Saturday, December 10, 2011

Minima IV Online Baseball Scorecard - Colour Menu on Top

Minima_IV-Colour_Menu_on_Top.html
Originally published at Blogger Baseball Scorecard - http://internetbaseballscorecard.blogspot.com/2011/12/minima-iv-colour-menu-on-top.html.

Cross posted at Michael Holloway's FilterBlogs - http://filter--blog.blogspot.com/2011/12/minima-iv-online-baseball-scorecard.html.

This is a new "Minima IV" at-bat box design which renders four Colour Notations Scoring Menus along the right side of the At-Bat box --- instead of in four pop-up menu, as in my last post on this latest version in the Internet Baseball Scorecard.
( http://internetbaseballscorecard.blogspot.com/2011/12/minima-iv.html )

'Minima IV' AB box Image - rendered in Google Chrome


The colour notation 'Selection Menus' open by clicking on the appropriate 'base' icon. When you click on the First Base icon ( the furthest right black triangle on the peach coloured, infield icon ), the First Base menu opens, indicated by the 1 in the bottom white box. In this coding the colour notation menu remains live until you choose another menu by clicking on a different Base icon. Click on any of the colours in the menu and an appropriately coloured triangle will appear on the chosen side of the infield.

In My scorekeeping universe: red means Out, pink means Error, yellow means Fielder's Choice, lime green means Base Hit, forest green means the runner advanced via ball put into play by another batter, blue means Stolen Base, navy blue indicates the route by which a Run was scored and RBI awarded. The bottom two boxes are field green and white - for fixing mistakes.

The Miima IV At-Bat (AB) box is less than half the size of the "Minima III" baseball scorecard AB box - but it has many hidden functions that provide for lots of customization for the individual user. Each quadrant of the AB box has text areas for recording scorekeeper notations - five lines high that allow for "Project Scoresheet" scoring notation protocols - but instead of room for 13 characters as in the Minima III scorecard, there are 7 in this sleek version. All text areas have hidden scroll bars which allow for any amount of text - but to keep the look of the card clean, I suggest limiting your notations to 5 lines. By clicking the button a "notepad" is available for any extra notations you wish, or for notes. The notepad closes by clicking on the "notepad" button again.

All the elements discussed above are Live in this example:



notes:
Valid HTML 4.01 Strict

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Day by Day and Start Time Schedule - MLB Championship Series

2011 MLB Postseason - Day by Day



ALCS, NLCS
Updated: Wednesday, October 12th @ 5:01 PM EST

2011 MLB Postseason Schedule**

Saturday, October 8
Game 	Matchup 	Day 	Date 	 
Gm 1	DET 2 @ TEX 3	Sat	Oct.8		

Sunday, October 9
Game 	Matchup 	Day 	Date 	 
Gm 1	STL 6 @ MIL 9	Sun	Oct. 9		

Monday, October 10
Game 	Matchup 	Day 	Date 	 
Gm 2	DET 3 @ TEX 7	Mon	Oct. 10		
Gm 2	STL 12 @ MIL 3	Mon	Oct. 10		

Tuesday, October 11
Game 	Matchup 	Day 	Date 	 
Gm 3	TEX 2 @ DET 5	Tue	Oct.11		

Wednesday, October 12
Game 	Matchup 	Day 	Date 	Time ET 
Gm 4	TEX @ DET	Wed     Oct.12	4:19 PM	
Gm 3	MIL @ STL	Wed     Oct.12	8:05 PM	

Thursday, October 13
Game 	Matchup 	Day 	Date 	Time ET 
Gm 5	TEX @ DET	Thu	Oct.13	4:19 PM	
Gm 4	MIL @ STL	Thu	Oct.13	8:05 PM	

Friday, October 14
Game 	Matchup 	Day 	Date 	Time ET 
Gm 5	MIL @ STL	Fri	Oct.14	8:05 PM	

Saturday, October 15
Game 	Matchup 	Day 	Date 	Time ET 
Gm 6*	DET @ TEX	Sat	Oct.15	8:05 PM	

Sunday, October 16
Game 	Matchup 	Day 	Date 	Time ET 
Gm 6*	STL @ MIL	Sun	Oct.16	4:05 PM	
Gm 7*	DET @ TEX	Sun	Oct.16	8:05 PM	

Monday, October 17
Game 	Matchup 	Day 	Date 	Time ET 
Gm 7*	STL @ MIL	Mon	Oct.17	8:05 PM	


** subject to change

Data via "2011 MLB Postseason Schedule" at MLB.com


mh

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Day by Day Baseball Postseason game start time Schedule

2011 MLB Postseason - Day by Day

ALDS, NLDS
Updated: Wednesday, October 6th @ 11:41 PM EST 

Friday September 30
Game 	Matchup 	  Day 	Date 	Time ET
Gm 1	TB 9 @ TEX 0	  Fri	Sep. 30 5:00 PM 
Gm 1	DET 1 @ NYY 1     Sat   Sep. 30	8:37 PM (suspended)

Saturday October 1
Game 	Matchup 	  Day 	Date 	Time ET
Gm 1	ARI 1 @ MIL 4	  Sat	Oct. 1	2:00 PM
Gm 1	STL 6 @ PHI 11	  Sat	Oct. 1	5:00 PM
Gm 2	TB 6  @ TEX 8	  Sat	Oct. 1	7:00 PM
Gm 1	DET 3 @ NYY 9     Sat   Oct. 1	8:37 PM (continued)

Sunday October 2
Game 	Matchup 	  Day 	Date 	Time ET
Gm 2	DET 5 @ NYY 3	  Sun	Oct. 2	3:00 PM
Gm 2	ARI 4 @ MIL 9	  Sun	Oct. 2	4:30 PM
Gm 2	STL 5 @ PHI 4	  Sun	Oct. 2	8:00 PM

Monday October 3
Game 	Matchup 	  Day   Date  	Time ET
Gm 3	TEX 4 @ TB 3	  Mon	Oct. 3	5:00 PM
Gm 3	NYY 4 @ DET 5	  Mon	Oct. 3	8:30 PM

Tuesday October 4
Game 	Matchup 	  Day 	Date 	Time ET
Gm 4	NYY 10 @ DET 1	  Tue	Oct. 4	8:30 PM
Gm 4	TEX 4 @ TB 3	  Texas wins series 3-1 		
Gm 3	PHI 3 @ STL 2	  Tue	Oct. 4	5:00 PM
Gm 3	MIL 1 @ ARI 8     Tue	Oct. 4	9:30 PM

Wednesday October 5
Game 	Matchup 	  Day 	Date 	Time ET
Gm 4	PHI 3 @ STL 5	  Wed	Oct. 5	6:00 PM
Gm 4	MIL 6 @ ARI 10	  Wed	Oct. 5	9:30 PM

Thursday October 6
Game 	Matchup 	  Day 	Date 	Time ET
Gm 5	DET 3 @ NYY 2	  Detroit wins series 3-2 

Friday October 7
Game 	Matchup 	  Day 	Date 	Time ET
Gm 5	ARI @ MIL	  Fri	Oct. 7	5:00 PM
Gm 5	STL @ PHI	  Fri	Oct. 7	8:30 PM

Hope that helps. :)


Data via "2011 MLB Postseason Schedule" at MLB.com



mh

Friday, September 30, 2011

Anatomy of a Meltdown - Red Sox: 2nd Greatest Crash in History



Boston Red Sox September Schedule via ESPN
(Re-bigulates on click)
The Boston Red Sox did not win two games in a row in from August 27th to September 28th,


I went back over the Boston team schedule looking for series wins and loses; there's nothing in those columns that foreshadow September.

