2010 MLB Season Discussion

[Ensam]

The stadium itself isn't that bad. It's not great, but it's not bad. I know that I rather like the fact that it's a dome and air conditioned and thus it's not OMFGHOLYFUCKINGHOT all the time.

It's probably the worst stadium to watch a game in. It fucking sucks. I'd much rather watch the game in the heat in joe robbie stadium (Which is a pretty bad stadium too) than watch something in the ray's stadium.

[Headspace]

Man, Reds SP has been terribad recently.

[Conrad]

Figures the first Phillies game at CBP I go to this year is the most memorable game of the season. That whole game was absolutely amazing.

Spoiler: show

Minus the loss.

[Soa]

And the atrocious 3rd base ump.

[Conrad]

Well, yeah. The stands were half empty by the 14th inning but the loudest we got was when we were booing the ump and chanting Asshole at him. Also when Oswalt came out into LF and caught that first out in the 15th.

[Cephius]

They really had no one else to use besides Oswalt? He's uh, kind of important don't you think?

[Soa]

They really had no one else to use besides Oswalt? He's uh, kind of important don't you think?

Yeah our bench was completely used up at that point, and we even had to use our worst reliever for 3 innings because the bullpen was spent (he even had to bat). Luckily we have Halladay going tonight so the bullpen can probably take the night off.

I think the funniest part of the whole thing was a guy on the DL got tossed out of the game too. I mean, wtf? The ump is a minor league replacement (who also tossed Ryan Zimmerman for no reason a while back) so hopefully he won't be in the majors much longer.

[Conrad]

They really had no one else to use besides Oswalt? He's uh, kind of important don't you think?

They used every single bench player, although they announced Domonic Brown as a PH way back in the 7th and then decided to go with Ben Francisco instead. I didn't know that meant Brown was unavailable at that point. It was a trip to have Oswalt out, though -- I had moved into the left field seats a couple innings before from the right field nosebleeds, so the entire section was cheering and calling for him while he was out there. Easily the coolest game I've ever been to, despite the loss.

Oh, and the Chooch bobblehead was worth the price of admission alone.

[Byrd]

Interesting article on the AL Cy Young conversation.

Which of these three pitchers would you want on your team?

Pitcher A: 2.97 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 146 K, 65 BB, 157.2 IP
Pitcher B: 3.02 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 151 K, 61 BB, 187.2 IP
Pitcher C: 2.51 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 183 K, 55 BB, 197 IP

Seems obvious, doesn't it? Maybe not so obvious when you discuss W-L records.

A: 15-5
B: 17-5
C: 9-10

Would you still want C the most?

Spoiler: show

Pitcher A: David Price
Pitcher B: CC Sabathia
Pitcher C: Felix Hernandez

Here at Stats and Information we are using a metric similar to those two called xWIN. This measure simply multiples the average probability a pitcher gives his team to win by the total number of starts for that pitcher. Here ‘s the current AL leaderboard for xWIN.

American League Leaderboard
xWin
Felix Hernandez, SEA 18.4
CC Sabathia, NYY 16.9
Jered Weaver, LAA 16.2
C.J. Wilson, TEX 15.3
Jon Lester, BOS 15.3
John Danks, CHW 15.1
David Price, TB 15.0

Sabathia (17) and Price (15) have predicted win totals that are nearly identical to their actual number of wins. Hernandez, on the other hand, should have almost 10 wins more than he actually does! This is the largest gap between xWIN and actual wins in all of baseball. Hernandez also leads the AL in SNW.

So this year's Cy Young award could basically be decided by the Mariners' anemic offense....

[Conrad]

Win/loss is a dumb stat and shouldn't be factored into CY decisions at all.

[Conrad]

One of the things that infuriates Philly fans is that Cole Hamels has had an amazing year so far, but he can't get any damn run support. He's 7-10 in 26 starts.

Here's his 2010 stats as of last night: 166.0 IP, 64 ER, 24 HR, 50 BB, 170 K, 3.47 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, .245 BAA. Totally solid (especially for a #3), but again...7-10.

[*Shinzon*]

Wins are a stupid stat. It has nothing to do with the pitcher but rather how the team preforms around him on his pitching day.

[Cephius]

It's obvious to anyone who isn't a BBWAA member. I'm sure King Felix will get the shaft.

[Trichocyst]

Goddamn I've never seen Ryan Howard so angry before. I didn't realize right away that Scott Barry was actively mocking him. Watching the replay, again, I still don't think Howard swung and Barry tossed him fast (when he tossed his bat down somewhat innocuously) and even before he tossed his helmet. I'd hate to see a man that big so pissed off at me. The Fightins has a lot of coverage.

When I feel like I'm being too much of a homer I always check in with Crashburn Alley. Baer tends to keep a much more level head about these things and can articulate baseball metrics better than I could ever hope to.

[Conrad]

Goddamn I've never seen Ryan Howard so angry before. I didn't realize right away that Scott Barry was actively mocking him. Watching the replay, again, I still don't think Howard swung and Barry tossed him fast (when he tossed his bat down somewhat innocuously) and even before he tossed his helmet. I'd hate to see a man that big so pissed off at me. The Fightins has a lot of coverage.

When I feel like I'm being too much of a homer I always check in with Crashburn Alley. Baer tends to keep a much more level head about these things and can articulate baseball metrics better than I could ever hope to.

Even Baer was pissed off in today's post about the incident. I just heard the audio file from the radio broadcast, when Larry Andersen was yelling at the umps. I wish Franzke & LA had the TV broadcast instead, since Tom & Wheels are god-awful. It'll never happen if he's yelling like that on the air, though.

[Trichocyst]

That's why he's better on radio. He's allowed to be a hot head and say shit that goes under the radar.

[Cephius]

Umpire overstepping his bounds? NO WAY!

[Melena]

They really had no one else to use besides Oswalt? He's uh, kind of important don't you think?

This happened to us a couple years ago where Santiago and our backup catcher both got hurt in the same game (extra inning game against the A's) and our bench was spent. We had Pedro Feliz catching and Matt Cain out in left field.

[Alderaan]

Finally a fucking lead for Atl.

Not to mention we scored before the 7th for a change.

[Akiyama]

Didn't realize it was even on.