Now that I am back from vacation, and more importantly, my readers are back from vacation, let us recommence the blogging...
I have a particular penchant for the Home Run Derby. I can remember many times throughout the years sitting in a box (box seat) in front of the television, watching the game's great sluggers do their best to muscle the ball over the fence. I've seen Oriole greats like Cal Ripken, B.J Surhoff, Miguel Tejada, and (removing the "great" label) Rafael Palmeiro hit the ball as hard as they could to win the coveted two golden bats crossed on a stand trophy. The derby is just a fun event, and it's a treat for the fans.
Unfortunately, in the past years, the derby has started to become a bit of a joke around All-Star time. More and more hitters are taking the night off instead of slugging it out, MLB introduces goofy new formats (remember that US vs. the World crap from a few years ago?), and Chris Berman gets less air time to chant "Back-back-back" as the ball soars. And this year, sadly, is no exception.
This year's derby field is comprised of Alex Rios of the Blue Jays, Vlad Guererro of the Angels, Magglio Ordonez of the Tigers, Justin Morneau of the Twins, Albert Pujols of the Cardinals, Ryan Howard of the Phillies, and Prince Fielder of the Brewers. The notable peculiarity of the field is that it's only 7 people as opposed to the traditional 8. That's because the Marlins' Miguel Cabrera withdrew yesterday due to a shoulder injury, and there are apparently no other people in AT&T Park who can hit homeruns (put up or shut up, Barry Lamar).
The second oddity in the derby lineup has to do with who is allowed to participate. Ryan Howard won the Home Run Derby last year in Pittsburgh. He is not part of the All-Star roster this year, but is still begin permitted to participate in the derby. He is being flown to San Francisco for the sole purpose of taking batting practice in front of the world. What a crock. If you aren't good enough to be an All-Star, why should you be allowed to sully the good name of the Home Run derby? How ridiculous would it be for the winner of All-Star week's most prestigious event to not even be an All-Star? Here's hoping Howard continues the fine tradition of not winning consecutive derby's.
The final anomaly in the lineup has to do with who isn't in the lineup. The 7 participants in tonight's derby rank 2, 3, 6, 13, 17, 37, and 57th in the league in homeruns. That's right folks, pay good money to go to AT&T Park and see Magglio Ordonez, the 57th best homerun hitter in all of baseball. Ordonez is behind such powerhouses as Hanley Ramirez, Jhonny Peralta (I didn't spell that wrong, either), Ian Kinsler, and Xavier Nady. Who wants to see that? Are they going to have to construct an artificial fence around the infield dirt just so tonight's competitors can hit homeruns? Are we going to allow ground rule doubles to count as homeruns? How about foul balls that travel far enough?
What's worse than the fact that All-Stars Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey, Torii Hunter, J.J Hardy, and Barry Lamar Bonds are not participating are the reasons they give for not participating. Quoth Bonds, "It's too much waiting. You can't do that." Says Rodriguez, "I've worked hard for my swing and I definitely don't want to let anything get in the way of that." Others cite the damage that can be done to your mechanics, or the fatigue that sets in from participating in the derby.
The most ridiculous excuse, however, deals with one of my all time favorite topics: curses! Some players think that the derby carries a mystique that can derail a player. They usually cite Bobby Abreu as evidence. Abreu won the derby in Detroit two years ago. Since then, he's been junk. Experts say his swing isn't the same because he developed too many bad habits trying to hit the ball out. Unfortunately for said experts, they also posted the first half and second half homerun totals for the top four finalists in each derby since 1998. Being a statistician in my off time, I took notice.
