2010 MLB Season

[Brad]

Wow, 14Ks. That's pretty amazing.

[vajerzy]

Strasburg was awesome! Glad I have MASN!

[Dave James]

In the history of major league baseball, no one has ever debuted with a no walk 14 strike out performance.

Does anyone know why ESPN couldn't get this game on national TV? Seems like a natural.

Edited June 9, 2010 by Dave James

[ghost of miles]

I can't find a highlight reel yet of Strasburg's performance (guessing there'll be one up later tonight on the Nats' site), but in the meantime, here's his three-up, three-down first inning, which ended with his first big-league K.

[ghost of miles]

Here it is:

Strasburg's 14 strikeouts

Incredible! It Should Be You, you must've been so jazzed... pretty exciting for baseball fans in general, just to see a young rookie make a debut like that. The Nats' radio announcers kept describing the atmosphere at the stadium as "playoff-like."

[Chalupa]

14 K's and no BB's??? Wow. Color me impressed.

[BERIGAN]

Are we all going to be parked in front of the TV (or monitor) to catch the big debut tonight? I believe its on MLB Network. And Conrad, I think you're right that his mechanics are a great big warning sign:

I hope the Nats savior doesn't suffer the same fate that Prior did. But they look like mirror images.

Am I alone in thinking that the Nats are rushing him to the big leagues too soon?

Nope!

Honestly, they should have seen after a few starts that it was pointless to have him in the minors, he couldn't work on holding on runners or anything else, when the other team had 2 hits.

Even if he was only going 5 innings a start, they might have 5-6 more wins at this point.

Surprised they let him go 7 innings. Glad they did though! Perhaps they were keeping his pitch count down in the minors to let him go a bit further in games?

And I was wrong about it looking like they messed up his motion in the minors. I just noticed it was the way they edited his strikeouts in the minors back to back, and it made it look like he had no leg kick. I just saw his arm motion. Not that anyone cared what I thought!

Too bad this was only on mlb, no way to watch it on DISH. I guess they want to build up that network .

[BERIGAN]

I was curious to compare Bob Feller's motion to Strasburg, not all that similar, but fun to watch. Still looks like he wouldn't have his arm hold together all those seasons like it did.

First one shows how fast he threw.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAm5fwb1Psw&feature=related

Edited June 9, 2010 by BERIGAN

[Dan Gould]

Hey, he stole that motion from Bugs Bunny!

[ghost of miles]

Are we all going to be parked in front of the TV (or monitor) to catch the big debut tonight? I believe its on MLB Network. And Conrad, I think you're right that his mechanics are a great big warning sign:

I hope the Nats savior doesn't suffer the same fate that Prior did. But they look like mirror images.

Am I alone in thinking that the Nats are rushing him to the big leagues too soon?

Nope!

Honestly, they should have seen after a few starts that it was pointless to have him in the minors, he couldn't work on holding on runners or anything else, when the other team had 2 hits.

Even if he was only going 5 innings a start, they might have 5-6 more wins at this point.

Surprised they let him go 7 innings. Glad they did though! Perhaps they were keeping his pitch count down in the minors to let him go a bit further in games?

And I was wrong about it looking like they messed up his motion in the minors. I just noticed it was the way they edited his strikeouts in the minors back to back, and it made it look like he had no leg kick. I just saw his arm motion. Not that anyone cared what I thought!

Too bad this was only on mlb, no way to watch it on DISH. I guess they want to build up that network .

Berigan, I think they held off on promoting him until June in order to push back his arbitration eligibility a year--pretty sure it was mostly a future-fiscal reason.

[Brad]

Too bad this was only on mlb, no way to watch it on DISH. I guess they want to build up that network .

I have Dish also and no MLB We also don't get Yes, the Yankees network. I'm not a Yankee fan but would like to be watch their games once in awhile. Ain't happenin'

Edited June 9, 2010 by Brad

[BERIGAN]

Hey, he stole that motion from Bugs Bunny!

