Crisp Leads Offense, Ziegler Rescues Bullpen, A's Win Series
by baseballgirl on Aug 18, 2010 4:23 PM PDT
Email
Print
"I just don't have time to think when I go out there in the day. You just go out there, boom.
...
Pitching in the day, it's just show and go. A little breakfast, get warmed up fast, ready to rock-and-roll."
—Gio Gonzalez, trying to explain the A's success in day games.
And indeed, with today's win (spoiler alert!) the A's are 29-12 in day games.
But it wasn't all sunshine and roses in today's day game. Despite holding a seemingly secure 4-1 lead going to the ninth inning, the A's let the Jays tie the game on Blevins' blown save (read: It was almost entirely Wuertz' fault) and only a clutch double-play from Brad Ziegler even kept the game tied.
As a result, the A's had to play out the bottom of the ninth.
Good thing, though, since Tolleson got to score the game-winning run on a Pennington single to make the game just that much more fun to win, and as a bonus, we didn't have to see the Jays hit again.
The A's built their lead early today; in the very first inning, a walk for Crisp (which would be the start of his awesome 3-for-3-with-a-homerun day), a walk for Barton, and a walk for Jackson loaded the bases for the RBI groundouts by Suzuki and Kouzmanoff. Not sexy, but the A's would take the 2-0 lead; they've done worse in those situations.
They added a third run in the second inning on a Pennington walk and a Crisp double (Rzepczynski would walk five overall in his 4.1 innings), and for most of the game, it seemed as if three runs would do the trick. The only thing marring today's win was Gio's no-decision for his sparkling seven inning, two hit, one run (scored on a pop-up, no less) effort.
The A's would add an insurance run on a seventh inning homerun by Coco, and after H-Rod shut down the Jays in the eighth, the A's would cruise into the ninth with a 4-1 lead.
Wuertz did not get the save.
After a leadoff double and a lineout, Wuertz walked both Overbay and Encarnacion, and ended his outing with a "single" (Davis broke back on the ball initially; the outfield was playing deep), scoring the Jays' second run. Jerry Blevins came into the bases-loaded, one-out situation just in time to give up the game-tying single, blowing the save and Gio's win all in one pitch. He was replaced immediately by Brad Ziegler, who earned the win today on the strength of a 10-pitch double-play to get the A's to the bottom of the ninth, still tied.
Steven Tolleson hit for himself and started the inning with a single. He was moved to second on a passed ball, setting the stage for Pennington's game-winning single. The A's won the game without recording an out in the ninth.
Just like we like it.
It's rhyming week; the A's leave the Jays in favor of the Rays; tune in tomorrow night!
Current Series
4 game series vs Rays @ Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
|
Tampa Bay Rays Thursday, Aug 19, 2010, 7:05 PM PDT Andy Sonnanstine vs Trevor Cahill Mostly clear. Winds blowing out to right field at 10-15 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 60. |
||
| Fri 08/20 | 7:05 PM PDT | |
| Sat 08/21 | 6:05 PM PDT | |
| Sun 08/22 | 1:05 PM PDT | |
110 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
we should take out the coliseum lights so every home game is a day game
i think the cubs knew exactly what they’re doing when they wouldn’t install lights until the light 80’s
When we played softball, I’d steal second base, feel guilty and go back.
- Woody Allen
by rhymeswithelephant on Aug 18, 2010 4:30 PM PDT reply actions
sorry I wasn't listening
I was replacing the lighting standards in the Coliseum with solar panels and the lights in the concession booths and restrooms with lava lamps.
Every day is gonna be ‘70s throwback day when this becomes Wrigley West… a reg’lar throwback to 1972, 1973 and 1974.
Silence s'il vous plait!! Vous ne voyez pas que je suis en train de se masturber?!?
That's Campy!
"Feel so bad, feel like a ballgame on a rainy day"-Lightnin' Hopkins
by justANotherAsFan on Aug 18, 2010 4:38 PM PDT up reply actions
campy campaneris ?
