Are there certain sites or columnists that you particularly like?
Yeah, I’m a big fan of Fangraphs.com and Dave Cameron. I love reading some of his stuff. Baseball-Reference.com is a tremendous resource, as well. There’s several out there, but my go-to is probably Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference.com. I love Fangraphs and the mountains of data you can get there, especially with hitters’ tendencies and what percentage of pitches they chase outside the strike zone. Across the board, when balls are put in play — you know exactly which guys are groundball hitters, certain tendencies. Some of the defensive metrics are pretty interesting, too, although it’s probably a little bit controversial still. But interesting nonetheless.
How much time do you spend preparing for each game, or each series?
It’s a daily thing for me. There’s not a day that goes by that I’m not on Fangraphs or Baseball-Reference.com, or several others, just reading articles or really breaking down data. There’s so much to do, and I like to break down overall team tendencies, especially offensively, and of course pitching-wise as well. I like to compare year to year, too. I’m really interested in some of the Pitch f/x data, and some of the release points, the horizontal and vertical movement, and really comparing this data year to year, and seeing what a guy’s doing differently year to year. Is his breaking ball breaking a little more, or is he throwing more change-ups this year, or is he throwing more sliders? And I think that those tendencies are really valuable, because those are easy to explain to a fan. You know, 30 percent curveballs last year, and he’s only throwing 20 percent this year, and he’s throwing more change-ups. The data doesn’t lie. But I love the Pitch f/x data, and I’m interested in learning more about the HITf/x data. I think how the ball comes off the bat is really interesting.
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1. Der Komminsk-sar Posted: May 27, 2011 at 02:38 PM (#3839204)EDIT: And, of course, his 1988 Strat card was sick. I hated going up against him in our Commodore 64 league when I played the guy running the Mets. Dude was unhittable.
I'll never forgive Showalter for having him throw almost 150 pitches in Game 5 of the ALCS.
Nah, liking those Indians is like saying that you like steak, and a bone-in ribeye is one of your favorites. Bone-in ribeye is one of EVERYONE'S favorites.
Re: the anonymity of the online world -- I once claimed offhandedly on rec.sport.baseball that I was the 1987 International League MVP. I recall being stunned to find that someone out there believed me.
Much like Ron Darling, whenever Coney drifts near anything of a sabermetric bent. BAM, shot down by Kay/ONeill as with Keith with the Mets.
This looked very odd for a minute before I realized it was referring to motorcycles.
I was thinking of Gandhi.
Now Nortons and Indians and Greeves won't do,
They don't have a soul like a Vincent ‘52
forever, in my darkest hours, i will call upon this image to regain clarity.
That's funny!
If he thought that much of the song (and he should, it's a great song) it's pretty amazing to me that he wouldn't have the CD, which has the lyrics printed in the booklet...
Not to put down David Cone, but would he really rate an OMG! at this point? I'd place him at a Neat!, myself.
I was at that game and it truly was amazing. Even though it wasn't Cone spinning the perfect game it really was "For The Love of the Game" come to life with the wily veteran pitching brilliantly on a big stage.
I'll never forget in the ninth inning as we stood and cheered my friend asking me "are you cheering for a Sox win or the no hitter?" and I responded "I really don't know." The result, a one hitter and a Red Sox loss, was the worst possible outcome. Either of the other two options would have been great.
A Hall of Very Good (at least), Cy Young Award winner and multiple world champion doesn't get an OMG! from you? You're a tough guy to please.
Of course, I get to "Neat!" any time I see Bob Tufts post so I'm probably an easy mark.
I've never had a problem with the guest cast behind Kay - they are great - I happily play YES plenty of time.
Cone comes across as a guy plenty of people here could share a beer or 12 with ...
"I bet everything on the Rockies this year," Cone added, as a tear flowed down his cheek and into his blended whisky. "I hope they pull through, otherwise..." His voice trembled with despondency as he spoke these last words, then drank the alcohol in a single gulp. "There's the pension, and I can move in with the kids. Things will be OK." I wondered if Cone believed these words himself as he stared off into the distance.
Maybe one of these days he'll read the Cano scouting report on the air.
Successfully induced a spit take. Well done.
IIRC, Fenway went bezerko nuts when Everett, the 27th man to bat, dropped a blooper into left to spoil Moose's perfecto. Defiant joy.
What was really cool was that, with that terrible year, Torre still found a use for him in the series, pulling Neagle with two outs in the bottom of the 5th so Cone could pitch to Piazza.
I bet a lot of people here were watching that "game that didn't matter much". It gave me a new reason to hate DinoCarl. If Moose had pulled it off, it would have been the 3rd year in a row that a Yankee had pitched a perfect game, the other two being by David Wells and by David Cone, who pitched his on Yogi Berra day, with Don Larsen in attendance.
Every year I buy the new baseball video game for my console and every year I create myself as a latter day David Cone, throwing ridiculous slop and getting 9 K/IP.
EDIT: and on the air he just mentioned Lookout Landing and Jeff Sullivan by name.
Nearly! But Wells was 1998, Cone 1999. No Yankee perfect games in 2000, unfortunately.
You can't say that and not give us his response.
He's not a genius, but he's smart and curious - and let's just say that not everyone in the lockerroom could have said the same.
I've mentioned Mussina, who IS a genius and struggled with the banal dialogue but tried to be cooperative, from what I saw..
Mariano Rivera cutter to Kay's head.
Perfect.
And Larsen went to the same high school as...... David Wells.
And America's Cup yachtsman Dennis Conner.
And "Happy Days" actress Marion Ross.
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