some common threads between the names emerged and we divided the list into the categories below. (At first, we didn't attach the school to the name so don't be offended if there's no school attached).&nbsp; <br /><br />So without further ado, I present to you:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>The Name-o-pedia (Dec 16 2008) </b><br /></div><br /><b>Birds</b><br />Raven Harris &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; American women’s basketball<br />Brittainey Raven&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Texas women’s basketball<br />Kierra Mallard &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Texas Tech women’s basketball<br />Tweet Williams &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Northwestern State women’s basketball<br />Brian Cardinal &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Minnesota Timberwolves<br />Tweety Carter &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Baylor men’s basketball<br />Robin Porter &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mississippi State women’s basketball<br />Robin Garrett &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; UT-Pan American women’s basketball<br />Zack Peacock &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Georgia Tech men’s basketball<br />Sebais Duck &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Southern Wesleyan men’s basketball<br />Johnnie Bird &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; UCONN men’s basketball<br />Steve Crane&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lewis men’s basketball<br /><br />Mammals<br />Dominic Seals&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Texas Tech men’s basketball<br />Brian Seals&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fresno State men’s basketball<br />Kat Suderman&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; UC- Santa Barbara women’s basketball<br />Johnny Wolf&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; UNC Wilmington men’s basketball<br />Christian Wolf&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Florida Gulf Coast men’s basketball<br />Chief Kickingstallionsims&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Alabama State men’s basketball<br />John Lamb&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Morehead State men’s basketball<br />Kayode Ayeni&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; St Francis (NY) men’s basketball<br />Booker Woodfox&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Creighton men’s basketball<br />Molly Fox&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Wright State women’s basketball<br />Ryan Hare&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Southern Illinois men’s basketball<br /><br /><b>Marine Life</b><br />Gator Parrish&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Referee<br />Corey Salmon<br />Montarrio Haddock&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Middle Tennessee State men’s basketball<br /><br /><b>Other Animals</b><br />Erik Buggs&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Valparaiso men’s basketball<br /><br /><b>Food</b><br />Chop Tang&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; UW-Green Bay men’s basketball<br />Stanley Pringle&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Penn State men’s basketball<br />Tiawanna Pringle&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Louisiana Tech women’s basketball<br />Kyle Bacon&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Referee<br />Thomas Kaiser&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; St. Leo’s men’s basketball<br />Morris Almond&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Utah Jazz<br />Stephen Curry&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Davidson men’s basketball<br />Seth Curry&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Liberty men’s basketball<br />Sharaud Curry&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Providence men’s basketball<br />Jordan Weiner&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; UC Santa Barbara men’s basketball<br />OJ Mayo&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Memphis Grizzlies<br />Josh Mayo&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Illinois-Chicago men’s basketball<br />Maze Stallworth&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Morehead State men’s basketball<br />Raphael Chestnut&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Duke men’s basketball<br />Cookie Johnson&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Orleans men’s basketball<br />Jordan Lemons&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Grambling State men’s basketball<br />Reuben Clayton&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; UT-Martin men’s basketball<br />Pawel Kielbasa&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Chicago State men’s basketball<br />Toby Veal&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Colorado men’s basketball<br />Maureece Rice&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; George Washington men’s basketball<br />Von Wafer&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Denver Nuggets<br />Jayne Appel&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Stanford women’s basketball<br />Greg Danish&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; LaSalle men’s basketball<br /><br /><b>Feminine Men</b><br />Kim English&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Missouri men’s basketball<br />Andrea Bargnani&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Toronto Raptors<br />Abby Kabba&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Hampshire men’s basketball<br />Alexis Wangmene&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Texas men’s basketball<br />Jodie Meeks&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kentucky men’s basketball<br />Shannon Behling&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mississippi Valley State men’s basketball<br />Courtney Stanley&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Loyola Chicago men’s basketball<br />Lindsey Hunter&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Detroit Pistons<br />Courtney Pigram&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; East Tennessee State men’s basketabll<br />Britt Barefoot&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Southern Mississippi men’s football<br /><br /><b>Masculine Women</b><br />Brett Benzio&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tulane women’s basketball<br />Brett Timmons&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Long Beach State women’s basketball<br />Kyle Dougherty&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Villanova women’s basketball<br />Ty Felder&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Orleans women’s basketball<br />Shawn Goff&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Southern Mississippi women’s basketball<br /><br /><b>'Countries</b>'<br />Zaire Taylor&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Missouri men’s basketball<br />India Warfield&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Saint Louis women’s basketball<br />India Chaney&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; UNLV women’s basketball<br />Matt Holland&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Air Force men’s basketball<br />China Threatt&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; DePaul women’s basketball<br />Israel Kirk&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; SE Missouri State men’s basketball<br />Kyle Spain&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; San Diego State men’s basketball<br />Italee Lucas&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; North Carolina women’s basketball<br />Asia Wilson&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Florida International women’s basketball<br /><br /><b>International Cities</b><br />London Warren<br />London Giles&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nevada men’s basketball<br />Ashley Ellis-Milan<br />Milan Johnson<br />Heather Zurich<br />Paris Horne<br />Milan Hejduk<br />Milan Prodanovic<br />Bobby Rome<br />Vinny Lima<br />Aumornai Edinburgh<br />Sydney Colson<br />Sydney Carter<br />Troy Jackson<br /><br /><b>US Cities</b><br />Brooklyn Pope<br />Jon Montgomery<br />Trey Montgomery<br />Jaan Montgomery<br />Jamal Durham<br />Blaire Houston&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; NC Central women’s basketball<br />Jerrell Houston<br />Antonio Houston&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Catawba men’s basketball<br />Ryan Houston<br />Dallas Lauderdale&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ohio State men’s basketball<br />Dallas Green&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Robert Morris men'<br />Orlando Smith<br />Charlotte Otero<br />Savannah Hill<br />Savannah Stedman&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Northwestern women’s basketball<br />Oliver Lafayette<br /><br /><b>US States</b><br />Evan Washington<br />Martiz Washington<br />Leonard Washington&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; USC men’s basketball<br />Georgia Jones&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Oral Roberts women’s basketball<br /><br />An’Juan Wilderness<br /><br /><b>Misc Notables</b><br />Yoyo Greenfield<br />Jordan Barncastle<br />Papa Guisse<br />Papa Dia<br />Phil Nelson&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Portland State men’s basketball<br />Kevin Love<br />Ivory White<br />Mark Whitehead<br />Champ Oguchi<br />Wink Adams<br />Sharnika Breedlove<br />Mike Leggo&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; NHL official<br />Special Jennings<br />Louis Birdsong<br />Beloved Rogers<br />Toy Richbow<br />Suzanne Grossnickle<br />Chris Rhymes<br />Tyson Papenfuss<br />Radar Onguetou<br />Jonathan Belt<br />Shy Ely<br />Steve Gentile<br />Genesis Maciel<br />Laura Blaydes<br />Candace Champion<br />Ashley Sweat<br />Hank Thorns<br />Dionte Christmas&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Temple men’s basketball<br />Julius Allgood&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Texas-Pan American men’s basketball<br />Daniel Northern&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tennessee Tech men’s basketball<br />Derwin Kitchen&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Florida State men’s basketball<br />Karima Christmas&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Duke women’s basketball<br />Cherrish Wallace&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Baylor women’s basketball<br />Tequila Martin&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tennesee State women’s basketball<br />Chastity Reed&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; UALR women’s basketball<br />Marc Couch&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Referee<br />Gordo Castillo&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Mexico State men’s basketball<br />Anthony Breeze&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Coastal Carolina men’s basketball<br />Jazz Williams&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Southern men’s basketball<br /><br /><b>Hollywood and Rock Stars</b><br />Brittany Spears<br />Rhianna Faithfull<br />Swayze Black<br />Swayze Martin<br />Rob Thomas<br />Bret Michael<br />Jamie Vanderbeken<br />Chris Martin<br />Jordan Costner<br />Chris Brown<br />Ian Anderson<br />Curtis Jackson<br />Ron Howard<br />Steve Martin<br />LaToya Jackson<br />Kramer Soderberg&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Valparaiso men’s basketball<br />Garfield Blair<br />Bobby Brown<br />Britney Murphy&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; St. John’s women’s basketball<br />Austen Powers&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Seattle men’s basketball<br />Josh Jackson&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; South Carolina State men’s basketball<br />Tim Meadows&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Prairie View A&amp;M men’s basketball<br />Michael Scott&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Virginia men’s basketball<br /><br /><b>Famous Athletes</b><br />Michael Irving<br />Calvin Johnson<br />Isaiah Thomas<br />Dee Brown<br />Marcus Allen&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Jacksonville men’s basketball<br />Emeka Okafor Jr<br />Carlee Roethlisberger<br />Abi Olajuwon&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; East Carolina men’s basketball<br />Will Bynum<br />Michael Turner<br />Ryon Howard<br />Sam Mitchell<br />Reggie Jackson&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tennessee Wesleyan men’s basketball<br />Brandon Lloyd<br />Tim Brown&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Southern men’s basketball<br />Luis Guzman&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Temple men’s basketball<br />Jeff Kent&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Referee<br />Josh Smith&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Savannah State men’s basketball<br />Jerry Jones Jr&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Bethune Cookman men’s basketball<br />Mike Singletary&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Texas Tech men’s basketball<br />Jimmy Williams&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; South Carolina St men’s basketball<br />Shaquille Johnson&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Marshall men’s basketball<br />Monica Wright<br /><br /><b>Occupations</b><br />David Nurse<br />Rashad Bishop<br />Bishop Wheatley<br />Justin Baker<br />Maurice Baker&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Dakota Wizards<br />Anthony Farmer<br />Jim Mower<br />Demetrus Judge<br />Garrett Fiddler<br />Rigoberto Sargeant<br />Kiara Butler<br />Lamar Butler&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Colorado 14ers<br />Jimmy Butler&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Marquette men’s basketball<br />Shanika Butler&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; UALR women’s basketball<br />Shelly Bellman<br />John Barber&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Utah Flash <br />Garrett Butcher&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Butler men’s basketball<br />Trey Shoemaker&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Catawba men’s basketball<br />Antonio Pope&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; SE Louisiana men’s basketball<br />Pharoah Kirk&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tuskegee men’s basketball<br />King Cannon&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Central Arkansas men’s basketball<br /><br /><b>The Brittany List</b><br />Brittnye McSparron&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Drake University women’s basketball<br />Brittney Davis&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Oregon State women’s basketball<br />Brittany Hallberg&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; UNLV women’s basketball<br />Brittainey Raven&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Texas State women’s basketball<br />Brittny Jones&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fresno State women’s basketball<br />Britteni Williams&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; UALR women’s basketball<br /><br /><b>First Name-First Name</b><br />Michael Eric&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Temple men’s basketball<br />Chris Paul&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Orleans Hornets<br />Justin Dennis&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Cal State Bakersfield men’s basketball<br />Cory Richard&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Southeastern Louisiana men’s basketball<br />Andre Craig&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; SLU men’s basketball<br />William Eddie&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Central Michigan men’s basketball<br /><br /><b>Astronomy</b><br />Anthony Crater&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ohio State men’s basketball<br />John Moonshower&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Army men’s basketball<br />Star Allen&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ohio State women’s basketball<br />Orion Outerbridge&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Rhode Island men’s basketball<br />Tyler Laser&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Eastern Illinois men’s basketball<br />Genesis Lightbourne&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Iowa State women’s basketball<br />Sky Lindsay&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; St. John’s women’s basketball <br /><br /><br /><b><br /></b><br /><b>What's your favorite?</b><br /><b><br /></b><br /><b><br /></b><br /><b><br /></b><br /><div style="background-color: white;"><b>.<br /></b><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-2839381926888254377?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-6882520556640842292009-11-21T19:34:00.000-05:002009-11-21T19:34:26.507-05:00Folks,<br /><br />Good news.&nbsp; I'll be writing regularly at <a href="http://www.hoopdata.com/">Hoopdata</a> from now on.&nbsp; My debut article breaks down where teams get their shots using my nifty chart below.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SwiG3AyDFHI/AAAAAAAAAi0/DYbnIHdPp_U/s1600/TeamShotLocationsMap.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SwiG3AyDFHI/AAAAAAAAAi0/DYbnIHdPp_U/s200/TeamShotLocationsMap.PNG" /></a><br /></div><br /><br />&nbsp; See the whole thing <a href="http://www.hoopdata.com/recent.aspx?aid=45">here</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-688252055664084229?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-76057200148858694042009-11-16T16:29:00.009-05:002009-11-16T16:58:03.404-05:00When the Boston Celtics signed Rasheed Wallace to a three-year contract this offseason, many believed the team purchased an insurance plan for Kevin Garnett's freshly operated knee in the form of a 34-year old basketball player.&nbsp; The unpredictability of Garnett's knee clouded Wallace's role with the Celtics entering this season but the Philadelphia-native is used to donning new hats on the court.&nbsp; At UNC, he was a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMCRnd3dqOE&amp;feature=fvw">yelling highlight reel</a>.&nbsp; In Washington, he was Chris Webber's replacement.&nbsp; In Portland, he was characterized as a productive yet selfish malcontent. In Detroit, he was still productive but characterized differently as a selfless champion.&nbsp; In Boston, he's a tall three-point specialist off the bench.&nbsp; Wait, what?<br /><br />Yes, it's true, Rasheed Wallace almost exclusively shoots from downtown.&nbsp; You rarely find many centers with zero post play but Wallace's migration to the perimeter finally reached completion in Boston.&nbsp; No regular (defined as at least 20 minutes per game) in the NBA shoots more three pointers per minute than Wallace.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/tiny.cgi?id=CFPKC">In fact, no regular has <i>ever </i>shot more threes per minute than 09-10 'Sheed</a>.&nbsp; It's early and Garnett's knee will inevitably shake up the Celtics offensive style at some point but in this role, the former post-player shoots threes at a historically frequent rate.<br /><br />As any basketball fan knows, this transformation did not occur overnight.&nbsp; His two point shot rate has declined steadily for about a decade but this year is the first time Wallace has launched more threes than twos.&nbsp; Let's take a look at his career shots per 36 minute numbers courtesy of Basketball-Reference.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SwHIMhb_trI/AAAAAAAAAic/qf87G-ikdKQ/s1600/rasheed_wallace%27s_shot_selection%283%29.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SwHIMhb_trI/AAAAAAAAAic/qf87G-ikdKQ/s640/rasheed_wallace%27s_shot_selection%283%29.png" /></a><br /></div><br />Wallace rarely shot the three in his first five seasons largely because he never had any success from downtown.&nbsp; Entering his sixth season in the league, Wallace had a career .277 three point field goal percentage.&nbsp; The three point shot never became a significant part of his game until Maurice Cheeks took over for Mike Dunleavy as Portland's head coach in the 2001-2002 season.&nbsp; Under Cheeks' system, every Blazer with range saw upticks in their three point frequency and Wallace was no exception, nearly doubling his three point field goal attempts from the year before.&nbsp; So if there were a coach responsible for whetting Sheed's appetite for threes, look no further than Mo Cheeks.<br /><br />In Wallace's former life as a basketball player, he was an absolute beast in the paint which makes his current lack of post-game borderline inconceivable.&nbsp; His crafty repertoire of post-moves coupled with his vertical leap and unorthodox high shot release meant he could score on command on any low-post defender.&nbsp; So far this year, he has abandoned those post-moves entirely but his height and high release still allows him to get his shots off on the perimeter, like an older and less athletic Kevin Durant.<br /><br />Looking deeper into his shot selection in the <a href="http://www.hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=Rasheed+Wallace">Hoop Data warehouse</a>, we find that Wallace has tallied 94 total shots with 68 coming from three point and and only five from around the basket.&nbsp; None of those five shots were dunks, <a href="http://www.82games.com/0910/09BOS12.HTM">according to 82games.com</a>.&nbsp; None!&nbsp; Additionally, he's been assisted on 100 percent of his threes indicating a reliance on the set shot as opposed to creating his own.&nbsp; So when it comes down to it, did the Celtics acquire another Eddie House?<br /><br />Not really. Almost every time Wallace enters the game, he replaces Kendrick Perkins on the floor. Unless the opposing coach reacts with substitution of his own, Wallace's versatility and size will inevitably shake up the defensive match ups.&nbsp; His dynamic skill set means he can guard in the post effectively but his height will also pull block defenders into unfamiliar territory on the perimeter.&nbsp; Wallace alters the offensive makeup of Celtics by spreading the floor and opening up lanes for Garnett to work and Rondo to penetrate.&nbsp; Eddie House's skills, on the other hand, may cause a few minor personnel adjustments but not nearly to the same degree as Wallace.<br /><br />Tall perimeter players have certainly been in the league before but few have established a powerful post presence early in their career quite like Rasheed.&nbsp; Thinking back, Clifford Robinson was the first player that came to mind. Like Rasheed, Cliff stands nearly 7 feet tall, never shot threes in college, but shot a ton of threes in his NBA career.&nbsp; And like Rasheed, Robinson found his 3 point taste later in his career and rose to stardom as a Portland Trail Blazer to boot.&nbsp; Basketball Prospectus' SCHOENE projection system cites Robinson as one of Wallace's comparables and deservedly so.&nbsp; Their 3-point shot rate arcs are strikingly similar, stagnant in their first five seasons and ascending in the sixth year. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SwHIThU3bHI/AAAAAAAAAik/cIpBoHWR2UM/s1600/cliff_robinson_vs_rasheed_wallace_career_3pt_rates.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SwHIThU3bHI/AAAAAAAAAik/cIpBoHWR2UM/s640/cliff_robinson_vs_rasheed_wallace_career_3pt_rates.png" /></a><br /></div><br />Cliff Robinson retired as a 40-year-old after several seasons of replacement-level production in his late 30s. The Celtics have to hope Wallace performs at least as well considering the hefty contract they handed him.<br /><br />It remains to be seen if opposing teams adjust to Rasheed's perimeter play by making some switches on the defensive end.&nbsp; It's unlikely he'll break any 3-point shooting records this year but sooner or later teams will react accordingly. If that's the case, Wallace will have to redefine himself yet again as an offensive threat.&nbsp; He's done it before.<br /><br /><span style="color: white;">.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-7605720014885869404?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-53855578018202202142009-11-15T19:06:00.002-05:002009-11-16T16:55:15.079-05:00Just this:<br /><br /><br /><div class="dialog-publishobject-div"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SwHKOsvU1RI/AAAAAAAAAis/X1jrGNukF0U/s1600/danny_granger%27s_shot_selection.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SwHKOsvU1RI/AAAAAAAAAis/X1jrGNukF0U/s640/danny_granger%27s_shot_selection.png" /></a><br /></div><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-5385557801820220214?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-78391699495696549472009-11-14T16:28:00.003-05:002009-11-14T16:38:57.760-05:00If you're a regular reader of this site, you know I am a big fan of <a href="http://hoopdata.com/">Hoopdata.com</a>.&nbsp; You'll probably find more numbers than you know what to do with there but don't worry, that's why you have me around.<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">One of the most useful pages on the site is the Four Factors <a href="http://hoopdata.com/teamff.aspx">team stats</a> page.&nbsp; Identified by Dean Oliver, the Four Factors outline the four biggest responsibilities a team has in order to win games: shooting well from the field, taking care of the ball, getting to the line often and grabbing offensive boards.&nbsp; And consequently, a team needs to make sure their opponent does poorly in these areas.&nbsp; All the other stuff is just details.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As far as I know, HoopData is the only site that charts the Four Factors complete with differentials.&nbsp; And as far as I know, my site is the only one that lays on the lipstick.&nbsp; The teams below are arranged by their efficiency differential rank.&nbsp; Green is good, red is bad, and yellow is average in the category.<br /><br />Quick primer. Offensive efficiency (OFF) is a measure of how many points a team scores per 100 possessions. Defensive efficiency (DEF) measures how many points a team allows per 100 possessions.&nbsp; Effective field goal percentage (eFG%) weights three pointers more than two pointers because they're worth more.&nbsp; Free throw rate is a team's proportion of free throw attempts to field goal attempts.&nbsp; Turnover rate is the percentage of possessions that end in a turnover.&nbsp; Offensive Rebound Rate (ORR) estimates the percentage of available offensive rebounds collected off of missed shots. Very quick primer.<br /><br />So, what do we learn?<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Sv73ckGbt1I/AAAAAAAAAiU/tLcVM-gaidk/s1600-h/NBA4Factors111409.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Sv73ckGbt1I/AAAAAAAAAiU/tLcVM-gaidk/s640/NBA4Factors111409.bmp" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul><li>The Celtics have positioned themselves head and shoulders above the rest by controlling effective field goal percentage and turnovers better than anyone else.&nbsp; Aside from J.R. Giddens who plays almost never, every single Celtic who's gotten floortime this year has an above-average effective field goal percentage.&nbsp; Let that marinate. Well, the Celtics do have one weakness and that's grabbing their own misses. Rasheed Wallace grabs fewer offensive rebounds (3.1 ORR) than Nate Robinson (3.2) which may not be a complete surprise considering his perimeter habitat on offense.&nbsp; This sore spot isn't as painful with their shooting percentage so high.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /></li></ul><ul><li>&nbsp;The Lakers miss Pau Gasol on the boards. The Lakers let their opponents extend their possessions by giving up way too many second chance opportunities.&nbsp; Their 31.4 percent opponent offensive rebound percentage tops every team in the league if we ignore the Warriors, which we should.&nbsp; Ron Artest hasn't filled the rebounding void left by the Lakers leading defensive rebounder last year. <br /></li></ul><ul><li>The Grizzlies find themselves near the bottom in efficiency differential but they can be proud of a couple things.&nbsp; To mitigate their shooting woes, the Grizzlies collect their missed shots better than any team in the league.&nbsp; Also, they get to the charity stripe often and don't foul shooters.&nbsp; However, their defensive ineptitude makes me wonder if they play the four-cherry-picker scheme. <br /></li></ul><ul><li>The Toronto Raptors and the Milwaukee Bucks: a study in contrast. <br /></li></ul><ul><li> If you want to find a team good at just about everything but not great in any one factor, look no further than the Dallas Mavericks. Their line looks like a sliced avocado. <br /></li></ul><ul><li>Do the Cavs know they can rebound their own shots?&nbsp; Doesn't seem like it.<br /></li></ul></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-7839169949569654947?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-22076737101537257692009-11-12T11:26:00.007-05:002009-11-12T11:43:18.996-05:00<div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;<i>Note: I wrote this as a side project about a month ago. With yesterdays news that Varitek is returning to the Red Sox, I thought I should just post it here.<br /></i></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Jason Varitek’s hot bat early in the 2009 season appeared to justify the 2-year contract the Red Sox handed him in the offseason. However, his production nosedived late this year. Since the acquisition of star catcher Victor Martinez, Varitek hit just .134 while striking out one out of every three at-bats.&nbsp; Many wondered whether the Martinez acquisition would affect the playing time of third baseman Mike Lowell and first baseman Kevin Youkilis but it is quite clear that Varitek’s playing time has suffered the most.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Varitek’s .209 batting average during the 2009 season was far and away the lowest of his 12-year career.&nbsp; The strikeout percentage of his at-bats last year (24.7) reflects his career rate of 24.6 percent so his paltry .238 batting average of balls in-play (BABIP) shares the most blame for his sinking batting average.&nbsp; Only three hitters in the big leagues, Ken Griffey Jr., Rod Barajas and Dioner Navarro, had a lower batting average on balls in-play.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Normally, a BABIP that deflated likely indicates a great deal of unsustainable bad luck avoiding defenders, but Varitek made it quite easy for them.&nbsp; Sixteen percent of his fly balls ended up in the infield, a rate among the league leaders in the category. Digging a little deeper, the strike zone graphic below shows the pitch type and location of the pitches he popped up when he batted lefty (seen from the catcher’s view.)&nbsp; Evidently, most of his pop outs came on fastballs located up-and-in.</span><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Svw1JG3Jc6I/AAAAAAAAAhk/tKFShT5FVA8/s1600-h/Varitek1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Svw1JG3Jc6I/AAAAAAAAAhk/tKFShT5FVA8/s640/Varitek1.JPG" /></a></span><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">After running this query, my first inclination was to examine Varitek’s ability to hit the fastball.&nbsp;&nbsp; Has he lost a significant amount of bat speed and his ability catch up with big league heat?&nbsp; This is where the scouting and statistical perspectives convene.&nbsp; With Pitch F/X, we can examine statistically how Varitek fared against the fastball.&nbsp; By grouping the types of fastballs together and analyzing the outcomes of Varitek’s swings across the season, we can see some trends below.<br /></span><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="240" src="http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=t5QbPmc2d8TywoVbO1ImB2A&amp;single=true&amp;gid=0&amp;output=html&amp;widget=true" width="600"></iframe></span><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Calculated on a monthly basis, Varitek’s percentage of swings against the fastball resulting in a hit decreased from June to Sept/Oct. Of the 47 hacks against the fastball in Sept/Oct, only three produced a base hit and fourteen completely missed contact, generating a hit and whiff percentage of 6.4 percent and 29.8 percent respectively.&nbsp; It’s also worth noting that pitchers have fed him a season-high 58.9 percent fastballs in the most recent time period, albeit by a slight margin.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Looking at this in aggregate, Varitek’s problems with fastballs increased this year relative to last.&nbsp; His swing-and-miss percentage against fastballs grew from 18.2 percent in 2008 to 20.8 percent this season, with a larger percentage toward the end of the season.&nbsp;&nbsp; Without bat speed information, Varitek’s low batting average is apparently less bad luck than it is a product of failing to make strong contact with a pitch he sees so frequently.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Another Pitch F/X component we can use to find Varitek’s weak spots is his pitch location.&nbsp; Are pitchers exploiting a specific zone against Varitek?&nbsp; To answer this question, we can chart all pitches to Varitek and examine the pitch densities in the strike zone. For example, this chart displays the pitches Varitek when he bats from the left side.</span><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Svw17Y1UgiI/AAAAAAAAAhs/ztyhHIxjNLQ/s1600-h/Varitek2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Svw17Y1UgiI/AAAAAAAAAhs/ztyhHIxjNLQ/s640/Varitek2.JPG" /></a>&nbsp;</span><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Judging from the high density of outside pitches, pitchers targeted Varitek away as opposed to jamming him on the inside half of the plate. Is Varitek unique in this respect? To explore this I compared Varitek’s pitch location zones percentages to those of the average major leaguer.&nbsp; The strike zone template key below explains the meaning of each zone.&nbsp; The (left or right) handedness of the hitter is incorporated and blended into one chart for visual simplicity but the zones are not visually adjusted for size.</span><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Svw2HBWrEHI/AAAAAAAAAh0/emwE1FdzEWE/s1600-h/Varitek3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Svw2HBWrEHI/AAAAAAAAAh0/emwE1FdzEWE/s640/Varitek3.JPG" /></a>&nbsp;</span><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This chart confirms that opposing pitchers preferred to pound the outside to Varitek and not the inside.&nbsp; More than one third of the pitches that Varitek saw fall outside the strike zone away.&nbsp; The largest difference between the two samples lies in the up-and-away zone (8.8 percent to 14.2 percent).&nbsp;&nbsp; Pitchers tend to work hitters away in general but this tendency strengthened when Jason Varitek stood in at the plate.</span><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The final step in the analysis involves combining two findings: Varitek’s fastball weakness and the heavy concentration of outside pitches.&nbsp; Is there an area where Varitek swing-and-misses the fastball more often? Where are the fastballs that he can drive for hits? In the next graphic, we can see the answers.</span><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Svw2ZnDUn6I/AAAAAAAAAh8/ycDkxgW4sV4/s1600-h/Varitek4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Svw2ZnDUn6I/AAAAAAAAAh8/ycDkxgW4sV4/s400/Varitek4.JPG" /></a></span><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The number of hits on the inner half of the plate in the strike zone [X,Y area (0-1,1.5-3.5)] are about even with the sum of swing-and-misses.&nbsp; However, looking at the up-and-away region, swing-and-misses drastically outnumber the base hits.&nbsp; Recall the information in the pitch location charts.&nbsp; Pitches target this zone with their heat perhaps because they understand Varitek struggles to make strong contact there.&nbsp;</span><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />If Varitek struggled this much against any other pitch, it wouldn’t be as big a concern.&nbsp; But because opposing pitchers elect to throw the fastball more often than not, Varitek must adopt changes in his hitting or else he will continue to show deteriorating results.</span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-2207673710153725769?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-59311064232297507962009-11-10T16:37:00.003-05:002009-11-10T16:42:38.539-05:00Are game recaps really as formulaic as the <a href="http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/the-robots-are-coming-oh-theyre-here/">Space Monkey</a>? I took a look at the first NBA.com game recap I saw from last night's slate of games to find out. I didn't cherry pick this one and only chose it because it was the first one on the page.&nbsp; My sampling isn't not scientific but it should serve my purpose. Read it <a href="http://www.nba.com/games/20091109/PHXPHI/recap.html">here</a>.<br /><br />Now, I'm assuming that a computer-written recap would incorporate data from all publicly available sites.&nbsp; <a href="http://popcornmachine.net/">Need game flow and lineup information?</a>&nbsp; <a href="http://www.basketball-reference.com/">Need pace numbers or league and personal records?</a> <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/news/story?id=4583246&amp;action=upsell&amp;appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnba%2finsider%2fnews%2fstory%3fid%3d4583246">Preseason predictions?</a>&nbsp; <a href="http://basketballvalue.com/index.php">Most valuable players according to the scoreboard?