June 28, 2013

The Week in Baseball: 6/23-6/28

The Doc Feeling Good: Roy Halladay has been out with a shoulder injury but he's began soft tossing and say's he's feeling good. The Doc says though it's only tossing and that we shouldn't get our hopes up just yet. Still though it's good to see Halladay feeling good. I miss watching that guy pitch.

Bull Durham at 25: Amazing to believe but Bull Durham turns 25 years old this month. Director Ron Shelton said that when he created this movie he created it in mind that there would be "sex and not a build up to a big game" which makes this movie really good. What also makes this movie good is that the lingo used in the film is still used today. Also this is the greatest speech in the history of sports and movies.



Why I Don't Quite Trust Pittsburgh: With Pittsburgh's latest surge the complementary columns of GM Neal Huntington and manager Clint Hurdle were expected. Like this one from Richard Justice of MLB.com. Justice lays out the reason why I don't quite trust the Pirates, it's Hurdle. I realize Hurdle lead the Rockies on that incredible run in 2007 but he's another guy I just don't quite trust to play the right players or keep Gerit Cole in the rotation. Hurdle has finally benched Clint Barmas but it scares me what he'll do if Huntington picks up some washed up veteran at the trade deadline.


When Do Errors Likely Occur?: Beyond the Boxscore did a study on when errors are most likely to occur during a game. Not shocking they occur more during the later innings when everyone is tired as opposed to the early innings. The study is more thorough than that pointing out how many base runners are on when errors likely occur and how many outs. Check out this study.

Bat Flips Are Ridiculous: I've never been a fan of bat flips. They make batters look foolish in my opinion. They especially make a batter look foolish when they flip the bat on a single like Luis Valbuena did this past weekend against the Astros. Dude you play for the bad Cubs. You got one hit against the even worse Astros. Calm down.

Mariners Fans Don't Like Raul Ibanez: One of the problems with sabermetrics is that almost all of the writers root for shitty teams. They like the Mariners, Royals, even mediocre teams like the Phillies. So every once in a while you're going to see these type of articles on Fangraphs. The gist of the article is "yeah Ibanez has 18 home runs on the year and yeah that's nice, but he sucks". Instead of just enjoying the one bright spot on their team, they have to complain. Which really makes them like every other fan. So nevermind because now I'm speaking out of my ass.

Adam Jones Hates Walks: BaseballAnalytics.org has this incredible little factoid, Adam Jones hasn't drawn a walk since May 18th. Even a hacker like Brett Pill has drawn a walk more recently. Jones has only walked in 8 games! Incredible. Now Jones is productive right now (he's hit 9 home runs since his last walk) but boy when Jones gets older he'll become a right-handed not as paid as much Josh Hamilton.

Ned Yost Gonna Ned Yost: A while ago sabermetrics had constructed the Royals lineup. Alcides Escobar was moved out of the 2nd spot in the lineup and Hosmer moved into that position. Hosmer got hot and was moved to the third spot. So of course Ned Yost moved Escobar and his .279 OBP back into the 2nd spot. Ned Yost gonna Ned Yost.

Games of the Weekend: A look at the best games and pitching matchups of the weekend.

Friday, St. Louis at Oakland, Miller vs Colon: Bartolo Colon is fascinating to watch. He looks like he can't even bend over to tie his shoes and yet he's a really effective pitcher. Colon literally never walks anyone, always throws strikes, always throws a fastball, and yet no one can figure him out. Add to the fact he's going against young Shelby Miller and I can't wait to watch this game.

Saturday, Arizona at Atlanta, Kennedy vs Hudson: Two first place teams sending out two struggling starters. Both Kennedy and Hudson this season have been subpar and yet their performances haven't hurt their teams yet. It's nice having deep rotations.

Sunday, Cleveland at Chicago, Masterson vs Sale: If you can stomach Hawk (this game will be on WGN) then I do suggest watching this game. Chris Sale is really the only reason to watch White Sox baseball this season while Justin Masterson has finally showed the promise of being an ace which the Indians thought they were getting when they traded Victor Martinez for him.

2 comments:

  1. Hurdle seems to be fixing his mistakes by not playing Inge and Barmas. Also he's platooning Gaby Sanchez with right handed pitchers which is smart. It's that rotation and quite frankly that lineup is what I don't quite trust.

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