The first 9 outs St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Michael Wacha recorded on Wednesday were strikeouts. As impressive as that is any and every time I read his name here's what instantly goes through my mind "waka, waka, waka"
Dictionary.com defines the word "Pinata" as " a gaily decorated crock or papier-mâché figure filled with toys, candy, etc., and suspended from above...so that children, who are blindfolded, may break it or knock it down with sticks and release the contents." New York Yankees starting pitcher Michael Pineda deserves his own Pinata, so many baseball purists would love to knock the pine tar out of him.
Internet high five to the Texas Rangers for their sweep three game sweep of the Oakland Athletics. The A's had not lost back to back games all year and now travel to Houston for a 4 game set. The A's had just swept the Astros before being whitewashed by the Rangers. Meanwhile the Rangers head to Seattle for a weekend series, trying to match their season high five game win streak. During their first five game win streak, three of those wins were against the Mariners.
Speaking of the Seattle Mariners, they are one of three teams that avoided sweeps in their respective series by winning Wednesday night. Kyle Seager may have earned himself a bobblehead night with a two homerun game with the second one being of the walk-off variety.
The San Francisco Giants, after being outpitched the first two games of the series, decided to try to beat the Colorado Rockies with the long ball. The Giants hit 6 homeruns with the 6th being a grand slam in the 11th. Sigh, I stand by my prediction if the Rockies pitching can become mediocre, they will make the playoffs.
Lastly, the Washington Nationals avoided the sweep to the Los Angeles Angels thanks to 9th inning meltdown in the Angels bullpen. On paper, the rosters of the Nationals and Angels coulda/shoulda/woulda be World Series bound. I won't hold my breathe.
Showing posts with label Texas Rangers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Texas Rangers. Show all posts
Thursday, 24 April 2014
Friday, 18 April 2014
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!
Monday, 14 April 2014
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!
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,
Monday, 7 April 2014
Random Collection of Ideas re: April 7 in MLB
According to an article from ESPN's Buster Olney, a MLB executive is floating the idea of 7 inning games instead of 9. Here's a link to the free part of the article. While we are it, lets make hockey three 15 minute periods instead of 20 minutes and condense the NBA into three quarters instead of four quarters. Dear Mr. MLB Exec, if you want to protect the athletes like your starting pitchers, vote to cut 62 games off of the schedule, that translates to approximately 12 less starts. Oh wait, that would dip into your bottom line wouldn't it? I'm sure if the games were reduced 22% to seven innings, ticket prices would be reduced 22%, right? My idea to ban defensive shifts doesn't seem so absurd anymore does it?
Texas Ranger Prince Fielder went 0-4 tonight dropping his average to .143. This batting average will double by season's end. J.P. Arencibia went 0-3 tonight dropping his average .125. This batting average will NOT double by season's end.
With today's loss to the Anaheim Angels, the Houston Astros drop under .500 by one game. Official prediction, the Astros will not reach the .500 mark again this season. Guess I'm cheering quite hard for the Toronto Blue Jays Tuesday night.
Speaking of the Angels, they fly to Seattle Tuesday to face James Paxton for the second time in a week. In college baseball, the third time round the order is usually the most nerve wracking as the batters now have seen most of what the pitcher has to offer. This is the first time in Paxton's 6 six start career that he is facing a team for the second time. Paxton shut the Angels out over seven inning facing everybody minus the bottom of the order three times. Smells like boom or bust for the Halo's.
Kansas City Royal starting pitcher Jason Vargas has pitched 15 total innings in his two starts this season giving up only two runs. Both runs coming against him were solo homeruns by second baseman (Detriot's Ian Kinsler and Tampa's Ben Zobrist). Vargas' next scheduled start is against the Minnesota Twins, so if you play fantasy baseball, Brian Dozier is a must have on your roster this weekend.
Texas Ranger Prince Fielder went 0-4 tonight dropping his average to .143. This batting average will double by season's end. J.P. Arencibia went 0-3 tonight dropping his average .125. This batting average will NOT double by season's end.
