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An Ode to Rusty Kuntz

Rusty Kuntz is not a made up baseball player, but rather an inspiration to compare current baseball players to all things sexual. Here is to you Rusty and Gaylord Perry.

Doug Fister and Madison Bumgarner are the starting pitchers for game 2 of the World Series. Fister will try to even up the series, while millions of young boys snicker every time his name is said. I am sure there will be a Tim McGarver "This a tight spot for Fister" or at least one can hope.

Tim Lincecum is on the border for a sexual name and there are no other players on the Tigers or Giants that elicit quick sexual jokes, which is why I have turned to sexual moves to compare teams.

Giants

The Sergio Romo- when you pull the switcheroo on a lady.
Romo the current Giants closer, seems to be trying to look like former Giants closer Brian Wilson. See

The Hunter Pence - when you hit on every girl, but only make awkward contact 10% of the time.
Free swinging Hunter Pence could obviously lead to comparisons to a swinger, but he doesn't score.

The Melky Cabrera - when you have your cousin relabel your Viagra.

The Marco Scutaro - when you go on Spring Break and your can't score, but then you return to whatever crappy location you come from you can all of a sudden score wildly.

Tigers 

The Justin Verlander - when you are amazing until you get in bed. 

The Prince Fielder - when you pick up a woman by telling her wild lies about yourself. 

The Miguel Cabrera - when you are not the most attractive, but you perform phenomenally in bed. Similar to this guy.  

The Delmon Young - when you can only score when you go to one bar. 

2012 World Series - Detroit Tigers vs. San Francisco Giants

I have always wondered how teams stack up from a SABRmetric viewpoint, and I think that graphics are the best way to see to understand the differences between the teams.  For this year's World Series, I wanted to take a look at how the Tigers and Giants compare.  Fangraphs does a great job compiling a ton of useful stats, and I isolated the stats I found most interesting.  The graphic above compares the Fangraphs WAR for each player on the World Series roster.  Upon first glance, you will notice the Giants have the best player in the series - Buster Posey.  Not to worry Tigers fans, Miguel Cabrera is awful good, and Verlander is by far the best pitcher in the series.  He was worth three more wins than the Giants top pitcher Matt Cain.

The graphic below shows the differences in distribution for batting (wOBA and wRC+), baserunning (BsR), fielding (Fld), and pitching (ERA and FIP).  There is not much of a difference between the two teams offensively or pitching-wise, but the Giants have advantages in baserunning and fielding.

The key to this series for me is Verlander.  If the Tigers win game one tonight, I think they will win the series.  The overall matchup is very close.  I think Verlander will overwhelm the Giants lineup and should win two games.  I'm betting on the Tigers pitching to limit the Giants offensively and neutralize any baserunning advantage.  I also feel that the Tigers pitching staff could strike out a ton of Giants hitters and thus hide their bad defense.  Enjoy game one.

Another Farewell to a Marlins Manager

This is absurd that the Marlins fired Ozzie Guillen. Absolutely pitiful. The front office of the Marlins has run the team terribly. This is the 4th manager in 6 years. No I'm not counting Jack McKeon. 2 of the managers fired went on to bring their team to the playoffs, Girardi and Fredi Gonzalez. At a certain point the Marlins front office need to take accountability and understand it may not be the manager it is them. Loria says he wants to run the marlins like Steinbrenner ran the Yankees. well. He is failing to replicate the Dark Lord Steinbrenner. 

In short. I am giving up on the team of my youth. Next year I will be taking a sabbatical from following the Marlins. Instead I am immersing myself in NBA basketball. Where things like this happen.

http://ralphslauren.tumblr.com/post/22244516607

NLCS Game 2

Of course the night I’m asked to write for the blog is one of the most anticlimactic games of this postseason. In case you missed it, the Giants won 7-1 in a game only their fans could enjoy. Ryan Vogelsong was dominant for San Francisco as he went seven innings and gave up one run on four hits. His counterpart, Chris Carpenter, opened the bottom of the first by giving up a lead off home run to Angel Pagan, but settled down until the fourth inning when he gave up four more runs. The Giants tacked on 2 more in the eighth off Shelby Miller before Brian Wilson’s younger, Hispanic brother Sergio Romo closed out the ninth.

