Michael Holloway's Baseball Blogs

"Ink-Stained Wretches"

2012-01-04T20:59:00.000-05:00

Reprinted from Halos Heaven

"Moneyblog"
by WiHaloFan published on Jan 4, 2012

mh

Minima IV Online Baseball Scorecard - Colour Menu on Top

2011-12-10T18:33:00.008-05:00

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:

Day by Day and Start Time Schedule - MLB Championship Series

2011-10-12T17:02:00.000-04:00

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

Day by Day Baseball Postseason game start time Schedule

2011-10-01T00:49:00.000-04:00

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

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

2011-09-30T00:37:00.001-04:00

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

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

2011-09-27T04:41:00.018-04:00

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

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

2011-09-24T16:24:00.001-04:00

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

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

2011-09-23T17:47:00.001-04:00

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. Stoeten, 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

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

2011-09-11T12:35:00.001-04:00

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

Moneyball now a movie - Hollywood Formula to sell Revolution Story

2011-09-06T20:30:00.006-04:00

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

2011-09-06T05:25:00.008-04:00

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

Brett Cecil out pitched by Rich Harden - Again

2011-08-20T01:35:00.000-04:00

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

Squaretender publishes on Blogger Baseball Scorecard

2011-08-08T14:17:00.007-04:00

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

Pat Tabler taking English Grammar Lessons - Jays win

2011-08-05T22:08:00.010-04:00

- 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

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

2011-08-03T23:47:00.012-04:00

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

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

2011-08-02T23:09:00.005-04:00

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!

I like "Graphics Interchange Format" (GIF) images

2011-08-01T05:52:00.004-04:00

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.

(Animation of "Newton's Cradle" via Wikipedia - also included in a article about the GIF format

(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

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

2011-07-24T15:28:00.008-04:00

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

Notes from a scorecard: Phillies vs Jays - Game 3

2011-07-03T19:25:00.007-04:00

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

Notes from a scorecard: Phillies - Jays, game 2 - Farrell tries to rally dejected bunch with Umpire abuse - Halladay wins with average stuff

2011-07-02T17:36:00.007-04:00

Below are my notes from today's Live Internet Scorecard Blog of the Phillies Jays game at Toronto featuring Roy Halladay in his first start at Rogers Centre since the trade.

See the complete game scorecard at the Blogger BaseballScorecard:

Scorecard: July 2, 2011 Philadelphia Phillies at Toronto Blue Jays - Game 2 of 3

From Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Philadelphia Phillies (52-31)
Manager: Charlie Manuel

@

Toronto Blue Jays (40-43)
Manager: John Farrell

Game 2 of 3

First pitch: 1:07 PM EST

Starting Pitchers:
Philadelphia Phillies - Roy Halladay
Toronto Blue Jays - Carlos Villanueva

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

Weather:
Sunny - haze
Temp: 24°C | 75°F
Wind:Southerly at 10 kph | 6 mph
(home plate out to right centre field)

9th

Rauch ejected in the ninth, he seems to respond to a comment by HP Umpire Alfonso Marquez, arguing the last ball on Howard (Halladay got the same call earlier, which you could see Roy wasn't happy with either - but same call same place).

Rauch is already ejected

Manager John Farrell is trying to save him a suspension

6' 10", 290 lb. Rauch gets away!!

The 'monster' emerges...

'help!'

Then Farrell tackles his relief ace and JP Arencibia tries to help

Marquez is overly aggressive in an argument with Farrell after the Rauch ejection - while Shawn Camp is coming in - and bumps Farrell, but that was after he'd already ejected Farrell. Farrell is obviously arguing ball and strikes as he's drawing a line in the dirt beside the plate while he yells at the besieged Ump.. I think Jerry Howarth is right on as he points out Farrells theatrics are about trying to find some team élan as this team seems to be in a funk.

John Ferrall shows Alfonso Marquez where the strike zone is...

..and HP Umpire Alfonso Marquez tosses him

Now I'll tell you what I really think...

It seems of late that everything that can go wrong, is going wrong - the usually solid defensive play of John McDonald for example - who yesterday let two nuclear-hot shots go between his legs - on balls hit right at him. Not to pick on the usually perfect infielder; yesterday's horrible path to the ball by Juan Rivera in LF in the 8th looked like grade school defence - and lost the game - and on a pop play on the left field line behind third yesterday had Baustista 'not hearing' Patterson yelling on a ball that dropped for a base hit and allowed runners to advance that later scored. I've been that player who 'didn't hear the call of another fielder' and to me it looked like vanity on Bautistas part - but then he's just back at third so you have to forgive him that one. Anyways, so the team restarts the season in the second half - goes back to the spring training defensive positions and the whole thing seems to be breaking down.

The Blue Jays are 4 games under .500 after this NL swing - and home cooking hasn't helped - they're now 4-1 after the long road trip on which they produced a 5-5 record. One more game against this juggernaut Phillie franchise and then it's off to face the Run Scoring Beast and the Green Monster - heaven help John Farrell and his of late keystone-cop defence.

Attendance: 43,078!

Line ups and pitching totals from ESPN - Box Score.

Farrell/Rauch image from MLB video, "Rauch, Farrell get tossed" 07/02/11 02:36

mh

Provincial Town reacts to Boston Red Sox beating - looking for Toronto scapegoats

2011-06-15T01:19:00.007-04:00

...and Adam Lind hits walk off homer in the 11th against Baltimore

Following are my notes from the Blogger Baseball Scorecard live scoring of last night's game at Rogers Centre:

From Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Baltimore Orioles (30-33)
Manager: Buck Showalter

@

Toronto Blue Jays (32-34)
Manager: John Farrell

Game 1 of 3

First pitch: 7:07 PM EDT

Starting Pitchers
Baltimore - Chris Jakubauskas
Toronto - Carlos Villanueva

Umpires
Home - Brian Knight
3B - Hunter Wendelstedt
2B - Bob Davidson
1B - Jerry Layne

Weather
Clear
Temp: 16°C | 64°F
Wind: South-West at 10 kph | 6 mph
(home plate to right-centre field)

Notes

On the Boston brutalization over this past weekend, Jays' Play by Play man Jerry Howarth says, '..the 35 to 6 runs scored tally was the biggest run differential in a 3 game series in Blue Jays' franchise history.'

'The Jays didn't lose,' says Howarth, 'the Red Sox beat them.'

And but good.

Reading the Toronto papers last night, no one had that as their take home message. Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star choose to pick on team management (link) - and Jeff Blair of the Globe wrote about a team in a rebuilding year, Drabek's ball to strikes ratio (and pointedly I think, not mentioning the gazillion balls in the dirt that Arencibia was seen running to the back stop to pick up while Bostons circled the bases), and didn't give a second thought to the idea that Boston has what may be the best line up in that franchise's history - and that they came to town in the midst of a hot streak.

In my opinion, this is an example of a failure by the hacks in the day to day trenches of sports copy writing to see the forest for the trees. But there was no excuse for that this time, with the day off Monday both writers had 24 hours to come up with something a little more insight-full.

My take during the game here and afterwards was that over the weekend we were lucky to have witnessed possibly a Great team in the history of the game, a Great team on a hot streak - one of the most awesome displays of hitting and running I have ever seen. The Red Sox took advantage of every opportunity offered - the way you're supposed to.

The take home message for this young Blue Jays team should be: 'Look! That's how you play baseball, That's how you hit the cut-off, That's how you play station to station, hit and run, and That's how you work the count - That's how you pitch strategically. But learning from the experience how the game is supposed to be played is a lesson that is not being head around here in baseball media so far this week.

And now the news that the Jay's are sending Drabek to AAA Las Vsgas. Sending Drabek down at this time - after this Boston juggernaut has just past - is a blink in a staring contest - a strategic mistake. Looking at their belly buttons when they should straighten their collective shoulders, admit that they had just witnessed a first division team firing on all cylinders, get up off the turf and get back in there. Drabek's next start would have been on the road against a National League team, where he would be a relative mystery - and not facing Boston.

The team won't admit that this is what they're motivation is at this time - in fact they undoubtedly aren't thinking this; they're lost, they're still in shock, they're knee-jerking - reacting.

Of coarse a lot depends how this plays in the club house - but I doubt, looking back on this season come October - many will say this was a good move.

Anyway, that's all I'll say on that.

Now we can get back to some competitive baseball, against a team in the same division, the same universe - the Baltimore Orioles first of three - Yay! - I can smell a win.

11th Inning

I thought I saw a bunny rabbit... I did, I did!

mh

Boston Red Sox commit Ornitholo-cide on poor, hapless Blue Jay

2011-06-12T17:02:00.006-04:00

These are my notes from today's game scorecard of the baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre, Toronto, game 3 of a 3 game trouncing by the rocketing Red Sox - winners now, of 9 in a row.

Today's game was a lot like yesterday's game (16-4) - bat around innings, 7 run innings, bad defence by a Jays squad who's every weaknes was probed and proded with a stick until all that was left was a bloody, feather-ly mess. And then there's the bullpen....

The only difference was, by the 5th inning I couldn't bear to keep scoring this one.

:)

The Game Notes

From Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada:

Boston Red Sox

(38-26)

Manager: Terry Francona

Toronto Blue Jays

(32-33)

Manager: John Farrell

Game 3 of 3

First pitch: 1:07 PM EDT

Starting Pitchers
Boston - Jon Lester
Toronto - Kyle Drabek

Umpires
Home - Jeff Kellogg
3B - Mark Carlson
2B - Tim Timmons
1B - Eric Cooper

Weather
Partly Sunny
Temp: 16°C | 61°F (at 12:34)
Wind: North-West at 19 kph | 12 mph
(left field corner to1B line)

Listening to the radio again today, with Jerry Howarth and Gregg Zaun; that's Gregg with three g's. Oh, and now that I've been here a few times apparently Mike Wilner does the 5th and 6th play by play at home games.

Middle 5th

I can't do this anymore... Hit after hit the Boston's score, one after the other - and in order most of the time. Station to station, then big bats to clear them all; then they fill them up again.

It's unbearable.

The Boston Red Sox are HOT. This is the hottest team in baseball right now.

After witnessing this I'm left asking, Is this the hottest team in history? One would have to add some parameters to the question - over how many games, by what metrics? Run differential might be a good one... ..etc.. But I'm thinking after the Yankee Sweep and now this 3 game pummelling...

With this win today the Boston's have won nine in a row. Going back to the beginning of May the Sox lost 3 (May 4th, 5th, 6th) then swept Minnesota, lost 2 in a row to Toronto May 10th and 11th, then swept the Yankees, Baltimore, Detroit and the Cubs; won 2 out of 3 over Cleveland, then 3 of 4 over Detroit - before losing 3 to the White Sox; and then starting on this 9 game win streak going into June. That's a pretty good month, 19-10, and a scintillating start to June.

'Perhaps the best order ever?' Some were asking in Boston early this year. I read the articles but my puritan side said you don't talk about those things like that - and the Boston's April proved my superstition right - and perhaps that bears a little closer look - Most agree on paper this line-up is fantastic, and Boston, being the Baseball Media Capital of the World wouldn't let these individuals forget it - the pressure to perform as the greatest line up of all time fell upon Crawford worst of all, his start was particularly gruesome - but even Big Papi was being pilloried by the Boston media, 'Trade him!' they shouted, '..but what could we possibly get for this sort of washed up lay about?' they moaned in chorus...

Not any more, this team has turned a corner this week - just in time to embarrass this young Jays team but good.

All the pressure seems to have come off off the pitching staff as well - now they're looking like last years version again.

The New York Yankee's 1961 line-up is considered by many as the best line-up of all time. Here's the most common lineup the 1961 Yankees fielded:

1961 Yankees from Baseball-Reference.

The 1927 Yankees lineup wasn't too bad either; this is my favourite - the one I'll be using for comparison, watching Boston's progress this year:

1927 Yankees from Baseball-Reference.
(all links go back to BB-Ref.)

9th Inning

The FAN590 radio Play by Play voice of the Blue Jays, Jerry Howarth just opined that he had never seen such a lopsided series in 30 years of broadcasting, Gregg Zaun added he can't remember a trouncing this bad as a player.

For example I think I can count 7 runs scored by the Boston's this weekend, the result of high throws from the outfield that missed the cut-off allowing runners to move up that then scored - that wouldn't have if defenced properly. This young team has some lessons here - if they choose to seize them.

Final Boston 14 - Toronto 1

mh

* * *

Scorecard: June 11, 2011 Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays - Game 2 of 3

Scorecard: June 12, 2011 Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays - Game 3 of 3

ESPN box score.

mh

Blue Jays go with Bullpen by Committee

2011-05-27T00:41:00.026-04:00

- looses hold in first outing - Jays lose as defensive implosion at third and first base in the ninth muddies waters

The Jays collapse in the ninth inning - again.

Image of Box Score from the Blogger Baseball Scorecard - Chicago White Sox at Toronto Blues Jays - Thursday May 26th

Two days after I criticized the way John Farrell is managing the Blue Jays bullpen in my 1/3 the way through the season Over-view, and two days after a monsterous melt down against New York --- word from Jerry Howarth on the radio broadcast during the game Thursday that Manager John Farreell called a bullpen pitchers meeting before the game where he announced that he has designated 3 pitchers as closers and 3 as set-up pitchers - what order they were in with-in the group was up to them to prove.

