Random Baseball

Maybe I'll bring Random Baseball back as a regular thing this year. But for now I'll give you just a couple of items.

• Jamie Moyer officially became the oldest pitcher to record a win in an MLB game this week. His catcher in that game was born in 1989, 3 years after Moyer debuted with the Cubs. Since then he has faced 8.9% of all the men to have ever played major league baseball. (Moyers Rookie baseball card)
  
• Former Cardinals outfielder Roy Hobbs Rick Ankiel threw a strike. From center field.
  

Opening Day(s)

The 2012 baseball season is under way. A few thoughts from the first games.

• My Cardinals won in impressive fashion in Miami Wednesday  night with pitcher Kyle Lohse throwing 6+ no-hit baseball.
• All the pomp and pagentry that went into the introductions in Miami was cool. They even had Brazilian dancers escorting players on to the field. All very Miami. The stadium was sold out. They still need to put a good team on the field if they want that to continue.
• Miami lost to Cincinnati on Thursday. An 0 - 2 start.
• Cubs opening day was one of the coldest I've been to ...  maybe ever. The temp wasn't so bad but our seats were in a natural wind tunnel. It sucked.
• The Cubs lost 2 - 1. IIRC, the Cubs have not won on opening day since 1996.
• Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers ace and scheduled opening day pitcher had the flu. His manager, Don Mattingly, his pitching coach, and his general manager all asked him not to pitch. He pitched anyway.

Let me comment a bit more on the Kershaw issue. Mattingly should have put his foot down and not allowed this to happen. He's the manager and it's his job. He should have skipped Kershaw's spot in the rotation and gone with his Day 2 pitcher. Kershaw would get his start in game 5.

Instead they let Kershaw pitch. He only went 3 innings and the Dodgers had to use 5 relievers. Those relievers will have limited availability over the next couple of days. If a starter gets in trouble they may  have to leave him in and take a loss. Kershaw was also visibly sick. He did not give up a run but he looked weak. Plus, adding the stress of playing yesterday may delay his recovery and he won't be ready for his next start.

A lot of people were talking about what a gutsy performance it was. I think it was a stupid performance and a poor decision. Kershaw's pride made him want the opening day start and the teams management couldn't or wouldn't stand up for what was right.

It's On!

Spring Training camps opened this week.

HOF Follow Up

One voter bases his choices on his dinner plans.

HOF: Why Can't I Quit You

The Answer: The one player the scrooges that are the Baseball Writers Association of America quite reluctantly agree to elect into the Baseball HOF this year to sit along side the spit ballers and speed freaks there were their childhood heroes.

The Question: Who is Barry Larkin*?

The voters also bumped up Jack Morris' vote total that likely will make him next year's inductee.

I have such a love/hate relationship with the HOF. There always going to be legitimate bones of contention over certain players. One has to draw a line somewhere to distinguish HOF caliber players from the merely great players.

The problem for me is two fold. It starts with what seems like clear reluctance on the BBWAA voters behalf to enshrine new players. This is made painfully clear when you see how players spend years on the ballot and then slowly climb in votes until finally elected. It is even worse when you see some players clearly snubbed on their first year and then elected in the second year. I can only really attribute this to the voters nostalgia for older players. If you want further evidence look into how the "Veterans Committee" was transformed and renamed the "Golden Era Committee."

My second problem I've hashed out previously. I don't accept the idea that steroid use is an automatic disqualifier. Additionally, I've always suspected that it was being used as an excuse to exclude certain players not liked by the writers. Over the weekend one writer being interviewed on MLB Network confirmed this suspicion. He said he wouldn't vote for Mark McGwire or Rafael Palmeiro because he thought steroids were cheating. He went on to say that he thought he would eventually vote for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens - despite proven steroid use - because he "believed" they would be of HOF caliber without the steroid use. I can only call bullshit.

Yet, the HOF is the last great honor a player can earn and is heavily reported if not highly respected. I love the sport and obviously I want this final honor to be meted out in a way I see as fair. Certain players are going to be on the cusp and I would have disagreements one way or the other. What I see though is a small group of privileged voters exercising their biases.

*Personal note. Barry Larkin is extremely deserving of HOF induction. He is one of the best short stops to ever play the game. He set the standard for guys like Ripkin Jr., A-Rod, Jeter, and Garciapara.

