Going into Friday night’s three-game set with the Yankees, the Red Sox have dropped 14 of their past 18 games. Still, despite what you think, what you feel, what you know deep in your bones, they are not — repeat not — choking.
Choking, like clutch-hitting, is an archaic expression. They are really counterintuitive notions rendered obsolete with the advent of sabermetrics. It’s worth reminding you that the Red Sox have for years ...
Personally, I’d rather watch The Town That Dreaded Sundown with Bill…but there is some choice biz here.
Bill James stands in the atrium at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Oakland, surveying the crush of people who have arrived for the world premiere of Moneyball. He looks pleased and a little overwhelmed. His wife, Susan, is on his arm. A Hollywood movie premiere is a first for both. “We usually get our movies from Redbox,” he says as he maneuvers his broad, 6-foot-4-inch frame by the ...
Former Detroit Tigers pitching great Denny McLain was arrested Thursday and is in the process of being extradited to Louisiana on a theft charge.
McLain got turned around in construction near the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron and wound up at a toll booth, U.S. Customs Chief Ron Smith said.
A customs agent ran McLain’s identification and found a warrant charging McLain with theft of more than $1,500, Smith said. He didn’t think McLain or a passenger in his vehicle was trying to flee the ...
Today, on the heels of a four-game road sweep of the Phillies—coming just a week after a four-game road sweep of the Mets—the 76-win Nationals still have a shot at finishing above .500 should they go 5-1 in their final six games. That would be terrific, no?
Of course it would. But does it really matter that much?
The immediate future is there for all to see. The pitching staff looks well-stocked for 2012 and beyond. The club looks pretty strong up the middle, though ...
¡Viva No! The Aaron Boone’s Farm System throws up…..arms.
Maybe beer is the more traditional beverage for baseball fans, but as the World Series approaches, wine enthusiasts have more choices than ever, including some high-end vintages on tap to wash down those hot dogs and Cracker Jack.
“You certainly find more wine in a ballpark than you used to, at least the upscale ballparks,” says Kevin Reichard, publisher of Web site Ballpark Digest.
Sixth-generation grape-grower Tim Carl of Huge ...
The A’s quietly stepped away from the mantras of “Moneyball.” By 2006, they used their top pick on high school pitcher Trevor Cahill, a refutation of the principles that dictated that premium picks should not be squandered on prep pitchers. Fuson returned to the organization before the 2010 season as a special adviser.
The draft strategy that Lewis touted simply did not work. The A’s elevated on-base ability to the level of the most coveted tool, ...
Please Pardon Our Noise, It Is the Sound of Freedom!
I started this Mariners Blog last season as a way to express and share my love for the game of Baseball. Sadly the Mariners have had two terrible seasons despite employing sabermetrics types in the front office,which has made this team tough to follow but my passion for the game seems to drive me on. I guess there is no known advanced metrics formula to measure committment to this game but I suppose I have a high WAR in that area and I have ...
Manny Ramirez, upon learning he will not be able to play winter ball in the Dominican Republic because he’s on MLB’s inactive list, told ESPNdeportes.com Thursday that he will formally request reinstatement.
Ramirez said that upon reentry, he would serve his 100-game suspension for a second violation of MLB’s drug policy.
“I would comply with my pending sanction and I would be available for any major league team,” Ramirez told ESPNdeportes.com’s Enrique Rojas via telephone from Miami. “I ...
The recent twists of fate are especially cruel in Boston. Fans thought the Red Sox had vanquished their loser label in 2004 when they won their first World Series in 86 years, in part by rallying from a three-games-to-none deficit against the hated Yankees in the American League Championship Series. For good measure, they won the World Series again in 2007.
The ghosts were supposed to be exiled, the curses broken.
But if the Red Sox fail to make the playoffs, and in historic fashion, those ...
