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Obituary: The 2012 Baltimore Orioles’ Playoff Hopes

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The Playoff Hopes of the Baltimore Orioles passed away last night at the age of 89 games, dying shortly after a 19-7 trouncing at the hands of the Minnesota Twins, who sometimes don’t even seem to score 19 runs during a single month. Although Hopes, who had not been seen this late since 1997, is still technically alive, doctors confirm that the prognosis is extremely grim and that it is only a matter of time before it is overtaken and destroyed by the American League East and the tough competition for the AL Wild Card spots due to a lack of starting pitching.

The Orioles’ Playoff Hopes leaves behind it’s brother, fellow Baltimore native Michael Phelps Olympic Hopes, as well as it’s distant cousin, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Playoff Hopes.

Services are the rest of the season. In lieu of flowers, send quality starting pitchers.

Kevin Youkilis returns to Boston (AKA: The People vs. Bobby Valentine)

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I was in Boston, it was perhaps two or three days after Kevin Youkilis was traded to Chicago, exchanging his red for white. Figuring that Youkilis gear would now be on sale, I went to a Red Sox store on Lansdowne Street with my father. To our surprise, there still was plenty of Youkilis gear, up all around as if he still was set to to start that night at third. When my father asked an employee about that, there came (roughly) this response:

“Guy gave over eight years to this franchise and won two rings, we’re not just going to forget him overnight. He’s the Greek God of Walks, after all.”

He added that they’d probably end up taking them down and/or discounting them after the end of the homestand.

Right about now, I wouldn’t be surprised if the stores in Boston are still selling Youkilis jerseys. Because, as the Red Sox become the most volatile playoff-contending team since the Bronx is Burning Yankees, Youkilis very well may have been elevated to a martyr-esque cult figure. While he’s been producing in Chicago and writing nice notes to Red Sox Nation, manager Bobby Valentine has been quoted as blaming Youkilis for all of the problems the two of them had, saying that Youkilis never wanted to get over a comment Valentine had made in April about how he thought Youkilis wasn’t “into it”.

This is not something that is going to help Bobby Valentine’s reputation in Boston, much less the Red Sox locker room. Not like he will care, as he is seemingly turning the Red Sox around by making all of them have a common enemy: him. They are far behind in the AL East race, but are very much in the Wild Card race.

Here’s another anecdote: when at a Red Sox-Blue Jays game at Fenway, there was a mid-inning montage on the jumbotron of final games by Red Sox greats in Boston uniforms. It finished with Youkilis, and that part drew a big cheer.

I’m going to guess he’ll get a similarly big cheer tonight. The reaction to Bobby Valentine when he goes to the pitcher’s mound will probably be more… mixed.

Things that still haven’t happened in baseball

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From Tom Haudricourt’s twitter feed:

The thing about baseball is that it has such a long history, and has had so many different styles of play over the year, that it’s rare that something is truly unprecedented. Zack Greinke starting three straight games (due to getting ejected early in one game, starting the game before the All-Star Break, and now starting the game after the All-Star Break) may be the first time it’s happened in almost 100 years, but the mere fact it had happened before (probably many times- pitchers before the 20th century often started consecutive days) is a testament to how many things have happened in baseball.

So what hasn’t happened on the Major League Level?

Well…

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The 33rd Anniversary of Disco Demolition Night

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It was July, 1979. Jimmy Carter was president, ESPN was still a few months away from it’s first broadcast and Laverne & Shirley was the most watched show on television. Against this backdrop, a DJ named Steve Dahl and fellow Chicagoland personality Garry Meier convinced Mike Veeck and his father Bill Veeck, owner of the Chicago White Sox, to hold an anti-Disco rally between games of a doubleheader.

After the Tigers beat the White Sox 3-1 in the first game… madness ensued, as can be seen in this compilation of news footage from Chicago that fateful night, 33 years ago. Keep an eye open for a young Greg Gumbel.

