It was a pitching duel in Des Moines yesterday as Brett Jackson scored the only run of the game on a balk. Casey Coleman was the pitcher for Iowa working 7 IP and only giving up 2 hits. He struck out 9 batters and has a respectable ERA of 3.48. Scott Maine finished the game with two scoreless innings of his own.
Junior Lake went 1-4 with a BB and SB last night in his second game back from his rehab assignment. Nick Struck went 6 innings and gave up 2 ER while striking out 3. Kevin Rhoderick worked another scoreless inning and has his ERA sitting at 1.38.
Matt Szczur and Eric Jokisch teamed up to lead Daytona to a win. Szrzr continues his red hot streak going 3-4. He has raised his average to .256 after a slow start. On the mound Jokisch struck out 11 in 7 shutout innings. He only allowed 4 hits and walked no one. Jokisch was an 11th round pick back in 2010 and had a decent year in Peoria before finishing in AA. So far this year he is averaging a strikeout per IP and with his age it would probably be wise to get him to AA again to see if there is anything here.
Everyone's favorite scofflaw PJ Francescon got the win yesterday. He wasn't lights out but he got the job done going 6 IP and giving up 4 runs (only two were earned). He struck out 4 batters. Hitters are now batting .167 against him for the year. On the hitting side of things Paul Hoilman hit a HR and racked up 5 RBI's.
Hoilman’s 2nd grand slam of the year. He’s way too old for Peoria, but the power he has is very real. Could be a pleasant surprise in the system. Maybe be a pinch hitter/spot starter type at MLB level.
I’d love to see the Cubs bullpen Casey Coleman. They need the help and it’s not like he has any value as a starter these days. And the Cubs have so much “depth” too.
Is anybody buying the Orioles this year? They have a lot of good young talent but that division is too tough. I just read an article about Bundy and that kid is ridiculous. O’s might make some noise in the next couple of years.
What’s the deal with Franceson’s rep? I see the comments, but don’t know the history.
@ Mucker:
Believe they’re real? No. But like you said, they could at least make a tough division a little tougher. I could see them as a dark horse for a wildcard spot. Can both wildcards come from the same division? That might help their chances. They seem like the Pirates of a couple years ago (or maybe it was last year), lots of young talent, came on strong at the beginning, then faded away.
Aisle424 wrote:
“alright, here are your exams, 50 questions true or false.”
“true.”
“homer, i was just describing the test.”
“true.”
“look homer, just take the test and you’ll do fine.”
“false.”
@ Mucker:
Given the contracts the Yankees are tied to for the next hundred years, maybe they could compete, but the Yanks can afford to cut contracts and send their A-Rods packing when they start failing to produce.
@ mobile skip:
Every time DJ or MB says something nice about Franceson, he has a shitty outing. So they insult him at every opportunity to make sure he does well (dying laughing)
No HR for Rizzo in the past 2 weeks ————–> BUST
Berselius wrote:
He’s no Bryan LaHair.
I am both amused and disturbed that there is such a thing as a “pubic wig”. I will not be Googling this.
Mucker wrote:
as a baltimore resident, i would like nothing more than to see the o’s put together a .500 season, but i can’t see them keeping this up. weiters has been pretty insane this year and presumably he’s gonna cool off at some point. i’d be pretty surprised if guys like nolan reimold and robert andino finished the season with a OPS+ > 125, though they’re both young so who knows. hammel and chen both have not looked all that good, yet both have a sky-high ERA+. actually, i think their pitching in general has been getting extremely lucky. pythW-L says they have 2 wins more than they should and i’d agree. – they’ve been able to put up big numbers when they need to.
if they finish at .500, i’ll be surprised. hate to say it but i bet they have a 2-16 stretch that takes the wind out of their sails and then they just kind of limp through the rest of the season.
not to mention, other teams in the division will spend $ at the ASB if needed. i really doubt angelos spends a penny, and if he does, it’ll be his usual pickup, which is some has-been who can still draw a few extra fans to the ballpark but who has no real value.
@ EnricoPallazzo:
They just signed Miguel Tejada, case in point
@ EnricoPallazzo:
I tend to agree with you. I’ve lived in the Baltimore/DC area for 20 years and I’ve always had a soft spot for the Os. But you are pretty spot on with your points. I don’t see them sustaining this level of play but they are definitely looking better than years past and I look forward to seeing Bundy, Machado and Schoop come up.
@ Berselius:
exactly. as long as tejada brings in a few bucks more than he’s getting paid, it’s a good investment in angelos’s book, even if he costs them a few wins.
