Thursday, May 13, 2004
Southpaws in the Southwest
The match-up that most intrigued me going into last night?
New York Mets vs. Arizona Diamondbacks. Two teams scuffling around, both below .500 ... why would that intrigue me?
Well, as Elias dug up in their archives, and as Jayson Stark noted in one of his columns yesterday, it was a historic-type of pitching match-up in the desert last night.
Throw in the fact that Mets are basically at their breaking point, perched on the precipice of falling into baseball oblivion before Memorial Day, and I saw this as a game to keep an eye on.
Needless to say, I didn't keep much of an eye on it at all and was asleep by 10:15 or so.
The match-up did live up to its billing though. If you want to know what happened, you can just click here.
The next four pitchers the Mets are facing: Brandon Webb (2-2, 3.02), Oswalt Pettitte and Clemens. Ouch. Going into last night, I thought there was a decent chance of them losing five in a row, for obvious reasons, and wind up challenging the Expos for the basement by the end beginning of next week. But Glavine kept them one more step closer to being at least respectable last night.
I've Got a Broken Face
As the Pixies are back out touring the States and Canada, it's appropriate to use one of their early classics in reference to one of the ugliest sights I've seen on a diamond this year.
Jorge Posada got nailed coming into second base by the return throw on an attempted double play by Angels SS Alfredy Amezaga. Luckily the throw, which came in very low due to Amezaga's submarine-type motion, glanced off Posada's chest or shoulder, before smacking him in the face and breaking his nose.
It's one of those plays in baseball that I'm surprised doesn't happen more often. I guess players have it ingrained in their heads to the point that it usually isn't a problem: when going into second base, and there's going to be a return throw to first, get the hell down. It wasn't that Posada did anything different in terms of posture, necessarily. As Jim Kaat noted, he just stayed in Amezaga's "throwing lane." But Amezaga has to elevate that throw a little bit more than he did -- it was almost like an underhand toss.
Lefty in the Fens
I couldn't have told you much about Cliff Lee going into last night's game at Fenway Park. However, after looking at his stats to this point, and watching him last night, I guess I'd move him into the "Promising Lefties" folder in the file cabinet in my brain.
He pitched pretty well last night (6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 8 K, 3 BB), in the last meeting of the season between Cleveland and Boston. He's now 4-0 with a 3.10 ERA for the Tribe in seven starts.
He's yet to pitch poorly for any stretch in the bigs. In '02 he started twice (presumably at the end of the season), went 0-1 but pitched to a 1.74 ERA. And last year in nine starts he went 3-3 with a 3.61 ERA. Not too shabby.
Last night was easily his season-high in strikeouts, so he's not going to blow you away. If there's one thing that stands out is that he does walk a lot of batters, relative to his number of strikeouts (33:22, K:B, after last night).
Knowing a little more (just a little more) about Cliff Lee (age 25) after last night makes me think that he could be an effective left-hand major league pitcher for a long time to come.
And before leaving the Indians behind, I should note that in taking 4 of 6 from the Red Sox over the past 10 days or so, they've caught my attention a bit. Before this stretch, this group of names wouldn't mean much to me at all:
Gerut
Hafner
Belliard
Broussard
Victor Martinez
But they outplayed one of the best teams in baseball for a couple weeks in May. Not that that will mean much in our conscience when all is said and done. But my perspective on the Indians has changed a bit. It's gone from "Who are these f'n guys?" to "That's not a terrible team they got there in Cleveland."
Changing the Site Lines
Did you notice some of the new and fancy features on the left-hand side of this page? Whaddya think? Pretty cool, huh?
Well, not really. But it gives some essential and relevant information to look at. Something to give you a break from that nagging co-worker who won't stop going on and on about her boring, pathetic life.
You can check out who would make the playoffs if they started today. Kind of a dumb concept, actually, since it's not really relevant to anything. Maybe I'll change that part of it...
Then there's the Random Stat sampler. I will try and come up with a leaderboard (or loserboard depending on my mood) at various times to show who's really doing well or really doing bad in a given category.
I've also changed my links. Click on the Scoreboard for live scores, standings, stats, etc. I'm hoping you'll consider this kind of a baseball depot, a baseball headquarters if you will, for all your informational needs.
Any suggestions of other things that could be part of the permanent section of the site are welcome.
One last thing, very cool article over at The Hardball Times that was posted yesterday. On how to build teams for the post-season. Starts off with the Billy Beane-my-stuff-doesn't-work-in-the-playoffs bit and goes from there. Very good, and a follow-up piece on the way from the same writer. Check it out.
The match-up that most intrigued me going into last night?
New York Mets vs. Arizona Diamondbacks. Two teams scuffling around, both below .500 ... why would that intrigue me?