At first glance, it seems as though the derby may cause a little bit of fatigue that lasts into the second half of the season. On average, derby participants hit 6.5 fewer homeruns in the second half of the year than the first. However, 6.5 homeruns is NOT statistically significant. In order to be significant, the player would have to be somewhere around 24 fewer homeruns in the second half (don't ask me how I know, just know that it's right). That means that the drop in production among derby participants can be attributed to other things, like injury, fatigue from the season, or slumps. The lesson that needs to be learned here is that the derby does not do as much harm as the players want you to believe. The real reason they don't want to participate is because they are afraid of embarrassing themselves on the grand stage. There is not such thing as a "Home Run Derby Curse".
So am I going to watch the Home Run Derby tonight? Hell yeah! I'm saying Vladimir Guererro wins it all. But that does not take away from the fact that today's derby is just a watered down shadow of the great spectacle it used to be.
Peace.
Showing posts with label Homeruns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homeruns. Show all posts
Monday, July 9, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Sosa What?
I think it's time to venture out of the Orioles world a little bit, and cover a national story. I can only write about how bad the O's are so many times in a week...
Sammy Sosa hit his 600th career homerun last night, joining Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, and some other guy in the 600 homerun club. Please join me in letting out a collective "So what?"
Let's face it, 600 homeruns ain't what it used to be. I'm not saying that because Aaron's historic 755 is soon to be unjustly relegated to second best ever. I'm saying that because in the age of the steroid, any player who hits 600 homeruns can't be trusted.
The last two people to hit 600 homeruns are Sosa and that other guy. Sosa went on trial before Congress to defend himself against steroid accusations, and the other guy refused to. Sosa has been in the league 18 years, the other guy 21. Sosa, over his career, has averaged 33 homeruns a season, the other guy averages 35. Remarkably, both have done the bulk of their homerun hitting in their twilight years, and neither is deserving of the Hall of Fame.
I wish I could be excited for Sosa. He's a former Oriole, a generally likable guy, and was part of one of baseball's most fun seasons in 1998. Unfortunately, all of that is tainted. His season with the O's was disastrous, and we all know that Baltimore is a hotbed for steroid activity. His likability is limited when you have the thoughts of him taking illegal substances in the back of your mind. And we all know by now that the 1998 season (regarded as a season to save baseball) was a sham. McGwire was juicing, Sosa was juicing, and the whole homerun chase was about as legit as batting practice. Six-hundred homeruns isn't that big a deal when you're physically built to hit the ball 600 feet.
"But Sammy's never been caught using steroids. Why are we putting him on trial more than Bonds?" Well, anonymous question asker, I'm taking Sosa to trial for a plethora of reasons. First, he's in the headlines today. Second, he came back to the majors this year with the sole purpose of hitting his 600th homerun. That, to me, is playing for the wrong reason. It's a totally self centered motivation. He couldn't care how well the Rangers do (which is good, since the Rangers are one of the few teams worse than the O's), and now that his milestone is reached, we get to see him go into shutdown mode before ultimately retiring.
The biggest reason I'm taking Sosa to task today is because he is a known offender. Sure, he has never been caught with the 'roids, but he has been caught cheating. It wasn't too long ago that the headlines were ablaze with news that Sosa was caught with a corked bat. Sosa backpedaled so fast you would have thought he was playing cornerback in the NFL. First, he blamed the batboy. Then, he said it was a batting practice bat. I think in the end he just blamed George W. Bush, and we actually liked that one, so we stuck with it. That, however, does not excuse his use of an illegal bat. Since Sosa has been known to cheat before, how can we be sure that he has not been cheating the whole time.
Baseball is a very high pressure game. Players are called up and asked to perform to a certain standard, and more often than not, only get one shot at the bigs. As a result, players do whatever they can to make sure that the shot lasts as long as possible. For Sosa, it's been a long and rewarding ride. Unfortunately, he is going to end up in a separate annal of baseball lore, alongside "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, Pete Rose, Mark McGwire, and ultimately, that other guy. He'll be remembered as one of those players that had the ability to make the Hall of Fame, but made the wrong decisions along the way. It's because of guys like McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds that we all say "So what?" when someone hits their 600th homerun.
Peace.
