2012 BBA Postseason Awards - My Picks

Every year, the Baseball Bloggers Alliance votes on 5 specific postseason awards.  These awards are announced in October, here are the awards and the dates they will be announced.

October 15: Connie Mack Award (Manager of the Year)
October 16: Willie Mays Award (Rookie of the Year)
October 17: Goose Gossage Award (Top Reliever)
October 18: Walter Johnson Award (Cy Young)
October 19: Stan Musial (MVP)

These awards aren't associated with the actual MLB awards, we just do this because we write about baseball quite a bit, and it's a great way to not only publicly enforce our own dedication to writing about baseball (as individuals, as well as an alliance), but also to compare our own collective opinions with those of the actual MLB award equivalents.

You may not know this, but officially, the BBA selections have matched those of the Baseball Writers of America in all but two instances in the past few years or so.  The Goose Gossage award is an exception, as this award is exclusive to the BBA.

For the 2012 Season, here's how I voted for each of these honors.

CONNIE MACK AWARD:

1. Mike Matheny (NL)

2. Robin Ventura (AL)

3. Davey Johnson (NL)

Avoiding the "filling LaRussa's shoes" cliche, it matters not who Matheny suceeded...he's doing a damn fine job with the Cardinals.  Ventura was such a close second, I almost had to give up and call them a tie.

WILLIE MAYS AWARD:

1. Mike Trout (AL)

2. Todd Frazier (NL)

3. Wade Miley (NL)

My heart has Frazier at the top of this list, but my common sense has Trout running away with this award.

GOOSE GOSSAGE AWARD:

1. Fernando Rodney (AL)

2. Craig Kimbrel (NL)

3. Jim Johnson (AL)

My only regret this season, is that I wasn't following Rodney close enough until recently.

WALTER JOHNSON AWARD:

1. R.A. Dickey (NL)

2. Max Scherzer (AL)

3. Gio Gonzalez (NL)

4. Johnny Cueto (NL)

5. Chris Sale (AL)

Both Dickey and Scherzer have been eerily consistent and fantastic this year, if you had to pick two outstanding breakout seasons from each league, they would both be at the top of that list.  Using this as justification for the award from my perspective, this one was nearly a draw at the top spot.

STAN MUSIAL AWARD:

1. Mike Trout (AL)

2. Andrew McCutchen (NL)

3. Miguel Cabrera (AL)

4. Chase Headley (NL)

5. Buster Posey (NL)

6. Robinson Cano (AL)

7. Adam Jones (AL)

8. Yadier Molina (NL)

9. Josh Reddick (AL)

10. Ryan Braun (NL)

Once again, Trout is literally running away with this one.  For me, defense is the primarily unregistered key to the intrinsic variables for an award such as this.  Without proper defense evaluation metrics, you have to watch the player at his position.  Stolen bases don't mean a lot to me, but Trout's presence on the field does. You can't see it in a box score, you have to see it for yourself.  All that aside, what kind of a season can you see for the Angels without Mike Trout as part of it?

Keep an eye on the Baseball Bloggers Alliance website for updates and announcements on these awards.  If you aren't following the BBA feed on twitter, now is the time to rectify that: @baseballblogs

BASEBALL!!

2011 League Championship Series - Best Pitchers*

* according to Bill James' Game Score

And the WINNER is...

RANDY WOLF!

SHOCKER…yes, I am quite surprised, but it’s true. By a little more than a nose, yes. I need to give him a break, I suppose…I have been heckling the Wolfman a little more than usual these days.

Before we start this round of jousting, let’s review Bill James' Game Score real quick.

In case you didn't know, "Game Score" is a neat and easy and FUN way to look at a starting pitcher's line in a Box Score and apply a basic formula on the stats to come up with a fundamental 'score' that "determines the strength of a pitcher in any particular baseball game.

To determine a starting pitcher's game score:

1.Start with 50 points.
2.Add 1 point for each out recorded, so 3 points for every complete inning pitched.
3.Add 2 points for each inning completed after the 4th.
4.Add 1 point for each strikeout.
5.Subtract 2 points for each hit allowed.
6.Subtract 4 points for each earned run allowed.
7.Subtract 2 points for each unearned run allowed.
8.Subtract 1 point for each walk.

The maximum possible score in a 9-inning game with no baserunners allowed is 114, but of course this is possible only if the starting pitcher goes nine innings, strikes out every single batter he faces, and faces no more than 3 batters per inning. The exception to this gets a little hairy mathematically, but is never impossible...because this is baseball.

FYI, the highest game score for a 9-inning game in the history of baseball happened on May 6, 1998, when Kerry "Kid K" Wood famously struck out 20 Astros at Wrigley Field. Yowsah, that Game Score was 105.

