Category Archives: Baseball

The Spoilers

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The resurrection of the Baltimore Orioles, it could be said, began last September. Buck Showalter had said early on that he would be playing his regulars in games against contenders, while using the September call-ups in the games against also-rans.

By comparison, the Yankees, who had stitched up the division by the final series against the Wild Card contending Tampa Bay Rays, decided to send in the call-ups.

So, it was a study in contrasts. When Boston arrived for the series that would decide their season’s fate, they ran into a team with Adam Jones, Matt Wieters, and a mindset that essentially said “This is our World Series.” The Rays, meanwhile, were basically facing a Yankees team that was playing Spring Training baseball.

And so as we barrel through September with several races still close, the question becomes: will the potential spoilers this year be like the Orioles, or like the Yankees?

(jump)

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Other Sports Team Names derived from Baseball

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Given that baseball is the oldest professional team sport in America, it is hardly surprising that other sports teams often derive their names from baseball teams, usually those that they once shared a city with. In general, they fall into a few different categories:

  • Those that just plain copied or used the name of the baseball team.
  • Those who made a name that played off of the baseball team’s name.
  • Those that have a history with a baseball team but have since sort of morphed into something else, while keeping a vague link.
  • Names that actually aren’t connected, but everyone thinks they are.

Take a look after the jump:

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Random Video of the Undetermined Amount of Time: The Start of the 1983 World Series

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On Youtube, you can find almost anything. For example, the start of the 1983 World Series between the Orioles and Phillies, Live (back then) from Memorial Stadium. ABC had the game, and had Al Michaels, Howard Cosell and Earl Weaver in the booth. It’s a little cut up (we only catch the end of a interview with a young Cal Ripken, and they don’t have the National Anthem), but it still is neat.

It’s interesting to me to see how this is different from how the World Series is broadcast these days, partially due to technology, as well as just some general differences and observations:

  • The graphics are extremely low tech, popping up very quickly in yellow and white to tell us that we are looking at “Claude Osteen, Pitching Coach”. Oh, but the managers? Their names flash in a strobe of technicolors, which no doubt gave some people seizures back in the day.
  • And we see the entire teams getting announced before pre-game, like it was the All-Star Game. I vaguely remember that this was done at least earlier in my lifetime, but I can’t remember FOX ever doing it.
  • All of the guys in the booth have bright gold-yellow jackets, as back then apparently network announcers had to have coordinated uniforms, much like the people on the field.
  • Oh, and one of the biggest differences between now and then: Nowadays, that players wouldn’t so clearly and openly be using chewing tobacco (check their cheeks). Oh, they are still using it, but not as many.
  • Orioles fans remembered Kiko Garcia.
  • I like how the Phillies brought the Phanatic along on the road. I don’t seem to recall them doing that during their more recent World Series appearances.
  • Joe Morgan, Pete Rose and Mike Schmidt were the first three in the starting lineup for the Phillies. They’d also make a good first three guy in the lineup for a 1970s National League All-Star Team. Sadly for the Phillies, it was 1983 and the two members of the Big Red Machine were on the downside of their careers. Also, apologies to Sixto Lezcano, but I honestly have to say I had to look that name up on Baseball Reference.
  • Trivia factoid: Jim Palmer is the only man to win a World Series game in three different decades.
  • Ballplayers in the 1980s had way more awesome hair. Behold the impressive Afro of Eddie Murray when he tips his hat to the crowd.
  • Notice how Scott McGregor is said to be in the “ninth position” of the lineup. This is because, from 1976 to 1985, the DH was in effect FOR ALL GAMES REGARDLESS OF VENUE in even years for the World Series, but not odd years. And that, in my opinion, is a weird and often forgotten fact.

2013 WBC projections: The Netherlands

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The Netherlands was the biggest surprise of the 2009 WBC, defeating the Dominican Republic twice and advancing to the second round. Then, in the 2011 World Cup, they actually won the whole tournament, beating out the mighty Cubans in the finals. Clearly, the Dutch are the class of European baseball, and have taken their place as one of the finest baseball nations in the world… sort of.

I say “sort of” because the Netherlands is something of a misnomer. When you first hear of a Dutch baseball team, you might think that they are all from Holland, perhaps playing Honkbal (as baseball is called in Dutch) by windmills or dykes. However, that isn’t exactly true. You see, the Kingdom of the Netherlands is a far larger state than simply Holland. Several Caribbean countries, such as Curacao and Aruba, are part of the Netherlands. This isn’t to say that there aren’t baseball players from the European Netherlands- there are, and in fact one of the two professional baseball leagues in Europe is based there.