With today's loss to the Anaheim Angels, the Houston Astros drop under .500 by one game. Official prediction, the Astros will not reach the .500 mark again this season. Guess I'm cheering quite hard for the Toronto Blue Jays Tuesday night.
Speaking of the Angels, they fly to Seattle Tuesday to face James Paxton for the second time in a week. In college baseball, the third time round the order is usually the most nerve wracking as the batters now have seen most of what the pitcher has to offer. This is the first time in Paxton's 6 six start career that he is facing a team for the second time. Paxton shut the Angels out over seven inning facing everybody minus the bottom of the order three times. Smells like boom or bust for the Halo's.
Kansas City Royal starting pitcher Jason Vargas has pitched 15 total innings in his two starts this season giving up only two runs. Both runs coming against him were solo homeruns by second baseman (Detriot's Ian Kinsler and Tampa's Ben Zobrist). Vargas' next scheduled start is against the Minnesota Twins, so if you play fantasy baseball, Brian Dozier is a must have on your roster this weekend.
Monday, 31 March 2014
MLB Bonanza Items for March 31
Interesting comparison after Day One of two players traded for each in one of the most controversial trades in recent memory. Miami Marlins shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria 3-4, Blue Jays shortstop Jose Reyes 0-1, 15 Disabled List.
Only reason to smile on opening day if you are a Blue Jay fan, now Cub Emilio Bonifacio went 4-5 with a double and a stolen base and an outfield assist BUT was picked off at first base during the top of the 10th inning. Classic Emilio!
The Phillies and Rangers combined for 24 runs in their season opener. The game featured a player who had a great summer that amidst all the offence went 0-4 in Shin-Soo Choo. The game also featured a player who had arguably the rockiest of off-seasons smash a Grand Slam in the 2nd inning in Jimmy Rollins.
Detroit Tigers shortstop Alex Gonzalez 2-4. Free Agent Stephen Drew...well...suppose it's better making no money than it is playing for "under market value".
Cincinnati Red fans hope that rookie Billy Hamilton learned a valuable lesson in today's opener. You can't steal first base! Hamilton struck out all four of his at-bats.
Pablo Sandoval started his "contract year" with a strikeout and a fielding error, he's doing it wrong!
Only reason to smile on opening day if you are a Blue Jay fan, now Cub Emilio Bonifacio went 4-5 with a double and a stolen base and an outfield assist BUT was picked off at first base during the top of the 10th inning. Classic Emilio!
The Phillies and Rangers combined for 24 runs in their season opener. The game featured a player who had a great summer that amidst all the offence went 0-4 in Shin-Soo Choo. The game also featured a player who had arguably the rockiest of off-seasons smash a Grand Slam in the 2nd inning in Jimmy Rollins.
Detroit Tigers shortstop Alex Gonzalez 2-4. Free Agent Stephen Drew...well...suppose it's better making no money than it is playing for "under market value".
Cincinnati Red fans hope that rookie Billy Hamilton learned a valuable lesson in today's opener. You can't steal first base! Hamilton struck out all four of his at-bats.
Pablo Sandoval started his "contract year" with a strikeout and a fielding error, he's doing it wrong!
Tuesday, 4 March 2014
Today's Check-in of the Fun Side of the MLB
Thanks to the website "Bleacher Report" for the following two great finds:
Title says it all and the words have been added to the "Words to Live By" Column on the front page.
Click the link to see the hilarious photo!
Moving over to the "MLB Fancave":
The better discussion to have about the shiniest new toy in the stolen base ranks is whether Mr. Hamilton can break 70 stolen bases in season, a feat only accomplished 3 times in the new millennium!! In case you are curious: Scott Podsednik 70 in 2004, Jacoby Ellsbury 70 in 2009 and Jose Reyes 78 in 2007.
You won't remember this but the other day, I wrote about Mr Hamilton's Cincinnati Reds and their owner complaining about ticket sales growth not being where he wanted it to be. MEANWHILE, in Cleveland, the Indians home opener sold out in 15 minutes!!
