Monday, December 17, 2012

Baseball Bloggers Alliance 2013 Hall Of Fame Ballot


Well, it that time of year again when Baseball Bloggers Alliance writers cast their lot for the Baseball Bloggers Alliance (BBA) Baseball Hall of Fame. (This has nothing to do with the Baseball Writers of America Hall of Fame Voting, this is strictly a vote by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.)

This year I voted for a record number of players - three.

My vote: Edgar Martinez (4), Barry Bonds (1), Roger Clemens (1)
(number in brackets means number of years on the ballot, maximum is 15 years)



Edgar Martinez was a career .312 hitter, a great right fielder and played the game at it's highest level for 18 years, and for one team - which I emphasize because it indicates selflessness - and that is good for the game.

Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were amoung the best players to ever play the game. I needn't make any arguement for their inclusion based on he numbers they put up. The fact they both used steroids at the end of their careers, to me, is irrelevant - with the following caveat.

They played in an era where the absence of screening by MLB allowed cheating via performance enhancing substances - and coincidentally - they played in an era where MLB juiced the ball to add spectacle to the game. Thus their inflated numbers cannot be quantified as to which part of the inflation was due to cheating, and which part was a function of the profiteering of MLB through the dumbing-down of the game via the spectacle fetish for the home run.

The numbers these two players put up compared to their peers from other eras of baseball will forever be a subject of speculation. I acknowledge that these players were at the pinnacle of talent amoungst their peers (many of whom were also on steroids).

As such - an asterisk should be added beside their names - if inducted by the Baseball Writers of America - indicating they played in the nuclear-ball / steroid era.




mh

Monday, October 22, 2012

GIF: SFG Hunter Pence makes contact with the ball THREE times in one swing

The GIF masters are at it again.

The GIF below was produced minutes after the event occured. San Francisco Giants' right fielder, Hunter Pence breaks his bat on the swing - his bat makes contact with the ball THREE times - in this game changing 2RBI AB in the 3rd inning of NLCS Game 7 - off St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Joe Kelly.

GIF: Hunter Pence makes contact with the ball THREE times in one swing #Giants #Cardinals http://twitpic.com/b6lf8j
GIF: Hunter Pence makes contact with the ball THREE times in ... on Twitpic


Via MetsKevin11 @MetsKevin11 - https://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=MetsKevin11&tw_i=260553722743111680&tw_e=screenname&tw_p=twt&source=twt




mh

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Knuckle Under ?


Via MLBFanCave Video, 09/26/12 | KNUCKLE SQUAD! | R.A. Dickey, Tim Wakefield and Phil Niekro follow up their acclaimed documentary KNUCKLEBALL! with a trailer for the sequel KNUCKLE SQUAD!


MLBFanCave Video, KNUCKLE SQUAD!



mh

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Randall Munroe's "What if?" series - "Relativistic Baseball"


Randal Munroe publishes a web comic you may be aware of called xkcd (http://xkcd.com/). I've had a link to his comic in the sidebar of my main blog, FilterBlogs - since 2006. Recently Randal Munroe has also begun publishing a series called,
"What if?"  
Answering your hypothetical questions with physics, every Tuesday.

I came to know about Randal Munroe's 'other' project via a Baseball Prospectus article by Larry Granillo - "Wezen-Ball".

Randal Munroe has 11 what-ifs up so far.

This great physics / baseball conundrum is his first 'What if' creation; answering the reader submitted question: "What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?".

As per the meme there, I republish the article in it's entirety.

Relativistic Baseball




Let’s set aside the question of how we got the baseball moving that fast. We'll suppose it's a normal pitch, except in the instant the pitcher releases the ball, it magically accelerates to 0.9c. From that point onward, everything proceeds according to normal physics.:


http://what-if.xkcd.com/imgs/a/1/01.png

The answer turns out to be “a lot of things”, and they all happen very quickly, and it doesn’t end well for the batter (or the pitcher). I sat down with some physics books, a Nolan Ryan action figure, and a bunch of videotapes of nuclear tests and tried to sort it all out. What follows is my best guess at a nanosecond-by-nanosecond portrait:

The ball is going so fast that everything else is practically stationary. Even the molecules in the air are stationary. Air molecules vibrate back and forth at a few hundred miles per hour, but the ball is moving through them at 600 million miles per hour. This means that as far as the ball is concerned, they’re just hanging there, frozen.

The ideas of aerodynamics don’t apply here. Normally, air would flow around anything moving through it. But the air molecules in front of this ball don’t have time to be jostled out of the way. The ball smacks into them so hard that the atoms in the air molecules actually fuse with the atoms in the ball’s surface. Each collision releases a burst of gamma rays and scattered particles.

fusion illustration

fusion zone of baseball

These gamma rays and debris expand outward in a bubble centered on the pitcher’s mound. They start to tear apart the molecules in the air, ripping the electrons from the nuclei and turning the air in the stadium into an expanding bubble of incandescent plasma. The wall of this bubble approaches the batter at about the speed of light—only slightly ahead of the ball itself.

http://what-if.xkcd.com/imgs/a/1/04.png


The constant fusion at the front of the ball pushes back on it, slowing it down, as if the ball were a rocket flying tail-first while firing its engines. Unfortunately, the ball is going so fast that even the tremendous force from this ongoing thermonuclear explosion barely slows it down at all. It does, however, start to eat away at the surface, blasting tiny particulate fragments of the ball in all directions. These fragments are going so fast that when they hit air molecules, they trigger two or three more rounds of fusion.

