Yes, Again: The (Last-Minute) Case For Tim Lincecum

There is a statistically-inclined rant after the jump that I think you all need to hear.

In Which I Point Out That Someone Has Done Something Awesome

If you haven’t already, go read this article from Beyond the Box Score.

IT MAKES STEPS TOWARDS QUANTIFYING CATCHER DEFENSE.

TOO COOL.

Still unquantifiable: Erick Aybar's socks.

Yes, that’s a random photo. But it’s a neat image. So there.

Try to survive the night.

(Aaaaahhhhh someone is quantifying catcher defense!!!)

Oh, and, uh, guys? I promise I’ll say something interesting over the weekend. Just a thought to get you excited for my upcoming angry ramblings and rants: Who do you think is having the best season? Andy LaRoche, Jason Bay, or Manny Ramirez?

The Complete Statistical List Of Pitchers More Deserving Of An All-Star Selection Than Tim Wakefield

I am going to take so much flak for this, and you know what? If I cared, then I wouldn’t be writing this post. Good morning. I think I’m going to go take it out on the street while the rain still falls.

Listed with RAR and FIP are all AL pitchers who 1) didn’t make the All-Star team, 2) have BABIPs over .250, and 3) have a greater RAR than Tim Wakefield.

After the jump…

In Which We Celebrate the Awesomosity of Roy Halladay

Good morning.

I was going to write a post about Barry Zito.

Then, this happened.

Nothing too unusual for Doc, who breezed through 9 innings on 103 pitches, giving up 5 hits and 1 run without walking a batter. He faced 30 hitters — 3 more than the minimum — and 72 of his pitches were in the strike zone, in sharp contrast to the MLB-average 60-ish percent of pitches thrown for strikes. In case you’re wondering, he throws an average of 67% strikes, an advantage of being a contact pitcher who stays down in the strike zone rather than a power pitcher who simply tries to blow the hitters away.

You, over there, reading this post. Are you looking for your stoicism? Well that’s too bad, because Roy Halladay took it and it’s unlikely you’ll get it back.

Weekly MLB Rankings: No More Cubbies!

You may have noticed that I missed a couple weeks of rankings. For last week, I highlighted the first one-third of the season stat categories leaders. That conveniently did not include any Cubbies. And then the Cubbies snapped their ridiculous winning streak! So I’m going to find a way to get around featuring the Cubbies at the top until they are no longer there! Haha! Go Cardinals! This week, I’m ranking the divisions. I averaged the rankings of each of their teams (1st number) and computed the division’s overall winning percentage (2nd number).

1st place: AL East at 9.2 and .542. All the teams in this division are at .500 or better, even the lowly Orioles. That’s pretty impressive.

Can anybody name anyone in this picture?

Weekly Top 30: NEW LEADER!

Very busy this week.  New rankings.  One word comments.

1^st place: Florida Marlins at 23-14. Shit!

Weekly Rankings: We’re #2! We’re #2! We’re #2!

1^st place: Diamondbacks at 21-10. Up until last night, they hadn’t reached double digits in the loss column. For 5 weeks of play, that’s pretty damn good. Brandon Webb, Dan Haren and Micah Owings are beasts. Micah Owings also keeps pinch-hitting, just like Adam Wainwright does for the Cardinals. Those two can pinch-hit me. (wait…what?) The Snakes are about to have 4 games at home with the 6^th-ranked Phillies and then have 3 on the road against the 4^th-ranked Cubs. That’s pretty brutal, but I predict they go 5 for 7.

Dan Haren is so much cuter when he’s clean-shaven.

Weekly Rankings: Mother-effin’ Snakes at the Top

1^st: Arizona Diamondbacks at 18-7. I keep waiting for this to drop off, but it hasn’t. Arizona is the only team in the majors over .700. They’re on pace to win 116 games. And considering the rest of the National League West, where no team is over .500 other than the Dbacks, that isn’t out of the realm of possibility. They already have a SIX GAME lead. Even if that only keeps up by 50%, they are going to have a 18 game lead by the end of the season. Yikes.

Stephen Drew. So much hotter than his brother.
And he can actually play baseball.

Weekly Top 30 Rankings: Damn Cubs.

Here we are again. I had to rank the Cubs and Red Sox pretty high this week because I go strictly by their records because I find that funny. I guess I have to stick with it. Grumble grumble harumph harumph.

1^st place: Arizona Diamondbacks at 13-5. Wow. Huh.

2^nd place: Chicago Cubs at 12-6. Half of their wins have come against the Pirates. So really they’re a .500 team.

Theriot and Fontenot, the Shakespearean Cubbies.

Weekly Top 30

Over at the other place, we do a collaborative Top 30 for baseball every week. I submitted my rankings and snarky comments, but I don’t know how the rankings will average out and if any of my comments will even make the cut. So I’m posting it here just in case. Because they amused me.

1^st place: Cardinals and Brewers. Best records in baseball at 5-1. This is clearly the NL Comedy Central’s year to make a dramatic comeback. Half the NL All-Star starters will be Redbirds and Beer Makers, we will win home field advantage and then the Cards will beat the Brew Crew in a dramatic game 7 of the NLCS on a Pujols bomb that knocks Bernie Brewer unconscious and causes Derrick Turnbow to collapse in a pile of tears. Yep. That’s exactly what will happen.