Monday, August 23, 2004
So, at what point is baseball going to start reconsidering the position of "official scorer"? Traditionally, it is a home-team's writer who does it. Look at these two cases of games I watched yesterday.
1. Cubs at Astros. Sammy Sosa, mired in a long slump, can't catch up to Roy Oswalt's fastball. Down by two strikes, Oswalt throws a breaking ball on the outside part of the plate. Sammy lunges and hits an 18 hopper, high bouncer down the third base line. Mike Lamb, a poor fielder, runs sideways at the ball and finally gets to it about 10 behind third base. Sosa is assuredly only a step or two from first at this point. But the ball nicks off Lamb's glove and continues down the line and Sosa winds up at second and a run scores. Official scoring: error.
Now, at this point in the game Oswalt had only given up one run. The next batter, Aramis Ramirez took him deep. Oswalt beaned Michael Barrett in the most deliberate and crybaby manner I have ever seen a pitcher behave and walked to the dugout even before the umpire threw him out. So all these runs went as unearned and the official Astros scorer did his job by protecting Oswalt's ERA. If it were Mark Prior pitching against Lance Berkman, I'm sure it would have been scored a double. Also, if Lamb hadn't run all the way over there or just dove after the ball had passed him, it would have been scored a double. His mistake was getting close enough to the ball.
The point of scoring something an error is that it is presumed an out would have been made or the baserunners would have been held at a previous base. So I could see scoring it a single and an error, but there was no way Sosa wasn't going to be safe at first, especially considering he was already there by the time Lamb muffed gloving the ball.
2. Red Sox at White Sox. Mike Timlin pitches to Ben Davis who lifts an easy fly ball to Manny Ramirez in left. Ramirez settles under it and falls down. Then he starts to get up and falls down again. The ball flies over his body and Davis gets in at second. Scoring: double.
Yes sir! Another powerful White Sox rally, says the official scorer, pumping up the stats of his team's catcher. Yeah I know that fly balls lost in the lights or miscommunication are often scored "doubles" or "triples" because the scorer says, "Well it wasn't his fault. He fell down. The sun got in his eyes." Or whatever. When is it his fault?? It's not like a player tries to throw a ball into the dugout either.
With stats so important and lasting in the game, shouldn't there be some kind of review or oversight of this really subjective and often stupid method of scoring? Discuss.
ps I can't even watch ESPN SportsCenter any more. Stuart Scott and the rest of those clowns are ridiculous. They are practically singing free verse while the highlights play and I'm like, "Hmm. Who was that? Who is pitching? What's going on?" while I see guys running around and Scott is going "Mekka lekka hi mekka hiney ho! Slap a dress on me and call me Bertha! I got blisters on my fingers! Who wants some more ranch dressing?!"
(0) comments
1. Cubs at Astros. Sammy Sosa, mired in a long slump, can't catch up to Roy Oswalt's fastball. Down by two strikes, Oswalt throws a breaking ball on the outside part of the plate. Sammy lunges and hits an 18 hopper, high bouncer down the third base line. Mike Lamb, a poor fielder, runs sideways at the ball and finally gets to it about 10 behind third base. Sosa is assuredly only a step or two from first at this point. But the ball nicks off Lamb's glove and continues down the line and Sosa winds up at second and a run scores. Official scoring: error.
Now, at this point in the game Oswalt had only given up one run. The next batter, Aramis Ramirez took him deep. Oswalt beaned Michael Barrett in the most deliberate and crybaby manner I have ever seen a pitcher behave and walked to the dugout even before the umpire threw him out. So all these runs went as unearned and the official Astros scorer did his job by protecting Oswalt's ERA. If it were Mark Prior pitching against Lance Berkman, I'm sure it would have been scored a double. Also, if Lamb hadn't run all the way over there or just dove after the ball had passed him, it would have been scored a double. His mistake was getting close enough to the ball.
The point of scoring something an error is that it is presumed an out would have been made or the baserunners would have been held at a previous base. So I could see scoring it a single and an error, but there was no way Sosa wasn't going to be safe at first, especially considering he was already there by the time Lamb muffed gloving the ball.
2. Red Sox at White Sox. Mike Timlin pitches to Ben Davis who lifts an easy fly ball to Manny Ramirez in left. Ramirez settles under it and falls down. Then he starts to get up and falls down again. The ball flies over his body and Davis gets in at second. Scoring: double.
Yes sir! Another powerful White Sox rally, says the official scorer, pumping up the stats of his team's catcher. Yeah I know that fly balls lost in the lights or miscommunication are often scored "doubles" or "triples" because the scorer says, "Well it wasn't his fault. He fell down. The sun got in his eyes." Or whatever. When is it his fault?? It's not like a player tries to throw a ball into the dugout either.