</a>&nbsp; It's all out there ready to be coded into their programs. <br /><br />For purposes of illustration, I pulled up my Microsoft Word and highlighted each sentence either <span style="background-color: #d9ead3;">green</span>, <span style="background-color: #fce5cd;">orange</span>, or <span style="background-color: #f4cccc;">red</span> depending on whether it can be easily programmed into an automated recap.&nbsp; A red highlight signifies statistical information or quotes available to a computer program. If the sentence is green, it needed brains.&nbsp; Sentences in orange could go either way depending on the sophistication of the program.&nbsp; Here's the visualization.<br /><br /><div class="articleBody"><div style="background-color: white;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SvnOiYvejlI/AAAAAAAAAg8/vuya4w7FFz4/s1600-h/recap.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SvnOiYvejlI/AAAAAAAAAg8/vuya4w7FFz4/s400/recap.JPG" /></a><br /></div><br /><br /></div><div style="background-color: white;">There are 41 sentences in all and evidently almost all of them could have been generated from a computer program much like Space Monkey. Quotes take up twenty sentences which equates to about half the article and the other red space is filled by box score regurgitation.&nbsp; If you've read a game recap recently, this should not shock you.<br /><br />So if these robots took over, would it be a bad thing for sportswriters? I don't think so.&nbsp; Newspapers and other media should improve the efficiency of their dollar by programming game recaps and allocating their sportswriter time and creativity to lengthier reporting and editorial pieces -- which, of course, readers value.&nbsp; This should liberate sportswriters to do what they best.&nbsp; Media companies shouldn't waste their valuable resources for a handful of green lines and let's not forget that sportswriters need a healthy media to survive.<br /><br />So go ahead and ignore the sensational headlines portending the end of sportswriting unless you believe sportswriters write game recaps and only game recaps.&nbsp; I hope I'm not alone in the belief that sportswriting should be more personal, enlightening, and insightful.&nbsp; Media should ask humans cover the more human side of the game and leave computers to cover the data.<br /></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-5931106423229750796?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-55822124725542133152009-11-09T21:21:00.004-05:002009-11-09T21:25:58.221-05:00I went to college at Wake Forest University but I grew up a Tar Heel fan. As a kid I watched their basketball games and scribbled each player's scoring tallies inside my floppy Trapper Keeper. I owe a lot of my early education to watching those games. For example, I learned the meaning of "oaf" by watching Serge Zwikker as he moved around the court like a wounded giraffe. He was the best. But mostly I learned about the value of data and keeping track of it. You could say that Shammond Williams played a large role in my fascination with statistics.<br /><br />However, as I got older I got bored with the same old basketball statistics. I came to realize that box score statistics served as a poor proxy for what actually happened on the court. It was Daryl Morey, the GM of the Houston Rockets, who so eloquently told us that "someone created the box score and he should be shot." He's right, the box score holds our analytical senses hostage. I longed for new stats that would unlock the game and improve the way I think about it. <br /><br />Those days are long gone. Enter the new school of quantitative scouting. These students of the game flex their muscle by merging their love of hoops with their computer programming and database management skills. They track the game the way it should tracked in the 21st century. Shooting percentages by distance from the basket. Optimal player tandems. A team's best five and worst five. Ball distribution and types of assists. <a href="http://82games.com/">82games.com</a> is the pioneer of this field and still is a must-see for any basketball fan. But for the still-starving NBA fan, there's a new goldmine that hit the InterWebs this year: <a href="http://hoopdata.com/">HoopData.com</a>.<br /><br />I've spent a lot of my time getting lost in the HoopData site and they seem to roll out new bells and whistles every day. Today, I found myself perusing the player assist percentage column. Assist percentage, under the Scoring tab, calculates how often a player's shots are assisted on. Here are three lists that I put together.<br /><br /><b>NBA's Five Least Creative Scorers Who Play A Lot (30 mins per game)</b><br />Highest Ast %<br /><br />1) Anthony Parker, CLE. 22 made shots. 22 assisted. 100.0 Ast%<br />2) Channing Frye, PHO. 37 made shots. 34 assisted. 91.9 Ast%<br />3) Andrei Kirilenko, DAL. 23 made shots. 22 assisted. 91.3 Ast%<br />4) Raja Bell, CHA. 13 made shots. 11 assisted. 84.6 Ast%<br />5) Thabo Sefolosha, OKC. 17 made shots. 13 assisted. 82.4 Ast%<br /><br />Perhaps "least creative" is a little harsh but these players don't dribble or drive to create their shot. However, there are several ways a player can help create his shot without having the ball in his hands like using off-the-ball screens effectively, identifying open spaces/creases in the defense, being aware of developing double-terms, etc. Notice that these players are not their team's go-to scorers but benefit from having superstars or elite ball distributors as teammates. I wonder who...<br /><br /><b>NBA's Five Most Creative Scorers Who Play A Lot (30 mins per game)</b><br />Lowest Ast%<br /><br />1) Chris Paul, NOH. 65 made shots. 6 assisted. 10.8 Ast%<br />2) Steve Nash, PHO. 46 made shots. 6 assisted. 13.0 Ast%<br />3) Russell Westbrook, OKC. 41 made shots. 6 assisted. 14.6 Ast%<br />4) Tyreke Evans, SAC. 37 made shots. 6 assisted. 16.2 Ast%<br />5) Raymond Felton, CHA. 28 made shots. 6 assisted. 21.4 Ast%<br /><br />Point guards dominate this list which comes as no surprise. Kinda odd that they each have six assisted shots though, isn't it? Chris Paul is a gifted scorer as well as a world-class distributor but his scoring independence (some critics might call it ball-hogging) is remarkable. He's twice as independent as the fifth place scorer Felton. Not all point guards post a low assist percentage, however. Teammates assist Jason Kidd on 64.3 percent of his buckets and this shouldn't surprise anyone who has seen Kidd try to blow by his defender. <br /><br />Let's take a look at what this list would look like if we stripped away the point guards.<br /><br /><b>NBA's Five Most Creative Swingmen Who Play A Lot (30 mins per game)</b><br /><br />1) Hedo Turkoglu, TOR. 29 made shots. 9 assisted. 31.0 Ast%<br />2) Dwyane Wade, MIA. 54 made shots. 17 assisted. 31.5 Ast%<br />3) LeBron James, CLE. 62 made shots. 20 assisted. 32.3 Ast%<br />4) Joe Johnson, ATL. 57 made shots. 21 assisted. 36.8 Ast%<br />5) Ben Gordon, DET. 53 made shots. 22 assisted. 41.5 Ast%<br /><br />These shot artists cause a world of matchup problems for their opponents. Not only that, they often have the ball in their hands as hybrid floor generals. At six foot ten inches, Turkoglu's rare shooting ability and quickness creates a nightmare for defenders. Turkoglu's Ast% in Toronto this year is actually about 10 percent lower than it was in Orlando. Dwyane Wade and Ben Gordon, each about 6'4", are too quick for two-guards but long enough to take advantage of shorter point guards. And LeBron, as you know, keeps coaches awake at night. <br /><br />And this is just one nook of the website. I'll be sure to discover more gems like this and when I do, you can find it all right here.<br /><br />For more great basketball stats and analysis resources, check out the following sites:<br /><br />http://www.82games.com/<br />http://www.basketballprospectus.com/<br />http://www.basketball-reference.com/<br />http://www.basketballvalue.com/index.php<br />http://www.basketballgeek.com/<br />http://www.countthebasket.com/blog/<br />http://www.popcornmachine.net/<br /><br /><div style="color: white;">.<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-5582212472554213315?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-80873137902717527552009-11-07T19:26:00.001-05:002009-11-07T19:26:41.207-05:00<meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"></meta><meta content="Word.Document" name="ProgId"></meta><meta content="Microsoft Word 12" name="Generator"></meta><meta content="Microsoft Word 12" name="Originator"></meta><link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CTom%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CTom%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx" rel="themeData"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CTom%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml" rel="colorSchemeMapping"></link><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:1; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">“The Bucks are not only headed for another season of grinding mediocrity, but they profile as a boring team.”-Basketball Prospectus 2009-10<br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">With the exception of Brandon Jennings’ electric debut, Milwaukee’s team is exactly as prescribed: lock-down defense, no scoring, and little flair.&nbsp; The Milwaukee Bucks lost three of last year’s top four scorers to free agency but coach Scott Skiles won’t let the offensive void keep them out of the playoff hunt in the East. <br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">The Celtics have garnered the most publicity for their defense but don’t overlook what Skiles has done defensively with this Bucks squad.&nbsp; Milwaukee boasts the best defensive team to date as opponents score just 89.9 points per 100 possessions and they are the only team to hold every opponent below 100 points this season.&nbsp; Granted, the Bucks have yet to face a high powered offense but Skiles’ track record suggests this style is here to stay.<br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">They don’t boast any shot blockers but they force turnovers at an extremely high rate (19.2 per game, most in NBA) and frustrate shooters (second lowest opponent true shooting percentage). &nbsp;&nbsp;With Michael Redd shelved for the next couple weeks, the defensive side of the ball becomes even more vital to their success.<br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">It's way too early to say that the Bucks will continue being this stingy on defense but it's great to see such a youthful roster dedicated to Skiles' philosophy from the get-go.&nbsp; Who says young players can’t buy into a defensive scheme?<br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">H/T @hoopdata <br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-8087313790271752755?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-9490647815407113892009-11-06T19:07:00.001-05:002009-11-06T19:08:25.247-05:00Here's the first installment of GroupThought.&nbsp; Want to know what the smart baseball people think about the day's big deal?&nbsp; It's all right here.<br /><br />Today's Deal: Twins receive shortstop J.J. Hardy from the Milwaukee Brewers for centerfielder Carlos Gomez.&nbsp; Interestingly, <i>everyone </i>wrote about Hardy first which of course means Gomez is merely an afterthought to everyone but the Brewers.<br /><br />GroupThinker: ESPN.com's Rob Neyer.<br />Where can I read more? <a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/1257/twins-and-brewers-both-do-well">Right here.</a><br />Can I get a money quote? Of course.<br /><blockquote style="background-color: #d0e0e3;">And of course you have to love this deal for the Twins, who got a player they really wanted (for good reason) in exchange for a guy they didn't really want at all. That said, unless they get another outfielder, this move means more playing time for <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=6138">Delmon Young</a>, and it's not at all clear that that's a good thing. And if anything should happen to <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=4604">Michael Cuddyer...</a><br /></blockquote>GroupThinker: Circling The Bases' Aaron Gleeman<br />Where can I read more? Right here.<br />&nbsp;Can I get a money quote? Get you some.<br /><blockquote style="background-color: #d0e0e3;">Minnesota has long been rumored to have interest in Hardy and the fact that his demotion to Triple-A pushed free agency back another season no doubt appealed to the budget-conscious Twins. Gomez fell behind Denard Span and Delmon Young in the Twins' outfield pecking order, rarely playing down the stretch, and has made little progress offensively since coming over from the Mets in the Johan Santana trade.<br /></blockquote>GroupThinker: MLB Trade Rumors' Tim Dierkes<br />Where can I read more? <a href="http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/11/twins-acquire-jj-hardy.html">Right here.<br /></a><br />Can I get a money quote? Fine.<br /><blockquote><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3;">While I expected the Brewers to snag a young pitcher for Hardy, I like the move for both sides.&nbsp;&nbsp;Center field was certainly a need for the Brewers with <b>Mike Cameron</b> eligible for free agency...Hardy is a huge addition for the Twins, who entered the offseason needing upgrades at shorstop, third base, and second base.&nbsp; Due to an August demotion by the Brewers, Hardy is under&nbsp;team control for 2010 and 2011 (<a href="http://brewersbeat.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/11/hardy_theres_no_hard_feelings.html">Hardy says</a> there are "no hard feelings.")<br /></div></blockquote>GroupThinker: Sabernomics' J.C. Bradbury<br />Where can I read more? <a href="http://www.sabernomics.com/sabernomics/index.php/2009/11/hardy-for-gomez/">Right here.</a><br />Can I get a money quote? Cash rules everything around me... so here.<br /><blockquote><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3;">Gomez is a <a href="http://billjamesonline.net/StatisticsReport_new.aspx?Type=302&amp;Team=0&amp;Player=1&amp;men=2" target="_blank">nice defender</a> at a premium position, but he couldn’t hit in the minors any more than he can hit in the majors. But, his defense is the only thing that keeps him valuable. His 2008, when he had a +29 Plus/Minus, was worth just around $8 million; but I think that’s the high end of his production and that he’s more of a $7 million player. I believe he’s got one more year of purely-reserved service before beginning arbitration, so he is cheap and controlled for several more years. The down side is that one injury, and this kid is toast. He can’t move over to a corner.<br /></div><br /></blockquote>&nbsp;GroupThinker: FanGraph's Dave Cameron<br />Where can I read more? <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/hardy-to-the-twins">Right here.</a><br />Can I get a money quote? Absolutely.<br /><blockquote><br /><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3;">Gomez is still young and will make the league minimum next year, so the Brewers save some cash, but this still strikes me as a very light return on a quality player. Gomez has some potential, but he’s a work in progress, and the Brewers aren’t really in rebuilding mode. If they go into 2010 with him as their starting CF, they’re going to be taking a pretty significant risk. <br /></div><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3;">Big thumbs up to the Twins here, who got better in a hurry. The Brewers had their hands tied a bit due to the logjam at SS, but it’s still hard to imagine this is the best they could do. <br /></div></blockquote>GroupThinker: The Hardball Times' Evan Brunell<br />Where can I read more? <a href="http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/twins-strike-for-j.j.-hardy/">Right here.</a><br />Can I get a money quote? Si.<br /><blockquote style="background-color: #d0e0e3;">Even if Gomez is the equivalent of a 5.00 ERA pitcher, the latter comes with a higher price tag. Heck, look at the salaries the Brew Crew paid/is paying Jeff Suppan and Braden Looper. By doing this deal, the Brewers have signaled that they will not bring Mike Cameron back. Milwaukee can use that saved money and go after a free agent pitcher, a situation that gives Milwaukee better control over what pitchers come to town and at what cost. <br /></blockquote>GroupThinker: Beyond the Boxscore's Michael Jong (SFiercex4) <br />Where can I read more? <a href="http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2009/11/6/1119308/hardy-for-gomez-a-defensive-win-win">Right here.</a><br />Can I get a money quote? Yes. But remember: money, it's a crime. <br /><blockquote><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3;">Even at the reduced level of production that Gomez is projected at, the years of control give him a slight edge in terms of value over J.J. Hardy. The time Hardy spent in the minors this year is going to help Minnesota recuperate some of the value lost by sending a decent piece to the Brewers.<br /></div></blockquote>GroupThinker: FanGraph Fantasy Baseball's David Golebiewski.<br />Where can I read more? <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/index.php/twins-acquire-ss-hardy-for-cf-gomez/">Right here.</a> <br />Can I get a money quote? Sure can.<br /><br /><blockquote style="background-color: #d0e0e3;"><div style="color: black;">But even so, J.J. was unlucky on balls put in play in 2009. He actually didn’t pop the ball up excessively (9.1 IF/FB%), taking away one possible cause of the low BABIP. Using <a href="http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/fantasy/article/simple-xbabip-calculator/">this expected BABIP tool</a>from The Hardball Times, we get a .306 XBABIP for Hardy, based on his HR, K, SB, line drive rate, fly balls, pop ups and ground balls...Even assuming all hits were singles, that would raise Hardy’s triple-slash from .229/.302/.357 to a less-wretched .271/.344/.399 ...Essentially, his 2009 performance wasn’t all that different from his overall level of play at the major league level. <br /></div></blockquote><br /><div style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">. </span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-949064781540711389?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-80347092966796503562009-11-05T18:54:00.004-05:002009-11-05T19:01:08.749-05:00ESPN <a href="http://deadspin.com/5398071/were-sorry-your-blog-wont-get-mentioned-on-sportscenter-anymore">may not be running the Blog Buzz segment</a> on Sportscenter anymore but don't be fooled: the World Wide Leader embraces the blog format.<br /><br />Consider TrueHoop's evolution at ESPN.com over the years.&nbsp; In 2007, ESPN effectively launched into the blogosphere by purchasing Henry Abbott's award-winning NBA blog and running it on their ESPN.com NBA frontpage.&nbsp; The sports media empire quietly and swiftly crossed the mainstream/blogger party line but ESPN.com readers certainly had reasons to be skeptical about the integration.&nbsp; Did ESPN have any clue how to harness the power of a successful independent blog?&nbsp; Where would it go? What does it offer? Why should we pay attention? Who is Henry Abbott? <i>What is a blog anyway?</i><br /><br />At the time, Henry Abbott was a one-man show ambitiously setting out to be the one-stop shop for all things NBA. If there is one thing bloggers are known for, it is their ambition. However, it's one thing have the ambition to corner a niche market such as amateur photographs of obscure NBA jerseys; it's another to try to capture an entire sport in one vessel.&nbsp; Abbott has reached that goal by picking up quality contributors along the way.<br /><br />In January of this year TrueHoop announced the launch of the TrueHoop Network, signaling the partnership of ESPN with the very best independent blogs of each NBA team.&nbsp; The TrueHoop Network bloggers may lack media-passes in their mother's basements, but they certainly make up for it by offering obsessive in-depth analysis that few credentialed writers can compete with.&nbsp; ESPN gave the bloggers a mic and the bloggers returned the favor with free quality content.<br /><br />Abbott changed the blog landscape yet again in October by convincing his ESPN.com editors to add ESPN's NBA reporters to his TrueHoop arsenal.&nbsp; Chris Broussard, Marc Stein, Chad Ford, Chris Sheridan, and J.A. Adande have already contributed multiple pieces for TrueHoop as they now have a space to publish their snippets of insight not fit for a full column. In case you haven't noticed, Abbott's receiving content from every edge of the coverage spectrum.&nbsp; <br /><br />This expansion completely changed the blog as we know it and I'm not talking about the TrueHoop blog in particular. I'm talking about all blogs. In this new world, longtime newspaper writer J.A. Adande and a Grizzlies blogger share the same stage and speak into the same mic. Thanks to Abbott's vision, ESPN has learned that good content is worthy content no matter where the voice is coming from.<br /><br />After witnessing TrueHoop and ESPN's content revolution, I find myself asking the same question I asked many years ago: <i>&nbsp;</i><br /><br /><i>What is a blog anyway?</i><br /><br /><br /><i><span style="color: white;">.</span><br /></i><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-8034709296679650356?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-41097273505000161902009-11-02T20:10:00.002-05:002009-11-03T10:12:45.989-05:00If you somehow kept your finger off the mute button during last night's broadcast, you probably heard Joe Buck and Tim McCarver speculating how Damon on third would impact Brad Lidge's pitch selection.&nbsp; McCarver asserted that Lidge would have to rely on his fastball because he couldn't risk a slider in the dirt reaching the backstop with Damon waiting 90 feet away to plate the go-ahead run.&nbsp; Out of curiosity, I pulled out my Pitch F/X database today to see if there was any merit to McCarver's line of thinking.<br /><br />Judging by McCarver's tone, you'd think Lidge's slider is impossible to catch.&nbsp; In my Pitch F/X database, I found that Brad Lidge has thrown 1496 sliders in the past three seasons (not counting these playoffs) and 80 hit the dirt. That's a 5.3 percent rate, meaning one out of about every 20 sliders that Lidge throws hits the ground. And within that subset only a couple trickled away.&nbsp; Needless to say, there's a very very small chance that a Lidge slider would cause any trouble.&nbsp; <br /><br />When it comes down to it Lidge really only has two pitches: a fastball and slider. He throws the slider 47.3 percent of the time while his heaters make up for the other half. With a man on third, his slider percentage jumps to 53.3 percent.&nbsp; In other words, Lidge actually uses his slider more often when there's a man on third.&nbsp; How could that be, James Timothy McCarver?&nbsp; <br /><br />The main issue here, and I think this is crazy important, is that McCarver's effectively asking Lidge to throw batting practice. If hitters knew Lidge won't throw a slider with a man on third, then they'll just sit and wait for his fastball. That = batting practice. That = why he has a 53.3 slider percentage in that situation.&nbsp; Lidge, like all pitchers, are game theorists by trade.&nbsp; It's mind-boggling that McCarver has no apparent grasp of game theory or pitch randomization after considering this fact: he caught 1300 games in his major-league career. If McCarver played Rocks Paper Scissors, he'd probably insist on waiting three seconds after the others throw their weapon of choice.&nbsp; Randomness is a powerful thing.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-4109727350500016190?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-8144120424487460392009-10-28T13:23:00.011-04:002009-11-05T13:08:58.242-05:00Wayne Winston has become a star over at TrueHoop. The former Dallas Mavericks stat guru caught some flak for declaring he wouldn't want Kevin Durant on his team, even if he came as a freebie.&nbsp; He doesn't hate Kevin Durant; Winston just trusts what his plus/minus numbers tell him.&nbsp; Yesterday, TrueHoop founder Henry Abbott <a href="http://tomsbombs.blogspot.com/2009/10/double-trouble-investigating-winston.html">revealed what he calls the Winston Theorem</a>.&nbsp; In Winston's words:<br /><blockquote style="background-color: #cccccc;">My theory on the lineups that play worse is that they have two guys who can’t hit the broad side of a barn. Like, Noah and Thomas, their effective field goal percentage is like 30 percent. Dampier and George, those two have no jump shot. I’m not positive, this would take a lot of statistical analysis, but I think that’s what we’re seeing. That’s the key. <br /></blockquote>I'm not sure why he includes Noah there because his effective field goal percentage ranks up there with the very best in the league.&nbsp; While I appreciate the Theorem's simplicity, I do not find it all that ground-breaking.&nbsp; Each team has only five players on the court. If two of them are horrid shooters and offer little else, that's going to case a problem.<br /><br />As a reminder, a poor shooter is different than a low scorer.&nbsp; A poor shooter wastes valuable possessions whereas a low scorer could be a high-percentage shooter who picks his spots in the offense. Considering a possession is the very lifeblood of a basketball team, a player who throws away possessions will directly hurt their team's chances of winning.&nbsp; Imagine a baseball team hat only had five hitters in the lineup and two of them made outs 80 percent of the time.&nbsp; That's the sort of impact we're talking about.<br /><br />Let's see if we can find some validity to the Winston Theorem. The first step is to find the most terrible shooters in the league.&nbsp; Using the Basketball-Reference.com Full Court tool we can do just that. We'll go along with Winston and use effective shooting percentage (eFG%) as the measuring stick for poor shooting.&nbsp; One could use other measures but I think this will serve our purpose. eFG% differs from raw FG% in that it adjusts for the marginal point value of a 3-pointer rather than treating all field goals the same.&nbsp; I don't want Gilbert Arenas or any others who played only a handful of games on this list so I'll (somewhat arbitrarily) filter the query to those who played at least 20 games which is equivalent to a fourth of the season. I also want players who not only get on the floor but stay there too so let's cut it players who play at least 15 minutes per game.&nbsp; Here are the thirty worst shooters in the NBA last year.<br /><br /><iframe frameborder="0" height="620" src="http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tn2_z6jVoO0VPL6Bh-rSs9A&amp;output=html&amp;widget=true" width="310"></iframe><br />The Celtics took a big gamble on Marbury and it was clear that some combination of the extended time off the court coupled with the unfamiliar reduced role ate away at his effectiveness. Consequently, his playing time in the playoffs was sliced just about in half to only 11 minutes per contest.&nbsp; You'll notice teammate Glen Davis and his .444 eFG% finds himself on this list as well.&nbsp; According to 82games.com, they shared court time for a total of 212 minutes last season and surprisingly, the Celtics outscored their opponents by 11 points over that period.&nbsp; Translated to a 48 minute interval, they beat their opponents by roughly 2 and half points on average.&nbsp; The +/- numbers cited here and henceforth are not opponent or teammate adjusted but it's fair to assume this poor shooting combo was not as destructive as Winston would imagine.<br /><br />There are quite a few teammate pairings on this list so we have some data to work with even if the shared playing time isn't as much as we'd like.&nbsp; Amazingly, the Clippers and Thunder each have four players who got big minutes despite their struggles to make baskets.&nbsp; Not coincidentally these two teams ranked dead last in Team Offensive Rating last year (ORtg = points per 100 possessions).&nbsp; The Wizards have a three poor shooters who got lots of court time so it's no wonder they also find themselves with one of the worst team offensive efficiencies in the NBA.&nbsp; Outside of the Clippers, Thunder, and Wizards there are four other squads who have pairings on this list: the Grizzlies, Timberwolves, Bucks, and 76ers. Will these pairings show the same net positive relationship as Glen Davis and Stephon Marbury?&nbsp; I doubt it.<br /><br /><iframe frameborder="0" height="470" src="http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tUmbz4XiOmRVjEwFUyfG5Aw&amp;single=true&amp;gid=0&amp;output=html&amp;widget=true" width="640"></iframe><br />It's worth saying that not every good player will post a positive plus/minus.&nbsp; In fact, no players on the Wizards, Clippers, and Thunder had enough positive influence to cause their team to outscore their opponent.&nbsp; So for this exercise, we're not particularly interested in the individual players plus/minus. Instead, the real focus should be centered on the pair's plus/minus as it relates to the two individuals by themselves.&nbsp; For example, despite their inability to shoot very well, the on-floor tandem of Darrell Arthur and Quinton Ross actually raises the Grizzlies quality of play to beat their opponents by about 5 points every 48 minutes on average.&nbsp; Winston's Theorem, as I understand it, would suggest otherwise.<br /><br />It's interesting that Russell Westbrook and his miss-inclined counterparts aren't noticeably worse when they're on the floor together.&nbsp; If anything, the Thunder are better off when Westbrook gets paired up with Desmond Mason, another player can't shoot a lick. &nbsp; <br /><br />As for the Clippers, Baron and Ricky Davis each had their worst shooting performances of their career last season but the 389 minutes they shared on the floor were not, to my surprise, 389 too many.&nbsp; Each saw their shooting percentages increase with the presence of their Davis counterpart.&nbsp; Baron's responded by shooting more while Ricky shot less.&nbsp; The most jarring tandem in this sample has to be Ricky Davis with his backup big Brian Skinner. To see this effect, let's contrast Ricky's production with Brian Skinner on the floor as compared to his other 6'9" 250 lb bruiser Zach Randolph (stats are per 40 min unless otherwise noted).<br /><br /><br /><iframe frameborder="0" height="150" src="http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tUmbz4XiOmRVjEwFUyfG5Aw&amp;single=true&amp;gid=1&amp;output=html&amp;widget=true" width="450">&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;lkj&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;</iframe><br />With the limited information at hand, we can't know for sure <i>why </i>Skinner has this effect on Davis but it's certainly something a coach would want to know about.&nbsp; A possible reason for the difference could be situation-related.&nbsp; The game could be already out of hand when the two share the court and Ricky takes it upon himself to take risky, low percentage shots. Conversely, Davis may not experience the same temptation with Zach Randolph from a game situation perspective. Can't know for sure.<br /><br />The data here does not provide much evidence that the Winston Theorem is an airtight assertion.&nbsp; A clear exacerbating effect of two poor shooters on the floor does not appear to afflict these teams when we look at the player pairs plus/minus numbers.&nbsp; Playing two players who can't shoot could have devastating effects, all things equal. But if a player can't shoot, he better be able to contribute in other ways or else he'll never receive the the opportunity to contribute. Russell Westbrook can still offer dynamic skills that mitigate his shooting woes even if another bad shooter comes in.<br /><br />In the end, I don't believe two poor shooters will cripple a team. A pair of one dimensional poor shooters, on the other hand, will.<br /><br />Thanks to <a href="http://www.basketball-reference.com/">Basketball-Reference</a> and <a href="http://82games.com/">82games</a> for the data.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-814412042448746039?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-4355138244005617962009-10-21T22:37:00.007-04:002009-10-22T11:26:59.085-04:00This particular post drew inspiration from a Twitter ping-pong match between Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey and ESPN's Bill Simmons. The spat ignited when Morey playfully linked to ESPN's panel of&nbsp; experts' pessimistic forecasts for the Rockets in the upcoming season and declared ESPN writer Jemele Hill as the smartest of the bunch as she was the only one that predicted the Rockets would make the playoffs.<br /><br />Then, Morey jabs Bill Simmons for withholding his predictions like a coward.&nbsp; Here's how it went down in Twitland:<br /><div style="color: red;"><br /></div><blockquote><div style="color: #990000;"><b>@dmorey:</b>&nbsp; J.Hill is smartest on ESPN <a class="tweet-url web" href="http://bit.ly/2yQPo" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/2yQPo</a> I am now defriending Adande,Hollinger&amp;Stein.@<a class="tweet-url username" href="http://twitter.com/sportsguy33">sportsguy33</a> afraid to predict-not ready to be GM<br /></div><div style="color: #990000;"><br /></div><div style="color: #990000;"><b>@dmorey:&nbsp;</b> The past 3 seasons we have been the #1 defense in the NBA (07:#3,08:#2,09:#4).Maintaining this integrity will be key to making the playoffs.<br /></div><br /><div style="color: #0b5394;"><b>@sportsguy33:</b> @<a class="tweet-url username" href="http://twitter.com/dmorey">dmorey</a> seems awfully defensive about his Rockets. Its going to be awkward when I pick them to go 14-68. I'm not gonna lie.<br /></div><div style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></div><span style="color: #990000;"><b>@dmorey:&nbsp;</b> @<a class="tweet-url username" href="http://twitter.com/sportsguy33">sportsguy33</a> Not defensive,just realist.Eg-I would not make quixotic run at being a sports writer if I once wrote"A.Morrison:love that pick"</span><br /></blockquote><br /><span style="color: #990000;">&nbsp;<span style="color: black;">Zing!&nbsp; For those who don't read The Sports Guy's every word, Morey is referring to a comment Simmons made in the 2006 version of his annual NBA Draft diary (which ironically now reads like a Twitter feed):<br /></span></span><br /><blockquote>7:49pm - Charlotte takes Adam Morrison. Love that pick.<br /></blockquote><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;"> Well, we all know <a href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/events/blog/adam-morrison.jpg">how that turned out</a>.&nbsp; I gave the diary another read and I noticed Bill Simmons stamped his approval on several prospects that haven't turned out well.&nbsp; He shared the same bullish feelings about the Chicago Bulls' No. 4 selection of Tyrus Thomas as well as the Atlanta Hawks' pick of Shelden Williams at No.5.&nbsp; Those three have yet to become anything more than marginal contributors. </span></span><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;">During my stint at ESPN.com Insider, I put together the D.R.A.F.T. Initiative, a monster study that broke down the last 20 years of the NBA Draft. The project yielded over a dozen articles on ESPN.com and that's just the tip of the content iceberg.&nbsp; Eric Neel, one of ESPN's finest, wrote a piece that analyzed the best and worst classes in the study using Estimated Wins Added, John Hollinger's version of WARP, as the measuring stick of (my) choice. Neel tiered the draft classes and tossed Adam Morrison's 2006 class into "The Next Best Thing" bin that stood underneath "The Top Tier" classes and above two others.&nbsp; Go read the piece in its entirety <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2009/insider/news/story?id=4278018">here</a>.<br /></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;">To prep Neel for the article, I sent him a packet stuffed with graphs and data that actually placed 2006 class in the bottom half of the last 20 classes.&nbsp; Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Paul Millsap, Rudy Gay, Rajon Rondo, and Ronnie Brewer are all fine players but in terms of sheer depth, 2006 was undeniably disappointing.<br /></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;">If you've ever visited the sabermetrically awesome <a href="http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/">Beyond the Boxscore</a> website and seen their equally awesome career <a href="http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2009/10/1/1063276/hall-of-fame-war-path-center-field">Wins Above Replacement graphs</a>, then my pretty picture below should look familiar. Today, I sorted every player by their EWA per year and then separated them into their respective draft classes.&nbsp; Here are best 30 players in each of the last ten draft classes.&nbsp; As a reminder, the horizontal axis ranks by quality of player not by draft order.&nbsp; Players selected in the second round are also included. Be sure to click on the graph if its too small.<br /></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/St-1Kv3vV3I/AAAAAAAAAfg/gLZ-43-UwfQ/s1600-h/NBAdraftGraph102109.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/St-1Kv3vV3I/AAAAAAAAAfg/gLZ-43-UwfQ/s640/NBAdraftGraph102109.JPG" /></a><br /></div><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;">As expected, the orange 2003 class reigns supreme on the backs of the big four: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Carmelo Anthony. Amazingly, those four trump any player selected in the 2000,</span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;"> 2007, </span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;"> and 2008 draft classes.