From The Nosebleeds

30 Teams In 30 Days

2011-11-14T14:33:00.000-05:00

For the next 30 days or so, I'll be highlighting each MLB team and going over general strengths and weaknesses. In addition, I'll highlight a few available players that maybe a great fit for that team. At the end I will be posting my overall predictions for the league including final standings, playoff outcomes and world series winners. Enjoy

Red Sox and Yankees, Baseballs Heroes?

2011-07-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

   The A.L East enjoys a rarity in professional sports. They have the two best teams always fighting for the top and dominating the American League year after year by putting together great teams that scare opposing teams much to the delight of the home and away crowds. Every where they go stadiums sell out or at least give a significant boost to the attendance and always provide exciting baseball to watch, no matter time of year it is. The success the A.L East has is unparalleled in sports. Which brings up the debate:

   Is this fair to the other teams in the division? Should it really be like this, two teams dominating so much? Is it time to entertain the thought of the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees going into different divisions' to try to create a sense of equality in the American League? Or go a step farther and put them into different leagues?

   If you had asked me before the 2008 season I would have said yes, we need a change. At that point, only the Orioles had managed to win the division outside the Bronx Bombers and the BoSox in 13 seasons. I thought it was ridiculous that two teams would be allowed to destroy other teams in the A.L and be virtually guaranteed a playoff spot. How is it fair when two teams that have most of the money in the league gets to beat up on their opponents all the time. Not to mention how boring it is to always have the same teams in the playoffs. From 1995 to 2010, only two teams not named the Red Sox or Yankees have won the A.L East. Baltimore won it in 1997 and Tampa Bay won it in 2008 and 2010. In 15 years, 12 titles were won by them. To go even further. Since the wild card berth was added to the playoff format in 1995, a A.L East team as won it 12 times. Of those 12 times only one team other than Boston or New York won it. That was Baltimore in 1996. That means that in the 15 years of the Wild Card era. Only five seasons finished without both the New York Yankee's and the Boston Red Sox playing playoff baseball. Five times in 15 years. In fact, since the '95 season either New York or Boston has always been in the playoffs. When you think about it this seems like a little overkill and needs to stop.

   But what if all this success is really good for the teams in the division and baseball as a whole? Should we be looking at Boston and New York as the bad guys or the heroes of baseball? Take a step back and look at the big picture, not as a fan of a team but as a fan of baseball.

   Critics and fans of other teams always paint the Yankee's and Red Sox as bad guys because of the money, as if the team with the most money wins the World Series every year. When 2008 came, Tampa Bay finally proved that you do not need to spend much money if you grow from the bottom up with good solid scouting, coaching and player development. They showed that it doesn't matter if Boston has hundreds of millions of dollars to spend , not only that but they earned it all, so they can spend it. It doesn't matter if it's not fair they can get all those high profiled players. Sports business is not fair. The Rays built from the ground up and used less money than anyone in the American League. The Rays only spent $43,820,597, which ranked 29th in the league. The payroll myth has been busted.

Come again? Say what?
The Rays won the division with $43 million? While the Yankees spent $209 million. Boston spent $133. Even the Toronto Blue Jays spent $97 million. And the Rays won it and made it to the World Series?

   When you look what the Red Sox and Yankees bring to the table for the MLB, you notice that they are one of the best thing to happen to baseball. Not only from a business standpoint but a fans point of view as well. It gives the league a benchmark for excellence, you know you are performing at high level when you have matched or bettered their records or if you have taken them out the playoff picture. They are a model for success. They spend the money to make their teams great which has always been the biggest knock on the Yankees & Red Sox. Well hold on a moment. How do you think companies like Wal-Mart or Home Depot got big? The spend a lot of money to market themselves and get in the public eye, backing it with all the products that customer want and the top pro teams do the same thing. There is a saying that you have to spend money to make money and baseball, in no shape, way or form is different. Baseball has a business side that determines the quality of a team. And the market themselves very well teams do doesn't just benefit them, it benefits the league as a whole. From the money small market teams make from the luxury tax to the money they make when the Yankees come to town, all combine to make a pretty penny that you do not get when say, Oakland visits for a weekend series. The Yankees paid $26 million in 2009 and $18 million in 2010 and have paid it every year since 2003. That is injecting a lot of much needed cash into teams that do not make a lot. The A.L East teams benefit from having the Yankees and the Red Sox coming to their home diamond and generating much needed income from ticket and merchandise sales at the stadium not to mention excitement for otherwise boring seasons. If they lost that income then we would be talking about how much money they lost now.

   The also bring exposure to the game. Is there anybody in the U.S. that doesn't know either the Red Sox or the Yankees? Aren't these teams household names in most of the world? Try to find a NBA or NHL team that people in Japan know their top teams. This exposure brings people to the games, which in turn brings cash flow.

    Instead of complaining that they have to face these teams so much because it's not fair, other teams should be upset that they DON'T get to face the Red Sox as much. That could be money in their pockets. Think of the Pittsburgh Pirates or the San Diego Padres, for example. I am sure they would not mind playing either team if it meant a full stadium and income. I will also note that most people do not care if it is or not. This is professional sports, it's a business. Fair is not part of the equation.

   From what the Bronx Bombers and BoSox bring to the game of baseball, it's clear that they have a such a profound positive impact on baseball that is in the best interest of everyone is baseball. In my mind that makes them heroes in baseball.

The Baseball Cheaters

2011-07-06T09:27:00.001-04:00

   In the past 20 years there has only been one thing that I can honestly say I hated about baseball. It wasn't anything to do with the umpires, nothing about whether there wasn't enough home runs or to many, Inter-League play doesn't bother me, I don't care if the Yankees have a surreal payroll. The worst thing I can think of, are players who break the rules. Willingly and often. And then get compared to REAL baseball players. These cheaters show complete disrespect to fellow players, their coaches, their teams, their fans and most importantly, the game of baseball.Whether your Sammy Sosa using corked bats to swing the bat fast or your Barry Bonds using steroids to break the biggest record in baseball, it's disgusting and appalling that we even consider them in the same sentence as Hank Aaron, Ted Williams or Sandy Koufax.

   For instance, Alex Rodriguez is now chasing some of Hank Aaron's records. Aaron is the only player to amass 700 Home Runs, 3000 Hits, 2000 RBI's and 2000 Runs Scored. A-Rod is very close to getting to these milestones. To date he has 626 homers, 2,746 hits, 1,875 RBIs and 1,804 runs scored. But how can we treat these stats as legitimate? He admitted to taking Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) during the 2001-2003 seasons with the Texas Rangers and that right away should tip us off that this may not be the whole truth. It's not like he came forward on his own, reports were leaked and the ONLY reason he admitted to taking PED was for damage control. He knew that all that could be proven was that he took them during that time span, because there was no drug testing in the 90's. For all we know Rodriguez has been "juicing" since he came into the league. And now he thinks that just because he manned up that we should be OK with it.

