Why Yankees and Sabathia Shouldn't Really Worry

ESPN Stats and Info posted today on their TMI Blog a thought-provoking piece titled "Why Yankees and Sabathia should worry." The article starts: "If two is a coincidence and three is a trend, what is five? Five could be a serious concern for CC Sabathia and the New York Yankees. The past five innings leaders for World Series-winning teams have struggled and/or missed time due to injury the following season." Let me answer "what is five?" Five is too small a sample size. Let's look back at eight more defending World Series winning teams and how their innings leaders from the season before performed:

2003 - Carl Pavano
Pavano threw 201 innings in 2003 to lead the Marlins in the regular season and another 19.1 during Florida's World Series run. In 2004, Pavano had his best season in the Major Leagues starting 31 games, going 18-8 with a 3.00 ERA in 222.1 innings and1.174 WHIP. He finished 6th in the Cy Young voting and earned a spot on the All-Star team. Of course, he would become a free agent that off-season and really make the Yankees miserable, but he was quite good the year after pitching all those innings. But Pavano was healthy and good in 2004 (ugh...just hurt me to say that).

2002 - Ramon Ortiz
Ortiz was far from the ace of the 2002 Angels, but he did lead them in innings with 217.1. He pitched only 13 innings in those playoffs, but not because he was hurt--but because he wasn't that good. Despite putting up a respectable ERA in 2002, he led the league in home runs given up with 40 (which is tied for the 12th worst mark in Major League Baseball history). He lowered the home run total in 2003, but the ERA jumped up. He won more games in 2002, but his ERA jumped up almost a run and a half the next year. But he was quite healthy in 2003 starting 32 games.

2001 - Curt Schilling
Schilling and Randy Johnson led the Diamondbacks to the World Series in 2001, but it was Schilling who led the Diamondbacks--and the Majors--in innings (256.2). Schilling also led the majors in wins (22), starts (35), complete games (6), and SO/BB (7.51). Schilling finished 2nd to his teammate Randy Johnson in the Cy Young voting, however. He pitched a ridiculous 48.1 innings on top of that in the playoffs. In 2002, Schilling won more games, lowered his FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) 3.11 to 2.40 and led the Majors in BB/9 (1.1), led the National League in WHIP (0.968), and raised his major-league leading SO/BB ratio to a ridiculous 9.58. That 9.58 SO/BB is the second-highest in Major League history (for anyone who qualified for the ERA title) and the most ever in a non-strike year. Amazingly, Schilling lost the Cy Young again to The Big Unit. But he had another spectacular year after throwing over 300 innings the year before.

Read more>>

Presumed Guilty: The "Sad" Stories of Baseball Players Today

Alex Rodriguez has been convicted by a jury of his public. It doesn't matter if he's innocent or guilty, because, well, he's guilty. This Dr. Galea gave him human growth hormone and that's that. Jose Reyes, too--and hey, doesn't this freak injury prove he was on something? Did you see how big Nomar Garciaparra was at one point and all those injuries he had at the end of his career? Guilty! Proof? You actually want proof? Why would you need that? Hang them all in the public square next to the court of public opinion.

Too healthy? He's on steroids! Too hurt? Steroids! Consistently high production? Steroids! A jump in production? Steroids! A decline in production? Withdrawal form steroids! If you're a baseball player in 2010, you're guilty before you've even given a comment, and if you dare answer "no comment", you're definitely guilty.

The truth is, though, I don't feel bad for the players at all. Let's say that Derek Jeter is cleaner than clean and he never even thought about doing steroids or HGH or any other PED--he's had plenty of chances to step up and say "hey, I'm clean, let's make sure things get changed" and has passed up on those opportunities. I know he's part of a union and a team and has benefited by playing alongside juicers (can we call them Juiceheads or is that only reserved for the Jersey Shore?), but the dude has more clout in baseball than Bud Selig, Joe Torre and Ted Williams frozen head combined. If there is currently an "Ambassador of Baseball" playing in the Major Leagues, I think that Jeter has to be it. And yet he stayed quiet too.

I'm not blaming Jeter or any of the quiet players, though, for everyone else's mistakes (though Mariano Rivera could step forward and say something, too). They don't deserve that much scorn for other people's misdeeds. A-Rod has lied and lied again. So when something doesn't pass the "sniff test", you can understand that writers get suspicious.

That doesn't mean that the writers can have open season to shout accusations from the rooftop, or even from their newspapers like they're Émile Zola or Woodward and Bernstein. The writers (yes, some of us are bloggers, but many of those people we expect more from reside in the "Mainstream Media") decided that they were wrong to not tell the public about steroids in baseball in 1998, so in 2010 they decided that they'll tell the public about everyone they expect of doing something wrong. Journalistic integrity? Craig Calcaterra of HardballTalk thinks not:

Read more>>

A Few Semi-Meaningless Observations About Spring Training

I have a confession to make: I don't give a rat's ass about Spring Training games. I never have and I probably never will. I love seeing new players in new uniforms, talking about the positional battles, seeing which rookies will make an impression and stick with the big league club--but the games are meaningless to me. I don't watch, I don't listen, and I don't check to see if the Yankees won or if so-and-so did well. There are quite a few reasons for that, but the reality is that the Spring Training standings don't predict regular season results (ESPN went over this a few years back) and--as Crashburn Alley wrote a month ago--players Spring Training statistics aren't indicative of their regular season performance either.

