Frayed Knot

My take on Granderson + CYoung: Hitting .200 with lots of strikeouts and a combined HR total that can be counted on one hand screws up ALL hitting philosophies! IOW -- Let's not pretend that Sandy thought he was going to get THIS from those two and feel vindicated. Nor should one who was in opposition be crowing about victory because these are the early May totals.

Well, you could argue that, of all counts, 3-0 is a special case. It might also be that pitchers are less predictable now than in Ralph's day. Pitch data doesn't exist prior to 1988 so we've got no access to check Ralph's memory and only to the tail end of Keith's career. Keith = 2/3 on 3-0 pitches with a single + HR My point remains that I think these writers are taking the view that because Moneyball favored high walks in addition to other skills that it somehow favors walks instead of them.

Ceetar wrote: The line about swinging on 3-0 pitches being "frowned upon in Alderson�s Bases Per Out World" comes off a just another case of a writer treating mis-interpreting the strategy, which itself is often lumped in under the "Moneyball" label, to be about maximizing walks to the exclusion of just about everything else. Rubin touches on the same thing with his comments about Keith not approving of the approach. One of my takeaways from Moneyball is that just because someone is a former player doesn't mean they really have any clue how to build a winner and sometimes just the opposite. It's easy to preach a philosophy when you have/had a talent level that's maybe not present in everyone you're preaching about. Not that i don't value Keith (And moreso Ron)'s opinion on these matters, but there's more than one right way. And on the 3-0 pitch, the Mets philosophy has always been reported as a 'swing at your pitch' type philosophy. Recker got it, swung, and drove it 350 feet. he pulls that just a wee bit more or less and it's a double that can't be reached and a little harder and it's gone. I'll take that swing, on that pitch, in that situation, every single time. Your last paragraph begins to get at the problem. I don't see this as a Keith is wrong kind of thing or even Keith disagreeing with Alderson et al. To me it's just another case of media people STILL misunderstanding, or at the very least, still over-simplifying, anything that they can file under the general heading of Moneyball. Kernan even uses Sandy's moniker of 'Bases per out' to sum up the philosophy but then goes on to imply that NYM mgmt would rather have the walk there. But if getting on via a walk is better than an out you know what gives you an even better bases/out ratio than a walk? - a double in the gap, that's what! Recker, by doing what you said and what Keith preaches (and Ralph for all these years) which is get a good/predictable pitch and attack it, was trying to do just that. "Plate discipline" isn't merely seeing as many pitches as possible, sometimes it's jumping on a 2-0 pitch and smacking the snot out of it and I don't think there's anything in the Alderson regime that would disagree with any of that. This thinking that Keith--who walked more than just about all his contemporaries--would somehow raise a dissent with any of this is, again, I think a misinterpretation by mediots who think it's all about walks. I expect that from Francesa and his callers, I hope for better from everyday guys. * side note: in the Oakland/Nats game yesterday Derek Norris (like Recker a low-BA/decent power part-time catcher) hit two 3R HRs off Gio Gonzalez in the first two innings. BOTH HRs were on 3-0 counts.

Mets � Willets Point wrote: Wait, ESPN talked about baseball at all. Surely, there must've been some football to analyze in depth, no? Well it was on their 'Baseball Tonight' show, the one hour (used to be a nightly show but now has been sliced to maybe 3x/week) where the 4 or 5 guys on the payroll in Bristol, CT who actually like and understand baseball are allowed to go off in a corner and talk amongst themselves undisturbed by the jocks at the cool lunch table. That they were then required by their overlords to spend the better part of one of the rare hours they get pimping the movie and everyone connected to it just adds insult to insult.

The line about swinging on 3-0 pitches being "frowned upon in Alderson�s Bases Per Out World" comes off a just another case of a writer treating mis-interpreting the strategy, which itself is often lumped in under the "Moneyball" label, to be about maximizing walks to the exclusion of just about everything else. Rubin touches on the same thing with his comments about Keith not approving of the approach.

btw, youse outta town residents who don't always get games on TV (esp since PIX-11 is doing both Mon & Tues) might want to check out MLBN & ESPN this week. ESPN is carrying Wednesday's game and I think MLBN is picking up both Tuesday's game and Thursday's (check your local listings).

Ceetar wrote: Clearly if you field a power/K team you're going to have some LOB issues ... The problem is that they're a Power/K team without the power. And while they might improve on that as the season wears on--considering that they're dead last in HRs & SLG and 4th in Ks they almost can't NOT improve--they're never going to be GOOD at power with this bunch.

Edgy MD wrote: Funny, I had never considered that the Ferrels were brothers, even as I knew they played together. Funny, I always knew they were brothers but had to look up whether or not they played together. At first they didn't play together, then they did, then they continued to following the trade, but then they didn't. Younger brother Wes made the majors first but also retired earlier at age 33 while Rick played on into his 40s. You figure at that age it was likely arm trouble that forced him out, which in turn makes you wonder why he didn't try hanging around as a hitter.

