Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-22-2013

Pittsburgh Press, April 22, 1913:

Hal Chase played his last game at second base for the New Yorks on Friday. When Manager Frank Chance put Chase back on first base in Saturday’s game he had reached the conclusion that Hal could not remain at the keystone bag without further clogging the infield’s machinery. While it is true that Chase originated the idea of covering second base for Chance and that he did his level best to fill the bill, even though he is a left-handed thrower, it soon developed ...

Jack O’Connell: Yanks’ tandem an upgrade at catcher

Boutique stats? That’s more O’Banion than O’Connell.

I do not mean to pick on Martin as much as those who kept reporting all winter about how the Yankees blew it by not conceding to the catcher’s contract demands and would regret it. Look at what Stewart and Francisco Cervelli have done so far this year. Does anyone miss Russell Martin all that much?

The Cervelli-Stewart tandem was treated in a few media outlets as some sort of joke during spring training, but the duo have been a major part ...

Morrissey: No defense for White Sox’ shaky defense

Hand not in glove…

Since the first day of spring training, White Sox manager Robin Ventura has stressed the importance of defense. He hasn’t just talked about it; he has evangelized it in a way only a recent convert or a six-time Gold Glove winner can.

Ventura’s flock seems to be experiencing hearing loss. In 18 games, the Sox already have committed 12 errors, tied for the fifth-most in baseball. They lost 2-1 on Saturday to the Twins when shortstop Alexei Ramirez’s throwing error ...

Miklasz: Solitary closer is not always best option

“Right or wrong
Weak or strong” (enough…Neiled out)

Teams did just fine back in the olden days when virtually every member of the bullpen was capable of preserving a ninth-inning lead.

No MLB reliever had a 30-save season until 1965, and there were no 40-save seasons until 1983.

Only 42 relievers had 40-save seasons over a six-year period from 1982 through 1988.

From 1989 through 2012, a span of 24 years, a total of 328 relievers had at least 40 saves in a season.

The designated closer is ...

Omnichatter 4-22-2013

Today, we will discuss games like A’s vs. Red Sox, Cards vs. Nats, Jays vs. O’s, Yankees vs. Rays, D-Backs vs. Giants and, perhaps best of all (going by record), Braves vs. Rockies.

Or we might just discuss Doctor Who, whether feathered dinosaurs look cool or stupid, and whether a Oriole could beat a Blue Jay in a actual fight… because BBTF is WEIRD.

LATimes: NBC in touch with Al Michaels after his DUI arrest

NBC said Sunday it is aware of sportscaster Al Michaels’ arrest for allegedly driving under the influence in Santa Monica but declined to say whether it would affect his work with the network.

Greg Hughes, a spokesman for NBC Sports, told Associated Press that the network had been “in contact with Michaels.” Hughes declined to elaborate.

A longtime announcer on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” Michaels was arrested at about 10 p.m. Friday, booked into jail and released on his own recognizance ...

McCoy: Votto, Choo chew up Les Miserables

VOTTO WAS THE least concerned about his homer drought — he had one until hitting one Saturday and another Sunday. Nor was manager Dusty Baker concerned.

“I can understand the concern about not hitting home runs, but I don’t feel obligated to hit home runs to quell everyone’s concern,” said Votto. “I’m not concerned about the home runs. The Reds pay me to be good. That’s all I try to do and if I go through a little bit of a homer drought I try to fill in with other things.”

...

New York Times: Thrown for a Curve in Rhode Island

You have to imagine what it was like being Don Carcieri in the harsh winter of 2010. As Rhode Island’s governor, a Republican in an overwhelmingly Democratic state, he had come into office seven years earlier as a business executive turned politician, vowing to retool the state’s corroded economy.

But that winter, Rhode Island was on the precipice of economic ruin. Its unemployment rate was pushing up against 12 percent — fourth worst in the nation — and three of its cities were ...

OMNICHATTER for 4-21-13

Hope this gets up in time…

NYT: Mike Mills: A Rock Star of Fantasy Sports

I once named one of my jerkball teams “Monty Stratton Got A Raw Deal”. #stand

Mike Mills rose from a chair and strolled out to his car, but not to fetch a musical instrument to perform songs from the catalog of R.E.M., his seminal alternative-rock band. A fantasy draft of Masters golfers, involving Mills and a dozen others at a house not far from Augusta National Golf Club, had just concluded. And with baseball games in the East winding down, Mills was retrieving a laptop to take stock of his ...

