We have so much better information available to us today that we didn't have years ago but the casual fan still focuses on the round numbers.

I think a .400 season by anybody would be great for the game. By a Dodger would be even better.

Today, I would have to say Garciaparra, due to his ability to put the ball in play and not strike out. That said odds on that would be 300:1 or something like that.

2 years from now, Martin might be a decent batting title candidate, but not .400.

A walk will
1. allow the hitter to advance 90 feet.
2. if a force is in play all runners effected by the force can move 90 feet.

A Single will
1. allow the hitter to advance 90 feet
2. all baserunners will advance a minimum of 90 feet and possibly 180 feet. Any runner on 3b will score.

A double will
1. allow the hitter to advance 180 feet
2. all baserunners will advance a minimum of 180 feet and possibly 270 feet.

A triple will
1. allow the hitter to advance 270 feet
2. all baserunners will advance a minimum of 270 feet.

A home run will
1. allow the hitter to advance 360 feet
2. all baserunners will advance a minimum of 270 feet.

So with runners on base why is a walk as good as a hit?

It used to be that everybody would look only at batting average, which measures only hits... but hits don't tell the whole story.

Of course a hit is better than a walk... but not as much better than a walk is than an out. The comparison to make is not Madlock vs. Evans, but Evans vs. a .250 hitter who doesn't walk.

8 - You're the first! Glad to hear it.

I remember having fun following Brett's chase at .400. It's such a high number that it would always be relevant if someone is close to it in August.

Having said that, Martin has the highest BA and I think he is our best hitter but he also has other good stats including having our highest OPS at .850 (excluding Saenz but he only has 27 AB's.)

Pierre's main argument against .400 is that he just flat out plays too much, generating way too many AB's to have a chance.

Are you, uh,... are you selling something?

The best way to make up OPS is in the front of the triple hash. I would prefer an batting average heavy .900 OPS to a slugging heavy one, with one caveat: batting average tends to have huge fluctuations based on luck, while isolated slugging and patience are more stable. Thus, while it is nice to get a .900 OPS from a player hitting .370, you have to worry that player may turn into a .750 OPS if the luck changes.

The problem with batting average is personified in one lighting rod player on our team, high average (.290) terrible OPS (.639).

http://tinyurl.com/yo3q24

It appears that I am breaking the spirit of rule 11 if not the letter. My apologies...

http://tinyurl.com/yru5ef

In your example, it's hard to tell if that's the case because the data is incomplete, but Madlock (.336) made $60,000 more than Evans (.356) in 1986.

I'll just nurse that grudge quietly. Silently.

Then I'll strike!

Well, maybe UCSB's won a volleyball championship in there somewhere, too.

But as someone who grew up in SB playing soccer, I had to kind of like that result. (Sorry, don't hate me!)

Btw, I remember getting in trouble in HS for making fun of the water polo team, calling them the "Marco Polo... Marco...Polo..." team and generally wondering how hard that game could really be but then I played it and flailed and had more respect for it.

Especially the coed variety. I played in middle school, and whenever we scrimmaged against the female team, they'd scratch the (inferno) out of our backs.

While I am sure that this won't ease the minds of many, the Dodgers are certainly among the league leaders in scoring runs not by the home run. Only 15% have come via the long ball.

The Dodgers have hit 19 home runs which account for a grand total of 26 runs out of the 170 they have scored.

No other team has a scores less via the homer, the Cardinals (17 homers) are at 22% while the Nationals, also with 17, have scored 34 runs becuase they have hit 5 three run homers and 2 grand slams (both by Zimmerman, his only 2 for the year).

It is no longer viable for a school to say that their students SEEM to be learning. Objective measures are now required. They always have been, but the most productive and evolved schools are using data to drive decisions.

In many ways, baseball is trying to come to grips with how new-guard disciples of data analysis (Beane, DePo) can see results in the same way as old school guys (Gillick, Jockety). The educational community, for the most part, has embraced this love for new and old because it was forced to by Bush Administration Legislation. By being forced, the new and old guard found peace at the same table because both realized that there was merit to the other's arguments.

