A bunch of really good pitchers on today's Birthday Team. I just hope Bonda's willing to spring for a good team psychologist - Mostil and Zambrano will almost certainly need one, and maybe it'd help calm Chance and Lowe down.

C: Randy Hundley
1B: Hank Severeid
2B: George Decker
3B: Ken McMullen
SS: Eddie Palmer
LF: Brad Wilkerson
CF: Johnny Mostil
RF: Tom Long

SP: Dean Chance
SP: Derek Lowe
SP: Carlos Zambrano
SP: Ted Breitenstein
SP: Guy Morton
RP: Jack Kralick
RP: Ray Moore

Owner: Ted Bonda

Not that one: Jim Duggan

Anyone know if yesterday's three scheduled games represented any kind of "record" low? Excluding specialty situations around Opening Days and one game playoffs having only three scheduled games seems awfully light. Even on Mondays or Thursdays (typical off days) it seems like there are more games scheduled than that.

LF: Brad Wilkerson

I remember when he was traded for Alfonso Soriano. I don't think I can remember a trade the view of which was so unanimous here at BBTF and, in retrospect, so, so wrong. Not to pick on Dan, because this was the view of absolutely everybody here from what I remember, but here's the Transaction Oracle: "Wow, this is an awful trade for the Nats. Soriano’s terrible at 2nd, they already have Vidro, and in the outfield, he’s not really any better than Brad Wilkerson as a hitter. Plus, they get to pay a lot of money for the one year of Soriano they get. W00t."

And then Brad Wilkerson just fell off the map: Brad Wilkerson v. Alfonso Soriano, by year

And then Brad Wilkerson just fell off the map:

I'm pretty sure that Wilkerson had some injury issues that resulted in the demise of his career. I don't have time right now to look it up but I seem to recall him having shoulder problems that really sapped his hitting ability.

Up at THT: May's most exciting games (and teams).

Perhaps I give too many points for walk-off grand slams, but those are some nice games either way.

Also, I wouldn't have guessed the identity of the team with the most exciting month. Having a rooting interest in them makes it harder to enjoy their May.

My recollection is that Wilkerson's issues were wrist, but it might have been shoulder as well. I think he was also a PED guy, right?

My Wilkerson story is that I went to a Nats game and they had a promotion where a fan picked a player, and if he homered, they won something--I think airline tickets anywhere in the country. It was a pretty good prize, anyway. In any case, on this day the fan picked Wilkerson and he came up in the bottom of the first and smacked a lead-off homer. It was a line-drive too, a bullet that got out quick. I will always remember that, for whatever reason.

Looking it up, it must have been this game

I'm pretty sure that Wilkerson had some injury issues that resulted in the demise of his career.

Wait, Jim Bowden traded a guy who might have had an injury?

Although it was all there in the papers at the time:

Wilkerson is coming off a disappointing year in which he battled myriad injuries, including a forearm problem and a shoulder injury, that most in the organization believe hampered his production.

I think I was the only person in the world who defended that trade -- just on the grounds that, while people liked to make a big deal about Texas park factor, they never looked at the road park disadvantage of playing so many games in Oakland and Seattle had on his road stats.

And even I didn't expect what he did that year. I don't know what got in his eyes, but he REALLY learned how to lay off on the slider away. And I don't know what got back in them after the year.

And then at the deadline, everyone ripped Bowden for not trading Soriano -- when the only real name floating around was Phil Freakin' Humber. In the end, he held on to him, got compensation picks that turned into Jordan Zimmermann (yay!) and Josh Smoker (boo).

when the only real name floating around was Phil Freakin' Humber.

I thought Brandon McCarthy was offered at one point.

everyone ripped Bowden for not trading Soriano -- when the only real name floating around was Phil Freakin' Humber.

That's Phil "Perfect Game" Humber. I thought the criticism of not trading Soriano was overblown. Zimmermann was almost certainly a better return than what they could have gotten via trade (obviously, that's hindsight, but the point is that they didn't lose Soriano for nothing) and there's value in having a star who's playing well even for a couple of months.