Why he felt he had to identify six of eight of his relief pitchers as closer and set-up material - and the other two... losers? ... I can only guess. Perhaps he felt the bullpen team needed structure - from which pitchers could find their identity with-in the relief team - and a peer group perhaps with-in which they could compete towards greater greatness.

Which ever way one wishes to say it, the Blue Jays have a Bullpen by Committee.

In the past when a manager goes to Bullpen by Committee the only reason is because the bullpen isn't working. But I wonder why all the special attention on the bullpen, when it's several injuries to the starting staff - and the fact that none of them seem to be able to go deep into games on a consistent basis - that is at the root of the wear and tear on the relief staff --- and the reason the batting order is sputtering, putting too much pressure on themselves (leaving out the fact that Adam Lind - with his god-like batting in May - is out indefinitely - and that Jose Bautista is in a slump right now and no-ones giving him any pitches to hit anymore, now that, 1/3 of the way into this season he's proven he's the same batting champion as last year).

Tonight Farrell used Jason Frasor, Marc Rzepczynski, then Jon Rauch in the 8th and 9th in a tie game - so that's the 'Closer' Committee (at home, he was playing to win with last at bats - trying also to right the ship after a numbing dismissal by the Yankees that capped a turn around from a winning team - May 22, 8-2 in their last 10 - tied for 2nd place - to a last place team in the AL East - losers of 6 of 10).

So knowing who's on the Closer Committee, I broke out the 5 starters from the roster, then extracted the Closer Committee, and that left me to guess the Set-up Committee, which was easy if you score the games - they are the three guys left out of five that Farrell uses in close games.

Below is the result.

John Farrell's Bullpen Meritocracy
(all pitchers listed in alphabetical order with-in their respective Committee)

Starters

(not the subject of this article)

Kyle Drabek
Brandon Morrow
Jo-Jo Reyes
Ricky Romero
Carlos Villanueva

Relief Staff

Set-up Committee

NAME        GP GS W L SV HLD  IP   H  ER HR BB SO  K/9   WHIP  ERA
Dotel       15  0 1 1  1  1  12.1  11  8  3 11 17  12.41 1.78  5.84
Francisco   15  0 1 2  5  0  13.0  12  9  4  8 15  10.38 1.54  6.23
Janssen     20  0 1 0  0  4  20.1  15  4  0  5 15   6.64 0.98  1.77

Closer Committee

NAME        GP GS W L SV HLD  IP   H  ER HR BB SO  K/9   WHIP  ERA
Frasor      21  0 1 1  0  4  19.2  14  4  2  7 20  9.15  1.07  1.83
Rauch       20  0 2 2  5  1  19.1  15  9  3  7 12  5.59  1.14  4.19
Rzepczynski 23  0 2 0  0  7  21.0  16  7  1  5 18  7.71  1.00  3.00

Mop-up Crew

NAME        GP GS W L SV HLD  IP   H  ER HR BB SO  K/9   WHIP  ERA
Camp        21  0 0 1  0  3  23.2  22  5  1  5 12  4.56  1.14  1.90
Perez        5  0 0 0  0  0   7.2   9  5  2  3  6  7.04  1.57  5.87

(above stats from ESPN --- on May 26, 2011 - 11:30 PM)

So one could view the order of this list as the way John Farrell judges the quality of the pitchers on his roster.

The starters are starters, they are starters because they pitch great and can go long - everyone else is a major league pitcher who, in the eyes of the organization, for one reason or another, are better short.

So the Closer Committee, the Set-up Committee and the Mop-up Committee are the order of quality from best to less best in the eyes of the Manager.

I don't know if this way of breaking the Relief Staff into catagories is helpful to the team or not - I guess it all depends whether or not these guys believe they are a team.

To me, from way out here in Leslieville, it seems like classifying everyone so much like this could lead to resentment of one group of another. Wouldn't it be better to leave the door wide open to any pitcher on the staff to achieve these roles? Wouldn't that be a better way light a fire? Or was that the point?

Perhaps the point is, 'thank you guys I really appreciate all the innings you've put in - Oh, and by the way, this is the order in which you suck.' The more I think about it, that's what it seems to say to me - even though it is doubtful that was the managers intent.

And while I'm at it, what's going on with "The Mop-up Man" as I've begun to call Shawn Camp (because Farrell's using him only in low leverage situations). Last year he mowed down every batter he faced with that wicked slider - pitching one inning only - and only in 'high leverage' situations. And this year he's that same pitcher, only he's never used in high leverage situations. What am I missing? He got the 3rd best ERA on the relief staff! He and they are a full 2 runs per nine innings better than the next best echelon.

But Shawn Camp's a veteran, and a pro; he'll keep doing what he's doing --- knowing that a Major League Baseball team is a meritocracy, a professional organization - the cream will rise. A 1.90 ERA over 23.2 innings should have him in one of those 'committees' soon.

mh

Toronto Blue Jays: 47 played - 115 to go

2011-05-24T17:59:00.007-04:00

Many people feel you shouldn't judge a baseball team's performance until about the 1/3 mark of the season. Well we're just about there - the Jays have won 24 and lost 23 for a total of 47 games. 162 divided by 3 is 54 - so with a week to go to the 1/3 mark I'd say it's time for a over-view.

I'm a fan of Sabermetrics - I think more information is good. Some of the new stats, especially the defensive calculations are long over-due. But to this point I haven't jumped into Baseball-reference and learned how to manipulate all the cool tools for parsing the numbers - I will soon.

This overview is my impression of the Jays first third of the 2011 season. But trust me - I've scored 35 of the 47 games the Jays have played thus far - that means I have noted every play, every substitution, and in about a 1/4 of the games I have scored, I even noted every pitch ... . Plus I have a mind like a steel trap --- So Trust Me :) --- my opinion is worth something, even if I don't back up all these ideas with statistics - maybe next time I will.

Batting

In a nut shell, this team's line up - with all the starters playing together for an extended time - is as good as any team's in the American League East - but injuries to the 'A-team' have been regular and persistent so far - and the Blue Jays have zero depth. If one player goes down the team runs per-game average drops to that of a second division team.

The Running Game

I am an enthusiastic supporter of the little ball strategy that the Blue Jays tried to go with this year, unfortunately once again, depth is a problem, with one or two key, quick and fast base runners out of the equation, the Jays don't have the parts to play that game. Not only that but the Blue Jay farm system has always developed players based on Earl Weaver's maxim for building American League teams: 'Pitching, defence and the three-run homer' - as such you can't just bring up your quick, fast prospects that have been learning the old metric for 5 years and expect them to now learn little ball at the major league level - the inside game has to be taught through-out the organization and over time the big league team will begin to reflect that style of play.

Defence

The new catcher is making great improvements to his rceiving game so says Buck Martinez, and who am I to argue?

The experiment at 1st base has been a great success in my mind. Adam Lind is a better than average receiver at 1st base, and an good defensive player at that position. The experiment at third hasn't turned out so well. Edwin Encarnacion has brain farts over there at least twice a week - it's too much - perhaps DH is where he's headed.

Up the middle, John McDonald fills in without a missed beat for the oft injured Hill. The middle infield is above average.

The outfield has below average speed and average arms. Their routes to balls are nothing to write home about, but they get the job done. With Snider down to AAA Las Vegas 'to work on his swing mechanics' - so say the Jays - the outfield defence is much improved. Snider reminds me of Jose Canseco in left. The Bautista in right field is OK, his arm is above average and he's made a few scintillating assists that make opposing teams change how they run the bases - but he gets fooled on balls off the bat sometimes and doesn't get to those long runs-to-an-out plays you see the Tampa Bay Rays RF tandem (Joyce and Zobrist) make out there all the time; but he rarely lets a ball get past him - and I've rarely seen him take a bad path to a ball - he's a competent right fielder. Patterson is great in left, not so much in centre, and Davis is above average on getting to balls, but has a below average arm for a centre fielder.

The bench for the most part this year - isn't. Defensive replacements, pinch hitters or pinch runners were not available to John Farrell for the majority of first 47 games. The 'bench' was either down in AAA to make room for extra arms in the beleaguered bullpen, or injured (as in Adam Lind who sat on the bench for almost a week before being designated).

The Starting Staff

Right out of spring training key people in the starting rotation were absent - and this has become a theme. The people who have started for the Jays so far this year for the most part have not been able to go deep into games. But they are a better than average starting staff - they keep the Jays in almost every game. I can count two, maybe three early blow-ups so far. But this inability to go deep in games has put a lot of pressure on the relief staff - and on the line-up.

The Relief Staff

John Farrell I believe is still leaning who is who on this relief staff. I have the benefit of having watched Manager Cito Gaston and Pitching Coach Bruce Walton develop a very good Relief Pitching Team last year - so I get the benefit of the long view. I can see Farrell's influence as he and Walton try different combinations, this person in that role, that person in this role... . In my opinion, they have yet to find the magic function that lands everyone in a role that allows them the best opportunity to succeed. That being said, the innings these guys have had to shoulder for the team because of the short starts cannot be understated - on a good day this is still a 1st division relief staff.

mh

Jose Bautista is better than Bonds, Ruth - Baseball

2011-05-18T01:35:00.002-04:00

Toronto's Jose Bautista has been tearing up the league this month. His At-Bats per Home Run ratio (7.44) is better than Babe Ruth's 1927 mark (9.00).

For comparison, Bonds was getting intentionally walked right, left and centre as the play-offs approached in 2001 - but still Bautista's on base percentage beats the 2001 spectacle man. And the batting average - holy-Toledo Bat Man!

Player         Year                  BA     OBP    SLG%
Jose Bautista  2011 (to May 18)     .370   .516   .849
Barry Bonds*   2001 (73 HR season)  .328   .515   .863
Mark McGwire*  1998 (70 HR season)  .299   .470   .752
Roger Maris    1961 (61 HR season)  .269   .372   .620
Babe Ruth      1927 (60 HR season)  .356   .486   .772

(*Steroid and Juiced Ball era)

People who don't live in Toronto are starting to notice...

This piece was published in SB Nation on May 16, 2011

The Tragic Evolution Of Jose Bautista

By Jeff Sullivan - Editor SB Nation

It started in September of 2009. So gradually, few noticed.

Sick of being average and under-productive, Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista woke up on September 7, 2009 and committed to making a change. Believing anything is possible if you just do the work, Bautista dedicated himself to the pursuit of becoming the greatest hitter the world has ever seen.

Bautista's efforts paid off almost immediately. That day, he launched a two-run homer to left off Twins starter Jeff Manship. Over the rest of the season, Bautista would bat 111 times over 26 games and blast ten home runs. Bautista finished the year pleased with his progress. He still wasn't where he wanted to be. But he was getting getting closer.

In 2010, Jose Bautista started drawing widespread attention. It's rare for a player in Toronto to capture America's focus, but Bautista couldn't be ignored, especially given his history. After a slow April, he hit 12 home runs in May. He hit 11 home runs in July. He hit 12 home runs in August, and 11 home runs in September, and he finished the year with 54 home runs, 12 ahead of second-place Albert Pujols. In what many were calling the Year of the Pitcher, Jose Bautista bucked the trend and became one of the game's most fearsome sluggers.

But Bautista wasn't satisfied. For all of his work, he was almost a dead-pull hitter. Hit Tracker Online shows that only one of his 54 home runs went the opposite way, to right field.

Aware of this hole in his game, Bautista kept on training. He worked on pulling pitches he could pull, and going the other way with pitches he couldn't. It wasn't long into 2011 before his work started showing up in the results. A key point came on May 15, again against the Twins. Already having homered twice to left field, Bautista stood in against Kevin Slowey in the top of the sixth and ripped a fastball out to right-center. It was the second opposite-field home run Bautista had hit in a month and a half, doubling his previous year's total.

At that point, it would've been enough. Bautista had 16 home runs in 32 games. His average stood at .368, and his OPS stood at 1.388. Gone were any notions that Bautista's 2010 season had been a fluke. Bautista wasn't just a power hitter - he had become a premier power hitter, capable of hitting the ball out to all fields. There was little doubt that Jose Bautista had turned into the greatest hitter in baseball.

But what nobody realized was that Bautista would only get better still. Bautista had gotten a taste of what he wanted to be, and he decided he wanted the whole dish. His first four-homer game came on May 22, against the Astros. His first five-homer game - and the first five-homer game in Major League history - followed a few days later, on May 26 against the White Sox. Two of the home runs went to left. One of the home runs went to center. Two of the home runs went to right, with one of them measured at 576 feet.

Before long, Jose Bautista was hitting a home run every single time he came to the plate. ...

Read the rest...

Thanks to:

Old Time Family Baseball - May 16, 2011 - http://oldtimefamilybaseball.com/post/5555957897/jose-bautistas-future
Missing BJ - May 15, 2011 - http://missingbj.blogspot.com/2011/05/pop-quiz-for-monday-morning.html
Baseball-Reference - http://www.baseball-reference.com/
SB Nation - May 16 2011 - http://mlb.sbnation.com/2011/5/16/2173827/jose-bautista-stats-blue-jays

mh

Scorecard of Detroit Tigers' Justin Verlander's no-hitter against Toronto

2011-05-07T20:42:00.000-04:00

Justin Verlander had the perfect game going with one out in the eighth. In a very strange at-bat by J.P. Arencibia, in what I thought was a considered, planned attempt to break up the no-hitter with a contact hitters approach - where he fouled off everything near the plate, starting with the first pitch - Arencibia drew a walk on 8 foul balls and a ball four that looked like it might be called a strike. At that moment this observer felt that if Arencibia hadn't taken that ball he very likely would have broken up the no hitter. As it was the next batter grounded into a double play to end the inning.