Stash the Copenhaggen

While watching the last game of the NLCS on Sunday I saw Prince Fielder come back from an at-bat. He took a seat, opened his tin, and packed in a huge wad of tobacco into his mouth. I was surprised the camera stayed on him.

Then I see this. Now that Congress has found jobs for all 15MM+ people out of work they are asking MLB to ban use of chewing tobacco.

Cardinals Getting Dangerfield Treatment

My Cardinals now lead the National League Championship Series 2 - 1 over the Milwaukee Brewers. I know I haven't written much about baseball this year but believe me I've been paying attention over the past couple of months. The Birds were written off at the end of August when they were 10-1/2 games out of the Wild Card. Then they got hot. Then they over took a struggling Atlanta Braves. Then they made the playoffs.

In the first round they went up against the big money Phillies. The Phillies were the anointed winner of the National League and preordained to play the Boston Red Sox in the 2011 World Series. Every prognosticator said so. Then something weird happened. The Cardinals won game 2 in Philadelphia. The series went 5 innings with a match up of two former Cy Young award winners. The Phillies starter, Roy Halladay, went 8 innings giving up just a single run on 6 hits. Cardinals starter, Chris Carpenter, threw a complete game, 3 hit, shutout.

It was impossible. The Cardinals didn't deserve it. They had snuck into the playoffs because a better team, Atlanta had faltered. They didn't deserve this win. The Phillies had rolled over.

Never mind the Cardinals had a winning record against the Phillies in the regular season.
Never mind the Cardinals have the best player in the game.
Never mind the Cardinals have very good starting pitching.
Never mind the Cardinals have a manager that has the most post seasons wins of any active manager.

Now we're facing the Central Division champion Milwaukee Brewers. Last off season they went out and got great starting pitching to go along with their potent offense. At the All Star break they traded for a closer with 30+ save seasons to be their 8th inning set up man. Milwaukee is destined to beat the Cardinals.

If (WHEN!) the Cardinals beat the Brewers I predict we'll hear the same thing. The Brewers were a better team. The Cardinals snuck past them because so-and-so didn't play well.

Never mind the Cardinals had a winning record against the Brewers in the regular season.
Never mind the Cardinals have the best player in the game.
Never mind the Cardinals have very good starting pitching.
Never mind the Cardinals have a manager that has the most post seasons wins of any active manager.

If the Cardinals go on to win the World Series (probably against the Texas Rangers) I predict we will again hear how the Cardinals beat a better team. In 2006 we heard how the Cardinals shouldn't have beat The Hated New York Mets. And then we heard how they shouldn't have beat the Detroit Tigers.

Never mind the Cardinals have the best player in the game.
Never mind the Cardinals have very good starting pitching.
Never mind the Cardinals have a manager that has the most post seasons wins of any active manager.

Yes, the Cardinals are streaky. They go on long runs of winning and then long runs of losing. It frustrates the hell out of me when I see them put up 10 runs in one game and then 1 run the next day. I don't think it is a given we will beat the Brewers or win the world series. However, the Cardinals are a good team and when they are hot they are as good as any team in baseball today.

What frustrates me more than the losing streaks? The lack of respect.

Today's Stat

.036

Is Adam Dunn's slugging percentage in 100 plate appearances against left handed pitching this year.

That is unbelievably bad. That's freaking horrendous. This past year the White Sox gave Dunn a 4 year, $56M deal. This year certainly could be an anomolay but this might very well be the worst free agent signing in history.

Jeter

Dear FSM his 3,000th hit can't come soon enough. Sure, we'll have to listen to a few more weeks of fluffing and it'll get mentioned for the rest of the year. That's inevitable. The hell of it is I kind of like and respect Jeter. All the hype and sensation surrounding the team is what is off putting. So, can we stop with this kind of shit please, Jeter's career sparks debate: Is he greatest Yankee of all time?

No!

No!

and No!

Baseball List of Fours

My temporary roommate brought these questions back from a recent road trip. They're quite difficult baseball trivia but I thought they were pretty cool.

QUESTIONS:

1. What 4 active MBL team managers had 1,500 or more hits as a player? For example, Lou Piniella had 1,705 hits as a player. Alas, Sweet Lou is retired and does not make the list.
2. Name the 4 Cincinnati Reds players, past or present, that have had 35 home runs and 35 doubles in the same season.
3. Name the 4 current players who are their current team's all time hit leader.