&nbsp; The LeBron-led group descends back to Earth at about the sixth best player (Josh Howard) and returns to normal levels of production thereafter.<br /></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;">With </span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;">Chris Paul as its anchor, the vastly underrated</span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;"> 2005 draft class</span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;"> prides itself on 25 draftees that have produced </span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;">more than a win per year on average. Paul's extraordinarily productive career appears to positively skew 2005's talent distribution but it </span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;">is easily one of the very best top to bottom.&nbsp; The purple line's separation after the eighteenth best player illustrates the strikingly wide talent spread.</span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;">For fun, contrast 2005's talent line with the subsequent class of 2006 displayed in darker green.&nbsp; It only boasts about half as many servicable players. Notice how it dips below the 1 EWA line at the <i>n = 15</i> mark.&nbsp; Paul's class doesn't cross that line until the 26th player. The drop in serviceable talent is remarkable in just a year's time.<br /></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;">The 2003 class may boast the most superduperstars and the 2005 class contains the most above replacement level players but the 1999 class is just as impressive considering their long line of star players.&nbsp; Elton Brand, Shawn Marion, Andre Miller, Jason Terry, Baron Davis, Steve Francis, Richard Hamilton, Andrei Kirilenko, Lamar Odom, Manu Ginobili, Corey Maggette, Ron Artest, and Wally Szczerbiak were all selected in this absolutely loaded draft year, explaining the large bump between the seventh and thirteenth best players.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;">I love these graphs because they add so many more dimensions to the Best and Worst Draft Class debate.&nbsp; Do you prefer top end talent? 2003 is yours.&nbsp; Want lots of All-Stars? Look no further than 1999.&nbsp; Maybe quantity is your cup of tea? That'll be 2005.&nbsp; I know one thing: I wish I declared in 2000.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sgeqrYxu_YM&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sgeqrYxu_YM&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-435513824400561796?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-10645950195810971432009-10-19T17:34:00.004-04:002009-10-19T17:44:46.436-04:00I have a vivid memory sitting outside in the dusk contemplating my mortality after my older brother explained the possibility that his spectrum of colors differs from mine.<br /><br />I can't remember my exact age but I must have been in middle school.&nbsp; My brother and I shared many summer nights fishing alone while we watched our Ugly Stik rods flutter in the North Carolina coastal winds. We rarely caught fish out on the pier but I found myself enjoying the quiet downtime as much as the action.<br /><br />Our conversations followed no discernible pattern, touching on anything and everything.. Inevitably, as I looked out into the ocean I would drift into thoughts about existentialism or even my own mortality. At my young age, I referred to them as 'trippy thoughts'.&nbsp; One minute we would discuss how Pat Listache's career spiraled into mediocrity after winning the 1992 NL Rookie of the Year award and the next we would quarrel with the idea that my brother's perception of the color green could be my purple and his orange could be my blue. I can imagine now some the examples he used to walk me through this particular idea. <i>Tom, look at this bluefish you just caught. Is it blue or is it green? Someone a long time ago decreed it had no defining qualities other than it's overwhelming blueness</i>.<i> Is it blue to you?</i> <br /><br />Funny, last night's Mad Men episode "The Color Blue" centered on that color metaphor for the episode's theme:&nbsp;<i></i><i>How do I know that what you see as the color blue is the same thing that I see?</i> While I watched the show on my absolutely positively blue couch, my mind instantly traveled back to those old conversations on the wooden benches at Ocean Crest Pier. Needless to say this phenomena applies to other things and not exclusively to the color spectrum.&nbsp; Even though we look at the same events, situation and objects, our minds will perceive them differently.&nbsp; North Carolinians, go grab a bottle of <a href="http://www.beeraday.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/duck-rabbit-milk-stout-label-detail.jpg">Duck Rabbit</a> milk stout, look at the label, and ask yourself: is it a duck or is it a rabbit? The answer is of course, who cares, it's delicious.<br /><br />In sports, we attach poetic meaning to what we see and craft story lines to explain our perceptions.&nbsp; In case you haven't been paying attention recently, Alex Rodriguez has hit a few homers this postseason at critical moments. To some, that means the former clutch coward has finally transformed himself into the clutch king by <a href="http://web.yesnetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091007&amp;content_id=7392008&amp;vkey=4">staying calm</a> and <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2009/10/19/2009-10-19_harper_its_all_about_arod.html">simplifying the process</a>.&nbsp; To others (sabermetricians), <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/alex-rodriguez-and-the-predictability-of-october/">nothing's changed at all</a>; he's the beast he always was but you know, funny things happen in small sample sizes.&nbsp; These two perceptions conflict with each other.&nbsp; Is it a duck or is it a rabbit?<br /><br />Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher is <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/features/rumors">reportedly </a>on the hot seat after beginning this season winless in the team's first six games.&nbsp; If you remember, just last year the Titans won more regular season games than any other team in football and Fisher was <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/10/sports/sp-titans10">crowned as a football genius</a>. If you're keeping count at home, he's 13-9 in the last two regular seasons. I ask again: is it a duck or is it a rabbit?<br /><br />Over in the NBA, Kevin Durant is already one of the league's most prolific scorers and just last month he turned 21.&nbsp; With his scoring ability, youth, and frame, he's destined to be one of the all-time greats. Well, what if I told you that even though he may drop 30 points a game with the big boys, <a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/7047/the-kevin-durant-conundrum">his team is better off without him</a>? Is it a duck or is it a rabbit?<br /><br />In the end, maybe it is possible that your blue isn't my blue and Durant isn't all he's cracked up to be. These discords shouldn't scare us.&nbsp; If anything, they should spark more rational thought and encourage us to further evaluate what our eyes tell us.&nbsp; Better yet, we can use our sensibility to create our own story lines.<br /><br />Maybe the man who named the bluefish was just having a bad day and was feeling especially sad after he caught the helpless fish.&nbsp; That story makes more sense to me. I never thought bluefish were all that blue.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JOM6yTvPnTY&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JOM6yTvPnTY&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ii1eTJHvMKQ&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ii1eTJHvMKQ&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Sh1l0ZuqBLk&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Sh1l0ZuqBLk&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-1064595019581097143?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-67195777988912156622009-10-10T15:15:00.000-04:002009-10-10T15:15:36.061-04:00I was introduced to Google Reader about this time last year. I filled my RSS feed with sites focused on sabermetrics and my baseball wisdom soared.&nbsp; I've added tons of new acronyms and abbreviations to my analytical palette but the real benefit has been shaping new perspectives on the game.&nbsp; Today's post follows a new angle into pitchers that I previously hadn't considered before.&nbsp; In the spirit of the playoffs, I'd like to compare two postseason pitchers. Here are their career lines.<br /><br />Pitcher A: 529 IP, 3.56 ERA, 3.19 FIP, 1.27 WHIP, 714 K, 7.3 H/9, 0.9 HR/9, 4.1 BB/9, 2.99 K/BB<br />Pitcher B: 558 IP, 3.66 ERA, 3.78 FIP, 1.33 WHIP, 487 K, 8.7 H/9, 0.8 HR/9, 3.3 BB/9, 2.39 K/BB<br /><br />On the surface, they have enjoyed pretty similar careers, no?&nbsp; Well, Player A is Brad Lidge and Player B is Jon Lester.&nbsp; Now you know I omitted some of their other statistics to make this a little more fun.<br /><br />Their ERA and innings pitched are nearly identical but Lidge has made exactly one start his entire career and Lester has made exactly one relief appearance.&nbsp; For this reason, we interpret their career lines a little differently.&nbsp; Lidge has an infamously up-and-down career while Lester has been rock solid throughout.&nbsp; Let's look at another comparison.&nbsp; <br /><br />Stretch A: 58.2 IP, 7.21 ERA, 11.0 H/9, 1.7 HR/9, 1.79 K/BB<br />Stretch B: 59.1 IP, 6.07 ERA, 8.2 H/9, 1.2 HR/9, 2.95 K/BB<br /><br />Stretch A, as you might have guessed, describes Brad Lidge's entire 2009 season.&nbsp; Stretch B covers Jon Lester's first 10 starts to the 2009 season.&nbsp; Both were poor but Lester's season obviously didn't end there unlike Lidge.&nbsp; Lester had another 150 innings to redeem himself as a starter.&nbsp; After those ten starts, Lester consequently did his best Donald Zackary Greinke impression and catapulted himself into Red Sox #1 starter status.<br /><br />Every pitcher will inevitably hit a rough patch at some point.&nbsp; If the only window into Lester's year was his first 10 starts, it would be seen as a tremendous flop.&nbsp; Hell, even Greinke gave up 20 runs across four starts this year.&nbsp; For relief pitchers like Lidge, a rough patch can "last" a whole season.&nbsp; How should we interpret that?<br /><br />Those over at <a href="http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/comments/rob_neyer_on_brad_lidge_and_the_col_phi_series/#comments">The Book blog</a> discussed this very topic with the takeaway: we shouldn't lend too much credence to a reliever's inherent small sample size of work.<br /><blockquote style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><i>The reason that [Lidge] is on the post-season roster and may pitch in high leverage situations - maybe even close a game or two - is NOT because his name is Brad Lidge as opposed to Fred Bridge.&nbsp; It is because he has been an outstanding reliever over the course of his career and the Phillies brass are smart enough to realize that those career stats are more predictive of how he is likely to do in the post-season than his 32 IP in 2009. - <a href="http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/comments/rob_neyer_on_brad_lidge_and_the_col_phi_series/">mgl</a><br /></i><br /></blockquote>Lidge's career isn't just like it wasn't over after 2006.&nbsp; Taking this though a step further, imagine if we sliced every starter's season into reliever-sized inning intervals.&nbsp; How would we view them then?<br /><br />The following exercise is admittedly a bit crude but for illustration purposes, it does the trick.&nbsp; Lidge has had seven full seasons in the bigs so I sliced Lester's career into seven parts at 13 start intervals.&nbsp; Here's the graph of each sample's ERA over that period.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Ss_ZRvjhMcI/AAAAAAAAAfI/aU1-fw72tUY/s1600-h/lidgelester.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Ss_ZRvjhMcI/AAAAAAAAAfI/aU1-fw72tUY/s400/lidgelester.bmp" /></a><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Even when we partition Lester's career into seven samples, his ERA is still not as volatile as Lidge's full seasons. Lester's performance levels out around 3.50 ERA after his second stretch.&nbsp; As a cancer survivor, Lester's admittedly not your normal pitcher but his and Lidge's comparable career length and success set up quite nicely for this analysis.&nbsp; Perhaps a different starter or different arbitrary segments would yield more fluctuation.&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">One caveat to this type of analysis is that pitching ability or "stuff" is not static.&nbsp; In other words, Lidge probably is not the same pitcher he was a couple years ago.&nbsp; His <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfx.aspx?playerid=563&amp;position=P">velocity is down</a> a couple ticks and he very well could be hiding an injury but only he and the Phillies know that.&nbsp; To that end, there's room for disagreement.&nbsp; Nonetheless, the message still remains.&nbsp; Every pitcher will look unpredictable in small snapshots.&nbsp; It's the Pitch F/X analyst and scout's job to cancel out the inherent statistical noise of relievers and focus on the craft itself.<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-6719577798891215662?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-21077439295696764212009-09-24T22:19:00.013-04:002009-09-25T11:32:17.426-04:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Srwo4INjblI/AAAAAAAAAfA/VIMqJkW4NPA/s1600-h/EllsburyBIP.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Srwo4INjblI/AAAAAAAAAfA/VIMqJkW4NPA/s400/EllsburyBIP.JPG" /></a><br /></div><br />This awesome jpg (click to expand/betterize) was brought to you from scratch using MLB GameDay XML files, mySQL, SQLyog, Excel, and Google Maps.&nbsp; What you see is every batted ball fielded by Jacoby Ellsbury from 2007 to date where he was the center fielder at Fenway Park. Each dot is where he fielded the ball, not where the ball landed. Notice the blue dots in the deep center field nook.&nbsp; Using a standard wooden ruler, I've measured the distance to be approximately seven miles from home plate. <br /><br />Much thanks to Brian Cartwright, Colin Wyers, and Kyle Willkomm for their assistance in building the codes and setting up the databases correctly.<br /><br />Get your Baseball On A Stick <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/baseballonastic/">here</a> <br /><br />My emotions: <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://11.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kpqye5m0jU1qziyd9o1_500.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://11.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kpqye5m0jU1qziyd9o1_500.png" width="252" /></a><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-2107743929569676421?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-72302743984216292912009-09-23T16:38:00.005-04:002009-09-23T16:54:31.958-04:00To those who think Pitch F/X, Hit F/X and FIELD F/X would strip baseball of all it's goodness and natural entertainment, consider this.&nbsp; With today's Yankees Angels day game serving as white noise while I crush some serious mySQL queries, Michael Kay and Ken Singleton discussed whether Brett Gardner might be the fastest player in baseball.&nbsp; Surely, there's no way we could actually answer that; after all, baseball players aren't 'combined' like NFL players.&nbsp; It was a short-lived discussion but names like Carl Crawford, Michael Bourn, and Jacoby Ellsbury were thrown around as possible candidates.<br /><br />With FIELD F/X, we would know the answer.&nbsp; One of the many things that FIELD F/X could track is the top speed of a centerfielder snagging a gapper in right.&nbsp; It would add another segment on Web Gems, that's for sure.&nbsp; Wouldn't this information make the game so much more enjoyable, not just stat-geeks like myself?<br /><br />Think about this one.&nbsp; If Ichiro Suzuki hit an inside the park homerun, where would Benjie Molina be if he were the one legging it out? If we had real speeds of players, couldn't we stamp a Mario Kart Time Trial-esque superimposed Molina ghost on top of the Ichiro video layer running around the bases?&nbsp; When Ichiro touched home plate Molina would be beginning his turn at first base, right?&nbsp; Pretty sure that would be video gold. <br /><br />I want to know what's behind that FIELD F/X curtain.<br /><br />How else could FIELD F/X amplify our enjoyment of baseball?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-7230274398421629291?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-24937777519722260172009-09-22T14:23:00.010-04:002009-09-22T16:43:06.857-04:00With the end of September fast approaching, Red Sox manager Terry Francona has to feel pretty good about his team regardless if they win the division. Over the next thirteen games, Boston will likely punch their ticket and begin the playoffs with a club that lacks a glaring weakness.<br /><br />Today's analysis will cover the Red Sox bullpen. Red Sox GM Theo Epstein has put together arguably the best bullpen of the AL playoff lot and in turn, Francona will likely need the least Ambien stemming from bullpen anxiety. It's scary to think that seven Boston relief arms boast an FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) lower than 4.50, not to mention three who've had extensive closing experience for big club teams (Jonathan Papelbon, Billy Wagner, and Takashi Saito). For comparative sake, the Red Sox have more sub-4.50 FIP relievers than the Angels and Yankees combined.<br /><br />So who does Tito trust the most? One way to measure Francona's reliever taste is to examine who he selects to pitch in the highest pressure (leverage) situations. To do this, I <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/">traveled</a> over to Fangraphs and grabbed Daniel Bard, Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima, Ramon Ramirez, Papelbon, Wagner, and Saito's Leverage Index numbers found in their Win Expectancy page.<br /><br />For those unfamiliar with Leverage Index, it's a more advanced metric similar to the maybe more familiar Late and Close split you can find on most mainstream player profiles. By definition, it is a measure of how important a particular situation is in a baseball game depending on the inning, score, outs, and number of players on base. An LI of zero means the game outcome is essentially decided and if my father isn't dozing off after 9:30pm, then the LI is probably north of 2.0. You can think of it as your fan pulse.<br /><br />For this study, I'll be using gmLI which measures the pitcher's average LI when he enters the game. From the mouth of the architect <a href="http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/crucial-situations-part-three/">Tom Tango</a>, gmLI in particular "shows a manager perspective, as it indicates the level of fire that the manager wanted his reliever to face."<br /><br />Enough stat explainers, let's get back to the good stuff. As expected, with a 1.84 gmLI Jonathan Papelbon has been called upon by Francona in the most crucial pitching situations, on average, among Red Sox relievers this year. Following Papelbon, Hideki Okajima (1.43) ranks second on the year and fellow countryman Takashi Saito (0.59) is the least trusted of the group. For what it's worth, Saito has a 2.44 ERA and the lowest gmLI in the American League among qualifiers. In other words, Francona has the envy of every other manager in baseball.<br /><br />Instead of looking at the whole year, maybe the more pertinent question to ask is how might Francona be feeling right now with the recent acquisition of Billy Wagner and growth of Daniel Bard? To examine this I looked at the September gmLI for the Boston relief core and compared it to the season's gmLI (click the image if your eyes hurt).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SrkpNBujEwI/AAAAAAAAAeo/isJ4sffTKC4/s1600-h/gmLI1.bmp"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 307px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SrkpNBujEwI/AAAAAAAAAeo/isJ4sffTKC4/s400/gmLI1.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384380133276848898" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It seems Francona has become lukewarm about using Okajima in high leverage situations recently. According to this chart, Ramirez, Bard, and Wagner have replaced Okajima in the primary setup role. Francona isn't comfortable with using Saito above his batterymates. How has Francona's preferences evolved as the season wears on? Let's take a look (again, click if you're squint-averse).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Srkur4iBW7I/AAAAAAAAAew/OFXmM1czWOo/s1600-h/gmLI2.bmp"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 313px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Srkur4iBW7I/AAAAAAAAAew/OFXmM1czWOo/s400/gmLI2.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384386160942472114" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Ramon Ramirez' arc follows a U-shaped curve to suggest he's regained Francona's favor whereas his confidence in Daniel Bard has rocketed skyward since June. Despite his excellent ERA, I'd be shocked to see Saito in the big situations come October given how he's been used recently. It's worth noting that Justin Masterson and Javier Lopez took a small chunk of the big spots early in the year but they're obviously not a part of this group going forward.<br /><br />It's pretty difficult to discern if anyone has complete control of the top setup spot but it's pretty clear to see that Francona will tab either Ramirez, Bard, or Wagner in the toughest non-closing situations. Come to think of it, I doubt the Red Sox even use the term "8th inning guy" in house. But given Bard's youth and the available alternatives, I doubt Francona will use him in the first big spot in the playoffs. As crazy as it sounds, either Takashi Saito, Hideki Okajima or Manny Delcarmen will be demoted to mop-up duty during the playoffs.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-2493777751972226017?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-3641611431000260222009-09-21T15:33:00.006-04:002009-09-21T17:45:58.963-04:00<blockquote><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The opinion that he wouldn't be a good teammate or he would be a disruption in the clubhouse couldn't be further from the truth," [Chicago Cubs general manager Jim] Hendry said. </span><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090108&amp;content_id=3736641&amp;vkey=news_chc&amp;fext=.jsp&amp;c_id=chc">MLB.com</a>, 1/8/09<br /></blockquote>Yep, Hendry said that after signing Milton Bradley, the guy he just deemed "<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=4490125">intolerable</a>" to the media and fans.<br /><br />Milton Bradley's reputation as a tumultuous and fragile masher preceded him when he hit the free agent market last winter. Few players carried a risk profile quite like his but the monster year he had as the Texas Rangers' designated hitter would certainly lure a GM to roll the dice.<br /><br />Jim Hendry was that GM and now he pretends he wasn't the fool who made the bad bet. If I were a Cubs fan, I wouldn't buy the Hendry-led smear campaign against his rightfielder.<br /><br />The quote above comes from an MLB article that now reads like it came straight out of TheOnion.com.<br /><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">General manager Jim Hendry said he felt Bradley was the perfect fit after the two dined in early November. <p> "As we left the restaurant and stood on the curb waiting for the driver ... [Bradley] said, 'I know it's going to take some time and you have some work to do, but I want to be a Chicago Cub if you want me,'" Hendry said. </p><p> "I knew when I left that restaurant that night that he was our guy."<br /></p><p><br /></p></blockquote>I never knew Hendry was such a hopeless romantic. Seriously though, what kind of wine did Hendry imbibe that evening to cause him to ignore all the red flags at the other end of the table? Funny how the check he signed that lovely evening might have cost him his job.<br /><br />Don't worry, it gets better:<br /><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">While Bradley has proven he can handle Major League pitching, he also has to deal with his past, which has been interrupted with less-than-flattering incidents with fans, teammates and the media. Hendry did his homework, and asked a lot of people about the sometimes volatile outfielder. He got nothing but glowing reports.<br /><br /></blockquote>Really? Glowing? On second thought, this makes perfect sense. Let's imagine the phone call to Oakland A's GM Billy Beane.<br /><br />Hendry: Heyy Billy, it's Jimmy Boy.<br />Beane: I'm sorry, who's this?<br />H: Jim. Jim Hendry. From the Cubs?<br />B: Oh... right. What's up.<br />H: OK, here's the deal. Wanna hear your thoughts on this. I want to sign Milton Bradley. Really badly.<br />B: Okay... can you hold on one sec?<br />H: Sure.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Beane hits the speaker phone button and waves frantically at Assistant GM David Forst motioning him over.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Forst wheels himself over in his chair. Meanwhile, Beane scribbles the words "Jim Hendry" on a notepad and raises it for Forst to see</span>.<br />B: Excuse me, Jim. Please go on.<br />H: So, with the economy in the dumps it might not be a good idea to invest a lot of money to a brittle media time-bomb who just had a career year as a designated hitter in a hitters park and I know we don't have a designated hitter in our league but, just hear me out on this, I'm thinking of offering him something in the ballpark of 30 million dollars for three years.<br />B: <span style="font-style: italic;">[muffles his laughter]</span> Well, Jim. It sounds like you've done your homework on the guy. Why do you need me?<br />H: Well, I'm just worried about his character. He played for you, didn't he? What did you think of him?<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Beane contemplates for a moment.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> He quickly looks to Forst who's nodding his head with encouragement and whispering the word, "YES" over and over.</span><br />B: You know, Jim, forget everything negative everyone has told you. He's actually a great guy.<br />H: You really think so?<br />B: No, Jim. I know so.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Beane and Forst high five.</span><br /><br />That's the only conceivable way Hendry got his "glowing reports." I can't think of anything else.<br /><br />Anyway, it's my opinion that this is the bed that Jim Hendry made and now he has to lie in it. That couldn't be closer to the truth.<br /><br /><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ntrezDrsWaE&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ntrezDrsWaE&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-364161143100026022?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-55446395768195128592009-09-17T12:33:00.008-04:002009-09-17T14:03:27.788-04:00<a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2009_09_16_anamlb_bosmlb_1&amp;mode=wrap">What a game last night.</a><br /><br />After falling behind 0-2 against Angels closer Brian Fuentes, pinch-hitter Nick Green drew a walk to tie the game up at 8 apiece. Alex Gonzalez followed with a walk-off bloop single giving the Red Sox the second-best record in baseball. One more strike to Green and the game was over.<br /><br />But the game should have been over long before Gonzalez stepped into the batters box. Angels manager Mike Scioscia <a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-shaikin-angels17-2009sep17,0,1761505.story">claims</a> Nick Green should have struck out not once but twice after a questionable check swing appeal and non-strike-three call on the subsequent pitch gave Nick Green two extra Mario mushroom 1-ups. He has a point.<br /><br />Subjectively, everyone thought it was a ball, that is, everyone except for home plate umpire Rick Reed. Sitting with scouts behind home plate last night, ESPN baseball writer Keith Law tweeted "<span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">Was that strike 3 to green? Looked it from back here<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">" He followed up this morning, "</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Not one reader has told me ball 4 to Green was actually a ball.</span>"</span></span><br /><br />Our eyes didn't fool us. Using <a href="http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfx/index.php">Brooks On Baseball's Pitch F/X tool</a>, we can see the actual pitch location in graphical form.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://brooksbaseball.net/pfx/numlocation.php?xml=http://gd2.mlb.com/components/game/mlb/year_2009/month_09/day_16/gid_2009_09_16_anamlb_bosmlb_1//pbp/pitchers/150118.xml&amp;batterX=090916_231149&amp;innings=yyyyyyyyy&amp;s_type=3&amp;sp_type=1&amp;h_size=700&amp;v_size=500"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 700px; height: 500px;" src="http://brooksbaseball.net/pfx/numlocation.php?xml=http://gd2.mlb.com/components/game/mlb/year_2009/month_09/day_16/gid_2009_09_16_anamlb_bosmlb_1//pbp/pitchers/150118.xml&amp;batterX=090916_231149&amp;innings=yyyyyyyyy&amp;s_type=3&amp;sp_type=1&amp;h_size=700&amp;v_size=500" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The black box, as you might have guessed, is the strike zone. That green square inside the strike zone with the nine next to it is the pitch everyone's talking about. As you can see, it's about four or five inches above the lower frame. It was a strike. Rick Reed blew the call.<br /><br />Was this fair? As long as fallible humans are fully responsible and authorized to call balls and strikes, it is. But does it have to be that way?<br /><br />Last week, supersharp Tommy Bennett over at <a href="http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/">Beyond The Boxscore</a> <a href="http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2009/7/8/942170/the-case-for-human-umpires">defended the use of human umpires</a> citing their entertainment value that we often take for granted. No over-the-top strike calls. No ejections. That would mean Lou Piniella would just be another manager. Don't worry this isn't your typical "my great-grandfather Ole Pap Shornbuckle played with umpires and God forbid I lose that ancestral connection!" argument. It's a great discussion.<br /><br />My only disagreement with Bennett's argument is the premise that we must select either a) computers or b) human umpires. There should be third choice: c) human umpires with limited computer challenges at the manager's request.<br /><br />This isn't a preposterous idea. Tennis does it. The NFL does it. We can all agree that their challenge systems are a success despite some fears that it would ruin the game.<br /><br />Give each manager two (or however you see fit) challenges to argue a ball/strike. Scioscia tosses out his red flag from the dugout, the challenge is made, and everyone turns to scoreboard for a replay not unlike what they do for tennis. Either the Pitch F/X replay exonerates the umpire or kicks him in the ass to do a better job.<br /><br />One problem. Unlike tennis, baseball's strike zone isn't clearly outlined with a stripe. The abstractness of a strike zone could make the computer's zone seem too arbitrary for a fan's taste but it's certainly more defined than the umpire's strike criteria.<br /><br />I see option (c) as a necessary compromise between the two ends of the fairness and entertainment spectrum. This isn't the 19th century anymore. The only real reason Ole Pap Shornbuckle's commish didn't do it this way is because he didn't have the technological means. Now we do. Welcome to the 21st century.<br /><br />Cue Leslie Nielsen.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/x-S-eeInJVk&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/x-S-eeInJVk&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/j82GwtwcdPc&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/j82GwtwcdPc&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-5544639576819512859?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-16085566714931861542009-09-16T17:11:00.001-04:002009-09-16T17:57:17.913-04:00Correct me if I'm wrong but there are sixteen NFL games in the regular season, right? OK. So why do I keep hearing "This is a Must-Win Game for (insert desperate team here)" in Week 2?<br /><br />A team's fate isn't sealed after two games. If they were then last year the Chargers, Vikings and Dolphins would not have made the playoffs after beginning the season 0-2. And Broncos and Billls would be Super Bowl favorites. We don't know anything that early. Remember Mine That Bird?<br /><br />I'm not saying ESPN's NFL Power Rankings are an oracle or a beacon of truth but after Week 2 last year, they had the Miami Dolphins ranked 30th in the NFL. They went 11-3 the rest of the way. At the same juncture, they ranked the Dallas Cowboys number one. They missed the playoffs.<br /><br />We don't know anything, yet. Enjoy the games, just don't place too much importance on the first two.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-1608556671493186154?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-6681748657480498812009-09-15T13:49:00.008-04:002009-09-15T15:28:34.308-04:00It's been a rough season for the Chicago Cubs.<br /><br />Although they're are six games above .500, expectations heading into the season were much, much higher.<br /><br />Take it from the so-called experts. All but one of Sports Illustrated's thirteen MLB experts picked the Cubs to don the NL Central crown (the one being the Great Joe Posnanski) and five believed they'd end the curse and win the World Series. Over at ESPN, seventeen of their twenty MLB experts agreed with SI for divisional superiority and three selected them to win the last game of the year.<br /><br />Interested in placing the blame on a single Cub? Look no further than Alfonso Soriano who just announced <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=4469986">he's calling it quits</a>. With season-ending knee surgery, the left fielder completes year three of an eight year, $136 million contract where he earned $16 million and hit .241/.303/.423. Uncharacteristically, he wasn't even an asset on the basepaths (only nine steals) and according to the advanced fielding metric UZR, he was just about <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=lf&amp;stats=fld&amp;lg=all&amp;qual=y&amp;type=0&amp;season=2009&amp;month=0">the worst left fielder in the game</a>.<br /><br />$16 million for a bad hitter, bad fielder, and marginal baserunner... add it all up and I was sure he was a shoe-in as the most overpaid player of 2009.<br /><br />But is he? I was curious to find out so I busted out FanGraphs' value system that converts Wins Above Replacement (WAR) into dollar amounts where we can see player contributions in $ form. <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&amp;stats=bat&amp;lg=all&amp;qual=n&amp;type=6&amp;season=2009&amp;month=0">Nifty, huh?</a>. With salary figures on hand in a database, it's a simple calculation.<br /><br />Here are the most overpaid players of the year.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Sq_jB36lEfI/AAAAAAAAAeY/sOd5eyD9tiI/s1600-h/WAR.bmp"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 147px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Sq_jB36lEfI/AAAAAAAAAeY/sOd5eyD9tiI/s400/WAR.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381769701060055538" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The only conclusion I see: knowing his impending fate as baseball's most overpaid player, Soriano took matter into his own hands and opted for season-ending knee surgery.<br /><br />Something tells me Jose Guillen calls Mike Scioscia everyday to make sure he penciled Gary Matthews Jr in the lineup. For now the honor is all Guillen's.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-668174865748049881?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-60723595658615845342009-09-12T12:01:00.004-04:002009-09-12T16:43:56.171-04:00I moved to Hartford, CT area in July 2008. Young Tommy Haberstroh couldn't have predicted that.<br /><br />I grew up in a lovely pretentious town called Westport which is an hour's drive away so I had heard some things about the capital city. Such as: it sucks. It is also the location where most Fairfield County teens smoke their first joint as Dave Matthews Band <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/10/nyregion/officials-in-hartford-defend-use-of-riot-police-in-melee.html">performs there</a> every year at an oddly-named outdoor venue called "The Meadows" which by the way is a large hill. For those who I grew up with, it is the city you pass on the way to Boston. For the Mallrats fans among us, it's known as <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0LAyonG6iU">The Whale</a>. And some insurance companies, like Aetna and yes, The Hartford, are based there.<br /><br />And that's pretty much all I could tell you about Hartford. There's so much I didn't know like for instance, the All Traffic Must Stop For Pedestrians Crossing an Intersection rule. Yes, all traffic at an intersection must stop for the pedestrian - not just the perpendicular traffic but also the parallel traffic. I hadn't seen this before.<br /><br />Now thanks to this rule, when all cars are motionless at stop light I glance around in a nervous panic trying to locate the ambitious pedestrian standing at the corner by the Walk/Don't Walk lamp post. You know, the one with the fun button that we as children couldn't resist to press. Anyway, sure enough, there's a person waiting to cross the street.