After what seemed like an eternally long top of the ninth - that saw the Tigers' solicitous starter pacing in and out of the clubhouse tunnel, up and down the causeway steps, pulling at his fingers, until finally just sitting on them, as the Detroit batters plated 2 more for the appropriate forfeit score of 9-0 - Justin Verlander put down the 25th, 26th and 27th Jay's hitters in the bottom of the inning on 10 pitches.

Toronto facing Justin Verlander May 7th 2011

(All images 'Rebigulate' on click)
See the whole game scorecard at The Blogger Baseball Scorecard, "Scorecard: May 7, 2011 Detroit Tigers at Toronto Blue Jays - Game 2 of 4".

mh

From tables to an better understanding of CSS - The 'Minima II Blogger Baesball Scorecard'

2011-04-24T22:35:00.005-04:00

Simultaneously posted at Michael Holloway's FilterBlogs - a culmination of three articles at The Blogger Baseball Scorecard

It's been a good week.

Monday, April 18, 2011

The 'Minima' Blogger Baseball Scorecard

Introducing an important milestone in the development of this html baseball scorecard

I began this html scorecard project to score baseball games in a blog about a year ago. I started with very little experience in coding - just a basic understanding of blog writing production coding; like how to write code to make a link, how to code for italics, bold, make a headline sized font - basically stuff I learned producing the style I wanted and fixing problems while blogging over seven years.

Last spring I hacked a table out of an ESPN page that had 10 columns; I figured I could create a 9 inning wide by nine batter deep table with it - and score a baseball game using notations I would invent on the keyboard. (See Michael Holloway's Baseball Blogs - Thursday, May 6, 2010: "My HTML Baseball Score Card Hack".)

It worked fine, but it was pretty sprase looking - and the more data I added to each at-bat 'box' the more distorted the scorecard graph became ... so sometimes one couldn't quite follow what inning or what batter you were looking at. In the first go around I didn't know what 'cascading style sheets' were (they were those scary looking squiggly lines at the top that I never touched for fear of blowing up my computer), and I quickly threw out the CSS notation as they didn't do anything (I hadn't imported the style sheet). So I began by making boxes with html style tags - using width and height in almost every line of code. (Interestingly my development path followed the same path - ten years later - that led programmers to develop CSS.)

My learning curve in table making was all about stabilizing the scorecard graph while at the same time inventing a scoring notation that one could create with a keyboard, and creating a card that had enough room to score 'everything'.

The result is the table below which is made entirely of CSS boxes - 80% of them hidden from view now (thus the "Minima"). Those boxes are the 'skeleton' that keeps the thing stable. Below in the first player row of at-bat boxes, I've input some scoring notations that test every parameter of the scorecard and show some extreme scoring situations that test the size of the text areas - thanks to, for example, the Blue Jays vs. Mariners - April 11th, bottom of the 8th inning - 3 bases loaded walks. (See the 8th inning - April 11)

The places where text is input give you a clue to where the invisible or 'transparent' boxes are - the four quadrants around the diamond shape are the four - of Twenty boxes that make up One at-bat box - that can receive text; the rest hold the diamond shape in place, 'pressing' against the table that holds them, all the tables of all the rows constructed exactly the same so that when a reader zooms in and out, or resets their screen resolution - nothing moves relative to the rest. So anyone can learn to read it with out a jumble of distorting x, y axis making it difficult.

The next step in this project is to set up a web address, turn a computer into a server and rebuild the scorecard with position attributes, and use server-side includes (SSI) to lay in the tables (there are 333 of them in all - but only 13 different tables in all.)

Soon I'll need some programming help (and some financial backing - hint, hint), to produce a web site where people an come and score baseball games - a whole social networking thing with-in a baseball scorekeepers meme - anally retentive people like myself scorekeeping, saving scorecards to their personal accounts, printing copies, sharing them electronically, talking about scoring techniques in forums, developing the craft and the scorecard in wikis... .

Later still, and on the 'drawing board' (in my head) is an idea for a program that can 'lay in' data into these scorecards in real time, taking advantage of the work done at Retrosheet, to produce scorecards that update as the game progresses. Conversely a similar 'scraper' could extract data from html scorecards - written according to Project Scoresheet notations guidelines - to build an digital archive of baseball from across the culture - woman's leagues, children's leagues and even co-ed softball bar leagues.

If information is power then this much baseball information would be... well, confusing - and that ain't all bad.

Much thanks to:

* Kathryn Barrett, Sr. Publicist at O'Reilly Media, Inc who prized me Head First HTML, just for responding to a questionaire after an O'Reilly Web Cast.
* Also kudos to W3C school's CSS Tutorial pages and especially their neat-o "Try It Yourself" widget which I will continue to use extensively as I move forward.
* And thanks to Robert Brodrecht of "Robertdot" for being so clear and concise about "Triangles in CSS".
* And last but not least, my friend Chris F.A. Johnson who's timely tips and regular cues in direction have sped my learning - and who's vast knowledge of coding has helped make me aware of some of the best practices in this sub-culture of coding crafts-people.

Please note: I am self taught and don't follow the paths of teachers - rather the path of necessity (the mother of). Some may find my seemingly gargantuan gaps in knowledge unfathomable - and my blithe ignorance of well known CSS solutions worrisome ... so for those who's materials I have used as reference or who's advice I have sought, it should be noted that they are not to blame for the way I learn - I am. :)

mh

Monday, April 18, 2011 - The 'Minima' Blogger Baseball Scorecard

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

CSS Position at-bat Box - another milestone

Yesterday's milestone, the Minima Blogger Baseball Scorecard, sucks compared with today's milestone.

Below is a new AB box that is made with CSS position elements; the diamonds are where they are because of top and left absolute position elements with-in a relative parent element - rather than a series of boxes that are packed together so none of them move - as in the 'Minima' scorecard I finished yesterday. Yesterday I scored the New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays game with the Minima scorecard and I had a great deal of difficulty keeping up, every time I changed the position of the cursor in the graph, the blogger-create-interface would pause for about 2 or 3 seconds as the spider finished crawling the 604 KB file. I guess that might have something to do with my processor speed.

This is how CSS really shines - the code for this is only 64 four lines long as opposed to the Minima scorecard's AB box which took 130 lines to create - that's 66 lines saved X 162 AB boxes in a two team scorecard = 10,692 lines of code!

BBFS
BX

#9 1,2
BH7
#9 2,3

That's good because before I erased all the spacing tabs that make code easier to read, the Minima was at 1.15 MB and Blogger's per-page limit is 1MB - trimming all the indent tabs saved about 300,000 bytes! Like in the Shampoo commercial - wash rinse, repeat - coding is a lot of cut and paste and repeat, and repeat and repeat. I was astonished the other day when I looked at the size of the Minima scorecard; a million bytes?!? How did I create a million keystrokes?

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Minima II Blogger Baseball Scorecard - styling with position

In case you haven't been here before, or haven't been back in a while - the Blogger Baseball Scorecard Project is a ongoing development of an interactive baseball scoring form that you can use in a Blogger blog to score baseball games.

The 'Minima II' is the latest model in the project and I'm very excited about it! Today, April 23, 2011 at 1:00 PM EST I'm going to score my first game with it at this address.

In testing the 'Minima II' I am shocked at how fast and responsive it is - there's no delay from the moment one clicks in a particular text area to the time the blinking prompt is ready for keystrokes - this is surprising to me because although the previous incarnation in this project, the 'Minima I' has twice as many bytes, it was infinitely slower (a function not of size, but architecture).

The difference between the two scorecards in coding is qualitatively different. The first, the 'Minima I' represents the old way that websites were contructed in the 1980's and early 90's - the New Minima II is constructed with Cascading Style Sheet coding the way modern web pages are made today - the two scorecards represent two points on a learning curve which is me teaching myself to write code. Oddly, my epiphany from one style of coding to the other happened with out any thinking - as soon as the older card was done I started writing Minima II - and had it ready for scoring in 2 days.

Yesterday I was going to score Game 1 of the Tampa/Jays series (that's Game 2 that I'm scoring today) but blogger kept discarding the bottom pitching table - so last night I added an relative position outer wrapper CSS element and added absolute position wraps around the five tables, and gave them all top and left positions - now Blogger reads the whole scorecard correctly (and dosn't mistake repeating data for an error).

So below is a first attempt at adding some style with position - it looks at little less like a brick wall now I think. :)

Next, maybe some images here and there.

mh

Saturday, April 23, 2011 - Minima II Blogger Baseball Scorecard - styling with position

(All Images 'Rebigulate' on click)

mh

Daisuke Matsuzaka Red Sox's Mothra - destroys 'Nine-Game-Fiasco' Godzilla Monster

2011-04-18T15:23:00.009-04:00

"We've created a nine-game fiasco early in the season and now we've got to try and figure out a way to make it better."
- Red Sox manager Terry Francona - Wednesday, April 13, 2011

I know no one in Boston will buy this - but from the Toronto side of the pitching ledger Daisuke Matsuzaka is a god among pitchers.

One Hit?!? One Walk?!? Who was that guy? Hither-to sucky, sucky, suck-suck, now Cy friggn' Young? Ouch!

Boston turned their ugly early season 2-9 record around at the Blue Jays expense this weekend - winning 3 out of 4 including a 9-1 drubbing this afternoon. (In a game that started at 11:00 AM this morning so as to not create traffic chaos with the Boston Marathon, that began snaking it's way by Fenway Park at about 1:00 PM.)

The series win brings the Boston's record with-in sight of the first division in the American League East - on their way to second place or better, no doubt. The Jays won Friday 7-6, lost on Saturday 4-1, Sunday 8-1, and today 9-1.

Below are the Jay's at-bats from today's game. Toronto was one-hit by Matsuzaka over 7 innings. One hit in the first, a walk in the second - then 1,2,3 in the third, forth, fifth, sixth and seventh - not to mention the relief pitcher's 1,2,3 eighth - read it and weep (a complete game scorecard of the game from the Blogger Baseball Scorecard is here).

(All images 'Rebigulate' on click)

It'll be good to play in a nice warm dome tomorrow I expect - even if it is the New York Yankee's waiting there. A J Burnett is pitching for the Empire - and we all know how sucky, sucky, suck-suck he can be.

Should be fun - knock on wood. :)

'Sometimes you eat the baseball, and sometimes the baseball eats you.'

2011-04-13T03:59:00.024-04:00

- which is better I wonder?

Seattle Mariners' #2 starter, Michael Pineda looked pretty good last night - shutting out the Blue Jays until the 8th inning. For long stretches the Jays were no-hit - managing just two hits in the 4th - one in the 5th and two in the 8th.

Cory Patterson drove in both Toronto runs with a base hit in the eighth inning after a pass ball moved runners up and over - the first Blue Jays in scoring position since the forth inning - the only other time they achieved such a thing until that point.

The positive news is that the Toronto Bullpen got the night off as Ricky Romero pitched a god-like 8 inning complete game putting up zeros right along side this new Zeus of the Poseidons. Except for the third inning, Romero matched his nemesis.

A Mariner three in the 3rd held up, and the Jays drop to 5 wins and 6 loses.

The only question this observer has is - if the hitting part wasn't working, wasn't expected to work going in, why did manager John Farrell seem to be waiting for the home run in the 4th when Bautista and Patterson were on first and second respectively, with nobody out? The Jays only opportunity to use the running game seemed to go by without the characteristic free-for-all that this team was becoming known for. The forth was their only opportunity to use the running game - until the eighth - when Patterson ran the Mariner battery into a throwing error and a free base. (And, - one could counter - ran them out of the inning on the very next pitch with an attempted steal of home on a foul-out down the line in right.)

* * *

Below is the Jays at-bats last night from the Blogger Baseball Scorecard - and below that, a line drawing rendered from the Jays batting scorecard that shows - rather well I think - the 22 year old Seattle phenom's dominance last night. And below that... Ricky Romero's fabulous start.

Michael Pineda pitching to Toronto last night

Line drawing of Pineda's start

Batters faced per inning - Seattle's Michael Pineda pitching (RP's in red) to Toronto - April 12, 2011

Ricky Romero pitching to Seattle last night

Line drawing of Romero's start

Batters faced per inning - Toronto's Ricky Romero pitching to Seattle - April 12, 2011

(All images are 'Rebigulated' * on click)

* Simpson's reference: Professor Frink, "..Rebigulator, which is a concept so ridiculous..." - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOULtmVNz7A

mh

That bullpen's dead - we need another one

2011-04-12T03:53:00.020-04:00

Yup, they're all too tired to play anymore...

So John Farrell has found a limit to the bullpen. Now he will embark on finding out how long to rest each before they don't suck.

I say this bullpen is toast - they need a holiday ... is there a way to rent another bullpen from somewhere? - like a temporary position in an office?

Wanted: 7 guys with good arms to fill in for a few days while our very appreciated crew get some R&R.

Boxscore and relief pitchers totals from the 8th and 9th Inning - April 11,2011 - Blue Jays at Mariners Scorecard of Game 1

Ball location to all batters faced for the four relievers on April 11 2011
- via "Brooks Baseball".