ANSWERS:

1. The trick here is that there was a lot of turn over in the past season and a half.
   
   • Don Mattingly, LA Dodgers, 2,153 hits
   • Dusty Baker, Cincinnati Reds, 1,981 hits
   • Ozzie Guillen, Chicago White Sox, 1,764
   • Kirk Gibson, Arizona Diamondbacks, 1,553
2. This one has a couple surprising answers. How did Bench and Dunn leg out that many doubles?
   
   • Frank Robinson, 1962, 51 DBLs, 39 HRs
   • Johnny Bench, 1970, 35 DBLs, 45 HRs
   • Adam Dunn, 2005, 35 DBLs, 40 HRs
   • Joey Votto, 2010, 36 DBLs, 37 HRs
3. Obviously these are current players so the hits totals are increasing. A note here, these numbers reflect a team's entire history. Chipper Jones leads the Atlanta Braves but when you trace team history back through Milwaukee Hammerin' Hank wins by a blowout. Similarly, Ryan Zimmerman leads the Washington Nationals but since they were once the Montreal Expos he doesn't even make the top 5.
• Derel Jeter, NYY, 2,988+ hits
• Ichiro Suzuki, SEA, 2,310+ hits
• Tedd Helton, COL, 2,287+ hits
• Michael Young, TEX, 1,923+ hits

Broadcaster Bob

While on the topic of the Cubs/Cards series, Cubs broadcaster Bob Brenly made the news by calling out the Cubs for lackluster performance and effort yesterday. “This has been, once again, another dead-ass team," is the quote from the article.

It wasn't the only time he called out the Cubs performance. Watching the game on Sunday a Cardinals hitter popped up a ball that landed in the third baseline dugout. Cubs' third baseman Aramis Ramirez trotted over - it was faster than a mosey but definitely less than a run - and watched it fall into the dugout. It appears the ball was reachable by leaning over the railing a bit.

I don't have a transcript but either Len Kasper or Bob made the comment that Ramirez ran about half speed over to the dugout and maybe could have made a play. Bob said, and I'm paraphrasing here, "We don't really know what full speed for Ramirez is since he's never shown it to us."

Hope.

A weekend series against the hapless Cubs does not a season or turnaround make, but...dot.dot..

Walk off home runs in extra innings on Saturday and Sunday have me hopeful that the greatest player in baseball is coming out of a two month slump.

Thanks to the efforts of Matt Holiday and, surprisingly, Lance Berkman the Cardinals have the most wins and most runs scored in baseball.

If those two can keep up their production (both are down with injuries) and Pujols breaks out of his season long slump we may just have a chance at the playoffs. A chance I thought we lost when Adam Wainwright went down for the season in Spring Training.

Wilson Valdez (1-0)

I haven't put up many baseball posts this year but last night we really had something of note take place.  The Phillies and Reds effectively played a double header when they went 19 innings.  As oft happens in games of this length one team or the other runs out of pitchers.  Last night it was the Phillies.

In comes back up second baseman Wilson Valdez.

They asked me if I could pitch. I said, 'Yeah, why not?' ... I was trying to throw a strike. That's the only thing.

He plunked Scott Rolen but he also closed out the inning for the win.

The hilarious part for me:

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard put his mitt over his face to hide his smile when Valdez shook off his catcher.

That's awesome!

R.I.P., The Killer

Harmon Clayton Killebrew
1936 - 2011

At Target Field, where the video board showed a picture of Killebrew, members of the Twins' ground crew slowly lifted home plate and slipped under it a plastic-encased, black-and-white photo of Killebrew winding up for a swing. The picture, believed to be from the 1960s, will stay beneath the plate the rest of the season.

I haven't posted any baseball this season or really much of anything.  Life and especially work has been excessively busy.

One of the greats has left us. This affable man earned his nickname with his bat.  Even after the home run era of the 90s and 00s the 11 time All-Star sits at #11 on the all time home run list.

Random Baseball: Flog, Flog Away

Ernie Tyler

Spring Training is well under way so let's take a look at what's been going on.

• Mr. Ernie Tyler was an umpires attendant, a ball boy really, for the Baltimore Orioles since 1960.  He started as a part time usher in 1954.  He work 3,819 straight games as an umpire attendant.  That's nearly 1,200 more games than the Iron Man's, Cal Ripken, consecutive games played record.  Ernie voluntarily ended his consecutive game streak to attend Cal Ripken's Hall Of Fame induction ceremony.  Ernie passed away on February 10.  RIP.

