Heath Bell fielding a ninth inning bunt off the bat of Will Venable went about as well as you could expect for someone with Heath Bell’s physique. The Diamondbacks beat the Padres 5-2, and Bell picked up his seventh save of the season. I’d like to say I appreciate his effort on this play, but I really just love watching portly men belly flop.

Hey, it’s time for your weekly feed of looping images. Come and get it. We lead with Andre Ethier and his ‘hold me back’ stare directed at home plate umpire Dan Bellino. Ethier was upset with a call during his at-bat, or maybe it was the pitch that may or may not have been directed at his head by Mike Gonzalez. Whatever the case, that’s a cold ass stare.

We got spitballs, beer toss, terrible swings, and more staring after the jump.

Spitball comin’

Payback beer toss

Leave ‘em hanging

Slap happy

Mike Leake really knocks the crap out of one

One last caress

Just a little off the mark

Crazy eyes killah TLR

The exception of the week

If a Dodgers team sporting a $230 million payroll to go along with a 19-26 record wasn’t going to cost Don Mattingly his job, it appeared as though some criticism of its players and possibly management may have. This is not the case, though, as Mattingly has received yet another vote of confidence from the Dodgers’ suits.

Earlier this week, Mattingly questioned his team’s compete level, as well as the construction of the Dodgers roster. This came on the heels of a vote of confidence from general manager Ned Colletti. Mattingly, so it seemed, gnashed his teeth at the hand that feeds. Alas, this was not the case. We’ll chalk this one up to ‘motivation’, I guess.

Dodgers vice president Stan Kasten reiterated the ball club’s support of Mattingly on Thursday. Kasten and co. did not see Mattingly’s earlier tirade as a shot directed at themselves, according to a Ken Rosenthal report.

“I know what Don is trying to do, what his intention is,” Kasten told FOXSports.com on Thursday. “It’s to light a fire, kick-start the team. He’s trying everything he can think of. We’re all behind him.”

Perhaps it helped that Mattingly’s Dodgers went out on Wednesday afternoon and pounded the Milwaukee Brewers 9-2. Just put a bandaid on that compound fracture. Donnie Baseball lives another day.

The fact remains that Mattingly is in the final year of his contract, and the Dodgers are performing far below expectations. He would make an easy scapegoat for the club’s troubles. Never mind that injuries, under-performing high priced players, and a lousy middle infield have hurt the Dodgers, someone will eventually be levelled with blame for the club’s struggles. Surely, it can’t be Ned Colletti and the buckets of money he’s handed out over the last year.

Even with matching votes of confidence from his superiors, Mattingly still seems like a dead man walking. Could Colletti’s support and Kasten’s corresponding pat on the back be the dreaded kiss of death? That may ultimately depend on how the Dodgers fare in this weekend’s three game set versus the St. Louis Cardinals. Not exactly the kind of team that a manager would want to wager his job security against.

The Dodgers open an interleague series against the Los Angels of Anaheim on Monday, another team faced with question marks in the face of a high priced roster. The Angels have won five straight games, and find themselves sitting in third place in the American League West today. The Dodgers may have to be in the midst of a similar upswing if Mattingly will be seated across the diamond from his California counterpart, Mike Scioscia, on Monday.

Whether anyone’s willing to admit it or not, this seems like Mattingly’s last stand.

…And the rest

Tom Tango and Morgan Ensberg on ‘being locked-in’ [Tango]

Did you see Mike Trout’s home run from last night? You should probably see Mike Trout’s home run [Getting Blanked]

Matt Klaassen’s catcher defense rankings demand your eyeballs [Getting Blanked]

FOX Sports Kansas City messes up a graphic [Awful Announcing]

J.P. Arencibia has two walks and 55 strikeouts [Brisbee Nation]

Never change, Blue Jays fans. Actually, no, please change.

I don’t know what kind of weather system blew through Kansas City tonight but our planet’s prevailing physics don’t appear to apply in the Show Me state.

What other possible explanation could there be for a baseball swing that short and compact to impart such violent force upon a baseball? The kind of force required to send a baseball careening some 460 feet the other way needs a bigger swing and a bigger man, doesn’t it? HOW? WHY? I’M BAMBOOZLED.

SUPERLATIVE SUPERLATIVE MIKE TROUT EXPRESSION OF DISBELIEF PROFANITY SUPERLATIVE.

Today’s edition of the Getting Blanked podcast is a “who’s who” of Major League baseball talent. Sure we talk about Jose Bautista for a while, but after that it is all Worley, all the time – with a little MONTERO thrown in for good measure.

Listen to the podcast directly here.

Subscribe to Getting Blanked on iTunes to ensure the podcast, daily video show and other life-changing materials goes straight to your device of choice each week. Or, you can hook up the RSS feed here if that is more your style.

Some (underlined) Mint Musical Interludes courtesy of The Constantines and Arts & Crafts Records and Deathwish Records. Check out the full catologue and buy what you like. It’s the right thing to do.

We bloggers are spur-of-the-moment, react-just-to-react types, you know? We live for the present. And for the snark. And dogmatically defending metrics because we just can’t handle uncertainty.

Sometimes, though, we like an “evergreen” series of posts. Even we dwellers in the ephemeral like to have something we can fall back on. In my case, I have chosen to do catcher fielding rankings on (somewhat) monthly basis. It seems like a good idea for an easy, quasi-monthly post, but then I realize how clunky my spreadsheet is, and how it needs to be touched up and checked every time, and how the first post of the year, especially, is brutal since I have usually forgotten how a lot of it is set up. SIGH. Blogging: it’s hard, y’all.

I started doing the catcher defensive rankings at the end of 2009 for a now-defunct site, and even though I think there are catcher fielding metrics available now that are probably better, this is somewhat expected of me and people seem to like it, so I am going to try and stop apologizing for it. (For some of that, here are last year’s final rankings.) Anyway, it is always fun to start them early enough in the year so that someone surprising will end up on top (or bottom) and people will throw a fit about it. So forget sample size qualifications, true talent-versus-observed performance reminders, and methodological admissions (brief notes about the method can be found at the very bottom of the post — please read that before complaining), let’s get to it!