<br /><br />Here's how it typically goes down: every car gets the red light, the lamp post repeatedly blasts a loud beeping noise for three minutes long just in case the person is <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109190/">a crawling toddler</a>, the pedestrian struts on their runway of power DIAGONALLY across the intersection, and every driver promptly receives an unhealthy injection of road rage. It's the all-time slowest game of Red Light Green Light.<br /><br />Since when did the walking with the direction of traffic become obsolete? Why should hundreds (dozens) of people sacrifice three of their precious minutes for the sake of one walker? It's unfair, I tell you. Maybe it's the Westport in me.<br /><br />Which (finally) brings me to Zack Greinke, he of the 2.19 ERA. The always funny, never wrong @KenTremendous tweeted earlier today, "<span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">Greinke probably won't win an award for being the best pitcher because his team can't hit. Is that fair in any way, shape, or form?"</span></span> No, it's not fair and I couldn't have said it better myself... in less than 140 characters.<br /><br />In its purest sense, the Cy Young Award should be treated differently than the MVP award because the "V" part of the latter warrants some tricky subjectivity that analysts love to waste time arguing the definition of "value". The Cy Young Award, on the other hand, is given to the league's best pitcher of the year. That's it.<br /><br />Unfortunately, sportswriters aren't very good at evaluating the best pitcher of the year. Why? They're addicted to the win-juice. In the spirit of Ken Tremendous, I'll refer to <a href="http://www.firejoemorgan.com/2005/04/glossary-of-terms.html">FJM's glossary </a>for a definition of what a "win" is:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wins</span><br />1. The only stat that matters. The only way to pick a Cy Young winner. The thing Billy Beane can't get in the playoffs, no matter how many fancy computers he hires to play baseball for him.<br />2. A simply awful pitching statistic that should be swallowed up by the earth itself, personified, given ears, and forced to listen to a tape loop of Bermanisms for all of eternity. The reason being – and again, you know this, intuitively, even if you have never quite expressed it to yourself – if Carl Pavano gives up nineteen runs in five innings but the Yankees score 20 runs, and they hold on to win, and Pavano gets the win, is Pavano a good pitcher? No he is not. (This scenario is assuming he ever comes back and actually pitches, btw.) If Francisco Liriano throws 9 innings of no-hit ball, but gives up a run on four consecutive errors by Terry Tiffey and gets a loss, is Francisco Liriano a bad pitcher? No he is not. Wins stink to high heaven as a way to value pitchers because they are in very large part dependent on the actions of the other guys on the team.<br /><br />Of course, according to Joe Morgan, "Wins and losses are how you measure pitchers" (<span style="font-style: italic;">Baseball For Dummies</span>, p. 289).</blockquote>Zack Greinke is clearly the best pitcher in the game but he has just 13 wins to his name with about 21 games to play. Since he pitches for the worst team in the league, he will likely end up with 14, maybe 15 wins on the season. How many AL starters have won the Cy Young with less than 16 wins? Zero. It matters to voters. But in the case of the great Zack Greinke (and any case really), it shouldn't.<br /><br />A pitcher can't record a win if his teammates don't score a run. For the Royals, this happens a lot. It's downright crazy that the best pitcher in the league has <span style="font-style: italic;">the </span>worst run support in the league. Fact: on average, the Royals score 3.5 runs per Greinke start, fewest among qualified AL starters. For perspective, the Angels score on average 6.5 runs per Joe Saunders start, most among qualified AL starters.<br /><br />Joe Saunders, 13-7, 4.81 ERA.<br />Zack Greinke, 13-8, 2.19 ERA.<br /><br />This is why the win statistic as a measurement of pitching value sucks. A guy having a terrible year who pitches for a good team has a better record than a guy who is having one of the best seasons of all time on a bad team. You know how many pitchers have had at least a 200 ERA+? 21 including Cy Young himself. Mr. Greinke has a 200 ERA+ as we speak. Here's a Poz comparison for you:<br /><br />2003 Pedro Martinez, 29 starts, 186.2 IP, 14-4, 2.21 FIP, 210 ERA+, 206 K, 42 BB<br />2009 Zack Greinke, 29 starts, 205.1 IP, 13-8, 2.33 FIP, 200 ERA+, 216 K, 47 BB<br /><br />Pedro finished third that year in the Cy Young with zero first place votes. Let's hope Greinke doesn't share the same fate this year. It's only fair.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-6072359565861584534?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-51810491760555236302008-07-17T20:11:00.010-04:002008-07-17T20:26:04.935-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/16/2008_MLB_All-Star_Game_Logo.svg/502px-2008_MLB_All-Star_Game_Logo.svg.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/16/2008_MLB_All-Star_Game_Logo.svg/502px-2008_MLB_All-Star_Game_Logo.svg.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Here are the baseball stories that you won’t find on the sports media headlines because… well probably because Ted Thompson, Brett Favre, and Aaron Rodgers aren’t involved. <br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="">The A’s Can Catch the Angels</b></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b>Many people point to the Harden trade as a signal that Billy Beane has thrown in the towel for the 2008 season.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I see it differently. So should you.<span style=""><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> Beane astutely understood that Rich Harden’s market value reached its peak after a blistering first half.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>Over 13 starts, he had a 2.34 ERA and struck out 92 batters in 77 innings.<span style=""> </span>For comparison, Harden had made 13 starts combined during the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Injuries were the only thing holding Harden from becoming a Top-10 starter in baseball. The A’s brass must have been anticipating this moment to deal for years.<br /><span style=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Much like he unloaded Mark Mulder for Danny Haren, Kiko Calero, and Daric Barton in the winter of 2004, Billy Beane received a package of prospects for the long haul.<span style=""> </span>Consider Sean Gallagher the Danny Haren of this bundle.<span style=""> </span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> Just 22 years old, Gallagher sports an impressive 4.25 ERA in his debut season. Looking back at Danny Haren’s first season in the majors, we see that he had a 5.08 ERA in 72 2/3 innings when he was just 22 years old.<span style=""> </span>We all know how he turned out.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> Another piece of the Harden trade, Matt Murton has already proved he can hit in the bigs despite falling out of the Cubs good graces.<span style=""> </span>Murton’s career .810 OPS should serve well in left-field and he will push Jack Cust to designated hitter where he belongs.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">It will be a tough road to the playoffs as he A’s find themselves 6 games back behind the Angels and 6.5 games back in the Wild Card.<span style=""> </span>However, the A’s have a lot to be excited about.<span style=""> </span><br />The A’s have allowed the fewest runs in the majors and 31 fewer than the next best team.<span style=""> </span>So if they had a surplus of anything, it was quality pitching. <span style=""> </span>Their huge run differential (+65) and their Pythagorean W-L record indicates that the A’s should be four games better rather than 51-44.<span style=""> </span>The Angels on the other hand have played way over their heads, with a Pythagorean W-L of 50-45 and have a run differential of just +21.<span style=""> </span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> Chalk it up to a spell of unluckiness that the A’s aren’t ahead of the Angels right now. <span style=""> </span>Don’t be surprised if they switch spots in the near future. I know Billy won’t be.<b style=""><br /></b></p><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="">Not a Dominant Team in Baseball</b><br /></div> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> If you listened to <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state> sports radio for a few minutes these days, you’d probably think that the Mets are on pace to win 115 games and the Yankees were destined to be delegated to the Independent League.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style=""> N</span>ot so.<span style=""> </span>In fact, the Mets are merely one game ahead of the Yankees and faring no better than the Brewers or the A’s.<br /><span style=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">There’s no parity in baseball you say?<span style=""> </span>The Yankees have the same record as the Marlins who have spent less on their roster than the Yankees have on Giambi this year.<span style=""> </span>The second highest payroll belongs to the Mets and they have a worse record than the second lowest spending team, the Tampa Bay Rays.<span style=""><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> No team in baseball is projected to win 100 games this year and the NL West’s division leader isn’t above .500. Not only that, in 5 out of the 6 divisions, the lead is less than two games.<br /><span style=""> </span>The tight competition should make teams yearn for four Wild Card spots in October.<span style=""> </span>And as we all know, there’s only ONE OCTOBER!<br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="">Derek Jeter Is Having His Worst Season<o:p></o:p></b><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> Hank Steinbrenner’s mouth has started several controversies this year but let me mention something he probably refuses to admit:<span style=""> </span>Jeter has been mediocre this season.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> Why hasn't anyone brought up the fact that a player who makes $21.6 million this year has a worse OPS than Ryan Theriot? <span style=""> </span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> Derek Jeter is batting .284 /.345/.395 (or a .740 OPS) while the league average is .745. He’s never batted below .290 in a season.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> It’s his worst hitting first-half performance since he sported a .730 OPS in the first half of the 1996 season, his first full season in the majors.<span style=""> </span>To make matters worse, fellow <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state> shortstop Jose Reyes is posting better numbers across the board than “Jetes”. <span style=""> </span>Don’t think Jeter’s contributions can be measured solely by his bat? Well, Eric Hinske’s six stolen bases thwarts Derek Jeter’s total.<span style=""> </span>Yes, Eric Hinske.<span style=""><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> For all the troubles the 3^rd place Yankees have had this season, you’d think that Jeter’s ineptitude would be talked about more often.<br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="">Jeter’s Not Alone</b><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on"></st1:place></st1:state></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">AL</st1:place></st1:state> shortstops have been absolutely terrible this year. Sure, Miguel Tejada, Nomar Garciaparra and Alex Rodriguez are no longer star shortstops in the American League anymore but their replacements are pathetic.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> Consider these factoids.<span style=""> </span>All-Star Michael Young is the only <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">AL</st1:place></st1:state> regular shortstop with a batting average higher than .285.<span style=""> </span>The five regular shortstops in the AL East have a combined 13 HRs or the same as JJ Hardy of the Milwaukee Brewers. Freddie Bynum and Tony Pena Jr have amassed 293 at bats this season.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that teams continue to allow Freddie Bynum and Tony Pena Jr to step into the batters box.<span style=""> </span>I’m serious. I’ve thought about this for a long time.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><st1:place st="on"><st1:state st="on"><b style="">AL</b></st1:state></st1:place><b style=""> Shortstops Are Not Alone<o:p></o:p></b><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"> The American League may have snagged their 12^th straight All-Star game victory but they should feel very lucky.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in; text-align: left;"> American League hitting as a whole hasn’t been this bad in about 15 years.<span style=""> </span>Runs, hits and homerun rates are all much lower than they have been.<span style=""> </span><st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">AL</st1:place></st1:state> teams haven’t hit this bad (9.1 hits per game) since 1992 when they compiled a paltry 8.9 H/G.<span style=""> </span>They also haven’t had this low of a home run rate (0.96) since 1993 when <st1:place st="on"><st1:state st="on">AL</st1:state></st1:place> teams hit 0.92 home runs a game.<br /></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; text-align: left;"> Is better pitching to blame?<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; text-align: center;"><b style="">New Era of Elite Starting Pitchers<o:p></o:p></b><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Even though the All-Star game is not the best measuring stick for the best players in the game, it does serve as a barometer of who the fans, coaches, and players feel deserves a spot. <span style=""> </span>This All-Star game may be the sign of younger things to come. <span style=""> </span>For the first time, the names John Smoltz, Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, and Curt Schilling were not on the roll for the All-Star game-- ironic, given the Hall of Fame ceremony before the game. <span style=""> </span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> Just to illustrate how young the starters elected to the All-Star game, none of the Top 20 active wins leaders were in this All Star game and only Roy Halladay and Carlos Zambrano are listed in the Top 50.<br /></p> <div style="text-align: center;"><b style="">The Infamous Omar Minaya Trade</b></div><br /> Just before the All-Star break in 2002, the Montreal Expos found themselves in the middle of the NL Wild-Card race.<span style=""> </span>Knowing that it may be the last time they might have the chance to make the play-offs, then-GM Omar Minaya executed a steal of a trade with the Cleveland Indians. <span style=""> </span>Minaya sent a few minor league prospects along with Lee Stevens for one of the games top pitchers, Bartolo Colon.<p class="MsoNormal"> And by steal, I mean for Indians GM Mark Shapiro. The Expos finished a game out of the Wild-Card that year.<span style=""> </span>Oh and those prospects were Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee and Brandon Phillips.</p> <p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><b style="">The Upton Brothers Are Actually Identical Twins<o:p></o:p></b><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"> You might not find this as cool as I do but here you go anyway. BJ Upton’s OPS is .787. His younger brother Justin has a .786 OPS.<span style=""> </span>Maybe Justin hasn’t developed his old man strength yet?</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-5181049176055523630?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-52300744960165757792008-06-22T21:16:00.004-04:002008-06-22T22:18:01.766-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.homeruncards.com/imagesrc/griffeytt.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.homeruncards.com/imagesrc/griffeytt.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The MLB draft receives substantially less attention than any of the four major sports. It's understandable why since baseball draftees have a much longer road to the big stage and less publicity coming out of high school and college. However, the crop of #1 picks in baseball are undoubtedly more successful than the NFL and NBA.<br /><br />Here's baseball's top resume:<br /><ul><li>2001 #1 pick Joe Mauer leads the AL in batting average .335.</li><li>2000 #1 pick Adrian Gonzalez leads the NL in RBI and stands tied for third in the NL with 20 home runs.</li><li>1999 #1 pick Josh Hamilton leads the AL in HR and RBIs while ranking 5th in OPS and 7th in batting average</li><li>1998 #1 pick Pat Burrell is second in the NL in walks, fifth in OPS and seventh in home runs.</li><li>1993 #1 pick Alex Rodriguez is runner-up for the AL batting title and third in OPS.<br /></li><li>1990 #1 pick Chipper Jones leads the NL in hitting and OBP and second in OPS.<br /></li><li>1987 #1 pick Ken Griffey Jr hit his 600th home run earlier this year and leads all active players in career home runs.</li></ul>Oh, and 2005 #1 pick Justin Upton is third in the NL in strikeouts. The NBA has Allen Iverson and Lebron, the NFL has Peyton and Eli but these #1's are out of their league. Are top picks in baseball simply more likely to be sure-fire stars than football and basketball?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-5230074496016575779?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-38159060912665614312008-06-19T17:02:00.011-04:002008-06-19T18:57:51.462-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://mlb.mlb.com/images/2005/04/27/NWF84BNP.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://mlb.mlb.com/images/2005/04/27/NWF84BNP.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The Milwaukee Brewers are absolutely mashing the ball. No team has hit more home runs in the month of June than the Brewers who have also posted the third best ERA in the National League over the same time span. The Brewers are 11-5 this month while picking up two and half games on the second place St Louis Cardinals and a game on the Chicago Cubs who lead the NL Central. They may be 6 games out now but they're quietly making themselves a run.<br /><br />Calling up Russell Branyan from the minors has given them a huge boost. His power has never been questioned as his career home run rate is one dinger every 14.7 at bats. It's just that he doesn't do much else. He was called up on May 25 and already he has more home runs than Matt Holliday, Bobby Abreu, Torii Hunter, and Ken Griffey Jr. Unbelievably, 10 of his 19 hits this year are home runs. Moreover, of his last 6 home runs, the dinger was his only hit in the game. This guy just loves hitting home runs. Who needs Bill Hall?<br /><br />Hitting in the clean up spot, Prince Fielder has had some serious dependency issues. Of Fielder's last 8 home runs, 6 of them have come in games that Ryan Braun or Russell Branyan have also homered. It could be that they're all hot at the same time. It also could be that he's lonely.<br /><br />The Brewers couldn't have a picked a better time to get rolling. The Cubs are without Alfonso Soriano and could be losing ace Carlos Zambrano to arm trouble. Zambrano came out of his last start complaining of shoulder soreness and got an MRI today. No word yet on his status but the Cubs figure to be cautious with their ace. It's only a matter of time before Kerry Wood visits Dr. James Andrews.<br /><br />Just two games ahead of the Brewers, the Cardinals are suffering too. Albert Pujols and Anthony Reyes sit on the disabled list while starter Todd Wellemeyer is taking the week off with elbow trouble. Not only that, starting catcher Yadier Molina has been kept out of the lineup because of a concussion he suffered on Monday that booked him an overnight stay at the hospital. Also, 2006 Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter hit a bump in his recovery from Tommy John surgery and won't be ready to return until at least September.<br /><br />With the Cubs and Cardinals hampered with injuries, the Brewers may very well find themselves near the top of the division soon.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-3815906091266561431?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-58087707375467512052008-06-18T18:47:00.006-04:002008-06-18T21:22:23.696-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bagwelljeff5.mlblogs.com/the_downlow/images/sidney_ponson_1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://bagwelljeff5.mlblogs.com/the_downlow/images/sidney_ponson_1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I guess the Yankees needed an answer to the Red Sox signing of Bartolo Colon.<br /><br />The rotund Sidney Ponson has rejoined the Yankees after he was released by the Rangers just two days ago. I really thought that Yankees were a well-run franchise but this is really pushing it. There are only two plausible explanations for inking him to a deal: he has a respectable 3.88 ERA in 9 starts and he has averaged over 6 innings per start. But that's about it.<br /><br />But lets look a little closer. He's really a hitter's dream as he has posted WHIP's of 1.46, 1.88, 1.69, 1.73, and 1.55 the last five seasons. He has the 7th worst strikeout rate in the majors among starters with at least 40 innings pitched. It's not like he's pitched against formidable teams either. The best offense he's faced is the Minnesota Twins who are 14th in the majors in runs per game. Every other offense is average at best (OAK, TB, CLE, HOU, SEA and KC).<br /><br />Moreover, the Yankees couldn't possibly think that his 2006 stint in the Bronx instilled any confidence that he's still a serviceable major league pitcher. In three starts, he allowed 16 runs and 24 base runners in 12 innings. After the third start, the Yankees released him-- for good reason.<br /><br />The best part is that the Rangers released Ponson for disciplinary reasons. It had nothing to do with his on-field performance. I really can't see why the Yankees actually want this guy in their rotation.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-5808770737546751205?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-24174116421833444862008-06-17T21:30:00.006-04:002008-06-17T21:53:39.364-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://thenastyboys.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/baker1109.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://thenastyboys.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/baker1109.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />If, for some terribly unfortunate reason, my GM signed Corey Patterson to play for my team, I wouldn't start him. Maybe an occasional pinch-run but that's about it. He's just a bad hitter. Of players with at least 150 plate appearances this season, Corey Patterson has the <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:100%;">worst</span></span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> </span>on-base percentage in the league (emphasis very much mine).<br /><br />So, what does Cincinnati Reds Manager Dusty Baker do with him?<br /><br />Bat him lead-off.<br /><br />Mind you, he's batting in front of guys like Jay Bruce, Brandon Phillips, Adam Dunn, and Ken Griffey Jr. Mind you, he's gotten on base 30 times in 131 plate appearances out of the lead-off position. Mind you, he's failed to get on base 77% of the time for them. Mind you, that's terrible.<br /><br />I'm pointing to my head and pointing to you, Dusty. Mind. You.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-2417411642183344486?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-24347213388848622092008-06-17T18:56:00.006-04:002008-06-18T10:13:22.153-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080617/capt.7109cee2258d4804bed2eb1b8ad1ef4b.marlins_mariners_baseball_wajf105.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 307px; height: 242px;" src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080617/capt.7109cee2258d4804bed2eb1b8ad1ef4b.marlins_mariners_baseball_wajf105.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Who needs $200 million anyway?<br /><br />As I write this, the three lowest payroll teams in baseball (Marlins, Rays, and A's) have a better record than the top three payrolls (Yankees, Mets, and Tigers).<br /><br />The Marlins continue to exceed expectations. They're three games back in the NL East and six games over .500. In the off season, they unloaded Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis in effort to cut a third of their payroll to a league-low $21 million. For what its worth, the Yankees pay Alex Rodriguez $28 million this year and find themselves with a worse record than the Marlins.<br /><br />The Marlins have received huge contributions from unlikely guys like second baseman Dan Uggla (156 OPS+), third baseman Jorge Cantu (121 OPS+), and outfielder Cody Ross (.503 SLG). Neither of those three are making more than $500,000 this year. Cantu has replaced Cabrera at third and has hit more home runs and had a higher OPS than his predecessor so far this season. You didn't need me to tell you that he's making a fraction of what Cabrera makes.<br /><br />And what about Andrew Miller? The 23-year old has a 2.77 ERA in his last 9 starts and has been one of the best NL starting pitchers in the months of May and June. And... you didn't need me to tell you that he makes a fraction of what Dontrelle Willis makes.<br /><br />Once again, the Marlins seem to time the right moment to sell-high on their big players and find cheap, young players to fill in. I commented on Rich Lederer's recent column over at The Baseball Analysts and pointed out the 'Top 3/Bottom 3' phenomenon. Rich responded with "just as practice doesn't make perfect...perfect practice makes perfect, spending does not equal success...only wise spending equals success." I totally agree.<br /><br />Now, lets just see if this can hold up throughout the rest of the season.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-2434721338884862209?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-88940272817274001212008-06-12T11:58:00.007-04:002008-06-12T16:36:39.207-04:00Every year, my oldest brother, my father and I play in the same fantasy baseball league. It's a nice tradition that is littered with trash talking, desperate complaints, and sarcastic remarks about our teams. Somehow, the fourth round in our draft this year was filled with players who are having extremely disappointing seasons so far. Justin Verlander. Eric Byrnes. Troy Tulowitzki. Travis Hafner. Derek Jeter.<br /><br />But perhaps the most disappointing of the whole bunch is Victor Martinez, who my brother selected with his 4th pick. He recently sent me this message: "<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: rgb(15, 5, 149);font-family:Arial;font-size:12;" ></span><span lang="en">btw - all ur complaining about ur team and u dont have this issue</span><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: rgb(15, 5, 149);font-family:Arial;font-size:12;" >... </span><span lang="en">victor martinez."<br /><br />It's true, I do complain a lot about my team-- I'm the guy who drafted Verlander and traded for Hafner. But my brother raises a good point.<br /><br />As a catcher last year, Victor Martinez hit 25 home runs, 114 RBI and finished 7th in the MVP voting. He's one of the few catchers that typically posts big power numbers as he's hit 84 home runs the past 4 seasons. Everyone going into this year was high on the Cleveland catcher. His average draft pick this year was 35.1 and my brother drafted him 37th. A safe pick, really.<br /><br />Well, Victor Martinez has yet to hit a home run this season. This is the same guy who hit those 25 dingers last year, only the 6th catcher to do so since 2000. He's played in 54 games this year and with 198 at bats, he still hasn't figured out a way to send the ball over the fence.<br /><br />Since 2000, 143 players have taken more than 54 games to hit their first home run of the season. Only one of them had hit at least 25 home runs in the previous season and that guy just got fired by the Yankees-- Morgan Ensberg. In 2003, Morgan Ensberg hit exactly 25 home runs for the Houston Astros. In the following season, it took him 65 games and 205 at bats before he hit a home run. He finished with 10 home runs.<br /><br />But what's most painful for my brother is that Victor is a catcher. To find a consistent power-hitting catcher (remember Mike Piazza and the old Ivan Rodriguez?) is extremely rare and worthy an early pick in fantasy baseball. But no power-hitting catcher has had this rough of a start in modern history. The last time someone was even close was in 1990 when Pat Borders hit 15 home runs and then played 50 games behind the plate in 1991 before he hit his first round-tripper. But that was just a 15 home run campaign.<br /><br /></span><span lang="en">For my brother, I guess it's good to know that SOMEONE has had this bad of a drought before except I doubt Morgan Ensberg was a top-40 fantasy pick in 2004. But... I can't say much since I'm currently ranked five spots behind him in the league standings.<br /><br />Touche.<br /></span><span lang="en"><br />--UPDATE--<br /><br />Victor Martinez was just placed on the 15-day DL.<br /><br />From <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.rotoworld.com">Rotoworld</a>:<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;"> Indians placed C Victor Martinez on the 15-day disabled list. Martinez is dealing with inflammation in his right elbow. Indians manager Eric Wedge has revealed that he has been dealing with the troublesome elbow all season, which could help explain the power outage. It's unknown just how serious the injury is, but the Indians team page suggests that surgery is an option. We'll update as we know more.<br /><br /></span>Hey Rotoworld, next time you use the term "power outage" referring to Victor Martinez, you have to cite my title!<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-8894027281727400121?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-45684766043759392762008-05-16T17:18:00.003-04:002008-05-16T18:12:38.613-04:00After Octavio Dotel was traded to the Braves in late July last year, some wondered if the 23-year old rookie Joakim Soria could shoulder the load as the Royals closer. Soria flourished in the closer role; he converted 7 out of 8 save opportunities, sported a 2.55 ERA, and had a blistering 24/4 K/BB ratio in 24.2 innings. Batters hit just .174 off of him and he only let up 6 extra base hits. How could he top that?<br /><br />Answer: by having a 0.00 ERA in 17 appearances this year. This is the best start any reliever has ever had in a Royals uniform. He's given up only 4 hits in 16.2 innings which equates to a .075 batting average. He let up a double to the first batter he faced this season. Since then, he's faced 56 batters and only two were privileged to reach second. No one has touched third base or home plate while Soria was on the mound. He has the lowest WHIP (0.31) in the league and the best K/BB rate among closers. The list goes on and on.<br /><br />He's just 24 but it would be hard to argue that he isn't the best closer in the game right now. Soria, Billy Wagner, and BJ Ryan are the only relievers to not let up an earned run in at least 10 innings. Wagner has allowed three more baserunners than Soria in less work while Ryan has allowed twice as many as Soria.<br /><br />Oh, and Octavio Dotel has a 1.442 WHIP this year.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-4568476604375939276?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-25810987332466572742008-04-23T13:39:00.012-04:002008-04-23T15:49:30.449-04:00<div style="text-align: justify;">Earlier today, my brother said to me, "Look at Rickie Weeks, he has more runs than hits! When was the last time someone this far into the season had more runs than hits?"<br /><br />I didn't have to go back at all to find the answer. This year, Jacoby Ellsbury has 19 runs and only 16 hits. Interestingly enough, teammate Dustin Pedroia has the second most hits in the league (32) yet he only has 13 runs. The two guys who hit in front of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz have very different scoring ratios. How weird is that?<br /><br />Speed, outs circumstance, and batting trends of the following batters are some of the variables that can cause the wide discrepancy. Additionally, there has only been about 20 games this season these samples are relatively small.<br /><br />Nonetheless, it is still fun to analyze. To see who scores at the highest/lowest rate every time they get on base (which I called the Run Ratio), I chose to include the top 80 players in OBP that have at least 50 plate appearances so far this season. These guys would have more to complain about than those who do not get on-base well.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SA-AqQfhqvI/AAAAAAAAAGE/hXoxEcd48zg/s1600-h/Most+Frustrated.bmp"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SA-AqQfhqvI/AAAAAAAAAGE/hXoxEcd48zg/s400/Most+Frustrated.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5192510358851529458" border="0" /></a>Poor Brian Schneider. He doesn't have any extra base hits yet so he doesn't have too much to gripe about. Still, he's only touched the plate once this year in the 23 times he's gotten to first. And, THEN, he has to sprint to throw on the catcher's pads for the next inning. You gotta feel for the guy.<br /><br />The biggest surprise when I ran the study was that Chone Figgins finds himself 12th on this list. He's lead off every game for the Angels this year and has a .469 OBP. The slumps of #3 hitter Gary Matthews Jr and #5 hitter Garret Anderson have a lot to do with it. Chone is 7 for 10 on the basepaths and the only one in the top 15 that has more than one stolen base. Speed truly does not belong on this list and neither does a leadoff hitter. Figgins is both! Figgin' Gary Matthews...<br /><br />For what it's worth, Dustin Pedroia ranks 27th on this list and has the worst Run Rate of any eligible second baseman.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SA-EVwfhqxI/AAAAAAAAAGU/95ZEfBwQ-_4/s1600-h/Most+Satisfied.bmp"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SA-EVwfhqxI/AAAAAAAAAGU/95ZEfBwQ-_4/s400/Most+Satisfied.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5192514404710722322" border="0" /></a>The Mets and Cardinals are the only teams that have players on both lists. Ryan Church bats either 2nd, 6th, and 7th whereas Schneider has only bat in front of the pitcher and Jose Reyes. Ludwick, Glaus and Rick Ankiel rotate in and out of the 4th and 5th spots in the line up so Glaus' lack of speed could be a huge factor.<br /><br />And there's Jacoby at the top of the list. I wouldn't call him lucky since he's so fast. I doubt Jacoby can keep this rate up but he has as good of a chance as any with his speed, place in the lineup, and on-base skills. It's more fun to think that he's just that much faster than Pedroia.<br /><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-2581098733246657274?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-5973094455520700742008-04-22T22:49:00.006-04:002008-04-22T23:10:04.022-04:00As John Smoltz records his 3,000th strikeout, let's take a look at the list of active pitchers under 30-years old with the most strikeouts in their career.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SA6moQfhqtI/AAAAAAAAAF0/Xx7tTOcP0Jo/s1600-h/K%27s.bmp"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SA6moQfhqtI/AAAAAAAAAF0/Xx7tTOcP0Jo/s320/K%27s.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5192270630956935890" border="0" /></a>Of the six active pitchers in the 3,000K club, Pedro is the only one who is not over 40-years old. Santana's 162-game average is about 220 strikeouts so he'll need to continue at this rate for at least seven more seasons through the age of 36. The pitchers on this list will likely need to pitch to about 40-years old in order to accomplish the 3KK.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-597309445552070074?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-2398057393929773102008-04-22T19:20:00.015-04:002008-04-23T11:27:47.174-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2007/baseball/mlb/05/07/bp.ufd.fifth/t1_hanleyramirez.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2007/baseball/mlb/05/07/bp.ufd.fifth/t1_hanleyramirez.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The Marlins are the youngest team in baseball and they're the cheapest team in baseball. Five of the six pitchers who've started a game have yet to celebrate their 26th birthday. Four of the those starters are making about the league minimum. 12 of their 14 position players make less than a million dollars. In Saturday's win over the Washington Nationals, <span style="font-style: italic;">none</span> of their starters were older than 29 years old or made more than $500,000.<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />And they lead the NL East.<br /><br />Let's go back to October of 2003. Remember when the Marlins shocked everybody and won that World Series over the Yankees? Despite having the sixth smallest payroll in the league, that team was stacked. Do the names Miguel Cabrera, Derrek Lee, Pudge Rodriguez, AJ Burnett, Josh Beckett, Brad Penny, Dontrelle Willis, Mike Lowell, Ugueth Urbina, and Juan Pierre ring a bell?<br /><br />After they carried Beckett off the field in 2003, they held a fire sale on the shores of South Beach. The Marlins management let many sign for more money elsewhere or they parlayed them into young, cheap prospects.