   And by no means was he the only one. Quite a few of the "superstars" of the late 90's and early 2000's were taking PED's. Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Jose Conseco, Manny Ramirez, Jason Giambi, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Rafael Palmeiro, Gary Sheffield, Éric Gagné, David Justice, Chuck Knoblauch, Brian Roberts, Miguel Tejada, Mo Vaughn and Kevin Brown, to name a few have been proven to test positive. Truly there was and is, a massive stain on the game as a result of the huge mistakes these men have made. I think it's despicable to even consider these players as great.

The argument that steroids didn't improve the skills of players is ridiculous and besides the point. No, the PED's may not have improved their skills, but it certainly improved their stats and that's what I'm talking about. I'll admit that Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez were very good athletes. They have a ton of skill that I only dream of. Let's face it, they are good. They made it into the Major Leagues, which right off the bat, puts them in a small minority of the population that can do that. They have my respect for managing to make it there and staying there.

However, the steroids dramatically increase the strength of a player. If you compare two players; one taking steroids, the other not. They both hit the same amount of ground balls and fly balls and in the same places to the same fielders. I would put a lot of money down that the guy taking steroids would have more hits because his balls would be hit harder, thus making it more difficult for a fielder to catch the ball and make an out. he would have more home runs for obvious reasons. Suddenly said steroid filled player has his average go up a .100 points and doubles the amount of doubles and homers he hits. This is the difference between a Hall of Fame career and a great career. And that's why these guys did it in the first place. They would not and could not be the players who would become Hall of Famers and post the stats they did WITHOUT the steroids.

And I sincerely hope that if Pete Rose is held out of the HOF for gambling on baseball. (which I completely agree with) Those same people had better keep any player that has taken and/or been proven to take PED's. I don't care if he's sorry, I don't care if he "didn't mean to" I don't care if he brought it up himself. PED's cause artificial stats and the HOF is not the place for artificial players, and everyone associated with the MLB or MLBPA should take 0 tolerance on PED's.

Respect For The Game

2011-06-17T09:50:00.001-04:00

Recent actions by a certain hot prospect has left me thinking about how the young stars that are up and coming are treating the game. Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals has been touted as the best thing for sports since LeBron James came to the NBA, has been disrespecting the game of Baseball since he was young and now with spotlight on him he appears to be getting worse. Last week, during a Single A game, Harper was seen watching as his home run sailed over the fence. As if that wasn't bad enough, as he rounded third base he blew a kiss to Greensboro pitcher Zachary Neal. See Below for more.
Reports have come through that it was in fact the opposing pitcher who blew the first kiss. Regardless of who did what first, we should all acknowledge that there was a serious breach of respect by these two minor league players. Neither of them acted like a professional baseball player. Now Harper is playing under a microscope but the problem was with both players, if either of them had adhered to the code of Baseball I wouldn't even be writing about this.

At the same time, I'm not sure it's completely their fault. I believe the influence of some players that have come before them has eroded a lot of what has made Baseball great. Unlike the NHL and the NBA, the MLB has been a sport dominated by etiquette. Players give each other a level of respect and that is why Baseball is so endearing. The trash talk is kept at a minimum and players don't try and show each other up.

Enter the likes of Barry Bonds and Manny Ramirez to name a few. These players continually performed at high levels and at the same time showed up everybody on the field; and showed millions of fans and up and coming players how NOT to play the game. There was at one point a saying for the Manny Ramirez side show. "Oh that's just Manny being Manny."

Here are some links on "Manny being Manny":
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=13103953&topic_id=&c_id=mlb&tcid=vpp_copy_13103953&v=3

Manny Ramirez translates Angel Berroa Interview

Manny Being Manny - high-fives a fan in the ...

Don't get me wrong, Ramirez was a great hitter, extremely talented and one of the best in the last three decades. But he took having "fun" on the field to a whole other level. I could go on and on about the stuff he has done, but I'll just let the above videos speak for themselves. The only thing Ramirez ever took serious about Baseball was hitting. That's all he wanted to do and when it came to being a teammate, fielder, athlete or role model he simply didn't care.

Barry Bonds is the epitome of a stuck up, selfish player and it showed on the field. He was a great hitter sure, but he figured he was God's gift to the world and in so doing he continually disrespected his fellow teammates, players and ultimately the game of Baseball. One unwritten code of Baseball is after a home run, you don't stand and watch it, you put your head down and run the bases. Did Mr Bonds ever do that? Maybe. But mostly he just watched and rubbed it in. It wasn't good enough that he won the battle, he always had to kick a guy when he was down, so to speak.

There are countless other players that deserve to be in this blog and I wish I could include them all, but these two were the touted as the best players and influenced more young players and fans than any one else in the league. When you promote players like this as the best , you're setting yourself up for problems with the next generation. Every kid who grows watching the MLB wants to be like the guys they see. And if it's players like this that their seeing then how can this bode well for the future?

Baseball, for the most part has been a gentleman's sport with each player giving another a certain level of respect which is a big reason why I and countless millions of others, love this game. As fans we should all demand more from these players and not just allow the game to slip into the trash talking garbage that NFL and NBA leagues have become. Just because some great players have abused the code of honour in the MLB does not mean we should continue to allow it to happen.

Ignorant Baseball Fans

2011-06-11T17:00:00.000-04:00

Article first published as Ignorant Baseball Fans on Technorati.

When I read comments on any given team articles, one thing has always made me angry more than anything when comes to fan comments; They go online and argue amongst one another about their teams and publicly bash players and managers. I don't mean when you're with you buddies watching the game and you talk about the teams, I mean the people that goes onto their computer and take the time to complain about somebody for all to see. And the most fascinating part is that the majority of the comments I read are from uneducated fans, who just spout off the latest thing they heard on the radio and have no opinion of their own.

The fact the they feel they know more than MLB player/coach/GM is ridiculous and shows their ignorance. They sit at their computers and criticize guys who have put their time in, whether its playing/coaching in the minors or being on a MLB coaching staff for years before getting the big job. Every coach or player out there earned the job through blood, sweat and tears, there are no jobs just handed to anyone. It's funny especially when you read a few comments on anything to do with how a game was played the night before and you think;

"How many teams come calling any of you when there is an opening? How many of you have even coached a minor league team? How about college/university team?"