Sammy Sosa hit his 600th career homerun last night, joining Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, and some other guy in the 600 homerun club. Please join me in letting out a collective "So what?"
Let's face it, 600 homeruns ain't what it used to be. I'm not saying that because Aaron's historic 755 is soon to be unjustly relegated to second best ever. I'm saying that because in the age of the steroid, any player who hits 600 homeruns can't be trusted.
The last two people to hit 600 homeruns are Sosa and that other guy. Sosa went on trial before Congress to defend himself against steroid accusations, and the other guy refused to. Sosa has been in the league 18 years, the other guy 21. Sosa, over his career, has averaged 33 homeruns a season, the other guy averages 35. Remarkably, both have done the bulk of their homerun hitting in their twilight years, and neither is deserving of the Hall of Fame.
I wish I could be excited for Sosa. He's a former Oriole, a generally likable guy, and was part of one of baseball's most fun seasons in 1998. Unfortunately, all of that is tainted. His season with the O's was disastrous, and we all know that Baltimore is a hotbed for steroid activity. His likability is limited when you have the thoughts of him taking illegal substances in the back of your mind. And we all know by now that the 1998 season (regarded as a season to save baseball) was a sham. McGwire was juicing, Sosa was juicing, and the whole homerun chase was about as legit as batting practice. Six-hundred homeruns isn't that big a deal when you're physically built to hit the ball 600 feet.
"But Sammy's never been caught using steroids. Why are we putting him on trial more than Bonds?" Well, anonymous question asker, I'm taking Sosa to trial for a plethora of reasons. First, he's in the headlines today. Second, he came back to the majors this year with the sole purpose of hitting his 600th homerun. That, to me, is playing for the wrong reason. It's a totally self centered motivation. He couldn't care how well the Rangers do (which is good, since the Rangers are one of the few teams worse than the O's), and now that his milestone is reached, we get to see him go into shutdown mode before ultimately retiring.
The biggest reason I'm taking Sosa to task today is because he is a known offender. Sure, he has never been caught with the 'roids, but he has been caught cheating. It wasn't too long ago that the headlines were ablaze with news that Sosa was caught with a corked bat. Sosa backpedaled so fast you would have thought he was playing cornerback in the NFL. First, he blamed the batboy. Then, he said it was a batting practice bat. I think in the end he just blamed George W. Bush, and we actually liked that one, so we stuck with it. That, however, does not excuse his use of an illegal bat. Since Sosa has been known to cheat before, how can we be sure that he has not been cheating the whole time.
Baseball is a very high pressure game. Players are called up and asked to perform to a certain standard, and more often than not, only get one shot at the bigs. As a result, players do whatever they can to make sure that the shot lasts as long as possible. For Sosa, it's been a long and rewarding ride. Unfortunately, he is going to end up in a separate annal of baseball lore, alongside "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, Pete Rose, Mark McGwire, and ultimately, that other guy. He'll be remembered as one of those players that had the ability to make the Hall of Fame, but made the wrong decisions along the way. It's because of guys like McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds that we all say "So what?" when someone hits their 600th homerun.
Peace.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Two for the Price of One
It's your lucky day, two rants in the same space as one, and each of the same high quality that keeps you coming back for more (that and the fact that you're all family and friends, and I know where you live)...
As much as I wish I didn't have to, I would be absolutely remissed if I didn't comment on the Red Sox- Yankee game from last night. More correctly, the Red Sox and Yankees took batting practice against each other. There were 6 (count 'em) homeruns hit in the game, including two by Mike Lowell, and 4 in A FRIGGIN' ROW from the Red Sox. The question I ask is, where the hell was the pitching? Aren't these two teams supposed to be the powerhouses of Major League Baseball? Don't powerhouses usually have people who don't throw meatballs when the count is better than 3-0? Even the immortal, sure-fire first ballot Hall of Famer Dice-K Matsuzaka (I contest that he deserves 100% of the votes) had a less than stellar outing, plunking both A-Roid and Derek Jeter (if you're gonna do it, do it right). Pitching is the definite mark of a playoff team, and right now, neither one of these teams has any, as evidenced by the home run derby last night.