I usually talk out of my ass, but it's been said I have a nice ass.
by OptimistPrime on Aug 18, 2010 4:40 PM PDT up reply actions
but of course
"Feel so bad, feel like a ballgame on a rainy day"-Lightnin' Hopkins
by justANotherAsFan on Aug 18, 2010 4:40 PM PDT up reply actions
and, as in lava lamps are campy
"Feel so bad, feel like a ballgame on a rainy day"-Lightnin' Hopkins
by justANotherAsFan on Aug 18, 2010 5:10 PM PDT up reply actions
Stats
Interesting to see that Michael Wuertz got a “hold,” while Blevins got the blown save. Blevins deserved what he got, but it’s hard to imagine that Wuertz gets to add a positive stat to his record (insignificant as holds are, to be sure).
I should be credited with a "Hold" as well!
It was all I could do to “hold” my lunch down listening to the top of the 9th
I usually talk out of my ass, but it's been said I have a nice ass.
by OptimistPrime on Aug 18, 2010 4:41 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Sometimes holds and blown saves are pretty dumb as far as how they are rewarded goes.
I don’t really pay that much attention to them.
The Ultimate Opportunist
by Rated-R Superstar on Aug 18, 2010 4:41 PM PDT up reply actions
Right. The whole system of accounting for relief sucks
It would be fairer if the runs given up in a multi-pitcher inning were apportioned. I dunno, maybe 2/3 to the guy who let them get on base, 1/3 to the successor who let them score…
"Feel so bad, feel like a ballgame on a rainy day"-Lightnin' Hopkins
by justANotherAsFan on Aug 18, 2010 4:43 PM PDT up reply actions
They have win-probability numbers for every permutation
of men on base, outs, and innings left, right?
So why not just grade relievers by the differential between the WP when they came in and the WP when they left? Seems pretty easy.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
we could do that as a better sabremetric stat
But the boring mainstream stats would boycott it
"Feel so bad, feel like a ballgame on a rainy day"-Lightnin' Hopkins
by justANotherAsFan on Aug 18, 2010 4:53 PM PDT up reply actions
Oh, cool. That makes sense to me.
I can understand inventing all these new statty stats because they’re better.
And I can understand continuing to use stupid stats like RBI’s and pitcher’s wins because there’s decades of tradition invested in them.
What I don’t get is why anyone would invent a new stupid stat.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
there's a link to a AN post about shutdowns and meltdowns on the front page now
"Feel so bad, feel like a ballgame on a rainy day"-Lightnin' Hopkins
by justANotherAsFan on Aug 18, 2010 5:16 PM PDT up reply actions
"Stupid stats" aren't completely stupid.
They’re stupid when they’re applied too broadly and too much is read into them.
by StJosephBurningTheOakTreesToTheGround on Aug 18, 2010 5:37 PM PDT up reply actions
i agree
"Feel so bad, feel like a ballgame on a rainy day"-Lightnin' Hopkins
by justANotherAsFan on Aug 18, 2010 6:05 PM PDT up reply actions
stupid thing posted before i was ready
I mean, after all, BA and RBI and ERA DO record real and measurable things that happen in the course of a game that any fan can see happen.
They are, however, defined pretty arbitrarily. A walk and a sac don’t count against the batter, but don’t count for him, either. RBI discounts the batter who gives himself up to advance a runner to second or third- and that batter doesn’t get a sac unless it’s a bunt, etc.
Pitching stats are even more arbitrary. Why is a ‘save’ (which might be official, but much newer than ribbies or wins or ERA) recorded whenever someone other than the starting pitcher ends the winning game after entering it with a 3-run margin or less? Why not 2? Or 1? Why NOT the guy who faced the heart of the order in the 8th? To me, 1-run up is when a lights-out closer matters. And then the stat starts influencing the game. Managers get maligned when they bring in their closer with a 5-run lead. They are wasting him. Against Boston? In Fenway? With the top of their (healthy) order coming up?
For that matter, why is a starter awarded a win when he only pitched 5 innings (after all, he gets an L if he gives up 1 run in the first, leaves the game and the team never scores)? That’s a bullpen-killer, a 5 inning start. Is it really necessary in any way to have the total number of wins by the pitching staff equal the team wins? Suppose all the pitchers pitched poorly but the team still won.