On Sun, June 12th the Sox  completed a season high 9 game win streak with a 3 game slaughter of the Toronto Blue Jays (5-1, 16-4, 14-1) - they were playing .600 ball and held a 2 game lead over the Yankees for 1st place in the AL East. The team was scoring runs like crazy - in two series that month they put up similar 14 run blow-out tallies.


Searching for Indicators

Inter-league play didn't go so well for the Bostons in the second half of June...

Fri, Jun 17 vs Milwaukee W
Sat, Jun 18 vs Milwaukee L
Sun, Jun 19 vs Milwaukee W

Mon, Jun 20 vs San Diego W
Tue, Jun 21 vs San Diego L
Wed, Jun 22 vs San Diego L

Fri, Jun 24 @ Pittsburgh L
Sat, Jun 25 @ Pittsburgh L
Sun, Jun 26 @ Pittsburgh W

Tue, Jun 28 @ Philadelphia L
Wed, Jun 29 @ Philadelphia L
Thu, Jun 30 @ Philadelphia W

..but everything went back to normal as the calander flipped to July. Before the All-Star break the Sox swept the Astros, beat the Blue Jays and then swept the Orioles in a 4 gamer. After the All-Star break things continued to go as expected - the Bostons continued to play .600 ball.

In mid August another hiccup:

Fri, Aug 12 @ Seattle W
Sat, Aug 13 @ Seattle L
Sun, Aug 14 @ Seattle L

Tue, Aug 16 vs Tampa Bay W
Tue, Aug 16 vs Tampa Bay L
Wed, Aug 17 vs Tampa Bay L

But then the ship righted and all seemed correct again in bean town - Boston beat both Kansas City and Texas 3 out of 4, and then won a series over Oakland losing the first and winning the last two. The date was Saturday, Aug 27th - Boston had just won 4-0 over the Oaklands and had a record of 82-51 - 15.5 games over .500. They held a 2 game lead over the Yankees - and a 9 game lead over Tampa Bay Rays for the Wild Card with 28 games to go

This would be the last time the Boston Red Sox would win 2 games in a row in 2011.


September can be a cruel month

Boston went to New York on Tuesday, August 30th and lost 2 out of 3, the first of 7 more series loses in September. The Sox went from a club playing .617 ball to a club playing .276 ball - from the first division to basement dweller in the blink of an eye.

There was no warnings, no sputtering - no injury(s) to account for a sudden change in fortune... . The Boston Red Sox just all of a sudden became a bad baseball team!


The Numbers

In an article by Nate Silver at Baseball Prospectus from September 27, 2007 - titled, "Lies, Damned Lies Blowing It", Silver (with the help of an earlier article by Clay Davenport) works up the 13 worst collapses of all time,
"...defined by the teams that had the highest percentage chance to reach the playoffs at some point during the regular season who then failed to do so."
The percentage point, starting point 'A' on the time line, is a variable that makes it hard to compare over the different collapses that have happened in history - so I broke down the losing using ironically, team 'Winning Percentage' - from the beginning of the collapse until the end of the season: Below I chart 5 chokes from history that Nate Silver lists in his worst 13. I choose them based on lowest winning percentage during the collapse. To determine what is the best kind of collapse I feel that 3 qualities define a truely great collapse:
  • winning percentage on the dive
  • lead squandered
  • quickness of the about-face
The number of games over which the dive happened is important - the longer you play with a low winning percentage the further you fall against your rivals - but we're talking collapse here, which entails a sudden catastrophe. So in ordering this list I gave a low winning percentage and the size of the lead they squandered more weight than the number of games in the collapse:


Top 6 Collapses of All Time

#EpicFail   Team   D-Day    Peak     Situation        Games(W-L)  W%


#1    1964  PHI    17/Sept  89-58    6.5 up NL        15(3-12)   .200
.................................    No Wild Card
#2    2011  BOS    27/Aug   82-51    2.0 up AL-E      29(8-21)   .276
.................................    9   up WC(TBR)
#3    1995  CA     20/Aug   66-41    12.5 up AL-W     38(12-26)  .316
.................................    12   up WC
#4    1969  CHI-NL 19Aug    77-45    8   up NL        40(15-25)  .375
.................................    No Wild Card
#5    1921  PIT    22/Aug   76-40    7.5 up NL        37(14-23)  .378
.................................    No Wild Card
#6    1983  ATL    10/Aug   69-45,   6.5 up NL        48(19-29)  .396
.................................    No Wild Card



mh

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

1-6-5-3-4 Where's 2?

Squaretender is a blog devoted to baseball scorekeeping.

As you may know, I like keeping score (- in a good way). I found Squaretender through visits I was getting in my StatCounter account - after they published a piece about my "Blogger Baseball Scorecard" - "A Scorecard in HTML".

As their Welcome page says,
"Our aim is to explore the technique, history, passion, quirks, and simple joy of keeping score. Nothing else brings you closer to a baseball game, and our purpose is to bring you closer to how and why it’s done." 

They regularly cover complex plays that happen around the Leagues, and write about how one might score them. I love a challenge too.  Tonight at Squaretender I learned what the scoring, "Fielder Choice, out" means. For the full explanation see the Squaretender post, "Boxified: Stay in a rundown as long as you can".

It's a fairly short notation for a play in which so much happens (see the video embed below); it's 'just':
FC out
1-6-5-3-4
#1 RS

You just have to keep track of which infielder is where, and when - just like Braves' lead off hitter Michael Bourn did - as he reaches 3B after a dropped ball, and as the run down is continuing on the 1B side of the diamond, he notices nobodies covering Home!





Embed courtesy of "Squaretender".

Squaretender article about Blogger Baseball Scorecard - "A Scorecard in HTML"



mh

Saturday, September 24, 2011

More on... Colby Rasmus - Blue Jay CF 'Par Excellence'

In a post here yesterday entitled, "Colby Rasmus is batting .191 - the Mendoza Line for this Great Centre Fielder", I took a couple of guesses as to why Colby Rasmas said the hings he said before Thursday's last home game of the 2011 season. (You should see the original article by Andrew Stoeten - here - first.)