This was a game I think the Giants really needed, yes they came back from down 0-2 against the Reds, but the Cardinals are defending champs and have been playing with a lot of confidence. Oh, and they’re not managed by Dusty Baker. The starters for game 3, Wednesday in St. Louis, are Matt Cain and Kyle Lohse, so that should be a great pitching duel. Just like this game, I think the Giants have the pressure on them since their game 4 and 5 starters will supposedly be Lincecum and Zito (if you believe Joe Buck and Tim McCarver).

Other Things:

1)   I think if a pitcher commits an error that leads to a run, it should count against his ERA. Only 2 of Carpenters runs were earned, yet he committed an error that led to scores by the Giants. Just seems weird you don’t fault him for causing his own mess.

2)   Another bad call in this game, which had no bearing on the outcome, but still it’s not good when everyone knows the right call except for the umpires. This isn’t a knock against the blues, by far they get the majority of the calls right, but fans love a scapegoat. Here’s my idea for replay: each team gets 2 replay requests for the game that can be used at any time (except balls and strikes, I like that variability in the game) and if they are successful in both replays they get one more. This adds strategy to the game because managers must determine when to use the replays; do you use one in the third with 2 outs when a guy reaches first on a close play or do you save it for later? The main argument against replay is games will take longer, but I think my plan will shorten most games. Think about it, instead of a manager arguing for 5 unwinnable minutes, he can instead just ask for replay. Think about it Bud.

3)   Is Angel Pagan an oxymoron?

4)   Thank you Sergio Romo, Hunter Pence, and Brandon Belt for being the only three players in the game to show off their socks. Every other player had the look with the pants going over their cleats. Maybe it’s because I’m a science guy, but I like diversity.

2012 NLCS Game One

AP

Madison Bumgarner started for the Giants and was looking to make more headlines than his seem to be doppleganger.  His most recent start was on Oct. 7th in the Divisional Series against the Reds. He went only 4.1 innings giving up 4 earned runs and got the loss. 

Lance Lynn started for the Cardinals. Last time Lynn pitched this happen.  He is making the start most likely due to the Jaime Garcia injury. He has supplied valuable bullpen innings for the Cardinals in the Divisional Series . (He didn't record an out when he gave up the home-run to Werth.) Lynn faced the Giants only once during the regular season. He lost that game going 6 innings giving up 8 hits and 4 runs. 

Starting Pitchers Struggle- Maybe they should be used like relievers.   

Bumgarner's line ended up as 3.2 innings pitched, 8 hits, 6 ER, 2 HR and only 2 K'.

• Through 3 innings he had given up 2 ER and 4 hits. 
• 4th inning 4 ER and 4 hits.
• 1st time through the order Cardinals were 3 for 8 with the Freese home-run.
• 2nd time through the order 3-9. 
• 3rd time though the order 2-2. Single and a home-run.

Lynn's line was 3.2 innings pitched, 5 hits, 4 ER, 2BB and 3K's. 

• First three innings allowing no hits and 1 walk.
• 1st time through the order the Giants were 0-8 with 2 strikeouts
• 2nd time through the order the Giants were 5-8. 4 runs, 3 singles, a double and a triple.

Bummgarner's Tough Innings

Bumgarner ran into trouble in the 2nd inning as Molina singled on a high fastball. David Freese saw 6 pitches from Bumgarner before he hit the 3-2 fastball over the left-field wall. It looked like they were trying to bust Freese in throughout the whole at bat, but Bumgarner failed to get that pitch inside enough. Bumgarner did allow to more runners in that inning by giving up a single to Descalso and walking Lance Lynn. 
Trouble came again for Bumgarner in the 4th inning. He started off betting lucky by leaving a fastball up to David Freese that died in center-field. Descalso double down the 1st-base line followed by Kozma doubling down the 3rd-base line. Then Kozma stole 3rd, which Tim McGarver made a big deal about it after he already highlighted a Molina pick off in last year's playoff and Posey throwing out Jay Bruce in this years playoff. Bumgarner struck out Lynn, but then made a mistake to John Jay. Jay looked at an outside fastball for strike one. Then wiffed badly at a outside slider. Bumgarner tried to up with a fastball, but Jay singled to center. Beltran made him pay by hitting a low inside slider for a home-run to left field. This knocked Bumgarner out of the game down 6-0. 