So, yeah, they shouldn’t have too much weight attached to them, because they do a poor job of measuring performance.
"Feel so bad, feel like a ballgame on a rainy day"-Lightnin' Hopkins
by justANotherAsFan on Aug 18, 2010 6:21 PM PDT up reply actions
Baseball needs to seriously reevaluate all of its statistics.
You make a fine point about a Mark Ellis type who consistently gives himself up by slapping pitches to the right side to advance a runner, but doesn’t get credit for a sacrifice. Sure, it might be impossible to prove whether it was intentional, but it’s just as impossible to prove a sac fly was intentional.
But it isn’t just batting average that is influenced by that. OBP is too. And if you consider that a “sac grounder” would decrease the amount of ABs a hitter was credited with, it impacts SLG as well. That means OPS is impacted.
You also bring up saves. I heartily agree that the definition of a save should be changed dramatically. A save should be awarded for situations that actually needed to be saved. They should be rare moments—because really, they ARE rare moments. And if they were scored as such, we’d stop seeing so many jumped-up middle relievers who think they’re Mariano Rivera because they learned to throw a cutter. True closers should be lights-out, dependable, 10-year-career-as-a-closer guys, and not every team should have one, because not every team is that lucky. It should be unbelievable to us that there was a time when Trevor Hoffman, Mariano Rivera, Lee Smith, and Dennis Eckersley were all pitching at the same time, because to be quite honest, other than Gossage and Fingers, there have not been any other closers worthy of the title.
by StJosephBurningTheOakTreesToTheGround on Aug 18, 2010 7:14 PM PDT up reply actions
but slapping to the right side is not as productive as you think
sure, it’s better than a GIDP, but not as good as a single.
You have to weight the possible outcomes. Ellis can’t hit a HR by slapping to the right side
Can't hit one with a sac bunt or pop-up either.
A sacrifice should be a sacrifice, no matter how it was done. If the bunt and pop-up aren’t penalized in the batter’s average, why should the right-side-of-the-infield dinker, as long as it moves guys over?
Take your silver mod tubescreamer, your dr. z, your nocaster, put them in a pile and burn them. if god gave you a thousand years, you still couldn't touch this. you can't f***ing keep time to this.
You are also acting like slapping the ball to the right side is a skill.
It’s not.
Well, it’s not unless you’re one of the best freakish bat controlling hitters in the world, like Ichiro or Placido Polanco.
If it was so easy to hit the ball where you wanted like that, why wouldn’t they just get base hits instead?
Pam liked my old sig better.
I don't think sac flies *or* weak grounders to 2nd are skills...
I’m just agreeing with someone further up who stated that either every PA that results in runners moving up should be considered a sacrifice, or just get rid of the concept altogether. But excluding one PA result while including others makes no sense.
Take your silver mod tubescreamer, your dr. z, your nocaster, put them in a pile and burn them. if god gave you a thousand years, you still couldn't touch this. you can't f***ing keep time to this.
There's nothing inherently *wrong* with BA, RBI, ERA, etc.
A guy that hits .350 is a good hitter, period. A guy who drives in 150 runs is pretty productive. A guy who has a 2.00 ERA in a season is pretty good.
The problem comes from people using those numbers to evaluate actual talent levels.
Pam liked my old sig better.
What the heck is a "hold" anyway?
In what universe is the “hold” a real stat? I mean, it sure doesn’t sound like it’s sabermetric, but it’s not one of the traditional stats either. Did someone just make it up one day?
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
It's a bullshit stat made up so that fantasy baseball can have the necessary bullshit stat for middle relievers
since, you know, grading players by how much their performance actually helps the team is much less “interesting” than grading them by how well their performance fits into little statistical boxes.
This is the primary reason that it took me all of about five minutes to become utterly bored with fantasy baseball.
"We don't want our people to be preoccupied with seminude, crazy men jumping up and down who are chasing an inflated object," said Sheik Mohamed Osman Arus, head of operations for the Hizbul Islam insurgent group.
My baseball fantasy
A’s win 162 games, sweep the Yankees in the World Series (fantasy, remember?) and A-Rod is discovered to be Dallas Braden’s long lost brother.