I wonder how long it will be before the mainstream baseball fan is just as familiar with a player's VORP and Range Rating as they are with BA and the "grit" the player shows.

With 19 HR's this year we are on a pace to hit 81. Our leaders have 4 thus are on pace to hit 17. Jason Schmidt is tied for 7th on the team with 1 HR. We are #2 in ERA and on pace to win 98 games.

In 1965 we were last among 10 NL teams with 78 HR's (co-leaders Lou Johnson and Jim Lefebvre had 12; Don Drysdale had 7); 8th in runs scored (ahead only of the 2 expansion teams in their 4th year); 7th in BA and 1st in SB's with only a 69% success rate. On the pitching side we were 1st in ERA; 2nd in K's. We won 97 games, finished 2 games ahead of SF and won a great 7 game WS against the Twins.

Tony Jackson asked Russell himself what the correct term is that he should use, and Russell said that it was African-Canadian.

The big keys over the last week, Raffy Furcal beginning to hit and perhaps some continuity at 3B.

And also, Juan Pierre made a nice play in CF, good route on a deep fly ball, hopefully his defense will at least get to the average.

Changes I would like to see in the next two months, if Schmidt comes back, then, either Kuo or Chad in the rotation with Tomko and Hendrickson out. If Schmidt is still out, still like to see Chad or Kuo in Hendrickson's spot, not because he is doing poorly, but I think he adapts better to being in the pen. For now, keep Brazonban down in Vegas.

In the lineup, replace Valdez with Kemp and have a four man rotaion in the outfield.

You would have to think at some point Nomar will have a two-three week bout with something and then Loney can make an appearance.

I was irritated by the soccer championship because UCLA was a heavy favorite in that match.

And like Professor Frink teaching kindergarten and hogging the toys, I would have enjoyed it on so many more levels!

The Hogs' baseball team may well be the next truly championship-caliber program in Fayetteville. (Besides T&F, which you covered.)

I think sending Billingsley down to stretch out his arm in Vegas, for the inevitable Tomko or Hendrickson crash, would be prudent planning.

- Brazoban up, Billz down.
- Kuo (who is back soon, yes?) replaces whomever of Tomko or Hendrickson loses his spot first.
- Billingsley waiting to replace the other.

But I'll bet you were surprised to see Tech on the list, so I'm still admitting no error.

Tomko going for us.

Both starters have the initials BT.

You got a problem with that?

19 in indoor track
12 in outdoor track
1 in cross country
1 in basketball

The NCAA does not count football in these totals.

Football – 1964 (by poll)
Basketball – 1994
Men's Indoor Track – 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006
Men's Outdoor Track – 1985, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005
Men's Cross-Country – 1984, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000

I definitely count the 1964 football national championship.

From which part of Arkansas do you come? I grew up in Batesville, where I purchased shoes from Rick Monday's family.

And yet, Madlock's career SLG was better by a hair's breadth. Curious.

They should have asked us. We could have told them that.

JD's SLG was .498 last year; it was .529 on 4/14 and .324 on 5/14. Wow. The Boras Legend grows.

Bill Madlock's salaries for a comparable time:
1985 Pittsburgh Pirates $975,500
1986 Los Angeles Dodgers $841,667
1987 Los Angeles Dodgers $850,000

75
The Mad Dog was a great gap hitter. Line drives everywhere. Amazing to see that the translated Slug% was 486 versus 489 even with Evans hitting 414 dingers to Madlock's 163.

Evans' salary bounced around directly proportionally to, and on a one year delay from, his production.

http://tinyurl.com/32x38c

I know the rest of you will be surprised to know that Arkansans have had such ready access to ballplayers.

And, you know, to shoes.

1. Loney is probably a better defensive first baseman (though Nomar is probably a worse third baseman than whomever he would replace at The Hot Corner)

2. Loney is probably a better OPS guy at this point in his career (though admittedly, he's not hitting well this season).

3. Moving Nomar to third is less attractive now that LaRoche was called up and Betemit seems to be hitting better.

One of those sentences is true.

Did every sentence in his e-mail have its own line?

Sort of like this, or like each of his columns.