I might get into issues about methodology later this year again, but for now I will just remind people of what some of the metrics are (and again, how they are calculated is at the end of the post). “FERuns” is runs saved above or below average in terms of fielding errors made. “TERuns” is the same for throwing errors (they have difference run values per event). “PBWPRuns” is runs saved above or below average in terms of blocking pitches — passed balls and wild pitches. “CSRuns” is runs above and below average for caught stealing.

With that out of the way, here is a little commentary before you get to the table. We have a fun, complaint-inducing leader so far this year, who is it?

Later in the year, as things shake out more and the sample is more interesting, I might break down the categories in more details, but for now let’s just look at our overall leaders and trailers. As of today, your overall leader for runs above average for catcher defense (as defined here) is… the legendary Yan Gomes! Oh, calm down, people. It is a small sample, and teams have tried to run on him, badly, which is the primary reason he is on top so far. He has thrown out eight of the 13 attempts. He is followed by Yadier Molina, last year’s winner and super-stud. They are closely followed by A.J. Ellis, who continues to show that his defense, like his on-base skills, are no fluke, and the bizarrely underrated Matt Wieters.

On the very bottom we have Cleveland’s Carlos Santana, who probably is not this bad, and frankly, who cares, given that his power has caught up with his plate discipline such that even with poor defense behind the plate he might be the best overall catcher in the American League. Michael McKenry, sad Pittsburgh backup, is just above him, but in very little playing time. Third from bottom is the Incredibly Disappointing Jesus Montero — not for his defense, but for his putrid bat.

Enjoy!

Concluding Methodological Postscript 

I should make clear that for reasons of simplicity I am not including such debated areas as pitch framing or the more amorphous “game calling.” I am not taking a position one way or the other on either of those, simply making clear the bounds of these rankings.  When I discuss “catcher defense,” like most others, I will be discussing preventing stolen bases, blocking pitches, etc.

One of the difficulties with evaluating catcher defense with regard to even these issues is that, much more than with other fielding positions, the catcher’s performance is dependent on another player — namely, the pitcher. No matter now strong or weak the catcher’s arm is, he can’t escape the reality that he depends on the pitcher’s skill with regard to holding runners, quickness to the plate, etc. While the catcher’s skill with regard to blocking pitches that are off the mark is clearly important, catching Tim Wakefield poses a unique challenge — just ask Josh Bard. And so on.

For these reasons, probably the best way of measuring catcher defense is Tom Tango’s WOWY (With or Without  You) method of defensive evaluation as detailed the 2008 Hardball Times Annual.  You can read about the details in the links provided. Versions of WOWY for catchers have also been done by Brian Cartwright and Dan Turkenkopf. I would do it that way if I could. The main issue is that 1) it’s pretty complicated, and beyond my present capabilities, and 2) it requires something like Retrosheet, which isn’t available until after the World Series is over, so even if I could do it, I couldn’t get the numbers during the season of even now…

While the method used here is neither terribly subtle nor original, I think when compared to things like the Fans’ Scouting Report and WOWY methods, it compares fairly well. Just keep in mind the acknowledged limits (e.g., not taking into account the pitchers’ contributions like WOWY does).

The Method Used Here

For non-WOWY catcher defense, the basic idea is to 1) choose what events you’re going to deal with, 2) determine each catchers performance with respect to league average, and 3) decide the run value of each event.

Stolen Bases/Caught Stealing (CSRuns): First, we figure out the league rate for caught stealing. One cool thing about the new Baseball Reference is that it separates out the catcher caught stealings from the pitcher pickoffs, so we can exclude the pickoffs (not under the catcher’s control) from the equation. So we total the CSctch +SB to get total stolen base attempts (SBA) and then to total CSctch/total SBA for the lgCS rate. We use the weight of .63 runs for each caught stealing, which represents the average linear weight of the caught stealing (.44 runs) plus the weight of the stolen base not achieved (.19 runs). The formula for runs above/below average for each catcher is thus (CS – (lgCSrate) * SBA) * 0.63.

Wild pitches/passed balls (WPPBRuns): The league rate is (WPlg + PBlg)/lgPA. The linear weight for each passed ball/wild pitch is 0.28 runs, which we make negative since the more WP/PBs a catcher has, the worse his defense is. The formula for each player is ((WP + PB) – (lgWPPBrate * PA)) * -0.28.

Errors (FcE and TE Runs): I deal with three different kinds of catcher error recorded by Baseball Reference: throwing errors, catching errors, and fielding errors. I’ve assimilated catching errors to fielding errors. There are separate linear weights for throwing (including catching) errors (-0.48) and fielding errors (-0.75). The method is the same as above. Get the league rate, then see how far over/under the player is. For throwing errors: (TE – (lgTErate * PA)) * -0.48. Fielding errors: (FE – (lgFErate * PA)) * -0.75.

Then you just add them all up to get the total runs above/below average. It’s not perfect, and hopefully, there will be some improved options soon, but the results do seem to reflect reality. I round to one decimal: I aware that gives an illusion of precision that isn’t there, I simply do it to expedite sorting and ranking.  I thought about coming up with a “rate” version like UZR/150, but that isn’t as simple as prorating for innings caught/PA — one needs to normalize each sort of event separately, the chart is confusing enough as it is. For now, this is just a value measurement of what each player did this season.

Pittsburgh’s ROOT Sports launched a new television and web series titled ‘All Stars with Andrew McCutchen’ on Tuesday. The show features McCutchen interviewing ‘all stars’ from fields outside of sports, and the Pirates center fielder’s first guest was none other than celebrity chef, reality TV star, and author Anthony Bourdain.

Kudos to Bourdain for slamming ballpark beer prices. If it was up to Bourdain, he’d have very good beer at a reasonable price at his ballpark. You can own a ball team in my world any day, Mr. Bourdain.

