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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.