<br /><br />Several key players this year were pieces of those trades. Most will remember that phenom Hanley Ramirez was shipped over in the trade with the Red Sox that involved Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell.<br /><br />However, few will remember that Renyel Pinto, who has a 0.69 ERA and five holds in 13 innings of relief this year, was part of the bundle in the Juan Pierre trade. He's just 25 years old, has a 3.11 ERA in 101.3 innings in his time with the Marlins, and averages just about a strikeout per inning. And his last name is Pinto.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SA6XwwfhqrI/AAAAAAAAAFk/xkMsFw_SruI/s1600-h/salaries.bmp"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SA6XwwfhqrI/AAAAAAAAAFk/xkMsFw_SruI/s320/salaries.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5192254284311407282" border="0" /></a><br />In a very controversial move, the Marlins swapped Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera for six prospects including lefty starter Andrew Miller and top prospect Cameron Maybin among others. Even though he sports a 9.68 ERA, the 23-year old Miller has struck out 18 batters in 17.2 innings this year and remains a big-time prospect. Maybin is OPSing .900 in Double-A Carolina and will be ripe for a call up later in the season. He's just 21 by the way. Also in the deal, Burke Badenhop has started two games this year and Mike Rabelo is a fairly regular catcher for the big league club.<br /><br />In Detroit, Dontrelle Willis is on the DL after just two starts while Miguel Cabrera has gotten off to a lukewarm start. Juan Pierre is fighting for playing time in Los Angeles and batting .282/.300/.333. In Boston, Mike Lowell is on the DL. Josh Beckett started the year off on the DL. So they trade Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis, Mike Lowell, Josh Beckett, and Juan Pierre and they receive several quality starting pitchers, a star shortstop, a big-league catcher, a top setup man, a top prospect, and other quality prospects to boot.<br /><br />Yeah, I'd say the Marlins are pretty frugal-- and good.<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-239805739392977310?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-39523169427560745102008-04-20T17:14:00.010-04:002008-04-20T21:45:40.624-04:00A lot of been said about the troubles of the Detroit Tigers lineup this year. Some baseball analysts even predicted they'd score 1000 runs this year. They'll need to score about 6.5 runs per game in order to do that. They're averaging just over 4 runs per game as is.<br /><br />But the real reason that they've started out 6-13 this year is the struggles of the pitching staff. They've allowed 117 runs in their first 19 games. The last time they did that was in 7 years ago when the went 66-96.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SAvwuR__SWI/AAAAAAAAAFE/KNKorxDlxPY/s1600-h/DetGames.bmp"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SAvwuR__SWI/AAAAAAAAAFE/KNKorxDlxPY/s320/DetGames.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5191507673371068770" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Nate Robertson's loss to the Blue Jays today runs up the Starters ERA to 6.10. Compared to the ERA of the bullpen (4.95), it is clear that the starting pitching needs to be much improved.<br /><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SAu9gx__SUI/AAAAAAAAAE0/TOV78lryPT4/s1600-h/detpitching.bmp"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/SAu9gx__SUI/AAAAAAAAAE0/TOV78lryPT4/s320/detpitching.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5191451366349818178" border="0" /></a><br />Dontrelle Willis will most likely need a couple of rehab starts before he rejoins the starting rotation, so you can expect Galarraga to stick in the rotation for the time being. Nate Robertson, however, has recently complained of soreness in his lat muscle and gave up 5 runs today. Don't be surprised if Robertson is put on the DL and replaced by Triple-A pitcher Virgil Vasquez. Look for Verlander and Rogers to rebound.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-3952316942756074510?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-9087257811366976262008-04-15T01:12:00.008-04:002008-04-15T09:08:51.155-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://sportsguy.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/alexgordon_sp_169_2-22-2007_jfs.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 205px; height: 246px;" src="http://sportsguy.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/alexgordon_sp_169_2-22-2007_jfs.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />33:<br /><br />The number of runs the Kansas City Royals have allowed this year in their first 13 games. This is the BEST in the AL.<br /><br />41:<br /><br />The number of runs the Kansas City Royals have scored this year in the first 13 games. This is the WORST in the AL.<br /><br />But do they have the most yawns in the AL?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-908725781136697626?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-77007854976088049152008-04-09T03:18:00.003-04:002008-04-09T09:31:52.576-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://blog.mlive.com/tigers_impact/2008/04/medium_cabrera03.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://blog.mlive.com/tigers_impact/2008/04/medium_cabrera03.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />It's getting even worse for the Detroit Tigers. They got blanked again tonight.<br /><br />Not only have they lost the first seven games of the season, they haven't even scored more than 5 runs in a game yet. The Tigers have only achieved this feat two times since the introduction of league divisions in 1969. In 2002, it took them 11 games to manage getting more than 5 home-plate touches. They finished that year with 55 wins and 39 games out of first place in the Central Division. In 1982, it took them 12 games to reach the 6 run plateau. That team actually finished two games above .500 and just twelve games back.<br /><br />Hey, at least their bats aren't as sad (re: bad) as the Giants who have a team OPS of .572. Nick Punto had a .562 OPS last year. Imagine a lineup of alternating between Jason Kendalls and Nick Puntos. That's how bad the Giants lineup is right now.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-7700785497608804915?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-71723673115126661722008-04-08T15:57:00.006-04:002008-04-08T16:37:31.337-04:00Today, Bill Simmons had <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/080408">some thoughts</a> on the NCAA Tournament Championship between Kansas and Memphis. Particularly, he had a bone to pick with those sports writers who don't want Kansas' coach Bill Self to leave for his alma mater.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Worst debate coming out of the game: Will Bill Self stay at Kansas or "sell out" and jump to Oklahoma State to become the highest-paid college coach? There's nothing funnier than when sports columnists and radio hosts -- for the most part, a group of people who will appear on any conceivable show no matter how terrible it is, as long as they're getting paid at least $50, and by the way, if you want them to spend three months ghostwriting someone's forgettable biography, they're available for that, too -- complain someone else is selling out. Give it a rest. I guarantee that if you offered any sports media member three times as much money to work somewhere else, 99.99999999-percent of the time, they'd take it. They would. So please, shut the hell up and spare us the "selling out" stories.<br /><br /></span>So, who is Bill referring to? Could it be Gene Wojciechowski, the columnist right under him on ESPN.com?<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/R_vQGI1zUJI/AAAAAAAAAEk/j7WaerJMzkk/s1600-h/simmonswojo.bmp"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/R_vQGI1zUJI/AAAAAAAAAEk/j7WaerJMzkk/s320/simmonswojo.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5186968199718195346" border="0" /></a>Wojo's <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&amp;id=3335480&amp;sportCat=ncb">take</a>:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Don't do it, Bill Self. </span><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Don't take billionaire T. Boone Pickens' money, even if it means you could walk from Lawrence, Kan., to Stillwater, Okla., on a road paved with his cash.</span></p><p>I think it would be a fun-filled debate if Bill Simmons were to invite Gene on his next BS Report.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span>You want my take?<br /></p><p>They're both underestimating the value of going back to your alma-mater and building that program. It's a challenge. In just five years, he's already overcome the challenge of winning a championship at Kansas-- something Roy Williams couldn't do in fifteen years. What else is left for him to prove there?<br /></p>Look, Bill Self is an Oklahoma guy. He was born in Oklahoma. He was raised in Oklahoma. He was Oklahoma High School Player of the Year in 1981. He played basketball at Oklahoma State. He got his bachelor's degree at Oklahoma State. He got his master's degree at Oklahoma State. He was an assistant coach at Oklahoma State. He has coached two college basketball teams in the state of Oklahoma (Oral Roberts and Tulsa).<br /><br />Oklahoma. Oklahoma. Oklahoma.<br /><br />Oh and Oklahoma State has a head coaching vacancy.<br /><br />It makes almost too much sense for Bill Self to come full-circle and become revamp his alma mater, Oklahoma State-- money aside. What if Bill Self has just been waiting all along to take over Eddie Sutton's program? What if this has nothing to do with money? He's proven all he can at Kansas. I say, let him go back home.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-7172367311512666172?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-39510070191568283852008-04-07T12:38:00.002-04:002008-04-07T12:43:44.491-04:00To those teams that have started out 3-3 this season: don't jump.<br /><br />Of the eight World Series Champions since 2000, five of them started out 3-3 and two of them started out 2-4. Only one of them (the White Sox) started out with a winning record after 6 games.<br /><br />Calling all Red Sox, Twins, A's, Nats, Yankees, Indians, Rangers, Marlins, Braves, Pirates, Cubs fans... relax. The sky's the limit.<span style="font-style: italic;"></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-3951007019156828385?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-46822937638059513592008-04-03T17:24:00.008-04:002008-04-03T18:05:15.944-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.sportsline.com/u/uspresswire/photos/20080403_mjr_sh9_029_lower.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 132px; height: 258px;" src="http://images.sportsline.com/u/uspresswire/photos/20080403_mjr_sh9_029_lower.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> To start the season, the Kansas City Royals swept the Detroit Tigers in their three game series. This is only the second time in 28 years they've opened the season with a sweep and only the fourth in their franchise history that dates back to 1969. The last time they started out 3-0 was in 2003 when they opened the season with nine straight wins. They finished that year with 83 wins.<br /><br /> What's more impressive is that they held the Tigers to just 5 runs over the three game span. In all the three-game series' between the two, the Royals kept the Tigers to five runs only twice (2002 and 1988). Of the Tigers who played that series in 2002, only one batter had ever been on an All Star team (Robert Fick 1). This season's Tigers? A combined 41 All Star appearances (Ivan Rodriguez 14, Gary Sheffield 9, Magglio Ordonez 6, Edgar Renteria 5, Miguel Cabrera 4, Carlos Guillen 2, Placido Polanco 1).<br /><br />That's a bad start to the season for the Tigers -- not to mention they now have the second highest payroll in baseball with $138,685,197 on the books.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-4682293763805951359?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-57153434018937651162008-04-02T11:27:00.008-04:002008-04-02T13:03:12.082-04:00On Opening Day this year, Jim Thome and Xavier Nady each hit 2 home runs in their teams first game. Today, Xavier Nady is the 7th most added player in ESPN Fantasy Baseball but is still unowned in 92% of leagues. The two home runs haven't provoked too many people to pick him up on their fantasy baseball team, suggesting that owners aren't confident it's a sign of things to come.<br /><br />This got me thinking:<br /><br />Of those players who hit two home runs on Opening Day, how many actually had a good season in fantasy baseball terms?<br /><br />In the past ten Opening Days, there have been 27 occurrences of a player hitting two home runs. The table below lists those who did and their final 5x5 Rotisserie fantasy baseball statistics.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/R_Oyno1zUII/AAAAAAAAAEc/IGXysNgwuCo/s1600-h/OD2HR.bmp"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/R_Oyno1zUII/AAAAAAAAAEc/IGXysNgwuCo/s400/OD2HR.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184683990081294466" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Xavier Nady has done this before. In 2005, he ended up hitting only 11 more home runs in the next 123 games after hitting two dingers in his team's first game. In 2006, he boosted his HR total to 17 and last year, he hit 20. His year-to-year power numbers have been improving so we'll have to see if it continues.<br /><br />Of the 27 instances, 9 of them produced seasons with at least 100 Runs, 12 of them produced seasons with at least 30 home runs, 12 with at least 100 RBIs, and 12 with at least .300 batting average.<br /><br />There were some memorable flops. Most recently, Chris Shelton hit 10 home runs in his first 23 games of the season but only hit 6 over his next 92 games. He eventually was sent down to the minor leagues, despite is torrid start. He hasn't played in the majors since that 2006 season.<br /><br />Bernard Gilkey was a post-Opening Day disappointment too. In the next 93 games, he only hit 6 home runs after hitting 2 in the first one. At one point, he hadn't hit a home run in 42 games.<br /><br />Overall, there were certainly more excellent seasons than bad. However, hitting two home runs on Opening Day does not guarantee that you'll be a valuable asset to a fantasy baseball team.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-5715343401893765116?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-37393861839093327462008-03-26T17:10:00.004-04:002008-03-26T17:13:35.712-04:00In Bill Simmons' <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/080326">column</a> today:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">On the bright side, they can throw out a lineup of Jamaal Magloire, Jerry Stackhouse, Juwan Howard, Jason Kidd and Eddie Jones. Ladies and gentleman, your 1999 Eastern Conference All-Stars!</span><br /><br />Jamaal Magloire was still at University of Kentucky in 1999. He was an All-Star in 2004.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-3739386183909332746?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-22616732227116119812008-02-25T15:39:00.011-05:002008-02-25T17:32:08.138-05:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://rangers.beloblog.com/archives/colon.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 183px; height: 229px;" src="http://rangers.beloblog.com/archives/colon.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a>Bartolo Colon signed a minor league contract today with the Boston Red Sox. This got me thinking:<br /><br />Who's flamed out the fastest after winning a Cy Young award?<br /><br />While pitching for the Angels, Colon won 21 games to take home the AL Cy Young award in 2005 . He has failed to receive a major league contact two seasons later. While Bartolo works on getting another season in the majors, I researched who had the earliest exit after winning the Cy Young award.<br /><br />Sandy Koufax should immediately come to mind in this discussion. The Hall of Famer finished his career with two straight Cy Young Awards before an arthritic condition sadly cut his career short following his 1966 season. After that season, the MLB decided to split up the Cy Young award into National and American Leagues.<br /><br />Since Sandy Koufax, only <span style="font-style: italic;">one </span>pitcher played less than three seasons after winning the Cy Young award. In 1980, Steve Stone, a long-time Cubs commentator, won the Cy Young after amassing a 25-7 record with the Baltimore Orioles. By 1982, he was out of the league. He retired following the 1981 offseason due to his arm troubles at the age of 33. Talk about throwing your arm out.<br /><br />So, only one player during the last 43 seasons of the NL and AL Cy Young bowed out less than three seasons after winning the award. Jack Welch, LaMarr Hoyt, Pete Vuckovich, Rollie Fingers, Denny McLain and John Denny all pitched three seasons before hanging their cleats up.<br /><br />The National League has recently seen a remarkable string of Hall of Fame pitchers win the Cy Young award. In fact, every NL Cy Young winner since <span>1991</span> is <span style="font-style: italic;">still</span> pitching in the major leagues: Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Eric Gagne, Chris Carpenter, Brandon Webb, and Jake Peavy.<br /><br />That is, if you think Chris Carpenter is still pitching in the majors. After winning the Cy Young Award alongside Bartolo Colon in 2005, he has only played one full season since. In 2007, he made one start before elbow surgery caused him to miss the entire season. He's slated <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/cardinals/story/58FD60AF5E33D59C862573F8001532E8?OpenDocument">to miss a few months</a> of the regular season before making his first start in a Cardinals uniform. This isn't the first time Carpenter has had major arm trouble; he had Tommy John surgery after his 2002 season with the Blue Jays. It is entirely possible that we have seen the last of the 2005 Cy Young Award winners. To have a Cy Young winner cut their career this short is rare. To have two Cy Young winners in the same year cut their career this short is <span style="font-style: italic;">extremely </span>rare.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-2261673222711611981?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-27894337965936993472008-02-21T16:17:00.005-05:002008-02-22T09:35:43.162-05:00Bill Simmons <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/blog/index?name=simmons&amp;entryDate=20080220">called</a> these trades to go down before the deadline:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Seattle trades Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West and Mickael Gelabale to Cleveland for Damon Jones, Donyell Marshall, my illegitimate brother Cedric Simmons and a 2008 No. 2 pick.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />Cleveland trades Drew Gooden, Shannon Brown and Ira Newble to Milwaukee for Charlie Villanueva and Bobby Simmons.</span><br /><br />In all, Simmons predicted that the Cavs would unload:<br />Drew Gooden, Donyell Marshall, Shannon Brown, Ira Newble, Cedric Simmons, Damon Jones, and a No. 2 pick.<br /><br />Today, the Cavs traded away:<br />Drew Gooden, Donyell Marshall, Shannon Brown, Ira Newble, Cedric Simmons, and Larry Hughes.<br /><br />That's pretty dead on. The only difference is that Larry Hughes was traded instead of Damon Jones and the No. 2 pick.<br /><br />Moreover, for those seven pieces, Simmons hoped the Cavs received the following 5 players:<br />Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West, Mickael Gelabale, Charlie Villanueva, and Bobby Simmons.<br /><br />Today, Cavs received:<br />Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West, Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, and a future 2nd Rd Pick.<br /><br />So, he did predict that the Cavs would receive Szczerbiak and West from the Sonics but he didn't see Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, and a 2nd Rd pick coming.<br /><br />Would you rather have Gelabale, Villanueva, and Bobby Simmons over Ben Wallace, Joe Smith and a future second round pick?<br /><br />In Gelabale, you're getting a throw-in 24 year old French forward who has promising shooting skills. In Villanueva, you're getting a young perimeter big man who's numbers have all declined since his big rookie season. His PPG has dropped from 13.0 to 11.8 to 9.7 the last three years while his rebounds have decreased 0.6 rebounds each year from 6.4 to 5.8 to 5.2. This could be a product of shortened playing time with Milwaukee but it's still not good that the 23 year old hasn't improved in the last 3 years. On the hook for close to $30 million for the next 3 years, Bobby Simmons is a 27 year old who's numbers have dropped significantly from his big year in LA a few years ago. So, all in all, you'd be getting three young question marks who have a combined 19.7 points per game this year. You'd already be getting a shooter in Szczerbiak, why 2 other players of the same size and a shooter in Charlie Newtown?<br /><br />Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, and a future 2nd round pick is a completely different package. You're getting two old veteran big man who have almost 15,000 rebounds between the two of them. Together, they'll help big time down low with defensive presence and selfless offense (both have less than 10 shots a game). And that's the most important thing in this trade. Does Lebron want a 6'11 perimeter player again after Donyell Marshall?<br /><br />Did you know Joe Smith is younger than Ben Wallace? Did you know this will be his 8th team? And he's never made it to the second round in the playoffs? Remember when he was the #1 pick in the draft? Get this guy a ring please.<br /><br />Consider this a big big win for the Cavs and a big "Huh?" for the Bulls.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-2789433796593699347?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-36024739113682105582008-02-21T10:26:00.004-05:002008-02-21T10:39:49.039-05:00Turning 42-years old later this season, New York Met Moises Alou <a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080220&amp;content_id=2381095&amp;vkey=spt2008news&amp;fext=.jsp&amp;c_id=mlb">wants</a> to continue playing despite his old age.<br /><br />"I don't know what happened to me," Alou said. "Maybe New York is the fountain of youth." Maybe. Funny how the Mitchell Report centered on many New York baseball players. Looks like he already asked Paul LoDuca and Guillermo Mota where the fountain can be found.<br /><br />He went on to say, "I hate watching baseball." Maybe this has something to do with it:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.georgehernandez.com/h/aaBlog/2003/media/10_SteveBartmanAndMoisesAlou.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.georgehernandez.com/h/aaBlog/2003/media/10_SteveBartmanAndMoisesAlou.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-3602473911368210558?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-75381526243897248212008-02-18T12:37:00.004-05:002008-02-21T10:40:33.809-05:00<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=spring_training">This quote</a> from 38-year old Arthur Rhodes scared me:<br /><blockquote></blockquote>"I was frustrated last year," Rhodes said. "I had a good spring training but I just came up hurt. I just told myself in the offseason, 'Hey, you've got a new arm now, a new elbow. Just go out there and show them you can still pitch.' "<br /><br />Sound familiar? Getting frustrated and hurt, then doing something to make your body "new" and revitalized in the tail-end of your career. The "fountain of youth" that Rhodes speaks of is Tommy John surgery-- not steroids.<br /><br />Hmm...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-7538152624389724821?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-81201789478367422252008-02-14T17:19:00.007-05:002008-02-25T13:27:07.570-05:00With Spring Training just around the corner, I thought to jump right in to analyzing some baseball statistics. A Research Methods class lecture the other day inspired me to look at the relationships between last year's wins and various hitting statistics of each team. Just for kicks, I took the correlations of wins versus Runs Scored (RS), Runs Allowed (RA), H, 2B, 3B, HR, Total Bases (TB), OBP, SLG, OPS, BB, SO, Stolen Bases (SB), and Sacrifice Hits (SH). While it would be better to use years and years worth of data, I was just foolin' around with these numbers from the past year.<br /><br />The data can be found <a href="http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pz0VH7HpmGGLVB9-sSV3wKA">here</a>.<br /><br />Here are the correlations:<br /><br /><table str="" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 120pt;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="160"><col style="width: 60pt; font-weight: bold;" span="2" width="80"> <tbody><tr style="height: 15.75pt;" height="21"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 15.75pt; width: 60pt;" height="21" width="80"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">v. W</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span> <br /></td> <td class="xl23" style="width: 60pt;" width="80"> <span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">r</span><br /></span></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15pt;" height="20"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 15pt;" height="20">RA</td> <td class="xl26" num="-0.65200000000000002">-0.652<br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15pt;" height="20"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 15pt;" height="20"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><span style="font-size:100%;">RS</span><br /></td> <td class="xl26" num="0.61599999999999999">0.616</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15pt;" height="20"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 15pt;" height="20">OBP</td> <td class="xl26" num="0.61399999999999999">0.614</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15pt;" height="20"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 15pt;" height="20">OPS</td> <td class="xl26" num="">0.560</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15pt;" height="20"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 15pt;" height="20">BA</td> <td class="xl26" num="0.496">0.496</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15pt;" height="20"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 15pt;" height="20">TB</td> <td class="xl26" num="0.49299999999999999">0.493</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15pt;" height="20"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 15pt;" height="20">H</td> <td class="xl26" num="0.47899999999999998">0.479</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15pt;" height="20"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 15pt;" height="20">SLG</td> <td class="xl26" num="0.46500000000000002">0.465</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15pt;" height="20"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 15pt;" height="20">BB</td> <td class="xl26" num="0.378">0.378</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15pt;" height="20"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 15pt;" height="20">2B</td> <td class="xl26" num="">0.300</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15pt;" height="20"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 15pt;" height="20">HR<br /></td> <td class="xl26" num="0.187">0.187</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15pt;" height="20"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 15pt;" height="20">SO</td> <td class="xl26" num="-0.17299999999999999">-0.173</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15pt;" height="20"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 15pt;" height="20">SH</td> <td class="xl26" num="-0.16600000000000001">-0.166</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15pt;" height="20"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 15pt;" height="20">SB</td> <td class="xl26" num="-0.14099999999999999">0.141</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15pt;" height="20"> <td class="xl25" style="height: 15pt;" height="20">3B</td> <td class="xl27" num="1.2999999999999999E-2">0.013</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td> </tr> </tbody></table><br />Here are some of my thoughts:<br /><br /><ul><li>It's no surprise that Runs Allowed and Runs Scored are the two strongest relationships with winning baseball games. After all, in order to win a game, you need to outscore your opponent. Run Differential, which is just RS-RA, is used often among baseball analysts to assess the quality of a baseball club. While run differential can't predict short-run success (i.e. World Series), it is very helpful to predict long-term success in the win column. Moreover, of the eight playoff teams this year, five placed in the top 10 in RA and six placed in the top 10 in RS.<br /></li><li>Number of sacrifice hits has an inverse correlation with victories. Sacrificing an out to get a runner over is a costly move, a move that many, like A's GM Billy Beane, don't think the reward is worth the risk. One way to interpret this correlation is that those who lay down bunts probably have little power and thus, have developed skills in moving the guys over to compensate for their lack of hitting ability. In other words, bunting may be a product of having poor hitting skills. A coach wouldn't want David Ortiz bunting in a high pressure situation, would he? But if Julio Lugo is up to bat, Francona may signal to drop the bunt down. Managers may claim that he'll put on the bunt because the batter is "speedy" and "scrappy" but he probably means that he's "not a good hitter." There's a reason why players like Juan Pierre and Omar Vizquel and pitchers lead their league in sacrifice hits. <br /></li><ul><li>Sidenote: what's also interesting here is that the Rockies had the most sacrifice hits. That's right-- the Rockies. While it's typical to find a National League team leading the league in sacrifice hits, it is unusual to see the National League Champion at the top of the list. The data does not include postseason victories but, I found they bunted 5 times in 11 games in the postseason which is pretty close to the 83:163 ratio during the regular season, leaving out the possibility that they changed their strategy in the playoffs. <br /></li></ul><li>Home runs are pretty low on this list, lower than doubles and walks. One would think that having a home run hitter would always be a great thing for winning games. Keep in mind, home run hitters will swing for the fences but will also tend to swing and miss more than others. I ran an analysis and found that home runs are the most highly correlated statistic with strikeouts. (<span style="font-style: italic;">r </span>= .595). Free swingers, if you will. Think Richie Sexson.</li></ul>Correlations certainly have their limits in analysis but last year's data produces some interesting material to look at. Feel free to discuss further.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-8120178947836742225?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-35014629935283053992008-02-12T20:34:00.000-05:002008-02-12T20:51:08.299-05:00Must be a slow news day in New York. George A. King III over at NY Post posted <a href="http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/yankees/archives/2008/02/jeter_human_pet.html">this</a> today.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Jeter: 'Human' Pettitte bothered<br /></span><br />This is fun. Human Pettitte. Robot J5. Dog Lassie. Toilet Paper Charmin.<br /><p style="font-weight: bold;">TAMPA -- Beyond the eyes that burn with intensity and a competitive spirit that has carried him further than his tools, Andy Pettitte is exactly like the rest of us: He requires a heart to live, a brain to think, legs to walk and a mouth to talk.</p>Did anyone doubt that he, the Human Pettitte, lacked any of these? I think Liutenent Dan would have something to say about the requiring "legs to walk" thing. Also, get this man some Clear Eyes!<br /><p></p><span style="font-weight: bold;">That’s why Derek Jeter s</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">ays that Pettitte’s inclusion in the Mitchell Report, his admission of taking two spikes of HGH in 2002 to help an elbow problem, and what he said in a recent deposition about longtime buddy Roger Clemens </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">will bother the Yankees lefty.<br /></span><br />Because he has a big toe that helps him keep balance, an ear that helps him hear, and a nose to help him smell. He's a human-- unlike most people?<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span> <p style="font-weight: bold;">“He is human," the captain said today following a morning workout at the minor league complex. “Not speaking for him but I can only imagine; he is human so I am sure it will."</p>I like how Jeter doesn't want to speak for him but George King makes Jeter speak for him in the title of the piece "<span style="font-weight: bold;">Jeter: 'Human' Pettitte bothered.</span>" Too high of a punctuation to word ratio there.<br /><p style="font-weight: bold;"></p> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pettitte, whose scheduled appearance at a congressional hearing tomorrow in Washington was nixed Monday night, is expected to report to Legends Field Thursday with the rest of the pitchers and catchers and start working out Friday.</span><br /><br />Because he' s a human being.<br /><div id="a008006more"><div id="more"><p> <br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"> If Jeter, who initially met Pettitte when they were 1992 Single-A teammates in Greensboro, is right and Pettitte is bothered, it may have an impact on how well he gets into pitching shape during camp.</span></p> </div> </div>Did you see what he did there? Took one quote saying that Andy Pettitte is, in fact, a human being and WHAM: journalism. Way to go George!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-3501462993528305399?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-726725536887507352008-01-22T18:27:00.000-05:002008-01-22T18:47:59.375-05:00Stumbled upon a Philly Daily News <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/20080122_Bill_Conlin__GET_THE_PITCH_UP.html">column</a> by Bill Conlin regarding Ryan Howard's contract negotiations:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"> FOR 2 YEARS NOW, the Rynomiter has blown them all away.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span>I googled "Rynomiter" and came up with 3 entries, all of them to this article. No one calls him Rynomiter. That's not his nickname. I don't even think I know how to pronounce that.<br /><br />It gets zanier.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">After perhaps the greatest first full power season of any player in history, Ryan Howard last winter butted heads with the service-time ogre guarding a shallow moat around the pastime's only citadel of control over its finances.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">What? </span></span></span>An ogre? A moat? A citadel??? I really wish he would keep calling him Ryanimotor... err Ryanomitor... errr Rynoceros... errr Rynomiter. Yes. Rynomiter. I think this could really catch on. <span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-72672553688750735?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-84747050276070152582008-01-21T17:46:00.000-05:002008-01-21T18:59:59.965-05:00From Bill Simmons' <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/080118">mailbag</a> with his NFL conference championship picks, I found this funny:<br /><br /><b style="font-weight: bold;">The Pick:</b><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Green Bay 30, New York 10<br /><br /></span>The Score: New York 23, Green Bay 20<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Three straight road games for the Giants. (Uh-oh.)<br /><br /></span>Heading into the Green Bay game, the Giants won 9 straight games on the road. (Whoops.)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Eli playing a night game in the freezing cold when he's already on record as saying he hates playing in the freezing cold. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">(Uh-oh.) </span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>Who likes playing in the freezing cold? Anyone like to get chased around by 300 pound behemoths in extremely cold weather? Anyone? If you watched the game, didn't Brett Favre look more miserable than Eli? Eli threw for 254 yards while the Giants elected to play a safe red zone offense-- running the ball. Only two visiting QB's this year have amassed more yards at Lambeau than Eli did. Eli did it in below-zero temperatures in the biggest game of his life. (Whoops.)<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />People talking themselves into the Giants as a Team of Destiny. (Uh-oh.)<br /><br /></span>I don't see what this has to do with what happens on the field. If anything, I'd want a confident, supportive fan base behind my team if I'm going to Lambeau Field in the NFC Championship game. Somehow, callers on WFAN have some effect on this game. Right. (Whoops.)<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />A Packers team that already has proven it's a monster home team that can extend leads into double figures. (Uh-oh.)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span>Already proven it's a monster road team that can extend leads into double figures: A Giants team. The Packers went 7-1 at home during the regular season --with no double-digit victories against a winning football team. Their stellar record looks monstrous but not when you look a little deeper and find that they had a cake home schedule that only featured one team with a winning record. Also, shouldn't every playoff team be able to "extend leads into double figures? (Whoops.)