Bits and Pieces

[DOUGHBOYS]

We are watching the blossoming and conclusion of three wonderful players.
Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols.
Lets take these two from an MVP perspective.
Pujols has finished top five in MVP voting 10 times. Only Barry Bonds (11) had more top finishes.
Pujols and Cabrera have finished in the top 15 of MVP voting 11 times.
Only nine players in history have had more, led by Hank Aaron who accomplished that 17 times. Unreal.
Trout is still a kid. Already, he has finished in the top five in MVP voting seven times.
Only these players have done it more....

Barry Bonds-11
Albert Pujols-10
Willie Mays-9
Mickey Mantle-9
Stan Musial-9
Ted Williams-9
Hank Aaron-8

RIP Billy Buckner
The baseball Gods were cruel.

I don't need to kill Joey Votto any longer. He is doing quite well at that, himself.
This stat is more of amazement than antagonism.
Votto has not had an multi-rbi game this year. Not one. Two months.
Votto had three consecutive multi-rbi games from Sept 8-10 of last year.
The only September games with the feat. None in August.
Four baseball months, three multi-rbi games for Votto. Crazy.

Jose Ramirez has had three Multi-rbi games this year.
His owners are still flipping him the bird.
I drafted more than 20 teams this past drafting season.
There were only two players going in the first round that I thought were totally misplaced.
Ramirez and Trea Turner.

I was taken aback when I saw that Turner was still being drafted in the first round of the new Memorial Day drafts.
His team, not helping him or his fantasy owners.
It also takes time to recover from hand injuries.
Since returning from his injury, Turner has hit .204 with no power.
judys have never, ever worked out in the first round. It could happen. I guess. Some day. Maybe.

Good Karma?...Or some pitchers have all the luck (and skill)....
The Dodgers have won Clayton Kershaw starts the last 16 times.

Did you watch "The Christmas Story"?
Remember the bully?
Think about him the next time seeing Clint Frazier.

Billy Buckner had more hits than Hall of Famers Ted Williams, Billy Williams, Jimmy Foxx, Harry Heilmann, and Ernie Banks.

A lesser goodbye to Dustin Pedroia....I'll think about you whenever the words "Laser Show" are spoken.

Here is a list of players who had more hits than Bill Buckner who are not in the Hall of Fame, have a steroid background, or are ineligible for the Hall of Fame because of the five year waiting period.....

Omar Vizquel
Johnny Damon
Vada Pinson
Al Oliver
Rusty Staub

And get this.....Buckner played 22 years and struck out 453 times....a little over 20 K's per year.

Context....One third of our current season is complete. 304 batters have struck out 20 times.

A funny thing has happened to Bryce Harper.
Sabrs and hypers championed him earlier in the year for his On Base Percentage.
Now, that pitchers are less threatened by Harper, he is seeing less and less walks.
Through the first 41 games of the season, Harper collected 33 walks. Only four base on balls over his last 12 games.
Harper is no longer even in the top 50 in OBP.
He is making it harder and harder to hype his game.

By the way, Harper only leads his own team in two categories. Neither of fantasy goodness. Games and strike outs.
That's right. He doesn't lead his team in walks. Both Andrew McCutchen and Rhys Hoskins have passed him, walking 38 times.
12 more years, Phils Phans!

Only 21 Starting Pitchers....that is less than one per team, folks.....Only 21 Starting Pitchers are averaging six innings per start.
More than 60 Starting Pitchers averaged more than six innings a start just 10 years ago.

Only 11 pitchers are averaging even 100 pitches per game.
Just five years ago, 29 pitchers.

Jake Odorizzi is having a spectacular year. A 2.16 ERA. An 0.99 WHIP.
Crazy that Odorizzi barely averages innings above the Win threshold. 58 innings in 11 Starts.
Wins are becoming more and more predicated on a Starting Pitcher being ahead in the game after five innings are played.

Aroldis Chapman is in the top five in Saves.
Chapman has never finished a season that way.



Steve Cishek sells sea shells in a sea shack by the sea shore...Steve Cishek sells sea shells in a sea shack by the sea shore...Steve Cishek sells sea shells in a sea shack by the sea shore...Steve Cishek sells sea shells in a sea shack by the sea shore...Steve Cishek sells sea shells in a sea shack by the sea shore...Steve Cishek sells sea shells in a sea shack by the sea shore...

Older Celebrity box scores...

B Reynolds...Burt Reynolds

J Baez....Joan Baez

A Meadows...Audrey Meadows

C Walker...Clint Walker

M Olson...Mrs. Olson

J Walsh... Joe Walsh

Last, the Cleveland Indians are under .500
I believe they were striving for this.
Can you imagine a team who has dominated their division announce to all during the off season that their best players were up for trade?
Who does that?
What happened to winning being a good thing?
In 2001, the Indians boasted Kenny Lofton, Roberto Alomar, Jim Thome, Ellis Burks, Juan Gonzalez, Omar Vizquel and two pitchers who loved Nacho Cheese Doritos and other food products as much as I.
CC Sabathia and Bartolo Colon.
They were entertaining. They were good. And they took first place in their division.
And because they were so good and entertaining, fans flocked to see them.
Almost 40,000 fans a night.
Fast forward to now.
We have a perfectly good franchise, seemingly playing to lose. At least that is their message.
Last year, drawing short of 25,000 fans per game.
Cut by a third, they now draw 17,000 people or so a game.
Their owners sought to cut payroll...publicly. In doing so, they may have to cut further next year to make up for lost attendance.
A contending team turned into an also-ran. Too bad.

[DOUGHBOYS]

One more thing, excuses for hitters just piss me right off.
"He's hitting the ball hard, just at people"
"He's contributing to the team in so many other ways"
"He's still getting on base"
"He is so close to going on a streak"
BLAH BLAH and BLAH
QUIT IT.

Let's look at these....

"He's hitting the ball hard, just at people"

Announcers love this because there is little quantification. They pocket the weak hits and strike outs and focus on the hitter's hard contact being unlucky.
You know what?
If having MORE hard contact, the bad luck would not exist.

"He's contributing to the team in so many other ways"

Great. Now, he is Mr. Congeniality. Mr. Clubhouse guy.
You know what you call a good clubhouse guy that can't hit?...DFA

"He's still getting on base"

The voice of sabrs still wanting to include a walk as offensive genius. Moneyball is gone. Quit hanging on.
As they say in the Dominican, 'You have to hit your way off the island, anybody that depends on walking will drown'.

"He is so close to going on a streak"

Does anybody really KNOW that?
It sounds good. and if coming about, the author may be thought of as an oracle.
But, they've been saying that about every slumping player in baseball history....except Chris Davis...even announcers know that there is no hope for Chris Davis.

The truth is that things are as they are.
As of the moment, players like Harper, Ramirez, Votto, and others SUCK.
Hype them when they are hitting better, but please, quit making excuses for them when they suck.