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Tag Archives: MLB
Chris Sale (or at least his appetite) is not human
Chris Sale‘s eating habits were recently unveiled to the world in a Wall Street Journal article, and they are sickening but impressive.
For example, it is said that during a four-hour flight, the 6’6”, 180 lb pitcher ate 2 ice cream sundaes and 30 bags of potato chips.
Now, admittedly this is likely just another tale of athletes exaggerating, but, just for kicks, this is roughly what the nutritional info for such a meal would be:
I’m not entirely sure how he would survive such a eating frenzy without throwing up. His metabolism must be something completely unlike anything else on this earth. There must be something unique about him. If everyone could have such a metabolism, obesity could disappear overnight.
In other words, I ask that Chris Sale reconsider his career in baseball and donate his body to science. Within his body may be the secrets of ending obesity and who knows what else.
Make it happen!
How the Yankees are pulling it off
As of this writing, the New York Yankees are in first place in the American League East with a 25-14 record, despite the fact that they are supposed to be old, injured and dysfunctional. I mean, that’s what everyone was saying (or at least thinking) before the season. It’s what I thought, what you thought. Heck, it’s probably what the Yankees themselves thought.
And yet, there they are, in first place. Again.
So how are they doing it?
I have four theories, and three of them are actually legitimate theories and not me trying to be funny!
1. Pitching
While injuries ravaged the lineup, the pitchers have been comparatively unscathed. Sports Illustrated noted, for example, that the starting rotation is sixth in the American League in ERA, and, of course, Mariano Rivera still exists. Seriously, that guy is not human. No guy can be that good and that classy for so long and still be human.
Anyway, if you have good pitching, sometimes it doesn’t matter what type of offense you have. And the Yankees have had good pitching.
2. The Last Stand of The Old Guys
Hey, remember when everyone was joking about the fact that the Yankees acquisition of Lyle Overbay, Travis Hafner and Vernon Wells had locked up the 2006 World Series for the Yankees? Yeah, well, they are hitting a combined .276. Go figure.
3. They are winning the close ones
Much like the Orioles last season, the Yankees record is actually better than their Runs Scored vs. Runs Allowed would suggest. In fact, if they were playing to their pythagorean record of 22-17, they’d be either one game behind or would be tied with the Orioles (depending on whether you assume the Orioles would be playing to their pythagorean as well). So why do they have a better record than they “should”, anyway? It’s probably because they are 8-2 in one-run games. This fact and Mariano Rivera are probably related.
4. A Deal with the Devil
The dark truth, however, is likely more terrifying than you can imagine. You know all these injuries the Yankees have had? They actually are sacrifices to some sort of devil, demon, or other evil entity in exchange for a hot start before Jeter and friends return from the DL.
Or maybe it’s one of the first three. Yeah, probably.
The All-Announcer Team
This certainly has been done before, but I thought I’d do it: What if you had to make a team made up of announcers and color commentators (either as regulars or as common fill-ins) from either TV or Radio, assuming you could have them in their prime? Well, it’d probably look something like this (there is a jump after the pitchers). I note what team or, in cases where they work for a national network, network they are currently commentating for.
Starting Pitching Staff: This is one of the big strengths, with Jim Palmer (Orioles), Bert Blyleven (Twins) and Don Sutton (Braves) already in the Hall of Fame and with Tom Glavine (Braves) and John Smoltz (Braves and TBS) are going to join them one day. How you’d order such a rotation is anyone’s guess.
Relievers: Dennis Eckersley (TBS), of course, is the closer. Jeff Montgomery (Royals), Larry Andersen (Phillies), Al Hrabosky (Cardinals), Dan Plesac (MLB Network), Rob Dibble (the obscure Compass Media Network radio broadcast) and Mitch Williams (MLB Network) form the rest of the bullpen.
(JUMP)
The Favorite Memories of Baseball Writers, Bloggers, Analysts and Fans
For this first anniversary, I decided to write. Not just articles, though. I decided to write people– as many of the baseball writers, analysts and bloggers I could think of. I asked what seemed to be a simple question: what is your favorite baseball memory?
