Astros cancel annual fundraiser for Houston Area Women’s Center

Its not like the Astros need good publicity with the way the team is playing.

he Houston Area Women’s Center is reeling from a financial blow after learning their largest fundraiser has been canceled.

The Black Ties and Baseball Caps gala was an annual event at Minute Maid Park put on by the Astros Wives Organization.

The popular gala raised $250,000 for the women’s center in 2012.

An Astros official said the team’s charitable foundation is changing directions and will focus on ...

Connolly: Are you ready to include Machado among the best young players?

Woo-hoo! I smell a “The Chris Davis Kidnap Caper” episode on tap!

Five major league scouts — three from the National League, two from the American League and none from Washington, Baltimore or Los Angeles — were asked this week to rank those players in order of preference if they could select just one to build a club around.

“That’s like asking me which Charlie’s Angel I’d most want,” one veteran scout quipped. “All three are so very good, young, talented and play the game the right way. ...

Roopstigo Film: Morganna

Wouldn’t mind seeing her bust in Cooperstown some day.

For nearly three decades, Morganna Roberts, known as the “Kissing Bandit,” ran onto baseball fields and arena floors with her buxom features on display. She famously kissed stars such as Pete Rose, George Brett and Nolan Ryan, becoming MLB’s unofficial mascot and bringing levity to the game. But despite her willingness to flaunt her 60-inched chest and embrace celebrity on late-night shows with Johnny Carson and David Letterman, ...

BBTF SOFTBALL GAME IN NEW YORK—AUG 17

I’ve got a field reserved in Central Park for August 17th. Time to get out of the basement and pick up a glove, if any of you even know how…

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 5-14-2013

Toledo News-Bee, May 14, 1913:

ST. LOUIS, May 14.—(Special.)—During a ball game here a fly ball dropped within a few feet of a cow. Bossie beat the fielder to the sphere and gulped it down. The runner romped home.

I’ve (fairly hurriedly) scanned the current rulebook and don’t see any applicable rule that would make the ball dead if a cow eats it. Everything I’ve seen either refers to people or inanimate objects coming into contact with the ball. I think that makes this the right call.

Is there ...

Bryce Harper crashes into wall face first, leaves game (Video)

Didn’t listen to the game…but Scully had to mention Pete Reiser.

Bryce Harper left Monday’s Los Angeles Dodgers-Washington Nationals game after crashing into the right field wall trying to catch a ball during the fifth inning.

Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis led off the bottom of the inning with a drive to right, and the Nationals phenom went face-first into the right field scoreboard trying to make the play. He was bleeding from his face/chin after the collision. Harper left the game ...

Morosi: Astros president Postolos resigns

Let the post-Postolos era begin!

The Houston Astros announced Monday that their president and CEO, George Postolos, resigned from his position with the team. Postolos later told FOXSports.com in a telephone interview, “It’s a good time for me to step away because it’s a stable situation.”

In professional sports, partings never are quite that simple. There are multiple reasons Postolos stepped down, and not all of them were his own.

...During Postolos’ tenure with the club, fans ...

Finkel: Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris And Jim Gentile: The Story Of Baseball’s Forgotten 1961 Sensation

As we used to say…“Do not go Gentile into that good night.”

Then there’s 1961, perhaps the most iconic year in baseball history, when two of the best players on the most recognized sports team in the country chased down the most sought after record held by the most popular man ever to play the game. Surely, this would be the number one season to steer clear of.

How can you compete with Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris while they’re in a dog fight for Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record in ...

OMNICHATTER for MAY 14, 2013

The Yankees are in first, Harper left last night’s game with an injury, the Astros are now about the equivalent of a team in the Texas League, and the tooth fairy is a hoax.

But, on the bright side, full slate of games today.

NY Times: Money on the Bench

A running calculation, updated daily, of what major league baseball teams are paying players who are on the disabled list.As of May 13, there were 148 players on the disabled list, accounting for $588 million in salaries, or 18.4 percent of payroll.

Segura NL Player of the Week

The Brewers have lost nine of their last 10, but shortstop Jean Segura’s outstanding play during the past week earned him National League Player of the Week honors for the period ending May 12.

In five games last week, Segura hit an NL-best .500 over 20 at-bats while leading the league in slugging percentage (.950) and on-base percentage (.545).

translation:  the brewers pitching stinks but they have some guys in the field who can play.

