Wednesday, December 12, 2012
2013 Results: Bonds, Clemens, Piazza and Biggio are elected to the Hall of Merit!
(bbtf)
Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza and Craig Biggio have been elected to the Hall of Merit!
The timing for our first year electing 4 candidates could not have worked out better, since class of 2013 is the strongest in terms of electees that we’ve ever had. The top of the 1934 ballot included Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Eddie Collins, Pop Lloyd, Smokey Joe Williams and Cristobal Torriente, but only 2 were elected.
Bonds and Clemens were each unanimous at 1 and 2. I believe that’s the first ...
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1. Edmundo got dem ol' Kozma blues again mamaHave more ambitious minds than mine ever proven this?
It seems there is a notion that closers have a unique psychology in which they thrive with the game kind-of on the line, but not when it is really on the line, i.e. tie game on the road in the 9th or later....
So, according to some muddled thinkig, the supposed closer mentality is an asset w/ precisely a 1-3 run lead, but a liability with a bigger lead, a deficit, or in a tie game.
There's a bit more to it than that. I didn't read TFA. I hope I didn't miss anything good.
So, according to some muddled thinkig, the supposed closer mentality is an asset w/ precisely a 1-3 run lead
Save is their money stat. Would you say you are more or less focused on a task when you are sure it will be prominently featured in your performance appraisal?
Sorry, but it had to be done. It's my sandbox!
Would a closer rather get a save than a win? (How about a non-closer?) To the closer who doesn't like to pitch in tie games on the road because it's not a save situation, I would say, it's a *win* situation.
I for one just don't get Pet Sounds. Yes, I know Paul McCartney thinks it's the greatest album of all time. Sloop John B is a great song. Wouldn't it be Nice is a nice, catchy pop tune. God Only Knows makes a good theme song for a show about polygamy. The rest of the album just doesn't work for me. Must be a character flaw or something. Every few years I try to give it a listen to see if I have acquired any taste, but sadly, no.
Do you like any of the Beach Boys' albums? Or, do you just not like the Beach Boys all that much?
Do you think closers aren't motivated or focused on those somewhat rare occasions when they are brought into tie games in extras on the road? I don't, I was kind of poking fun at the weird perceptions of closers' psychologies that exist.
I think a good listen to "Good Vibrations" - which is REALLY weird - set me in the right direction as far as listening for these details.
I hate to play the "you had to be there" card, but...ya kinda had to be there. At the time (early 1966), the sound WAS quite radical
Edit: Endless Summer was also better, but kind of a cheat.
Oh, I get that part. I understand the groundbreaking, the influence, all that. But as entertainment, it just doesn't do it for me. All the funny backround sounds on Caroline, No...cool, innovative, all that. But it's an annoying song. Much of the album is like that for me.
since it was a greatest hits album, it's more that KIND OF a cheat. BTW, I think this album is another good compilation.
Smoke some weed and listen to it.
There, I've got that off my chest.
Be sure to bookmark Buffalo Springfield
Doughnuts are lower in calories than bagels. Even without cream cheese.
While that was a throw away comment, it's actually somewhat illustrative here - "easy" like "low in calories" is relative.
That's kind of a low bar, isn't it? I mean that would also work as an argument for The Phantom Menace as the greatest movie of all time...
Agreed. I love me some Beach Boys, but attempting to create a Beach Boys concept album was like attempting to eat soup with a fork. The Beach Boys were a peerless three-minute singles band, perfectly made for AM car radio.
Beach Boys's singles such as Help Me Rhonda, I Get Around, Surfin' USA, and the superb Don't Worry Baby are as good as pop music ear candy gets. Attempting to push the sound and the ideas in a different direction than that wasn't among (that) Brian Wilson's best inspirations.
Terrific song, a whole lot of fun. I remember some critic one time describing it as "Neil Sedaka on acid." Just love the thump-thump-thumping sound driving the rhythm on the chorus: legend has it they got that effect by recording a bunch of people marching in place on an echoey enclosed fire-exit staircase.
So, does that mean I won't have to give up my junior birdman secret decoder ring and BTF thong for admitting that?
The first single my Mum ever let me buy for myself, back in 1964, and still a huge fave...
Joe Meek was as inventive a producer as there was back in that time period. The Tornadoes' "Telstar" was another production of his that's still pretty stunning. Unfortunately, he was mentally unstable, and eventually killed himself and his landlady inn a murder/suicide. But many of his records still sound unique...
Ain't that the truth.
I really disagree. In an album that is so filled with sound, there are so many stunning moments of silence on the album, so many great noises layered on top of all the beautiful music. Like a lot of really great albums, you have to find a way into it. There's nothing wrong with you if you don't like it, but there's a lot there to love.
you have exquisite taste, my friend . This is their best
There are certain songs which just ooze the 60's. Something about the sounds. Jimmy Hendrix "All Along the Watchtower", Janis Joplin "Piece of my Heart", Cream "Sunshine of your Love"... "Bluebird", while not as well know as the other 3, has that same effect for me. I can almost taste the psychedelia.
What "Good Vibrations" has going for it is that it rocks some along with everything else, and Pet Sounds really doesn't. Most of Pet Sounds is chamber pop, which certain people really eat up - the idea of the auteur. Critic types are disproportionatly represented among fans of Pet Sounds, as distinguished from rock music fans who don't happen to be critics.
There are a thousand different bands that can be someone's favorite band, where the same person would like Revolver as well. Pet Sounds is going to appeal to a much smaller group - it's just more of an extreme.
As for myself, other than the most popular songs from Pet Sounds, I'd sooner listen to the early Beach Boys or the post-Vibrations interesting tracks.
like this
remember that Good Vibrations was intitially going to included on Pet Sounds, until Wilson decided to hold it back
Easy save: first batter faced is not the tying run and reliever pitches one inning or less.
Tough save: reliever comes in with tying run on base.
Regular save: All others.
Easy Regular Tough OverallLeague SV OP % SV OP % SV OP % SV OP %
AL 234 258 91 273 379 72 86 231 37 593 868 68
NL 256 271 94 269 399 67 74 190 39 599 860 70
MLB 490 529 93 542 778 70 160 421 38 1192 1728 69
1997 (Closers being defined as pitchers with 25+ save opportunities)
Easy Regular ToughSV ATT SV ATT SV ATT
Closers 436 460 .948 241 312 .772 61 112 .545
Other 128 166 .771 204 393 .519 69 264 .261
Overall 564 626 .901 445 705 .631 130 376 .346
Closer% .735 .542 .298
Usage by save attempt type.
Easy Regular ToughClosers .520 .353 .127
Other .202 .478 .321
Overall .367 .413 .220
Less than 30% of the realy tough jobs were handed to the closers in 1997. And that number sure hasn't gone up.
At that, there are big differences by team. Urbina had 11 tough save attempts, Todd Worrell had none. (Nobody uses their closer as Urbina was used in 1997 any long)
There were 23 pitchers with 25+ save attempts. They combined for 61 tough saves. 3 pitchers (Urbina, Hoffman and Hernendez) had 20 between them.
I have watched this movie stoned, and it has been my experience that it is only more annoying in this state of mind.
Shouldn't it just be (WPA available minus WPA actual for all save situations) divided by Save Opportunities?
Not that Jim Tracy ever makes mistakes, according to Jim Tracy.
Many of those songs were pretty great, and very few of them were mere trifles. That's a track record of greatness (hence my plug for Endless Summer).
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