The Dutch figure to bring the majority of their previous international teams to the 2013 WBC, featuring players from the US Minors, the Dutch Hoofdklasse and perhaps a few Major Leaguers. They certainly won’t be favored to make noise in the tournament, but it’s unlikely that they will go quietly, and it’s possible that the Oranje just may again shock the world.

So, after much research, the Dutch national team can be found under the jump. The usual rules apply:

  • Any player coming off a major injury or who has a history of injuries is unlikely to participate. This is especially true for the pitchers.
  • Players that will be on new teams are less likely to participate, but shouldn’t be completely ignored, with the exception of pitchers.
  • Teams are made up of 28 players, of which 13 of them must be pitchers and two of them catchers.
  • The pitch count rules make relievers extremely important.

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Great Baseball Lies: No, the tie does NOT go to the runner! Maybe. It’s complicated.

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It is a rule born of the schoolyard, and of Little Leagues, repeated by announcers and fans throughout the nation: if the ball and the runner tie, especially at first base, then the tie goes to the runner.

I myself believed it. But, it turns out, it is isn’t true. The Hardball Times has a good article about it, but it is basically this: there are no actual rules that say anything about ties. Therefore, a good reading of the rules would suggest that the ties don’t even exist, either a runner has clearly beaten the ball, or he hasn’t.

As Hardball Times notes, the rules that govern safe and out are these:

Rule 6.05 (j) A batter is out when, after a third strike or after he hits a fair ball, he or first base is tagged before he touches first base.

Rule 7.01 A runner acquires the right to an unoccupied base when he touches it before he is out. He is then entitled to it until he is put out, or forced to vacate it for another runner legally entitled to that base.

Rule 7.08 (e) Any runner is out when he or the next base is tagged before he touches the next base….

As you can see, there is nothing said about a tie. Basically, it depends upon what rule is followed. Veteran umpire Tim McClelland, for example, goes by the middle rule, and basically says that since the batter didn’t “beat” the throw to first, then he is out. This makes a sort of sense when you look at that rule (7.01): if there WAS a tie, then you couldn’t exactly say that the runner had acquired the base BEFORE he was out.

However, former umpire Jim Evans says that actually, the runner is safe, since he had gotten to the base before he was out. So, in other words, in the case of the tie it could be said that, during a “tie” the runner beat the ball to the bag.

In short, it depends on the umpire.

Panic in the Bronx

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Derek Jeter said on Monday that he wasn’t panicking. In fact, I seem to recall him saying that nobody was panicking, and was even asking the press if they were panicking.

Rule of thumb number one of panicking: If you have to say you aren’t panicking, you probably are panicking, and if you aren’t, you probably will be soon.

On Tuesday night, Joe Girardi was ejected after doing the full Earl Weaver routine.

Rule of thumb number two of panicking: When you have a short fuse shortly after people start wondering if you should be panicking, you are panicking.

Oh, and the Yankees lost tonight, to fall into a tie with the Baltimore Orioles- in September, and only a game and a half up on the Tampa Rays. Which leads to the third rule of thumb of panicking:

When you are panicking, your enemies will take advantage.

The Orioles stink at everything, especially losing

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Some interesting statistics and rankings of the 2012 Baltimore Orioles:
22nd: Their rank in team Batting Average (.245)

23rd: Their rank in team OBP (.310)

17th: Their rank in team OPS (.719)

18th: Their rank in runs scored (569)

17th: Their rank in team ERA (4.01)

9th most: Their rank in hits allowed (1196)

Tied for seventh most: Their rank in Home Runs allowed (152)

20th best: Their rank in WHIP [Walks and Hits per innings pitched] (1.31)

Tied for second most: Their rank in team errors (97)

2nd: Their rank in the American League East

1: Games back of the New York Yankees

It’s Labor Day, and Baseball remains the most peaceful work environment in sports

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What the heck is going on? No, I’m not talking about how the Orioles continue to defy the laws of the universe (again), I’m talking about how, on this Labor Day, Major League Baseball remains the most stable place in sports when it comes to the relations between players and management. Yes, baseball, the sport that had one strike force the season to become a split-season and the World Series get cancelled, and which at one point in the early 2000s seemed to be headed towards another strike, is the best example of labor harmony.

Meanwhile, the NBA lost a significant portion of it’s season last year, the NFL narrowly avoided a work stoppage with it’s players and now is using scab referees due to a dispute with the usual refs, and the NHL is headed down the road to another work stoppage, which could very well annihilate another whole season.

Remember when the NHL was a major sport on ESPN and everything, and not just something that was only popular in about 6 American markets and could only be found on NBC properties? That little transition from being part of the Big Four to being on the outside looking in on the Big Three happened when they lost an entire season to the 2004-2005 lockout. Who knows what might happen if they again end up with a lost season? The Europeans could just say “Screw this, I’m going home” and depart to teams in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, never to return. What little interest in hockey that there exists in the the United States outside of the Northeast and Upper Midwest will disintegrate even more than before. But, by all accounts, the NHL and the NHLPA seem destined to run straight into the abyss again.