Rockies’ Dexter Fowler having a breakout season with stunning power - The Denver Post

A guy who hits 20 home runs in Colorado is not a home run hitter. Fowler shouldn’t get caught up in his recent home run spree.

“He’s absolutely a guy who could hit 20 home runs. I thought that the first time I saw him hit the ball in spring training. Just the distance of his hits in BP,” said Bichette, in his first year as Rockies hitting coach. “He had a good year last year, got that under his belt, and now he’s ready to really take off. He has all the tools to be a tremendous player. He wants ...

Would Cards trade Taveras for Profar? : Sports

Somebody is going to get traded eventually. When you have surplus in one area and a shortage in another, it’s the only sensible thing to do.

“I understand why people connect the shortstop-outfielder and on a low level find a way for that to help both teams,” Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said Friday. “But the reality is we have just gotten to the point we wanted with our farm system — with more elite talent back and set to contribute to the major-league club. I’m not in the ...

Hahn waiting to see bigger sample size | whitesox.com: News

Losing is a disease. Do the White Sox have a head cold or something more serious?

Michael Pineda of New York Yankees, rehabbing shoulder in Tampa, confident of effective return

Shoulder injuries are tough. We’ll see how he holds up when he starts pitching games for real.

“He’s continued to look good,” said Mark Newman, Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations. “With shoulder surgeries, there are always things that slow you down, but he’s constantly been getting better and healthier. We’re still counting on him.”

Murphy: Tim Lincecum Looks Like Tim Lincecum In Win Over Padres

The pitching motion isn’t what’s going to cause Tim Lincecum to break down as the scouts once feared. It’s age that’s going to cause the pitching motion to break down and that’s going to lead to Terrible Tim Lincecum. In the meantime, maybe in the death throws of his youth, we’ll see glimpses of The Freak we all remember.

Wow, this sounds like a eulogy when it couldn’t be further from the truth. Tim Lincecum remains a good pitcher. He was a great pitcher tonight. The Giants won the game in ...

Murray Chass on Sports: SUDDENLY STRASBURG’S A LOSER

Suddenly 11 baserunners per 9 innings is Porcello-bad.

In a game like baseball, patience pays. It’s not a good idea to jump to a conclusion too quickly or base a decision on too few facts. I offer this bit of advice based on developments in this season’s four-start performance of Stephen Strasburg.

After his first start, in which he pitched seven shutout innings and permitted three hits, USA Today called it “the first step in vindication for general manager Mike Rizzo, who took much of ...

Cafardo: Strikeouts on the rise, and so are the theories

No mention of Bob Heise & Dave Berg’s Uncertainty Principle of Hitting. Odd.

ESPN analyst Curt Schilling said, “There are more power arms than I’ve ever seen before. Ever.”

Padres special assistant Brad Ausmus offers no firm data on the subject, but a theory that “teams seem to be rushing young hitters to the majors in an effort to save payroll.”

Marlins bench coach Rob Leary echoes that sentiment, saying, “There are a lot of hitters in Major League Baseball who are just cutting ...

Rivera pitches in 1,057th game, 1 short of 7th place all time!

Rivera pitched in his 1,057th game, one shy of Mike Timlin for seventh on baseball’s all-time games pitched list. He got his fifth save of the season and the 613th of his career.

Wait, what?

MIKE TIMLIN is 7th on the all-time games pitched list?!?!?!?

Like ... EVER??

Whawhawha???

Flip Flop Fly Ball: MLB uniforms update

Every team’s uniforms, pixel style. Updated. [...] My fourth annual pixel uniform thingy. Features all this of season’s uni changes.

BtBS: Three True Outcomes Throughout History

The Oakland Athletics have seen more than 200 more pitches than any other team in baseball through the first few weeks of the season and have the league’s highest walk rate at 10.8 percent. The Houston Astros have struck out a ridiculous 27 percent of the time, leading the Majors by far and looking good enough to obliterate the MLB record. The Boston Red Sox are second in each of these categories. And the Atlanta Braves are going yard in five percent of all of their plate appearances (not ...

BtBS: Home Runs and Horizontal Exit Angles

Introduction - The day I found Hit Tracker (now-named ESPN Home Run Tracker) was a life-changing experience for me. At first I perused the site as normal people are wont to do, looking at the longest homers, finding hitters who are getting a little lucky, and reading about the physics of pokes.

Then I started to, well, do my thing. The first research I did on this data set was to create the Home Run Damage statistic, which I still feature on my personal blog, Steal of Home. Next, I confirmed ...