After about 70 nanoseconds the ball arrives at home plate. The batter hasn't even seen the pitcher let go of the ball, since the light carrying that information arrives at about the same time the ball does. Collisions with the air have eaten the ball away almost completely, and it is now a bullet-shaped cloud of expanding plasma (mainly carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen) ramming into the air and triggering more fusion as it goes. The shell of x-rays hits the batter first, and a handful of nanoseconds later the debris cloud hits.

When it reaches the batter, the center of the cloud is still moving at an appreciable fraction of the speed of light. It hits the bat first, but then the batter, plate, and catcher are all scooped up and carried backward through the backstop as they disintegrate. The shell of x-rays and superheated plasma expands outward and upward, swallowing the backstop, both teams, the stands, and the surrounding neighborhood—all in the first microsecond.

Suppose you’re watching from a hilltop outside the city. The first thing you see is a blinding light, far outshining the sun. This gradually fades over the course of a few seconds, and a growing fireball rises into a mushroom cloud. Then, with a great roar, the blast wave arrives, tearing up trees and shredding houses.

Everything within roughly a mile of the park is leveled, and a firestorm engulfs the surrounding city. The baseball diamond is now a sizable crater, centered a few hundred feet behind the former location of the backstop.

mushroom cloud

A careful reading of official Major League Baseball Rule 6.08(b) suggests that in this situation, the batter would be considered "hit by pitch", and would be eligible to advance to first base.


 - by Randal Monroe


* * *



References:

Link to the original at "What if?": http://what-if.xkcd.com/1/

Baseball Prospectus, July 10, 2012 | Wezen-Ball - A Really, Really Fast Ball | by Larry Granillo | http://www.baseballprospectus.com/a/17621



mh

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Baseball Blogs Radio with "BeeVocal" - show #1 'Test'


Update (1 hour after posting below): W3C school has this, from here - http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_sounds.asp


'BeeVocal' emailed me with a link to their new Radio show production widget. Still finding a way to share the 1:30 test I made - there is no obvious way to do this that is evident on my Home page at 'BeeVocal', but I will persevere.

From the email to recording my first episode took all of 15 minutes! Really great; the interface is intuative - but the link is not an mp3 - instead it's shuttered inside of a player that only is allowed to render on a BeeVocal web page.

You can click on the link and check out the interface as it is so far ... and my incoherent mumblings. :)

http://liveshow.beevocal.com/playback/slides/playback.html?meetingId=d499e2b16a0bf312c274d0378d02b585472d49c0-1345276240753
(playback currently only works in Chrome and Firefox browsers)

Update (30 seconds later): I found the audio file link and I'll go get my favourite player and be right back to lay that in here. Yay!

Well my favourite player wouldn't play the .ogg file so...

..I found a player that adds a tab across the top of this blog you should see it up there, click play to play Episode 1 if you like - SCM Music Player by Adrian C Shum - http://scmplayer.net

Hmmm, that thingy won't play the file either - so that's gone.

So we're left with the link above that takes you to the BeeVocal page with their player, as the only way to share. BeeVocal #Fail.

This is obviously in Beta - I will update when more is known.

You've just read some 'Real Time Blogging'. Now if we can get some real time audio with that...



References:

BeeVocal's 'Ogg Vorbis' File of, Baseball Blogs Radio - Episode 1 - "Test"
(played in my GOM Player, no problem and plays by default in Google Chrome - with the .ogg add-on. Firefox add-on search returned no results for ".ogg" of "Ogg Vorbis".)
http://liveshow.beevocal.com/slides/d499e2b16a0bf312c274d0378d02b585472d49c0-1345276240753/audio/audio.ogg (link opens in new tab/window)

W3C Schools Player - http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_sounds.asp ---> example of the audio tag version I used above ---> http://www.w3schools.com/html/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml_audio_5

BeeVocal http://beevocal.com/



mh

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Rajai Davis' great catch over the LF wall


Scored the Yankees at Blue Jays today from the radio, and heard Rajai Davis make his great catch over the left field wall. Below is the Headline, Game Description and Notes from the scorecard.

I added the MLB video as soon as the game ended.



Aug 12th Scorecard: Yankees at Blue Jays, Game 3

From Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

New York Yankees
(67-46)
Manager Joe Girardi

@

Toronto Blue Jays
(53-60)
Manager: John Farrell

Game 3 of 3

First pitch: 1:07 pm edt

Starting Pitchers
New York: Hughes (11-9, 4.10 ERA)
Toronto: Happ (0-1, 6.35 ERA)

Umpires
Home - Mike Dimuro
First Base - Jim Reynolds
Second Base - James Hoye
Third Base - Jim Joyce

Weather
Cloudy, warm, chance of rain.


NOTES:

Radio-only day.

The new scroll bar scorecard worked OK, I have the line height set so small it's a little hard to click on the right line when opening a new text box - but that's just a learning curve thing.

On Rajai Davis' catch of the year over the LF wall (which I haven't seen yet) --- I was able to type in a long note in the AB box where the out happened.

In my note I used Jays' broadcaster Mike Wilner's great description of the catch.

