????
TLC to hold FOX reality show contest to replace Lisa Lopez (Boston.com)
I can kinda see it because what else are T & C going to do but this seems like such a bad idea. Replacing a dead person is always iffy, replacing a dead person with someone who’s got no more cred than winning a reality show seems horrible. But they’re gonna get enough press out of it to sell some albums for the first CD, I’d guess.
Amazingly, this competition with another planned show that’s going to do the same for INXS.
Scott watched it. CMLL crossover! Actually, it’s only Nosawa. I kinda would’ve be interested if Mini Pierroth showed up, because CMLL midgets make TV no more than once a year. They have Fairplay showing up next week. They have Rodman showing up next week. I smell blatant grab for SportsCenter’s attention.
Scott watched it. CMLL crossover! Actually, it’s only Nosawa. I kinda would’ve be interested if Mini Pierroth showed up, because CMLL midgets make TV no more than once a year.
They have Fairplay showing up next week. They have Rodman showing up next week. I smell blatant grab for SportsCenter’s attention.
The only good thing about the White Sox announcer is when someone hits a home run off the Sox and they shut up and you can laugh and laugh at them. Thank you Mark.
The only good thing about the White Sox announcer is when someone hits a home run off the Sox and they shut up and you can laugh and laugh at them. Thank you Mark.
I never did talk about the press confrence? Blame it on the baseball mood I’m in. Mostly, they threw out a lot of ideas – As one of the bigger Tough Enough supporters, I’m really dislike this idea of Tough Enough on SmackDown! The problem with the normal episodes of Tough Enough is you couldn’t … Continue reading “wwe press confrence”
I never did talk about the press confrence? Blame it on the baseball mood I’m in.
Mostly, they threw out a lot of ideas
– As one of the bigger Tough Enough supporters, I’m really dislike this idea of Tough Enough on SmackDown! The problem with the normal episodes of Tough Enough is you couldn’t get a read on anyone but the two or three people who got (edited) storylines that episode. Even if they cut down the particpants, there’s no way 5-7 minutes per week is going to give you any idea who’s worthwhile and the whole contest turns into whoever the editors think looks best in video packages. It’s less a competition and more a multi week long form vignette build up for whoever they choose, and that doesn’t seem to make for intersting TV.
Scaia has floated idea for the Diva Search turning into angles, but since there’s a stated big money contract already, I think they’d get in too much trouble if it was or turned in to one. Since nothing’s been announced here, there’s not that problem, and I think they should use it. If we’re only going to end up picking who they people deciding things want us to pick, why not use it as a vehicle to introduce a new character from OVW? Fill out the “trainees” with indy guys to make the OVW guy look good and build towards a debuting angle, and cover yourself by promising a contract to those indy guys if they impress, but don’t make the mistake of pretending it’s not fixed when talking about it off-TV.
One of the drawbacks to the normal structure of Tough Enough is the characters with the most intersting/wacky traits are often kicked off because those traits. If Tough Enough was worked, instead of a Scott or Wendell or Hawk having a couple weeks invested into them only to get cut, they can actually win, since they’re only characters (and hopefully the real people wouldn’t be as annoying.)
That’s a lemonade out lemon situation, but I still think it’s a bad idea.
– No offense to people not in North America, but when’s the last time a TV show taped not in NA actually was worthwhile? The WCW foregin shows were always filler (but then, so was everyting), the WWF UK PPVs were usually filler, and last RAWs they taped elsewhere are only notable for the contiunally shrinking ratings number Vince Russo claims they got. (How it will be told somewhere around 2010: “They had RAW on three contintents and it got a .00004! That next Tuesday, Vinny Mac came into my office, got down on his hands and knees, and begged ‘Mr. Russo, please save my company! Your multi-million dollar magazines are the only shining light in this barren franchise! Please share your incredible singular genius with this entire company!’ I consented, and the next week, we got a 12.4”)
There’s some curosity interest here – RAW in Japan would be interesting for the reactions, but I don’t see this improving the quality of the shows benefiting from this. I hope I’m wrong. I do suspect they’ll be hot crowds when they try this.