• I know, I know.  A broken record I am.  If you believe amphetamine users and spit ballers belong in the Baseball Hall Of Fame, then you are being hypocritical if you think steroid users do not belong.

  First, how can you reasonably justify withholding a vote for steroid use but not amphetamine use? Amphetamines became illegal two decades before steroids did. That was also about when we learned amphetamine use was rampant in baseball, thanks to "Ball Four." In other words, a whole lot more players used amphetamines and for a whole lot longer than ever took steroids. And you probably voted for them without hesitation.

  
  
• I am PLEASANTLY SURPRISED!  Cliff Lee will be pitching for the Phillies this season.  This is actually one a growing number of contracts where the player choosing to take less money to play for a team he wants than just taking the highest offer on the table.  Kerry Wood is said to have done the same thing to return to the Cubs this year.

• Alas!  Only the Pirates could lose a salary arbitration to a 1 - 11 pitcher.  .
• The Cardinals have not yet signed Albert Pujols to a contract extension. As is the wish of Albert all talks halted on the day he reported to Spring Training. The Cardinals will have sole negotiating rights to Pujols from the day after the complete their last game (regular season or playoffs whichever comes last) until 10 days after the World Series ends. At that point all teams can start negotiation. I really have no idea what is going to happen. I'll have some more thoughts on this at a later date.
  

Today's Stat

$51,837,500

is the life time earnings of Gil Meche.

"Who? Why, Gil Meche, of course.

Gil was a Major League pitcher for 10 years. He played for the Seattle Mariners and Kansas City Royals. Perhaps you think you've never heard of him because of the teams he played on. Or, more than likely it is because he was 100% middle of the road average.

He retires with a record of 84 - 83, a .504 winning percentage. But, LPCardsFan, you say, wins and losses is not a good measure of a pitcher. It is too reliant on his teammates. I agree. So let's look at his adjusted ERA (ERA+). This measure compares him to other pitchers and adjusts for ballpark. A 100 is the middle of the road. Meche's career ERA+ is 99.

Meche is the very definition an average major league pitcher. And he made $52 million. One might argue that this proves that salaries from pro athletes are out of control. Maybe. I would counter with the fact that Gil Meche was employed by major league franchises for 10 years because he ranked in the top 750 baseball players in the world for a decade.

The wages of mediocrity in MLB are different than in other buisnesses.

Winter Meetings

Did you know it is baseball season?  It is.  Team executives and managers have been meeting in Orlando all week. They're doing deals that will determine the make up of teams for next year.  What happened for teams that matter here at LPCARDSFAN?

THE CARDINALS: 

The Birds are stocking up on former NL Central opponents. 

They traded a relief pitcher to the Dodgers for former Cubs' SS Ryan Theriot.  Theriot was arbitration eligible this year and the Cards signed him to a one year deal.  I admit this news pissed me off early on.  I think Theriot is overrated.  The Cardinals SS last year, a Gold Glove caliber defender, struggled to stay above the Mendoza Line.  In the end, Ryan Theriot had a Runs Above Replacement rating of -1 last year.  Brendan Ryan had a RAR of +8.  That statistic tells me the Cardinals are reducing their run total by 9 runs and paying 8 times as much to do it.

Just as unexplainable is the signing of former Astro Lance Berkman.  Berkman recently had knee surger.  He's old for a baseball player and is overweight.  He's been primarily a 1B for years and the Cardinals plan on playing him regularly in LF.  Did I mention he had knee surgery?  I just don't get it.  We have an every day left field and one of the best hitting players in the game in Matt Holiday (NL Ranks: 5th in BA, 7th in RBIs, 13th in HR).  The Birds get Holiday to agree to move to right field to make room for Lance Berkman.  I know we were offensively weak in RF but was this the best option?  WTF is Mozeliak smoking?

The big news all Bird fans are waiting for breathlessly is resigning Pujols.  The Cardinals control him thorugh 2011 but we all want a contract extension done before he hits the free market.

THE CUBS:

It took two attempts but the Northsiders traded away fan favorite Derek Lee last year.  That left a huge hole in the line up and 1B.  It turns out that Xavier Nady is not the answer. Hoocoodanode?   The Cubs signed free agent Carlos Pena to a 1 YR, $10M deal.  Pena had a rough offensive year last year.  He also was below the Mendoza Line with a .196BA.  He made up for it with 28 dingers.  Clearly Pena should be a stop gap.  We'll see if Hendry realizes that.