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Assuming the Pats win, the delicious possibility of Brett Favre and the Packers trying to stop the 18-0 Patriots. (Uh-oh.)<br /><br /></span>I believe it was you, Bill, who wrote <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/080104">this</a> in your column just 17 days ago "Here's the problem: In the NFL, the best possible Super Bowl scenario almost <i>never</i> happens." Lesson learned. (Whoops.)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-8474705027607015258?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-19331886476076647022007-12-05T13:43:00.001-05:002007-12-05T13:48:45.555-05:00<p class="MsoNormal">Peter Gammons <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=winter_meetings">reported</a> today:<b style=""><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">With the Twins in search of middle-infield help, one potential target is free agent <span style="">David Eckstein</span>. "I've always had a lot of respect for him," said <st1:place st="on"><st1:state st="on">Minnesota</st1:state></st1:place> manager <span style="">Ron Gardenhire</span>. <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">He’s really short, we get it.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">"He catches the ball.”<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">But not very well.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Among 24 qualified shortstops last year, he placed <span style=""> </span>22^nd in Fielding Percentage. <span style=""> </span>Don’t like Fielding Percentage? He’s in the middle of the pack in terms of Range Factor and Zone Rating in his position.<span style=""> </span>He has the 6^th most errors (not catching the ball) among qualified shortstops while having the 3^rd <i style="">least</i> total chances.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I think Gammons cut him off. What Gardenhire meant to say was "He catches the ball--but not very well."<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">"He knows how to play." <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I’d expect that a historian knows how to read and write. I’d expect that a chef knows how to cook.<span style=""> </span>I’d expect an account knows how to count. I’d expect that a baseball player knows how to play baseball.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">"He's a proven winner."<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Why, because he happened to be on two teams who have won a couple World Series recently?<span style=""> </span>Or maybe you think that all five foot and three inches of him single-handedly fielded, batted, pitched, and cheerleaded his teams to glory? I doubt it.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Other proven winners/players with two World Series rings:<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Doug Mirabelli, Timo Perez, Jose Vizcaino, Juan Encarnacion, and Scott Spiezio. Proven. Winners.<br /></p><br /><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-1933188647607664702?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-14949534584008668952007-12-04T18:38:00.000-05:002007-12-04T22:42:55.631-05:00If Wallace Matthews over at Newsday read <a href="http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-spwally045487290dec04,0,5397067.column">his column</a> out loud, he would probably look a lot like<a href="http://video.aol.com/video-detail/chris-farley-snl-bennet-brower/1369825117"> Bennett Brower</a>. In today's piece, he put the following words in quotations:<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">"No"</span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">"Yes"</span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">"No"</span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">"Yes"</span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">"ol' tomato"</span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">"Cave in by last night or else"</span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">"deadline"</span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">"want"</span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">"outrage"</span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">"insult"</span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">"played"</span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">"negotiation"</span><br /><br />None of those words were used in a direct quote of a person, he was just coining his own terms at will. Later in the column...<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">After backing off on A-Rod, how they expect anyone to believe they a</span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">re now going to stick to their word on Santana is beyond me. Not when the Red Sox are out there poised to make Santana their No. 1 to Josh Beckett's 1A. N</span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">ot when the Yankees rotation right now consists of Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, the ghost of Mike Mussina and a bunch of kids wearing diapers under their uniforms.<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><br /></span></span>I'm assuming he is referring to the Pampers-wearing 21-year old Philip Hughes, the Huggies-strapped 22-year old Joba Chamberlain and Luvs-donning Ian Kennedy who is a 22-year old. Mr. Matthews, these guys are <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">really good.</span><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><br /><br /><br /></span><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><p align="center"><iframe style="WIDTH: 432px; HEIGHT: 247px" src="http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pz0VH7HpmGGKGkIGQGCl_ew&amp;output=html&amp;gid=0&amp;single=true&amp;range=E3:N15" frameborder="0" width="500" height="300"></iframe></p><p align="left"></span></p>Their minor league numbers are outstanding. The sample of their major league numbers are too small to make any statistically significant observations but we can note that all three more than held their own while getting their feet wet. Philip Hughes was widely regarded as the top pitching prospect entering the year. As a 21 year old, he pitched better down the stretch (5 starts 2.73 ERA in Sept/Oct) than the diaper-less Andy Pettitte (5 starts 5.86 ERA in Sept/Oct). Joba was unhittable coming up to the bigs and Ian Kennedy starred in his first 3 starts in the majors. Teams all over the league would love to have these guys in their rotation. Apparently, not you.<br /><br />Give 'em all the diapers they need if they pitch as well as they have. What else you got for us?<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">And not when all of baseball already knows your word is as good as Kyle Farnsworth in the eighth inning of a close game.</span><br /><br />Kyle Farnsworth and Mariano Rivera in Late Close situations as defined as PA in the 7th or later with the batting team tied, ahead by one, or the tying run at least on deck) in 2007: <p align="center"><iframe style="WIDTH: 369px; HEIGHT: 61px" src="http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pz0VH7HpmGGKGSqeMvDW5CQ&amp;output=html&amp;gid=0&amp;single=true&amp;range=D4:M6" frameborder="0" width="500" height="300"></iframe></p><p align="left">How about that? Kyle Farnsworth has actually been better in these Late &amp; Close situations than Rivera; less people get hits, get on-base, and hit for power when they face sarcastically-good Farnsworth. I certainly didn't expect these results but I figured I'd look it up. Substituting Kyle's name with an "ol' tomato" would have been much better. And funnier.<br /><br />Wallace you just got "played" by yours truly.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-1494953458400866895?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-69023863020117864102007-11-26T22:34:00.000-05:002007-11-27T02:16:01.670-05:00Gene Wojciechowski <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&amp;id=3128299&amp;sportCat=ncf">has some gripes </a> about the BCS in his most recent column.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />The BCS works so well that the only undefeated team in the country, Hawaii, could finish the regular season 12-0 and still get squeezed out of a BCS bowl game.<br /><br /></span>Saying they're undefeated and saying they could win one more game to be 12-0 is redundant.<br /><br />For fun, Hawaii's 2007 schedule is as follows:<br /><br />vs. Northern Colorado (1-11)<br />at Louisiana Tech (5-6)<br />at UNLV (2-10)<br />vs. Charleston Southern (5-6)<br />at Idaho (1-11)<br />vs. Utah State (2-10)<br />at San Jose St (5-7)<br />vs. New Mexico St (4-8)<br />vs. Fresno St (7-4)<br />at Nevada (5-6)<br />vs Boise St (10-2)<br /><br />They've won all eleven games this year against opponents who have a combined record of 47 -81 or .364 winning percentage (or .398 if you exclude losses to Hawaii). They played only ONE team that was ranked, Boise State, who by the way, have yet to beat a ranked team. What's more, outside of Boise State, Hawaii played ONE team with a winning record, Fresno State.<br /><br />Hawaii hasn't been tested. If they had beaten someone who was A) Good and B) Not in the WAC, then maybe we should take them more seriously. But they haven't. Their out of conference schedule is as follows: Northern Colorado, UNLV, and Charleston Southern. North Colorado is last in the Big Sky Conference, UNLV is last in the MWC, and Charleston Southern is second to last in the Big South Conference. Their combined record is 8-24 (.250) excluding losses to Hawaii. See my point?<br /><br />We can't consider Hawaii a serious BCS bowl candidate if they continue to play a cake schedule.<br /><br />Here's when Wojciechowski starts comparing Apples to Oranginas.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Meanwhile, two-loss Georgia, which didn't even win its conference division or qualify for its league championship game, could conceivably play in a national title game. Huh?</span><br /><br />Huh.<br /><br />In order to play in the SEC championship game, which is arguably the best league in the country mind you, Georgia needed to win its division. Once again, you're being redundant.<br /><br />Georgia plays in the SEC, a conference that boasts five BCS ranked teams with Arkansas and Kentucky barely on the outside looking in. The SEC is arguably the best conference in the nation-- worlds better than the WAC. Moreover, their only losses are to two good SEC teams: Tennessee (who went on to win the SEC division) and South Carolina (a team that was ranked as high as #6 this season).<br /><br />Georgia IS one of the best teams in the country who have survived a really really tough conference. Hawaii hasn't <span style="font-style: italic;">proven </span>they deserve to be in the BCS bowl game simply because they haven't beaten anyone near the quality of Georgia's opponents this year. It's not even close.<br /><br />Granted, the BCS is may have its flaws. However, it is inadequate to argue that Hawaii deserves a BCS bowl game more than Georgia deserves to play in the BCS Championship in the unlikely event that Mizzou and West Virginia lose. <br /><br />Don't forget, Hawaii could lose to Washington next week. The Huskies would be Hawaii's only opponent in the PAC-10, SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, or ACC.<br /><br />Welcome to the big-leagues, Hawaii.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-6902386302011786410?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-83189948379675148082007-11-12T17:24:00.001-05:002007-11-21T18:25:36.511-05:00I usually like all of Keith Law's work. That's why his <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3106253&amp;name=law_keith">most recent column</a> got me all hot and bothered.<br /><br />Here is his pick for AL Rookie of the Year: Jeremy Guthrie. His reasoning?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Red Sox had three of the top five rookies in the league with Pedroia, </span><b style="font-weight: bold;">Hideki Okajima</b><span style="font-weight: bold;"> and </span><b style="font-weight: bold;">Daisuke Matsuzaka</b><span style="font-weight: bold;">, and it</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">'s entirely possible that the actual balloting will find those three guys in the 1-2-3 spots. But despite fading badly down the stretch (possibly due to injury), Guthrie performed a bit better than any of the Red Sox's kids. He was t</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">he biggest s</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">uccess story of </span><b style="font-weight: bold;">Leo Mazzone</b><span style="font-weight: bold;">'s te</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">nure in Baltimore, and it will be interesting to see if he regresses with M</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">azzone</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> gone.</span><br /><div class="conversation-item-body"><p>If you're gonna claim that we should excuse the 28-year old Jeremy Guthrie's horrible performance over the latter half of the season (5.03 ERA Post All-Star, 6 starts in August with batters hitting .944 OPS off of him and a 6.23 ERA) because he may have been injured (he left his start due to injury on Sept 9, not in August I might add), then how would you feel about Pedroia hitting .302 in Sept/Oct with more XBH than K's, good defense, with a <span style="font-style: italic;">cracked hamate bone</span> in his left hand?</p>It's true that Guthrie pitched lights out in the first half of the season outside his early stints in the bullpen. However, the award isn't for first half performance, it's for the entire season. They both played with injury and suffered for it; Pedroia had a .764 OPS in Sept/October but Guthrie only made 3 starts in September.<p>What's more egregious is that Keith Law picked fellow AL second baseman Placido Polanco as the 10th most deserving player for AL MVP.<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="" onmouseover="hl(this);" onmouseout="uhl(this);" class="full" year="2007"><br /></span></span></p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/R0M1uTAyhqI/AAAAAAAAADE/QSaW51KCzVU/s1600-h/Polanco+vs+Pedroia.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/R0M1uTAyhqI/AAAAAAAAADE/QSaW51KCzVU/s400/Polanco+vs+Pedroia.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135007069626336930" border="0" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><br /><br /><p>In 67 less AB's, Pedroia had the more doubles, equal number of extra base hits, equal SB, and more walks. Their rates are OBP and SLG rates are almost identical with the disparity between the two players resulting from Polanco hit a lot more singles than Pedroia did. Singles.</p><p>The difference between Pedroia getting second in the AL Rookie of the Year and being a candidate for MVP is a bunch of base hits. And defense.</p>Polanco received a Gold Glove following an error-free season. Pedroia was not too bad though. Among ML second basemen, Pedroia was 6th in Zone Rating, 5th in Fielding Percentage, and 3rd least Errors.<br /><br />Just for kicks:<br /><br /><table id="roy_vote" class="floatRight" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td colspan="5" class="left greyDark"><span class="subHeadLite">2007 AL Rookie of the Year Voting</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left">Player, Club</td> <td>1st</td> <td>2nd</td> <td>3rd</td> <td>Points</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left"><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=456030">Dustin Pedroia, BOS</a></td> <td>24</td> <td>4</td> <td><br /></td> <td>132</td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#e9e9e9"> <td class="left"><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=430321">Delmon Young, TB</a></td> <td>3</td> <td>12</td> <td>5</td> <td>56</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left"><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=446454">Brian Bannister, KC</a></td> <td>1</td> <td>8</td> <td>7</td> <td>36</td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#e9e9e9"> <td class="left"><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=493137">Daisuke Matsuzaka, BOS</a></td> <td><br /></td> <td>2</td> <td>6</td> <td>12</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left"><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=435065">Reggie Willits, LAA</a></td> <td><br /></td> <td>2</td> <td>5</td> <td>11</td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#e9e9e9"> <td class="left"><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=506606">Hideki Okajima, BOS</a></td> <td><br /></td> <td><br /></td> <td>3</td> <td>3</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left"><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=435222">Josh Fields, CWS</a></td> <td><br /></td> <td><br /></td> <td>1</td> <td>1</td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#e9e9e9"> <td class="left"><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=465657">Joakim Soria, KC</a></td> <td><br /></td> <td><br /></td> <td>1</td> <td>1<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-8318994837967514808?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-70389902676991582007-11-02T14:33:00.001-04:002007-11-05T14:29:25.291-05:00<span style="font-style: italic;">"He's kind of the man that, to everybody who is a closer now, he's like the 'Godfather.' I think what he's done for the role of a closer and for the game of baseball has been a big thing. Like I said man, he's like the 'Godfather.'"</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> -</span>Jonathan Papelbon speaking about Mariano Rivera during spring training this year.<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /></span>It's no secret that longtime New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera is considered one of the best, if not <span style="font-style: italic;">the</span> best, closer in the history of the game. Just look at what he's done in his 13 year career.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Career Numbers in 787 games:</span><br />2.35 ERA<br />1.046 WHIP<br />8.09 K/9<br />Third all-time in Saves (443)<br />8 All Star Appearances<br />4 times Top-3 in Cy Young voting as a <span style="font-style: italic;">closer</span>.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Postseason Numbers in 76 Games:</span><br />0.77 ERA<br />1.15 WHIP<br />34 Saves<br />17-9 Record.<br />7.13 K/9<br /><br />As a Red Sox fan, I can tell you he is one of the most intimidating pitchers on the mound that I have ever seen. The numbers back it up and I only wish there was a "split bats" statistic because he would undoubtedly lead that category as well. What's more, he has relied on a single pitch-- the cut fastball-- his entire career and still, no one can hit it on a consistent basis.<br /><br />At the age of 25, he broke through the Yankees system as a starter while the Yankees placed 2nd in the AL East. In the following season, he was turned into a setup man for then closer John Wetteland and posted a blistering 2.09 ERA striking out 130 batters in 107 2/3 innings. From there, he closed the door for the Yankees for 11 seasons.<br /><br />The start of their careers are compared below. Like Rivera, Papelbon came through the minor leagues and broke into the big league ball club as a starter. Like Rivera, Papelbon was converted into a reliever following his first stint in the bigs. Like Rivera, Papelbon has excelled in his role as the closer.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Ry9c-zuFdZI/AAAAAAAAACE/jXs8NA8Dv_A/s1600-h/ERA.bmp"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Ry9c-zuFdZI/AAAAAAAAACE/jXs8NA8Dv_A/s400/ERA.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129420734703433106" border="0" /></a>We see that Jonathan Papelbon has posted better ERA's in each of the first 3 seasons in his career. Keep in mind that in their first years, Papelbon and Rivera started some games for their teams. Year's 2 and 3 are strictly from the bullpen.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Ry9c-zuFdaI/AAAAAAAAACM/wtalsAiPOlc/s1600-h/WHIP.bmp"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Ry9c-zuFdaI/AAAAAAAAACM/wtalsAiPOlc/s400/WHIP.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129420734703433122" border="0" /></a>Also, his WHIP (BB+/IP) is better than Rivera and decreasing every year.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Ry9ePzuFdcI/AAAAAAAAACc/SYJ0LGssDzg/s1600-h/k9.bmp"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Ry9ePzuFdcI/AAAAAAAAACc/SYJ0LGssDzg/s400/k9.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129422126272837058" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Their strikeout rates are both impressive but Papelbon has increased his K's each year with this year showing the biggest rate jump (31.3%).<br /><br />Totals over the first 3 years of career.<br /><br /><table str="" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 278pt;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="370"><col style="width: 47pt;" width="62"> <col style="width: 21pt;" width="28"> <col style="width: 38pt;" width="50"> <col style="width: 35pt;" width="47"> <col style="width: 39pt;" width="52"> <col style="width: 38pt;" width="51"> <col style="width: 29pt;" width="39"> <col style="width: 31pt;" width="41"> <tbody><tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td style="height: 12.75pt; width: 47pt;" height="17" width="62"><br /></td> <td class="xl24" style="width: 21pt;" width="28">G</td> <td class="xl24" style="width: 38pt;" width="50">IP</td> <td class="xl24" style="width: 35pt;" width="47">ERA</td> <td class="xl24" style="width: 39pt;" width="52">WHIP</td> <td class="xl24" style="width: 38pt;" width="51">K/9</td> <td class="xl24" style="width: 29pt;" width="39">BB/9</td> <td class="xl24" style="width: 31pt;" width="41">HR/IP</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl23" style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">Rivera</td> <td num="" align="right">146</td> <td num="" align="right">245.4</td> <td num="" align="right">2.97</td> <td class="xl22" num="" align="right">1.19</td> <td num="" align="right">9.13</td> <td num="0.34229828850855748" align="right">0.34</td> <td class="xl22" num="6.9274653626731866E-2" align="right">0.07</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl23" style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">Papelbon</td> <td num="" align="right">135</td> <td num="" align="right">160.2</td> <td num="" align="right">1.63</td> <td class="xl22" num="" align="right">0.92</td> <td num="" align="right">10.84</td> <td num="0.2808988764044944" align="right">0.28</td> <td class="xl22" num="7.4906367041198504E-2" align="right">0.07</td> </tr> </tbody></table><br /><br />Enter Sandman's successor as best closer in the game: Jonathan R. Papelbon. Interestingly enough, Papelbon has outperformed the Rivera in many important pitching categories over the beginning of each of their careers. This is not to say that Papelbon will have a better career than the great Mariano Rivera but it is a wonder that Papelbon's torrid start to his career hasn't been mentioned more in baseball circles.<br /><br />There is reason to worry about the likelihood that Papelbon will be able to sustain these numbers over the long term, however. According to Baseball-Reference.com, the two most statistically similar players through Papelbon's age are Terry Fox and Bob Lee. A Detroit Tigers reliever in the 1960's, Terry Fox didn't pitch past 30 years old after posting a 4.80 ERA in 1966. Also relieving in the 60's, Bob Lee flamed out at 30 years old as well.<br /><br />I think it's a good idea that Red Sox management has pampered Pap and his shoulder this year. Terry Fox and Bob Lee would probably agree that Papelbon is not necessarily destined for the Hall.<br /><br />Let's hope Papelbon is no Fredo Corleone.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-7038990267699158?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-53788836260977508972007-09-13T17:33:00.001-04:002007-09-13T17:42:01.826-04:00Since ESPN Phil Rogers' September 10th column ("<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=rogers_phil&id=3012534">Cardinals still pushing to make the playoffs</a>," they lost a game to the Mets and then got swept by the lowly Reds. They've now lost 8 out of their last 9 games and currently sit on a 7 game losing streak. Their record stands at 69-75 and find themselves 4.5 games back in the NL Central with only 18 games left.<br /><br />Ouch.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-5378883626097750897?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-59986196538846727582007-09-10T14:07:00.000-04:002007-09-12T09:12:48.858-04:00<p class="MsoNormal">Once again, the cover story on ESPN.com is a <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=rogers_phil&id=3012534">poorly written baseball article</a>.<br /><br />Phil Rogers' piece, "Cardinals still pushing to reach playoffs" is a good example of how baseball writers make baseless claims to write inspirational stories. Keep in mind, the Cardinals are two games under .500 the seventh worst team in the NL.<br /><br /><b>When the Cardinals arrived in <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Arizona</st1:place></st1:state>, long since missing their ace and half of their everyday lineup to season-ending injury and another beloved teammate to death, they were greeted by questions about the validity of their remarkable late-season hero and soon were dealing with more problems, both old and new.<br /><br /></b>That's a long sentence. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>Yes, losing Chris Carpenter was a huge blow. However, losing "half their everday lineup" was a blessing in disguise. The Cardinals lineup was chock full of bad everyday players (Adam Kennedy 54 OPS+, Preston Wilson 51 OPS+, David Eckstein 84 OPS+, Jim Edmonds 85 OPS+) so maybe they shouldn't be in the everday lineup in the first place.<br /><br />It should be noted that the "remarkable late season hero", Rick Ankiel, would not even be <i>playing</i> if it weren't for the injury to "everyday player" Preston <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Wilson</st1:place></st1:city>. Remember, blessings in disguise.<br /><br /><b>The reports linking Rick Ankiel </b><b>to the use of human growth hormone<br /><br /></b>...in 2004 and it was not banned by the MLB yet so it is not illegal. Sure doesn't look good but go on...<b><br /><br />were followed by the loss of catcher </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><b>Yadier Molina to the apparent effects of a concussion<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p></o:p></b><span style="">Molina pinch hit last night and is actually in the starting lineup tonight.<span style=""> </span>So he got a day off on Saturday.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p></o:p><span style=""></span>and the continuing sight of slugge<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><b>r Albert Pujols' gritting his teeth to play through pain in his right leg.<br /><br /></b>Wuss!<br /><br /><b>"This is nothing,'' closer Jason Isringhausen </b><b>told reporters in the visiting clubhouse at <st1:place st="on"><st1:state st="on">Arizona</st1:state></st1:place>'s Chase Field. "Not compared to the other stuff that's been going on.'' </b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /><b>This was a reference to the death of reliever Josh Hancock </b><b>after an alcohol-related car wreck on April 28</b> <b>and the loss of 2005 Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter </b><b>to Tommy John surgery after only one start.<br /><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I agree.<span style=""> </span>The loss of a Cy Young winner and a death of a teammate are way more costly to the team than wincing, a catcher’s day off, and a news story. Way more costly.<span style=""> </span>Jason Isinghausen is a smart man.<b><br /><br />It also alluded to the loss of third baseman/clubhouse leader Scott Rolen </b><b>to shoulder problems,<br /></b><br />Scott Rolen is having by far the worst season of his career (not counting 2005 when he only played in 54 games and his 27-game rookie season). Power-hitting third basemen Russell Branyan (and arguably, a better hitter these days) was acquired but Tony LaRussa refuses to play on a regular basis.<span style=""> </span>I don’t know why.<span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b> outfielder Preston Wilson</b><b> <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p></o:p></b><span style="">No. No. No. He was an absolutely terrible hitter this year and his exit from the lineup opened the door for Rick Ankiel who <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Rogers</st1:place></st1:city> called the “remarkable late-season hero.”<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><st1:place st="on"><span style="">Preston</span></st1:place><span style=""> Wilson 2007: <span style=""> </span></span>.219/.265/.313 in 64 at bats</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Rick Ankiel 2007:<span style=""> </span>.330/.379/.692 in 91 at bats.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">So, let me get this straight, Phillip Rogers. The injury to Preston Wilson is a bad thing?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">There’s no comparison; it was a <i style="">great</i> thing for the Cardinals season when Rick Ankiel replaced Preston Wilson.<span style=""> </span>This should not be considered a loss. It is a benefit.<span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p></o:p>and second baseman Adam Kennedy </b><b>to knee injuries<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p></o:p></b>Everyday Lineup Member Adam Kennedy, a veteran second basemen, was posting a .219/.282/.290 line before he got hurt which is the worst OPS among NL second basemen with over 200 AB. In other words, he is the worst everyday second baseman in the league. You should be happy he's on the DL and not in the lineup.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>Again, this is not a loss. It is a beneficial to limit the at bats of the worst hitting second basemen in the league. Very beneficial.<b><br /><br />and outfielder Juan Encarnacion </b><b>after a horrifying incident in which he was hit in the face with a line drive when he was in the on-deck circle. Outfielder<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><b> Chris Duncan could also potentially be sidelined for the rest of the season after he aggravated what the Cardinals are describing as a sports hernia on Saturday. <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p></o:p>How much more can a team take?<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p></o:p></b><span style="">Losing bad, injured hitters (Kennedy, Wilson, Rolen) is good for the team especially if you have capable hitters waiting in the wings that otherwise would not get an opportunity to produce. Please do not include them with Encarnacion, Carpenter, and Duncan -- not to mention the death of a teammate.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">That's a fair question to ponder <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b>Not really.<span style=""> </span>Some of the listed injuries have caused good things to happen. Like Rick Ankiel getting playing time.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">as Tony La Russa's Cardinals head to Wrigley Field for a Monday makeup game, beginning an unusually important week in which they will play the Chicago Cubs<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span> five times. <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b>Why is it unusual for the Cardinals to have an important week in the middle of September?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p>The Cardinals and Cubs will play a doubleheader on Saturday at Busch Stadium, the centerpiece of a historically challenging schedule for the Cardinals that will find them playing 35 games in the last 34 days of the season, weather permitting.<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b>The remainder of the Cardinals season:</p><p class="MsoNormal">3 games @ CIN (.448 Winning Percentage)<br />4 games vs <span style=""> </span>CHC (.507)<br />3 games vs PHI (.528)<br />4 games vs HOU (.434)<br />3 games @ MIL (.514)<br />1 game @ NYM (.570)<br />3 games @ PIT (.441)</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>Historically challenging? Their remaining schedule includes series against three really bad teams. <span style=""> </span>Their remaining schedule is, on average, a .482 winning percentage or in other words, not difficult.<span style=""> </span>How does this schedule challenge history? <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p><b style="">In another year, or another division, all of these twists might not smack of quite as much consequence as they do this season.<span style=""> </span>After all, the Cardinals are 69-71, a record that would put them at least 10 games out in any division except the National League Central.<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b>Read that again: “Might not smack of quite as much consequence” What?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Translation: If the NL Central weren’t so bad this year, the sub-.500 Cardinals would not have a chance. This is important. The Cardinals are not a good team. <span style=""> </span>The chances of making the playoffs are dependent on the poor play of the division.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p><b style="">Yet they find themselves three games behind the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers and two games behind the Cubs. <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Again, because the Cubs and Brewers are not that good. More indicative of a very weak division.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p><b style="">The Brewers, who have taken advantage of attrition suffered by the Cardinals and Houston Astros (both had combined to win 10 of the last 11 titles in the Central) to lead the Central all season. <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b>Wrong. The Cubs have led the division for 23 games. <span style=""> </span>The Cardinals even led the NL Central for a few games. <span style=""> </span>For 26 games, the Brewers did not lead the NL Central. <span style=""> </span>I didn’t know “all season" meant “most of the seasons".</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p><b style="">This is a division that could be won by five games by any team that wins 85 games or a division that could find itself with a three-way tie at 81-81, maybe even 80-82.<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>I’m so very confused. What does this prove? That the NL Central is horrible no matter how you slice it, perhaps?<span style=""> </span>How many times do you want to say this?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p><b style="">The Cardinals might want to fold their hand, <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>Why would <i style="">any</i> team want to quit when they’re only 3 games back? Apparently, some teams would prefer to… lose? <span style=""> </span>The Cardinals are not special, they are logical human beings. <span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p><b style="">but the willpower of La Russa and many of his players, including Pujols, Jim Edmonds, David Eckstein and Isringhausen, won't let them. <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b>Man, Juan Encarnacion sure lacks the willpower. Why didn’t he will the ball away from his face? Coward. <span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">The standings provide a nice incentive to keep grinding, as well.<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Really? You think? Just a little bit? Maybe? It's the playoffs you know. It's lots of money at stake.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">On June 30, <st1:city st="on">St. Louis</st1:city> was 10½ games behind first-place <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Milwaukee</st1:city></st1:place>. It was still eight back on Aug. 5, with a 50-58 record. But through last Tuesday, the 17-8 run fueled by the power hitting of Ankiel and the pitching of Adam Wainwright Braden Looper had gotten them within one game of first place.<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b>You should also mention Joel Pineiro who had 5 quality starts over that period of time and sported a 3.90 ERA. <span style=""> </span>This is a guy who was acquired from <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Boston</st1:city></st1:place> <i style="">with cash</i> for pretty much nothing and only made one start all season.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>"We're actually playing like a team that has a chance,'' La Russa said. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">From a low of 20-29, the Cardinals climbed over .500, if only by one game. <o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Now they’ve plummeted to 3 games under .500.