[Dave James]

Getting away from Strasburg for a second, here's a link to an interesting piece I came across on CNN having to do with the origins of baseball and it's relationship to the game of cricket:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/sports/2010/06/01/baseball.cricket.origins.cnn?hpt=T2

Edited June 9, 2010 by Dave James

[Chalupa]

Hey, he stole that motion from Bugs Bunny!

Hilarious.

Found it on you tube.... (If you can't watch the whole thing start at about 2:45 and again at 5:47)

-----------------------

Check @ 4:37

Galaraga should have used Bugs' ploy on Joyce last week.

Edited June 9, 2010 by J.H. Deeley

[Ted O'Reilly]

The really fine Toronto bassist Steve Wallace (maybe best known for his work with Rob McConnell & The Boss Brass) is a real baseball nut, and is proving to be a damn good writer. He sends to maybe half-a-dozen likeminded (jazz/baseball) friends his remarks every couple of days. He gave me the okay to pass along today's musing. It's longish, but fun and interesting...

"This morning, I opened a couple of windows, poured myself a cup of the healing hell brew, and sat down with the box scores as usual. I heard a sudden swoosh of air and assumed it was the wind whistling through the trees, but glancing at the Nationals box score, I realized... nope. The swoosh was the collective gasp and sigh of N.L. hitters realizing their lives just got a whole lot tougher with Strasburg now in the league.

"He struck out 14 batters in 7 innings - Holy KKKKKKKKKKKKKKhrist!! Even more impressive is the fact that he walked none, as in zero, zilch. Young fireballing strikeout pitchers are common enough to be a cliche, (a la Nuke LaLoosh) but young pitchers who don't walk anyone are a different story. A young pitcher who can do both is about as common as finding an Amish guy in a jazz club (even when there were jazz clubs.)

"Further good news is that he threw just 94 pitches, which means he's pretty efficient, and the club has him on a pitch count, which is smart given his age and the fifteen million smackers they have invested in him. Also, as predicted, he put bums in seats - the attendance was a near sellout of over 40,000, which is probably a Washington high. This bodes well because in general attendance is down across the board so far this year.

"Skeptics will say it's only one game, and the Pirates are not exactly the 1998 Yankees, but by the same token it was his major league debut and he showed no signs of nerves or discomposure, so give him a break- he's only going to get better. All in all, he may be the most promising young pitcher to enter the game since Doc Gooden or Roger Clemens, but seemingly without the extracurricular downsides of Doc (cocaine habit) or Clemens (C.N.A.S. -Chronic Narcissistic Asshole Syndrome.) All I can say is wow, stay tuned, and enjoy the ride.

"Baseball and its fans are awash in statistics. Everything is measured and accounted for, with new stats seemingly added every few months or so. Some of these I call Einstein stats, because they involve complex math, try to measure several things at once, and often have long acronymic handles which make them look like a line on an eye chart. WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched.) BARISP (batting average with runners in scoring position.) GIDPAB (grounding into double plays per at bat.) And so forth, ad nauseum. Guys who love numbers (like my accountant Mike) or are died- in- the- wool stat geeks have a field day with all this, while others find the new stats bewildering and cumbersome, even if they understand them. To some, all this number crunching sucks some of the air and enjoyment out of the game.

"For those in the latter camp, take heart. There are still the 'traditional' stats available. E.R.A. is still the single most reliable and complete means of assessing pitching performance. Batting average has been shown to not tell the whole story on a hitter - power and getting on base are important and not reflected in BA.

"Then there are what I call 'raw' stats - running totals of things like hits, walks, runs scored, RBIs etc. If you want a simple way of assessing whether someone is a good player or not, if they're doing their job as a hitter, take a look at their runs scored totals - 100 per year being the standard of excellence, 90 being very good. This is not to deny that RBIs are important, but as a stat I think they tend to be overrated and skewed, for a couple of reasons. RBIs tend to favour home run hitters who hit in the middle of the order. A guy who hits a grand slam is credited with 4 RBIs on one swing, whereas the guys who did various positive things to get on base receive no credit, save for scoring a run. You can only score one run at a time as a hitter. Secondly, RBI opportunities are not equally distributed - guys in the leadoff and second spots have far fewer RBI chances per season than those further down in the order.