Several people at the Drunk Jays Fans post (where I originally wrote the article, then blogged it) followed with some excellent links to video and articles that I'd like to share here - from St Louis and from the Cardinals AAA affiliate, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats - where Colby Rasmus spent some time late this season just before the trade to Toronto. This first link from the "Drunk Jays Fans" commenter 'Chris3173' gives us a good take on how Colby Rasmus does interview - laid back, honest, forth right and introspective.

Via graymatter11's Youtube post, "Colby Rasmus on playing with Fisher Cats".

"Blue Jays center fielder Colby Rasmus talks with New Hampshire Union Leader reporter Kevin Gray about playing in the 2011 Eastern League Championship Series"




Screenshot of the River Front Times article by Larry Borowsky
"Drunk Jays Fans" commenter 'purplehaze89' pointed to this nice piece on Rasmus's father who coached him all his life, until professional ball - published at the Riverfront Times, "Shit Colby Rasmus' Dad Says: The father of the St. Louis Cardinals phenom is never at a loss for words. But what he says might surprise you" written by Larry Borowsky from Thursday, Mar 31 2011.

And, also pointed to by 'purplehaze89', "A very different Colby Rasmus coming in 2011" - an article posted at "The Cardinal Nation blog" (December 9th, 2010) written by Brian Walton. Interesting piece. Not only did the Cardinals - and his father, who was allowed by the Cardinals to help coach him - pile all kinds of expectations on him with-in a systematic off season coaching regime designed to turn him from a 23HR, .276 hitter into a .300 spray hitter - but his father also talked about it in the media!


BATTING Regular Season Career Stats (via MLB)

YEAR TEAM    G   AB   R   H  TB 2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO  AVG  OBP  SLG  OPS 
2009 STL   147  474  72 119 193 22  2 16  52  36  95 .251 .307 .407 .714 
2010 STL   144  464  85 128 231 28  3 23  66  63 148 .276 .361 .498 .859 

2011 STL    94  338  61  83 142 14  6 11  40  45  77 .246 .332 .420 .753 
2011 TOR    31  119  14  22  40  9  0  3  13   5  33 .185 .216 .336 .552 
2011 total 125  457  75 105 182 23  6 14  53  50 110 .230 .304 .398 .702 


By the looks of these numbers his father is trying to make himself more than he is by turning a 'good' major league player (.276) into a 'great' major league player (.300) - in order to get himself a major league coaching job one wonders?

One could posit that there are very powerful forces at work here: his son as a mirror of himself, the failings of the father's baseball carrier heaped upon the son - or perhaps he was just carried away by the dream of becoming a major league coach? In either case it would appear no one was looking out for Colby, every one got caried away with making the club better by moulding the player at hand into the player not on the roster - never thinking of listening to the soft spoken young man, or allowing the young centre fielder from a small town to find his way at his own pace.

Ah, the weight of a million dollars bonus - too much for any human I expect.


As I said later at Drunk Jays Fans,
Read the article, great link. So now we get the Canadian Border Authority to place a ban on the father entering Canada.  :)

No really, don't call.



mh

Friday, September 23, 2011

Colby Rasmus is batting .191 - the Mendoza Line for this Great Centre Fielder

This reminds me of what's wrong with baseball - baseball mass media.

I refer to a story in The National Post by John Lott published Sep 22, 2011 entitled "Rasmus ready to start fresh in 2012".

The root of the story as I read it, is that he contradicts his Manager who says he working on spraying the ball, while Rasmus says he working on nothing, needs a break from it all, playing out the string, waiting for the off season.

Seems like a reasonable thing to say just before the last home game of the season. It's a sentiment the Jays' GM is echoing a few hours later in a fifth inning interview with Pat and Buck - that they're out of the wild card race -  it's the general feeling around the organization in the midst of a multi year rebuild.

But it seems we'd rather have some pre-phrased, macho formula response to our questions from players, rather than honest, off the cuff responses.  The guy just told us some very personal things - it sounds to me like he's depressed - and has been so for a couple of years.

But our self obsessed response:  'What'da mean Toronto is depressing?'.  The phrase, "Enough about me - what do You think about me?" comes to mind.

It's a typical neurotic knee jerk that typifies those who seem to need to find heroes and gods in ordinary men - perhaps to make up for their own misunderstanding that they themselves are surely no better than the proverbial pile of shit.

You're right though Mr. , he's not doing himself any favours. *

The popular press will run with the childish reaction the piece has engendered so far I am sure. We'll collectively drag him down, here with us and kick the shit out of him till he stops breathing. Perhaps Rasmus thought he was talking to a reporter from a publication with a readership that liked to think about things - a place where honesty would be appreciated. 

Wrong-o Buck-o.

Mr. Rasmus. Watch Bull Durham and take note of the bus scene where Crash Davis gets 'Meat' to write down several quotes to help him give good sound byte to the media - as well it's a movie with a lot of spiritual lessons and some pretty funny moments - it'll help cheer you up - for moments anyway.


As someone who has suffered from depression all his life - find a good friend you can talk about these things with - and always err on the side of human goodness, the darkness I find, comes out of systems of human organization, where the heart gets lost in the machine (like in the mass media).

And something that I haven't seen here in this thread, or mentioned in the article at The National Post - and as I said at the Blogger Baseball Scorecard just after the trade - Colby Rasmus might be the best CF the Toronto Blue Jays have ever had.  The way I described it:  'He takes clean lines to the hardest catches.'

With that kind of fielding a Mendoza Line BA keeps him a starter in the majors. Anything more is bonus.



*  Originally published as a comment at Drunk Jays Fans - Friday, 23 September, 2011 "You're Not Doing Yourself Any Favours, Colby Rasmus".

"Bull Durham - Cliches" via mcmillke Channel at Youtube.



mh

Sunday, September 11, 2011

BBA "Black Out" Commemorates "When New York Had Her Heart Broke"

My heart broke that day too. I think I remember the whole worlds' heart was broken... .

Some members of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance (BBA) are doing a "BBA Black Out", going dark - not publishing today - to commemorate the day, a moment of silence for those you died that day, and the days that have ensued I suppose (hope).

I thought it was a bad idea. I think today is a day to speak about what happened, so I post. Post to tell you what some other baseball writers are doing instead.

And to post this new release from John Hiatt.

Ironically - that is all I have to say. Now that the day is upon us I find it's a day to commemorate after all. A sad day, a day of reflection. Expressions of incredulity can wait until tomorrow.






Gord Cumming twigged me to the Hiatt release today at fb. Thanks Gord.



mh

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Moneyball now a movie - Hollywood Formula to sell Revolution Story

The Toronto Blue Jays just came off their Moneyball experiment under former General Manager JP Ricciardi.

Ricciardi rose up through the scouting department in Oakland under General Manager, sabremetrics devotee - and cost cutter - Sandy Alderson. Ricciardi hit the front office in 1996 (Director of Player Personnel) and apprenticing under Moneyball Legend, General Manager (1998) Billy Beane and with Assistant General Manager (math genius) Paul DePodesta (1999). Beane and Ricciardi both rose up through the A's scouting department under GM Alderson.

