Remember, as Ozzie Smith taught us, one must have the glove already coming when one is catching the ball, so as to save just that one second that will turn the tie goes to the runner into an out.

http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6548

http://tinyurl.com/2eb2gp

1) You'll need pretty solid definitions of when an infield is playing in.

2) You'll need pretty solid definitions of when an infield is playing back.

3) You'll need to decide if double play depth is a different category.

4) You'll need a sampling strategy so that you have a representative set of shortstops.

5) You'll be better off cataloging the speed of the grounder and the direction (left, right, etc.) so that you can tell if that's a factor as well (since it could be that a deeper-playing shortstop gets to a ball that's wide but has less time to throw home).

6) You'll need to record each instance and re-time it several times to make sure that the first timing isn't off.

7) You'll need some antacid and painkillers from how tedious this would be to get a valid answer.

Caminiti's steroids were OK because he used them to help Leitner's favorite team. Since Bonds played for the wrong team, he is Evil Incarnate.

12 -

1) it's pretty obvious
2) See 1)
3) Yes
4) Hey, if you've got the time, we've got the beer
5) Did you see the part about "average"
6) You're starting to worry me
7) No, you'll need them :) I just want a one-shot best estimate.

From your lips to Ch-i's ears!

All tied up in St. Louis. The greatest player of his generation steps to the plate with two on and nobody out.

David Wells should think about trying to get himself thrown out of this game.

To be fair, I was harping about (Nomar & Pierre over Betemit and Kemp/Ethier) being worse than (Some combo of Phillips, Edwards, Nakamura, Myrow, etc. over Choi & Perez).

BTW: Did you find anything interesting in the projection spreadsheet...?

Then z = 1.008 + 1.209 - 0.818 - 0.982 = 0.417 seconds

If it takes a runner 4 seconds to get from third to home, that could make a difference, and the faster the runner is, the bigger the difference becomes. Does anyone ever play in when Piazza's on third?

(I got the distances by measuring a stadium in Google Earth.)

Well o.k, I guess I was confused by the question. :o)

a - the average time it takes for the ball to travel from an average centerfielder, fielding the ball in from the warning track, to home plate;

b - the average time it takes for the ball to travel from the Dodgers' current centerfielder, fielding the ball in from the warning track, to home plate.

c = a - b. Express your answer in days.

Sorry, can't define "z", but I can offer:

"A right-handed pitcher typically makes the ball spin [counter-clockwise!] about an upward vertical axis, and the speed of the air over the surface of the ball on the left side vL is greater than the speed on the right side vR . According to the Bernoulli effect, air pressure on the right side PR is greater than on the left side PL, and the net force causes the ball to curve to the left---away from a right-handed batter. The magnitude of the pressure differential is

DP = PR - PL = 1/2 rair [vL2 - vR2 ]
and the net force to the left [for laminar flow!] is

F = 1/6 DP A,

where A is the area of the baseball. This sideward force is proportional to the density of air, the speed of the ball, and its angular velocity, and its surface area. Putting in a translational speed of 30 meters/sec and a rotation rate of 40 revolutions/sec, we obtain a force of about 0.1 Newtons, or about ten percent of the weight of the ball. The ball will thus curve by about ten percent of the amount that it drops under the influence of gravity, 10 - 20 cm. This estimate is consistent with the largest values measured in telemetry experiments---and somewhat at variance with estimates from hitters! Even though it may seem modest in proportion, the curve is difficult to hit because the batter must estimate the position and time of arrival of the baseball with[in] accuracies [of] 1 cm and 0.01 seconds, respectively[,] to hit it well. As with the falling induced by gravity, the uniform acceleration of a "curving" baseball has the greatest effect when the ball is closest to the batter. Also, the spinning of the baseball makes its translational speed more difficult to estimate by the batter in the fraction-of-a-second that is available. In addition, the dynamics of the collision between the ball and the bat is affected by spin, just as in ping-pong and tennis.