Well, as Elias dug up in their archives, and as Jayson Stark noted in one of his columns yesterday, it was a historic-type of pitching match-up in the desert last night.
It was the first time that two left-handers with at least 233 wins apiece have faced each other, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Glavine, who is 38, entered the game with 255, Johnson, at age 40, has 233.
Their 488 wins combined were the most by two left-handers who started the same game since Steve Carlton (328 wins) went for Cleveland against Jerry Reuss (196) of California on July 1, 1987.
Throw in the fact that Mets are basically at their breaking point, perched on the precipice of falling into baseball oblivion before Memorial Day, and I saw this as a game to keep an eye on.
Needless to say, I didn't keep much of an eye on it at all and was asleep by 10:15 or so.
The match-up did live up to its billing though. If you want to know what happened, you can just click here.
The next four pitchers the Mets are facing: Brandon Webb (2-2, 3.02), Oswalt Pettitte and Clemens. Ouch. Going into last night, I thought there was a decent chance of them losing five in a row, for obvious reasons, and wind up challenging the Expos for the basement by the end beginning of next week. But Glavine kept them one more step closer to being at least respectable last night.
I've Got a Broken Face
As the Pixies are back out touring the States and Canada, it's appropriate to use one of their early classics in reference to one of the ugliest sights I've seen on a diamond this year.
Jorge Posada got nailed coming into second base by the return throw on an attempted double play by Angels SS Alfredy Amezaga. Luckily the throw, which came in very low due to Amezaga's submarine-type motion, glanced off Posada's chest or shoulder, before smacking him in the face and breaking his nose.
It's one of those plays in baseball that I'm surprised doesn't happen more often. I guess players have it ingrained in their heads to the point that it usually isn't a problem: when going into second base, and there's going to be a return throw to first, get the hell down. It wasn't that Posada did anything different in terms of posture, necessarily. As Jim Kaat noted, he just stayed in Amezaga's "throwing lane." But Amezaga has to elevate that throw a little bit more than he did -- it was almost like an underhand toss.
Lefty in the Fens
I couldn't have told you much about Cliff Lee going into last night's game at Fenway Park. However, after looking at his stats to this point, and watching him last night, I guess I'd move him into the "Promising Lefties" folder in the file cabinet in my brain.
He pitched pretty well last night (6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 8 K, 3 BB), in the last meeting of the season between Cleveland and Boston. He's now 4-0 with a 3.10 ERA for the Tribe in seven starts.
He's yet to pitch poorly for any stretch in the bigs. In '02 he started twice (presumably at the end of the season), went 0-1 but pitched to a 1.74 ERA. And last year in nine starts he went 3-3 with a 3.61 ERA. Not too shabby.
Last night was easily his season-high in strikeouts, so he's not going to blow you away. If there's one thing that stands out is that he does walk a lot of batters, relative to his number of strikeouts (33:22, K:B, after last night).
Knowing a little more (just a little more) about Cliff Lee (age 25) after last night makes me think that he could be an effective left-hand major league pitcher for a long time to come.
And before leaving the Indians behind, I should note that in taking 4 of 6 from the Red Sox over the past 10 days or so, they've caught my attention a bit. Before this stretch, this group of names wouldn't mean much to me at all:
Gerut
Hafner
Belliard
Broussard
Victor Martinez
But they outplayed one of the best teams in baseball for a couple weeks in May. Not that that will mean much in our conscience when all is said and done. But my perspective on the Indians has changed a bit. It's gone from "Who are these f'n guys?" to "That's not a terrible team they got there in Cleveland."
Changing the Site Lines
Did you notice some of the new and fancy features on the left-hand side of this page? Whaddya think? Pretty cool, huh?
Well, not really. But it gives some essential and relevant information to look at. Something to give you a break from that nagging co-worker who won't stop going on and on about her boring, pathetic life.
You can check out who would make the playoffs if they started today. Kind of a dumb concept, actually, since it's not really relevant to anything. Maybe I'll change that part of it...
Then there's the Random Stat sampler. I will try and come up with a leaderboard (or loserboard depending on my mood) at various times to show who's really doing well or really doing bad in a given category.
I've also changed my links. Click on the Scoreboard for live scores, standings, stats, etc. I'm hoping you'll consider this kind of a baseball depot, a baseball headquarters if you will, for all your informational needs.
Any suggestions of other things that could be part of the permanent section of the site are welcome.
One last thing, very cool article over at The Hardball Times that was posted yesterday. On how to build teams for the post-season. Starts off with the Billy Beane-my-stuff-doesn't-work-in-the-playoffs bit and goes from there. Very good, and a follow-up piece on the way from the same writer. Check it out.