With stats so important and lasting in the game, shouldn't there be some kind of review or oversight of this really subjective and often stupid method of scoring? Discuss.
ps I can't even watch ESPN SportsCenter any more. Stuart Scott and the rest of those clowns are ridiculous. They are practically singing free verse while the highlights play and I'm like, "Hmm. Who was that? Who is pitching? What's going on?" while I see guys running around and Scott is going "Mekka lekka hi mekka hiney ho! Slap a dress on me and call me Bertha! I got blisters on my fingers! Who wants some more ranch dressing?!"
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Let's stroll around the NL team stats:
Dancin' Homers
This team is willing to ride the hot hand with pitching, with Al Leiter and Eric Milton replacing Kip Wells and Brandon Webb in the rotation. You'd think they'd come up with a similar solution to the bottom of the lineup. This first place team can't find a 1B who slugs higher than .420? Checking out the bench... um, not so much. Tip to the rest of the league: walk the first 5 guys. Funny stat: I don't know how much "wins" matter in Scoresheet for determining what happens but why is Milton with an ERA higher than Ben Sheets's + Brad Penny's got a 7-2 record while they combine for a 21-13. I'm just saying. No visits from AAA yet for the team, though with a lot of extra inning games last week they were forced to bring in Webb to close out a ninth inning and ... whoops!
Rabid Woofers
The defending league champ must have wet himself when Chipper Jones qualified at 3B as he could replace Sean Burroughs's powerless bat with Brad Wilkerson's and also improve his defense, despite Chipper's struggles. Plus he has David Wright up with the big club so he has some flexibility. Sean Casey's all-star season is represented in 7 at-bats on the year. I guess Slave likes having those pitchers bat for themselves. Pitching-wise, there's a whole lot of ugly going on once you get past his big 5. Bret Tomko in 18 games? Jeff Suppan with 25 appearances? David Weathers for 54 games?!? Funny stat: Sean Burnett, having a good year, but has a 14 ERA for Slave. Ouch. AAA watch: Ollie Tabooger got a cup of coffee.
Soko Atarijin
Banzai!!! The Atarijin get a lot of revenue from their Far East supporters, but maybe they don't need to run Sunny Kim (0-8, 6.31 ERA) and Kaz Ishii (7-7, 5.05 ERA) out there every five days. Why not go all the way and bench Matt Clement and Randy Wolf in favor of Hideo Nomo (2-5, 7.05) and Jae Seo (3-3, 4.96). Boomer Wells can stay out there because he looks like Godzilla or the Pokemon that eats things. Randy is served well by Jeromy Burnitz's first season in the mile high club. First filling in for Larry Walker, now for Luis Gonzalez, I'm not convinced this backup is worse than the starters he's been replacing. Funny stats: I just learned this year that if you play a guy who qualifies for a position but doesn't actually play it in real life, they bump up his errors and such to the average. Well, when I was playing Byrd's team in the AL, I swear Matt LeCroy "threw the ball into centerfield" at least 4 times during our 3-game series. I notice here that Craig Wilson has 9 errors and 9 passed balls. I wonder if he's going to qualify at C next year. AAA watch: Tabooger 1 AB, Oliver Klossov 6 IP.
Gas House Gang
Poo Holes! Am I the only one who thinks this is funny? Hey, has any other team hit the jackpot this much in one season since Jeff's entire team signed with the Rockies one winter? Jack Wilson, Lyle Overbay, Johnny Estrada? All these guys are way outstripping their projected seasons and to Ken's credit, he's gotten them in the lineup. Who needs Adam Dunn anyway? The pitching is strong - no starters above a 4 ERA and Steve Traschel ready to fill in. This is a team primed for a championship, though they need to find a hole for Scott Podsednik before his OBP goes below .300. Funny stats: John Franco, 15.88 ERA, .429 BA against. Why can't Art Howe learn what Ken already knows. AAA watch: Klossov, 4 innings, 12.46 ERA. He's better than Franco!
Cholesterol Kings
I'm not wasting my vote this year. I'm voting for Barry. Why is this team 19 games (that's right) back in the standings? Mark Loretta, Barry Bonds, Adrian Beltre, Lance Berkman is a murderers row. Yeah, Loretta, I know. The rest of the lineup is ok and has good defense. The starting pitching seems pretty good. Good enough to keep Matt Morris on the bench. Hmmm... maybe it's the fact that 11 different guys have saved games for the Kings so far and newly appointed closer Scott Linebrink leads the squad with 6. The thing with using starters in the bullpen -- Josh Fogg, Jason Marquis, Wilson Alvarez, Jeff Weaver, Chris Carpenter (in to nail it down!) all have saves -- is that even a good start, say 7 innings 3 runs, doesn't work well in a tie game in the 8th. Your guy is going to give up a run usually before the guy who goes 1 inning and no runs in real life, because Scoresheet runs always find the path of least resistance. Sure that reliever and that starter might wind up with similar ERA's on the year, but having guys who go week to week and are less likely to have a zero weekly ERA in your pen spells trouble. Still, I wouldn't put it past this team to win the division, despite the big lead. Funny stats: See saves above. AAA watch: 8 innings fromKlossov, 36 AB from Hugh Jass.