When I heard that Boston teed off four times in a row, it made me wonder, "When was the last time that happened, because that's pretty hard to do?" Well, it turns out that the last time it happened was in '06... 2006. Somehow, the media managed to slip the Dodger's four homerun night last summer by me, even though I spend half of my waking hours scouring the web for sports related news. I cannot put it any better than Si.com's Peter McEntegart, however, so I will let him finish my point:
One strange connection between the Dodgers four homerun feat and Bostons turning Fenway Park into a driving range is the presence of JD Drew on both teams. Not only that, Drew homered for both teams during the onslaught, meaning he obviously must have some sort of mystical powers. Lets hope he limits his powers to one night a year, unless he dons Black and Orange one day.
Speaking of the Black and Orange, it almost looked as though my prowess in the sports-media world had finally taken hold. One day after ranting about the lack of coverage the surging Orioles were receiving, I found this headline on Si.com's baseball page: Orioles winning, Blue Jays ailing. I was about one second from doing a Chandler Dance in victory for using my considerably squeaky wheel to get some oil for the O's, but alas, I was misled by the tantalizing creativity of the headline editors. When I actually read the article, it became appalling apparent that the purpose of the article was not to exalt the Orioles, but rather to point out that the Orioles' winning streak has been against the likes of Kansas City, Tampa Bay, and Toronto. The writer (a Cliff Corcoran... who is now On Notice) credited the Orioles' winning to the other teams losing, and Toronto falling to pieces because of the injury bug. After the Orioles got some mention in the first paragraph, Mr. Corcoran writes about the Jays woes, then slips back into the norm of writing about the Sox and Yankees (how cliche). Thankfully, he was writing a blog, and the sports world (O's fans and non-O's fans alike) were wise enough to rip him a new one. Click the link to view both the poorly written article, and stick around and read the comments that question his writing ability and his credit as a sports journalist.
After reading the unbearable filth that Mr. Corcoran felt was Internet worthy (it was a slap in the face to blog writers everywhere), I figured I could lick my wounds by reading a credible journalist, the honorable John Donovan, the Power Ranker for baseball on Si.com. John does the right thing by ranking the Orioles 7th overall (probably a little high... he must've been hanging out with Ricky Williams), but then falls flat by backhanding the crap out the Orioles when he thought no one was reading (I read everything, John Donovan). For the comment next to the #17 Blue Jays, Donovan says "The Jays tumble down the PRs courtesy of a five-game skid, the last three losses to a team (the O's) that shouldn't be beating them." Jerk can go to hell. I'm done with him.
I'd like to end on a happy note, and nothing makes me happier than the misery that is the Washington Nationals. Go here http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/multimedia/tp_archive.jsp?c_id=was
and scroll down to April 21. Click on "Chico's Wild Pitch", and watch the worst wild pitch since the Mayor of Cincinnati on Opening Day. I'd even go as far to say that this may be the worst display of professional athleticism in the history of sport. The announcer is dead on when he quotes Bob Uecker... this one was "Juuuuuuuuust a bit outside" (outside in this case meaning OVER THE FIRST BASE DUGOUT!!!!). Watch the video, and smile knowing that the Orioles cannot possibly be as bad as the Nats.
Peace.
As much as I wish I didn't have to, I would be absolutely remissed if I didn't comment on the Red Sox- Yankee game from last night. More correctly, the Red Sox and Yankees took batting practice against each other. There were 6 (count 'em) homeruns hit in the game, including two by Mike Lowell, and 4 in A FRIGGIN' ROW from the Red Sox. The question I ask is, where the hell was the pitching? Aren't these two teams supposed to be the powerhouses of Major League Baseball? Don't powerhouses usually have people who don't throw meatballs when the count is better than 3-0? Even the immortal, sure-fire first ballot Hall of Famer Dice-K Matsuzaka (I contest that he deserves 100% of the votes) had a less than stellar outing, plunking both A-Roid and Derek Jeter (if you're gonna do it, do it right). Pitching is the definite mark of a playoff team, and right now, neither one of these teams has any, as evidenced by the home run derby last night.