"Runs scored are my single favourite raw stat for a couple of reasons. Firstly, scoring runs is the actual aim of offense in baseball - not hitting for a high average, not hitting home runs or stealing bases - runs are the name of the game, regardless of how they come. If you don't score enough runs, you don't win, even if you have Halladay pitching every day. Mostly though, I like runs scored because more than any other stat, they reflect a diversity of skills in the game, all of which are important. Guys who hit for a very high average will tend to score a lot of runs because they're on base a lot, even if they don't walk much. Guys who hit a lot of doubles will score a lot of runs because they put themselves in scoring position without anyone's help. Home run hitters will score a lot of runs, because every time they hit one, they score (and drive in at least) one run. Guys with speed score a lot of runs - they can put themselves in scoring position with a stolen base, or by taking extra bases on hits, or scoring from first on a single etc. Guys with low batting averages but who hit home runs and walk a lot will also score a lot of runs, like for example Carlos Pena of the Rays ( he killed us last night) who only hits .230, but with 35 homers and 90 walks a year is still a heck of a player. Obviously, combining a bunch of these skills will lead to scoring a ton of runs, like say with Albert Pujols, who hits for a high average, has great power, and gets on base a ton, meaning he averages about 120 runs scored per season. Yikes.

"To put all of this another way, take a look at the players who lead each league in runs scored every year, guys with 90 - 120 runs scored usually. In the AL it's going to be guys like Jeter, Ichiro, Teixeira, Cano, Youkilis, Mauer, Morneau, Longoria, Torii Hunter, Pedroia, Michael Young, Pena, Abreu. That's pretty much an All Star team, isn't it? Ditto with the NL - Rollins, Utley, Pujols, Ethier, Kemp, Victorino, David Wright, Howard, Braun, Fielder. The best players score the most runs by and large, and in various ways. It's a simple yet reliable way of loosely figuring out who's really good, without a slide rule, or going blind. Skeptics will point out that runs scored are helped by playing on a good team. This is true, sort of. But that's a bit like saying the Yankees won all those World Series because they had better players than anyone else - it's an inherent absurdity. Good players play for good teams, and good teams are made up of good players. Daah.

"Getting back to Carlos Pena for a minute, he's one of my favourite players and many people overlook him because he hits .230 ( .183 at the moment, but that will go up) and plays for the Rays, who are still somewhat overlooked despite their record. It's interesting to compare Pena with say Mark Teixeira, who also plays first base and is a lot better known. Last year they each hit 39 home runs. Teixeira hit .292, drove in 122 runs and scored 103. Pena hit .227 and drove in 100 runs while scoring 91. The edge in batting average maybe led Tex to drive in and score a few more runs, but there's not much difference between them in my opinion. Remember, Tex hit in Yankee Stadium, a much better hitting park than the Tampa dome, and makes a lot more money than Pena, who gives you about the same bang for less buck. The reason Pena is so effective despite the low average, is he has power and walks a lot.

"Bill James has come up with a stat he calls secondary average. Happily, I don't recall the mathematical nuts and bolts of it, but basically the concept is as follows. There are two things a hitter can do to help his team score runs: a) hitting for average, and b) everything else. Secondary average is an attempt to quantify everything else - i.e. walks, power, and stolen bases, per at bat. A player like Carlos Pena may only hit .230, but his secondary average last year with 39 homers and 90 walks is probably about .370, which is why he's still a really good player. For me, the fact he scores 90 or more runs a year is a good enough indication of this. It's simple and democratic, like a Count Basie rhythm section. Lots of air and space, and nobody gets hurt as long as they can count up to four.