– DVD sales doing huge numbers is a great sign for those of us who like DVDs and old matches being brought back to life. They’re definetly believing there’s a market for these things, and when the WWE finds a market for something, it floods the market. I expect “the Best Of A-Train (a 3 DVD set)” sometime in 2006. Presuming he’s still A-Train then.
Actually, unless the UPN deal is preventing it, they need to get to doing some Best Of SmackDown! DVDs already. While TLC3 is finally making it on a recorded device in the near future, there’s a lot of great stuff that gets left off because it’s not a PPV release and doesn’t fit a narrower biograph.
– I’m sure I love the idea of voting for President of RAW and SmackDown! more than most. But as long as we’re coming up with new ideas for existing talent, I’m usually for it. There’s a lot of potential for goofy campagin speeches and I hope they take advantage of it.
– WWE saying “we don’t expect SpikeTV to pay less for our shows” is a complete positioning statement and I doubt they even believe it, but why give up that position until they have to.
– How many quarters in a row have they talked about the movies they’re doing without having done anything about the moves?
– Somehow, I’m thinking they’ll bring up 4 PPVs in one quarter a lot more next quarter (and next year) than they did here.
Only one day game, but I’ve got nothing for it. I was sure I was going to squeeze in it somehow. Best Game NYM (35-36) vs NYY (45-25) Al Leiter (2-2, 2.14) vs Brad Halsey (1-0, 3.18) Page 2’s Daily Quicke rated this as the best interleague rivalarly (repeating the same thing in two different … Continue reading “Tgoadmaeys’s”
Only one day game, but I’ve got nothing for it. I was sure I was going to squeeze in it somehow.
Best Game
NYM (35-36) vs NYY (45-25)
Al Leiter (2-2, 2.14) vs Brad Halsey (1-0, 3.18)
Page 2’s Daily Quicke rated this as the best interleague rivalarly (repeating the same thing in two different sections, so we know I’m not the only one proofreading here). Not that I have an anti-East Cost bias bias or anything, but this is a series between a first place team and a third place/below .500 team. The Chicago series (two seconds) and the LA series (a second and a third, but the third is much better) are much more meaningful then the Subway Series.
Someone must’ve gotten around to fixing the Questec system in Shea this season, because Leiter’s got some outstanding home numbers.
Home: 2W, 0L, 5GS, 32 IP, .221 SLG, .287 OBA, 1.13 ERA
Away: 0W, 2L, 6GS, 31 IP, .382 SLG, .341 OBA, 3.19 ERA
Unfortunatly, this is the AL home weekend.
Mets As A Staff
Home: 3.27 ERA (1st), .358 SLG (1st), .318 OBA (8th)
Away: 3.87 ERA (3rd), .391 SLG (3th), .323 OBA (3rd)
Worst Game
MON (24-46) vs TOR (31-41)
Zach Day (5-7, 3.30) vs Josh Towers (1-2, 5.33)
It’s the disappionting versus the disappionting! What a thrilling series. Obviously, there’s a work slow down in effect to protest labor unrest in hockey. Could spell tragedy for this game.
How far below expectiations has the hitting been for both teams?
excellent (> 90 percentile PECOTA forecast)
TOR F Menechino
TOR G Zaun
above average (60-90 percentile PECOTA forecast)
TOR O Hudson
MON E Chavez
average (40-60 percentile PECOTA forecast)
TOR V Wells (but a massive power drop)
TOR C Gomez
TOR F Catalanotto
TOR C Gomez
MON J Rivera
MON T Sledge
MON B Schneider
MON B Wilkerson
below average (10-40 percentile PECOTA forecast)
TOR T Batista
MON N Johnson
MON J Vidro
horrible (> 10 percentile PECOTA forecast)
TOR E Hinske
TOR J Phelps
TOR C Delgado (although this is putting it mildly)
MON O Cabrera
(Top 9 per team. BP didn’t forecast Reed Johnson, so I added in Greg Zaun)
You know, I love saying Franky Menechino as much as the next guy, but something’s gotten seriously screwed up when he’s the best slugging Blue Jay this season. Everyone’s going to have people who break out and those who fall back, but the Blue Jays unfortunatly have those people swapped around.