In 2002 as GM in Toronto JP Ricciardi laid-off a Blue Jay brain-trust in scouting and player development - a 30 year legacy - as part of a restructuring towards the more objective - and cost effective - sabermetric scouting approach. The result was a terrible dive in the standings to last place in 2004 - 33 (!) games out.

Looking back through the trades he made, there doesn't seem to be a lot of sabremetricing in his general managing - when he thought he was close after guts and glory 2003 season (re: Roy Halladay 22-7 3.25ERA) he simply signed high priced big name free agents. When that didn't work he did more of the same. After a horrible 2004 season Rodgers upped the budget to $70M/year ($210 Million over 3 years) and Ricciardi took on big payroll in Lyle Overbay and Troy Glaus. The same year he signed 1B Adam Lind which lead to a clubhouse disease as neither player was signaled as the starter at 1B yet no one said they were a tandem either.

The player development stream never really started flowing before Riccairdi was fired after a terrible 2009 season (4of5 .463 29GB).


Moneyball at Oakland


The story of the Oakland A's as underdog franchise succeeding over stick-in-the mud organizational metrics with a brilliant new way of seeing the universe with-in the highly complex game is a good one. Moneyball is due out in theatres September 23rd.

I'll watch for it online (I don't do theatres or television).

'Box Office Gold', actor Brad Pitt plays Oakland's GM Billy Beane.

Here's the Trailer from Youtubes MoviesYahoocom.




How's that Working for You?


The Blue Jays achieved 2nd place in 2006 (87-75 10GB NYY) after a dip and then a 2 year rise under Ricciardi's watch (2002-2009) - with a third of the payroll of the Evil Empire. It is important to note that many of the prospects coming up to Toronto this year were Ricciardi regime picks.

AL East 2006 - Final Standings


Team                 Finish   Win%  Games Behind
New York Yankees      97-65   .599       -  
Toronto Blue Jays     87-75   .537      10.0
Boston Red Sox        86-76   .531      11.0
Baltimore Orioles     70-92   .432      27.0
Tampa Bay Devil Rays  61 101  .377      36.0

Wild Card: AL Central - Detroit Tigers (95-67 .586)


Billy Beane's Oakland A's had more success, quicker.

Oakland Athletics 1995 - 2006
Year      W  L   W-L%   Finish   
2006      93 69 .574   1st of 4
2005      88 74 .543   2nd of 4
2004      91 71 .562   2nd of 4
2003      96 66 .593   1st of 4
2002     103 59 .636   1st of 4
2001     102 60 .630   2nd of 4
2000      91 70 .565   1st of 4 
1999***   87 75 .537   2nd of 4
1998**    74 88 .457   4th of 4
1997      65 97 .401   4th of 4
1996*     78 84 .481   3rd of 4 
1995      67 77 .465   4th of 4(Tony LaRussa's last year)
*** Paul DePodesta hired
** Beane takes over from Alderson as GM
* Ricciardi makes Front Office


Don't get me wrong here, I'm not interested in the macho posturing that coloured the shift to better statistical analysis. The Oakland experiment was a brilliant reconfiguring of a Major League Club's organizational structure that started with a re-visioning of the fundimental precepts of the organization. A daunting task in any organization - and the numbers show the theory and practice in Oakland worked. The A's were competative with the New York Yankees franchise in 2002 even thought the Oakland player salary budget was $84 million less (<1/3) than the Yankee's budget ($41- $125).

In its wake, teams such as the New York Mets, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Indians,[1] and the Toronto Blue Jays have hired full-time Sabermetric analysts.

Wikipedia/Monsyball

The Boston Red Sox (Front Office Directory) have Sabrmetric's inventor and guru Bill James hired as Senior Advisor/Baseball Operations. The franchise uses both a great and extensive farm system, plus the more objective sabermetric measuring gauges to build and maintain the organization.

Part of the value of the 1999 - 2003 Oakland A's Moneyball organizational pricipals was the idea that other Major League Baseball organizations were over-valuing certain qualities of baseball players, caused by a fuzzy view of player value as a function of imprecice statistical instruments - and exacerbated, magnified, by the Collective Agreement between the Player's Association and MLB - and particularlly the arbitration process which codified specific statistics (the result of a consultation between baseball operation people, financial operations people in MLB franchises and at the head offices of MLB - and in combination with a similar consultation with-in the MLBPA), and thusly massively distorted the relative worth of certain kinds of baseball players. Home Run hitters and RBI leaders were very highly valued (and add here the distortion to player value caused by the American League's DH rule which adds a demand for power hitters to the mix), while players with essential baseball tools like catch, read, run, speed, throw and baseball intellect were institutionally undervalued.

Sabermetric anaysis alowed the Oakland A's to find cast-off players who together and in the right proportions could be key elements in a great team - at that time at a third the cost. Now that the 'cat is out of the bag' so to speak, or the numbers are in - and the theory and practice is being adopted by more and more franchisees - the relative advantage gained through the use of sabremetric analysis is declining.


Enter the Next Generation GM


Toronto general manager Alex Anthopoulos, along with super-genius Paul Beeston have instituted a new system in Toronto, the 'We're-smarter-than-you-and-we've-got-more-and-better-people-at-all-levels' system.

So far so good. I'm too close to be objective, but this new player development system - and with one of the craftiest deal makers I can remember since Pat Gilick - this team seems to continuously funnel great looking ball players up to the major league level form the AAA Las Vegas 51's. With the 40 player roster now allowed, September will be a 'Back to the Future' month here in Toronto; and there's many more prospects coming in the years ahead. This year the Bue Jays signed 4 of 5 so called 'hard to sign' prospects from the amateur draft - leveraging their people power, hands on, Canadian nice-ness to attract and sign player that other clubs thought would be impossible to sign and thus likely turn out to be wasted picks.


Enough Scouting for You?