Lynn's Tough Inning

Scutaro singled to lead off the bottom of the 4th inning. He continues to hit like Melky gave him the goods or like I expected when I drafted him in my fantasy league. I did not reap the rewards because I dropped him because he hit .259 and .255 in April and May. Lynn struck out Sandoval and still looked great busting him inside with a fastball. 3-2 count to Posey and Lynn induced a weak fly-ball to right-field from Posey. Pence almost literally hit a seeing - eye - single to right field, Scutaro advanced to third. Belt followed with a single to center on the first, plating Scutaro and advancing Pence to 3rd.  Blanco hit a 1-2 fastball for a triple to center field. Score 6-3. Crawford fouled off a good 2-3 pitch then hit a double on a meatball fastball. 6-4. Lynn walked Aubrey Huff and that was the last batter he faced.  

Relievers Dominate

Giants Bullpen- 5.1 IP, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K's, 0 H. Lincecum came in in threw 2 innings, giving up one walk, but obviously not facing any batter more than once. 

Cardinals Bullpen - 5.1 IP, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K's, 2 Hits. Only allowed 4 baserunners in those 5+ innings. The Giants only got 2 runners on in the 5th and that was the last time a Giants base-runner would be in scoring position.

Postseason baseball is still nine innings, but requires a different mindset as a manager. There is not the 162 games looming and often there is not a game the next day. I am sure there will be discussion about Linsecum deserving to be in the rotation. But, why? He has been effective out of the bullpen and the bullpen is extremely important.  

Maybe the Rockies have it right.

ALCS Game 2: Dominant pitching and the inept Yankees offense

If you love pitching, you would have loved this game. Anibal Sanchez and Hiroki Kuroda went toe-to-toe Sunday afternoon in Game 2 of the ALCS in the Bronx, and Sanchez and the Tigers ultimately came out on top.

Two story lines dominated this game:

Sanchez and Kuroda were dominant

Kuroda started off the game striking out seven of the first nine Tigers hitters, including both Cabrera and Fielder, and kept the Tigers scoreless until the seventh. The first five innings Kuroda was cruising and faced the minimum number of hitters. He gave up his first hit in the sixth to Peralta, but looked strong. The first crack in the armor came in the seventh. Quintin Berry led of the inning with a ground rule double and Cabrera followed up with single that moved Berry to third. Kuroda then struck out Fielder for a huge first out. Yankee killer Delmon Young stepped to the plate next, and Kuroda executed his pitch, inducing a grounder to Jayson Nix at short and what seemed to be a inning ending double play. Unfortunately for Kuroda and the Yanks, Cano botched the transfer and couldn’t make the throw to first base. That allowed Berry to score and got the Tigers on the board. Replays showed that the play at first would have been close, and I am sure the Yankees (even the seemingly nonplussed Cano) would love a redo.

Sanchez did his best to match Kuroda inning for inning. The game didn’t start as smoothly for Sanchez as Kuroda, but in the end he earned the W. Sanchez worked out of a bit of trouble in the first. After giving up a double to Teixeira and a walk to Ibanez, he induced a groundout from Martin.  He also had a spat of trouble in the sixth, but that was self-induced and not too threatening. After Ichiro reached on an error by Sanchez and advanced too third by two groundouts from Cano and Teixeira, Sanchez intentionally walked Ibanez, but got Martin to groundout again to end the inning. Other than those two instances, Sanchez looked great and was rarely tested. In fact, the only other runner to reach second base for the Yankees was Granderson in the seventh. Granderson walked and then stole second as Swisher struck out.

Both pitchers looked great on the night. Kuroda racked up 11 Ks (zero walks) and five hits. Sanchez added seven Ks (three walks) and gave up only three hits. Hats off to both guys for a well-pitched game.