"But wait, Andrew," says the contrarian. "The Yankees ended up with the best record in Florida and the Angels dominated Arizona and they met in the ALCS." True...very true. But the Yankees underperformed their Spring Training winning percentage by over 7% and the Angels by over 16.5%. The only team to make the playoffs in the National League with a winning Spring was the Cardinals. The Phillies were 13-19 and the Dodgers were 15-22. The Brewers dropped almost 20% and the Marlins improved 15%. The only teams that came close to their regular season winning percentage (within 3%) in the Spring were the A's (-2.28), Red Sox (-0.18), the Orioles (1.27), the Cubs (1.55), the Giants (1.82) and the Indians (2.62). And I think those are more coincidence than anything else (though the Red Sox did come awfully close).

I'm all for watching as much baseball as possible, but when people are experimenting with new pitches and teams make switches as often as they do in the Spring, it doesn't carry any meaning for me. It's cool to see Curtis Granderson and Johnny Damon play their old club, but I'll save my energy and time for when it really counts (and they will play their old clubs yet again) and leave the newspapers to worry about the rest. And pray that no one gets injured.

On a totally different note, I realized that if teams really want to improve their lot in baseball, they may just want to switch from the Cactus League to the Grapefruit League. Check out the dismal lot of the Grapefruit League teams:

Read more>>

Mad Men barbie dolls -- collect the whole set!

Great news, Mad Men fans.  For the low, low price of only $74.95 you can purchase a full set of Mad Men barbie dolls!  This 4-doll collection includes a very curvy lifelike Joan Holloway, an accurate replication of real-life barbie doll Betty Draper, and of course two dapper iterations of Roger Sterling and the notoriously handsome Don Draper.  The Sterling Cooper office background is sold separately (j/k).

You can find out how to purchase the set here.  Allow me to fire a preemptive shot across the bow to anyone who wants to reproduce (no pun intended) the bathroom scene from the eternally-underrated comedy Grandma's Boy.  Resist the temptation, fellas.

One more link before I depart for the day.  Time published an article predicting that this season will be the last for Jack Bauer and 24.  Thanks for the novel prediction, Time -- you have once again shown why you are an antiquated source of news that nobody reads.

In any case, they are probably right -- the show's ratings have gone down in recent seasons, while the economy refuses to recover and production expenses have remained high.  Yet here is the Cliff's Notes version of the two uplifting takeaways from the article.  First, it's nice to see 24 get credit as one of the signature TV series from the 2000's.  It definitely belongs right up there with The Sopranos, Lost, and the Wire (albeit for different reasons than those shows).  Second, we now have further confirmation that talks are ongoing about a 24 movie.  As long as the movie doesn't put a black eye on the franchise (a la the most recent X-Files movie) I will be very excited to see Jack Bauer on the silver screen.

Lost with LOST: What's the Diagnosis Dr. Linus?

LOST's 6th iteration has overall left me a bit confused and wanting. It's not that I haven't spent years waiting for answers that never come and rather seem to bring more questions. And it's not like I expected all my questions to be answered so quickly in LOST's final season. But I was waiting for the writers to, in the words of another Doctor, Dr. Evil, "throw me a freakin' bone, here." Last night's episode started to do just that but left me equally as frustrated as when it began. That being said, I think it finally set the stages for the battle that we've all been waiting for and provided us with a much better episode than last week's "Sundown"--while answering some of LOST's questions.

Where Are We?

This one wasn't answered in the sense of how Charlie asked it in Season 1. But we're starting to get a sense, as we look around, that we are about where we're supposed to be. I refer you back to the pre-season 6 Last Supper photo. Click on it and make it large. Who is on the left side? Sawyer, Kate, Sayid and Claire. The right side? Jack, Ben, Hurley, Miles, Sun, and Lapides. Locke or FLocke is in the middle of it all. The only people seemingly on the "wrong" side right now are Ilana/Richard and Jin. And we saw glimpses this episode of why they could be switching sides.

But in another sense, we can answer the question above by saying that we're back at the beach*. This is where it all began, where they all returned to when things went wrong, and where all the bodies are buried. We saw the shelter they made, the graves they left, the diamonds they were buried with, the porno mags that Sawyer stole, and little glimpses of the life they made on The Island. We also saw, at the end, a familiar scene, with people returning to the beach and being greeted warmly by old friends. Reunions, though, are always short-lived on LOST as Charles Widmore and his submarine are lurking in the distance (more on this later).

Read more>>

Nomar Retires in Red Sox Garb

From The Boston Herald (H/T Jamie):

Nomar signed a one-day minor league contract to retire as part of the Red Sox, to join ESPN as a Baseball analyst.