THE WHITE SOX:

Kenny Williams, one of the most fun interviews in baseball, is making big moves.

He nontendered closer Bobby Jenks.  Jenks' numbers have been on the decline for three years and the Sox have a power arm in Matt Thorton waiting in the wings.  Here's a move I approve of.

Things that are kept constant are the #2 and #3 positions.  Both A.J. and Paulie were resigned.  There was drama around Paulie's resigning but it's a done deal.

Adding pop to the line up the Sox signed the strike-out prone slugger Adam Dunn.  Now when your slugging percentage looks like Dunn's strikeouts become an overrated negative stat.  The real question with this signing is the length of the contract and can Dunn hit AL pitching?  I think he'll have a good year - not a great year - but a good year.

OTHER TEAMS that matter less.

The Nationals signed Jayson Werth to a ridiculously long, high dollar contract.  I'm a Werth fan.  I had hoped he would be the Cardinals new RF.  Not for that kind of money though.  Still good for the Springfield, IL, native for getting all he's worth and then some.  As for the Nats, when you are a doormat team, you have to spend big money to get impact players.  Four, five years down the line they might be griping about this contract.  However, if they get some winning years and are able to bring in / keep other good players one could point to this move as contributing to that success.

The Evil Empire resigned the defensively 32nd best SS to a 3 year deal that is rewarding him for previous services rendered. They also have resigned the best reliever to ever play the game.  Mo may still be throwing cutters and saving games when he's 50.

Boston has made Carl Crawford the highest paid outfielder in the history of baseball. They will pay him $142M over the next 7 years. Deals in general are getting longer and 7 years, if not a norm, are becoming more common. I think this is a bad, bad idea. Athletes can see their performance affected by team chemistry, they get injured, skills atrophy. Committing to deals this long is not good for the team.

As the week concludes the bidding war for Cliff Lee is getting heated. When all is said and done though, I will be (pleasantly) surprised if Lee pitches for any one other than the The Evil Empire next year.

Spring Training starts in 60 days!

Banned For Life

Just like Pete Rose. I can hope, can't I?

Last night MLB Network was covering the Winter Meetings in Orlando.  Lou Piniella was there and they interviewed him.  Tim Raines lead into a question siting Lou's well known run ins with umpires and asked him to recount his "best line" ever to an umpire.

Lou said, "I'll tell you a story." 

He related (3:00 minute mark) an unspecified game in Seattle where a pitcher was struggling to keep a 4 - 2 lead.  Lou said he thought the home plate umpire was squeezing the strike zone.  Lou went to the mound and waited for the unnamed umpire to approach the mound. 

 Lou asked, "Where are those pitches at?"

The umpire responded, "Will you repeat that?"

"I asked where are those pitches at?"

"Lou, I'm surprised at you"

"well what's the problem"

"Well you went to college."

"Yea."

"Well did you learn in college you don't end a sentence with a preposition?"

"OK, let me rephrase that.  Where are those pitches at, you no good ..." 

Lou started mumbling and all three commentators roared with laughter.  For the love of FMS can we never, ever tell this story again?  Please?  No body by the name of Bob Wilcox, the pitcher Lou mentions, ever played major league baseball.

This is worse than every sports cliche known to man kind.  It's a stupid story that I've heard told at least a dozen times.  IT IS NOT TRUE.  If it ever happened it only happened once to one person.  I bet they didn't even come up with the snappy comeback until they walked away from the umpire or referee.

NEVER, EVER should we allow this story to be retold again. 

In Need of Good News?

Has the time change given you the blues?
Have the election results got you down?
Does the impending holiday season depress you?

Well, then, let me put a little hop back in your step.  ESPN has finally - FINALLY - fired Joe Morgan!

Captain Hook

George Lee Anderson, b. Feb. 22, 1934. d. Nov. 4, 2010.

My vague memories of Sparky start with him as a manager of the Detroit Tigers in the 1980s. He is 6th on the all times win list for Major League Baseball managers and won 3 World Series and 5 pennants. Although he spent more time in Detroit, Sparky is most famously the skipper of the Big Red Machine. With Cincinnati he won two of his rings and introduced and popularized the 5 man starting rotation. In a matter of a year or two is was adopted across baseball.

A truly deserving member of the Hall Of Fame and a loss to baseball. So long, Sparky.