I usually talk out of my ass, but it's been said I have a nice ass.
by OptimistPrime on Aug 18, 2010 4:51 PM PDT up reply actions
OK, I'm with you through the World Series...
but I admit I’m stymied by the third part. Why is this your fantasy?
by StJosephBurningTheOakTreesToTheGround on Aug 18, 2010 4:53 PM PDT up reply actions
I honestly can't answer that
I usually talk out of my ass, but it's been said I have a nice ass.
by OptimistPrime on Aug 18, 2010 4:57 PM PDT up reply actions
Fantasy baseball is something entirely separate from actual baseball analysis.
I don’t care for it, and I definitely don’t care for most of the people that play it, but I think it’s unfair to expect fantasy baseball to be anything but what it is. It’s basically a series of thought experiments in how a given set of players might perform together, albeit refracted through a weird system of scoring.
by StJosephBurningTheOakTreesToTheGround on Aug 18, 2010 4:52 PM PDT up reply actions
I used to really look forward to each new Bill James book
But then he got into helping Fantasy guys build teams and I stopped buying them. This would’ve been back in the mid-90’s I guess.
"Feel so bad, feel like a ballgame on a rainy day"-Lightnin' Hopkins
by justANotherAsFan on Aug 18, 2010 4:55 PM PDT up reply actions
Another sellout.
He knew where his money was coming from. Can’t blame him. Sad, really, because he’s still a genius at knowing things about baseball.
by StJosephBurningTheOakTreesToTheGround on Aug 18, 2010 4:56 PM PDT up reply actions
Yeah, that was a weird phrasing. Does he really mean it?
I share the general disdain for this particular betting game, but that surely doesn’t extend to dislike of those who play it. I have at least one good friend who is an avid player, and another friend who actually makes a living running leagues.
It’s not something I’d ever do, but “don’t care for most of the people that play it”? No.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
It's not an official stat.
It was invented in 1986. It was an effort to give credit to effective relief pitchers that aren’t closers. It’s a nice idea, but the reality is that those pitchers get their due from good ERA, good WHIP, and all the other stats. They don’t need counting stats. If they want counting stats, they should get better at pitching and become starters.
by StJosephBurningTheOakTreesToTheGround on Aug 18, 2010 4:51 PM PDT up reply actions
-
Behold the career leader in Holds.
Someone start working on his HOF plaque.
by StJosephBurningTheOakTreesToTheGround on Aug 18, 2010 4:55 PM PDT up reply actions
then he should see a dentist
"Feel so bad, feel like a ballgame on a rainy day"-Lightnin' Hopkins
by justANotherAsFan on Aug 18, 2010 4:59 PM PDT up reply actions
I saw that as well
Terrible stat there.
"Oh who am I kidding? The A's and Giants could stage a pillow fight, and I'd still care who wins." -67Marquez
by baseballgirl on Aug 18, 2010 4:51 PM PDT up reply actions
Gio's little friends were properly introduced to the Jays.
The meaning of life is not so much 'found,' as it is 'made.' --Opus
Though you do mention it, I want to put in a big cheer for Henry Rodriguez!
According to Ken, only the second time he’s ever pitched with a lead, and the inning was just so fun to listen to. “Strike three on the outside corner!” Abso-farking-lutely wonderful! A treasure to remember.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge on Brett Anderson's Fastball: "At first it seemed a little speck, / And then it seemed a mist: / It moved and moved, and took at last / A certain shape, I wist. / A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist! / And still it neared and neared: / As if it dodged a water-sprite, / It plunged and tacked and veered."
He was fun to watch
I really hope he can control things.
It looked like the Jays just laid off all off speed pitches.
"The ego, the super-ego, and the Ed" - dannycakes
All of a sudden
We are back to 8. The Rangers have lost their last 3, we have won 2 in a row, the Slegna has lost a few in a row. Stranger things have happened. We all know that this very same offense is capable of at least doing better than we have in the last couple of weeks, and the pitching is ridiculous.
Can we climb back in this thing?
I usually talk out of my ass, but it's been said I have a nice ass.