McCutchen and Bourdain close this short segment out by discussing their love of junk food. McCutchen declared his love for Eggo Waffles and Bourdain informs us that he can’t get enough Popeye’s fried chicken. Swoon.

Via @TheCUTCH22

Earlier today, we covered Jose Bautista‘s record-setting game for the Blue Jays. Jose went 4-4 with two home runs and the game-winning RBI in extra innings (and a walk for good measure). His Win Probability Added for the game is the highest in Blue Jays history, exceeding 100% in a most delightfully counter-intuitive way possible.

In the comment section of that post, reader “TOK” pointed out something truly bizarre: when Mike Trout hit for the cycle earlier this week, his WPA for the game was actually negative. WHAT? Hold on a tick…

WPA isn’t perfect and, more than anything, it isn’t predictive. It tries to tell a very simple story: it weighs the events of the game and how much each given baseball event impacted the final outcome.

Mike Trout had a great game, he hit for the cycle for Pete’s sake! His team also won in the a blowout, pounding the Mariners 12-0 The Angels scored three runs in the first inning and four in the fourth, all put putting the game to bed early. Trout isn’t most of his damage later in the contest, when the outcome no longer appeared in doubt.

Source: FanGraphs

When the game was within seven runs, Mike Trout came to the plate twice. He struck out in the first inning (when the game was tied) and beat out an infield single in the third. By the time he came to the plate in the fourth inning, it was already 5-0. His triple made it 6-0 and the rout was on.

WPA infomation is spotty or not available prior to 1945 so with the information we have, it looks like Trout is the only player in baseball history to manage to hit for the cycle without actually “contributing” to his team’s chances.

This is, of course, weird. While it might give a skeptic reason to question the validity of WPA it should also remind us that a five-run lead in baseball might as well be 20. That Trout struck out when the game was level then doubled home three runs in a seven-run game doesn’t sit right in our brains but the cold mathematics of the situation are what they are.

Baseball Reference lets us focus on just Trout’s at bats, using their share tool. The “problem” Mike Trout faced on Tuesday is the same problem with any “clutch” stats: he cannot create these situations for himself. He is a victim of the machinery of the game working around him.

Sure, the Mariners could have staged a dramatic comeback and won this game. Teams come back from seemingly insurmountable deficits all the time. Well, sometimes. More often than not, a team that gets up big early hangs on to win the game. Like the Angels here.

If anything, both this game and the Jose Bautista game show just how much of a “team” game baseball is. One guy cannot win it alone. Even if a pitcher tosses a shutout, his offense needs to push across a run to get a win for the team.

As stated earlier today, any model built on “theory” like WPA tends to break down in the extreme cases. To say Mike Trout cost his team in this game isn’t true, but it certainly appears they would have been fine without him on this day. Mostly, it’s just weird. And fun! But weird.

As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene…

Oops, wrong Jesus. This one might not be returning so soon. The Seattle Mariners will send Jesus Montero to Triple-A Tacoma, according to a report from Ryan Divish.

The only surprise here is that the Mariners kept Montero up with the big club this long. A roster comprised primarily of designated hitters may have room for a catcher that can’t run or catch, so as long as he can hit. Montero’s .208/.264/.327 line speaks for itself. He has been awful at the plate.

So the Mariners will pull the old Jesus swap by sending Montero down and bringing Jesus Sucre (Sugar Jesus) up from Tacoma. Mariners fans will have to wait to get a look at Mike Zunino in the Majors. The 22-year old 3rd overall pick in the 2012 draft has flashed some power at Triple-A by swatting seven home runs, but he has struggled to hit breaking balls and offspeed pitches.

As for Montero, Divish expects him to split time between DH and first base at Triple-A. Thus it appears as though the Mariners have finally given up on the idea of Montero as a catcher. This is probably best for everyone. Montero is still just 23, so it’s too early to give up on him completely. He has displayed some power through 732 Major League plate appearances, but he has failed to show any semblance of consistency and make regular contact. Oh, and his defense and baserunning are next level bad.

Here’s the point in the post where we mention the Jesus Montero-for-Michael Pineda trade between the Mariners and Yankees and how nobody wins.

It might be the fantasy holy grail – what if you could figure out if a pitcher’s struggles were injury-related — before that hit the newswires? You’d look like a genius on your trades, at the very least.

We looked at off-season injury prediction here — based on past disabled list appearances, and pitch mix — but in-season would be sweet. Looks like there are at least some tools we can use in our efforts.

Jeff Zimmerman is the injury man, and he took up the cause left behind when Josh Kalk was signed by a major league team. Using Kalk’s original work, Zimmerman built an “injury zone” tool that can help us use a pitcher’s percentage of pitches inside the zone, velocity, and late-game consistency to analyze whether or not the results are hiding some sort of injury.

Of course, he debuted the tool with a look at James Shields that seemed to predict injury and maybe that hasn’t come to fruition. After years of consistency, Shields was showing a low zone % and late-game inconsistencies in his release point and delivery. Then again, Shields’ velocity was fairly steady. And if we look at Shields’ numbers this year, his zone percentage is back up, his velocity is steady, and according to this graph from Baseballheatmaps.com, he’s been fairly consistent at the end of his appearances:

So maybe that particular instance didn’t work out so well. That doesn’t mean we can’t try to see who the tool doesn’t like this year, eh? Maybe we’ll even find someone who is lacking in all three categories.

Here are the players this year that have lost zone% over their career rates, and also lost more than .5 mph of gas. You’ll remember that August is peak velocity season, and that players can gain up to .7 mph from the beginning of the season to that point. So we’ll fudge our limit at .5 mph.

Doug Fister had some intercostal, groin, and finger issues last year, but stayed off the DL and that probably kept attention off of him. But he did have some injuries and he leads qualified starters in zone loss and his fastball is down. And his late-game deliveries? Uh-oh:

Let’s do one more, for the guy who actually hit the DL for shoulder problems last year. And is second in zone loss. And has lost almost two mph on his fastball. And has that crazy glove-waggle. Doesn’t look the same:

Anyway. Let’s not fill this post with pictures. You can play with the tool yourself if you own one of these pitchers, or somebody is peddling them to you.