From BA / Ben Badler (their int'l guy):
Edgar Mercedes was arrested in Santo Domingo on charges of smuggling baseball players out of Cuba (so, human trafficking) as part of a criminal organization. He was later released without charges.
It's Mercedes' academy that you saw in the ridiculous Cespedes video and Badler referred to him as one of the most powerful men in baseball (explicitly noting that he did not mean Dominican/Caribbean ball). Not knowing the current state of the case, there's the possibility of extensive repercussions throughout the industry, depending on how this goes down (incl. on the pursuit of Jairo Beras by TEX).

I'm a bit short on time today, so we'll make this relatively quick...

Game of the day (yesterday): Tigers 7, Red Sox 3. Boston started the scoring in the bottom of the second with a homer by Jarrod Saltalamacchia (whose appearance is not helping me keep this brief). Scott Podsednik added an RBI double later in the inning to make it a 2-0 score, but the Tigers answered quickly in the top of the third. Single/double/single scored one run, a sac fly tied the game, and a steal of second followed by another single put Detroit on top by a 3-2 margin. Boston tied it against Max Scherzer in the bottom of the inning on an RBI hit by Salty; both teams left runners on third in the fourth, and the Tigers pushed across the tiebreaker in the fifth when Quintin Berry (who also figured prominently in their third-inning rally) singled, stole second and took third on an error, and scored on a hit by Miguel Cabrera. Max Scherzer settled in from there, working two perfect innings before being lifted after a leadoff walk in the seventh; the Tigers added a solo homer by Delmon Young in the eighth and two more runs in the ninth to ice the game, and the Sox accrued no further baserunners.

It's probably the worst Game of the Day since the three one-game days at the beginning of the year (and I think even one of those was better). Still, it had a handful of rallies and lead changes early, so it comes in around the 67th percentile, which is almost exactly what you'd expect from the best of three games.

Game of the day (last year): Rays 5, Rangers 4. This one frankly deserves more time than I have to give it right now; the teams both had a few early rallies that should be spelled out, but then, that's why I link the boxscore/PBP accounts. Both teams put up single runs in the third and didn't score apart from that until the seventh, when Texas strung together three singles, a walk, and a runner-advancing groundout to score twice. In the bottom of the inning, Rangers' starter CJ Wilson served up a game-tying, 2-out, 2-run homer to Matt Joyce. Texas rallied again in the eighth, with two hits, a runner-advancing flyout, and a walk/wild pitch putting them ahead 4-3; in the bottom of the inning, Arthur Rhodes gave up a 2-run homer to Evan Longoria (who is not left handed; since baseball is not the Princess Bride and this should not have been a surprise, I'm not sure why Rhodes was pitching to him).

There's some good stuff in this game, not least the fact that the Rangers had no extra-base hits on the day, scoring four runs on just singles, walks, and steals.

Wow, Mark Kiszla is an even bigger idiot than I thought: Rockies should move Troy Tulowitzki to third base sooner rather than later.

check out nym/stl - johan's walked 4 but is 6 outs away from a pretty special outing.

no-no through 8 for johan

It's really nice to see Johan Santana back pitching like Johan Santana this year.

Indeed (even though he is a Met) and congrats to him. First no hitter in franchise history.

Congratulations to Santana. I hope the # of pitches becomes a laughing matter, as in "Can you believe that people were worried about him throwing 13x pitches?"

It looks like Contreras is going on the DL again. He landed funny on a pitch. Just as he was starting to look nasty again.

Perhaps I give too many points for walk-off grand slams, but those are some nice games either way.

I think I disagree with the extra points for walkoff grand slams - a walkoff grand slam in a tie game isn't really more exciting than a walkoff 3-run homer in a tie game. (A walkoff grand slam when down by 3, now that's excitement.)