Crooked K's
Why won't Lou submit a lineup? I can't make heads or tails out of this. Lots of guys have lots of at-bats, including 286 from Mark DeRosa. He traded for Adam Dunn who has tallied 4 plate appearances. Doesn't he lead the league in homers or something? Well.... whatever. Funny stat: only 2 pitchers have a winning record, Brad Lidge (4-1) and Horacio Ramirez (2-1). AAA watch: 26 innings from Klossov and 112 games from manager Heywood JeBlome.
Autoexec.Batsmen
What looked to be a good season for Jeff hasn't worked out so well. What went wrong and who's to blame? Preston Wilson's injury and subsequent sucking hasn't helped, especially with so many of those games being played by Juan Rivera. Orlando Cabrera has been bad and should probably be replaced with Pedro Feliz who at least hits homers. Kevin Millwood has stunk it up and is done for the season (I really need to start that children's book soon.) and Jeff may have missed Doug Davis's window of usefulness. It's not a bad team, but they are looking up at 3 competitors and there isn't much time left. Funny stat: Millwood has a 6 ERA! AAA watch: 19, that's right, innings from Klossov.
Smoking Guns
I saw that Chase Utley and Jason Bay were in the lineup and I thought, wow Matt's on the ball here. Then I saw Richie Sexson just below him, who's been out for the season for quite a while. And... is that Marlon Anderson? Batting sixth? And at what position? That means either Utley or Anderson is at a corner outfield slot. Sean Green rides the pine. I don't understand. Maybe Matt got his projections mixed up and thought that was Garrett Anderson on his team. This team desperately needs to trade Tomo Ohka and Kaz Matsui to the Atarijin for better gaijin. There are a lot of crooked numbers in the ERA column. Funny stat: Jason Jennings, Rockies pitcher, 30 appearances. Ouch. AAA watch: Klossov 13 innings, 21 at-bats for Jass.
(0) comments
Dancin' Homers
This team is willing to ride the hot hand with pitching, with Al Leiter and Eric Milton replacing Kip Wells and Brandon Webb in the rotation. You'd think they'd come up with a similar solution to the bottom of the lineup. This first place team can't find a 1B who slugs higher than .420? Checking out the bench... um, not so much. Tip to the rest of the league: walk the first 5 guys. Funny stat: I don't know how much "wins" matter in Scoresheet for determining what happens but why is Milton with an ERA higher than Ben Sheets's + Brad Penny's got a 7-2 record while they combine for a 21-13. I'm just saying. No visits from AAA yet for the team, though with a lot of extra inning games last week they were forced to bring in Webb to close out a ninth inning and ... whoops!
Rabid Woofers
The defending league champ must have wet himself when Chipper Jones qualified at 3B as he could replace Sean Burroughs's powerless bat with Brad Wilkerson's and also improve his defense, despite Chipper's struggles. Plus he has David Wright up with the big club so he has some flexibility. Sean Casey's all-star season is represented in 7 at-bats on the year. I guess Slave likes having those pitchers bat for themselves. Pitching-wise, there's a whole lot of ugly going on once you get past his big 5. Bret Tomko in 18 games? Jeff Suppan with 25 appearances? David Weathers for 54 games?!? Funny stat: Sean Burnett, having a good year, but has a 14 ERA for Slave. Ouch. AAA watch: Ollie Tabooger got a cup of coffee.
Soko Atarijin
Banzai!!! The Atarijin get a lot of revenue from their Far East supporters, but maybe they don't need to run Sunny Kim (0-8, 6.31 ERA) and Kaz Ishii (7-7, 5.05 ERA) out there every five days. Why not go all the way and bench Matt Clement and Randy Wolf in favor of Hideo Nomo (2-5, 7.05) and Jae Seo (3-3, 4.96). Boomer Wells can stay out there because he looks like Godzilla or the Pokemon that eats things. Randy is served well by Jeromy Burnitz's first season in the mile high club. First filling in for Larry Walker, now for Luis Gonzalez, I'm not convinced this backup is worse than the starters he's been replacing. Funny stats: I just learned this year that if you play a guy who qualifies for a position but doesn't actually play it in real life, they bump up his errors and such to the average. Well, when I was playing Byrd's team in the AL, I swear Matt LeCroy "threw the ball into centerfield" at least 4 times during our 3-game series. I notice here that Craig Wilson has 9 errors and 9 passed balls. I wonder if he's going to qualify at C next year. AAA watch: Tabooger 1 AB, Oliver Klossov 6 IP.