"Cheers, and stay thirsty my friends, S.

[Patrick]

Justin Masterson!!!! (plus a week's worth of Indian offense) 11 consecutive losses for JM and now he has won 2 in a row.

Finally saw the shift fail miserably. Bases loaded for Russell Branyan (for the second time in the 8th inning) and he hits a weak grounder right to where the third baseman normally stands. Goes for an infield hit because the third baseman is playing short. Could easily have been a double play with no runs scoring.

[ghost of miles]

Patrick, has Sunday's game sold out yet? I read that ticket sales were going crazy after the Nats announced that Strasburg would be starting that day.

[Patrick]

I don't know for sure (live closer to the Nats park than the Tribe's) but ticket sales are brisk (by local standards) for the team that is currently last in the majors in attendance.

Strasburg story in PD

When my mother called me up after the Hafner slam this evening, I told her she had to watch that Tribe/Nats game, even though the Tribe would probably lose badly.

[ghost of miles]

Dave James & other Yankee fans--here's a stat that might give us all pause. After tonight's win NY is 37-22...the second-best record in the majors behind Tampa Bay. But here's the kicker: we are 10-1 against Baltimore, and a much-less-impressive 27-21 against everybody else. We have 103 games left, but only seven more against the O's. Granted, we went through a very rough patch with injuries early this season...but given how tough the AL East is this year, we're still going to have to turn it up a notch against non-Oriole teams, or we might not even make wild-card, let alone overtake the Rays.

Edited June 10, 2010 by ghost of miles

[ghost of miles]

This week's SBN power rankings for the MLB:

1. Rays

2. Yankees

3. Braves

4. Red Sox

5. Cardinals

Full rundown here.

[Brad]

Further to Ted O'Reilly's post, life is going to get tougher for pitchers in the NL East. The Marlins are calling up (or may have already done so) a slugger by the name of Mike Stanton, who is supposed to be the real deal.

Edited June 10, 2010 by Brad

[Chalupa]

Further to Ted O'Reilly's post, life is going to get tougher for pitchers in the NL East. The Marlins are calling up (or may have already done so) a slugger by the name of Mike Stanton, who is supposed to be the real deal.

They already did. He played his first game vs. the Phillies on Tuesday. He looks really awesome. Great defense - played RF better than our scrub Ben Francisco did. He has speed and he can hit. Don't know about his power and I hope not to find out any time soon

[Brad]

Further to Ted O'Reilly's post, life is going to get tougher for pitchers in the NL East. The Marlins are calling up (or may have already done so) a slugger by the name of Mike Stanton, who is supposed to be the real deal.

They already did. He played his first game vs. the Phillies on Tuesday. He looks really awesome. Great defense - played RF better than our scrub Ben Francisco did. He has speed and he can hit. Don't know about his power and I hope not to find out any time soon

According to what I just read, in Double A this season he had 21 homers and a .726 slugging percentage. Not too shabby I guess!

[Chalupa]

Further to Ted O'Reilly's post, life is going to get tougher for pitchers in the NL East. The Marlins are calling up (or may have already done so) a slugger by the name of Mike Stanton, who is supposed to be the real deal.

They already did. He played his first game vs. the Phillies on Tuesday. He looks really awesome. Great defense - played RF better than our scrub Ben Francisco did. He has speed and he can hit. Don't know about his power and I hope not to find out any time soon

According to what I just read, in Double A this season he had 21 homers and a .726 slugging percentage. Not too shabby I guess!

Yikes!

The thing about him that I find impressive is that he has a lot of poise for a 21 year old kid. He came up w/ a man on and two outs in the 8th and got a hit that gave the Marlins the lead. He was very patient and worked the count until he got a pitch to hit. I know it's only one game but I think he's going to be a stud.

Edited June 10, 2010 by J.H. Deeley

[ghost of miles]

Bad news for the Angels: Morales out for rest of season