As a further example, take Nelson Cruz's walkoff slam in the playoffs last year - it came with the bases loaded, nobody out, and the game tied; the Rangers entered his AB with something like a 93% win expectancy already. Compare that to, say, a double with 2 outs, runners on first and second, home team down a run in the bottom of the ninth, and a play at the plate for the winning run. There's no question in my mind that the latter play is not just more exciting, but significantly so. The walkoff grand slam may be more frequently replayed on ESPN in the future, but that doesn't make it better.

Basically, with the caveat that it's your system and you can do whatever you like, I'd take all the extra points you're giving walkoff homers and grand slams, and bundle them together to be awarded to come-from-behind walkoff events of any kind.

Also, on the same topic - you mentioned a while back that you've devalued extra innings in your system somewhat. I'm curious as to (1) how much, and (2) why - to me, more baseball is always a positive thing (and the system I use, while it doesn't contain a specific extra-inning bonus, does favor extra inning games simply because they contain an abundance of high-leverage events by their very nature. My method has the 12 top games of the year all going extras, and 23 of the top 24; that may be a bit high, but I think it's defensible.)

Also, I wouldn't have guessed the identity of the team with the most exciting month. Having a rooting interest in them makes it harder to enjoy their May.

Coming back to this as well: I have the Marlins as the most exciting team of the month, and the Mariners as the least exciting; the Cubs, I have at #7, and the Yankees at #22. That's without controlling for number of games played, which might change things somewhat.

For the year overall, the Nats are hanging onto a marginal lead despite having played one game fewer than most of the other contenders, and the Rangers have slipped into the bottom spot thanks to the fact that 5 of the 10 least dramatic games of the season have featured them. (They've won 4 of the 5, the obvious exception being the 21-8 game the other day, so the games have at least been relatively fun for their fans.)

to me, more baseball is always a positive thing (and the system I use, while it doesn't contain a specific extra-inning bonus, does favor extra inning games simply because they contain an abundance of high-leverage events by their very nature. My method has the 12 top games of the year all going extras, and 23 of the top 24; that may be a bit high, but I think it's defensible.)

Along those lines...

I took the youngest boy, Cormac Unacceptable, to see the Purdue-Valpo first-round regional game at Gary tonight (well Friday). First pitch was supposed to be at 7 p.m. Instead, the participants of the 3 p.m. game, Kentucky-Kent State were in the 12th inning when we got there.

We got 10 glorious innings of extra inning baseball (with most of us standing in the concourse, since we weren't supposed to take our seats until after the afternoon crowd had departed). In the 17th, Kent took a 6-5 lead in the top of the inning, only to give it up on a double with runners on first and third with one out in the bottom. And on the play, the potential game-winning run was gunned down at the plate.

UK loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the 20th, but Kent turned a comebacker into a 1-2-3 double play to take it to the 21st. There, the Golden Flashes took a 7-6 lead on a two-out triple, then closed it out with a went-too-far on an attempted checked swing punchout with runners on second and third. And though most in attendance (Purdue and Valpo fans) just wanted anyone to win, I was desperately hoping UK would get the equalizer and it would keep going. It was fantastic. Only did get to see 2 1/2 innings of the Boiler-Crusader contest, as the boy was wiped out.

This will probably get lost, but, here's a Slidin' Billy Hamilton update:

After slumping for about 10 games or so, Billy's turned it back on, last 10 games: .370/.473/.391, 20sb, 3 cs.

for the season: .324/.406/.451, 60sb/13cs, 28bb/40k, 51 games played

It's opening day for the DSL.

Speaking of that league, how did I never know that there was a guy named Ericdavis Marquez?

Game of the day (yesterday): Mets 8, Cardinals 0. Yeah... there's not much point in my recapping this game, so it gives me a chance to ramble about methodology a bit, which I'm sure will thrill you all. The basic system I use is to add up the swings in win expectancies in a game; the larger the changes, the more exciting the game. The main point at which the system breaks down is when a game provides excitement that has nothing to do with who wins or loses, and the primary way for this to occur is a no-hitter, which has constant tension even if the pitcher's team is winning, well, 8-0.

