2009 MLB Regular Season Thread

[DeToxRox]

Holy balls. Brandon Inge with an insane play to get a force at home with the bases loaded and 1 out vs Anaheim. That is going to be in the running for best "web gem" of the year.

[Ksyrup]

Yep, just coming here to post that. And a hell of a play by Laird to stay on the plate to get the out and sacrifice his ankle.

[DeToxRox]

Dola. Inge's play wasn't a dive or anything either. It was an absurdly athletic play with an impossible strike home somehow and Laird made a helluva play to hold on.

I may not be the biggest Inge fan but he is bringing it so far this year.

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Yep, just coming here to post that. And a hell of a play by Laird to stay on the plate to get the out and sacrifice his ankle.

Armando is looking at a 4 or 5 inning outing tonight max. At least Nate or Bonine can get some innings now.

[DeToxRox]

And Granderson hits his 2nd HR of the night.

[Chief Rum]

Angels came back and won this one. Absolutely needed this one after that mess of a road trip we came off of. Weaver really settled down and kept the Angels in the game long enough for the hitters to scratch across enough runs for the win. And even more importantly, the bullpen didn't blow it.

[stevew]

Joe Kerrigan is working wonders with the Pirates pitching staff. Of course the sample size is tiny. But I doubt they had 10 QS in several different months last year. The Pirates don't really have major league hitters at several positions, and Ryan Doumit is out for 8-10 weeks. But maybe this will be the year the streak ends?

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Lathum

horribly lazy play by Beltran

Only a Met could turn a great, heads-up, hard-effort play into complete shit within 90 feet.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by stevew

Joe Kerrigan is working wonders with the Pirates pitching staff. Of course the sample size is tiny. But I doubt they had 10 QS in several different months last year.

Okay, this one was a bit of a pain to do but ...

The Pirates had a league low 66 QS last year, but they did have at least 10 in every month of the season except 1.

April - 10
May - 10
June - 13
July - 6
Aug - 16
Sept - 11

And now we both know

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Brian Bannister got called up yesterday by the Royals and will be taking over the #5 spot in the rotation. Hopefully he can perform well and stay there. Now if we can just hurry up and get Hochaver up here to get Sir Sidney out of the rotation, we'd actually have a very good rotation in place.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Logan

Only a Met could turn a great, heads-up, hard-effort play into complete shit within 90 feet.

yep

David Wright scores there every time.

[Ksyrup]

Forget Beltran, WTF was Daniel Murphy doing in LF? Was that an attempt at a backflip and catch at the same time?

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Brian Bannister got called up yesterday by the Royals and will be taking over the #5 spot in the rotation. Hopefully he can perform well and stay there. Now if we can just hurry up and get Hochaver up here to get Sir Sidney out of the rotation, we'd actually have a very good rotation in place.

May 5th is your day (or is it 6th?)- in theory, it's when Hochevar's service clock buys them another year since they kept him in Omaha for a month or so.

SI

[lordscarlet]

Wow, what a game in DC last night. There were a ton of fortunate outs based on mistakes turned into heroics (catching someone taking an extra base on bobbles, etc). There were also some errors and should-have-been errors that went in the Nationals favor.

Joel Hanrahan did not fail to make it tense, though, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with 0 outs in the 9th.

(I went to the game)

Oh, and the Nationals have sent 5 of their original 25-man roster to the 15 day DL already.

[jeff061]

I scored a ticket to the Sox/Yankees game Friday to the snobbish EMC Club Seats at Fenway. Looking forward to that.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

Nice! Wonder what the atmosphere will be like. I went once when it was still "walled off" with glass and its was an odd experience. So removed from the game, and people there were reading newspapers. Other than the view and comfort, it was actually kind of a depressing way to watch a game.

[Fighter of Foo]

It's surprisingly open, especially if you're in your actual seat. Just like 2nd level seat at any other ballpark. The snobby bar & everything else on the inside is another matter entirely.

[DeToxRox]

Wow, the Angles pen blows.

Too bad the Tigs might be worse.

[SackAttack]

Those of you on the West Coast might want to watch SportsCenter tonight.