NY Times: Doubted by Scouts, A College Ace Rises Quickly

Michael Roth pitched his first game above rookie ball on April 9, working five innings for the Class AA Arkansas Travelers. Three nights later, after a game in Frisco, Tex., Roth was called into an office with Manager Tim Bogar and the pitching coach, Mike Hampton. He had no reason to expect what was coming.

“I kind of thought I was in trouble,” Roth said over the phone last week. “I was like, ‘Oh, God, what did I do?’ ”

Roth had done enough in that game — and had enough rest ...

NY Times: Thrown for a Curve in Rhode Island

It may be hard to understand how all of this happened without understanding the ancient, one-sided rivalry that exists between Rhode Island, a state of just 1,000 square miles, and Massachusetts, which squeezes Rhode Island on two sides like a vise. Massachusetts is the land of the Red Sox and the Kennedys; Rhode Island makes do with the Red Sox’ Class AAA affiliate in Pawtucket and has a history of rampant political corruption.

Going back to the 1980s, Massachusetts developed a high-tech ...

ESPN: Nationals DL Zimmerman - Call Up Anthony Rendon from AA.

The Washington Nationals are putting third baseman Ryan Zimmerman on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained left hamstring and promoting prized prospect Anthony Rendon from Double-A for his big league debut.

Earlier than the Nationals would prefer, but it worked out OK for that Harper kid.

FCC Has No Issue With David Ortiz’s Pregame Speech, Says He “Spoke From the Heart”

Even Grandpa Al Lewis is in shock.

David Ortiz encapsulated all of the emotion and passion that was present in Saturday’s pregame ceremonies at Fenway Park when he took to the microphone.

In Ortiz’s first game back, he thanked the city and law enforcement, and also dropped the f-bomb stating, “This is our [expletive] city.” Red Sox nation didn’t seem to have a problem with the sentiment, and neither did the Federal Communications Commission.

Julius Genachowski, the chairman of ...

Wife of Willie Mays, Mae Louise Allen Mays, dies at 74

Baseball legend Willie Mays and the San Francisco Giants announced that Mae Louise Allen Mays, Willie’s wife of 41 years, passed away peacefully in her sleep Friday morning in the couple’s Bay Area home after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 74-years-old.

Mae and Willie were married in November, 1971. Late in life, Mae waged a 16-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She remained in their family home with Willie until her death.

“Mae died peacefully and without pain,” ...

Baer: Ruben Amaro can’t believe the Phillies aren’t drawing walks

Ruben: Handbook of the Elementary.

GM Ruben Amaro is shocked — shocked! — that his team isn’t drawing walks.

Via Kevin Tresolini:

  “I think it’s ridiculous that we’ve had no walks in three days,” general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. “I cannot believe it. More importantly, it’s about not just walks, but producing, and we haven’t done that. We haven’t gotten hits, period. We haven’t gotten hits with runners in scoring position, we haven’t gotten hits to lead off ...

Schoenfield: Hall of Famers without their home parks?

Home was not home
Your room was home
A corner was home
The place they weren’t, that was home

We now know you

Jim Rice
When Jim Rice hit the Hall of Fame ballot after his 16-year career with the Red Sox, the debates got ugly. Rice was feared, argued his supporters; Rice was overrated, a beneficiary of Fenway Park, argued his detractors. During most of Rice’s career in Boston, Fenway was a terrific hitter’s park, the traditional Fenway of “no lead is safe” lore. Overall, Rice hit .320 with ...

TSL: The Yankees Long-Term Problem: There’s No New Jeter In Sight

In the playoffs, Jeter’s absence — while not as extreme — had the same damaging psychological effect on the Yankees as Biggie’s death had on Junior Mafia. The group slowly fell out of relevance without its heart to pump greatness into everyone else.

... Robinson Cano is the future face of the Yankees and is going to get blessed with a Jeter-type mega-deal at year’s end. The Yankees are hoping he can hold the fort down better than Lil’ Cease did when B.I.G. left.

While the injury ...

GIF: Brewers’ Jean Segura steals first base

Jean Segura, born of Germany? Who knew?

I have never seen this before. Jean Segura of the Brewers was on second base, then he stole first base against the Cubs on Friday night. Here, look:

Ryan Braun, who was originally at first base, was called out at second and Segura was allowed to remain at first. He was on second base and he stole first. That’s a real thing that happened.

Not only that, but Segura tried to steal second base after that play and was thrown out. He stole second base ...