I would say very few of these fans have even coached little league (not that it counts). Baseball, and sports in general are not black and white like most people seem to believe. For instance I was reading an article on the Toronto Blue Jays on MLB.com. And these fans were on Aaron Hill and Edwin Encarnacion for their poor play and hitting. Hill, who won a silver slugger award before his concussion (which is a terrible injury, look at Justin Morneau), if he can recovery he will be the great he was, but fans need to keep in mind, a concussion is nothing to take lightly. This injury changes players. Look across the sports world, players play differently after getting a concussion, and time is needed to get re-adjusted to MLB level again. Encarnacion, who admittedly is in a slump, needs the benefit of the doubt. The guy can hit, scouts and coaches have seen it or he wouldn't be on a MLB roster. How many of us seriously watch a team in batting practice, or in off season workouts or in spring training? How many of us have had a conversation with the guy? The big wigs in the organization see something in him, most likely shown during those times, these are things that the average fan would never see and they mean more than the stat sheets.

I'm a big believer in stats. But there are things in sports that cannot be measured on a stat sheet, that are of the up most importance. Like commitment to winning, watching film day in and day out, or playing hard for 27 outs. These are intangibles that cannot be taught and things fans do not see. In closing, MLB players and coaches deserve more respect then they get they all work hard (some exceptions do apply) and have had to work harder to get where they are than most of us do at our jobs. They toiled in the minor leagues and followed their dreams.

New Aspect of The Nosebleeds

2011-06-09T10:18:00.004-04:00

Ive been tossing back and forth on deciding whether to do this or not. You can find player drills and coaching tips all over the web and certainly we don't need another. But looking around I feel that 80% of the drills are meaningless and have no impact on anything let alone baseball and the tips are silly. I also played baseball from the age of 3 til I was 18 and living in Canada I, for the most part, lacked the coaching and solid practices that could have taken me to the next level. My coaches were volunteers and that's how they coached. Most of them were there because a son took an interest in the game and just went out to have "fun". I'm all for fun until the age of 13. After that, winning and playing hard is fun.

So after much debate, along with my reports on MLB players and teams, there will be a new page dedicated to different baseball tip, drills and strategies for up and coming players and coaches. You can find it in the Pages tab on the right sidebar. Hopefully you will find the tips and drills in there to be helpful.

Are Home Plate Collisions Really That Wrong?

2011-06-08T08:32:00.001-04:00


Article first published as Are Home Plate Collisions Really That Wrong? on Technorati.

http://scm-l3.technorati.com/11/06/07/44581/alg-hinske.jpg?t=20110607172655

I've been reading up on the debate with home plate collisions or "blowing up the catcher" and in my opinion, it's fine. I've seen numerous comparisons of the MLB and the NFL and how football works hard to protect it's stars. To anyone who thinks the NFL is any better about "protecting their players," I suggest you watch some film of LB James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOCBh4L5ABk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BfxMalwza4

(There's plenty more from where that came from)

Now try to tell me that the NFL is protecting its most important position. And to anyone who thinks a catcher is as important to his team as a quarterback is, Think again.
But back to the topic. Catchers know that on any given play when there's a player on second or third, there is the potential for a collision. They are prepared for it. Don't get me wrong I know it's a dangerous play and they are at risk. Even if he's behind the plate, he could get hurt by the ball. So can a hitter who is standing in the batters box. How about pitchers? Look at how close they are to the plate. Let's just put up a fence in front of them so a guy like Roy Halladay doesn't get his leg broken (again). Or should we make the ball foam so it doesn't hurt as much? Point being these guys are men and playing in the Majors requires putting yourself in a bit of danger. Let's not sugar coat the MLB because one guy got hurt.

As for the myth that there's no other collisions allowed on the baseball field, hasn't anyone seen a base runner slide hard into second hoping to break up a double play. Remember in Toronto last year when the Minnesota Twins 1B Justin Morneau slid into SS/2B John McDonald and suffered a concussion. I don't think I heard anyone calling for McDonald to be suspended or saying that "the rule needs to be looked at."

It's a part of the game so that it gives the offensive player a chance at the plate, a chance to score. Just like breaking up a double play can give the team a chance at having someone on base.

People who are defending what Scott Cousins did aren't blood thirsty fans or players who love to watch people get hurt. They see the big picture. Injuries happen and it's a terrible and cold part of the game, especially when it's a young gun like Buster Posey.
But let's be realistic, these collision's are few and far between and the injuries do not happen as often as people would you believe. In my opinion there's not a thing wrong with this part of the game. Let's change something that really does need MLB's attention: the All Star game and the home field advantage fiasco. What a disgrace. But that's for another article.

Evil Empire Becomes Evil Retirement Home

2011-05-23T05:00:00.005-04:00

A, rticle first published as Evil Empire Becomes Evil Retirement Home on Technorati.

One of the bleakest things known to this sport is swirling like a black cloud over Yankee Stadium this season. With five star players over the age of 34, the Evil Empire is dealing with the only thing they cannot buy. Time. And not just the Yankee's, plenty of teams have, and are, or will go through this stage of the sports cycle. You build up a team, you win, then it gets old and then you move on to building again. But it seems that the Yanks don't want to rebuild. They just pay the veterans more in hopes that it will somehow make up for the fact that they have slowed down. For example, those five stars I mentioned over 34, are making most of the money on the Yanks;

Alex Rodriguez(.266, 8 HR, 24 RBI) is 35 and the highest paid ($32,000,00/year) player in pro sports.
A.J Burnett(4-3, 3.99 ERA) is 34 and gets paid 16.5 million/year which is the 9th most of anyone over the age of 34 is paid.
Derek Jeter(.255, 2 HR, 12 RBI) is now 36 and getting paid 14,729,365/year
Mariano Rivera(1.80 ERA, 13-16 SV) who is 41 (the oldest, highest paid player) is earning $14,911,701/year.
Jorge Posada(.179, 6 HR, 15 RBI) is 39 and is making $13,100,000/year.
Add that up and you get:

$91,241,066 for five guys a combined age of 185 or an average age of 37.

Now for some perspective. The Cleveland Indians (the best team in baseball) have only two players over the age of 34, both make below the league average salary of three million/year. Orlando Cabrera (36) and Adam Everett (34). And I added up the age and salaries of the five highest paid
Travis Hafner(33) DH $13,000,000
Grady Sizemore(28) CF $7,666,667
Fausto Carmona SP(27) $6,287,500
Shin-Soo Choo(28) RF $3,975,000
Chris Perez RP(25) $2,225,000

The five highest paid Indians earn $33,154,167 for a combined age 141 or an average of 28.2 years old. And they are first in the majors. I say it again. $91 million dollars!

It seems the Yankee's don't know how to let go of the past. Sure Rivera and A-rod are still playing above average, but are they really playing up to their contracts. And then there is Burnett, Jeter and Posada, who have been solid consistent performers and maybe even Hall of Famers, but they just aren't getting it done and are riding on reputation alone and are producing nothing for the squad.