Because it sure doesn’t *look* like Doug Fister is a great acquisition right now.

Win Probability Added is a weird little stat. In some ways, it should really be more pervasive. It doesn’t ask how or deal in “theoretical constructs” like DIPS-based pitching models or the nebulous concept of replacement level. Win Probability Added: how much did you contribute to your team’s chances for winning. Period. The end.

The whole “probability” thing is the likely stumbling block. How can you measure contributions when you don’t know what is to come? The meticulous records maintained by the accountants of the game help put its rich, storied, turn-based history into context. The codified result might not be everyone’s cup of tea but the fact-based history is hard to shake.

Like many theories, the idea of win probability added breaks down under extreme conditions. Take Jose Bautista, for example. He had himself a game yesterday against the Rays, supplying nearly all the offense in a 4-3 extra inning win. He homered twice, including a game-tying shot in the ninth off formerly vaunted closer Fernando Rodney and then won the game with a single in the 10th. He had four hits today and also added a stolen base for good measure.

The Blue Jays won and, almost single-handedly, Jose Bautista was the reason.

Jays starter Mark Buehrle pitched really well and Jose needed to drive in some other runs as he only hit two home runs (not four), but the timing of his hits made it so Jose Bautista accomplished a very rare feat indeed: he contributed more than 100% to the Jays win. Those other bums were just holding him back!

This is only the elevth time this century (2013, totally not dramatic!) that a single player contributed more than his fair share. As the Play Index demonstrates in living color, Bautista’s game ranks sixth among millennial achievers…

Not bad, not bad at all. For his efforts, Jose Bautista goosed his season wOBA up over .400 and made him the Jays team leader for WPA. It was also the higheset single-game WPA in Blue Jays history. Clutch hits man, they make the world go ’round.

And the rest

Madison Bumgarner and Bryce Harper, proud members of the mutual admiration society. [CSN Bay Area]

Evan Gattis, sort of the best. [AJC]

It’s good to be the king feudal lord

This is how Marlins President David Samson spent part if his time while the Phillies blew out his team Tuesday. twitter.com/ArmandoSalguer…

— Armando Salguero (@ArmandoSalguero) May 23, 2013

OKAY ST. LOUIS, WE GET IT. YOU’RE DEEP AND OVERRUN WITH PITCHING DEPTH. STOP RUBBING IT IN [Cardinals.com]

Vance Worley, demoted and all out of magic. [Fangraphs]

Rafael Soriano, dingus. [Brisbee Nation]

Dallas Latos, not having your shit any more.

@drewgrof your “reporting” is pathetic and sad. twitter.com/DallasLatos/st…

— Dallas Latos(@DallasLatos) May 22, 2013

Oh wait. That’s my shit. She’s not having my shit. Oh well.

There is no real debate: Miguel Cabrera is the best hitter in baseball right now. Joey Votto might be close but, honestly, Cabrera is able to hit the ball out of the park with more regularity than the Reds prolific walk machine cum doubles addict.

Miguel Cabrera is so good because of his ability to hit essentially any pitch thrown to any location for power to any part of the ballpark. Like the above video, for instance, which Miguel Cabrera drives deep to the right field side of center.

Cabrera doesn’t get it all and appears to catch a stinger in his right hand in the process (as if he caught it on the end of the bat a little). The ball is a high drive that drives Michael Bourn all the way to the track. It appears Bourn has a bead on it until…he doesn’t. Clank, straight over the fence for a home run. One of the cheapest home runs you’ll ever see.

This is one that will live for the ages on the internets and on clip shows. The sheepish grins on the faces of both Cabrera and Bourn underlines the absuridity of the situation. Bourn is a sure-handed center fielder to boot, just not this time.

Enjoy your notoriety Michael Bourn. Just be glad you aren’t Jose Canseco – that guys a piece of shit who also had something weird happen in the outfield one time. But mostly he’s scum.

Mike Trout! MIEK TORT! And walkoffs, walkoffs, walkoffs. Not necessarily in that order, bee tee double-u (and we barely touch on Trout). ALSO: Dustin Parkes predicts Hunter Pence will finish the season with a higher WAR than Carl Crawford. Time will tell…

Listen to the podcast directly here.

Subscribe to Getting Blanked on iTunes to ensure the podcast, daily video show and other life-changing materials goes straight to your device of choice each week. Or, you can hook up the RSS feed here if that is more your style.

Some (underlined) Mint Musical Interludes courtesy of The Constantines and Arts & Crafts Records and Deathwish Records. Check out the full catologue and buy what you like. It’s the right thing to do.

Mat Latos is pretty easy to dislike as a baseball player. If he doesn’t play for your favorite team, he makes for a wide target for your scorn. His haircut, tattoos, and face in general scream “guy who isn’t fun to hang out with who also sort of likes it that way.”

Also: Mat Latos is a terrific pitcher. While he wasn’t quite at his best today against Matt Harvey and the Mets. 6.2 innings pitched, eight hits allowed, one walk and four strikeouts. The kind of day where Mat Latos needs his defense to pick him up a little bit.

When that defense didn’t quite pick him up, when a shallow fly ball allows a run to score via sacrifice fly, Mat Latos get a little upset. So upset that he feels the need to come back to the dugout when the inning ends and get into a very visible argument with right fielder Jay Bruce? It seems so. It is about the throw and its relative lack of quality?

Could be. Either way, Mat Latos hardly comes out of this smelling like a rose. Mostly because he looks like such a goddamn creep.

GET YOUR SHIT STRAIGHT UPDATE:

Jay yelled at Mat. Feel free to get your shit straight, media.

— Dallas Latos(@DallasLatos) May 22, 2013

This Dallas Latos can tell because Mat texted her from the dugout? Shoutout to Mat Latos’ wife, fighting the good fight.