Expos, on the other hand, have no one breaking out. Endy Chavez is only considered above average because he’s just barely replacement level, and the predicitons for him weren’t nearly that kind. Vidro and Cabrera not hitting up to expectations, but no one else is picking up the load. Which is the difference between a bad team (Blue Jays) and a vulgarly bad team (Expos.)
Closest Game
SFG (41-32) vs OAK (40-31)
Jason Schmidt (9-2, 2.26) vs Barry Zito (4-4, 4.81)
Ooooooooh. And this series is better than Yankees/Mets too.
What was the Beane stratgy from Moneyball? Something like “you spend the first two months evaluating your team, you spend the second two months trying to make it later, and you spend the last two months letting it play out”? We’re solidly in the middle two months now.
Is Dotel the reliable missing piece for the bullpen? My recent memories of him are all biased because of the Cubs 4 game sweep in Houston, where Dotel a save. BP’s metrics rate him as average; similar runs protected to Amaury Telemaco, similair value over replacement player as Julian Tavarez, neither of which will be fetching Carlos Beltran in a deal this year or any other.
This does somewhat seem an experment to test a theory on the A’s part. There’s been talk about the A’s lacking a high speed fastball pitcher on the staff to balance out the guys who get by more on a location and break. Dotel obviously fits that description.
I think they’re going to end up doing okay on this deal, but I don’t know if it’ll be enough.
Lopsided Game
STL (43-29) vs KCR (28-41)
Woody Williams (5-6, 4.66) vs Zach Greinke (1-3, 3.00)
This should be an intersting test for young Mr. Greinke, who really only owes the bad record to the 2.7 runs per game of support he’s getting. If he can get thru the Cardinals lineup, he may be as good as advertised.
Not to be pointlessly overdramatic here, but these six interleague games may end up playing a huge impact in the final NL Central standings and the future of our universe as we know it; the Cardinals are getting a huge break to play the Royals, while the Cubs and Brewers play the top two in the AL Central and Houston plays the top in AL West. There’s a slight different in quality of play, even before considering who just got shipped out of Kauffman Stadium.
Numbers on the prospects KC picked up
AAA: John Buck C .300/.368/.507 (11 E in 61 G)
AAA: Mark Teahen 3B .275/.381/.391 (0 HR in 69 AB)
AA: Mark Teahen 3B .335/.419/.543 (6 HR in 197 AB)
AAA: Mike Wood SP 2.80 ERA (4.20 ERA), .241 AVG, .298 OBA, 6.6K/9IP.
I don’t know. A catcher, a third basemen without power, and a pitcher with an inflated win total and not a lot of strikeouts. This could turn out to be yet another Royals/A’s trade yet. In Wood’s defense, there’s a lot of unearned runs on that stuff. Someone can’t field on the Rivercats.
There’s a good chance I’ll sleep thru doing this tommorow. We shall see.
Oh wow, actual day games. Gotta do this a little quicker. Best Game STL (42-29) vs CHC (40-31) Clement (7-5, 3.07) vs Carpenter (7-2, 3.95) And we’re right back where we started, 2 games seperate them, though the rest of the division has inched a little bit closer. A subplot, or at least one until … Continue reading “semag s’yodaT”
Oh wow, actual day games. Gotta do this a little quicker.
Best Game
STL (42-29) vs CHC (40-31)
Clement (7-5, 3.07) vs Carpenter (7-2, 3.95)
And we’re right back where we started, 2 games seperate them, though the rest of the division has inched a little bit closer.
A subplot, or at least one until battiers started getting ejected and relivers started indicating to their manager that they’re #1, was a match up of the two best third baseman in the league. Which is good if not actually true:
VORP – NL 3B top 5
Rolen STL 40.7
Lowell FLA 31.7
A-Ram CHC 29.4
Beltre LAD 27.8
Castilla COL 21.4
Top 3 should all probably make the All-Star team, though I wouldn’t be surprised if one ended up on the Last Man In ballot instead. Between this selection, Melvin Mora and Hank Blalock having good AL seasons, and the best player not named Barry moving to third, the position seems to have recovered from a lack of interesting and good talent the last few years.