This isn't unique to the Yankee's though. Former greats that don't know when its time to hang up the jersey, are everywhere. How about Brett Farve in the NFL, or Shaq in the NBA? These guys get paid like stars and play like bench warmers. How about Carlos Beltran? Do you think the Mets are having fun paying that massive $19,325,436 for a guy who has two bum knees and gave up the CF position "for the good of the team?" Or J.D. Drew (35) is getting $14,000,000 and has hit more than 25 homers twice and only gotten above 75 RBI's twice. Really? 14 million for that?

I hope the Yankee's realize they are over paying over the hill players. It's nothing against them either, four of the five will probably be in the Hall of Fame and truly gave baseball fans fun baseball to watch. But it's over now, time to let the next wave take over.

The Unexpected Division

2011-05-19T13:00:00.006-04:00

Article first published as The AL Central: Flipped on Its Head on Technorati.

Minnesota entered the year as the defending division champion and favoured to win it again in the highly contested American League central. Along with the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox and an improved Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals teams, the Twins were supposed to be apart of a 5 team race to the playoffs. But the AL Central has been been flipped upside down. If you look at everyother division in the league, somebody would have predicted the way they sit today. This division, however, has been turned on it's head. And it doesn't seem that it will be changing anytime soon; the Indians are the best team in baseball...(see Miracle on Grass), the Tigers are finally playing well, the Royals are enjoying some new found success, Ozzie couldn't get the ChiSox to hit or pitch if his job depended on it. The Twins are the worst team in baseball. So why? How did this division become like this. I'll run a quick rundown of what I think are the biggest reasons. Bottom to top:

Minnesota: (12-27, 13.5 GB) Started the year well, going 20-12 finishing first in the AL. Obviously we can see that spring training means nothing. Justin Morneau is a shadow of his former self, and I think he is done and Joe Mauer is hurt again with no sign of him coming back soon. That along with zero depth adds up to 12-27.

Chicago White Sox:(17-25, 10 GB) This situation isn't a surprise at all. When you have 4-6 starters (2 are playing 3B as a platoon) who are hitting under .250 your gonna have issues. Couple that with a 4.11 team ERA. and say hello to the cellar. Well in any other division you would. But the only advantage the ChiSox have is the Twins.

Kansas City Royals:(20-20 6 GB) Through the first ??? games they were fighting with the Indians for the lead in the division. Having cooled off lately the have dropped to 3rd. They sit middle of the pack in most stats and are getting alot of wins with timely hitting and pitching. So far this young team is heading in the right direction, and the future looks bright if they keep up the .500 pace

Detroit Tigers: (22-19 4.5 GB) After a scary start to the season that almost killed their season, the Tigers club has responded by 8-2 in their last 10 and have even got a no hitter from ace Justin Verlander. With C/DH Victor Martinez back in the line up achoring a solid offence with some of the pitching they have got they may be able to catch the Indians

Cleveland Indians: (25-13 0 GB) The Indians are winning by flat out domination. They are in top 10 in most offensive and defensive stats and have solid pitching. And they have kept it going. No body saw this coming except themselves, and I truly believe they will be in the playoffs come October.

The saddest part of all of this is the fact that this division could have had a highly competive race to the finish with Detroit and Minnesota, and if you factor in the Indians success so far, it would have been very special. But now we'll be lucky if Detroit can even make the AL Central interesting at this point. Well here's hoping anyway.

New Study: Cloudy Skies Vs Sunny

2011-05-18T13:00:00.003-04:00

                  Article first published as Weather Impact on Baseball on Technorati.

I came across some interesting research that has by Wes P. Kent and Scott C. Sheridan from Kent State University. They wanted to see what kind of impact really had on a baseball game. So they gathered and analyzed stats taken from 35,000 major league games, of which 10,758 were day games, from the 1987 to 2002 seasons. All the weather data is from local National Weather Service centers at the time of each game.
I think the most surprising thing about the research is that it actually proves the weather has an impact. And I don't mean the wind and the rain. The amount of sunlight affects the stats to. For example: Strikeouts show the most significant change going from 5.95/game when it's cloudy to 6.40/game when theres a clear-sky. Along with the K's, batting averages are affected:

Cloudy Day:                                     Sunny Day:
Home: .266                                        Home: .259
Away: .256                                         Away: .251

The ERA on sunny vs. cloudy days changes quite a bit to:

Cloudy Day:                                     Sunny Day:
Home: 4.26                                        Home: 3.93
Away: 4.68                                        Away: 4.50

Another stat is the home winning percentage. Overall, the home team wins over 52% of the time: Winning 56% of the games played under clear skies, 52.3% of the games played under cloudy skies

Now I don't want to admit it but I don't have the numbers for these next rounds of findings. The article posted is just a sample and you have to pay to be able to view the entire. I'm cheap and have no use with the rest of the info on the site. But the study found differences in:

-Amount of errors rises during clear day games compared to cloudy day games.
-Fly outs increase and ground outs decrease between daytime and nighttime games. (cloud cover does not affect.)
-Results at individual stadiums vary, certain stadiums display a strong association between baseball performance and changes in cloud cover (Obviously in connection to the position of the sun during games)

This is the first research that has been done in this field that I have come across, and will be interesting to see some more research on this subject. Imagine a day when you don't play a certain player because it's a cloudy day. Like Josh Beckett has a terrible ERA when it's cloudy at Fenway Park. Or it's sunny out and you have to sit Albert Pujols cause he just cannot hit. Kind of an interesting development in a sport that's already over-saturated with stats

All the information and stats source.

Hanley Ramirez, What's Wrong?

2011-05-17T11:43:00.002-04:00

Article first published as What's Wrong with Hanley Ramirez? on Technorati.

Hanley Ramirez, an amazing athlete, who always excels, is struggle through first two months of the season. The pressure is on as fans and critics alike seem to think that he's super human and should always be a dominating player. There's no room for any kind of drop in performance. But before you jump all over the guy; before you start clamoring for his replacement; before you say that he's over the hill or he's getting paid way too much; you need to ask some questions and look further into the issues before we get all bent out of shape.

Is Hanley just a slow starter?

Does it usually take a month or two to heat up? Some players just have a tendency to start off slow, but warm up as the months go by. So lets look at Hanley's career in April.

Apr '06: Total:
.304, AVG, 2 HR, 8 RBI .292 AVG, 15 HR, 59 RBI

Apr '07
.364, AVG, 4 HR, 7 RBI .332 AVG, 29 HR, 81 RBI

Apr '08
.333, AVG, 8 HR, 18 RBI .301 AVG, 33 HR, 67 RBI

Apr '09
.289, AVG, 2 HR, 12 RBI .342 AVG, 24 HR, 106 RBI

Apr '10
.279, AVG, 2 HR, 7 RBI .300 AVG, 21 HR, 76 RBI
Apr '11
.200, AVG, 0 HR, 9 RBI .208 AVG, 1 HR, 13 RBI

Judging by stats alone, you see that his April stats hover around .295, 3 HR and 10 RBI for the first month, which is a good start. So what has happened to Hanley to make him struggle? From his first season, in which he won Rookie of the Year honors, he didn't experience any kind of sophomore slump. I don't think anyone expected this.