Manny Ramirez hit a pitch from Roy Oswalt so hard, I'm not sure it has made re-entry yet.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

Wow, the Angles pen blows.

Too bad the Tigs might be worse.

The play of the Angels pen so far this year is mystifying. I mean, the guys blowing games aren't inexperienced guys with no talent filling out a roster, they're legit pitchers with good talent and proven past performance. It's mind boggling what's going on with them right now.

Shields shouldn't even be on a mound. That guy needs to go a psychiatrist or something.

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

The play of the Angels pen so far this year is mystifying. I mean, the guys blowing games aren't inexperienced guys with no talent filling out a roster, they're legit pitchers with good talent and proven past performance. It's mind boggling what's going on with them right now.

Shields shouldn't even be on a mound. That guy needs to go a psychiatrist or something.

Yep. That was just crazy. Total meltdown. Interesting to see how tomorrow goes with Edwin Jackon on the bump for Detroit. He's been very good but this is about when he gets shelled bad.

[bhlloy]

I'm not surprised Shields is having such a crappy year. Seems like K-Rod has been bailing him out of jams for a couple of years now, Angels should have got something for him while he still had some value. His ERA is very misleading, 11 blown saves over the last 2 seasons for a guy that very rarely pitches the 9th is more telling. I've never seen him look comfortable in a real pressure situation.

Fuentes is the bigger disappointment - how the hell does a pitcher leave Coors Field and look worse?

[bhlloy]

DOLA - damn it sucks to go look up the Angels stats and see Adenhart at the top of the list with a 0.00 ERA. So sad.

[Philliesfan980]

I don't think this was posted yet, but Forbes has released their annual report on MLB teams. How anyone can continue to support the Nats (Sorry Lordscarlet) is beyond me

The Business Of Baseball - Forbes.com

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Philliesfan980

I don't think this was posted yet, but Forbes has released their annual report on MLB teams. How anyone can continue to support the Nats (Sorry Lordscarlet) is beyond me

The Business Of Baseball - Forbes.com

It's going to be really interesting to see just how far the Royals shoot up that chart next year. They're selling tickets like crazy in the new (renovated) stadium at increased price points. Management also mentioned that concession/food sales are up quite a bit over what they expected. If they can keep the record around .500 or better, the bottom line will increase exponentially.

Bannister looked good last night and looked like the Bannister of 2007. Hopefully that can continue. If Meche can just squeak out a win tonight, the Royals would be headed home off a 4-2 road trip into a weekend series where both the Friday and Saturday games are expected to be sellouts. That Greinke start on Friday night in front of 40K should be a hoot.

[Philliesfan980]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

It's going to be really interesting to see just how far the Royals shoot up that chart next year. They're selling tickets like crazy in the new (renovated) stadium at increased price points. Management also mentioned that concession/food sales are up quite a bit over what they expected. If they can keep the record around .500 or better, the bottom line will increase exponentially.

Bannister looked good last night and looked like the Bannister of 2007. Hopefully that can continue. If Meche can just squeak out a win tonight, the Royals would be headed home off a 4-2 road trip into a weekend series where both the Friday and Saturday games are expected to be sellouts. That Greinke start on Friday night in front of 40K should be a hoot.

Yeah, I haven't seen Grienke pitch a whole game yet, but I'm going to watch him via my MLB.COM subscription on Friday night. You're right with Bannister, Grienke, and Meche, they should be able to hang in the race all year.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Bannister looked good last night and looked like the Bannister of 2007. Hopefully that can continue. If Meche can just squeak out a win tonight, the Royals would be headed home off a 4-2 road trip into a weekend series where both the Friday and Saturday games are expected to be sellouts. That Greinke start on Friday night in front of 40K should be a hoot.

Let's not get too excited about Banni just yet. Yes, he pitched 6 shutout innings. But he got 1 K and walked 2- those are some warning signs as he needs more Ks and less BBs to be effective and not just lucky. He was running deep counts and getting hit hard the second and third time through the lineup but they were going to people. He did induce a ton of ground balls, which is great- except our infield defense isn't exactly exciting- he needs to do that to succeed.