Mets, free-agent OF Rick Ankiel reach a deal

The Mets have reached a deal with free agent outfielder Rick Ankiel.

Ankiel, the pitcher-turned-outfielder, was hitting .194 but had five home runs in 25 games before the Astros released him. Ankiel, 33, could provide pop at a time the Mets are looking for a boost. He was on the way to St. Louis to join the Mets during a series vs. the Cardinals, one of Ankiel’s former teams.

The Mets’ outfield has been an issue since before the season. GM Sandy Alderson answered “What outfield?’’ in answer ...

SI MLB Mock Draft: Gray looks like best bet at No. 1—for now

Do any of these guys have ugly girlfriends?

This year’s MLB Draft is unusually difficult to handicap.

The best player available, Georgia high school outfielder Clint Frazier, will probably not be the first pick. He’s a little undersized and that fact, coupled with his being a prep position player, is historically a bad combination for players hoping to go first overall. If Frazier were a little bigger, he would be a slam dunk as the first choice.

The best pitcher available, righthander Mark ...

Megdal: How restless Terry Collins made his peace with the 2013 Mets

Megdal’s latest…

Each of his first two years, Collins has been fortified by an unexpectedly strong start. The Mets were 46-45 at the All Star Break in 2011, 46-40 at the break in 2012. The second half each season was an unmitigated disaster, but Collins had, at least, a period of overachievement to point to during otherwise glum late-season postgame news conferences. Collins got credit for managing with what he had, and he deserved it.

This year, he’s working with a team that is, on paper, ...

Kernan: Ike Davis might tailspin all the way to Vegas

They said he rides the train to Orioles…

If Ike Davis doesn’t clean it up quickly in the cleanup spot, ticket him for a trip to Triple-A Las Vegas.

The Mets cannot afford to waste Matt Harvey’s starts. They cannot afford to have Davis continue to strike out in crucial situations.

Manager Terry Collins is counting on Davis to drive in runs, and he put the first baseman back into the fourth spot yesterday. The clock is ticking. If the lefty doesn’t hit, he could be sent down to the ...

Doyel: Ortiz has right to deny cheating, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong to ask

Doy-El: GENTLEMEN…BASEBALL WORLD IS DOOMED!

This is David Ortiz’s finger-wagging moment, but when we wonder about him or about anyone else doing the unexplainably remarkable, understand something: This is the players’ fault.

They’re the ones who cheated their ass off in the 1990s, injecting steroids like insulin because owners were digging the long ball. They’re the ones whose union fought against drug-testing for years. Hell, one of Ortiz’s former teammates in Boston will tell you that.

...

Baseball science: Prep coaches embrace statistics, technology

Sometimes you can just see when a kid coach is due.

Now, it’s all trickling down to the high school level.

Several Carroll coaches, many armed with computers in the dugout, are taking the same approach as Beane and his brethren when it comes to evaluating their rosters and putting players in the best spots for them to succeed.

Manchester Valley’s Shawn Hampt is one of them.

Using all kinds of percentages and probabilities, Hampt is able to get his point across to his players in a way ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 5-13-2013

Notes about two youngsters who eventually made their way to Cooperstown:

Pittsburgh Press, May 13, 1913:

Bostonians now are calling little Maranville “the Rabbit.” Also they are rising to proclaim that he is one of the very few men in the game who really can “place” a hit, which overcomes his inability to smash the ball quite as hard as some of his larger contemporaries.

Milwaukee Sentinel, May 13, 1913, Page 6:

In Pitcher George Sisler Ann Arbor college claims to have a Ty Cobb and a ...

Baer: Derek Lowe is no fan of Sabermetrics

For more than 16 years, Lowe’s proud past combines with a promising future!

Drew Davison of the Star-Telegram has an interesting article up in which Derek Lowe expounds on the increasing prevalence of statistical analysis in baseball. The Rangers signed Lowe to a Minor League contract in March and was eventually added to the bullpen. Lowe, who turns 40 years old on June 1, posted a 5.52 ERA as a starter for the Indians, but found success in the bullpen after the Indians released him and the ...

Rosenthal: Anthony Rizzo Signing 7-Year, $41 Million Deal

“Peachy keen, jellybean.”

The Cubs, from the moment they acquired first baseman Anthony Rizzo 16 months ago, viewed him as a significant part of their future.

Now, they can guarantee it long-term.

The Cubs have reached agreement with Rizzo on a seven-year, $41 million contract through 2019, according to major-league sources. The deal also includes two $14.5 million club options, sources said.