Is this a contract issue?

Issues like these usually arise from contract disputes (like a certain first baseman named Albert). Sadly, Hanley cannot use that excuse. He is in the third year of a lucrative contract. Unless, of course, you try to tell me that six year $70 million dollar contract is a really big distraction. Or maybe the money IS the problem. And then you see the year he signed (2009), he hit for the highest average and hit the most RBIs in his career, while swatting 24 dingers. Sorry Hanley, no dice there.

Not enough offensive support?

When a few players are struggling, it has a ripple affect on everyone else. Just like a team hot streak can be a positive, a team on a cold streak can be very big negative.

If a star player has no one around him to either be on base or protect him in the line up (meaning having another hitter that is as dangerous hitting behind him, forcing pitchers to pitch to him as opposed to just walking him) his stats will suffer, whether it's his RBI totals or hitting for average and home runs.

Let's take a look at the stat sheets. How are the Florida Marlins doing this year? As of today, they had a record of 21-16 and were 2.0 games behind the Phillies. Not bad. How about the offensive numbers of Hanley's teammates?

3B-Greg Dobbs.338, 2 HR & 12 RBI
1B-Gaby Sanchez .331, 6 HR & 23 RBI
OF-Emilio Bonifacio .301, 1 HR & 6 RBI
OF-Mike Stanton has .229, 5 HR & 14 RBI
OF-Chris Coghlan has .264, 4 HR & 19 RBI

Obviously getting enough support; these five players alone are leading the team to their 23-16 record. Especially with how Sanchez and Stanton are hitting right now, there is plenty of fire power to back up him up. No they're not at his level yet, but it's not like he's Ryan Zimmerman and has nobody on the team that can hit for power. By the looks of it, the only thing that's missing is Ramirez. If he starts hitting like we all know he can, the Marlins will be a dangerous team — maybe the team that can upset the Philles star studded rotation and win the division.

Has he at least been able to play solid defense?

Sort of. His career .968 field percentage isn't the Gold Glove caliber that scouts thoughts he could be, and has room for improvement. Currently he sits with a .953 field percentage but has committed 6 errors in 32 games (tied for 7th in the MLB). While Hanley is ranking high with errors, he is very prone to having high numbers in this area. For his career he's compiled 104 errors or an average of 17.3 errors per season. So nothing new there.

Just an off year?

Can it really be as simple as an off year? Can we chalk this up to just a bad year? I don't think Hanley is having a bad year, maybe a few months. But I really think that Hanley is to good of an athlete and loves baseball way too much to play this way for an entire season. He will start to turn it around.

"What defines Hanley is his love for the game. He truly seems to relish every moment he is at the ballpark. That has turned him into a young leader on the Marlins," from JockBio.com

All stats and profiles courtesy of: http://www.mlb.com/
Player profile: http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=434670#sectionType=splitsCareer&statType=1&season=2006&gameType='R'
http://www.jockbio.com/Bios/Hanley/Hanley_bio.html

The Enigma Named Jose Bautista.

2011-05-16T16:58:00.006-04:00

Article first published as The Enigma Named Jose Bautista on Technorati.

Everyone that pays attention to the MLB should have heard of Jose Bautista, and how he went from hitting 16 homers to blasting 54 in 2010. Was this a fluke or was power always sitting in that bat looking for the right opportunity, hiding in wait until he settled down and got comfortable? Players have great years, and fizzle out all the time. Guys named Phil Plantier and Pete Schourek come to mind. Can Bautista keep this going? Everybody wants to know.

Bautista always had the ability to be an everyday player that hits for average and power. Jeff Manto, Pittsburgh’s hitting coach during Bautista's time with the Pirates, figured he could be a 20-25 HR player. The biggest issue was his attitude. In one single A game, after getting out three straight time's on well hit balls, Jose was so upset that during warm up for the inning his throws continually sailed into the stands — which got him pulled from the game. Bautista was a perfectionist that couldn't let things go. When he made mistakes, he dwelled on them and it showed in his play. The very thing that has made him into the great hitter he is now, almost destroyed him as a baseball player.

It wasn't until 2004 that Bautista went through a period of growth. During GM meetings in the winter of 2003, at the age of 24, the Baltimore Orioles claimed him in the Rule 5 Draft. Jose went into his first spring training knowing that there was a chance he could be playing in the majors. After earning a spot as back up for Melvin Mora at 3B, Jose was only given 11 AB to make a impact and hit .272 with 0 HR and 0 RBI. Then he was traded to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, received only 12 AB. Again he was traded, this time to the Kansas City Royals. He failed to give any glimpses of promise with KC and after 25 AB he hit .200 with 1 RBI. After being involved in a 3 team trade, he was back with Pttsburgh, where he finished the season hitting .200 and 0 RBI. Finishing his rookie campaign with a .204 AVG and 0 HR and 3 RBI. Now you can look at the stats all you want, but they don't show you the whole story. He was given little playing time, and probably given little support or help with working out the kinks.

In '05, after a brief stint in the majors, was back in Double A. This experience of playing in the majors, along with being back where he was comfortable, really matured Bautista. It undoubtedly led to the resurgence in his career and most importantly his attitude towards baseball. That season he hit 23 HR in 117 games, showing Pittsburgh that he really could play.

In the '06-'07 seasons he was finally given solid playing time and began producing, averaging 15 HR & 57 RBI's. Jose was fulfilling expectations.

He began 2008, slotted as a starter for the first time in his career. From June 14th-24th, Bautista hit five homers in a span of 9 games, showing off some power potential that hitting coaches were talking about. Besides that though, Bautista struggled offensivel,y for most of the year and eventually lost his starting job to the newly-acquired Andy LaRoche. He was optioned to Triple-A in August. He was then traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for Robinzon Diaz. (steal for the Blue Jays!) Jose finished the year off with 15 HR, 44 RBi hitting .238.

Jose made major progress as a hitter during the '09 campaign. Thanks to hitting guru, Dwayne Murphy, who has been transforming hitters like Adam Lind and Aaron Hill into bona fide MLB stars, he improved his mechanics plate approach. Relaxing at the plate, being prepared for pitches before they came in. This lead to him making the Blue Jays roster. The Jays traded 3B Scott Rolen due to personal issues and OF Alex Rios, via waivers. This resulted in Bautista becoming a starter, and even eventually became the lead-off hitter after SS Marco Scutaro was hurt. Then he started surpassing his potential. Bautista had a stretch of 5 HR in 6 games at one point. Bautista finished the 2009 season with 13 HR (10 of which came in the month of September).