He wondered, in his article about it, if Molina had been the first catcher to steal home in the same game as catching a shutout. I found a couple of other instances:

Hundley: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA199706160.shtml
Kendall: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT199805120.shtml

At any rate, I'm sick of hearing about it already.

One of my favorite Andy LaRoche stories occurred in Vero Beach a few Spring Trainings ago. Early in his career, there had been some talk in the off-season of making Andy a catcher. The idea had been thrown around a bit, but never communicated to Andy (since we decided against it). On the day that Andy arrived to Spring Training, he went straight to our minor league equipment room to pick up his uniform. I happened to be in the back of the room at the time helping one of our coaches find some batting practice balls. When the equipment manager accidentally gave Andy a set of catching gear, in addition to his uniform, Andy's response was simply, "Whatever gets me to the big leagues quickest." There were no complaints, rants or raves. Just an honest answer from an honest kid who wanted to fulfill his dream as soon as possible.

http://tinyurl.com/3aopzc

Dolphins with Irish accents, in a sense? I wonder if they like Guiness too?

He is a 26 year old AAAA guy, it should go away pretty fast.
As much as I hate that team it must be nice for the fans to have something to cheer about other than Barry.

Those don't start until the 20th Century. And football doesn't count except for D-1AA and lower.

USC won a lot of track and tennis titles before the NCAA took over the sport.

Some schools have championships in sports that aren't sponsored by the NCAA now. Gonzaga has one NCAA championship. It's in boxing.

4/30/1966- Jake Gibbs
8/8/1963- Joe Azcue
5/28/1963- Johnny Roseboro (Koufax was pitching)

Jack Cust hit a three-run homer off Fernando Cabrera with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to give the A's a 10-7 win over the Indians on Sunday.
Barry Bonds, David Ortiz, Vladimir Guerrero... There are some major league hitters you just can't let beat you in the late innings of a close game. Chief among them all, however, is almost certainly Jack Cust. Cust would have gotten his chance years ago, but every GM in baseball knew that to use him was to risk shaking the very foundation of the game. That Cust has had to wait until 28 for regular playing time will probably prevent him from reaching 1,000 career homers, which is a shame. Still, 500 is very much in reach, perhaps by the end of the season.

Inspired by that post, I ask:

Will somebody please explain to me the phrase "You can't let him beat you?" It's said of star players as a justification for pitching around star players.

My question is, what's the alternative? Say you pitch around Miguel Cabrera, loading the bases. Then, when you're forced throw meatball strikes to Alfredo Amezaga, he comes through with the game-winning hit... aren't you letting Alfredo Amezaga beat you? Is that really any better? I understand it when Cabrera beats my team -- that's why he's a star. When Amezaga beats my team, it drives me nuts.

I just don't get it. Please explain.

Marlon Anderson 2006 LAD:
73 .375 .431 .813 1.244 7 15

Jack Cust 2007 Oak:
32 .346 .469 1.077 1.546 6 14

Depends on what the definition of "much better" is, I suppose, but .300 higher OPS and nearly the same # of HR in less than half the PAs is impressive, I think. The key difference is that Cust has the rest of the season to slip back to something not approaching Ruthian.

Cabrera is more likely to create a favorable outcome (for his team) than Amezaga - probably something like 1/3 vs. 1/4. Most teams, when given the opportunity to pass up pitching to Cabrera and take a better chance (for themselves) with Amezaga, are going to put the odds in their favor.

Major league pitchers are never forced to throw "meatball strikes".

More succinctly, Amezaga beats you less often than Cabrera, so take your chances with Alfredo.

In poker, often you hear the terms, you have to pay to see the cards, every pro will tell you, save your money and don't call sometimes even they pay to see it.

124 Ooh, a player that's already on a steep decline making a gigantic amount of money until 2011? Sign me up.

I had to hit on a 17 once after the dealer accidentally showed his hole-card. He had 19. I did not catch the 3.

I glare at people who split face cards :)

...what % would it have to pay off to be worth it? I bet it would pay off enough.

Maybe this is why I stink at gambling.

