Monday, September 29, 2008
Obscure Record Alert
Much hubaloo was incurred over Mike Mussina finally getting a 20 win season. And I understand that. It's about time Mussina get his due as a very good pitcher by posting a stat that does not actually mean anything. But while we're talking about stats that don't matter, I'd like to point out that the losing pitcher in this game, Daisuke Matsuzaka, also did something interesting. In the book The Bill James/Rob Neyer Guide To Pitchers, (which is truly an excellent resource, by the way), Bill James writes an essay about "unique records". Basically, when Bill James mows his lawn, the way he remembers how many feet he has to do is by associating the square footage of his yard with a pitcher's won lost record from some year. (and you thought you were a baseball nerd). So, sometimes, there are no won-loss records that match the situation. So he did this whole study about won-loss records that are "unique", in that they've only been done once, and most common won-loss records, and so on. At the end, he says which ones are still unclaimed. One of those is 18-3. Yesterday, by losing to Mike Mussina, Daisuke Matsuzaka finished his season 18-3, thus becoming the first pitcher to do so. Considering Bill James works in the Red Sox front office, we can assume he knows about this, and you can make all these conspiracy theories about how he manipulated it so that it'd turn out that way. Does this mean anything in terms of Dice-K's ability? Not really. Is it kind of interesting? Yeah.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Dear Yankee Fans...shut up already
As a New York Resident, I've been hearing a lot recently about Derek Jeter breaking Lou Gehrigs record for hits at Yankee Stadium. Ive heard how amazing and important it is, and it all pisses me off. Let's be 100% honest here. Nobody cares at all about who has the most hits in Yankee Stadium. This record is completely unimportant. If David Wright passed Keith Hernandez as hits leader in Shea Stadium (I dont actually know who hold that record, which should show you how important that is), people may notice a little bit, but it wouldnt be on their mind so much. ANy other team, for sure not. I doubt anyone even knew who held that record before about two weeks ago. The only reason that this is big news is that yankee fans are frankly sore losers. Once they realize they aint makin making the playoffs, they gotta have something to be jerks about. Thus, the hoopla over Jeter passing Gehrig. If I hear about it one more time, yankee fans, I will dig up Babe Ruth and feed him to a Beagle. Please stop being stupid. Sincerely, all those who aren't yankee fans. PS: HAHAHAHAA THE YANKEES AREN"T IN THE PLAYOFFS!!!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
I am gooood
I started to look back through some of my old notebooks recently, and I found one page from a notebook I used last year. On it, I printed a list of players I wanted the Oakland A's (my favorite team) to go after in the offseason. None of these guys are on the A's, but my list was pretty interesting. I'm going to save the first name on the list for last, because I want to wow you all, but here are the names I listed, and the notes I listed after them.
"Alberto Callapso, IF, Arizona, Great Eye, Can Play SS" (Callapso was traded to Kansas City for decent pitching prospect Billy Buckner. After spending some time either on the bench or in the minors, Callapso is now KC's starting 2B. I'll call that one a hit)
"Mike Pelfrey, SP, Mets" (Yeah he's doing well for himself, but I wasn't alone in thinking he was good, so not so special on my part)
"Heath Phillips, SP White Sox" (At first glance, picking this current Yankees Quad-A guy is baffling. But I can see what i was thinking. He's basically a lefty with decent velocity, decent control, and a good pickoff move. Lots of pitchers have suceeded with his skill set, from Mark Buehrle to Doug Davis to Andy Pettite. Do I think he would've been as good as those guys? No. Do I think he couldv'e been a low risk pickup who may have been a solid starter? Yeah. But still, that one scores a miss)
"Mark Prior SP Cubs" (It was a worth a shot. Miss)
"Cory Dunlap 1b Dodgers (Fat guy with great discipline who was wasting away in the minors. Was released by dodgers, seems to have retired. I guess that's a miss)
"Ben Zobrist IF Tampa Bay" (zobrist seems to have emerged as an able utilty man who hits with a low average with some power. funnily, he was the opposite kind of hitter in the minors, posting great OBP's with a little power. He seems to have retained his discipline, having a near even K/BB rate. If he can tie the power he has now with the averages he had in the minors, he could be a very helpful major league player, with the position versatility and all. I'll call it a hit)
"Jonny Gomes OF Tampa Bay (Gomes has gotten more attention for getting into fights than for his hitting. He has mostly been in the minors this year, but he can be a good hitter when healthy. He started off 2006 hot as all hell, got his shoulder injured, played through it, and then his stats plummeted, and he ended the year hitting .216. The perception of him seems to be "all or nothing slugger", but I don't think he's been given a fair shot since then. I still want the A's to go after him, given their seemingly perpetual need for a righthanded power bat. I'll call it a miss, but he can still prove that wrong)
Heres the first name that appears on the list, that I have saved to wow you all...(drum roll)...