David Purcey 0.1 IP 2H 3R 3ER 1BB 16/6(P/S)

Octavio Dotel 0.0 IP 0H 2R 2ER 2BB 12/4(P/S)

Marc Rzepczynski 0.0 IP 1H 0R 0ER 1BB 10/3(P/S)

Shawn Camp 1.1 IP 2H 2R 2ER 1BB 22/12(P/S)

Narrative of a most Interesting 14 Inning Marathon

2011-04-10T07:55:00.030-04:00

What a game in Anaheim tonight! Three different games in one 5 hour, 3 minute 14 inning roller coaster.

The first 4 innings were a shoot out - each team scoring 5 runs, reckless base running, ill considered throws, base runners everywhere - and hits as often as the tick of a clock. Then came a bullpen-pitchers-duel - and the tick-tock of hits turned to thwacks of the catcher's mitts as hitters fell 1, 2, 3. Followed later on by an hysterically crazy finish that could not - would not end.

The chaos of hits and runs, and the taking of extra bases that was the first incarnation of this game ebbed imperceptibly between the 3rd and the 6th, and we became aware that the game we were watching had vanished and a new game had taken it's place. The thing we thought we were watching had become a game reminiscent of the well played, pure-ists style pitching match-up of the night before. Time seemed to stop - no runs plated after the forth; before we knew it was the ninth... and into the tenth we go. Almost as if baseball games were supposed to do this. This one anyway.

The tenth is always full of tension; this is extra innings after all, it's the nature of the thing - out here on the edge every 6 outs is a 9 inning game. The Jays began with the 7,8,9 hitters and - what do you know - the lead-off guy gets plunked. Next batter flies out but the 9 guy works a walk. (Alright, they've turned the line-up over - here we go - one out and the go-ahead run on second.) Two quick outs and the calmness like from the-before-time returns to the Angel Stadium.

The Angels go 1,2,3 and I'm filling in the top of my scorecard; 11th, 12th, 13th... - this is going to be a long one - neither team has scored since Saturday.

In the 11th the Blue Jays get a runner on, but then go down in order.

Then the change.

The Angels get an error to start their half of the inning - E5th, on Edwin Encarnacion, and veteran Bobby Abreu is on first. They follow that with the first Angel hit since the 5th, and it's no outs, runners on the corners. The Jays battery manages to manufacture a strike-out and then intentionally loads the bases to set up a double play. (Ground ball the right side - the winning run's coming on contact!) The second baseman picks himself up off the infield - finds the ball - and with robotic efficiency rifles home in time. Two out - still bases loaded. Ball, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Ball, Ball, Swing - the great young catcher Mathis is out.

Just no runs (so that you'd notice).

(These moments of opportunity-not-seized, in extra innings, offer much potent. That kind of Karma costs games; everyone knows you don't fail in such situations and very often win.) It's at this point that we notice that this is again a different game. There isn't the deluge of hits like from the-before-time - but now there are dead base runners all over the place. But this is different than the first four inning free-for-all --- this is 'serious-er'. :)

The Angels have already used their entire bullpen - it's all riding on Jason Bulger, the last man standing in their rank. It's only pitch 10 when the reliever walks the lead off Jay in the 12th - but with the news that the Angel bull pen is empty we're wondering maybe this guy isn't the best Angel pitcher on the roster? Bulger efficiently strikes out the next guy on the 2-2 pitch - but the battery has allowed a stolen base during the AB. One out - a runner at second --- then he walks another.

The Jays play small-ball - the lead-off guy moves them over with a bunt. Two outs, runners at second and third. Next guy works a walk, and now it's bases loaded with the 2010 Home Run Champion Jose Bautista up. Fly Out centre.

Three runners left. 'Karma'. And 'these moments of opportunity-not-seized'... . But the Angels go quietly in the bottom half. It's like redemption, all sins erased; and we are born again.

And on to 'lucky 13'.

Lead off base hit to right for the Jays, this must be the inning! TV play-by-play man Buck Martinez said earlier, "lucky 13". Could the numerology be correct? Where did I put my tea leaves? The next guy walks. (Bulger is still out there - he's wild and likely tired. He's toast, left out to dry - he can't do it, it's over - get a fork ... done. Ah, the taste of sweet victory! Hallelujah!)

The manager insists on small-ball again, 'Move 'em over!' he says.

But the catcher out of the Blue Jays farm system can't for the life of him preform such a thing. He looks amateur-bad as he strikes out on the 0-2 pitch trying to catch up with a fast ball he hadn't even seen yet.

Oh well, Next! And 'next' guy moves them over with a perfect ground ball that the first baseman has to field down the line, he feeds Bulger at first as the runners move up. Now the go ahead, and the insurance run are in scoring position. This team will play little-ball this year or John Farrell will not be it's manager - count on it. With two outs the go-ahead run is ninety feet away; but the Jays need a hit, a wild pitch, a pass ball or an error to plate it.

The hit ball bounces lazily towards the shortstop position, but it's too slow for the shortstop playing deep with 2 outs - it's the third baseman's ball. It seems to me the first thing Alberto Callaspo's does is notice that Yunel Escobar is going to intersect him at the point where he wants to field the ball - so instead of charging the ball, he waits until Escobar is by - then in one motion, grabs the bouncing ball and makes a sling throw to first - the ball sails towards the right field side and pulls the first baseman off the bag. SAFE! the Umpire gestures. (The run scores! Holy cow, we finally scored! This is the first base hit since the ninth - about an hour ago...)

Wait a minute...

Bob Davidson, the third base umpire's saying Yunel Escobar's out - "Baserunner Interference". Escobar interfered with Alberto Callaspo's attempt to field the ball!! he is out; run does not score; inning over.

WHAAT?!?

(There will be LOTS of conversation about this tomorrow, I'm sure - see my take on the controversial call here.)

(Is there no end to these endings that don't cause ending - that wind up short? Holy mother of god I don't think I can take another half inning of this. But that doesn't matter, there's more... and once into extra innings there no getting out, this isn't the kind of game you can just quit.)

Bottom 13

Abreu leads off again; BH. Hunter follows with one of his own, moving Abreu to third. On the corners, no outs. The Angel manager has been starting the runners all game long, and he does it again; he's pressing his advantage - at home, in extras. Off 1B goes Hunter; it's a hit and run and aTexas-leaguer arcs out into short left where a charging Snider meets it with his glove in a tumble. He gets up quickly and throws it back to McDonald at cut-off. Shawn Camp is yelling and pointing, managing the infield. 'Throw to first!! Hunter - double him off!, Watch the runner at third! ' John McDonald checks the runner and tosses the ball. Double play 7-6-3. Two outs. Runner at 3rd.

(What just happened? Karma. All that. They just gave it back - we can win this - we're going to win this! Just one more out and we'll get our turns again... .) The next guy walks - runners at the corners two out. Mike Scioscia figures the Jays won't be ready if they try to run again - who would? So now they try the double steal, a play designed to fool a team - entice a throw to get the guy stupidly going from 1B which is only a distraction from the guy stealing home - just behind the play. But the Jays see through it and plays goes 1-4-2 as quick as you please. Third out at home is DOA. Slam-Bam. Thank You Mame!

OK, they're Crazy - we'll win for Sure.

But we don't win - we don't even get a runner on - some guy who usually starts games (Dan Haren 2-0 1.15) came out of the 'empty' bullpen and shut us down! (Well at least that inning didn't cause any heart attacks. No runners - no tension. Cool. Get 'em next inning.)

The Bottom of the 14th

A guy I've been watching, Peter Bourjos, Centre Fielder for the Angels. He's one of the sweetest centre fielders in the league - he gets to stuff and gets there poetically. He played 51 games with the Angels last year after coming up from the AAA Salt Lake Bees of the Pacific Coast League. I first noticed him when he made a brilliant catch in left centre robbing Bautista of a 2BH hit in a game in Anaheim on Friday, August 13, 2010. The Angels have even changed the way they play outfield defence because of Peter's range (and 2 former CF's on either side of him, Vernon Wells & Torii Hunter); they hug the gaps and leave the lines to the odds. (Coincidentally it's the way I play left and right field - I figure that all things being equal, on average most balls are going to be hit out to the centre area of the field - I consider the hits down the lines, flukes statistically - on a straight run to the foul line I'll make the play on most balls. I figure if you scorch a ball down the foul line, good for you, nicely done - you beat me - but what are the chances? So I play towards the gaps as much as I can to cut off balls in the power alleys and Texas-Leaguers out of the reach of the infielders.)

So any way, because I love the way this guy plays, I've begun penciling him into the line-up as Peter "gorgeous" Bourjos.

(It's a loose reference to Firesign Theatre's "Georgy Porgy" character from the comedy album, "Don't crush that Dwarf, hand me those pliers (side 2)"

(Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKYyuXHMXIY ).

So anyway... with two outs in the bottom of the 14th inning of a game the Jays have had about 5 good chances to win - the number nine hitter - who is currently batting .231 - Peter "gorgeous" Bourjos hits a double to left - which is peremptorily followed by the game winning RBI base hit by the lead-off batter, Maicer Izturis.

Finally an end of chances.

One of the most entertaining games I have seen --- and these new John Farrell little-ball Jays are great. I look forward to a lot more RBI's from this team. I really think they're on the right track with this. This should give all Jays fans a really good idea of just how many parts this team is away from contending for a Pennant.

Scorecards for this game (two separate scorecards):
Innings 1 to 9.
Innings 10 to 14.

mh

Baserunner Interference call on Jay's Yunel Escobar hands Angels Win

2011-04-10T05:29:00.007-04:00

The story

It's the top of the 13th inning. The go-ahead run is ninety feet away, the Jays need a hit to plate it. The ball bounces lazily towards the shortstop position, it's too slow for the short stop who's playing deep with 2 outs - it's third baseman Alberto Callaspo's ball. First thing he does it seems to me, is notice that Yunel Escobar is going to intersect him at the point where he wants to field the ball - so instead of taking charge he waits until Escobar is by - then grabs the bouncing ball and makes a one motion zing to first - the ball sails towards the right field side and pulls the first baseman off the bag. SAFE!

The run scores! Holy cow, we finally scored - this is the Jays first base hit since the ninth inning - about an hour ago...

Wait a minute...

The third base umpire's saying the batter-runner's out, baserunner interference. Yunel Escobar interfered with Alberto Callaspo's attempt to field the ball - he's out, run does not score, inning over! WHAT?!?

(More on this amazing game here.)

Two Arguments

There will be LOTS of conversation about this tomorrow, I am sure.

I'm of two minds; Escobar didn't come out of the base-path; he left the ball behind him as he made his way to third - he was past the ball before it left the infield - Callaspo was positioned deep and well off the foul line on the outfield side of the base path. How could have Yunel have interfered?

On the other hand, there was no runner on first, Yunel didn't have to go, no force was in order, so he wasn't trying to beat the third baseman past the ball - he cold have held up. Usually in that situation that's what you do, you slow up because you don't run into the tag --- but it looked like Escobar was racing to the intersection of the three; the ball the third baseman and himself - like he was testing the situation, the rule and the opposite player all in that second.

Ask yourself, if there had been no runner coming from second would Callaspo have made the play? The answer is yes - it would have been an easy out with out a runner bearing down on him. So if you look at it that way - he did interfere, or at least his intent was to make the third baseman reconsider his route to the ball - as he had already shown that weakness right off the bat, that he could be 'cowed' it appeared to me... . Callaspo should have charged the ball and forced the issue, Escobar would have had to slow and let him make his play.

Looked at in that way the third base ump might have made the right call after all - the first time all game long, I might mention, that he had done such a thing - so you can see the problem.... ;)

mh

Blogger Baseball Scorecard - Free Printable Baseball Scorecard - Version 3 (982px × 1,600px JPEG Image)

2011-04-08T12:17:00.023-04:00

I've up-loaded the original size - 982px × 1,600px - left click on the image and it will open at it's own page - reduced - left click on the image again and it will expand to it's full size.

Print instructions are below the image.

JPEG Image
324.81 KB (332,604 bytes)
982px × 1,600px

Image URL: http://bit.ly/Printable2TeamScorecard3

Long version of the URL:
(copy and paste from box)

To copy and print simply:

Copy Image and open in Microsoft Paint: first, open image in it's own page, click on image above or copy from the 'textarea' box, or the shortened bit.ly version and open in a new window/tab. Right click on the image and choose "Copy Image"
Open Microsoft Paint (or other such image editing application - like the Open Source GIMP)
Paste in the address*
Save
Print**

*
To paste into "Microsoft Paint": with the Image on your mouse via the "Copy Image" function, click "EDIT" in Microsoft Paint (top left). Select "Paste" - image will appear full sized. Save and Print**.

**
To print the scorecard (print the scorecard on two pages - page 1: Top, Visitors - page 2: Bottom, Home). Set at default Microsoft Paint, 'Print' prints the scorecard on six pages - so change two defaults:

In "FILE" (top left) choose "Page Setup..." - a window will open (image on the right)
Under Paper, option "Size", choose "Letter" (default)
Set "Margins", "Left" to 0.25 (smallest)
Under "Scaling" click "Adjust to:" and change from "100%" to 20%.

Please share.

GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program:
(http://www.gimp.org/about/introduction.html)

mh

Rogers to show a lot of Blue Jays Baseball - but not "all"

2011-04-01T17:46:00.028-04:00

Rogers' Sportsnet shouts, "Sportsnet has all 162 Jays games" in an article announcing the 2011 Blue Jays Broadcast Schedule. That's the headline; but as far as I'm concerned - it buries the the lead.