Worst Game
DET (31-39) vs KCR (28-40)
Robertson (5-3, 3.76) vs George (1-0, 4.01)
One of the things you quickly realize about doing these previews is you’ll usually end with one game a day where you hvae absolutly noting interesint to say. This is that game. The AL Central is often that game – but I think it’s because the AL Central is easily the most boring division in baseball.
Story by Divison
And then there’s AL Central. You’ve got the Twins vs the White Sox in the third year of a direct rivalary that’s captured the imagination of no more than five people who don’t live in Minneapolis and wherever the White Sox play. There’s no credibility in winning the division leading anywhere, because the AL Central crown has just meant a playoff cameo and out in five games. The other three teams are in a non-competitve mode, ChiSox collapes aside, and not bringing much to the table.
There’s no Bonds or Prior or D-Train or (pick a Yankee here) in this division. There’s Pudge, but he’s on a non-competitive team. There’s Carlos Beltran, but not for long. Frank Thomas’ mid-career lost seasons have stripped him of his superstar aura. Torii Hunter is a highlight creation – someone who gets time in the post game coverage but isn’t a draw to go on. There’s no guy here who I want to go out of my way see. Which makes it kinda boring.
At least to me. Maybe I just hate the AL.
Closest Game
OAK (39-31) vs ANA (39-32)
Mulder (8-2) vs Ortiz (3-5, 4.68)
Split the series so far has allowed Texas to pick up a game on each team, and turned this into a second place battle. It’s probably too soon to imagine that end of the season series to have the same effect?
Reports after the fact had Houston believing the “Dotel to OAK, Beltran to HOU, prospects to KC” deal was as good as done, which would at least explain why they were clearing outfield space last week. Given Dotel’s own problems closing games for Houston, I think the A’s might have gotten lucky not doing it. One man’s garbage is another man’s treasure, but one man’s mentally scarred closer has a good chance of being a mentally scarred closer for you as well. It wouldn’t be Oakland without the big deal, but maybe they should avoid going after one troubled setup man turned closer when they already have one guy who failed at that transistion.
Lopsided Game
NYY (44-25) vs BAL (29-38)
Vazquez (7-5, 3.43) vs Ponson (3-9, 6.49)
Ah, Javie and the Fat Man.
We’ve got one of the moves that’s worked out the best from the off-season – Giambi playing the field isn’t good, but given Nick Johnson’s season, he would’ve been doing it anyway, and Vazquez has been great in April and June – and one of the worse, with the O’s paying $7.5 for the 14th worst pitcher in the majors this season. O’s are playing about a million dollars per Ponson win.
K/9
2003 Pre-Trade: 6.08
2003 w/Giants: 4.50
2004: 4.77
The end game slipped out of reach for Dusty’s as much as the ball did the same for Bako. It shouldn’t be surprise; Dusty’s not here for his in-game strategy, and given it was only one inning, it probably wasn’t a big difference whether Hollandsworth got a hit or not. Still, you hate to see … Continue reading “lineup control”
The end game slipped out of reach for Dusty’s as much as the ball did the same for Bako.
It shouldn’t be surprise; Dusty’s not here for his in-game strategy, and given it was only one inning, it probably wasn’t a big difference whether Hollandsworth got a hit or not. Still, you hate to see things go down horribly in flames like that.
Here’s what I would’ve done
– In the 8th, after Mercker and Barrett got kicked out, don’t immediately replace them with Bako and Remlinger. Stick starting pitchers you’re not going to use tonight – Maddux because he pitched last night, Clement because he couldn’t hit if you needed him – until their spots come up in the order or you’re back in the field. If those spots come up, you’ve got your choose in pinch hitters, and if they don’t, you can do a virtual double switch, maybe positioning Bako farther down the order. (In Weaver On Strategy, Earl Weaver explained he used this same concept)
– Don’t double switch when you’re the guy you’re bringing in isn’t a really good hitter. Given that Rey Ordonez has slipped to new levels of horrible, there’s no reason to have him bat, but he’s the last reasonable option at SS. If they left him in Ramon’s spot, they wouldn’t have the problem of Grudz potentially having to take his spot in the field – Mark’s just batting for the pitcher. Dusty has a bad trend of reflexing double switching if the pitcher is do up, even in situations like this where the pitcher isn’t likely to pitch next inning anyway and the guy he’s bringing in isn’t the best hitter they could’ve used the next inning.