To say that the Los Angeles Dodgers are under-performing would be an understatement. They’re awful. They’ve been hit with a number of injuries to key players, and they continue to masquerade the likes of Juan Uribe, Luis Cruz, and Mark Ellis as viable infield options on a daily basis. The Dodgers are 18-26 today, which is far below whatever expectations a nearly $217 million payroll may have levied upon them.

Don Mattingly, despite a disappointing record and an awful -39 run differential, received a vote of confidence from general manager Ned Colletti this week. Not that Donnie Baseball should bear the brunt of the blame for a baseball team whose talent level may have been wildly overrated coming into the season, but it’s surprising nonetheless that he’s lasted this long.

Perhaps Mattingly has had enough and elected to slam Colletti’s personnel decisions and his team’s compete level in an effort to rid himself of this most unenviable position. Maybe Mattingly took that vote of confidence as a gesture to indicate that his job is secure regardless of what he may say or do moving forward. Whatever the case, Mattingly unloaded on his players, and Colletti in a roundabout way, with some comments to Bill Plunkett of the O.C. Register:

“We gotta find a team with talent that will fight and compete like a club that doesn’t have that talent,” he said, pointing to last year’s team which led the NL West by 5 1/2 games at the end of May despite a far less-talented lineup.

I felt we got more out of our ability (last year). I don’t know about being tougher but I felt we got more out of our ability.

There has to be a mixture of competitiveness. It’s not ‘Let’s put an All-Star team together and the All-Star team wins.’ It’s finding that balance of a team that has a little bit of grit and will fight you. And also having talent to go with it. All grit and no talent isn’t going to make you successful. But all talent and not grit isn’t going to get you there either.”

Mattingly has ostensibly questioned the talent level of his players, as well as their ‘compete level’, and he’s even slammed the construction of the roster he’s tasked with managing. Them’s some words of a frustrated man.

Furthermore, Mattingly chose to keep Andre Ethier out of the lineup for today’s game versus the Milwaukee Brewers. He didn’t exclude Ethier from the lineup because he’s hurt, but rather because he wants to “field a team that will compete the best”, according to a tweet from Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times. Ouch.

Was Ned Colletti’s vote of confidence just a ‘kiss of death’, and Mattingly’s firing some shots on his way out? Or is this a case of an old school guy trying to incite his club to pick up their play? Unless the Dodgers make a remarkable turn around beginning this afternoon, then it seems like Mattingly may be making it easy for Colletti to send him home.

It should have been you, Dylan Bundy. After captivating the nerdy end of the baseball world last season with his effortlessly dispatching of the low minor leagues, Dylan Bundy eventually made his way to the big leagues at just 19-years old. It was Bundy’s world, he of the exorbitant contract demands as a high school pitcher from Oklahoma.

But an elbow injury slowed Dylan Bundy’s ascent to Major League stardom. In his place steps Kevin Gausman – the new hope for the next wave of Orioles starters. Unlike Bundy, who was brought up as a reliever, Gausman gets to jump right in and do the real thing: start against the Blue Jays in Toronto on Thursday.

Gausman didn’t post the eye-popping numbers of Bundy as he quickly made his way through the low minors, but Gausman has the type of poise and command that makes the Orioles confident he can step in against hitters at the highest level. Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun reports Gausman made great strides improving his slider, his third option behind his fastball and changeup.

Keith Law loved Gausman in his pre-season rankings, placing him 26th in his top 100, noting his three 60 grade (above-average) pitches and improved delivery as big time pluses. His slider development makes it look like a weapon that will really keep hitters guessing with Gausman on the hill, while his mid-to-upper nineties fastball is certainly a great starting point for a “top of the rotation” starter. Baseball Prospectus takes a similar view, touting his “pure arsenal” as the reason he can compete at the big league level right now.

Gausman will be first among players taken in the first round of the 2012 draft to play in the big leagues, less than one calender year after being selected fourth overall out of LSU. In addition to his pitching credentials, Gausman also brings some personal quirks to the show, such as eating donuts between innings and before his starts.

Thanks to @simplyaj10 for giving me about 1,500 donuts!! I think I’m set for the whole season #PowderedGold twitter.com/KevinGausman/s…

— Kevin Gausman (@KevinGausman) February 17, 2013

While the O’s strength and conditioning staff might not allow this habit to continue, the Orioles trend towards aggressively promoting their prospects has worked out pretty well so far. Super Two concerns do not appear to be a major issue for the Orioles, who instead chose to focus on undoing 15 years in the woods as a consistently competitive club in the American League East.

Gary Carter played for the Montreal Expos for a long time. He also played for the New York Mets for a long time. But he played for the Expos and was beloved there so now, after his death, Gary Carter has been memorialized with a street in beautiful downtown Montreal.

The former Faillon St. was renamed Gary Carter street in a ceremony yesterfday. Faillon runs near the former site of Jarry Park, the Expos home field when they first arrived in Montreal. According to the Associated Press, there is another ceremony planned for June 15th when a local baseball field will be renamed for The Kid.

View Street and stadium named after Gary Carter in a larger map

Giants splash game is tight tho

Baseball is the weirdest game. The season is so long that early season games seem almost meaningless. By the time September rolls around, even the most dramatic May walkoff victory is long forgotten. Just one of one-sixty-two, another victory of 90 if you’re a playoff team.

But in May, late-inning heroics fuel the game. It is the value of the unexpected that keeps so many of us coming back. You never really know what you’ll see – every at bat presents a fresh opportunity for amazement.

Last night, just a random Tuesday night in May, supplied more than its share of amazement. No baseball fan could ask for much more from a Tuesday night in late May. We saw walkoffs a plenty, dramatic home runs as precursor to those walkoff shots, great pitching performances and another historic night from a young player who already has a fair bit of history to his name.

It was baseball and it was awesome.

From the reeling Giants coming behind against the vaunted (and expensive!) Nats bullpen to the Orioles picking themselves up after a series of blown saves of their own, last night didn’t lack for storylines. Even the Rockies slipped in a highlight of their own, for whatever that’s worth (nothing.)