Rogers basic cable channel, Sportsnet will be showing 124 of 162 games. 38 Blue Jays games will be available only on the premium priced "Sportsnet-One" channel.

Last year in one of my scorecards of a Blue Jays game I surmised that Rogers Communications Inc. was trying to put more and more Blue Jays games in the higher priced cable packages - the n'th of which is the dreaded, pay-for-view baseball. That was a knee jerk reaction - an opinion I came to without doing any research. Though for Rodgers, last fall was a mess to say the least.

Rodgers has had a lot of trouble rolling out the new "Sportsnet-One" channel. A lot of cable providers across the country wouldn't carry it at the price Rogers was asking. As well, Rogers went ahead before it had all it's ducks in a row, putting customers in a hostage situation in a battle between them and local providers. The war put late season Blue Jays games - some of which had spoiler implications in the run-up to the postseason - to places where baseball fans could not access them no matter what - in some areas they just were not available.

Rogers deserved the wrath they got. But as far as Rogers trying to go in a pay-for-view direction with baseball - I'm happy to report I was wrong last year, and it doesn't ring true this year either.

This year I went and got the Blue Jays broadcast schedule that Sportsnet published in February. In editing the comprehensive table in order to publish it here, I gleaned a pretty fair appreciation of the complexities of working out a seven month baseball broadcast schedule, the dates for each of which are arbitrary (from Rogers point of view) - the dates and times are a product of a process MLB used to produce their schedule. I think I can see in this years schedule, that Rogers' goal is to show as many Blue Jays on the regular cable channel as possible.

Also very important is that the Blue Jays - owned by Rogers - has re-invested in the minor leagues under new President of Baseball Operations Paul Beaston and general manager Alex Anthopoulos. Rogers has approved money over the last two years on minor league talent that will force a decision to spend a whole lot more in a couple of years - towards a shot at the postseason. I'm seeing a magical confluence of opportunities approaching (due to superior management of the team) - much like that which, in hindsight, was happening in the 1990's when the Labatt family owned the franchise - which tells me Rogers Inc. is planning to take a shot at the Pennant in the near future.

These two things together tell me that the near term broadcast strategy is to spread the good Blue Jays news as far and as wide as possible - and that means as much Jays on basic cable as possible.

A longer term strategy say, 10 years down the road, may be to cash-in on success with pay-for-view baseball after a successful run at the postseason. But it's hard to see that far in this quickly evolving media environment - 10 years is another world, the pay-per-click era perhaps - or an internet ad model may emerge. In my opinion all the games that are unavailable on basic cable this year are due to conflicts with other programs Rogers needs to fill out a 24/7, 365 days a year broadcast schedule.

I couldn't find a broadcast schedule for Sportsnet-Ontario online, and TV Guide, or Zap2it only go 2 weeks into the future. All the info in the Blue Jays 2011 broadcast table below was collected via pages put up by event organizers that mention Sportnet-Ontario is broadcasting them on such and such a date. I researched the basic cable blackouts to find out what was on instead of baseball using the date, time and the channel - but I could only get so much info - so in the table below, there are more and more blanks the further into the future you look.

Rodgers needed to sign contracts with content producers and vendors, to fill out their schedule - some of these contracts have time restraints associated with them - like the English Premier League weekly preview show EPL. In order to provide a complete 24 hour broadcast schedule and offer relevant programming that includes new and emerging markets - like the soccer craze that is sweeping this town and remains strong in British Columbia - Rogers has had to bend a little. That 'bend' is Sportnet-One - and of coarse, as with all corporations, they want someone else to pay for that 'bending' as much as they think they can get away with. I say to Rogers, invest in the new market of soccer - pay it forward so to speak - make sure Sportnet-One is available in the lower priced cable package; and don't make life-long Toronto Blue Jay's baseball fans - a demographic that is entering a key, third generation ---> their parents were fans too - pay for it.

The Toronto Blue Jays Broadcast Schedule table below shows a couple of interesting regular metrics. A blank day every Wednesday; what is that about I wonder? (Not enough info going forward to determine that yet.) The games not on Sportsnet-Ontario that really hurt baseball fans are those where for several consecutive days, while baseball is being played, there is no baseball available in the way one has been experiencing it hither to. There's one such blank in May where in a nine day stretch we get ONE game. Then later, in August there is a stretch of hell - the Rogers Cup Tennis match - where the Jays play at Baltimore on Sunday August 7th, then a Blue Jays travel day - then all the way through to Saturday August 13th at 1:00 PM - no games for you! (said the broadcast nazi).

But that's it - no other horrors are apparent - except for the All Star Game in July - and that's someone else's fault (Bud).

The table below is an edit of a Sportsnet produced 2011 Toronto Blue Jays Television Broadcast Schedule (http://www.sportsnet.ca/jays_schedule2011.xls), a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The Sportsnet spreadsheet link is available via a Sportsnet MLB-News article entitled "Sportsnet has all 162 Jays games" (February 23, 2011). I've edited out 5 columns including: 'Game', 'Day', 'Sportnet East', 'Sportnet West' and 'Sportnet Pacific' - leaving only "Sportsnet-One" and "Sportnet-Ontario" - here in Toronto, the regular priced cable channel 22.

(Sorry, the rest of Canada, the entire spreadsheet was too wide to fit in this blog - so I included only the Ontario market - which is the market I'm familiar with. I could create three tables - one for each time zone. That could happen - if there's a demand.)

If I could find the info, I've added in red, entries to the table of what is showing at that particular time - instead of the Blue Jays game that happening out of our view. The chart entries seem to show that the NHL, UEFA Cup Soccer have important contracts with Rogers - and as well Rogers is Sponsoring the Professional Tennis Tour; the Rogers Cup. And Roger's is the television presentor for the Memorial Cup. Also of note is the regular occurrence of Ultimate Fighting Violence this year, and last year I noted several Poker pookies poking around in stead of baseball games (both of which in my humble opinion, are signs of a coming apocalypse).

I'll keep updating this chart with 'instead ofs ' entries throughout the year; and see what we see as we go forward - and next year at this time we'll do this again with a better temporal understanding.

Toronto Blue Jays 2011 Television Broadcast Schedule + Blue Jay basic cable black-out 'instead-ofs'

DATE	AWAY	HOME	ONE (ET)	Ont (ET)
04/01/11	Minnesota	Toronto		7:00PM
04/02/11	Minnesota	Toronto		1:00PM
04/03/11	Minnesota	Toronto		1:00PM
04/05/11	Oakland	Toronto	7:00PM	NHL Hockey
04/06/11	Oakland	Toronto	7:00PM	UFC Live
04/07/11	Oakland	Toronto		12:30PM
04/08/11	Toronto	Los Angeles Angels	10:00PM	10:00PM
04/09/11	Toronto	Los Angeles Angels		9:00PM
04/10/11	Toronto	Los Angeles Angels		3:30PM
04/11/11	Toronto	Seattle		10:00PM
04/12/11	Toronto	Seattle		10:00PM
04/13/11	Toronto	Seattle	3:30PM	UEFA game
04/15/11	Toronto	Boston		7:00PM
04/16/11	Toronto	Boston		1:00PM
04/17/11	Toronto	Boston		1:30PM
04/18/11	Toronto	Boston		11:00AM
04/19/11	NY Yankees	Toronto		7:00PM
04/20/11	NY Yankees	Toronto	7:00PM	?
04/22/11	Tampa Bay	Toronto		7:00PM
04/23/11	Tampa Bay	Toronto		1:00PM
04/24/11	Tampa Bay	Toronto		1:00PM
04/25/11	Toronto	Texas		8:00PM
04/26/11	Toronto	Texas		8:00PM
04/27/11	Toronto	Texas	8:00PM	?
04/28/11	Toronto	Texas		2:00PM
04/29/11	Toronto	NY Yankees		7:00PM
04/30/11	Toronto	NY Yankees		4:00PM
05/01/11	Toronto	NY Yankees		1:00PM
05/03/11	Toronto	Tampa Bay		6:30PM
05/04/11	Toronto	Tampa Bay	6:30PM	?
05/05/11	Toronto	Tampa Bay		1:00PM
05/06/11	Detroit	Toronto		7:00PM
05/07/11	Detroit	Toronto		4:00PM
05/08/11	Detroit	Toronto		1:00PM
05/09/11	Detroit	Toronto		7:00PM
05/10/11	Boston	Toronto		7:00PM
05/11/11	Boston	Toronto	7:00PM	?
05/13/11	Toronto	Minnesota		8:00PM
05/14/11	Toronto	Minnesota		4:00PM
05/15/11	Toronto	Minnesota		2:00PM
05/16/11	Toronto	Detroit		7:00PM
05/17/11	Toronto	Detroit		7:00PM
05/18/11	Tampa Bay	Toronto	7:00PM	Memorial Cup Preview
05/19/11	Tampa Bay	Toronto		7:00PM
05/20/11	Houston	Toronto	7:00PM	Memorial Cup
05/21/11	Houston	Toronto	1:00PM	Memorial Cup
05/22/11	Houston	Toronto	1:00PM	Memorial Cup
05/23/11	Toronto	NY Yankees	7:00PM	Memorial Cup
05/24/11	Toronto	NY Yankees	7:00PM	Memorial Cup
05/25/11	Toronto	NY Yankees		1:00PM
05/26/11	Chicago White Sox	Toronto	7:00PM	Memorial Cup
05/27/11	Chicago White Sox	Toronto	7:00PM	Memorial Cup
05/28/11	Chicago White Sox	Toronto	1:00PM	Memorial Cup
05/29/11	Chicago White Sox	Toronto		1:00PM
05/30/11	Cleveland	Toronto		7:00PM
05/31/11	Cleveland	Toronto		7:00PM
06/01/11	Cleveland	Toronto	7:00PM
06/03/11	Toronto	Baltimore		7:00PM
06/04/11	Toronto	Baltimore	7:00PM
06/05/11	Toronto	Baltimore		1:30PM
06/06/11	Toronto	Kansas City		8:00PM
06/07/11	Toronto	Kansas City		8:00PM
06/08/11	Toronto	Kansas City	8:00PM
06/09/11	Toronto	Kansas City		4:00PM
06/10/11	Boston	Toronto		7:00PM
06/11/11	Boston	Toronto		1:00PM
06/12/11	Boston	Toronto		1:00PM
06/14/11	Baltimore	Toronto		7:00PM
06/15/11	Baltimore	Toronto	7:00PM
06/16/11	Baltimore	Toronto		12:30PM
06/17/11	Toronto	Cincinnati		7:00PM
06/18/11	Toronto	Cincinnati		7:00PM
06/19/11	Toronto	Cincinnati		1:00PM
06/20/11	Toronto	Atlanta		7:00PM
06/21/11	Toronto	Atlanta		7:00PM
06/22/11	Toronto	Atlanta		1:00PM
06/24/11	Toronto	St. Louis		8:00PM
06/25/11	Toronto	St. Louis		7:00PM
06/26/11	Toronto	St. Louis		2:00PM
06/28/11	Pittsburgh	Toronto		7:00PM
06/29/11	Pittsburgh	Toronto	7:00PM
06/30/11	Pittsburgh	Toronto		7:00PM
07/01/11	Philadelphia	Toronto		1:00PM
07/02/11	Philadelphia	Toronto		1:00PM
07/03/11	Philadelphia	Toronto		1:00PM
07/04/11	Toronto	Boston		1:30PM
07/05/11	Toronto	Boston		7:00PM
07/06/11	Toronto	Boston	7:00PM
07/07/11	Toronto	Cleveland		7:00PM
07/08/11	Toronto	Cleveland		7:00PM
07/09/11	Toronto	Cleveland		7:00PM
07/10/11	Toronto	Cleveland		1:00PM
07/14/11	NY Yankees	Toronto		7:00PM
07/15/11	NY Yankees	Toronto		7:00PM
07/16/11	NY Yankees	Toronto		1:00PM
07/17/11	NY Yankees	Toronto		1:00PM
07/19/11	Seattle	Toronto		7:00PM
07/20/11	Seattle	Toronto	7:00PM
07/21/11	Seattle	Toronto		12:30PM
07/22/11	Toronto	Texas		8:00PM
07/23/11	Toronto	Texas		8:00PM
07/24/11	Toronto	Texas		8:00PM
07/26/11	Baltimore	Toronto		7:00PM
07/27/11	Baltimore	Toronto	7:00PM
07/28/11	Baltimore	Toronto		7:00PM
07/29/11	Texas	Toronto		7:00PM
07/30/11	Texas	Toronto		1:00PM
07/31/11	Texas	Toronto		1:00PM
08/02/11	Toronto	Tampa Bay		7:00PM
08/03/11	Toronto	Tampa Bay	7:00PM
08/04/11	Toronto	Tampa Bay		12:00PM
08/05/11	Toronto	Baltimore		7:00PM
08/06/11	Toronto	Baltimore		7:00PM
08/07/11	Toronto	Baltimore		1:30PM
08/09/11	Oakland	Toronto	7:00PM	Rogers Cup
08/10/11	Oakland	Toronto	7:00PM	Rogers Cup
08/11/11	Oakland	Toronto	12:30PM	Rogers Cup
08/12/11	Los Angeles Angels	Toronto	7:00PM	Rogers Cup
08/13/11	Los Angeles Angels	Toronto		1:00PM
08/14/11	Los Angeles Angels	Toronto		1:00PM
08/15/11	Toronto	Seattle		10:00PM
08/16/11	Toronto	Seattle		10:00PM
08/17/11	Toronto	Seattle	10:00PM
08/18/11	Toronto	Oakland		10:00PM
08/19/11	Toronto	Oakland		10:00PM
08/20/11	Toronto	Oakland		9:00PM
08/21/11	Toronto	Oakland		4:00PM
08/23/11	Kansas City	Toronto		7:00PM
08/24/11	Kansas City	Toronto	7:00PM
08/25/11	Kansas City	Toronto		7:00PM
08/26/11	Tampa Bay	Toronto		7:00PM
08/27/11	Tampa Bay	Toronto		1:00PM
08/28/11	Tampa Bay	Toronto		1:00PM
08/29/11	Tampa Bay	Toronto		7:00PM
08/30/11	Toronto	Baltimore		7:00PM
08/31/11	Toronto	Baltimore	7:00PM
09/01/11	Toronto	Baltimore		7:00PM
09/02/11	Toronto	NY Yankees		7:00PM
09/03/11	Toronto	NY Yankees		1:00PM
09/04/11	Toronto	NY Yankees		1:00PM
09/05/11	Boston	Toronto		1:00PM
09/06/11	Boston	Toronto		7:00PM
09/07/11	Boston	Toronto	7:00PM
09/08/11	Boston	Toronto		7:00PM
09/09/11	Baltimore	Toronto		7:00PM
09/10/11	Baltimore	Toronto		1:00PM
09/11/11	Baltimore	Toronto	1:00PM
09/13/11	Toronto	Boston		7:00PM
09/14/11	Toronto	Boston		1:30PM
09/16/11	NY Yankees	Toronto		7:00PM
09/17/11	NY Yankees	Toronto		1:00PM
09/18/11	NY Yankees	Toronto	1:00PM
09/19/11	Los Angeles Angels	Toronto		7:00PM
09/20/11	Los Angeles Angels	Toronto		7:00PM
09/21/11	Los Angeles Angels	Toronto	7:00PM
09/22/11	Los Angeles Angels	Toronto		7:00PM
09/23/11	Toronto	Tampa Bay		7:00PM
09/24/11	Toronto	Tampa Bay		7:00PM
09/25/11	Toronto	Tampa Bay	1:30PM
09/26/11	Toronto	Chicago White Sox		8:00PM
09/27/11	Toronto	Chicago White Sox		8:00PM
09/28/11	Toronto	Chicago White Sox		2:00PM