And the rest, as they say, is history. Jose went on a tear in 2010. breaking the Blue Jays single season HR record with 54. Winning the AL Hank Aaron award, The Silver Slugger award for the OF position. And finished 4th in MVP voting.

Much like 2010. When April '11 ended, Bautista was leading the AL in every offensive category that matters:
AVG (.366), HR (9), BOB (28), RS (25), OBP (.532), SLG. (.780), and OPS (1.312). His 28 walks broke a club record set by Carlos Delgado in 2001. And won the AL Player of the Month.

Major league career statistics (courtesy of http://www.wikipedia.com/)

			Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI
2004	Baltimore Orioles	MLB	16	11	3	3	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
2004	Tampa Bay Devil Rays	MLB	12	12	1	2	0	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
2004	Kansas City Royals	MLB	13	25	1	5	0	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
2004	Pittsburgh Pirates	MLB	23	40	1	8	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
2005	Pittsburgh Pirates	MLB	11	28	3	4	0	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
2006	Pittsburgh Pirates	MLB	117	400	58	94	16	51	–	–	–	–	–	–
2007	Pittsburgh Pirates	MLB	142	532	75	135	15	63	–	–	–	–	–	–
2008	Pittsburgh Pirates	MLB	107	314	38	76	12	44	–	–	–	–	–	–
2008	Toronto Blue Jays	MLB	21	56	7	12	3	10	–	–	–	–	–	–
2009	Toronto Blue Jays	MLB	113	336	54	79	13	40	–	–	–	–	–	–
2010	Toronto Blue Jays	MLB	161	569	109	148	54	124	–	–	–	–	–	–
MLB totals			736	2323	350	566	113	335	–	–	–	–	–	–

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Bautista
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/162088-mlb-top-20-one-hit-wonders
http://www.jockbio.com/Bios/J_Bautista/J_Bautista_bio.html
http://www.baseball-reference.com
http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=430832#statType=1&sectionType=career&season=2011&gameType='R'

The Miracle On Grass

2011-05-09T14:31:00.008-04:00

      Article first published as The Miracle on Grass: Cleveland Indians on Technorati.

Perhaps the biggest story of the year is the "The Miracle on Grass," better known as the Cleveland Indians; a team that is enjoying the most improbable success. The Indians sit 24-13 the best record in the AL. The question everyone has is, can they keep this up?

When the season started, I don't think one person would have said the Indians had a chance. But low and behold here they are. But is their pace sustainable? How does a team go from the bottom of the league in standings, and in almost every offensive, defensive and pitching category, to the top 5 in the same categories.
One thing is for certain, this kind of thing doesn't happen every year. However, it is rather exciting.
In a year when Lebron James ungracefully dumped the Cleveland Cavaliers, the city really needed a story like this to take their minds off the NBA playoffs.

So what is the secret? I know a few franchises are wondering what the Indians front office did, but what I feel is the biggest change is the maturing youngsters on the team. A guy like Justin Masterson (5-0 2.11 ERA) who as been having a great year, has come into his own and is leading a team of quality players.
The stats for this year's squad is amazing, right now the Indians sit:

                 Top 5                                              Top 10:
        AVG (4th, .264),                             R (tied for 6th, 181),
        OBP (4th, .334),                             H (Tied for 10th, 335),
        RBI (tied for 5th,174),
        HR (Tied for 5th, 41),
        OPS (4th, .755),
         SLG (5th, .420),
         2nd in power rankings

Probably the biggest acquisition of the off season, Orlando Cabrera, who has always been solid at the plate, has become a mentor to this team. Grady Sizemore is someone we all expect big things from, and guess what, he's playing bigger. He has played half the games of the starters. And yet he leads the team in doubles (10) and HR (tied with 6). I could keep going with the stats of the various starters like LaPorta and Santana, etc. Although fun, it gets boring. Bottom line is, this team is firing on all cylinders right now. And it doesn't stop there, the pitching they're getting is rock solid as well:

                     Top 5                                                Top 10:
                Hits(5th, 239),                                   ERA (6th, 3.31),
                 Runs (3rd, 106)                                HR (7th, 20),
                WHIP (Tied for 5th, 1.21)                 BB (7th, 94)

The Tribe is getting quality starting pitching from Masterson, Josh Tomlin and Fausto Carmona, while getting a 3-2 record, 5.69 ERA over 12 starts from four other starters. Not dominating, but it does put your team in position to win. They don't walk a lot of batters, they keep the ball in the park. Back that with the late game pitching of Tony Sipp (10 Holds, 1.72 ERA), Vinnie Pestano (1.32 ERA), Rafael Perez (0.68 ERA), Carlos Perez (3.00 ERA) saving 10-11, add that to the .987 fielding percentage (Tied for 6th) and committing 16 errors (Tied for 6th) and you now have a recipe for a first place team.

From the way everything stacks up, The Indians have a great opportunity to win the division. The Detroit Tigers (22-18 & 3.5 GB) have stormed back after a dismal start to the season but I'm not convinced they can sustain the level their at.

The Kansas City Royals (20-19 & 5 GB) had a surprise start, although they have trailed off in last 10.
Then the Minnesota Twins (12-25 & 12 GB) and the Chicago White Sox (16-24 & 9.5 GB) are both struggling and show no signs of getting out of their slumps and have zero chance of getting into the playoffs.
The only thing that will stop the "Miracle On Grass" is themselves. They're in a position where all they need is to play .500 baseball, and they will find themselves going into the playoffs come October.

All stats courtesy of www.mlb.com

What Happened To The Champs?

2011-05-07T20:35:00.008-04:00

Article first published as What Happened To The Champs? on Technorati.

So far after 35 games this season the San Francisco Giants sit 2nd in the division at 19-16, 0.5 GB of the leading Colorado Rockies. The only thing keeping them in the hunt is the recent poor play of the Rockies. Last year at this time they were leading the division with a neat and tidy 16-10 record. The only reason they are second though is because of how bad the other teams in the division are. The LA Dodgers sit behind the Giants, for now. With all the off field drama distracting the team from baseball, the Dodgers will be lucky to finish with a .500 team this year. Then there is Arizona at 15-19, who are capable of being an above .500 team. And taking up last place in the division, last in the NL and 2nd last in the league (just ahead of the Twin's and Astro's) sits the San Diego Padres, and the only thing that can save them is a miracle. Now remember this San Fran team is virtually unchanged from the team that won it all, they have successfully retained just about everyone but SS Edgar Renteria (who was the WS MVP).

