The New York Yankees became the first team to move on in the Highlander-style baseball postseason tournament by lopping off both heads of the Minnesota Twins. It's good to see, as Alex Rodriguez described them, an "underdog" move on in the postseason.
Oh wait, what's that, you say? Yes, A-Roid referred to the New York Yankees as being "David in this situation." Oh, those poor Yankees. They didn't win the division. They won't have homefield advantage throughout any playoff series (because the NL won the All Star Game this year, remember that!?!).
I don't know how they'll manage to play with the big boys... you know, with their $206 million dollar payroll, top free agents and second-best record in the American League. How ever will they match-up against the Twins ($97.5M), Rays ($71.9M) and Rangers ($55.2M) with their minuscule payroll? Somehow, and the Lord only knows, they survived the first round. We can only hope that they'll continue playing together as a team.
Why I Don't Pay Attention to Advanced Stats
Apparently baseball writer Bill James has devised some sort of thing called a "game score metric" that helps us gain a better understanding of a dominating pitching performance. To give you an idea of how the Game Score Metric works.... well, I'm not going to take the time to explain it. Click on this link if you really want to know what it is before going forward; however, this should tell you all you need to know - Tim Lincecum's 2-hit, 14K shutout of the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of their NLDS scored higher than Roy Halladay's 1 BB, no-hitter the day before. That's right, once again, we see how strikeouts are overvalued by some people. An out is an out, and it doesn't matter if it is a weak grounder to the pitcher, a strikeout, or a fly ball to the left fielder. Guess what, they are still outs.
For this reason, I propose that we abandon the new ways of thinking when it comes to baseball stats (also known as sabremetrics). I know how to calculate batting average and on-base percentage. I know how to count RBIs and HRs. I don't know, or care to know, what VORP or WAR mean. You tell me that a fielder's UZR is better than another's, and I might mistakenly punch you for fear that you are speaking to me about hockey in Russian, and I don't need that kind of pressure from a Commie ice skater!
For this reason, I propose that we abandon the new ways of thinking when it comes to baseball stats (also known as sabremetrics). I know how to calculate batting average and on-base percentage. I know how to count RBIs and HRs. I don't know, or care to know, what VORP or WAR mean. You tell me that a fielder's UZR is better than another's, and I might mistakenly punch you for fear that you are speaking to me about hockey in Russian, and I don't need that kind of pressure from a Commie ice skater!
Blyleven is Awesome
I don't really have anything to add to the title of this post. Just bask in the glory that is Bert Blyleven, former MLB pitcher who has been getting major push from some in the media to be in the Hall of Fame. After seeing this picture, I couldn't agree more.
Tim Lincecum: Master of the English Language
Here's a short clip of Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum following the Giants victory over the Padres, which gave them the NL West crown. Be sure to put away the kids for the next 10 seconds....
Ah, Tim Lincecum: pitcher, Cy Young Award winner, stoner, master of the English language.
Ah, Tim Lincecum: pitcher, Cy Young Award winner, stoner, master of the English language.
Minaya, Manuel Relieved
The headline of a recent article on MLB Trade Rumors stated, "Mets Relieve Omar Minaya, Jerry Manuel Of Duties." After I was done snickering at the word "duties," all I could think was, "Yes, I am certain they are relieved."
How Good was Halladay?
The playoffs supposedly started yesterday. One of the games was the Reds visiting the Phillies. A lot of the talk prior to the game revolved around how pitcher Roy Halladay would fare in his playoff debut. We see it all the time, a star pitcher who has never been in the playoffs before then throws a mediocre game his first time out. Fairly, or unfairly, he gets labeled by that appearance until he has about 10 more games to turn it around.
Halladay..... well, he fared pretty well in his playoff debut.... by throwing just the second post-season no-hitter in history. Touche, Year of the Pitcher, touche.
However, after the game, Reds SS Orlando Cabrera said, "Another umpire, he [Halladay] wouldn’t have thrown a game like that,” Cabrera said. “He was getting every pitch. We had no chance. We had to swing."
I know a lot of people think things like that during the game, especially if you go 0-3 with a strikeout. However, Brooks Baseball has a pretty neat little graphic displaying pitch location, and for Halladay's debut, it looks a little like this:
Now, I know that it's a little difficult to see, but let me just tell you what the chart says. Basically, its says that Orlando Cabrera is a whiner with no factual basis for his comments, or, as teammate Brandon Phillips may say.... well, we won't go there.
There is exactly one called strike that was located outside of the strike zone. In fact, there were four pitches inside the strike zone that were not called strikes. There are several pitches outside of the strike zone that were swinging strikes, but the Reds have nobody but themselves to blame for that.
Big congratulations goes out to Halladay for following in the footsteps of Don Larsen, the only other person to throw a post-season no-no (and his was the perfect game in the '56 World Series). And just to point out something, an NL Central team still has not won a post-season game since Game 5 of the 2006 World Series when the Cardinals ended it against the Tigers.
Halladay..... well, he fared pretty well in his playoff debut.... by throwing just the second post-season no-hitter in history. Touche, Year of the Pitcher, touche.
However, after the game, Reds SS Orlando Cabrera said, "Another umpire, he [Halladay] wouldn’t have thrown a game like that,” Cabrera said. “He was getting every pitch. We had no chance. We had to swing."
I know a lot of people think things like that during the game, especially if you go 0-3 with a strikeout. However, Brooks Baseball has a pretty neat little graphic displaying pitch location, and for Halladay's debut, it looks a little like this:
Now, I know that it's a little difficult to see, but let me just tell you what the chart says. Basically, its says that Orlando Cabrera is a whiner with no factual basis for his comments, or, as teammate Brandon Phillips may say.... well, we won't go there.
There is exactly one called strike that was located outside of the strike zone. In fact, there were four pitches inside the strike zone that were not called strikes. There are several pitches outside of the strike zone that were swinging strikes, but the Reds have nobody but themselves to blame for that.
Big congratulations goes out to Halladay for following in the footsteps of Don Larsen, the only other person to throw a post-season no-no (and his was the perfect game in the '56 World Series). And just to point out something, an NL Central team still has not won a post-season game since Game 5 of the 2006 World Series when the Cardinals ended it against the Tigers.
Tigers Opting Not to Go After Top Pitchers
I saw an article on MLB Trade Rumors reporting that the Detroit Tigers have no interest in pursuing Cliff Lee or other top free agent pitchers this offseason. In a similar vein, the Detroit Tigers have no interest in winning their division for the next several years.
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