References:

Sportsnet MLB-News - February 23, 2011: "Sportsnet has all 162 Jays games"
http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/2011/02/23/jays_schedule_sportsnet/

Sportsnet Microsoft Excel spreadsheet: "2011 Toronto Blue Jays Television Broadcast Schedule" (http://www.sportsnet.ca/jays_schedule2011.xls).

Sportsnet Soccer - News - February 26, 2010: "EPL going global with television channel"
(http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2010/02/26/epl_global/)

CBC.ca Sports - Baseball - May 13, 2010: "All 2010 Jays games now on Sportsnet"
(http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/2010/05/13/blue_jays_sportsnet/)

Wikipedia: "History of the Toronto Blue Jays"
(https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/History_of_the_Toronto_Blue_Jays)

mh

Blogger Baseball Scorecard presents a Free Printable Classic Scorecard

2011-04-01T11:31:00.013-04:00

"Blogger Baseball Scorecard" free baseball score sheet (1,600px × 1,574px JPEG Image)

I don't have a printer so I don't know the ins and outs of that meme. None-the-less, I've up-loaded the original size here - it's 1,600px × 1,415px - if you click on the image it opens at it's own page reduced, then left click on the image to see full awesome grandness, then select 'copy', open Microsoft Paint or other such editing application, paste it (click on EDIT top left select paste from, a window opens paste in the web address into the file box and click open); save it - and print it from there. That way you'll always have a copy to print from every time you need a scorecard!

(Is there a simpler way? Please let me know. :)

The Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada License is on the image - so print out lots of copies and pass them around to all your baseball playing friends.

Please let me know, if you would, whether this lay out works well in a paper and pencil - as you may know, this printable scorecard is just a picture of this Blogs Blogger Baseball Scorecard; it was produced to score games online - in a blog - live. But it looks just like the old style scorecards - so it should work - right?

Cheers. :)

I am very happy with my new upgraded "Screen Capture Elite" - it grabbed a 2.51 MB (3495px X 3438px) copy from my screen - unfortunately Blogger only allowed 397.6 KB (1,600px × 1,574px)

:(

Below is a screenshot of the top half of the Blogger Baseball Scorecard.

( http://bit.ly/PrintableBaseballScorecard )

This article was originally published in the Blogger Baseball Scorecard - 03 31 2011.

mh

CBS: Toronto Blue Jays Projected Line-up and Pitching Rotation - 2011

2011-03-25T23:56:00.001-04:00

There's no content like other people's content.

Let's see how right they are/n't.

1. Rajai Davis CF
2. Yunel Eescobar SS
3. Jose Bautista 3B
4. Adam Lind 1B
5. Aaron Hill 2B
6. Edwin Encarnacion DH
7. Travis Snider LF
8. Juan Rivera RF
9. J.P. Arencibia C


1. Ricky Romero  LH
2. Brandon Morrow (To open on DL) RH
3. Kyle Drabek  RH
4. Brett Cecil  LH
5. Jo-Jo Reyes  LH
Closer Frank Francisco  RH

Via: http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/spring/lineups/al

mh

History of Graphic Design through Scorecards of the Chicago Cubs

2011-03-08T10:46:00.009-05:00

Update: 03/08/2011 - 3:19 PM With some direction from commenter, "norman" I have gotten a little further in my research on Otis Shepard. When Shepard came to Wrigley in 1933 he was already a big time advertising Art Director, he had been designing advertising with "Foster & Kleiser Outdoor Advertising" for years. Foster & Kleiser were one of the big rising names in advertising at the time, their innovations in outdoor advertising (read: highway billboards,) and the increasing popularity of the car turned them into a national firm working with companies like Pontiac, branding Hollywood movie stars for Paramount Pictures and many other national brands by 1930. These were the Ad Men, the masters of think on the leading edge of an understanding of the psychology of a Nation, the beginning of Madison Avenue.

By the time Otis Shepard moved on to the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company as Art Director in 1933 he was creating "design concepts" with-in "branding strategies" - not pieces of art. So... enjoy the concepts below, very few of which were likely drawn by the man himself, but all of which were undoubtedly approved by him.

References:
Clear Channel-Outdoor History.
Clear Channel-Outdoor History - 1926 to 1950
Cathy Wade Shepard's comment at Heckadude + Design.

Chicago Cubs Scorecard - 1952

A week ago Allan Wood at Joy of Sox ran a nice piece on the art of Otis Shepard (1894-1969), who worked 30 years for Wrigley's Gum as artist and then Art Director between 1932-1963.

By some accounts Shepard worked for Wrigley's from 1914 and by others didn't start at Wrigley until 1932. Some have him born in 1893 others in 1894. Details are sketchy, and often when I found out something new about him, the blogs in question didn't reference their sources.

~~The Wrigley site doesn't talk about people except the great man himself; all else is branding and numbers.~~ Soul-less corporations, full of poor faceless souls. Wrigley is now a subsidiary of Mars Incorporated, so perhaps the history of the company didn't make the leap to digital; or perhaps the divide to new ownership.
(ed 03/08/2011 - 3:19PM)

The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company site has this to say about Shepard:

"The distinctive billboard campaigns created in the late 1930s by Wrigley art director Otis Shepard fixed the Doublemint twin concept in the American imagination. Shepard's distinctive airbrush techniques and simple, clear designs were well suited for outdoor advertisements and have been widely recognized in the commercial art field."

The only thing new I could dig up on Shepard was a short reference to him in a piece at Today's Inspiration, "Fred Ludekens, Close-up". Apparently he taught at the University of California Extension School in the 1920's or early 1930's where he taught, Fred Ludekens (1900-1982). Fred Ludekens so the story and the school tells me, was a member of the Famous Artists School's founding faculty. The Famous Artists School's history section says, it was "founded by the giants in their field, nationally known and recognized [...] in the “golden age” of American illustration".

Shepard hasn't left much of a trail for us curators of the internet to follow, but it seems like more and more people are wakening to this fellows talent. My research today reminds me of the later years of the resurgence of the minor leagues, in the early 1990's - I caught the tail end of the cult before it exploded and died - about the time the movie Bull Durham came out... Feels like that now, like Otis Shepard's work is on the verge of a renaissance - and perhaps all of those extraordinarily talented graphic designers from the 1950's and 1960's. In 2003 "Antiques and the Arts Online" reported that a poster by Otis Shepard, "Rails to Sales / Subway Posters" (1947) sold for $5,060.00.

Below are some examples of Shepard's work, and perhaps some that may only be influenced by him - drawn by artists that he taught the ropes, at Wrigley's as head of the Art Department. The following were covers of Chicago Cubs Scorecards between 1950 - 1968.

1950

1953

1963

1966

1968

See Allan Wood's piece at Joy of Sox, "Otis Shepard - Cubs Scorecard Art".

See Chicago Cubs scorecards from 1898 - 2010 - at "Cubs By The Numbers" blog.

Reference sources:

Heckadude + Design - "Otis Shepard & the Chicago Cubs":
http://heckadude.blogspot.com/2009/01/otis-shepard-chicago-cubs.html

Famous Artists School:
http://www.famous-artists-school.com/index.php/fas/history/

Cubs By The Numbers - "Cubs Scorecards Thru The Years":
http://www.cubsbythenumbers.com/scorecards.html

Today's Inspiration - "Fred Ludekens, Close-up":
http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.com/2009/06/fred-ludekens-close-up.html

2Blowhards - "Otis Shepard, Who Didn't Gum Things Up":
http://www.2blowhards.com/archives/2009/04/otis_shepard.html

mh

How to score games with the new "2011 Blogger Baseball Scorecard"

2011-03-08T03:38:00.039-05:00

(This piece was simultaneously published at "Michael Holloway's FilterBlogs".)

Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser won't show certain properties of border tags which make up the diamond shape of the 'At Bat' boxes that are at the centre of the new 2011 Blogger Baseball Scorecard's design.

The two images below (side by side) show Microsoft's Internet Explorer's rendering of my code:

Internet Explorer Rendering

Below are images as above, from the same web page, this one rendered by Firefox 3.6.15 browser:

Firefox Browser Rendering

The code has been validated at W3C as HTML 4.01 Transitional - Passed. I'm working on finding out why Internet Explorer won't render the border tags properly, and fixing it. In the meantime if you want to read this years scorecards, you'll have to do it with a different browser.

Firefox browser is available here. I have found that I can have more than one browser on my Windows XP Operating System. In my experience even running both at the same time doesn't compromise performance on my machine.

On Sunday March 6th, I used the new scorecard to score-keep the Toronto Blue Jays at Pittsburgh Pirates spring training game in Bradenton Florida, which was on Rogers SNET-1 in this market. You can see it here - if you must, it's an awful mess of scoring. As I say at the Internet Baseball Scorecard Blog, "This is the new, never before used in-game, 2011 Internet Baseball Scorecard - bear with me." I scored all the runs, but missed a lot of outs, and substitutions and even the staring line-ups were incomplete - etc., etc., etc.. But you can see that it functions as it's supposed to. So far, I'm really happy with it.

How it Works

Above is an example of a border tag used to make a simple two tone border - note the angles at the corners. In the scorecard, each quadrant of the diamond is actually the corner of a border (see Figure 1.) - it's the only way to make an angle with HTML!

At the top of this post - in the Firefox Browser Rendering, 2 image set - the left image has all four of the vertical border lines set to "solid black" - and the horizontal border lines set to match the background colour, thus they are invisible. In the image right next to that, the four horizontal border colours are set to a slightly darker colour than the background - so the appearance is of a frame around a diamond.

A scorekeeper can change the horizontal border's colour attributes on the fly, using the Blogger Compose mode "Text background color" widget. By selecting one of the four horizontal borders in each AB box, and changing it's colour with the "Text background color" button, one can indicate the progress of a runner around the bases:

The first box on the left, is how all the boxes in the entire scorecard appear before the game starts. The next box shows a runner on First Base, next one on Second Base, and so on. A solitary black diamond indicates a Run Scored - just like in pencil and paper scoring! :)

How to score with it

To change the attributes of the borders that make up the black diamond while scoring a baseball game is easy. Below I've taken a screen shot of me about to change the colour of the south-east quadrant - in order to indicate a runner is on First Base The colour indicated in the palette is the slightly darker peach. I'm about to change the colour of the horizontal border to the colour right above the one indicated - to the same colour as the background of the quadrant box:

First you highlight the border attribute by left clicking beside the diamond in the quadrant you wish to change. Next, left click on the "Text background color" button and choose the colour you want.

And Viola, a runner is on First Base:

Specifications

I think there's more than enough space in the 2011 Blogger Baseball Scorecard to score the game with any iconography you wish to invent.

Below (or above) each angle of the diamond there are four lines for text, room for 10 uppercase letters or 12 lower case letters on each line.