"Carlos Quentin, OF, Arizona, Good Hitter, Buy Low Candidate" (I'm awesome)
Ok, just so you know, this blog won't be this full of itself that often. I just like to be proven right on occasion.
"Alberto Callapso, IF, Arizona, Great Eye, Can Play SS" (Callapso was traded to Kansas City for decent pitching prospect Billy Buckner. After spending some time either on the bench or in the minors, Callapso is now KC's starting 2B. I'll call that one a hit)
"Mike Pelfrey, SP, Mets" (Yeah he's doing well for himself, but I wasn't alone in thinking he was good, so not so special on my part)
"Heath Phillips, SP White Sox" (At first glance, picking this current Yankees Quad-A guy is baffling. But I can see what i was thinking. He's basically a lefty with decent velocity, decent control, and a good pickoff move. Lots of pitchers have suceeded with his skill set, from Mark Buehrle to Doug Davis to Andy Pettite. Do I think he would've been as good as those guys? No. Do I think he couldv'e been a low risk pickup who may have been a solid starter? Yeah. But still, that one scores a miss)
"Mark Prior SP Cubs" (It was a worth a shot. Miss)
"Cory Dunlap 1b Dodgers (Fat guy with great discipline who was wasting away in the minors. Was released by dodgers, seems to have retired. I guess that's a miss)
"Ben Zobrist IF Tampa Bay" (zobrist seems to have emerged as an able utilty man who hits with a low average with some power. funnily, he was the opposite kind of hitter in the minors, posting great OBP's with a little power. He seems to have retained his discipline, having a near even K/BB rate. If he can tie the power he has now with the averages he had in the minors, he could be a very helpful major league player, with the position versatility and all. I'll call it a hit)
"Jonny Gomes OF Tampa Bay (Gomes has gotten more attention for getting into fights than for his hitting. He has mostly been in the minors this year, but he can be a good hitter when healthy. He started off 2006 hot as all hell, got his shoulder injured, played through it, and then his stats plummeted, and he ended the year hitting .216. The perception of him seems to be "all or nothing slugger", but I don't think he's been given a fair shot since then. I still want the A's to go after him, given their seemingly perpetual need for a righthanded power bat. I'll call it a miss, but he can still prove that wrong)
Heres the first name that appears on the list, that I have saved to wow you all...(drum roll)...
"Carlos Quentin, OF, Arizona, Good Hitter, Buy Low Candidate" (I'm awesome)
Ok, just so you know, this blog won't be this full of itself that often. I just like to be proven right on occasion.
First Post
After many years of complaining about how much typical sports journalism sucks, and frequently looking at great baseball blogs like firejoemorgan.com, I have decided to make my own blog where I give you my take on sports news. Yeah, I know it's been done before, but my fervent hope is that my writing is so awesome that the masses shall come to my blog and make me lots of money for my intelligent, insightful, and occasionally humorous rantings on baseball. Hey, if Perez Hilton can make a living being a insatiable gossip, maybe I can make a blog too. So, here I am, blogging.
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