Toronto Blue Jays' Player Development and Scouting Staff 

Front Office Directory
Revised: August 30, 2011

Toronto Blue Jays
Rogers Centre
Address: 1 Blue Jays Way, Suite 3200
City: Toronto, State: ON Zip Code: M5V 1J1
Website: www.bluejays.com
Phone: 416-341-1000

EXECUTIVE OFFICE

Vice Chairman, Rogers Communications Inc.
Phil Lind
President and CEO, Rogers Media
Keith Pelley
President and CEO, Toronto Blue Jays & Rogers Centre
Paul Beeston
Senior Vice President, Baseball Operations and General Manager
Alex Anthopoulos
Senior Vice President, Business Operations
Stephen R. Brooks
Vice President, Special Projects
Howard Starkman
Special Assistant to the Organization
Roberto Alomar
Executive Assistant to the President and CEO
Sue Cannell

BASEBALL

Senior Vice President, Baseball Operations and General Manager
Alex Anthopoulos
Vice President, Baseball Operations and Assistant General Manager
Tony LaCava
Assistant General Manager
Jay Sartori
Special Assistant to the General Manager
Dana Brown
Consultant
Cito Gaston
Administrator, Baseball Operations
Heather Connolly
Baseball Information Analyst
Joe Sheehan
Executive Assistant to the GM
Anna Coppola
Director, Team Employee Assistance Program
Ray Karesky
Director, Team Safety
Ron Sandelli
Director, Team Travel and Clubhouse Operations
Mike Shaw
Head Trainer
George Poulis
Assistant Trainer
Hap Hudson
Equipment Manager
Jeff Ross
Clubhouse Manager
Kevin Malloy
Visiting Clubhouse Manager
Len Frejlich
Strength and Conditioning Coordinator
Bryan King
Video Operations
Robert Baumander
Coordinator, Advance Scouting & Video
Brian Abraham
Team Employee Assistance Program
Brian Shaw
Medical Advisor
Dr. Bernie Gosevitz
Team Physician
Dr. Ron Taylor
Consulting Massage Therapist
Todd Earl
Consulting Neurologist
Dr. Jonathan Gladstone
Consulting Orthopedic Surgeon
Dr. Allan Gross
Consulting Orthopedic Surgeon
Dr. Steven Mirabello
Consulting Orthopedic Surgeon
Dr. Jason Smith
Consulting Orthopedic Surgeon
Dr. John Theodoropoulos
Consulting Podiatrist
Dr. Glenn Copeland
Consulting Internal Medicine Physician
Dr. James Fischer
Consulting Chiropractor
Dr. Pat Graham
Consulting Chiropractor
Dr. Mark Scappaticci
Consulting Chiropractor
Dr. Mike Preberg

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Director, Information Technology
Mike Maybee
Manager, Information Technology
Anthony Miranda
Voice/Data Network Operations Specialist
Donny Catinari
IT Support Analyst
Yvan Duval
IT Support Analyst
Arsian Khan
IT Support Analyst
Richard Solis
IT Support Coordinator
Katrina LeCavalier

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT

Director, Minor League Operations
Charlie Wilson
Minor League Field Coordinator
Doug Davis
Roving Hitting Coach
Anthony Iapoce
Roving Infield Coach
Mike Mordecai
Roving Outfield & Baserunning Coach
Rich Miller
Roving Pitching Coach
Dane Johnson
Rehab Pitching Coach
Rick Langford
Minor League Athletic Training Coordinator
Mike Frostad
Minor League Equipment Coordinator
Billy Wardlow
Minor League Strength & Conditioning Coordinator
Donovan Santas
Coordinator, Minor League Administration
Joanna Nelson
Assistant Latin American Administration
Blake Bentley
Administrative Assistant
Kim Marsh

SCOUTING

Director, Amateur Scouting
Andrew Tinnish
Director, Professional Scouting
Perry Minasian
Special Assignment Scout
Jon Lalonde
Director, Latin American Operations
Marco Paddy
Assistant Director, Amateur Scouting
Ryan Mittleman
Coordinator, Professional Scouting
Harry Einbinder

MAJOR LEAGUE SCOUTS

Major League Scout
Jim Beattie
Major League Scout
Russ Bove
Major League Scout
Sal Butera
Major League Scout
Ed Lynch

PROFESSIONAL SCOUTING

Professional Crosschecker
Mike Mangan
Professional Crosschecker
Gary Rajsich
Senior Advisor/Professional Scout
Mel Didier
Professional Scout/Director, Canadian Baseball
Kevin Briand
Professional Scout
John Brickley
Professional Scout
Tom Clark
Professional Scout
Steve Connelly
Professional Scout
Kimball Crossley
Professional Scout
Bob Fontaine
Professional Scout
Bob Hamelin
Professional Scout
David May Jr.
Professional Scout
Wayne Morgan
Professional Scout
Brian Parker
Professional Scout
Marteese Robinson
Professional Scout
Jim Skaalen
Professional Scout/Performance Coach
Steve Springer
Professional Scout
Dale Sutherland
Professional Scout
Doug Witt
Professional Video Scout
Joe Barbera
Professional Video Scout
Pete Holmes
Professional Video Coordinator
Ryan Mabry

AMATEUR CROSSCHECKERS

National Crosschecker
Dean Decillis
National Crosschecker
Marc Tramuta
Regional Crosschecker
Matt Briggs
Regional Crosschecker
Tom Burns
Regional Crosschecker
Dan Cholowsky
Regional Crosschecker
Steve Miller
Regional Crosschecker
Tim Rooney

AREA SCOUTS

Joey Aversa
Fountain Valley, CA
Darold Brown
Elk Grove, CA
Jon Bunnell
Overland Park, KS
Dan Cox
Santa Ana, CA
Blake Crosby
Gilbert, AZ
C.J. Ebarb
Friendswood, TX
Kevin Fox
La Mirada, CA
Ryan Fox
Yakima, WA
Bobby Gandolfo
Lansdale, PA
Joel Grampietro
Tampa, FL
John Hendricks
Mocksville, NC
Randy Kramer
Aptos, CA
Nick Manno
Brunswick, OH
Eric McQueen
Acworth, GA
Mike Medici
Naperville, IL
Nate Murrie
Bowling Green, KY
Matt O'Brien
Clermont, FL
Cliff Pastornicky
Birmingham, AL
Wes Penick
Clive, IA
Michael Pesce
New Hyde Park, NY
Jorge Rivera
Puerto Nuevo, PR
Rob St. Julien
Scott, LA
Darin Vaughan
Tulsa, OK
Michael Wagner
Addison, TX

SCOUTS - CANADA

Jamie Lehman
Brampton, ON
Don Cowan
Delta, BC
Jim Fanning
Ambassador, Amateur Baseball
Sean McCann
Ambassador, Amateur Baseball

SCOUTS - INTERNATIONAL

Miguel Bernard
San Pedro de Macoris, DR
Robinson Garces
Maracaibo, VZ
Pablo Leal
Maturin, VZ
Erick Medina
Cartagena, Columbia
Rafael Moncada
San Diego Valencia, VZ
Lorenzo Perez
Manoguayabo, DR
Hilario Soriano
Santo Domingo, DR
Domingo Toribio
San Pedro de Macoris, DR
Greg Wade
Queensland, Australia

VIDEO COORDINATORS

Brian Johnston
Los Angeles, CA
Matt Bishoff
Tampa, FL
Coulson Barbiche
Houston, TX

Via "Front Office Directory" (toronto.bluejays.mlb.com)

(list edited to show only people directly involved with player development and scouting - full list at the link.)



mh

Pitcher Derek Lowe's HR ball gets back to dugout before he does - literally

This video shows the line drive HR over the left field fence and Derik Lowe's slow jog around the bases (he looks really wobbly as he rounds 2B). In the last seconds of the video you can see the HR ball - the first ball Lowe says that he has ever, in his entire life "hit over a fence" - bounce on the infield grass (Nationals' LF Michael Morse throws it in), and rolls perfectly into dugout entrance-way, literally 9 steps in front of the slow-afoot pitcher.