Gas House Gang
Poo Holes! Am I the only one who thinks this is funny? Hey, has any other team hit the jackpot this much in one season since Jeff's entire team signed with the Rockies one winter? Jack Wilson, Lyle Overbay, Johnny Estrada? All these guys are way outstripping their projected seasons and to Ken's credit, he's gotten them in the lineup. Who needs Adam Dunn anyway? The pitching is strong - no starters above a 4 ERA and Steve Traschel ready to fill in. This is a team primed for a championship, though they need to find a hole for Scott Podsednik before his OBP goes below .300. Funny stats: John Franco, 15.88 ERA, .429 BA against. Why can't Art Howe learn what Ken already knows. AAA watch: Klossov, 4 innings, 12.46 ERA. He's better than Franco!
Cholesterol Kings
I'm not wasting my vote this year. I'm voting for Barry. Why is this team 19 games (that's right) back in the standings? Mark Loretta, Barry Bonds, Adrian Beltre, Lance Berkman is a murderers row. Yeah, Loretta, I know. The rest of the lineup is ok and has good defense. The starting pitching seems pretty good. Good enough to keep Matt Morris on the bench. Hmmm... maybe it's the fact that 11 different guys have saved games for the Kings so far and newly appointed closer Scott Linebrink leads the squad with 6. The thing with using starters in the bullpen -- Josh Fogg, Jason Marquis, Wilson Alvarez, Jeff Weaver, Chris Carpenter (in to nail it down!) all have saves -- is that even a good start, say 7 innings 3 runs, doesn't work well in a tie game in the 8th. Your guy is going to give up a run usually before the guy who goes 1 inning and no runs in real life, because Scoresheet runs always find the path of least resistance. Sure that reliever and that starter might wind up with similar ERA's on the year, but having guys who go week to week and are less likely to have a zero weekly ERA in your pen spells trouble. Still, I wouldn't put it past this team to win the division, despite the big lead. Funny stats: See saves above. AAA watch: 8 innings fromKlossov, 36 AB from Hugh Jass.
Crooked K's
Why won't Lou submit a lineup? I can't make heads or tails out of this. Lots of guys have lots of at-bats, including 286 from Mark DeRosa. He traded for Adam Dunn who has tallied 4 plate appearances. Doesn't he lead the league in homers or something? Well.... whatever. Funny stat: only 2 pitchers have a winning record, Brad Lidge (4-1) and Horacio Ramirez (2-1). AAA watch: 26 innings from Klossov and 112 games from manager Heywood JeBlome.
Autoexec.Batsmen
What looked to be a good season for Jeff hasn't worked out so well. What went wrong and who's to blame? Preston Wilson's injury and subsequent sucking hasn't helped, especially with so many of those games being played by Juan Rivera. Orlando Cabrera has been bad and should probably be replaced with Pedro Feliz who at least hits homers. Kevin Millwood has stunk it up and is done for the season (I really need to start that children's book soon.) and Jeff may have missed Doug Davis's window of usefulness. It's not a bad team, but they are looking up at 3 competitors and there isn't much time left. Funny stat: Millwood has a 6 ERA! AAA watch: 19, that's right, innings from Klossov.
Smoking Guns
I saw that Chase Utley and Jason Bay were in the lineup and I thought, wow Matt's on the ball here. Then I saw Richie Sexson just below him, who's been out for the season for quite a while. And... is that Marlon Anderson? Batting sixth? And at what position? That means either Utley or Anderson is at a corner outfield slot. Sean Green rides the pine. I don't understand. Maybe Matt got his projections mixed up and thought that was Garrett Anderson on his team. This team desperately needs to trade Tomo Ohka and Kaz Matsui to the Atarijin for better gaijin. There are a lot of crooked numbers in the ERA column. Funny stat: Jason Jennings, Rockies pitcher, 30 appearances. Ouch. AAA watch: Klossov 13 innings, 21 at-bats for Jass.
Big Trade in the AL!
Slave sends pitchers Zito, Hendrickson, El Duque and 3B Melvin Mora over to Randy for Eric Chavez. Randy gets a big boost to his rotation as all three pitchers go into his top 5 and Mora is having a better year this year than Chavez. One sided? At least for this year, but Slave is counting his holds for next year. Classic baseball trade. Too bad I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger on deals for Raffy Sorearmiano a month ago. Oh well. Should be a horserace to the end in the Forster.
(0) comments
Slave sends pitchers Zito, Hendrickson, El Duque and 3B Melvin Mora over to Randy for Eric Chavez. Randy gets a big boost to his rotation as all three pitchers go into his top 5 and Mora is having a better year this year than Chavez. One sided? At least for this year, but Slave is counting his holds for next year. Classic baseball trade. Too bad I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger on deals for Raffy Sorearmiano a month ago. Oh well. Should be a horserace to the end in the Forster.
