Another day another Anthony Rizzo HR. He decided to pair his 13th shot of the year with a triple and kept his average at .359. Brett Jackson on the other hand is really scuffling right now as he slipped down to .226 after another 0-4 day. Randy Wells got shelled and has a 7 + ERA right now. He is also getting paid some 2 million dollars to do so. Some people noticed Gioskar Amaya got promoted from instructs straight to AAA but he is just filling a bench spot while the club waits to see if DeWitt will accept assignment to Iowa. Amaya got his first AB as a PH and promptly doubled.
Junior Lake continues to hit going 3-5 with 3 RBI's in the 10-8 win. Justin Bour went 2-4 with his 6th home run of the year and Alberto Cabrera earned the save.
Daytona
Rain Out
Hey look, its a Geraldo Concepcion start where he didn't totally suck! Concepcion worked 6 scoreless innings walking 3 and striking out 3. Ben Wells followed with three shutout innings of his own and Zeke DeVoss tied the Peoria franchise record with 4 stolen bases in one game. DeVoss had 4 at bats and got a pair of hits go with a pair of walks.
Thanks, Seattle!
Where has Mish been lately? He’s mostly been MIA and that’s just unacceptable. (dying laughing)
mb21 wrote:
@ mb21:
Just a couple of really busy weeks at work, and I’m actually going on vacation next week. I am still hear reading most every word though. (dying laughing)
This driver couldn’t handle the power…
http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/lamborghini-gallardo-crash-wrecks-driver-reputation-suburban-chicago-142429294.html
How does that even happen?
@ GBTS:
But we all knows that Bat-Mish gets the last laugh.
What’s the deal with B Jax? Thought he’d be at Wrigley at some point this year now it doesn’t look as such.
@ Rice Cube:
The Lamborghini then…much more subtle.
/Alfred
@ Mish:
I hope you cleared the vacation plans with our HR department
@ Mish:
That’s not on par with “Minor League Guy” but is still pretty cool.
@ Mish:
Well, it’s true
@ Mucker:
I don’t know. It’s looking more likely he’ll get called down to Tennessee than up to Chicago at this point.
@ mb21:
Without video or other scouting opinions I wonder if Brett Jackson is just pressing a bit much.
I have nothing to back this up, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are tinkering with his swing to cut down on the K’s which in the short term is crushing his numbers.
Thanks to the So Dead app I have learned that my expected date of death is January 11, 2047.
I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s true about Jackson’s swIng, but it’s not helping so far. He’s really struggling.
unless you’re going to consider 1 hit a “small sample size,” then i think it’s safe to say:
gioskar amaya ——> transformed
Do we know for sure that Amaya is at AAA to just fill a hole for a few days? To me, that seems less likely tha skipping him 4 levels. Surely there are other guys who could fill that hole.
@ mb21:
Does BJax swing and miss a lot or does he K so much because he’s working such deep counts? I wonder if him being more aggressive early in the count would cut down his K%?
@ mb21:
Under. (dying laughing)
@ Mucker:
In the few games I’ve paid attention to it seems like he’ll swing and miss even on the first pitch, but that’s probably true of all players at some time or another. Maybe he should just go back to whatever he was doing that allowed him to OPS .900+ last season.
thats what AZ Phil was reporting MD.
mb21 wrote:
dylanj wrote:
So AZ Phil is your killer, then?
I think BJax just sees how much the Chicago bullpen is struggling and is making a case to be transformed to a relief pitcher.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/chi-ventura-nl-strategy-is-obvious-20120515,0,7305357.story
Just throwing that out there.
Yeah, there is more strategy in the AL. Pinch hitting for a pitcher in the 7th inning isn’t strategy. It’s common sense.
mb21 wrote:
Not if you’re Don Zimmer and the pitcher is Chuck McElroy.
@ Rice Cube:
I agree with him.
mb21 wrote:
Probably better to say there’s relatively little strategy in both leagues.
@ Berselius:
Who gives a shit, right? This is like debating who is the hottest chick in the IT department.
I looked up your sponsor for this blog post. I was not disappointed.
@ Berselius:
There’s a lot of strategy in the game, but most of it is in both leagues (lineup construction, defensive positioning, batter-pitcher match-ups, pitching, etc). It’s always irritated me when NL fans say there’s more in the NL because the freaking pitcher bats. Pitcher gets to 100 pitches you pinch hit. Pitcher not pitching particularly well you pinch hit. There’s no strategy in that. Only inferior batters.