 Pitchers hitting - what will they think of next?  ;)


Story by Dayn Perry at FanGraphs Blog, NotGraphs - "The Miracle of Derek Lowe’s Home Run".

Via a post at Joy of Sox, "Derek Lowe, 38, Hits The First Home Run Of His Life"

MLB (Video at MLB) embed via NotGraphs blog.



mh

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Brett Cecil out pitched by Rich Harden - Again

The Blue Jay hitters didn't seem to have a plan going into this, their second tilt in ten days against Oakland's Rich Harden says Gregg Zaun tonight in Oakland - radio broadcasting with Jerry Howarth on this road trip.

The Jays, manage only 2 hits over the 7 innings of shut out pitching by the A's Blue Jay killer, Starting Pitcher Rich Harden.

The Jays lost the last time they faced Oakland's Harden, ten days ago on August 9th at Rogers Centre (4-1). Brett Cecil pitched really well in that game too --- but Harden pitched better.

Now, too, again.

Filling in for Alan Ashby on the Blue Jays Radio Network, colour analyst Gregg Zaun says, Cecil 'can't spit the ('L') hook after another really good start'.'Cecil gave up one less run this time..' - Howarth and Zaun mussed in the eighth - '...but so did Harden.'

Cecil vs Harden - August 19th 2011

Toronto Blue Jays
Pitcher             IP  H  R ER BB SO HR  PC-ST   ERA
B Cecil(L, 4-6)     7.0 4  2  2  5  4  1  111-67  4.24

Oakland Athletics
Pitcher             IP  H  R ER BB SO HR  PC-ST   ERA
R Harden(W, 4-2)    7.0 2  0  0  4 11  0  115-72  3.91

 

Harden vs Cecil - August 9th 2011

Oakland Athletics
Pitcher             IP  H  R ER BB SO HR  PC-ST   ERA
R Harden(W, 3-2)    7.0 5  1  1  2  8  1  107-71  4.07 

Toronto Blue Jays
Pitcher             IP  H  R ER BB SO HR  PC-ST   ERA
B Cecil(L, 4-5)     7.0 4  3  3  2  5  2  108-76  4.31



This is the last time this year the Jays will face the troublesome Harden. Two games remain in this 4 game series - now tied at one shut out each.

ESPN Boxscore Toronto at Oakland August 19, 2011



mh

Monday, August 8, 2011

Squaretender publishes on Blogger Baseball Scorecard

Very happy today to report that Erin McClam, who co-publishes Squaretender - a blog that is All About scorekeeping baseball games - published a flattering little piece about my 'Blogger Baseball Scorecard" project!

:)


In all my searching of terms like scoring, scorekeeping, scorecard, scoring forum...I have not come across Squaretender, a site about scorecard keeping. The internet is a very big place I guess. I've searched the world wide web for anything at all to do with baseball scorekeeping in the last 2 years and I'm sorry to say, I didn't find this lovely blog.

These guys (Erin McClam and Mark Niesse) are as passionate about scorecarding as I am - but they're purists, they want the real thing, not some new fangled ipad or Microsoft Office thingy - over there it's all about the parchment and graphite - which makes a review there all the sweeter.

All along the design process of the Blogger Baseball Scorecard I've tried to make it as close to the paper and pencil method as I could. I learned to keep score on paper with pencil. I'm a writer who always had a notepad and a scribbling tool with him wherever he went. Reading a book on paper has a religious feel to it. A scorecard in an extra large artists' sketch book is heaven.

So I know where they're coming from - I just think my new html scorecard is pretty zippy too, and I hope it generates vast numbers of score keepers in the next generations.

Not only will the piece at Squaretender help spread the word about the Blogger Scorecard, I've just found a website I'll be going back to.

Thanks much Erin.


Blogger Baseball Scorecard - Home



mh

Friday, August 5, 2011

Pat Tabler taking English Grammar Lessons - Jays win


- Toronto Blue Jays at Baltimore Orioles - Game 1 of 3 -

- Brett Lawrie debuts with first major league BH - and E - Plays 3B -


- Bautista plays RF -

- Jays win 5-4 -



Pat Tabler, Rogers Sportsnet Blue Jays colour analyst is, by the sound of it, taking English Grammar Lesson (sic). In the past few games he's been using the singular form of some words in sentences where it is appropriate according to proper English grammar, in sentences where the usage is rarely practised in popular conversational English.

When talking about the Blue Jays franchise for example, he uses the singular "Blue Jay" ... rather than "Blue Jays". Like in this sentence I just made up: "The Blue Jay want to bring up as many minor leaguer's as possible this year." I think though, in this example, Tabler's usage is incorrect because "Blue Jays" is a proper name. It's the franchise's name. Blue Jays. So using the singular in this instance is incorrect. (His English Grammar Coach will undoubtedly bring that up at their next class when the team gets back to T.O. after this series - Monday, August 8th.)

Later in the game I hear Mr. Tabler make proper use of the rule, when he says, "The way the Blue Jays score all their run." referring to they way the Jays plated runs in this game - rather than the popular, incorrect, usage 'The way the Blue Jays score all their runs.'.

And - the grammar lessons are paying off in other ways too I think. His mind is better ordered now. He doesn't come out with non-sequiturs and horribly structured ideas as much anymore (such as blurting out the conclusion of an idea and then realizing it 's hanging out there like a pink elephant, and then working (badly) back to the introduction of the idea). So good for him. He's made great strides in broadcasting since last year when he forced me to start the "I Can't Believe He's a Major League Announcer" label here at Baseball Blogs. Impressive. Old dog, new tricks.  Good for him!

Tabler had some really good analysis tonight. For example, on how the length of the grass backfired on the Baltimore defence, who couldn't turn a double play due to the long infield grass which slowed a batted ball's arrival at shortstop on one particular play (the Orioles are cutting the infield grass long - trying to get a defensive advantage with ground ball pitchers on the mound).

Brett Lawrie's debut line:
Player        AB R H RBI BB SO E  AVG 
B Lawrie 3B   4  0 2  1   0  1 1 .500         

On both balls where Lawrie doesn't make a play (error in the 2nd and RBI single in the 6th - also an error imho), he's cheating towards the throw. In both cases he has time to get in front of the ball, but instead plants and backhands, beginning his step into the throw before he has the ball.

Just thought I'd mention it - by the slight, off-chance that none of the coaches notice it; and it spirals into a batting slump or something. As Brett Lawrie knows: catch first, then throw - plenty of time.