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p>They did it by winning more than their share of tough games, with La Russa doing a lot more as a manager than being confident enough to hit his pitcher eighth, which has gotten more chances for Pujols to drive in runs and jump-start what has been a down season by his high standards. <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b>Albert Pujols during the 28 games with pitcher batting eighth:</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>100 AB, 32 H, 6 HR (4 with none on base), 12 RBI, .320 BA/ .433 OBP/ .520 SLG</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>Albert Pujols during the previous 28 games with pitcher batting ninth:</p><p class="MsoNormal">105 AB, 35 H, 8 HR (with none on base), 23 RBI,<span style=""> </span>.333 BA/ .427 OBP/ .638 SLG</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In fact, Pujols has driven in less runs and performed more poorly with the pitcher in the eighth slot. Phil Rogers—you are wrong. You can’t claim that it has given Pujols more chances to drive in base runners when he’s only driven in 8 base runners outside of his solo home runs while hitting extremely well with the pitcher in the 8^th slot. You know what that tells me? Lack of baserunners. Not jump-starting offense. Please do not commend LaRussa for doing this when it is slowing Pujols down. <span style=""> </span>Stop making baseless claims.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p>Opponents have outscored <st1:place st="on">St.</st1:place> Louis by 62 runs -- a differential that ranked 11th in the NL. <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b>But their standings show that they are 10^th in the NL so run differential rankings are pretty accurate, I’d say.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">The Pythagorean standings credited La Russa for creating five wins from thin air <o:p></o:p><br /><br /></b>Weird metaphor. I can understand it if La Russa managed the Colorado Rockies, but <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">St Louis</st1:city></st1:place> is pretty regular air.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">and showed that, based on the math of Bill James, the Cardinals should be nine games behind the Cubs and six behind the Brewers.<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">You’re gonna bash Bill James’ Pythagorean standings because there is a five game variance?<span style=""> </span>Do you think Bill James predicted Josh Hancock’s death? Chris Carpenter's injury?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">The standings in your morning paper, of course, show the only standings that matter to the Cardinals, who are the one team among the three Central contenders that has a habit of winning. <o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Mr. Rogers, you cannot say they have a habit of winning when they have more losses than wins on the season. In fact, they are the only one of the three who do NOT have a winning record. This is a very wrong statement.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">It's amazing that the Cardinals have been able to weather the loss of Carpenter, who carried them into the postseason with a 15-8 record in 2006. Before losing Carpenter, they had seen Mark Mulder<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=6393"></a> sidelined by shoulder surgery and Jeff Suppan,<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=6200"></a> Jeff Weaver and Jason Marquis leave as free agents. <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p> </o:p></b>The Cardinals management let them leave by choice. <span style=""> </span>They chose not to sign them. Also, they're not weathering anything, they're not a winning team!<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Think about that for a minute. <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b>Thinking… nothing’s happening…</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p>With Mulder returning only about a week ago, La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan have had to manufacture a pitching staff while thus far getting only two starts from five guys who combined for 129 starts a year ago. <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b>No. No. No. The pitching coach does not manufacture a pitching staff.<span style=""> </span>The GM does. The GM is responsible for “manufacturing” the pitching roster. They let they're starting pitchers go in the off season and deliberately chose to turn to their young players.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">They made a good decision in moving not only Wainwright (always a starter in waiting) from the bullpen into the starting rotation but also Looper, whose 157 innings have been a key in keeping the staff together. But the bullpen was weakened when</b><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Josh Kinney </span><b style="">underwent Tommy John surgery in spring training and Hancock (one of those glue guys in the bullpen best appreciated when they are no longer there) was killed. <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b>Doesn’t that last line seem a little distasteful? Did he have to use the word “killed”?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>Also, two words can substitute “one of those glue guys in the bullpen best appreciated when they are no longer there.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>Middle reliever.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p>Carpenter had seemed fine until awaking with swelling in his elbow after facing the New York Mets on Opening Day. Consider that a harbinger of things to come. <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">"I believe losing Carpenter changed a lot," <st1:city st="on">Duncan</st1:city> told the <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">St. Louis</st1:place></st1:city> Post-Dispatch. "You can't discount his value to this team, especially this staff."<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b>Well how bout that.<span style=""> </span>The 2005 Cy Young winner is valuable for a team. Thanks, <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Duncan</st1:place></st1:city>.<b style=""><o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p></o:p>Ankiel has been St. Louis' exception this season -- a bright spot in the middle of a dark, deep forest of negativity. The guy who fell apart on the mound during the 2000 playoffs is hitting .330 since being promoted from Triple-A <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Memphis</st1:place></st1:city>, where he had 32 homers and 89 RBIs in 102 games. His instant impact in the outfield begs only one question -- why did general manager Walt Jocketty and La Russa wait until early August to summon him?<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">You referenced the injury to Preston Wilson earlier as an obstacle that the team had to overcome.<span style=""> </span>Now you’re saying the GM should have played Ankiel over him? You can’t have it both ways. I know you’re a journalist and you need to justify claims somehow but you can’t claim that Preston Wilson’s injury was a big loss to the team and then say that Ankiel should be playing over him anyway. I’m sorry.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Phil Rogers, there were like 403 baseless claims this article. Yes, it's amazing how horrible the NL Central is. But it is undeniable that the Cardinals are NOT A GOOD TEAM. They are only in the race because the other teams are not that good.<br /></p><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-5998619653884672758?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-27063036364861507612007-08-28T02:33:00.000-04:002007-08-28T12:56:16.526-04:00Steve Levy, on Sportscenter, remarking about the Yankees' worst shutout road loss in the history of the Yankees franchise:<br /><br />"This is not the Marlins franchise! This is the Yankees we are talking here."<br /><br />You mean the Florida Marlins who have more World Series titles in the past decade than any other team in the major leagues not named the New York Yankees? That means they win more championships than 28 other major league teams. And you use them as the laughing-stock of the MLB?<br /><br />What about the Tampa Bay Devil Rays who have <span style="font-style: italic;">the</span> worst MLB franchise winning percentage since 1900???<br /><br />What about the Texas Rangers who have a worse franchise record than the Marlins and without winning a pennant since they joined the league in 1961?<br /><br />Obviously, Levy has yet to read <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Baseball Economist</span>'s JC Bradbury's piece on the most efficient MLB franchises...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-2706303636486150761?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-46546000384948634092007-08-18T12:24:00.000-04:002007-08-18T12:39:59.376-04:00Westporters,<br /><br />Thanks for all the help in the comments section on my post featured in WestportNow.com. Even though I'm not old enough to recall many of the places mentioned there, I made a customized Google Map that is pinned with all the old stores and fixtures of the town. To the best of my ability, I filled in some of the blanks and inevitably, there will be some mistakes. The end result is quite amazing. I think there are over 110 pins all across the town, mostly saturated near Main Street. There are definitely a bunch of places I have left out because I had no leads to where the place was located... just the name. If you'd like to correct anything, add anything, or just list a few memories you've had, I encourage you to make the comments here so I can keep updating.<br /><br />Here's the <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&amp;msid=104257626695063469425.000437bfda208ab005107&z=13&amp;om=1">Westport Used To Be's Map</a>.<br /><br />Click on the blue pin to find out what was there. I recommend clicking on Hybrid to get both the satellite view and the street map. Have fun.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-4654600038494863409?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-20182866058417741922007-08-13T10:19:00.001-04:002007-08-13T19:16:24.307-04:00Who woulda thought? Phil Mushnick, a NY Post columnist, is my new favorite sports journalist.<br /><br />Not only did he <a href="http://www.nypost.com/seven/07202007/sports/had_our_phil_of_morgan_sports_phil_mushnick.htm">bash</a> Joe Morgan a few weeks ago, he has now <a href="http://www.nypost.com/seven/08122007/sports/yankees/bronx_baldies_yankees_phil_mushnick.htm">joined</a> the "Hi, I'm Giuseppe Franco" Hating bandwagon yesterday. How come it took this long for someone to publicly bash both these idiots? Thanks Phil.<br /><br />If you haven't seen Giuseppe Franco's horrible commercial for Procede, you can watch it <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=5nDiGqloDSY">here</a>. My commentary on the ad can be found in July 21st post.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-2018286605841774192?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-71499949840130347902007-08-11T19:38:00.001-04:002008-03-18T10:46:58.281-04:00<span style="font-weight: bold;">Question: Which AL pitcher has the most Hits Allowed this year?<br /><br /></span>Answer: <span style="font-style: italic;">CC Sabathia.</span><br /><br />Surprising? The 27-year old Cy-Young candidate has 14 wins this year, a 3.52 ERA and is 5th in the AL in strikeouts but leads the league with 183 Hits Allowed. So what does it mean when you lead the league in hits, strike out a lot of batters, and have lots of wins? It means you throw strikes. Lots of them. In fact, his 1.4 BB/G rate is good for 2nd in the majors behind his soft-tossing teammate Paul Byrd. So, while he's #1 in Hits Allowed, his Walking rate is 2nd lowest in the league. Also, he has the best SO/BB ratio and has seen the most batters in the AL. His walk rates are looking excellent but throwing strikes tends to also result in more hittable pitches. Combined with the fact he has seen the most batters, it's not as shocking that he has given up the most hits. Nonetheless, seeing Sabathia's name at the top of the list was a surprise.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Q: Who's given up the most HRs?<br /><br /></span>A: TB starter Jamie Shields with 25. OK. But can you guess who's in 2nd with 24?<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> 2-time Cy Young winner Johan Santana.</span><br /><br />Arguably the best pitcher in the league for the past few years, Johan has had some trouble with the long-ball this year but that really hasn't slowed him down. Among AL starters, he's 3rd in ERA, 1st in WHIP, 2nd in K's, and 2nd in H/9. So, once again, he's very much in the thick of the Cy-Young race.<br /><br />His 24 HR given up this year so far is uncharacteristically steep, as he's already tied his career high. With about a dozen more starts to go, Johan Santana will almost surely blow that number by.<br /><br />So how does he keep his ERA so low and yet give up so many HR's? I dug a little deeper and looked at each HR he's given up and I found something pretty astounding. Of the 24 HR he has given up, 18 of them were solo shots. 18! So, 75% of the HR's he let up with the bases empty. The others? 5 HR with one man on, and only one HR with 2 men on, and zero grand slams.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Rr6KMEqWebI/AAAAAAAAABM/V6dfpzgCHnM/s1600-h/Johan+HR.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Rr6KMEqWebI/AAAAAAAAABM/V6dfpzgCHnM/s400/Johan+HR.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097663768244418994" border="0" /></a><br />On the surface, it looks like he has an uncanny ability to limit the runners on base when he gives up the bomb. Let's give it some perspective. At this point last year, Red Sox RHP Josh Beckett lead the league in HRs given up with 31. Of those 31, 16 were solo shots or 52% of the total. He gave up 9 HR with one on base, 4 with 2 on, and 2 grand slams. Beckett had a 5.01 ERA last year.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Rr6KMkqWedI/AAAAAAAAABc/5Pi863neA9I/s1600-h/beckett+HR.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Rr6KMkqWedI/AAAAAAAAABc/5Pi863neA9I/s400/beckett+HR.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097663776834353618" border="0" /></a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> So, from this data, we can figure out that Beckett 31 HRs generated a total of 54 runs or a 1.74 R/HR rate. On the other side, Johan Santana's 24 HRs generated a total of 31 or 1.29 R/HR or 45% <span style="font-style: italic;">more </span>than Beckett. To put it plainly, the homeruns that Santana gives up are much less costly than Beckett. This sheds light on how Santana maintains a 2.98 ERA and Beckett's ballooned to 5.01 .<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Q: So, has anyone ever won the AL Cy Young award while leading the league in Hits Allowed? How about HR allowed?</span><br /><br />A: <span style="font-style: italic;">Yes, once. And yes, once.</span><br /><br />The Cy Young Award started in 1956 as a Major League award and split between NL and AL in 1967. Since 1967, only <span style="font-weight: bold;">once</span> did the AL Cy Young also lead the AL in Hits Allowed. Interestingly enough, this happened only four years ago when Roy Halladay accomplished the feat in 2003.<br /><br />Baseball writers who vote for the award tend to value the wins in a pitcher's record more than the other statistics and in 2003 Halladay led the league with 21 wins. It's worth noting that Halladay received<span style="font-weight: bold;"> 26</span> of the 28 1st place votes and 97% of the points share. That's as close to a unanimous vote as you can get and yet more batters recorded hits off of him than any other pitcher in the majors! Keep in mind, he had a 1.07 WHIP (2nd in the AL), the best SO/BB ratio, the most innings pitched and most batters faced. Just like Sabathia this year, Roy was a workhorse who may have been hittable but kept his walks to a minimum.<br /><br />Back to HRs Allowed. Since 1967, there was only<span style="font-weight: bold;"> one</span> time when the AL Cy Young also lead the AL in HRs Allowed and it was in 1968. It hasn't happened in the 28 years since. Take a look at this...<br /><br />In 1968, Detroit Tigers starter Denny McLain won the AL Cy Young<span style="font-style: italic;"> and</span> the AL MVP despite leading the league in HRs Allowed with 31. Denny McLain had a 1.96 ERA 0.905 WHIP and went 31-6 in a lead leading 330 innings pitched. 31 wins! He's the only pitcher to have over 30 wins in over 70 years. He had an absolutely outstanding ERA and yet gave up more HRs than anyone else in the league.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Rr6KMUqWecI/AAAAAAAAABU/Zj3tiB15ZnA/s1600-h/McLain+HR.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_B91LRj2gidk/Rr6KMUqWecI/AAAAAAAAABU/Zj3tiB15ZnA/s400/McLain+HR.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097663772539386306" border="0" /></a><br />It seems as if he's giving up some costly HRs, much like Beckett last year with Santana posting a much safer HR line this year. The most amazing thing about McLain's year is that he gave up 48 Runs by HR and had a total of 86 Runs Allowed. That means he let up only <span style="font-style: italic;">40 runs </span>independent of HRs in 330 innings pitched. That is astounding. Another interesting fact from McLain's 1968 season was that he had 8 straight starts in which he let up a home run and yet, he went 6-2 over that span. What a year. I wonder if there is a stat that calculates the ERA independent of HR's allowed...<br /><br />So, what does this all mean? CC Sabathia and Johan Santana's years are quite unique. I'm very interested to see how the AL Cy Young race plays out and if Sabathia and Santana continue to give up hits and gopherballs respectively. Oh, and Denny McLain was a pretty good pitcher.<br /><br />Note: All the data was collected from Baseball-Reference.com.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-7149994984013034790?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-1481709049320954452007-08-10T21:41:00.001-04:002007-08-10T23:56:11.465-04:00<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=270810101">Wow.</a><br /><br />Just... wow. <br /><br />I don't know what to say or where to begin. Why don't we just start with...<br /><br />...getting rid of JD Drew. Buy out the rest of his contract. I don't care. I will never EVER root for him as long as he wears a Red Sox uniform. This is long overdue: I'll never forgive the Red Sox front-office for letting go Trot Nixon and signing JD Drew to a 5yr/$70 million contract. There's <span style="font-weight: bold;">no way</span> Trot would have let that ball by him and all the way to the fence in the 8th with 2 runners on with a 3 run lead. Pathetic. That play was in slow motion as JD Drew came in to field that liner from Huff. I think every Little Leaguer knows not to sprint at a line drive one hopper in right field no matter the circumstances--much less in a close game in the 8th. You either let up and field it safely or you go for it. Enraging. Just makes me want to punt kittens.<br /><br /> For fun, let's compare Trot vs JD stats for the 2007.<br /><br />-------------BA /OBP/SLG---------------<br />Trot Nixon .255/.347/.347<br />JD Drew .254/.358/.382<br /><br />There probably aren't two rightfielders in the majors who have more similar batting stats and yet Trot is getting paid $11 million <span style="font-weight: bold;">less </span>than JD Drew this season. They're both injury riddled, left-handed, and wear number 7. Not to mention that Trot was a Boston fan favorite who should spent his entire career at Fenway and JD Drew has the enthusiasm and charisma of a cardboard box. I went to Trot's return to Fenway with my brother's and can tell you that it was one of the most giving-me-chills moment of my life when he came up to bat. Watch <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDlWZUgaoGs&mode=related&amp;search=">this </a>or <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV-Uh2IuZME&mode=related&amp;search=">this</a> and tell me it doesn't give you chills. As close to tragedy for a Sox fan as you can get.<br /><br />I want a refund on Eric Gagne. Coco Crisp's game-losing throw that was supposed to be a play-at-the-plate but he hit the CUT OFF MAN. He makes Johnny Damon look like Tom Brady out there. Where was Papelbon in the 9th?<br /><br />What a horrible loss. I started writing this entry after the Wily Mo Pena game-tying hit because it was the most improbable occurrence that I've seen in a long time. Probably the most feel-good moment of the 2007 Red Sox season all to be thrown away by Eric The Clown Gagne and OkiChoki. In the words of Billy Madison, "YA BLEWWWWWWW IIIIT!!!"<br /><br />The pitching duel between Dice-K and Erik Bedard was ruined. Daisuke Matsuzaka had ridiculous movement on all his pitches tonight (7in 4H 1ER 4BB 7K 112 pitches) and O's lefty Erik Bedard proved once again why he's the most underrated pitcher in the majors (7.2 in 4 H 2 ER 2 BB 7 K) and arguably is the BEST pitcher in the league.<br /><br />28 year old Erik Bedard is a lefty who leads the majors in strikeouts by a wide margin and has a 3.09 ERA, 1.10 WHIP. His K/9 ratio is 11.18 which is really really good, like best in baseball good. He dishes out more K's than anyone in baseball. He had racked up 7 K's in the game already and was facing the most dreadful hitter on the Red Sox roster. K's. K's. K's.<br /><br />Wily Mo Pena is a strike-out machine. 56 K's in 151 AB with only 14 walks. Can't hit a breaking ball. Can't get around quick enough on a fast-ball. He's batting .219/.293/.391 which are all well below is his career #s and has a mighty 16 RBI this season. My dad hates him. My mom thinks he's the biggest waste of space she's ever seen. He's looked completely overwhelmed in every at-bat this season and had Bill Simmons demanding he be traded for a cheeseburger in his ESPN column today. Earlier this week, WMP himself demanded a trade out of Boston only to have his agent, who knows that there's no market for him whatsoever, tells the press 48 hours later, "His preference would be to stay in Boston and to help the team win a World Series this year." Nice. Does anyone realize that this guy hit 26 HR's in only 110 games a few years ago and he was just <span style="font-weight: bold;">22 </span>years old??? Different guy.<br /><br />On a 2-2 pitch with men on 1st and 2nd in the 8th inning down one run, just after 1b umpire Joe West bailed him out on a check swing call, Wily Mo Pena hits a 12-6 curve ball from Erik Bedard up the middle to tie the game. He goes nuts running down the first baseline, clapping his hands and yelling... easily the most emotion and enthusiasm I've seen outta WMP since he donned a Sox uniform. Not once in that at bat did I think that he wasn't going to strike out... much less hit a 2- strike breaking ball back up in the middle. Not in a million years. But he did. When Lugo bunt singles the go ahead run, the pinched-run Wily Mo was going NUTS and the Sox were going crazy in the dugout. We then hit 4 consecutive singles to take the lead to 5-1. Just an awesome awesome moment.<br /><br />Then, Eric Gagne came in. Do we still have the receipt on this guy? Everyone in baseball thought this trade was a steal. Maybe he's just one of those closers who cannot pitch in a set-up role. What a miserable performance. He let up 4 runs on 3 hits and a walk and managed to get ONE (1) out. One. Eric Gagne.<br /><br />I already mentioned the JD Drew debacle and I don't want to talk about it anymore but I'll say it again: Trot would have never let that ball by him. No way.<br /><br />So, we lose the game after a great come back from the most unlikely of sources.<br /><br />This one hurt.<br /><br />Norm McDonald in <span style="font-style: italic;">Billy Madison</span>, "Hey, you wanna go feed that donkey some beer? Get it all messed up?"<br /><br />Yes. I'd like that.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-148170904932095445?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-5852880378191925652007-07-24T09:58:00.001-04:002007-07-24T10:10:49.241-04:00Well, it looks like my post about Westport's Used to Be's (which you can find <a href="http://http://tomsbombs.blogspot.com/2007/07/hermans-and-i-cant-believe-its-yogurt.html#links">below</a>) has been featured on Westport's 24/7 News and Information Source WestportNow.com. What a surprise. I welcome any and all comments to the list that I've created. Don't worry, I won't be stubborn about adding more stores to the list. I changed the Comments settings so that anyone can post regardless of whether you have a Google account or not. So, please, feel free to help out.<br /><br />I'm working on a list of Westport's Original's which will be a list of Westport stores and shops in town that have remained in Westport through it all. Interestingly enough, the first that come to mind are the deli's and pizzaria's in town. Feel free to contribute to that list as well.<br /><br />-Tom<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-585288037819192565?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-33743805786157099692007-07-23T19:20:00.001-04:002007-11-18T21:22:36.968-05:00Sorry for the late start here for my first Red Sox game post. Steve Phillips and Orel Hershiser are commentating tonight, which is great because they argue about EVERYTHING. Always good for about 88 awkward pauses in a broadcast.<br /><br />They've already had two stalemate, stubborn arguments. Steve Phillips, as always, ends up saying something utterly indefensible already. When the Sox scored 3 straight runs, Steve Phillips says "Well, the Indians have 'em right where they want 'em. They come from behind more than any other team and have come back from a 9-2 deficit this year" No. They don't want to give up 3 runs to start the game from the pitcher they just gave a 3 year $33 million extension. Orel just started laughing at him.<br /><br />Then, Steve Phillips continued to show why he goes down as one of the worst GM's of all time: "A 3 run lead is actually worse for Jon Lester here. I mean, here's a guy who's so anxious to start this game and now he has to wait to pitch." Orel: "Actually, I disagree. I think he's a lot more relaxed and comfortable now that he has some run support. A whole lot of pressure has been lifted." Score another one for Orel.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7:28pm- </span>Given a 4-nothing lead to start the game, Jon Lester fires a first pitch strike. Great to see him back on the mound. Never thought I'd see him pitch again.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7:29pm-</span> A great looking slow curve that just missed on the inside corner. Next pitch results in a hard grounder to Youkilis. Big relief. The parents are in attendance tonight and look like Little League parents watching they're 8 year old on the mound, standing up every time the ball is hit.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7:31pm- </span>High heat gets Casey Blake swinging for Lester's first strike out of the outing. He's looking pretty good so far.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7:32pm-</span> 2007 fantasy bust of the year Travis Hafner flies out to center to end the inning. For those who don't know, Travis Hafner has the greatest nickname in sports. Pronk. He got that name coming up in the minor leagues. It's a hybrid of "Project Donkey". <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.castefootball.us/images/temp/637e2514471fed5cbbbab8de21dddb3d.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 197px; height: 244px;" src="http://www.castefootball.us/images/temp/637e2514471fed5cbbbab8de21dddb3d.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7:37pm-</span> Coco Crisp has been absolutely on fire. He doubles hard opposite field to the warning track. What a turnaround.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7:41pm-</span> Youkilis drives in Coco from second and the lead is extended to 5. Manny's up and I don't think people realize how long his dreds are. This has got to be some sort of record. The locks are now extending past the "RAMIREZ" on his jersey.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7:43pm- </span>Argument #3 between Orel and Steve has ignited as Steve Phillips starts Yankee bashing. Orel says "You still have that Mets blood and you can't say anything good about the Yankees, can you?" The play-by-play guy jokingly holds Orel back from Steve. We get a good shot of Steve trying to defend himself but ends up blabbering incoherently about how he has a radio show in New York so blah blah blah. . I think it says something when the lovable Orel Hershiser can't stand Steve.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7:48pm- </span>Somethings wrong with the ESPN sound. The crowd noise keeps fading in and out. I feel like Lucille 2 from Arrested Development.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7:52pm- </span>Jon Lester gets a 5-3-2 double play and a strike out on a fastball to end the inning. His fastball looks hittable but the Indians' bats keep missing. A great start for Lester so far. His parents are cheering as if he's pitching Game 7 of the World Series. Very cool.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7:55pm- </span>JD Drew gets robbed by Garko dive on a hard grounder. Orel points out something about JD Drew that every fan of any team JD Drew has played for told me: he looks like he just doesn't care about anything. Everywhere he goes, fans describe him as a heartless robot. When the Red Sox signed him to the monster contract, I think I cried. I would bet 100 dollars that JD Drew and David Ortiz have never exchanged more than 8 words this year.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8:03pm- </span>Steve Phillips has mysteriously left the booth. Orel and the PBPG discuss whether Selig should be at Bonds' games as he tries to break the record. I can't think of a time that all Big 3 Sports have had damaging scandals like this. Just a bad time to be a sports fan.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8:08pm-</span> This is tough. In the stands, Steve Phillips is interviewing Lester's dad while Jon gives up a 2 run bomb mid-interview. That was unfortunate. Mr. Lester handles it as well as you could though.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8:13pm- </span>Travis Hafner has become my favorite non-Red Sox. Phillips informs us that Pronk is from North Dakota and he was his high-school valedictorian.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8:23pm</span>- Dustin Pedroia is fuming in the dugout after he grounded out into a double play. Steve Phillips drops this one on us: "You know, that just goes to show you why he's hitting .320 at 5'8" and has no power or speed. Look at him! He's mad! In a good way! That's why he's a major leaguer." There you have it kids. Get angry. Become a Major League baseball player. Chase your dreams, kiddo!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8:28pm- </span>John Kruk cut his hair. It's about time.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8:38pm-</span> Jon Lester is unraveling here. Orel talks about how we'll learn about Jon Lester's character. Orel and Steve have used the word "character" about 839 times tonight.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8:53pm- </span>Wow. Jon Lester somehow came out of that inning unscathed with a ha-yoooge strikeout. His parents were pumped. His line so far: 4 in 2 ER 6 K 4 H 3 BB. Not bad for a going through chemotherapy in the past year.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8:58pm- </span>Oh. God. Steve Phillips is doing the "just pitching good enough to win and lose" speech. I HATE IT. Talking about Westbrook's bad record, Steve Phillips tells us that some pitchers just seem to pitch well enough to lose. What does that mean? Let's say a pitcher gets no run support from his team--something he has NO control over-- and let's up one run in 8 innings. According to Steve Phillips, he pitched "just well enough to lose". If your team scores 3 runs in that game, did that pitcher pitch "just well enough to win"? It's a completely asinine comment. I know what he's getting at, that some pitchers have more courage and guts and grittiness and fire and balls than others that allow them to get out of tough innings. But, pitching wins and losses are poor indicators of pitching performance. Pitchers have NO CONTROL over how their hitters perform. Getting a win or a loss is subject to how your hitters play that night.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9:13pm- </span>Lester gets an inning-ending double play to finish the 6th. Looks like his night is over. What a performance. His final line: 6 innings 5 H 2 ER 3 BB 6 K's. Everyone congratulates him in the dugout and shakes his hand. And I mean everyone. Francona gives him a big hug. Good feelings all around.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9:22pm- </span>Steve Phillips says "The Red Sox tend to want base runners on when Manny Ramirez steps to the plate." Really? ARE YOU SURE???<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9:46pm- </span>Why is Timlin coming out again for another inning?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9:47pm</span>- This MLB actober.com marketing strategy is dumb. I like the choice to have Dane Cook do the new MLB Playoffs commercial but don't like the slogan "There's only one October". Dumb. Although I especially like the "DestiNY" banner shot that was put up in the 2004 ALCS at Yankee stadium. DestiNY. haha.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9:52pm- </span>Hey, did you know Barry Bonds is about to break Hank Aaron's HR record??? Did you know that ESPN2 is showing Barry Bonds and his AB's during this game??? Did you know that they are showing the Giants game after this one???<br /><br />In case you did forget, luckily there will be an ad every 38 seconds with Barry Bonds smiling or acting cute. Hey ESPN-- it's a lost cause. You won't get the American public to like Barry Bonds no matter how many "cute" clips of him at batting practice you show. I promise you.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9:55pm- </span>Travis Hafner. When will you ever produce on my fantasy team. I got you in the 2nd round. HORRIBLE.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9:59pm- </span>Say what you want about Francona but he did a great job in that inning with the bullpen pitching matchups. Timlin comes in and gets an out. Javier Lopez K's a very scary Pronk. MDC comes in to strike out Garko. Awesome. Here we go Papeybomb as my Dad calls him.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:17pm</span>- Did you know that the Indians got in at 5 am this morning ?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10:23pm</span>- Trot Nixon's up. I went to his return to Fenway. Awesome moment. Can't really describe how much he means to the Red Sox and their fanbase.<br /><br />10:26pm- MDC closes it out. Lester gets the win.<br /><br />Congratulations, Jon.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: rgb(0, 82, 163);font-family:Arial;font-size:12;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-3374380578615709969?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-9958610970958503322007-07-21T13:18:00.000-04:002007-07-24T09:34:14.639-04:00It's a beautiful day for baseball here in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">tri</span>-state area. Doubleheader on tap for the Yankees. Game 1 starters are <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Kei</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Igawa</span> (6.97 ERA) and Jason <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Hammel</span> (6.11 ERA). Game 2 starters are Matt <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">DeSalvo</span> (5.87 ERA) and JP Howell (6.62 ERA). <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Yeeeeesh</span>. Let's get started. Michael Kay and Al Leiter in the booth. I hate Michael Kay. I think Al Leiter is OK.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">1:07pm</span>: <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">BJ</span> Upton, a young former #1 pick shortstop converted to third base converted to second basemen converted to CF, hit two <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">dingers</span> yesterday in a victory over the Yankees. In the 1st inning, just seconds after Al Leiter comments that he has 30-30 ability, he hits a bomb to deep left-center. Michael Kay says "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">ssSEE</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">YAA</span>, ANOTHER <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">HOME RUN</span> GIVEN UP BY <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">IGAWA</span>!" He's almost excited that Igawa is getting rocked early. Cue the HR videotape from yesterday.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">1:18pm</span>: Jason <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Hammel</span> is pitching for the Devil Rays. Kay points out that it's his first start of the year. He goes on to say that Devil Rays Joe <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Maddon</span> has elected to go with a bullpen guy to start a doubleheader which means he'll have to use a lot of his bullpen today to compensate for a likely short start by <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Hammel</span>. If Joe Torre were managing for the Devil Rays, Scott Proctor would pitch 8 innings in relief today.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">1:29pm</span>: "Another home run served up by <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Igawa</span>!" Gotta love it. Ty <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Wigginton</span>, a glorified journeyman, wraps it around the left field foul pole. In other news, the Yankees have been interested in a trade that would send Scott Proctor to Tampa Bay for Ty <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Wigginton</span>. Why the hell would the Yankees trade away Proctor when they NEED bullpen help? It's like if my car won't start, I'm going to trade away my car keys for a tire. Essentially, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Wigginton</span> would be a bench guy for the Yankees since he can't play at his position (3B) and maybe would get a few starts over at first.