Historic Week for 2 Texas Rangers, Former Texas Ranger

 Analysis, Sports  1 Response »
May 132012
 

What a week for Texas Ranger fans. A historic week. Besides the obvious amazing feats by Josh Hamilton, there were two other feats that deserve recognition.

Chris Davis, 1B

Davis is now a Baltimore Oriole, but he was a Ranger last season before he was traded. Last Sunday, May 6th, Davis went 0-8 with 5 strikeouts against the Boston Red Sox. The game lasted 17 innings, and by the 16th inning, both the Red Sox and Orioles ran out of pitchers. Thus, Davis was called upon to pitch. He got the win, pitching two scoreless innings with 2 strikeouts. Why is this historic? Well, Davis is the eighth player, but first non-pitcher, since 1918 to get a win for a game in which he struck out five times at the plate. Continue reading »

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Mariano Rivera Out, David Robertson, You’re Up

 Analysis, Sports  No Responses »
May 082012
 

Time for a sports post! Been meaning to start putting up moar sports posts because after all, we’re a blog for all forms of entertainment.

I never imagined in my wildest dreams, that the greatest closer of all time, Mariano Rivera, would succumb to such a freak injury like he did last Thursday, May 3rd. To tear your ACL shagging fly balls–a routine Rivera has done in every pre-game warm-up in his career–is as random as it gets.  As sad as this news is for all Yankee fans, there is hope. Rivera, one of the fiercest competitors in all of sports, has vowed to come back. He has vowed not to end his career due to some fluke injury, but to leave on his own terms.  The best never quit.

However, the closer void still needs to be filled. Enter David Robertson. This Alabama native (woot!) has been one of the best relievers in baseball period over the past 1+ seasons. Last year, he had an insane stat line: a 1.08 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 100 K’s to 35 BB’s, all in 66.2 IP.  He gave up ONE home run. This season, in 13 IP, he has a 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and a 23:5 K to BB ratio. Incredible. He has had two straight appearances where he struck out the side (4/30 vs. Baltimore and 5/4 vs. Kansas City).  Tonight’s outing, in which he recorded his first save of the season, he loaded the bases.  What did he do? He remained calm and poised, and he struck out the final batter, Carlos Pena, on a called strike three.

It is because of the ability to remain calm under pressure which has helped Robertson become one of the most dominant relievers in baseball.  Who also possesses this ultimate calm? You guessed it, Mo himself. Just to further prove this, according the the Elias Sports Bureau, Robertson has held opponents to one hit in their last 25 at-bats with the bases loaded, and he’s retired 16 of those batters via strikeout (tonight’s performance included).  So while he’s no Mo (Robertson even joked tonight saying, “Mo would have probably thrown 12 pitches and broke a bat and we would have been done 20 minutes ago”), Robertson is as close to him as you can get. Not bad at all.

MLB Regular Season Review + Awards Predictions

 Analysis, Commentary, Recap, Sports  No Responses »
Oct 112011
 

Hey guys I know it’s a little late, but I thought I would do a little season review based on my predictions back at the beginning of the season. Man was I wrong on some of my picks! Ok let’s get started!

AL East

I picked the Boston Red Sox to win the division; boy was I wrong.  As a Yankee fan, however, I couldn’t be moar glad.  One of my best friends is a Red Sox fan, and his reaction to their epic collapse was priceless.  It also cost Terry Francona his job.  I had picked the Yankees to come in second and win the wild card, and we ended up winning the division.  The celebration was short-lived though, as the Yanks were eliminated from the playoffs by the Detroit Tigers in 5 games.  But it was still a good season nonetheless.

As for the rest of the division, the Tampa Bay Rays, who I picked to finish fourth, ended up catching the Red Sox to win the wild card.  The Toronto Blue Jays finished fourth thanks in huge part to Jose Bautista (who is my AL MVP), and the Baltimore Orioles finished dead last even though I picked them to finish third.  Looks like I bought into Buck Showalter’s magic too much.  They did, however, play help play spoiler and keep the Red Sox out of the playoffs, so I am happy about that.