On a side note, I can't remember a time when I knew less about the Yanqui's bullpen. I mean I recognize names and such but, outside of Robertson, I don't know anything about who's good or what each of them throws, or how they're being used, or anything like that. Looking at their stats it seems like they're doing decently as a group, but it's like they're just an anonymous bunch of interchangeable parts to me to the point where I'll have no sense of the strategic plusses or minuses whenever Girardi makes a pitching change or what we be a good counter-move for Terry. Dellin Betances - the 6' 8" NYC-born righty who the MFY publicity machine hyped up as a coming star a few years back. He's now 26 y/o with 27 innings of ML time under his belt across pieces of three seasons Matt Daley - Just called up to fill C. C.'s spot (but at 6'2"/180 not his pants). Pitched in one game earlier in the season and a few innings last years after spending pieces of three season with Colorado. Shawn Kelly - Always good to see an Italian on the team. This 30 y/o, who went to the Yanx in 2013 after 4 seasons in Seattle, appears to be their main set-up guy these days. Matt Thorton - Their only Lefty out there, he's a 37 y/o 11-year vet who was on the Red Sox last year, so naturally he's the one guy in the pen with the multi-year contract Adam Warren - The other 7th/8th inning set-up-type guy. Preston Clairborne - As LWFS said the other day, he sounds like the guy in your tennis club who cheats on line calls then insists on "air-drying" himself in the locker room. Was also with the Yanx last season though started this year in AAA Scranton. Has pitched in 7 MFY games to date.

We expected nothing less. And if you were expecting anything different, well you've only got yourself to blame for that. Coupla notes: CC Sabathia was placed (wouldn't 'Plopped' be more appropriate?) on the DL this weekend with 'fluid on the knee' (guess that weight loss thing was a case of TLTL, huh?). Alfredo Aceves, who is currently in the unlikely position of having gone directly from the Yanx to the Sawx and now back to the Yanx, is the likely replacement for Thursday's game. The Mets seem to be up in the air over Wednesday's starter. Terry seems to be leaning towards the guy named 'Not Mejia', meaning either Dice-K or a call-up, but it's unclear whether Sandy is on board with that.

Wes (P) & Rick © Ferrell 1934 - 37 Boston Red Sox 1937 - 38 Washington Senators Yes, the brothers were sent in the same trade from Boston to Washington in mid-1937 Another oddity, the pitching brother out-homered the catcher in their careers 38 to 28 despite more than a 5/1 AB ratio for Rick In 1931, pitcher Wes hit .319/.373/[u:392l272e].619[/u:392l272e] over 116 ABs. 16 of his 37 hits went for XB including his career high 9 HRs It was Rick, however, who wound up with the longer career and is in the HoF

Niese - 2.5 Matsuzaka - 0.6 Familia - 0.5 Rice - 0.2 Murphy - 2.2 Wheeler - 0.1 Tejada - 1.0 EYoung - 1.5 CYoung - 1.0 Wright - 0.4

I think the degree to which it's existing is at least a bit beyond normal. It's also been lately that it's gotten worse. I maintain that on the recent road trip there was some bad luck involved, hitting at 'em balls, etc. This series though they simply weren't hitting much and the w/RiSP things just fell totally flat.

And 40 is even worse than it sounds when you consider that they only scored a total of 11 runs over 31 innings in those 3 games.

I like the present that the Brewers gave Jeets for his last ever visit to Milwaukee - a walk-off loss.

Oh, and btw: Fuck Chase Utley and the glove flip he rode in on.

Rubern & EYJ making a case for getting their jobs back. Good for them, competition can be a wonderful thing!

Our pitchers really have to stop trying to get Chase Utley up in potential game blowing-up situations. ... and now we're in another one of these none-on/2-out ---->>>> potential danger situations.

Not that this means the Nats will be trying to undo the trade or anything, but one of the guys the Nationals gave to the A's in order to get Gio Gonzalez was (then) minor league catcher Derek Norris. Well today, in Gio's first return to Oakland since the deal, Norris hit him up for a 3R HR in each of the first 2 innings. A's cruising 7-0 early in that west coast game. P.S. -- Adam LaRoche to the DL

As we toss a few more LOBsters into the pot and head for the eleventh.

We've flied out [u:1l6bglo6]TO[/u:1l6bglo6] the OF wall an awful like lately.

What's Jeff Manship's [u:d7zalc86]non[/u:d7zalc86]-porn name?

Edgy MD wrote: Familia is the guy I wanna see these days. I agree.

And just in case you hadn't gotten your share of four hour+ games this week - on we go to extras.

Is there no one to run for Abreu? I guess not.