The Yankees offense looks inept

Sanchez looked masterful. He caused the Yankees to continue their string of seemingly endless crappy at bats and offense ineptitude continued. The Yankees only managed four hits and three walks (one intentional). Granderson was the only Yankee with a positive WPA (WinProbability Added), and he was 0 for 3 with three strikeouts. Good things continue to happen when the Tigers put the bat on the ball with runners on base (see Delmon Young above); the same cannot be said for the Yankees. The Yankees look bad at bat and I am sure they hope that A-Rod’s single in the ninth will get him going a bit. They better hope something changes. Detroit is definitely in the driver’s seat - up 2-0 with Verlander on the mound Tuesday night.

ALCS Game 1: Delmon does New York, Raul for Mayor, and Jeter goes down

Raul Ibanez continued his campaign for Mayor of New York City last night, but ultimately could not knock out the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers took down the New York Yankees 6-4 last night in another improbable extra inning game.

One of the great things about baseball is that no matter how many runs you are down you still have the opportunity to come back as long as you have one out left. You can’t come back in basketball if you are down by 10 with one possession to go nor can you come back if you are down 21 in your final possession in the National Football League. However, as the Cardinals showed Friday night and the Yankees did last night - if you have outs left, you still have a chance.

Here were the main story lines from game one of the ALCS in the Bronx:

Fister works his way out of trouble again and again and again

Doug Fister weaseled his way out of bases loaded jams in the bottom of the first, second, and sixth. In the first, Jeter singled and then Fister walked Teixeira and Ibanez. After fly outs by Ichiro and Cano, none other then Alex Rodriguez came to bat with chance to get some people off of his back. Unfortunately, for A-Rod his sharp grounder in the hole between short and third was stabbed by Jhonny Peralta he and threw it to second for the third out.  

The Yankees loaded the bases again with two outs in the second after three singles by Martin, Jeter, and Ichiro. I’m sure the Yankees were more confident here with Cano at bat instead of A-Rod. Cano almost delivered by smacking a liner up the middle. Unfortunately for the Yanks, the drive ricocheted off Fister’s arm and right to Peralta at short who then threw out a disgusted Cano at first.

The bases were loaded again in the sixth after Teixeira reached on an error, Ibanez doubled, A-rod struck out, and Swisher walked (about time he did something), but Fister got out of it again with strikeouts of Granderson and Martin.

Fister did not have his best stuff or control early, but found his curve ball later in the game. He ended up throwing 6.1 innings, giving up 6 hits, striking out 5 and walking 4.

Delmon Young is causing the Yankees problems again in the Playoffs

In the 2011 ALDS, Delmon had 15 total bases and an OPS of 1.170 and it seems like the Yankees still haven’t figure out how to get this career replacement level player out.

Saturday night/Sunday morning Delmon had three hits and knocked runners in on all three, including Miggy Cabrera twice after walking. The last of those three hits was the biggest. He laced a line drive to right center in the top of the 12^th inning off of David Phelps, scoring Cabrera and giving the Tigers a 5-4 lead. The liner by Delmon could have, and should have, been caught by Swisher in right. If Swisher isn’t going to hit (he has been on base 6 times in 27 plate appearances) he needs to play better defense.

Jose Valverde stinks/Ichiro and Raul go deep to bring the Yankees back to life

Jose Valverde came in the bottom of the ninth attempting to protect a 4-0 lead and promptly blew it. After a Martin single and a Jeter strikeout, Ichiro laced a line drive over the right field wall to breathe life into the Yankees chances. Valverde was able to strike out Cano, but he walked Teixeira to bring up 2012 Yankees Legend Raul Ibanez. Summoning the powers he possessed versus the Orioles, Ibanez hit a deep fly to right that landed about three rows deep and tied the game up for the Yanks. Raul is a freaking phenomenon this year in Yankees’ fans eyes and I wouldn’t be surprise to see him start every game in this series. In 2012, lefties slugged .417 versus Valverde, while righties only .246. It looks like Leyland may lean on Smyly versus a string of leftiesfor the rest of the series (like he did in extras).