Bottom 7th

Umpires miss the Robert Andino batter-runner interference call with no outs and one on. There were actually two ways the Umps could have called an out on the batter-runner! First, Andino actually touches pitcher Luis Prez while he's fielding the ball on the infield grass! AND - the batter runner never ran in the batter-runners lane! He is always - from the moment he completed his swing to until he touches the 1B bag - on the infield side of the foul line!

To add insult to error Perez is tallied an error. Later between the innings John Farrell gets ejected for continuing to argue with the umpires that the umpires are incompetent. In this case the two umpires in the middle of the play should have/could have made one or the other call. They both really blew their responsibilities on this one. Lets see if it changes the lead in the game, 2 on, 1 out, 4-3 Toronto...

Outs 2 and 3 are pitched by Litsch - no runs plate.

Otherwise, the call becomes my 'Play of the Game' - and I have a lot more to say about bad umpiring. :)


Interestingly, on one of the replays I see a Third way the Jays could have gotten the batter-runner out on the play. As the errant throw passes Andino in foul ground to his right, he takes a half step towards 2nd just as Hill (backing up the play nicely) comes into view and scoops up the ball. Hill doesn't act on a possible throw to first for an out - his mind is on a possible throw in behind Cesar Izturis rounding at second.

And this is the 'Interesting' part, the 1B umpire, Jerry Layne, has his back to the play at this point - he doesn't see the half step in towards the infield - even though he responsible for a call if the Jays choose to throw to first.

..if there were errors for umpires...

And 'they' say nothing happens in a baseball game. For these two umpires (Brian Knight HP & Jerry Layne 1B) - on this day - that would appear to be very, very true.



Top of the 8th

Jays get the insurance run:

Colby Rasmus (CF) steals second on the Orioles centre fielder Adam Jones with a nice tag-up from first on Aaron Hill's RBI SAC fly.


Colby Rasmus is looking good in centre field, he takes clean lines to difficult balls. This Jays' team now 2/3's of the way through the season, is a very different team than I reviewed at the 1/3 mark.

ESPN Boxscore for this game.



mh

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Joe Maddon says, "Watch me pull a rabbit outta my hat!" Blue Jays watch.

It was a sight to behold.

The Tampa bottom of the 2nd started with a HR run off of Carlos 'no-control-tonight' Villanueva. Then one after the other two hard hit balls; the first through the left side, the next straight up the middle dying in the centre field turf-grass - moving the lead runner first to third.

The Jays have no idea what's coming. This isn't yesterday where two great pitchers served up very few hit-able balls. That was then - this is game 2. Then intrepid manager Joe Maddon pulls a rabbit out of his hat - and everyone seems to just stare.

"What the f*ck is that?! Where did you get that rabbit man? This is a baseball game you know, not a friggin magic show."

But it looked like a magic show - with the Blue Jays playing the awe struck crowd.

8th hitter, shortstop, Scott Rodriguez lays down a beautiful safety squeeze between the third base line and the mound. As soon as B J Upton, the base runner at third, sees that the ball's on the ground, he boots it for home. The Jays' starter Carlos 'no-control-tonight' Villanueva is true to form - he fields the bunt and promptly throws it over J P Arencibia's head to the back stop. Run plates, runners first and third and everybody says, 'that sucked'.

  - and seemingly goes back to their memories of Yesterday's Win -

Because the next batter, 9th hitter, catcher Robinson Chirinos is bunting too!!! Aron Hill is running to cover second (?) as the pass bunt makes a perfect section of the turf between the mound and the first base line. Lind fields it and turns to get the out at first, he doesn't think he has a play at the plate right in front of him. But as soon as Lind turns he sees Aaron Hill isn't on the same page of the play book - Hill is nowhere near the first base bag, he doing a marathon from 2nd trying to beat the batter-runner over a similar distance as from the plate. The ball, the second baseman, and the batter runner arrive 1,2,3.

 - But not in that order. -

Run plates, safe at first - runners first and second, one out.


- Now the Jays are feeling stupid -

"What kind of a bunch of useless, turd, baseball players are we anyway? ..can't get an out when it's handed us. Not any more though boy-o! Just try That again - Now we're ready!!!" 

They never do that do they? When ever your ready for the bunt - they don't bunt. That's when they hammer the ball down your throat as your charging. ...Right?

Wrong.

Desmond Jennings lays down a perfect bunt on third base line. Bautista's playing in on the edge of the grass - so he's ready for this - he'll make an out with this...

But no, the fleet-of-foot Desmond beats out the throw - bases loaded.

Finally the Rays play real baseball - Jonny Damon hits a proper fly ball deep to centre field for an out - but it plates the runner from third. two are out. The next batter Evan Longoria fly's out to centre as well.

But its a bat around inning, 4 runs are in and this isn't a pitcher's duel - for sure.

Yesterday is gone.

The next AB's for the Rays in the 3rd is worse only because it's happening so soon after the last time - they send 8 to the plate and score 4 more. The game is over.

James Shields gets in a grove thereafter and shuts down the Jays' bats.


Tampa Bay  IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  ERA
Shields    7.1  3   1   1   3   6   1  2.95

Final is 1-9.


The complete game scorecard for this game is up - at the Blogger Baseball Scorecard: "August 3, 2011 Jays at Rays - Game 2 of 3".

Also, check out the Scorecard's new 'Landing Page': Blogger Baseball Scorecard - Home Page.



mh

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Toronto Blue Jays 3 games over .500 for first time since April 8!



Jays win beautifully defenced pitchers' duel, 3-1.

David Price is out done by Rickey Romero.

Romero gives up 1 Hit (a lead-off HR in the top of 6th) with 4 BB and 7 K.

109 Pitches

Complete game Scorecard at the link.

Game 1 of 3 in Tampa Bay.

Jays playing well - 3 games over .500 - first time since April 8!








mh

Monday, August 1, 2011

I like "Graphics Interchange Format" (GIF) images

3B Kyle Seager's swipe-tag too quick for Ump


Jeff Sullivan from Lookout Landing is making a habit of making .gif images out of clips from television baseball coverage. GIF images are a series of still graphic images, or 'bitmaps' that display at a set speed so they look like a video! I like them so much I've been adding them to my sidebar. In this fast paced world full of 15 second sound bites and the fleeting of the famous and infamous - GIF's are perfect.

GIF has it's limitations, it doesn't support super high quality photographic colour sets. But as far as I'm concerned, that's good - this isn't supposed to be the original, above for example, is a re-purposed artifact of something the gretaer culture created - it's a parody, a comment. It is an icon of the televised game a memory if you will - and there it plays for poor Kyle Seager, like a nightmare - over and over and over... (Or perhaps for the Ump more so.)

The GIF format was invented by Steve Wilhite in 1987 while he worked for CompuServe. All the relevant patents on the software have since expired.