Still, small sample size and I can guarantee it was better than HoRam being run out there. A nice win and finally Soria gets in after maddeningly not being used for the last 9 days. We're a better team if Banni and Hochevar pitch well enough to be our 4/5- let's see if that happens.

SI

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

I really hope the Royals can keep it up. Always loved Brett growing up.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Let's not get too excited about Banni just yet. Yes, he pitched 6 shutout innings. But he got 1 K and walked 2- those are some warning signs as he needs more Ks and less BBs to be effective and not just lucky. He was running deep counts and getting hit hard the second and third time through the lineup but they were going to people. He did induce a ton of ground balls, which is great- except our infield defense isn't exactly exciting- he needs to do that to succeed.

SI

Yeah, I couldn't disagree more with your first assertion about walks and strikeouts. Bannister's first year and a half where he had only 66 walks and 97 strikeouts was where he performed his best (sub 4.00 ERA over that time). Last year, he had only 50+ walks while getting over 130+ strikeouts, but his ERA ballooned to near 6.00 because he was TRYING to strike people out.

Bannister is best when he pitches to contact like he did in 2007. The Royals are much better off with a Brian Bannister that mixes up pitches and throws them for strikes. That often doesn't result in big strikeout numbers since his stuff isn't overpowering by any means, but his movement is good, which results in bad contact by batters. It's not sexy by any means, but you can have a long career as a MLB pitcher by just throwing strikes while mixing it up.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Philliesfan980

Yeah, I haven't seen Grienke pitch a whole game yet, but I'm going to watch him via my MLB.COM subscription on Friday night. You're right with Bannister, Grienke, and Meche, they should be able to hang in the race all year.

Don't forget Davies. Outside of the first inning or two in his last start, he's been very good thus far. He finished strong last year, so it's not terribly surprising that he's picked up where he left off.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Yeah, I couldn't disagree more with your first assertion about walks and strikeouts. Bannister's first year and a half where he had only 66 walks and 97 strikeouts was where he performed his best (sub 4.00 ERA over that time). Last year, he had only 50+ walks while getting over 130+ strikeouts, but his ERA ballooned to near 6.00 because he was TRYING to strike people out.

Bannister is best when he pitches to contact like he did in 2007. The Royals are much better off with a Brian Bannister that mixes up pitches and throws them for strikes. That often doesn't result in big strikeout numbers since his stuff isn't overpowering by any means, but his movement is good, which results in bad contact by batters. It's not sexy by any means, but you can have a long career as a MLB pitcher by just throwing strikes while mixing it up.

We'll see. I'd love it to be true. And I agree about last year. Banni is his own worst enemy sometimes. However, it's hard to be even a league average pitcher with his historically low strikeout rates. Pitching to contact if you're a groundball pitcher with great infield defense is his best formula to win with few strikeouts. However, our infield defense is, well, not good. That's going to catch up with him.

SI

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

In 2007 Bannister BABIP was .262, meaning his "pitching to contact" strategy was pretty lucky especially considering he tends to have a very high line drive percentage. Just looking at his stats, 2008 would appear to be the regression to the mean.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Don't forget Davies. Outside of the first inning or two in his last start, he's been very good thus far. He finished strong last year, so it's not terribly surprising that he's picked up where he left off.

Yeah, if Hiram keeps it up, he has the highest ceiling of the trio (or quartet if you include Ponson) of himself, Hochevar, and Banni.

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Ronnie Dobbs2

In 2007 Bannister BABIP was .262, meaning his "pitching to contact" strategy was pretty lucky especially considering he tends to have a very high line drive percentage. Just looking at his stats, 2008 would appear to be the regression to the mean.

Bannister is not quite your average pitcher. He's a stat geek and he's trying to find ways to beat the numbers. For instance, what MBBF said about last year was true for him- he knew he couldn't maintain that BABIP so he tried to strike more guys out. But it flattened out some of his pitches, he nibbled more and lost control, and he tried too hard for K's which he doesn't have the pitches for.

He has quite a few interviews where he has pointed out things like how he tries to get hitters 0-2 and 1-2 because hitters BABIP is much lower in those counts and how getting ahead leads to better results. If Banni can figure out what is the best formula for him, I suspect he will be one of those guys who is a DIPS outlier because he's trying to game the numbers so he can pitch better.