What if our beliefs in the meaning of Valuable were not what divided us, but what pulled us together? (Re: over-hyperion)
Let’s just focus on the word “valuable.” The “V” in MVP. That is what the award is supposed to signify, right? Not biggest bat, niftiest glove or flashiest numbers.
Valuable? Is there any question that, if you took Verlander off this Tigers team, it would not be making the playoffs? Valuable? Is there any question that Verlander was a human tourniquet for nearly every ...
Marty loved Joe, so why hasn’t Marty Brennaman urged Reds radio listeners to vote for Nuxhall’s nomination for the Ford C. Frick Award?
Because he can’t.
“If I mention it on the radio, they’ll take away my voting rights,” said Brennaman, who was presented the Frick Award for baseball broadcasting excellence by the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000.
“I can’t promote him on the radio,” he said. “They alert all of us every year.”
...To me, the Facebook vote is inherently unfair to guys like ...
Clarksville, Tenn., Sept. 23.—There is gloom all over this place today because the supply of baseballs was exhausted in the seventh inning and Clarksville had to forfeit the game to Cairo yesterday, which was the last day of the “Kitty” league season and only a few balls were provided.
They’re feelin’ low. Oh, no, no, no! Oh, no, no, no! And they don’t know if they’re ever coming home.
We can’t find socks that shape to our feet, we’re sick of it. SICK OF IT!
The Baseball Geeks Become Insufferable
...“I’m O.K. until someone starts explaining to me why Bobby Abreu is better than Roberto Clemente,” says the longtime broadcaster and MLB Network host Bob Costas, an early Bill James disciple. “Then I’ve had it.”
Former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent hates speaking out against statistical analysis because it makes him sound like a Luddite, which he swears he isn’t, but he says ...
I walked in knowing what the movie was about, but unprepared for its intelligence and depth.
....
“Moneyball” is not a traditional sports movie, and indeed should be just as gripping for non-sports fans. It’s not a series of Big Games. When it goes to the field, it’s for well-chosen crucial moments.
Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) today announced that a team of Major Leaguers will travel to Taiwan this November to play against the Chinese Taipei national team in the 2011 Taiwan All-Star Series.
The 2011 Taiwan All-Star Series will consist of five games played between November 2 - 6 in three different cities - New Taipei City (XinZhuang Stadium) on November 2, Taichung (Intercontinental Stadium) on November 3 and 4 and Kaohsiung ...
A weary Cardinals bullpen suffered a breakdown in an extremely disheartening and costly 8-6 loss to the Mets at Busch Stadium on Thursday afternoon.
Manager Tony La Russa cycled through three relievers in a six-run Mets ninth as St. Louis saw a four-game winning streak come to an end. The Cards had led, 6-1, through seven innings.
Lance Berkman has agreed to a $12 million contract with St. Louis, giving the Cardinals a valuable bat for 2012.
The 35-year-old Berkman is completing a big comeback season with 31 home runs, 91 RBIs and a .300 average. The switch-hitter made his sixth All-Star team this summer, his first such honor since 2008.
...
Berkman said he’d been aware for a few days that the deal was done. Talks accelerated recently and Berkman pointed out he probably could have gotten a two-year deal for the amount ...
Vote for me and I’ll set you fre…akin’ 13th in OPS+ & WAR?!
One candidate in the American League MVP race sticks out to New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano.
“MVP is tough right now, you got a lot of guys, but I would give my vote to myself,” Cano said. “You can see the numbers. I’m batting fifth in the lineup, I’ve been there the whole year and why not me? My numbers are there and you guys got to decide that. I hope I get your guys vote.”
Marlins relief pitcher Leo Núñez, who’s racked up a career high 36 saves this season so far as the team’s closer, has mysteriously been suspended by the team and left the country, according to The Miami Herald. The report has precious few details. Nothing like a gold ol’ sports controversy mystery.
Núñez’s agent isn’t talking much either.