Down goes Jeter

In the top of the 12^th after Delmon’s double to score Cabrera and give Detroit the lead, the Yankees suffered a loss that will hurt them throughout the series. Peralta hit a sharp grounder up the middle and Jeter dove awkwardly to catch the ball and in the process fractured his ankle. The rest of the Yankees need to step up after loosing Jeter. I for one would like to see Gardner play instead of Swisher, especially since Detroit has all righty starters.

League Championship Series

Playoff baseball rocks. Last night I found myself rooting for the Cardinals after they went down 6-0. It was 1 part rooting for a comeback, 1 part wanting a good game, and  lastly my residual from my fan-hood with  McGwire. I was rooting for the Cardinals as they came up in the 9th and even cheered as Descalso got the base hit, but then I found myself deflated as Kozma got the game winning hit.  It was then that it hit me that the underdogs and most exciting stories are gone from the playoffs.

 The exciting Oakland Athletics , unexpected Baltimore Orioles, and the history making Washington Nationals are all out of the playoffs. These were the best stories of the playoffs and I am sad to see these teams depart. The only positive result of the Nationals exit is that the Strasburg debate will cease. 

 We are left with 4 teams that many predicted would be here, four teams in the top 9 in payroll.  The two previous World Series Champions, Cardinals (9) and Giants(8) match up.The key match-ups will be the Cardinals offense and the Giants lack of offense. 

In a rematch of last years ALDS the Yankees(1) face the Tigers (5).  The Yankees and Tigers series starts tonight in the Bronx and the focus will be on the two aces Verlander and Sabathia. 

Who is the underdog team that everyone should be rooting for?

There is no doubt that I will be watching and I will not be rooting for one team in particular, but instead for as many elimination games as possible. 

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Game 2 Nationals vs. Cardinals Recap

Game 2 of should be Designated Hitters attempting playing left field. 

 Two bearded 2nd baseman. That each choose a different offensive approach to tonight game. 

One werewolf turned closer and one lumber jack former power hitter turned lead-off hitter.

Two men wearing face paint. Wait, Lance Lynn isn't wearing face paint? His beard comes up that high?

The game started with Jamie Garcia struggling and walking lead-off hitter Jayson Werth, who I don't think the Nationals expected to be hitting lead-off when they signed him to the 7 year $125 million dollar deal. Bryce "Hype" Harper and his face paint then struck out. But, he did give the announcer enough time to give plent attention to his face paint. Zimmerman grounded out. LaRoche walked. During the LaRoche at bat the announcers were perplexed that LaRoche, left-handed, stuggled against Garcia, left-handed, but the rest of the Nationals had a lot of success. They did not point out the handedness of Garcia or LaRoche. It makes me wonder what a game announced by statistically minded announcers would sound like. Morse grounded out to end the inning. 

Jordan Zimmerman was the starting pitcher for the Nationals. Apparently, Jay lead-off and got out, but Comcast service is horrible and I missed the at-bat. Beltran was at-bat for the Copernican discussion of the Earth rotating around the Sun creating the shadows on the field that kept advancing. Zimmerman finished the inning 1-2-3. 

Desmond lead off the 2nd inning with a single. Espinosa walked. Suzuki thankfully had a long enough srikeout to allow the announce hype up how hard it was to catch a pitch coming out of the shadows. Jordan Zimmerman, the pitcher, singled to right field allowing Desmond to score as Beltran held the ball too long. Werth flew out to Holliday, who was reminded before teh inning to to catch the ball. Harper's face make up struck out again to end the inning.

How many times do you see a pitcher help his cause at the plate and then give up four runs? Craig singled, Molina singled, Freese doubled, Descalso singled. Kozma stuck-out and that brought up the pitchers spot with pitchers spot with two runners on. Matheny pinch-hit for Garcia with Skip Shumaker. Shumaker had a fielders choice to get a RBI. John Jay singled in Descalso but was thrown out going to second.

Lance Lynn relieved Garcia and had no trouble in the third inning with Zimmerman and LaRoche. Morse singled, but Desmond stranded him with a strikeout.

Jordan Zimmerman did not fair as well in the third inning as Allen Craig hit a solo homerun.

Lunn cruised through the fourth inning as well. Espinosa tried to drag bunt and was thrown out by Descalso - Beard on Beard out. Suzuki struck out again, Pinch-hitter Bernadina walked, and Werth struck out.