My reasoning for this little project was all over the place. Partly, it was because it seemed like something that would be interesting. Partly, it was because I was curious to see who would answer. And, of course, partly it was because I thought perhaps it could tell me, and all of us, a bit about baseball fans.
For that reason, it was a rather eclectic group I sent the question to, ranging from big names that everyone has probably heard of, to the proprietors of smaller or more specialized pieces of the web. I also tried to ask the fans, bloggers or writers of a variety of teams, since the fans of one team would, of course, probably have a different favorite memory than fans of another.
In the end, I received responses from less than half of the people I sent the question to. But, hey, hitting in the upper .300s is nothing to sneeze at.
So what did I learn?
First off, as probably could be expected, a lot of the memories involve fathers. Pirates blogger Pat Lackey, for example, remembered going to a doubleheader with his father and seeing new-dad Rob Mackowiak have the day of his life. Others treasure memories of playing baseball with their children or going to their first game with them.
Secondly, the favorite memories in many (but certainly not all) cases involve actually going to games. And, again, I’m not surprised by this. Baseball, perhaps more than any other sport, is one that is best when seen in person, where you can get a true feel for the crowd, take in all of the unique sights, sounds and smells, and see the shifts and strategies at work. On TV, it just isn’t the same.
Third, and connected to the second thing, a surprising amount of favorite memories had nothing to do with a team winning a championship. Oh, sure, there are some, but for many, it was comparatively small things like scrambling to get tickets to see Rick Ankiel make his position-player debut, like Daniel Moore of Viva El Birdos did, or hearing that your their favorite childhood player had just hit their first (and only) big league home run, as Joe Posnanski remembered.
But lastly, what’s great is that everybody’s favorite baseball memory is unique and personal. It’s not like a bunch of people all had the same memory (although there were a few that were close), no, everybody had something unique, with a special meaning to them. For some cases, it was because it made them fall in love with the game. For others, it was seeing or experiencing something they never had before. And still for others, it was just something special, something that can’t be duplicated and will forever stick in their minds.
In other words… they were all reasons why we love to watch baseball.
So, after all of that, want to see the responses I got? Go below the jump:
German ballplayer Donald Lutz made history last night
Last night, during the Reds-Cardinals game, history was made: Donald Lutz made his debut, grounding out in his lone pinch-hit AB against Adam Wainwright.
What’s so special about that, you ask? Well, Lutz, in making his Reds debut, became the first German Major League Baseball player in history (there have been some that were born on military bases there or who came over to America as young children, but Lutz is the first player who can truly be said to be “from Germany”). Although born in Watertown, NY, he grew up and spent essentially his entire childhood with his mother in Germany, not playing baseball until his teenage years.
Who knows how long this first stint for Lutz will last (he is, after all, mainly on the roster right now as a replacement for Chris Heisey while he is on the DL), but still, it’s not every day you can say that something happened yesterday in baseball that hadn’t happened before. So congratulations to Donald Lutz, the first German MLB player in history.
Picture of the Day: Bubbles Hargrave
Bubbles Hargrave had a brief appearance with the Cubs before WWI before becoming a mainstay of the Cincinnati Reds in the 1920s. Here’s a picture of him with the Cubs, from the Library of Congress:
MVP of Yesterday (4-20-2013): Bryce Harper… again.
3-for-3. Two homers. 3 RBIs. A walk. All in a close 7-6 Nationals win. Bryce Harper is pulling ahead in the MVP standings (which can be found after the jump).
Honorable mentions: Daniel Nava, Lorenzo Cain, Joey Votto, Chris Davis, Mike Trout, A good chunk of the Cleveland Indians
The MVP of Yesterday (April 16, 2013): Miguel Cabrera
By going 3-5 with a HR and 4 RBIs in a win against the Mariners, Miguel edges out David Wright, Joe Mauer, Robinson Cano and others for the MVP of Yesterday.
The MVP standings can be seen below the jump:
MVP of Yesterday (April 14, 2013): Hiroki Kuroda
Throwing a complete game 5-hit shutout against the Orioles, Hiroki Kuroda of the Yankees is the MVP of Yesterday.
Honorable Mentions: Michael McHenry, Clay Buchholz, Josh Hamilton, Austin Jackson
MVP Standings (after jump):
The Baseball Continuum 