Here's my note in 7 hitter Casey McGehee's AB box, in New York's 7th inning: "Davis gets to the track waits and times his jump scaling the wall with his spikes and catches the ball over top of the 10' wall!"


Video:



Via MLB Advanced Media: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=23840187&c_id=tor&partnerId=aw-5704932443999512486-1046


mh


Rosters via MLB.
Line-up and pitching totals via ESPN.


Also of note - if you've seen Rajai Davis throw from the out field before ... that was a scintillating throw after the catch, trying to double-off Granderson at 1B (of coarse the Blue Jays' television Producer is a hockey player, so he always cuts away from throws).


See the complete game scorecard here - http://internetbaseballscorecard.blogspot.ca/2012/08/aug-12th-scorecard-yankees-at-blue-jays.html



mh

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Scoring baseball via good old radio: lazy play by play and neo-liberal macro-engineering

Wrote this yesterday while scoring a Blue Jays' game off the radio, at The FAN 590 Toronto (see link to the scorecard below):


Accurate Reporting & Scoring

Scoring off the radio broadcast today on the FAN 590 Toronto with Jerry Howarth and Alan Ashby, and I'd just like to provide some constructive criticism by saying that I've had to go the MLB Gameday Play by Play 'thinger' on several occasions so far today beacause the broadcasters are not narrating the story concisely.

For example, in the Jays' 2nd on Gose's double to left centre, no one mentioned that it was CF Reddick who fielded the ball and threw to SS Rosales at cut-off (who then threw to Toronto's own, C George Kottaras for the out at home). That happens often, especially with lots going on.

I should note ESPN's automatic Play-by-Play narrative also does not mention who threw the ball to whom on that play. As well, the ESPN widget regularly calls 1B to Pitcher covering a "ground out to first" - which in my universe means 3UA, rather than 3-1 (out by pitcher covering). It makes a big difference in the stats: the way the widget records the play, the first baseman gets a Put Out; the way it actually happened, the pitcher gets the PO and the 1B gets an Assist.

As we advance towards much better defensive stat keeping it would be nice if the old school stats we do keep for defence were at least accurately kept. MLB Advanced Media supplies all the necessary info for a complete and accurate record of each game; it is all available through an API - it's just a matter of building an interface which supports the data stream. (I guess I''ll have to do it.)


The Radio Meme

The between inning advertising on the FAN590 features an ad from the Power Workers Union that starts off with 'did you know that wind power generators are off half the time?' ... and later, 'instead we can use bio-mass technology to fire generators that are carbon neutral'.

What they're talking about is 'strip mining' the northern boreal forest. The northern boreal forest is a band of forest that starts generally, on a latitude marked by the northern edge of Lake Superior (see image).

Northern Boreal Forest - image via Wikimedia commons - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Taiga_ecoregion.png

'Strip mining forestry' (my term) is a new kind of forestry practice. The industry here in Ontario calls it 'whole tree harvesting'. Basically they harvest all the trees in a forest as in clear-cut forestry - but now, towards a leap in efficiency, they harvest the tops, the branches and now - the stump and roots as well.

With almost all funiture now made out of fibreboard, and most housing sheathing materials made out of composites, these new sources of chipped wood and fibre are important; but now the forest industry sees a slow down in consumer demand. Housing starts in the US are down due to the housing collapse, the continuing global economic crisis and the neo-liberal remedy - austerity - is reducing demand for new disposable furniture; like that which Ikea sells. How is the forest industry to maintain profit rates during an forced economic slow down while at the same time maintain their control of global forest sources going forward? The brilliant plan: burn biomass from whole tree harvesting.

Makes you want to vote for more nuclear power stations, doesn't it?

The Northern and Southern boreal forests are one of the biggest 'Carbon Sinks' on the planet. Biomass fired electricity generators are not carbon neutral at all. What we're doing is reducing the planet's ability to sequester carbon; and at the same time releasing thousands of years of natural biomass carbon sequestering through burning. By my reading of several papers on this, it appears, depending on species, that about half the biomass of a tree is in the root system - that biomass in the ground rotting then returns nutrients to the soil that inturn feeds the next generation of growth.

The Power Worker Union claim they are lobbying the Provincial government to go with biomass electricity production - but it's more likely that the Union and the Province are working together - just like they did in the run up to the last Provincial Election. This play by the Province - where the Power Workers Union play the ignorant blue collar moron; and the Province plays the prince all shinny in white to the rescue with the science, the white collar smarts, the nuclear solution - is a play designed to divide the sentiments of the environmentally aware, university educated, white collar urban voter. The thing is, we have to double electricity rates because the nuclear power stations only last half the time we thought they would when we we built them - so now: How to raise electricity rates by 100% and at the same time build 4 Trillion dollars worth of new reactors?

Macro-engineering of the population through deception - that's how.

In my opinion, wind, solar, tidal power and perhaps orbital solar collection delivered by lasers are the answers. We need to invest in these technologies and perfect them; along side a rebuild of existing reactor cores and a modest expansion of this very expensive nuclear power technology to serve the gap in the near term.

Because of the macho-war-culture jingoism in all the ads on Rogers Inc, I can't watch baseball on TV with out muting commercials; now I have to turn off the radio between innings now too because of these evil doings there.