– Pinch hit for Bako, regardless of the bench situation. I’m pretty certain anyone on the team would take playing out of position as catcher over losing. Bako did not give them their best chance of winning in that situation.
None of this is mind warping stuff.
Argh, Reds just went ahead.
The rule is – or, let’s be honest, Jim Baker’s rules, since I’m just using the template for his old e-mail newsletter and occasional BProspectus column – is that you don’t neccesarly do the same matchups the same day to avoid boredom. (This handly lets me write some of this the night before instead of … Continue reading “Today’s Gams”
The rule is – or, let’s be honest, Jim Baker’s rules, since I’m just using the template for his old e-mail newsletter and occasional BProspectus column – is that you don’t neccesarly do the same matchups the same day to avoid boredom. (This handly lets me write some of this the night before instead of squeezing it in around my normal schedule!) I’ll try to note when I’m skipping around from what’s mathamatically correct.
Also, unless I have a tremendous amount of fun or massive support or lots of free time, I’m only doing this gig for this week. (Regularly?) Don’t worry, I’ll talk about silly wrestling things eventually!
Best Game Of The Day
CHC (40-30) vs STL (41-29) – did it
MIN (38-31) vs BOS (36-31)
Carlos Silva (7-4, 4.13) vs Derek Lowe (6-5, 5.25)
5.25 seems pretty bad, but 5.25 after an 18 inning streak without an earned run seems even worse with a nice upside. What’s the amazing reason for his turnaround?
H/9 IP
2003 9.6
APR 12.7
MAY 13.3
JUN 5.6
Less hits = less runs, who’d thunk it. (He’s getting more groundballs too.)
Worst Game of The Day
DET (31-38) vs KCR (27-40) – sure why not
Gary Knotts (4-1, 4.25) vs Darrell May (4-8, 5.96)
I’d like to admit right now I have no idea who Gary Knotts is. It happens.
There comes a point in every season where, despite what they may read in Gammons columns or hear from Bud Selig, there are not really 30 teams do not have a chance for a World Series. There’s really like 15 who have a chance without some sort of miracle happening. Kansas City has realized they’re not one of those teams and have started to jettison those they can. Compartively, Seattle may get clued in sometime in Novemeber. Tampa’s going to enjoy their current ride, but hopefully even they’ll realize when it’s over, it’s over.
I think in most situations, I’d think the Tigers should take that same perspective; enjoy your surge towards averge-ness which this Kansas City series will undoubtly provide, but be ready to move anyone who’s worth anything in the very near future. The point is win now, or do whatever you can to win soon, and playing for 3rd doesn’t work.
There might be a exception here, given how completely horrible they were last year (although, oddly enough the worst team in the last 25 years wasn’t good enough to make ESPN’s list of the worst teams of the last 25 years). If you trade away players for prospects, aren’t you also trading any new regained credibility with them? There needs to be more some semblance of a plan here if anything that’s been gained is to be kept, rather than routine rebuilding.
Trying to make sense of my thoughts here: if you can talk the A’s into Urbana or whatever, good. But instead of going after B or C level prospects (getting an A level guy for a rent-a-player seems a thing of the past), the Tigers would benefit greater from trying to move one of their (other) bigger albatrosses.
Higginson $8.85mil this year, $11.85mil next year
D. Young $7.13mil this year, $7.13mil next year
J Johnson $3mil this year, $4mil next year
(Outside of Pudge, everyone else is just for this season or low for next year.)
It hasn’t taken a high salaried team to win in the AL Central the last few years, and there’s no reason to think that’ll change next year. They’ll only be carrying $37mil in salary for next season if they don’t make any moves, but if they do clear off the roster some more this season, they’ll have room for another free agent driven improvement next season.