For background, the most exciting 9-inning game in my database so far (about 3000 games' worth) scores just a hair over 6 points of total WPA. I decided to give no-hitters a bonus equal to the most exciting 9-inning game measured... for half of the game, because nobody cared what happened when the Mets were batting yesterday, and that should be counted too. So no-hitters get a 3-point bonus, which takes this game from a 1.34 (unimpressive, which you expect from an 8-0 game) to a 4.34 (roughly 92nd percentile). Since nothing better came along yesterday (the baseball gods parted the seas for the Mets' first no-hitter to have everyone's full attention), it becomes the second of this year's 3 no-hitters to earn the GotD nod.

When I first implemented this bonus, I was giving perfect games the same amount (that is, no additional points for the lack of walks). The reason for this was that I can identify no-hitters easily with the data I enter (if visiting hits*home hits = 0), but couldn't come up with an easy way to pick out perfect games... until today, when I self-administered a headslap for not realizing sooner that a perfect game includes no positive batting events for the opposing team, and that team's WPA+ is already one of the things I type in for every game. (It may be susceptible to rounding errors in emphatic blowouts; that'll be something I'll need to keep an eye on, but I can already put in one sanity check by confirming that a prospective perfect game is also a no-hitter.) Anyway, I've now put in a tentative extra bonus of 1 point for perfect games, but I could be talked into changing that, because unlike the no-hitter bonus, there's not even a pretense of methodological basis for it.

Anyway... congrats to Johan. Baseball is a happier place when he's awesome.

Game of the day (last year): Giants 7, Cardinals 5 (11). Jake Westbrook vs. Tim Lincecum. The teams stranded runners on second in each of the first three half-innings, but nobody scored until the bottom of the third when Ryan Theriot singled home Daniel Descalso. San Francisco loaded the bases in the fourth (they intentionally walked the 8 hitter with a runner on second to get to Lincecum, then unintentionally walked Lincecum), but didn't score; in the bottom of the inning, St. Louis put together three singles and a strikeout/wild pitch to add two runs to their lead. The Giants finally broke through in the sixth; Nate Scheirholtz singled, Cody Ross doubled him home and moved to third on an infield hit by Brandon Crawford, who then took second on a wild pitch. Eli Whiteside hit a sac fly to drive in Ross, and Andres Torres doubled in Crawford with two out to tie the score and chase Westbrook from the game.

Miguel Batista entered for the Cards and escaped that inning with the score tied; the same could not be said of the seventh, in which he gave up a solo homer to Aubrey Huff. In the bottom of the inning, Descalso tripled with one out against the still-pitching Lincecum, and pinch hitter Allen Craig (not just an October hero) followed with a go-ahead 2-run homer. Two singles ended Lincecum's evening, and a Santiago Casilla walk loaded the bases with one out before Lance Berkman hit into a double play, preserving the deficit at one run and Lincecum's linescore as merely bad, rather than disastrous. Eduardo Sanchez (who I'm not familiar with - man, did this bullpen change before October) pitched a scoreless eighth for the LaRussians, and Fernando Salas came in for the ninth. After a pair of flyouts, Salas walked Huff; Emmanuel Burriss entered as a pinch runner, stole second, and scored on a hit by Scheirholtz to tie the game. Ross singled as well before Salas managed to strand the two remaining baserunners.

The tenth inning was quick, courtesy of Ryan Franklin and Sergio Romo. Franklin stayed in for the eleventh; this proved to be a bad idea, as Freddy Sanchez hit a one-out ground-rule double, Scheirholtz singled him in with two away (taking second on the throw home), and Crawford singled Schierholtz home in turn. In the bottom of the inning, Brian Wilson gave up a pair of hits, but sandwiched them around a double play grounder and kept the Cards off the scoreboard to end the game.

Schierholtz tied the game in the ninth, and won it in the eleventh. Given that those are both good things to do, he gets .673 WPA for his efforts. Not too shabby. (Neither was this game, checking in at #20 on the year so far.)

Eric, is your no-hitter (& perfect game) bonus a purely 0/1 thing? i.e., do no-hitters get the bonus, but one-hitters where the only hit came with 2 outs in the 9th inning get nothing at all?