Thus, the total value over nine years could be $68 million; Rizzo would not receive a $2 million ...

OMNICHATTER for May 13, 2013

The year of the “No-hitter going into the 7th inning” continues…

Joey Votto joins MLB Now to discuss process

Votto joins MLB Now to discuss being voted the Face of MLB and gives a glimpse into his process at the plate.

Washington Post: Kilgore: A Swing of Beauty

Schu scanned through video and found film of Harper hitting. He arranged clips of Harper and Ruth side-by-side on the monitor and stopped at the moment each hitter’s bat connected with a pitch. In each still picture, he saw a stiff front leg, an uncoiling torso and a back foot lifting off the ground. “Wow,” he thought. “That’s identical.”

“They’ve got that exact same swing at contact point,” Schu said later.

The Kid may need to put on some weight.

RTFA. Lots of video & ...

Schoenfield: Ten awesome things about Miguel Cabrera

7. OK, where does Cabrera rank among all-time right-handed batters?

Right now he’s playing his age-30 season. He has 327 home runs, which ranks 11th—more than Willie Mays had through age 30 but fewer than Andruw Jones or Juan Gonzalez. He’s fifth in RBIs, behind only Jimmie Foxx, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols and Hank Aaron, and is a good bet to pass Aaron and maybe Pujols (70 behind).

8. Those are old-school stats. What about some of your fancy sabermetric stuff?

OK, let’s look at OPS+ ...

Daugherty: Put Aroldis Chapman to better use

Wow! If this continues…Daugherty will be writing for BPro by the year 2046!

Forget for a minute that the save statistic is a semi-bogus creation that serves only the player doing the saving, and the minion who represents him. Or that closers are the most overrated members of any baseball team, easily replaced and often interchangeable. I’ll see your Rafael Betancourt and raise you an Edward Mujica.

No, let’s fix on the notion that closers are one-inning, certain-situation ponies. Because ...

Joba Chamberlain disses Mariano Rivera after Yankees closer asks him to quiet down

If this suffocating Mariano Rivera Grand Farewell Tour® gets any bigger…Brucebase will be adding a detailed gig page.

Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera exchanged tense words in the dugout before Saturday night’s game, as Chamberlain took exception to Rivera instructing him to quiet down while the closer chatted with reporters about an emotional event he had held earlier in the day with several local families.

“Don’t ever shush me again,” Chamberlain told Rivera in full view of ...

NY Post: Sherman: Umpires need to be held accountable like players and managers

That is why two items should be changed immediately. Neither will improve, say, replay judgment. Again, replay helps, but no system is ever going to be perfect. This is about providing a greater sense of umpire accountability, a greater belief that the umpires are being held to high standards:

1. Umpires involved in on-field issues should be available to the media after games, like any other on-field personnel. It was not long ago that was the general rule. Now, at best, a pool reporter is ...

Baseball Prospectus: Baseball Therapy - Should I Worry About My Favorite Pitcher?

Well, we quickly have an idea of strikeout rate, ground ball and fly ball tendencies, and (somewhat less quickly), walk rate. Over a season, you can get a pretty good idea of a pitcher’s single and HBP rates. Strangely enough, singles stabilize a lot faster than the alleged “true” outcome of HR rate. Some of the classic one-number rates (OBP, SLG) can stabilize over the course of a year for a full-time starter. And yes, BABIP still needs a lot of data (roughly 2000 balls in play), but that ...

BtBS: Not You Again! What Pitchers Throw Different Times Through the Order

The average starter establishes the fastball early, throwing it the most the first time through the order, much like a reliever does in facing a hitter only once. This makes sense to me given that I would assume velocity could be higher at the start of the game when the pitcher is fresh, so why not make use of the extra ticks on the fastball while they are available. As starters work their way through the order the second time and beyond, we see offspeed pitch usage rise, at the expense of the ...

Fangraphs: Cameron: Welcome Back, Scott Kazmir

Kazmir threw 73 fastballs yesterday [against Oakland], and they were getting progressively harder as the game wore on. The last three fastballs he threw were all 96 mph, and they were pitches 101, 102, and 103 on the day. A guy who lost his spot in Major League Baseball because his fastball was sitting at 86 ended yesterday throwing 96.

Kazmir hasn’t thrown this hard since his early days with Tampa Bay, and yesterday, we saw what Scott Kazmir with a lively fastball can look like. 72 of his ...