Random Collection of Thoughts re April 17 in MLB

According to Wikipedia and their sources, the triple play by the New York Yankees during their game against the Tampa Bay Rays was the 692nd of all time.  While that is a nifty factoid there is something else to take from that game that includes a little bit fortune-telling.  Rays starter David Price had a sub-standard showing for a "regular" starting pitcher never mind his time-tested elevated standards.  The next scheduled start for Mr. Price will be versus the Minnesota Twins, bet on Mr. Price to find his groove.


The Pittsburgh Pirates hit four more homeruns Thursday night, three of them with runners on base, to dismantle the hot-no-more Milwaukee Brewers 11-2.  Pittsburgh is now second in the league with 23 round trips around the bases.  When I looked up that stat I was quite surprised to see the Baltimore Orioles, last years far and away leader in homeruns, sitting in 27th place overall with only 9 homeruns.  The next statement is brought to you by Captain Obvious - the only stat that really matters is both teams currently sit at .500 with their win/loss record.


I had asked for the "real" Washington Nationals to please stand up during this weekends 4 game series hosting the St. Louis Cardinals.  Thursday night's series opener featured 4 errors on defense and only 2 hits on offense by the Nats.  Maybe the Nats are just following the script of Hulk Hogan wrestling match and will use Friday to hulk up!


The uber highs and uber lows of being a Seattle Mariner fan can be summed up in the following sequence from their Thursday game with division rival Texas Rangers.  Down 4-0 going into the top of the 3rd inning, Robinson Cano finally hits his 1st homerun of the season (with 2 men on base as an added bonus).  Before their half of the inning was over, the M's would add three more runs to take a 6-4.  The next time Mr. Cano comes to the plate in the top of the 4th inning, the game is tied at 6 and with a man on first, Mr. Cano grounds into a double play. 


Look at the bright side Mariner fans, Toronto Blue Jay fans are all wishing they could call a mulligan on both their games yesterday against the Minnesota Twins.  In the morning game of a double header, Jays outfielder Melky Cabrera would have season long 14 game hitting streak snapped and R A Dickey would have his season long struggles continue.  In the afternoon game of the double header, EIGHT WALKS IN THE 8TH by their bullpen would cost the Jays the game.


One more three game sweep to report, this time by the Kansas City Royals over the Houston Astros.  Internet high five!

Random Collection of Thoughts re April 14 in the MLB

After six innings of play, the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates combined for TEN homeruns.  That is more homeruns than the Baltimore Orioles (9), San Diego Padres (7), Texas Rangers (5), and Kansas City Royals have hit the ENTIRE SEASON. 


When doing research for the above stat I stumbled upon the following - - 16 of 30 teams were hitting under .250 (1 of 4) going into the evening's slate of games.  Last season finished with 13 teams under a .250 team batting average, 12 in 2012, 11 in 2011, 9 in 2010.  Furthermore not since 2008 has the MLB has averaged more than 9 hits per game.  Moral of the stat story, with so much glamor given to the homerun, if nobody is on base, it's just one run. 




A nifty stat was posted by the Oakland Athletics gameday Twitter account: "(Yoenis) Cespedes is 8-for-24 (.333) with runners on compared to 3-for-23 (.130) with the bases empty"  They posted this in the 9th inning trailing the Anaheim Angels by one with a man on first.  Cespedes would fly out but pinch hitter John Jaso would hit a 2 run homerun to give the A's the lead and the win.  Sooner or later the problematic pairing of "sabremetrics" and "moneyball" will fail.  I keep choosing sooner and it keeps becoming later.




16 games, about 1/10 of the season is over for the Arizona Diamondbacks.  A 7-3 loss to the New York Mets keeps the D'Backs at 4 wins on the season.  I feel sorry for the anxiety that must be running through the Kirk Gibson family in regards to his job security and will stop writing about it out of respect for a man with the most memorable homerun trot of my life.


The Colorado Rockies found an improbable way to lose to the San Diego Padres Monday night.  After WALKING THE BASES LOADED, a wild pitch would score the game tying run and an errant throw back to the plate would score the game winning run.  Wow, just wow!

As a wrestling fan I feel obliged to share this link,

 Pirates adopt wrestling champ Daniel Bryan's 'YES!' chant