After a brief work-inspired hiatus, here’s today's pick o' the RSS Feed, and a hefty cup of joe to go with it…
I may also have been recovering from a deep gash in my skull, which I may have earned from possibly beating my head against a pleasant but firm brick wall as the Cubs were swept by the Astros, but I might be not willing to admit this publicly, as most are probably already tired of hearing about similar possible self-inflicted injuries from other sources…this is totally off the record, of course…
Beyond the Box Score:
Winless Streaks Further Illustrate the Problem with Wins as a Statistic by Bill Petti
I’m sure many folks have been following this story…a streak 28 consecutive starts without a win ends for Jo-Jo Reyes on the 1st of June, but the story isn’t over. Bill Petti, along with many others, has recently used this unusual circumstance to underline the hokey-ness of the Win-Loss statistic for pitchers. Is it a problematic stat? Well, I guess it depends on how you look at it; I never consider a Win or Loss (or even a Save) for a pitcher as being as much of a statement of their performance as it was a statement of the team’s performance in support of that pitcher. I also believe I espouse the pragmatic view of this, and I am pretty sure that MLB and ‘the rest of civilization’ just consider a W or L next to a pitcher’s line and think “eh, he screwed that game up.” Overall, the discussion is great, and is continuing to give more exposure to FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching), which is a better statistic to evaluate a pitcher’s performance, but If one is prone to look at the pitcher independently as a point of focus, then the team performance may be understated in some instances. Nevertheless, this is a fine article that isolates the top 100 winless streaks since 1901, and then…naturally…provides interesting data.
Cubby-Blue:
Cubs 3 Astros 7. Squirrels peeled my skin. by Tim Souers
Weasels ripped my flesh, the reference was not lost on me…while you’re at it, let’s double up…
Cubby-Blue:
Presenting The I Hate The Astros Page, 2011 by Tim Souers
FECK!
Goat Riders of the Apocalypse:
Cubs Manager Mike Quade is really pissing me off by Rob Letterly
Rob, he’s pissing me off a little as well, after reading your article…there are LOTS of “the Cubs suck” rants happening in the Blogoverse, especially after the recent Astros debacle (oooh, my head…) this one is a couple of days old but it’s nice and direct and you should read it.
Goat Riders of the Apocalypse:
Is DJ LeMahieu’s call up trade-related? by AJ Walsh
On a more positive note (seriously), let’s look at the future for a moment, this is an interesting speculator review of the calling up of one DJ LeMahieu…you remember him, his walk-off HR win was the most exciting moment of Spring Training for the Cubs. I know, that seems like it was 2 or so months ago. It was.
Joe Blogs:
How To End The Intentional Walk by Joe Posnanski
While some of us (that would be me) really doubt the overall strategic effectiveness of an Intentional Walk, it can have a killjoy effect in some games, and here Joe vents about it (as well as discusses the matter with Bill James on his “Poscast,” for which a link can be found within this article…
Kings of Kauffman:
John Lamb Hits a Roadblock by Michael Engel
John Lamb. Tommy John Surgery. Nuts…
NPB Tracker:
The English NPB Blogosphere, 2011 Edition by Patrick Newman
Fill your blog roll with these Japanese yakyu blog links…and some folks to follow on Twitter as well!
Old Time Family Baseball:
A Manager .Gif That is Better Than Face-Off, That Old Movie You Probably Forgot About
This is great!
…and even though he was my ‘featured photo,’ no post links and/or discussion about Scott Cousins and Buster Posey. Discussion is over. Some folks need to grow a pair.
Enjoy your weekend…just like that I have several games to scan and post.
Eien no tomodachi,
Stevo-sama
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