Oh, that hurt
I usually talk out of my ass, but it's been said I have a nice ass.
by OptimistPrime on Aug 18, 2010 5:16 PM PDT up reply actions
Oh, think of the excitement that would generate....the threads would go on forever!
alaska A currently residing in northern Idaho. --- theme for august = remain calm and try to truly enjoy a .500 team.
Huh? not as strong as starters.
"Our bullpen has been the strength of our team all year," Pennington said. "For the offense to pick them up one time is nice." from Yahoo recap Josh Dubow AP.
alaska A currently residing in northern Idaho. --- theme for august = remain calm and try to truly enjoy a .500 team.
Yeah, that's a weird thing to say.
The bullpen let us down so many times.
by StJosephBurningTheOakTreesToTheGround on Aug 18, 2010 5:39 PM PDT up reply actions
Come on, these guys practically live together all season
of course they are going to kiss each other’s behinds.
I usually talk out of my ass, but it's been said I have a nice ass.
by OptimistPrime on Aug 18, 2010 5:43 PM PDT up reply actions
Cliff was thinking this:
“Our _________ has been the strength of our team all year,” _____________said. “For the ____________ to pick them up one time is nice.”
"The ego, the super-ego, and the Ed" - dannycakes
sure.
much more p.c. than. “Here’s the deal, our starters are the real deal strength wise for this team…..now don’t get me wrong, the relievers are good and a bunch of great guys to have as team mates, but they have needlessly fucked up some games for us that would have otherwise been victories, but hey, that’s baseball.”
alaska A currently residing in northern Idaho. --- theme for august = remain calm and try to truly enjoy a .500 team.
by ak_A on Aug 18, 2010 5:48 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
or...
Here’s the deal, our starters are the real deal strength wise for this team…..now don’t get me wrong, the relievers are good and a bunch of great guys to have as team mates, but they have been forced into needlessly fucking up a lot of games for us that would have otherwise been victories, because our manager is a fucking idiot. The guy is just…do you ever look into his eyes? I mean, really look at them? I’m sure you’ve interviewed him, so you must have had a chance to. It’s like…it’s indescribable. It’s like looking into the ocean, hundreds of miles from shore, on a moonless, windless night, and even though you know there’s something down there, it just looks like the abyss. It takes your breath away, after awhile, how dumb this human being is, how irretrievably stupid he is. You know how you hear stories about Billy Martin picking his lineups with a dartboard to shake things up? If every managerial decision was made that way on this ballclub, I have to believe that we would be a couple games closer to Texas.
My point is, this bullpen doesn’t suck. They’re not, you know, the strength of the team or anything like that, but they don’t suck. They’re a good bunch of guys and they know how to pitch. Some of them have had a bit of an off year, but not really. Mostly, they’ve just been brutally misused. It’s insulting to me, and I hope it’s insulting to most Americans, that there are people in this country who don’t have a job, but Cokie the Clown gets to run a multimillion-dollar franchise into the ground because he was the best man at the wedding of a man who is, has always been, and always will be, an intellectual giant compared to him. But hey, that’s baseball.
by StJosephBurningTheOakTreesToTheGround on Aug 18, 2010 7:20 PM PDT up reply actions
Geren is Bobo
Fat Mike is Cokie the Clown.
You've got to ask yourself a question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?- Dirty Harry
Brad Hawpe is about to be released by the Rockies
(mlbtraderumors.com). Can we has plz?
Frank Cohen
TeamTICKERmlb.com
Your Effortless Baseball Connection
He seems like Cust without the walks right now.
Same age, same awful defense. I don’t see the need.
Same batting average consistently between .275 and .300?
I think we can find a place for that.
by StJosephBurningTheOakTreesToTheGround on Aug 18, 2010 7:22 PM PDT up reply actions
You're right
batting average is the one statistic we should consider.
"Their batters are patient to the point that it's annoying." -Ryan Franklin
by Helloooo 1st on Aug 18, 2010 7:44 PM PDT up reply actions
Yes. It is.
Batting average is the only stat that matters ever.