I promise, that'll be the last thing I post today that I don't get. All future posts today will be my usual mix of hopelessly uninformed opinions and unwarranted snark.

Sorry, it's just a gigantic pet peeve of mine that people blame the guy who split 10s. It doesn't change your odds in anyway.

"I think some people on here are selling Kemp short - he projects to be a .290, 25 HR guy according to PECOTA. If there was a real offer of Kemp + Betemit for Rolen I think Walt would jump on it in a heartbeat (if Rolen would let his no-trade be bought out). Rolen is 32 years old and projected to be slightly better than his contract value over the next 4 years before the season started (again according to PECOTA). After his awful start, if there were such thing as a mid-season PECOTA run right now it would probably project him to be about fair value for the remainder of his contract. Getting a decent placeholder at 3B in Betemit (during his arb years) plus a stud OF prospect in Kemp that is ready to play every day right now would be a steal in my book. If you didn't like Betemit you could overpay a Lowell with the Rolen savings and still come out ahead production-wise. I doubt the Dodgers would do this but Coletti has shown a willingness to overvalue vets over prospects in the past so who knows."
by mikedallas23

Still, I'll take the money in the bank (figuratively speaking of course - we are gambling here).

Still a really small shift, but....

Ned, what about a guy named LaRoche?

Shame on all of you.

Remember, after splitting, there are many outcomes where you lose twice the initial bet.

I was glad to see some of those Cards' commenters respond after one person posted on Kemp saying "his chief asset is speed" - huh? But then I remembered I don't want him to be traded anyway so maybe it doesn't matter what they think of him.

Kemp is hitting in Vegas -- OPS of 937. If Colletti trades Kemp today, it would be different than the other times he traded prospects.

I'm sure you all noticed how plump he is.

Also: So would Colletti's one bad move be similiar, signing Pierre for 5 years? I doubt he looked at Pierre's OPS before signing him.

Zing.

I do like Pierre's "gristle" factor, though.

So, I don't want to bring up the "I'm worried Russell Martin isn't getting enough time off" debate again, but can we bring it up in 2-3 more days?

More to the game than OPS my friend. A whole lot more.

We could have brought it up 2-3 days ago....
Im really worried about this. Also, very surprising Given Grady's passion for resting players.

You say Drew was a horrible signing because Theo based it on Drew's OPS. But you cite Drew's lousy OPS as a supporting argument. Doesn't make sense.

DePodesta was the bizarro Epstein. For every 1 good+ move their were 3+ bad.

176
I guess the OPS monsters Ortiz/ManRam had nothing to do with the success. Dave Roberts stole an important base one time in one game. Hats off to him but do you think they would have been important without the OPS monsters of the midway that got them to that game in the 1st place.

148 isn't an effective response at all.

So, Scott Hinzman, you have now been agreed with. It is stipulated that there is more to the game than OPS. Anything else you want to say that's constructive, or are you just here to bait people?

J. D. Drew has a career BA of .285 and Slg over .500 - putting him in Fenway sounds like a good plan, so the risk is will he stay healthy. He's underperforming for six weeks so far, at an age where we should still be at/near peak; the Sox have a very good chance that that performance will improve.

Juan Pierre has been in the post-season once.

It's entirely possible that Pierre will steal a base in a clutch situation and that will lead to a Dodger playoff win. But what if the Dodgers had a better hitter there that would have hit a home run earlier in the game that would have negated the need for a steal. Carrying someone that has a better chance of effecting the game in the long term is far more important than having someone who might help in a very specific situation.

Also note that unlike Roberts, Pierre would actually have to get himself on base. That doesn't happen nearly as often as it should.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=5541

Career batting average after the seventh inning, or extra innings, or something like that?

OK, so he's fast, but for crying out loud the man hits the ball like he's got wristbones made of rubber.

That's Juan's value. He's a difference maker in a close game in crunch time. The man has been every thing Colletti bartered for.

The Dodgers are in first place. Heck, according to ESPN, if the Dodgers make the postseason this season, Ned Colletti would be the 1st GM in the history of the game to take a 71 win- team to 2 consecutive playoff appearances in his 1st/2nd season on the job.

The man has gotten it done. Great times.