The O’s got it started first, taking a game back from the Yankees on this walkoff shot by Nate McLouth. Love Gary Thorn’s call on this home run. Like it shocked him, allowing his call to build to a crescendo. Orioles magic lives in your, Nate McLouth.

As mentioned, the Giants won via their now-customary heartattack fashion. After Gregor Blanco tripled over a shellshocked Bryce Harper to tie the game, Pablo Sandoval hit a 464-foot walkoff tater.

Duane Kuiper cares not for your casual excitement, Thorn. He goes full growl on the Panda’s massive walkoff boomer.

EL OSO BLANCO! The White Bear demonstrates what happens to nerds on the INSIDE. What a beast.

Evan Gattis‘ game-tying shot wasn’t a walkoff, but it set the Braves up to walk it off against the Twins in the 10th. Quite the dramatic swing from

Source: FanGraphs

Not to be outdone by the Giants “splash the hero in the face with a cup of water”, Kris Medlen got Freddie Freeman so good after Freeman’s walkoff single, it dislodged one of his contact lenses.

Meanwhile, there was no drama as the Angels trounced the Mariners, only Mike Trout making history. The Angels outfielder became the youngest player in American League history to hit for the cycle.

Rather than watch Trout do his thing over five at bats, here’s Mike Trout and a sideline reporter in orange jeans getting doused with a bucket of water. Mike Trout and a lady in orange jeans are America, as far as I’m concerned.

And the rest

Important stuff at Productive Outs, trying to get to the bottom of the “best player in baseball debate” once and for all.

WHO IS BEDDER MLB PLAEYR MIGELL CARBERBA OR MIEK TOURT? VOAT NOW.

— Productive Outs (@ProductiveOuts) May 22, 2013

WELL IF TOU THINK ITS CARBERA I CAN TEL YUO TAHT MIEK TORT JUS HIT 4 TEH PHYSCO!1

— Productive Outs (@ProductiveOuts) May 22, 2013

Speaking of Trout, ESPN Stats & Info digs into his historic night. [ESPN]

Today in less exciting news, Chris Sale will not make his next start as he was scratched with a sore shoulder. [Chicago Sun-Times]

From the mouths of babes…

I walked 7.5 guys per 9 inns. In my career. Is there anyway I should have saved 192 games? On paper, no way. Thank god I didn’t play on pape

— Mitch Williams (@WildThingMLBN) May 22, 2013

The Royals are kind of a joke. [Grantland]

Don’t blame Don Mattingly, despite your strong desire to blame Don Mattingly [Sports on Earth]

Expansive strikezone draws ire in Toronto. [The Strike Zone, ironically enough]

The 2013 is full of terrific redemption stories, most of them residing on the New York Yankees. Travis Hafner and Vernon Wells are putting together seasons many refused to believe they still had in them.

Vernon Well, in particular, looks like a new man. A few changes to his swing and setup have the former Blue Jays center fielder swinging like it’s 2006. Or 2010. Maybe 2003. One of those odd years in which Vernon Wells is good, I can’t tell which one.

While Vernon Wells might steal all the headlines with his multi-positional verstality and (dead cat) bounce back to relevance, he isn’t the only recovering Blue Jays outfielder putting together a solid first half in 2013. Wells’ old outfield mate Alex Rios is swinging the bat better than just about any outfielder in baseball, actually.

How good has Alex Rios been in 2013? Good enough to bust out this old trick!

1. .288/.345/.513, 10 HR, 4 SB, 14 BB, 24 K
2. .278/.363/.517, 8 HR, 8 SB, 23 BB, 39 K
3. .301/.366/.554, 10 HR, 8 SB, 17 BB, 28 K

Just for fun, A is Vernon Wells, B is Mike Trout, C is Alex Rios. Alex Rios! Only three players in baseball have hit eight home runs with eight stolen bases. Trout, Rios, Carlos Gonzalez. Again I say it: Alex Rios!

The walk total sort of stands out to me, as Alex Rios came to the plate 640 times last season and walked 26 times. Total. Here he is in the middle of May just nine behind that total. It’s like a whole new Rios!

Alex Rios has never been afraid to tinker with his swing. Even though he had a solid/great season in 2012 (120 wRC+, 25 home runs, 4 fWAR), he made some pretty evident swing changes for the 2013 season.

Behold a long ball from Chicago off Felix Hernandez from this April.

Now compare that clip to this one from May 2012.

If we freeze the vidoes just before the pitchers release, we can see Alex Rios appears much more upright and erect this year compared to last.

Get up. Stand up.

It isn’t unusual for a notorious tinkerer to make changes in his swing as he gets comfortably into his 30s. It is less common for a hitter to change his tendencies rather dramatically, as Rios has thus far in 2013. Swinging a fewer pitches, chasing few pitchers and simply making pitchers throw him strikes. His contact rates are nearly identical but he simply won’t chase. It’s somewhat remarkable.

With another season plus an option left on his contract, the career totals for Alex Rios are going to start looking pretty nice. Maybe he wasn’t the superstar Blue Jays fans wished on, but he should comfortably eclipse 200 home runs, 200 steals and 30 Wins Above Replacement when his playing days are done. Tough for anybody to do, first round pick or otherwise.

Expecations and money and off-field incidents forever cloud the way we view baseball players. Right now, Alex Rios looks like a good-to-very good outfielder that was never as good as some fans wanted him to be. Too bad for Blue Jays fans who missed out and too bad for White Sox fans who only remember his very (very) bad 2011.

Ever hear of Clayton Kershaw? Miguel Cabrera? BARRY BONDS? If not, get ready for a real education at the hands of the Getting Blanked podcast, as we uncover these gems and more in discussing the baseballing world at large.

Listen to the podcast directly here.

Subscribe to Getting Blanked on iTunes to ensure the podcast, daily video show and other life-changing materials goes straight to your device of choice each week. Or, you can hook up the RSS feed here if that is more your style.

Some (underlined) Mint Musical Interludes courtesy of The Constantines and Arts & Crafts Records and Deathwish Records. Check out the full catologue and buy what you like. It’s the right thing to do.