When I heard that Boston teed off four times in a row, it made me wonder, "When was the last time that happened, because that's pretty hard to do?" Well, it turns out that the last time it happened was in '06... 2006. Somehow, the media managed to slip the Dodger's four homerun night last summer by me, even though I spend half of my waking hours scouring the web for sports related news. I cannot put it any better than Si.com's Peter McEntegart, however, so I will let him finish my point:
"The Red Sox set a new major league record by hittingYou have to love when words carry that much truth.
back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs in Sunday's 7-6 win over the Yankees to
sweep the series. Well, teams have technically hit four consecutive homers
before, but those don't really count because it wasn't Yankees-Red Sox."
One strange connection between the Dodgers four homerun feat and Bostons turning Fenway Park into a driving range is the presence of JD Drew on both teams. Not only that, Drew homered for both teams during the onslaught, meaning he obviously must have some sort of mystical powers. Lets hope he limits his powers to one night a year, unless he dons Black and Orange one day.
Speaking of the Black and Orange, it almost looked as though my prowess in the sports-media world had finally taken hold. One day after ranting about the lack of coverage the surging Orioles were receiving, I found this headline on Si.com's baseball page: Orioles winning, Blue Jays ailing. I was about one second from doing a Chandler Dance in victory for using my considerably squeaky wheel to get some oil for the O's, but alas, I was misled by the tantalizing creativity of the headline editors. When I actually read the article, it became appalling apparent that the purpose of the article was not to exalt the Orioles, but rather to point out that the Orioles' winning streak has been against the likes of Kansas City, Tampa Bay, and Toronto. The writer (a Cliff Corcoran... who is now On Notice) credited the Orioles' winning to the other teams losing, and Toronto falling to pieces because of the injury bug. After the Orioles got some mention in the first paragraph, Mr. Corcoran writes about the Jays woes, then slips back into the norm of writing about the Sox and Yankees (how cliche). Thankfully, he was writing a blog, and the sports world (O's fans and non-O's fans alike) were wise enough to rip him a new one. Click the link to view both the poorly written article, and stick around and read the comments that question his writing ability and his credit as a sports journalist.
After reading the unbearable filth that Mr. Corcoran felt was Internet worthy (it was a slap in the face to blog writers everywhere), I figured I could lick my wounds by reading a credible journalist, the honorable John Donovan, the Power Ranker for baseball on Si.com. John does the right thing by ranking the Orioles 7th overall (probably a little high... he must've been hanging out with Ricky Williams), but then falls flat by backhanding the crap out the Orioles when he thought no one was reading (I read everything, John Donovan). For the comment next to the #17 Blue Jays, Donovan says "The Jays tumble down the PRs courtesy of a five-game skid, the last three losses to a team (the O's) that shouldn't be beating them." Jerk can go to hell. I'm done with him.
I'd like to end on a happy note, and nothing makes me happier than the misery that is the Washington Nationals. Go here http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/multimedia/tp_archive.jsp?c_id=was
and scroll down to April 21. Click on "Chico's Wild Pitch", and watch the worst wild pitch since the Mayor of Cincinnati on Opening Day. I'd even go as far to say that this may be the worst display of professional athleticism in the history of sport. The announcer is dead on when he quotes Bob Uecker... this one was "Juuuuuuuuust a bit outside" (outside in this case meaning OVER THE FIRST BASE DUGOUT!!!!). Watch the video, and smile knowing that the Orioles cannot possibly be as bad as the Nats.
Peace.
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