All together: .303/.350/.377
Men On: .286/.346/.370
RISP: .293/.367/.380
Bases Loaded: .455/.467/.618

Pierre, overall career:
.302 .349 .375 .724

Pierre, situational, career:
2 outs, RISP .253 .326 .336 .662
Late & Close .308 .366 .367 .733
Tie Game .314 .359 .386 .745
Within 1 R .310 .357 .382 .739
Within 2 R .305 .353 .375 .728
Within 3 R .305 .353 .377 .730
Within 4 R .304 .352 .376 .728
Margin > 4 R .291 .336 .370 .706

He is what he is.

Career numbers after the seventh inning? How do we check that?

Pitching, man, pitching.

That is what is known as a insignificant difference.

Why am I even doing this?

This, I'm afraid, is actually close to the truth. Unfortunately it's also neither a compliment of either Colletti nor Pierre.

And bartered?...I do not think it means what you think it means. Unless Pierre signed for $44M worth of pooka shells.

Aw, forget it. You're right.

Too bad there's no stat to determine how his speed and stolen bases affects the opponents in that situation. I think Colletti knows though. That's why he's here. Pierre's going to be sipping lots of champaign with teamates in celebration. That's ther bottom line. The W's. And that's wehat Colletti's all about. The W's.

Well after what they did to us last year I'll be okay if we beat on these guys while they are going through a rough patch.
That series after the all-star break was really depressing and sent us into a tailspin.

If anyone wants to paypal me the 2 bucks per ticket to have them e-mailed to them, let me know at ifallelse1@aol.com

17 innings, 1 run, 7 hits, 10:0 K:BB, and 2 W's.

One rule states "Stealing of home is not permitted prior to May 24."

Maybe LaRoche's impact on the game washed away Betemit's presence in Josh's mind altogether?

For September, fans of teams that are out of contention need something to look forward to, at least they can see some kids trying the major-league level.

Also, at lower age levels, many leagues apply the "No Stealing Home" rule to scoring on Wild Pitches/Passed Balls.

I am, however, a big fan of naps, and now that I'm home from work that's what I plan to do. Can someone wake me up if the game starts and gets exciting and I'm not here? Thanks.

That said, I think he's a very smart hitter and he should be left in the lineup so he can try and overcome that. It shouldn't be so hard for a professional hitter. Besides, he's shown a great eye and an ability to drive the ball. What more can you ask for from a hitter?

Maybe what's happening is that the Dodgers are shopping Betemit to the Cardinals tonight. But who would they be going after? It doesn't make sense to pursue Rolen if LaRoche is going to be the starter at 3rd (although I guess blocking LaRoche would fit with the organizational philosophy at this point). I wouldn't mind trading for Chris Duncan but I doubt the Cards will trade him.

I don't know, I'm turning this into a mystery wrapped in an enigma inside a riddle. I'm just going to stop thinking about it and watch the game.

"The Bison" has stuck for Kemp, and we even had "The Destroyer" for Guzman, but why nothing for Martin?

I Don't know but only one reason makes any sense to me. The Dodgers called up LaRoche and then benched him after less than one week even though he seemed to be doing okay. On Sunday the Reds started a rookie lefthander and the Dodgers started Betemit even though Betemit has done almost nothing this season (and last) from the right side. Betemit is starting again tonight. The only conclusion that makes any sense to me:

The Dodgers are showcasing Betemit for a possible trade.

I need a ruling, is it against the rule to talk about an unrelated play in the game in question?

Or worse, he's Nancy...

He's a sturdy dude who gets the best of collisions, he can motor, not to mention carry the entire team on his back.

2-1 Nats.

I think I'll turn on the Giants game next.

Now the Nationals hanging on to a 2-1 lead over the Braves.

That didn't look so bad to me, and the hard foul by Richardson on Okur was not worthy of suspension, though I feel the ejection was justified.

I just think that if Kobe gets two suspensions for flailing his arms trying to draw a foul, Davis should be suspended for a calculated shot to the head when the ball was nowhere near him or Fisher.

Perhaps he's becoming infected by Stephen Jackson's disease.