The second game, of course, ended up being cancelled, forfeited to the Tigers. It would be the last forfeit in American League history to this day and the second-to-last forfeit in MLB history (there was “ball day” on August 10, 1995 in Los Angeles).

Interestingly, despite claims that Disco Demolition Night ended disco forever, later that year the Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series while playing Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family” as their theme song.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, it should be noted, have not been back to the World Series since.

2013 WBC Team USA projections Version 1.1

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(EDITED IN ON DEC. 31: As of this writing, the most recent projection for the United States can be found here.)

I previously did a projection of a possible Team USA for the 2013 WBC, but with injuries and other developments occurring, I’m revisiting it to make some small changes. Where there haven’t been major changes, I haven’t really changed what was said in my original projection. Where I have made changes, I will note it with a section marked CHANGES.

A refresher on my selection rules/assumptions:

  • 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.

So, with this in mind, and after much looking over of statistics and histories (as well as injury reports), here are my latest round of projections (after the jump):

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Review and observations of the first episode of the 2012 edition of the Franchise (and the debut of the “Ozzie Guillen ‘Carlin Word’ Counter”)

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The first real episode of The Franchise aired on Wednesday night (a preview episode aired earlier in the year, and this episode recycled some of the material from that). While last year they dealt with the relatively-boring San Francisco Giants, this season, Showtime and MLB Productions are following the Miami Marlins, a far more hectic and colorful club. This episode- which covers roughly the first half of the season- features a bit on the team’s off-season makeover, the opening of the new stadium, Ozzie’s infamous comments about Fidel Castro, and the setting-up of certain players and storylines that will probably be followed throughout the season. It’s a good show, perhaps only failing in not sticking with the Castro incident longer (it was covered far more in the preview episode, if I remember), but make sure no young children are around while watching.

More after the jump (and SPOILERS), including the first installment of the Ozzie Guillen “Carlin Word” Counter:

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Blast from the past: How my predictions look after the first half

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Earlier, I looked back at how my predictions from my time at the Cardinal Courier were doing this season. So, after the jump, another update on those predictions.

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Was that the worst (non-tie) ASG of all time?

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So, the All-Star Game last night was a disappointment. It was a 8-0 drubbing of the AL, led by the NL’s Ryan Braun and the Giants contingent. It had it’s moments: the KC fans giving Chipper Jones a big round of applause, giving Billy Butler the largest applause he ever has and probably ever will be given, Trout and Harper making their debuts, the first bases-loaded triple in All-Star history. But in general, it was something of a bore, one of the least entertaining All-Star Games in memory.

But was it the worst All-Star Game? Well, no, at least it had a clear winner, and it wasn’t cut short by rain.  But what about of the non-ties? Well, looking at other blow-outs…

(jump)

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2013 WBC Projections: Canada (if they qualify)

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It’s a little late for Canada Day, but here are some projections for the Canucks. Well, projections for what they’ll be if they qualify, because they have to: they lost both of their games in 2009, falling to Team USA and then being upset by Italy… on home turf. What’s worse, Canada won’t be able to call upon the major leaguers, as their qualifying pool is this September in Germany, when Joey Votto, Brett Lawrie and friends will be busy. Now, admittedly, a team of minor leaguers and semi-pros from Canada should be able to handle the best that Czech Republic, Germany and the UK will send, but you’d have thought that Canada could handle Italy (even with a few Italian-American ringers), and look how that went.

Still, let’s just assume that Canada qualifies and make the tournament proper, allowing them to get a hold of the rapidly-growing amount of Canadians in MLB. Then they become dangerous, a dark horse that could, conceivably, win the tournament if they got a few breaks here and there. They have lots of guys who can play in lots of places, and

So, as usual, a rundown of the rules, and then the roster after the jump:

  • 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.

Continue reading →

Questions for the All-Star Break

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Here are some questions to ponder over the All-Star Break- not about how teams shape up for the second half, but about the events of the Break itself. Everything is after the jump.

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