It's opening day for the DSL.

35 teams strong. Venezuela is down to four.

Eric, is your no-hitter (& perfect game) bonus a purely 0/1 thing? i.e., do no-hitters get the bonus, but one-hitters where the only hit came with 2 outs in the 9th inning get nothing at all?

Yeah, it is; there's not really a convenient way for me to separate out games like this (at least not one that I've come up with.) Obviously that's somewhat of an issue, as Verlander's 1-hitter that lasted through 8.1 earlier this year was plenty exciting, but if, say, you just check the 1-hitters, you're adding a decent amount of extra work and you're still going to miss this game, in which Zambrano had a no-no through 7.2 (and lost it on a blown call), but ended up allowing 3 hits and a run. And the more thorough you are, the more work you're adding.

Not ideal, but I'd rather do it this way than just give, say, a blanket bonus to all 1-hitters, and going through and recording the inning when the first hit was recorded by both teams in every game would turn 15 minutes of daily data entry into probably close to an hour.

Game of the day (yesterday): Mariners 10, White Sox 8 (12). Finally, extra innings! I was starting to go through withdrawals after 4 days of regulation-only baseball.

Leading off the game against Chicago's Gavin Floyd, Ichiro hit a home run. (I suppose he wanted to.) Leading off the top of the second, Justin Smoak did the same thing, making it a 2-0 game. In the bottom of the inning, Alex Rios singled against Seattle starter Hector Noesi, stole second, and moved to third on a passed ball; AJ Pierzynski then obviated his aggressive baserunning by cranking a game-tying 2-run homer.

Ichiro led off the third. He homered again. In the bottom of the inning, Orlando Hudson doubled, and Gordon Beckham drove him home on a single to momentarily interrupt the dinger parade; said parade promtply resumed in the fourth with a 2-run shot by Michael Saunders in the top of the inning and a solo job from Rios in the bottom. Beckham gave in to the peer pressue in the fifth, lifting a 2-run homer of his own to give the Sox a 6-5 lead and chase Noesi from the game. Floyd was also lifted after allowing a leadoff single to Smoak in the sixth; three Chicago relievers combined to put two more runners on (thanks to an error and a walk) before leaving the bases loaded. Seattle threatened again in the seventh when Dustin Ackley led off with a walk and advanced on a balk, but the Sox bullpen came through again to strand him there. The bottom of the inning saw Alejandro de Aza single and steal second with two outs, then score from second on an infield hit by Beckham, which is... unusual.

Down 7-5 entering the eighth, Seattle finally abandoned the home run. John Jaso led off with a walk, and Saunders moved him to third with a one-out single; Brendan Ryan doubled both runners home to tie the game, then stole third and scored on Pierzynski's resultant throwing error to put the M's in front. The White Sox tied the game again in the bottom of the inning on the game's eighth homer, this one a solo shot from Dayan Viciedo. Chicago's Nate Jones and Seattle's Tom Wilhelmsen entered in relief, and both kept the opposition from advancing a runner past first for multiple innings; Jones was pulled for Addison Reed after the tenth, and Reed threw a perfect eleventh that Wilhelmsen matched in his third inning of work. In the twelfth, Jesus Montero led off with a double and was pulled for a pinch runner; said pinch runner scored one out later on a double by Jaso, who in turn came home on a single by Chone Figgins. The Sox drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the inning, bringing the tying run to the plate, but Beckham and Adam Dunn grounded out to end the game.

It's a very fine game, coming in at #12 on the year. 11 of the 18 runs were scored on homers; the system would probably like the game a bit better if that ratio was lower, because runs scored in long rallies draw out the dramatic tension longer. Really, though, that's like... what's the opposite of lipstick on a pig? No lipstick on Yvonne Strahovski? Something like that. It doesn't even rise to the level of "flaw."