Hey, y’all. It’s that time again. LET’S DISSECT SOME SHITTY BASEBALLING!

Before we start, I’d suggest that you loop this and listen to it whilst reading because … ugh.

The Week That Was

LAA – 3-3

LAD - 3-3

Southern California’s Burgeoning Pissing Contest: The Leader In The Clubhouse

You know what? Maybe this section of the column was a stupid idea. Given the way things have gone this season, applauding and/or rewarding the efforts of either team feels a lot like giving out an award to a kid who went 0-for-5 with five punchouts and “misplayed” six fly balls right field because he was too busy chewing on his glove.

There is no winner here.

So, instead of heaping false praise on an underachiever, I’ve decided to do this instead …

Way to go, guys. You did … something.

(Also: Is that a dog?)

Box Score Of The Week

LAA – Jason Vargas: 5/19 vs. CHW – 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K

Vargas has quietly emerged as the Angels best … err, most consistent starter in Jered Weaver’s absence. While I realize that being the cream of a crop of starting pitchers who sport a 4.94 ERA and 1.53 WHIP (both 26th worst in MLB) is not all that impressive, the Halos really need quality starts because their bullpen is hot garbage. He’s thrown two complete games, posted a 2.21 ERA and held opposing hitters to a .207 BA in his last five starts (and that includes a subpar 10 H, 5 ER outing against the floundering Houston Astros on May 9th). The Angels will take as much of that as they can get until Weaver returns, Joe Blanton goes from being awful to serviceable (not holding my breath on that one, BTW), and the front office figures out how to trade for a starter, because lord knows they need one*.

*I know Alberto Callaspo wouldn’t command much on the trade market, but with Luis Jimenez (maybe?) ready to step in at third base, I wouldn’t be opposed to a Callaspo, Kole Calhoun and A.J. Schugel swap for Cliff Lee. Who says no? Oh, everyone? OK. I’ll shut up now.

LAD – Clayton Kershaw: 5/14 vs. WAS – 8.2 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 11 K, 132 pitches

Kershaw was masterful again last Tuesday, stifling the Washington Nationals at Dodger Stadium. His jaw-dropping pitch count — the most by a MLB starter since Justin Verlander threw 132 on Aug. 6 last season — can be chalked up to the Dodgers ‘pen being taxed for six innings of work the previous night godawful. At this rate, Dodgers fans will be lucky if his arm doesn’t fall off in July.

Note: He followed this start up by picking up a W in a CG, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K start against the Milwaukee Brewers (on 107 pitches), lowering his ERA to 1.35.

BREAKING: Clayton Kershaw is really, really good at throwing a baseball. My column:

AL & NL West Standings Update

LAA – 17-27 (4th place and 11 games behind the league-leading Texas Rangers)

LAD – 18-25 (Last place and seven games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks)

Headline Of The Week

“New year, same old Angels and Dodgers” from T.J. Simers’ column in the LA Times on 5/18.

In which our go-to troll compares the Angels and Dodgers to his sixty-something year old wife in a bathing suit, before engaging in his usual prickish banter.

The lede:

When I think of our local baseball teams and their supporters, I envision my wife in a bathing suit.

Aaaaand we’re done.

Quote Of The Week (From Either Side)

LAA

From Mike DiGiovanna’s “White Sox ace has Angels trumped again” on 5/17.

Mike Scioscia, on his team’s struggles after they were shut out by Chris Sale for the second time in a week.

“You’re not going to chew up this deficit in one day,” Scioscia said. “We’re not going to wake up tomorrow in first place. You can only win one game a day. You have to put your heart and soul into that game, play hard and grind it out. You have to focus on the process and play good ball.”

Whoo boy. The Bullshit Baseball Cliche-O-Meter just exploded. This SciosciaQuote runs the gamut. We’ve got a few snippets pulled from the “One Day At A Time” chapter in The Manager’s Guide To Cliches*, a prime selection from the “Heart And Soul: Gritty, Gutsy Grinders” chapter and a nod to the “Trust The Process: Playing The Game The Right Way” chapter. The only thing missing is a mention of page-turning, cap-tipping, and/or hat-removal. (See: the “Tip Your Cap: Coping With Assorted Failure” chapter.)

Stay with it, Sosh.

*I need to write this book.

/starts crowd-funding page

LAD

Dodger Nation: Zack Greinke put a big smile on my face with his outstanding command of the mound and RBI single in last night’s win.

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) May 17, 2013

“Command of the mound”, eh?

/pictures Greinke barking orders between pitches at the brick dust and/or rubber.

/pictures a pitcher without “command of the mound” slipping and tripping and being unable to navigate the finely manicured swath that is the pitching teat.

/pictures Magic and Jose Mota having a passionate discussion about commanding the mound, competing being the name of the word, and playing hard until last out until also something good happens for you. Also, pictures it being taped and broadcast on Fox Sports West and immediately becoming the greatest show on television. Can we make this a thing?

In my opinion, Magic knowing very little about baseball — but tweeting like he does — has been more entertaining than any of the Dodgers games this season. Unless, by chance, you hate the Dodgers and love basking in the schadenfreude of the team snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, because the Dodgers are awesome at totally blowing it*.

*Thirteen of the team’s 25 losses can be hung on the bLOLpen.

DERP Of The Week: Mike Trout

Not even the Golden Boy is immune to the power of DERP.

DERP WILL INFECT US ALL.

SciosciaFace Of The Week

What caused this version of SciosciaFace?

1. He pulled Jerome Williams after six innings and 74 pitches (2 ER, 5 H), only to watch the bullpen implode. Again.
2. Something called a Robert Coello is currently his “most effective” reliever.
3. This.
4. With the threat of extra innings looming, his 10 p.m. reservation at Maggiano’s is in jeopardy.
5. Nothing. Nothing at all.

Bonus Content: The Five Stages of SciosciaFace

What follows is a step-by-step-guide to SciosciaFace. Try it at home! (Or don’t.)