That and wins for pitchers, which is why Gio sucks today because he didn’t win
AN: Where you will be an A's fan or Dallas Braden will show you the repercussions of your actions.
by stranahanahan on Aug 18, 2010 8:49 PM PDT up reply actions
+1
Our pitching staff suxorz because they doughnut win enough.
With that logic it’s apparent that our offense is full of holes.
"Their batters are patient to the point that it's annoying." -Ryan Franklin
by Helloooo 1st on Aug 19, 2010 1:02 AM PDT up reply actions
Coco's awesome...
These last several games have got me really excited to watch a (hopefully) healthy Coco Crisp in action for the rest of this season and all of next.
The excitement he is bringing to this team is reminiscent of Rajai did last year…except that Coco has a track record of doing these same things whenever healthy and seems to have more pop and a better understanding of the strike zone.
I mean, 19 steals in 47 games? 20 extra-base hits in those 47 games?
I think he’s playing slightly over his head, but he also might be 100% healthy for the first time in years. The pickup is starting to payoff and I think – if he stays healthy – we’re all going to be pretty happy he’s on the team next season…not to mention whatever he can do the rest of this season if he can keep walking and putting up multi-hit games and stealing like crazy…
I'm never gonna do it without the fez on!
Coco may be one of the few players we've dealth with correctly with injuries
AN: Where you will be an A's fan or Dallas Braden will show you the repercussions of your actions.
by stranahanahan on Aug 18, 2010 8:49 PM PDT up reply actions
And came out ahead
I don’t think we messed up with Crosby.
He was just the son of Satan (Ed).
"Their batters are patient to the point that it's annoying." -Ryan Franklin
by Helloooo 1st on Aug 19, 2010 1:03 AM PDT up reply actions
I think it was just about a week ago someone said Coco was done for the year and wouldn’t heat up again..WHomever you were just go ahead and look at coco over the last week since you said it..Whats next Rajai wont go 4 for 4 in the next game?
Founder of team Omté Caspeen
Whoa whoa
Let’s not bring Rajai into a conversation about talented baseball players.
"Their batters are patient to the point that it's annoying." -Ryan Franklin
by Helloooo 1st on Aug 19, 2010 1:06 AM PDT up reply actions
He did, as I am terribly fond of recollecting,
start at outfield for my wildly successful Giants* team in MVP Baseball 2005… along with Rocco Baldelli and Luis A. Gonzalez. That just gets funnier and funnier with each passing year.
*Before you accuse me of disloyalty, playing with an NL team was the only way to prevent the AI from pulling ridiculousness like having Shingo Takatsu pitch eight relief innings in a single game.
"We don't want our people to be preoccupied with seminude, crazy men jumping up and down who are chasing an inflated object," said Sheik Mohamed Osman Arus, head of operations for the Hizbul Islam insurgent group.
Who is going today?
I can’t recall where my seats were but there was baseball in front of me
"The ego, the super-ego, and the Ed" - dannycakes
I'd rather have a baseball in front of me than a frontal baseballity.
by LoneStranger on Aug 18, 2010 8:14 PM PDT up reply actions
I don't know where my seats are
But I know where the A’s are.
"Their batters are patient to the point that it's annoying." -Ryan Franklin
by Helloooo 1st on Aug 19, 2010 1:04 AM PDT up reply actions
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Individual WPA for the 9th inning:
Blevins = -.299
Wuertz = -.247
Ziggy = .222
I can't see, now I have to pee, and I can't count to three, but I can count to JÄGERMEISTER!
That's pretty.
The funny thing about baseball is that people will believe what they want to believe. -Joe Posnanski 8/29/09
What a mind f*ck
AN: Where you will be an A's fan or Dallas Braden will show you the repercussions of your actions.
by stranahanahan on Aug 18, 2010 10:05 PM PDT up reply actions
Great to check back in and see a 'W'
listened to the top of the 9th as Wuertz/Blevins surrendered the lead and then had to head into work just after Ziggy induced the DP to escape the inning tied.