@ Mucker:
yeah either way, i’m enjoying the team right now more than i ever have in the past. it’s nice to at least be able to imagine that they can be decent, especially with a few prospects making their way to mlb. although this all will be accompanied by crippling disappointment, if a lifetime of rooting for the cubs is any indicator.
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
@ Aisle424:
That’s sad on so many levels.
Rice Cube wrote:
You misspelled, “hilarious.”
@ Aisle424:
Oh I laughed at them, I just think it’s sad that nobody caught the ball (dying laughing)
Look at the boy scout’s face directly behind the girl who took it in the face. (dying laughing)
@ Rice Cube:
The one girl caught it with her face.
@ josh:
She dropped it.
Butterface.
pretty awesome headline:
http://hirejimessian.com/2012/05/08/they-called-me-a-fool-for-drafting-lahair-over-pujols/
@ Rice Cube:
At least butterballs slowed it down for her.
@ josh:
I don’t think that guy had any balls because he acted like the baseball was a nuclear missile.
I had no idea LaHair’s BABIP was .535… jesus. Regression coming ASAP.
PFD wrote:
yeah, LaHair can’t keep this up obviously, but I’m more than confident he’s better than I had thought and I was thinking he was a league average ballplayer. I also don’t think there’s much of a chance that Anthony Rizzo is a better player than LaHair is right now. So this either means LaHair stays at 1st base for the time being (he’s cheap like Rizzo) or they move him to LF and get rid of Soriano.
What I find funny is that the guy is hitting .388/.479/.800 and they think they need to point out his BABIP to prove he’s due for a regression. It’s as if people think BABIP is the only stat that is subject to that phenomenon.
excited to see cardenas play tonight
ACT wrote:
Hahah yes this.
@ ACT:
If Ted Williams can hit .400, then LaHair can too!
/cubsfanlogic
@ACT well yeah, but it seems like a .535 BABIP is higher than I thought it would be.. expected like 400 or something.
In LaHair’s defense, he is hitting 28% line drives. So there’s that. But obviously he’s due for regression. But when that regression is a .275/.341/.507 good for a .361wOBA player. I’ll take it.
For the record, those are his ZIPS(R)
Headline on MLB:
Makeup has helped Nathan thrive as closer
I didn’t read the article, but I assume it’s about how he’s using rogue to give the ball more sink.
In 1941, Ted Williams hit .406/.553/.735 with .378 BABIP. wRC+ of 221.
@ PFD:
On the plus side, his high strikeout rate also seems due for a regression, though he’ll still strike out a lot.
@ josh:
In 1923, George Herman Ruth hit .393/.545/.764 with a BABIP of .423. wRC+ of 226.
@ ACT:
Were they just lobbing it to those guys? What the hell??
@ josh:
That year was good for 15.4 WAR, almost 6 more than the next highest guy.
I guess the point is that BABIP is LaHair’s reality check. You see his slash line and think “bullshit!” then you see his BABIP and think “yeah, bullshit.” If you looked and saw his BABIP at .375 with that slash line, you at least feel like his approach is working pretty well. Williams only struck out 26 times all season. Bryan struck out 26 times last series.
@ ACT:
It’s crazy how good Ruth was. He was like a modern all-star player playing against AA teams.
Seriously, going by career WAR, Barry Bonds is the second best player to ever play. If you deduct half his WAR for steroids and jerkiness, he’s still good enough for the HOF.
@ josh:
Everyone who doesn’t vote for Barry Bonds for HOF deserves to get their asses kicked. It’d be a travesty to leave him out even if he’s a juiced-up asshole.
@ Doug etetectdsaaga:
Yeah, that’s the best thing about his great start. His projections at this point at actually pretty good. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he beats those rest of season projections at this point. He won’t beat them by much, but I could easily see .370 from him at this point. The strikeouts are going to have to come down for that to happen though.
josh wrote:
(dying laughing)
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/baseball-america-on-cba-loopholes/
New shit that is actually completed this time before publishing it:
http://www.obstructedview.net/chicago-cubs/getting-to-know-adrian-cardenas.html
@ josh:
I don’t like the idea of deducting anything as the numbers are the numbers regardless of how they’re achieved, but you’re right. Barry Bonds was a HOF player before he took steroids. There’s no justification to keep him out. At least with someone like McGwire people can argue that it’s possible the steroids pushed him over the top with regards to qualification for the HOF. That’s simply nowhere even close to true for someone like Bonds. There are already cheaters and assholes in the HOF so you can’t use that argument either. Especially when you factor in that there was no rule in baseball against taking steroids when Bonds was using them.