I would add to that by saying that in the NL you know there’s an auto-bunt/auto-out coming up in the 9th spot, whereas in the AL, the bunt could come as a surprise or as design at any point in the lineup.
Clemens trial jurors are dropping like flies because they can’t stay awake (dying laughing)
@ Bobby Hansen:
False. There are no chicks in the IT department.
Also, great name.
Sounds like bullpen linchpin Lendy Castillo is headed to the DL with a case of Rule Five Phantom Injury (David Patton’s Disease)
@ Berselius:
albinism?
@ GW:
Shittiness
@ mb21:
Double switch!
@ Rice Cube:
Obviously not a Ron Santo-era radio listener(/torture victim).
Baseball’s not all that strategic of a game. I would like it if you could somehow write the rules so that a really smart manager could actually have a huge impact on taking his team all the way, but the fact is that the swing seems to be mostly negative, and the traditional managers, while not perfect, don’t hurt the teams much with their decisions. It’s not like they’re out there leading off with pitchers because it’s tradition.
Personally, I’d say that one of the reasons I hate pitchers batting is that it leads to their getting taken out of the game when they’re doing well.
@ josh:
#8 hitters routinely bat second
@ GW:
Yeah, but it’s routine so that levels the playing field, and putting a better hitter there doesn’t improve your win percentage by such a margin that you suddenly would see a team winning 100 games with just that change.
@ josh:
Not to mention, the #2 hitter thing costs, what, 10 runs a year compared to an optimal lineup? That’s pretty big for a managerial decision, but pretty small in the grand scheme of things.
@ josh:
For example, if TLR’s theory of batting the pitcher 8th made any sense, and was the reason he won the World Series twice, everyone would do it, and the advantage would be nullified. I’m not saying there’s no strategy, just that I think strategy doesn’t instantly translate into success, it also takes a lot of other things.
,
@ ACT:
Yeah, the best manager can give his team a couple of wins, basically. That’s great if you need an edge to get over a better team, but if you’re middle of the pack, then it’s kind of meaningless. That’s basically why I think they picked Sveum. They are focusing on player developement right now and they thing Sveum will give them that.
@ josh:
Tango found a tiny advantage to hitting the pitcher 8th in The Book, though MGL said it doesn’t always show up on his simulations.
Personally, even if there is some tiny theoretical advantage to hitting the pitcher 8th, I’m not sure it’s worth telling some position player that he has to hit behind the pitcher. Player confidence and comfort are more important than perfect lineup optimization.
@ ACT:
players are all familiar with the double leadoff strategy. pretty simple to explain.
@ ACT:
I agree with this. Managers are for the most part managing egos and hitting a position player after the pitcher can’t be good for one’s ego. I think the advantage The Book found was like 2 runs, right? That could easily be nullified by the happiness of the player who ends up batting 9th most frequently.
@ josh:
they picked sveum because he was the best of a bad lot (ie former players interested in the gig). they didn’t have the balls to cross the line and bring analytics to the bench.
@ josh:
There’s a lot of strategy in baseball. The pitcher is trying to keep the batter off guard all the time. He’s mixing his pitches, which is strategy. The catcher is calling for pitches. The dugout calls for certain pitches. Pitch outs. Defensive alignment. The lineup order. Who is in the lineup (left/right match-ups). Defensive replacements. Pinch hitters and pinch runners. Playing the infield in (or back). Pickoff attempts. Pitcher going home without a leg kick when a runner is on base. Bunting. Hitting and running. Stolen base attempt.
GW wrote:
I agree with this. I’ve been meaning to write an article about it and include what you’ve said before regarding an analytical type as a bench coach. I’d probably go with manager though and the bench coach being the old timey traditionalist who manages egos. I got a feeling the analytical manager is going to be more open to what the bench coach would say regarding egos and what not than the old timey manager would be willing to incorporate analytics in his decisions.
@ GW:
They may understand it intellectually, but how would they feel about hitting behind the pitcher?
@ mb21:
that could be true.
Jesus Montero sucks at catching.
This is not the King Felix start I was expecting.
@ ACT:
…and throwing.
(dying laughing) and Matt Garza doing (dying laughing) and Matt Garza things
Are they even trying to get Garza to practice throws to first when he’s not playing? He needs a shit ton of reps doing it right.
Tons of Phillies fans in the crowd, judging from the reactions to those pitches
Man, I have to say, Brett Lowrie was right, both of those were way outside.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120516&content_id=31435564&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb
@ josh:
I think at this point it’s just not going to make a difference.