Closest Game of The Day
LAD (37-31) vs SFG (39-32)
Jeff Weaver (5-7, 4.53) vs Jerome Williams (6-5, 4.59)
SF’s win last night moved them into first place; it’s all wacky percentages because the Giants have played 3 games more at this point.
MLB.com has a pitcher matchup preview page. Usually, they’ll give you 20+ words about the pitcher’s last start and his season so far. Here’s what they put for Jeff: “Weaver got his revenge by beating the Yankees.” There’s not quite the personal subtext for this one.
You could have a long debate if Jerome Williams or Dustin Hermanson is the second best starter on this team, but either way you look at it, they’re not close to Jason Schmidt.
VORP of the five guys with the most starts
Schmidt 33.0
Hermanson 6.6
Williams 5.7
Rueter 2.0
Tomko -10.2
Hmm, one guy very much better than the rest of his colleagues on the Giants, how familiar.
Highest Position Player VORPs
Bonds 56.6
Tucker 16.3
Oddly enough, even though Bonds is worth more than one and half Schmidt’s, Bonds is only 347% better than his next closest, while Schmidt is an even 500% better than his next closest. (I suspect those numbers might be different if compared the players vs the team average, but I’m not sure.)
Lopsided Game of The Day
NYY (44-24) vs BAL (28-38)
Jon Lieber (5-4, 4.83) vs Erik Bedard (1-2, 4.33)
I’m thinking Baltimore might be making frequent apperances in this category; two good teams and one really bad in the same divison don’t make for a great combo.
I didn’t think Lieber would be a great fit for the Yankees; he’s a guy who will create lots of defensive chances while keeping the ball in the park, but this isn’t a team built around taking advantage of lots of defensive chances. ESPN.com has recently added DIPS to their sortable stats, and it’s always fun to play with a new toy.
Leiber’s actual ERA is 4.83, but indepedent of defense, you’d expect it to be 4.38. That’s about a half a run on the bad side, but still not as bad as I expected it to be.
Erik Bedard is another AL guy I’m not familair with, but the notes indicate this may be a make or break start for him. I’m not sure why, because he’s got decent numbers the last couple times out.
06/04 3IP, 5R, 86Pitches
06/12 5IP, 2R, 99Pitches
06/17 5IP, 1R, 86Pitches
Obviously, going deep into games has been a problem for him (longest outing of the year is 6 2/3rds), and he’s shown the inconsistency you might expect from a young pitcher, but it’s not like the O’s have a surplus of good pitchers at the moment or are contending for anything but draft position already. Might as well give him the full season to figure if he can consistenly make it to 100 pitchers before bottoming out.
The 06/12 CMLL recap was mistaken put in the active folder, so you might have either read something half finished and horribly spelled, or gotten a 404 Missing Page message. I took the link away for now. It’ll go up for real sometime tonight, I think. I need to fix these categories.
The 06/12 CMLL recap was mistaken put in the active folder, so you might have either read something half finished and horribly spelled, or gotten a 404 Missing Page message.
I took the link away for now. It’ll go up for real sometime tonight, I think.
I need to fix these categories.
It’s 2! I’ve actually got to do stuff today and am busy! Well, not really do as much as stand and watch and think “I could do this five hundered times faster? Why am I here? Why do I have to stand when my foot hurts?” but you’d really have to be here to understand. … Continue reading “Today’s Games (06/22)”
It’s 2! I’ve actually got to do stuff today and am busy! Well, not really do as much as stand and watch and think “I could do this five hundered times faster? Why am I here? Why do I have to stand when my foot hurts?” but you’d really have to be here to understand.
Luckily, all night games.
I think, now, I’ve got the person style I actually wanted to emulate:
Best Game Of The Day
CHC (39-30) vs STL (41-28)
Greg Maddux (6-5, 3.91) vs Jason Marquis (6-4, 4.26)
This is the battle for the NL Central, for now. Cubs lead the season series slightly, 6-5.
As I mentioned previously, earlier in this season I thought it might be doubtful Greg Maddux would get to 15 wins for in another consecutive season, as he was pulling off a decided lack of Ws. He’s picked them up more often lately.