“I can’t yet comment,” Andy Mota tells the paper. “This is very recent. I don’t want to say anything at all.”
“They broke down Chad Bradford’s pitching style”... wannabes.
There are baseball details so real that no other filmmaker would have ever dared even try it. They broke down Chad Bradford’s pitching style. They use the key sabermetric phrase “small sample size.” They spent a good chunk of the movie talking about Beane’s fascination with left-handed specialist Ricardo Rincon, for crying out loud. And then, on the other hand, they have a whole movie about the 2002 Oakland A’s without even subtly ...
In England, the Red Sox are still a “powerhouse” and Theo Epstein is still a genius.
Alex Fairchild (AF): To what extent is your experience transforming the Red Sox into a MLB powerhouse helping you turn LFC around?
Tom Werner (TW): I have said in the past that John and I are better owners at the Red Sox because of the experiences we had at the San Diego Padres and the Florida Marlins. I expect that our knowledge of running a first class baseball organization will give us useful experience ...
How desperate are the Red Sox to hold on to their incredible shrinking wild card lead? So desperate the team is looking to trade for pitchers to just finish out the regular season. According to the Boston Herald, the Red Sox have spent the last week trying to get lefty Chris Capuano from the Mets to start Sunday at Yankee Stadium.
According to the report, the Mets will hold on to Capuano, who is a free agent after the season. Capuano is the scheduled starter for the Mets on Thursady in a 1:45 ...
The Dodgers’ status as a bankrupt company should not prevent owner Frank McCourt from offering big contracts this winter, according to parties involved in the federal bankruptcy proceedings.
“Whatever happens with the club, it’s in everyone’s interest for the team to be competitive and not compromised in trying to operate,” said Michael Weiner, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Assn., which, as co-chair of the bankruptcy creditors’ committee, represents the interests of ...
Alright, alright…so the “SLOBball” movie wasn’t ignatin’ and fell through. But did you have to drag the Hirsch brothers in?
But while the New York Yankees had far more money to spend, the competition on the field was not so lopsided. Baseball had been evolving into a more competitive sport for decades. In fact, 2000 marked the first season in which every team in the league finished between .400 and .600 in won-lost percentage. In other words, no matter how much money was being made or spent by ...
I asked him if he thought he had been given a fair chance to show what he could do with Bowie?
“Not really. I was supposed to go to Florida for two weeks according to (director of player development) John Stockstill. Two weeks in Florida and then come back to Bowie. That was the plan. I was good (healthy) after two weeks, then they brought up the guy they traded for Derrek Lee, what’s his name, Baker.
“They bring him up and he gets dominated in Double-A. The game ...
Young’s shutout against Pittsburgh that Friday afternoon 100 years ago brought his season record to 7-6 (4-2 with Boston.) It was the 511th win of his career. It would turn out to be the last. Three days later, he lost his next start 6-5 to the Cubs, giving up the winning run with one out in the ninth; five days after that the Reds beat him 4-1 in Cincinnati. This would be the 749th (we think!) and definitely the final complete game of his career. There’s another record that looks pretty safe. ...Read More...
Gee, I might have to find ESPN on my remote again.
The regular anchor started talking about the National League Cy Young race and said that a baseball expert was going to break down the race and the favorites. Then this “expert” came on and said that no matter what, a Philadelphia Phillies pitcher – either Cliff Lee or Roy Halladay – is most deserving of the Cy Young award. ESPN then flashed Lee, Halladay and Kershaw on the screen. Kershaw has more wins than Halladay or Lee. Kershaw ...
Manny Ramirez will have to scuttle existing plans to play for a team in the Dominican Republic because his Major League Baseball-mandated drug suspension still has to be served, a source close to the situation told ESPN’s Colleen Dominguez.
An MLB official confirmed that since Ramirez has unresolved MLB drug-program violations and the Dominican winter league is affiliated with MLB, commissioner Bud Selig’s office considers him ineligible to ...