File:Newtons cradle animation book 2.gif
(Animation of "Newton's Cradle" via Wikipedia - also included in a article about the GIF format




File:Rotating earth (large).gif
(Rotating_earth_(large).gif‎ (400 × 480 pixels, file size: 1.36 MB, MIME type: image/gif, looped, 44 frames, 4.0s) - via Wikipedia)
When you click "copy image" and download one of these "images" all the bitmaps are downloaded; and then they're yours, and then you can put them anywhere you want - just like you would add an image from your computer to a blog post. (Always credit the source - then we'll still be friends.)


You can make your own GIF images in a couple of different ways:

There are Online GIF Maker Programs, (Google Search Page) where you upload your images to their server and then a program produces the GIF according to several parameter you're able to set...

- or -

..you can download the free open source GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) software package - which has a GIF production interface, for all your GIF-Y needs.

Here's a brief introduction to the software: "How to Make an Animated GIF Image with GIMP"
(from MakeUseOf website - one of those answers for everything advertising aggregation websites , but it's  about GNU software - I never go to these sites because they about money not enlightenment, but it is a popular take on the product - and well written and has good graphics.)

This post was cross posted at Michael Holloway's FilterBlogs.



mh

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Gillick's Hall of Fame Acceptance Speech brings water to the eyes of many

Roberto Alomar, left, Bert Blyleven, center, and Pat Gillick in Cooperstown, N.Y., on Saturday, July 23, 2011.
Image courtesy The Toronto Star (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

I just watched Pat Gillick's Hall of Fame acceptance speech at Cooperstown.

His eyes were watering and so were mine and many others.

 It wasn't a hokey speech, it wasn't a particularly great speech - as a coarse required highschool speech it would have been good enough. But it did not lecture, it did not preach, it was just the man's story, a story he hoped, it seemed to me, might be of benefit to some others as well. But, though his halting delivery, as he simply touched on everyone who had been a part of his baseball life, I began to glean a genuineness.

All the Hall of Famers gathered there on the stage seemed to be listening intently though the 12 minute speech that didn't seem to last that long - as was the crowd fanned out on the lawn. I think we all learned some life lessons from a man with some wisdom to offer.

He spoke of himself in the plural 'we', but not in the way that some people with giant ego's do - he was always referring to his wife, who was amongst the audience and near tears herself. And he spoke of his daughter and son-in-law and grandson - also there, and in that stone face you see right before a body bursts into tears.

He said he hoped that baseball would always more be about the people than about the money that's around  the game - and he said, that he thought it always would be.

To have heard Pat Gillick give this speech was a blessing.

He must be a quite man. I never heard him speak so many words before. Even through all those heady, winning years he was here in Toronto working for the Jays.

Congratulations Pat Gillick.

May you have many, many more good years ahead.

And Thank you.



Pat Gillick's Hall of Fame Induction Speech isn't up as of this time, but it will be soon at MLB Video - click on "Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Speeches" tab below the fold on the left side of the page. 
(MLB Advanced Media might want to give that tab an address of it's own - ?)




mh

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Notes from a scorecard: Phillies vs Jays - Game 3

Cliff Lee gives up run early, ends scoreless streak - then get shelled late as Jays bats explode


Below are my notes from today's Live Internet Scorecard Blog of the Phillies, Jays game at Toronto, featuring Cliff Lee in his bid to go 4 consecutive games without surrendering a run.

See the complete game Scorecard, "Scorecard: July 3, 2011 Phillies at Blue Jays - Game 3 of 3".

Plus, my new video at Youtube: "The sound of Encarnacion's HR: For whom the bell tolls, it tolls for Lee"
(embed is here too, below the fold)




Game Notes:

Philadelphia Phillies (53-31)
Manager: Charlie Manuel

@

Toronto Blue Jays (40-44)
Manager: John Farrell

Game 3 of 3

First pitch: 1:07 PM EST


Starting Pitchers:
Philadelphia - Cliff Lee
Toronto - Jo-Jo Reyes

Umpires:
Home - Ed Hickox
First Base - Ed Rapuano
Second Base - Brian Onora
Third Base - Alfonso Marquez


Weather:
Sunny - clear blue sky :)
Temp: 28°C | 88°F
Wind:NW at 23 kph | 15 mph
(left field line out to right field corner)


Notes:


Bottom of 3

Lead-off hitter R Davis hits 3BH8(9) 8-6-5 safe. FAN590 Radio Play by Play co-host Alan Ashby mentions the no-hit 5 seconds before the pitch --- then WHAM! And the next batter (John McDonald) ruins the no run streak with a 6-3 ground out that scores the triple.


Bottom of the 8th

We've all heard the expression,

'You could tell it was a home run by the sound of the bat."

Well, I'd always thought I knew what that meant, in fact I was sure I'd heard it before - several times, but until I heard the sound of Edwin Encarnacion's bat hitting the ball squarely for the third HR of the 8th inning I hadn't heard that most distinctive of sounds. Clear like the ring of a bell, it had a tone I've never heard before - like an exceptionally load, snap of the fingers.

I was busy at the keyboard and I didn't even look up, I just typed in 'HR' in the little box... .

Here's an edit I made of the beautiful sounding thwack.
(Link to the original MLB video page is below.)



MLB has the video up of Encarnacion's hit, "Encarnacion's two-run homer":  http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_07_03_phimlb_tormlb_1&mode=wrap

Post Game

Now I'm not saying any of the following is well thought out - but two things:

1. Eric Thames
2. Rajia Davis

Eric Thames is looking very comfortable in a major league uniform, and hitting the ball more often now with what looks like great authority --- well, it changes everything. Eric Thames is a young man who looks and carries himself a lot older than he is, without this new metric piling all kinds of expectation on him, what about this line-up?

'I have a dream' line-up

1. C Patterson LF
2. R Davis CF
3. E Thames RF
4. J Bautista 3B
5. A Lind 1B
6. J Arencibia C
7. E Encarnacion DH
8. A Hill 2B
9. J McDonald SS


Rajia Davis' play today, hitting the ball away, plus a fine at-bat in the 8th, shows he wants to hit higher in the order and 'Rickey Henderson' this League - and by the looks of it he could - he stole with impunity on the Phillies battery today.

Putting him 2nd gives him the opportunity to get some at bats in lad-off type situations and moving Jose Bautista down to the 4 spot, and Thames up to the 3 spot takes the pressure off the top of the order and adds to the possibility of a big inning, and more team RBIs.



Line ups and pitching totals from ESPN - Box Score.

* * *

Cliff Lee's magnificent no-run streak destroyed:

DATE    OPP.     RESULT   IP   H  R ER HR BB SO   Dec.    ERA
Jul 3   @ TOR    L (7-4)  7.1 10  7  6  3  0  9   L(9-6)  2.92
Jun 28  vs BOS   W (5-0)  9.0  2  0  0  0  2  5   W(9-5)  2.66
Jun 22  @ STL    W (4-0)  9.0  6  0  0  0  1  3   W(8-5)  2.87
Jun 16  vs FLA   W (3-0)  9.0  2  0  0  0  2  4   W(7-5)  3.12

Stats from ESPN: Cliff Lee - Game by Game



mh