Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

"Let the word go forth...."
Buster Olney says that managerial hopefuls should become fluent in sabermetrics:

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2011 isn't quite halfway over yet and we've already had 3 different relief appearances where the pitcher threw at least 95 pitches: Read the rest of this entry »

After many hours hunched over my trusty slide rule, I've reached a tentative conclusion: this Verlander chappy just might have the right stuff in the ol' soupbone.

Check out the MLB top-10 lists for 2009-11 combined that appear at the bottom of this post (stats through June 24 -- not including Verlander's 14-K gem on 6/25). Verlander ranks 3rd in IP, 6th in Wins Above Replacement (WAR), 2nd in strikeouts (actually 1st now), and 2nd in WHIP (min. 300 IP).

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-- CC Sabathia became the majors' first 10-game winner (by a few hours) with 8 strong innings, and the Yankees moved into 1st place. Sabathia is 50-19 in his 2-1/2 years with the Yankees, and is 50 games over .500 since 2007 (86-36). He has more wins, IP and strikeouts in that span than Roy Halladay.

-- After 238 career starts, Jake Peavy made his first relief appearance Saturday, and picked up a win with 4 dominant innings against the Nationals.

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A quick chronicle to counter Chris Carter confusion:

Vernon Christopher Carter, known commonly as Chris Carter, just joined the Athletics for his third stint in the majors. He's the guy who started off last year with a lot of strikeouts and no hits in his first bunch of games.

William Chris Carter, also known commonly as Chris Carter, just joined the Atlanta Braves' organization after opting out of a deal with the Rays. He was with the Mets last year (traded from the Red Sox for Billy Wagner) and with the Red Sox before that (traded for Wily Mo Pena, who himself has just resurfaced in the majors.)

Joseph Chris Carter, known commonly as Joe Carter, was a good but massively overrated outfielder in the 1980s and 1990s. His career WAR of 16.5 puts him in an 8-way tie for 919th all-time among position players. That's not a typo.

-- Detroit reliever David Purcey had a streak of 12 straight scoreless innings, but he couldn't put away Wily Mo Pena. The D-backs' temporary DH fouled off a couple of 2-2 pitches, then crushed one 450 feet to LF for a game-winning HR. Pena still misses as much as ever -- he has 8 strikeouts in 15 PAs (and no walks) -- but when he connects, look out.

-- Jordan Zimmermann (7 scoreless IP) had his 10th straight quality start and his 7th straight of 6+ IP and 2 runs or less. Both streaks are the longest by a Nationals pitcher since they moved to D.C. in 2005, matching streaks posted that very year by Livan Hernandez and John Patterson, respectively.

• "Can't anyone here save this game?" The White Sox tied up the game 3 times in their last at bat. Drew Storen gave up a game-tying 3-run HR to pinch-hitter Mark Teahen in the 9th. After the Nats went ahead in the top of the 10th, Todd Coffey's wild pitch scored the tying run in the bottom half. And with 2 outs in the 12th, A.J. Pierzynski hit an 0-2 pitch from Tyler Clippard over the RF wall to tie it up again. ("Mercy," indeed!)
• Washington finally prevailed with 4 runs in the 14th for their 4th straight win and 12th in 13 games. They are now 3.5 games behind Atlanta in the wild-card race.

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James Shields won his 3rd straight complete game Friday night, limiting Houston to a run on 3 hits, with 9 strikeouts and 1 walk. That's gonna get him a few more bullet points:

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Jim Riggleman resigned as manager of the Nationals on Thursday afternoon. The move became official after the Nats' 1-0 walk-off win over Seattle, although the die was cast earlier in the day. As GM Mike Rizzo said at the postgame press conference:

"Jim told me pregame today that if we wouldn't pick up his [contract] option that he wouldn't get on the team bus today."

Riggleman took over as Washington's manager in the middle of the 2009 season, and had a record of 139-172 (.447) in just under 2 calendar years. His contract was to expire at the end of this season. No manager of the Nats/Expos has had a winning record for the course of his tenure since Buck Rodgers from 1985-91.
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Via The Greatest 21 Days, here's some interesting information on the career of Bob Sebra.

In Sebra's final major league game, he was ejected for intentionally hitting Tracy Jones in the 8th inning. After the game, the Brewers sent Sebra to the minors. He received a suspension to be served when he returned to the majors, but he never did make it back.

That means his major league pitching career ended with a hit-by-pitch.

Does anybody know of any other pitchers to have their careers end with a hit-by-ptich?

In 2010, Baltimore's regulars on the left side of the infield were Cesar Izturis at SS and Miguel Tejada at 3B. Both were brutally unproductive, with negative Wins Above Replacement (WAR) values of -0.5 and -0.8, respectively. The O's ranked last in the AL in OPS+ from the SS position, and 11th from 3B. It was probably the worst left side combo in the majors.

What a difference a year makes. The new starters, J.J. Hardy and Mark Reynolds, have been 2 of the team's 4 most productive regulars, and have raised the club's OPS+ rankings to 2nd (SS) and 3rd (3B) so far this year.

Hardy's bat has been red-hot in June. In 19 games this month, he's hit .380 with 7 HRs, 16 runs, 15 RBI, and a 1.147 OPS. His slash line for the season is up to .304/.366/.532, with a 147 OPS+.

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