2004 Wins/ERA
APR 1/5.65
MAY 3/3.54
JUN 2/2.21 (with 2 starts to go)
Maddux has also had a rep as a slow starter this last few seasons. So was his early win totals pretty similar to previous years?
2003 Wins/ERA
APR 3/5.13
MAY 1/4.63
JUN 2/4.74
JUL 3/3.60
AUG 4/2.25
SEP 3/3.18
2002 Wins/ERA
APR 2/4.37
MAY 4/2.15
JUN 1/3.10
JUL 3/1.46
AUG 1/2.54
SEP 5/2.91
2001 Wins/ERA
APR 2/2.48
MAY 2/2.54
JUN 5/2.13
JUL 5/2.82
AUG 3/4.08
SEP 0/5.19
Sorta. He’s got 6 now, and he’s had 7, 7, and 9.
But the larger picture is the yearly high win totals come from constant good months with a varying amount of help, and a lot from the one month you’re good and everyone else around you helps too. So even if he wasn’t on pace right now, you’d have to give him the leeway of having that W filled stretch down the road until he’s proven he can’t do it.
That April ERA has gone up every year.
Worst Game Of The Day
DET (31-37) vs KCR (26-40)
Maroth (5-4, 4.23) vs Gobble (3-4, 4,81)
Maroth would have to have one of the more spectacually bad last 15 weeks of the season to lose 20 games for the second straight year. I think it’s a safe assumption this isn’t going to happen. Is he actually pitching better this season, or is he just getting better support from the hitting and the bullpen?
SN W/L %
2003 .391
2004 .570
That’d be a Yes.
Currently, Maroth ranks as second most hurt by his bullpen in 2004; he should probably have another win if he got decent help. He was thirteenth last year, and I wonder if that means the bullpen has been worse for him or if it’s just more of a factor because everything else has turned around for him.
It’s nice to be confirmed 20 Losses does not neccesary mean the end of a pitcher’s usefulness, and perhaps in the future managers might follow Trammell’s lead and just let them pitch with 19Ls.
Closest Game Of The Day
OAK (38-30) vs ANA (38-31)
Tim Hudson (7-2, 2.78) vs Bartolo Colon (4-6, 6.04)
Can’t get much closer than that. Well, if OAK had played and lost one more game.
The rivalary between these teams will likely go down to the wire for the AL West crown. While no one outside of the Lone Star State actually believes the Rangers are in this race for the long run, by playing better than any of three also runs in the AL East, it’s going to make it hard for the Wild Card to come from a left coast.
Unlike other divisions, they’ll mostly get to settle it on the field.
OAK @ ANA 06/22-06/24
ANA @ OAK 06/29-06/30
no July
no August
OAK @ ANA 09/24-09/26
ANA @ OAK 10/01-10/03 * Last Day Of the season
In between those last two series, OAK gets a four game versus Seattle (who perhaps might’ve come around to throwing in the towel on the season by then) and ANA gets TEX.
Lopsided Game Of The Day
PHI (36-31) vs MON (22-45)
Brett Myers (5-3, 4.14) vs Livan Hernandez (3-7, 4.42)
Expos As Bizzaro Team, Part 34 In A Never Ending Series: On any other team, or perhaps with any other man, isn’t Frank Robinson fired by now? The bottom fell out on a team that hasn’t always lived up to expectations and certinatly shouldn’t be this bad this season. Three years is usually all the time an ownership group is willing to give to a medicore manager, and Robinson’s results have been well below medicore this season. Not to mention the players all hating him.
Did everyone catch up to Livan this year? Did he just get old between trips to San Juan? He was having an all time great hidden pitching season, but the easy numbers don’t seem to support it this year.
SN W/L %
2003 .647 (should’ve been 16-9, was 14-10)
2004 .647 (should’ve been 7-4, is 3-7)
Dead on. Can you believe it? He’s the unluckiest starter in the NL this year. (Zach Day is 6th)
Perhaps, since the Expos should be ready to move, this is the guy the Dodgers and the White Sox of the world should go after.