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We'll see. I think they might end up with around 65 wins. 48-71 after tonight. |
Papelbon, please throw an occasional breaking ball. You're much better when you do.
Interesting BABIP chart - http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/7654/babipyw4.png After 50 years of BABIP between .270 and .290 it jumped up to .300 in 1995, so it not just home runs that were affected in this new offensive era of baseball. Do we blame this on steroids and tighter wound balls? Clearly park sizes can't be blamed (no Coors in the AL) like for home runs. |
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If the Reds stay at the pace they've been at since the All-Star break(.242) they'll only get 10 or 11 wins to add to their current 50. I don't think they can slide all the way to the bottom, but they might surprise. |
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FWIW, I don't get the sense the Angels are putting any expectations on Locker. They know football's his #1 thing. The impression I have gotten from reports on the Angels and Locker is that the Angels see enough in his baseball talent to want to lock his rights down for six seasons, just in case. If they can get him to play a little ball in the offseason, fantastic, but I don't think that was a requirement for them and their interest in signing him. |
Washington should be happy, they just freed up another scholarship
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The world may collapse when the pirates play the reds this weekend. Both teams are in a shitty funk. |
Not sure I have ever seen this before, so thought I would point it out:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore...?gid=290818105 Check out the Angels' box score. The entire lineup is .300 hitters--in August! |
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I don't personally have a problem with Jake if he decides to play some minor league ball next Summer, but there are a number of Husky fans that feel he needs to spend as much time working on football as possible to maximize his development as a passer, and since he's been the leader of off-season workouts, there's a worry about how organized and well-attended they'd be if Locker wasn't around. |
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Honestly being a Cardinal fan I pay attention to almost exclusively NL central and some NL East and NL West and I know it's going to sound cliché but I thought it was Boston and New York and nobody else in the AL. This isn't just an ESPN thing but every media outlet. That Angel statisitic is very impressive. |
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Hey, look. The Royals lineup! Not a .300 hitter to be found (not entirely true now but it was at gametime- Billy Butler edged above .300 and looks like he's going to be a damn fine hitter, what with 40 doubles and only being 23) MLB - Kansas City Royals/Chicago White Sox Box Score Tuesday August 18, 2009 - Yahoo! Sports Any wonder why they can't hit at all? ;) That said- wow, that's a crazy stat, CR SI |
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I guess that extra power which increased homeruns also meant more balls got through the infield. But it hasn't gone down in the few years after steroid testing. But then again I assumed homeruns had gone down and after checking it out there isn't much difference. MLB year by year batting |
Crappy hitting, all glove players are getting squeezed out?
SI |
Don't forget the fact that more and more teams have been added. I realize the Rockies, Marlins and then Rays and Diamondbacks are only four teams, but that still dilutes pitching a fair amount. The quality of hitters being added with 4 teams is far superior than the quality of pitchers.
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Yeah, but this is BABIP. Pitcher quality is fairly independent of this, as per Voros McCracken*
*I know- there are a few exceptions to DIPS, but it holds up for the most part SI |
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Wild speculation, I don't care enough to try and support it.
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FWIW, it looks like I was wrong about Mike Rizzo. The reports coming out after the deadline are saying that he was instrumental in the Strasburg negotiations.
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Well, he did lose the job to DiPoto.
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Hey, stability! |
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That, to my knowledge, is far from confirmed. Yahoo! says yes, ESPN says no. |
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I'd have to think this is a major factor. It'd be interesting to see the league average OPS for positions like RF, SS/2b. As the need to increase hitting became the most important thing, I'm sure quality defenders got jettisoned for better bats. Guys like Dunn play LF now, whereas in the past no manager would have been likely to throw a guy like that out there. Also, what is the strikeout rate for batters? As it became less of an insulting thing to strike out, if it dramatically increased the strikeout rate, I'd have to think in a roundabout way that helped BIABP increase. Cause if the batting average across the league stayed relatively static, and there were more strikeouts, that would account for the increase. |
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The larger point may be valid though. As it's become less of a stigma to strike out, it stands to reason that there are fewer defensive swings happening where the batter is prioritizing making contact over hitting the ball hard. When the ball is hit harder, it generally correlates with more hits, as I believe there is some correlation between line drive pct. and BABIP according to those that study this stuff. |
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Hopefully they're both on the same page. |
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That's what I meant. Obviously mark Reynolds is extreme for an example. But he is around .400 when he puts it in play. |
I guess since Lugo worked out for the Cardinals, they feel confident about Red Sox cast-offs and have signed John Smoltz. He's going to start this weekend, apparently.