Looks like it's Toronto Maple Leafs semi-pro ball at Christie Pits, or the University League at Stan Waldlow for me... .

Maybe that was always where I had to end up. Outside, in a Park.

This media is no country for old men.



References:

Blogger Baseball Scorecard | 08/04/2012 Blue Jays at Athletics Game 3 Scorecard | http://internetbaseballscorecard.blogspot.ca/2012/08/08042012-blue-jays-at-athletics-game-3_5994.html

Government of Canada | Canadian Forest Service Publications | Effects of forest biomass harvesting on soil productivity in boreal and temperate forests – A review. 2011. Thiffault, E.; Hannam, K.D.; ParĂ©, D.; Titus, B.D.; Hazlett, P.W.; Maynard, D.G.; Brais, S. Environ. Rev. 19:278-309. - http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/publications?id=32736

Government of Ontario | Ministry of Natural Resources | A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE ISSUES SURROUNDING FULL TREE HARVESTING [PDF] | by Alan Wiensczyk | http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/stdprodconsume/groups/lr/@mnr/@nwsi/documents/document/mnr_e005393.pdf





mh

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Seattle no-hitter all about team defense.


Friday, June 8th the Seattle Mainers completed a "combined no-hitter" over the LA Dodgers. Kevin Millwood threw 18 outs, then 5 relievers got the next 9. Surprisingly to me - this marks only the 10th time in baseball history that a team has accomplished a combined no-hitter.

Former Toronto Blue Jay, Brandon League pitched the last two outs of the 8th as the Dodgers almost score a run with-out getting a hit. Dodgers' Bobby Abreu decides not to tempt fate from 3rd base on a sharply hit ball off League - to left fielder Chone Figgins. I'm surprised Abreu didn't chance it. The catch was the second out, down a run, late, and on the road ... in a no-hitter. The next play's a ground out leaving runners at 2nd and 3rd.


Great re-cap video here:

LAD@SEA: Six Mariners pitchers combine on no-hitter
Seattle's combined no-hitter 06/09/12 (5:49)
6/8/12: After Kevin Millwood exits early with an injury, five relievers combine to pick up their starter and finish the no-hitter


 (Embed, courtesy MLB Advanced Media.)

Pitchers: Kevin Millwood, Charlie Furbush, Stephen Pryor, Lucas Luetge, Brandon League, Tom Wilhelmsen.

Box Score
Inning      1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H  E
LA Dodgers  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0  0  0
Seattle     0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 x  1  8  1

Mariners Pitching
Seattle          IP   H  R ER BB SO HR  ERA
Millwood         6.0  0  0  0  1  6  0  3.57
Furbush          0.2  0  0  0  0  1  0  3.15
Pryor(W, 1-0)    0.1  0  0  0  2  1  0  2.08
Luetge(H, 4)     0.1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0.00
League(H, 3)     0.2  0  0  0  0  1  0  3.67
Wilhelmsen(S, 3) 1.0  0  0  0  0  0  0  3.38
Totals           9.0  0  0  0  3  9  0  4.06


Box Score LAD @ SEA 06/08/12: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2012_06_08_lanmlb_seamlb_1&mode=box&partnerId=LR_box



mh

Friday, May 11, 2012

John Farrell continues radical defensive shifts

Image: 
Scorecard, Jays at Athletics May 08, 2012 
Bottom of 9th 
(Inning starts at 9th batter)
Toronto Blue Jays' Manager John Farrell continues to use radical shifts to defence specific batters. 

In April, Farrell played 3rd baseman Bret Lawrie in shallow right and straight up the middle behind 2nd base against specific batters in the Boston Red Sox order; and then again vs the Baltimore Orioles in the next series. For a week there it seemed to me that the game had suddenly changed. The euphoria was short lived though as the incidence of radical shifts by the Blue Jays and the teams they were facing seemed to disappear after that.

This week the Jays hit the road for their first west coast trip of the year. By my memory, Farrell used the shift twice against the Los Angeles Angels.

Late Tuesday night, May 8th in Oakland California in the 9th, the wheels were turning once again.

I scored the game[1] so I have a good record of the shifts and the pitches thrown in those AB's. In the bottom of the 9th Farrell decided to first set up a force out, and then on the next batter to load 'em up (both times, batters had a 3-0 advantage in the count) this was just after the Athletics had tied the game on a base hit. After a passed ball moved runners to second and third (the winng run at third), the manager decided to load the bases. Francisco Cordero, former Jays' Closer (today Casey Janssen), was not able to throw strikes.

Now with the second IBB on first and the bases loaded, and one out - Farrell brings in Jose Bautista from right field to be a fifth infielder. Bautista is to play behind 2nd base, the rest of the infield in. The play is to either cut the run down at the plate, or a double play to get out of the inning. A team meeting on the mound continues while Bautista runs in from right field, into the dugout to get his infielders' glove.

Alas, despite all the best laid plans, the Athletics Brandon Inge smackes the first pitch over the left field wall for a walk-off, grand slam home run.

That's the thing about defensive shifts - the pitcher has to execute the pitch that the hitter is supposed to then hit into the juggernaut.

So why so much defensive shifting this year? It's not just Toronto, Baltimore is doing it too, and the Rays... . The Rays, with their manager, Joe the-smartest-person-in-the-room Maddon[2], with their sabr-metric inspired shift defence, national league inspired double switches which optimize the tandems that the Rays' use.