See:

http://www.iit.edu/~johnsonp/baseball.html

And please note also the report on how to cheat in favor of your pitching staff. And so just one more use for liquid nitrogen. Since our team isn't so power inclined, maybe we should try it [they only audit the Rockies' humidor]? Earl Weaver helped his staff by putting the balls in the cooler before the game [perhaps he understood better than most that pitching and defense win games and a good staff was made better by those chilled balls]. Almost forgot, what with the chilled and deadened ball, wouldn't Juan Pierre then run amok [think of all those bunts reaching the pitcher not quite reaching the pitcher]? Mr. Pierre could go from goat to team hero if only we'd use the liquid nitrogen.

In a game a couple of weeks ago, I'm pretty sure I saw a ball hit up the middle come to a complete stop in the grass right behind 2nd base before a fielder (the shortstop) arrived. I don't think I have ever seen this in the major leagues before. Anyone else?

My question: How weakly must a ball (not a bunt) be hit for it to stop rolling before it reaches an outfielder?

I can't believe it fell to me.

http://tinyurl.com/ysbgwe

I believe the Dodgers hold the record for consecutive hits over two innings with 12.

But never mind that, Parker Brooks retired to go to law school!

I'll alert my Georgetown Law School graduate friends.

holy crap.

The Dodgers won 19-6 and had 28 hits overall.

The 1930 Dodgers batted .304 as a team. That was only FIFTH best in the NL. The league batted .303.

Averages are fine, but if you don't have solid definitions, you have a high probability of seeing an average that is different depending upon who does the measurement.

Or, more simply, z=just a bit longer than you think.

By 1905, playing the infield in was considered "old-fashioned" and in 1910, the strategy was referred to only as a late-inning desperation move.

Las Vegas
Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Lundberg 5.0 9 3 3 3 3 0 5.36
Wright (W, 1-2) 1.0 3 1 1 2 0 0 8.10
Hull (H, 5) 2.0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3.00
Meloan 1.0 2 1 1 1 1 0 1.93

Paul hasn't played in a long long time.

There's no safe harbor!

I'm sorry, I'll make myself stand in the corner now.

---

Damn, Colorado won today. I shouldn't even have to care what Colorado does or doesn't do!

http://tinyurl.com/3bpsob

I'm falling asleep here. Time to watch the Flight of the Conchords episode from last tonight via TiVo.

Bob Carpenter just said that thursday night was likely to be Russ Ortiz v. Joel Hanrahan.

I saw 755 in person, sitting in the RF stands, but I was a Jealous Guy because Nobody Told Me Bonds was going to hit the HR to left.

They lost the ruling. The rule is the runner can leave as soon as the ball is touched.

Thank Choi Bob is quick with the return email.

Nice.

off topic but can anybody explain how i was able to get away with "TROOZ" in online Scrabble just now? www.scrabulous.com if anybody else is interested...

I'm not a rulebook nerd like Bob, so I didn't know that rule. I apparently have 100 years to catch up on.

Eventually, the rule was changed to what it is now because watching such plays is really lame.

(x/y)(15/22) + (x/z)(15/22) = time in seconds

x = the difference of an infielder's position between when playing normally and playing in. (ft)

y = how fast the infielder can throw the ball (mph)

x = how fast the ball is hit (mph)

example -
if the difference of position is 25 ft
and the ss can throw 80 mph
and the ball is hit at 100 mph

it'd be
(25/80)(15/22) + (25/100)(15/22) =
.213 + .170 = .383 seconds.

the ss would save .383 seconds by moving in.

Now what havoc can Chad Cordero wreak?

Keep adding to this thread if there's more to talk about on that subject. Otherwise, even more meaningless new post up top.

(blank stare)

just a point of reference, according to forbes.com, donovan bailey at his fastest can barely touch 27 mph.

(Runners at third do travel less than 90 feet, but they salso tart at or near zero ft/s and accelerate when they recognize the ball will be on the ground.)