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Smoltz isn't better than anybody right now. Maybe in the NL he'll be able to put up respectable numbers, but he was embarrassingly bad for the Sox. Shit, I felt bad for the guy. |
Thanks again Cleveland for Cliff Lee...another complete game...2 hitter.
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Wrong role is at least the competing wisdom, based on his better first and even up to second innings versus going any deeper. I figured the Cards were looking at him as a righty setup guy but now I'm reading that they may be thinking about trying him as a fifth starter which I think will probably be a disaster. |
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From what I read, Smoltz did not want to be in a relief role with the Red Sox either which is one of the reasons they were limited in what they could do with him. |
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+1 |
dola: oh, and he's hitting .385 so far too.... :)
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I thought that was that he didn't want to go back down to AAA to work himself into a bullpen role arm/routine wise more than not wanting to go to the bullpen itself. |
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This was earlier before that, back when the Red Sox thought they had too many pitchers and trying to figure out where to fit him in, the common stories that I read was that Smoltz starting out in the bullpen was not an option, he did not want to pitch there and supposedly Smoltz coming there was under some kind of agreement that it would be starting or nothing. Then suddenly Matsusaka got 'injured', Smoltz slid into the rotation and the rest was history. |
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You're welcome. |
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Simply put, Smoltz had a run of bad luck with the Red Sox, and the factors that are most under his control as a pitcher would point towards his ERA regressing towards the mean in a positive way. He's not a great pitcher any more, but he should be better than Todd Wellemeyer and Mitchell Boggs. |
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This and coming to NL will be a welcome change for him too. This is coming from a Cubs fan that knows he will beat our ass. |
Hahaha - the entire Nippon Ham Fighters team is quarantined in the hospital with Swine flu. No joke.
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If only that could happen to the Phillies. |
I'd rather it happen to that stupid chop Braves fans do.
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ping: stevew
Looks like the Pirates are going on their own run against the Brewers. My goodness. |
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At least he's not Paul Bako, $1.80 Chris Coste not much better since going to Houston, $2.11 |
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Where is Hart? Once we got through the Braun/Fielder toughness, the lineup was pretty weak sauce. Cameron is still good, but not great. The rest of these guys, save Lopez, kinda meh. Just happy to sweep a series for once. :) |
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Out for at least a month following an August 2nd appendectomy (he's on one of my fantasy teams so I knew that one) |
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Like Jon said, Hart is out after an appendectomy. But, you're right. The rest of the lineup save Lopez, Braun and Fielder is very meh at this point. Jason Kendall is like having another pitcher in the lineup and is probably a worse hitter than Gallardo even. But the biggest problem is still the pitching staff outside of Gallardo. Either way, I've got nothing good to say about the Brewers right now. |
Mike Cameron's glove is still amazing from time to time, almost worth the price of admission. Even if he's not as good as he was before.
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Definitely. He's been the least of the Brewers problems. Maybe not worth the $10 million he's getting this year but he's not the problem. Also a standout person and teammate. |
Have to say, after the way Washburn had thrown Kenji Johjima under the bus a couple years ago over his pitch calling, it was sweet justice to see Johjima take him deep today.
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Howard hit a home run tonight that I'm not sure has landed yet.
It's a good time to be a Phillies fan right now (which means, of course, we'll get swept by the Mets). |
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Shuddupayouface! |
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