Has Joe Maddon changed the game? Have SABR-metrics finally found a metric to a championship season?

MLB's Clubhouse Confidential - "On the evolution of the shift"


A few years ago it became obvious to many in the game at the Major League level that the ball was juiced[3]. As well by 2005, many were also aware that batters and pitchers were also 'juiced'. On August 10, 2006 I wrote here[4], about something I'd heard on the Bob McCown radio show, "Prime Time Sports"... ..that a Major League Base Coach said that he was sure the ball was faster off the bat, he called it a 'nuclear baseball' (I was not able to find an attribution).

With this idea - that the ball was coming off the bat faster than the old ball had - I came up with a theory on how teams might better defense such a universe. The tactics seemed counter intuitive at the time - but now, the narration seems simple, truthful and perhaps obvious - with-in the context of a ball faster off the bat:

Due to the speed of the ball off the bat in the 'nuclear baseball' era, the number of total bases per game is up - due to the increase the number of line drives that split the outfield (and the infield). Therefore, teams that deploy a speedy outfield should reduce their team's total-bases-against appreciably.

I conjectured that speedy outfielders would have a better chance to get to these 'nuclear' line-drives - and thus - focusing on the defensive attributes when signing free agents and drafting, could be an important, and cheap way to cut down total runs-against.

Unbeknownst to me, at the same time I was writing that in 2006, Joe Maddon and the Ray's were drafting "athletes" to build what we are now beginning to understand as a new type of baseball team - a team built around an idea that great team defense nullifies the standard American League team template:

power at the corners (3,5,7,9), defence secondary. In a nutshell the idea is: with the weight of the DH in the line-up, a 'piling on' of 20 HR/yr hitters can beat good pitching.

The Rays are a new type of baseball team because they are employing all the information they can get - like the new defensive metrics being produced by Baseball Info Solutions - a company started by SABR-metric practitioner, John Dewan. The company is using (amoung other tools), TV production feeds to measure exact vectors for all hit ball - and applying that data over a 3-dimensional map of the field, allowing for complex vector analysis. The metrics mirror Retrosheet data gathering and processing concepts.

As in Money Ball metrics, the concept works in favour of those who employ it - because it leverages against accepted understandings though out Baseball that are proven incorrect with better data.



References

[1] Blogger Baseball Scorecard - "05/08/12 Jays at Athletics Game 1 Scorecard" - http://internetbaseballscorecard.blogspot.ca/2012/05/05082012-jays-at-athletics-game-1.html

[2] ESPN - October 13, 2010 "The Smartest Person in the Room" by Jason Collette - http://www.espnflorida.com/the-smartest-person-in-the-room/

MLB's Clubhouse Confidential April 26, 2012 "On the evolution of the shift" - http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=20935525

[3] Wikipedia, "Juiced Ball Theory" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juiced_ball_theory)

[4] Michael Holloway's Baseball Blogs, August 10, 2006 "Baseball will survive MLB" - http://baseball---blog.blogspot.ca/2006/08/baseball-will-survive-mlb.html



More on this Radical Defensive Shifting

SBNation April 10, 2012, "Are Rays' Shifts Redefining Infield Defense?" by Rob Neyer (http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/4/10/2939078/tampa-bay-rays-joe-maddon-infield-shifts-shifting)

MLB April 26, 2012, "Rays redefining defense with the shift"
Tampa Bay repositioning more frequently, frustrating opponents
by Adam Berry
(http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120426&content_id=29715994&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb)

New York Times May 7, 2012 - "Rays’ Joe Maddon: The King of Shifts" by Hunter Atkins
(http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/sports/baseball/rays-manager-joe-maddon-is-the-king-of-shifts.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all)

Baseball Info Solutions: The Fielding Bible - "Frequently Asked Questions about Plus/Minus and Runs Saved"
(http://fieldingbible.com/Fielding-Bible-FAQ.asp)

Baseball Info Solutions (BIS) an innovator
in the collection, interpretation, commercialization and
dissemination of in-depth baseball statistics
(http://www.baseballinfosolutions.com/)

SABR Analytics Conference - Day 3 
Saturday, March 17, 2012
“The Fielding Bible III—An Evaluation of the Ted Williams Shift”
 with John Dewan and Ben Jedlovec, 
(http://sabr.org/latest/sabr-analytics-conference-research-presentations)

10:15-11 a.m.: RP10—John Dewan/Ben Jedlovec, “The Fielding Bible III—An Evaluation of the Ted Williams Shift”

Baseball Info Solutions owner John Dewan and analyst Ben Jedlovec will present research from their latest book, The Fielding Bible--Volume III. Their presentation will cover the implementation and effect of the increasingly popular Ted Williams shift. Their research uncovers the most frequently shifted hitters and their performance with and without the shift. In addition, they will discuss the effect of the count, pitch type, and pitch location on the hitter's pull rate and recommend adjustments the defense can make to anticipate the direction of the ball in play thus improving overall team defense.

John Dewan left his highly successful career as an actuary to become one of the founders, majority owner, and CEO of STATS, Inc. because, as he says, “Sports numbers are much more fun than insurance numbers.” Dewan sold STATS to Rupert Murdoch in 1999. He is now the owner of Baseball Info Solutions, which has developed the most in-depth database of detailed baseball information in the industry. The third volume of his highly acclaimed Fielding Bible series, focusing on defensive analytics, is hot off the presses, available in bookstores and websites now.