YAY A’S
very nice
"Sorry guys, I’m not going to try and hit (Douglas) Murray anymore. It doesn’t work." - Steve Ott, Dallas Stars.
by SwisherThresher on Aug 18, 2010 8:29 PM PDT reply actions
So
What’s the prevailing opinion about the A’s astonishing success during day games? Dumb luck? Youthful exuberance? Whatever it is, it sure seems like a question worth pondering. If it can be replicated, it would be enormously useful.
"PECOTA can pretty much kiss my ass."-Nico
Coco Crisp being a badass
AN: Where you will be an A's fan or Dallas Braden will show you the repercussions of your actions.
by stranahanahan on Aug 18, 2010 10:05 PM PDT up reply actions
the rest of the league employs at least 2 vampires
"The ego, the super-ego, and the Ed" - dannycakes
If I had to guess, I'd say it's about
20% that a team with good pitching and no power has the greatest relative benefit from higher temperatures, and 80% chance.
The first part of that theory should be testable. Has anyone checked data for that sort of correlation?
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Seriously, though
Let’s talk about an absolutely terrible strike zone today.
I didn’t know a pitch 6-8 inches inside was a surefire strike until today.
AN: Where you will be an A's fan or Dallas Braden will show you the repercussions of your actions.
Conor Jackson's strikeout was ridiculous.
The pitch almost hit him in the knees and they called strike three on him. It would have been his third walk of the day.
The Ultimate Opportunist
by Rated-R Superstar on Aug 18, 2010 10:52 PM PDT up reply actions
Pitching should be hellla good tholis weekend
"I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way." -Jessica Rabbit
by A'sfansince1970 on Aug 18, 2010 11:16 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
Pitching should be hellla good tholis weekend
"I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way." -Jessica Rabbit
by A'sfansince1970 on Aug 18, 2010 11:16 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
Spent some time against computerized strike zones
No longer. Umpiring has gotten really bad. Replace the plate guy with a machine, and double-check any play that isn’t routine. Not hard to do.
Or maybe, train the umps better.
At this point I’d go with machines.
Although I'm sure some will disagree, I think this is like hand-timing the 100 meters.
Sure, it’s traditional, and human error gives you something to talk about, but I think accuracy in enforcing the rules and results of competition is a nearly unqualified Good Thing, esp. when it needn’t interfere with the flow of the game.
To claim that umps are important, per se, is to give undue significance to those who are already self-important. The best ones are least intrusive, methinks.
The meaning of life is not so much 'found,' as it is 'made.' --Opus
by The Dogfather on Aug 19, 2010 8:07 AM PDT up reply actions
Check out this play by Michael Taylor on the 17th
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3Tp74JDnag
Last of the Ninth - Photography
Yes. Yes, he is
At one of the games in Colorado Springs, he took a medium-deep fly ball as a CF and gunned a guy tagging up from second to third. He may have actually got in ahead of the tag but the throw was strong and on the money just like the one in this clip, and this one came without him really being set for it either.
Last of the Ninth - Photography
And, Adrian Cardenas had a nice game tonight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk3esxlZ8E8
Last of the Ninth - Photography
Huh, there's a highlight in there of Buck hitting a homer off Rzepczynski.
"We were shit, pathetic," Guillen growled early in spring training. "We hit too many home runs."
by lenscrafters on Aug 19, 2010 1:28 AM PDT up reply actions
Huh
I always thought it was pronounced “Car-day-nas” not Card-en-ahs
Keep in mind, of course, that "the best defense of Derek Jeter's life" ranks somewhere in between "the best fiscal responsibility of Mike Tyson's life" and "the best not-getting-assassinated-ness of James Garfield's life." -FJM
It's usually spelled with the accent mark
in Spanish-speaking countries. Several Cárdenases listed here.
In America the accent mark is often dropped, but the pronunciation remains unchanged.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
It's fun to see where Coco Crisp is right now.
In 47 games, he has posted a 2.4 WAR. He’s batting .289/.354/.478 with a .377 wOBA while being 6.3 runs above average defensively based on UZR.
"You're all like big fat failure turtles." - Edge
by Rated-R Superstar on Aug 19, 2010 12:52 PM PDT reply actions
Sure.
Here.
"You're all like big fat failure turtles." - Edge
by Rated-R Superstar on Aug 19, 2010 6:24 PM PDT up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