SI

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

Wow, the Angles pen blows.

Too bad the Tigs might be worse.

And yet neither can hold a candle to the Nationals

Originally Posted by Philliesfan980

I don't think this was posted yet, but Forbes has released their annual report on MLB teams. How anyone can continue to support the Nats (Sorry Lordscarlet) is beyond me

The Business Of Baseball - Forbes.com

Because we were without a team for 3 decades. In waited my entire life to have a home team to root for, and I finally have one. This is only the third season the Lerners have owned the team, and they have spent far more than MLB did. They're getting a rude awakening this year with plummeting attendance -- that number is certainly aided by the new stadium last year. Estimates are that STH numbers are down 8,000.

Ultimately, for me, it's not about the owner (unless it's the O's ). If I cared about the owner, I wouldn't follow the Redskins anymore either. It's about the team. It's about the city. It's about supporting local teams. I don't watch the NBA or hockey, but I will route for the Caps and the Wizards given the chance. Same with the DC United. For me, the team transcends the owner.

Now, the argument could be about me putting money in the Lerners' pockets. I can certainly agree with you there. The answer is simply that I enjoy going to baseball games too much to care.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

Wow, the Angles pen blows.

Too bad the Tigs might be worse.

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

And yet neither can hold a candle to the Nationals

The bidding for Kyle Farnsworth (and his contract) starts at one baseball. One? Do I hear one?

(Tigers fans probably know better, but what the heck)

SI

[lordscarlet]

Joel Hanrhan

	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	SVO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	HB	BB	SO	AVG	WHIP	GO/AO
SEASON	0	0	6.43	7	0	0	0	2	4	7.0	8	5	5	2	1	3	9	.267	1.57	1.00

[Ksyrup]

Joe Posnanski is an amazing writer. Check out his latest article at SI about pitch counts. Man, if only I could have a job like this!

hxxp://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/joe_posnanski/04/22/pitch.counts/index.html

[Philliesfan980]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

And yet neither can hold a candle to the Nationals



Because we were without a team for 3 decades. In waited my entire life to have a home team to root for, and I finally have one. This is only the third season the Lerners have owned the team, and they have spent far more than MLB did. They're getting a rude awakening this year with plummeting attendance -- that number is certainly aided by the new stadium last year. Estimates are that STH numbers are down 8,000.

Ultimately, for me, it's not about the owner (unless it's the O's ). If I cared about the owner, I wouldn't follow the Redskins anymore either. It's about the team. It's about the city. It's about supporting local teams. I don't watch the NBA or hockey, but I will route for the Caps and the Wizards given the chance. Same with the DC United. For me, the team transcends the owner.

Now, the argument could be about me putting money in the Lerners' pockets. I can certainly agree with you there. The answer is simply that I enjoy going to baseball games too much to care.

I guess the point that I was trying to get across is the teams with the highest operating incomes (not just as a % of revenue, actual legtimate money in the bank) comes from the teams who play the "Oh, we're too poor to do anything" card.

Assuming these financials are accurate, it's disgusting that these "small market teams" continue to reap the benefits of revenue sharing.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Philliesfan980

I guess the point that I was trying to get across is the teams with the highest operating incomes (not just as a % of revenue, actual legtimate money in the bank) comes from the teams who play the "Oh, we're too poor to do anything" card.

Assuming these financials are accurate, it's disgusting that these "small market teams" continue to reap the benefits of revenue sharing.

I couldn't find the revenue sharing forumula on a quick search, but it really should reward smaller market teams for spending money - maybe some kind of matching payroll kind of system.

And in no universe are Washington or Miami "small markets', but they always get lumped in with in discussions of baseball "unfairness".

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by molson

I couldn't find the revenue sharing forumula on a quick search, but it really should reward smaller market teams for spending money - maybe some kind of matching payroll kind of system.

And in no universe are Washington or Miami "small markets', but they always get lumped in with in discussions of baseball "unfairness".

Agreed. There weren't any teams near the top that I would consider a small market team. Minnesota was the highest one I saw, but they obviously spend a lot of money on their farm system, so I really don't think they can be labeled as not spending their money wisely to build a competitive team.