Ben Jedlovec is a Research Analyst for Baseball Info Solutions, where he plays a large role in the development of new data and analysis for BIS clients. He serves as a defensive analytics consultant for ESPN, contributes regularly to ESPN during the baseball season, and has published research in The Hardball Times Baseball Annual.



Listen to John Dewan's and Ben Jedlovec's presentation here (MP3)
https://sabr.box.com/shared/static/5bc44196b2c315809700.mp3

View John Dewan's and Ben Jedlovec's PowerPoint slides here (PPT)
(MS PowerPoint download) - 
https://sabr.box.com/shared/static/cb8b6b5a6f7cf535e719.mp3

For complete coverage of the SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.



mh

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Jay's use speed in game 3 win over Boston

Boston @ Toronto
Game 3 of 3
Final: in nine, 1-3


Jays win series.


Rajai Davis was the offensive player of the game today - in this pitchers duel.

Davis got on twice in 2 AB's in this game - plating both times. By putting Davis in the 9 spot, John Farrell has added the speed game into the line-up. Davis is dangerous on the base paths.

Clutch hitting from lead-off hitter Yunel Escobar twice today:

In the 3rd Escobar belted a sac-fly that plated Davis (the winning run) - occurring right after the Davis's triple that plated Thames.

In the 8th, he smacks a long BH to right-centre that plates Davis (on via a BB, stole second) - for the insurance run.



Boston            AB R H RBI BB SO LOB
Ellsbury, CF      3  0 1 1   1  1  0
Pedroia, 2B       3  0 0 0   1  1  2
Gonzalez, Ad, 1B  4  0 0 0   0  0  4
Youkilis, 3B      4  0 0 0   0  1  2
Ortiz, DH         4  0 0 0   0  0  2
McDonald, D, RF   3  0 0 0   0  1  0
Ross, C, LF       3  0 1 0   0  1  0
Aviles, SS        3  1 1 0   0  0  0
Shoppach, C       3  0 0 0   0  1  2

Boston            AB R H RBI BB SO LOB
Totals            30 1 3 1   2  6  12

Boston Pitching   IP  H  R  ER BB SO HR ERA
Lester(L, 0-1)    8.0 3  3  3  2  6  0  2.40
Totals            8.0 3  3  3  2  6  0  6.40


Toronto           AB R H RBI BB SO LOB
Escobar, Y, SS    3  0 1 2   0  0  0
Johnson, K, 2B    3  0 0 0   1  0  1
Bautista, RF      3  0 0 0   0  1  1
Encarnacion, 1B   3  0 0 0   0  1  0
Francisco, B, DH  3  0 0 0   0  0  0
Lawrie, 3B        3  0 0 0   0  0  0
Thames, E, LF     3  1 1 0   0  1  0
 Rasmus, CF       0  0 0 0   0  0  0
Arencibia, C      3  0 0 0   0  2  1
Davis, R, CF-LF   2  2 1 1   1  1  0

                  AB R H RBI BB SO LOB
Totals            26 3 3 3   2  6  3

Toronto           IP  H  R  ER BB SO HR ERA
Romero, R(W, 1-0) 8.1 3  1  1  2  5  0  3.38
Santos(S, 1)      0.2 0  0  0  0  1  0  12.00
Totals            9.0 3  1  1  2  6  0  2.57


The dangerous number nine hitter. Another thing for the defence of opposing teams to worry about. It might be interesting to watch as this part of the order undress the league's more defensively challenged teams.

Bobby Valentine made no sustituions - whole day off for the starting catcher I see.

I loved the way the Jay's are playing shift defence. Lawrie is an extremely versatile infielder. He's Farrell's starter-with-a-bench. Over the series the Jays played him shallow centre field, a long short stop's throw (deep in the hole) away from 1B. Then in straight away shallow right - again, a long SS throw from 1B.

Romero had ace tools and command today. Lester was very good too.

Jays batted better than Boston in the second and third game.

Next Baltimore visits, Friday.


Stats via mlb - http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2012_04_11_bosmlb_tormlb_1&mode=box


mh

Friday, April 6, 2012

Toronto Blue Jays 2012 Television Schedule


2012 Toronto Blue Jays television schedule in monthly calendar lay out: high-lighting games available on basic cable at $38.04 /month; and those only available through the premium priced VIP Package at $72.04/month.

So we may compare - I did a similar article to this one last year - on the number of Blue Jay games Rogers was placing in expensive cable packages:
Friday, April 1, 2011
Rogers to show a lot of Blue Jays Baseball - but not "all"
http://baseball---blog.blogspot.ca/2011/04/rogers-to-show-lot-of-blue-jays.html
My comparison of the two schedule is below these seven, monthly calendars.



All games in blue are available on Sportsnet East, Ontario, West, Pacific.
Legend
game day
radio only


April 2012

Sun
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thur
Fri
Sat
1
2
3
4
5  @ Cleveland 
3 p.m.
6
7  @ Cleveland 
1 p.m.
8  @ Cleveland 
1 p.m.


 vs 
Boston 
7 p.m.