In the Pitches column there is again, more than enough room for the number of pitches in the best plate appearance (a great plate appearance is around 12 pitches).

Modern Project Scoresheet defensive notations and ball trajectory notations can be noted in the Pitches column as well.

Also note that if you have to, you can keep on writing outside of any of the boxes - the letters render where you put them - by hitting return you can create a block of script that extends into the next inning's AB box (which usually remains empty - unless the team bats around).

In a few days I will finish the new 2011 Blogger Baseball Scorecard. It still needs Per-Inning totals boxes; Pitchers Totals boxes and a Per-Inning Box Score table for across the top. When all that is done I will post the code for the 2011 Blogger Baseball Scorecard to a Google Document and you can run it in a special extra-wide Blogger blog.

The Extra-wide Blogger code is available below:

Blogger Code to make your Blog Wider

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Blogger Template Style

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mh

New York Mets do well by Crooked Bernie Madoff - now plead poverty in MLB bailout

2011-03-03T21:27:00.001-05:00

I love economics as much as I love baseball - when the two intersect, it's heaven.

I'm in Heaven!

Last Friday, The New York Times broke a story about how Major League Baseball had to loan the New York Mets 25 Million last fall because the Mets' were on the verge of insolvency.

Immediately the headline had me thinking, 'Is this 'Great Recession' turning into 'Great Depression II' already?!

Mets CEO Fred Wilpon(R), President Saul Katz

It turns out it's not that the Mets' ticket prices are too high - but rather the Mets' owner, Saul Katz and CEO Fred Wilpon were somehow involved with Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme - that, when the markets crashed in 2008 it was reveiledthat he had stolen over $100 billion (!) dollars from his clients. The Mets' owner and CEO are being sued because apparently, they did well by Madoff - and didn't ask why.

(Who did?)

The Mets owners are named in a Billion dollar suit, part of trustee Irving H. Picard's 100 billion dollars in filings surrounding Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.

From NYT - Feb 25 2011 - "Baseball Gave $25 Million Lifeline to Mets":
(http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/26/sports/baseball/26mets.html)

"[...]

The trustee for victims of Mr. Madoff’s fraud has accused Mr. Wilpon and Mr. Katz of having turned a blind eye to warnings about the suspect nature of his multibillion-dollar investment operation while using the profits they reaped from their investments with him to enrich themselves and fuel their business empire. The trustee, Irving H. Picard, is seeking roughly $1 billion from the team’s owners and their various business partners.

[...]"

So I was close, the Great Depression II isn't here yet - just more fallout from the financial meltdown that will eventually cause it (if we continue down this austerity/union busting path).

But somehow all this just doesn't add up. If Katz made a killing off Madoff, then why is he broke? Lawyers don't cost a Billion dollars to defend against a Billion dollar lawsuit.

It's a private company, so of coarse all the chairs are being rearranged behind closed doors - for example the CEO Wilpon doesn't have any money - he there as a diversion - as is the franchise (we all know MLB franchises don't make money). That Madoff kept his Billionaire investors happy is no surprise - that is what well managed, well funded Ponzi schemes do - they hood-wink lowly $500,000 investors of their homes and savings - not corporations who have office towers full of lawyers at the ready - the corporate clients are window dressing - they cost money.

If you follow the logic of the above thought experiment, the next idea in that trail is that Bud Selig and the Saul Katz are running a PR play that they hope will extracate them from this sordid mess. After all, the lawsuit against the Mets is nothing more than a PR move by trustee Picard, it's not likely to result in the Mets paying any money back - money the Mets received as part of a contract they signed with Madoff --- but it is bad for the Mets', and MLB's Public Image, and in the entertainment industry brand is VERY important. So... a public relations gambit that makes it look like the Mets are poor and thus probably didn't benefit that much from Madoff's thievery - and therefore perhaps the Mets should be crossed off trustee Picard's $100 Billion list of lawsuits.

The timing is interesting too, the season is right around the corner - all the baseball writers are looking for story material before the season proper gets under way. As well, the optics look good for the Mets right now, some of the huge players in the scandal, Wall Street players, are presently suing Pichard because he wants to make public, documents he received from companies like, JP Morgan that show how much money went where. (Bloomberg - Mar 3, 2011: "JPMorgan, Banks Say Madoff Trustee Would Break Secrets Pact": http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-03/jpmorgan-banks-say-madoff-trustee-would-break-secrets-pact-1-.html)

Ah, the webs we weave...

Reuters Picture, New York Mets CEO Fred Wilpon(R), President Saul Katz: (http://www.daylife.com/topic/Jerry_Manuel).

mh

Baseball is like... the fight to save Unions in America

2011-03-02T19:35:00.004-05:00

Baseball always makes for good metaphors, in my opinion it's a metaphor for everything - and that's the starting point of a baseball blog I discovered today.

The Nub's a bi-line sums it up with two quotes:

"If you don't think life imitates sports, you're not reading The Nub”
- Bill Moyers

"Politics and baseball. Interesting blog…called ‘The Nub’ on perfectpitcher.org.”
- Boston Globe

A nice piece appeared on Monday in "The Nub", an essay by Dick Starkey on the place of unions in the 'bigger game' - in The State of the Union game.

THE NUB
Where A-Rod Fits in Resentment Against Team Labor
(http://www.perfectpitcher.org/?p=94#respond)

(Posted: Feb.28/Update 3/1)
by Dick Starkey

Alex Rodriguez, poster-boy for fan hostility to players’ salary levels and their union, was in the news over the weekend.The NYC media learned that A-Rod – he with a $275 million 10-year contract – pays virtually no real estate tax on his $6 million Manhattan penthouse. Rodriguez is benefiting from a city tax abatement program to encourage construction of affordable housing. Although the deal has nothing to do with A-Rod, the disclosure can’t help but add fuel to the national furor over the privileged position unions play in the American economic game.

Eight years ago, the players union blocked a trade that would have sent A-Rod from the Rangers to the Red Sox because he had agreed to a slightly downward adjustment in his salary. The move seemed overly protective and an outrageous example of overstepping to Red Sox fans, especially. It reminded many fans around the country why unions had earned their resentment. More than overstepping, corruption in the labor movement was rife, former rank-and-filers profiting illegally from the leadership roles to which they’d been elected. Then there were widespread pension-padding practices whereby members worked extra overtime hours their final years, the resulting elevated annual earnings the basis for their retirement pay. The perception of featherbedding was also widespread, the sense that union contracts require more members than necessary to do certain jobs. Seniority rules, protecting longtime employees at the expense of well-regarded new employees was – is – another problem. And in many parts of the country, unions were – are – known to engage in racism and nepotism, hiring preferences given to white relatives of longtime members.

All this contributed to Team Labor’s loss of fan as well as governmental support. At that stage of the game, some time after World War II, corporate franchises began playing hardball in an effort to drive the organized labor team from the field. How successful the corporate-and-media game has been can be gauged in this down economy by hearing even liberal commentators talk of labor’s need to agree to a trimming of their “generous” benefits. Those are the same benefits that were the norm when many of our parents and grandparents joined the work force. They were benefits, including job security, living wages, etc. that made possible stable home ownership, college educations and a post-war period of prosperity throughout the country.

The current contest of interests could serve to rally and renew labor’s clout in the American workplace or further accelerate its decline. Team Labor is certainly the underdog, but the final outcome is still unclear. What is clear, says Wash Post-man E.J. Dionne is the potent righty-hitting game plan:”Private-sector workers are taking it on the chin, and conservatives now see a chance to cripple organized labor altogether by killing off public-sector unions, the most vibrant part of the movement. The underlying argument is actually insidious: If workers in the private sector have it bad, shouldn’t workers in the public sector have it bad, too?”

One thing traditional labor contracts provided that the players union does not: job security. Ask respected veterans David Eckstein, Kevin Millwood, and Bengie Molina, to name an infielder, pitcher and catcher among the nearly 50 still-unsigned free agents, most of whom thought they had earned an mlb contract from someone to play another season.

[...]

Read the rest...

Many people are jealous and angry about the salaries the players make - the scale is so far out of whack to the average wage it's difficult to dismiss that part of the equation.

But I do: the salaries of the players are a function of the value of the franchises and the rarity of the player's athletic abilities, discovered in a free market. It is a meritocracy with-in a very profitable entertainment brand. If one can get past the adolescent envy that so much of popular media loves to harp on about, the lessons of the history of the players' union can help us to understand the benefits of unions in the economy over-all.

In fleshing out of certain points in Dick Starkey's essay I hope to further enlighten the over-all debate.

I'll just start at the top:

"Rodriguez is benefiting from a city tax abatement program to encourage construction of affordable housing. Although the deal has nothing to do with A-Rod, the disclosure can’t help but add fuel to the national furor over the privileged position unions play in the American economic game."

So instead of taxing the very rich to pay of low income housing in the same neighbourhood, the city makes an agreement with the developer that they won't pay, for example, real estate tax - as long as they agree to include some low income housing in the development.

And this is because of the "..privileged position unions play in the American economic game."?

Sounds more like the result of the power of multinational corporations, who have instituted a system all across the developed world where corporations pay little to no tax to the commons. Income tax is at the highest rates of all time, but tax shelters provide everyone with a way to pay almost no income tax - as long as they invest some portion of their income in the markets. Most tax revenues to government come from sales taxes now, so as the economy goes so goes government revenues. Corporations benefit by having to pay no tax and have colossal sums of our money to play with as their heart's desire.

The same is true here in the City of Toronto, where it is causing an on-going revenue problem because, by Provincial law, the city has few taxing tools in it's drawer. It's all part of the New World Order, as Bush I put it - or more accurately policies developed by the G8 group of countries, defined by the political label neo-con, or neo-liberal - a set of policies defined by a belief in free market solution to all problems, and a deregulation of the economy - that have resulted in the power of democratic governments to be overwhelmed by the power of groups of corporations.

As the economist John Kenneth Galbraith said, (paraphrasing) the hitherto compartmentalized institutions of the private economy and government have become as one.

From "A cloud over civilisation"
The Guardian, Thursday 15 July 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/jul/15/usa.iraq

By JK Galbraith

"[...]

In 2003, close to half the total US government discretionary expenditure was used for military purposes. A large part was for weapons procurement or development. Nuclear-powered submarines run to billions of dollars, individual planes to tens of millions each.

Such expenditure is not the result of detached analysis. From the relevant industrial firms come proposed designs for new weapons, and to them are awarded production and profit. In an impressive flow of influence and command, the weapons industry accords valued employment, management pay and profit in its political constituency, and indirectly it is a treasured source of political funds. The gratitude and the promise of political help go to Washington and to the defence budget. And to foreign policy or, as in Vietnam and Iraq, to war. That the private sector moves to a dominant public-sector role is apparent.

None will doubt that the modern corporation is a dominant force in the present-day economy. [...]"

For a more recent example look at the financial collapse of 2008. President Obama, after winning a landslide as part of a reaction to a colossal failure of the neo-con economic vision, put in place the same team to mange the recovery as those who's policies caused the collapse - Wall Street financial gurus - some of whom lead companies that were at the centre of the implosion!

I can't see for the life of me where "privileged" unions comes into any of this - except that they are the scape goats the corporate media has chosen to defect attention from their pay masters - and the next target of these corporate backed neo-con's ravenous greed.

Back to Dick Starkey's article - from the second paragraph:

"..the players union blocked a trade that would have sent A-Rod from the Rangers to the Red Sox because he had agreed to a slightly downward adjustment in his salary."

Blame this one on precedents created in court over 200 years of Contract Law disputes. The thing that holds the union house of cards up is the idea that the players at the top of the pay scale 'draw up' the salaries of those at the bottom - through the arbitration system (which is codified in federal law - Cornell University Law School: http://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex/collective_bargaining).

If A-Rod takes a $30 million pay cut (as was the Red Sox offer) that effects the 3rd year guy in his first arbitration year. It is this 'drawing up' that keeps the union united; the star players in their 10th year don't need a union (even though it is the history of the union that has them now receiving their fair share of club revenues) - but guys just coming into the league would get next to nothing if it weren't for the union who negotiate base level salaries, and define the point at which players are eligible to go to salary arbitration.

In my opinion the MLB Players Union's continuing education of players about the history of the union and the game is essential to it's continued existence. As David Stern, Commissioner of the NBA showed, the state of the art in breaking a players union (see NBA, NHL, NFL) is to divide the super stars away from the union by offering them a 'special deal' during a protracted lock-out or strike - which leaves everyone else begging and breaks the union.

Next:

"..corruption in the labor movement was rife, former rank-and-filers profiting illegally from the leadership roles to which they’d been elected. Then there were widespread pension-padding practices whereby members worked extra overtime hours their final years, the resulting elevated annual earnings the basis for their retirement pay. The perception of featherbedding was also widespread, the sense that union contracts require more members than necessary to do certain jobs. Seniority rules, protecting longtime employees at the expense of well-regarded new employees was – is – another problem. And in many parts of the country, unions were – are – known to engage in racism and nepotism, hiring preferences given to white relatives of longtime members."