Lastly, with rumours getting stronger that Joe Saunders is signing with the Texas Rangers, I get to dust off the bobblehead I have of him.
Moving over to the "MLB Fancave":
1) they posted video of Brian Wilson,
known for many things except throwing a knuckle ball,
throwing a freakin knuckle ball
2) Wondering whether or not Cincinnati Reds speed demon Billy Hamilton
can break the single game record for stolen bases. NO, conversation over!
The better discussion to have about the shiniest new toy in the stolen base ranks is whether Mr. Hamilton can break 70 stolen bases in season, a feat only accomplished 3 times in the new millennium!! In case you are curious: Scott Podsednik 70 in 2004, Jacoby Ellsbury 70 in 2009 and Jose Reyes 78 in 2007.
You won't remember this but the other day, I wrote about Mr Hamilton's Cincinnati Reds and their owner complaining about ticket sales growth not being where he wanted it to be. MEANWHILE, in Cleveland, the Indians home opener sold out in 15 minutes!!
Lastly, with rumours getting stronger that Joe Saunders is signing with the Texas Rangers, I get to dust off the bobblehead I have of him.
Thursday, 20 February 2014
Len being Len about Baseball
This morning Toronto Blue Jay Jose Bautista tweets "...fans are the most important part of baseball..." which got me to thinking - - aside from the typical "fan clubs" and "promotion nights" (which fans have been lucky enough to become almost become bored of) what are some of the niftier things baseball clubs are doing to reach out to their fans.
The following is my top four finds:
1) Milwaukee Brewers Create a Commercial Contest
Contest closes on February 28th and is exactly what it sounds like, you get to make a freakin commercial to be aired during their games.
2) Baltimore Orioles - Orioles Magic Moments
A monthly contest where you send in videos of some of the "magic moments" of Oriole History. This month it's Cal Ripken Jr setting the "iron man streak".
3) Detroit Tigers - Kids Opening Day Contest
"How do you and your child pledge to live a healthy lifestyle this summer?" Parents write an essay on behalf of their kids and 21 winners will have the chance to a part of the production of the game. Example, Announce the Starting Line-Ups on the Comerica Park Public Address (two children)
4) Kansas City Royals/Texas Rangers/Los Angeles Dodgers
All three baseball clubs run "Rewards Play and Win" program where by registering to play, the fan collects points by visiting specified sections of their respective teams website and social media.
Blog Update:
a) I have added a "Sweet Tweets" side column to keep together some of the better finds throughout the season. Today I added a tweet from the Medicine Hat Mavericks, a team in the WMBL
b) I have also added a "Words to Live By" side column to keep together some of the better quotes throughout the season. Today I added a quote from Toronto Blue Jay GM Alex Anthopoulos
The following is my top four finds:
1) Milwaukee Brewers Create a Commercial Contest
Contest closes on February 28th and is exactly what it sounds like, you get to make a freakin commercial to be aired during their games.
2) Baltimore Orioles - Orioles Magic Moments
A monthly contest where you send in videos of some of the "magic moments" of Oriole History. This month it's Cal Ripken Jr setting the "iron man streak".
3) Detroit Tigers - Kids Opening Day Contest
"How do you and your child pledge to live a healthy lifestyle this summer?" Parents write an essay on behalf of their kids and 21 winners will have the chance to a part of the production of the game. Example, Announce the Starting Line-Ups on the Comerica Park Public Address (two children)
4) Kansas City Royals/Texas Rangers/Los Angeles Dodgers
All three baseball clubs run "Rewards Play and Win" program where by registering to play, the fan collects points by visiting specified sections of their respective teams website and social media.
Blog Update:
a) I have added a "Sweet Tweets" side column to keep together some of the better finds throughout the season. Today I added a tweet from the Medicine Hat Mavericks, a team in the WMBL
b) I have also added a "Words to Live By" side column to keep together some of the better quotes throughout the season. Today I added a quote from Toronto Blue Jay GM Alex Anthopoulos
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