10 vs
Boston 
7 p.m.
11 vs
Boston 
12:30 p.m.
12
13  vs Orioles 
7 p.m.
14 vs 
Orioles 
4 p.m.
15   vs 
Orioles 
1 p.m.
16
17  vs 
Tampa Bay 
7 p.m.
18  vs 
Tampa Bay 
7 p.m.
19  vs 
Tampa Bay 
7 p.m.
20  @ Kansas City 
8 p.m.
21  @ Kansas City 
7 p.m.
22  @ Kansas City 
2 p.m.
23  @ Kansas City 
8 p.m.
24  @ Baltimore 
7 p.m.
25  @ Baltimore 
7 p.m.
26  @ Baltimore 
7 p.m.
27  vs 
Seattle 
7 p.m.
28  vs 
Seattle 
4 p.m.
29  vs 
Seattle 
1 p.m.
30  vs 
Texas
7 p.m.


May 2012

Sun
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thur
Fri
Sat


1  vs 
Texas 
7 p.m.
2  vs 
Texas 
7 p.m.
3  
Angels 
10 p.m.
4  
Angels 
10 p.m.
5  
Angels 
9 p.m.
6  
Angels 
3 p.m.


7





Oakland 
10 p.m.


Oakland 
3:30 p.m.

10  
Minnesota 
8 p.m.
11  
Minnesota 
8 p.m.
12 
Minnesota 
7 p.m.


13   
Minnesota 
2 p.m.

14  vs 
Tampa Bay 
7 p.m.
15  vs 
Tampa Bay 
7 p.m.

16  vs Yankees 
7 p.m.

17  vs Yankees 
7 p.m.

18  vs 
NY Mets 
7 p.m.
19  vs 
NY Mets 
1 p.m.
20  vs 
NY Mets 
1 p.m.
21  
Tampa Bay 
7 p.m. 
22  
Tampa Bay 
7 p.m. 
23  
Tampa Bay 
1 p.m. 
24 
25  
Texas 
8 p.m. 

26  
Texas 
3 p.m. 

27  
Texas 
3 p.m. 

28  vs
Baltimore 
7 p.m. 

29  vs
Baltimore 
7 p.m. 

30  vs
Baltimore 
7 p.m. 

31



June 2012

Sun
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thur
Fri
Sat





1  vs 
Boston 
7 p.m.
2   vs 
Boston 
1 p.m.
3   vs 
Boston 
1 p.m.
4
5  
White Sox 
8 p.m.
6  
White Sox 
8 p.m.
7  
White Sox 
8 p.m.
8  
Atlanta 
7:30 p.m.
9  
Atlanta 
4 p.m.
10  
Atlanta 
1:30 p.m.
11  vs 
Washington 
7 p.m.
12   vs 
Washington 
7 p.m.
13   vs 
Washington 
12:30 p.m.
14
15  vs
Phillies 
7 p.m.
16  vs
Phillies 
1 p.m.
17  vs
Phillies 
1 p.m.
18  
Milwaukee 
8 p.m.
19  
Milwaukee 
8 p.m.
20  
Milwaukee 
2 p.m.
21  
22  
Miami 
7 p.m.
23  
Miami 
1 p.m.
24  
Miami 
1 p.m.
25  
Boston 
7 p.m.
26  
Boston 
7 p.m.
27  
Boston 
1:30 p.m.
28  vs 
Angels 
7 p.m.
29  vs 
Angels 
7 p.m.
30  vs 
Angels 
1 p.m.


July 2012

Sun
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thur
Fri
Sat
1  vs 
Angels 
3 p.m.
2  vs 
Kansas City 
7 p.m.
3  vs 
Kansas City 
7 p.m.
4  vs 
Kansas City 
7 p.m.
5  vs 
Kansas City 
7 p.m.
6  
White Sox 
8 p.m.
7  
White Sox 
4 p.m.
8  
White Sox 
2 p.m.
9  
All Star
Break
10  
All Star
Break
11  
All Star
Break
12  
All Star
Break
13  vs 
Cleveland 
7 p.m. 
14  vs 
Cleveland 
1 p.m. 
15  vs 
Cleveland 
1 p.m. 
16  
Yankees 
7 p.m.
17  
Yankees 
7 p.m.
18  
Yankees 
1 p.m.
19
20  
Boston 
7 p.m.
21  
Boston 
7 p.m.
22  
Boston 
1:30 p.m.
23
24  vs
Oakland 
7 p.m.
25  vs
Oakland 
7 p.m.
26  vs
Oakland 
12:30 p.m.
27  vs 
Detroit 
7 p.m.
28  vs 
Detroit 
1 p.m.
29  vs 
Detroit 
1 p.m.
30  
Seattle 
10 p.m.
31  
Seattle 
10 p.m.