So whats the problem? Well most fans would be quick to point out the injuries the Giants have sustained. While that may be part of the issue, it's a hard case to make with these 2011 Giants. To date the only pitchers on the 15 day DL are: Santiago Casilla (Inflamed right elbow) and Barry Zito (Right mid-foot sprain) both due back in mid to late May and the hitters: Mark DeRosa (3B) (Inflammation in left wrist) Placed on DL on April 27. was hitting .333 in 11 games before being injured has unknown return date. Andres Torres, (CF) due back early may (Strained left Achilles tendon) and the biggest cause for concern is Pablo Sandoval,(3B/1B) Due back in June (Broken hamate bone in right hand), and arguably the best hitter on the team was hitting .313 with 5 homers and 14 RBI's before getting injured. So lets look at the numbers and see if these guys really impact the line up enough to hurt the Giants.

On the offensive side, we already know that "Panda" being out is going to hurt. The young star has lost a considerable amount of weight, starting to play good defence and was swinging a hot stick. As mentioned above was hitting .313 (leading the team), with 5 homers, which lead the team and 14 RBI's (3rd on the team) in 24 games. So obviously him being out will slow the team down, but what about DeRosa and Torres. Torres, in his first 8 games of this season, he was hitting .286 with 0 HR, 0 RBI and 7 SO. I'll admit 8 games is no indication of how much he means to the team. In 2010, Andres hit .268 with,16 HR, 63 RBI with a 128 SO in 139 games. But where the Giants really miss him is in CF. He is flawless in the OF especially in CF. In 285 career games Torres has only made 3 errors, and never more than one a season, do the math and that's a career field percentage of .995%. As for DeRosa, well, he's supposed to make an impact. Last year he only played 26 games hitting .194 1 HR and 10 RBI and going back onto the DL for a recurring injury does not help (a torn tendon sheath). According to some sources the surgery he had before signing with the Giants was a complete failure. But there is some good news for the Giants. In the two season's before he was injured .268, with 44 HR and 165 RBI.

If you compare the two seasons, we see a few trends and one big difference:

Pitching:
2010                                     2011
1st in ER (546)                      3rd in ER (111)
1st in ERA (3.36)                    4th in ERA (3.19)
1st in Hits (1279)                   1st in Hits (249)
1st in SO(1331)                      2nd in SO (294)

Defensive:
2010                                        2011

3rd least errors (73)                4th most Errors (26)
Tied 1st in field% (.988)            Tied 2nd worst fielding% (.98)

Offensive:
2010                                         2011

7th best AVG (.257)                  13th in AVG (.234)
5th least in SO (1099)               Tied 10th most in SO (257)
13th in walks (487)                  12th in walks (103)
6th in HR (162)                      Tied 9th in HR (28)
1st in GIDP (158)                    3rd in GIDP (31)
9th in RS (697)                      15th in RS (121)

The pitching for the Giants has been absolutely stellar. Led by Tim Lincecum, they have last year they had the fewest hits, most strikeouts, lowest ERA and gave up less runs than any other team in the NL, showing that pitching really does win championships. Combine that with one of the best fielding percentages and giving up only 73 error's, and you have the recipe for success. And to this point, the San Fran pitching has lived up to the dominating performance of last year, sitting in the top five of all 4 categories again this year. The offense from '10 to this year is almost unchanged. but looking at the defensive stats thus far in '11 and we perhaps see the issues of this years squad. They have committed the 6th most errors in the NL and have the 4th worst field percentage. Quite a drop from 2010 WS team. No matter how good your pitching is, if you throw the ball around and don't make all the routine plays, guys get on, the momentum swings to the other team. The biggest thing for the Giants is that they need to tighten the defense. If they seriously want to catch up to the Rockies, they need to play sound fundamental baseball, they kind that got them to the World Series in the first place. As I already said, this team is unchanged from last year's so it shouldn't be an issue.
On top of all this right now they have 6 current starters (7 if you include demoted 1B Brandon Belt, who was a starter), hitting below .250. I have highlighted those players on the list below(by position of the starters)

Outfield:
Pat Burrell is hitting .237 5 HR 9 RBI's and 21 SO.
Cody Ross is hitting .245, 1 HR and 5 RBI in 18 games.
Aaron Rowand is hitting .267, 1 HR, 9 RBI and 30 SO.
Nate Schierholtz .254 2 HR and 8 RBI.

Infield:
C - Buster Posey .243 4 HR 19 RBI and 22 SO.
1B - Aubrey Huff is hitting .210 3 HR 16 RBI / Belt .192 1 HR 4 RBI.
2B - Freddie Sanchez hitting .271 2 HR and 11 RBI.
SS - Mike Fontenot .233 2 HR and 7 RBI.
3B - Miguel Tejada is hitting .195 1 HR and 9 RBI.

When your offense is struggling that much, especially Tejada and Huff, who you expect to hit for higher averages and produce more, your gonna have issues. Another stat to point out is the stolen bases. The SB leader for the Giant's is OF Darren Ford with 4, and he's not even a starter. I believe the Giants need to start being more aggressive on the base paths to try and jumpstart a sleepy offense and inject some energy in the stagnant defence and got over their World Series hangover, and maybe, just maybe they can they can overcome the lead the Rockies have on them and win the division again this year.

(ALL STATS ARE COURTESY OF www.mlb.com)
Team Page courtesy of mlb.com: http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=sf&tcid=mm_col_sitelist
Team Stats courtesy of mlb.com: http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/stats/sortable_team_stats.jsp?c_id=sf

Why Ubaldo's Struggles Shouldn't Surprise Us

2011-05-06T09:46:00.007-04:00

First published Ubaldo's Struggles Shouldn't Surprise Us on Technorati.

Ubaldo Jimenez 's struggles have been a bit of a mystery to the Colorado Rockies. Just one year after going 19-8 with a impressive 2.88 ERA and holding opponent's to a cool .209 AVG, Jimenez has struggled thus far. Going 0-2 with a sky high ERA of 5.88 and teams hitting .222 off of him, he has failed to be the No.1 starter he showed he was capable of being last year. Why you might ask, is Ulbado having so much trouble this year?

Last year he looked like one of the most dominating pitchers around. Well maybe it's the teams hes faced this year. Maybe they have been solid teams and have been able to wear him down. That would explain the high ERA right? Actually no. To this point he has faced Average teams in Arizona and Florida and sub-par teams with San Francisco and Pittsburgh, and had very poor starts, failing to reach past the 6th inning in all 4 starts so far this year. Looking at these teams stats for this year, doesn't really help Jimenez's case either.

In his first game of the year, Ulbaldo faced the Arizona Diamondbacks who sit 4th in their division with a 12-15 record. And searching into the teams offensive numbers we see that any "ace" should have handled this team just fine. The D-Backs have the 17th best AVG in the Majors, are 18th in Walks, 17th in OBP which are fairly average numbers. But if you want to be a Major League star, you have to beat the average teams consistently. Ulbaldo had a terrible time in his opening start, he gave up 7 hits along with 6 runs (5 earned), 2 HR's,1 walk and hitting 1 batter while recording just one KO after throwing 98 pitches over 6 innings on his way to a no decision. Now while he did get hindered by a right thumb injury, he stayed in the game and was unable to produce.