Pre-season picks: Red Sox, Yankees (Wild Card), Orioles, Rays,  Blue Jays

Reality: Yankees, Rays (Wild Card), Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles Continue reading »

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Mariano Rivera: The Greatest Closer Ever

 Analysis, Sports, Tribute  2 Responses »
Sep 192011
 

New York Yankee fan or not, you have to respect Mariano Rivera.  On a beautiful September day, Rivera set the all-time saves record by notching number 602.  It’s been a special year to be a Yankee fan; Derek Jeter joined the 3000 hit club, and Rivera broke the saves record.  Here’s a few stats that help bolster Rivera’s case as the greatest (not that you’ll find anyone who disagrees): Continue reading »

Analysis: Curtis Granderson Part 3

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Aug 052011
 

The Grandy Man

I just read an article by Jayson Stark on ESPN.com that details 5 players who are chasing records this season.  The Grandy Man is currently chasing a few records this season as it turns out.  From the article:

This man is on pace to score 144 runs. Want to know how many times that number has been reached in the American League since the AL went to a 162-game schedule a HALF-CENTURY AGO? That would be once — by Rickey Henderson (146) in 1985. The only NL players to get there in the era: Jeff Bagwell (152) in 2000, Sammy Sosa (146) in 2000 and Craig Biggio (146) in 1997. That’s it.

But here’s an even more fun feat Granderson has a shot at: He leads the league in triples. And he’s third in the league in homers (five behind Jose Bautista).

So how many hitters in the live-ball era have led their league in triples AND homers in the same season? Exactly three: Jim Rice in 1978, Willie Mays in 1955 and Jim Bottomley in 1928. And only Rice led the league outright in both categories. This one’s more of a long shot — but quite a cool group, huh?

Yes quite a cool group indeed Jayson.  In Granderson I trust.

Analysis: A Tale of Two Halves

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Aug 052011
 

Mark Teixeira is a typical "slow starter" or "second half player"

Hey guys, just wanted to do a quick rundown of some things I’ve been noticing in the second half of the MLB season.  Many players throughout the league are known as “second half players”; these guys typically have sub-par first halves and really turn it up in the second half.  Off the top of my head Nationals 1B Adam LaRoche and Yankees 1B Mark Teixeira are two examples.  However, there are guys who use the second half to fix a first half slump.  There isn’t anything to indicate that these players are like LaRoche or Teixeira, who have career trends of first half terribleness.  Most players in slumps just need time to work things out.  Now they don’t always fix what’ ailing them; sometimes they stay in the funk they’re in whether it’s just age catching up to them, being extremely unlucky, or failing to make adjustments.  There are also guys who have had historically strong first halves and terrible second halves.  Angels pitcher Dan Haren comes to mind.  And there are guys without historical trends who have great first halves and then plummet in the second half.  In this piece I’ll cover some guys who are currently trending up and some who are currently trending down.  Now I realize there are still roughly two months of baseball to be played, but I just thought it would be interesting to point out some players. Continue reading »

Analysis: Curtis Granderson Part 2

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Jul 232011
 

The Grandy Man

Earlier in the year I wrote an article detailing Curtis Granderson’s new swing which has led to an increased home run rate.  He’s already hit 26 home runs this year, tied for third with fellow Yankee Marx Teixeira and trailing Lance Berkman of the St. Louis Cardinals (27 home runs) and Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays (31 home runs).  What Granderson’s new swing has also allowed him to do is to hit lefties better, which has greatly contributed to his success.  I mentioned how Granderson’s new swing eliminated extra motion and shortened his stride.  For moar details on his swing check out this article by Mike Axisa on Yankees blog River Ave Blues, part of the YES Network.  Anyways, this approach has enabled him to turn on the ball better leading to home runs.  This has especially helped against lefties.  Up until his swing change last August, Granderson was a .209/.266/.334 hitter against lefties.  After his swing change he hit .286/.375/.500 versus southpaws the rest of 2010, albeit in only 56 at-bats.  I read an article by Chris Cwik of fangraphs.com in which he noted the difference.  When he wrote the article on May 17th, he also detailed Granderson’s averages against lefties up until that point.  At the time he had a line of .275/.326/.850.  Very impressive.   Continue reading »

Analysis: Curtis Granderson This Year’s Jose Bautista?