As a Sox Fan, I'm happy to see one of the players who helped build the foundation for the team's success in the past decade retire as a Red Sox (Sock?) even if he left Boston on shaky terms.


(Image from ESPN)

Running Series: Yankee Stadium Deconstruction Update 3/10/10

H/T to Andrew and the New York Post* for the latest and most knife-twisting photos of The Ballpark Formerly Known as Yankee Stadium.

*Tom Kaminski, where were you today??

UPDATE: Here is a great article by Richard Sandomir of the New York Times talking about the deconstruction pictured in the photographs below.  He does a nice job discussing the emotion involved in the deconstruction process, and he also mentions that additional upper deck sections will be brought down today (Thursday, 3/11).

SECOND UPDATE: Thanks to Andrew and CNN iReport for the actual video of the upper deck collapsing.  Rather chilling, if you ask me.

Read more>>

Celeb/Sports Look-Alikes

Ok so this is actually my favorite actor/sports figure look alike: Mike Tomlin and Omar Epps.
 I know Mike Tomlin is a coach, not a football player.  But seriously, I think these guys were separated at birth.  Perhaps this is why whenever I watch House I think Dr. Foreman is going to start calling plays instead of diagnoses.  

I'm not the only one who thinks this.  Even Google knows it.
I went to do an image search for Mike Tomlin and it even showed this:
Related searches: mike tomlin omar epps

(From Totally Looks Like  )

 From Snarky Humor

UConn's season ends on a nailbiting 22-point loss to St. John's

Mercifully, the 2009-10 UConn men's basketball season has come to an end.  This uninspired team blatantly and profoundly quit on its coach, refusing to make a serious run at an NCAA tournament berth by losing its last four games.

The hard-to-swallow truth is that UConn, which entered today's first-round game as a 12-seed in the Big East tournament due to its awful 16-14 record (7-10 in conference play), was blown out by St. John's in a nailbiter, 73-51.

(H/T to the AP for the photo)

For those scoring at home, here are some of the grisly details.  Going into today's game, the Huskies had beaten St. John's 9 straight times...and managed to lose this one.  In the first half, UConn had 9 field goals and 8 turnovers.  In the second half, St. John's shot 60% from the field.  UConn has now lost 6 straight Big East tournament games (!!) including last year's epic 6-overtime loss to Syracuse.  That's impressive for a team that went to the Final Four last season.

UConn would have (probably) saved its season by beating Notre Dame on national TV.  Nope.  UConn could have (probably) saved its season by beating South Florida, a team that hasn't made it to the NCAA tournament in 18 years.  Nope.  UConn could have (probably) saved its season with a hail mary performance in the Big East tournament against St. John's.  Nope, not even close -- they lost by a whopping 22 points.  So, after all that ineptitude, can the Huskies still have a prayer on the bubble?  Joe Lunardi says "No, UConn't"

It is obvious that this year's UConn team gave up and failed to respond to coach Jim Calhoun.  This means very little for the current crop of players -- some are graduating, and the rest aren't likely to go anywhere.  But what does this mean for Jim Calhoun?  How accountable is he for his team's collapse?  How does this affect the 5-year contract extension Calhoun agreed to in December, since it is only a verbal agreement and not a signed contact.  Might Calhoun even be (gasp!) fired altogether??

Read more>>

Yankees Over/Under: Starting Rotation

Yesterday we looked at the Starting 9 with a fun Over/Under game and today we'll check out the starting pitchers. Basically you just put in the comments the numbers and whether you think the player will be under or over in 2010. Tomorrow we'll finish with the bullpen, the coaches and the bench but let's get going with the pitchers (with details about the numbers in parentheses):

1. CC Sabathia - 19 wins (his win total from last year)
2. A.J. Burnett - 29 starts (his average amount of starts the past 5 seasons)
3. Andy Pettitte - 1/2 a run difference between his home and road ERA (his home ERA was 0.88 runs worse last season)
4. Javier Vazquez - 16 wins (his career-high mark set in 2001)
5. Javier Vazquez - 198 IP (his decade-low mark set in 2004 with Yankees)
6. Joba Chamberlain - 22 starts (his average the past two seasons)
7. Phil Hughes - 4.50 ERA as a starter (his career mark as a starter is 5.22)
8. Alfredo Aceves - 5 starts (his career total)
9. Sergio Mitre + Chad Gaudin - 9 starts combined (9 was Mitre's total alone last season)

And now a few non-stat related ones:

10. CC Sabathia - 4th in the Cy Young voting (his finish last season and "over would be mean better and "under" would mean worse)
11. Javier Vazquez - 1.5 times per game 2004 ALCS Game 7 shot of Vazquez shown
12. A.J. Burnett - 10 pies in the face after game-winning hits (the Yankees had 15 game-winning hits last season)
13. CC Sabathia- 290 pounds (his "official" weight)
14. Other starters - 3 starts by other pitchers than the 9 listed above
15. Andy Pettitte - 10 starts until a New York newspaper suggests he's "done"

Put your thoughts in the comments below. I'll tally up the results and we'll see how we did in October.

Picture from the New York Times