After getting off the disabled list, Jimenez looked to bounce back against the San Francisco Giants who are 13-15 just .5 games ahead of the Diamondbacks making them 3rd in the NL West. Sure, their the defending World Series champions, winning the coveted trophy in 2010, but they definitely are not playing like it in '11. The Giants have the 7th worst AVG in Major League Baseball, strikeout the 12th most of any team and get the fewest walk, 29th in the league are 29th in OBP and grounding into 25 double plays, good for 6th worst in the league. Not really, championship caliber stuff. Actually not even close. So how did Jimenez do against them? Well shortly after giving up 6 hits 4 runs (all earned), gave up a homer, 2 walks, and hitting another batter he was pulled before the 6th inning after he threw 92 pitches, he was on the hook for loss when he left, and his team was unable to recover. Although on the plus side he did SO 6.

Next on the schedule was Florida, who is doing very well and is holding there own against the Phillies in the NL East. Right now brandishing a record 18-9 sitting tied for 1st in the division, we would expect them to give Ulbaldo some trouble. But then we see how the Marlins are offensively and how Hanley Ramirez is hardly producing the way Florida needs, you'll notice that the Jimenez of last year would have kept this team in check. They have the 13th best AVG, are 18th in SO have the 14th most walks and are 11th in OBP. Definitely a good team, but an ace should be able to keep his team in the game against the Marlins. While Jimenez only gave up the one hit which was a home run, he walked 4 batters, 1 HBP, giving up 3 earned runs while recording7 SO over just 5 IP. This game he threw 96 pitches and earned a no decision.

In his most recent start at home against Pittsburgh, who everyone knows is a well below average team, Ubaldo recorded his shortest start of the year and one very embarrassing outing at that. Pittsburgh sits third in their division enjoying a "successful" season thus far by their standards, going 14-15 to this point, and with the stats they have posted they are lucky to have even that record. The Pirates have the 26th worst AVG in the MLB, strikeout the 2nd most in the Majors and have grounded into a double play 31 times, good for 5th worst in the league. Any No.1 pitcher should have had a field day with this team hitting the way they do. One of the few bright spots for the Pirates is they are sitting 7th in the league for drawing walks, which they showed why in this game. They tagged Jimenez for 4 walks, 6 hits, 4 earned, one IBB, over 4 innings of work and throwing a total of 88 pitches getting hit with a loss in this game.
But is this really anything we shouldn't expect from him? Here's some stats from the past 4 years:

-0-2 with 7.20 ERA, .253 AVG in Apr'11
-5-0,.79 ERA, .186 AVG in Apr'10 Tot; 19-8 2.88 ERA, .209 AVG
-1-3,7.58 ERA, .303 AVG in Apr'09 Tot; 15-12 3.47 ERA, .229 AVG
-1-2, 5.60 ERA,.291 AVG in Apr'08 Tot; 12-12 3.99 ERA, .245 AVG

As you can see this isn't the first time Ubaldo has had a poor start to the season. So a case can be made that he just has a slow start. Now if you go back to last year, yes there is the very impressive 14-1 record with 1.83 ERA for the months of April, May and June. Lets look at the rest of the season though. For the months of July, August, September and October he went an average 5-7 with a 3.99 ERA, hardly the pitcher he was in the first three months and not what I would call an ace. And Colorado definitely needed Ulbaldo to be the ace of that staff, having nobody else win more than 10 games for them and Houston Street unable to be healthy the whole year, resulting in a disappointing 9 GB of the division lead and 8 back of the wild card. In 2009 he went 15-12 3.47 ERA and .229 AVG while helping the Rockies to a wild card birth in the postseason but he also had Jason Marquis (15-13, 4.04 ERA and Jorge De La Rosa (16-9, 4.33 ERA) and Houston Street (35 of 37 SV, 3.06 ERA) to help carry the workload.

So the bottom line is, that while Ulbado Jimenez has the tools and stuff to be a great pitcher, he doesn't have the accuracy and throws to many pitches to be effective enough on a regular basis. Here is an interesting stat, that some may or may not put much stock in to. The following is the strikes to pitches ratio.

2011: 374-221 = 59%
2010: 3600-2176 = 60%
2009: 3592-2197 = 61%
2008: 3366-2030 = 60%
2007: 1348-821 = 61%
2006: 112-68 = 60%
Total: 12392-7513 = 60%

As shown by that chart Ulbado is on the low end of accuracy, he throws to many balls and that causes his pitch count to sky rocket. Not only that, when you throw as many 2-2, 3-1, 3-2 counts as Jimenez does, that means that hitters get used to seeing your pitches, they become accustomed to your delivery, pick up trends, because let's face it; they are big league hitters. That's what their paid to do. Throwing so many pitches obviously also tires you out, making you less effective going into the later parts of games. That in turn, affects the bullpen and has a ripple effect on the rest of the team. That's why sold starting pitching is crucial to a teams success. Don't you think the Phillies having Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels is huge reason to why they have so much success? This is a major part of Jimenez's struggles this year, through out his career and why I believe he will not become the ace the Rockies need, although he would be a terrific No. 2 starter for a lot of teams. When Ubaldo or any pitcher for that matter is at his best he is attacking the hitters going after him and throwing lots of strikes forcing opposing hitters to make contact.

**All Stats courtesy of www.MLB.com**

Andre Ethier's Streak & The Dodgers

2011-05-06T09:36:00.004-04:00

Los A Now while Andre Ethier's run at 29 games in a row, and counting, may not be anywhere near as magical as what Joe DiMaggio did back in 1941 with his 56 game hit streak and 73 of 74 games for the New York Yankees. But with all the uncertainty surrounding the ownership and front office of the team, in a time when the Dodgers are having extreme financial problems to the point that they need to borrow around $20-30 million dollars just to meet payroll with an additional $200 million loan pending awaiting approval from the MLB, this streak couldn't have come at a better time. While the MLB appointed Tom Schieffer tries to figure out where all the money is going in the Dodgers organization, Ethier is doing something to keep the fans excited about the Los Angeles Dodgers, and especially if he can keep it going, can almost single handedly keep fans interested in the club and bring in some much needed positive attention to the franchise from the media. Apart from all the off-field antics by Frank McCourt, Ethier is making himself a great case that he is THE cornerstone player to lead this team to the first World Series since 1988 and perhaps emerging as one of the best players in the MLB. So while we wait for the dark cloud circling above Dodgers Stadium to clear, we'll all enjoy watching as Ethier continues his quest to break the unbreakable record that Joltin' Joe set so many years ago.

(ALL STATS ARE COURTESY OF WWW.MLB.COM)