Game of the day (last year): Mets 9, Pirates 8. Despite a promising-looking final score, this is kind of a default winner, thanks to a day that only included 7 games. Pittsburgh hit Mike Pelfrey around early and often, going for 5 singles, 2 steals, and 3 runs in the first inning, then adding 3 more in the second on two singles, a steal, and a 2-run Neil Walker homer. In the third, a walk, a hit by pitcher Paul Maholm, and Xavier Paul's third single in three innings made it a 7-0 score in favor of the Pirates. The Mets responded with a 3-run homer from Carlos Belran in the bottom of the inning, but that 7-3 lead remained in place for the next three innings, which doesn't make for inordinately exciting baseball. (It did make for odd baseball when Pelfrey stayed in the game through 5 innings, and actually ended his outing with two perfect frames after an inauspicious start.)

The excitement came in the sixth, which Beltran led off with a double. A walk, a flyout, and a comebacker put runners at second and third with two away, and then another walk and a pair of singles resulted in three runs scoring and the tying run advancing to third. Maholm gave way to Chris Resop, whose first pitch (if B-R's PBP is correct) became a passed ball that allowed the Mets to score their seventh run of the day. The teams stranded single baserunners in each of the next three half innings, which brought up the New York eighth. Ronny Paulino led off with a single, and was replaced by pinch runner Willie Harris, who took second on a balk and third on a wild pitch. After a walk to Josh Thole, a sac fly by Ruben Tejada gave the Mets their first lead of the day. Daniel Murphy was then intentionally passed (with one out and Jose Reyes on deck - has to be on the short list of the dumber IBBs of the year); Reyes also drew a walk, and after the second out, so did Beltran, forcing in run number 9. Paul led off the Pirate ninth with a triple, which would have been incredibly exciting if the lead had been one run rather than two; as it was, the flyout-strikeout-RBI single-foulout conclusion to the game was somewhat lacking in drama.

But hey, it's a 9-8 game. It's hard to do too bad with that score.

Carlos Zambrano hit his first homer of the year today; that gives him 24 for his career, at age 31. Anyone want to run the active leaders list for pitcher home runs?

If memory serves, Wes Ferrell is the all-time record holder with 38 (although he also played outfield very occasionally and pinch hit a bit more often than that - he had over 100 games in which he appeared but didn't pitch during his career). If he keeps pitching well (he has been this year,) Z may be able to make a run at that number.

Current leaderboard, including only pitchers who have appeared in an MLB game in 2012:
Carlos Zambrano 23
Livan Hernandez 10
Yovani Gallardo 9
Micah Owings 9
Kerry Wood 7
Bronson Arroyo 5
Matt Cain 5
Jason Marquis 5
Adam Wainwright 5
Randy Wolf 5
Kevin Millwood 4
Josh Beckett 3
A.J. Burnett 3
Josh Johnson 3
C.C. Sabathia 3

Notes: Owings has 7 HR as a pitcher, 2 as a pinch hitter. Dontrelle Willis has 9 HR, but it's anybody's guess if he's an active professional baseball player at this point.

C.C. Sabathia 3

Think how many he'd have if he'd spent more than half a season pitching in the NL!

Sabathia's a really good hitter. He pinch hit (and singled) in 2003 for the Indians. It was an extra-inning game and it was in a National League ballpark, which explains how the bench got to the point where they needed to use pitchers to pinch hit.

It was one of the craziest sequences I've ever seen - I still have no clue what Wedge was thinking using a pinch runner for a pinch runner:

CC Sabathia pinch hits for Dan Miceli (P) batting 9th
Sabathia - Single to 2B (Ground Ball to Deep 1B)
Jason Davis pinch runs for CC Sabathia (PH) batting 9th
Lawton - Single to CF (Ground Ball); Davis to 2B
Brian Anderson pinch runs for Jason Davis batting 9th
Blake - Groundout: 2B-1B
0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB. Indians 4, Pirates 4.

Davis didn't get injured or anything, he just pulled for another pinch runner.

It'll obviously never happen, but I'd be curious to see what Sabathia could do if he concentrated full-time on hitting. I'm not sure he'd hit enough to make it as a 1B/LF/RF, but I suspect he'd probably have the bat (and not the glove) for 2B/SS/CF.