So why is baseball avoiding those problems? Partially it’s because MLB is making so much money that it doesn’t really matter, and the revenue sharing has allowed even the worst teams to spin a hefty profit. The same is not true for the NBA and NHL, and the fact it was more-or-less true in the NFL was one of the main reasons why there was only one preseason game that was lost.

However, the bigger reason is, in my opinion, basically the realization by both the owners and the MLBPA that to have a work stoppage, especially a work stoppage that cancels the playoffs, is a case of mutually assured destruction. Even if one side were to “win”, they’d end up far worse off than they had been before. The 1994 strike was proof of that: fans abandoned baseball until Cal Ripken, the home run chase and the late-90s Yankees dynasty brought it back. However, had the 2002 labor dispute ended in a work stoppage, there was no guarantee that any heroes would come over the hill to save the day. It just wasn’t worth the risk, so they came to terms, and have done so every CBA since.

That lesson, alas, has not yet come to the NHL.

The races that will define September

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It’s September, and while Green Day once asked that they be woken up when it ends, baseball fans would be wise to stay awake, because, once again, September looks like it will be a crazy month for baseball. Here are some (but not all) of the big races to look for:

The Chase for the AL East

The AL East will feature many games between the division’s teams this month, but the ones that will really count will be the ones between the Yankees, Orioles and Rays. Including games that have already been played or are being played as I type this, the Yankees and Orioles will face each other six times, the Orioles and Rays will face each other three times, and the Yankees and Rays will face each other six times. The Orioles and Yankees have so far split their first two games of their series (including the last day of August). The Yankees appear to be in control here, especially if they win today’s game against the Orioles, who are still somehow only three games back despite the fact that the run-differential suggests they should probably be closer to three games from being mathematically eliminated than three games out of first.

The race in the AL East will be interwoven with….

The AL Wild Card

The following teams have a chance at the AL Wild Card spots: The three division leaders, the Athletics, the Orioles, the Rays, the Tigers and the Angels. I can honestly say that I have no idea who will win this, other than that it will likely come down to not who had the best season, but who has the best September- a team needs to get hot to win this, and then remain hot during the one-game wild card game. An interesting twist: due to the fact that the Wild Cards will probably have to use their best pitchers to get a spot to begin with, it could get very interesting as to who they will be able to start if they make the play-in game.

Oh, and don’t even get me started on the possibility that there is a tie for the second-place wild card. If that happens, it will be madness, the baseball equivalent of the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Any team that could survive the ensuing gauntlet would probably become target practice for whatever division leader they then face. Unless, of course, the wild card survivor had gained so much momentum that they slice through the entire playoffs like a buzzsaw.

AL Central

The Tigers are going to win this, right? Right? I mean, they have Verlander. And Prince Fielder. And… wait, the White Sox are still in first? I’m telling you, the Robin Ventura hiring looks more genius by the day, and in any other year (such a year where Buck Showalter isn’t bringing the Orioles to a month away from the playoffs), he’d be shoo-in for manager of the year.

 

NL Wild Card

Like the AL Wild Card, but slightly less crazy, I cannot even fathom a guess as to who will get those two spots.

 

No, Joe Mauer is not getting traded.

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So, apparently Joe Mauer has been placed on waivers. Now, technically, seemingly every player is placed on waivers at one point or another almost every year, just as a formality to get an idea of what is out there. 99.8% of the time, it seems, nothing happens. But he’s Joe Mauer, the Dodgers and Red Sox recently had one of those 0.2% exceptions, and having speculation that one of the league’s best catchers is on waivers is a good way to get page views. Why, I’m guilty of that last one myself with this.

So, is Joe Mauer getting traded?

No. I can say with 99.8% certainty- albeit with the caveat that I do not have any sources in any Major League front offices- that he is now. Three reasons:

1) He’s Joe Mauer. He might not be as popular in the Twin Cities as he once was, and he probably is never going to be able to hit for power like he used to, but he remains the Twins’ most popular player and biggest drawing card. With the Twins now getting the 2014 All-Star Game, and with little else to cheer about, it would be a PR disaster to get rid of Joe Mauer for anything less than for multiple All-Stars.

2) Even if they did want to trade him, it’s unlikely anybody would have something to offer and be able to take on all of his salary. Okay, the Dodgers seemingly have broken into the Yankees’ room and stolen their “unlimited money” cheat codes, but money alone wouldn’t do it. It’s highly unlikely anybody would be able to offer both the money and the players needed for such a deal.

3) Players are placed on waivers all the time and nothing ever happens. And there is no reason to believe this is any different.