So I thought it would be a "hoot" to compile Game Score for all SP during the postseason; I started this at the close of the League Division Series; you can review the LDS results at this post. Now that the League Championship Series is over and we’re going to the WORLD SERIES...here are the LCS results, and the top 5 winners:

Randy Wolf (62) 10/13/11 MIL @ STL NLCS G4
Doug Fister (59) 10/11/11 TEX @ DET ALCS G3
Rick Porcello (54) 10/12/11 TEX @ DET ALCS G4
Max Scherzer (53) 10/10/11 DET @ TEX ALCS G2 - TIE
Matt Harrison (53) 10/12/11 TEX @ DET ALCS G4 - TIE

Quite a change, overall in the top 5 scores themselves, compared to the LDS top 5 (range was 84-72 in the LDS top 5). Right off the top of my head, I would imagine that one contributing factor in the difference in overall scores was more or less attributable to the ‘clinch pitching change’ tactic employed by each of the 4 teams playing in the series, particularly in those crucial Game 6 situations. In the LDS, 38 starting pitchers worked an average of 5.71 innings (or, more accurately in baseball math: 5.2 innings). In the LCS, 24 starting pitchers worked an average of 4.8 innings (again, 4.2 innings in baseball math). So this off-the-cuff theory could have some weight.

Another wacky reality: Randy Wolf had the lowest score among the 38 SP in the LDS. Uh-huh.

Other interesting notes I made, regarding the top 5:
Only 1 NL pitcher appeared in the top 5 (Wolf, at number 1)
The top 3 pitchers earned their scores at home (Wolf, Fister, Porcello)
3 of the top 5 (the bottom 3, in fact) earned “No Decisions” as SP
Of those 3, both teams were the Detroit Tigers and both times the Tigers lost the game
Only 1 SP in the top 5 saw his team advance to the World Series (Harrison)
No Cardinals pitchers made the top 5
Two of the top 5 scores were from SP in the same game (10/12/11 TEX @ DET ALCS G4)

In general (all 24 pitchers with starts in the LCS):
Lowest score – Max Scherzer (20) 10/15/11 DET @ TEX ALCS G6
Lowest score, 4 innings minimum – Jaime Garcia (26) 10/9/11 STL @ MIL NLCS G1
Lowest score by a winning pitcher – Zack Greinke (36) 10/9/11 STL @ MIL NLCS G1
Average Game Score by SP in the 2011 LDS: 41.41

I will now officially revoke my honorary Randy “ERA” Wolf nickname. Until next year.

For now…#HappyFlight

You can review my work on the spreadsheet on Google Docs.

I will continue to tally the Game Score for the World Series, and post the results when that FINAL phase of the postseason is over. Then we can look at a Postseason Sweepstakes review…who will win it all??

If you enjoy my work, I encourage you to spread the word via Twitter
(I am @yoshiki89), and also please leave a comment!

8/19/11 Cleveland Indians 1, Detroit Tigers 4

Comerica Park, Detroit, MI
Game 1 of 3


The EYES have it!!

The battle for the AL Central continues as the Indians visit the Tigers and keep on scraping away at the comfort the Tigers cannot enjoy as the season draws to a close. The phenomenal Josh Tomlin, with his aggressive short-arm delivery, takes the bump against the AL’s 'next-wierdest eyes next to David Bowie kinda-freak,' Max Scherzer.



Kipnis was out of the lineup tonight; still the Indians lineup looked pretty good and oh, my…Josh Tomlin. Great stuff. Too great though…his accuracy in the early innings turned into a classic case of ‘hitters making adjustments to pitchers’ and by the 6th inning, it was a Home Run parade for the Tigers; starting out with Austin Jackson’s 2 run-1 out bomb to center field in the 5th (what a beautiful swing!!) and leading into back-to-back jackos by Alex Avila and Jhonny Peralta with 2 outs in the 6th. The second consecutive HR had Tomlin off the mound for the night.

Meanwhile, Max Scherzer uses his “EVIL EYE” to put a spell on the Indians. Before tonight, he had never thrown more than 125 pitches in his career, 120 for the season. Tonight he went 7 innings and threw 127 pitches, 80 for strikes, and only allowed 1 run (earned, on a wild pitch) on 5 hits, striking out 6. He really ‘did his thing’ tonight.

Miguel Cabrera extends his hitting streak to 16 games. I think this is the first time I’ve seen a game on FS Detroit, and I experienced a rather sickening revelation…Rod Allen is almost as BAD as Joe Morgan in the booth. With stout comments such as “he needs to pitch out to this guy right now and help his team out” (and he DIDN’T) and similar general ‘fire and miss’ baseball analyses, Rod Allen needs to go back to the bench. Tigers fans…how can you stand this pooch?!?