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">1:35pm</span>: <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Kei</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Igawa</span> has struck out 4 batters. But wait, he's given up 2 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">HR's</span>. He's just like a 2006 Josh Beckett. Only he's Japanese, short, and wears sunglasses.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">1:41pm</span>: Upton is KILLING the Yankees. For some reason, Larry <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Bowa</span> has <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Posada</span> stretch it to third on a single from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Cano</span>. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">BJ</span> Upton rifles it from center, throwing <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Posada</span> out.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">1:43pm</span>: This is one of the reasons why I hate Michael Kay. He's the YES play-by-play man in the booth and yet he's always analyzing the game like a color man. If he was right half the time, then maybe it would be OK to listen to... but he's not. He talks the entire time while Al Leiter is most likely asleep with his head back.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">1:49pm</span>: <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">BJ</span> Upton up again after Crawford has a close infield single to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Cano</span>. He singles to left. KILLING.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">1:52pm</span>: Another horrible stat pop ups about <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Igawa</span>, showing that his opponents hit better as more runners get on. We get it, he sucks. Kay has been telling us this all day.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">1:56pm</span>: Double play line drive ends the inning with the bases loaded left on. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Grrr</span>...<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">1:57pm</span>: Recent call up, power hitter Shelley Duncan is up. He's hit 25 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">HR's</span> in the minor leagues this year. Scouts agree that he's the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">prototypical</span> "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">AAAA</span>" player meaning he's a good AAA player but he doesn't have enough talent to be a major leaguer. If there were a league in between AAA and the majors, he'd play in it. Likewise, he flies out to the warning track, just short enough for the HR. Very appropriate metaphor for Shelley Duncan.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">1:59pm</span>: Why is <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">Melky</span> Cabrera leading off for the Yankees? His .330 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">OBP</span> is 20 points below the Yankee team average. Not to mention he bats .122/.163/.171 in the lead off position against right-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36">handers</span>. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">Hammel</span> is a right <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38">hander</span>. One possible explanation why Cabrera is leading off? Johnny Damon sucks.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">2:01pm</span>: YESSSSS! A <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39">Guiseppe</span> Franco <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40">infoCommercial</span> for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41">Procede</span> hair product! There are so many reasons why this is worst commercial on TV. I've been waiting to talk about this for a long time. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_42">Guiseppe</span> Franco is apparently a "famous celebrity hair stylist" who owns a salon in Beverly Hills. He looks like a bad Chris <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_43">Kattan</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_44">SNL</span> impersonation of Al Pacino combined with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_45">Zoolander's</span> Blue Steel. The product is a hair <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_46">thickerizer</span> for men with balding hair-- it doesn't grow hair. "Hey, I'm Giuseppe Franco, I'm not gonna put my name on the line for something that doesn't work" No, but if they'll pay you enough, you'll forget that it doesn't work. Giuseppe Franco. What a fucking name. When the commercial mentions that Franco is a celebrity hair stylist, a 3-second clip showing Franco joyously hugging a celebrity appears. Who's the celebrity? Remember this is a hair product commercial trying to show that this guy knows what he's doing because he treats big time celebrities. That big-time celebrity is: Gary <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_47">Busey</span>. I'll always remember him for making David Spade wet himself in Black Sheep. "I don't own the company. Nor do I know anything about it. I just know this is the best hair product out there. And that I got paid up the ass for this TV Spot." Sorry that line was fake. Also, there is literally ZERO statistics or real results in the commercial to suggest that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_49">Procede</span> works. None. It's great. They interview a few guys who say, "Giuseppe ran his hands threw my hair and he said 'Hey! It works!' " You know how some hair growing product commercials have before and after scalp shots? This commercial only has AFTER shots. No need to compare with Before shots when you use <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_50">Procede</span>. Truly the<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_51">awesomest</span> commercial on TV.<br /><br />Check it <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=5nDiGqloDSY">out</a>.<span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"></span><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=5nDiGqloDSY"></a><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">2:14pm</span>: That <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_52">Procede</span> commercial rant took me a little away from the game. It's 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth. It's been pretty boring aside from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_53">BJ</span> Upton and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_54">Wigginton's</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_55">dingers</span>. The Yankees bats have been weak today.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">2:18pm</span>: Sure enough, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_56">Hideki</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_57">Matsui</span> hits a 2-Run bomb to the right-porch at Yankee Stadium to tie it up. I've said this before: <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_58">Matsui</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_59">Abreu</span> are great hitters. They will come around for the Yankees. Yankee fans have been blasting these guys all year like I expected them too because they're some of the most stubborn, ignorant, and spoiled fans in the game.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">2:31pm</span>: Top 5. Kay leads off with "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_60">Igawa</span> needs to continue putting up zeros on the board" and he then gives up a lead off double.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">2:32pm</span>: The ball-strikes ratio screen pops up showing 50 strikes to 24 balls for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_61">Kei</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_62">Igawa</span>, which is very good. Michael Kay says this "That shows how flawed that ratio is. It doesn't matter how many strikes you pitch if you throw bad strikes. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_63">Igawa</span> does not throw good strikes" What the hell do you want from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_64">Igawa</span>? What the hell is a "good" strike? Would you want him to throw more "good" balls? <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_65">Igawa</span> has struck out 6 batters and only one walk in 4 innings! This is really, really good command. Michael Kay has just turned a BIG positive for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_66">Igawa</span> into a negative somehow.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">2:43pm</span>: A double, intentional walk, a walk to load up the bases and Kei Igawa gets out of it, popping up Wigginton to end the inning. Damn it.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">2:44pm</span>: A commercial for Continental Airlines shows a dumb guy who asks for things that are inappropriate for the occasion. For example, he walks up to a hot dog vendor on the street and says "Hey, can I have the Salmon Saffron?" . This reminds me of the time that a bunch of friends and I went to a shitty beach "seafood" bar-type in Myrtle Beach to eat fried food and drink beer by the beach for a few bucks. Chris Bartell looks at the menu and asks the chain-smoking prostitute/waitress "Sorry, do you have any <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Mahi-Mahi?". </span>He was serious. He's sheltered.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">2:58pm: </span>Michael Kay just asked Al Leiter if he shaved between games. "Yeah." <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">flustered</span> "I think so." They then have camera shots on everyone in Yankee Stadium with facial hair. What a broadcast. Where's Giuseppe Franco?<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">3:02pm</span>: The camera pans around the sky and the stadium to show how beautiful of a day it is. To fill up some time, Michael Kay gets a little emotional.<br /><br />"Just a great day to be alive."<br />"Good to see you happy, Michael"<br />"Yeah. It's not very often."<br /><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Silence...<br /><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><br /></span></span></span></span>Michael Kay and Al Leiter!!! Electric!<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">3:09pm</span>: I have a bad feeling about this Arod at-bat.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">3:10pm</span>: Arod gets drilled by a pitch in the ribs and flips around like a fish out of water for a few seconds. I now have a great feeling about this Arod at-bat.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">3:12pm</span>: Chein Meing Wang is warming up in the pen. Hideki Matsui is up at bat against Tampa Bay pitcher Jae-Kuk Ryu. Kei Igawa started this game. Which reminds me, did you know that Andy Phillips is the only white person who starts for the Yankees? Not that it matters.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">3:18pm</span>: In the bottom of the sixth, the Yankees take a 7-2 lead with a Cano grounder in between right side of the infield, a Whitey Phillips single to right, and a Shelley Duncan HR to left.<br /><br />"I wonder if his feet are touching the ground!!!"<br /><br />I think I'm going to throw up. Fuck it, I'm going out on a run.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic"></span></span></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-995861097095850332?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-66107833764697767462007-07-17T18:35:00.000-04:002007-07-17T19:50:17.807-04:00My favorite baseball blog FireJoeMorgan.com does a little thing known in the blog world as "fisking" where they criticize an article word-for-word by copying quotes and then highlighting the errors. If they find a good (/bad) enough article, then there will be dozens of excerpts to point out errors. I find it hysterical. It's very witty and exposes the incompetence in sports journalism.<br /><br /> The website started out as a bunch of college buddies emailed each other back and forth some quotes from Joe Morgan that were downright wrong or completely off-base. The biggest flaw in his journalism is his ignorance. He claims to be a baseball analyst but half the time he says things like "I don't know watch enough of X Player's games to have a good idea if he's a good player or not but I do know that second base is a tough position to play-- I should know because I'm a Hall of Famer."<br /><br /> So anyway, their favorite people to criticize are ESPN's own Joe Morgan (obviously), John Kruk, Steve Phillips and wouldn't you know it, several New York sports journalists (Michael Kay, Mike Celizic, and the uber-bad Wallace Matthews). I started reading the site last summer and I visit it almost everyday.<br /><br /> Here's an article I found today at work on Forbes.com that I needed to fisk. It was incredibly irrelevant and just plain dumb. Click on the link if you feel your head needs some scratching. Again, this article was on Forbes.com front page. The words in <span style="font-weight: bold;">bold</span> are direct quotes from the article you can find at the link below.<br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://www.forbes.com/home/personalfinance/2007/07/16/tessera-hologix-oplink-pf-ii-in_kf_0716soapbox_inl.html" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"><span><strong>Be Like Lou Piniella. Buy Growth Stocks</strong></span></a></span><br /> by Ken Zarfalas, financial analyst and portfolio manager for Oberweis Asset Management.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.forbes.com/home/personalfinance/2007/07/16/tessera-hologix-oplink-pf-ii-in_kf_0716soapbox_inl.html" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"> </a></div> <div> The phrases in this title are as ambiguous and disconnected as: "Be Like Lou Piniella. Sing your children lullabies."Apparently, Lou Piniella buys growth stocks. You should too. Why? Let's find out!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sneaky. That's how I would describe the latest version of Chicago's beloved Cubs and their new manager, Lou Piniella.<br /><br /></span> Bad start. Sneaky? That would probably fall at like #138 on my list of "Words to Describe the 2007 Chicago Cubs" right after "blueish". Go on.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Cubbies were revamped and retooled for the 2007 season after spending a fistful of dollars over the winter to sign Alfonso Soriano and a slew of other free agents.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><br /> Yup. They spent a lot. GM Jim Hendry signed some big free agents for big bucks like starter Ted Lilly and former 40-40 2b/CF/LF Alfonso Soriano, extended the contract of their 3b Aramis Ramirez, and signed OF Jacque Jones. This will be VERY important later, so let me be clear: The GM is responsible for assembling the team and coaching staff. That means they sign players, waive players, trade players, demote players, and promote players when they feel it is necessary to have the best roster for the manager to put fill out the lineup card with.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: bold;">And they hired "Sweet Lou" Piniella to run the team.</span><strong> It didn't take long for Cubs fans (and Cubs players) to learn that Lou is not particularly "sweet" and that he doesn't care to be.<br /><br /></strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Irrelevant to growth stocks. I am positive that the Cubs and their fanbase were well aware that he's "not particularly 'sweet' and he doesn't care to be." This is the most infamous manager in baseball. We are 3 paragraphs in and no one has a clue how anything relates to buying growth stocks. I mean this is the guy who ran himself out of Tampa Bay and Seattle for being either A) Being a bad manager B) Being an asshole C) A and B. Let's just say no one mistook Lou Piniella for a CareBear.<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div><strong>He is like the long-lost crazy uncle who makes you cringe when he arrives at your doorstep for Thanksgiving dinner, no telling what he might say or do.<br /><br /></strong></div> <div> </div> <div> You mean, Randy Quaid? I think what he was going for was Randy Quaid in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Vegas Vacation. Kenny could have alluded to him but he chose not to. I hate you, Kenny. Also, his sentence was poorly written.<br /><br /><script><!-- D(["mb","\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>\u003cstrong\>&quot;While the team struggled during the early part of the season, &quot;Sneaky&quot; Lou worked behind the scenes to change the face and attitude of the ball club, his ball club.&quot;\u003c/strong\>\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>\u003cbr\>Again, awkard comma at the end of the sentence. I&#39;m no English major nor do I try to be, this is poor writing. Also, &quot;behind the scenes&quot; is not exactly how I would describe Lou&#39;s style of managing. In fact, I think he&#39;s the most public managers around baseball-- possibly of all time. This year, he&#39;s been thrown out of games, made rants in very not-behind-the-scenes-and-very\u003cWBR\>-public press conferences, and has called out players publicly for their struggles. Additionally, why do you need to reiterate that it is HIS ballclub? Does he own the Cubs? No. So it&#39;s not his. Wait... WHY DO I NEED TO BUY GROWTH STOCKS!!!\n\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>\u003cstrong\>&quot;Only four starters from opening day remain regular starters today. Players have been benched, demoted to the minors and traded.&quot;\u003c/strong\>\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>OK. First of all, the turnover of Cubs regular starters has nothing to do with growth stocks. I&#39;m pretty sure of this. Second of all, the fact that only four original starters remain as regulars today is more of a product of Cubs GM Jim Hendry&#39;s transactions and the players&#39; horrible play than it is Sneaky Sweet Sassy Lou&#39;s managing style. Trades and demotions are decisions made by Hendry, not SSS Lou. I&#39;m assuming the 4 players he&#39;s referring to are Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano, Mark DeRosa, and Aramis Ramirez. Those that get benched are part of Sweet Sassy Lou&#39;s doing but how can you argue with him? These guys have fantastically underperformed. Nevermind that one could actually argue that Jacque Jones is \n\u003cem\>still\u003c/em\> a regular player as he has started 3 out of the last 4 games for the Cubs. Obviously he makes the decision but Jacque certainly didn&#39;t help himself by sucking whoehardedly with a .620 OPS. Matt Murton (and his .667 OPS) was sent down to the minors by the GM. Michael Barrett was a clubhouse disaster and I&#39;m sure any manager in baseball could tell he needed new surroundings. He was traded by the GM-- again not Lou Piniella. SS Cesar Izturis sucks (.601 OPS). You don&#39;t need to be Sneaky or Sweet to have the balls to bench these guys who are contributing absolutely nothing. Third of all (and I know this was first of all), WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH GROWTH STOCK PURCHASES!!!\n",1] ); //--></script></div> <div> </div> <div><strong>While the team struggled during the early part of the season, "Sneaky" Lou worked behind the scenes to change the face and attitude of the ball club, his ball club.</strong></div> <div><br /> Again, an awkward comma at the end of the sentence. I'm no English major nor do I try to be, but this is poor writing. Also, "behind the scenes" is exactly the wrong (re: false) way to describe Lou's style of managing. In fact, I think he's the most public managers around baseball-- possibly of all time. This year, he's been thrown out of games, made rants in very not-behind-the-scenes-and-very<wbr>-public press conferences, and has personally called out players in public for their struggles. Additionally, why do you need to reiterate that it is HIS ballclub? Does he own the Cubs? No. So it's not his. Wait... WHY DO I NEED TO BUY GROWTH STOCKS!!!<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div><strong>Only four starters from opening day remain regular starters today. Players have been benched, demoted to the minors and traded.<br /><br /></strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Wow. Let me jump head first. First of all, the turnover of Cubs regular starters has nothing to do with growth stocks. I'm pretty sure of this. Second of all, the fact that only four original starters remain as regulars today is more of a product of Cubs GM Jim Hendry's transactions and the players' horrible play than it is Sneaky Sweet Sassy Lou's managing style. Trades and demotions are decisions made by Hendry, not SSS Lou. <br /> I'm assuming the 4 players he's referring to are Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano, Mark DeRosa, and Aramis Ramirez. Those that get benched are part of Sweet Sassy Lou's doing but how can you argue with him? These guys have fantastically underperformed. Nevermind that one could actually argue that Jacque Jones is <em>still</em> a regular player as he has started 3 out of the last 4 games for the Cubs. Obviously, Lou makes the decides who plays in a particular game but Jacque certainly didn't help himself by sucking whole-hardedly with a .620 OPS (OBP + Slg%). Matt Murton (and his .667 OPS) was sent down to the minors by the GM Jim Hendry. Michael Barrett was a clubhouse disaster and I'm sure any manager in baseball could tell he needed new surroundings. He was traded by the GM-- again not Lou Piniella. SS Cesar Izturis sucks (.601 OPS and good for 25th in the majors among SS). You don't need to be Sneaky or Sweet to have the balls to bench these guys who are contributing absolutely nothing. Third of all (and I know this was first of all), WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH GROWTH STOCK PURCHASES!!!<br /><br /><script><!-- D(["mb","\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>\u003cstrong\>&quot;As a result, &quot;Sneaky&quot; Lou has the Cubs playing some sneaky baseball; they&#39;ve won seven straight (as of June 30) and appear to be in the thick of the National League Central playoff hunt. &quot;\n\u003c/strong\>\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>There&#39;s nothing Sneaky about Lou Piniella. Unless you count his flatulence on the dugout bench. Gets &#39;em every time. What does &quot;sneaky&quot; baseball mean? Are they wearing Hamburgler&#39;s outifts instead of their uniforms? Are they tip-toeing around the field? Do they wear masks? Maybe some Harry Potter magic. They have one of the biggest fanbases in baseball so I&#39;m pretty sure people would take notice if they were being &quot;sneaky&quot;. \n\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>\u003cstrong\>&quot;Growth stocks are also on a sneaky winning streak this year after a long Cub-like slumber. &quot;\u003c/strong\>\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>Ahh... Here it is. 5 bleeping paragraphs into the article on \u003ca href\u003d\"http://Forbes.com\" target\u003d\"_blank\" onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\"\>Forbes.com\u003c/a\> do we hear a single word about finance. A sneaky winning streak. Also, I like the bear/hibernation Cub/slumber metaphor. Good stuff.\n\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>\u003cstrong\>&quot;While it would be easy to stick with a winner and continue to ride your value stocks, we have suggested in recent issues of \u003c/strong\>\u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.newsletters.forbes.com/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action\u003dDisplayPage&Locale\u003den_US&id\u003dProductDetailsPage&SiteID\u003des_764&productID\u003d10292500&OfferID\u003d1398809&pgm\u003d104300\" target\u003d\"_blank\" onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\"\>\n\u003cstrong\>The Oberweis Report\u003c/strong\>\u003c/a\>\u003cstrong\> that the right move, à la Lou Piniella, is to shake up your portfolio, be a contrarian and buy growth. &quot;\u003c/strong\>\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>I already mentioned this earlier, but the &quot;shake up&quot; was the GM Jim Hendry&#39;s. He traded his catcher. He demoted his starting left fielder to the minor leagues. The center fielder is till starting most of their recent games. So to recap, 7 out of the 8 &quot;regulars&quot; of the current Cubs lineup have nothing to do with Lou Piniella&#39;s shakeup. The only guy who Lou is responsible for no longer a regular (\n",1] ); //--></script></div> <div> </div> <div><strong>As a result, "Sneaky" Lou has the Cubs playing some sneaky baseball; they've won seven straight (as of June 30) and appear to be in the thick of the National League Central playoff hunt.<br /><br /></strong></div> <div> </div> <div> There's nothing Sneaky about Lou Piniella. Unless you count his flatulence on the dugout bench. Gets 'em every time. What does "sneaky" baseball mean? Are they wearing Hamburgler's outifts instead of their uniforms? Are they tip-toeing around the field? Do they wear masks? Maybe some Harry Potter magic? They have one of the biggest fanbases in baseball so I'm pretty sure people would take notice if they were being "sneaky" and are covered on ESPN all the damn time.<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div><strong>Growth stocks are also on a sneaky winning streak this year after a long Cub-like slumber.<br /><br /></strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Ahh... Here it is. 5 bleeping paragraphs into the article on <a href="http://forbes.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Forbes.com</a> do we hear a single word about finance. A "sneaky" winning streak. Also, I like the bear/hibernation Cub/slumber metaphor. Good stuff.<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div><strong>While it would be easy to stick with a winner and continue to ride your value stocks, we have suggested in recent issues of </strong><a href="http://www.newsletters.forbes.com/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayPage&Locale=en_US&amp;id=ProductDetailsPage&SiteID=es_764&amp;amp;amp;productID=10292500&OfferID=1398809&amp;pgm=104300" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"> <strong>The Oberweis Report</strong></a><strong> that the right move, à la Lou Piniella, is to shake up your portfolio, be a contrarian and buy growth.<br /><br /></strong></div> <div> </div> <div> I already mentioned this earlier, but the "shake up" was by GM Jim Hendry's. He traded his catcher. He demoted his starting left fielder to the minor leagues. The center fielder is till starting most of their recent games. So to recap, 7 out of the 8 "regulars" of the current Cubs lineup have nothing to do with Lou Piniella's shakeup. The only guy who Lou is responsible for no longer a regular ( <script><!-- D(["mb","i.e benching) is Cesar Izturis who, as you know, sucks. It doesn&#39;t take a managerial genius to know that he sucks.\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>\u003cstrong\>&quot;And those sneaky growth stocks, much like the Cubs, have quietly rallied the first half of the year to return 9.3% (for the Russell 2000 Growth Index) compared with 3.8% for the Russell 2000 Value Index.&quot;\n\u003c/strong\>\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>Actually, it&#39;s nothing like the Cubs. Over the first half of the year (half of their 162 game season) the Cubs, who just added like $200 million dollars to their payroll over the winter, &quot;rallied&quot; to a record of 41-40. Ask any Cubs fan if they would consider that record a &quot;rally&quot; with the expectations coming into the season. But make sure you whisper the question to that Cubs fan... wouldn&#39;t want to be too loud for those sneaky Hamburgler Cubbies.\n\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>\u003cstrong\>&quot;Growth stocks and the Chicago Cubs are sharing the same bandwagon, and it&#39;s time to jump on. They&#39;ve both been sneaking around thus far, but soon they&#39;ll be obvious winners.&quot;\u003c/strong\>\u003c/div\>\n\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>What a horrible article. I still don&#39;t know what &quot;sneaking around&quot; means when you attribute it one of the most popular baseball franchises in the history of the sport. That&#39;s like saying Paris Hilton has been sneaking around Los Angeles. There are a lot of people watching the Cubs. And another thing, Lou Piniella is NOT a &quot;sneaky&quot; manager. He is just the opposite. Stick to writing about finance Ken Farsalas. \n\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n",0] ); //--></script>i.e benching) is Cesar Izturis who, as you know, sucks. It doesn't take a managerial genius to know that he sucks and should not play everyday.<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div><strong>And those sneaky growth stocks, much like the Cubs, have quietly rallied the first half of the year to return 9.3% (for the Russell 2000 Growth Index) compared with 3.8% for the Russell 2000 Value Index.<br /><br /></strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Actually, it's nothing like the Cubs. Over the first half of the year (half of their 162 game season) the Cubs, who just added like $200 million dollars to their payroll over the winter, "rallied" to a record of 41-40. Ask any Cubs fan if they would consider that record a "rally" with the expectations coming into the season. But make sure you whisper the question to that Cubs fan... wouldn't want to be too loud for those sneaky Hamburgler Cubbies. You might increase their decibel level to undesired levels.<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div><strong>Growth stocks and the Chicago Cubs are sharing the same bandwagon, and it's time to jump on. They've both been sneaking around thus far, but soon they'll be obvious winners.<br /><br /></strong></div> <div> </div> <div> The same bandwagon? Do you honestly think that people jumping on the Cubs "bandwagon" are also jumping on the "Growth stocks" bandwagon? What would that bandwagon look like? I'm thinking lots of steroids and poor gas mileage. What a<span style="font-style: italic;"> horrible</span> article. I still don't know what "sneaking around" means especially when you attribute it one of the most popular baseball franchises in the history of the sport. That's like saying Paris Hilton has been sneaking around Los Angeles. There are a lot of people watching the Cubs. And another thing, Lou Piniella is NOT a "sneaky" manager. He is just the opposite. Stick to writing about finance Ken Farsalas.<br /><br /><br /> </div> <div><br /><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-6610783376469776746?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911057609677857976.post-52001475009129452132007-07-16T18:47:00.000-04:002007-07-16T21:58:56.094-04:00Just got back from a run around the neighborhood. Popped in my cheap Ipod wannabe mp3 player from COBY (which I highly recommend) into my computer, added some good Texas country songs and off I went. Who woulda thought that the Eagles, Robert Earl Keen, TI, Tenacious D, and Talking Heads would create a cardiovascular tour de force? All I need for a run is some good music and this little tiny tiny thing does the job for like 20 bucks-- just a few Benjamin's short of an iPod the same size.<br /><br />Unfortunately, about 15 minutes into my run, I started getting this sharp pain underneath my left shoulder blade in the back right over by Stoneboat. The pain coincided with heavy fatigue and slowly faded away as I started walking instead of running. Never had that before. It shortened my run which I was hoping to be around 45 minutes long and ended up being a half hour. A week ago, I woke up and couldn't get my left shoulder blade loose and had mom give me a massage there and it didn't help. I wouldn't be surprised if the two sores were related.<br /><br />This neighborhood is fascinating. Seventeen years ago, when us Haberstroh's moved from Appletree Trail to Hermit Court, my parents were afraid that our house would have trouble getting sold because "it was too big for the neighborhood". Now? I wouldn't be surprised if our home fell victim to a raze and torn down if it weren't for the marshlands. Those would be a hurdle when the papers landed on the desk of Planning and Zoning committee.<br /><br />The houses around here are colossal and new construction sites are seemingly everywhere you look. The newest on the corner of Hermit and Red Coat is a must-see and would've absolutely dwarfed the neighborhood 5 years ago. These days, it has some stiff competition. The only downside to these new monster-mansions is that the plots of green forests have vanished. The ironic part is that the people who live there will likely "go green" and buy organic soil to save the planet after they cut down a thousand trees. I still remember coming home from college and being shocked at the lack of forestation. Still happens.<br /><br />As a kid growing up in Westport, I took for granted the size of the houses and all the money that's thrown around in this town. Having college friends visit from out of town helped me understand how fortunate I am to grow up in this beautiful town. Compo, Longshore, Winslow Park, Burying Hill, Old Mill, Beachside, Saugatuck, Main Street... A practicing photographer would have no difficulty finding material here. Check out WestportNow.com if you want to check it out some of the scenes. There's a reason why Westport continues to attract the "artsy" type.<br /><br />Everyday I feel like I remember on old store in Westport that is no longer. A good friend of mine mentioned Herman's and for a moment I didn't know what he was talking about. HERMAN'S! I used to go to Herman's with my brothers all the time for all my sports equipment and garb. Now, it's a favorite local grocery store-- Trader Joe's. For all my sporting "wants" I'd head there or to Athlete's Foot downtown (also gone), or Athletic Shoe Factory (also not there anymore but moved to the border of Fairfield on the Post Road). Next to Herman's, it used to be a Shawmut Bank, now a Wachovia. I went to the Shawmut for a Boy Scout trip and got a tour. "And here's where we keep all the money but we can't go near there." Oh. I felt like Tantalus. Come to think of it, let's do a little run down of Westport Used-To-Be's and Now-is' that come to mind. I'll call it...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Westport's Used-To-Be's (and Now is') Circa 1990 A.D. List<br /></span><ol><li>Herman's . (Trader Joe's)</li><li>Shawmut Bank. (Wachovia Bank)</li><li>Bank of Darien. (<span style="font-style: italic;">Lafayette-American Bank</span> to <span style="font-style: italic;">Hudson United Bank </span>and now, TD Banknorth)</li><li>Westport Bank & Trust (Patagonia)</li><li>Fuddruckers (<span style="font-style: italic;">Post Corner Pizza</span> to ??)</li><li>Onion Alley (Bobby Q's)</li><li>Speedy Pizza (San Remo Pizza)</li><li>Dairy Queen (Swanky Franks)</li><li>KidWear (Smith and Hawken)</li><li>Arcudi's Pizza (Chef's Table)</li><li>Downtown Movie Theatre (Restoration Hardware/<span style="font-style: italic;">Inferno </span>to Matsu Sushi)</li><li>Ship's Corner (Lynne Scalo)</li><li>Eddie Bauer (Tiffany's)</li><li>Athlete's Foot (Sunglass Hut)</li><li>Arnie's (Anthropologie)</li><li>Hay Day (Balducci's)</li><li>Waldbaum's (Barne's and Noble's)<br /></li><li>Grand Union (Shaw's)</li><li>IHOP (Westport Pancake House)</li><li>Trail Blazers (Maggie Moo's)</li><li>3D Linen's (NYSC)</li><li>Sam Goody's (SomeBank)</li><li>DeRosa's (Poggen Pohl)</li><li>Genovese Pharmacy(?)</li><li>Ames (Stop and Shop)</li><li>Positano (Tengda)</li><li>Toyota-Mazda Dealer (Toyota-Scion Dealer)</li><li>Post Cinema (<span style="font-style: italic;">Zany Brainy</span> to now, Pompanoosuc Mills)</li><li>Taco Loco (Border Grill)</li><li>Haagan Dazs (An Indian Restaurant to Finalmente Trattoria</li><li>Chroma (??Beautiful Faces??)</li><li>La Villa (<span style="font-style: italic;">Bank </span>then La Villa again)</li><li>The Remarkable Book Store (Talbot's)</li><li>Britches (Ann Taylor)</li><li>Klein's (Banana Republic)</li><li>Silver Ribbon (Nine West)</li><li>Westport Public Library (Domain, Starbucks, HSBC, Guess)</li><li>Manero's (<span style="font-style: italic;">John Harvard's</span> to Conte's)</li><li>Party Barn</li><li>Wild Oat's (Food Emporium)</li><li>Food for Thought (FedEx Kinkos)</li><li>BBQ's Galore (Panera Bread)</li><li>Talbot's (Talbot's Men's)</li><li>Westport Big and Tall</li><li>State Police Barracks (Walgreen's)</li><li>Mazda Dealer (Lexus of Westport)</li><li>I Can't Believe it's Not Yogurt (<span style="font-style: italic;">Etoile to Sole Etoile</span>)</li><li>Speedo (Zest)</li><li>The Arrow (Jasmine's Restaurant)</li><li>AlphaGraphics (Pierre Deux)</li></ol>My mom and I hit 50 so we're done for now... more to come if we think of them. Feel free to add to it, but I'll only post it if I remember it. No arguments.<br /><br />Anyway, Sox won. Kason Gabbard=Cy Young?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/911057609677857976-5200147500912945213?l=tomsbombs.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tom Haberstrohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15645756851040142648noreply@blogger.com4