Miami is one of the largest TV markets in the nation.

[Philliesfan980]

Originally Posted by molson

I couldn't find the revenue sharing forumula on a quick search, but it really should reward smaller market teams for spending money - maybe some kind of matching payroll kind of system.

And in no universe are Washington or Miami "small markets', but they always get lumped in with in discussions of baseball "unfairness".

Yeah, I agree with what you've said. I'm not really that well versed on the revenue sharing system that the MLB is currently operating under, but I believe I read somewhere that it's an equal split type system?

Again, it's just plan obnoxious that the owners who make the most are the ones who generally stock their teams the least. When that happens, there is something seriously wrong. The fans of these teams are really getting punched in the gut.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Philliesfan980

When that happens, there are owners who have a clear understanding of how to run a business in an efficient & profitable manner

Fixed that for you.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Fixed that for you.

Double fixed.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Joe Posnanski is an amazing writer. Check out his latest article at SI about pitch counts. Man, if only I could have a job like this!

hxxp://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/joe_posnanski/04/22/pitch.counts/index.html

I love Poz and glad he's getting some national attention.

The APBA unusual plays chart reference is the baseball (re: less nerdy) equivalent of the AD&D crit chart.

That .390/.958/.780 line at 3-0 must be incorrect. There's no way only 5% of 3-0 counts where something happen end with an out and 95% end with a walk or hit, right?

Also, love this stat: "2. When you DO see them hit it, there's a good chance you will see them hit it a long way. Batters hit 3-0 homers roughly one out of every 10 at-bats."

The one thing I wish he looked at more is an aggregate of what happens when you get to X count. These numbers are just all about the "action pitch". I wish he had another column for each list: "Action Pitch %, Batters hit as action pitch, Batters hit for entire at bat when they reach this count"

SI

[Philliesfan980]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Fixed that for you.

You're absolutely right. The owners are certainly playing within the rules. I guess I would just like to see the rules corrected to make things more fair for teams that are making an honest attempt to put a winning product on the field.

[Philliesfan980]

To kind of add to my thoughts, I believe that sports franchises have some level of civic responsibility to their fan base. Sports franchises these days don't have a problem accepting goverment handouts for new stadiums, and in return, I think they owe an obligation for that. That obligation of course is hard to measure.

Again, the ownership groups aren't doing anything against the rules, it's the system that's broken.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Philliesfan980

You're absolutely right. The owners are certainly playing within the rules. I guess I would just like to see the rules corrected to make things more fair for teams that are making an honest attempt to put a winning product on the field.

Cities have leverage and don't use it. It makes zero sense for Minnesota and Florida to build ballparks for the Twins and Marlins when they operate the way they do. Cities shouldn't be using taxpayer money to build ballparks anyway, but its absolutely absurd to do so while the team's owner pockets the amount the twins and marlins do.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by Philliesfan980

I guess the point that I was trying to get across is the teams with the highest operating incomes (not just as a % of revenue, actual legtimate money in the bank) comes from the teams who play the "Oh, we're too poor to do anything" card.

Assuming these financials are accurate, it's disgusting that these "small market teams" continue to reap the benefits of revenue sharing.

Originally Posted by molson

I couldn't find the revenue sharing forumula on a quick search, but it really should reward smaller market teams for spending money - maybe some kind of matching payroll kind of system.

And in no universe are Washington or Miami "small markets', but they always get lumped in with in discussions of baseball "unfairness".

I don't know that the Lerners ever said they were too poor. Not sure, though. I also don't know who calls Washington a small market team. The people that do are stupid. We're in the top 10 markets in the US. People think this is "not a baseball town" so they say it is small market. The Redskins are the second most profitable sports franchise in the world. This is not a small market town.

[sterlingice]

(so far today, and hopefully that's it for him with 101 pitches on the board- we should see Cruz for 8, Soria for 9)

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	Season ERA
G. Meche	7.0	2	1	1	0	7	0	2.00

So, yeah, 2+ years into that contract, it looks like Dayton Moore was the only one right about Gil. Never in my wildest dreams could he have done what he did and that is looking a hell of a lot like $55M well spent.

SI