Gently cup the nose and mouth with the left hamhand and inhale deeply.

As you exhale, slide the open palm down your face and neck, harvesting snot niblets, spittle, chin gudge and curdled neck sauce in the process.

Roll the viscous bits of your facescape into a ball between your index finger and thumb, forcibly shove them into your noseholes and inhale deeply. Mmm, failure.

Now, spread your index finger and thumb to create a glutinous web and really savor the fruits of your labor. Breathe it in. Breathe it in until the nostalgia is gone. This is living, friends.

And when the nostalgic goop has vanished into your nasal cavity, wear your disdain on your face.

Repeat as necessary. (Or never.)

MattinglyFace Of The Week

As reader Brian K so accurately stated in the comments of last week’s Battle Of LA column:

“MattinglyFace is quite similar to Jack-O-Lantern on Nov. 10.”

Jack-O-Lantern status: Dec. 4. Odds are, that this will only get worse as Donnie’s tenure continues, until we’re left with something like this. (At which point, Mattingly will probably still be managing Los Doyers and this column will have devolved into typing “FUCK” in 200px Arial font before submitting it for editing.)

Who Controls The Future

The Angels will try to equal their longest winning streak of 2013 (three games … THREE … what in the actual fuck?!) as they play host to the Seattle Mariners (20-25) in a nonsensically brief two-game set.

•  Tuesday, 5/21: Jerome Williams vs. Aaron “The Harangutan” Harang (1-4)
• Wednesday, 5/22: C.J. Wilson (3-3) vs. Brandon Maurer (2-5)

 And then, they’ll get Yosted by the Kansas City Royals (20-21).

•  Thursday, 5/23: Joe Blanton (0-7) vs. Ervin Santana (3-3)
• Friday, 5/24: Jason Vargas (3-3) vs. Luis Mendoza (1-2)
• Saturday, 5/25: TBA vs. Jason Guthrie (5-1)
• Sunday, 5/26: Wilson (3-3) vs. Wade Davis (3-3)

 Prediction: 2-4

The Dodgers wrap up a six-game roadie by finishing up a three-game set against the surprisingly shitty Brew Crew (17-26) in Milwaukee.

• Tuesday, 5/14: Zack Greinke (2-0) vs. Hiram Burgos (1-2)
• Wednesday, 5/15: Hyun-Jin Ryu (4-2) vs. Wily Peralta (3-3)

Thursday, 5/16: The Dodgers are homeward bound to get pummeled by a Cardinals (28-16) team that is not only good, but frustratingly rich in prospects … which is the polar opposite of the Angels and Dodgers. (Note: Jump to the Cardinals bandwagon, stat.)

•  Friday, 5/17: Chris Capuano (1-2) vs. Lance Lynn (6-1)
• Saturday, 5/18: Matt Magill (0-0) vs. John Gast (2-0)
• Sunday, 5/19: Clayton Kershaw (5-2) vs. Shelby Miller (5-2)

Prediction: 3-2

Until we meet again … at which point we’ll have a home-at-home, four-game set between two of the worst teams in baseball under our collective belt. What was once a Freeway World Series preview has been reduced to an underwhelming battle of attrition.

Woe is us, friends. Woe. Is. Us.

God bless the good people at MLB for dumping weird and wonderful videos onto their Youtube channel from time to time. This is a brawl between the A’s and Angels from 1995. It starts slowly as this donnybrook was more of a slow burn than an immediate mound-charging outburst.

It gets going pretty well, with pushing AND shoving and lots of angry faces. None angrier or crazier than Tony LaRussa.

Seriously, he looks like a maniac. Hit the jump for the crucial insanity GIF.

Amazing! He’s a lawyer so he’ll kill you and then find a loophole getting him off scot-free. The most dangerous creature of all.

Nick Purdon, a current affairs reporter, and Leonardo Palleja, a producer and videographer with CBC’s The National, visited the Dominican Republic in April of 2013 to explore the dark side of baseball in the country. The 20 minute documentary feature above details the struggle for many Dominicans in their quest to climb out of poverty via baseball.

While the successes of players like Jose Bautista and Vladimir Guerrero serve as motivation for so many Dominican Republic teenagers, the tragic story of Juan Manuel Matos tells of the dangers of pushing 15 and 16-year old boys too hard. Juan Manuel Matos collapsed and died after being injected with steroids, as it has been purported. Matos was 15.

Purdon and Palleja’s account of the pursuit of Major League dreams is well worth your time, even if it’s a rather depressing look at the subject. The feature also enabled Peter Mansbridge to make his Getting Blanked debut.

Miguel Cabrera is on a quite a tear as the second month of the 2013 season winds down. Last year’s American League Triple Crown winner is currently hitting .387/.457/.659 with 11 home runs and a .471 wOBA. It goes without saying, Cabrera is the best all-around hitter in the game today.

A former great, one with seven National League MVP awards to his credit, would agree that Cabrera is the best player in the game. It’s not even close, as Barry Bonds told USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale in a phone interview on Monday. Bonds just asks that we don’t get carried away and start comparing Cabrera to himself. There’s no argument to be made there, according to Bonds.

“He’s definitely the best. It’s not rocket science here. He’s the best. By far. Without a doubt. The absolute best. I don’t try to compare me to anybody. I was the best on the field. I did more things than he did. My game was different than his game. So comparing him, to me, there’s no comparison.

He doesn’t have my MVPs. He doesn’t have my numbers. Well, not yet, anyways. But does he have that ability? Yes, he does. Does he have that gift? Yes, he does.”

Never change, Barry Bonds, never change. Bonds, as is his wont, holds himself in high regard.

Not that I’m going to disagree with baseball’s home run king here. Bonds’ numbers speak for themselves. Cabrera is great, and his early 2013 numbers are absolutely staggering, but they’re nowhere near the totals Bonds put up between 2001-2004. In that span of four seasons, Bonds’ lowest WAR total was 10.1 (per Fangraphs measure).

Barry the king.

Something something PEDs/drugs/scary bad drugs argument. Go on, if you must.