Daily Facepalm – 9.4.2012

In Facepalm by andcounting15 Comments

The Cubs lost to Walgreens in their special Labor Day uniforms, shocking the world yet again. With that defeat, the Cubs have now dropped 49 of their last 66 road games. Yeah. They have won a grand total of 17 road games all year. That's a road wining percntage of .WTF, despite a slightly lower Pythagorean winning percentage of .OMG. They're really lucky they haven't lost 50 road games, yet. But it makes for an interesting bet. Do you think the Cubs can win a total of 20 games on the road in 2012? They have a legitimate shot at failing to do so, which would be the 12th most facepalm-worthy occurence in Cubdom this year. Place your bets now, but in the meantime stay tuned tonight when they try to reach that magical 50-road-loss plateau.

Speaking of 50

The Cubs recently called up Miguel Socolovich to help out in the much beleaguered and little ballyhooed bullpen, and when he finally takes the mound in relief he will become the 50th player to see action as a Chicago Cub in 2012. The record for most players used in a single Cubs season is 51, and if Matt Liston has anything to say about it, the Cubs will at least tie that mark with the help of an old friend we barely got to know.

What's one more Cub?

Adam Greenberg saw one pitch as a major leaguer, but he lost sight of it before it hit him in the back of the helmet and ended his cup of coffee with a single drop. It's been seven years since his major league career effectively ended, but an activist named Matt Liston has started a campaign to get Greenberg one more shot at the big leagues. You can see more details (including a stirring interview from the depths of Hobbiton) and sign the petition on this site. It's a well done effort, and I hope it works out. Greenberg is this generation's Moonlight Graham, racking up but one plate appearance consisting of one pitch and never having registered an actual at bat. 

The campaign suggests Greenberg be given a shot against the Astros in the final series of the season, which hardly constitutes major league action. But the record books won't know the difference. My only hope is that Roger Clemens doesn't face him. The last thing the poor guy needs is to have a broken bat shard hurled at him by an old man who thinks there's only room in this town for one patronizing publicity stunt.

Do the Cubs have a game today?

Yes.

Words I Never Imagined I'd Type Today

RIP, Michael Clarke Duncan.

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  1. mb21

    I’m out of town so I just assumed the Cubs did lose to Walgreens. Didn’t even come as a surprise. I just couldn’t believe I missed a chance to bet on Walgreens over the Cubs.

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  2. GW

    @ Berselius:

    Steve says:
    September 4, 2012 at 12:26 pm

    As stated, it’s Kevin Goldstein. BP is not a blog. It’s a credentialed baseball website.

    hmm… it appears BP somehow got re-accredited after the arm height-raising injury analysis, and most-feared lineup fiasco. maybe its time for ov to resubmit our application.

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  3. WaLi

    So I noticed AC has been posting quite a bit more lately. I was wondering if my lying eyes were telling the truth, so I decided to run some detailed analysis. I took data from the beginning of January to today in order to determine if there has been an increase, decrease, or steady amount of posting from AC. Below is the raw data:

    # of AC Posts
    January 5
    February 10
    March 1
    April 1
    May 1
    June 1
    July 1
    August 5
    September 3*

    *On pace for 23.75

    Conclusion: My lying eyes were telling the truth. He posted a blog average 5 posts in January, good for a .161 PPD (posts per day) average. His numbers then skyrocketed in a short month, putting up a .344 PPD in February. His production petered out though as he only posted a blog minimum 1 post per month in March, April, May, June, and July which combines for .032 PPD, well below replacement blogger level.

    In August though he decided to step it up a bit though in August, repeating his January level of .161 PPD. The biggest surprise so far is his September performance. While he has only made 3 posts in the month of September, that is only within 4 days. He is on pace for 23.75 posts which is a mind boggling .750 PPD rate.

    What is the cause for this sudden increase? We normally wouldn’t expect this drastic of an increase this late in his career. Is it the rise of promising young bloggers dylanj and josh, so he fears he may be replaced? Is it steroids? Perhaps he is using other performance enhancers http://www.geekosystem.com/cooling-glove-athletes/ (h/t mb). I can imagine a cooling glove would make one able to put up insane PPD numbers.

    Obviously, further analysis is needed.

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