I hate the bunting this team does
@ mb21:
Maybe a couple of days of focus would break whatever mental block he has. He knows how to throw the ball to another guy. That’s what he does for a living. Surely this is some kind of weird psychological tic.
@ josh:
Pitching and throwing to a base are different though. Maybe he just needs to throw using the same motion.
This might be crazy but would you consider bunting at garza on third base side every time till he proves he can throw to first?
@ bubblesdachimp:
You have to hold three bunting tournaments before you can trust your players to bunt it well enough
@ Berselius:
Well done B.
@ mb21:
I know it’s a little different. I think that’s what it is, that he’s letting up instead of firing it over there, and that attempt not to throw so hard is causing him to think about the throw. If he just reacted, he’d throw it over there hard with no problem.
Then again, what the hell do I know?
Is there anything worse than Gary Meier’s commercials on WGN radio? I can’t think of anything. Although, maybe whatever the next commercial is will probably be as bad.
@ bubblesdachimp:
Juan Pierr3 agrees
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)!
That was a hell of a long at bat. I think Pierrestein got bored.
Helluva PA by LaHair
also (dying laughing) at (dying laughing)
I know the idea that home runs come in bunches has been debunked, but Sori sure hits his home runs in bunches.
ADOLFO!!!!
More HR than Pujols!
is that really only garza’s second error of the year? am i the only one that would have guessed at least 4?
i always feel bad that people are cheering for soriano. these same idiots will be booing the hell out of him as soon as he goes on a 1-13 stretch. they shouldn’t be allowed to also cheer for him when he does good.
@ EnricoPallazzo:
That’s why Ted Williams refused to doff his cap for the crowd.
Hey Matt, how about striking people out for a change?
@ EnricoPallazzo:
That can’t be right. He’s had 2 this game already, and he had that one that he threw into the stands. That’s at least three. I think he had at least one more.
I can’t believe that Soriano hasn’t had a (or more) days off with this leg injury
@ josh:
according to the box he’s only had one today. then the one he threw in the stands and (i thought) one other one, and i assumed he has at least one i haven’t seen. that’s where i came up with 4+. but 2 different websites say he only has 1 prior to tonight so i was wondering if pitchers are held to a different fielding standard. i mean i know they are but i was wondering if anyone knows specifics?
@ EnricoPallazzo:
I guess the second bad throw was a close play, now that I think about it. So, if they’ve been cases like that, where a good throw gets the guy out, but the throw doesn’t go past the first baseman, then maybe you don’t get an error. Errors or not, his defense is agonizing.
This was a close game a couple innings ago.
Hector Fucking Luna, you guys
Glad to see the Cubs’ bullpen put the nail in the coffin of this one.
this bullpen is just beyond miserable
Can someone tell me why reaching on an error doesn’t count towards a consecutive games reached base streak?
@ mb21:
Because on errors–by definition–the “blame” is given to the defense, not the batter. Not saying it’s right, but that’s the way it is and has been for over a century.
@ mb21:
That didn’t make sense to me either. Pat and Keith thought that was the case, but it seems to me it should count.
If you want a more rigorous (MGL-esque) explanation, it would be that ROE’s are not (short-term) good indications of batter skill (i.e., ROE numbers are dominated by randomness over yearly samples). Over the course of a year or so, it might be more “accurate” to count an ROE as an out, just as you ignore a pitcher’s BABIP over similar lengths of time.
I mean, LaHair hit a can of corn today and by some weird fluke, he wound up on second. What does that tell you about his skill other than that he made contact?
That was a game I did not recently enjoy.
So has anyone seen that Obama has added himself to the past 14 or so presidential biographies on the white house website? (dying laughing)
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/05/17/write-what-you-want-about-dale-sveum-hes-not-going-to-read-it/
@ WaLi:
I saw some headline about it, but didn’t read the article. I assume this is uncommon, which seems odd to me considering the massive egos politicians have. Either way it’s pretty funny.
@ Berselius:
Yeah? Well, Mish doesn’t wear hockey pads.
I thought someone else was taking over MLB.com Fastcast. Now Eric Heiss is doing it again. That guy has the most annoying voice in all of broadcast journalism.
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/05/17/cubs-patriarch-joe-ricketts-is-in-need-of-a-literate-black-man/
new shit http://www.obstructedview.net/major-league-baseball/q-a-with-phillies-blog-that-balls-outta-here.html