August 2012

Sun
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thur
Fri
Sat



1  
Seattle 
10 p.m.
2  
Oakland 
10 p.m.
3  
Oakland 
10 p.m.
4  
Oakland 
4 p.m.
5  
Oakland 
4 p.m.
6
7  
Tampa Bay 
7 p.m. 
8  
Tampa Bay 
7 p.m. 
9  
Tampa Bay 
1 p.m. 
10  vs 
Yankees
7 p.m.
11  vs 
Yankees
1 p.m.
12  vs 
Yankees
1 p.m.
13  vs 
White Sox 
7 p.m.
14  vs 
White Sox 
7 p.m.
15  vs 
White Sox 
7 p.m.
16  vs 
White Sox 
7 p.m.
17  vs 
Texas 
7 p.m.
18   vs 
Texas 
1 p.m.
19    vs 
Texas 
1 p.m.
20
21 
Detroit 
7 p.m.
22  
Detroit 
7 p.m.
23  
Detroit 
1 p.m.
24  
Baltimore 
7 p.m.
25  
Baltimore 
7 p.m.
26  
Baltimore 
1:30 p.m.
27  @  
Yankees 
7 p.m.
28  @  
Yankees 
7 p.m.
29  @  
Yankees 
1 p.m.
30  vs 
Tampa Bay
7 p.m.
31 vs 
Tampa Bay
7 p.m.



September 2012

Sun
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thur
Fri
Sat






vs 
Tampa Bay
1 p.m.
2  vs 
Tampa Bay
1 p.m.
3  vs 
Baltimore 
1 p.m.
4  vs 
Baltimore 
7 p.m.
5  vs 
Baltimore 
7 p.m.
6
7  
Boston 
7 p.m.
8  
Boston 
7 p.m.
9  
Boston 
1:30 p.m.
10
11  vs 
Seattle 
7 p.m.
12   vs 
Seattle 
7 p.m.
13   vs 
Seattle 
7 p.m.
14   vs 
Boston 
7 p.m.
15  vs 
Boston 
1 p.m.
16   vs 
Boston 
1 p.m.
17 
18  
Yankees 
7 p.m. 
19  
Yankees 
7 p.m. 
20  
Yankees 
7 p.m. 
21  
Tampa Bay 
7 p.m.
22  
Tampa Bay 
7 p.m.
23  
Tampa Bay 
1:30 p.m.
24  
Baltimore 
7 p.m.
25  
Baltimore 
7 p.m.
26  
Baltimore 
7 p.m.
27  vs 
Yankees 
7 p.m.
28  vs 
Yankees 
7 p.m.
29  vs 
Yankees 
1 p.m.
30  vs 
Yankees 
1 p.m.


October 2012

Sun
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thur
Fri
Sat

1  vs 
Minnesota 
7 p.m.
2  vs 
Minnesota 
7 p.m.
3  vs 
Minnesota 
7 p.m.
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
  21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31


Comparing 2011 to 2012


The worst month for Sportsnet ONE black-outs last year was May - where for 10 days (19-29) no Blue Jay games were on basic cable except two Saturday afternoon matinee's.

This year Rogers has eased our pain in May. Once again Rogers has programming conflicts, the worst of which happen May 14 to 27. 13 Blue Jays games are scheduled, 7 are blacked-out behind the Sportsnet ONE 'pay-wall' - but thankfully - the 6 available on basic cable are evenly interspersed through-out this period.

Rogers schedulers didn't do so well in July, August and September.

In late July a full week of Blue Jays games are pay-walled. From July 27 through to the 2nd of August, 7 games are scheduled - all 7 are only available on Sportsnet ONE. In early August 'other commitments' (Rogers Cup Tennis August 4-12) pay-walls 5 of 8 Blue Jays' games.

All in all over his period from July 27 through to the 12th of August, 16 Blue Jays' games are scheduled - 4(!) are on basic cable.

Last year in the month of September, Rogers had 5 games behind the premium wall. This year 9 games of the pennant race are behind the wall. The number of games on Sportsnet ONE remains the same - 35 - but the September pay-walls, specifically, appear to be Rogers floating trial balloons during the pennant race to see how many customers will be willing to buy the "VIP Package" (at more than double the price of basic cable), in order to see the most exciting baseball of the regular season.

A number of  late season Blue Jays games on the VIP Package black out list include 6 of 13 games between Boston and the Jays, and the Yankees and the Jays, games - that if the Blue Jays are in contention - will be pivotal to whether or not they make the Post Season.


Television companies don't make their year long broadcast schedules available to the public - so what the 'scheduling conflicts' are that Rogers has divined so as to shunt more and more Blue Jays up to the premium package, is unknown for now. We'll see when we get there.

But it doesn't make much difference - if people who love baseball are willing to pay the double the price of basic cable for a month of pennant baseball - then the end of the sport as the popular institution it has been for over a hundred years, is near.

Soon, like opera and classical music, - the elites, the snobs, the society folks will be the only mentors of the diamond artisans.



Price List of  Rogers TV Channels and Packages:
(Prices, and package contents quoted above are those published by Rogers Communications Inc. at the link, on the day this article was published.)
https://www.rogers.com/web/link/ptvBrowsePackagesFlowBegin?forwardTo=landing&cm_mmc_o=mH4j7BBTkwCjCKbTbfzk%2520ae%2520mbfw%25201bELlCjCmbfw%2520kbEL%2520S%2520C%2520VzgLzTwl%2520%2526%2520VybgbETCjCmbfw%2520kbEL%2520S%2520C%2520VzgLzTwl%2520%2526%2520VybgbET&gclid=CMW6w4GLoa8CFcHJKgodenewcA


All calendar dates, times and channel info:
Rogers Communications Inc. - Press Release - Mar 27, 2012:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/pressroom/2012/03/27/blue_jays_2012_broadcast_schedule/



mh