 Analysis, Sports  2 Responses »
May 142011
 

Curtis Granderson has been a home run machine since he reworked his swing last August

I remember being skeptical when my Yankees traded away highly touted prospect Austin Jackson to the Detroit Tigers for Curtis Granderson last year. I thought the Yankees were being their usual inpatient selves by trading away the growing prospect for the older proven hitter. Granderson never lacked power (he hit 30 HR’s in 2009), but I thought that the pressure of playing in New York would be too much. And at first, I was right; while Jackson got off to a scorching start in 2010, Granderson struggled. In April, Jackson was hitting .364 Granderson was at .225 with two homers and seven RBIs. He also went on the DL for a groin strain. However, Yankee hitting coach Kevin Long was able to work with Granderson. He helped him change his swing by making it moar fluid and getting rid of a lot of extra moving parts. This shortened swing had immediate results. From the time Long intervened in August of 2010 to now, Granderson has logged the second most home runs over that time with 26; he trails only Jose Bautista (31) which is really no surprise and is tied with Troy Tulowitzki (26).

As the article title suggests, I believe Granderson will be this year’s Bautista. Now Granderson isn’t going to come outta nowhere like Bautista since he was already an established power hitter. But he’s similar in the sense that he was an older guy at the time of his swing change (29 like Bautista when he changed his) which is rare, is on pace for a ridiculous home run total, and has become an extremely deadly pull hitter. And due to Yankee Stadium being a hitter friendly park, I expect big things from Granderson. At the time of this article he’s currently batting .281 with 12 HR’s (second to Bautista’s 13 and second in the Majors overall) and 26 RBI’s. That’s pretty damn good. If I had to guess now, I would say Granderson gets to 40 home runs. Don’t hold me to it. But if he keeps it up, it can become a reality.

Justin Verlander Throws 2nd No-Hitter of the Year (And the 2nd of His Career)

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May 082011
 

Justin Verlander throws his second no-hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays on 05/07/2011

Well well after Francisco Liriano threw the first no-hitter of the year a few days ago, Justin Verlander matched him by throwing his own no-hitter (and 2nd of his career).  This time, the victims were the Toronto Blue Jays.  Unlike Liriano’s, Verlander was utterly dominant.  He threw 108 pitches with 74 of them going for strikes.  His 106th pitch of the game was a 100 mph fastball.  I can only imagine what it would be like as a hitter if a pitcher can change speeds so well.  Just think of facing 100 mph fastballs and 88 mph sliders that break into the dirt and 79 mph curveballs that buckle batters’ knees.  He struck out 4 and only walked 1.  Some might argue that this was even moar impressive then his first no-hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers on June 12th, 2007 when he struck out 12.  Verlander is a moar mature pitcher now with legitimate chance to win the Cy Young Award this year.  Whatever the case may be, Verlander has added another accomplishment to his growing career.

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The Courtroom: Barry Bonds Found Guilty, Carlos Delgado Retires

 Analysis, Commentary, Sports  No Responses »
Apr 142011
 

He is now officially a felon

Well Barry Bonds was convicted on one of the four counts he was charged with yesterday, finally ending this circus of a trial.  The charge he was convicted of was obstruction of justice; the other three counts of perjury were dismissed due to the jury being deadlocked.  I mentioned in another article that while it may seem like a waste of resources, it would set a bad precedence if we just let Bonds walk away scotch free even though he lied to a grand jury (and even if the prosecution did a terrible job proving he lied, everyone with half a brain stem knows that Bonds knew exactly what he was doing).  However, after thinking it over some moar, yeah it probably was a waste of time and money; especially since the three big counts were dismissed.  While obstruction of justice is still a felony, it still doesn’t feel as vindicating if Bonds had been convicted of all four counts.  As Jayson Stark of ESPN.com wrote, all this trial did was reinforce what we already knew–Bonds was evasive. Continue reading »

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