Craig Stammen relieved Zimmerman. Descalso the other bearded second baseman decided to swing the bat and hit a lead-off home run.  So for one bearded 2nd baseman Descalso that is a RBI single and a home run, Espinosa walk and failed attempt for a bunt hit. Kozma walked and was stealing 2nd as Lance Lynn sacrifice bunted. Stammen was to lax as he threw to first and Kozma took 3rd on Stammen's throw. The score was 6-1 was as the Nationals pulled the infield in. Kozma scored as Jay grounded to Espinosa, who w couldn't handle the grounder. Might have got an out if he was playing back. A Beltran walk brought out the bullpen again. Christian Garcia was able to finishe the inning getting out Holliday and Craig.

Lynn struggled in the 5th. Harper lead-off without face paint, but still struck out. Zimmerman and LaRoche hit back to back homeruns to bring the Nationals within 4 runs 7-3. Morse and Desmond each flew out to end the inning.

Bottom of the 5th inning Christian Garcia walked the first two hitters Molina and Freese before inducing a double play ground ball from Descalso, swinging did not work well then for Descalso. Kozma struck out to end the inning.

Top of the 6th inning. Matheny choose to go to Joe Kelley out of the bullpen instead of leaving Lynn in, even-though the pitchers spot was due up in the order. Lynn threw 50 pitches and had thrown the night before. Espinosa decided to swing, but was robbed of a hit by a great catch by John Jay . In the video you can see a excited Matt Holliday that was not sure if Jay was allowed to do that, catch the ball. Suzuki grounded out and pinch hitter Lombordozzi lined out.

Bottom of the 6th - Pinch hitter Shane Robinson, last remaining right handed bat on the bench other than the back up catcher, faced lefty- Mike Gonzalez. Robinson got out as well as John Jay. Beltran batting right handed fouled a ball down the left field line. Morse lumbered over but could not get the ball, he should have. Two pitches later Beltran homered to make the score 8-3. Holliday stuck out looking to end the inning.

Top of the 7th - Mujica is in for the Cardinals. Werth singled, Harper- No face paint- doubled. Runners on 2nd and 3rd Zimmerman hit a sac fly to left field. Werth scored. Matt Holliday seemed to not know what to do with a ball that he actually caught, spiked the ball, but luckily it rolled to Descalso who picked it up to throw Harper out at third. Harper was being risky, but the throw was horrible and the Cardinals were lucky. LaRoche flew out. Score 8-4.

Bottom of the 7th- My wife came home and I had to hand a shower curtain. I assume a 1-2-3 inning.

Top of the 8th - Mitchell Boggs, no relation, gave up a single to Morse, a fly-out to Desmond. Then Davey Johnson let Kurt Suzuki hit with two runners on and one out. Suzuki flew out and pinch hitter Chad Tracy ended the inning with a weak fly ball.

Bottom of the 8th - Sean Burnett in for the Nationals. Descalso flew out to deep right. Kozma gets a double as Morse was unable to make a sliding catch, I can't believe he came up as a shortstop. Pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter struck out. John Jay hit a triple to right field plating Kozma. Beltran then hit his 2nd home-run of the game. 11-4 Cardinals. Holliday walked and Craig double to left. Holliday was able to score as Morse mishandled the ball. Molina ended the inning.

Top of the 9th - Jason Motte rested as Trevor Rosenthal stuck out Werth, No face-paint Bryce Harper, gave up a single to Ryan Zimmerman and struck out La Roche

Cardinals won 12- 4.
Battle of inept players in left-field
Holliday - no errors, one lucky spiked ball.
Morse - one charged error, two balls he should have gotten to that directly lead to runs.

Battle of bearded second baseman
Descalso- 2-4, 2 runs, 2 RBI, 1 Home-run. 500 OBP,
Espinosa - 1-3,  .500 OBP

Werewolf vs. Lumberjack
Motte - Rest
Werth- 1-4, two strike-outs, 1 run, 1 BB

Face-Paint battle
Lynn- 3 IP, 2 ER, 5K's, W
Harper - 0-2, 2 K's

Non-face paint Harper - 1-3, 2K's, 2B