I happened to be driving in the car when Kevin Millar went on the Waddle and Silvy Show on ESPN 1000 so I heard this live and I was pissed as hell I wasn’t able to transcribe any of it because I was screaming at my radio by the end of it. Thankfully, Paul Sullivan took the trouble of doing …
The Stats We Use: Baserunning
Believe it or not, baserunning is a relatively simple aspect of the game to quantify. If you think for a moment about the possibilities in baserunning, there aren’t really that many of them. There are several of course, but it’s not as many as you may think. For example, a runner on 1st when a single is hit can move …
Series Preview: Arizona Diamondbacks (1-1) at Chicago Cubs (1-2)
All I should have to say about yesterday’s game is that the Cubs lost on a 2-run infield single. It was that kind of day. However, despite the fact that the Cubs lost two games to the emintently beatable Pirates there were things to be happy about. Here’s a breakdown of what we learned The Good Starlin Castro. What a …
Random Thoughts
Three games doesn’t tell us anything, but they were three predictable games. The offense struggled, which they’re going to do all season long. That’s especially true against right-handed pitchers. The defense let the team down late in Sunday’s game. Rather than a tie, a defensive mistake allowed the Pirates to take the lead. The pitching staff was solid, which they …
The Stats We Use: FIP
Evaluating pitchers is tough. Most of the traditonal batting stats are based on discrete, context-free events that mostly have to do with the offensive player’s skill – Home Runs, hits, stolen bases, batting eye, etc. There are still stats like RBI and R that depend on the players around the batter, but generally the quick and dirty thing that were …
Pitcher Usage
The table below shows the number of pitches thrown in each outing. SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT Ryan Dempster 103 Carlos Zambrano 85 Matt Garza 102 114 Randy Wells* Casey Coleman 90 Andrew Cashner* Carlos Marmol 24 17 Sean Marshall 24 25 Kerry Wood 16 James Russell 74 John Grabow 23 11 21 Jeff Samardzija …
Cubs Officially Won’t Lose Them All
What have we learned so far in the two games the Cubs have played? Not a ton, but there are some things about how the games have gone so far that stuck out to me. 1) Scoring runs is going to be an ordeal more often than we’d like. The Cubs have scored four earned runs in two games and …
Ten Things I Shouldn’t Have to Tell Cubs Fans (But I Do)
I had the pleasure of seeing the Cubs on Opening Day yesterday along with Julie and Deb of Aerys Sports and Ana from Accidentally Sexy, and a lot of cool people* willing to get soaked and chilled in order to show us a good time. But along the way I came into contact with more than a few Cubs fans who, apparently, haven’t …
NL Central Questions & Answers: Pittsburgh Pirates
This is our final NL Central Questions & Answers and this time Pat Lackey from Where Have You Gone Andy Van Slyke answers our questions. Obstruced View: Neal Huntington – yea or nay? WHYGAVS: I think Huntington's done a pretty good job thus far for the Pirates; far better than his two predecessors at the very least. The Pirates last …
Probably something about nothing
Prior to tomorrow's game we'll be posting the final NL Central interview. I had planned to post it this evening, but I thought I'd throw something else together. Anyone who has read much of anything of mine over the years knows that I'm not one of those people who goes nuts over pitch counts. That doesn't mean I don't pay …