Unions aren't Mother Teresa, they're not the second coming, some political candidate or messiah who will make a perfect world - they are a sub-culture with-in the culture that birthed them - they are just like us. They are a mirror. As such they are also pretty democratic for the most part - with some glaring exceptions - like some locals and the central leadership of the Teamsters - like (to continue the metaphor above), like the Bush II Administration.

mh

First Toronto Blue Jays broadcast of 2011 - Sunday, March 6th

2011-02-18T22:58:00.003-05:00

Two weeks and two days from today - at 1:05 PM - Rogers Sportsnet is scheduled to broadcast a spring training game from McKechnie Field, as the Toronto Blue Jays take on Pittsburgh at the Pirates' spring training facility in Bradenton, Florida.

Here's a calendar from MLB Toronto Blue Jays site. I've circled the date of first televised baseball game of the year.

Toronto's first spring training game for 2011 is on Saturday, February 26th at 1:05 PM and will be broadcast on The Fan590 here in Toronto with Jerry Howarth and Alan Ashby back in the radio chairs - check your local listings.

Sportsnet published a handy list of spring training broadcasts in both TV and radio:
(link is in the title)

Jays on Sportsnet

On Rogers Sportsnet:
3/6/2011 Toronto vs. Pittsburgh 1:00PM (SPORTSNET)
3/13/2011 Tampa Bay vs. Toronto 1:00PM (SPORTSNET ONE)
3/23/2011 Toronto vs. NY Yankees 7:00PM (SPORTSNET EAST, ONTARIO & PACIFIC)
3/30/2011 Toronto vs. Tampa Bay 4:00PM (SPORTSNET)

Sportsnet Radio The FAN 590 & Sportsnet Radio The FAN 960:
2/26/2011 Toronto vs. Detroit 1:05 FAN 590
2/27/2011 Detroit vs. Toronto 1:05 FAN 590, FAN 960
3/5/2011 Toronto vs. Detroit 1:05 FAN 960
3/6/2011 Pittsburgh vs. Toronto 1:05 FAN 590, FAN 960
3/12/2011 Toronto vs. Pittsburgh 1:05 FAN 590, FAN 960
3/13/2011 Toronto vs. Tampa Bay 1:05 FAN 960
3/19/2011 NY Yankees vs. Toronto 1:05 FAN 590, FAN 960
3/20/2011 Toronto vs. Minnesota 1:05 FAN 590, FAN 960
3/26/2011 Philadelphia vs. Toronto 1:05 FAN 590, FAN 960
3/27/2011 Toronto vs. Baltimore 1:05 FAN 590, FAN 960

mh

BBA suffers self important deception neurosis - eats it own

2011-02-06T08:54:00.001-05:00

(This piece has been held in draft since early December)

So the Baseball Bloggers Alliance has a constitution now, and publishing quotas, and content regulations.

A member must vote on at least one of the BBA's year-end Major League Baseball awards and must be posted to your blog - or the Hall of Fame ballot. One must also publish the results of the BBA's Hall of Fame balloting. And one must publish at least once a month (see Article II below).

Well holy shit! I haven't published anything here since November; so here goes.

I became aware that these conditions existed last month, as several blogs were sent packing for not being on point enough to just answer an email from the BBA. It was at this point I found out I had to vote on one of the years ballots, so as it was Hall of Fame voting time; I check-marked some squares and pushed "Submit", to the democratic (w)ill.

You may be able to tell, I'm not a big fan of Major League Baseball. If it wasn't for Marvin Miller and the Professional Baseball Player's Association, this corporate club of crooks would still be sending great stars off to live their retirements in poverty. If Congress, towards their own ends, didn't happen to be in a position to wield the anti-trust hammer over this group of goons - they would have crushed that union by legal or extra legal means long ago I'm sure.

So when a group of Baseball Bloggers who couldn't even write a proper press release last year start telling me what content I have to include in my Blog... well you can guess I'm going to to find a way to skewer those BBA rule fetishists and MLB at the same time.

Welcome to the nightmare.

BBA Constitution

Baseball Bloggers Alliance
Constitution
Article I: Purpose
The purpose of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance (BBA) is to foster communication and collaboration amongst bloggers across baseball, increasing understanding and knowledge about the game.
Article II: Membership
Any blog that has been in existence three months or has 20 posts is eligible to become a member of the BBA. Members are placed into chapters that correspond with their blogging focus.
To retain membership, a blogger must meet three criteria.
Criteria 1: A blogger must not have a gap longer than one (1) month between posts on his/her blog.
Criteria 2: A blogger must have at least thirty (30) posts during a calendar year, save the year that they join the BBA.
Criteria 3: A blogger must vote in at least one (1) of the three (3) voting opportunities during the year. (See Article III.)
If the criteria are not maintained, a blog may be placed on inactive status or dropped from the organization, depending on circumstances.
The criteria above for eligibility and retaining membership will go into effect January 1, 2011.
A blogger may not have more than one voting blog in the organization at a time. Blogs, websites, or individuals may also be listed as a “Friend of the BBA.” Friends receive e-mailings, are listed on the official BBA website, and may post the BBA logo on their site, but may not participate in any of the voting opportunities. Friends also do not have any requirements to retain their status.
Article III: Voting
There will be three (3) different voting opportunities during a calendar year. As noted in Article II, a member must participate in at least one (1) of these opportunities.
In January, there will be a vote based on the official Hall of Fame ballot for the BBA recommendation of who should be selected. This will be done either via e-mail or internet form. All active members are eligible to participate.
In June, there will be a vote for those to be selected to the Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star Game. This voting will be done via posts on member blogs detailing their selections. All active members are eligible to participate.
In October, there will be voting for post-season awards.
There will be five awards voted on. Newbie of the Year (to correspond with the official Rookie of the Year), Skipper of the Year (Manager of the Year), Pitcher of the Year (Cy Young Award), Player of the Year (MVP Award), and Goose Gossage Award (given to top reliever in each league).
Each chapter will receive two votes for each award. Votes will be delegated in a manner designated by the chapter president. Voters will vote for the league their team is in. In the case of the general, non-team-specific chapters, the voter may vote for whichever league they wish.
Ballots must be posted to the member’s blog (or another designated publically viewable area on the internet) by the deadline set for the award.
Article IV: Miscellaneous
Chapter presidents will be initially selected by the BBA President. Chapters are then free to set up their own methods of changing those presidents in the future, if they wish. If a chapter president resigns with no mechanism in place to select a replacement, the BBA President in consultation with other members of that chapter will appoint a new president.
Members are encouraged to link to other members and the official BBA website as well as posting a BBA logo on their site.

"Truck Day" picking up converts across the Majors

2011-02-02T10:38:00.007-05:00

I'm trying to drum up some interest for the idea of celebrating a Toronto Blue Jays "Truck Day" in Toronto.

'What the hell is Truck Day?!' You may well ask.

Truck Day is the day the equipment truck leaves from the home field for the trip down to a team's spring training facility. We watch it pull off the dock and drive away - that's it. It's funny because it talks to a passion for baseball that makes non-believers stand and stare blankly.

Boston fans invented the ritual; here's a video of "Truck Day" in Boston 2007 - note the AC/DC Truck Day theme song seems to have been dubbed in with "Truck Day!" in the lyrics - or am I imagining that?.

Toronto NEEDS a "Truck Day" more than any other team because we're the most northerly MLB franchise - we're in the deepest grips of winter - we MUST have this early February baseball ritual because at this time of year we're not actually sure there will be an April.

Over at MLB.com "Truck Day" is getting some attention as teams' PR departments get on board.

I grabbed some coverage video associated with the article "Truck Day portends dawn of new season" by Mark Newman/MLB.com.

So here's video of three Truck Day's from 2010 that I uploaded to Youtube:

New York Met's Truck Day 2010

Texas Ranger's Truck Day 2010

Cincinnati Red's Truck Day 2010

Also from MLB.com a nice article on how the Chicago Cubs celebrated Truck Day last year: "Kids help send off Cubs' spring truck".

SB Nation reports in an article from last year, Truck Day 2010: Bigger And Better Than Ever, that in 2010 the Mets, the Cubs, the Indians and the Royals are doing some sort of Truck Day ritual; add to that list Boston and Arizona (??? - a 1/2 hour drive one would presume) and a total of seven teams have gotten on the Truck Day band wagon, so to speak.

(MLB Advanced Media will likely take the bottom three video's down because they aren't advanced enough to understand the value in letting fans embed MLB production. Perhaps this article will change MLB new media policy - but I'm not holding my breath - I'd be dead.)
:)

mh

Toronto Blue Jays "Truck Day" 2011

2011-02-01T21:17:00.003-05:00

Below is a letter I just sent into the Blue Jays, my pitch to try to get their help in organizing a "Truck Day" in Toronto.

'What the hell is Truck Day?!' You may well ask.

Well, Truck Day is the day the equipment truck leaves from the home field for the trip down to a teams spring training facility. We watch it pull off the dock and drive away, that's it, that's Truck Day. But in early February it makes April seem a whole lot closer; and it's funny - it talks to a passion for baseball that makes non-believers stand and stare blankly.

This is Truck Day Boston - 2007

This is Truck Day 2007 - A Re-enactment

Let's Go! Blue Jay fans! Lets pull together and get Truck Day Toronto going!

Note into Toronto Blue Jay's Official Site:

I see you're doing a "60 Day Countdown" towards the start of Spring Training. Many of us baseball fanatics look forward to the day pitcher and catchers report at Dunedin Florida - nothing happens - it's just a day on the calendar we mark; and we know in our hearts that somewhere, way down south in Florida baseballs are being thrown by our favourite players.

Some baseball fanatics in America have taken this silly ritual to the next step - making the day the equipment truck leaves the ball park heading for the particular teams spring training facility - a day of celebration.It happens about a week prior to the day catchers and pitchers report (as that's how long it takes for a transport truck to travel from say, Boston to the City of Palms Park in Fort Myers Florida.

I don't know if the Blue Jays store any equipment up here in Toronto, so maybe there isn't a truck that makes that trip, (I hope there is though); but that doesn't mean we can't have a Truck Day here in Toronto, perhaps as part of the "60 Day Countdown"? I'm trying to drum up some interest in this idea, whether it happens this year or next is un-important, but we NEED a truck Day more than any other MLB team, because we're the furthest north, deepest in the grips of winter - we need the ritual in the depths of February that is Truck Day - to give us hope that there will be actually be an April.

Below are a couple of Tweets I've sent recently that have a link to a Youtube video of Boston's Truck Day 2007 - there are related videos at Youtube with the keywords to more recent Boston Truck Days.

http://twitter.com/#!/m_holloway/status/32224586800037888

http://twitter.com/#!/m_holloway/status/32604317995241472

The video I point to is a 'virtual' Truck Day video from 2007 - and is something along the lines of what we could do here, this year - no budget, just fun.

Any information from inside the organization - whether there is a truck, do you want to help out in any way, etc. would be appreciated.

Michael Holloway
Baseball Blogs
(member Baseball Bloggers Alliance)
michaelholloway111@gmail.com

The note was sent into BlueJays "Help/Contact Us" portal, "How Can We Help?" Media comment section:
(Yeah, it's a MLB portal, they don't make it easy; really Web 1.0 around there. If you want to send a note in, the last link is your friend.)

Follow me on Twitter if you want up to the minute news on this, or check back to this blog, there will be update posts at the "Truck Day" label.

mh

But we don't really you know, we hate baseball...

2010-11-06T17:47:00.007-04:00

Canada has a long association with the game of baseball, going back to the earliest days of it's development - but hockey, and the big bucks the NFL generate up here dwarf the grand old game, even during the MLB postseason.

At the bottom of the MLB page that listed all the game dates and start times through the 2010 postseason there is this little note I found quite amusing...

In Canada, Rogers Sportsnet will broadcast all 2010 MLB Postseason games.
* if necessary

They're two separate items, but the way it's laid out ...

If you followed my scorecard keeping through the MLB postseason you know Rogers Sportsnet broadcast 29.5 of the 32 games played. One wasn't broadcast in favour Major League Soccer's home town Toronto FC, one in favour of Sunday Night Football, and one half of one because of a Toronto Maple Leafs game.

I guess it wasn't, "necessary".

:)

Toronto has always had a low opinion of itself - except when it has a too-high opinion of itself. So when the Blue Jays won the World Series in 1992 and 1993 the problem seemed solved. Suddenly we all walked with our heads high, when somebody said something critical about the city we took it to heart and tried to change - or else wrote it off to the ignorance of someone who should consider what they say before they say it.

But that has waned of late... to really be comfortable again with-in ourselves we need to win every single game, and every championship for as long as there is history.

So now, being interested in MLB - that we don't win - is only a part of an eminent strut, a put on, an attitude --- part of a post-modern understanding that we gleaned from when we were all happy with ourselves --- that if you act provincial, people will treat you that way. And it's not just Toronto, it's North American; we're all sluts for judgment, approval, acceptance.

In Toronto we pretend to like baseball still; and all (sic) the games are on TV, and the bla, bla, bla in the papers... .

But we don't really you know, we hate baseball. It's too slow, there's no hitting, nobody gets their bell rung every 60 seconds, it's boring - and now with the un-juiced ball, and the players off steroids - what's to watch?

At least with the NFL you can watch yourself watching the boring game - through the magic of betting in the pools that run in every bar - people spending all their money getting blotto, hoping to hit the jack pot so they can do it all again on Monday... and Thursday... and Saturday... .

Pretending to like baseball is something you do at work, in polite company, around girls you're trying to impress. In Canada, being openly baseball fan in a bar during hockey and football season is likely to piss someone off,

"RBI this, smart guy."

Thwack!

mh